The
Resurrection:
Lesson
4: So Great A Salvation (Examining
the benefits of Christ’s work on our behalf)
What
the resurrection says about our salvation
By John Orlando
I.
God’s Glorious Creation
A. In the Beginning…It was very Good (Gen 1:31)
B. The Fall (Gen 3:1-24)
1. Created order (Rm 8:20)/man: Death (physical/spiritual), Disease, Degeneration
2. Total Depravity: Every aspect of man (body, mind, emotions, will) corrupted by sin.
a. Alienation from God: spiritually dead; enemies of God (Rm 3:10-18; Col 1:21)
b. Bondage to self: All sin is assertion of the self against God and man.
c. Conflict w/others: “We tend to
despise [other people] or envy them.”
(Stott)
II.
God’s Glorious Plan
A. Sovereign: God initiated plan from all eternity (Acts 2:23; Rm 8:28-30; Eph 1:3-6)
B. Holy: Holiness
imposes a penalty for sin (Rm 7:12; 6:23).
C.
Loving (Rm 5:8): Pays penalty for our sins by dying in our place (Is 53:4
– 6)
D. We are saved by grace alone through faith
alone in and by Christ alone (Eph 2:8-9)
III.
God’s Glorious Salvation
A. Propitiation: satisfying the wrath of God
B. Expiation: removing our guilt
C. Regeneration: makes us spiritually alive/gives us the gifts of faith and repentance (Ep 2:1-9).
D. Justification: making us right with God through trust in the finished work of Christ alone.
1. Imputed
righteousness of Christ (Rom 4)
2. Reconciliation and Access to God (Eph 2:14 – 18, Heb 4:16)
E. Sanctification: progressive work of God and man conforming us more to His image (Col 3:10)
F. Glorification: receive new bodies and are perfected in all aspects of our nature (1Cr 15:50-57)
The information below relates to a diagram that would appear at this point in the lesson. I haven't been able to produce here for the web page though.
Diagram
1:
The clear circle for God indicates that God is completely free from sin.
The circle for man is completely darkened in, indicating the total
depravity of man, i.e., man is completely shut out from the presence of God, and
is unable to respond to God in any “saving” sense.
Diagram
2:
Since man is completely shut out from the presence of God, God Himself
must take the initiative to save man. In
order for relationship, God must bridge the barrier of sin, because man cannot.
Diagram
3:
God bridges the barrier through the cross of Christ.
Man now has access to God. The clear circle indicates that we have now
been declared righteous by God due to the imputed righteousness of Christ--positionally,
we are free from sin. However, the
shaded circle indicates that experientially,
we still suffer the affects of our sinful nature in our day-to-day experience.
Only when we enter into the glorified state will we have complete freedom
from sin experientially. What
we now are positionally we will one day be experientially.
NOTE: The circles in the
middle represent Christ and the sin that was imputed to Him. The clear circle represents Christ in His sinlessness, and
the black circle represents the sins of His people being laid on Him so that
Christ “becomes sin.”