WHY DID JESUS DIE FOR YOU?

 Why did Jesus die for us?

• Because he loves us.

...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV) 

But why could he not love us without having to die?

In the beginning of God's creation there was only life and no death.

God is eternal. He created the first man and woman in His own image, immortal like Himself.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 (ESV) 

But human immortality was a gift of God and this gift was not completely unconditional. 

• God also gave men and women the gift of free choice, the ability to decide, for God or against God, for life or death.

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 

but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Gen 2:16-17

Adam’s obedience meant trust and friendship with God but his disobedience would mean that he turned away from God. 

• God is the only source of life. 
• Turning away from the eternal God means eternal death.

• If we reject the giver and source of life, we reject life itself. 
• But God’s gift of immortality remains in part. If we reject the only source of life, life after death is a lonely, dark existence without God.

If you look for life apart from God, in the end there is only disappointment and endless loneliness. Other sources of life are like mirages in the desert, illusions which never provide the promised water of life.

What is sin? Mistrust and turning away from God.

Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and suddenly everything was different. They experienced shame and were afraid of God. They still believed in God but they were afraid to come near to Him as friends.

• That reminds me of many manifestations of religion, including Christian religion.

• But it was not God’s original intention to create men and women living in shame, guilt and religious intimidation.

In the beginning Adam and Eve were naked and without shame. This freedom is the opposite of traditional religion.

God is not the hard, religious judge portrayed by much preaching but He remains holy and just.

• Sin must be punished. 

If you don’t like that idea, would you like to sit next to a Hitler or Stalin in heaven?

....the soul who sins shall die. Ezekiel 18:4 (ESV) 

• We all sin. If you are not sure about that, can you say that your life measures up to the standard of goodness that Jesus showed us in His life on earth?

But God loved us so much, that He did not want to let us suffer everlasting death. He wanted to bless us in spite of our mistrust and rejection of His love. He wanted to adopt us as His sons and daughters.

• God found a way to save us from everlasting darkness without letting evil go unpunished.

God gave His own eternal son. He sent Him to be born and to live a perfect human life, to show us what God is like, full of love and goodness.

• Then Jesus offered up His perfect human life and took OUR punishment upon Himself.

...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (ESV) 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (ESV) 

When you believe in Jesus and put your life completely in His loving hands, God immediately begins to restore everything in your life which you have lost because of sin.

• Adam and Eve suffered no sickness or poverty.

• They were never depressed and could always think clearly.
• They could live in God’s presence in complete happiness as His children and friends.
• God wants to restore all of that to you.

Now you can chose to believe.

Will you now decide to receive His perfect love?