Christians Who Sin... and Sin Wickedly

Sometimes Christians sin... and sin wickedly. Sometimes we fail in the struggle with our flesh

and look like our pagan neighbors. We love sin and hold on to it with white knuckles like Gollum with his "precious". When we do that, we destroy our own lives and tarnish the reputation of the church, but it does happen. Sometimes we can be very slow to repent... And it takes even longer if we fail to understand the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Then our propensity is to hide in fig leaves because of slavish fear. As Walter Marshall puts it, we have a "secret suspicion that God is really our enemy." We think that we have trusted Christ as Savior, but the Father is an angry tyrant, and we are very slow to return to our God. And why would we, given our misperception?

But there is a God Who paved the way from eternity past to be in loving fellowship with us through Jesus our Substitute, Mediator, and Advocate. He is longsuffering, patient, kind, and moved with compassion. "He remembers that we are dust." And He draws us with cords of love. We return when His Spirit sheds His love abroad in our hearts; when we begin to understand that His love for us really is greater than all our shame, and greater than the wrath we deserve. It is only then that we begin to desire Him in return, and can live at rest instead of running in vain; instead of clinging to that which destroys. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Corinthians+5%3A21%3B+1+Timothy+2%3A5%3B+I+John+2%3A1%3B+Psalm+103%3A12-14%3B+Hosea+11%3A4&version=RSV

Old Covenant Offerings: Shadows of Christ's Sacrifice For Us

On the Emmaus Road, Jesus discloses to the Disciples how Christ fulfilled the Old Testament types and shadows. 

..."These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44

So, how does Jesus fulfill the sacrificial system in the Old Covenant? In Nancy Guthrie's book The

Lamb of God, she provides rich insight. Here is some of the material she covers with regard to the Levitical sacrifices and Jesus' fulfillment.

🐑 Burnt offering (Propitiation/satisfying God's wrath (Leviticus 1 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+1&version=HCSB):

~1 Peter 1:18 For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from the fathers, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

~Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Him as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. 26 God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.

🌾 Grain offering (Dedication: Leviticus 2 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+2&version=HCSB):

~John 6:48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

🕊️ Peace offering (Fellowship: Leviticus 3 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+3&version=HCSB):

~Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of the Messiah. 14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh,

💦 Sin offering (Purification: Leviticus 4&5 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+4-5&version=HCSB):

~Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

~Hebrews 13:11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify[a] the people by His own blood.

😔 Guilt offering (Restitution: Leviticus 5&6 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+5-6&version=HCSB):

~Isaiah 53:10 Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him severely.

When You make Him a restitution offering,

He will see His seed, He will prolong His days,

and by His hand, the Lord’s pleasure will be accomplished.

~Philippians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift in the person of The Beloved Son, the Lamb of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the Righteous!

What is Necessary for A Christian to Believe? (Heidelberg 22, 23)

 What is Necessary for A Christian to Believe? 

In an evangelical culture where there is a veritable buffet of options and variations of institutions and individuals who profess Christianity, it is vitally important to understand and know what Christians believe and have believed from the beginning. So, what exactly are "The Essentials"? And

What, then, must a Christian believe?

All that is promised us in the gospel, 1

which the articles of our

catholic and undoubted Christian faith

teach us in a summary.

1.Mt 28:19; Jn 20:30, 31.

What are these articles?

1. I believe in God the Father almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth.

2. I believe in Jesus Christ,

his only-begotten Son, our Lord;

3. he was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary;

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

he descended into hell.

5. On the third day he arose from the dead;

6. he ascended into heaven,

and sits at the right hand

of God the Father almighty;

7. from there he will come to judge

the living and the dead.

8. I believe in the Holy Spirit;

9. I believe a holy catholic Christian church,

the communion of saints;

10. the forgiveness of sins;

11. the resurrection of the body;

12. and the life everlasting.

Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 22, 23. The Apostles Creed (AD 390) See also: Sermon: Served to Serve, 4; Paramount Church: John Fonville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IkNr5eIvRs&ab_channel=ParamountChurch

Only One

 

There is only one Gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. It is Christ's work. Full stop. That is a hill to die on.

See Galatians 1:6-9 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+1%3A6-9&version=HCSB

What Is The Gospel?~Zacharius Ursinus:

"The term gospel signifies, 1. A joyful message, or good news. 2. The sacrifice which is offered to God for this good news. 3. The reward which is given to him who announces these joyful tidings. Here it signifies the doctrine, or joyful news of Christ manifested in the flesh; as “behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2: 10, 11.)

...The gospel is, therefore, the doctrine which the Son of God, our Mediator, revealed from heaven in Paradise, immediately after the fall, and which he brought from the bosom of the Eternal Father; which promises, and announces, in view of the free grace and mercy of God, to all those that repent and believe, deliverance from sin, death, condemnation, and the wrath of God; which is the same thing as to say that it promises and proclaims the remission of sin, salvation, and eternal life, by and for the sake of the Son of God, the Mediator; and is that through which the Holy Spirit works effectually in the hearts of the faithful, kindling and exciting in them, faith, repentance, and the beginning of eternal life. ...the doctrine which God revealed first in Paradise, and afterwards published by the Patriarchs and Prophets, which he was pleased to represent by the shadows of sacrifices, and the other ceremonies of the law, and which he has accomplished by his only begotten Son; teaching that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; which is to say that he is a perfect Mediator, satisfying for the sins of the human race, restoring righteousness and eternal life to all those who by a true faith are ingrafted into him, and embrace his benefits." So, the Gospel is a precise thing. More specifically, it is particular news. Good news that is announced to us by Christ, Himself, though the means of preaching. It does not depend on the person in need of it. It is all Christ and what He has accomplished for us and for our salvation. There is only one Gospel: "...Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures,
4 that He was buried,
that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures..." (I Corinthians 15:3-4).

See also: Faith Comes from Hearing with

John Fonville

/

Paramount Church

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxpfwPHv2P8 Sermon begins around min. 32.

What is the Covenant of Works?

The Covenant of Works (Adamic Covenant):

Westminster Confession:

7:II: The first covenant made with man was a covenant of works,b wherein life was promised to Adam, and in him to his posterity,c upon condition of perfect and personal obedience.d

b Gal. 3:12.

c Rom. 10:5, Rom. 5:12-20.

d Gen. 2:17; Gal. 3:10.

The Covenant of Works Distinguished from the Covenant of Grace:

7:III. Man by his fall having made himself incapable of life by that covenant, the Lord was pleased to make a second,e commonly called the Covenant of Grace: whereby he freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ, requiring of them faith in him, that they may be saved;f and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe.g

e Gal. 3:21; Rom. 8:3; Rom. 3:20,21; Gen. 3:15; Isa. 42:6.

f Mark 16:15,16; John 3:16; Rom. 10:6,9; Gal. 3:11.

g Ezek. 36:26,27; John 6:44,45.

7:IV. This covenant of grace is frequently set forth in the scripture by the name of a Testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.h

h Heb. 9:15-17; Heb. 7:22; Luke 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25.

Resources on the CoW: https://heidelblog.net/category/covenant-of-works-2/

Was the Covenant of Works Gracious? https://heidelblog.net/2009/11/was-the-covenant-of-works-gracious/

The Mosaic Covenant (Republication of The Covenant of Works):

https://heidelblog.net/tag/republication-of-the-covenant-of-works/