Pastor Barry's  "Chapter & Verse  Day 343

December 8;   Romans 3:20;   120/260(II);   ‘The Revealer of Sin’

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

 God’s grace, His unmerited favor, saves us.  As we hear the Word of God, faith which is given to us by the Lord as a gift, rises up in our heart.  We believe the gospel message with the measure of faith the Lord gives us and salvation is imparted into our spirit.  In the genius of God, He gave us the Law, not for us to keep the Law, but to show us very clearly that we could not keep the Law.  As the Jews looked at the Ten Commandments, if they were honest, they knew very well that they did not obey those commandments.  That was exactly what the Law was created by the Lord to do, reveal that we were sinners.  God is love and the revelation that we were sinners was not to condemn us, but to reveal that we as sinners were in desperate need of God’s help.  That is exactly what the Law did.  Who was the Law to reveal to help us?  Jesus Christ.  He was the only One who could and did obey the Law.  In Deuteronomy 28, the Bible tells us all of the blessings that someone who kept the Law would receive.  As this verse teaches, no one kept the Law, so was no one ever to receive those blessings?  Since Jesus kept the Law, He was entitled to all of the blessings of Deuteronomy 28.  But, in order to redeem humanity, Jesus did not take the blessings of the Law, He took upon Himself the consequences of sin.  Jesus took our sins upon Himself on the cross.  The blessings He was entitled to He did not take, but gave them to us, those who have made Him the Lord of our lives.  Old Testament saints were saved by believing Jesus would redeem them, New Testament Christians are saved by believing Jesus did.