The Cross is not simply a lovely example of sacrificial love. Throwing your life away needlessly is not admirable โ it is wrong. Jesusโ death was only a good example if it was more than an example, if it was something absolutely necessary to rescue us. And it was. Why did Jesus have to die in order to forgive us? There was a debt to be paid โ God himself paid it. There was a penalty to be born โ God himself bore it. Forgiveness is always a form of costly suffering.
Timothy KellerThe only person who dares wake up a king at 3:00 AM for a glass of water is a child. We have that kind of access
Timothy KellerSecularism and Religion are both all about your personal performance. The Gospel is the performance of another applied to you.
Timothy Keller