1. Was There No Other Way? A COMMON QUESTION
Have you ever wondered if there was some other way that God could have used to save sinners besides the death of Jesus?
If we concede that His death was necessary, did it have to include the gruesome suffering we see on the cross?
Yes they were necessary

2. INTRODUCTION Galatians 3
vs One broken commandment under the law left one condemned by that law
vs Emphasizes the fact that law alone was never intended to provide forgiveness
vs God will provide a means for forgiveness and those who trust in this will be forgiven
AN EXPOSITION ON THE LAW’S INABILITY TO SAVE THE SINNER
vs speak to the purpose of the Old Law and the reality of any attempt to be forgiven of sins on the basis of law keeping (perfect performance)
vs. 10 is a quotation of Dt 27:26 which concludes the curses pronounced at Mt. Ebal, the point of the quotation is to demonstrate the reality that one broken commandment under the law left one condemned by that law
vs. 12 comes back to this idea again emphasizing the fact that law alone (and by this we mean obedience to law alone) was never intended to provide forgiveness
vs. 11 quotes Hab 2:4, which emphasizes the fact that it is God that will provide a means for forgiveness and those who trust in this will be forgiven

3. Why the Cross WHY THE CROSS? Necessary due to the holy nature of God
Reveals truths about man’s intended purpose
Demonstrates the horrific nature of sin
WHY THE CROSS
Redemption through death was necessary due to the holy nature of God
Redemption through death demonstrates certain truths about man’s intended purpose
The suffering of Christ causes us to see the horrific nature of sin

4. The Cross and the Holy God
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION??
What is required of a person to saved from their sins?
The condition of salvation has always been faith that God would provide the redemptive sacrifice - Gal 3:6-9
Why did there have to be a sacrifice at all?
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION??
A consistent point of contention between religious people revolves around precisely what is required of a person to saved from their sins
Some would say nothing, others some combination of faith and repentance, others speak of faith demonstrated by obedience. Even among those who say “nothing” there is typically a realization that not all men will be saved.
Much of Paul’s point in Galatians is to demonstrate that the conditions of salvation had always been faith that God would provide the redemptive sacrifice - Gal 3:6-9
But this leaves us with the question - why did there have to be a sacrifice at all?

5. The Cross and the Holy God
CONDITIONS OF SALVATION??
Why did there have to be a sacrifice at all?
God is Holy
God is the Just Redeemer
GOD IS HOLY
Lev 19:1-4 - Holiness is central to the character of God, it is His holiness that in effect governs how He exercises His other attributes
For instance God has the ability to destroy the world by water, but He has promised not to do so thus His holiness will not allow for Him lie
This same holiness would not allow God to simply ignore our guilt, but required a sacrifice of the same severity as the violation itself - this sacrifice is our redemption
THE JUST REDEEMER
Rom 6:23 - sin brings death, this is an unavoidable truth of scripture that is a consequence of our creation (more on that in next main point)
Rom 3: The death of Christ was the only way in which God could redeem us and remain holy
Understanding this aids us in seeing that the means of salvation is no trivial manner…if God Himself had not other choice why would we think that we can alter the plan on any level?

6. The Cross and the Image of God
Sin brings death
An arbitrary line?
At the cross we see man’s purpose perfectly fulfilled - Heb 10:4-9
THE CROSS AND THE IMAGE OF GOD
SIN BRINGS DEATH
This speaks to some degree to the nature of mankind
We are made in the image of God with the purpose of showing His likeness in this world - Gen 1:26-27
God’s desire is that we love Him and be in fellowship with Him and so He gave men law that they might choose Him for themselves
Sin violates these purposes separating us from God and thus “the wages of sin is death”
AN ARBITRARY LINE??
It seems that some people feel that “sin” is an arbitrary term used to describe things that people intensely dislike
We may demonstrate this by ignoring those things that the Bible says are sinful ex. we may get upset over homosexuality while not feeling the same disdain for other sexual sins
We may treat one individual who commits a sin one way and another who commits the same sin differently
In reality, there is nothing arbitrary about sin, it is a violation of divine law and violation of God’s nature
God cannot lie (Heb 6:18), thus any sort of dishonesty, covenant breaking, or unfaithfulness is abhorrent to God
God is love (1Jn 4:8) - Thus any sort of abuse of another, outburst of wrath, selfishness, etc. is a violation of God’s nature
God is one, thus any act which pollutes His worship, waters down His message or divides our loyalties is sinful
Sin is not a human invention it is a violation of God’s law
We talk about objective standards, however we often create and alter our own “objective standards”
However, with God’s divine law there is not variance - Heb 13:8
AT THE CROSS WE SEE MAN MEETING HIS PURPOSE
Heb 10:4-9— The Hebrew writer presents a beautiful argument as to why Jesus alone could atone for the sins of mankind
He alone gave God what was needed - obedience from a willing heart
His obedience was seen on the cross as He brought together the needs of man and the will of God

7. THE CROSS AND THE NATURE OF SIN
The curse of the Law is condemnation
Jesus became a curse for us
The horror of sin is seen in the redemptive price
THE CROSS AND THE NATURE OF SIN
THE CURSE OF LAW - GAL 3:10
We have already noticed that the role of law is to point out sin to the sinner
The “curse" of Gal 3 is bondage to that sin, the fact that we cannot find liberation from that sin through keeping more laws
vs “no one is justified by the Law before God”
JESUS BECAME A CURSE FOR US - VS.13
The quotation here is from Dt 21:22-23 and refers to the treatment of the body of one killed by stoning. The Jews applied the principle to crucifixion as well (Jn 19:31)
Paul is precise in his language: “being made a curse for us.”
Trench notes (as per Willis) that the prepositional phrase “for us” bears the sense of “on our behalf” and “in our stead.”
Jesus became a curse not because of anything which He did, but to take our place. He suffered on our
The point is that Jesus paid the redemption price (death) that we could not pay because of our guilt
(3) God accepts His death as sufficient for our sins. He is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11‒12)
THE HORROR OF SIN IS SEEN IN THIS REDEMPTION PRICE
Too often we want to sanitize the cross, but much like the rivers of blood that would have been part of the OT the suffering of Christ points us to the despicable nature of sin
Do we see the reality of violating God’s law? Do we see sin as death? Do we realize that we put our Lord and Savior on that cross, that it was for us that He suffered that agony?