What Was Jesus Doing On The Cross?

# 5 (He was) bringing us to God 

1 Peter 3: 18 ‘Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring us to God.’ NLT, ESV 

Ephesians 2: 13, 16; Hebrews 2: 10 

One of the common misunderstandings about the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross is that through Jesus God was simply making an ‘offer’ of salvation 

An ‘offer’ that we can willingly accept or reject 

But please notice that the text does NOT say, 1 Peter 3: 18b ‘He died for sinners to make us an offer to come to God.’ 

NO, the text says, 1 Peter 3: 18b ‘He died for sinners to bring us to God.’ - big difference!    

If God were just making an ‘offer’ of salvation, no one would willingly come – no one would be saved! 

“Pastor David, why would no one willingly come”? Because in our ‘fallen’ sinful condition our heart is in full rebellion against God – in our sin we are unwilling to come to God 

The Apostle Paul describes our ‘fallen’ sinful condition in, Romans 3: 9b-10a, ‘all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, Romans 3: 11b ‘no one is seeking God.’ 

So, in our ‘fallen’ sinful condition, if we are NOT seeking God, (As the Scriptures say) then what is our relationship with God like? 

Romans 8: 7a ‘the sinful nature is always hostile to God’ 

As the famous Bible teacher Derek Prince once said, “We are rebels at war with God” 

At this point many Christians would say, “But Pastor David, when I got saved, I WAS seeking God, and I willingly gave my life to Christ” 

And I would say this, let’s not take any credit here, instead let’s give God the glory - the reason that you got saved was that Christ was bringing you to God!  

Jesus made sure that there was no misunderstanding about God’s saving grace through the cross when He said, John 6: 44 ‘For no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them to Me, and at the last day I will raise them up.’ 

The Apostle Paul put it this way, Ephesians 2: 5b, 8 ‘(It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)’, ‘God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.’    

(Pause) 

Out of this common misunderstanding about the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross some Churches have created practices that are reflective of faulty theology 

Illustration - In the mid-late 1970’s a new Church trend started in the U.S called the Seeker Sensitive Church and was promoted mainly by Pastor Bill Hybels of the Willow Creek Community Church.  

The whole idea was to create an attractive Church service for people who were ‘seeking’ after God.  

(Now, remember what the Scriptures say, Romans 11b ‘no one is seeking God.’) 

This new trend seemed to be very successful and as the Willow Creek Community Church attendance grew rapidly the trend spread all around the western world. 

(Me and Jennifer attended a Conference in Auckland with Pastor Bill Hybels) 

But in the early 2000’s the Movement realized that although their Sunday attendances had grown the ‘seekers’ weren’t getting saved!    

In 2008 the Willow Creek Community Church admitted it wasn’t working. 

Since then, the Movement has stopped ‘trending’ and today is almost unheard of. 

However, the overall idea of making the Church attractive for people who are ‘seeking’ God still remains strong in a lot of modern popular Churches

Illustration - Several years ago, a survey was done amongst Churches in the U.S and they were asked ‘What are the top 5 most important factors that help promote Church success’ 

Here are the results: 

 # 1. Appearance of the Church facilities 

# 2. Car parking capacity 

# 3. Children’s facilities 

# 4. The Church’s hospitality 

# 5. The Pastor 

It’s a little disappointing isn’t it that the Pastor came in 5th but what truly reveals our failed theology is that Jesus didn’t even make the list!? 

Let’s be reminded again that, Romans 3: 9b ‘under the power of sin’, Romans 3: 10a ‘As the Scriptures say,’ Romans 3: 11b ‘no one is seeking God.’ 

Our text says, 1 Peter 3: 18b ‘He died for sinners to bring us to God.’ 

That word ‘bring’ is very important:  

In our ‘fallen’ sinful condition, because we are unwilling to come to God, God has to ‘bring’ us to Himself. 

The word ‘bring’ (1 Peter 3: 18b) in the original language is the Greek ‘prosago’ and describes/means a determined action  

The word ‘bring’ is not a passive word like the word ‘offer’ 

In the Book of Acts Luke records the determined action of the people who ‘seized’, ‘dragged’ and ‘brought’ (prosago) Paul and Silas before the city authorities of Philippi, Acts 16: 19-20 ‘they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. They brought (prosago) them before the magistrates’ 

What Was Jesus Doing On The Cross? - (He was) bringing us to God 

The suffering and death of Christ on the cross was not simply an ‘offer’ of salvation 

God is sovereign in our salvation, by His grace He is actively determined to bring us to Himself through the suffering and death of Christ on the cross  

God does this by applying His saving grace to our unwilling hearts and produces within us the willingness to come, Romans 5: 10b ‘while we were God’s enemies we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son’ NIV, NLT 

John 16: 8; Romans 6: 4 

 What is there left to say? - Just this, 2 Corinthians 5: 20 ‘we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making His appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 

Psalm 16: 11 ‘You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever.’