The Gospel Project: The Savior is our Sacrifice (Doctrine Session)

Intro:

Write one thing about yourself

People guess who wrote what

They thought they knew God; Jesus sacrifice revealed who God really was

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Main Point: Jesus is the final sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus came to be the greater temple.

John 2:13–22 (ESV)

13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”

18 So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Temple = proof of relational desire

Meeting place between the living God and a loved people

But this took work

Ask: Why would God call his people to go through so much work to build and maintain the temple? What was the point?

Shows people’s priorities

Worshipers crowded out by business people

The outer court (Gentiles) = a place of commerce

Being used for something that it wasn’t intended for

Doing what the temple never could (resurrection)

Ask: What does Jesus’s sacrifice give us access to that the temple never could?

Jesus came to be the greater temple.

Jesus came to be the greater passover lamb

1 Corinthians 5:6–8 ESV

6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

The final plague

Ask: In what ways does the story of the first passover remind us of what Jesus did for us?

The Lamb of God (John 1:29)

Ask: What are some reasons Jesus is a greater passover sacrifice than a lamb?

Jesus came to be the greater temple.

Jesus came to be the greater passover lamb

Jesus came to be the greater sacrifice

Hebrews 10:1–10 ESV

1 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ” 8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

OT sacrifices: clarified but couldn’t cleanse

They were signs

“Shadow”

Ask: How did the thousands of sacrifices point people to their need for God’s forgiveness?

Our need for a Savior

Animal sacrifice = reminder of sin

Jesus’ sacrifice = reminder of forgiveness

Ask: What kinds of things change in the life of a person who trusts in Jesus as Savior and Lord?

Christ Connection:

The perpetual sacrifices offered during Passover and in the temple revealed God’s desire to be with His people and the way they could be made right with Him. These sacrifices pointed to the greater way God would restore people to Himself through Christ. All who trust in Jesus’s once-for-all sacrifice are forgiven and made right with God forever.

Head: When we’re tempted to feel condemned because of our faults, what should we focus on instead?

Romans 1:8.

Focusing our mind on what Christ has done for us

Peace of mind

Heart: How can God help us respond to what He’s done for us?

The only reasonable response to God giving His all for us is giving our all for Him.

Hands: Jesus laid down His life as a sacrifice for us. How can we follow that example?