College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
2 Corinthians 5 - Introduction
Butler's Commentary
Chapter Five
THE PROBLEM OF PERSPECTIVE
IDEAS TO INVESTIGATE:
1.
Why does Paul suggest the possibility of nakedness at death?
2.
How are we away from the Lord while we are in the body?
3.
Would Christians ever pride themselves on a man's position?
4.
How is it possible for humans to see no one from a human point of view?
5.
How was he (Christ) made to be sin who knew no sin?
APPREHENSION:
1.
What relationship does God's subjecting the creation to futility have with the problem of perspective?
2.
Where does the Bible document the human cry for divine perspective?
3.
What chapter in I Corinthians deals with the problems of divine perspective among the Corinthian Christians?
4.
Why does Paul call our human body an earthly tent?
5.
What is the significance of saying we have a building from God?
6.
What does Paul mean by the word naked?
7.
What do Christians sigh with anxiety about while in their earthly body?
8.
What do the scriptures say about being at home with the Lord?
9.
What has the judgment of Christ to do with the Christian having divine perspective?
10.
Why did Paul have to explain that some had thought him beside himself?
11.
Why did the love of Christ control Paul?
12.
What convinced Paul that Christ's death was for all men's sins?
13.
Why must the Christian never regard anyone from a human point of view?
14.
Define: Propitiation, Justification, Redemption, Reconciliation, Faith and Obedience (you will need to study the Special Studies to answer this question).
15.
What is an ambassador of reconciliation?
16.
How did God make Christ to be sin on our behalf? What if we have some moral reservations against another person being punished on our behalf?
17.
How did Christ's righteousness become ours?
APPLICATIONS:
1.
Do you have a problem keeping the daily news reports in divine perspective?
2.
How do you deal with the every-day trials and tribulations of your own life and those intimately associated with you?
3.
Do you read your Bible daily for answers to your daily problems?
4.
Are there really answers in the Bible for every one of man's problems?
5.
Do you give much thought to your own death and what comes afterward?
6.
Are you ever anxious about where you will be after your body is put in a grave?
7.
What do you anticipate about the next existence?
8.
Do you look forward eagerly to the judgment of Christ as a place where wrong will be righted?
9.
What is your ambition in life?
10.
Can you truthfully say that in every undertaking you-'ve made in life (every ambition) you have sought first to please the Lord in it?
11.
Is reverence (fear) of God a motive in your life? Do you think the Church today could use more reverence? In what way?
12.
What does the atonement of Christ mean existentially (subjectively, personally) to your viewpoint, perspective, way of living?
13.
Do you see self in you as having actually died on the cross with Christ?
14.
Have you determined, with God's gracious help, to let Christ live his life out to the world through you?
15.
Do you struggle with the command of Paul in this chapter that Christians are no longer to see anyone from a human point of view?
16.
Where do you think the Christian must turn for solution to this struggle?
17.
Does it seem fair to you that Christ must be punished for your sins? Do you believe he did? All of them? Forever?
18.
Do you feel like God considers you a righteous person? Why? Do you think some of the good you have done in your life ought to be taken into account by God when he takes you home to be with him?
19.
What do you feel like saying to God in light of his punishment of your sins in Christ and his giving you Christ's perfect righteousness as your own?
Special Study
PROPITIATION
Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Peter 1:18-19;
1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:10; Romans 3:21-26
I.
MEANING
A.
(Heb. kipper), means to cover or wipe-out or wipe clean, to annul by offering a gift
B.
ἱλαστηριον hilasterion, means, to avert wrath.
II.
USAGE
A.
Kipper is translated appease in Genesis 32:20 (literally, I will cover his face with a present.)
B.
Kipper is translated atone, expiate in Isaiah 47:11 (literally, thou shalt not be able to charm it away, or bribe it away.)
C.
Kopher is used to describe the protection money paid by the Jews to avert a plague (Exodus 30:12).
D.
Hilasterion in the LXX is translated mercy seat and the word is employed in exactly this sense in Hebrews 9:5.
E.
Hilasterion might even be thus translated in Romans 3:25 and would say that God appointed Jesus to be the mercy-seat for sinners, in order that some place and means might be provided for securing a friendly meeting with the Deity, offended by man's sin.
Discussion
I.
THEOLOGY
A.
Understanding the nature of God is necessary to understand the idea of propitiation
1.
A God of holiness is of necessity a God of wrath
a.
The wrath of God is mentioned 585 times in the O.T. alone and although not as often in the N.T., it is surely there (Romans 1:18, etc.). Ordinarily we think of the cross as being necessary for our sakes, but this is true only in a secondary sense. Certainly our salvation depends on the cross; YET IN THE FINAL ANALYSIS, THE CROSS IS NECESSARY NOT JUST BECAUSE WE ARE SINNERS, BUT BECAUSE GOD IS GOD!
b.
Justice or righteousness is that characteristic of God which requires Him to punish sin. GOD MUST BE TRUE TO HIMSELF OR HE IS NOT GOD. WHEN MAN SINS IT CONTRADICTS THE VERY NATURE OF GOD. GOD MUST PUNISH SIN. HIS JUSTICE DEMANDS IT.
2.
The sinner is a standing assertion that there is no God. He is against God, and God therefore must be against him.
a.
For God to ignore the sinner as a sinner would be an unacceptable compromise of His nature even though in His love He has no personal desire for vengeful malice in His motive
b.
God's love for the victim of the sinner has been called in question by what He, the Sovereign, has allowed to happen in His realm.
c.
Even though God may want to relate Himself to the sinner in ways of love, that relation must be predicated on an objective reckoning of some act of Justice where the record is put straight.
B.
God's love is a personal attitude which is passionately concerned about genuine relationship.
1.
When God's love to man does not elicit love in return there is a necessary estrangement.
2.
Eliminate the possibility of wrath and God's love is meaningless.
C.
Some act had to be completed that would permit God to maintain His holiness and justice and also to forgive the sinner, and let God be true to the other side of His nature love!
II.
TRANSACTION
A.
What God did at Calvary He did actually and objectively and not merely in the minds of men.
1.
God acted to appease His own wrath in an event on the basis of which He can actually and objectively cover man's sin
2.
God paid Himself off, as it were!
3.
After Calvary God could be toward man as He could not be toward man before
B.
A propitiation is that which satisfies the wraththe righteous and judicial demand for justiceof God.
1.
That which satisfies the wrath and justice of God is the punishment of sins.
2.
The Bible describes the death of Christ as a propitiation (Romans 3:25), which means that in His death Jesus satisfied the wrath and justice of God by bearing the penalty for sin.
3.
The divine necessity is not just to forgive, but to forgive in a way which shows that God is irreconcilable to evil, and can never treat it as other or less than it is.
4.
Sin makes a real difference to God, and even in forgiving God treats that difference as real, and cannot do other-wise. He cannot ignore it, or regard it as other or less than it is. If he did so, He would not be more gracious than He is in the atonement; He would cease to be God.
5.
Men have been able to appreciate and accept the thought of a benevolent God, BUT NOT THE THOUGHT OF A COMPLETELY HONEST GOD!
C.
But God must remain honest to His own nature or we have a God no better than all the pagan gods and religions of all the ages
1.
God does what the supreme Judge must do. He refuses to waive the demands of the law. Rather than that, in love He Himself meets the law's demand through the propitiating death of Jesus Christ.
2.
Thus instead of making void His law (His word) (His nature), He establishes it (fulfills it) (Romans 3:31).
3.
Jesus-' death has a penal aspect to it. He became the object of retributive justice and hence bore our punishment.
D.
There are those who refuse to accept this idea:
1.
Bishop G. Bromley Oxnam, in his book, A Testament of the Faith, (p. 144) We hear much of the substitutionary theory of the atonement. This theory to me is immoral. If Jesus paid it all, or if He is the substitute for me, or if He is the sacrifice for all sin of the world, then why discuss forgiveness? The books are closed. Another has paid the debt, borne the penalty. I owe nothing. I am absolved. I cannot see forgiveness as predicated upon the act of some one else. It is my sin. I must atone.
III.
TRANSFER
A.
But if the N.T. is true, and it is, and if words have any literal meaning, and they do, then God transferred my sin to Jesus Christ and He is the propitiation for my sin and the sin of all the world.
1.
According to the N.T. Jesus Christ in love identified himself with us and we in faith identify ourselves with him
2.
God treated the sinless Christ as if He were guilty, and inflicted upon Him the punishment which our sins deserved; AND THIS INFLICTION MADE IT POSSIBLE TO TREAT THE SINFUL AS IF THEY WERE ACTUALLY RIGHTEOUS (2 Corinthians 5:21, etc.)
B.
When Christ satisfied the wrath of God, He satisfied it in our place, as our substitute
1.
He was made a curse for us (Galatians 3:13)
2.
He bore the full force of the wrath of God against sin. In thus allowing the penalty of sin to be inflicted on himself, Christ satisfied God's justice and became the appeasement for our sins.
C.
Because the cross is what it is, God can forgive our sins and justify us and be just at the same time.
1.
If Christ suffered the penalty for our sins, then our sins have already been punished in Him.
2.
The fiery wrath of God due to us has already burned itself out on Him
3.
When God says to us, Your sins are taken away, He is not simply BRUSHING THEM ASIDE.
4.
Quite the contrary, every sin which is forgiven in us has already been punished in Christ.
Conclusion
I.
JUSTIFICATION IS FREE TO US
A.
It is not something that we have earned or deserved
1.
God's love, not our works, solved the problem which justice raised
2.
The righteousness which justifies us is no more our own than the sins which Christ took were His own.
3.
This righteousness is something God in the flesh earned and gave to us as a gift
B.
We can serve God with peace and joy, knowing that our salvation does not depend on our ability to perform a certain number or quality of good works.
1.
Our Christian service is not an effort to earn something we do not have, but rather an expression of thanks for something we have been given.
II.
JUSTIFICATION COST GOD
A.
His only unique Son. Forgiveness of sins is no casual thing!
B.
Forgiveness of sin is not merely a matter of a few spoken words on our part, and the snap of a finger on God's part
1.
Our sins are washed away, not by the tears of a softhearted, sentimental God, but by the blood of the Son of a Just and Righteous God.
2.
All sins for which we ask forgiveness have been fully punished in Christ. Only because they have already been punished in Christ can they be forgiven in us. Christ has borne in His body and soul all of the agony and all the anger of God that are due to those sins for which we so casually ask pardon.
Special Study
JUSTIFICATION
Romans 3:21-26; 1 John 1:5-10; Romans 5:1-21; Hebrews 10:4-14
Introduction
I.
MEANING
A.
Heb. tsadaq; Gr. δίϰαιοῡν dikaioon; to pronounce, accept and treat as just; to treat as not legally liable; to treat as if innocent; therefore entitled to all the privileges due to those who have kept the law.
B.
To justify means to set right, or to put on a right footing by declaring a verdict of acquittal.
C.
Literally it means to get the verdict. It is a legal term.
D.
Defined as that judicial act of God, by which, on the basis of the meritorious work of Christ, imputed to the sinner and received by him through faith, God declares the sinner absolved from his sin, released from its penalty, and restored as righteous.
II.
JUSTIFICATION IS THE CENTRAL FACT OF BIBLICAL RELIGION
A.
Justification determines the whole character of Christianity as a religion of grace and faith.
B.
It defines the saving significance of Christ's life and death, by relating both to God's law.
C.
It displays God's justice in condemning and punishing sin; His mercy in pardoning and accepting sinners, and His wisdom in exercising both attributes harmoniously, in Christ.
D.
It makes clear what faith istrust in Christ's atoning death and justifying resurrection for the sinner's righteousness
E.
It makes clear what Christian morality islaw-keeping out of gratitudes to the Saviour whose gift of righteousness made lawkeeping needless for acceptance
F.
It explains all types, prophecies and instances of salvation in the O.T.
Discussion
I.
ARRAIGNED
A.
The entire O.T. and N.T. teach emphatically that man is a guilty criminal who must be hailed into the court of the Judge of all the Earth.
1.
The O.T. teaches that a day of judgment was to come in which God would condemn and punish all who had broken his laws
2.
That day would terminate the present world-order and usher in a golden age for those whom God judged worthy.
3.
The N.T. confirms that God will judge the world in righteousness in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God (Acts 17:31; Romans 2:16)
4.
Man is guilty; the whole creation testifies against him; his own consciencethe revelation of Godhis fellow mannature itselfand last but not least, the great adversary, the devil accuses man.
B.
Man has been arraigned; judgment is certain
1.
The principle of judgment will be EXACT RETRIBUTIONhe will get what he deserveswhat he has earned
2.
The standard of judgment will be GOD'S LAW
3.
The evidence will be THE SECRETS OF MEN
4.
The Judge is the omniscient, omnipotent, searcher of hearts
5.
Only those who can hope to escape are those who have kept His law in all its parts
6.
But there are noneall are guilty!
II.
ACQUITTED
A.
The good news from heaven's judgment hall is that the guilty have been justified, pronounced not guilty.
1.
There has been a reversal of God's attitude toward the guilty
2.
What is involved?
B.
Remission of punishment
1.
The believer is declared to be free of the demands of the law because those demands have been satisfied in Christ's death (Romans 4:5)
2.
Christ paid the penalty Himself and the believing sinner is no longer held accountable (Romans 6:7)
3.
BUT IT IS MORE THAN MERE PARDON. IT IS A DECLARATION THAT THE GUILTY IN FACT, ARE NO LONGER GUILTY. THE VERY FACT OF HIS GUILT IS REMOVED. HE IS INNOCENT OF WHAT HE WAS ONCE GUILTY
IT IS AS IF HE HAD NEVER SINNED!
HE IS WASHED CLEAN. HE IS A NEW CREATION!
C.
Restoration to favor
1.
God treats the sinner as if he had never sinned since the sinner is now regarded as being personally righteous in Christ (Galatians 3:6)
2.
There is not only acquittal, but approval; not only pardon but promotion
D.
Imputed righteousness of God
1.
Granted to the believer through Christ's presence in him
2.
The believers covenant relationship to Christ imparts the quality and character of Christ's righteousness to him
3.
Christ is the Justifier through whom a new life is inaugurated in the believer (1 Corinthians 1:30).
4.
Man can never be saved apart from participating in the person of Christ because only as we accept His will and His nature and His death in our place can He serve as our justification and as our righteousness.
III.
ACCLAIMED
A.
Justified and declared Righteous, we are Adopted as Sons
1.
and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
2.
and. the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
3.
... those whom he justified he also glorified. what then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us?. Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?. etc.
B.
But remember this, we are justified by God and we are permitted to accept it by believing it
1.
We are not justified on any merit of our own
2.
The N.T. is very emphatic on this point (Romans 3:28; Romans 4:1-5; Galatians 3:6 ff)
3.
The book of James states that men are justified by works but what James is saying is that when a man's actions show that he has a living, working faith, it shows the man has been justified.
4.
James is talking about a man proving or demonstrating his faith by his life. but all the demonstrating in the world will not obtain our justification.
THE DEMONSTRATION OF FAITH (WORKS) IS MERELY THE EXPRESSION OF OUR THANKFULNESS FOR WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY DONE. WE NEED ONLY BELIEVE IT AND OBEY IT TO HAVE IT APPLY TO US!
A PARDON IS NOT A PARDON UNLESS IT IS ACCEPTED.
Special Study
REDEMPTION
Romans 3:21-26; Titus 2:11-14; Galatians 3:13;
1 Corinthians 1:30; Colossians 2:8-15; Hebrews 2:1-18
Introduction
I.
MEANING
A.
Heb. padah; Heb, ga-'al; meaning literally to break or tear away.
Gr. άϒοῡμαι; agorazo; meaning purchase or buy and λυτροῡμαι; meaning ransom or deliver.
B.
Redemption is a word closely allied to the word salvation but redemption is more specific, denoting the means by which salvation is achievednamely by the payment of a ransom.
C.
Heb. goel-'; one who asserts a claim or one who vindicates for another. A favorite term of Isaiah who speaks of Jehovah as the Goel of Israel.
II.
USAGE
A.
Connected to re-purchase of property (Leviticus 25:26; Ruth 4:4 ff; Psalms 74:2; Deuteronomy 9:26; 2 Samuel 7:23; 1 Chronicles 17:21, etc.)
B.
Connected to release of slaves (Exodus 21:7-8; Leviticus 25:47-55; etc.)
C.
Connected to redeeming firstborn sons (Exodus 34:20)
D.
Connected with God's great acts of delivering national Israel from Egypt (exodus) and from Babylon (restoration).
Discussion
I.
PRODUCT/PROPERTYMan
A.
Polluted by sin
1.
Sin is more than weakness/mistake; it is REBELLION, INSURRECTION
Man is an enemy of his Creator; man mocks his Benefactor; man is a spiritual whoremonger (willfully committing spiritual adultery). Man is a rotten renegade. Romans 1:18-32
2.
Inhumansin drives man to be worse than an animal, sensual, selfish, sadistic
3.
Insanesin robs man of a right mind (1 Corinthians 15:34)
B.
Prisoner of Satan
1.
Deceivedthe Evil one has captured the minds and wills of men by lies.
2.
Defeatedthe Evil one has imprisoned and enslaved man. Whomever we yield to becomes our master (Romans 6:12-19). So long as we are willing to believe a lie we will yield to it and we cannot break the chains of enslavement ourselves for we are incapable of arriving at truth/reality without God revealing it to us.
3.
Deadthe Evil one has alienated us from God, we are strangers, separated from His kingdom, DEAD, as far as God is concerned.
4.
Ideas and thoughts master/control us. Ideas come from persons. The devil and God both think and we are controlled by one or the other.
C.
Precious in the Sight of God
1.
No matter how polluted, still Man is God's precious property. God made man, He made him in His own likeness (Double emphasis in HebrewHebrew word in Genesis is tzelem and is the same word used for idol and images exactly like him, Daniel 2:31; Daniel 2:35.) and breathed into man a part of Himself. Man is God's child, God's son.
2.
Man is precious to God (Isaiah 43:4; Lamentations 4:2)
3.
Man is God's great concern (Isaiah 49:14-16)
4.
This universe was created for manMan is the apex of all God's creative genius
II.
PRICE
A.
What price is sufficient to buy or redeem the property?
1.
It must be commensurate with the worth of the property
2.
It must be able to satisfy the demands of its indebtedness
3.
It must be sufficient to restore the property to the demanded usefulness of the owner
4.
Is there anything in all the world that will meet the above price-tag? (Micah 6:6-8; Mark 8:34-38)
5.
There is NO thing or group of things in all the world that will be an acceptable redeeming payment for lost mankind (cf. Psalms 49:5-15). Not even another human being can redeem another for all are lost!
6.
The guilt of one individual's sin against another cannot be morally transferred to a third party. All forgiveness, human and divine, is in the very nature of the case substitutional or vicarious. No one ever really forgives another, except he bears the penalty of the other's sin against him. When we pray Father, forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, we are not asking God to forgive us by a vicarious sacrifice while we forgive each other by merely overlooking faults which cost us nothing. And when we say Christ died as our Substitute, we do not mean that He was a third party. because
7.
The guilt of one individual's sin against another can morally be borne either by the sinner, or by the one sinned against.
8.
Christ was not a third party at Calvary. HE WAS THE GOD SINNED AGAINST.
9.
All those illustrations of a third party taking another's place and bearing another's punishment are logically and Biblically erroneous.
B.
PerfectionGod had need to come from heaven to conquer the devil and to free man. Man would have been forever enslaved to self had God done it otherwise.
1.
Man must conquer the devil. Man must conquer sin. Man must fulfill the holiness of the law of God. Man must live in perfect obedience and harmony with the will of God.
2.
Man, imprisoned by the devil and rebelling against his Creator was hopelessly unable to meet the price of perfection to God's Law.
3.
In His unsearchable wisdom He decided to step into the stream of human history and work out a plan which would bridge the gap between Him and His fallen children. HE DECIDED TO KEEP HIS OWN LAW. IN THE PLACE OF HELPLESS MEN! (Galatians 4:4-5; Philippians 2:6-8)
4.
God took upon Himself the nature of His children in order to meet the devil on the battlefield of the flesh and conquered sin in the flesh (Romans 8:1-8).
5.
God obedient to the Law which He Himself had given! He who was above the Law willingly put Himself beneath it as the divine Substitute for those who, because of their spiritual bondage, were unable to do it for themselves.
6.
Just as Adam was my representative and I sinned in Adam, so the Son of Man is my representative and I may be counted righteous if I am in Him by faith. (Romans 5:12-21; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21)
7.
Jesus Christ, God-Man, was willing and able to pay the price of perfection for meperfect faith, perfect obedience, perfect motives, perfect service, perfect surrender to God, perfect love, perfect justice.
I NO LONGER NEED TO FEEL GUILT, FRUSTRATION AND ANXIETY OR FEAR. I HAVE BEEN REDEEMED BY HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. I AM FREE TO REACH THE HIGHEST GOAL OF GODLINESS I AM CAPABLE OF BY FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM WHO TAKES CARE OF ALL SHORTCOMINGS I MAY HAVE.
C.
PunishmentDemanded by the very moral nature of God and man
1.
Without a penalty there is no law, without law there is no morality
2.
When law or justice is violated the penalty must be paid
3.
This principle is true even in human institutions. The demands of justice must be met and the majesty of the law sustained or otherwise the bonds of the association will be destroyed and anarchy will prevail.
4.
God, in order to establish and vindicate His sovereignty and His trusthworthiness must execute the penalty of His law when it is violated.
5.
In His unsearchable mercy He decided to step into the stream of human history and PAY THE PENALTY OF HIS OWN LAW HIMSELF! No third party could forgive man. Man's sinall of itultimately is against God. Only God could forgive man. God had to pay the price Himself if it was to be paid at all.
6.
This is how God was both JUST and the JUSTIFIER OF HIM WHO BELIEVES (Romans 3:21-26). God became man and willingly gave Himself to suffer the penalty for sindeath (WHAT THEN HAVE WE TO BOAST OF IN ANY THING WE MAY DO OR BE???)
7.
Some scriptures:
God made Him (Christ) to be sin on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Christ died for our sins (1 Corinthians 15:3)
By Him we received the atonement (Romans 5:10-11)
He bore our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24)
He redeemed us from the law becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13)
He tasted death for every man (Hebrews 2:9 ff)
III.
PAYMENT
A.
Anticipated
1.
Throughout the centuries of the O.T. the believers looked forward to an act of deliverance which would forever free them from the guilt, the power and the punishment of sin.
a.
They looked forward to a heaven-sent Deliverer
b.
They looked forward to a great act of atonement
2.
Where did they get this anticipation?
a.
Revealed through God's spokesmen, Patriarchs, Prophets
b.
Revealed through God's Law
3.
O.T. believers made payment for their sin by symbolically transferring their guilt to an animal, and then sacrificing that animal as a symbolic atonement for their transgressions. in symbol the sinner transferred his guilt to the innocent, and the innocent died in the place of the guilty.
4.
How could the death of an animal make good for the sins of a human being? IT COULDN-'T! High on the great divide which still lay centuries in the future stood that Great Sacrifice which alone could give meaning and value to all the rivers of blood which were shed in Jewish temples.
5.
The death of Christ was the real thing. the death of the animal had atoning value for the O.T. believer only because he had put his faith in the promised One and the promised Act of God who was to make final payment for all his sins.
6.
A 10 dollar bill has value, not because of the worth of the paper it is printed on, but because of secure collateral which may lie 1000'S of miles away. so the death of the animal in the O.T. had value only because of the collateral which was 1000'S of years away.
B.
Arranged
1.
The Son of God left the glory of Paradise to give Himself in payment and to cancel our debt
2.
He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross, Philippians 2:5-11.
3.
He came not to be ministered unto but to minister and give His life a ransom for many, Matthew 20:28.
4.
No one took His life, He laid it down (John 10:17-18).
5.
While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
6.
The Great Arrangement is documented in Hebrews 10:5-18. Animal sacrifices did not pay the debta body was prepared for the Son of God (according to the O.T. scriptures, i.e., the roll of the book)then The Son said, Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God.
AND BY THAT WILL WE HAVE BEEN SANCTIFIED THROUGH THE OFFERING OF THE BODY OF JESUS CHRIST ONCE FOR ALL!
FOR BY A SINGLE OFFERING HE HAS PERFECTED FOR ALL TIME THOSE WHO ARE SANCTIFIED
WHERE THERE IS FORGIVENESS OF THESE, THERE IS NO LONGER ANY OFFERING FOR SIN. PAID IN FULL!
C.
Accepted
1.
All of this theology about a substitutionary, redeeming death is vain without validation
2.
It may sound great for a man 2000 years ago to walk up and down Palestine and say I will die for you and pay your debt to God BUT DOES GOD AGREE?
3.
This was answered for all men and for all time on the first Easter morning. Christ not only died for the sin of men; HE ROSE AGAIN! If Christ had remained in the grave, all talk of His having paid the debt of human sin would be idle and vain. we would still be in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17-18).
4.
The resurrection of Christ not only demonstrates He is the Son of God, IT ALSO DEMONSTRATES THAT GOD IN HEAVEN HAS ACCEPTED THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON FOR THE SINS OF ALL THE WORLD.
5.
The Easter miracle is Heaven's RECEIPT, presented to all men of all ages, saying: Payment ReceivedPaid in Full! (2 Corinthians 1:20).
6.
God says in effect, I have accepted the ransom which My Son has brought in payment for your sin. His resurrection is the stamp and seal of My divine approval. His resurrection is not only His vindicationbut yours also. For, because of His payment which I have now accepted in your stead, you are free!
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing (charging) their trespasses unto them, (2 Corinthians 5:19).
7.
Christ has, as it were, picked up all the moral I.O.U.'S of the human race, all of the accumulated moral debts of every member of the human family which were owed to God and has blotted them out AND GOD HAS VALIDATED FOREVER THE PAYMENT AND HAS MADE IT PUBLIC FOR AS LONG AS TIME SHALL LAST BY DOING SO IN THE GREATEST HISTORICAL EVENT OF ALL TIME. THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.
Conclusion
I.
We may be redeemed by taking citizenship in His spiritual Kingdom.
II.
We then experience the redemption and renewal of every facet of our life.
Special Study
THE WORK OF RECONCILIATION
Text: Ephesians 2:11-22
(See Also 2 Corinthians 5:11-21)
Introduction
What does the word reconciled or reconciliation mean? Webster's Collegiate Dict. says the English word is from French and Latin meaning: To cause to be friendly again; to bring back to harmony.
Reconciliationin our English Bibles is a translation of the Greek words katallasso, katallage, or diallassomaiall of which literally mean to exchange, or to change over.
There are two Hebrew words, kaphar and racah, translated in the KJV sometimes by the English word reconciliation, but usually should be translated atonement. (see 1 Samuel 29:4; 2 Chronicles 29:24; Ezekiel 45:15; Daniel 9:24, etc.).
Most of those of us who have to watch closely how we spend our money do something every month which should illustrate our word. We take the statement we get from our bank and compare it with what our check stubs say, and hope the two are reconciledthat is, in harmony with one another. That is what it is calledreconciling your bank statement. What it really means is surrendering your estimate of your account to the bank's statementbank's make no mistakes! We had one little girl at college one year who never had learned that you had to reconcile your check book with the bank's statement. She thought you could go on writing checks as long as you had blank checks in your bookuntil one bounced!
When a printer reconciles a margin, he brings the printed type into harmony with a pre-established margin-line so everything is even and squared. That is what reconciliation means. So if you-'ve been reconciled to God you-'ve been made square with God. God makes us come out even when he reconciles us.
Reconciliation to Godbeing in harmony with our Creator, our Father, our Judgeis the feeling we really want! Everyone is talking and writing and singing about spiritual, religious feeling and what it all boils down to is the need to feel reconciled to God.
THE FEELING MUST BE PRECEDED BY FAITH AND FAITH MUST BE PRECEDED BY FACTSFACTS ABOUT GOD AND CHRIST AND THE WORK OF RECONCILIATIONAND THOSE FACTS ARE FOUND NOWHERE BUT THE BIBLE!
Peaches and Herb sang, in the 70'S, Reunited, and it feels so good. That is what reconciliation is all about.
Discussion
Man's reconciliation to God is impossible without the work of Christ. Therefore, when we speak of the work of reconciliation we are talking about the work of God (in Christ) exclusively.
I.
ESTRANGED (Part of God's work of reconciliation is estrangement)
A.
God is a person, not an ideahe is a personal entity apart from our thinking and imagining.
1.
God, as a person, is the ultimate loverHe loves, He is love. But the love, real love, true love, of a person is more than emotion.
2.
Love is charactercharacter made of likes and dislikes (even hate), of attractions and repulsions, according to the person's attraction or sympathy for, or the aversion to, the character and conduct of those with whom it comes in contact.
3.
God is a person, not a force. He loves and hates, like and dislikes. He can, and does, discriminate between the righteous and the wicked.
B.
God's love is capable of being turned to hostility
1.
If that were not true, HOW COULD GOD LOVE US FOR OUR GOOD WITHOUT SHOWING HIS HOSTILITY TO WHAT WOULD DO US HARM?
2.
When divine love is forced back, refused, scoffed at and mocked by our rebellion so that it cannot flow forth to bless as it wishes, it chafes against the rebellion out of sheer love.
3.
Divine love, real love, is goodness in earnestness trying to make others good. And when it cannot have its way, it is grieved. When it is deliberately and maliciously thwarted, it is angry! Mark 3:5
C.
We have estranged ourselves from God!
1.
We are impudent, thankless, petulant children; we are a faithless bride of God.
We have said: I will have my own way; I want my Heavenly Father's indulgence, but I do not want his way! I DO NOT WANT TESTS AND TRIALS AND THE CROSS (death to self).
2.
Our own selfishness has created a barrier, a wall of hostility, between us and our God.
3.
We have declared ourselves enemies of God and His only response or the only course left for Him is to be our enemy. God loves every man with self-giving love, but he loves his own sovereignty and his own faithfulness more. GOD MUST KEEP HIS WORD: HE MUST VINDICATE HIS FAITHFULNESS: WITHOUT THAT HE CANNOT TRULY LOVE ANYONE!
D.
Man has rebelled and there is hostility:
1.
Man's selfish hostilityGod's hostility of love.
2.
Does that sound like an impossibility? HOSTILITY OF LOVE!?
Read again the record of David and Absalom. Absalom's was the hostility of selfishness, rebellion and hatred for his father; David's was the hostility of selflessness and love, longing deeply for reconciliation with his son. 0 my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son! 2 Samuel 18:33. Absalom was never reconciled to his father because he would not surrender to David's loveDavid did all he could to reconcile him.
E.
The closest analogy to our condition is probably to be found in the human family relationship; parents with rebellious children; spouses with rebellious mates, estranged because of selfishnessI WANT MY WAY, I WILL HAVE MY WAY..
1.
Barriers to peaceful, harmonious, communicative, loving, growing, intimacy are formed.
2.
Though one person may deeply desire the barriers to be broken down, the offended person may still be angry with the offender because of the hurting, destructive actions the offender continues to do toward a relationship that would only bring blessing to both!
Classic Biblical illustrations of human estrangements and reconciliations are found in the lives of Jacob and EsauJoseph and his brothersHosea and his wifeSaul and David; then there is the parable Jesus told of the Prodigal Son, his father, and his elder brother.
Listen to these words: You-'ll never suspect their origin:
God's love extends to everyone, no matter how good or how bad, but it is a love whose integrity is grounded in his holiness. It is holy love, and is therefore not hobbled by the sentimentality and easy tolerance that passes for love today. The cliche (my words) God will understand is neither love nor grace: it is flaccid indulgence. It doesn-'t care enough to demand growth or change. It just leaves people alone, and wants the same for itself.
As usual, C.S. Lewis is helpful here. He writes, To ask that God be content with us as we are is to ask that God should cease to be God. Because he is what he is, his love must, in the nature of things, be impeded and repelled by certain strains in our present character, and because he already loves us he must labor to make us lovable. God is committed to nothing less than restoring in us his image broken in the fall of man, and making us like his Son, (Ephesians 2:10)we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. Because of this, Lewis concludes, his love is more sensitive than hatred itself to every blemish in the beloved. of all powers he forgives most, but condones least, he is pleased with little, but demands all.
God understands, that is true. But he understands in a way that is more fiery and more shattering than we can ever imagine this side of glory, if even then, I read somewhere of an artist who was commissioned to paint a mural on the great window at the entrance to Macy's department store in N.Y. City. A few weeks after he finished he walked to the store to look again at his work. It was then that he discovered that the store had hired someone else to make some alterations in what he had painted. He was so horrified and enraged at the distortion of his creation that he hurled his body through the window.
This is a vivid picture of God's holy love and the wrath that is, of necessity, a part of that love. He resists us as we are, not because he doesn-'t love us, but because he does. His grace is love that will not let us go, even when it would be perfectly just and easy to do so. (by Ben Patterson in Wittenburg Door, Feb.-Mar. 1983)
WHEN WE ARE HOSTILE TOWARD GOD, HE IS HOSTILE TOWARD US. BECAUSE HE MUST BE TRUE TO HIMSELF, AND TRUE TO LOVE. THAT IS TRUE LOVE, DIVINE LOVE.
WHEN WE ESTRANGE OURSELVES FROM GOD, HE ESTRANGES HIMSELF FROM US. HE MUST BE FAITHFUL TO HIS OWN INTEGRITY AND HOLINESS. HE MUST BE TRUE TO REAL LOVE. HIS HOSTILITY AND ESTRANGEMENT, IS HIS LAST RESORT ATTEMPT TO ALLURE US BACK TO HIMSELF.
Please read the 2nd chapter of Hosea
Please read Isaiah 54:4-8
Please read Christ's seven letters to his bride, the Church in Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22
GOD LONGS FOR US, BUT HE WANTS US TO LONG FOR HIM. WITHOUT THAT THERE IS NO REAL RECONCILIATION!
I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress they seek me, saying, Come let us return to the Lord; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up. Hosea 5:15 to Hosea 6:1. (Read the rest of Hosea 6:1-11).
II.
EMBRACED (Part of God's work of reconciliation is to embrace)
A.
The One offended initiated the work of reconciliation. God took the first step toward reconciling us to him and himself to us. THAT IS THE WAY IT MUST BE DONE. IT CAN-'T BE DONE ANY OTHER WAYNOT TRUE RECONCILIATION.
THERE CAN BE NO FORGIVENESS UNTIL THE ONE OFFENDED BEARS THE BURDEN OF THE OFFENSE!
1.
God embraced man, by becoming man Himself in Christ Jesus.
2.
God erased the enmity (barrier, the offense) to the relationship between Himself and man by appeasing Himself in the atoning death of His Son.
3.
In Matthew 5:24 Jesus instructs us that if we know a brother has anything against us, we are to go (make the initiatory move) and do something to try to remove our brother's estrangement, and so bring about a reconciliation. What we do or say may not allure him to be reconciled, but we are to make the initial move!
4.
This is exactly how God acted in Christ. He did everything in His power to remove the barriereven to becoming sin for us! He bore our offense in order to allure us into being reconciled!
HE DECLARED HIMSELF, HIS JUSTICE, HIS HOLINESS, SATISFIED AND VINDICATED IN THE VICARIOUS ATONEMENT OF CHRIST. HE PROMISES THAT IF WE ACCEPT HIS HOLY WAY IN FAITH, WE NEED NOT FEEL HIS HOSTILITY AND ESTRANGEMENT ANY MORE. IF HE IS NOT ESTRANGED. CERTAINLY WE NEED NOT BEBUT WE MAY BE IF WE CHOOSE!
A missionary at Dorchester, England, relates: I frequently visited the penitentiary there. One day an officer called my attention to a prisoner and told this storyWhen he was a young man he was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to life imprisonment. After several years, Queen Victoria granted the man a pardon. Freedom, however, lost its attraction, and after a few days-' liberty he returned to prison, requesting to be re-admitted. His request was granted, and there he was. By the grace of his sovereign, a free man, entitled upon request to walk through the gates as readily as the warden himself. Yet, so long as he preferred prison life, he must submit to prison discipline, prison food, and wear prison garb. Each night, when the bell rang, he must fall into line, walk into his cell, where the iron door clanged behind him and listen to the heavy bolt grating harshly in the lock and where night after night the receding steps of the turnkey revived the consciousness that he was still a prisoner, unreconciled to his sovereign and to free society.
What kind of stupidity had taken possession of this man's mind? And yet, how like thousands living today? Preferring the false security of enslavement by conformity to the world, rather than responsible freedom by transformation and reconciliation to their sovereign God!
B.
God reconciled Himself to man. God embraced man.
1.
Christ's atoning death supplied the means by which God could forever after have a gracious attitude toward the sinner.
2.
God himself performed the actual, objective deed on His own Son that changed God's attitude and God's relationship toward the estranged sinner.
Frank Weaver tells this story: Two men who had been friends and companions in their youth met in the police court, one on the magistrate's bench, the other the prisoner before the court. The case was tried and the prisoner was found guilty. The judge pronounced the sentence: 14 days hard labor or a fine of $1,000. The condemned man had nothing to pay the fine. The judge rose from the bench, threw aside his magistrate's robes, and, stepping down to the prisoner, stood beside his friend, paid his fine for him, and then said, Now, John are you coming home with me to supper.
The Judge justified both the integrity of the law and the guilt of the law-breaker. They were reconciled.
God, in Christ's death and resurrection, was both just and the Justifier of those who believe and obey. GOD AND SINFUL MAN ARE RECONCILED!
C.
Reconciliation is the very essence of the good news.
1.
Reconciliation is the goal of God's redemptive plan from the garden of Eden to the throne of the Lamb in Revelation.
2.
Reconciliation is the goal of our faith in Christ. To be restored to personal, mental, spiritual fellowship with God is what the soul of man longs for.
3.
We are more than merely savedwe are embraced, endeared, reconciled.
IF WE ARE NOT ALLOWING OURSELVES EVERYDAY TO BE MORE AND MORE CONQUERED BY GOD THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE NOT BEING RECONCILED TO OUR FATHER. WE ARE STILL PRODIGALS, FAR AWAY FROM HOME AND THE FATHER'S ARMS
III.
ENDEARED (Part of God's work of reconciliation is to endear himself to us).
A.
IT is this very deed of God performed on His only Son that not only changed God's relationship-
1.
But it also provides the possibility and power for the estranged sinner, influenced by God's love and grace, God's justice and faithfulness, to desire reconciliation and to seek it.
2.
God is the first mover. He makes the reconciliation. He accomplishes what is impossible for man He declares man pardoned, forgiven, embraced, reconciled.
3.
And the fact of God's work of grace, moves us to accept, and change our attitudes and relationship.
B.
It is therefore the privilege of men to respond to such great grace.
1.
God, in his great wisdom, provided the appeasement by which He is reconciled toward the sinner.
2.
And at the same time provided the power for us to be reconciled toward him.
John 12:32If I be lifted up..
1 John 4:10... not that we loved God, but that he loved us..
2 Corinthians 5:18-19God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself..
Romans 5:8; Romans 5:10 ... while we were enemies, Christ died for us..
C.
We have access to the Father
1.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes: Now the important thing to realise here is that the Lord Jesus Christ does not merely prepare or open the way to this. He actually effects it, He actually produces it Himself. It is He who introduces us to the Father, brings us, takes us by the hand and ushers us into His presence. I am anxious to emphasize the fact that this is really the grand end and object of salvation. And I suppose there has never been a time when this needs to be emphasized more than today. We have all become so subjective, and are so much interested in our own moods and states and feelings and conditions, that when we give our testimonies we say that what salvation has done is to make us happy, or to take away this or that; and there we stop. But the grand object of salvation is to bring us into the presence of God nothing less, nothing short of that. (God's Way of Reconciliation, p. 251)
2.
The object of salvation is reconciliationhappiness on God's terms, not ours.
The object of God's redemption and salvation is to make us love him and long for clear, unfettered, access without any hostility toward God and his kingdom.
THE OBJECT OF VICARIOUS ATONEMENT IS TO SATISFY GOD'S HOLINESS AND JUSTICE, AND TO AFFECT MAN'S UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER TO HIS WISDOM AND LOVE! IN ORDER THAT GOD AND MAN MAY ENJOY ONE ANOTHER'S PRESENCE!
IV.
EVANGELISM (Those who have been reconciled have a work to do in God's program of reconciling the world unto himself).
A.
First, we are to regard no one from a human point of view.
1.
Everything and everybody we now think about, view, regard, relate to, according to the mind of Christ.
2.
We do not regard people or God's kingdom from even our own point of view, but only as Christ directs us in his word.
3.
Enough of this indulgent, destructive sentimentality that wants to sacrifice another person's reconciliation to God for the sake of being popular, being thought well of, not creating tension. Beware when all men speak well of you! Christians live in constant tension against worldliness!
4.
If we, as ambassadors of Christ, expect to do our work in reconciling the world to God, we must present the terms of peace and reconciliation the sovereign has authorized. THE TERMS ARE COMPLETE SURRENDER! Christ views his kingdom as one whose members have counted the cost of complete surrender. It is not a mental halfway house. The Bible repeatedly says those of a divided mind and heart are not in the kingdom.
RECONCILIATION, BY ITS VERY DEFINITION, DEMANDS UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER, AGREEMENT OR PACIFICATION OF THE HOSTILE REBEL TO THE SOVEREIGN VICTOR.
THOSE AMBASSADORS WHO REPRESENT THE SOVEREIGN ARE AUTHORIZED TO PROCLAIM NOTHING LESS!
The work of reconciliation cannot be accomplished by baptizing bodies with minds left in worldly rebellion. People cannot be friends of the world and friends of God at the same time. If their minds are set on worldlinessthey are enemies of God! James 4:1-17
B.
Second, we are appealers and beseechers, not manipulators.
1.
Paul wrote in II Corinthians that since we know the terror of the Lord we persuade men to be reconciled. He also said that the love of Christ constrains us to preach.
2.
No one was ever truly reconciled by being manipulated into the kingdom. As ambassadors of Christ we are to appeal to, beseech, and persuade as many as will be persuaded, as long as we have breath. THOSE WHO WILL NOT BE PERSUADED ARE NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY.
3.
There are two pre-requisites to becoming an ambassador of reconciliation.
a.
KNOW THE MESSAGE THOROUGHLY. We are not reconciling people to how we feelbut to what God has declared!
b.
KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE THAT MESSAGE.
We cannot do people's thinking for them, but we must develop the communicative skills to get them to think about what God says in His word.
THERE IS SO MUCH NON-THINK IN THE WORLD TODAY, IN THE AREAS OF FAITH, MORALS, IMMORALITY. AND THAT AMONGST THE SO-CALLED INTELLIGENTSIA OF OUR WORLD!
J.B. Phillips says, in Making Men Whole, p. 76ff: It is not enough for us who are preachers or writers to give an adequate performance before the eyes and ears of our (audiences). instead we have the formidable task of reconciling the Word of truth with the thought-forms of a people estranged from God; interpreting without changing or diluting the essential Word..
Doubtless there are times when we all bewail the particular pains and distresses of our calling, and even think enviously of someone else's vocation, but the plain fact is that if we are called of God to bear a part in His purpose, there can be no evasion of its cost.
Let us then be clear what is involved in making our vocation serve God's purpose of reconciliation. Christianity is full of joy, but it is not a joyride. . It is as if we were called to be, as Sir Winston Churchill said in one of the darkest hours of the late world war, both grim and gay. The grimness comes from our knowledge of the strength of the forces arrayed against us; the stubbornness of human self-will, the sheer dead weight of apathy which above all else would quench the fires of our spirit. But full of joy we must be too, because day by day we have the deepest satisfaction this world can afford, of knowing that we are co-operating withand even being allowed to share the cost ofthe purpose of God Himself.
Conclusion
We do not comprehend the essence of reconciliation until we love deeply and intimately, and are hurt by a loved one's estrangement. I suppose we begin to understand when we have children. They are a part of us. We love them more than ourselves. When they estrange themselves from us we discipline and chasten themnot because we are unwilling to be hurt, but because we are unwilling for them to be hurt. Sometimes the reconciling time is long and difficult. It takes great patience and much prayer. We have children here at OBC. You are our children in the faith. We have many of your brothers and sisters all over the world. We long for themto see themto give to themto love them. We pray for them. We are unwilling for them to be hurt.
We have great expectations for you. We love you. We are unwilling for you to be hurt. We will not indulge you so that you will be hurt. On the other hand, we will give you everything in our power to keep you from being hurt. We want, first, to see you totally reconciled to Godtotally surrenderedUnconditionally surrendered to Christ. THEN, WE LONG TO SEE YOUR BECOME AN AMBASSADOR OF RECONCILIATION
I think God has given us human family relationship so we may have an existential and even experiential knowledge of personal relationships which may be as humanly analogous as possible to the ultimate personal, spiritual brethren.
When I was a teen-ager, I alienated myself from my father. I didn-'t hate him, I just didn-'t want to be around him. I felt like he was too bossytoo demandingdidn-'t understand about my desires. I didn-'t fight him or openly disobey him. But I did not feel like I wanted to be close to him. It was not his fault. All this time he was forgiving and forgetting all my prodigal stubbornness.
After marriage and two children of my own, I learned a lot. I finally admitted whose fault the alienation was. The last eight years of his life he lived right across the street from me. I got to know my Dad. We worked together, we took trips together, we went everywhere together. We became like one person. I was reconciled to him. NOW THAT HE HAS PASSED FROM THIS LIFE, I LONG FOR HIS PRESENCE!
That is what God has for usreconciliation. He desires for us to be reconciled to him, to be at peace with him, to long for him!
When we, like the apostle Paul, find that war raging within ourselves so that we cry out for deliverance form our wretched selves, we may find reconciliation when we acknowledge that God has atoned for our sins in Christ and when we set our minds on the things of the Spirit (found in the word of the Spirit) and are led by the will of the Spirit (found in the word of the Spirit).
When the Spirit of God, through the Word of God, bears witness with our spirit that we are a child of God, then we have begun our reconciliationwe have come home to our Father and we are one with him.
The WORK OF RECONCILIATION is beautiful and emotionally put to poetry by Francis Thompson in his poem, The Hound Of Heaven.
It closes like this:
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'St seek it in My arms.
All which they child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me!
Special Study
FAITH
(In order to appropriate the death of Christ)
5th lecture in a series of six on the
Meaning of the Cross; for Life of Christ
Introduction
I.
SOME DEFINITIONS
A.
Hebrews 11:1 ff (πίστις, pistis)
1.
Not so much a definition as it is a statement of faith's resultsgives assurance of things hoped for, conviction about things not seen. In other words faith supplies reality to that which is beyond the sensory world.
2.
Faith is best defined when it is exemplified; in the lives of the saints of O.T. and N.T.but especially as exemplified in the earthly life of Jesus.
B.
Alexander Campbell, Dec. 7, 1834, in an address on Reason and Faith, New York City Concert Hall,
1.
Reason deciding that the testimony is true, is believing; reason deciding that the testimony is false, is disbelieving; reason unable to decide, is skepticism.
2.
Faith involves the whole manbut it must FIRST involve the intellect.
II.
THE BASIC ELEMENT OF PERSONAL FAITH
A.
Trust responding to evidence
B.
Commitment responding to need
C.
Fellowship responding to love
Discussion
I.
AN INTRODUCTION
A.
We must know whom we believe
1.
In the case of eternal life or eternal death it is never trite to repeat that before we can commit our souls to anyone we must first KNOW them
2.
We cannot believe in Jesus until we know Him
B.
Alexander Campbell once said, no savage ever shed a tear over the death of Christ where it was not known
1.
He was not being facetious
2.
Romans 10:17, Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.
C.
The creation of faith in all men was the primary purpose for the recording of the facts about Jesus-' life (the gospels). Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you m ay have life in his name. John 20:30-31
D.
So the first step in appropriating the death of Christ to sinners is that sinners be introduced to just who Jesus is, and that factually, He died, rose again, and that according to this same Jesus Christ, He died in the sinner's place.
IF THEY DON-'T KNOW HIM, THEY CANNOT BELIEVE IN HIM, AND HIS DEATH WILL NOT APPLY TO THEIR SINS
II.
AN IDENTIFICATION
A.
We must identify with Him
1.
We must believe Him to such an extent that we trust Him to be Who He claims and to be able to Do All He Claims
2.
Here is where we accept His death as our own death.
3.
Here is where we accept, by faith, that when He died, we died
4.
Seth Wilson said, If I accept His death as my death so that my death is past, and it is no more my life that lives, and I am united with Him so that God sees Him in me, because He now lives in me, and sees me in Him, then He died my death.
B.
Galatians 2:20 states our position as believers
1.
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
2.
It is our belief and trust in Christ that causes us to acknowledge that our old man died with Him on the cross.
3.
Galatians 6:14 But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
4.
Jesus uses the incident of Moses and the serpent in the wilderness to illustrate how His being lifted up will save men who look upon Him in faith
5.
Galatians 3:26-27For in Christ Jesus are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
C.
Obedience is a definite part of our identifying with Him
1.
But this is a subject to be treated separately
2.
Suffice it to say her that a faith without obedience is a false faith
3.
It is possible for men, in a Christian nation, to know the facts about Jesus (some facts, though probably distorted by false teachers) AND STILL REFUSE TO IDENTIFY WITH HIM BECAUSE THEY SIMPLY DON-'T WANT TO DIE TO SELF
III.
AN INFUSION
A.
Our relationship to Jesus Christ must be deeper, more intimate than identification
1.
If His death is to become ours, and His life is to become ours we must by unreserved faith (trust) let His personality be so infused into ours we find that unity with Him which the N.T. urges
2.
It is expressed so aptly in 2 Corinthians 5:14-17. For the love of Christ controls us; because we are convinced (note that word) that one has died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; (because we don-'t live to exercise our own minds and to have our own feelings and to make our own judgments. we simply don-'t have a life of our own anymore. we are bought with a price).. Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
B.
Seth Wilson
1.
The greatest mistake the Christian can make is to say, -it's my life, and I-'ll live it.-' Because that just rejects our salvation, just like that. The only salvation there is for any sinner, is to give my life up to Jesus and to receive His death for mine. And anytime anybody thinks -It's my life and I-'ll live it,-' he has forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. He has forgotten his Savior, he has renounced His master, and he has immediately taken all his sins upon himself afresh.
C.
This infusion must be a union of His nature with ours
1.
We must dwell in Him and His will and His character (doing what He did, saying what He said, trusting in the Father as He trusted).
2.
He is the source of our thinking, feeling, willing, acting
3.
He is the Vine and we are the branches
D.
We trust Him, believe in Him, commit ourselves to Him to the extent that we cease to live as we formerly lived.. We died. and when we enter into covenant relationship with Him, two lives are blended together and His Spirit fills me, and my guilt is upon Him, and His righteousness is upon me.
1.
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:3-4
Conclusion
I.
SALVATION IS NOT JUST AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
II.
SALVATION IS BY FAITH. AND FAITH COMES BY HEARING THE TESTIMONY
A.
Our salvation or redemption focuses on the objective deeds of God in history
B.
Reason deciding that the testimony is true, is believing..
C.
When we use our reason, investigating the evidence (testimony), and decide that the testimony is true, and we are willing to accept and commit ourselves to the consequences of the testimony. WE ARE REDEEMED!
D.
Of course, accepting the consequences of the truthfulness of the testimony is to accept our own death!!! and our new life!!! in Christ.
Special Study
OBEDIENCE
6th in series of 6 lectures for Life of Christ,
Semester VI, The Meaning of the death of Christ
Introduction
I.
MEANING
A.
Heb. Shama; to hear, hearken, obey
B.
Gr. ὑπαϰοῡω, hupakouo (most frequent in N.T.); to hearken, lit. to hear under denoting the obligation of compliance
II.
USAGE
A.
Obedience in the Bible signifies active response to something one hearsnot just passive listening
B.
One cannot truly hear God's word without acting upon it
C.
Obedience is the fundamental O.T. virtue
1.
2.
Jeremiah 11:7 (It is the one thing God requires and which from the first determines His attitude to His creatures)
D.
Just as important in the N.T.
1.
It is both the cause and condition of salvation; through one act of obedience (Romans 5:19) Christ became to all His followers the author of an eternal salvation (Hebrews 5:9). But this salvation is only to be obtained on condition that they also obey.
2.
In His farewell address to His disciples Christ makes obedience the supreme test of love (John 14:15; John 14:23)
3.
Paul declares that the obedience of the Christians should extend even to one's very thoughts (2 Corinthians 10:5)
4.
We are exhorted: (1 Peter 1:22)
to obey the truth (Galatians 5:7) (Romans 2:8) and not to obey wickedness
to obey the gospel of God (1 Peter 4:17) (2 Thessalonians 1:8)
to obey the Son (John 3:36)
Discussion
I.
OFFERED OBEDIENCE
A.
Too often we look at obedience as an obligation
1.
Actually God is doing us a favor in offering to let us obey Him
2.
Man's most basic need is fellowship with God. without God we become, in spite of all our human efforts, totally and helplessly alone
3.
Fellowship with God is made possible by ... loving the Lord your God, walk in all his ways, and cleave unto him.. Only when we respond to God's love by loving obedience to His will can we experience communion with Him.
B.
Jesus made it clear that the only faith (trust) that counts as a faith that results in obedience.
1.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21). YOU SEE, THE ONE WHO HAS NO DESIRE TO DO GOD'S WILL WOULD NOT BE HAPPY IN HEAVEN!
2.
Why do you call me, Lord, and not do what I tell you? Luke 6:46
3.
The Parable of the Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32). Which one did the will of his father? THE ONE WHO OBEYED! Not the one who said he would and didn-'t!
C.
Faith without obedience is disobedience.
1.
Satan and the demons know the truth, but do not obey it (James 2:19)
2.
Obedience is not legalism.. Legalism is an attitude Obedience is not doing something whereby we earn or merit salvation
3.
Obedience is merely acknowledging God's wisdom, love, and authority, and availing oneself of the privilege of sharing or participating in that love, wisdom and authority
4.
OBEDIENCE IS THE ONLY WAY TO PARTICIPATE IN WHAT GOD HAS TO OFFER!
II.
OPPORTUNITY TO OBEY
A.
God not only offers us obedience, He provides the method or agency by which we may obey
1.
The first great act of obedience which unites us in the death of Christ is baptism
2.
This is what the 6th chapter of Romans is all about
3.
We are not saved simply by Jesus-' death, but by our union with Jesus-' death, by our entering into Jesus-' death, by the applying of His death to us.
4.
Jesus died for the whole world, yet His death does not accomplish the redemption for the whole world, only of those who are baptized into Him. THAT IS WHY BAPTISM IS SO IMPORTANT, THAT IS WHY FAITH IN HIM IS SO IMPORTANT.
5.
Of course, there is nothing efficacious in the mere act of being dunked in water. hundreds of people do that every summer in swimming pools and bath tubs.
a.
The faith that leads a person to surrender self-will and self-direction over to God and causes that person to turn to God obeying God's word is what makes baptism efficacious.
b.
Baptism can be turned into an idol just like the serpent of the wilderness was idolized.
c.
Baptism without the proper relationship to the Person of Jesus Christ is no better than some pagan religious ritual
6.
On the other hand, baptism is the most appropriate way the Christian may express what he has believed about Jesus-' death and resurrection.
a.
In this act of obedience the believer both symbolizes what he believes in his heart (Romans 6:17) and has an objective point in time and in deed where he may surely experience doing the will of God (which experience he must have), to say, I have done God's will.
b.
It is here the believer declares to the world and to his own heart that he accepts the sentence of death to his own self-will and accepts the new life or new nature of Christ to dwell in his mind, feeling, will and body
B.
The other great act of obedience which unites us with the death of Jesus is the Lord's Supper; we may argue about frequency, but not the doing of it!
1.
Jesus definitely instituted the Supper to relate our faith and thinking to His death as a ransom (Matthew 26:26-29 and parallels)
2.
Paul is also definite in 1 Corinthians 11:23-32.
3.
Again, there is no miraculous efficacy in the loaf and the cup in and of themselves. we do not earn or merit the blood of Christ by observing the Supper.
4.
But the Supper is the most appropriate way the believer may express what he continues to believe about Jesus-' death and resurrection.
a.
In this act of obedience the believer both symbolizes what he believes in his heart and has, at the same time, an objective point whereby he may experience doing the will of God.
b.
It is here the believer declares to the world and to his own heart that he accepts the sentence of death to his own self-will and accepts the new life or new nature or Christ to dwell in him.
C.
All the other acts of obedience to the gospel of Christ are God's opportunities for us to participate in the death of Christ in our stead. opportunities to put to practice what we believe (that when He died, we died) (and that when He was raised we were raised to a new life) (Colossians 3:1-25)
1.
Stewardship (giving)
2.
Evangelism (spreading truth and light to the world)
3.
Benevolence (ministering, as He ministered and gave Himself)
4.
Worshipping (Christ's act of obedient death was the One Supreme Act of Worship to God) (He was heard for His godly fear)
III.
OBJECT OF OUR OBEDIENCE
A.
Christ, the Lord
1.
If it were not for His obedience there would be little motivation for our obedience
2.
He pioneered the way in obedience.. He demonstrated in the flesh that it was of the very nature of God to serve and obey.
3.
After the great foot-washing incident, Jesus said, If you know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. John 13:1-38
4.
Jesus demonstrated that it is possible to dwell in the flesh and still to obey the Father.
B.
God does not require an obedience we are unable to render.
1.
Whatever his requirements may be, we are at the same time given strength necessary to keep them.
2.
There is therefore no legitimate excuse for disobedience.
3.
The same Jesus who requires of his followers that they obey the will of the heavenly Father obeyed.
4.
Furthermore He promised to dwell in us in His Spirit to aid us in obeying the Father.
Conclusion
JESUS CAME AND TABERNACLED AMONG MEN IN THE FLESH, TRUSTED GOD, OBEYED GOD, SURRENDERED HIS LIFE AND LIVED NOT UNTO HIMSELF BUT FOR GOD AND OTHERS.
HE DID SO PERFECTLY. HIS DEATH PAID OUR PRICE, SATISIFIED THE JUSTICE OF GOD, SERVED OUR SENTENCE AND CHANGED GOD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD REBELLIOUS SINNERS.
JESUS DID ALL THIS TO BRING ABOUT A CHANGE IN OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD AND DRAW US INTO THE FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNION WITH OUR FATHER AND CREATOR WHO WANTS TO BLESS US ABOVE ALL WE ARE ABLE TO IMAGINE.
WE MAY ENTER INTO THAT OFFERED FELLOWSHIP BY FAITH AND OBEDIENCE.
IN SO DOING WE ACCEPT HIS DEATH AS OURS AND HIS LIFE AS OURS.. WE NO LONGER LIVE TO SELF.. WE ARE NOT OUR OWN TO DO AS WE SELFISHLY PLEASE ANYMORE.. WE HAVE ENTERED INTO A DEATH, AND A RESURRECTION!
THOSE WHO HAVE DIED ONCE, HAVE NO NEED TO FEAR THE SECOND DEATH.
God will not force you to enter into a fellowship (sharing) or covenant of obedience. He will not force anyone to be what he does not want, really want, to be.
No man would be happy being coerced to be good and righteous; e.g. the Parable of the Prodigal and elder Sons; Jesus did not force the Rich Young Ruler to give up his riches and follow Him.
Applebury's Comments
CHAPTER FIVE
Analysis
A.
Paul contrasted the earthly and heavenly dwelling places as he continued the explanation of his courageous outlook for the future (2 Corinthians 5:1-10).
1.
He pointed out that we know that we will have a building from God (2 Corinthians 5:1).
a)
This will be when the earthly, temporary dwellingour physical bodyis folded up like a tent when it is no longer needed (la).
b)
We have waiting for us a permanent dwelling place from God (b).
(1)
It will be a permanent dwelling in contrast to the earthly, mortal body.
(2)
It is eternal in contrast to the temporary body of this life.
(3)
It is to be in heaven in contrast to the one that is for earth.
2.
He spoke of his longing to be in that heavenly dwelling place (2 Corinthians 5:2-5).
a)
In this earthly body we have pain and distress which cause us to be deeply disturbed.
b)
This makes us long for the heavenly dwelling.
c)
The heavenly dwelling will replace the earthly one so that we will not be without a body.
d)
He explained that we do not want to be without a body; rather, we want one that will take the place of this mortal body.
e)
He who provided this very thing for us is God, and He guaranteed it through what is revealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:5).
3.
He explained why he faced the future with such courage (2 Corinthians 5:6-10).
a)
He was aware of the fact that as long as we make our home in this physical body we are away from home, that is, away from the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6).
b)
In this state we walk by faith, not by sight; we put our trust in the Lord because of the knowledge we have through the revelation by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 5:7).
c)
Because we are confident of this, we wish to be away from this earthly home, the physical body, that we might be at home with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8).
d)
Consequently, Paul made it his aim to be well-pleasing to the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:9-10).
(1)
This was his aim whether at home in the body or absent from it.
(2)
This was true because he faced the time when all will appear before the judgment-seat of Christ. There each one will receive the verdict, based on what he has done in the body, whether good or bad.
B.
Because he knew the meaning of reverence for God, Paul explained his ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).
1.
He explained the motivating forces of this ministry (2 Corinthians 5:11-17).
a)
Since he was aware of the Judgment, he was endeavoring to persuade men to obey God so that they might be prepared for it (2 Corinthians 5:7-13).
(1)
This was evident to God, and he hoped that they were aware of it too (2 Corinthians 5:11).
(2)
He was not commending himself as he told about this ministry (2 Corinthians 5:12-13).
(a)
He was giving them an opportunity to boast on his behalf.
(b)
This gave them an answer to the ones who were boasting about appearance and not reality.
b)
He told them of the love of Christ which was the compelling force in his ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:14-17).
(1)
He was held on this course by the force of Christ's Christ's love for him (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
(a)
It was the fact that Christ died for all sinners that made him aware of this love (2 Corinthians 5:14 a).
(b)
It is evident, then, that all sinners have died (2 Corinthians 5:14 b).
(c)
It is also true that Christ died for all sinnersthat included Paulso that they might no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose for their sakes.
(2)
He explained the view he held because he had come to understand the love of Christ for him (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
(a)
He no longer considered any man as a mere human being, although he had once thought of Messiah from this point of view (2 Corinthians 5:16).
(b)
He looked upon any man who was in Christ as a new creature; old thing had passed away; behold, they have become new.
2.
He explained that he had received this ministry from God (2 Corinthians 5:18-19).
a)
God had reconciled Paul to Himself through Christ and had given him this ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18).
b)
Paul explained what this meant (2 Corinthians 5:19).
(1)
It meant that God was, in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself.
(2)
It meant that He was not reckoning their trespasses against them, but through His ambassador He was offering them the way of reconciliation.
3.
He explained what he was doing as an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20-21).
a)
God was pleading with them through the ambassador of Christ that they reconcile themselves to Him (2 Corinthians 5:20).
b)
God had made this reconciliation possible through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
(1)
God made Christ, who was sinless, to represent sin when He died on the cross.
(2)
This was done that we might become the representatives of the righteousness of God in Him.
1.
Why did Paul speak of his confidence in the future?
2.
On what did he base his confidence?
3.
What is to be said in the light of Scripture about the assumption that Paul was anticipating the return of Christ in his own lifetime?
4.
What had Jesus said to the apostles about the time of His second coming?
5.
What bearing does this problem have on the fact that Paul wrote as an inspired apostle?
6.
What had he written to the Thessalonians about this issue?
7.
What did Paul mean when he wrote: We all shall not sleep, but we shall be changed?
8.
What did he write to the Philippians about the necessity of carrying on his ministry for their sakes?
9.
As he faced death, what did he write to Timothy about it?
10.
What warning did Christ give in connection with His coming?
11.
What is taught in the Scriptures about the intermediate state.
12.
Did Paul discuss the intermediate state of the dead, or did he have in mind the permanent dwelling with the Lord in heaven?
13.
How did Paul contrast the physical body with the permanent home in heaven?
14.
How does he describe the building from God?
15.
What had been the attitude of some toward the resurrection?
16.
What had Paul written to the Corinthians in his first epistle about the kind of body they were to have in the resurrection?
17.
How had he described the resurrection body to the Philippians?
18.
What did the apostle John say about it?
19.
What did Paul have in mind when he spoke of the physical body as a tabernacle or tent?
20.
How had Peter referred to his physical body as he anticipated death?
21.
Why did Paul say that the building from God is not made with hands?
22.
What kind of a city was Abraham looking for?
23.
How did Peter describe the salvation which will be revealed at the close of this age?
24.
How explain Paul's deep emotions arising from the things he suffered in the body?
25.
What does not be found naked mean?
26.
What was the attitude of the Greeks about being free from the body?
27.
How did Paul expect that which is mortal to be swallowed by life?
28.
What did he mean by the earnest of the Spirit? Why did he mention it here? Where may we read about it?
29.
What does it mean to walk by faith?
30.
Why did he speak of being at home with the Lord?
31.
What did Paul write to the Thessalonians about the things that will happen when Christ comes again?
32.
Why did Paul make it his aim to be well-pleasing to God?
33.
Why was he trying to persuade men to obey God?
34.
What is the judgment-seat of Christ? By what other figures is the Judgment described?
35.
What did Paul tell the men of Athens about the Judgment?
36.
What did the writer of Ecclesiastes say about it?
37.
What does the Book of Revelation say about it?
38.
What did Paul write to the Romans about it?
39.
What did Jesus say about the Judgment?
40.
What were the controlling forces in Paul's ministry?
41.
What place does fearreverence for Godhave in the life of the Christian?
42.
What was Paul persuading men to do?
43.
How is this illustrated by his efforts at Thessalonica?
44.
What pattern did Paul follow in his work of persuading men?
45.
How had Paul been influenced by the effort of Stephen to persuade men of the truth of the gospel?
46.
Why did Paul say, We are made manifest to God?
47.
Why did he again raise the issue of self-commendation?
48.
What answer was given to those who insinuated that Paul was out of his mind?
49.
What caused Paul to realize the compelling force of the love of Christ?
50.
What is meant by one died for all?
51.
On what is the doctrine of substitutionary atonement based?
52.
On what is the doctrine of limited atonement based?
53.
How does Paul's statement about the death of Christ in 1 Corinthians 15:3 help to understand what he wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 5:14-15?
54.
What is the doctrine of irresistible grace?
55.
What is its bearing on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints?
56.
What are some of the things involved in the doctrine of predestination?
57.
What is the commercial theory of the atonement?
58.
What do the Scriptures teach about the death of Christ in its various relationships?
59.
What did Paul mean by, therefore all died?
60.
Why did Christ die for all sinners?
61.
Why did the death of Christ change Paul's views about men and Christ?
62.
Why does Paul speak of the fact that God gave him the ministry of reconciliation?
63.
What is meant by: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself?
64.
What do the Scriptures teach about the deity of Jesus? About the unity of the Father and the Son?
65.
Why is it stated that God did not reckon their trespasses unto men?
66.
What is an ambassador? How does this describe Paul's ministry?
67.
What do the Scriptures say about the sinlessness of Jesus?
68.
What do the words, he made sin on our behalf mean?
69.
What is meant by: that we might become the righteousness of God in him?
For Discussion
1.
What is the place of punishment as a motivating force to obedience in the home? the school? the state? to God?
2.
How does it compare with love in these areas?