In John 9 Jesus heals a blind man, and later Jesus and the man have the following dialogue:
35 Jesus heard that they [the Pharisees] had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said,“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
The man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. In this simple verse we find the entire essence of Christianity summarized.
When we accept Christ’s gift of forgiveness our life is hidden with Christ’s. Jesus takes upon Himself our sin and He gives us His perfect, spotless record of righteousness. From the moment of true, saving faith we are justified in God’s sight. We stand before the throne of God without blemish and free of accusation. We are holy in God’s sight not because of our holiness but wholly because of Christ’s.
How quickly we base our standing before God on our holiness. How readily we base our justification on legalistic obedience to the law. How quickly we move from the hope held out in the Gospel!
Christ has already fulfilled the law. Why do we so adamantly seek to add works to Christ’s finished work on the cross?
“You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.” -Galatians 5:4
Let us not be alienated from Christ any longer! Let us return to the Gospel. Let us abandon our works at the foot of the cross and meditate on His completed work. Let us believe and worship. Let us fix our eyes ever on Jesus, and may the Spirit stir our affections for Him.
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