Question 4. 

Why is the cross important?

Our sin separates us from God. “Your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,” Isaiah 59:2. Other religions offer no solution to our sin-caused separation from God. However, the death of Jesus on the cross provides the only solution … a solution that actually works. Other religions suggest that improving personal behavior is the path to salvation ... in hopes that if we are good enough, God will overlook our record of sins. We certainly can improve our moral and ethical behavior. However, that doesn’t change our record. Imagine a serial murderer asking to be pardoned because he’s been killing fewer and fewer people each year. Such a defense wouldn’t work in a courtroom ... and it won’t work with God. The penalty for our sins must be paid. God is a just God. His justice must be met. Improving our behavior isn’t enough ... that only makes our record get worse more slowly. There are what might be called horizontal sins … those directed towards our fellowman and against ourselves. In addition, there are vertical sins … those directed toward God. It is sin to spend a lifetime ignoring or rejecting God.

You may not have committed any big horizontal sins. But four sins a day for 15 years adds up to almost 22,000 sins. Six sins a day for 10 years adds up to the same number. And a lifetime of vertical sin is inexcusable. We are far from perfect. God requires payment for our sins. We can pay with our own spiritual death ... by eternal separation from God. Or we can take God’s better way. “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Romans 6:23. 

Question 4: Why is the cross important to you?

Answer: It is important because it’s the place where Jesus paid for your sins. The gift of eternal life is free to you ... but Jesus paid for it with His death on the cross. However, that gift isn’t automatically yours. The Bible states that you must do one thing.

Next >>

<< Previous