But Wait, There's More!

But Wait, There’s More!

Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Italics added to highlight areas being discussed.

We’ve all heard commercials on TV telling us why we should buy a certain product. The narrators make the product sound really good. To further prove the value of what they’re offering, they sometimes exclaim, “but wait, there’s more!” The “more” they offer isn’t always everything we might hope.

When we talk about what Jesus has done for us however, we quickly learn that “but wait, there’s more” is actually true. There is always more to say about what He has done for us. There is always more depth to plumb, and His “more” never leaves us feeling disappointed. His “more” is always amazing.

Anyone who has been around church much knows that Jesus Christ died to save us from our sins. We need not travel far to see a sign that reads, “Jesus saves.” It’s certainly true that Jesus saves. Forgiveness is an amazing gift from God given to us by Jesus at the cross. Sometimes however, we stop there in our thinking about what Jesus did at the cross. It’s understandable really. Once your sins have been forgiven how could you really feel dissatisfied? You have a ticket to heaven, for crying out loud!

But we’re talking about our gracious and loving Father God here, so just like in the TV commercials, wait, there’s more!

Let’s review some of the events that took place at the cross.

Matthew 27:45-54 (NASB)

45  Now from the sixth hour darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour.

46  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?"

(Psalm 22:1—this entire psalm paints a vivid picture of the crucifixion of Christ)

47  And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, began saying, "This man is calling for Elijah."

48  Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink.

49  But the rest of them said, "Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him."

50  And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.

John tells us what that cry was:

John 19:28-30 (NASB)

28  After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished (tetelestai), to fulfill (teleoo—teleuh’oh) the Scripture, *said, "I am thirsty."

29  A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so they put a sponge full of the sour wine upon a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth.

30  Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" (tetelestai) And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.

All things needed to fulfill—finish, teleoo, (the same word as tetelestai) the Scripture had already been accomplished--tetelestai. They were all finished—tetelestai. Everything necessary had been accomplished.

·       Jesus was born of a woman by the Holy Spirit. His nature was Holy God, not sinful Adam.

·       He lived a perfect life—completely without sin. He kept the Law in every minute respect. When He preached in the Sermon on the Mount about lust in one’s heart being the same as adultery and deriding a brother in anger being the same as murder—only He could contemplate the high standard set there and know He was not guilty.

·       This made Him the only perfect sacrifice, and consequently the only sacrifice pure enough to take away your sins.

·       Being perfectly pure and innocent, He was sufficient as a sacrifice to take away the sins of the entire world.

51  And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split.

Why was the veil torn? Exodus tells us that the veil made a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.

Exodus 26:31-34 (NASB)

31  "You shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet material and fine twisted linen; it shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.

32  "You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks also being of gold, on four sockets of silver.

33  "You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in the ark of the testimony (covenant) there within the veil; and the veil shall serve for you as a partition between the holy place and the holy of holies.

34  "You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the holy of holies.

At the cross, a new covenant was established. Since the perfect sacrifice had been made, there was no further sacrifice required. Under this new covenant, those who trust in that perfect sacrifice on their behalf no longer need a high priest to go to God on their behalf. Their high priest now lives within them, and they live within Him. Consequently, there was no longer any need for a partition.

Hebrews 4:14-16 (NASB)

14  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.

15  For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

16  Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

52  The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;

53  and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

54  Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, "Truly this was the Son of God!"

But wait, there’s more! Not only did Jesus willingly sacrifice His life to satisfy the blood requirement for our sin, He also set us free.

Romans 6:3-11 (NASB)

3  Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

4  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

5  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

In the Methodist tradition, we sometimes talk about baptism as “an outward sign of an inward change.” In baptism, we are put under water. This signifies our death with Christ. We are, as Paul wrote here in Romans, baptized into His death. As the water covers us, we are buried with Him. This is done, Paul continues, so that in the same way as Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we, like Him, can walk in newness of life.

Jesus certainly had a new life after His resurrection, didn’t He? Remember how He appeared in the upper room where the disciples were holed up behind a locked door? Remember how He talked with several people without revealing His identity and they at first could not recognize Him? This is an example to us of just how different our life in Christ is from our old fleshly life.

Then Paul caps this discussion by telling us that if we have become united with Jesus in His death—and we have—then we will certainly be united with Him in His resurrection to life as well. That’s a pretty big deal!

Watch how Paul expounds this.

6  knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

7  for he who has died is freed from sin.

Our old self was—past tense—crucified. Did you look different after you believed? No? Neither did I. So what can this possibly mean?

Galatians 2:20 (NASB)

20  "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

So our body of sin was done away with. It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us.

Just a note here: Some have a tendency to stop right here and start thinking that the perfect Christian life is “all of Him and none of me.” I want to tell you right now, that isn’t true. Let’s look a little more at what these two passages say.

Galatians tells us that we do actually still live a life in the flesh, but that life—our earthly life—is lived by faith in the Son of God, namely Jesus Christ. So our old self was crucified. It’s dead.

Colossians 3:3 (NASB)

3  For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Our old self died so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. Anyone who has died is freed from sin.

What was it about us that made us slaves to sin? It was our sinful nature, wasn’t it?

How did we get a sinful nature? We inherited it from our forefather, Adam. Think of it this way, if your great-great grandfather got into a duel with another man and one of the men died, which man won that duel? Your great-great grandfather, of course. If he had been the one who died, you would not be here today. In exactly this way we were all born into Adam, born into sin. This is why Jesus said, “you must be born again.” We need to be born of the Holy Spirit like He was. When that happens, our nature is that of God, so we are no longer slaves to sin.

You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God!

8  Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

9  knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.

10  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

11  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Not only did this new life free you from slavery to sin, it is an indestructible life. Death no longer has mastery over Christ.

This is really fascinating. We know that Jesus is eternal. He was not created; He always was and always shall be. Yet this passage says having been raised from the dead, He is never to die again. This is talking about his life in the flesh. His earthly life. This is ridiculously good news for us.  He still has a body! He lives in His glorified body in exactly the way we will live in our glorified bodies.

He died to sin once for all and the life He lives, He lives to God. We died with Christ, and we shall live with Him as well. We are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

2 Peter 1:4 (NASB)

4  For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Do you see it? We were partakers of Adam’s nature, but now we are partakers of Abba’s nature!

Galatians 5:24 (NASB)

24  Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

But we still sin, don’t we? Yes, we do, but we are not slaves to that and now it bothers us—more and more as time passes. That’s because it’s no longer who we are. Sin no longer fits us.

We carry around fleshly habits and ways of thinking, but those do not reflect who we truly are. Our old self, our sinful Adamic nature, our flesh with its passions and desires is dead, dead, dead. We no longer want those fleshly things. Instead, we want the righteous things of God.

Philippians 2:13 (NASB)

13  for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

God gives us the “want to,” the desire to do the same things He does. This is why we read that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control are fruit of the Spirit, not results of our good behavior. This is part of what Paul was talking about when he said that the great mystery revealed in the Gospel is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

You don’t have two natures that are fighting against one another. You are not a sinner, saved by grace. You were a sinner, but now you’re a saint. You certainly got to be a saint by grace. You’re a saint saved by grace.

Ezekiel 11:19-20 (NASB)

19  "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

20  that they may walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God.

Ezekiel 36:25-27 (NASB)

25  "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

26  "Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27  "I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.

But wait, there’s more!

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)

21  He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

At the cross, Jesus became a sinner as our surrogate so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him. There is no flaw in God’s righteousness; it’s perfect.

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 (NASB)

7  so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

8  who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

9  God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Did you catch that word? Jesus will confirm you blameless in “the day of our Lord”—that’s judgement day.

Ephesians 1:3-4 (NASB)

3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

He chose us so that we would be holy and blameless before Him.

Ephesians 5:27 (NASB)

27  that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.

Having no spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and blameless.

No matter what you think of yourself, no matter how you feel, no matter what you have done or failed to do, this is the truth about you if you believe.

Philippians 2:14-15 (NASB)

14  Do all things without grumbling or disputing;

15  so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

Blameless, innocent, and above reproach. Those are pretty high standards. I used to think I was supposed to follow this sort of instruction to prove my devotion to God but that’s not the truth. You aren’t proving anything to God here. You’re proving it to the world. As you walk by faith—according to the Spirit—the fruit of the Spirit will be more and more in evidence. That’s something the world can’t possibly miss. Talk about being a peculiar people!

This encouragement to the Philippians to walk by faith rather than by sight is a primary theme throughout the New Testament.

Colossians 1:21-23 (NASB)

21  And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds,

22  yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—

23  if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.

Notice that the condition here has nothing to do with your behavior. Instead, he cautions against moving away from the hope of the Gospel. In other words, don’t go back to trying to perform your way to holiness. Instead, rest in the finished work of the cross. Trust God with abandon.

Jude 1:24-25 (NASB)

24  Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,

25  to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.