God in His kindness and love and mercy and compassion, and in His infinite grace, looked upon men and women when they deserved nothing but hell and destruction, and gave them the promise of their wonderful redemption that would finally be consummated in His own eternal Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our sin has left us eternally separated from God. Mankind has been polluted, thus leaving us both unable and unwilling to please God and be restored to him. We can’t obey, and we simply don’t want to. What hope do we have then? If our sin keeps us from believing and receiving the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14), then how can there be any “good news” for man?

We continue our study of Great Doctrines of the Bible by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (MLJ) by examining chapter 19 entitled, “Redemption: The Eternal Plan of God.” Lloyd-Jones provides eight biblical truths about redemption:

1. Redemption Is Entirely of God– Lloyd-Jones argues, “the Bible, after all, is an account of what God has done about the redemption of man. It is not an account of man seeking for God” (214). Romans tells us that “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11), therefore if God does not initiate salvation then we’d all be lost.
2. Redemption Is All of Grace– Man has proven to be rebellious, arrogant, and blind. We deserve absolutely nothing but eternal torment. However, God graciously moved toward us in redemption in spite of ourselves. “We have no claim upon the love of God. We have forfeited it. Salvation is all of grace” (216).
3. Redemption Was Planned Before the Foundation of the World– Rather than being a reaction or a plan B, Scripture attests that redemption was conceived before the world was even made, or before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4). God does not change his plans based on man, instead he carries out his good plan until the final consummation.

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