God's Gracious Provision for Me, for Our President, and for the World

When speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, 

• President Trump clarified his doubts about going to heaven by stating, 
• I really think I probably should make it. 
• I mean, I'm not a perfect candidate, but I did --- a lot of good for perfect people.   

My prayer is that God would bring President Trump to the Scriptures.

• For there he would learn that there are no perfect people. 
• And, no amount of good on his part or on our part would make any of us a candidate for heaven. 

The Good News of the Gospel 

• is God's gracious answer to the ruin we have all made of our lives and our world.
• Jesus Christ alone is the true, righteous, and divine Mediator who saves completely.

My salvation depends entirely on God's gracious provision of a Mediator who is both truly human and truly divine.  

• For Christ alone can satisfy God's justice, 
• bear wrath, 
• and restore righteousness and life for me, a sinner.

God's justice is serious. 

• My sin is not ignored or minimized.
• It must be dealt with in a way that honors God's holiness and righteousness.

I need a true human Savior.

• Since my human nature sinned, 
• my Redeemer must share my humanity in order to stand in my place.

I need a sinless Savior.

• A sinner cannot atone for other sinners,
• so my Mediator must be righteous and unstained by sin.

I need a divine Savior.

• Only true God can bear the burden of divine wrath
• and bring me life that death cannot destroy.

Christ is enough.

• The Bible points me to Jesus Christ as my wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption.
• So my salvation rests in Him alone.

The gospel is not an afterthought but God's long-planned revelation.

• It was first promised in Paradise,
• then proclaimed through the patriarchs and prophets,
• foreshadowed in the law,
• and finally fulfilled in Christ.

For spiritual life, 

• this means that as a Christian 
• I must learn humility, 
• because I cannot save myself.

This Gospel also produces deep assurance, because the one who saves me is exactly the kind of Mediator I need.

• He is fully able to represent me.
• He is fully able to satisfy justice.
• He is fully able to give me life.

It also trains my heart 

• to look to Scripture as God's unfolding gospel story, 
• not merely as moral instruction. 
• The Gospel invites me to read all of redemptive history with Christ at the center. 

For the Bible Tells Me So...

1 Corinthians 15:21 

• For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 

Isaiah 9:6 

• For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

John 3:16 

• For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not (perish but have eternal life. 

1 Timothy 2:5 

• For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus 

Galatians 4:4,5 

• But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 
• to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

Come Home...