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Iron Works Foundations
The Gospel of Jesus Christ
Recap:
I. Two foundational questions:
A. Who is Jesus?
Jesus is the 2d person of the Trinity, the eternal Son
of God: 100% God/100% Man: Fully God, fully man.
B. What did Jesus do?
He died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins and
rose bodily from the dead so that all who repent (turn
from their sins) and trust in Christ alone would be
forgiven of their sins and have eternal life.
C. Summary: The Gospel is the good news of
how Jesus Christ, who was fully God and fully man,
died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins and rose
bodily from the dead so that all who turn from their
sins and trust in Christ alone would be forgiven of
their sins and have eternal life.
D. Where do we find in Scripture?
1. Rom 1-3
2. 1 Cor 15:1-4
God
Man Christ Response
3. "Roman Road" 1:19-21 3;23; 6:23 5:8 10:9-11
4. John 3:16
E. Summary of the Gospel Pattern:
God
He is the Holy Creator to whom we are
accountable.
Man
We sinned against God and stands condemned.
Christ
Christ died on the cross for sins and rose from
the dead to save sinners.
Response
We must trust Christ alone/turn from our sins.
The Good News: A Fuller Statement
The Triune God created man to glorify and enjoy
Him forever. Man, however, sinned against God
and stands condemned. But God sent His eternal
Son Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully man,
to take our place. He obeyed God’s law perfectly,
died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins, and
rose bodily from the dead, so that all who by
God's grace alone turn from their sins and trust in
Christ alone would be forgiven of their sins and
have eternal life!
F. An important qualification:
1. The Gospel is about far more than just the start
of the Christian life. It encompasses everything about
the Christian life from start to finish.
2. The foundational of the Gospel is union with
Christ. Every benefit of salvation is in Christ and is
given to us by Him. He is the possessor and conveyer
of every spiritual blessing! No matter the topic, we are
immediately driven to Christ. Christ is the Gospel; He is
Alpha/Omega.
The Triune God created us to glorify and enjoy Him
forever. But, we have all sinned against God and stand
condemned. But God sent His eternal Son, Jesus
Christ, to take our place. He obeyed God's law
perfectly, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sins,
and rose bodily from the dead. By God's grace, those
who repent and trust in Christ alone are forgiven of
their sins, declared righteous only for the
righteousness of Christ imputed to them, adopted into
God's family, and are enabled by God's Spirit to die
more and more to sin and live unto righteousness,
persevering to the end when they will be raised with
glorified bodies at the last day!
What is Scripture?
(2-3 weeks)
Lesson 1:
I. General Revelation: what and why?
II. Special Revelation: what and why?
III. Scripture:
A. Inspiration
B. Infallibility and Inerrancy
C. SCAN: Sufficiency, Clarity, Authority, Necessity
D. Canonicity: what and how?
E. Structure of Scripture: OT/NT, themes, etc.
I. General Revelation:
A. Definition: General knowledge of God made
known to everyone, everywhere in creation and the
conscience of man. Psa 19:1-2; Rom 2:14-15; 1:18-21
Ps 19:1-2 - The heavens
declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims
his handiwork. Day to
day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals
knowledge.
Rom 1:19-20 - For what can be known about God is
plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal
power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived,
ever since the creation of the world, in the things that
have been made. So they are without excuse.
Rom 2:14-15 - Gentiles…even
though they do not have the law…
show that the work of the law is
written on their hearts…their
Conscience also bears witness.
B. Importance of gen rev: ?
J.I. Packer: "God’s universal revelation of his power,
praiseworthiness, and moral claim is the basis of
Paul’s indictment of the whole human race as sinful
and guilty before God for failing to serve him as we
should."
C. Limitations: is general rev all we need?
1. WCF 1.1 Although the light of nature,
and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness,
wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men
unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that
knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary
unto salvation…
2. Why is gen rev not sufficient?
- Sin has corrupted our minds, so that we
distort gen rev and do not interpret it properly.
Berkhof: “…God’s handwriting in nature
was obscured and corrupted, and man was
stricken with spiritual blindness, became
subject to error and unbelief, and now in
his blindness and perverseness fails to
read aright even the remaining traces of
the original revelation, and is unable to understand
any further revelation of God. Therefore it became
necessary that God should re-interpret the truths of
nature, should provide a new revelation of
redemption, and should illumine the mind of man and
redeem it from the power of error.”
- Discuss the implications of this to life in general.
What is the solution to this?
WCF 1.1 cont'd: …Therefore it pleased the Lord, at
sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal
himself, and to declare that his will unto his church;
and afterwards, for the better preserving and
propagating of the truth, and for the more sure
establishment and comfort of the church against the
corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of
the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing:
which maketh the holy Scripture to be most
necessary; those former ways of God's revealing his
will unto his people being now ceased.
II. Special Revelation
A. Definition: Direct revelation from God now
embodied in Scripture that reveals
more fully who God is, His plan of
redemption in Christ, and what He
requires of people for life and salvation. This is what
WCF 1.1. gets at.
1. Heb 1:1-2 - 1 Long ago, at many times and in
many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the
prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to
us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all
things, through whom also he created the world.
2. 2 Tim 3:16 - All Scripture is breathed out by
God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, and for training in righteousness…
B. Progressive: “The great truths of redemption appear but dimly at first, but gradually increase in clearness, and finally stand
out in the NT in all their fullness and beauty.”
C. Importance of special revelation: ?
- Provides proper interpretation of general revelation.
- Teach us to see universe as theater of God's glory.
- To know about God, ourselves, and what God
requires of us for faith and life.
Summing up General and Special Revelation:
WSC1: What is the chief end of man? A. Man's chief
end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
WSC2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we
may glorify and enjoy Him?
A. The Word of God, which is contained in the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only
rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy Him.
WSC 3: What do the Scriptures principally teach?
A. …what man is to believe concerning God, and
what duty God requires of man.
How
Art
HowGreat
Great Thou
Thou Art
O Lord my God,
When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all
The worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars,
I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout
The universe displayed.
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
(Repeat)
And when I think,
That God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die,
I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross,
My burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died
To take away my sin.
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
(Repeat)
When Christ shall come,
With shout of acclamation,
And take me home,
What joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow,
In humble adoration,
And then proclaim:
"My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul,
My Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art,
How great Thou art.
(Repeat)
III. The Inspiration of Scripture
A. Define: All the words of Scripture are God
words inspired (breathed out) through human
writers in harmony with their minds, personalities,
cultural situation, and vocabulary.
B. The nature (how) of inspiration: not
dictation, but organic
C. The extent (what) of inspiration
1. Verbal: every word (jot and tittle!)
2. Plenary: every part, Gen-Rev
"…the Holy Spirit acted on the writers of the
Bible in an organic way, in harmony with the laws
of their own inner being, using them just as they
were, with their character and temperament, their
gifts and talents, their education and culture, their
vocabulary and style. The Holy Spirit illumined
their minds, aided their memory, prompted them
to write, repressed the influence of sin on their
writings, and guided them in the expression of
their thoughts even to the choice of their words."
Berkhof
III. Christ (WSC 21-28)
A. The Person of Jesus: So, who is Jesus?
1. Fully God: Jesus is God the Son, the
second person of the Trinity. The Bible also teaches that
Jesus is:
2. Fully Man: Jesus took to Himself a human
nature. So, Jesus is fully God and fully human.
WSC 21. Who is the Redeemer of God’s elect?
A. The only Redeemer of God’s elect is the Lord Jesus
Christ, who, being the eternal Son of God, became man,
and so was, and continueth to be, God and man in two
distinct natures, and one person, forever.
B. The Work of Jesus: Jesus took our place. He
died on the cross for sins, and rose bodily from the grave,
so that all who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ
alone can be forgiven of sins and have eternal life.
WSC 27. Wherein did Christ’s humiliation consist? A. …in his
being born, and that in a low condition, made under the law,
undergoing the miseries of this life, the wrath of God, and the
cursed death of the cross; in being buried, and continuing under
the power of death for a time. WSC 28. Wherein consisteth
Christ’s exaltation? A. …in his rising again from the dead on the
3d day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand
of God the Father…in coming to judge the world at the last day.
C. The Result of Jesus’ Work: Getting to heaven
then is not by our good works, but by God's grace alone
and what Jesus Christ alone has done for you! It's a gift:
"For by grace are you saved through faith… it is the gift of
God, not of works, so that no one can boast." (Eph. 2:8,9).
…So, how do you receive this amazing gift?
IV. Response
A. Jesus said, "…repent and believe in the gospel."
(Mk 1:15)
1. Repentance:
Turn from our way of thinking and living to God's way of
thinking and living.
WSC 87. What is repentance unto life? A. …a saving
grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin,
and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth,
with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with
full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.
2. Faith:
Place all of your trust in Jesus Christ alone to save
you.
WSC 86. What is faith in Jesus Christ? A. …is a saving
grace, whereby we receive and rest upon him alone for
salvation, as he is offered to us in the gospel.
B. The Offer: Jesus came to save sinners, and
offers us the free gift of eternal life. Does this make
sense? Would you like to receive this amazing gift?