sf980 - The Cross - What Was Accomplished There (1 Corinthians 2 2)
1 Corinthians 2:2
Introduction
Paul was committed to “know nothing among them except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” What did he mean by that statement?
We know that he taught them the word of God.
Acts 18:11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
1 Corinthians 11:2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you.
Everything in the Christian life flows out of the cross.
The cross is the foundation for the entire Christian experience.
Prayer
Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,
Love
1 John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Our churches are shallow; we are 3,000 miles wide and ½ inch deep!
Four wonderful accomplishments of the Cross…
1A. Justification (Galatians 2:16)
Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God when He, in response to faith, declares our sin forgiven and declares Christ righteousness belonging to us, and thus declares us righteous in His sight.
1B. An instantaneous legal act of God
It is not a process.
Ø You have either been justified or you are condemned.
Romans 8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
It is a legal act of God
Ø Deals with our standing before God.
Romans 8:33-34 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
2B. In response to faith, declares our sin forgiven
In response to faith
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ø Faith is a gift from God, it is an attitude of the heart that is opposite of depending on ourselves.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God
Declares our sin forgiven
Ø But it is more than having our sin forgiven.
3B. Declares Christ righteousness belonging to us, and thus declares us righteous in His sight
Justification not only removes our sin but imputes Christ’s righteousness to us!
1 Corinthians 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,
Romans 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Philippians 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith
2A. Redemption
Titus 2:14 who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
We were slaves of sin
On the cross Jesus bought our freedom
Ephesians 1:7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace
Romans 6:6-7 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Note it is the redeemed that are “zealous for good deeds.”
3A. Reconciliation
Romans 5:10-11 For if while 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. 11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
“Reconciliation” the hostility that separates two parties removed.
Sin put a barrier between us and God, first with Adam and continuing to each human.
God showed a picture of His redemption in the OT sacrificial system.
The initiative was all God’s.
2 Corinthians 5:19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
4A. Sanctification
Acts 26:18 to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'
“Sanctify,” to be holy, uses…
The initial setting apart at salvation
1 Corinthians 6:11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
The ultimate setting sanctification in heaven
Ongoing sanctification by which the justified are becoming more like Jesus
Ø It is an process
Ø The cross is the reason we can be sanctified!