We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ … if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. – Galatians 2:16a, 21b
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Who Jesus is and what Jesus accomplished will always be a cheap gift and insignificant to the way we live our lives until we realize the gracious reason it was given and just how much we desperately needed it. By nature and choice we sinned against God as an idolatrous and rebellious people who regularly preferred things over Him and refused to obey Him. We were hell-bound under an eternal death sentence, and there was absolutely nothing we could do to change the inevitable outcome of ruin that awaited us. But God did something. God demanded that we be perfect in order to go to heaven, declared that none of us are perfect and therefore are condemned to hell, and then delivered us by sending Jesus to take our imperfections and be our perfection so we can have everlasting life. Don’t you see? Here is what WON’T get you into heaven: good deeds, church membership, communion, mass, charitable contributions, baptism, religion, parents, denomination, obeying the Ten Commandments, confirmation, sincere belief, Bible knowledge, morality, or being a “good person”. Here is what WILL get you into heaven: Jesus. God didn’t lower His standards for us; He lowered His Son for us. And that changes everything for those who are trusting in Him! We were… Lost, but now found. Bankrupt, but now rich. Condemned, but now pardoned. Enslaved, but now free. Dead, but now alive. We will truly treasure Jesus when this amazing truth about God’s amazing grace penetrates and resides in our hearts: our salvation and everything it includes comes not from the sweat of our brows, but because of the thorns on His.
