Fact #3: Jesus Christ has provided forgiveness of sin by His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah looked beyond his day and into the future when he spoke of the lamb of God who would bear the sin of all mankind.

Isaiah 53:4-7 – “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was brusied for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was on Him and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”.

All of the sacrifices from Adam and Eve on through the Levitical system of the nation of Israel were pictures of the real sacrifice for sin that Jesus Christ provided for us on the cross. It was on the cross that the sin of all mankind past, present and future was dealt with. Jesus Christ is the sacrifice Lamb of God who has taken all of the sin and evil of all mankind on Himself by His death on the cross and only through this one effective sacrifice for sin can we be forgiven, made clean and brought back into a right relationship with God. This is what the Gospel affirms and this message is interwoven throughout the entire New Testament.

1. The New Testament teaches us that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, the One who takes away the sin of the world.

John the Baptist’s witness – John 1:26-29 – “ John answered them saying, I baptize with water but there stands One among you who you do not know. It is He who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and he said Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said – after me comes a Man who is preferred before me for He was before me”.

The Apostle Peter’s witness – I Peter 1:18-21 – “ knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He (Jesus) indeed was foreordained before the world but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God”. Verse 24 – “who Himself (Jesus) bore our sins in His own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed”. (See note#1)

The Apostle John’s witness – “Revelation 5:9,11 – “ For you (Jesus Christ) were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood…. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain”.

2. The New Testament teaches us that only Jesus Christ is qualified to be our Savior. He is the substitute Who has taken the penalty for our sin in His death on the cross and can bring us into a relationship with God.

John 14:6 – “ Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”.

Acts 4:12 – “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name (or authority) under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”.

I Timothy 2:5 – “ For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus”.

Who is Jesus Christ? Jesus was a man of history.

Matthew 2:1 – “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king…”.

Jesus was born in approximately 4-3 B.C. He was a man and yet He was no ordinary man. He was born of a virgin – Matthew 1:18 – “Now the birth of Jesus was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit”.

Verse 21 – “And she (Mary) will bear a son and you will call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins ”. Luke 1:35 – “And the angel answered and said to her (Mary), ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Highest will overshadow you’; therefore also that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God”. The clear and fundamental fact of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ is both man and God. He is Immanuel, God with us. Matthew 1:23 – “behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a Son and they will call His name Immanuel, which is translated, God with us”.

Who is Jesus Christ? Jesus was the Lord of heaven.

John 1:1-4 – “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made…. And the Word became flesh (Jesus Christ) and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory.”

What did Jesus Christ accomplish?

A. Jesus Christ – the Divine Son of God (100% God and 100% man) correctly diagnosed the problem of men.

He stated that the human condition is based on the fact that we are sinners and under the wrath and judgment of God. Jesus said in John 3:16-20 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed”.

In John 8: 24 Jesus said – “ … if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins”. Jesus said in Mark 7:21-23 – “ For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man”.

B. Jesus Christ lived a perfect sinless life. He faced all of the temptations that we face and yet He never sinned.

I Peter 2:21-23 – “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, Who when He was reviled did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously”. Hebrews 4:15 – “He (Jesus) was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin”.

Jesus Christ faced huge temptations (Matthew 4:1-11 – temptations by Satan in the wilderness; Matthew 26:36-46 – temptations to give up under the weight of sin’s agony in the garden of Gethsemane; Matthew 26:57-27:26 – temptations to defend Himself against His accusers at His trial ) yet not once did He fail or yield to self-centered human impulses.

Hebrews 7:26 – Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners…” He associated and lived among sinners, yet He was separate in His character. He often would go to the temple but never did He offer sacrifice. He prayed on the cross “Father forgive them” but He never said Father forgive Me. He said of Himself and His relationship with the Father – John 3:29 – “I do always those things that please Him”. He said to those who accused him – John 8:46 – “Which of you can convict me of sin?”.

Why is this important? Because only the sinless can substitute for the sinner. Jesus died in our place on our behalf and He could do this because He was guiltless with no judgment that could be addressed to Him. He was the “perfect Lamb” fully qualified to bear our sin.

C. Jesus Christ chose to take our sin. He went to the cross willingly and there He died a cruel death, bore the wrath and judgment for sin so that we could be forgiven. He became our substitute, He took our place.

II Corinthians 5: 19 – “ God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (the Gospel)”. Verse 21 – “ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”.

Jesus said:

John 10:15 – “…I lay down My life for the sheep (you and I)”.Matthew 20:28 – “ the Son of Man came….. to give His life a ransom for many”.John 6:51 – “ the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world”rnLuke 22:19-20 – “ This is My body which is given for you….this cup is the new testament in My blood which is shed for you”.

The Apostle Paul stated

Galatians 1:3-4 – “Jesus Christ…..gave Himself for our sins…”Galatians 2:20 – “the Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me”.Galatians 3:13 – “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us…”.Ephesians 5:2 – “Christ also has loved us and has given Himself for us…”.

The Apostle Peter stated in I Peter 2:24 – that Jesus “bore our sins in His own body on the tree..” I Peter 3:18 – “Christ also has suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God”.

D. Jesus Christ has reconciled us to God through His death on the cross.

The New Testament teaches that we are enemies of God and that we have chosen contrary to Him. God is not our enemy, He has not ceased to love us but we have ceased to love Him and have chosen by default to be His enemy. The sin and discord that started in the garden of Eden with Adam and Eve separated them from God and this alienation between God and men has continued on with us. What was true for Adam and Eve is true for us. We are separated from God and need to be reconciled to Him.

It is here that we see the great love of God. God did not send someone else or some created being to save us and reconcile us to Himself. He came Himself – He became our substitute and reconciled us to Himself.

Romans 5:8-10 – “ But God demonstrates His love for us in that while we were sinners Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified (made just or righteous) by His blood, we will be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled, we will be saved by His life. Colossians 1:20,21 states- … having made peace through the blood of the cross…you who once were alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works ,yet now He has reconciled….” (See notes #3,4)rn

E. Jesus Christ was buried in a tomb, but after 3 days He rose again.

He is right now alive. Jesus’ death and payment for our sin on the cross is complete and the proof of this is that He rose from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the cornerstone of the Gospel. It is the proof that the penalty for sin was paid in full and that sin’s power was defeated in the lives of all who will believe in Him.

Jesus said – John 11:25,26 – “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me though he may die, yet he will live. And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”

Paul states what the Gospel consists of in very simple terms in I Corinthians 15:1-4 – “…I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved if you hold fast that word which I preached to you unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: 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 and that He was seen……”. (See notes #2,6,7)rn

F. Jesus invites us to believe in Him and receive Him as Lord.

The cross of Christ is a mystery, one that is beyond our mental ability to fully understand. Yet it is the way that God has chosen to save us and to bring us into a relationship with Himself. Jesus Christ came to earth to destroy and abolish the power of sin and He did this by offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice on the cross. He rose from the dead with the power and the authority to provide forgiveness of sin and eternal life to all who will call on Him. This is the greatest message that could ever be proclaimed. The cross is God’s power and God’s way of saving us.

Our responsibility is to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to Me all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light”. John 6:37 – “ ….the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out”.