Who is Jesus?

 

Jesus is the super-fulfillment of our hopes and dreams for redemption. 

He is the super-fulfillment of the ancient longings. 

His heel crushes the serpent’s head. 

He is the sacrificial animal skins covering cursed humanity. 

He is the acceptable sacrifice of Abel. 

He is Noah’s ark. 

He is the ignored sibling. 

He is the warrior. 

He is the burning bush, the lifted staff, the struck rock, the pillar of fire, the manna. 

He is the ark of the covenant. 

He is the law-giver. 

He is the curtain to the holy of holies. 

He is the kinsman redeemer. 

He is the anointed king. 

He is the afflicted sufferer, taunted by his friends. 

He is music. He is wisdom. He is romance. 

He is the voice in the wilderness, and the news shared by the voice. 

He is safety from the furnace. 

He is coverer of the whore’s shame. 

He’s the vinedresser and the vine. 

He is the servant-teacher. 

He is the Word. 

He is the glory. 

He is the abolitionist. 

He is the lion and the lamb.
 

Jared Wilson - Gospel Wakefulness

Satan is Defeated at the Cross

Do you see how the devil is defeated by the very weapons of his prior victory? 

The devil had vanquished Adam by means of a tree. 

Christ vanquished the devil by means of the tree of the cross. 

The tree send Adam to hell. 

The tree of the cross brought him back from there. 

The tree revealed Adam in his weakness, laying prostrate, naked and low. 

The tree of the cross manifested to all the world the victorious Christ, naked and nailed on high. 

Adam’s death sentence passed on to all who came after him. 

Christ’s death gave life to all His children.
 

John Chrysostom

347–407

Darkness at Midday

At Bethlehem, when the Saviour was born, the night was changed to day as the glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds. On Golgotha the day gave way to night as Christ sank deeper and deeper into the abyss of damnation.
The Cross He Bore : Meditations on the sufferings of the Redeemer, Fredrick S. Leahy, Banner of Truth Trust, Edinburgh 1996. P75

The Power Of The Gospel

Romans 1:1-16 The Power of the Gospel from Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara on Vimeo.

A few months ago I spoke at Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara. 

Here's the video! 

(Skip to about 9 minutes in - I kind of waffle at the beginning!)

The New Covenant

The new covenant is God not merely giving us a human mediator but the second member of the Trinity Himself coming into human history as the man Jesus Christ. This time, rather than taking life as He did when He flooded the earth in the days of Noah or requiring sacrifices for sin in the Mosaic covenant, He offered Himself as the sacrificial substitute for sinners on the cross where He shed His blood in their place.  

Mark Driscoll & Gerry Breshears , Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe,Pg. 206 , 2010, Crossway

Two Parts

The way of godliness consists of these two parts, pious doctrine and good works. Neither are the doctrines acceptable to God without good works, nor does God accept works accomplished otherwise than as linked with pious doctrines.
Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386)

"He who is mighty"

I am, then, first and foremost unlearned, an unlettered exile who cannot plan for the future. But this much I know for sure... I was like a stone lying in the deep mud. Then He who is mighty came and in His mercy He not only pulled me out but lifted me up and placed me at the very top of the wall. I must, therefore, speak publicly in order to thank the Lord for such wonderful gifts, gifts for the present and for eternity which the human mind cannot measure.
 

St. Patrick, 

as translated by Joseph Duffy in Patrick in His Own Words, Veritas Publications, 1972

Confession of Sins and Statement of Faith

My brothers, let each of you present himself before the face of the Lord, and confess his faults and sins, following my words in his heart;
O Lord God, eternal and almighty Father, we confess and acknowledge truthfully before Your holy majesty that we are poor sinners, conceived and born in iniquity and corruption, prone to do evil, incapable of any good, and that in our depravity we transgress Your holy commandments without end or ceasing; therefore, we purchase for ourselves, through Your righteous judgment, our ruin and damnation.
Nevertheless, O Lord, we are grieved that we have offended You, and we condemn ourselves and our sins with true repentance, begging Your mercy to relieve our distress. O God and Father most gracious and full of compassion, have mercy on us in the name of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
And as You blot our sins and stains, magnify and increase us day by day the grace of the Holy Spirit, that as we acknowledge our unrighteousness with all our heart, we may be moved by that sorrow that shall bring forth true repentance in us, mortifying all our sins and producing in us the fruit of righteousness and innocence that are pleasing to You, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

John Calvin, 

The Form of Church Prayers and Hymns.

Hebrews 9-10

What does God see?

The Holy of Holies contained only the ark of the covenant, a wooden chest three feet, nine inches long; two feet, three inches wide; and two feet, three inches high. On the top of this chest was a beautiful “mercy seat” made of gold, with a cherub at each end. This was the throne of God in the tabernacle (Ex. 25:10-22, Ps 80:1, 99:1) 

On the Day of Atonement, the blood was sprinkled on this mercy seat to cover the tablets of Law within the ark. God did not look at the broken Law, He saw the blood.
 

Warren Weirsbe, Bible Exposition Commentary New Testament, Volume 2, 1989, Cook Communications,  Page 309