It is God’s gospel! It is His
good news to sinners that we have the privilege of
proclaiming. It is God’s good news because it is
something He alone planned, announced beforehand and
accomplished in His own perfect timing. It is His
blessing to sinful men.
Those who were saved before
Christ came in the flesh were saved by faith looking
forward to His coming; just as we today are saved by
faith as we look back upon His substitutionary death
for our sins.
All of the prior revelations of
God during the Old Testament times led up to and
focused on the coming of His Son to redeem sinful
man.
It is God’s gospel; it is not
ours. He is the author. The good news God has been
announcing to sinful man from the beginning of the
human race finds its fulfillment in the person and
work of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility “to
believe all that the prophets have spoken” of Him.
“And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He
[Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the
Scriptures concerning Himself” (Luke 24:25-27). This
is the key to our understanding the good news of
God’s saving grace. It is the only way you can
understand the Old Testament. It is also the key to
our understanding the New Testament.
God saves believing sinners
through the atoning work of His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ that He announced “beforehand through His
prophets in the Holy Scriptures” (Romans 1:2).
Our salvation is no accident. Our depravity
did not catch God off guard.
When we embrace the Lord Jesus
Christ by saving faith, God declares our sins to
have been punished in Christ and imputes His perfect
righteousness to our account. It is by faith in the
completed work of Christ and God’s perfect gift of
Christ’s righteousness to the believing sinner that
gives us assurance that we will stand accepted
before God in the Day of Judgment. It is not in our
self-righteousness because it is sinful, like filthy
rags. What saves us is the righteousness from God
which is the pure righteousness of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Saving righteousness comes only through
faith in Jesus. It is the very righteousness of
Christ which God gives to us as a free gift (2 Cor.
5:21).
God can do it because Jesus
took all our punishment for our sins upon Himself
and paid for them in full so that our sins will
never rise up again to condemn us. We can rest in
His righteousness imputed to our account. That is
God’s good news to us depraved sinners. The
absolutely amazing thing is God planned it and
implemented it even before man sinned.
God made us for fellowship with
Himself. The sin barrier has been completely
removed. God loves us and has reached down to save
us through the divine saving work on the cross. We
could never reach up to a holy and righteous God,
but in His grace He reached down to us. He loves us
and saves us by the death of His Son on the cross.
Our sins separated us from Him, but God removed the
barriers through His Son. The cross bridges the gap
that sin and depravity created between the sinner
and God. God now stands without stretched arms and
bids us come to Him and be saved. Everything has
been prepared and provided in His grace.
It is God’s saving gospel, and
He will always fulfill what He has “promised
beforehand through His prophets in the Holy
Scripture.”
Has it been fulfilled in your
life? Have you come to Him and confessed your sin
and turned to God by faith in the saving
substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ? The moment you repent and trust in Christ as
your Savior, you prove the Word of God and His
saving gospel to be true. “Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and you shall be saved” (Acts 16:31).
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.
Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
Bible word studies for sermon preparation, messages, devotions and personal Bible studies with abiding principles and practical applications.
Reports on what God is doing through Bible believing evangelical Christians in Honduras, Nicaragua, Peru, India and Ecuador. Jesus said, "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you" (John 15:7).
Study the master theme of the Bible with these prophecies and types in the Old Testament of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
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