Many books have been written about Jesus Christ that inspire us to want to know him more intimately. While that’s an admirable goal for an author, the book you are about to read does something greater. Look! The Finished Work of Jesus doesn’t just cause the reader to hunger to know him more; it fills that very hunger by presenting Jesus in such a way that you actually sense his loving embrace as you read the book.
As I read this book, I found myself delighting again and again in some of the things Mick Mooney has written here. While this book will certainly teach you, it does more than that; it will touch you with a personal awareness of divine agape being expressed to you even as you read. More than once I felt as if my Father’s arms were holding me close while his voice whispered of his love to me through these chapters.
Religion complicates and confuses people by its demands and harsh scrutiny of our behaviour. The grace of God stands in stark contrast to religion by assuring us that because of the finished work of Jesus, we are not only in good standing with God but are actually cherished by him. Grace frees us from trying to prove anything to him, to others or even to ourselves. Mick has a firm grasp on that reality and writes in a way that causes others to understand it too.
The religious climate of the world today promotes the idea that we need to do certain things to earn God’s blessings and to make spiritual progress. This is a book that is counter-cultural to the world of legalism. It points us to Jesus Christ and causes us to see and really believe that what he has done on our behalf is indeed sufficient and that there is nothing left for us to do other than live out of the reality of his finished work.
I predict that Look! The Finished Work of Jesus is going to be used by our Father to set many people free from the prison of religious performance and usher them into the rest that only comes by living in his grace.
Steve McVey
Author, Grace Walk
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
It’s so good to know that when we accept Christ as our Lord and Saviour, God makes us a new creation in Christ. God doesn’t try to fix the old you; he makes you completely new in Christ! It really is good news for our lives. The word ‘gospel’ literally means ‘good news’. The good news of Jesus Christ is that through faith in him we are made a new creation and are given a new life.
The message of forgiveness through Jesus is a very significant part of the message; however, it is so important to recognise that it is not the full message. There is more good news within the good news! The gospel is the good news of the new covenant in which there is forgiveness of sins and also new life. When the angel of the Lord freed the Apostles from prison he said to them:
Go, stand in the temple courts and tell the people the full message of new life! Acts 5:20
Up to this point, the Apostles were only preaching the good news of the forgiveness of sins, however, now the Lord was encouraging them to start preaching the full message of new life. New creation life in Jesus!
In Jesus you have not only been saved, but you have also been made a new creation, with a new reality and new found blessings and privileges. God knew that if he had to fix the old you it would have taken him the rest of eternity, and he simply couldn’t wait that long to pour out his unfailing love upon you. This is why he made you a new creation, so that there would be nothing in you that could separate you from the love of Christ.
Being made a new creation does not mean that we will now freely indulge in the sinful nature without any consequences. What it means is that a new reality has been given to us by which we are no longer trapped by sin. The truth is that when you accepted Christ, your reality changed. Now that you are a new creation in Christ, you have been born again, no longer with the nature of Adam, but now with the nature of Christ! This means that you no longer sin by nature, but you now live a righteous life by nature.
As a new creation in Jesus, the ‘sin man’, who led us to live sinfully, has been condemned at the cross with Jesus, and now as a new creation you have the ‘righteous man’ living in you—that is Christ in you. In fact, the Scriptures say that when you were ‘in Adam’ you were controlled by sin, but now that you are ‘in Christ’ you are controlled by righteousness.
What good news for our lives! We are now controlled by Christ in us, who is leading us in his ways!
Exerpt from my new book: Look! The finished work of Jesus
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Pastor Moses, although fully aware he is bending the truth when he says that no one is looking around during the alter call time, seems to be perfectly at ease with his little white lie.
John is not sure if those who raise their hand, only to open their eyes and find Eric standing next to them with a pen and paper wanting their contact details feel the same way.
