Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 30
Lesson 30: The Lord Jesus Christ
In our last lesson we learned that through sin and the fall, man and woman lost their knowledge of God, they became estranged from Him. God’s purpose of redemption is to bring us back to know Him. This has been done through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
1. The birth of Jesus Christ is the turning point of history. The whole essence of the Christian position is dependent upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Christian faith is entirely concerned with our Lord Jesus Christ.
a. Who He is– The Son of God
b. What He has done– Died on the cross to redeem sinful man
c. What He has made possible for man– Eternal Life with God.
2. Jesus is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies and promises (Genesis 3:15, Galatians 3:13-16, Genesis 49:10, Daniel 49:10, Malachi 3:1, Micah 5:2, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Isaiah 7:14, 53:3,9)
3. Jesus is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is the only one by whom we can be made right with God, and by whom we can know God (Hebrews 12:24, John 14:6, Luke 24:46-47, 1 Timothy 2:15).
4. Jesus holds ALL things in His hands. All power has been given to Him in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He has ALL MIGHT, DOMINION AND AUTHORITY. He controls the opening of the seals (Revelation 5). EVERYTHING (without exception) that happens in the world is under His control (Ephesians 1:22-23).
5. It is in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him alone that we know God and are reconciled to God, and in Him alone can we be saved (Acts 4:12)
6. Jesus is the one by whom the whole world will be judged. The Father (God) has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man (John 5:27, Acts 17:31).
Thought: Jesus is the Lord of Glory and the Lord of History.
Next Lesson: The Incarnation of Christ
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 29
Lesson 29: The Covenant of Grace in the New Testament
In our last lesson we learned that God‘s Covenant of Grace requires that man have FAITH.
1. There is only One Covenant of Grace that has been given in two dispensations.
a. Old Dispensation– The Old Testament-. The Old Testament Covenant was made by God and given to Abraham in Genesis 17. It was by FAITH that Abraham entered into the covenant with God and began to receive the benefits and the blessings promised to him. Galatians 3:8, Hebrews 11
b. New Dispensation– The New Testament is a new administration of the same covenant found in the Old Testament. There is only one mediator under the two dispensations, the same mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15
2. The New Covenant was originally made between the Father and the Son. Remember man having fallen, was not in a position to make a covenant with God, so God made it with His Son. Jesus is man’s representative and mediator. The atoning death of Jesus Christ brought man into the covenant.
3. The Old Testament and the New Testament all belong together. It is one kingdom, one covenant of Grace , and one salvation. (Scripture References: Galatians 3:14,29; Ephesians 2: 11-13,19; Ephesians 3:6, Hebrews 6:13,18; Hebrews 11:39,40. –Please review these scriptures). There is only one way of obtaining salvation and all the accompanying blessings, the way of FAITH. HABBAKUK 2:4, states, “ the just shall live by Faith.”
4. We receive justification by Faith, exactly as Abraham received it by Faith. The Old Testament points to Christ. The New Testament reveals Christ. He alone is the fulfillment of everything that is promised in Genesis 3:15.
5. The Covenant of Grace shows God’s plan, purpose, redemption and salvation. It leads us to Christ and points to Him from every direction.
Through sin and the fall, man and woman lost their knowledge of God, they became estranged from Him. God’s purpose of redemption is to bring us back to know Him. This has been done through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Next Lesson: The Lord Jesus Christ
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 28
Lesson 28: The Covenant of Grace
In our last lesson, we learned that the work of redemption is all of God with Jesus Christ as the center of God’s redemptive plan.
1. What is a covenant?
Answer: A covenant is an agreement or a pact between two parties with the two parties being more or less on equal standing . The covenant lets the two sides bind themselves to the fulfilment of certain promises given on the basis of certain conditions. When God makes a covenant with man, there are NOT two partners of equal standing, but God is giving His covenant to man.
2. Why is grace so important?
Answer: Man having listened to Satan, failed to keep God’s law and commandment, became the slave to Satan dead in trespasses and sin. Left to himself, man’s condition would have been entirely hopeless. But God in His infinite grace (unmerited favor), love and mercy looked upon man in pity and informed him of His great plan of redemption.
3. God originally made a covenant with Adam. God put him in the garden and told him that if he did certain things he would have certain rewards. Adam’s inheritance of these promises was dependent upon his works, what he did (A Covenant of Works).
4. Adam broke the covenant and landed himself and all men (and women) after him in a terrible situation. God then made a new covenant where he introduced a new condition… a Covenant of Grace.
5.The Covenant of Grace is a gift from God which has been entered into by the death of Jesus Christ. Because it comes from God, it is certain, and it is unbreakable. In spite of human rebellion, God told man, “ I want to make an agreement with you.”
6. In the Covenant of Grace, God tells us that we are only going to receive and enjoy His promises if we have FAITH. God’s Covenant of Grace promises that what has been broken by sin will be restored. His promises include eternal life.
7. The promise of the Covenant of Grace is free and full salvation to God’s people based on the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mediator of the covenant. God’s must accept salvation by FAITH.
Thought: The good news of the Gospel begins in Genesis 3:15
Next Lesson: The Covenant of Grace in the New Testament
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 27
Lesson 27: Redemption: The Eternal Plan of God
In our last lessons we learned that we are all guilty and condemned by the Law of God.
1. According as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. Ephesians 1:4-5
2. The fall of man had immediate and long–term consequences.
3. The Bible is the record of God’s activity, what He has done, and what He is doing.
4. The Biblical Doctrine of Redemption is what God has done about man and his sin. What God has done in order to reconcile man back to Himself. It is the central theme of the Bible.
5. God took the initiative. God sent Christ. In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:19
6. Redemption is NOT an afterthought of God after Adam fell nor because he fell. Before Adam was ever created, the plan of redemption was clearly in the mind of God.
7. The work of redemption was divided with the Father (God) as the originator of the Plan of Salvation, the Son (Jesus Christ) as the executor of the Plan, and the Holy Spirit as the One who applies what the Son has achieved through His death on the cross and His resurrection.
8. In Romans 5, we are told that Adam was the 1st head and the representative of mankind, but now, God has for the purpose of redemption, made His Son the head and representative of new humanity.
9. After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God, but called out to them. Then as now, SALVATION IS ALL OF GRACE. Salvation was provided in spite of man’s rebellion, man’s arrogance and man’s sin.
10. The great plan of Redemption always center in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no mention of any salvation anywhere in the Scriptures except in and through the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
11. There is only one Gospel, there is only one way to be saved. All who has lived or will ever live must be saved in Christ or not at all.
Thought: God sees the end from the beginning, and ALL things are always in His presence.
Next Lesson : The Covenant of Grace
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 26
Lesson 26: Original Sin
In our last lesson we learned that we are all born sinners because of the sin of Adam.
1. The original sin of Adam was to accept the question of Satan, “hath God said?”. Adam stopped listening to God. The Doctrine of Original Sin means that sin is derived from the original root of the human race–Adam.
2. When Adam sinned two things happened at once.
a. He became guilty, and in him and through him came the fall of the entire human race.
b. Changes took place in him. He was not the same as he had been before.
3. There are two parts to ‘Original Sin’.
a. Original Guilt–the Bible asserts that we have been born under the penalty of the law and of justice, that we deserve this penalty and punishment. We are actually guilty of Adam’s transgression.
Romans 5:12-19
b. Original Pollution–asserts that man inherited a polluted nature from Adam. Original Pollution means the absence of Original Righteousness which Adam had in the beginning before he sinned.
4. Adam lost that righteousness when he sinned against God, so that all of us are born with an absence of Original Righteousness.
5. The fall of Adam led to the total depravity of man. This means that man in his fallen condition has an inherently corrupt nature, and the corruption extends to every part of man’s being: to his soul and to his body. Man is at enmity against God and God’s Holy Law.
6. As a result of Adam’s sin and the fall, man is guilty. He is condemned by the Law of God, He is polluted. He is depraved. He is under the rule of self and Satan. He has no appreciation for spiritual truths. He is utterly and absolutely helpless.
Thought: Man can do nothing about his own salvation. He cannot change his nature. Jeremiah 13:23.
Is there hope? Yes….. To be continued.
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 25
Lesson 25: What is Sin?
In our last lessons we learned that there were consequences for Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
1. Sin is a special kind of evil. Sin is moral or ethical evil.
Definitions of sin:
a. “Missing the mark’ deviating from the right way.
b. The absence of Integrity.
c. A refusal to submit ourselves to rightful authority.
d. Sin is disobedience, not just what one does.
e. Sin is rebellion against God.
f. Sin is refusal to listen to the voice of God.
g. Sin is turning your back to God.
b. The absence of Integrity.
c. A refusal to submit ourselves to rightful authority.
d. Sin is disobedience, not just what one does.
e. Sin is rebellion against God.
f. Sin is refusal to listen to the voice of God.
g. Sin is turning your back to God.
2. The Bible always defines sin in terms of our relationship to God. It is always something that is directly related to God, His will and His law.
3. Sin is something that is in the heart of men and women, not something on the surface of life, but down to the very depths of our being. Matthew 5:19-20.
4. Sin does not consist of actions only, but is a condition. Sin is something we inherit from birth, we are all born in this condition. The Bible connects sin directly to the first sin of Adam. This is the Doctrine of Original Sin. This means that sin is derived from the original root of the human race – Adam (i.e., all sin came out of Adam. It is something we inherit from birth) Psalm 51:5
Thought: No one can have a true understanding of the Doctrine of Salvation, nor can we appreciate our own salvation unless we realize the nature of our sinfulness. We must understand the truth about ourselves in sin. We can never really know the love of God until we realize this.
Next Lesson: The 2 parts of Original Sin.
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 24
Lesson 24: CON’T CONSEQUENCES OF THE FALL.
In our last lesson we learned that there were consequences for Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
1. Long–term Consequences of the Fall:
a. In the case of the woman, childbirth became painful. However it was never intended to be that way in the beginning. Genesis 3:16
b. The ground was cursed. The very earth was cursed, and thorns and briars came into being, increasing man’s toil and effort. Since the earth is constantly tending to return to a wilderness condition. (i.e., if one stops cultivating the ground, it will soon grow up in thorns and weeds).
c. The fall affected all of creation. Creation today is not as it was in the garden, not as it will be again when evil and sin are removed out of the world.
d. The fall affected Adam and Eve and all their descendants (which includes all mankind). Adam is man’s representative. We are all a part of his Posterity. Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:10,19,23.
Man in his totality lies guilty before God. James 3:2,1 John 1:8,10
Scripture tells us the world is guilty of sin. Sin has not only affected men and women, but sin has affected our entire nature (Body, Soul, and Spirit).
All sin came out of Adam. It is something we inherit from birth, that we are all born in these conditions.
Thought: Posterity is the succeeding or future generations, collectively all descendants of one person.
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 23
Lesson 23: The Fall of Man Con’t
In our last lesson we learned that there were consequences for Adam and Eve’s disobedience. We will review them in this lesson.
The Consequences of Adam and Eve’s Disobedience
1. Adam and Eve became conscious of their flesh (Genesis 3:7). The moment they sinned, SHAME developed and they tried to cover themselves with leaves.
2. They developed a SENSE OF GUILT. The moment they ate the fruit they knew they had done something wrong.
3. They developed a FEAR OF GOD (Genesis 3:8). They lost their fellowship with God. They ran away from Him and hid themselves.
4. They underwent a SPIRITUAL DEATH. They were driven out of the Garden of Eden (i.e.-Paradise and were not allowed to return). (Genesis 3:24)
5. The were put in an entirely NEW RELATIONSHIP TO NATURE (Genesis 3:17-19)
6. Adam and Even had a clear CHANGE IN THEIR MORAL NATURE.
7. Their disobedience brought about PHYSICAL DEATH. (Genesis 3:19). Adam is told that he must return to the dust from which he came. *** This would not have happened if they had not disobeyed God. (Romans 5:12)
8. The effects of sin were DELAYED BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY (this means Adam did not lose his intellectual power, nor did he immediately die physically). However, there was subsequently a great decline in man’s intellectual, moral ,and all his other faculties, but it didn’t happen all at one time (See Genesis 6).
9. The immediate results of man’s sin was:
a. Man immediately CAME UNDER CONDEMNATION and was PUNISHED by God, whereas before Adam and Eve sinned they had only been blessed by God.
b. Spiritually, man immediately fell from his original righteousness. The moment He sinned, he lost that part of himself that corresponded with the moral character of God.
c. Man became separated from God. He lost his fellowship with God. He became fearful, he hid himself, he became self-conscious in that he did not know what to do with himself.
Thought: As a result of the fall, it can be written over man that “Here God Once Dwelt.”
Next Lesson: Consequences con’t…
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 22
Lesson 22: The Fall of Man
In our last lesson that initially all of Adam and Eve’s interactions with God was without fear.
1. In the beginning man had a righteous, an uprightness, a moral being and character corresponding to God with whom he was in fellowship. When we look at man’s present moral, spiritual, and physical condition we see something entirely different.
A. What has happened?
B. What has changed?
C. Why is salvation needed?
The Fall of man will answer these questions.
2. The moment one believes in God, the moment one believes in the devil, one is entitled to expect miracles and supernatural things to happen.
Job 31:33, Hosea 6:7, 2 Cor. 11:13, 1st Timothy 2:14
3. There was nothing in man when he was first created that produced the fall into sin. Man had perfect free will to decide what he wanted to do. Evil, sin and temptation came from the outside, from Satan, using the serpent.
4. Let’s talk about Eve
a. The serpent attacked Eve, not Adam.
b. Eve began to listen to the slanders of the devil against God.
c. She began to doubt God’s word and God’s love.
d. She began to look at something (the fruit on the forbidden tree) that God prohibited and having seen the fruit she saw that it was good to eat, so she began to desire and lust after it.
e. Her desire and lust led her to a deliberate act of disobedience to God. She deliberately broke God’s commandment and did the very thing that God told her and Adam not to do.
5. Let’s look at Adam and Eve’s actions
a. Adam, on being offered the fruit, took it from Eve and ate it with her.
b. Adam and Eve became ambitious in that they wanted a short road to divine knowledge after Satan sold Eve on a shortcut way to get divine knowledge. (Read Genesis 3)
c. Satan also insinuated doubts of God’s love to Eve.
6. The fall of man was a refusal on the part of Adam and Eve to submit themselves to the will of God, and to have God determine the course of their lives. It was their determination to settle this for themselves.
1 John 2:15
Thought: There were consequences for Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience to God which are still in operation today.
Study of Great Bible Truths – Lesson 21
Lesson 21: The Creation of ManCon’t
In our last lesson we learned we are made by God and made for God.
I. The Divine Image of God in Man
a. Man was created in the image and likeness of God. Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 5:1,3
b. Made in the image of God means that God made us in such a way that we are a kind of a reflection of Him.
c. When Adam sinned against God, he lost something. He lost an aspect of the image of God. However, he did not lose the entire image. Something essential to the image of God remained.
d. The likeness of God refers to the souls or the spirit; our spiritual nature. John 1:18
e. Just as God is invisible, our soul and our spirit is invisible.
f. God made man His representative in the earth. God gifted man with high intelligence.
II. The Possibilities
1. God created man in His image with intellectual, moral and rational abilities. He was also holy and righteous. God placed him in the garden, made him Lord of creation reflecting something of God in his body with two (2) great possibilities:
a. If he (Adam) obey God, he would remain in fellowship with Him.
b. If he rebels and does not go God’s way, he will fall and all human kind coming after him will be born into sin.
Unfortunately, Adam chose B
Thought: In the beginning, man (Adam) was in a state of positive holiness, and true righteousness. Man’s relationship to God was one of dependence (as of a child). He gave God implicit obedience. His communion, his fellowship, his interactions with God was entirely without fear.
Next Lesson: The Fall of Man