DEVOTIONAL

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). Matthew 1:23 ESV

The tragedy of the effects of sin have wreaked havoc upon our entire culture. Sin, to simply put it, is the defiance against God’s perfect law, which defines His perfect character. Now concerning sin, Paul tells us in his inspired letter to the church in Rome, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” Now that presents a problem to each of us, because it pronounces to us that the whole world is accountable before a holy God. In the court of any justice system when someone breaks the law it must be accounted for, more so, in God’s perfect justice system the slightest of all sins must be atoned for. The God of Israel is not One Who shows partiality, for in His perfect righteousness He must judge sin, bringing judgement to the law breaker.

Now the problem again, is that scripture has shut everyone up under sin and has confined them in a prison cell of death where they await execution. Regardless of whether you believe me upon the subject of God’s wrath or not, it is non-negotiable, for the word of God corresponds with the reality of human nature, and you cannot escape that. For the moral law of God is written upon your heart with an iron stylist that cannot be removed. This is evident when you break the moral commandments of God’s law, violating your own conscience by doing what you know you shouldn’t, and then trying to cover it up. This alone brings you to the judgment seat of God and pronounces you guilty whether you like it or not. For a liar never wants to be lied to, and one who is an adulterous never wants anyone looking at their own spouse. Therefore, the law of God that was handed down to Moses corresponds perfectly with the reality of human nature, and when it has been violated it cries out for justice, even in your own heart.

O Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members.”

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, for when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, laid in a trough, came into the world as God in the flesh. Yet, without laying down His deity he submitted Himself to the leading of the Holy Spirit. He was raised as a child, grew into a man, and at the right time stepped into His calling. He was tried and tempted in every way just like you and I and yet without sin. Jesus Christ filled all the requirements concerning God’s perfect law and then He laid down his life bearing God’s wrath on behalf of sinners like you and I. So those who come to God through Jesus Christ in faith and repentance, He becomes their substitutionary atonement, dying in their place. So in Christ Jesus the prison cell of death has been opened, for those whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.