Billy Graham's The Reason For My HopeSample

The Cross of Christ

God’s love determined to send Someone who would pay the most brutal penalty. That Someone is the Lord Jesus Christ. He came willingly. Jesus, the perfect Son of God—who knew no sin—chose to bear our sins Himself. The Bible says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The very fact that God sent His only Son to the cross in order to pay for sin shows that sin must be dark and black indeed in the sight of God. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). “The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins,” is the One who will “rescue us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:3–4 NIV).

This is the wonderful story of the cross. Jesus paid the debt of our sins on the cross of Calvary to free us from having to suffer the penalty due us. People have turned their souls over to Satan, but from the cross of Christ we can hear the Savior say, “I have come to rescue you . . . come to Me. I bear the weight and the marks of your sin to set you free.” He went willingly to the cross to recover the ownership of your soul. Christ paid the highest price with His precious blood to ransom all who are lost in sin.