1 Corinthians 15:3

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, which I preached unto you, which also you have received and wherein you stand. By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. — 1 Corinthians 15:1–4

On the tenth anniversary of September 11, the question "why?" leads us straight to sin—and to the One who died for it.

A Date That Lives in Infamy

If I were to ask what you were doing on August 12, 2011, it's unlikely you could tell me much. If I asked what day of the week July 9, 2004 was, you'd have to check a calendar. But it's safe to say the overwhelming majority of us here today remember vividly Tuesday, September 11, 2001. Like December 7, 1941, it is a date which will ever live in infamy—not just for our nation, but for many throughout the world who watched the events of that day unfold.

We live in a time where terrible things that happen across the world are instantly streamed to us—on the radio, on TV, on the computer, and now in our own hands on a cell phone. Wherever we are, we're immediately alerted to what is happening thousands of miles away and riveted by it. In a sense, the entire community of man is touched by these wicked events.

That Tuesday morning became a defining moment for an entire generation. As I've thought about it this past week, I'm awestruck that it's been ten years. The wound is still raw. The emotions that rise when we hear the audio or see the images of that day prove how raw it still is. 2,977 lives were abruptly ended in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and many thousands more have been given in the two wars that resulted.

The Question of Why

When we consider these things—or any wicked, terrible thing in the world today—we cannot help but ask: Why? Why are there wars? Why is there terrorism? Why is peace so elusive? Some ask, why, if there is a God in heaven, has He not intervened?

The answer is so simple it comes across as offensively insulting. In Mark 7, Jesus gives in part the answer to that question. In verse 21 He says that out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. Matthew records the same: those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and defile a man.

I've been teaching through Jeremiah at the Bible college, and one of its best-known verses is Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it?" That is the testimony of man's heart. In Genesis 6, just before judgment fell upon the whole earth, God said that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart is only evil continually.

Sin Is the Cause

The reason for all suffering—terrorism, murder, theft, deceit, war, and every other deplorable wickedness—is sin. Romans 5:12 says that by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Sin is at the heart of all wickedness. Seeing the images of what we watched ten years ago clues us in to why God hates sin, because all of it is the result of sin resident in every human heart. Sin is rebellion against God's law, and it always brings about pain, destruction, and ultimately death.

Why did the terrorist attacks happen? Sin. Why did 2,977 people die that day? Sin. The answer is profoundly simple, but its simplicity comes across in an offensive way. Often when you share it, people respond: "Are you suggesting those 2,977 people died because of their sin? Were they worse sinners than those who did not die?"

No. What I'm saying is that evil in this world—terrorism, war—is symptomatic of the cancer of sin. Sin is the cause.

Were They Worse Sinners?

In Luke 13, Jesus responds to that very question, and the parallel to 2001 is incredible. In the first five verses, two newsworthy events were circulating in Jerusalem. Pilate, the Roman governor, had massacred a group of Galilean Jews who came to the temple to worship. At the same time, near the pool of Siloam, a tower had fallen and killed eighteen people.

Some who brought this to Jesus may have hoped He would rise up in political ambition against Pilate. But Jesus didn't respond that way. He asked, "Do you suppose that those Galileans were worse sinners than all the rest? I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish." And of the eighteen on whom the tower fell: "Do you think they were worse sinners than all those who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no."

When terrible things happen, we tend, like Job's friends, to assume tragedy befalls people because of their sinfulness. Job lost everything, and his three friends came, wept with him seven days, and then for thirty-four chapters essentially said: "Job, you're a nice guy, but clearly there must be some hidden sin in your life, or these things wouldn't happen to you."

The same thing happened in Acts 28. Paul, a prisoner being taken to Rome, was shipwrecked on Malta. As he gathered sticks for the fire, a venomous snake latched onto his hand. The barbarians of Malta said, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffers not to live." They reasoned that these things happen to wicked people, not good people.

The Real Question

People often ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" But Jesus' words in Luke 13 are instructive. Terrible things happen, and when we ask why, the answer—sin—is offensive, especially to someone touched by tragedy. Probably the worst thing you can say to someone in grief is, "The reason this happened is sin in the world." You'll likely end up with a black eye, and rightly so, because there's little compassion in it. Yet it remains a true theological answer.

Those who died on September 11 are no more guilty than you or I. We are all guilty. So the real question we should ask is: What should I do in light of it? Twice in Luke 13 Jesus says, "Repent." Why must we repent? Because all of us are guilty of sin and deserve death.

Isaiah 53:6 says, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way." Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 6:23: "The wages of sin is death." Ezekiel 18:4: "The soul that sins, it shall die." Ten out of ten people die. That statistic is terrifying, which is why many would rather not think about death—they don't want to attend a funeral or watch memorials like those today, because it forces the recognition that death comes for all.

God Has Intervened

That realization brings us to the question we get as Christians: Why, if there is a God in heaven, has He not intervened? The answer is, He has. Back to our text, 1 Corinthians 15: "Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel... how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."

"Christ died for our sins" is a provocative statement, and it is only true if Jesus rose from the dead—which we'll consider in our next study. The resurrection proves the statement true. With our remaining time, I want to unpack it.

Christ Died

We've already seen that all have sinned, and the wages of sin is death. So the death of Christ may not seem intriguing—until we realize the Scriptures reveal He never sinned and was therefore undeserving of death.

Hebrews 4:15 says we have a high priest who was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 7:26 says He is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says He knew no sin. 1 Peter 2:22, quoting Isaiah 53:9, says He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. 1 John 3:5 says He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin.

So Jesus died, though He was without sin. It is the wages of sin that is death, so He did not deserve to die. Why, then, did He die?

He Died for Our Sins

He died for our sins, bringing in the new covenant. In Matthew 26:28 Jesus said, "This is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Romans 3:24 says we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation—an atonement, a sacrifice—for our sins.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Ephesians 1:7: in Him we have redemption through His blood. Galatians 1:4: He gave Himself for our sins.

Hebrews 10:11–12 says every priest stands daily offering the same sacrifices that can never take away sins, but this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God—declaring by that position that the work of salvation is finished, just as Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished." 1 Peter 3:18: "Christ also has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God." And in 1 John 2:1, John says we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who is the propitiation for our sins—and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.

According to the Scriptures

We're told this is in accordance with the Scriptures. The Old Testament makes clear that one needed to die for the atonement of sin. Hebrews 9:22 says, "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins." The Pentateuch makes plain that sacrifice is required to deal with sin, yet none of the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant could fully take away sin. Hebrews makes clear those sacrifices were insufficient to remove the punishment, power, and presence of sin.

Thus the prophets foretold a sinless suffering servant who would fully deal with sin's penalty and make a way of escape from its power and presence. Isaiah 53, written 700 years before Jesus came, says: "He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed."

Daniel 9, written 500 years before Jesus, prophesies that seventy weeks are determined "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness." This is what the Messiah does. After sixty-two weeks, "shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself"—not because of His own sin.

The Joy We Have

Christ died to save us from our sins—from the punishment we should have received, from the power of sin, and ultimately one day from the presence of sin. Because of what He did on the cross, we shall one day live in the presence of God, separated from sin and its effects. There will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more wars, no more terrorism—it will all be done away with, because there will be no more sin.

Sin is terrible and dreadful, and its effects are visible. We watch them unfold instantly on the news. There is not a single person in this world untouched by the reality of sin. But God has intervened. He is there, and He has made a way to deal with sin. This is our joy: first, that we can know that way; second, that we can make that way known. There are many in our families, among our friends, throughout our community who need to know it. Events like the one ten years ago bring it to the forefront and give us great opportunity.

Several in our church knew Captain Tom McGinnis, who flew Flight 11. For several years he lived here and attended a church in Vista; he was a Christian. In the midst of this tragedy the testimonies are abundant of how God used believers to share His grace at the moment just before life ceased. I'm certain that when they breathed their last in this world, they breathed their first breath in the next and heard, "Well done, good and faithful servant." It is my hope—and I'm sure many of you share it—that you will hear the same. May we recognize we are living on borrowed time, and may we live in a way that makes it clear we believe that.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank You for life. When we memorialize those who have died, we cannot help but be thankful for the life we have, even if in the midst of that thanks there is a tiny bit of guilt. Most here have experienced and are experiencing the life more abundantly that You promised. But Father, I know that in this place right now there are some who are terrified of death because they do not know You—the life, the way, the truth. Would You draw those individuals this morning, that they would come to know You and confess You as their Savior?

Jesus, You are the only way, and Father, You have made a way; You have intervened. There may be some here today who have not yet received the gracious gift of salvation found only in Christ Jesus. The Spirit of God is convicting you of sin, of God's righteousness, and of the judgment of death, and God calls you to receive Him and the gift He offers. If that's you, when we dismiss, don't leave this place without coming forward to talk with myself or one of the other pastors. We'd love to share with you about Jesus.

Father, as we consider the terrorist attacks of 2001, we pray for peace, and we pray for the day when You, the Prince of Peace, set in order all that is out of order. We look forward to the day when You rule and reign with power, when there is no more tears, death, suffering, or war. So we say, come, Lord Jesus, quickly. But until You do, would You stir us with a passion to share the truth of the gospel with those who have not yet come to the knowledge of the truth? We ask in Jesus' name, amen.