Cross Words
WHY THE CROSS? PART ONE Pastor Mark Johnson March 1, 2015

Matthew 28:18
These are the funds needed to meet our commitments this year:

Home Missions Foreign Missions

Celebration week Projects

Total

Romans 3:20

$1,850 a month $9,706 a month

approximately

Convoy of Hope Cuba Church Argentina Church

$22,200 a year $116,472 a year

$21,000 a year

$25,000 $7,000 $15,000

$206,672

We are now turning our attention to the work of Christ on the cross and to Easter.

Are you grateful for mercy?
Would you rather live in a world of mercy or justice?

Christianity is embedded in our culture. We have taken the bits and pieces of it that we like and have made them our own, all the time ignoring other parts of the Bible.

For instance, we embrace “God is love.” And He is.

We make statements like, “A loving God would not send anyone to Hell.”

Here is where we mess up: He is a loving God, but He is also a just God.

Romans 8:37–39 (ESV)

Whatever pain you are in,
Whatever loss you have taken,
Whatever bill you owe,
God in His richness says, “I will take care of that.”

Hebrews 1:1–3 (NKJV)

Whatever pain you have caused,
Whatever loss you are guilty of causing, Whatever bill you owe,
God in His mercy says, “I will take care of that.”

Here is the big issue: Our sins against others are also sins against God. Our nature is a nature of sin. Sin is our default setting.

God’s justice has to be answered before God’s love can be given.

The cross was required to answer justice. Jesus purges the sin of anyone who comes to Him, and to all who feel the pain of injustice, He will give the life of a conqueror.

John 14:6 (ESV)