August 11, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the seventh post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 7 – The Suffering Servant
Isaiah 53:
- Isaiah – “We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.”
- “On the cross, God’s wrath was poured out on Christ. God did strike Him, smite Him, and afflict Him—but not for any evil in Christ. He was smitten in His role as the vicarious Substitute for the people of God.”
God is Satisfied;
- Isaiah – “He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.”
- “God the Father would look on the travail of His Son, and seeing His work on the cross, He would be satisfied. By His work as the Surety, the Mediator, the Substitute, the Redeemer, Christ would most certainly satisfy the Father’s justice.”
August 10, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the sixth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 6 – Made Like His Brethren
Utter vs. Total Depravity:
- “Utter depravity would mean that man is as bad, as corrupt, as he possibly could be.”
- “Total depravity … meant that sin—its power, its influence, its inclination—affects the whole person.
Two perspectives of goodness and badness:
- External performance and the “consideration of the heart”
The Just Man:
- “We have one unjust party (man) and two just parties. We have a just God and a just Mediator, Who is altogether holy. The Mediator is the One Who came to satisfy the requirements of the just God on behalf of the unjust race of man. He is the One Who makes the unjust party just. He is the only One Who could do so.”
Is Jesus death enough?
- “If Jesus took all the sins I’ve ever committed on His back and took the punishment for me, that would not get me into the kingdom of God. It would be good enough to keep me out of hell, but I still would not be just. I would be innocent, if you will, but still not just in a positive sense.
Forensic Justification and Imputation:
- “Not only is the sin of man imputed to Christ, but the righteousness of Christ is transferred to us, to our account.”
- “… the righteousness of Christ that is transferred to us is the righteousness He achieved by living under the Law for thirty-three years without once sinning.
o “… not only did Jesus die for us, He lived for us.”
Justification by Faith Alone:
- “… the only means by which the righteousness and the merit of Christ can come into our accounts and be applied to us is by faith.”
August 9, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the fifth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 5 – The Saving Substitute
Jesus, the Righteous Substitute
- “Jesus had to submit Himself to every detail of every law God had given to the nation.”
Expiation:
- “… taking away the guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonment.”
Propitiation:
- “… brings about a change in God’s attitude, so that He moves from being at enmity with us to being for us. Through the process of propitiation, we are restored into fellowship and favor with Him.
Salvation:
- Generally speaking “any experience of deliverance from a clear and present danger can be spoken of as a form of salvation.”
- Biblically speaking “Jesus ‘delivers us form the wrath to come.’”
- “Therefore, Christ’s supreme achievement on the cross is that He placated the wrath of God, which would burn against us were we not covered by the sacrifice of Christ.”
Substitutionary Atonement:
- A Substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God Himself, to bear the weight and the burden of our transgressions, to make expiation for our guild, and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. This is the gospel. Therefore, if you take away the substitutionary atonement, you empty the cross of its meaning and drain all the significance out of the passion of our Lord Himself. If you do that, you take away Chrsitianity itself.”
August 8, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the fourth post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 4 – Ransomed from Above
Mark 10:45
- For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
Ransom:
- “a price that was paid to release a slave from bondage or to set free hostages who were being held in military conflicts.”
1st Ransom Theory:
- “Jesus paid a ransom to Satan because Satan held fallen man under bondage.”
- Christus Victor: “If Christ paid a ransom to Satan to deliver us from Satan’s clutches, who is the victor?”
2nd Ransom Theory:
- “… the ransom was paid not to Satan but to God, because God was the One Who had to be satisfied.
- Naomi and Ruth and the kinsman-redeemer.
- “As our elder brother, [Christ] pays the indebtedness that we have incurred before God.”
August 7, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the third post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 3 – Debtors, Enemies, and Criminals
“Sin is cosmic treason”
God is Author: (p34)
- “The word authority has another word in it—author. Because God is the Author of all things, He has authority over all that He has created.”
DEBT:
- Man is the debtor, God is the Creditor, and Christ is the Surety.
ENMITY:
- Man is the enemy, God is the violated one, and Christ is the mediator.
CRIME:
- Man is the criminal, God is the Judge, and Christ is the substitute.
- Illustration: Borrowing and not being able to pay vs. stealing.
Romans 3:26
- God set out “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
August 6, 2008 at 8:00 am · Filed under Book
This is the second post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 2 – The Just God
Why the God-Man?
- “… the chief reason a God-man was necessary was the justice of God.”
God is loving:
- “a major part of what He loves is His own perfect character.”
God’s Justice:
- “His eternal, immutable commitment always to do what is right.”
Mercy:
- The very idea of mercy implies justice.
August 5, 2008 at 11:33 am · Filed under Book
This is the first post in a series summarizing the chapters of R. C. Sproul’s book, THE TRUTH OF THE CROSS.
Chapter 1 – The Necessity of an Atonement
1Cor 2:2
- “For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”
Holy God and Sin as Offense: (p9)
- “If people understood that there is a holy God and that sin is an offense against that holy God, they would break down the doors of our churches and ask, “What must I do to be saved?”
Justification by Death: (p10)
- “The prevailing notion of justification in Western culture today is justification by death. It’s assumed that all one has to do to be received into the everlasting arms of God is to die.”
Primitive and Obscene: (p11)
- “It is primitive for a blood sacrifice to be made to satisfy the justice of a transcendent and holy God …. And the cross is an obscenity …. The cross was the ugliest, most obscene thing in the history of the world.”
Augustinianism, Semi-Pelagianism, and Pelagianism: (p12)
- Augustinianism – “salvation rests on God’s grace alone”
- Semi-Pelagianism – “salvation rests on human cooperation with God’s grace”
- Pelagianism – “salvation can be achieved without God’s grace”
Necessity?
- Absolutely Unnecessary – “Jesus died as a moral example for men”
- Hypothetically Necessary – “God could have redeemed us by a host of ways”
- Absolutely Necessary – “If any person was ever going to be reconciled to God and redeemed”
April 26, 2008 at 3:53 am · Filed under Personal Reflection
Late on Wednesday night, April 16, I called a friend from my church to simply share with him that I was overwhelmed. I had just spent the evening at the Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville, KY, glorying in the atonement; that “Christ became sin for us; Took the blame, bore the wrath” that we might “stand forgiven at the cross.”
Some have asked how my time was at the conference and I want to respond simply by bringing home a song.
—
Oh, to see the dawn
Of the darkest day:
Christ on the road to Calvary.
Tried by sinful men,
Torn and beaten, then
Nailed to a cross of wood.
Oh, to see the pain
Written on Your face,
Bearing the awesome weight of sin.
Ev’ry bitter thought,
Ev’ry evil deed
Crowning Your bloodstained brow.
CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Christ became sin for us;
Took the blame, bore the wrath—
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Now the daylight flees;
Now the ground beneath
Quakes as its Maker bows His head.
Curtain torn in two,
Dead are raised to life;
“Finished!” the vict’ry cry.
Oh, to see my name
Written in the wounds,
For through Your suffering I am free.
Death is crushed to death;
Life is mine to live,
Won through Your selfless love.
FINAL CHORUS:
This, the pow’r of the cross:
Son of God—slain for us.
What a love! What a cost!
We stand forgiven at the cross.
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend