As we begin our study of chapter 15, we must clearly understand that the gospel in this Dispensation of the grace of God is the only hope for mankind. Everything, concerning the birth, life, and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, was perfectly planned by the Godhead before the creation of the world.
Psalm 2:7-9: I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.Galatians 4:4-5: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
In Psalm 2, we see the declaration of the position of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only begotten Son of God. The ultimate plan of God was for the Son to conquer the wicked and rule with a rod of iron. This did not happen at his 1st Advent. He came as the suffering Savior. – the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). But, in his 2nd Advent, he will come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, destroying the wicked with the sword in his mouth (Revelation 19:11-21).
1 John 2:1-2: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
This is why Paul wanted everyone to know all the components of the gospel of our salvation. We began unpacking those components this morning.
The Gospel is defined in V. 1-4 as:
1. Jesus died for our sins (not just died) according to the scriptures.
Isaiah 53:4-9: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Romans 5:6-8: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
2. He was buried. His body was placed in the Garden Tomb for 3 days and 3 nights, as Jesus prophesied(Matthew 12:38-40), but he went to the heart of the earth, Hell, complete separation from God the Father, in order to fulfill the prophecies concerning his death. But, also, he went to preach to the fallen angels who left their first estate of angelic flesh, and chose to take wives of the daughters of men — strange flesh to them. They are in everlasting chains under darkness.
1 Peter 3:18-20: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
(From the outline) The spiritual pattern concerning these two components: Something in us must die when we become a Christian. And, it must be buried. Nothing that hasn’t died can be resurrected.
A key thought for us to remember: Before salvation, we are alive to the world, but dead to God. After salvation, we are alive to God, but dead to the world.
Ephesians 2:1-3: And you hath he quickened (resurrected), who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
3. He rose again the 3rd day – according to the scriptures.
Psalm 16:8-10: I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Acts 2:26-36)
We will continue our progression through this all important chapter in God’s Word next Sunday!