God Gave the Grace and We Give Thanks
[The sacrifice of Jesus] was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Romans 3:25-28 ESV Read More
God makes Himself look so good when He sets up the Law and justice and redemption and creation and then overflows His mercy to save us in the whole thing.
Salvation was always by faith. It was never a matter of obeying a Law to gain righteousness. The Law was given to show people how to live in their new nation and to give them the means to express the faith they had. What the Law was powerless to do was to change our hearts and inner motivations. The Law could limit and give us guardrails, but it couldn’t fuel the car.
So there is no boasting in our own deeds for our salvation. God gave the grace and the justification. He looked over sins for thousands of years until He sent the perfect sacrifice to pay for them. Once paid for, the sin, the condemnation, has no place in the lives of those that believe in Him. We are justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
So CityServe is coming. It’s in a week and a half. Do we serve our community because we want to justify ourselves? No way! Do we work around schools and parks to bless the people that go there so that we can boast in our holy activities? fuggedaboutit!
We are thankful to God. He has opened the door up for all who would believe in Him, regardless of how good we are at the law. Out of that gratitude, we do stuff. Out of our love for the other people He has saved, we do stuff together.
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