Series: Two Ways to Live
Category: Core Seminars, The Love of God, Death of Christ, Life of Christ, Person of Christ, The Birth of Christ, The Deity of Christ, Work of Christ, Evangelism
Detail:
Welcome to the Two Ways to Live core seminar.
We’re in the FOURTH week, of this SIX-WEEK course , and I want to REMIND you that the MAIN PURPOSE
1) to solidify the CONTENT of the gospel in our own minds and
2) to equip us to share it with others
Again, there is nothing particularly SPECIAL TWO WAYS TO LIVE tract.
- It’s simply a FAITHFUL
We can use TWO WAYS TO LIVE tool CLARIFY basic elements
- It certainly ISN’T the ONLY WAY many HELPFUL
- and HOPEFULLY, it will be for you as well.
As Christians, it’s our desire to CLEARLY PROCLAIM the GOSPEL to the glory of God for the eternal good HEAR and ACCEPT it.
REVIEW
So, to review , let’s go through each Cell:
1) EXPLAIN what we’ve learned;
2) RECITE the corresponding verse; and
3) DRAW the picture that went with it.
[Repeat these questions for Cells 1-3 as shown below. ]
Cell 1
Summary:
- God created EVERYTHING
- is the LOVING RULER
He made us in His image
o to be rulers of the world, under
Verse: Revelation 4:11 –
“You are worthy our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power ,
for you created ALL things and by your will they existed and were created.”
Picture:
Cell 2
Summary:
- Man sinned by rebelling against God,
- and we try to run life….our OWN way and NOT
- By doing so, we live in misery and have made a mess of everything.
Verse:
Romans 3:10-12 –
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside;
Picture:
Cell 3
Summary:
- God won’t let us rebel forever
- and will punish us through death and judgment for eternity.
Verse: Hebrews 9:27 –
“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment ”
Picture:
Has anyone use Two Ways to Live to share the gospel this past week? How’d it go?
Let’s keep praying for evangelistic opportunities and work to be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities when they come up for the glory of God.
Jesus, The Man Who Died for Rebels
Last week, we talked through Cell 3 and God’s judgment on all men for their sin.
Each one of us – you, me, and everyone REBELLED against God and deserves JUST ETERNAL
>>>>And the biblical picture of HELL NOT a PARTY sit around indulging in sinful fantasies,
- but a place of horrible torment ,
- where the FIRE
- a place of ETERNAL REGRET
Perhaps even WORSE , we can’t UNDO
Hell is what we were DESTINED unless
And now we TURN our ATTENTION to the GOOD NEWS
In order for us to UNDERSTAND the GOOD NEWS of Christianity,
- we needed to understand the BAD NEWS
and hopefully, we’ve covered this sufficiently in the past two weeks.
- So, now we TURN our attention to God’s GIFT of grace .
Rom. 5:18-19 says: “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. ”
>>>This passage explains that God chose to SAVE man from sin through Jesus Christ, the Son of God .
>>>There is a lot biblical support for this.
- In fact, ALL of scripture testifies
- But instead of asking you to memorize ONE verse that helpfully summarizes great truth that we can commit to memory.
That verse is 1 Peter 3:18 . “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…”
***God’s work of salvation can be pictured like this. (Draw picture )
God LOVED the world and SENT perfectly unlike Adam.
- Jesus, being found sinless ,
- took our punishment ,
- died in our
- and brought
- And He gave the RIGHTEOUS EARNED to us .
To understand Christ’s death for sinners, let’s look at FIVE TRUTHS
and this will be the focus of our time today.
FIRST TRUTH: God Loved the World
Well one of the most famous verses in the entire Bible that many of us know is John 3:16.
The verse says, “ For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life .”
In our first class, we learned that God is the LOVING Creator and Ruler .
Well, to be loved in Creation is one thing .
- To be loved by God rebellion against him—
- at the COST of His own Son’s life —
- is a WHOLE different dimension of love.
But that’s what we see in the gospel !!!
The reason God CHOSE save man was NOT found
o as though we somehow EARNED it
o or because we had something UNIQUE to offer
No! the reason God CHOSE SAVE man was found in His love.
And this LOVE of God’s, was SET on man, for the purpose SAVING sin
Romans 5:8 says, “ But God shows His love for us in this that while we were still
WHEN did God choose to set His love upon us?
- [While we were still ]
- We are sinners…
- and as we discussed the past couple of weeks ,
- >>>this means that we are REBELS REJECTED
We are God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10).
- Yet God loved us,
- and IN loving
o He sent His one and only Son, Jesus,
- to save a wretched such as you and I .
We're all called LOVE God (Deut. 6:5 ),
- but we must recognize that God’s love precedes ours;
1 John 4:19 says, “We love because [God] first loved us .”
- Our love for God is only a RESPONSE His for us.
And so we can see that even though God was perfectly justified punishing all of us ,
- He chose
>>>>>>And to demonstrate
- He sent His Son to the world.
SECOND TRUTH: Jesus is God
To say that GOD IS LOVE (or is loving) isn’t that big of a stretch
- Most people today believe in a BENEVOLENT DIVINE
- It’s when you start getting into the particulars WHO divine being is, that—DIFFERENCES begin to surface.
So the question of “Who is Jesus HUGE
This was the question that Jesus asked His disciples
“[Jesus] asked his disciples, “ Who do people say that the Son of Man is ?”
[His disciples] said, “ Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah , and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them “ But do you say that I am.”
Simon Peter replied, “ You are the Christ, the Son of the living God .”
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you….”
So, who is Jesus?
- He is the Son of God ,
o a title that reflects both his humanity (Ezekiel 2)
o and his divinity (Daniel 7).
Hebrews 1:3 says, “ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power .”
Are there examples you can think of in Scripture that give evidence of Jesus being God?
- All knowing – Woman at the well (John 4);
- Sovereign – Feeding of 5,000 (Matt. 14);
- Worthy of worship – Healing of blind man (John 9);
- Authority over creation – Quieting the storm (Mark 4) ]
[Would someone please read Mark 1:22-27 for us?]
As this passage is being read, listen to the way Jesus’ divine nature
Mark 1:22-27 – “ And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. "
What are some unique characteristics ?
- Taught with uncommon
- Rebuked evil spirits;
- Recognized as the Holy One of God
We could also cite numerous accounts
- where Jesus showed his divine authority
- through physically healing of people and other miracles.
But the most TELLING SIGN of Jesus’ divinity
- and most important
Mark 2:5 : “ When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic , “Son, your SINS are forgiven .”
If Jesus could TRULY then NO OTHER
- Only God has the RIGHT to forgive sins ,
- and Jesus came for this VERY purpose .
- So we see then that Jesus is God .
Questions or Comments?
THIRD: Jesus Became Man and Came INTO the World
So what makes Jesus alone able to address the PROBLEM of sin ?
- Well, we just answered the first part IS
Yet Jesus’ divinity is only half of the equation.
- Jesus also became TRULY HUMAN
- We see evidence of this in several portions of scripture.
(Ask for three volunteers to read the following passages:)
John 1:14 – “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Philippians 2:5-7 - “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.Hebrews 2:14 - “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
The Son of God took on HUMAN FLESH and came into the world.
- Yet in no way did Jesus’ humanity compromise divine nature .
- He wasn’t half God half man
- He was truly truly
Christ, one person, has two distinct natures: a divine nature and a human nature. As the Westminster Confession says “...two whole, perfect, and distinct natures, the Godhead and the manhood, were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion. Which person is very God, and very man, yet one Christ, the only Mediator between God and man.”
It’s beyond ability to grasp the full depth of this truth.
- Yet this truth is ESSENTIAL And this compromises the gospel.
- If Christ was not truly man, he could never have truly died on the cross, paying for our sins and appeasing God’s wrath. Man sinned and so MAN had to atone for that sin.
- And if Christ was not truly God, He could never have perfectly kept all of God’s laws and born the weight of our sin and its punishment.
and this leads fourth biblical
Questions or Comments?
FOURTH: Sinless and Perfectly Righteous Life
In Luke 4 , we see the tempting of Jesus by Satan:
“ Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. ”
Satan TEMPTED forty days , and for forty days Jesus resisted
How difficult is it for us to resist 40 minutes of temptation,
- let alone 40 days?
- But Jesus does what we CAN’T do.
This is why the writer of Hebrews says,
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every r espect has been tempted as we are, yet was without sin ” (Heb. 4:15).
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Theologically, we can think of two aspects of Christ’s work of obedience: his active and his passive obedience.
By passive obedience Paul says in Philippians 2:8 that Christ “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” As we mentioned last week, there is punishment that is due for sin, and Christ perfectly and completely dealt with it.
By active obedience As Paul says in Romans 5:19 “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous.” Jesus perfectly kept every aspect of God’s requirements where each of us has failed.
As Herman Bavink put it: “Christ restored not only what Adam in his one transgression had spoiled, but He also achieved what Adam by his keeping of the law ought to have achieved, namely, eternal life.”
Jesus’ righteousness was the CURRENCY PURCHASE salvation .
Jesus became man like us, but in this completely
- None of us can say we OBEYED God’s commands completely
FINALLY: Jesus Died on the Cross to Bring Forgiveness to Sinners
So we’ve seen who Jesus is , and we’ve seen HOW He LIVED His life .
Now let’s consider his DEATH .
The final biblical truth devote our time to is the FACT died on the cross .
So, to help us better understand this from a biblical perspective walk through a few passages
Mark 8:31
“And he [Jesus] began to teach them [his disciples] that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise
(Here we see Jesus predicting his death.
- He came for a REASON
- His death wasn’t a surprise to him.)
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Acts 10:39
Speaking to those gathered at Cornelius’ house, Peter says, “we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree…”
(Here we see Jesus’ death actually occurred was witnessed .)
1 Corinthians 2:2
Paul says, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
(Jesus’ death was the message of Paul and the apostles and the early church
- and remains our message to proclaim some 2000 years later.)
Therefore, Jesus’ obedient death on the cross was:
- predicted ,
- occurred ,
- witnessed , and
- proclaimed .
This is an undeniable HISTORICAL
Ok, so, Jesus died on the cross.
But so what!?
- Most non-Christians acknowledge
- and many believe that He was NOT guilty or deserving of such a horrific execution .
But the same countless
So…what’s so SPECIAL
Well, remember that because of our sin , we ALL deserve death.
- But because Jesus NEVER
- he didn’t
Yet in a great irony the ONE who suffered God’s wrath for our sin.
In fact, this death is the VERY reason why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth.
- Jesus was born die .
- He was punished , so that WE forgiven .
This is the climax gospel ;
- it’s the culmination of all that’s gone before in Scripture .
THE ULTIMATE QUESTION IS: “How will a just God forgive sinful man without ceasing
>>>>THE ANSWER : through Jesus’ DEATH
Paul writes in Romans 3:25-26 ,
“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. ”
Christ’s sacrifice was to demonstrate
- which we discussed last week.
The wages of sin is death .
- Jesus’ sacrifice satisfied God’s wrath once and for all,
- for ALL faith in Jesus .
In the heavenly courtroom,
- God the Father accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as payment for his people’s sins ,
- forgiving declaring innocent .
The apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:21 that,
“ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God..”
Isaiah prophesied about Christ,
“But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
There is hope hope is Jesus.
- There is NO other.
“ there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men[a] by which we must be saved”
“ F or there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man[a] Christ Jesus, ” (1 Tim. 2:5).
Praise God and for our Savior Jesus Christ!
So, We’ve been talking about the fact that Jesus died as a substitute
—He died in our
>>>>>>People talk about all sorts of other reasons for his dying
- as an example of love sacrifice
But why is it important when we share the gospel death as a substitute for our sins ?
III. [Let’s consider] Implications for Evangelism
So how does the FACT that Jesus became MAN and DIED for sinners impact evangelism ?
It means that we point people to a person, not a set of prescriptions. We are calling people to repent and trust in Christ, not to pray a certain number of times a day, or go on a pilgrimage, or deny their emotions. This is what distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. While they may recognize that humanity has a problem, the solutions they offer are always something we must do and not someone we must trust in. So in our evangelism, we must be clear that we can’t save ourselves. The only way our unsaved friends and family members can be made right with God is through faith in Jesus Christ.
It means we point them exclusively to Jesus. As Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The only hope of salvation is in Jesus, and in Jesus alone.
Finally, it means we must be clear that Jesus is not just a good teacher. If you notice in the passage in Matthew 16 we read earlier, when Jesus asks his disciples who people say he is, they respond with a list of important, but merely human people. People often see Jesus as a good teacher who taught important life principles, but nothing more than that. But as we discussed today, Jesus is more than just a good teacher; he’s the incarnate Son of God who took on the sin and death that we might be saved. We need to be prepared to disabuse people of this low view of Christ and help them understand who he truly is and all that he accomplished.
Conclusion
So to summarize ,
- while we were UNDER God’s wrath
- sinners before HOLY God –
- God responds HELPLESS state.
In His love – and not because of anything we had done –
- God purposed to save us.
- And His plan for salvation centered
- the Son of God, who took on human flesh.
Jesus lived a sinless life,
- and then died on the cross
- to suffer God’s wrath in our place.
- His atonement took away our sins
- brought us forgiveness
- so that we might be saved and have eternal life with God.
This is the good news
So we’ll follow up NEXT WEEK continuation good news
with Christ’s resurrection and His eternal reign
Let’s pray.
