For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh.
Romans 8: 3 NKJV
Almost every one has, at one time or another, has become familiar with the words of the rhyme Humpty Dumpty. The egg shaped lad who, despite all of the efforts of those around him, could not seem to put him back together after he fell off that wall. For anyone who has ever cracked a egg shell either intentionally or by accident, I'm sure that you can relate. I found myself thinking of old Humpty this week as I considered all of the efforts which we have gone through to make ourselves more acceptable to God. Now, we all know that God is holy {Hebrews 7:26, 1 Peter 1:16}. Yet, one of the most confusing concepts to any Christian is...how can a holy God ever be in the presence of sin? This question takes on a more somber meaning when we consider that one of the things that the church continually drills into our skulls is that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God {Romans 3:23}. So, if all have sinned and carry those filthy rags, then how is it that we could ever come before our heavenly Father who cannot be in the presence of sin? Enter the law. For through the mosaic law, we were given guidelines to those behaviors or activities which were...bad. The law could be seen as a series of goal posts which we could identify with. If we kept the law, then we could most assuredly come into the presence of a holy God. A few of these were no brainers. Honor thy father and mother. Do not kill. However, over time, when we realized that as humans we could not come close to keeping the law, we added more laws. Like Humpty Dumpty's friends, we were trying to put ourselves back together once again after falling off of that wall. So, how did that work out? Because it seems to me that we still struggle with that very same issue of our sin getting in the way of our getting close to God. How can I, a sinner, ever be in the presence of a holy God? Are we doomed to simply "get close" to God as the church tells us? Well, if we were indeed still sinners, I would say yes. However, Christ Jesus has provided for Gods children a path into the presence of the Lord unhindered by our sin. For it is Jesus who put to death the sin we once carried {Romans 6:6}.
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV
The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, lays out what each and every believer needs to know about the truth of sin. That is, the truth of the sin which we once were bound to. It is Paul who tells us to reckon ourselves to be "dead indeed to sin" {Romans 6:11}. Whatever worries which you might have had about your sins keeping you from the Lords presence, those sins have long since been forgotten through the finished work of Jesus on the cross. For not only did Jesus become Himself become sin{2 Corinthians 5:21}, Paul also tells us that we can enjoy a life in Him. It is through the finished work of Christ that Jesus now lives in me {Galatians 2:20}. Could this have happened if we were still under the conviction and condemnation of our own sin? Perhaps, but Jesus guaranteed it by putting that sin which we carried to death. What we failed in our own efforts to fix, Christ fixed for us. Keep in mind that a law needs to have a threat of consequences if it is to be effective. What good is it for speeding to be against the law if there are no consequences for it? As believers, we longer live under the law {Romans 6:14}. What remains is the grace of Christ Jesus. It is through Jesus that we are now free to live a life in Him. A life free of what once convicted us. In Christ, we have all we need.
~Scott~
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