GETTING THE MESSAGE/The need we have for Christ
We are looking at Luke 2:21-24 this week, a passage that teaches us the value of our soul and the need we have of Christ. In verses 21-24, the emphasis is on Jesus being born under the law. He is taken to be circumcised in verse 21 and then a sacrifice is offered according to the law in verses 22-24.
That Christ was born under the law is important for us because we also are born under the law. We aren’t born under the ceremonial aspects of the law of Moses, but we are born under the moral law of God, summarized in the 10 commandments. The apostle Paul said that Jesus was born under the law to redeem those under the law (Galatians 4).
God requires the keeping of his law according to his own righteousness, which means without sin. For example, it would mean never putting anything ahead of God but living entirely for his glory. We may be very aware of our imperfections, but we aren’t naturally aware of how far we are from keeping the moral law of God, or how offended God is at our failure to do so.
God gave the law so that he could reveal to us our sin and drive us to the Savior he has provided. Paul said that by the law comes knowledge of sin. People live in sin before God without knowing it. The law helps us to see our sin as it appears in the presence of God. The Spirit of God was given for this end: to convict the world of sin.
When God brings the law home to a sinner’s conscience, he is made to know that he is a guilty soul before God, as certainly as if his name were expressed in God’s book. The conviction makes a soul know that he is personably chargeable with the sin he has committed. It carries with it a sense of helplessness, because we cannot free ourselves from guilt before God.
The gospel gives relief to the guilty. It is not embraced by those who do not feel their guilt before God. The gospel gives to sinners their warrant to trust in Christ for complete salvation. Christ makes such gracious invitations with a compassionate heart to convince despondent and distressed souls that it is lawful for them to entrust themselves to him with certain confidence.
It is the work of God’s Spirit to awaken us to our need of Christ. Paul says to Christians: “You were dead in your trespasses and God made you alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2). We cannot make ourselves alive, only the Spirit of God can.
Paul says that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The first sign of being led by the Spirit is being convicted of sin. The Spirit puts you in a right place - seeing the necessity of being cleansed of sin, and the willingness Christ has to make you clean. The more grace a man has, the more humble he is, because he sees himself a greater debtor to God.
The sacrifice of Christ upon the cross becomes more precious to us the more we see the wonder of it. Paul, the great sinner, became the great boaster in the cross of Christ: “God forbid that I glory except in the cross of Christ.” Christ crucified was the subject he preached on. It was the food and medicine for the soul of the apostle. It should be for us as well.
How can we know the Father’s love for the world? The evidence of his love is in the cross of Christ. We know his love because he did not withhold his Son from us. When Paul addresses Christians facing tribulations and death, where does he send them? He says, “He who spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to die, will surely give us all things.”
How can we know the sinfulness of sin in God’s sight? We can look at the judgment God brought in the flood upon the wicked world. Or we might look at the judgment of fire from heaven upon Sodom. But the clearest sight of it is to look at the cross of Christ. Sin is such that only the blood of the Son of God could atone for it. So, do not allow yourself a false sense of security over your morality or decency. If you don’t have Christ, you will perish under the law.
Christ born under the law so that he could pay the penalty for the violations of God’s law we have committed. He made himself low to lift us up to God. He is the Savior we must have.