The Big Picture of the Bible part 6 Assistance from the book written by Kenneth W. Craig

Introduction Believing in Jesus to have been a great moral teacher implies His teachings are true. Since he taught that He Himself is God, He logically must be God. The 35 miracles in the four gospels prove Jesus had powers beyond our human limitations. His miracles of nature provide strong confirmations of His divine claims. The hundreds of prophecies of the Messiah in the Old Testament were all fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth, and that goes far beyond coincidence.

Not to diminish the importance of this evidence, but all claims of Jesus stand or fall with His resurrection. Without the resurrection, His claim to be the Son of God – that is, deity in human flesh – vanishes into thin air. Without the resurrection His death as payment for our sins is meaningless. Without the resurrection we are wasting our time. Introduction

The Resurrection Provides Proof & Power Importance of the resurrection recognized by the apostles – Acts 13:33-37; Acts 17:30-31; Rom 8:34; 1 Cor 15:13-22; 1 Thes 1:9-10; 1 Pet 1:18-21

The resurrection is the ultimate miracle provided for us by God in order to prove beyond any dispute that Jesus is indeed the Son of God. No one in history successfully claimed to have resurrected Himself from death. Nor does any other world religion claim a miracle such as the resurrection, or anything even near that magnitude Van de Weghe The Resurrection Provides Proof & Power

Without the belief in the resurrection the Christian faith could not have come into being. The disciples would have remained crushed and defeated men. Even had they continued to remember Jesus as their beloved teacher, His crucifixion would have forever silenced any hopes of His being the Messiah. The cross would have remained the sad and shameful end of His career. The origin of Christianity therefore hinges on the belief of the early disciples that God had raised Jesus from the dead. The Resurrection Provides Proof & Power

Importance of the resurrection recognized by the apostles – Acts 13:33-37; Acts 17:30-31; Rom 8:34; 1 Cor 15:13-22; 1 Thes 1:9-10; 1 Pet 1:18-21 When Christ died, His followers thought it was all over & acted cowardly –Hid from others & publicly denied ( Mk 14:66-72 ) Seeing the risen Christ gave way to courage & proclamation –Many died for their belief. Why would anyone die for a known lie? Christ was dead & buried, His resurrection 3 days later proved His divinity – Acts 17:31 1 Cor 15:1-8 summarizes the gospel message –Christ died for our sins –Christ died for our sins sums up the entire plan of redemption

The Believer Must Die With Christ This is the primary purpose of the plan of redemption – that the believer dies through and with his representative, Jesus Christ. Christs death represents the death of the believer. This is required in order to remove sin. IT should come as no surprise to find that Christians are represented in the NT as those who, in the past, have died with Christ.

The Believer Must Die With Christ 2 Tim 2:11; Col 2:20; Col 3:3; Gal 2:20 3 factors about the above passages 1)They are addresses to Christians – those presently in Christ 2)Refers to the point in time past when one actually became a Christian 3)The Christian is represented as one who has died with Christ It must also be clear that believers will not have any sin forgiven unless they have died with Christ, they have been united with Christ in His death, and they have been crucified with Christ.

Suppose that you have just heard this gospel message for the first time – that God is holy, sin separates you from Him, the price of death is on your head to pay for sin, and that Jesus came to pay the price for you, and that by dying with Him you can have your sins removed, and be reconciled to a holy God. If you believed this good news, what questions would come to mind at this point? If this is the gospel message – that Christ dies for (in place of) the sinner – the believer must ask, How, or when do I die with Christ? How or when does this happen for me? At what point in my faith do I die to sin? Die with Christ? When or how does God view me as uniting with Christ in His death? Being crucified with Christ? So, What is the Question?

Vs 3 Q: When & how is clearly answered here? A: We died to sin when we were baptized into Christ & His death Vs 4 –2 very important truths 1)When you are baptized into His death – you are buried with Christ into death 2)The result is a new life your sins are removed Vs 5 Q: Exactly when are you united with Christ in the likeness of His death? A: When you are baptized in His death, you are then united with Christs death so that your since can be removed by the price of His death Vs 6 Q: When does God consider you crucified with Christ? A: When you are baptized into His death Vs 7 Q: When does the sinner die? A: When you are baptized into Christ & His death So, What is the Question? Rom 6

Vs 8-9 Q: When does God view you as dying with Christ? A: When you are baptized into Christ & His death Vs –Just as Christ died to sin by literally dying & paying the judicial price for sin, we are also to consider ourselves dead to sin by dying with Christ Q: When? How? A: When you are baptized into Christ & His death Vs Now we get the stated purpose of the entire previous discourse – stop sinning -Now that you have died with Christ & your sins were removed, you should have a different attitude toward sin -This is the idea of a repentance – a change of attitude toward sin -Without repentance, baptism will be of no use… rather sinning more we must do just the opposite, and stop practicing sin So, What is the Question? Rom 6

Vs 17 -This is a reminder that it was by faith (action = obedient + belief, from the heart) that they were saved Vs 22 -As a result they were freed from sin & their sins removed -As a result of having been baptized into Christ & His death & having their sins removed they were made holy, sanctified -Sanctification results in justification (the price of death is paid & removed) which reconciles us to a holy God Vs 23 -After this explanation of what we experience by accepting Gods grace when we are baptized into Christ, Paul reminds the Romans that this was a free gift of God -Being baptized into Christ & into His death had not earned Gods grace or mercy, they had only accepted the power of Christs death by faith as a gift So, What is the Question? Rom 6

Conclusion 1 Cor 6:11 Baptism is the point where your sins are cleansed by faith in Christs blood – where you die with Christ. As such, baptism is when you are united with Christs death by faith, and, as a result, this is the moment when your sins are removed and you are sanctified, justified, and made righteous before God.