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Christus Victor through Penal Substitution
Around the globe, Christians gather together on Easter Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Despite the assertions made by skeptics, there is a considerable amount of evidence confirming the factuality of the empty tomb. Indeed, the above was the topic of a recent podcast involving Professors Darrell Bock and Gary Habermas.[1] Together, they deliberated the relevant historical data affirming that Jesus of Nazareth not only died on the cross, but also bodily rose from the dead on the third day. For instance, there are several early, distinctive literary sources that individually and collectively substantiate the historicity of the cross-resurrection event (e.g. each of the four Gospels,…
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SANCTIFICATION: Perfected…No Longer Flawed
I was once an uptight perfectionist. Yes, I admit it. My whole self-image depended upon being perfect in grades, piano performance and whatever got me awards for achievement. Yet, my flaws kept getting in the way of getting straight A’s one six weeks so that I missed out on the “straight A’s” award for that school year. I was horrible in athletics so PE was my nemesis. Then, in college, physics knocked me down big time—I just couldn’t see how to get the answers to those problems. My flaws were ever before me, and I sobbed when I couldn’t achieve perfection—which happened a lot. My self-image was tied to a…
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JUSTIFICATION: Righteous…No Longer Guilty
As a teen, I wrestled with the notion that I was not good enough to please God. I could never measure up to His standards of perfection. I was always guilty of not doing something right, of falling short of whatever it was He expected of me. Then, I heard some good news when I committed my life to Christ and chose to follow Him—God declared me “not guilty” of all my sin. Not guilty? All my sin? Really? Yes, dear believer, God declares you “not guilty” of all sin, once and for all, based on your faith alone in His Son. It is an amazing plan that is totally…
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FORGIVENESS: Forgiven…No Longer Burdened
Like the woman washing Jesus’ feet with her tears in Luke 7, many of us carry the guilt of our sins with us like a heavy burden, weighing us down. The continual reminder of our sins keeps us from experiencing freedom and from enjoying the relationship with God that we have by faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t just need a teacher. We need a Savior who comes in and does for us what we can’t do for ourselves: forgiveness. All of our debt of sin before God is enormous; we are incapable of ever paying it back. You and I need to understand how complete and continual is God’s…
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REDEMPTION: Released…No Longer in Bondage
Bondage. No one likes being in bondage. Whether it is to a person, a contract, a debt, or something controlling your life, bondage stinks. It stifles. It discourages. It makes you a slave of whatever is holding you “in chains.” Every person who is in bondage longs to be released from those chains. Released. Did you know that every human being born on this planet is born into bondage? I don’t care how much money or status you have. You were born into bondage. Bondage to what? Colossians 1:13 calls it “the kingdom of darkness.” Romans 6:15-18 describes it as being a “slave to sin.” The slave master “sin” calls…
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REDEMPTION: Relationship Restored…No Longer Broken
At some point in our lives, we will all experience a personal relationship that is broken. You can probably think of one such conflict right now. Broken relationships cause pain and often leave us confused about how we can possibly fix them. Most people want to be reconciled so that the relationship can be restored in some fashion. How sad it is when a broken relationship continues to remain broken and isn’t reconciled. What joy we experience when we see a broken relationship repaired and healthy again. Reconciliation is certainly a reason for rejoicing, especially in our relationship with God! But, what does it take for reconciliation? Six terms describe…
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PROPITIATION: Satisfied…No Longer Angry at You
Listen to this as a similar podcast: It comes up time and time again. Women who know Christ, have trusted in Him for salvation and new life, struggle with the notion that God is still angry with them because of something they’ve done in the past. Maybe that is how you feel. Do you wonder if you have a flawed understanding of salvation? Is salvation just getting eternal life when you die? From what are Christians saved? When you study the New Testament, you see that we are saved from many things, ourselves and our own flawed righteousness for example, but especially we are saved from the wrath of God.…
