Our good behavior or good works have no power to save us. There is nothing we can add or take away from the ultimate price Jesus paid for our salvation. However, it is up to us to take advantage of His saving grace. How do we do that?
Sin, Evil, Death, Dying, and What Happens After We Die
This series addresses the concerns we all have: the concern for sin, evil, death, dying, and what happens after we die. Is there hope after death? When God created us, humans, he intended for us to live forever in a loving, peaceful relationship with him. But this relationship has been broken by sin.
Here, we address the origin of sin and look more closely at death and dying.
But, instead of looking at death negatively, we look at it in the context of hope, the promised hope based on what Jesus did for us when he died and came back to life again.
From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 4: Sabbath.School (See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School)
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Inviting God’s Presence
Holy Father, we are thankful for Jesus’s death on the cross. Show us what we must do to take advantage of your grace, offered through his death. In Jesus’ Name Amen
Upon beginning His ministry to fulfill his mission to die to save humanity. Jesus went to be baptized by John who was baptizing people in the Jordon River. When Jesus arrived at the Jordan River to be baptized, John the Baptist announced:
“ ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ ” (John 1:29, NKJV).
John’s announcement showed that Jesus was the True Lamb. He was the living Lamb that all the other lambs offered in the Jewish temple represented.
During Old Testament times, animals were killed in the Jewish temple as an offering for sin. This ritual pointed to Jesus’ future death on the cross.
How was Christ’s death on the cross different from the animals sacrificed in the Jewish temple? Here is what John 3:14-18 and Romans 6:23 tell us. See if you can determine the value of Jesus’ death for you personally.
John 3:14-18
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 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.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “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. (John 3:14-18)
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
You see, animal blood cannot remove sin. All the animal sacrifices in the Jewish temple merely pointed to the sin-bearer as expressed in Hebrews 10:4.
4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4).
The animal sacrifices were only a temporary fix until the True Lamb of God could be sacrificed. These sacrifices provided conditional forgiveness that was dependent on the effectiveness of Christ’s future sacrifice on the cross.
In other words, the forgiveness that God promised through the animal offerings depended on Jesus’ death. That is why John, in 1 John 1:9, could say:
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9, NKJV).
The point is, when we rightfully realize that for our sins we deserve to die, John 3:16, and 17 take on a new and deeper meaning and it gives us a greater appreciation for what God has done for us through his son.
16 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.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)
Take some time to meditate on that. What does it all mean for you? These verses offer hope. Just think about this, the One who created the universe as expressed in John 1:1–3 (Split)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. (John 1:1-3)
He, who created us, died so that we do not have to be punished for our sins.
Now ain’t that Good News?
It is the Good News, the Gospel that Jesus wants us to share with everyone.
“ ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” to die for us (John 3:16, NRSV).
Here is what one commentary says about this:
Christ on the cross, not only draws men to remorse, regret, and repentance toward God for disobeying His law, for whom God pardons He first makes repentant. But also, Christ has satisfied justice; He has given Himself as an atonement, as a sacrifice for our sins.
His gushing blood, His broken body, satisfy the claims of the broken law, and thus He bridges the gulf which sin has made. He suffered in the flesh that with His bruised and broken body He might cover the defenseless sinner.
The victory gained at His death on Calvary broke forever the accusing power of Satan over the universe and silenced his charges that self-denial was impossible with God and therefore not essential in the human family.
All who will, can be overcomers. Let us strive earnestly to reach the standard set before us. Christ knows our weakness, and to Him, we can go daily for help. It is not necessary for us to gain strength a month ahead. We are conquerors day by day. The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 974. Adapted
We must never forget that no one forced Jesus to die for us. He volunteered to save us according to Hebrews 9:14.
14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)
Christ died once for all and once forever according to Hebrews 10: 10,12, for His sacrifice is all-sufficient and never loses its power. (Hebrews 10:10, 12).
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, (Hebrews 10:10, 12)
Yes, Jesus’ offering is supreme, and it never loses its power. And that’s not all:
“If but one soul would have accepted the gospel of His grace, Christ would, to save that one, have chosen His life of toil and humiliation and His death of shame.”—Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing, p. 135.
How then can you accept the promise in John 3:16?
Read it again and now replace the words “world” and “whoever” with your name! Make this promise of God your own. Claim it moment by moment, especially when you are tempted to sin.
The education of the world may offer some value, but the mere knowledge acquired through worldly wisdom is limited. Why? Find out in Day 6: The Meaning of the Cross
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