Sosoma Jr
JF-Expert Member
- Aug 7, 2020
- 312
- 281
The New Creatures in Christ.
We do not earn salvation by right doing or good behavior. Rather, Jesus has already secured salvation for us. We access it by faith. The right kind of right doing comes from our acceptance of His gift.
THE PLAIN FACTS OF THE GOSPEL.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news, not good advice. There's a big difference between news and advice. News says what has been done while advice says what must be done. Every human religion, idea, and therapy system has one basic thing to offer. They give moral advice on how to fix ourselves and our behaviour. There are lots of sincere people seeking help in these systems. But the systems all focus on what sinful human beings must or should do to fix the problem. At their basic level, they're all directed toward the self as the answer. But there is one exception: the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ. Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. "
What is the basic idea of the gospel from what Paul says?__________________________________.
The gospel of Christ is a totally different answer than anything humans have thought of. It turns our attention away from ourselves and onto the Savior. This Savior gives us love and forgiveness and grace. These free gifts make it possible for lasting change to happen. The gospel tells us what God has already done for us in Christ. It also invites us to put our trust in Him.
"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men" (Titus 3:3-8).
The gospel is the good news of Jesus' accomplishments for us, not an order of what we need to accomplish for ourselves or for Him. They are incredibly beautiful and complete accomplishments. Human salvation is something that has already been secured through Jesus Christ. It's in the past as a historic reality. He became a human being. He lived a perfect life of selfless love. He died for our sins in our place. Then He rose from the dead. On the third day, He went up to heaven to the victory position by the Father.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:3-7).
He did all of this in our human nature. This way He created a new humanity for us or on our behalf:
"And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being. ' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterwards the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:45-47).
This is why Paul says Jesus is the Savior for all humans: "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" ( 1 Timothy 4:10). In Paul's thinking, Jesus lived a perfect life on behalf of all human beings. He died on the cross for everyone. He rose again and went to heaven for everyone: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Paul speaks of the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23). We already have salvation in Christ. We have it in Him even before we experience it ourselves.
Paul also speaks of the new life that has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). The good works God has in mind for us are also done in Christ. We walk in them after their creation by Him.
Paul says that because Jesus "died for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Everyone was represented in Jesus' death. He suffered the total awful reality of our combined guilt as a race. As our Substitute, He died for us, as us, in our place.
And finally, Paul says that "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). Jesus died, rose from the grave, and went to heaven. Because He is there, we are there in Him. He is our representative.
All of this, according to Paul, is "the gospel." The historic, factual successes of Jesus Christ in our humanity make up the good news. The good news is what God has done through Jesus for the whole human race. And we did nothing to earn or deserve it. He did it purely "because of His great love with which He loved us."
The Faith Response.
Paul then builds a bridge from what Jesus did in the past to our current lives. God wants the plain facts of what Jesus did to become a real experience for us. He wants it to be real in our hearts and lives right now. And faith, Paul explains, is the way we can access the redemption that Jesus already has. Faith does not make facts, but rather believes and relies on the facts that are already true in Christ. Read and talk about the following verses:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor for me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:8-10).
"For the grace of God that things salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
Answering the following questions will help bring out the truth in these Scriptures:
Who was crucified with Jesus Christ?_________. What is the motive that drives the new life of faith in Christ?___________. God "saved us" (past tense), and in that saving act He also" us with a holy ." What part do our "works" play in God saving us in Christ? _________. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation in Christ to how many men? _____________. Our good works do not earn salvation. But how does God's saving grace teach us to live in this present world? __________________.
All Things New.
The apostle Paul explains just how truly powerful God's love is. He shows the changing effect it has on those who believe in it:
"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians:514-19).
Talk about this passage line by line. Develop its beautiful thoughts with these questions: What is the compelling power of the gospel?______________. Once we "judge" (figure out)that Christ died for all human beings, something changes with us. How will we begin to see people? How will we stop regarding them? ______________. What is God's position toward the world? How does He handle our trespasses (our sins)? _______________. God, is trying to reconcile us to Himself (or make us right with Himself). How many parts of our lives are made new as we respond to Him? _______________.
What Paul is telling us is that the love of Christ has the power to change all areas of our lives. This change can happen when we understand and accept God's love. We stop living for ourselves and begin living for Him. We can live for Him because we're moved by His love for us. And we stop relating to other human beings "according to the flesh," or from our natural selfishness. Rather, we begin seeing them in the light of the fact that Jesus died for them. We relate to them according to what they could be if they were right with God.
Connect.
Jesus lived a perfect life of love. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He rose and went to heaven on the third day. Through these things, He secured salvation as the new representative head of humanity.
As the first man, Adam was the head of the human race. He represented everyone. Through Adam, humanity was plunged into sin, guilt, and death. In 11 Corinthians 15 Paul explains that Jesus came to our world to be, "the last Adam . . . . the second Man . . . the heavenly Man . . . " He came to redeem Adam's failure: "For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Jesus] also came to the resurrection of the dead." Paul shows the similarities and differences between Adam and Christ. They're the heads of two different human experiences. The first Adam was the source of humanity's Fall. The second Adam, a Christ, is the source of humanity's redemption. Each of us is free to identify (or connect ourselves) with the first or second Adam. Paul says about those who identify with the second Adam, "as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." (See verses 21-22, 44-49). In other words, those who identify with Christ will be remade again in His image.
Experience.
By faith, I choose to identify with Christ. He is my representative head before God and the kind of human I want to be by God's grace.
It is clear to me from Scripture that God sent Jesus into the world to live the life of love I should have lived. He died the death my guilty demanded. He rose from the dead victorious over sin on my behalf. From this day forward, I put my trust, my identity, all my relationships, and my very life in Him.
God bless you!!, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men" (Titus 3:3-8).
The gospel is the good news of Jesus' accomplishments for us, not an order of what we need to accomplish for ourselves or for Him. They are incredibly beautiful and complete accomplishments. Human salvation is something that has already been secured through Jesus Christ. It's in the past as a historic reality. He became a human being. He lived a perfect life of selfless love. He died for our sins in our place. Then He rose from the dead. On the third day, He went up to heaven to the victory position by the Father.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:3-7).
He did all of this in our human nature. This way He created a new humanity for us or on our behalf:
"And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being. ' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterwards the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:45-47).
This is why Paul says Jesus is the Savior for all humans: "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" ( 1 Timothy 4:10). In Paul's thinking, Jesus lived a perfect life on behalf of all human beings. He died on the cross for everyone. He rose again and went to heaven for everyone: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Paul speaks of the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23). We already have salvation in Christ. We have it in Him even before we experience it ourselves.
Paul also speaks of the new life that has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). The good works God has in mind for us are also done in Christ. We walk in them after their creation by Him.
Paul says that because Jesus "died for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Everyone was represented in Jesus' death. He suffered the total awful reality of our combined guilt as a race. As our Substitute, He died for us, as us, in our place.
And finally, Paul says that "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). Jesus died, rose from the grave, and went to heaven. Because He is there, we are there in Him. He is our representative.
All of this, according to Paul, is "the gospel." The historic, factual successes of Jesus Christ in our humanity make up the good news. The good news is what God has done through Jesus for the whole human race. And we did nothing to earn or deserve it. He did it purely "because of His great love with which He loved us."
The Faith Response.
Paul then builds a bridge from what Jesus did in the past to our current lives. God wants the plain facts of what Jesus did to become a real experience for us. He wants it to be real in our hearts and lives right now. And faith, Paul explains, is the way we can access the redemption that Jesus already has. Faith does not make facts, but rather believes and relies on the facts that are already true in Christ. Read and talk about the following verses:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor for me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:8-10).
"For the grace of God that things salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
Answering the following questions will help bring out the truth in these Scriptures:
Who was crucified with Jesus Christ?_________. What is the motive that drives the new life of faith in Christ?___________. God "saved us" (past tense), and in that saving act He also" us with a holy ." What part do our "works" play in God saving us in Christ? _________. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation in Christ to how many men? _____________. Our good works do not earn salvation. But how does God's saving grace teach us to live in this present world? __________________.
All Things New.
The apostle Paul explains just how truly powerful God's love is. He shows the changing effect it has on those who believe in it:
"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians:514-19).
Talk about this passage line by line. Develop its beautiful thoughts with these questions: What is the compelling power of the gospel?______________. Once we "judge" (figure out)that Christ died for all human beings, something changes with us. How will we begin to see people? How will we stop regarding them? ______________. What is God's position toward the world? How does He handle our trespasses (our sins)? _______________. God, is trying to reconcile us to Himself (or make us right with Himself). How many parts of our lives are made new as we respond to Him? _______________.
What Paul is telling us is that the love of Christ has the power to change all areas of our lives. This change can happen when we understand and accept God's love. We stop living for ourselves and begin living for Him. We can live for Him because we're moved by His love for us. And we stop relating to other human beings "according to the flesh," or from our natural selfishness. Rather, we begin seeing them in the light of the fact that Jesus died for them. We relate to them according to what they could be if they were right with God.
Connect.
Jesus lived a perfect life of love. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He rose and went to heaven on the third day. Through these things, He secured salvation as the new representative head of humanity.
As the first man, Adam was the head of the human race. He represented everyone. Through Adam, humanity was plunged into sin, guilt, and death. In 11 Corinthians 15 Paul explains that Jesus came to our world to be, "the last Adam . . . . the second Man . . . the heavenly Man . . . " He came to redeem Adam's failure: "For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Jesus] also came to the resurrection of the dead." Paul shows the similarities and differences between Adam and Christ. They're the heads of two different human experiences. The first Adam was the source of humanity's Fall. The second Adam, a Christ, is the source of humanity's redemption. Each of us is free to identify (or connect ourselves) with the first or second Adam. Paul says about those who identify with the second Adam, "as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." (See verses 21-22, 44-49). In other words, those who identify with Christ will be remade again in His image.
Experience.
By faith, I choose to identify with Christ. He is my representative head before God and the kind of human I want to be by God's grace.
It is clear to me from Scripture that God sent Jesus into the world to live the life of love I should have lived. He died the death my guilty demanded. He rose from the dead victorious over sin on my behalf. From this day forward, I put my trust, my identity, all my relationships, and my very life in Him.
God bless you!!
We do not earn salvation by right doing or good behavior. Rather, Jesus has already secured salvation for us. We access it by faith. The right kind of right doing comes from our acceptance of His gift.
THE PLAIN FACTS OF THE GOSPEL.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news, not good advice. There's a big difference between news and advice. News says what has been done while advice says what must be done. Every human religion, idea, and therapy system has one basic thing to offer. They give moral advice on how to fix ourselves and our behaviour. There are lots of sincere people seeking help in these systems. But the systems all focus on what sinful human beings must or should do to fix the problem. At their basic level, they're all directed toward the self as the answer. But there is one exception: the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ. Read and discuss 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
"Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. "
What is the basic idea of the gospel from what Paul says?__________________________________.
The gospel of Christ is a totally different answer than anything humans have thought of. It turns our attention away from ourselves and onto the Savior. This Savior gives us love and forgiveness and grace. These free gifts make it possible for lasting change to happen. The gospel tells us what God has already done for us in Christ. It also invites us to put our trust in Him.
"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men" (Titus 3:3-8).
The gospel is the good news of Jesus' accomplishments for us, not an order of what we need to accomplish for ourselves or for Him. They are incredibly beautiful and complete accomplishments. Human salvation is something that has already been secured through Jesus Christ. It's in the past as a historic reality. He became a human being. He lived a perfect life of selfless love. He died for our sins in our place. Then He rose from the dead. On the third day, He went up to heaven to the victory position by the Father.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:3-7).
He did all of this in our human nature. This way He created a new humanity for us or on our behalf:
"And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being. ' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterwards the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:45-47).
This is why Paul says Jesus is the Savior for all humans: "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" ( 1 Timothy 4:10). In Paul's thinking, Jesus lived a perfect life on behalf of all human beings. He died on the cross for everyone. He rose again and went to heaven for everyone: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Paul speaks of the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23). We already have salvation in Christ. We have it in Him even before we experience it ourselves.
Paul also speaks of the new life that has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). The good works God has in mind for us are also done in Christ. We walk in them after their creation by Him.
Paul says that because Jesus "died for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Everyone was represented in Jesus' death. He suffered the total awful reality of our combined guilt as a race. As our Substitute, He died for us, as us, in our place.
And finally, Paul says that "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). Jesus died, rose from the grave, and went to heaven. Because He is there, we are there in Him. He is our representative.
All of this, according to Paul, is "the gospel." The historic, factual successes of Jesus Christ in our humanity make up the good news. The good news is what God has done through Jesus for the whole human race. And we did nothing to earn or deserve it. He did it purely "because of His great love with which He loved us."
The Faith Response.
Paul then builds a bridge from what Jesus did in the past to our current lives. God wants the plain facts of what Jesus did to become a real experience for us. He wants it to be real in our hearts and lives right now. And faith, Paul explains, is the way we can access the redemption that Jesus already has. Faith does not make facts, but rather believes and relies on the facts that are already true in Christ. Read and talk about the following verses:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor for me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:8-10).
"For the grace of God that things salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
Answering the following questions will help bring out the truth in these Scriptures:
Who was crucified with Jesus Christ?_________. What is the motive that drives the new life of faith in Christ?___________. God "saved us" (past tense), and in that saving act He also" us with a holy ." What part do our "works" play in God saving us in Christ? _________. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation in Christ to how many men? _____________. Our good works do not earn salvation. But how does God's saving grace teach us to live in this present world? __________________.
All Things New.
The apostle Paul explains just how truly powerful God's love is. He shows the changing effect it has on those who believe in it:
"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians:514-19).
Talk about this passage line by line. Develop its beautiful thoughts with these questions: What is the compelling power of the gospel?______________. Once we "judge" (figure out)that Christ died for all human beings, something changes with us. How will we begin to see people? How will we stop regarding them? ______________. What is God's position toward the world? How does He handle our trespasses (our sins)? _______________. God, is trying to reconcile us to Himself (or make us right with Himself). How many parts of our lives are made new as we respond to Him? _______________.
What Paul is telling us is that the love of Christ has the power to change all areas of our lives. This change can happen when we understand and accept God's love. We stop living for ourselves and begin living for Him. We can live for Him because we're moved by His love for us. And we stop relating to other human beings "according to the flesh," or from our natural selfishness. Rather, we begin seeing them in the light of the fact that Jesus died for them. We relate to them according to what they could be if they were right with God.
Connect.
Jesus lived a perfect life of love. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He rose and went to heaven on the third day. Through these things, He secured salvation as the new representative head of humanity.
As the first man, Adam was the head of the human race. He represented everyone. Through Adam, humanity was plunged into sin, guilt, and death. In 11 Corinthians 15 Paul explains that Jesus came to our world to be, "the last Adam . . . . the second Man . . . the heavenly Man . . . " He came to redeem Adam's failure: "For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Jesus] also came to the resurrection of the dead." Paul shows the similarities and differences between Adam and Christ. They're the heads of two different human experiences. The first Adam was the source of humanity's Fall. The second Adam, a Christ, is the source of humanity's redemption. Each of us is free to identify (or connect ourselves) with the first or second Adam. Paul says about those who identify with the second Adam, "as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." (See verses 21-22, 44-49). In other words, those who identify with Christ will be remade again in His image.
Experience.
By faith, I choose to identify with Christ. He is my representative head before God and the kind of human I want to be by God's grace.
It is clear to me from Scripture that God sent Jesus into the world to live the life of love I should have lived. He died the death my guilty demanded. He rose from the dead victorious over sin on my behalf. From this day forward, I put my trust, my identity, all my relationships, and my very life in Him.
God bless you!!, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men" (Titus 3:3-8).
The gospel is the good news of Jesus' accomplishments for us, not an order of what we need to accomplish for ourselves or for Him. They are incredibly beautiful and complete accomplishments. Human salvation is something that has already been secured through Jesus Christ. It's in the past as a historic reality. He became a human being. He lived a perfect life of selfless love. He died for our sins in our place. Then He rose from the dead. On the third day, He went up to heaven to the victory position by the Father.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace" (Ephesians 1:3-7).
He did all of this in our human nature. This way He created a new humanity for us or on our behalf:
"And so it is written, 'The first man Adam became a living being. ' The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterwards the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Corinthians 15:45-47).
This is why Paul says Jesus is the Savior for all humans: "For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" ( 1 Timothy 4:10). In Paul's thinking, Jesus lived a perfect life on behalf of all human beings. He died on the cross for everyone. He rose again and went to heaven for everyone: "For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again" (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
Paul speaks of the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23). We already have salvation in Christ. We have it in Him even before we experience it ourselves.
Paul also speaks of the new life that has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10). The good works God has in mind for us are also done in Christ. We walk in them after their creation by Him.
Paul says that because Jesus "died for all, then all died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). Everyone was represented in Jesus' death. He suffered the total awful reality of our combined guilt as a race. As our Substitute, He died for us, as us, in our place.
And finally, Paul says that "God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6). Jesus died, rose from the grave, and went to heaven. Because He is there, we are there in Him. He is our representative.
All of this, according to Paul, is "the gospel." The historic, factual successes of Jesus Christ in our humanity make up the good news. The good news is what God has done through Jesus for the whole human race. And we did nothing to earn or deserve it. He did it purely "because of His great love with which He loved us."
The Faith Response.
Paul then builds a bridge from what Jesus did in the past to our current lives. God wants the plain facts of what Jesus did to become a real experience for us. He wants it to be real in our hearts and lives right now. And faith, Paul explains, is the way we can access the redemption that Jesus already has. Faith does not make facts, but rather believes and relies on the facts that are already true in Christ. Read and talk about the following verses:
"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
"Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor for me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Jesus Christ before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:8-10).
"For the grace of God that things salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works" (Titus 2:11-14).
Answering the following questions will help bring out the truth in these Scriptures:
Who was crucified with Jesus Christ?_________. What is the motive that drives the new life of faith in Christ?___________. God "saved us" (past tense), and in that saving act He also" us with a holy ." What part do our "works" play in God saving us in Christ? _________. The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation in Christ to how many men? _____________. Our good works do not earn salvation. But how does God's saving grace teach us to live in this present world? __________________.
All Things New.
The apostle Paul explains just how truly powerful God's love is. He shows the changing effect it has on those who believe in it:
"For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation" (2 Corinthians:514-19).
Talk about this passage line by line. Develop its beautiful thoughts with these questions: What is the compelling power of the gospel?______________. Once we "judge" (figure out)that Christ died for all human beings, something changes with us. How will we begin to see people? How will we stop regarding them? ______________. What is God's position toward the world? How does He handle our trespasses (our sins)? _______________. God, is trying to reconcile us to Himself (or make us right with Himself). How many parts of our lives are made new as we respond to Him? _______________.
What Paul is telling us is that the love of Christ has the power to change all areas of our lives. This change can happen when we understand and accept God's love. We stop living for ourselves and begin living for Him. We can live for Him because we're moved by His love for us. And we stop relating to other human beings "according to the flesh," or from our natural selfishness. Rather, we begin seeing them in the light of the fact that Jesus died for them. We relate to them according to what they could be if they were right with God.
Connect.
Jesus lived a perfect life of love. He sacrificed Himself on the cross. He rose and went to heaven on the third day. Through these things, He secured salvation as the new representative head of humanity.
As the first man, Adam was the head of the human race. He represented everyone. Through Adam, humanity was plunged into sin, guilt, and death. In 11 Corinthians 15 Paul explains that Jesus came to our world to be, "the last Adam . . . . the second Man . . . the heavenly Man . . . " He came to redeem Adam's failure: "For since by man [Adam] came death, by Man [Jesus] also came to the resurrection of the dead." Paul shows the similarities and differences between Adam and Christ. They're the heads of two different human experiences. The first Adam was the source of humanity's Fall. The second Adam, a Christ, is the source of humanity's redemption. Each of us is free to identify (or connect ourselves) with the first or second Adam. Paul says about those who identify with the second Adam, "as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." (See verses 21-22, 44-49). In other words, those who identify with Christ will be remade again in His image.
Experience.
By faith, I choose to identify with Christ. He is my representative head before God and the kind of human I want to be by God's grace.
It is clear to me from Scripture that God sent Jesus into the world to live the life of love I should have lived. He died the death my guilty demanded. He rose from the dead victorious over sin on my behalf. From this day forward, I put my trust, my identity, all my relationships, and my very life in Him.
God bless you!!
