If God is all-powerful and all-wise, why would he design salvation to require the suffering and death of his own son? Could he not have found another way? This Good Friday, Pastor Chip Dean brought a message that answered that question with five reasons rooted deep in scripture. Here is a recap.
The Cross Is the Center of Everything
Pastor Chip opened by pointing out something that runs through the entire Bible. From the very first pages of the Old Testament, there is a common thread. Someone is going to be sacrificed. Someone is going to suffer. Someone is going to rise. Every part of scripture is either pointing toward the cross or looking back at it.
The cross of Jesus Christ is the central point of all of history. And because of that, it should be the center of all of our lives.
Pastor Chip walked through what Jesus actually endured. The scourging. The mocking. The crown of thorns. Carrying his own cross until he collapsed under the weight. The nails through his hands and feet. Six hours hanging on the cross in excruciating pain. A word, by the way, that literally comes from the Latin word for crucifixion. Even through all of that, Jesus cried out from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
And then, right before he died, three words that changed everything forever. “It is finished.”
So why did it have to happen that way?
Reason One: So You Could Be Justified
Romans 5:1 says that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. The Greek word for justified means to be declared righteous. And here is why that matters.
None of us are righteous on our own. The Bible says even our best efforts are tainted by sin. Standing before a perfectly holy God, we are guilty. But imagine Jesus walking into the courtroom at your sentencing. Taking your punishment. And the judge declaring you righteous because of what Jesus did.
Pastor Chip added something to the familiar phrase many of us have heard. Justified does not just mean just as if I never sinned. It also means Jesus filled your account with his own righteousness. He did not just pay your debt. He gave you unlimited funds. He took your sin and gave you his righteousness in return.
Reason Two: So You Could Have Peace with God
Before Christ, the Bible says we were enemies of God. Romans 5:10 is clear about that. Every act of sin is evidence of that hostility. But through Jesus, that relationship is completely restored.
The Greek word for peace in this passage means harmony, reconciliation, and wholeness. Your relationship with God through Jesus is not hanging on by a thread. It does not depend on your performance. It rests entirely on the righteousness Jesus has already placed on your account.
Pastor Chip shared the story of missionary Don Richardson, who worked with a remote tribe in Papua New Guinea that honored betrayal above almost everything else. When war broke out between that tribe and a neighboring one, the chief did something unexpected. He handed his own infant son to the enemy chief as a peace offering. As long as that son was alive, there would be peace between the tribes. That moment became the doorway Don Richardson used to explain the gospel. God sent his son so that we could have peace with him. And that peace is real, full, and permanent.
Reason Three: Because Without Him, Salvation Is Impossible
Romans 5:6 says that while we were still weak, Christ died for the ungodly. The Greek word for weak here means powerless, incapable, helpless. We cannot save ourselves. We never could.
Pastor Chip made it personal with a story from about ten years ago. He was at his sister’s house when his youngest nephew fell into the pool fully clothed. Weighted down by his clothes, the boy could not get to the surface. He was drowning.
Pastor Chip did not stand at the edge and shout “swim harder.” He jumped in.
That is what Jesus did. He did not wait for us to get our act together first. He did not say believe in me and then I will die for you. Before we even existed, knowing we would be weak and sinful and helpless, Jesus died for us anyway. He initiated. He came to us in our weakness so we could come to him for his strength.
Reason Four: To Reconcile You to God
The Greek word for reconciliation in Romans 5:10 is katalasso. It means a full exchange for the purpose of a fully changed relationship. We gave God our sin. God gave us his son. That is the exchange.
Pastor Chip told the story of a king who was both perfectly loving and perfectly just. When a thief was brought before him and it turned out to be his own daughter, the king faced an impossible choice. He loved her. But the law required punishment. So the king stood up from his throne, walked over to his daughter, draped himself over her completely, and said start. He took her punishment himself.
That is exactly what Jesus did. He became your curse so he could bless your life. He went through your death so he could become your life. The reconciliation that happened at the cross is not partial. It is complete.
Reason Five: To Give You His Life
Romans 5:12 traces death back to Adam. One man sinned. And because of that, death spread to every person who came after him. That is the bad news.
But here is the good news. Just as death came through one man, life comes through one man too. Jesus lived perfectly, died in our place, and rose from the dead. And when you give your life to him, he gives you his life in return.
Pastor Chip put it this way. You were created to live twice but only die once. If you know Jesus, you have physical life and spiritual life. Your eternal life does not start in heaven. It starts right now. But if you reject Jesus, you live once and die twice. Once physically. Once eternally.
He closed with the image of the Titanic. When the news spread around the world, every newspaper ran the same two columns. Not who was rich and who was poor. Not who was famous and who was unknown. Just two columns. Who was saved and who was lost. There are only two kinds of people that matter in the end. Those who have given their life to Jesus and those who still need to.
Jesus died to make sure you had a way to be in that first column.
There’s a Seat for You
Good Friday is a night that reminds us how far God was willing to go for you. If you are still carrying questions, doubts, or the weight of a life that feels too broken to fix, you belong here. Jesus already took care of the hard part.
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