Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Gospel! A great many verses that cover what it is.

And...tomorrow I intend to put up a post that covers the gospel, minimally but hopefully adequately, so that you can have a brief version to give to someone in a hurry. And it's late, so I'm not editing this, which I'm sure it needs, but I will...tomorrow...or so...Lord willing!
We are participating in a book study at our church on Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, by J.I. Packer. We discuss the gospel, the importance of the full presentation of it where possible, what all the elements of it are and what evangelism is and isn't. The thing is, I think we as Christians generally all know how to talk about the gospel from a variety of angles. The things we don't always seem so strong on are knowing exactly what the gospel is, and how to get to the point of sharing it. These are the crucial equipment for all of us, and their lack is perhaps the worst weakness many of us share.
The leader of our Bible study wears a bracelet on his wrist with colored beads: black, red, white, green, and yellow. They're not fancy, they're just little cheap plastic beads on a leather strip. But I know what they're about, and the value isn't commercial or showy. I have a Bible with a set of pages in the front. The pages have no words, just glossy plain colors: One page is black, one red, one white, one yellow, and one green. That section of that Bible is called the "Wordless Book." And it has essentially the same message as John's bracelet. There is a children's song that goes with the beads or the pages, and it tells the basic elements of the gospel. It goes like this: "My heart was black with sin, until the Savior came in. (That's the black bead.) His precious blood, I know (the red bead) has washed me white as snow (the white bead). And in His Word I'm told I'll walk the streets of gold (the yellow bead); I'll read my Bible and pray, and grow in Him every day (the green bead)." I prefer to tell the gospel using Bible verses that cover each element of the gospel, because there is supernatural power in God's word; Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Also Romans 10:17, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ." Still, keeping the song in mind is a useful prompt for including all the necessary elements of the gospel.

As I go on in life, I gradually get the idea that there are softer versions of the gospel, and there are some that really get into the nitty gritty of just how great our need is, and the greatness of His provision of mercy and grace that matches that need. I think perhaps some fairly softer versions are adequate to save a person, but just how soft is too soft, I'm not sure. I think that expressing the gospel in the greatest fullness possible should be our ultimate goal, of course always tailoring it to the need and understanding of each audience we have. If we are talking to young children, we of course need to stick to the very basics; if talking to someone whose heart is obviously prepared and receptive, and time will allow, we need to share the fullest extent that we are able.
The sad thing is that some people who are so able to understand the deepest presentation of the gospel might never hear it--maybe the one evangelising them never really learned it, or lacked the courage or opportunity to share it in its magnificent fullness; perhaps because their church doesn't present it; perhaps because they have not succumbed to any urging of the Holy Spirit to investigate it for themselves.
I have tried to collect a rather thorough collection of verses that might cover the gospel in all its beauty. The difficult thing with that collection is trying to sort them or, once I have them, boiling down the collection again to the most basic verses to present the gospel in its most concise fullness. Every verse, providing a bit fuller color and understanding, seems essential when I consider it. So the list may not be useful for presenting the gospel each and every time, but the greatest use for this list might be to memorize the verses for the sake of letting the Holy Spirit guide the evangelist when the opportunity arises. After all, He knows better the need of the hearer, and if I have 60 or 80 salvation verses in my arsenal, He can custom-tailor my presentation of the gospel to the need of the hearer far better than if all I have are 5 or 10 verses. So I enjoy my collection but I never expect that I might share all of them at once with someone in need of salvation in Christ.
I welcome you, by the way, to copy this list of verses for the sake of memorization. Copy them to any word processing program and keep them in your computer; print them up and put them in a handy place; take your favorites and print them in small print to glue into the front of your Bible.
So the essentials of the gospel are covered pretty well in the following verses; if you read them, I think you'll see what I mean; there are some aspects that aren't covered in the song, which might be the more extraneous elements of the gospel, so I've put headers about them, but the song lines are done distinctly in colors (a little garish, but maybe useful:

GOD MADE US (His sovereign right over us for His glory):
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Psalm 139:13-14 For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.
Jeremiah 31:3 The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.”

His Appeal to Us:
John 14:1 "Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”
Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 Peter 5:6-7 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.
Hebrews 9:27-28 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.
Isaiah 12:3 Therefore you will joyously draw water from the springs of salvation.
Isaiah 55:1 "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near.
John 4:7-14 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give Me a drink." For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." She said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
John 4:15 The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw."
John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
Luke 1:37 "For nothing will be impossible with God."
Luke 23:34 But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.
Luke 6:37 "Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.”
Matthew 16:19-25 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven." Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the Christ. From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You." But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's." Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 16:26 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
Matthew 16:27 "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
Matthew 19:23-26 And Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, "Then who can be saved?" And looking at them Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
Matthew 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 6:14-15 "For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”
Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:24-25 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.”
Philippians 3:8-12 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 139:17-18 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You.
Revelation 22:16-17 "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Romans 10:12-13 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."
Romans 14:12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Zechariah 9:11 As for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

My heart was black with sin… (Black verses: Our pre-salvation condition of sinfulness; God’s wrath upon us; our need for Christ)
Born into sin:

Psalm 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Reality of Our Sin:
James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Romans 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he is guilty of all.

Our Ignorance of our Sin:
Psalm 19:12 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults.
Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.
Proverbs 16:25 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12 There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 21:2 Every man's way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”

God’s Knowledge of our Sin:
1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his outer appearance, for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outer appearance, but God looks at the heart.”
Psalm 69:5 O God, it is You who knows my folly, and my wrongs are not hidden from You.
Luke 16:15 And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

Wrath of God because of our Sin:
Exodus 22:24 "And My wrath shall wax hot and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless."
Deuteronomy 21-22 "They have moved Me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have provoked Me to anger with their vanities and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation for a fire is kindled in Mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundation of the mountains."
Joshua 23:16 "When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God which He commanded you and have gone and served other gods and bowed yourself to them then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which He hath given you."
2 Kings 22:13 "Go, inquire of the LORD for me and the people and all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found, for great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us."
Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
Isaiah 5:25 On this account the anger of the LORD has burned against His people, and He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down and the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out.
Isaiah 13:9 "The day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it, therefore…
Isaiah 13:13 "I will shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place and the wrath of the Lord of host and in the day of His fierce anger."
Nahum 1:2 A jealous and avenging God is the LORD; the LORD is avenging and wrathful. The LORD takes vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies.
Romans 1:18-19 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Romans 5:7-9 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Ephesians 5: 6 "Let no man deceive you with vain words, for because of these things cometh the wrath of God on the children of disobedience."
Hebrews 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Revelation l9. "Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword and with it He smites the nations and rules with a rod of iron and treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of almighty God."
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Isaiah 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
Ecclesiastes 7:20 Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Isaiah 64:6 Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
2 Peter 2:4-17 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you, having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children; forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet. These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

Man’s Sin Nature/Need for Christ:
Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Isaiah 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
Isaiah 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?”
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
Romans 3:10-12 as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."
Romans 3:23 …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Romans 5:19 For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:5-7 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, 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.
Romans 7:4-8:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT COVET." But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead. I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
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.
Galatians 1:3-5 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
Ephesians 1:7-8a In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.
Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Philippians 2:5-8 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed--for our testimony to you was believed.
Hebrews 9:11-12 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:22 And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 10:11-13 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.
Hebrews 10:1-4 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
James 1:15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
James 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
1 Peter 1:17-19 If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…
1 John 2:1-2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.
1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 5:12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

Judgment over unrepentant sin:
Ezekiel 5:5-11 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.' "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,' therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again. Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind. So as I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.
Numbers 15:30 But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Until the Savior came in. His precious blood, I know… (Red verses: Jesus’ coming and dying to save us)
John 3:16-17 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
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.
1 Corinthians 15:54-57 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 1:15 It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.
1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit…
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…
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.
John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
2 Peter 1:2-3 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Titus 3:5-7 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
Isaiah 53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.
1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Message going out evangelizing:
Ears to Hear:
Matthew 11:15 "He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:9 "He who has ears, let him hear."
Matthew 13:43 "Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father He who has ears, let him hear.”
Mark 4:8-9 "Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they yielded a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Luke 8:8 "Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great." As He said these things, He would call out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Luke 14:34-35 "Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Has washed me white as snow…(White verses: Our acceptance of Christ and being made a new creation)
Matthew 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
John 6:37 "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
John 7:37-38 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
Acts 10:43 "Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins."

Ephesians 2:5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 15:35-37 But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?" You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
John 6:40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
John 1:12-13 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
1 John 1:6-7 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Isaiah 1:18 "Come now, and let us reason together," says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool."
John 10:9 "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.”
Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Acts 16:31 They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
1 John 5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.


And in His Word I’m told I’ll walk the streets of Gold… (Gold or yellow verses, regarding our eternal future with God in heaven)
John 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

I’ll read my Bible and pray, and grow in Him every day! (Green verses, growth in Christ, prayer, Bible reading, sanctification, obedience):
Actually, I'm copping out on this. This is just a matter of reading the whole Bible, which is an integral part to our sanctification, and I can't cover it well in this space! So don't expect a few verses to cover it, I'm leaving it all to you!
God’s faithfulness to us:
Ephesians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…
1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jude 24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

A New Personal Insight into Jesus' Taking our Sin on the Cross

I have been reading two books by Henry Blackaby, Experiencing the Cross, and Experiencing the Resurrection. I find that even though they are simple books, the very simplicity of the truths they contain provides excellent material to stop and ponder. I am not reading quickly through, but (partially just because of the structure of my life) picking them up and reading in small chunks, which is ideal for some of the insights that he gives to sink in with meditation.
One such thing he gave in Experiencing the Resurrection was that one most meaningful verse for him was 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. He made it evident that he had comprehended that verse in more depth than I ever had: he said that he had prayed about that verse and that at times when he was pondering it in prayer, he would weep at the thought of it. I had never even approached that comprehension of the meaning of the verse. So I considered the meaning of it...sinless Jesus Christ, taking and becoming the sin of all the world (or all who would trust in Him, at least, depending on what type of atonement theology is accurate). I started mentally listing all the different kinds of sins I could imagine...the list was long but hardly exhaustive before I grew weary of the thought. Of course there are many types of sin that never occurred to me. Just pondering those that had, though, and all the times that they might have occurred in every life whose sin He took on Himself: all those in history; all those occurring just in the present, and all those which would occur ever in the future until He comes again...then from another angle, all those which I personally had ever knowingly or unknowingly committed. Either way, it was overwhelming.
Part of what helped me put any portion of Jesus' suffering for sin into human perspective was the remembrance of a time when I was accused of sins which I had not committed. Even in recent memory I dealt with this, and though it was a fairly isolated event with a limited focus of accusations, the injustice was difficult for me. But it gives me a tiny personal realization of what a weight it is to have condemnation for sins I had not committed even in the eyes of a mistaken human, a tiny sample of what Jesus did in love and innocence, intentionally adopting our actual guilt for such a multitude of sins in the eyes of an all-knowing God.
I don't think I would have made this connection if it had not been for Blackaby's book. It's an example of how the writings of another can help us to deepen our theological understanding in ways that would never happen on our own. It redeemed what I dealt with, in that my experience helped me to understand the sufferings of Christ; and I also pondered a significant and meaningful verse that I had only dealt with summarily before.

At the Cross You Beckon Me...

Last week in Sunday school, as we were discussing J.I. Packer's book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, one of the ladies present was saying that she was done considering the cross; she'd understood as much as God let her understand about it, and now it was time for her to just study what Jesus taught about obedience. Thankfully, no one else in the room was supporting this point of view...it brought about a fairly lively discussion on whether this approach to faith was workable or to be recommended. I am afraid she felt rather beaten down as she left, which was not the intent of any of us. But it was a topic that excited us to discuss the vital importance of keeping the cross in front of us and continually central to our learning, meditation, and growth.
In all honesty, I'm very sure there has been a time, probably a long period of time, where I would have readily said the same thing. It's funny how that would have been my point of view more in the earlier years of my Christian walk, and now I feel more convinced that the cross in front of me is essential, that I hardly know enough about it. Its continual presence in my mind is crucial. When it's behind me, I think I have it figured out as much as is humanly possible, and that just knowing that I have been saved by it is enough. It's easier, then, to dismiss the horrific effect of sin, the penalty that was taken from me and laid upon Christ; the price that was paid in His suffering and death; the wonder, hope and joy that are effected by His resurrection. To try to learn obedience with the cross behind me instead of in front of me is to remove the very reason and reminder for my obedience from view, so that a little knowledge is a more dangerous thing. Who will obey well and joyfully because they know they simply ought to? But if I will not obey Christ while pondering His suffering and death on behalf of mankind, His willing obedience to the Father even unto death, then my understanding is puny, ineffectual, and unappreciative, and I am in need of a greater understanding, a greater examination and meditation upon the very essence of Christianity, the crux, the crucial thing, the cross. Paul said, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. That was the essence of all our faith, the starting place on which everything hinges. At the foot of His cross is the place that enables and fuels our everyday walk of obedience.
And it isn't that I'm such a genius that I can continually understand more and more of it every day as I ponder it in my own thinking, though maybe on some days that might be slightly true. I need the input of those who have gone before, those who have discussed it and understood it in greater detail, who have read great writers and had thought-provoking influences expand their own minds...I need to hear daily from not only the Bible, though that is the vital starting place, but also from the great minds for whom it is the abiding joy to wrestle with God's salvific truth from every angle. It is iron sharpening iron; their iron that is better honed, sharpening mine that is duller. So I read books on the cross; I listen to sermons at church and online; and I listen to the words of Christian songs old and new that show the joy and amazement that overflow from the hearts who love Him because of His great sacrifice for us. And I am helped to better understand this ever-flowing life-giving act that He did that has changed me forever, that fountain of hope and joy and peace. The cross.