Gospel Solution Part 1

Introduction

Effect of Sin

“One emphasis that runs throughout both Testaments is that sin is a very serious matter with far-reaching and long-lasting consequences.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Consequences of Sin

Personal brokenness

Broken relationship with God

Broken relationship with others.

God will Save.

God has declared that He will not leave us in our sin, but will provide a way of Salvation.

The Gospel is the message that God accomplished the goal of His plan of redemption in Jesus Christ. He accomplished dealing with Sin and all the affects of it.

He will save through one Man, Jesus Christ.

Result of Sin

“Sin produced an immediate transformation in Adam and Eve’s relationship with God. They had evidently been on close and friendly terms with God. They trusted and obeyed him, and on the basis of Genesis 3:8 it can be concluded that they customarily had fellowship with God. He loved them and provided everything they needed; we are reminded of the friendship of which Jesus spoke in John 15:15. Now, because they had violated God’s trust and command, they had placed themselves on the wrong side of God, and had in effect become his enemies. It was not God who had changed or moved, but Adam and Eve.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Divine Disfavor

God’s hatred for Sin.

Romans 1:18 (ESV)

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Wrath - divine punishment based on God’s angry judgment against someone—‘to punish, punishment.’ (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 489. Print.)

Man’s hatred of God

“That God looks with favor upon some and with disfavor or anger upon others, and that he is sometimes described as loving Israel and at other times as hating them, are not signs of change, inconsistency, or fickleness in God. His reaction to our every deed is determined by his unchanging nature. God has indicated quite clearly that he cannot and does not tolerate certain things. It is part of his holy nature to be categorically opposed to sinful actions. When we engage in such actions, we have moved into the sphere of God’s disfavor. In the case of Adam and Eve, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off limits. They had been told what God’s response would be if they ate of its fruit. They chose, as it were, to become enemies of God, falling into the domain of his disapproval.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

“In the New Testament there is a particular focus on the enmity and hatred of unbelievers and the world toward God and his people. To sin is to make oneself an enemy of God.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Romans 8:7–8 (ESV)

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

James 4:4 (ESV)

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Erickson, Millard writes, “Enmity toward God had grievous results for Adam and Eve, and such will be the case for us today as well whenever we, though aware of the law and the penalty for violating it, sin anyway. In the case of Adam and Eve, trust, love, confidence, and closeness were replaced by fear, dread, and avoidance of God. Whereas they had previously anticipated positively their meetings with God, after the fall they did not want to see him. They hid themselves in an attempt to avoid him. Just as for Adam and Eve, the consequence of sin, for anyone who believes in the judgment of God, is that God becomes feared. He is no longer one’s closest friend, but is consciously avoided. The situation is like our reaction to officers of the law. If we are abiding by the law, we do not mind seeing a police officer. We may even have a good, comfortable feeling when we see a police car. It gives us a sense of security to know that protection is available and that someone is there to apprehend lawbreakers. If, however, we know we have broken the law, our attitude is quite different. We become very upset at the sight of a squad car complete with flashing lights, in our rearview mirror. The activity of the police has not changed, but our relationship to them has. Same with God.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Guilt/Punishment

“Our relationship with God is also affected by guilt. This word needs some careful explication, for in today’s world the usual meaning of the term is guilt feelings, or the subjective aspect of guilt... What we are referring to here, however, is the state of having violated God’s intention for one and thus being liable to punishment.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

“Guilt refers to the sense of having done something wrong. It is a state of being guilty before God or a state of being guilty or ashamed before people and community.” (DiFransico, Lesley. “Guilt.” Ed. Douglas Mangum et al. Lexham Theological Wordbook 2014: n. pag. Print. Lexham Bible Reference Series.)

Galatians 6:7–8 (ESV)

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

Death (Physical, Spiritual, Eternal)

Physical Death - “The mortality of all humans is both an obvious fact and a truth taught by Scripture. Hebrews 9:27 says, “People are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.”” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Spiritual Death - “Spiritual death is both connected with physical death and distinguished from it. It is the separation of the entire person from God.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

Eternal Death - “Eternal death is in a very real sense the extension and finalization of spiritual death. If one comes to physical death still spiritually dead, separated from God, that condition becomes permanent.” (Erickson, Millard J. Christian Theology. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013. Print.)

God’s solution in the Gospel

Jesus pays the punishment for our Sin.

Isaiah 53:6 (ESV)

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.

Laid on Him - “to cause to befall v., to cause to befall or happen to.” (The Lexham Analytical Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible 2017: n. pag. Print.)

God, in working out His plan of redemption/salvation, laid on Jesus the Sins of us all.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (ESV)

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Cor 5:21a - Similar to Isa 53:6

So that...

“in Him”

Union with Jesus through faith in Him.

Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Become the righteousness of God

Might become - “to come to acquire or experience a state—‘to become.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 153. Print.)

Righteousness of God - “the act of doing what God requires—‘righteousness, doing what God requires, doing what is right.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 743. Print.)

We are credited with the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, in Christ the sin that separates us from God is dealt with and the perfect righteous standard is credited.

Gospel is redemption in Christ.

Romans 5:1–2 (ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 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.

Justified - “the act of clearing someone of transgression—‘to acquit, to set free, to remove guilt, acquittal.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 556. Print.)

Peace with God - “peace. The state of well-being and concord.” (Lookadoo, Jonathon. “Peace.” Ed. Douglas Mangum et al. Lexham Theological Wordbook 2014: n. pag. Print. Lexham Bible Reference Series.)

“Through our Lord Jesus Christ”

Romans 5:9–11 (ESV)

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Reconciled - “to reestablish proper friendly interpersonal relations after these have been disrupted or broken —‘to reconcile, to make things right with one another, reconciliation.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 501. Print.)

Through Jesus, we are brought back into right relationship with God.

“More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Rom 5:11)

Jesus offers us Life in Him.

John 17:3 (ESV)

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

to Know - “to learn to know a person through direct personal experience, implying a continuity of relationship—‘to know, to become acquainted with, to be familiar with.” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 327. Print.)

Ortberg, John. Eternity Is Now in Session writes “I believe this is how many people today think about salvation. When we die, we are either headed for the castle (heaven) or the abyss (hell), and “salvation” is knowing the right answer so that God has to allow us to cross the bridge. The problem is, Jesus doesn’t talk about salvation that way. He doesn’t talk about eternal life that way either. In fact, Jesus—and the entire New Testament, for that matter—defines eternal life only once, with great precision, and in a way that has been largely lost in our day: “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3, NRSV). Eternal Life = Knowing God. Notice that Jesus doesn’t say “that they may know about you.” He says “that they may know you.” (Ortberg, John. Eternity Is Now in Session: A Radical Rediscovery of What Jesus Really Taught about Salvation, Eternity, and Getting to the Good Place. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2018. Print.)

“The kind of “knowing God” that is eternal life is an interactive relationship where I experience God’s presence and favor and power in my real life on this earth. To know God is to live in a rich, moment-by-moment, gratitude-soaked, participatory life together. To know God means to know myself as his beloved friend as a gift of grace. To know God means to know what Paul called “the power of his resurrection” (Philippians 3:10) in the details and tasks and challenges of my daily, ordinary life. This is eternal life. It is not something far away in outer space that we can only hope to experience after we die. It is not simply being able to give the right answers at church, affirming the right doctrines, or achieving the minimum entrance requirements to cross over the bridge and get into heaven. On the contrary, it’s something much bigger and far more amazing. The gospel Jesus preached is the Good News that this eternal kind of life is available now. By grace. Through Jesus. Forever and beyond death. “Eternal life in the individual does not begin after death, but at the point where God touches the individual with redeeming grace and draws them into a life interactive with himself and his kingdom.” (Ortberg, John. Eternity Is Now in Session: A Radical Rediscovery of What Jesus Really Taught about Salvation, Eternity, and Getting to the Good Place. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2018. Print.)

Eternal life Jesus was talking about is not a time period in our future, but a relationship with God now.

John 10:10 (ESV)

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

Abundantly - “pertaining to a quantity so abundant as to be considerably more than what one would expect or anticipate—‘that which is more than, more than enough, beyond the norm, abundantly, superfluous.’” (Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains 1996: 598–599. Print.)

Life - meaningful relationship with God that gives us a life that was intended in our creation.

Application

Romans 3:23–26 (ESV)

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.

Part of the good news is that God has accomplished the work of the redemption of sinful mankind through Jesus Christ.

Right relationship with God is only through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and is about living in relationship with God now.