Sacrafice

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the first edition of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked niv are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV ®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

All emphasis (italics) in Scripture verses has been added by the authors.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota Cover photo © iStockphoto / Thinkstock THE UNSHAKABLE TRUTH is a trademark of The Hawkins Children’s LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the trademark THE UNSHAKABLE TRUTH.

SACRIFICE—EXPERIENCE A DEEPER WAY TO LOVE Course 5 of The Unshakable Truth® Journey Growth Guides Copyright © 2012 by Josh McDowell Ministry and Sean McDowell Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com ISBN 978-0-7369-4343-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-4344-4 (eBook) All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other— except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

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Contents What Is the Unshakable Truth Journey All About? . . . . . . . . . . 7

SESSION ONE The High Price of Forgiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

SESSION TWO How Do We Know Jesus Was the Perfect Sacrifice? . . . . . . . . . . 29

SESSION THREE Jesus Defines the Meaning of Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

SESSION FOUR How to Express Christlike Love to Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

SESSION FIVE Demonstrating Love Within Your Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Take the Complete Unshakable Truth Journey! . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Evaluation Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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SESSION ONE

tHe HIGH PRICe oF FoRGIVeness

T

hink of how many times in your life you have said, “I’m sorry” and “That’s okay, I forgive you .”

Giving and receiving forgiveness is a part of life . Identify a time when it was very difficult to say, “I forgive you” to someone who really offended and hurt you .

Why was it so hard to forgive?

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SACRIFICE

Someone read the following.

Forgiveness is about granting relief; giving up a claim for compensation; pardoning; releasing or setting a person free of an offense. And forgiveness does not come without a price. It costs something for us to forgive.

Some time ago a man in Ohio went on a shooting spree and murdered a 27-year-old husband and father. The shooter was convicted and sentenced to die. The widow was at the murderer’s execution. The accused gave the longest final statement by a condemned Ohio inmate in memory. During his statement he looked straight at his victim’s widow and said, “I am sorry.” After the execution the widow was unsatisfied with the man’s remorse and said, “It’s like I tell my kids: ‘Sorry doesn’t cut it; you did it.’ ” The condemned man said he was sorry and even paid the high price of his own life for his crime, but that obviously wasn’t a high enough price as far as the widow was concerned. Sometimes it is very hard to forgive.

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness Something within our relational DNA wants payment before forgiveness is granted. We have a sense of justice. When wrong is done we want justice to prevail. This sense of justice comes from being created in the image of God. For “God is the Rock; his work is perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!” (Deuteronomy 32:4). The very character of God is just. When wrong is done he says, “I will take vengeance. I will repay those who deserve it” (Deuteronomy 32:35). The apostle Paul said, “In his justice he will punish those who persecute you” (2 Thessalonians 1:6).

Justice requires payment for wrong done. We have a justice system within states, within the country, and around the world that has established a judicial court system to mete out human justice.

But what about the higher judicial court system of heaven? Can God just say, “Sure, you sinned, but that’s okay, forget it—I’ll forgive you and we’ll be friends”? The reality is that God by nature is holy.

He can’t just overlook sin. The Bible says of God, “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13 niv). God is so holy that he “cannot allow sin in any form” (Habakkuk 1:13). So by his very nature he is unable to have a relationship with those infected with sin.

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SACRIFICE Therefore, even though he is “rich in mercy” (Ephesians 2:4), sin separates us from him. And that separation is a big deal because sin has caused a dreadful consequence: death. The apostle Paul said we “were dead, doomed forever because of [our] many sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Dead people can’t accept forgiveness even when it’s offered. They can’t accept anything, because they’re dead. So that presents quite a dilemma. In order for God to forgive us his sense of justice has to address our sin. But just how does he do that?

OUR GROUP OBJECTIVE To gain a deeper sense of gratitude to God for how his perfect character of justice addresses our sin, allowing him to forgive and redeem us.

God put an amazing and miraculous plan in place in order to forgive and redeem you . Understanding this plan and what it took will enable you to cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude to God .

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness Someone read Genesis 22:1-8.

Isaac had been taught by his father that there was a price to be paid to obtain forgiveness. A living, breathing creature had to die as a blood sacrifice. Abraham’s faith was being tested, but what further was God trying to teach Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son? How was this sacrifice different for Abraham than other animal sacrifices he had performed before?

Someone read Genesis 22:11-13.

Abraham proved something to God while at the same time making a blood sacrifice. What did Abraham prove, and what blood sacrifice was made?

Someone read the following.

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SACRIFICE Abraham, like all of us, had sinned and was dead spiritually and separated from God. But in this dramatic example, God was showing him that he had a miraculous plan in place by which Abraham and the rest of us could be brought back to spiritual life in exchange for another life. The ram’s life was sacrificed “in place of his son.” But it could not be just any life. It had to be a certain type of sacrificial life exchange. There was a certain condition—a criterion required of this sacrifice that was extremely important.

Someone read Leviticus 1:1-4.

What kind of bull was required? _____________________________

Why was the person required to lay hands on the head of the bull?

Why did the bull need to die, though it had done nothing wrong?

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness Someone read the following.

The death of a holy and perfectly healthy animal became the substitute for the sinner deserving of death. An innocent life was taken in place of a guilty life. However, the animal sacrifices that God instructed his people to make were but a temporary solution to our dilemma of sin and death.

They were only a symbol of what was to come. In order for the consequences of sin (death) to be reversed so we could be made alive to God, a more powerful and perfect sacrifice had to be made.

Someone read 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 1:18-19, and Hebrews 2:14-15.

Think back on what the widow whose husband was murdered said: “Sorry doesn’t cut it; you did it.” Simply telling God you are sorry for your sin doesn’t cut it either. Something more is needed. Did Jesus’ death “cut it” in God’s eyes? Was Jesus a high enough price for God to forgive you? Why?

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SACRIFICE Someone read the following. (This is drawn from chapter 20 of The Unshakable Truth book.)

Our freedom from the enslavement of sin and death was through the acceptable and redeeming act of Christ as our sacrifice. It was “redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement” (Romans 3:24-25 niv). Redemption in this verse is a commercial term. It is a reference to the high price paid to purchase a slave in that day—a price so high that it not only purchased the slave, but also purchased the legal paperwork to buy the slave completely out of slavery.

This redemptive price brought total freedom so the person would never again be sold back into slavery. Redemption is the act of Christ freeing us from slavery to sin and death.

The blood sacrifice of bulls and goats was not sufficient or powerful enough for a just God to cancel our death sentence. Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, was necessary. But his death alone wasn’t sufficient either. Something more was needed.

In addition to Jesus’ death on the cross, what do you think was further needed to allow God to forgive us of our sins and redeem us?

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness

Someone read Hebrews 9:11-12.

How was our redemption secured by offering a blood sacrifice in the temple before God the Father? Whose blood was it? (This also answers the previous question posed above.)

Someone read the following.

In mercy and love God the Son died for us.

In justice and holiness God the Father accepts his Son’s sacrifice to redeem us.

In power and life God the Holy Spirit declares us righteous and tells us we are his children.

In Jesus we have a sacrificial Savior, Great High Priest, and Effective Defender who sprinkled his own blood in the temple before his Father God “to remove the power of sin forever by his sacrificial

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SACRIFICE death for us” (Hebrews 9:26). What the priests of the Old Testament did as they sacrificed animals year after year in order to atone for sin was a continuing, ritualistic picture foreshadowing the real sacrifice to come. The true sacrifice was completed in Jesus’ final act as High Priest when he “offered himself to God as one sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down at the place of highest honor at God’s right hand” (Hebrews 10:12).

Therefore:

We believe the truth that Jesus, as the sinless Son of God, atoned for our sin through his death on the cross. And the offering of his blood as a sacrifice for sin redeems us so we are forgiven—set free—and raises us to new life in him.

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness

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Truth Encounter Someone read Hebrews 10:19-23.

The writer of Hebrews summarizes the gift of God’s forgiveness and Christ’s redemption in Hebrews 10. What if we were to use our imagination to make the truths of Hebrews 10 come alive?

Take the next few moments and imagine the most magnificent, gloriously beautiful throne room that your mind’s eye can comprehend. There is a clearly marked crimson pathway that leads to this royal room, and at the room’s center rest two brilliantly illuminated thrones: one throne for God, the Father— and to the right, one for Christ, the Son. This throne room is a holy place. Only royalty and those whom the Holy One declares righteous can enter in. This throne room is an intimate place.

Only unity and love reside here. Can you imagine what a privilege it would be to enter into such a place?

While you may feel unworthy of such a privilege, is it easy or comfortable for you to accept a seat beside Jesus in this magnificent throne room? Why or why not?

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SACRIFICE You do have such a privilege as a follower of Jesus. You have this honor as one who has been called by him. Reflect on how the writer of Hebrews traces your journey.

Someone read the following and complete the sentence or thought.

• You have access: Before your relationship with Jesus, the way into God’s glorious sanctuary was closed to you. But now you can have confidence to approach the Holy One. You are now accepted into the throne room. You have access into the presence of Almighty God because ________________ __________________________________________.

• You have intimacy: Jesus’ death opened your access to the throne of grace. Just like the curtain in the Temple, which was torn from top to bottom (see Mark 15:38), Christ’s body was torn at Calvary.

His suffering and his sacrifice at Calvary opened the pathway to the divine presence of God. You are allowed access to the most intimate of settings because a perfect Priest offered the ____________ __________________________________________.

• You have an Advocate: And since you have a High Priest who sits on his throne at the right hand of God, you have an Advocate—One who prays to

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness the Father on your behalf. Because of what the Priest has done, you can draw _________________ __________________________________________.

• You have a sacrifice: On that day when you knelt before the throne and humbly acknowledged your need for Jesus and accepted his gift of redemption, imagine how the Son must have leaned toward you and gently placed his hand upon your head— identifying himself with you—signifying his willingness to _________________________________ __________________________________________.

• You have right standing: On that day when you accepted Christ’s gift, you were declared righteous; a marvelous exchange took place. In exchange for your sinfulness, you received the Son’s robe of righteousness. You can now stand in the presence of the Father, freed from any sense of _____________________, confident of your standing before God, assured of your ____________________ _____________________—all because you wear the regal robe of the Son. • All of this is freely available because of God’s initiative and forgiveness. Jesus paid the price just for _________________________!

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SACRIFICE Spend the next few moments declaring your unshakable hope in the truth of Hebrews 10:19-23 through praise and thanks to God. Consider singing songs of worship. Express your gratitude for what Christ has done for you to one another. Then verbalize your gratitude to God in prayer. Pray with one or two others in your group and express your hope-filled testimony of his faithfulness. Your prayers might sound like: “God, I am filled with ________________ (hope/gratitude/amazement) for how your Son’s sacrifice allows me to experience _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________.”

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TruthTalk—An Assignment of the Week

This week take time to share with a family member or friend what you experienced in this session. Consider saying something like:

1

“I’ve been learning about the meaning of forgiveness and the incredible price that Jesus paid on

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Session One: The High Price of Forgiveness the cross . These truths have been

It is Jesus’ death

so meaningful to me because…

on the cross that atones for your sins.

He became your sacrifice for sin. His

.”

death substitutes for your death, and then his resurrection to life is your resurrection to new life in

2

“I’ve been learning more about some of the ways that Jesus loves us . One of the ways he loves us

him. So because of

is that he tells God that he took

his atoning sacrifice

our punishment for when we do

you can be set free,

things that are wrong . I am so

forgiven of your

thankful for that because…

sins, and escape eternal banishment from the presence of God. “For Christ

.”

died for sin, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18 NIV).

3

“I’ve been learning about God’s forgiveness—how he ‘lets go’ of the wrong things I’ve done because he remembers that Jesus took the consequences of my sin on the cross . That’s incredible to me because…

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SACRIFICE

.”

Read chapter 20 of The Unshakable Truth book as a review of this session and chapter 29 for the next session.

Close in Prayer

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