Alive in Christ Part 3

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many."

INTRODUCTION

Good evening! We are going to continue on with our subject about Atonement.

Now let review for a few minutes here:

Atonement is to cancel or cover.

Cancel our penalty for sin, which is death and cover our sin with the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

And this all came about through the substitute which was Christ.

That were we pick up on our text:

Mark 10:45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many."

The Atonement has 5 aspects. When we speak of aspects of the atonement, we simply acknowledge the fact that no one term is able to include and explain all of the greatness of the atonement.

So these 5 terms that we are going to speak on tonight, I believe will give you a better understanding of the saving power and work of Jesus Christ.

Obedience-In simple terms, obedience is compliance with an order, request, law or submission to another's authority.

Php 2:7 Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form,

Php 2:8 He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross.

In providing salvation for us, Christ became our obedient sacrifice. He did not assume His own rightful status of equality with God but willingly took the form of a servant.

It was so necessary for Him to become, for a time, limited as we are.

Heb 2:14 Because God's children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could He die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil, who had the power of death.

John actually described this by saying:

John 1:14 So the Word became human and made His home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen His glory, the glory of the Father's one and only Son.

Luke records it like this:

Luke 2:51 Then He returned to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. And His mother stored all these things in her heart.

And then we see that Jesus testified that His mission on earth was to do God’s will obediently.

John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent Me, not to do My own will.

So to point this out is that the atonement happened one due to the fact that Jesus was obedience. As the Son of man, Christ obeyed the demands of the Law.

He kept the civil law as one born of a Jew and He observed the ceremonial law. He also kept the moral law, fearing God and keeping His Commandments.

He also submitted to all the penalties which resulted from Man’s disobedience to the Law of God.

So this boil down to the fact Christ sub, for us and He fulfilled what we could not do within ourselves.

2. Sacrifice -This is a broad term and includes all that Christ did to provide salvation for us.

His sacrifice covers the sins of man. It is directed to the need created by our guilt.

Paul tells us this:

Eph 5:2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Nothing is clearer in the New Testament than the use of sacrificial terms to describe the death of Christ.

The Word of God declares that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and say that His blood cleanses from all sin, and teaches that Jesus died for our sins.

Jesus Christ’s death was a real sacrifice for sin.

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

1 John 1:7 But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

1 John 1:8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

1 John 1:9 But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

1 Cor 15:3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said.

God made Jesus a sacrifice for sin.

Isa 53:10 But it was the LORD's good plan to crush Him and cause Him grief. Yet when His life is made an offering for sin, He will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the LORD's good plan will prosper in His hands.

Jesus paid the debt we could not pay and blotted out (erased) the past which we could not undo.

Jesus is our sacrifice, for His death is set forth as an act of perfect self-giving.

Heb 9:14 Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.

His one sacrifice was sufficient to turn away the wrath (anger) of God and to remove everything that hinder God and man’s relationship.

1 Peter 3:18 Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but He was raised to life in the Spirit.

3. Propitiation- The act of reducing the anger of, winning the favor of, appeasing one who has been offended.

Propitiation meets the need that arises from the anger of God.

To propitiate is to appease (satisfy) the righteous anger of God by an atoning sacrifice.

Christ is described as a propitiation>

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; KJV

1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. KJV

1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

The concept of God’s anger is found throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.

God’s anger emphasizes the seriousness of sin. By the suffering of the sinner’s atoning substitute, Jesus Christ, the divine anger is propitiated (appeased), and as a result of this propitiation the punishment due to sin is not placed upon the sinner.

A big problem that we have is that many people misunderstand the Love of God, they reject the idea of God’s anger.

But His anger is not like our. We become angry because we have been offended, and we strike out in a fit of rage.

But God’s anger is judicial and is directed against sin and sinful people and God does not lose His temper.

4. Reconciliation— a reconciling; bringing together again in friendship; settlement or adjustment of differences.

Reconciliation meets the needs which is created by God’s separation from sinful persons. The Bible tells us that sinners are enemies of God.

Rom 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Rom 5:11 And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

James 4:4 You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.

The broken relationship between God and man is caused by man’s sin.

Isa 59:2 It's your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.

But Christ died to remove our sins that cause the anger and separation.

In restoring fellowship between God and man, God took the first step to correct the problem:

Rom 5:8 But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

Look at Luke 15 chapter:

Read it and talk about it

5. Redemption- Deliverance from certain evil by the payment of price.

Redemption answers the need created by man’s bondage to sin.

In order to set us free from sin and its penalty, a price was paid.

That price was the atoning death of our Savior.

Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

Without this deliverance from the curse we could not have salvation. Not only that but we have been set free from the bondage to the Law, and from keeping the Law.

So as we look at atonement, the value of the atonement is unlimited, but it application is limited.

The atoning death of Christ is sufficient for all, but it is efficient only for those who believe.

Look at:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.