The message was simple, short, concise, and powerful—“We are now in this war. We are all in it. All the way. Every single man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history.” Americans did hear the message and what’s more they believed it—so much so that they gave themselves to the cause of fighting and winning WW2 and America was saved.
And today, I was reminded of another simple, short, concise, and powerful message that all of us, especially me, need to keep hearing, keep believing, and keep sharing with those who haven’t heard and its found in Luke 1:76-77 which reads:
And today, I was reminded of another simple, short, concise, and powerful message that all of us, especially me, need to keep hearing, keep believing, and keep sharing with those who haven’t heard and its found in Luke 1:76-77 which reads:
And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
These 2 verses make up part of Zachariah's prophecy about the coming Savior and the part that his son, John the Baptist, would have in this Savior’s work of redemption. In these two verses Zachariah speaks to his newborn son John, giving him God’s commission for his life which was to proclaim the Savior's coming and the Lord’s salvation for all who would come to Him. Zachariah states in verse 76—“And you child will be called the prophet of the Most High for you will go before the lord to prepare His way.” And in then in verse 77, Zachariah tells his baby boy exactly what it is he will be doing as the prophet of the Most High. “And you child, will give knowledge of salvation to His people. . .”
That was to be John the Baptist’s job—to give people the knowledge of how to be saved and specifically how to be saved from the wrath of God for their sins. So, his life work—his life mission—his great commission, if you will was to tell people how to find salvation from the wrath of God for their sins. And then in the second part of verse 77, Zachariah tells his little baby boy what he would need to explain—what he needed to tell people.“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation—in the forgiveness of their sins.” Or “by the forgiveness of their sins”. Taken literally, the verse is better understood as saying—
“And you child will give God’s people knowledge of salvation which consists in the forgiveness of their sins.”
In other words, John the Baptist’s calling was to proclaim the message-the good news—that the salvation God was offering them was bound up in the forgiveness of their sins. Thus, if you are saved—that is—if you are trusting in Jesus Christ and His atoning death on the cross alone for your salvation from the wrath of God for your sins—you are right now and forever forgiven of those very sins. That’s the Gospel--that's God's Good News! And that’s what God wanted John the Baptist to tell people.
So the Gospel is about Forgiveness. It’s a proclamation of forgiveness—that God has made a way to forgive people for all their sins no matter how bad, how many, or how unforgiveable they seem. Its a message that God will completely pardon and remove from the divine record all the sins of any person who will come to Him on His terms through Christ the Lord.
Which is why King David, a man who carried the burden of great and overwhelming sin was able to say—“Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are removed out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin.”
You see, the Gospel is the wonderful declaration that as believers—our sins have been so removed and so separated from us that they no longer have anything to do with us or say about us. They no longer have any bearing upon us, our relationship with God, or our eternal destiny. For believers, the Gospel is the decree of the King that our personal sin is no longer an issue between us. It’s the message that our sin is no longer our identity—His righteousness is! It’s so simple and yet it’s so profound for believer and non-believer alike.
Salvation is the result of having your sins forgiven.
Thus, to be saved from our sins and the just penalty of our sin is to be forgiven for our sins. To be saved completely from sin is to be forgiven completely. To be saved forever is to be forgiven forever. So, if you have come to Christ for salvation by trusting in Him to save you from the eternal punishment you deserve for your sins—you are saved—and your sins are forgiven and they will never be used against you in God’s court. Furthermore, your sins have been forgiven comprehensively in that every single one of them—whether a sinful thought, word, or deed—no matter when committed or still is yet to be committed—has been forgiven. You could not be saved if this were not true! This means—that our sin is not the end of our story—forgiveness is! It also means that our sin is not our story—God’s forgiveness is! And because we are forgiven—we are reconciled to God, declared righteous by God, blameless before God, at peace with God, and destined to be with and enjoy God for all of eternity. And this is the message we need to hear and be preaching to ourselves everyday as believers.
We stand forgiven by a divine, eternal, comprehensive, and all guilt and condemnation destroying forgiveness which has saved us and made us right with God. This is the message we also need to believe everyday if we are ever to grow in our security in Christ and thus our love for Christ and thus our personal holiness—which only grows as we respond to what God has done for us in forgiving us. This is also the message, the Good News, we, like John the Baptist, have been commissioned to proclaim, that the Savior Jesus Christ has come and has provided salvation for everyone who will come to Him in faith believing.
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