Search
Scripture: Heb. 13:8
I. Jesus is God:
А. Prove that Jesus is God.
B. As God is eternal and unchanging, so Jesus is unchanging.
II. Jesus is eternal:
А. Jesus died and rose again.
B. Jesus lives today and will be living forever.
C. What Jesus did in the past, He is doing today, and in the future He will still be doing the same.
D. Likewise, what Jesus was able to do in the past, He is able to do now and will still be able to do in eternity.
III. Jesus is real:
А. As Jesus was so real to people when He was on the earth, so He is also real to men today.
B. Jesus is real because He is living. Because Jesus is living forever, He will be real forever.
C. Since Jesus is real, the deliverance and healing He gives to us are real.
IV. How to partake of this unchanging Jesus:
Develop this point.
Scripture: 1 Pet. 1:18-20
I. Man’s indebtedness before God:
А. Man is sinful.
B. God is righteous.
C. For man and God to be reconciled, the price of redemption must be paid.
II. The blood of Christ:
А. As the indebtedness encumbered upon man must meet the requirement of God’s righteousness, it is the highest possible indebtedness.
B. Because the highest price is demanded, nothing of man can pay it, not even man’s good works, man’s own righteousness, man’s morality, or man’s good behavior.
C. Only the blood of Christ can fulfill God’s requirement, so Christ’s blood becomes the only acceptable payment. This is why Christ’s blood is the precious blood. The word precious indicates the unique value of the blood of Christ.
D. Christ’s blood is the precious blood, not only because of its high value but also because of its supreme nature. His blood is not like the blood of goats or bulls, that is, the blood of the created lives. His blood is the blood that the Creator shed for His creatures.
E. Since His blood possesses such a supreme nature and unique value, its effectiveness is unlimited.
III. The function of the precious blood:
А. It enables man to have his sins forgiven.
B. It enables man to be justified.
C. It cleanses man’s conscience.
D. It reconciles man to God.
E. It enables man to obtain God’s life.
IV. How to partake of the precious blood of Christ:
Develop this point.
Scripture: Gal. 3:13b; 1 Pet. 2:24
I. Jesus was hanged upon the tree:
А. Jesus was hanged upon the tree; that is, Jesus was crucified on the cross.
B. Crucifixion was a death penalty during the days of the Roman Empire.
C. When Jesus was crucified on the cross, He was suffering the death penalty.
II. Jesus Himself bore our sins:
А. Jesus suffered the death penalty, not because He was sinful but because He bore our sins.
B. As Jesus was dying on the cross, God put all our sins upon Him. Jesus’ crucifixion was the way ordained by God to deal with our sins.
C. During Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, the heavens and the earth were darkened. This signifies that Jesus was forsaken by God when He bore our sins upon the cross.
III. The results of Jesus’ bearing our sins:
А. Now we can have our sins forgiven
B. Now we can be justified by God.
C. Now we can obtain the life of God.
IV. How to partake of the sin-bearing Jesus:
Develop this point.
Scripture: 1 Pet. 2:24
I. Living to sins and dead to righteousness:
А. The real condition of man is that man is living to sins and dead to righteousness. When you mention a crime, everyone is living. But when you talk about righteousness, everyone is dead.
B. Give examples to prove that man has the instinct to commit sins. For instance, a child does not need to be taught to lie.
C. Also give examples to prove that in doing good works man is as weak and impotent as a dead person.
II. God’s saving way:
А. We are incurable. The nature of our life is prone to sin and cannot work righteousness.
B. Yet in God’s regeneration, we receive His life in addition to our original life.
C. When God’s life gets into us, we are born again, and our old life is replaced by a new life.
III. Dead to sins and living to righteousness:
А. As soon as God’s life enters into man, man is dead to sins and living to righteousness.
B. Give examples to prove that a man is dead to sins as soon as he is saved. Point out that formerly he was proud in committing sins, but now he is not.
C. Then give examples to illustrate a man living to righteousness. Point out that now he is lively and full of strength in doing good and working righteousness.
IV. How to have such a change:
А. Confess that you are weak and incapable of doing good, and that all you can do is commit sins.
B. Repent, turn to God, and receive God’s life into you.
Scripture: 1 Pet. 3:18
I. Jesus is the Righteous:
А. Jesus is God coming as man.
B. Jesus was born in holiness without the nature of sin.
C. Jesus has never committed sin. Once He asked publicly, “Which of you convicts Me of sin?” (John 8:46). When He was examined before His crucifixion, no one could find sin in Him.
D. Jesus is the sinless and the righteous One.
II. We are the unrighteous ones:
А. We are sinners.
B. We were born in sin.
C. We have committed sins and grew up in sin.
D. We are altogether, one hundred percent, sinners.
III. The Righteous substituted on behalf of the unrighteous:
А. The Righteous substituted Himself on behalf of the unrighteous; that is, the Lord Jesus substituted Himself for us.
B. On the cross the Lord Jesus became our Substitute by bearing our sins, shedding His blood, and dying for us.
C. Because He bore our sins and died for us on the cross, our sins are forgiven before God. Because He died for us, we can be delivered from death and can obtain eternal life.
IV. How to partake of Jesus’ substitution:
Develop this point.
Scripture: 1 John 1:7
I. The Lord Jesus bore our sins on the cross and shed His blood for us.
II. The function of the Lord’s blood:
А. Because Jesus bore our sins and shed His blood, His blood can cleanse us from our sins.
B. The cleansing of the Lord’s blood is always effective.
II. The meaning of being cleansed from sins:
А. The Lord’s blood cleanses us from our sins; that is, it erases our record of sins before God.
B. When we are cleansed by the Lord’s blood, all record of our sins is erased before God.
III. How to obtain the cleansing of the Lord’s blood:
Develop this point.
Scripture: 1 John 1:9
I. God’s forgiveness:
А. God’s forgiveness is based upon the redemption of the Lord Jesus.
B. God’s forgiveness removes our record of sins.
II. God’s cleansing:
А. God’s cleansing is by the blood of the Lord Jesus.
B. God’s cleansing washes us from every sin. Forgiveness erases the record of sin. Cleansing removes the stain of sin.
III. The basis of God’s forgiveness and cleansing:
А. God’s forgiveness and cleansing are based upon God’s faithfulness. God’s faithfulness is according to God’s Word. God’s Word in the Bible promises us that He will forgive us and cleanse us. When we believe in Jesus, He is bound by the faithfulness of His Word to forgive and cleanse us.
B. God’s forgiveness and cleansing are based upon God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness is according to God’s work. The redeeming death of the Lord Jesus, which dealt with our sins, is God’s work. Today when we believe in the Lord Jesus, God is bound by His righteousness to forgive us and to cleanse us.
IV. The extent of God’s forgiveness and cleansing:
А. He cleanses us from all our unrighteousness.
B. He forgives and cleanses the sins of all believers.
V. How to obtain God’s forgiveness and cleansing:
А. Repent and confess your sins to God.
B. Receive the Lord Jesus and His redemption.
Scripture: 1 John 2:2; 4:10
I. Sin separates man from God:
А. Man’s sins violate God’s righteousness.
B. God’s heart draws Him toward man in love, but God’s righteousness has forced Him to forsake man. Therefore, His love cannot reach sinful man.
II. The Lord Jesus propitiates for us:
А. The Lord Jesus bore man’s sins according to the requirements of God’s righteousness.
B. The Lord Jesus propitiated the very matter that formerly prevented God’s love from reaching man.
III. God provides in love:
А. The Lord Jesus as our propitiation is the provision of God’s love.
B. Because God, in His love, wants to be gracious to man while at the same time God’s righteousness puts requirements upon man, God provided man with the Lord Jesus as the propitiation.
Note: The point is not that God was angry and would not forgive man and that the Lord came to propitiate God’s wrath. We have to be clear. The One who conciliates the situation is God Himself. God’s heart causes Him to deal with man in love, but God’s righteousness puts requirements upon man. Therefore, God Himself provided man with the Lord Jesus as the propitiation to propitiate the contradictory situation between God’s love and God’s righteousness.
IV. How to obtain the propitiation of the Lord Jesus:
Develop this point.
Scripture: 1 John 1:5; 4:8
I. God is light:
А. Light is a matter of nature.
B. Light has the function of shining.
C. God as light denotes the function of that nature of God, which is shining.
D. Once man touches God, he receives light. He is no more in darkness.
II. God is love:
А. Love is a matter of sentiment.
B. Love has the function of imparting warmth.
C. God as love denotes the function of the sentiment of God, which imparts warmth.
D. Once man touches God, he receives warmth and departs from coldness.
III. How God is expressed as light and love:
А. He shows forth His light in His Son Jesus.
B. He shows forth His love through the cross.
C. God caused His Son to accomplish redemption through the cross to become man’s Savior so that man may obtain Him as light and love.
IV. How to obtain God as light and love:
А. Confess that you are in darkness and in coldness.
B. Receive the Son of God, Jesus Christ, as your Savior.
C. Have fellowship with God through Christ.
Scripture: 1 John 5:11-13
I. The Son of God is God in another form:
А. The Son of God is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God come as a man in order to save man.
B. The Son of God is God made manifest to man.
II. God’s life is in the Son of God:
А. God is in His Son, so God’s life is also in the Son.
B. The life that is in the Son of God is the eternal life.
III. He who has the Son of God has the life:
А. Life is within the Son of God. If man wants to obtain life, he must receive the Son of God.
B. Once man receives the Son of God, he has God and also the life of God.
IV. The proof of having life:
А. First John 5:12 says, “He who has the Son has the life.”
B. The proof that someone has obtained life is that his living has changed. Describe how once a man receives the Lord, his life is changed.
V. How to obtain the Son of God:
А. Confess that you do not have God’s life.
B. Believe in the Son of God.
C. To believe means to receive the Son of God as Savior with our heart and our spirit.
