Bible Study 4: How Can God Save Sinners? Jesus Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection saves!

Bible Study #4, "How Can God Save Sinners?" explains that sinful people can be saved on the basis of the redemptive death, burial, and resurrection of the eternal Son of God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 defines “the gospel ... by which also ye are saved ... [as] that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

The Lord Jesus, who was from eternity fully God, equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 John 5:7), became fully Man (1 Timothy 2:5) and entered the world to deliver us from our sins. He is Jesus, Jehovah the Savior (Matthew 1:21). He is Christ, the Ruler predicted throughout the Old Testament who would come to save and rule the world (John 20:31). He is Lord, the absolute Master and Sovereign of all, and One who is Himself God (Acts 10:36). He is Savior, delivering His people from the penalty of sin, eternal damnation; the power of sin, its rule and control; and ultimately from the presence of sin, for Christ’s chosen will live with Him forever in His eternal kingdom (Titus 2:13-14). He also is the Mediator, the only go-between who can bring us to the Father (1 Timothy 2:5). His mediation is manifested in three offices. As Prophet, he reveals the will of God and speaks the Word of God (Acts 3:22-23). As Priest, He reconciles His people to God on the basis of His sacrifice of Himself and effectually intercedes for them before the Father (Hebrews 7:26-27). As King, He rules, in accordance with His eternal good pleasure, over the current invisible kingdom of all the saints, over His church, and, upon His return, over the world (Revelation 19:16).

The Father sent His Son, the perfect God-Man, into the world to die for our sins (Matthew 20:28). His death was sacrificial, a payment to the Father for the sins of the world (Hebrews 9:26), and substitutionary (1 Peter 3:18), for He endured the judgment of God in our place, that by taking our penalty we might receive His righteousness. His death is propitiatory (1 John 4:10), since it forever appeases God’s wrath, and redemptive, for it is the perfect payment to free sinful men from slavery to sin (Galatians 3:13). The Lord's cross-work is complete, for Christ's perfect sacrifice is absolutely sufficient to save to the uttermost (Hebrews 1:3). Having died this incomparably valuable death, the Lord Jesus was buried, and rose again bodily on the third day, demonstrating the Father’s satisfaction with His Son's sacrifice and vindicating His claims (Matthew 28; Luke 24). The Lord Jesus then ascended to the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:9-11), from whence He will soon return to judge and rule the earth (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

Christ's coming and His saving work were predicted with astonishing accuracy in many Old Testament prophecies. Salvation through Jesus the Messiah is the “everlasting gospel” (Revelation 14:6), the only means through which anyone has ever been or ever will be saved. Throughout the Old Testament, God instituted various animal sacrifices and other offerings to picture the coming redemption in the New Testament era through the blood of the Lord Jesus (Exodus 12; Leviticus 1-7). Isaiah 52:13-53:12 predicts Christ’s coming, life, trial, crucifixion, sacrifice, burial, resurrection, and second coming with astonishing accuracy. Prophecies included Christ's descent from Abraham (Genesis 12:3) and David (Isaiah 9:7); His virgin birth (Isaiah 7:14) in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2); John the Baptist as His forerunner (Malachi 3:1); His unparalleled healings (Isaiah 35:5-6); His presentation as Messiah on March 30, A. D. 33, followed by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish temple by Rome (Daniel 9:24-27); and many more.

Christ’s saving work brings salvation to His own. They are adopted into God’s family, becoming His children, and securing a blessed eternity (Galatians 4:4-7). They are justified, having Christ’s righteousness credited to them, and so are counted perfectly obedient and holy before the Law of God for their crucified Savior’s sake (Romans 5:1). They are reconciled, brought back into fellowship with God (Romans 5:10). They are sanctified, set apart as God’s own, and led into the paths of holiness (Hebrews 13:12). Finally, they wait expectantly for their glorification, the everlasting honor and exaltation they will possess in their resurrected state (Hebrews 2:10). All of this results from their identification with the Lord Jesus, their standing “in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:30).

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, the apostle Paul informs the Corinthian church that this “gospel, which I preached unto you ... [is that] which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand” (1 Corinthians 15:1). How can you receive the benefits of the gospel, personally appropriate the benefits purchased by the Lord Christ and His saving work, and be given eternal life? This is the subject of Bible study #5: "How Do I Receive the Gospel?"