Bible Study On The Cross

Bible Study On The Cross. QuotesTitleFactsSignificanceExamplesPurposeLyricsResourcesThrough Christs death on the cross those who turn to Him are delivered from both the penalty and the power of sin All of our problems stem from sinfrom our own sin or from the sin of others against us (and our sinful reaction to it) or from the fallen world in which we live Thus the solutions to our problems center in the cross of Christ That God sent Christ to bear our sins means that God does not just shrug off our sin We live in a day of loose justice at best People commit horrible crimes and get off with a slap on the wrist A man admits to sexually molesting killing and dismembering numerous boys but pleads insanity and will likely end up spending some time in a mental ward We all know that that is not justice Yet I talk to people all the time many of them Christians who think that Gods justice is like that They shrug off sin as if its no big deal to God They think He will just overlook it But the Bible is very clear All sin must be judged! Either your sin is on you and you will bear the penalty or your sin is on Christ who bore the penalty Either way God does not take sin lightly! The just penalty must be paid Jesus Christ bore your sin on the cross but you must take Him up on the offer If you turn to Him you will be delivered from the penalty of sin which God justly must impose Thats what Peter means when he says He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that having died to sins we might live to righteousness for by His wound you were healed Some have wrongly applied the word healing to physical healing But clearly that is not in the context (neither here nor in Isa 535) The for (225) is explanatory Peter is explaining further what he means by the healing effected by Christs death Rather than straying like sheep as we formerly lived we now have been turned (passive verb in Greek) to the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls In other words Christs death delivers us from the ongoing power of sin For you were continually straying like sheep (225) Peter uses a verb construction that emphasizes the continual past action of straying Before we turned to Jesus Christ as our sin bearer we were characterized by straying from the Good Shepherd going our own way We were lost even though we may not have known it We were in danger of harm and even death although perhaps we were oblivious to it Although I am not a shepherd or farmer I understand that God did not do us a big favor by comparing us to sheep Domestic sheep are some of the dumbest animals around They must be under the care of a shepherd or they will fall prey to carnivorous beasts If they get lost in bad weather they are not smart enough or hardy enough to survive But theyre not even smart enough to know that theyre not smart so theyre continually wandering off and getting themselves into trouble Sheep arent even smart enough to know that theyre lost or to find their own way back to the shepherd if they wanted to The only way they come back to him is if he takes the initiative in going out looking for them This is implied in Peters use of the passive verb have been turned to the Shepherd It is explicit in the parable Jesus told of the shepherd who left the 99 sheep in the fold and went out looking for the one that was lost This means that none of us can boast in our smarts in coming to Christ If we have turned to Him its because He came looking for us If you have not yet come to Him you cannot save yourself But the Shepherd is seeking you even today He wants to deliver you from the power of sin that causes you to stray from His loving care and protection The power of sin is so great that we cant be delivered from it by promising to turn over a new leaf or by sheer will power There had to be a death of our old man toward sin and a resurrection to new life in Jesus Christ that having died to sins we might live to righteousness This is the same truth that Paul teaches in Romans 68 Galatians 220 Colossians 314 and many other places That when Christ died we who believe in Him died with Him We were identified with Him in His death When He rose from the dead we too were raised to newness of life so that the power of sin over us was broken This sounds wonderful of course but the rub is that as a Christian I dont feel very dead to sin To be honest I dont even feel faint or weak toward sin! The same evil lusts which formerly controlled my life rear up and entice me with the same force as they did before my conversion So it sounds like a denial of reality to say that Im dead to sin What does the Bible mean? Two things as I understand it First being dead to sin is an accomplished fact that takes place the instant I am united with Christ at conversion Most Christians dont know about it at the time but it is still true positionally The moment you trusted in Christ as Savior you were identified with Him in His death on the cross so that all the benefits of His death became yours As Paul puts it (Rom 66 1011) Knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be rendered inoperative [lit] that we should no longer be slaves to sin For the death that He died He died to sin once for all but the life that He lives He lives to God Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus Its true so believe it! But still you say I dont feel dead So how can I believe something contrary to my experience? The key for me is to understand that by death the Bible never means cessation of existence but rather separation When you die physically your soul is separated from your body To be identified with Christ in His death means that I am separated from the power of the old nature and from this evil world system I am now separated from that which formerly had a stranglehold on me I can choose to obey God rather than the lusts of the flesh This idea of separation is brought out by the word Peter uses for death which occurs only here in the New Testament It meant to be removed from or to depart and thus was used euphemistically of death much as we speak of a departed one Thayer (Greek lexicon p 60) says that Peter means that we might be utterly alienated from our sins My old nature is not eradicated as long as Im in this body But its power over me has been broken by the cross so that I can live separately from it The second aspect of death involves something I must do not something that is already done by virtue of my union with Christ We see these two aspects in Colossians 315 where Paul says that we have died (33) and then turns around and says Therefore put to death (35) By this he means that we must take radical action to separate ourselves from various sins that tempt us It points to the decisive and often painful action of denying ourselves in obedience to God It must start at the thought level if we want to live in holiness before God Peter is referring to the first aspect of death to the separation that takes place positionally when we trust Christ (die is an aorist passive participle whose action precedes that of the main verb live) Having died to sins (in Christs death) we are now to go on living to righteousness which means obedience to the commands of the Bible If you as a believer in Christ are continually defeated by sin then you need to enter in a deeper way into the meaning of His death on the cross which separates you from the power of sin Thus the power of sin caused us to stray continually as sheep it required death and new life for deliverance Third Thus through Christs death we are delivered both from the penalty and from the power of sin But we must turn to Him As I mentioned the passive verb points to Gods initiative in turning us We dont turn to Christ because of our intelligence or strong will power If we turn its because God graciously turned us (Ps 801719 Jer 247) And yet at the same time we are responsible to turn from sin to God (Isa 557) It involves according to 1 Peter 225 a turning from the selfwilled life that seeks our own way (straying like sheep) to a life yielded to the shepherding and oversight of Jesus Christ Make no mistake True conversion is not just intellectual assent to the truth of the gospel Saving faith always involves an exchange of masters from self to Jesus Christ While we spend a lifetime growing in our submission to Christ if we are not seeking to live under His Lordship our claim to faith is suspect When Peter says that Christ bore our sins he is citing from Isaiah 5312 (LXX) (Isaiah 53 permeates 1 Pet 22125 see Isa 534 5 6 8b 11b) The holiness and justice of God demand that a penalty be paid for sin Christ took that penalty on Himself on the cross By mentioning Christs body Peter calls attention to the fact of His humanity Since the human race sinned a member of the race had to pay the just penalty God demands But only one who was sinless Himself could pay such a penalty since others would have to pay for their own sin Jesus Christ who alone among the human race committed no sin (1 Pet 222 Isa 539) is the only one capable of bearing the sins of the human race This bearing of sins was a legal transaction in which God the Father transferred to God the Son the penalty we deserve On one occasion the authorities came to a certain man and told him that his name had been drawn But he refused to go saying I was killed two years ago At first they questioned his sanity but he insisted that this was in fact the case He claimed that the records would show that he had been conscripted two years previously and that he had been killed in action How can that be? they questioned You are alive now He explained that when his name came up a close friend said to him You have a large family but Im not married and nobody is dependent on me Ill take your name and address and go in your place The records upheld the mans claim The case was referred to Napoleon himself who decided that the country had no legal claim on that man He was free because another man had died in his place (In Our Daily Bread Fall 1980) But thats not the end of the matter Peter goes on to show that Christs death not only delivers us from the penalty of sin but also from its power Why do sheep do that? Well for one thing they dont appreciate the intelligence or caring commitment of the shepherd He knows of better pasture higher up on the slopes but the sheep dont know that he knows what hes doing when he tries to get them to climb the hill All they know is that its difficult and theyre hungry They see a little patch of grass off the trail and think Why go to all the trouble of climbing this hill? This patch of grass looks good enough So following their appetites and ignoring the shepherd they turn aside for momentary gratification and miss the bountiful provision they would receive if they only followed him to higher ground Sounds kind of like people doesnt it! You have been turned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls What a beautiful picture this is especially for the slaves to whom Peter was writing who were being mistreated by their earthly masters! Peter tells them that they are under the tender care of the Good Shepherd who has the welfare of all His sheep in view The word Guardian is episkopos which later came to be translated bishop In fact both shepherd and bishop are applied to church leaders as functions they must fulfill (1 Pet 512 Acts 2028) Episkopos means to watch over in the sense of guarding Jesus the Good Shepherd watches over the souls of His sheep Does the fact that Jesus is watching everything you think say and do make you uncomfortable or comforted? If youre seeking to live to righteousness if your focus is on the cross where the Good Shepherd laid down His life for you as one of His sheep then it ought to be a comforting thought that He is keeping watch over your soul That doesnt eliminate the need for church leaders to keep watch nor for you to guard yourself from sin But if we seek to follow Him we can know that He will feed lead and guard us as our Shepherd and Overseer With this the young woman broke down cried a bit and said All right I do not love all three of my children the same When one of my three children is sick I love that child more When one of my children is in pain or lost I love that child more When one of my children is confused I love that child more And when one of my children is badreally badI love that child more But except for those exceptions I do love all three of my children just the same Unless otherwise noted all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible © The Lockman Foundation.

Study 5 THE CROSS IN GALATIANS 1 SUBSTITUTION On the cross the Lord Jesus died for us bearing away our sin in His own Body Our sins have incurred 2 IDENTIFICATION On the cross not only did the Lord Jesus die for us but we died with Him This truth is contained 3 REDEMPTION On the.

12. The Cross Bible.org

“the believer can never overcome the old man even by the power of the new apart from the death of christ and therefore the death of christ unto sin is indispensable and unless the cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old man he only drops into another form of morality in other words he is seeking by selfeffort to overcome.

Study 5 THE CROSS IN GALATIANS Words of Life Ministries

Single Session Bible Study N/A Overview Contrary to the popular adage when it comes to the gospel of Christ it is just as blessed to receive as to give We are saved by accepting God&#39s free gift.