Please don’t think that I am claiming to be smarter than everyone else. I am not. It’s just that when most preachers choose to preach on this topic, they begin at one spot and run out of time before they get to the end. But if they would preach the Word of God as we are doing, going chapter by chapter and verse by verse, every once in a while, the Holy Spirit will demand that we start at a slightly different point. Even though it will be my last point this morning, Paul’s only point in this scripture is quite clear: “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be LORD …”
Of course there are the theological liberals and the secular heretics like Dan Brown. I hear that Mr. Brown has a movie sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” – something about demons. Brown has taken up, and publicized, the 1st century heresy that Christ never claimed to be God. Origen and others said that it was Jesus’ disciples who made that claim about their master. Then other heretics said that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that together they had a baby. That child then carried on a lineage which should have reigned over some sort of earthly kingdom down to this very day. Their claim is that the Roman Catholic Church deliberately covered up the facts about Jesus, in order to establish their own dictatorial rule over the hearts, minds and souls of men. They say that some of the smartest and most prominent thinkers down through history have seen the Catholic fraud – men like Da Vinci, John Newton, Kepler and others – and tried to expose it. And why did Jesus die? They say: Because he was a good man with radical ideas of morality and philosophy, who spoke out in a contrary fashion to the Jewish hierarchy – the predecessor to Catholicism. He died as a martyr, a victim, and nothing more. One fatal flaw to this idea is that Jesus Himself declared His own divinity and His Messiahship. If he was only a good, moral teacher, worthy of our hearing, then he should never have made such statements. His affirmation of Deity and Messiahship, if not true, render him unreliable in everything else. In fact, those statement if untrue prove his insanity. But, of course, Christ was and is the Second Person of the Godhead; He was the Messiah. Jesus didn’t die as a martyr, in an accident, or as a victim of simple murder.
For whom did Christ die? He died for “the sheep” or to be more specific for “MY sheep.” Later in verse 27, we are told – “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” The Bible is quite clear that Jesus didn’t die for all the little animals – wolves, rabbits, lions and goats. Christ died for His sheep, and for His sheep alone. Furthermore, in dying for these sheep He provided them with eternal life, and not one of them shall perish. Verse 16 adds, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.”
One of the things that Mr. Dan Brown and all his unbelieving friends tend to forget, is that the Lord Jesus made these statements long before He was crucified. Christ came into this world with the specific purpose of giving His life a ransom for many. That ransom didn’t purchase the freedom of all, but with most people rejecting it. Christ died to actually, effectually, and completely ransom those who already were His chosen sheep. The cross was not a terrible accident or the unavoidable result of a life spent contrary to a wicked society. Christ died because His sheep had a need, and only His death could remedy that need.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”
“Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.”
“Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father.”
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”
“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”
“Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”
Why did Christ die? Because it was the will of God that His sheep be “saved”. But here is the problem: Those sheep of Christ’s were as filthy and wicked as the wolves and lions which sometimes devoured them. They were as stained with sin as the Devil’s own serpents and vermin. Other than the fact of the decree of God, those sheep were essentially from the Devil’s own flock. In speaking to some of the sheep, Paul stated in Ephesians 2 – “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Christ Jesus died on the cross in order to deliver His sheep from the sheepfold of the Wicked One. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”
“The exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”? What an awesome understatement. Those exceeding riches were extended through the brutal crucifixion of Christ. That grace was bestowed upon those wicked sheep by the bloody and painful death of the Son of God.
Plainly, Jesus died on the cross in much the same way as thousands of Old Testament sacrifices had died. They died as vicarious substitutes for the people who offered them. They died in order to cover the sins of those people, according to the promise and blessing of God. When the sinner put his hands on the head of that sacrificial animal, he, by faith, was transferring his sins to that poor creature. And also in that transaction, the innocence, or righteousness, of the sacrifice was imputed to him. There was no miraculous chelation process whereby the poisons of sin were physically moved from the sinner to the sacrifice. But according to the promise of the omnipotent and righteous God, that was taking place spiritually.
And it is even more true when we begin to talk about Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Christ died specifically for His sheep. He was delivered for their offenses against the holiness of God. He bare their specific sins in His own body on the cross, and in His death He healed everyone of His sheep. Christ suffered for their sins; the just for the unjust, that he might bring His sheep to the sheep-fold of God.
There are others of course, but not one of these scriptures which I have used this morning leave any room for the idea that Jesus died for people whom He never intended to save. Christ died to actually accomplish the salvation of those specific people – the elect of God. Several verses say: “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a RANSOM for many.” What is a ransom? It is the payment which is made for the release of something under the control of someone, or something, else. In this case, all these wicked sheep were under the control of God’s holy law, and that law demanded their death. Christ died in order to pay the ransom necessary to save “many” – a specific number of people.
“Christ hath REDEEMED us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” “Who gave himself for us, that he might REDEEM us from all iniquity.” “Ye know that ye were not REDEEMED with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” What is it to redeem something? It is to recover ownership, or to become the owner, by paying a required price. The Lord Jesus went to the cross, with the specific purpose of paying the demand of the law which lay on the books against His sheep. The words “redeem” and “ransom” don’t leave room for the idea that Jesus died for everyone, but only to those smart enough to see its value is that salvation applied. In Jesus’ death He actually “redeemed” and “ransomed” those whom He intended to make His own. That was Christ’s intended reason to go to the cross.
There have been tens of thousands of sermons answering our question in words very similar to these. Many of them forget to mention that Jesus died to save His sheep, but they got that part right which said that He died to pay the price to save sinners. Unfortunately, many of them stopped right there. They don’t address Paul’s reference here in Romans 14 or in II Corinthians 5. Most sermons don’t deal with what Jesus said in John 12. Or at the very least they didn’t give these scriptures the emphasis that they deserve.
Please turn to John 12:20-24 – “And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” It might seem strange that Jesus would reply to Andrew and Philip in this way, when they told him that some Greek proselytes had come to visit Him, but if we put into its proper context, it ties together perfectly. When Jesus spoke of His glorification, He put it into the context of His death. Jesus’ death, however ugly and painful, was in some ways a glorious thing. When He arose from death 72 hours later, that was without a doubt a glorious thing. He had accomplished His purpose in saving his flock – His sheep. The man, whom the disciples had first known as “Jesus of Nazareth,” but who had always been “Christ,” was at that point the glorified Son of God. Soon He would be ascending into Heaven, to sit on His ivory throne at the right hand of the Father. Once again the angels would be bowing before him, but with an awe they didn’t have in eternity past. After his death, burial and ascension into Heaven, the glory of the Son of God was infinity more intense. I know that mathematically, infinity cannot be multiplied, but spiritually and theologically it can be. In saving tens of thousands of sinners; in sanctifying them, and glorifying them, the Lord has been glorified in ways that He could not have been glorified before. And it was for this purpose that Jesus died on the cross – for His own glory, and for the glory of the Father. At the crucifixion, the hour had come that the Son of God was glorified.
Do you remember earlier when we read from John 10, verse 16 mentioned “other sheep” and another “fold?” “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” When Andrew and Philip brought those Greeks to the Saviour, I believe that those foreigners came with the same kind of faith that Jesus’ Jewish disciples came to him. They probably didn’t become a part of the Jerusalem church, and they didn’t become close disciples. But they represented the millions of Europeans, Americans, Asians, Africans and others who throughout the ages to come would repent of their sins and bow in love and faith before this same Saviour. These were some of the sheep from Jesus’ other fold, as sheepfold was blended with sheepfold. And in the saving of both kinds of sheep, the Lord was even more glorified.
This brings us back to Paul’s statement here in Romans 14: “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.” Why did Christ die? It wasn’t so that you could be some sort of lord, ruling and reigning with Him – even though you shall. It wasn’t so that you could be glorified – even though you shall. It wasn’t so that you could spend eternity in Heaven – even though you shall, if you are saved. Christ died that HE might be LORD – with all the glory due unto Him as Saviour as well as Creator. Oh, don’t misunderstand this and think that it was only after Christ’s death that He became Lord. But He became Lord in a new and different way. Abraham was lord over all his servants and his cattle. And Sarah, his wife, also called him lord, but their relationship was entirely different. Christ is Lord over all creation in one way, but he is the Christian’s Lord in another and better way.
Let’s keep this statement within its context. Remember that some of the cliques in the Rome church were arguing about their differing opinions. Some were even going so far as to judge and condemn their opponents. But Paul wants them all to keep things in perspective. “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, that he might be Lord over all these sheep.” “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God” who is master of all of us. There is a sense in which, despite being the Creator of all things, that Christ is Lord over us, through his death, burial and resurrection. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
II Corinthians 5:14-15 says: “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” Christ died for those saints who eat all kinds of foods, and for those Christians which eat only herbs or only some kinds of meats. And He died for those believers who recognize various holy days and those who honor only the Lord’s Day. In His death for these various groups and peoples, He is their Lord, and we are all equally his subjects. Therefore we have no business acting as judges where we have been given no authority to judge. There is one Lord and one Judge – Jesus Christ who died for sin and rose again.
Why did Christ die? He died as a substitutionary sacrifice, taking the elect sinner’s place under judgment for their deliverance. He died for sin, for redemption, and as a ransom for many. And He died that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
If you have been redeemed, then it is your duty to live under the will of the Lord of Glory. Don’t worry so much about the apparent or supposed sins of others. Cease from your sin, and serve the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and body. “For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
If you have not yet repented of your sins before God, and put your faith in Christ to save you, then this is the most desperate need in your life at this moment.