• 180-minute explanation – page 2 •
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1 10-min. & 30-min. & 180-min.
1-1 30-min. & 180-min. only
1-1-1 180-minute version only
Key Action Points:
a. So fully embrace your new identity.
[So] count yourselves dead to Sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. - Romans 6:11
You have a New Self in Christ. Clearly see yourself as dead to Sin. Your Old Self was crucified with Christ, so make a conscious determination that your New Self is alive to God and has nothing to do with Sin.
b. So intentionally focus your mind.
Those who live according to the flesh*** have their minds set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. - Romans 8:5
In both a. and b., how you think is the key. Think in accordance with God’s truth.
c. So consciously take action.
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, …and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. - Romans 6:13
Give yourself to God.
Use your body to please God.
It is the tool God gives us to please him.
d. So put off the Old Self.
Put off your Old Self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.
- Ephesians 4:22
It is ‘crucified with Christ,’ but it is still a force within us that we must resist (until our physical bodies die and we go to be with Christ forever).
e. Live in dependence on God’s Holy Spirit – see #12
11. We are given a New Self.
Put on the New Self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. - Ephesians 4:24
So put on your New Self. By relying on God’s Holy Spirit we now have the ability to do good and avoid sin.
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation. - I Peter 2:2
“Eat” God’s Word (the Bible) so that you can grow.
Illustration:
A new baby does not automatically become an adult. It must eat and learn and grow. We have been given new spiritual life. Now we must grow into the mature person that God wants us to be.
12. God gives us his Holy Spirit [the Spirit of Christ].
• God’s Holy Spirit is living in us.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? - I Corinthians 6:19
• The Holy Spirit assures us that we are God’s children.
You received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “…Father.” The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. - Romans 8:16
• The Holy Spirit produces good fruit in us.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. - Galatians 5:22-23
We can only do this in cooperation with the Holy Spirit.
Illustration:
Only a living tree produces real fruit. We can only produce spiritual fruit if we are spiritually alive. It is only because of the living Spirit of God within us that we can produce genuine fruit.
Illustration (before we believed):
You were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world. - Ephesians 2:1-2
An artificial Christmas tree can produce no fruit, because it has no life – it is a “dead” tree. No matter how much you decorate an artificial Christmas tree, and no matter how beautiful you make it look, it is still dead. The decorations cannot make the tree come alive. If we do not believe in Christ we are “dead in our sins” – and no amount of good deeds that we do will change our true nature – we are still spiritually dead. In God’s eyes, our “good” deeds are not even as good as decorations on a dead tree.
• The Holy Spirit enables us to meet God’s righteous requirements.
The righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
- Romans 8:4
13. We become part of Christ’s family – his Church – his body.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. - I John 3:1
You [all] are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
- I Corinthians 12:27
THEN WHAT HAPPENED TO FURTHER GOD'S PLAN TO SAVE US?
A quick summary:
Abraham’s descendants went down to Egypt during a very bad famine. They became slaves for 400 years.
[Genesis 37: 39-50]
[Manga Vol. 1, page]
Finally, God sent the leader, Moses, and 10 disasters to force Egypt to free the people of Israel. But Pharaoh, king of Egypt, did not listen to God until after the last plague.
[Exodus 1-14]
[Manga Vol. 1, page]
[Then] the Lord…said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he will let you go.…About midnight I will go throughout Egypt. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die.”
Exodus 11:1, 4-5
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BUT HOW DID GOD SAVE THE ISRAELITES FROM THIS PLAGUE OF DEATH?
The Lord said, “Each man is to take a lamb for his family.… Slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where you eat the lambs.”
Exodus 12:1, 3, 6-7
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The blood of the lamb saved the people of Israel from the death that came upon all Egypt.
[God said,] “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn … [But] when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.”
Exodus 12:12-13
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So this lamb was called the Passover Lamb.
An interesting detail:
Today, over 3,000 years later, Jews still celebrate the Passover Festival to remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt and spared their firstborn sons. For God said:
This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord...because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.
Exodus 12:14, 17
Why is the Passover Lamb one of the greatest symbols in the Old Testament?
The blood of the lamb (in the Old Testament) is a picture of the blood that Jesus Christ shed for us on the cross 1,400 years later (in the New Testament).
John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
John 1:29
So Jesus is called “the Lamb of God” in the New Testament.
Another interesting detail:
Jesus, the Lamb of God, was actually crucified during the Passover Festival.
The disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover. When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve [disciples]. And...he said, "...One of you will betray me."
Matthew 26:19-21
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What happened during this Passover Festival?
• Thursday Evening:
Jesus ate the Passover Supper with his disciples.
• Thursday Night:
Judas (a disciple) betrayed Jesus.
• Friday:
Jesus was crucified on the cross and put in the tomb.
• Sunday (Easter):
Jesus rose from the dead.
So every year, even today, Easter and the Passover are celebrated at the same time.
But the Messiah did not come until about 1400 years after Moses.
WHAT DID GOD DO UNTIL THE MESSIAH CAME?
God gave the Law.
The Lord said to Moses, “…I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their [Israel’s] instruction.”…And he wrote on the tablets the words of the…Ten Commandments.
Exodus 24:12; 34:1, 28
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God gave the Law to Moses for Israel.
The Law told the people what to do to be good.
Was the Law actually intended to save people?
[The] commandment…was intended to bring life.
Romans 7:9
[Creator God said,] “Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.”
Leviticus 18:5
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If a Law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the Law.
Galatians 3:19
Obeying the Law was God’s initial method for man to become righteous. This is Option #1.
But what is God’s standard? How righteous do we have to be?
• Be perfect … as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
God’s standard is 100% perfection.
We must be as righteous as God is.
• [God] will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts.
I Corinthians 10:4
God judges our motives!
• [Jesus said:] Men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
Matthew 12:36
God judges every one of our words!
Is it even possible for us to be good enough?
• Nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.
Romans 7:18
We are born as sinners. There is nothing good in our sinful nature.
• A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
Matthew 7:18
We are incapable of producing anything that God considers good.
• All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.
Isaiah 64:6
So all the good that we do is filthy in God’s eyes.
What is the purpose of the Law if we can't keep it?
God needs to hold the whole world accountable to him:
Before the Law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law.
Romans 5:13
So, first:
When Gentiles [non-Jews], who do not have the Law, do by nature things required by the Law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the Law, since they show that the requirements of the Law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.
Romans 2:14-15
Then, second:
We know that whatever the Law says, it says to those [Jews] who are under the Law.
Romans 3:19
Then the result:
So that every mouth [of Jew and non-Jew] may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
Romans 3:19
All who sin apart from the Law [non-Jews] will also perish apart from the Law, and all who sin under the Law [Jews] will be judged by the Law.
Romans 2:12
The Law makes us aware that we are sinners:
No one will be declared righteous in his [God's] sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin.
Romans 3:20
I would not have known what sin was except through the Law. For [example] I would not have known what coveting really was if the Law had not said, "Do not covet."
Romans 7:7
The Law makes us see what great sinners we really are:
The Law was added so that the trespass might increase.
Romans 5:20
Before we read God's Law it is easy to think, "I am a fairly good person!"
But the Law points out the many ways that we fall short of God's standard.
In fact, it is worse than that:
Sin living in me (Romans 7:17) actually uses the Law to entice me to sin even more ...
Sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. ...For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me.
Romans 7:8, 11
Illustration:
Sometimes the following happens. Parents command their young child: "Don't touch the vase of flowers on the coffee table." The child may have no real interest in the flowers. But the command stirs up rebellion in his heart, and because of that he purposely touches the flowers.
But don’t we get credit for doing some good things?
Whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it?
James 2:10
Illustration:
The Law is like an ancient, priceless vase that you find in one of the world's great museums: If you drop it once, you completely shatter it.
The Law is not like an exam with a passing score of 51%.
The Law is not like a scale that balances the good against the bad.
All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse, for it is written [in the Old Testament]: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
Galatians 3:10
What if we have never heard or read God’s Law? Are we still guilty?
We have already seen that ...
When Gentiles [non-Jews], who do not have the Law, do by nature things required by the Law…they show that the requirements of the Law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts…accusing…them.
Romans 2:14-15
We are all born with a conscience – a basic understanding of right and wrong. So we all know that we sin.
Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
Everyday, we all have the opportunity to know Creator God through the wonderful design of our world.
So we have no excuse for not believing in him.
What is God’s verdict?
• There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away.
Romans 3:10-12
If Creator God didn’t pull us toward himself, we wouldn’t even look for him.
• All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23
We completely fail to meet God’s standard.
• Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.
Hebrews 9:7
Creator God gives us only one life in which to know him. Then we will be judged.
• [Jesus said:] “Throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13: 42
Judgment is followed by eternal punishment.
WHY DID THE LAW FAIL?
The Law was powerless to do [it,] in that it was weakened by the flesh.
Romans 8:3
The Law can tell me what to do, but it cannot give me the power to actually do it.
The problem is with me!
The Law is good, but it cannot overcome the weakness in me.
1. I was born sinful.
I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalm 51:5/7
I was not born good.
Illustration:
2-year-olds clearly show that we are born as sinners. Even though parents teach little children, “Do what is right; don’t do what is bad,” little children purposely do the opposite. They are very cute, but they are purposely rebellious, selfishness, and disobedient. Where does that evil come from? That evil naturally pours out of their hearts, because they were born that way.
Why was I born sinful?
Adam...had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.
Genesis 5:1
Adam's son was born in his likeness. Each generation is subsequently born in the same likeness. Adam was a sinner, so I inherited my sin nature from my first ancestor, Adam, and from each ancestor after him.
Illustration:
Where do your hair color, eye color, and facial features come from? From your ancestors. This is just the natural course of things. In this same way, your sin nature is also passed down to you from your ancestors.
2. I am a slave to sin.
I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing.
Romans 7:14-15, 18-19
I am a slave to what I obey – so I am a slave to sin.
3. The Law actually arouses sinful desires within me.
When we were controlled by the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the Law were at work in our bodies.
Romans 7:5
Illustration:
A parent tells a little child, “Don’t touch that!” Sometimes, just because they were told not to do so, the child will look directly into the parent’s eyes and defiantly reach out and touch it.
4. Sin, as a force, actually lives within me.
The evil I do not want to do–this I keep on doing. …It is Sin living in me that does it.
Romans 7:19-20
DO WE HAVE ANY HOPE?
Can we do anything about our own sin? And about death?
…What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me?
Romans 7:24
I have no hope! Help me!
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy… !
Ephesians 2:4
God is our only hope. God loves us – and he already had a plan.
BUT ISN’T THE LAW OF SOME HELP TO ME?
Yes, it is.
But not how we might expect.
The Law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
Galatians 3:24
1. The Law makes it very clear that Option #1 (trying hard to obey God’s Law by my own efforts) ends in complete failure.
It shows me that I cannot help myself. Unless someone else saves me, I am doomed to eternal judgment.
I would not have known what sin was except through the Law.
Romans 7:7
It told me that I was a sinner.
I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
Romans 7:10
It condemned me to eternal judgment.
2. So the Law leads me directly to Option #2 – to the only one who can help me. It points me to my only hope.
This help comes to me only because I believe – because I have faith – not because I work hard for it.
WHAT IS OUR ONLY HOPE? WHAT IS GOD'S PLAN?
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Our only hope is that Creator God gives us a gift – and this gift is eternal life.
This gift comes to us only through Jesus Christ.
Illustration:
When a company offers a free promotion, the company gives us instructions about how to receive our free gift. Of course it is perfectly logical and acceptable that they would do this – and, if we want the free gift, it is logical and acceptable that we would follow their instructions.
There is no other choice but Jesus Christ.
[The night before his death, Jesus] fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup [of suffering] be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.
Matthew 26:39
Is it possible that there is another way for us to become righteous in God's eyes and gain the eternal life that he offers us?
Option #1 was already a failure.
What other option could there possibly be that would be acceptable to Creator God?
Question:
If we could save ourselves... If we could be saved from eternal death another way, why would Jesus have suffered so terribly on the cross for us?
If righteousness could be gained through the Law, Christ died for nothing.
Galatians 2:21
This is only logical.
If there was any other way for us to gain eternal life, why would Christ have suffered so terribly on the cross? If there was another way, Christ's sacrifice would have been a total waste.
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to [God] the Father except through me.
John 14:6
This is the only reason it made any sense for Christ to die on the cross.
Why would God sacrifice so much to help us?
God is love.
John 4:8
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
[Jesus said:] "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ...For this reason [God] the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from [God] my Father."
John 10:11, 17-18
How can Christ’s death and resurrection 2000 years ago affect us today?
We have 2 representatives: Adam and Christ. What happened to them directly affects us.
1. Our ancestor Adam’s sin affected all mankind.
Sin entered the world through one man [Adam], and death through sin.
Romans 3:12
2. Christ’s death and resurrection also affect all (who put their faith in him).
For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
I Corinthians 15:21-22
Illustration #1:
In Japan a mukoyōshi (婿養子), or adopted son-in-law, takes on his wife’s family-name. His decision affects the identity of every one of his descendants after him, even though they were not around when the original decision was made. In the same way, what Adam did and Christ did affect the identity and destiny of those who come after.
Illustration #2:
In America almost everyone’s ancestors left another country to come to the United States and become Americans. The ancestors’ decision to leave the old country changed the national identity of their descendants after them.
But this is the 21st century – and that was 2000 years ago!?
• Once is enough for all eternity:
Christ died for sins once for all.
I Peter 3:18
Nor did he [Jesus]…offer himself again and again, the way the high priest [in the Old Testament] enters the Most Holy Place [in the temple] every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all…to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Hebrews 9:25-26
Christ's death is so effective that he only had to die once. And he died for everyone.
• God’s timeframe is eternal – our’s isn’t. Two thousand years is a short time for God!
Do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day.
II Peter 3:8
This is symbolic language. For example, the day that Adam sinned impacted thousands of years and everyone who came after him. But more importantly, the day that Christ died on the cross, the day that he rose from the dead, the day that he will return to this earth, the day that he will judge the world are each days that impact us for all eternity. So 2000 years is nothing to God! In God's eyes, Christ's death 2000 years ago is 100% effective for us today – and for all eternity!
WHAT DOES CHRIST'S DEATH ON THE CROSS DO FOR ME?
1. God forgives all our sins:
He [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree [cross].
I Peter 2:24
On the cross, Jesus Christ took all our sins upon himself.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 103:12
Our sins are completely gone.
I [God] will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Hebrews 8:12
God does not remember our sins.
2. We deserve the death penalty, but Christ died in our place.
He [Christ] suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Hebrews 2:9
So we receive eternal life in 2 ways:
a. Our spirits are immediately made alive for all eternity, when we believe in Christ.
b. Our bodies will be resurrected in the end.
3. Our Old Self was crucified on the cross with Christ – a very important truth.
Until I believe in Jesus Christ –
I am…a slave to sin.
Romans 7:14
But after I believe –
We know that our Old Self was crucified with him [Christ], so…that we should no longer be slaves to sin–because everyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Romans 6:6
[Jesus said:] "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. ...If the Son [of God, Jesus Christ] sets you free, you will be free indeed."
John 8:34, 36
Illustration:
In the physical world, after a slave dies he no longer is ruled by his master – the slaves death frees him from being under his masters control. It is the same spiritually.
• We were “sinful at birth” and slaves of sin. But our Old Self was crucified, so we don't have to be sin's slave.
• Before, it was impossible for us to please God. But now we are capable of pleasing God.
[So] sin shall not be your master.
Romans 6:14
4. The Law was nailed to the cross and canceled.
The long list of commands that we broke, and that condemned us, is canceled:
He [God] forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14
[Christ] abolish[ed]…in his flesh the Law with its commandments and regulations.
Ephesians 2:15
The long list of commands that we broke and that condemned us is gone.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1
Now, we live under the umbrella of God’s grace!
[Now] you are not under Law, but under [God’s] grace.
Romans 6:14
So the system that we live under has completely changed.
Does that mean we can just do whatever we want?
No!