The Gospel Is Good News - South Union Baptist Church

Salvation Will Be Made Complete

March 6, 2024 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Colossians 3:4, 1 Corinthians 15:43, Romans 8:18, Romans 8:30

Glorification is the ultimate and absolute physical, mental, and spiritual perfection and transformation of each believer into the image of Christ. It is in essence the completion of our salvation.

I Can Be Assured Of My Salvation

February 28, 2024 • Pastor Chad Thompson

The gospel brings us a salvation that is eternally secure. God preserves us. Eternal security is God’s assurance of our salvation. God is absolutely certain of the security of our salvation because He is the one who is securing it. God saves, seals, and secures. Assurance is our confidence in God saving us and securing us. The ultimate secret to assurance of salvation is to base your present assurance of salvation on exactly what you based your past experience of salvation – FAITH in CHRIST ALONE, not in yourself.

Secured By The Son & Spirit

February 21, 2024 • Pastor Chad Thompson

The gospel is good news because we are preserved and secured by God the Son and the Holy Spirit. We secured by Jesus through His promises, his prayers, His substitutionary death, His resurrection, His heavenly work as our advocate and intercessor. We are preserved and secured by the Spirit through His work of regeneration, His work of placing us in union with Christ, His work of indwelling us permanently and serving as the earnest payment guaranteeing God will complete our salvation.

Secured By The Father

February 14, 2024 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Jude 1, 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

The gospel is good news because our salvation is secured by our Heavenly Father. He preserves us because He is sovereign, omnipotent, His nature is love, and He chastens us instead of casting us away. Praise God that our salvation does not rest on us but in God's grace alone.

Jesus Prays For Me

November 15, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Judges 16:19–21

Intercession is the work of pleading on the behalf of someone else. This what Jesus does for us; He pleads and prays for us and on our behalf. Intercession is the act of Christ whereby He appeals for believers as our “defense attorney” or ADVOCATE, defending us against Satan’s accusations of our sinfulness, thus guaranteeing the SECURITY of our salvation and giving us the right to approach God in prayer.

I Am Guaranteed An Inheritance

November 1, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:4–5

Adoption is the act of God whereby He gives the believing sinner his position, standing, legal rights, inheritance as a joint-heir with Christ, and all the full privileges of an adult son/(daughter) of God. Adoption is contrasted with regeneration. Regeneration is the new birth that changes us and imparts unto us the holy nature of our Father and makes us a child of God. Adoption does not change our nature, but rather it changes our position and legal standing as adult sons (daughters) of God and thus guarantees us an inheritance.

I Can Be Born Again

October 25, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • John 3:7, Titus 3:5, John 3:3

Regeneration is the act of God, whereby the Holy Spirit gives a spiritual new birth to the believing sinner imparting to him a new nature and new spirit and giving the spiritually dead new life. Regeneration can be described as a spiritual resurrection, becoming a new creation, and being born again.

God Sanctifies Me

October 18, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson

Sanctification is the act of God whereby the believing sinner is set apart FROM sin (its penalty at salvation, its power in our lives, and its presence in eternity) and TO God, Christ, and righteousness. This lesson focuses primarily on the practical aspect of sanctification, i.e. being set apart from the power of sin in our lives. Paul teaches us in Romans 6 four things that can lead us to living above the power of sin: 1) There is a fact to know. As believers we are dead to sin. 2) There is a faith to apply. We must account the fact as true to ourselves personally. 3) There is a function to fulfill. We must choose to yield to the power of the Holy Spirit as opposed to yielding to power of sin. 4) There is a faithfulness to live out. We must choose to obey God.

God Declares Me Righteous

October 11, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Job 35:4, Romans 5:1

Job asks the all important question in Job 25:4, "How can a man be justified with God?" Paul answers the question in Romans 5:1 stating that we are justified by faith. Justification is the judicial act of God whereby He legally declares the believing sinner to be innocent of all sin and as perfectly righteous as Christ. This act of justifying believing sinners comes only through faith and by the grace of God. (Rom. 5:1; Rom. 3:24)

Sin Can Be Forgiven

October 4, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Matthew 26:28, Acts 10:43, Hebrews 9:22

The gospel is God’s plan to deal with man’s greatest need - the need of salvation. Our need is to be forgiven, to have our sins cleansed. The gospel is good news because it tells us that our sins can be forgiven through the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

The Gospel Reconciles Sinners With God

September 27, 2023 • Pastor Chad • Romans 5:10–11, 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, Colossians 1:20–22

Reconciliation (theologically) is the act of God whereby He replaces the state of enmity between God and man with a relationship of friendship through peace purchased by the death of Christ on the cross, which now places the believing sinner in a favorable position with God through the covering of the guilt of sin with Jesus' blood. Before we are saved, whether we like it or not, we are the enemies of God. And yet, God in His love, grace, and mercy, made the first move toward unbelieving sinners and died on the cross for us. Because Jesus shed His blood on Calvary, we can now be reconciled to God through faith and placed in a relationship where God's peace is upon us instead of His wrath.

God's Amazing Grace

September 13, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Ephesians 2:8–9, Romans 3:24

What is it that drives God's plan of salvation and allows for all of its blessings and accomplishments to be bestowed upon believing sinners? Grace! God's amazing grace is what brings salvation to us. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, "For by grace are you saved through faith..." Salvation is by grace through faith. We cannot earn salvation. We cannot merit salvation. We are not worthy of salvation. Grace is only for the undeserving, unworthy, and those who fall short. And that is every person. But saving grace only flows to those who believe and trust Jesus' finished work of the cross.

God Grants Righteousness To Me

September 6, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson • Romans 4:3–8, Philippians 3:9

The gospel is good news to me because God grants (imputes) righteousness to me. God imputes the righteousness of Christ to sinners who place their faith in Christ, and He imputes the guilt of sinners to Christ. Through Jesus' death, he pays for the guilt of sin. As Paul teaches, the One who knew no sin became sin (a sin offering by taking our guilt upon Himself) so that we could be made righteous through His finished work (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21). God imputes Jesus' righteousness to us when we believe and trust in Christ as Savior.

Jesus Bought Me

August 30, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson

The gospel is good news because Jesus bought me! That is such a grand statement. We sing the song "Victory In Jesus." The lyrics say...he sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood. The idea of Jesus buying me is the doctrine of redemption. We should truly rejoice when we consider just how far reaching Jesus' redemption of us goes: 1) He paid our ransom price with His blood, 2) He bought us out of the slave market of sin never to be sold again, 3) He not only paid the price, but He set us free, 4) and beyond freedom, He actually invites us into his family through adoption. Jesus doesn't just save us from the uttermost. He saves us to the uttermost. And when we think about what He has done for us by redeeming us we will know personally that the gospel is good news because Jesus bought me.

God's Justice Satisfied

August 23, 2023 • Pastor Chad Thompson

Propitiation is the satisfaction of God’s righteous demand for justice, for the payment of the due penalty of our sins, by the death of Jesus. While expiation emphasizes the removal of our guilt through the payment of a penalty, i.e. Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice, propitiation emphasizes the appeasement of God’s justice and averting of His wrath because of Jesus' substitutionary sacrifice. Note: Unfortunately the audio recording of this lesson was not captured.