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Dr. A. W. Tozer gave the following illustration in his sermon on Noah:

Many people around us are moved by their emotions, but they are not moved enough to do anything that matters…But we should be moved and we should be stirred by eternal realities. Noah was moved - and he moved on to do that which was right and important.

I once heard a very fine…preacher, describe what he had found in the emotional responses of an audience. He said he had told the story of a faithful old sheep dog. In the midst of a great storm, the [sheep] herder knew that "young lambs were missing. Once, twice, three times he sent Old Shep, the dog, out for the missing lambs. And again and again, until the weary but faithful dog had returned with 10 of the lambs.

Once again the master took Old Shep to the door. "One more, Shep, one more," he said. "Bring him in!" The dog, utterly exhausted, went out into the storm again. Much later he returned, bearing the missing lamb. The old dog slowly placed the weak, wet lamb on the floor, then slumped to the floor himself.

As the shepherd finished caring for the stray lamb, he turned to Old Shep to express his gratitude. But it was too late. Shep was dead. The faithful dog had given his all to rescue the lambs.

The preacher who was describing his telling of the story said his audience was in tears as he finished. To that audience, then, he made the gospel application, deliberately and intentionally. He told of the faithfulness of [Jesus] the Son of Man as He was led to Calvary. He described the kind of love that motivated Jesus to die on Calvary's Cross.

"I painted the picture of Jesus as vividly as I could," said the preacher in recounting the experience. "I let the Savior hang there for men and women to see."

And what was the result? "An obvious look of strong indifference came over those people," the preacher concluded. "They had been moved by the story of the faithful dog. They had been moved to tears. But the Savior's dying on the cross? They had heard that before - and they were no longer stirred by it."

Yes, Noah had feelings. Noah was stirred. But he did not stand still, wondering and debating. He was moved to face the consequences in the glare of an unbelieving and godless generation.

Noah went out to the hillside and began the long, weary task of building the ark (A. W. Tozer, Jesus, the Author of Our Faith, Christian Publications, 1988, pp. 36-38).

As I read Dr. Tozer's sermon on Noah, I realized that he made an important point: we must be moved and stirred to action by the thought of what Jesus did for us when He died for our sins on the Cross. The Bible says:

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

But most of us have heard this so many times that it no longer moves us emotionally.

When that preacher moved away from telling about a dog that died saving some sheep, and told about Jesus dying for our sins, those people looked down and let their minds wander. The death of Christ? They had heard that before. "And they were no longer stirred by it."

How about you? Can I get you to see the importance of the death of Christ in a new way tonight? If you have never been converted, I hope so. Because, my unconverted friend, you will never be truly saved until you begin to see how important the death of Christ is for you.

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

What does that sentence mean? What does it mean that He died for your sins? I am going to tell you three things that the death of Christ did for you - if you trust Him in a true conversion experience.

1. First, Jesus died to reconcile you to God.

2. Second, Jesus died to propitiate God's wrath against you.

3. Third, Jesus died to justify you in the sight of God.

I. First, Jesus died to reconcile you to God.

The Bible says, "The carnal [unconverted] mind is enmity against God [is hostile toward God]" (Romans 8:7). Lightfoot tells us "The hostility is represented not as on the part of God, but of man" (J. B. Lightfoot, Notes on the Epistles of Paul, p. 288).

In nearly forty-four years of ministry I have never found a single exception to this - every person I have spoken with is hostile to God before conversion. This may be hidden hostility. The unconverted person may say it isn't true of him. But such a person has deceived himself. In fact, you are hostile to God, against God, in your mind - in some way. The Bible says:

"And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind …" (Colossians 1:21).

This hostility that you have in your mind toward God may take many forms. It may be that your heart disagrees with what God says in the Bible. It may be that your heart is rebellious against God's demands. It may be that your heart rebels against the pastor, or leaders in the church, whom God has sent to lead you. It may be that your heart rebels against God because you want to commit some sin. It may be that your heart rebels against God because you know that He wants you to do something that you are unwilling to do. The windings of the human heart are deep and subtle. The Bible teaches that God created man in the Garden of Eden without sin, "But they [mankind] have sought out many inventions" (Ecclesiastes 7:29). Of fallen man, the Bible says:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9).

"They obeyed not…but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart" (Jeremiah 11:8).

Until you see that your heart is in rebellion against God, there is no hope for you to be truly converted. When you are awakened by the Holy Spirit, you will begin to see how tricky and rebellious your heart really is. Only then will you begin to see why Jesus had to die on the Cross to reconcile you to the God your heart rebelled against. Only then will these words begin to seem important to you:

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

Then, when you see your heart's rebellion, this verse will awaken great feeling within you:

"When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son…" (Romans 5:10).

God has sent preachers, deacons, and other Christians to persuade you to be reconciled to God. "We pray you in Christ's stead [on behalf of Christ], be ye reconciled to God" (II Corinthians 5:20). I am here, as an ambassador of Christ, to tell you about "God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (II Corinthians 5:18).

When you are converted, you will "have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

"When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son" (Romans 5:10).

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3) to bring us to God, so we will no longer be His enemies.

Only when you are converted through the death of Christ will you stop being an enemy of God.

Search your heart. Look for rebellion against God. Examine yourself carefully. Nothing is more important. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself. Look for your rebellion until you find it. Then come to Christ and He will reconcile you to God.

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

II. Second, Jesus died to propitiate God's wrath against you.

There are many verses in the New Testament that show God's anger against you for your sins. For instance:

"He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).

"But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God" (Romans 2:5).

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened…and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Revelation 20:12).

At the Last Judgment, you will stand before the throne of God. God's books will be opened. Your name will be read. All of your sins are recorded in those books. Your sins will be read - and your sins will condemn you to Hell for all eternity, "cast into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15).

I can assure you, my unconverted friend, that you will experience the full wrath of God when you are condemned to the Lake of Fire for your sins.

But our text says:

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

Jesus Christ died on the Cross to pay the penalty for your sins. If you come to Christ, His Blood will blot your sins out of that book, and God will never see them!

"The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin"

(I John 1:7).

Jesus died on the Cross "to make reconciliation [propitiation] for the sins of the people" (Hebrews 2:17). The word "propitiation" is from the Greek word "hilaskomai," which means "to appease" ( Vine's Expository Dictionary, p. 223). God's anger is appeased by the death of Christ. The wrath of Almighty God fell on Jesus Christ - on the Cross. If you put your full trust in Christ, God's anger cannot fall on you - because it already fell on Christ! The Bible says:

"Christ Jesus, whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood…" (Romans 3:24-25).

As Charles Wesley put it:

Five bleeding wounds He bears, Received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers, They strongly plead for me;
"Forgive him, O forgive," they cry, "Nor let that ransomed sinner die!
Nor let that ransomed sinner die!"

My God is reconciled, His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child, I can no longer fear…

("Arise, My Soul, Arise" by Charles Wesley, 1707-1788).

"And he [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins…" (I John 2:2).

Well might the sun in darkness hide, And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker, died For man, the creature's sin.

("Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed?" by Isaac Watts, 1674-1748).

"But," you may say, "Why would God pour out His anger on His own Son?" God did that because it was the only way for Him to "be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

III. Third, Christ died to justify you in the sight of God.

The Bible says:

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him" (Romans 5:8-9).

You can be justified in the sight of God by the Blood of Jesus, His Son. Justification is legal acquittal from guilt by God, the judge, in which God pronounces the sinner as righteous when he believes in Jesus. As Joseph Hart put it - and I have quoted this verse of his hymn more than any other, because it perfectly shows justification through faith in Jesus - Joseph Hart said:

The moment a sinner believes,
And trusts in his crucified God,
His pardon at once he receives,
Redemption in full through His Blood.

("The Moment a Sinner Believes" by Joseph Hart, 1712-1768).

Or, as Erdman Neumeister put it:

Now my heart condemns me not, Pure before the law I stand,
He who cleansed me from all spot, Satisfied its last demand.

Christ receiveth sinful men, Even me with all my sin,
Purged from every spot and stain, Heaven with Him I enter in.

("Christ Receiveth Sinful Men" by Erdman Neumeister, 1671-1756,
   translated by Emma F. Bevan, 1827-1909).

Or, as Robert Lowry put it:

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.

("Nothing But the Blood" by Robert Lowry, 1826-1899).

Or, as Dr. A. W. Tozer put it:

Christ by His death on the cross made it possible for the sinner to exchange his sin for Christ's righteousness (A. W. Tozer, That Incredible Christian, Christian Publications, 1964, p. 32).

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

Come to Christ! Throw yourself on Him! Be cleansed from your sins by His Blood! Be reconciled to God by His Blood! Be saved from Hell by His Blood! Be justified by His Blood! Get into Heaven by His Blood! Come to Christ! Come to Christ! Come to Christ!

Scripture Read Before the Sermon: Romans 5:1-11.
Solo Sung Before the Sermon by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "Oh, What a Fountain"

by Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980).

"Christ died for our sins" (I Corinthians 15:3).

I.   To reconcile you to God, Colossians 1:21;
Ecclesiastes 7:29; Jeremiah 17:9; Jeremiah 11:8;
Romans 5:10; II Corinthians 5:20, 18; Romans 5:1.

II.  To propitiate God's wrath against you, John 3:36;
Romans 2:5; Revelation 20:12, 15; I John 1:7;
Hebrews 2:17; Romans 3:24-25; I John 2:2;
Romans 3:26.

III. To justify you in the sight of God, Romans 5:8-9.