Mankind SS

What Mankind was without Christ:

Last week we studied being saved by God’s grace & not by works (or even faith + works). We did that by looking at a couple key passages on this from Eph 2 & Titus 3 great sections of God’s grace to save sinners. Today we’re going to look at Mankind but 1^st we gonna go back to Eph 2 & Titus 3 to remind us of God’s view of us before Christ (or without Christ).

Read Eph 2:1-3 – dead, followed the world, followed devil, obeyed our passions & desires,       children of wrath, like all Mankind.

Read Titus 3:3 – foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves of sin

The OT (Jer 17:9) says even our hearts are wicked, Romans 3:10 & Psalms 143:2 says no one is good, not even 1. In judging mankind God says in Judges 21:25 every man did that which was right in his own eyes….That’s not a complement. 

Now lets read about what Mankind is, in Christ

Read: BFM200 Mankind – Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the beginning mankind was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice mankind sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan mankind transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring mankind into His holy fellowship and enable mankind to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created mankind in His own image, and in that Christ died for mankind; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

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Question: "What does it mean to be a man or woman of God?" -  Answer: “Man of God” is the description given to a man that follows God in every way, who obeys His commands with joy, who does not live for the things of this life but for the things of eternity, who willingly serves his God in giving freely of all his resources yet gladly suffers as a consequence of his faith. Perhaps Micah 6:8 sums up the man of God in one neat verse; it says: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

Most of all, the man of God understands that when our Lord commanded him to "be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48); the man of God knows that his new nature is that of the righteousness of Christ which was exchanged for our sinful nature at the cross (2 Corinthians 5:17; Philippians 3:9). The final result is that he walks humbly with his God, knowing that he must rely solely upon Him to be able to live to the full and persevere to the end.

Perhaps the Christian today is lacking in these qualities, but this is what simple religion is all about—the simple religion that is yet sufficient to please God: helping those in distress and keeping oneself from being polluted by the world (James 1:23). We can have an awareness of all biblical doctrines, we can know all the theological terms, we may be able to translate the Bible from the original Greek and so on, but the principle of Micah 6:8 is the principle that the man of God must follow: to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.

The difference between human heroes and sacred characters lies just in this: the man is just a man, but behind the man of God, God Himself is ever standing greater than the man and overshadowing him by His infinite and glorious presence.

A. B. Simpson

At the fee of Jesus is the place for me. There, a humble learner would I choose to be. – PP Bliss

Salvation by Grace - SS

Salvation by Grace -

There was a very big religious & social upheaval 500 yrs ago- in 1517 – called the Protestant Reformation. PR meaning Protestants (Lutheran, Presbyterian & Baptists) who protested some of the actions & theology of the Roman Catholic church, broke away from the RCC. It was a huge deal & changed everything: governments, empires & control.

The RCC taught that we are saved through a combination of God’s grace, the merits that we accumulate through penance & good works, & the superfluity (excessively large amount) of merits that the saints before us had already accumulated. The Reformation’s response, “Sola gratia.”

As humans, we inherited (from our ancestor Adam) a nature that is enslaved to sin. Because of our nature, we are naturally enemies of God & lovers of evil. We need to be made alive (regenerated) so that we trust Christ & are saved through his work done for us.

God is faithful & preserves us & keeps us. When we are faithless toward him, he is still faithful

Eph 2: 1-9, Titus 3:5-7, Romans 5:15 – Romans 4 & 5 specifically, are all about contrasting Salvation by merit & Salvation by grace.

CH Spurgeon, All of Grace – “I think it well to turn a little to one side that I may ask my reader to observe adoringly the fountain-head of our salvation, which is the Grace of God **Grace personified in JC**. ‘By grace are you saved.’ Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified & saved. It is not because of any thing in them or that ever can be in them, that they are saved; but because of the boundless love, goodness, pity, compassion, mercy, and grace of God. Tarry a moment, then, at the well-head. Behold the pure river of water of life, as it proceeds out of the throne of God & of the Lamb! What an abyss is the grace of God! Who can measure its breath? Who can fathom its depth? Like all the rest of the divine attributes, it is infinite.”

A central cry of the Protestant Reformation was Salvation by Grace. The RCC taught that their church service “the Mass” actually added to you meriting salvation. Instead the Reformers returned to the Biblical doctrine of Salvation by Grace through faith. Our Righteous standing before God is imputed…(an accounting term meaning deposit like our wheel we talked about before. “US & J” – he takes our negative & gives us his positive). Our Righteous standing before God is imputed to us by grace because of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord. In contrast to the doctrines of self-merit taught by Rome, Sola Gratia & the other Solas of the Reformation were preached by all the Reformers throughout the Protestant movement. As the Baptist Confession of 1689 says, “Christ, by HIS obedience & death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf;….their justification is only of Free Grace, that both the exact justice & rich grace of God might be glorified in the Justification of sinners.

Sola Gratia means, “only grace” & it excludes the merit done by a person to achieve their own salvation. SG is the teaching that Salvation comes from divine grace or “unmerited favor” only, not as something merited by the sinner. This means Salvation is an unearned gift to us from God for Jesus’ sake – meaning on account of His works, not ours.

RCC claims to believe in salvation by grace alone, if we accept their idea of “grace.” For them, grace is a spiritual blessing that Christ won which we continually apply to ourselves in Masses, penance & good works in our pilgrimage toward Salvation. So Salvation is a destination to obtain or get to for RCC & for Protestants it’s a definitive decision by God to declare a sinner “acceptable” in his presence. 

So what is Grace? Grace is a state Romans 5:2, work of Gods Sprit in us 1 Corinthians 15:10, its Christ work Titus 2:11, its Gods gift to believers Romans 12:6

     

All of these uses derive their meaning from the gracious attitude by God who has competed salvation for us Eph 2:8-9 & Romans 11:6

The fundamental meaning of grace is God’s attitude of unmerited favor toward sinners.

If Christ’s work on the Cross IS complete (meaning we don’t have to earn it as he’s already earned it), then salvation MUST be a gift of God’s grace because he gives it free of charge. The inclusion of human works as a necessary requirement for Salvation is a denial of God’s grace. Galatians 2:21.

So the reason why Sola Gratia is so important is not because studying Medieval history saves us but because it teaches us what the real GOSPEL is & how to identify false gospels that sneak works, or even grace + works, into the requirement for salvation. And like all good theology takes glory away from us & the things we do & puts it on God – a Reformation understanding of Salvation is always Trinitarian – the Father predestines you, the Son – earns it for you, the Spirit applies it to you – so they all work together toward your particular salvation, but in different ways.

God did it! That is why we are thankful, that is why we can worship him & that is why He deserves it!

Closing quote - “I began to understand the security of the covenant of grace, and to expect to be preserved, not by my own power and holiness, but by the mighty power and promise of God, through faith in an unchangeable Savior.”
― John Newton, John Newton: Letters of a Slave Trader Freed by God's Grace

SS class Substitution

Bible project – sacrifice & atonement **not exactly what we’re talking about but its close, relevant
 

Quotes - Spurgeon On Substitution - On Substitution

Substitution is the very marrow of the whole Bible, the soul of salvation, the essence of the gospel. We ought to saturate all our sermons with it, for it is the lifeblood of gospel ministry. (Sermons, Vol. 17, p. 544)

If you put away the doctrine of the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, you have disembowelled the gospel, and torn from it its very heart. (Sermons, Vol. 23, p. 571)

Question: "What is the doctrine of substitution?"

Answer:

Substitution is one of the major themes of the Bible. God instituted the principle of substitution in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. By killing an animal to cover their nakedness (Genesis 3:21), God began to paint a picture of what it would take to bring mankind back into proper relationship with Him.

He continued that theme with His chosen people Israel. By giving them the OT Law, God showed them His holiness and demonstrated their inability to achieve that holiness. God then granted them a substitute to pay the price for their sin, in the form of blood sacrifices (Exodus 29:41-42; 34:19; Numbers 29:2). By sacrificing an innocent animal according to God's specifications, man could have his sins forgiven and enter the presence of God. The animal died in the sinner’s place, thereby allowing the sinner to go free, vindicated. Leviticus 16 tells of the scapegoat, upon which the elders of Israel would place their hands, symbolically transferring the sins of the people onto the goat. The goat was then set free into the wilderness, bearing the sins of the people far away.

The theme of substitution is found throughout the Old Testament as a precursor to the coming of Jesus Christ. The Passover feast conspicuously featured a substitute. In Exodus 12, God gives instruction to His people to prepare for the coming Angel of the Lord who would strike down the firstborn male of every family as a judgment upon Egypt. The only way to escape this plague was to take a perfect male lamb, kill it, and put the blood on the lintels and doorposts of their houses. God told them, “The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt” (Exodus 12:13). That Passover lamb was a substitute for every male firstborn who would accept it.

God carried that theme of substitution into the New Testament with the coming of Jesus. He had set the stage so that mankind would understand exactly what Jesus came to do. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” God’s perfect Lamb took the sins of the world upon Himself, laid down His life, and died in our place (John 1:19; 1 Peter 3:18). The only acceptable sacrifice for sin is a perfect offering. If we died for our own sins, it would not be sufficient payment. We are not perfect. Only Jesus, the perfect God-Man, fits the requirement, and He laid down His life for ours willingly (John 10:18). There was nothing we could do to save ourselves, so God did it for us.

We spoke the last couple weeks about lots of OT Messianic Prophecy about Christ but didn’t look at them so let’s read Ish 52:13-53:12.   

Jesus’ substitution for us was perfect, unlike the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament. Hebrews 10:4 says, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." Someone might say, "You mean, all those sacrifices the Jews made were for nothing?" The writer is clarifying that animal blood itself had no value. It was what that blood symbolized that made the difference. The value of the ancient sacrifices was that the animal was a substitute for a human being’s sin and that it pointed forward to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ (Hebrews 9:22).

Some people make the mistake of thinking that, since Jesus died for the sins of the world, everyone will go to heaven one day. This is incorrect. The substitutionary death of Christ must be personally applied to each heart, in much the same way that the blood of the Passover had to be personally applied to the door (John 1:12; 3:16-18; Acts 2:38). Before we can become “the righteousness of God in Him,” we must exchange our old sin nature for His holy one. God offers the Substitute, but we must receive that Substitute personally by repentance & faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

A few merged Biblical quotes - 1 Kings 20:42, Leviticus 1:4, Leviticus 16:21-22, 2 Corinthians 5:21

He said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore your life shall go for his life, 'He (the priest) shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. "Then Aaron shall lay both of his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in regard to all their sins; and he shall lay them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who stands in readiness. "The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to a solitary land; and he shall release the goat in the wilderness. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Resurrection, important?

Questions:

# Raised from the dead? – OT - Elijah resurrected the son of Zarephath's widow 1 kings 17:17-24, Elisha resurrected the son of the great Shunammite woman 2 Kings 4:35, A dead man comes back to life when he touches Elisha's bones 2 Kings 13:21, NT - Jesus resurrects the widow's son at Nain Luke 7:13-15, Jesus raises Jairus' daughter from the dead Matthew 9:25, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead John 11:43-44, Many saints resurrected at Jesus' crucifixion Matthew 8:5-7, Christ's resurrection Matthew 28:5-7, Peter raises a female disciple named Tabitha from the dead Acts 9:36-42, Paul raises Eutychus from the dead Acts 20:9-12, Possibility that Paul was raised from the dead (stoned to death & they traveling 20-50 miles the next day) Acts 14:19-20

What does the Truth of the Resurrection of Christ mean for us?

We can trust what Jesus taught even something as seemingly crazy as life after death.

We can believe what Jesus said about himself = deity.

We don’t have to fear death ourselves as we have a friend & brother who has overcome it.

Romans 8 – facing trials, martyrdom & persecution ??

Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important?

Answer: The resurrection of Jesus is important for several reasons. First, the resurrection witnesses to the immense power of God Himself. To believe in the resurrection is to believe in God. If God exists, and if He created the universe and has power over it, then He has power to raise the dead. If He does not have such power, then is He worthy of our faith and worship? Only He who created life can resurrect it after death, only He can reverse the hideousness that is death itself, and only He can remove the sting and gain the victory over the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54–55). In resurrecting Jesus from the grave, God reminds us of His absolute sovereignty over life and death.

Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ so important? Because it validates who Jesus claimed to be, namely, the Son of God and Messiah. According to Jesus, His resurrection was the “sign from heaven” that authenticated His ministry (Matthew 16:1–4) and the proof that He had authority over even the temple in Jerusalem (John 2:18–22). The resurrection of Jesus Christ, attested to by hundreds of eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:3–8), provides irrefutable proof that He is the Savior of the world.

           

“If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn't   rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? The issue on          which everything hangs is not whether or not you like his teaching but whether or not he rose from the dead.”

― Timothy J. Keller, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

Read Passage: 1 Corinthians 15: 1-8

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not only the supreme validation of His deity; it also validates the Old Testament prophecies that foretold of Jesus’ suffering and resurrection (see Acts 17:2–3). Christ’s resurrection also authenticated His own claims that He would be raised on the third day (Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). If Jesus Christ is not resurrected, then we have no hope that we will be, either. In fact, apart from Christ’s resurrection, we have no Savior, no salvation, and no hope of eternal life. As Paul said, our faith would be “useless,” the gospel would be altogether powerless, and our sins would remain unforgiven (1 Corinthians 15:14–19).

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and in that statement claimed to be the source of both. There is no resurrection apart from Christ, no eternal life. Jesus does more than give life; He is life, and that’s why death has no power over Him. Jesus confers His life on those who trust in Him, so that we can share His triumph over death (1 John 5:11–12).

Jesus is described as “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20). In other words, Jesus leads the way in life after death. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is important as a testimony to the resurrection of human beings, which is a basic tenet of the Christian faith. Unlike other religions, Christianity possesses a Founder who transcends death and promises that His followers will do the same. Every other religion was founded by men or prophets whose end was the grave. As Christians, we know that God became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected the third day. The grave could not hold Him. He lives, and He sits today at the right hand of the Father in heaven (Hebrews 10:12).

The Word of God guarantees the believer’s resurrection at the coming of Jesus’ 2^nd coming. Such assurance results in a great song of triumph as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:55, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (cf. Hosea 13:14).

The importance of the resurrection of Christ has an impact on our service to the Lord now. Paul ends his discourse on resurrection with these words: “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Because we know we will be resurrected to new life, we can endure persecution and danger for Christ’s sake (verses 30–32), just as our Lord did. Because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, thousands of Christian martyrs through history have willingly traded their earthly lives for everlasting life and the promise of resurrection. ** Apostles & Church Fathers…

The resurrection is the triumphant and glorious victory for every believer. Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3–4). And He is coming again! The dead in Christ will be raised up, and those who are alive at His coming will be changed and receive new, glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18). Why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important? It proves who Jesus is. It demonstrates that God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. It shows that God has the power to raise us from the dead. It guarantees that the bodies of those who believe in Christ will not remain dead but will be resurrected unto eternal life.

Read Passage Romans 8:31-39