Romans 3:28 For we (the apostle Paul and those with him) hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law… 

If you’ve read the Old Testament you will recall how God gave to his people “the law”. This law is a code of conduct, a list of dos and don’ts, designed to educate the Israelites on how live in peace with God Almighty. The ten commandments given in Exodus 12 was the foundation of the law, but there was much more. Anyway, as long as the people followed the law they would be blessed. They were also warned that if they strayed from the law they would be cursed. Turns out they weren’t any better at following the rules than you or me. It didn’t go well.

If our relationship with God were based on our consistency in keeping the rules we would be doomed.

In Jesus Christ the Lord God Almighty did something new. Rather than allowing human beings to reap the penalty of sin (eternal damnation), God sacrificed his own son Jesus who died in our place. Through Jesus the enormous debt of our sin has been paid in full. We have been made right (justified) with God through faith in Jesus.

One of the traps of being a long-time Christian is we can become immune to the enormity of the power of the gospel. I sometimes yawn at the good news because it’s so familiar. I hardly think about it but take it for granted. I’m not proud of this, but it’s true. So this morning I’m meditating on this verse. I’m asking the Lord to speak to me as if I’ve never heard. I’m asking the Lord to well up in me the enormous gratitude one would expect of such a powerful promise. Lord speak for your servant is listening. Amen.