When we consider the message of Easter and think of the cross of Christ, we know that we should understand why the cross was necessary, and who is actually responsible for what took place.

1. ACCEPTING OUR RESPONSIBILITY MEANS THAT WE ACKNOWLEDGE OUR GUILT
   1. AVOIDING THE BLAME
      --People hate to take the blame and avoid it any way they can.
      1. No One Is Responsible
         --In a country with "no fault divorce" and insurance policies with "no fault" clauses, it is easy to see how some people avoid blame by calling it just tough luck, a bad break, "the way things go."

      2. Everyone Is Responsible
         --Although as we shall see in a moment, there is truth in this statement, some have tried to use it to excuse themselves, to plead their case for corporate guilt and therefore no individual responsibility.

      3. You, Or They, Are Responsible
         --In Matthew 27, two times we see an effort to avoid taking responsibility, first from the chief priests and the elders, then from Pilate,

         Matthew 27:4 (NIV); Matthew 27:24 (NIV)

         --Avoiding personal blame allows us to feel less responsible, provides a way to feel less guilty, to feel that it is not our fault.

   2. ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR SIN
      --Passing the buck, many have tried not only to avoid the blame for the death of Christ but pick out someone upon whom to place that blame.

      Judas	Roman Soldiers
      Jewish Leaders	Everyone Else
      Pilate

      --Our sin made it necessary for Christ to die for a number of reasons:

      1. The Offense against God's Glory
         --Our sin stands as such an awful affront and offense to the glory of God that nothing less than the sacrificial death of His own Son could sufficiently appease His wrath against that sin.

         --There is such infinite value and eternal worth in God's glory that anything that we dare to exchange for His glory brings His condemnation.

         Romans 1:23

         --If we see our sin only as a slight mistake or understandable, excusable slip-up, we will not understand why such a small matter would require such a drastic solution as the cross.

         --However, if we realize that God's passion for the glory of His name has been insulted and challenged by our rebellious independence, we can grasp better why nothing less than Jesus' blood would do to reaffirm the infinite value of God's glory.

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      You and I are responsible!
      2. The Ruin of God's Design
         --Sin was not only an offense to the glory of God, but the ruin of His design for His creation.--Sin effectively ruined the relationship the Lord intended for us to have with Him, even ruined the place and the others in that place.

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      You and I are responsible!
      3. The Loss of God's Favor
         --When sin entered, God's favor exited and with His favor went His peace, joy, love and most of all the delight He once took in those created in His image.--God wants to restore His favor, but sin has effectively destroyed any right we have to that favor and left us dependent upon the intercession of Another for that favor to return.

         --Therefore, the depth of that loss requires a solution that has sufficient depth to uproot the cause of the problem.

         --God is certainly not responsible for what we do to disappoint Him, to displease Him, to disturb His desire to look upon us with favor...we have lost His favor in what we have done, in how we have sinned!

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      You and I are responsible!
      4. The Abandonment of God's Freedom
         --God calls us to live in freedom, to be free in all the earth to enjoy the glory of God in creation, to be free to live without anxiety or worry.--God created us to walk in the light of His will, free from the careful, guarded, tense steps taken in darkness.

         --Hearing the will of the Lord but choosing to ignore it, reading the truth of the Word but choosing not to believe it, seeking the mind of Christ but choosing to think differently, we have abandoned the freedom of His light and have settled for the bondage of a personal captivity to a prison of our own making.

         --In Christ, we know the truth and the truth makes us free, but when we persist in sin, we lock ourselves to the walls of the dungeon of desperate captivity.

         --Only Christ can break the chains that bind us by taking those chains upon Himself in love so that we might be freed through His death on our behalf.--We ourselves chose the chains that made it necessary for the Lord God to send a chain-breaker!

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      You and I are responsible!

2. ASSUMING HIS RESPONSIBILITY MEANS THAT HE ACCOMPLISHES HIS PURPOSE
   --We are responsible for our own sin but God takes the responsibility for the cross of Jesus Christ.
   1. THE PURPOSE OF THE CROSS
      
      1. Fulfilling God's Plan for Our Redemption
         --God Himself decreed from all eternity that Christ must die, knowing as He did that our sin would need to be forgiven and as sinners we would need to be restored.

         Acts 2:23

      2. Affirming the Infinite Worth of His Glory
         --So great and astounding is the glory of God that both the Father and the Son affirm its infinite value by what took place on the cross.

         --That the Father loves His own glory is everywhere evident in both the world and the Word, but when that glory was offended and shadows were cast upon it by the sins of His people, we discover the depth of the Son's love for His Father's glory as well.--Christ died in order to bring back the glory that was lost, to assure that divine justice was served and that sin was rightfully and severely punished by death.

         --Therefore, Jesus went to the cross knowing that what He was doing accomplished the eternal purpose of glorifying the name of His Father.

         John 12:27-28

   2. THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION
      --Through the cross, God canceled the power of sin by raising Jesus from the dead.
      1. Breaking the Power of Sin over Man
         --Not only could death not keep Him in the tomb, sin no longer has power over those who share in the power of the resurrection, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

      2. Restoring the Glory of God in Man
         --The resurrection restored the glory of God to the heart and life of those who put their trust in Jesus Christ. --All that had been relinquished through our sin has been restored through the living Savior, the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.