Romans 3:20-26

As Christians, we know that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But why did He have to endure such an awful death? Couldn’t He have redeemed humanity in some easier way?

To answer this question, we must first consider the righteousness of God. Because He is holy, no one has ever seen Him and lived. Our sinful nature cannot exist in the presence of pure holiness. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), and we know that “the wages of sin is death” (6:23). This reality leaves us in a lost condition, eternally separated from God.

When sin entered the world, Adam and Eve fell into a state of mortality. Their transgressions created a barrier between them and the Lord, with the result that mankind became depraved, rebellious, and a natural enemy of God. Our sinful nature couldn’t redeem itself; rather, it had to be redeemed by something greater and purer. A sacrifice was required–one that was spotless and without blemish.

Because our heavenly Father created us for Himself–to bring Him glory and to spend eternity with Him (1 Tim. 2:4)–He provided the only offering powerful enough to reverse the effects of sin and restore us to our original purpose.

When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the price for all sin, beginning with Adam and spanning the ages. His awesome love and mercy applies to you as well (Eph. 1:5-6). He sealed you with the Holy Spirit (4:30), and you are forever His child, saved by grace for all eternity

“Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” This thought is often given as rationale for casting any type of public moralizing aside. Evidently, we cannot completely shake off our bequest from a Christian worldview. Ironically, this moral conviction is often given with the reminder that all morality is a private matter and not for public enforcement. But if all moral convictions are a private matter, why is this very conviction itself not kept private too? Why is it publicly enjoined?

When I ask citers of this verse if they are aware of the context in which these words were uttered, it is often unknown. One said it had to do with the woman in adultery.  I asked if he was aware of what prompted that imperative and to whom Jesus aimed those words. There was silence. Significantly, the entire confrontation came about because the Pharisees were seeking to trap Jesus into either explicitly defending the Law of Moses or implicitly overruling it. The whole scenario was a ploy, not to seek out the truth of a moral law, but to trap Jesus.

Fascinatingly, Jesus exposed their own spiritual bankruptcy by showing them that at the heart of law is God’s very character. There is a spiritual essence that precedes moral injunctions. So when we vociferously demand that only the one without sin may cast the first stone we also need to grant credence to God’s character in numerous other pronouncements. But for some, sin is not even a viable category. This selective use of Scripture is the very game the questioners of Jesus were playing. When the law is quoted while the reality of sin is denied, self-aggrandizing motives can override character. Thus, in our spiritually amputated world, the art of obscuring truth has become a

Herein lies what I believe the crucial death of our character. There is no transcendent context within which to discuss moral theory. Just as words in order to have meaning must point beyond themselves to a commonly understood real existence, so also, must the reality point beyond itself to commonly accepted essence. Otherwise, reality has no moral quotient and moral meaning dissolves into the subjective, rendering it beyond debate. Only the transcendent can unchangingly provide fixed moral worth.

But this death of the transcendent comes with a two-edged sword, both for the skeptic and the Christian alike. Yes, the law has moral value, but not as a means for shrewd lawyers to play deadly word games, minimize immorality, and kill the truth. At the same time the law has spiritual value so that we do not destroy the truly repentant individual. The grace of God abounds to the worst in our midst. Hidden in the odious nature of our failures is the scandalous secret of God’s forgiveness. When the prodigal returned, the anger he faced was not the father’s but the older son’s who failed to understand how marvelous was the grace of his father. Throughout history, God’s way of dealing with the reckless has disclosed how dramatic are God’s ways. We must allow for such possibilities. “My son was dead, but is now alive.” Death lay in the wanderings of the passions and the seriousness of wrongdoing. Life was spelled in true repentance to return and “sin no more.” But let us take note. Forgiveness is offered in full recognition of the heinousness of what is being forgiven.

On the contrary, when words, consequences, and transcendent contexts have died, a pigsty awaits. Only if we remember our Father’s address can we know where to return for forgiveness and love. But if we insist upon arguing as quick-witted political power-mongers or legal wordsmiths with no spiritual context, we may kill both law and love. This, I am afraid, is the abyss over which we often hover.

Yet I am confident that as precipitous as the edge seems, God has always been in the business of rescue. The truth is that as human beings we all fall short. Our only hope is in God’s ways, through which forgiveness and responsibility come in balance. There is indeed another bridge, one on which a body was broken so that a path was made that we might cross over and live. In that cross lie both judgment and mercy. The Judge of all the earth cannot be fooled by shades of meaning, nor was Christ obliterated by the shadows of death.

God is our help and our hope in ages past and years to come.

Ravi Zacharias is founder and chairman of the board of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.

 

Morning    “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered.”

Hebrews 5:8

We are told that the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through

suffering, therefore we who are sinful, and who are far from being perfect, must

not wonder if we are called to pass through suffering too. Shall the head be

crowned with thorns, and shall the other members of the body be rocked upon the

dainty lap of ease? Must Christ pass through seas of his own blood to win the

crown, and are we to walk to heaven dryshod in silver slippers? No, our Master’s

experience teaches us that suffering is necessary, and the true-born child of

God must not, would not, escape it if he might. But there is one very comforting

thought in the fact of Christ’s “being made perfect through

suffering”–it is, that he can have complete sympathy with us. “He is not an

high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” In this

sympathy of Christ we find a sustaining power. One of the early martyrs said, “I

can bear it all, for Jesus suffered, and he suffers in me now; he sympathizes

with me, and this makes me strong.” Believer, lay hold of this thought in all

times of agony. Let the thought of Jesus strengthen you as you follow in his

steps. Find a sweet support in his sympathy; and remember that, to suffer is an

honourable thing–to suffer for Christ is glory. The apostles rejoiced that they

were counted worthy to do this. Just so far as the Lord shall

give us grace to suffer for Christ, to suffer with Christ, just so far does he

honour us. The jewels of a Christian are his afflictions. The regalia of the

kings whom God hath anointed are their troubles, their sorrows, and their

griefs. Let us not, therefore, shun being honoured. Let us not turn aside from

being exalted. Griefs exalt us, and troubles lift us up. “If we suffer, we shall

also reign with him.”

 

Evening    “I called him, but he gave me no answer.”

Song of Solomon 5:6

Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until the King cometh

forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeketh. The Lord, when he

hath given great faith, has been known to try it by long delayings. He has

suffered his servants’ voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky. They

have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it

were rusted upon its hinges. Like Jeremiah, they have cried, “Thou hast covered

thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through.” Thus have true

saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not because their

prayers were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because it

so pleased him who is a Sovereign, and who gives according to his own pleasure.

If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he not do as he

wills with his own! Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or

form. But we must be careful not to take delays in prayer for denials: God’s

long-dated bills will be punctually honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake

our confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers.

Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a file for our prayers–they are

not blown away by the wind, they are treasured in the King’s archives. This is a

registry in the court of heaven wherein every prayer is recorded.

Tried believer, thy Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly drops of sacred

grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy groanings are numbered. By and

by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to wait a little? Will not

thy Lord’s time be better than thy time? By and by he will comfortably appear,

to thy soul’s joy, and make thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long

waiting, and put on the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.

 

As a pleasing aroma I will accept you.    Ezekiel 20:41

The merits of our great Redeemer are as a pleasing aroma to the Most High. Whether we speak of the active or passive righteousness of Christ, there is an equal fragrance. There was a pleasing aroma in His active life by which He honored the law of God and made every precept to glitter like a precious jewel in the pure setting of His own person.

Such, too, was His passive obedience, when He endured with unmurmuring submission hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and at the end sweat as it were great drops of blood in Gethsemane. He gave His back to the smiters and His cheeks to them that plucked out the hair and was fastened to the cruel wood, that He might suffer the wrath of God in our behalf. These two things are sweet before the Most High; and for the sake of His doing and His dying, His substitutionary sufferings and His vicarious obedience, the Lord our God accepts us.

What a preciousness there must be in Him to overcome our lack of preciousness! What a pleasing aroma to put away our nasty odor! What a cleansing power in His blood to take away sin such as ours! And what glory in His righteousness to make such unacceptable creatures to be accepted in the Beloved!

Consider, believer, how sure and unchanging is our acceptance, since it is in Him! Take care that you never doubt your acceptance in Jesus. You cannot be accepted without Christ; but when you have received His merit, you cannot be unaccepted. Despite all your doubts and fears and sins, Jehovah’s gracious eye never looks upon you in anger; though He sees sin in you, in yourself, yet when He looks at you through Christ, He sees no sin. You are always accepted in Christ, are always blessed and dear to the Father’s heart. Therefore lift up a song, and as you see the smoking incense of the Savior’s merit coming up this evening before the sapphire throne, let the incense of your praise go up also.

The family reading plan for March 28, 2012

Proverbs 15 | Philippians 2