The Work of Christ (2)

1) Introduction: The Work of Christ

Question for Consideration: What all is encompassed in the work of Christ?

A. The work of Christ encompasses BOTH HIS PERFECT OBEDIENCE and HIS SACRIFICE FOR SIN.

B. Jesus Christ not only died for us, but He also lived for us!

C. As we study the Atonement tonight, I want you to consider this quote that says, “Here [at the cross] the doctrines of God, humanity, sin, and the person of Christ come together to define the human need and the provision that had to be made for that need.”[1]

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2) The Perfect Obedience of Christ

a. Following the person of Christ, we must acknowledge again that part of Jesus’ work was that He perfectly obeyed the Law and lived the life that you and I were supposed to live.

i. Hebrews 4:15 ESV “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

TURN & READ:: 2 COR. 5:2121 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

***WE COULDN’T BECOME the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD in HIM....IF HE WASN’T RIGHTEOUS!

1. See also: 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22

b. Jesus Christ’s mission in life was perfect obedience to the Father and He actually accomplished this mission! (see John 4:24; 6:38-40).

c. We must remember that it is Jesus’ perfect life that qualified Him to be the sinless sacrifice for the sins of humanity.

i. Millard Erickson writes, “As God, Jesus did not have to die. In dying he did something God would never have to do. Because he was sinless, he did not have to die in payment for his own sins. Thus his death can atone for the sins of all of humankind.”[2]

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3) The Sacrifice of Christ

Important Definitions

***a. Atonement:

1. “The term atonement expresses the notion of divine forgiveness as the removal or covering over of human guilt and the turning away of God’s wrath.”[3]

***b. Justification:

1. “Justification is a Christian’s judicial acceptance by God as not guilty because his sins are not counted against him.”[4]

***d. Propitiation:

1. “Turning away of anger by the offering of a gift. . .This is not the only way of looking at the cross, but it is an important way. If God’s anger is real, then it must be taken into account in the way that sin, which caused that wrath, is dealt with. When the NT says “propitiation,” then, it means that Jesus’ death on the cross for the sins of mankind put away God’s wrath against his people once and for all.[6]

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Old Testament Background for Sacrifice & The Severity of Sin:

e. Sacrifices were made throughout the OT to ATONE FOR the SINS of the people. Sin was and is so serious that it required a blood sacrifice.

TURN & READ1. Hebrews 9:22 ESV “Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”

TURN & READ A. Genesis 3:21 ESV “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

****IMPLICATION = SACRIFICE

f. Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) – Leviticus 16; Hebrews 9:1-10

g. The Passover—Exodus 12, Christ is our Passover (1 Cor. 5:7)

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The Cross: The Love & Justice of God Displayed

Question: Is anyone else BOTHERED WHEN YOU HEAR NEWS of CRIMINALS RELEASED too easily? The new “justice” system that lets people off the hook??

Even as sinful people WE HAVE a SENSE OF JUSTICE,, right??

The problem here is that JUSTICE is LOOKING FOR US! We’re transgressors of God’s Law!!

a. Through the cross GOD = BOTH JUST && JUSTIFIER....His justice and holiness required Him to punish sin. Yet, His love provided a way for sin to be atoned for.

TURN & READi. Romans 3:21-26 ESV “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

READ1. Millard Erickson writes, “The cross is a fitting symbol of the atonement, for it represents the intersection of two attributes or facets of God’s nature. Here it is that God’s love meets his holiness. The holiness requires payment of the penalty, and the love provides that payment.”[7]

b. IT WAS LOVE THAT MOTIVATED the FATHER to give the Son.

TURN & READi. 1 John 4:7-10 ESV “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (emphasis added).

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Important Qualities of the Atonement:

c. JESUS DIED FOR US &&& IN OUR PLACE! This doctrine is called “PENAL SUBSTITUTIONARY ATONEMENT ,” where Christ suffered the penalty of sin not only for us but in our place.

i. Rom. 5:8 ESV “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (emphasis added).

ii. 1 Peter 2:24 ESV “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.”

TURN & READiii. Isaiah 53:4-12 ESV “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 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. 7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? 9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”

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d. JESUS’ DEATH WAS ONCE FOR ALL TIME.

TURN & READi. Hebrews 10:10-18 ESV “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, 16 ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,’ 17 then he adds, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.”

***PRIESTS STAND CONTINUALLY....CHRIST = SEATED. HIS WORK is COMPLETE.

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e. JESUS’ DEATH TOOK SIN AWAY…NOT JUST COVERED!

TURN & READ i. Hebrews 10:1-4 ESV “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.”

**BLANKET OVER JUNK PILE ILLUSTRATION//TOSSING MESS in CLOSET.

OT SACRIFICES KICKED CAN DOWN the ROAD TO JESUS CHRIST...

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The Extent of the Atonement:

SOME SAY: JESUS DIED FOR ALL = UNIVERSALISM

SOME SAY: JESUS ONLY DIED FOR SOME

I BELIEVE: JESUS DIED for ALL…BUT IT’S ONLY EFFECTIVE FOR SALVATION WHEN RECEIVED BY FAITH.

TURN & READ b. 1 John 2:1-2 ESV “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (emphasis added).

***AGAIN NOTE: PROPITIATION = WRATH-BEARING SACRIFICE

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Additional Results of the Atonement:

h. Forgiveness & Reconciliation with God

i. 2 Cor. 5:18-19 ESV “18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

TURN & READ: ii. Romans 5:1-2 ESV “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

***PEACE W/ GOD = BIG DEAL!!!

i. Redemption & Freedom from Slavery to Sin

i. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

***GOD = OUR OWNER BY BOTH CREATION & PURCHASE!!

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k. Defeat of the devil and deliverance from the fear of death

1. Genesis 3:15 ESV “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

**PROTOEUANGELION… JESUS CHRIST = OFFSPRING of the WOMAN.

TURN & READ2. Colossians 2:13-15 ESV “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

TURN & READ3. Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

**JESUS DESTROYED ENEMY W/ HIS OWN WEAPON!

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The finality of the atonement: “It is finished!”

l. SECURITY of SALVATION RESTS UPON FINISHED WORK of CHRIST.

TURN & READi. John 19:28-30 ESV “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ 29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

1. The phrase “IT IS FINISHED ” is a single GK tetelestai, PERFECT TENSE...

M. The ETERNAL SECURITY of OUR SALVATION LIES WHOLLY & TOTALLY in THE WORK of CHRIST FOR US... Not in any merit of our own.

i. Jesus’ death brought about an eternal redemption (Heb. 9:12).

ii. Jesus’ blood was offered through the eternal Spirit (Heb. 9:14).

iii. Jesus’ death secures an eternal inheritance for believers (Heb. 9:15).

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4) The Resurrection—The Divine Stamp of Approval upon Christ

a. It is the RESURRECTION that VALIDATES the ATONEMENT and proves that Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for sin. It also VALIDATES CHRIST as the SON of GOD and the message He proclaimed!

TURN & READi. Romans 1:1-4 ESV “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

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b. The RESURRECTION is THE FOUNDATION & SOURCE of CHRISTIAN HOPE!!....PROOF CHRIST CONQUERED DEATH & SECURED OUR ETERNITY (FUTURE RESURRECTION)

TURN & READi. 1 Corinthians 15:16-23 ESV “For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.”

PHARISEES BELIEVED: GRAND, END-TIME RESURRECTION.

SADDUCCEES DENIED it ALL...

NO ONE ANTICIPATED a 2-STAGE RESURRECTION, W/ CHRIST, THEN the REST...

KINGDOM of GOD BREAKING IN!!!!

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OUR HOPE = ALIVE BECAUSE JESUS = ALIVE!!

TURN & READ1. 1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (emphasis added).

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5) The Ascension—Christ is Reigning in Heaven Until All enemies are Put Under His Feet.

TURN & READ A. Acts 1:6-11 ESV “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ 7 He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.’ 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’”

TURN & READ B. 1 Corinthians 15:21-28 ESV “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. 28 When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”

TURN & READ C. Philippians 2:9-11 ESV “9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

CHRIST CAME HUMBLY 1ST TIME…BUT HE’LL RETURN AS A CONQUERING KING!

D. Acts 4:12 ESV “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’”

E. Hebrews 10:13 ESV “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.”

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6) The Present Intercession of Christ

CHRIST = ONLY MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD & MAN!

TURN & READ: i. 1 Tim. 2:5-6 ESV “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”

B. CHRIST = PRESENTLY INTERCEDING FOR US… HE’LL SAVE to THE UTTERMOST!

TURN & READ i. Hebrews 7:23-28 ESV “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, 24 but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. 28 For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever” (emphasis added).

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7) Takeaways

1. CHRIST’S WORK ENCOMPASSES BOTH HOW HE LIVED FOR US & DIED FOR US…HE PAID FOR OUR SIN && GAVE US HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS!!

2. CHRIST FULFILLED the OT SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM...

.OT PRIESTS CONTINUALLY OFFERED SACRIFICES

SACRIFICES “COVERED” SINS

ONLY CHRIST TAKES SINS AWAY!!

3. OUR SALVATION = 100% DEPENDENT on FINISHED WORK of CHRIST…NOT OUR OWN MERIT....

4. THE RESURRECTION = GOD’S VINDICATION & APPROVAL of CHRIST…DECLARING HIM to BE the SON of GOD in POWER!

5. CHRIST’S SACRIFICIAL WORK = FINISHED…YET HE STILL INTERCEDES FOR US…HE CAN SAVE to THE UTTERMOST!

[1]Erickson, M. J. (2013). Christian Theology (3rd ed., pp. 714–715). Baker Academic. [2]Erickson, M. J. (2013). Christian Theology (3rd ed., p. 735). Baker Academic. [3]Rodrigues, A. M. (2014). Atonement. In D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Lexham Press. [4]Lane, T. (2018). Justification. In M. Ward, J. Parks, B. Ellis, & T. Hains (Eds.), Lexham Survey of Theology. Lexham Press. [5]Lau, P. (2016). Redemption. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, L. Wentz, E. Ritzema, & W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Lexham Press. [6]Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Propitiation. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible(Vol. 2, p. 1784). Baker Book House. [7]Erickson, M. J. (2013). Christian Theology (3rd ed., p. 746). Baker Academic.