Knowing God: Chapter 18 (Part 1)

Knowing God:

Chapter 18: The Heart of the Gospel (Part 1)

DEATH

• C.S. Lewis
  "Human death is the result of sin and the triumph of Satan. But it is also the means of redemption from sin, God's medicine for Man and His weapon against Satan."

• ? Do you fear death? why?

• Leviticus 17: 10 - 12

" 'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood—I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."

• Atonement
• Concise Theology
  Packer, "making amends, blotting out the offense, and giving satisfaction for wrong done..."
• Yom Kippur
  The "Day of Atonement" is celebrated once a year and the only day the high priest could enter the holy of holies on behalf the people to make atonement for them
• Heidelberg Catechism - Q. 14
  None; for, first, God will not punish any other creature for the sin which man has committed; and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, so as to deliver others from it

PROPITIATION

• Defined
  • ? You?
  • Packer
    • averting God's anger by an offering
    • rubbing out of sin...and pacifying the wrath of God
    • that which quenched God's wrath against us by obliterating our sins from his sight

• Related
  • ?Explain the relationship between propitiation and...?
    • Justification - Romans 3: 21-26
    • Incarnation - Hebrews 2: 17
    • Gospel - 1 John 2: 1-2
    • Love - 1 John 4: 8-10
  • Packer
    "The love of God, the taking of human form by the Son, the meaning of the cross, Christ's heavenly intercession, the way of salvation - all are explained in terms of it"

• Packer's Facts
  • God's Initiative
    • "By this divine initiative, says John, the meaning and measure of the love that we must imitate are made known."
    • ?Why is this important?
  • God's Blood
    • "...what quenched God's wrath and so redeemed us from death was not Jesus' life or teaching, not his moral perfection nor his fidelity to the Father, as such, but the shedding of his blood in death."
    • ?Do you agree with this? Why or Why not?
  • God's Righteousness
    • "Our sins have been punished; the wheel of retribution has turned; judgement has been inflicted for our ungodliness - but on Jesus, the lamb of God, standing in our place."
    • ?Why is this important?

LIFE

• Matthew 16:24-26

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

• John Wesley
  "A rule that can never be too much observed: let him in all things deny his own will, however pleasing, and do the will of God, however painful."
• ? How do YOU lose YOUR life? In what ways do you deny yourself?
• Narnia - Aslan's Resurrection (True Sacrafice)
• C.S. Lewis
• Movie: "If the witch knew the meaning of true sacrafice..."
• Book: "Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time. But if she could have looked a little further back, into the stillness and the darkness before Time dawned, she would have read there a different incantation."
• ? What are the biblical ideas being conveyed here?

• Hebrews 9: 11-15
• Matthew Henry
  "What gave such power to the blood of Christ? It was Christ's offering himself without any sinful stain in his nature or life. This cleanses the most guilty conscience from dead, or deadly, works to serve the living God"

• Grace & Law
• Packer
• "Jesus Christ has shielded us from the nightmare prospect of retributive justice by becoming our representative substitute, in obedience to his Father's will, and receiving the wages of our sin in our place."
• "Redeeming love and retributive justice joined hands...at Calvary..."
• ? What gives us life?

OPEN DISCUSSION