The Gospel for Your Past, Present, and Future

This article is adapted from a message preached on December 14th, 2025. Watch the full sermon on YouTube.

The gospel is good news because it addresses every part of our lives—our past, our present, and our future. Ephesians 2 shows what we once were, what God has done, and what He offers to all who trust His Son.

Your past: dead in sins with no ability to change it

Paul begins by reminding believers of what they were before salvation. He describes a condition all of us share apart from Christ. We “were dead in trespasses and sins” and walked “according to the course of this world,” under the influence of “the prince of the power of the air” Ephesians 2:1–3. Our lives were shaped by self-glory, self-will, and the desires of the flesh and mind. We were, by nature, “children of wrath.”

The past cannot be undone. We cannot replay life and change the choices we made. Scripture does not minimize our past; it confronts it. Our sins must be accounted for, and we cannot repair them ourselves.

But the gospel speaks into this hopeless condition. God “made us alive together with Christ” and brought new life where there was only death. The past is answered by Christ’s finished work on the cross. He bore our sins in His own body, providing full forgiveness and removing the entire record of our guilt. This is the good news for the past: Christ died for our sins, and all who trust Him receive full pardon.

Your present: brought near to God by the blood of Christ

The present is often filled with regret from the past and anxiety about the future. Even at our best moments, “everything is never enough.” There remains a nagging sense that something is missing.

Scripture explains why. We “were far off” from God—alienated, separated, unable to enjoy what we were made for Ephesians 2:13. But the gospel transforms the present.

“But God,” Paul writes—God who is “rich in mercy” and who loves us “because of His great love,” not because of anything in us Ephesians 2:4–5. By the blood of Christ, those who were far off are “brought near.” The distance between the sinner and God is removed through the death of His Son.

The believer now enjoys a restored relationship with God, raised up and seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Spiritually, what happened to Christ physically in resurrection has happened to the Christian through salvation. The present is no longer empty or insufficient. If you have Christ, you have enough.

Your future: secured by the exceeding riches of His grace

The future is uncertain. Life can change in a moment—illness, loss, tragedy, or unexpected sorrow. Beneath all uncertainty lies a deeper reality: every person faces death, and beyond death stands God’s judgment. Apart from Christ, we remain “children of wrath” Ephesians 2:3.

But the gospel again speaks hope. God’s salvation not only removes wrath; it secures the believer’s eternal future. In the ages to come,

God will display “the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:7.

Nothing can overturn this future. Even when life on earth shifts unexpectedly, the foundation remains unshaken: the believer is in Christ, and that can never change.

This is why the gospel is good news for the future. It removes fear of judgment and replaces it with the assured kindness of God forever.

The gospel invitation

The message of the Bible is good news for your past, your present, and your future. But the question remains: do you want Christ?Eternal life is not earned or deserved. “For by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God” Ephesians 2:8.

A gift must be accepted or rejected. God offers salvation freely through His Son. Those who receive Him find forgiveness for the past, peace in the present, and a future filled with the unfolding riches of His grace.