Welcome back again to our lessons. We are continuing are ongoing discussion of the Son of the Godhead, Jesus, which we started back at lesson 4, so start there if you're just joining us. Last lesson we looked into how God sent His Son to save us. In this lesson we'll look at how Jesus Christ had to humble Himself to be the savior we needed.
So we know from earlier lessons that God is omnipotent, or all powerful, so when sin first entered the world way back in the garden, instead of hitting reset, God promised to send his Son to save mankind from eternal death. When Jesus entered the world that very first Christmas He had one purpose, to redeem us, that is to buy us back. So how did He go about this? First thing Jesus did was live as our substitute. He obeyed the law perfectly since we could not. Hebrews 4:15 assures us that Jesus lived as we do, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are --yet was without sin." God sent His Son into this world to make sure that He could live perfectly so that when He redeems us, God can credit His holiness to our account. 2 Corianthians 5:21 says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."
The second thing Jesus had to do when He humbled Himself was die as our substitute. Our sins had to be paid for, so God lovingly put all our sins on Jesus. Isaiah writes in chapter 5, "5But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Jesus gave His life as the ransom price for the sin of all people. We couldn't save ourselves, we couldn't save others, we couldn't save those who came before or are to come. But we are redeemed by Christ's perfect life, Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."" I think something Christians think of too easily is the simple truth, "Jesus died for my sins." But what does it mean, Jesus didn't come to Earth for worship, He spent a lot of His time ministering, we know He did some carpentering, and then He was beaten, disrespected and executed by man, then took judgement upon Himself. The judgement we had coming to us. There is no reason we shouldn't be happy about this, but what a blessing it really starts to become when we dissect it. Mark 10:45 says, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
We can look back at the diagram found in chapter 2, God's great exchange. In Romans chapter 3, Paul writes, "23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood...” When we sin, we take it to the cross in repentence, and through the cross Jesus’ holiness is returned to us. By his perfect life and His willing death Jesus cancelled ur sins and set us at one with God. The word we use for the this is atonement(at-one(with God)-ment.) On the basis of Christ’s finished work all of humanity has been justified. Justified meaning to be declared not guilty.
1 John chapter starts with the following statement, “1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” Something we need to understand when it comes to the statement, “Jesus takes away the sins of the world” is that there are two parts to it. The first part is what’s called objective justification, that is everyone in the world is declared not guilty. It’s true that every sin of humanity was taken by Jesus, but we still need subjective justification. Subjective justification is the justification that becomes ours when we believe. Without faith in Jesus, we turn away His gift of life.
To redeem us, God’s Son had to humble Himself. He made Himself poor and lowly. Jesus didn’t fully use His divine power and glory. Jesus humbled Himself so much so that when broken down, it starts to sound like anyone else’s life though most of us probably will never be crucified. He was conceived, just like us, as that is the start of our soul. He was naturally born. He suffered, not only through his torture, but He suffered with temptation, bodily needs and pains. He was crucified, and died and was buried. Pretty standard human life. In fact He lived life in such a way, that Paul in his letter to the Philippians lets us know that we can live that Christ-like life also . Found in chapter 2, “5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross!” Our redemption is free, but it wasn’t cheap, 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.”
But why? For what purpose did Jesus redeem us? The answer is to give us freedom. He gave us freedom from sin. Romans 6:18 says, “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” He gave us freedom from the power of sin and He gave us freedom from the guilt of sin. Not only as Christians can sin no longer damn us, but we don’t have to dwell on it, knowing that Christ took it to the cross with Him and it’s already been paid for. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” To give us freedom from death. To give us freedom from spiritual and eternal seperation from God. Jesus says to Martha in John chapter 11 at Lazerus’ funeral, “25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” We also have freedom from the devil and his control over us. 1 John 3:8 shows us before Jesus, just how much control the devil has over us. “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.”
Not only were we freed from the chains of sin, death and the devil but we have also gained some freedoms from Christ also. God by sending His Son gave us freedom for a life of serving Jesus on earth. With our new found freedom from sin we can happily serve Jesus by continuing on His teachings, 2 Corinthians 5:15, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” We can also live happily serving Jesus knowing we were given the freedom for a perfect life to come in heaven. Many memorize John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
What a gift salvation is. Salvation, or our freedoms were earned by Jesus for all people. Not just for Christians, or the Hebrews back in those days, to revisit 1 John 2:2, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” Salvation is offered to all through the Gospel. Gospel is another word for the good news about Jesus. Salvation is a gift that is all to easy to receive also. It was given to all. But for the unfaithful, this gift can become beyond reach. It is simple. Salvation is received by faith, salvation is rejected by unbelief. In Mark chapter 16 Jesus says the following while talking to His disciples, “15He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Also to revisit John 3:16, I think we sometimes do it a terrible disservice when we forget to include John 3:18, “16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.”
Salvation, redemption, freedom, justification. As Christians we can be comforted knowing how easily all these things come to us through Jesus. “Justified through faith we have peace with God(Romans 5:1)” Next time we’ll continue our study in Jesus as we see that He is now exalted in glory, no longer humble through humility. I pray these lessons teach you and strengthen your faith. I also know that sometimes we see the same verses, but through repetition I think we become more comfortable in our knowledge that we can comfortably share with others.
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