God’s Amazing Plan of Redemption

The Big Picture of the Bible

Why did Jesus have to die?

What was the purpose of animal sacrifice?

What does God want from me?

Why did God create man?

2

66 books40 men

3 languagesOver 1500 years

Written on 3 continents

ONE UNIFIED THEME:

God’s amazing plan of redemption

An Amazing Book

3

School MasterTeacherGuardian

A Progressive Revelation

Galatians 3:24

Tutor

Christ

Old Testament

JUSTIFIEDBY

FAITH

4

“Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”

God’s Eternal Plan

God purposed for us to be in fellowship with Him

Our purpose is to seek the Lord and to know Him.

Acts 17:24-285

"The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist “

-Acts 17:24-28

that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find

Him, though He is not far from each one of us

God’s character is defined by holiness

God is completely free from moral evil

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness

at all. 1 John 1:5

God is Holy

6

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells

with You. Psalms 5:4

God’s Holiness in Action

God’s holiness is demonstrated to us in His:

Psalm 89:14

Justice and Love

7

Psalm 33:4-5

“For the word of the LORD is upright, And all His work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the lovingkindness of the LORD.”

 ”Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You.”

God’s Demand

God instructed His people to be holy because He is holy

Leviticus 20:26

We must be holy to have a relationship with God

Is this possible?8

“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.”

The Problem of Sin

God cannot and will not tolerate sin

Breaking God’s law is sin

For You are not a God who takes

pleasure in wickedness;

No evil dwells with You.

Psalms 5:4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and

sin is lawlessness.1 John 3:4

Sin causes man to beseparated from God! 9

“your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God”

The Problem of SinSin separates us from God spiritually

Isaiah 59:2

Ephesians 2:1 Colossians 2:13

Any sin separates us from a Holy God!

10

Spiritual Death

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins” -Eph 2:1

“you were dead in your transgressions”

-Col 2:13

Sin: Our Problem Also

Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned

and fall short of the

glory of God ”11

God’s Justice Demands a Price

The sinner should justly die for his sin

A Death Sentence!

12

“the wages of sin is death”

Romans 6:23

A Desperate Situation

Sin puts us in a bad situation!

We are:

•Separated from God•Condemned and worthy of death

•In danger of eternal separation from God

We cannot pay the price for sin alone

13

God loves us and helps to pay the price for sin

through His

But God… (Ephesians 2:4)

Grace and Mercy

14

Grace

God gives us what we don’t

deserve

Life

Mercy

God does not give us what

we truly deserve

Death

God’s Grace and Mercy

God allows the price to be paid by an innocent representative

Animal sacrifices made atonement for

sinLeviticus 16:30Leviticus 17:11

15

“for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD.” 

“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.”

Blood Pays the Price

“without shedding of blood there is no remission”

-Hebrews 9:22

16

REPRESENTS

ATONES FOR

RECIEVES THE PENALTY OF

Innocent LIFE

BLOOD LIFE

Innocent LIFE

SINNER

Guilty LIFE

Facts about Animal Sacrifice

The animal had to be innocentIf animals had the ability to sin, they would

be liable for their own sins

The animal had to be perfectLeviticus 22:21-27

The guilty did not deserve this substitution!

17

What Made Sacrifice Work?

Just the act of sacrifice?

Was it good enough just to believe In animal sacrifice?

What made it effective?

The Faith of the Believer 18

Faith Must Respond

Hebrews 11:6 demonstrates faith

God requires belief based actionJames 2:14, 24

Belief and Action

19

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”

“What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save

him? “(v14)

“You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith

alone.”(v24).

NO!

Old Testament Examples

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice -Heb 11:4

By faith Noah… in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household

-Heb 11:7 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed

by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance -Heb 11:8

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac

-Heb 11:17

20

“Behold!The Lamb

of Godwho takes away the sin of the world!”

-John 1:29

God’s Sacrificial Lamb

21

God’s Sacrificial Lamb

He is God’s sacrifice to pay for the sins of all humanity

Christ’s blood was shed so we could be forgiven

Jesus is the Lamb of God

22

Isaiah 53

Matthew 26:28

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried” (v4). “He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well -being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed” (v5). “The LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him” (v6). “He was cut off out of the land of the living (death) for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due” (v8).

He is described as a lamb being led to slaughter (v7) He is an offering for sin (v10)“My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear

their iniquities” (v11).

Jesus Paid the Price

Jesus’ sinless life qualified Him to be a sacrifice to die in

place of the guilty

He died for you and me! 23

Hebrews 2:9

1 John 3:5

1 Peter1:18-19

“You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin.”

“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Jesus Defeated Sin & Death

He defeated sin and the death that it causes by the resurrection

Without the resurrection, Jesus’ death for our sins is meaningless (1 Cor. 15.13-22)

24

“if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.”

The Gospel

“And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’”

--Mark 16:15

25

An Important Message

Romans 1:16

God’s

Power

The Gospel

= SALVATION

26

Seriousness of obeying the gospel

-2 Thessalonians

1:7-9

Jesus will come “in flaming fire, 8 dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”

27

What must I do to be saved from my sins?

What must I do toobey the Gospel?

Responding to theGospel

28

29

What must I do to be saved from my sins?

What must I do toobey the Gospel?

Animal Sacrifice in Leviticus 1In the Old Testament the sinner was active in the sacrifice of the animal

He brought the animal to the priestHe laid his hands on the head of the animal

He killed the animalThe priest offered the animal as a burnt offering

Leviticus 1:1-9

The guilty paid the price or symbolically died with the

sacrifice 30

United w/ our Sacrifice

We must die with our innocent representative

to have our sins forgiven

Romans 6:5-6

31

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also

be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 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”

New Testament terminology identifying the point when one is forgiven:

32When does this happen?

…If we died with Him we shall also live with Him2 Timothy 2:11

Now if we died with Christ we believe we will also live with Him.

Romans 6:8

…for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:3

I have been crucified with Christ…Galatians 2:20

When does God say that I am:Dead to sin?

Dying with Christ?Freed from sin?

United with Christ in His death?

Crucified with Christ?

We need God’s answer!

He gives it in Romans 633

Dead to sin

Dying with Christ

Freed from sin

United with Christ in His deathCrucified with Christ

34

Romans 6:2, 11

Romans 6:7

Romans 6:3-4

Romans 6:6

Romans 6:5

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?...Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

When does this happen. Look at v3!

“For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection”

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

“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”

“for he who has died is freed from sin.”

United with Christ’s death…through faith

Romans 6:17-18

United with Christ by FAITH

35

“But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”

obedient from the heart

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into

Christ have put on Christ.--Galatians 3:26-27

buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of

God, who raised Him from the dead

--Colossians 2:12

Buried With JesusRaised into New Life

United with Jesus in His Death

By our Faith (Col.2:12)

Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12

Romans 6:5

Sanctified (Romans 6:22)Spiritually DeadEphesians 2:1, 5

New Life, Born Again2 Corinthians 5:17

John 3:5

Counting the Cost

God expects us to be obedient and make the

appropriate changes in our lives

(Repentance)

Romans 6:1-2; 10-1637

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

A Gift from God!

Romans 6But now having been freed from sin (v7) and enslaved to God (v16), you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 38

Gift

Made Holy!

Examples ofConversionsin the Book

of Acts

39

Acts 2: The 1st Gospel Sermon

When Peter preached to the crowd on the day of Pentecost, they believed the gospel and were convicted of their sin.

They asked the Apostles:

“Men and Brethren, What shall we do?” (Acts 2:37)

How did Peter answer this question? 40

Did Peter answer by saying..“You don’t have to do a thing.

Jesus did it all on the cross just 50 days ago for you!”

“Just say this prayer with me and Jesus will come into your heart.”

“It seems like you already believe what I’ve said, so you are already saved!”

41

Peter’s answer...

42

“Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be

baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy

Spirit (Acts 2:38).”

Paul’s conversion: Acts 9 & 22When were Paul’s sins washed away?

On the road to Damascus where he:• Believed (shown by obedience-

22:10,11)• Called Jesus Lord? (22:10)

OR

In Damascus where he:• Repented (shown by fasting- 9:9)

• Prayed? (9:11)

The answer: NEITHER 43

Paul’s conversion: Acts 9 & 22

Paul’s sins were not washed away by his belief, his repentance,

or his prayers.

He was told by Ananias what he needed to do in Acts 22:16

44

“Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and

wash away your sins”

Jesus’ Teaching

45

Jesus’ Teaching

Matthew 28:19-20How does this text teach disciples are

made?

46

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always , even to the end of the age."

baptizing them 1

2 teaching them to observe all that I commanded

you

Can someone leave one of these out

if they want to be a disciple?

Mark 16:15-16

47

1-1= 2

Jesus’ Teaching

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 "He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

Belief

+

Baptism

Saved

Most religious groups teach that belief w/o baptism brings

salvation

Belief – baptism = saved?Does 1-1=2 ?

Jesus’ Teaching

John 3:5

48

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God..."

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”

Jesus is saying the same thing that Romans 6 teaches

But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit

-Titus 3:4-5

washing of regeneration and

renewing by the Holy Spirit

Quotes from Early Christians

49

2nd century baptism beliefs

These writings are not inspired. They are not part of the Bible. They are not authoritative in determining doctrine. However, these quotes do contain an interesting picture of the doctrine early Christians believed.

What did the Christians right after the time of the Apostles teach? How did they understand what Jesus, His Apostles, and His Prophets taught in their writings?

50

Barnabas wrote in 70 AD:“Blessed are they who, placing their trust in the cross, have gone down into the water; for, says He, they shall receive their reward in due time...we indeed descend into the water full of sins and defilement, but come up, bearing fruit in our heart, having the fear [of God] and trust in Jesus in our spirit.” (The Early Church Fathers: Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 1, The Epistle of Barnabas 11:114-16)

51

Irenaeus wrote in 120-205 AD:

"As we are lepers in sin, we are made clean from our old transgressions by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord. We are thus spiritually regenerated as newborn infants, even as the Lord has declared: 'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'" (Irenaeus, "Fragments From Lost Writings", no. 34, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, pg. 574)

What was the main proof text early Christians used for baptism?

52

John 3:5

'Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.'"

In 110-165 AD, Justin Martyr wrote:

“they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, Now, that it is impossible for 'Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Justin Martyr, "First Apology," Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, pg. 183) 53

regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves

regenerated.

washing with water

It seems Justin Martyr is using Titus 3:5 and John 3:5 as parallel

verses!

'Except ye be

born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Titus 3:5

John 3:5

In 140-230 AD, Tertullian wrote,

"Baptism itself is a corporal act by which we are plunged into the water, while its effect is spiritual, in that we are freed from our sins" (Baptism 7:2).

54

freed from our sins

That is what Romans 6:7 teaches!

“for he who has died is freed from sin.”

freed from sin

"Happy is our sacrament of water, in that, by washing away the sins of our early blindness, we are set free and admitted into eternal life!... The consequence is, that a viper of the Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy baptism. Which is quite in accordance with nature; for vipers and asps and serpents themselves generally do affect arid and waterless places. (On Baptism, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, pg. 669.)

are set free and admitted into eternal life!

In 140-230 AD, Tertullian wrote,

55

washing away the sins of our early blindness, we

Tertullian is combating a false doctrine that was denying the importance of baptism!

making it her first aim to destroy baptism

Tertullian also wrote,

"The prescript is laid down that 'without baptism, salvation is attainable by none' chiefly on the ground of that declaration of the Lord, who says, 'Unless one be born of water, he hath not life.'" (On Baptism, Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3, pg. 674-675)

56

'withoutbaptism, salvation is attainable

by none'

John 3:5

In 150-200 AD, CLEMENT wrote,“when you are regenerated and born again of water and of

God, the frailty of your former birth, which you have through men, is cut off, and so at length you shall be able to attain salvation; but otherwise it is impossible. For thus hath the true prophet testified to us with an oath: 'Verily I say to you, That unless a man is born again of water, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.' Therefore make haste; for there is in these waters a certain power of mercy which was borne upon them at the beginning...Betake yourselves therefore to these waters, for they alone can quench the violence of the future fire; and he who delays to approach to them, it is evident that the idol of unbelief remains in him, and by it he is prevented from hastening to the waters which confer salvation." (Clement, "Recognitions of Clement," Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 8, pg. 155) 57

Summary of StudyGod wants a relationship with YOU!Sin gets in the wayYou deserve death for disobeying

God

God gives you a way to be forgiven:

Jesus ChristHe died for your sins so you could be

sanctified!

Will you obey the gospel? 58

By Your Faith (Col.2:12)Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12

Why do you delay? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the

Lord.

Acts 22:16

Be United with Himin His Death

Romans 6:5

Be Raised into New LifeBe Buried With Jesus

Be Sanctified (Romans 6:22)

Are YouSpiritually Dead?