What Calvary Accomplished for Us

[Read] Psa 103:1-5 NAS)

Psa 103:2  Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits.

1.      Bless the Lord (heart of gratitude…Michael Barrett message to MCF)

2.      Don’t forget His benefits

?? Don’t we need to know His benefits in order to forget them? Knowing the Word of God is vital beyond measure! Some of those benefits are listed in Psa 103, vss 3-22.

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 

I call this message: “What Calvary Accomplished for Us”

…this is only a small taste, certainly not “everything; inclusive of Psa 103 plus others”

Background: First Adam gave up his/our birthright to Lucifer. Adam was called to rule over all the earth, and he relinquished that authority in the Garden of Eden.

Last Adam had to reclaim what first Adam lost, and only a man could do that. A man lost it, and a man needed to reclaim it; dying a brutal death as an innocent man. Jesus was truly a God-man. That’s why scripture refers to Jesus as the Son of Man in this context.

So what happened at Calvary? What did Jesus’ sacrifice do for us? Some of what happened:

·       Jesus disarmed the enemy. Our enemy was weaponized by Adam’s sin.

o   “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Col 2:15)

o   "But no one can enter the strong man's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will plunder his house. (Mar 3:27)

·       We were reclaimed, i.e. redeemed, from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God’s Son. In fact, Holy Spirit actually placed us into His Son. Satan’s house was “plundered” by Jesus.

o   Example of a claim ticket at baggage claim

o   Jesus purchased our freedom at Calvary; an innocent dying for the guilty

o   For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son… (Col 1:13)

o   For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Cor 12:13)

·       God the Father opened a path to Himself for relationship and fellowship

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

And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. (Mat 27:50-51

o   Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us. (Eph 2:18) “…for through Him we both (Jews and Gentiles) have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”

No longer a curtain keeping us from His presence

Israel at Mount Horeb in Sinai…”don’t talk to us directly”

Only Moses to talk with God and tell Israel what He said

o   Began the notion of the High Priest alone with God

·       God even said He wouldn’t go with them to the Promised Land

No longer separation keep Him from us! He burst forth to us!

·       God wanted a people of His own, a people of His possession that He would live amongst, fellowship with, love and enjoy (1 Pet 2:9) “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;”

·       Can we even imagine a Love for mankind so huge, that Love itself left heaven to enter this corrupt, sinful world; a world under the thumb of Love’s arch enemy

·       A Love so deep and profound, that it suffered the ultimate humiliation and death in order to reclaim mankind from the clutches of Love’s arch enemy?

·       A Love so broad that it encompasses every person. Period. Whether that love is returned or not, or even recognized. A Love that never changes and always seeks to bring others into the embrace of the Father. Always. Think of the most evil, hateful person you’ve ever encountered. Now imagine Love so far reaching, that it includes that person.

·       Our old sin nature was crucified; dead and buried with Christ Himself

Freed from the grip of sin (Read Rom 6:6-7)

Joh 8:36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. 

And…We received a new nature: God’s very nature…a new creation

o   When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.” (Col 2:11-12)

o   “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (Rom 6:4)

o   “Therefore if anyone is in Messiah, he is born again as a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor 5:17)

o    …  “seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, … so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)

·       We received divine power and one or more spiritual gifts to equip us and liberate others

o    …”but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you” (Act 1:8)

Not maybe, but will receive power

To be my witnesses; to impact others for the kingdom of God

o   “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Cor 12:4-7) …followed by a list of spiritual gifts given to believers.

·       We were healed

o   That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick. This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.” (Mat 8:16-17; Psa 103:2-5)

o   …  who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Pet 2:24, Isa 53:5)

·       We were promised eternal life with Jesus when we die or are raptured prior to death. What most people think of as salvation, although salvation as a Greek word (sozo) and context in scripture has a much broader meaning for body, soul and spirit

o   “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (Joh 5:24)

§  Eternal life in us at our conversion and our home after time expires

o   We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. (2 Cor 5:8)

From new birth to new earth, God has us covered.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” (1 Cor 2:12)

“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (2 Cor1:20)

Is it possible to remember every detail of the benefits available to us in Christ Jesus?

·       Maybe not, at least for me.

·       But good news: all the benefits are there in Christ Jesus, and Holy Spirit was sent, in part, to remind us of those benefits.

So when we Abide in Jesus, i.e. remain present in Him, pressing into His love, Holy Spirit teaches us, comforts us, convicts us, and draws us even closer to the love of God. Holy Spirit helps to illuminate God's word to us.

I believe that’s how we remember all His benefits. We don’t have to try and figure things out, we just have to listen. And we need to declare His blessings. (Psa 103)

If we’ve received such great benefits now…in this life, why do we often seem to live beneath our birthright in Christ Jesus?

·       Maybe we lack at times because we don’t remember what He accomplished at Calvary, and/or maybe we fail to give our Amen…our Agreement…to what God says.