Man’s Problem, God’s Solution

Scriptural Text

Romans 3:10-12 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 8:7-9 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Romans 3:28 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Exposition

”This, I say again, with as much absoluteness and seriousness and sorrow as I can see and feel from God’s word: The greatest problem facing this world is that the Creator of the universe has sentenced every human being to everlasting condemnation, because we have all committed treason against him by giving the allegiance of our greatest affections to other things and not to him.

Jesus, The Bridge to Life

Human Rebellion, Divine Solution: And from this rebellion on our part, and this holy wrath on God’s part, flow all the errors, all the ugliness, and all the miseries of this world. This means that every subject and every issue …, and every relationship in your life, and the life of this city and this world is distorted by this double reality: human rebellion and divine wrath. Their ruinous fingerprints are everywhere.

This means that the reversal of this rebellion and this wrath — wherever it could happen — would be personally, relationally, academically, socially, politically, pervasively, and globally relevant everywhere all the time.

This also means that, if you knew how the reversal of human rebellion and divine wrath could be brought about, and you spent your life savoring and showing the causes and effects of that reversal, you would have joined the greatest purpose in the universe. You would not have wasted your life. How could it be a waste to show the world the solution to its greatest problem, and how that solution affects everything?’

Application

“And you do know!  God has acted in Jesus Christ to bring about this solution. And we are focusing today on one central, glorious, inexpressibly amazing stand-on-your-head-with-joy aspect of that solution: The justification of the ungodly by faith alone in Jesus Christ.”  John Piper

May the joy of your salvation be so abundant today that you cannot but share it with those who do not yet know Jesus, and may your joy fill your dreams with hope for the beauty of His Bride, the Church.

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From our church’s devotional, 31 Days with God. Click here to see more.