The Basis for the Forgiveness of Sins-The Person of Jesus Christ
Forgiveness • Sermon • Submitted • 1:23:32
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· 28 viewsThe Basis for the Forgiveness-The Person of Jesus Christ
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The forgiveness of sins is made possible through the unique theanthropic Person of history, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-Man.
It is made possible because of His substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross, which reconciled all of sinful humanity to a holy God, propitiated the holy demands of the Father that sin and sinners be judged and redeemed every member of the human race out of the slave market of sin.
The Father accepted these deaths as the propitiation for our sins and sin nature problem because Jesus Christ is His Son or in other words, these deaths on the cross have merit with the Father because Jesus of Nazareth is His Son and therefore, the perfect sacrifice for sin which the Father requires.
We have access to God in fellowship because of the Lord Jesus Christ’s merits and finished work on the Cross.
Ephesians 2:18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. (NASB95)
The Preexistence of Christ
John 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” (NASB95)
This statement by our Lord to the Jews clearly affirms His preincarnate state or preexistence as the eternal Son of God.
It will be noted that Christ’s existence prior to becoming a human being is nowhere in Scripture argued as a doctrine but is everywhere assumed and used as the basis of the doctrines of the incarnation, hypostatic union and atonement for sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ did not become God’s Son at the incarnation or when He rose from the dead and in fact, His resurrection in fact demonstrated that He was the eternal Son of God who has no beginning.
He is God, supreme and without beginning.
Our Lord was conscious of a previous existence since He spoke of the glory He had with the Father before the foundation of the world.
John 17:5 “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” (NASB95)
He claimed preexistence in explicit and unmistakable terms.
The apostle Paul teaches in Philippians 2:6 that Jesus Christ existed from eternity past.
Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (NASB95)
The Deity of Christ
The preexistence of Jesus of Nazareth who is called the Christ testifies to the fact that He is infinite, eternal Son of God (John 1:1-2; John 8:58; 10:30a; Col. 2:9a; Rev. 1:8).
There are several titles ascribed to Jesus Christ that signify His deity.
He is called “the Son of God” (Luke 1:35), “the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32), “mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6), “eternal Father” (Isaiah 9:6), “His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2) “Lord” (Rom. 15:30; Eph. 1:22; Phil. 2:11) and “God” (Titus 2:13).
The Scriptures teach that He is sovereign (Matt. 28:18a; Col. 2:10b), that He is perfect righteousness (John 8:46a; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 2:21b) and justice (John 8:16a; 2 Tim. 4:8; Ps. 9:8; Deut. 32:4; Rev. 15:3b).
Furthermore, the attribute of love is ascribed to Him (John 13:34; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 3:19; 1 John 4:9-10) as well as eternal life (1 Tim. 1:17; 1 John 5:11), omniscience (Luke 11:17; John 2:24-25; 6:64; 21:17), omnipresence (Matt. 18:20; Prov. 15:3), omnipotence (John 1:3, 10; 5:21; 1 Cor. 1:23-24; Phil. 3:21; Heb. 1:3; Rev. 1:8), immutability (Mal. 3:6; Heb. 1:10-12; 13:8) and veracity (John 1:14; 14:6a; 1 John 3:16).
The Word of God presents Jesus Christ as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe (John 1:3, 10; Col. 1:16-17; Heb. 1:3, 10).
His deity is referred to in that He is said to have authority to forgive sins (Matt. 9:6; Luke 5:24; Col. 3:13) and He has the power to raise the dead (John 5:21; 6:40; 11:25).
The Incarnation of the Son of God
The virgin birth was the means by which the incarnation became a reality.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only uniquely born One from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NASB95)
1 Timothy 3:16 And by common confession great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, was vindicated in the Spirit, beheld by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. (NASB95)
The second person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered permanently into the human race by means of the virgin birth.
He is the only member of the Trinity to take upon Himself a human nature.
The Humanity of Christ
The incarnation of the eternal Son of God resulted in of course, our Lord becoming a human being.
The Scriptures use the following titles when stressing our Lord’s humanity: (1) “The Son of Man” (Matt. 24:30; Mark 26:64; Luke 5:24; 6:5; John 1:51; 3:14; 8:28). (2) “The Son of David” (Matt. 1:1; Mark 10:47; Luke 1:32; 18:39; Rev. 22:16). (3) “The Man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). (4) “Jesus” (Acts 2:32; 8:35; Rom. 3:26; 1 Thess. 4:14; Heb. 2:9; 6:20).
The Scriptures teach that the Lord Jesus Christ has a human body like ours but without a sin nature (John 1:14; Heb. 10:5; 1 John 1:1; 1 John 4:2-3), that He has a human soul (Matt. 26:38a; Isa. 53:11a) and a human spirit (Luke 23:46; John 13:21; 19:30).
He did not have an old sin nature like every human being born in Adam because of the virgin birth.
He did not have a sin nature because He did not have a human father (Luke 1:35).
The Word of God also testifies to the fact that our Lord performed the following human functions and suffered circumstances common to humanity.
First of all He was said to have “wept” (John 11:35; Heb. 5:7) and He “slept” (Mark 4:38) and became “hungry” (Luke 4:2) and He was “thirsty” (John 19:28), “ate” and “drank” (Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30).
The Scripture tells us He was “weary” (John 4:6) and was in “agony” (Luke 22:44) and that He had to “grow” physically and mentally (Luke 2:40) and had to “learn” the Scriptures (Luke 2:52).
He also had to learn “obedience” (Heb. 5:7) and our Lord also “prayed” (Luke 21:41-42; Heb. 5:7) and He also was “tempted” (Luke 4:2; Heb. 2:18; 4:15) and was a Man of “sorrows” (Isaiah 53:3).
He was “despised” and “forsaken” of men (Isaiah 53:3) and He is also said to have “rejoiced” (Luke 10:21) and He “died” physically (John 19:33) and “died” spiritually (Matt. 27:45-46).
The Hypostatic Union
The Scriptural evidence is overwhelming that Jesus of Nazareth who is the Christ is both God and man forever.
The two distinct natures, which as to their attributes differ significantly, were brought together into personal union, which will continue forever.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only uniquely born One from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NASB95)
In theology or specifically Christology (the study of Christ), the term “hypostatic union” is used by theologians to describe the teaching of the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is undiminished deity and true sinless humanity in one person forever.
The word “hypostatic” is a Bible Word meaning that it is derived from the original language of Scripture (Heb. 1:3).
Impeccability of Christ
The Scriptures clearly teach that Jesus Christ never committed an act of sin and neither did He possess a sin nature.
John 8:46a “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” (NASB95)
2 Corinthians 5:21 He (Christ) who never knew sin experientially (Christ was impeccable), on behalf of us (as our Substitute), was made (the representative of) sin in order that we might become the very righteousness of God in Him. (Author’s translation)
Hebrews 4:15 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. (NASB95)
Hebrew 7:26 For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens. (NASB95)
1 Peter 1:19 But with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. (NASB95)
1 Peter 2:22 Who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth. (NASB95)
1 John 3:5 And you know that He appeared in order to take sins; and in Him there is no sin. (NASB95)