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Sermon Notes for October 5, 2025

Luke 23:26-49

Why Did Jesus Die? The Message and Meaning of the Cross

Pastor Jim Thomas

Parallel accounts:

• Matthew 27:27-54
• Mark 15:16-41
• John 19:16-30

Who was responsible for the death of Christ?

“Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.”
– Ephesians 1:4-5

“Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.”
– 2 Timothy 1:9

“Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.”
– 1 Peter 1:18-20

Luke 23:26-49:

• The predictions of the cross
• The people near the cross
• The paradox of the cross
• The power of the cross

“The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
– Matthew 20:28 & Mark 10:45

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
– Romans 5:8

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”
– Romans 5:10

“The gospel is that I am so sinful that Jesus had to die for me, yet so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me. This leads to deep humility and deep confidence at the same time. I can’t feel superior to anyone, and yet, I have nothing to prove to anyone.”
– Tim Keller

“Redeeming love and retributive justice joined hands, so to speak, at Calvary, for there God showed Himself to be ‘just’ and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus.”
– J. I. Packer, Knowing God

“When we look at the cross we see the justice, love, wisdom and power of God. It is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed, whether the justice of God in judging sin, or the love of God in bearing the judgment in our place, or the wisdom of God in perfectly combining the two, or the power of God in saving those who believe. For the cross is equally an act, and therefore a demonstration, of God’s justice, love, wisdom and power.”
– John Stott, The Cross of Christ

How will you respond to the Cross of Christ?

The religious leaders hated Jesus
Judas betrayed Jesus
Peter denied Jesus
The disciples abandoned Jesus
The crowds were fickle toward Jesus
Pilate tried to wash his hands of Jesus
Barabbas got set free at the expense of Jesus
The Roman soldiers mocked and abused Jesus
Simon, the Cyrene served Jesus
The two thieves argued over Jesus
The Roman centurion came to believe in Jesus
The women remained faithful to Jesus

“The love that sent Christ to the cross is not drawn out of God from the outside, but it overflows him, so to speak, from the inside. God loves us, because God is love, not because of our qualities, and not in the abstract.”
-Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible‘s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture

“The problem with most of us – the very reason we don’t love one another, we wear masks and are so dishonest – is that at the cross, we only got saved we didn’t stay around to get loved. When you get saved, don’t leave; stay there until you’ve gotten loved as well. It’s at Christ’s cross where we find that kind of love.”
–Steve Brown, Key Life Magazine

Prayer for God’s Salvation:

Dear God,
I confess that I am a sinner and that I have turned away from You. I admit that I have gone my own way and have broken Your holy law.
I now turn away from my sin and turn back to You for grace and mercy. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for dying in my place on the cross and paying the price for my sins, once and for all.
Holy Spirit, make me new—wash me clean by Your amazing grace and cause me to be born again. From this day forward, I want to follow Jesus and live in union with Christ. Renew my mind, transform my heart, and redirect my desires. Give me the faith, the will and the courage to walk in Your ways all the days of my life.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.