“He Decided to Die”

(as sung by LaBarbara Whitehead and the Donald Vails Choraleers)



by Margaret Pleasant Douroux

When Jesus hung on Calvary,
People came from miles to see.
They said, “If you be the Christ,
Come down, and save your life!”
But Jesus, He never answered them,
For He knew that Satan was tempting Him.
If He had come down from the cross,
My soul would still be lost.

He would not come down from the cross just to save Himself;
He decided to die just to save me.

The cross, hell, and the glory of God

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested…the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction [between Jew and Gentile]: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

Wayne Grudem, in explaining this passage, says the following:

“In the cross we have a clear demonstration of the reason God punishes sin: if he did not punish sin he would not be a righteous God, and there would be no ultimate justice in the universe. But when sin is punished, God is showing himself to be a righteous judge over all, and justice is being done in his universe.” [Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), p. 510.]

I think, in Dr. Grudem’s statement, we have not only an explanation for the cross of Christ, but an explanation for hell, also. Hell, like the cross, demonstrates that God is righteous and that there is ultimate justice in the universe. Both hell and the cross show forth the glory of God.

My Soul Loves Jesus

These kinds of songs and hymns, sung in the inimitable style of the Black Church, move me like no others can. They “take me back”, causing me to reflect on the journey. Jesus has “brought me a mighty long way” (as the old folks would say), by His grace. I owe Him thanks; thanks is due Him. I thank the Lord Jesus for His life, His death, His rising again. My soul does love Jesus, but I love Him because He first loved me.

Listen…and reflect…and worship.

“At the Cross”

“Down At the Cross”

“Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross”

“Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior”

“He Will Carry You Through” (“Yield Not To Temptation”)

“Oh, How I Love Jesus”

“My Soul Loves Jesus”

Good Friday

For the last three or four years, part of my observance of Good Friday has included attending the noonday service at an Episcopal Church in our area, where the main feature has been their choir’s performance (in English) of one of J.S. Bach’s settings of the Gospel Passion narratives (minus the solo arias). This year, the choir performed Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew.

I think Bach’s Passions are rich musical and spiritual experiences. The majority of the text is taken from the Gospel narrative with verses from chorales (hymns that would have been familiar to Bach’s original audience) inserted periodically throughout the work. I easily found myself meditating on what my Savior suffered for “us sinners and our salvation”.

There was one chorale verse, in particular, which stood out in my mind, and caused me to reflect on my own sin:

’Tis I who should, repenting, in torture unrelenting, endure the pains of Hell. The bands with which they bound Thee, and all wrongs around Thee, were by my soul deserved full well.

Jesus said, “I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:15). It was for those who trust in Him, that Christ died. He didn’t deserve execution, but the “torture” and “pains of Hell…were by my soul deserved full well.” That why I have to wonder how it is that I can continue to sin against God? Does Christ’s suffering and death mean nothing to me? Sometimes, I wish the old Holiness Methodist doctrine of “entire sanctification” (or “sinless perfection”) was true! I wish it was somehow possible to eradicate the sin nature. But, unfortunately, it’s not possible. Unfortunately, I sin because sin is “in me that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18).

“For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Romans 7:18-20).

With Paul, I cry, “O wretched man that I am!” (Romans 7:24 KJV), and my heart is filled with shame.

However, upon further reflection, my heart is also filled with grateful rejoicing, because every sin I commit is one for which Jesus has already died. I’m reminded that God already knew about all the sins you or I would commit when He determined to send Jesus to die in our place. I’m reminded that Jesus died not only for sins past and present, but He also died for sins yet to be committed. The blood Jesus shed almost 2,000 years ago made atonement for sins I commit today. Thankfully, God is not the god of the “Open Theists”—one who has no idea what the future holds. Absolutely not!

“I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10).

God knows all things. Ephesians 1:4 records that “[the Father] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world…” We who trust in Christ do so because God declared “from the beginning” that we would be His. To accomplish our salvation, the guilt of every sin that we would ever commit was laid on Jesus. Jesus drank from the cup of God’s wrath against sin and, as C.J. Mahaney wrote, left nothing in that cup for His people to drink—He drank it all!1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).

“So, admit you’re the worst sinner you know. Admit you’re unworthy and deserve to be condemned. But don’t stop there! Move on to rejoicing in the Savior who came to save the worst of sinners. Lay down the luggage of condemnation and kneel down in worship at the feet of Him who bore your sins.”2


Mark Lauterbach provides some more reflection on what Good Friday is all about, right here.


1C.J. Mahaney, Christ Our Mediator: Finding Passion at the Cross (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publisher, Inc., 2004), p. 57.

2C.J. Mahaney, The Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2002), p. 44

(Both books are now combined in C.J. Mahaney’s Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing. Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers, Inc., 2006.)