Jesus, Our Savior

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)

Paul tells us in Romans that the law was given to make us conscience of our sin:

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:19)

Sin Separates Us From God

There is no one righteous, not even one – no one who is able to follow the law perfectly. Paul tells us:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)

Solomon also tells us:

There is not a righteous man on earth, no one who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

We not only fall short of God’s glory, we continuously fall short. As Paul tells us in Romans:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
(Romans 7:21-24)

“Sin is a fundamental relationship–it is not wrong doing, but wrong being–it is deliberate and determined independence from God … The first thing Jesus Christ confronted in people was the heredity of sin, and it is because we have ignored this in our presentation of the gospel that the message of the gospel has lost its sting and its explosive power.” (Oswald Chambers)

Jesus Reunites Us With God!

The solution to our sin is Jesus! Paul tells us in Romans:

Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:25)

Further, Paul goes on to proclaim the following very good news:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4)

As a result of our faith in and our identification with Christ Jesus, we are justified, we are declared righteous, we are now able to stand firm in His grace and not under His wrath, and we are possessors of eternal life.  In our verse for today, John tells us that through Jesus, grace and truth have come to us. Surpassing the Law of Moses, though it were ever so glorious a revelation, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a much clearer and sweeter revelation filled with love, mercy, grace and truth.

Take It to Heart

“It is well to be poor, when the knowledge of our poverty serves but to unfold to us the exhaustless riches of divine grace. That grace can never suffer any one to go away empty. It can never tell anyone that he is too poor. It can meet the very deepest human need; and not only so, but it is glorified in meeting it. This holds good in every case. It is true of every individual sinner … Grace is the grand and only resource for us all. It is the basis of our salvation; the basis of a life of practical godliness; and the basis of those imperishable hopes which animate us amid the trials and conflicts of this sin-stricken world. May we cherish a deeper sense of grace, and more ardent desire for glory!” (C H MacIntosh, 1860, Notes on Leviticus)

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