God has done what the law… could not do. Romans 8:3
What was the law unable to do? It could not forgive past sins or empower future obedience.
So God did what the law couldn’t do “By sending his own Son…” (8:3). What did the Son of God do that would forgive past sins and empower future obedience?
- “He condemned sin in the flesh…” (8:3). By dying on the cross, where his flesh was torn and his blood was shed, Jesus Christ made provision for all of our past sins. But it does not end there.
- He rose from the dead, and as the living Lord and the ascended Savior, he works by his Holy Spirit to give strength, hope, and faith.
- He did all this “in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (8:3-4).
A woman endured a long period of darkness and depression. And when, by God’s grace, she finally got relief, this was her testimony: “I realized after all these years that I was looking to find in myself what I needed to find in him.”
The good news for the person without strength, without hope, and without faith today is that these things are not found in you. They are found in Jesus. There is a Savior who can be trusted, and in him there is hope and there is strength for you.
“These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). There is a Savior whose Word brings strength to the powerless, hope to the hopeless, and faith to the faithless.
Do you need him to bring these things to you today?