I heard it once like this. It’s a busy day on the streets of New York. You have just walked out of a meeting late and now it’s put you behind for the rest of your day. You hail a taxi and get in, the driver sees you are clearly flustered yet he blasts the most annoying music that has ever entered your now turning red ears (probably some Miley or something wink wink). He turns down the wrong street then begins to hack at you with verbal insults and at that point you’ve had enough… you hit him. This enrages the driver and he kicks you out. You have been punished for your sin.

Let’s take it up a notch. You are touring Buckingham Palace and suddenly this turns into the tour of a lifetime as you see the very Queen of England walk into the hallway. Recently she has been doing some things that have upset you and you feel you must exert this right by walking up and punching her in the face… what happens now? Oh, within seconds there is a fleet of large men on you holding you down. At the very least, they kick you out of the country. At the worst, they decide you are a threat to all of society and you are to be executed.

Now, put this on the very top notch. God our Father, Jehovah, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the ultimate authority and ultimate ruler. He is perfectly loving yet perfectly just and fair. Take the example of hitting, that is a sin, but when you sin against God the punishment is going to Hell for eternity. We deserve the most severe punishment imaginable because we have failed the most supreme being, God.

It says in Romans 3:23-24 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

What? Did you hear all of that? We all have sinned. We all have slapped the everlasting taxi driver that is God the Father. Nothing we can do, no amount of good deeds or walking that old woman across the road, will grant you anything more except Hell. But Christ died for us. He took that burden away from us. 

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

He did that. Christ did that for you. For [insert everyone ever’s name]. He paid the ultimate sacrifice so you can have ultimate freedom.

But where does this earth shattering news leave us? Do we run around and commit every sin we can think of because we are forgiven for it?

“Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” Romans 3:31

No, God gave us the law to remind us of how to follow Him. How to glorify Him and feel His presence in our lives.

Remember that.

(also if you wanna hear the incredible song we played at worship last night here it is)

Be sure to check out our blog from last week’s sermon to see how we have gotten here!

–Taylor