The Bible is a Book with one message; and that one message is Christ the Substitute for sinners.The message of the Old and New Testament is the same. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. And the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. But the message of both is Christ the believer's Substitute. In the Old Testament the substitutionary work of Christ was presented in picture and in prophecy, while in the New Testament it is clearly revealed and explained. But the message is the same. Every verse of Holy Scripture, every commandment of the law, every ceremony of the Jewish religion, and every event of history recorded in the Word of God is designed by God to proclaim one message to the fallen sons of Adam. And that one message is this: "In due time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom.5:6). "For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (II Cor. 5:21). "Christ gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father" "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Gal. 3:13). "Christ bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed" "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us:" (I John 3:16)
This is the one message of Holy Scripture and the one theme of all the prophets and apostles. And Christ Our Substitute must be the constant theme of God's servants today. This message must be sounded from our pulpits continually. This is the doctrine of the Bible, The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, took upon himself the sins of all God's elect and endured the full penalty of God's holy law against sin in their place. He satisfied in their place, as their Representative and Substitute, every claim of Divine justice against them. Taking the sins of God's elect upon himself, he removed their sins from them and gave them, by a legal imputation, his perfect righteousness. The Lord Jesus Christ did actually redeem, justify, and pardon his people by his substitutionary death at Calvary. "By his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:12). The only message Paul could preach was Christ and Him crucified! This is the only message that will help a poor lost sinner and it is the only message God's sheep want to hear!
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