The Bad News:
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Old Testament |
New Testament |
We Are All Sinners |
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). "There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin" |
"As it is written: There is none righteous, no, not one; For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" |
Good Deeds Cannot Remove Sin |
"But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away" |
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). |
Sin Separates Us From God |
"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear" (Isa. 59:2). "Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken" (Gen. 3:23). |
"And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire" (Rev. 20:15). "Then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment" (2 Pet. 2:9). |
Sin Brings Death |
"The souls who sins shall die" "Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?" |
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned" (Rom.5:12).
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Atonement Requires Blood Sacrifice and Repentance |
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul" (Lev.17:11). "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions" (Ezek.18:30). |
"Unless you repent you will all likewise perish" (Lk.13:3). "Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot"
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The Good News: |
Old Testament |
New Testament |
|---|---|---|
God Loves You |
"The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore
with loving kindness I have drawn you" |
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life' (John 3:16). |
Jesus the Messiah Was Punished for Our Sin |
"He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed...The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isa.53.5-6, 12). |
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him"
|
The Messiah Came at the Appointed Time |
"And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary..." (Dan. 9:26). |
"But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" |
God Can Remove Your Sin |
"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow..." (Isa.1:18). "Even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins" (Isa. 43:25). |
"...The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John1:9).
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Jesus Is Alive |
"Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand" (Isa. 53:10). |
"He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and...He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once" "But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). |
Salvation Comes by Faith |
"Kiss the Son,...Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Ps. 2:12). "And he (Abraham) believed in the Lord, and He (the Lord) accounted it to him for righteousness" (Gen. 15:6). |
"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from
the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. |
People are not basically good; we are sinners whose hearts are utterly contrary to God. Nothing in either Testament teaches that good deeds remove sin. By death, God means eternal separation from Him forever in a place of torment. God showed Israel the necessity for blood sacrifice. But animal sacrifices were merely temporary until the time was right for the once-for-all, perfect sacrifice that could eradicate our sin forever (Heb. 10:10). Out of His great love for us, God came to Earth in the person of Jesus. He kept the law perfectly because He was the sinless Son of God. His death was the final sacrifice God required. As was preordained, Jesus died and rose again because He is God.
Your faith must not be in what you do yourself, but in what Jesus did for you. God declared Abraham righteous solely because of his faith. And God will declare you righteous today if you place your faith in Jesus. Salvation is His free gift to you if you ask for it.
Miscellaneous:
The Gospel message or "Good News" can be found in both the Old and New Testaments.
Written By Thomas C. Simcox. Published in Israel My Glory/March/April 2007.
Thomas C. Simcox is the Northeastern States director for the Friends of Israel.
