Saved by What ?
Saved by what? – Brands & Logos – The Symbol of the Cross
The cross may be the most heinous and horrendous of all torture instruments ever devised by man. Shouldn’t it be a symbol of shame?
It should be a symbol of shame, but it has become a symbol of love, and joy, and peace, and beauty, and grace, and eternal salvation.
Only Christianity has a finished work of atonement of our sins.
It is crucial.
1 Corinthians 2:1-5
“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of me but in the power of God.”
Dr Sproul says in his book that in these verses Paul is “engaging in a bit of hyperbole”.
What is hyperbole? How is Paul “engaging in hyperbole”?
Is Paul saying that the central importance of his teaching is the cross?
It is on the cross, through the cross, and by the cross that our Savior has performed His work of redemption and has gathered His people for eternity.
Saved by what? – The Significance of the cross
People don’t feel the need for the cross.
In America people are concerned. They’re concerned about the war in Ukraine, they’re concerned about the lack of moral leadership in our country, and they’re concerned about inflation, the high cost to live.
In the book of Hosea God’s people have abandoned God and consequently they have fallen into all kinds of sin. They have become a harlot wife, an adulterous nation, violating their vow to God. And what is the basic problem? How did this happen? And why did it happen? Indicated in chapter 4, verse and following, listen to what he writes. “Hear the Word of the Lord, ye children of Israel.” We can stop right there. Hosea 4:1. “Hear the Word of the Lord.” 6- My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
Do you think that people don’t feel the need for the cross because they feel no need for the Word of God, or even God Himself?
Dr Sproul says there is 3 kinds of theology – Pelagianism, semi-Pelagianism, Augustinianism. Would you explain each of these ism-s? Liberalism.
The need:
The truth is that unless people realize they have a sin problem, they will not come to Christ for a solution.
People don’t come for healing unless they know they have a disease;
they don’t come for life unless they are conscious that they are under the penalty of death; they don’t come for salvation unless they are weary of the bondage of sin.
How do we as Christians show them that they do have a need for the cross?
God is just and you are a sinner, you need the cross.
You need the atonement.
Saved by what? The Necessity of the Cross
At the bottom of page 40, 2nd paragraph up, Dr Sproul writes, “that the Biblical view, is that an atonement was not merely hypothetically necessary for man’s redemption but was absolutely necessary. For those who may not know, what is man’s redemption?
I heard a pastor say, “God is not fair; He is just.” Do you agree with that? If so, what is the difference in fair and just?
“If you ever get the idea that God is supposed to be fair, I have some Truth you need to know. Holy God is not fair; God is just. God doesn’t owe us anything. He is a God of mercy, and we can never plead for mercy until we understand the justice of God.”
What is the justice of God? How is God righteous and just?
The Justice of God – God’s eternal immutable commitment to always do what is right. Righteousness is doing what is right.
2 Corinthians 5:21- “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” That is the doctrine of substitution, and that’s how God can be both our just Judge and merciful justifier.
“A lady went to a photographer to have her picture made. When she saw it, she didn’t like it, so she asked the photographer to take her picture again. He said, “Well, lady, what’s wrong with it?” She said, “It doesn’t do me justice.” He looked at it, then looked at her and said, “Lady, you don’t need justice; what you need is mercy.”
Saved by what? There are three words that came together the cross:
Justice – God’s Justice, Christ took what we deserve.
Mercy – is not getting what we deserve
Grace – is getting what we don’t deserve.
What you do at the cross determines your eternal destiny. Embrace the cross and the death of Christ for sin, embrace Him as your Lord and Savior, and you have eternal life. Reject the cross, reject the One who paid for the sins of all who would believe, and your end is eternal, unending destruction. The cross is the determiner of destiny.
Our Sin is a debt.
Sin is an act of emity.
Sin is a crime.
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