Friday DIVE – 08December2023

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The Gospel in ‘P’s

 

 

The Gospel of Christ is a very important part of the Christian life.  It is what caused us to become Christians … It’s what we believe … It’s what we live by … It’s what we teach and preach … It’s what we’re supposed to share with others.

It’s very important, therefore, that we understand the Gospel.

Last week, we began a series on The Gospel in ‘P’s — a presentation of the Gospel that focuses on four words that begin with the letter P: Purpose, Problem, Provision and Potential.  More specifically, God’s Purpose, Man’s Problem, God’s Provision and Man’s Potential.

Last week, we looked at the Purpose (God’s) and the Problem (Man’s).  Tonight, I want to look at the Provision (which God made) and the Potential (which Man now has … as a result of the provision that God made).

First … a SUMMARY of the main points we looked at last time …

  • God had a PURPOSE … But Adam had a PROBLEM
  • God’s purpose was RELATIONSHIP
  • Man’s problem was SEPARATION Isaiah 59:1-2 (Genesis 3:23)  … caused by SIN (Romans 3:23; 1 John 3:4; Romans 14:23; James 4:7) … and sustained by DEATH (Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1,5).
      • Sin caused the separation;
      • Death sustained the separation … caused the inability to reunite (Romans 8:7).
  • The initial problem was caused by Adam … but that problem passed on to all his descendants …
      • Romans 5:12-14  Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned — 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.   
  • The net effect … Man found himself in a position of helplessness and hopelessness (Romans 5:6) … because Adam’s sin nature had been spread (passed on) to him … and he had become spiritually dead.
  • Mankind had a big problem … They had brought eternal death on themselves … and they had NO WAY OUT … no way of saving themselves.
  • Thankfully, God made provision for them to be saved.  So, we look now at God’s Provision.

 

GOD’S PROVISION

 

GOD’S PROVISION is all about GOD’S GIFT

God’s Provision is all about God’s GIFT to Man — the gift that God gave to save Man.

John 3:16   “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  

GOD’S GIFT WAS JESUS CHRIST

God’s gift (God’s Provision) centred on the “only begotten Son” of God … the One whom God gave to rescue us (Mankind) from death, by giving us everlasting life.

But … who was that “Son” of God … and how would He be able to make it possible for us to have everlasting life?

John 1:1,14  “In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us ….”   

John begins his book by telling us about a person known as the Word. who was God.  John then goes on to tell us that Word became flesh and dwelt among us.  In other words, that Word became a human.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

He makes it clear, however, that the human that God became was not John the Baptist.

  • John 1:6-9  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That[b] was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
  • John 1:19-22  Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”   He said, “I am not.”“Are you the Prophet?”   And he answered, “No.”  

The Word became a man … but He didn’t become John the Baptizer. 

The One whom the Word had become was Jesus.  The Word became Jesus.

  • John 1:29-34   The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who [k]is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ 31 I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”   32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
  • John 8:42    Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
  • John 20:28  And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”  
  • Once we understand who became Jesus, then we can understand WHY Jesus was able to save us.  He was able to save us because He was Emmanuel (God with us) … and, as such, the perfect sacrifice and the perfect substitute.
  • Mark 1:1 finds its complement in Mark 15:39, where the centurion claims that Jesus was υιος θεου. The whole of the Gospel finds parallels in both Matthew and John: Compare Matthew 1:23 with Matthew 28:20 … and John 1:1c with John 20:28.

But HOW was Jesus able to save us?   

  • John 1:29   The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

Jesus saved us by taking away our sins.

How did He do that?

  • Isaiah 53:6   “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”    
  • Romans 5:8  “God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while were still sinners, Christ died for us”   
  • Romans 5:10  For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

We were reconciled to God through the death of God’s Son … because death is the wages of sin … and, when God’s Son (Jesus Christ) died, He paid the penalty for our sins.

BUT He didn’t pay only for our sins … He didn’t only reconcile us.  God was, in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.   

How did Christ reconcile us to God?  through His death  

How did Christ reconcile the world to God?  It must be through His death, as well … and since Christ only died once, we and the world were reconciled at the same time.  So, the world has been reconciled already.   

Because Jesus was God (the Word), He was able to live a sinless human life.  So when He died, He did not die for any sins of His own.  Isaiah 53:6 makes it clear that when Jesus died, He was actually paying the penalty for our sins — the iniquity of us all was laid upon Him.

 

Clearly, the Gospel is about the death of Christ … and the fact that His death was substitutionary (for our sakes, on our behalf) … BUT the Gospel is about more than just the death of Jesus Christ.

  • 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, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you — unless you believed in vain.  

    3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,    

A.  In presenting the Gospel, many people stress the importance of Christ’s death, but, as 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 make clear, there is another important factor that many overlook – Christ’s resurrection.  The Gospel also includes the fact of His resurrection.

B.  The Gospel is about the death AND the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

C.  The POINT: The Gospel has these two aspects because MAN’s PROBLEM is two-fold.

E.  Because Man’s problem is two-fold, God’s provision is also two-fold:

  • Romans 5:10  For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Note that we are saved, not by His death, but by His “life” (after His resurrection).

POINT:  The death of Christ did one thing … the resurrection of Christ did something else.  The implication is that reconciliation and salvation are not the same thing.  It seems to me, based on that passage, that we were saved by the resurrected life of Christ, not by His death.  Notice the following passage …

  • John 14:19  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  

NOTE:  It is because he lives, not because He died, that we will live.   

REMINDER:  When we say Man’s Problem was two-fold, we mean that Man’s Problem was caused by SIN and DEATH.

  • SIN caused the separation … and
  • DEATH sustained the separation (made Man unable to reunite with God).

How does God provide for Man’s sin?   

  • Hebrews 9:22  In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
      1. No remission of sin without the shedding of blood.
      2. So God’s provision had to involve the shedding of blood.
  • Hebrews 9:28a  “…so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people….”
  • God, Himself, as the Son, died for the sins of all men.

According to Isaiah, God placed our iniquities on Jesus Christ.  So, God provided Jesus Christ as a means of dealing with the sin.

IMPORTANT POINT

  1. Sin is not the only cause of Man’s problem. 
  2. The other problem is death (i.e. spiritual death)  
  3. Man’s sinning confirms why he deserve death
  4. Man’s sinning is the result of his death (spiritual)
  5. So God’s provision would not have been complete unless it dealt with DEATH.

How did God solve the problem of death?   

  • Hebrews 9:28 gives us a hint… “… so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him ….”
  1. In order to “appear a second time”, Jesus Christ had to be made alive.
  2. It is by making Jesus alive that God provided for death.
  3. Understand this: Jesus’ sacrifice provided victory over sin – because it paid the penalty…BUT His death was not enough to give victory over death
  4. To provide for victory over death, God had to bring Jesus back to life (in other words, Jesus had to be “born again”).
  5. Death is defeated when life appears… (the only way to deal with death is to replace it with life).
  6. This means that God’s provision had to involve life
  7. If Jesus Christ was the provision,

Then He had to not only die, but also return to life.

  1. So God’s provision involved not only the death of Christ, but also the resurrection of Christ.

 

God’s Purpose — RELATIONSHIP

Man’s Problem — SEPARATION

God’s Provision — JESUS CHRIST

 

 

CLOSING PRAYER

 

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