2. THE APOSTLES' CREED
Three main purposes:
1. The creeds provide a brief summary of the
Christian faith
2. The creeds allow us to recognise and avoid inadequate
or incomplete versions of Christianity
3. THE APOSTLES' CREED
Three main purposes:
3. The creeds emphasize that to believe is to belong, to
become a Christian is to enter a community of faith which
stretches right back to the upper room; it gives you a sense
of history and perspective; you share that faith, and you
share the same words that over centuries Christians have
used to express that faith. (Alister McGrath)
NB. Our attitude to doctrine: Dull? Irrelevant? Can’t be bothered? Does
not deserve my study and focus? No need to pay attention to
doctrines?
4. THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and
earth: And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was
conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and
buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose
again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and
sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from
thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the
communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen
5. CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION
This part of The Apostles’ Creed- “was crucified, dead,
and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he
rose again from the dead”
helps us to understand GOD's salvation
(recovery/rectification/restoration) plan.
6. CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION
The primary problem, that is sin, and its fallout and effects,
must be addressed and resolved.
This morning, we will try to see GOD’s salvation plan in its
overall context as revealed in Holy Scripture.
7. THE BEGINNING: CREATION IN PURITY
Genesis 1. 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and
darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of
God was moving over the face of the waters. 26 Then God
said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good.
8. THE FALL: CREATION IN DESPAIR
Genesis 3 9 But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him,
"Where are you?"
14 The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your
belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.15 I
will put enmity between you and the woman …
16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in
childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall
be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of
your wife, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You
shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall
eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the
plants of the field.19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till
you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; you are dust, and
to dust you shall return."
9. THE FALL: CREATION IN DESPAIR
The entry of sin into GOD’s perfect creation:
drives a wedge and builds an impregnable wall between
the Creator and His human creatures;
subjects us sinners to eternal condemnation;
creates enmity between human beings;
fractures the harmony between human beings and other
creatures and the land itself;
enslaves human beings to their darkest, crudest,
insatiable and insensible cravings;
c. injects pain and suffering into human experience
d. plunges the entire creation into anguish, groaning for
delivery…
10. THE FALL: CREATION IN DESPAIR
2 Peter 2 4 For if God did not spare the angels when they
sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of
nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; 5 if he did not spare
the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of
righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a
flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 if by turning the cities of
Sodom and Gomor'rah to ashes he condemned them to
extinction and made them an example to those who were to be
ungodly; 7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by
the licentiousness of the wicked 8 (for by what that righteous
man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in
his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), 9 then
the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep
the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment …
11. THE FALL: CREATION IN DESPAIR
Romans 1 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress
the truth.
Romans 8 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in
travail together until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we
ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we
wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
12. THE ANSWER: CREATION REDEEMED
Theologically,
GOD’s own character of
righteousness, justice and love
must somehow be upheld in perfect balance
so as to preserve GOD’s integrity.
GOD’s salvation plan for human beings which is
consistent with His love must also be consistent with His
justice and righteousness.
Thus, a perfectly JUST solution was required which
satisfies the most holy GOD.
13. THE ANSWER: CREATION REDEEMED
The FATHER's salvation (recovery/rectification/restoration)
plan is founded on CHRIST the SON:
Christ was incarnated as a human being;
Christ brought the Father’s teaching, delivery and
healing;
Christ was crucified, died and was buried, taking upon
HIMSELF our sin and its consequences;
Christ rose from the dead
Christ ascended to heaven, sitting at the right hand of the
Father, interceding for us;
Christ will come again and make salvation final.
14. THE ANSWER: CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS
CHRIST
left the purity of His heavenly home;
came into a foul and sinful, wicked, broken earth;
subjected to scorn, disbelief and persecution;
took upon Himself our shameful sin;
surrendered Himself to a most crude, barbaric, painful,
lengthy process of death;
descended into hell, separated from and condemned by
His Father…
15. THE ANSWER: CHRIST’S SUFFERINGS
Colossians 2 12 and you were buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him through faith in the
working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you,
who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of
your flesh, God made alive together with him, having
forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having cancelled the
bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he
set aside, nailing it to the cross.
16. THE ANSWER: CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
There were eye witnesses:
Mary Magdalene (Mark 16.9)
The other women (Matthew 28:8-10)
Simon Peter (Luke 24. 34)
The two men on the road to Emmaus (Mark 16.12)
Eleven of the Apostles (John 20:19-24)
More than 500 (1 Corinthians 15:6)
Saul (Acts 9.1-6)
17. THE ANSWER: CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
John 11 25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and
the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he
live, 26 and whoever lives and believes in me shall never
die. Do you believe this?“
Romans 10 8 But what does it say? The word is near you,
on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith
which we preach); 9 because, if you confess with your lips
that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised
him from the dead, you will be saved.
18. THE ANSWER: CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
Philippians 1 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is
gain. 22 If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor
for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard
pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be
with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh
is more necessary on your account.
19. THE ANSWER: GOD’S LOVE
John 3. 16 For God so loved the world that HE gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.
“And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Saviour's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?”
