CREATION AND THE GOSPEL

Lesson 12 for March 23, 2013

A. The result of sin.1. First: Judgment…

and GRACE.2. Then: Death.

LESSON OUTLINE

C. The new creation.1. First: A new heart.2. Then: A new life… new

CREATION.B. The divine solution.1. First: Love.2. Then: The substitute

sacrifice.

How did God respond to Adam and Eve’s sin (Genesis 3:8-21)?

He got close to them in an audible way so they could prepare themselves to meet Him (v. 8)

He carried out the investigative judgment so they could voluntarily admit their sin (v. 9-13)

He proclaimed the final victory over sin through the descendant of the woman (v. 15)

He taught an object lesson in divine grace: A death (an animal’s instead of theirs) was used to cover their naked body (v. 21)

THE RESULT OF SIN

That animal sacrifice that covered their nakedness symbolized the death of the Son of God that would cover their sin.

THE RESULT OF SIN“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned”

(Romans 5:12)

What is man? It’s a mix of various elements that decompose and become dust if they are not driven by the breath of life. We come back to dust because we were made of dust.

When God created the man from dust, he wasn’t meant to come back to dust. God wanted him to keep the breath of life He gave him forever.

But life may only exist in contact with the source of life. There is no life when there is separation from God. Sin separates the man from God (Isaiah 59:2)

The life we are living in this sinful world is a proof of God’s merciful grace, who does not want “that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9)

“You hide Your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth”

(Psalm 104:29-30)

“The same power that upholds nature is working also in man. The same great laws that guide alike the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart’s action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has the jurisdiction of the soul. From Him all life proceeds. Only in harmony with Him can be found its true sphere of action. For all the objects of His creation the condition is the same—a life sustained by receiving the life of God, a life exercised in harmony with the Creator’s will. To transgress His law—physical, mental, or moral—is to place one’s self out of harmony with the universe, to introduce discord, anarchy, ruin”

E.G.W. (Child Guidance, cp. 7, pg. 55)

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Romans 5:8, 10)

When we sin we run away from God like Adam and Eve did. We act like God was our enemy and we wouldn’t want to have any kind of relationship with Him.But God’s love is so great that He creates the desire of becoming reconciled, repenting, asking for forgiveness and coming back to Him in us.God’s love is so immense that He does everything possible save everyone, so no one should perish but everyone could have everlasting life.God’s love is so perfect that He gave His own life to achieve that.

THE DIVINE SOLUTION

THE DIVINE SOLUTION

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”” (Matthew 27:46)

He carried

“the iniquity

of us all” at

the cross

(Isaiah 53:6)

He carried

the curse that was

meant for us

(Galatians 3:13)

He was separated from

God, the

source of life

(Matthew

27:46)

He suffered the

eternal death

that we should have

suffered

(Revelation

20:14-15)

Jesus was our

substitute:

“Fallen men could not have a home in the paradise of God without the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Shall we not then exalt the cross of Christ?” E.G.W. (Our High Calling, February 8)

THE NEW CREATIONRedemption is an act of creation: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)

When we are redeemed, we put off “the old man” and put in “the new man” that has been created “according to the image of Him who created him” (Colossians 3:9-10)

We are “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17) to live a life of holiness with our Creator.

The person who is “in Christ” is a new creation. The old way of thinking must be taken away and replaced with a newly created mind. Our new mind is created for good works, in accordance with God’s will.

“Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God.

E.G.W. (The Acts of the Apostles, cp. 45, pg. 476)

This change is in itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only believe, as declared by the Scriptures, it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.””