rom 05v21 GRACE REIGNS THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS

GRACE REIGNS THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Romans 5:21

Our hearts have learned to rejoice in the grace of God. It is God's free and unmerited favor toward us in Christ. We know that salvation is entirely a work of the grace of God. Human works and human merit contribute nothing to it.

Yet, before God could show his grace to any man, a work of goodness and righteousness had to be done. God's righteousness had to be satisfied. Grace must reign, because God is merciful. But it must reign through righteousness, because God is holy.

The Lord Jesus Christ made it all possible. Becoming our Mediator, the Son of God assumed our nature. For thirty-three years he lived as a man, our Representative, in this world, fulfilling the law of God and bringing in an everlasting righteousness for us. Then, as a real man, the Lord of glory died under the penalty of God's law, as our Substitute, satisfying the claims of justice against us. Our sins were imputed to him. They became his! But when he arose from the grave our sins were no longer upon him. The God-man setting in glory tells me that my sins are gone!

Now that his law is fulfilled and his justice is satisfied in my Substitute, God is perfectly righteous and just in showing me grace. Christ has made me righteous. His righteousness became mine! And God in perfect righteousness accepts me in Christ. In Christ, "Grace Reigns Through Righteousness." But this grace and righteousness is only for those who are in Christ by faith.