For Our Salvation: The Nicene Creed Part 2

Sacred text: 1 Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

Introduction:

A story or illustration that brings up the overall theme of the text.

Context:

Last week we looked at the second part of the Nicene creed which looks at Jesus and more specifically points us to the Trinity. I know that this can be confusing and there is some language that is unfamiliar to most of us. That is ok. We don’t have to all walk out of here completely knowing and understanding the Trinity more than someone who has spent 20+ years researching and writing about the Trinity. But, we do want you to walk out of here in awe and wonder at the incredible mysteries of the gospel that God has given us. This week we will look at this mystery a little bit closer and my hope is that we leave here in absolute amazement at what God has done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, the God-man who with the Father, sent the Spirit to do a work on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us begin by reading this section of the Nicene Creed together (the words will be on the screen) and then begin breaking it down. “Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.” Amen

Four us and for our salvation

An Eternal Purpose

Kevin DeYoung mentions that the heart of this entire creed centers on the fact that Jesus is very God of very God, one substance in triunity with the Father and the Spirit. If that is the heart of this creed than this section that we are in this morning (that we just read), is the very beating of that heart. It is the very purpose, from all eternity, that Jesus Christ has for mankind. “For us and our salvation.” Last week Ricky explained the doctrine of the Trinity and that each person of the Trinity, while being fully God, exists in three distinct persons and each has a distinct purpose with one telos. That telos, which just means “end,” is the redemption of mankind who will live peacefully in glory in an eternal kingdom with their King. But all of this good news, is only good news, because of the bad news, which we must understand first. Paul in Romans 3:9–12 explains, “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” And again in Romans 3:23 Paul says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And it isn’t simply that we have sinned against ourselves or those around us, but we have sinned against in infinitely holy God. David shows us in Psalm 51:4 “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” This is the bad news: that we, as creatures made by God, are wicked and sinful rebels against our infinitely holy Creator, and because of this, we are deserving of nothing else than the wrath of God to come. But God, in all of his mercy and love, sent His only begotten Son to save us. “For us and our salvation.” This is the eternal purpose of Christ in the act of redemption. Now let us begin to see just how Christ makes this all possible.

The Incarnate Christ

The words “came down from heaven” show us that Jesus was not just a good teacher, or some prophet that just appeared one day to deliver a message from God. Listen to the words of John in the beginning of his gospel account. John 1:1–3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” The word, the Logos, who was with God from the very beginning before anything was created, this Word who the creation was made through and for, in fact is God. Then John goes on in verse 14 to further explain. John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” God himself, in the Son, has come down from the glory of heaven to be with us and to save us. Phillip Cary says, “Love brought him down, so that he might dwell among us and we might behold his glory, the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.” What a beautiful way to begin framing the incarnation. This act of God in which the Son becomes one of us, fully human, yet remains fully God. In Philippians 2:5–7 Paul says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Many teachers, past and present, have stopped at verse seven and wrongly interpretated this to mean that Jesus, by emptying himself, has completely set aside his divinity for the sake of becoming a man. Which is one of the reasons we have creeds and confessions such as the Nicene creed to help correct this teaching. The “emptying” of himself was not a setting aside of his divinity, but a humbling of himself, by becoming fully human for the purpose of the cross. Paul reveals this in verses eight through eleven. Jesus never ceases to be fully God and he never again ceases to be fully human. This is what the doctrine of the incarnation means and teaches us. This is important for us, and we will get more into this in a few weeks, but it matters because only God could satisfy his own wrath. God has chosen to come down to us, take on human flesh, and do what none of us can do.

The creed further explains that is the Holy Spirit, sent forth from the Son and the Father, who makes this happen. The words, “by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man,” continue to reveal this Trinitarian theology. The very essence of God originates with the Father, is given to the Son, and accomplished by the Holy Spirit. The power of God alone makes the incarnation possible for us. But there is a human partner also; the virgin Mary. This is important to remember, the virgin Mary was needed, to show that by no power of man was this accomplished, but only by the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, did she conceive and give birth to the God-man. Luke 1:35 says, “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Phillip Cary again, so beautifully states, “She bears God in that she bears and gives birth to Jesus, who is true God from true God. And she is the Mother of God in that she is the mother of the true God, Jesus; she is the human being from whom he took human flesh, like any baby growing within his mother and being nourished by her lifeblood. For he is as truly human as any child in the womb and as truly God as God the Father.” It is in this incarnation, that we have the God-man, Jesus Christ, fully man and fully God, who comes “for us and our salvation.” Now let us look at what exactly Jesus does to accomplish this salvation.

Suffering, death, and resurrection

An Eternal Process

This part of the creed is the very heart of the gospel message. If nothing else, this is the part of the creed that we should have implanted so deeply into our hearts, that it shapes the very life we live and the words that come out of our mouths. Paul says, “for I am not ashamed of the gospel! Because I know that it is truly the power of God for salvation.” In 1 Corinthians 1:22–24 Paul says, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” This is the message of salvation. Jesus, handed over to Pilate by Judas, was handed over to the cross to be hung. Jesus who is fully human, suffered like us, he grew like us, he learned like us, he was tempted just as we are tempted, he thirsted and hungered like we do, and he died just like everyone of us will. Jesus, as fully God, hung on the cross, fully enduring the wrath of the Father, accomplishing what we could never accomplish for ourselves. The entire process of the crucifixion was necessary “for us and our salvation.” This is what is known as the passive obedience of Christ. Passive because in obedience Jesus was not doing something on the cross, He was enduring something on the cross; namely the wrath of the Father. Whereas the active obedience of Christ is seen in the living and keeping of the law perfectly in our place. Both were required for the wrath of the Father to be fully satisfied. This is the great paradox of the incarnation and crucifixion: that Jesus, being fully God (unable to die), picked up mortal flesh, made it his own, suffered and died. The Creator became the creature, the Word made flesh; the impossible made possible. “For us and our salvation.” But salvation didn’t stop at the cross. After the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, he was buried and after three days “rose again according to the Scriptures.” in Matthew 12:40 Jesus himself says, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” In his burial our Lord joins the dead in their place under the earth, which the wrath of God allots them. He joins us under the judgment of God announced to Adam himself after his disobedience, telling him that he shall return to the ground, “for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Jesus takes our place in the grave but He doesn't remain in the grave. In Matthew 16:21 we read, “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” This is death being undone. The power of death being killed, being made a footstool for the King, and revealing to us that God, and only God, can give life to the dead; giving what is mortal, immortality.

Now, all that we have heard so far this morning, is known as the humiliation of Christ. That is the only begotten Son of God, coming down to man, taking flesh upon himself, suffering, dying, and resurrecting, as all of mankind will, in perfect obedience. Because of this, we also have what is known as the exaltation of Christ. The creed goes on to give us the hope of this risen King.

Hope of an eternal kingdom

Eternal Reward

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ after 3 days of being in the grave and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ into heaven are not the same thing. The ascension is a continuation of the resurrection. Phillip Car puts it this way, “As Christ in his flesh descended first into the Virgin’s womb and thence to the place of the dead in the underworld, so now he first rises up from the dead and thence ascends all the way to highest heaven by the power of the life-giving Spirit of God.” In Acts 1:6-11 we see this ascension taking place. The writer, says, Acts 1:10–11 “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 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.” So far, God, in the Son, has chosen to come down from his heavenly glory, take on the flesh of mankind for himself, live perfectly, suffer and die, then rise from the grave to ascend back to his rightful place in glory. This story of the gospel that we have seen so far in the Nicene creed has now come to the present day reigning of Jesus Christ from heaven. For this, I want us to see what Daniel, hundreds of years prior to any of this taking place, says, Daniel 7:13–14 “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of the Father on his rightful throne in glory as King. A everlasting dominion, eternal kingdom, that will never be destroyed. A kingdom that we will one day get to share in as heirs with Christ. A kingdom where we will one day get to see Jesus face to face in all of his glory. Jesus is not some distant figure, or disembodied spirit; Jesus is still fully God and fully man and one day we will get to sit at his feet. What a beautiful day that will be. This is our hope and the promises we receive from God all throughout Scripture. No other religion in the world has such a promise of hope. But there is another side to the ascension of Christ and that is judgement. 2 Corinthians 5:10 Paul says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Jesus Christ as Lord and savior is also judge. All of us, whether alive or dead, saved or not saved, will appear before the judgment seat of Christ to answer for the deeds of the flesh. Remember the beatitudes: Matthew 5:3–11 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” The judgement seat is where Jesus makes good on his promises. This is hope we look forward to. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the God-man, who came to us, “for us and our salvation.”

Conclusion:

Do we believe all of this? Our scared text this morning says, 1 Timothy 4:10 “For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.” This is the hope we work and strive to proclaim to you every Sunday. This is the message we want all of you to preach to yourselves everyday. The message that we are tasked with proclaiming to the ends of the world. This is the gospel for which Paul said, “I am not ashamed, because it is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe!” Do we believe this message? If we do, our lives will show it. If we truly believe this message then we will share it with those who are without it. Our lives should be marked by joy and hope in the living God who has granted to us eternal life in his glorious kingdom.

Invite the band up

If you don’t, this is the day to do so, for tomorrow is never promised. We will have pastors in the back. Grab one of us and ask questions. Let us know what is going on so we can pray for you. If the Holy Spirit is stirring your heart don't turn away and harden your hearts against him.

Prayer: