ROMANS 3:24-26 tells us that the gospel of the grace of God, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, the salvation that God has provided through the substitutionary work of Christ the power that saves us From our sins, glorifies and magnifies the grace of God in allowing God to be just when He justifies a poor sinner who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. This to me is the heart, the meat, the marrow of the gospel of the grace of God, that God is just when He justifies poor sinners because of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth is that Christ poured out His precious blood as an atonement for our souls, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. The gospel consists in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible shows us, the Word of God declares unto us, that it is by the poured out precious blood of Christ that an atonement for poor souls can be made and that sins can be remitted, washed away.

From the beginning, the Bible puts great emphasis on the blood of God's appointed sacrifice as the means of His passing over or forgiving us our sins. Look at Hebrews 9:22 again: "Without shedding of blood is no remission [of sins]." We cannot bypass the blood shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the heart of the gospel of the grace of God. All the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament were just types of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ and the forgiveness of sinners' sin by faith in His precious blood. Hebrews 9:12-14 says, "Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?"

The gospel of the grace of God declares unto us how much more the power of the blood of Christ will purge our conscience from dead works that we might serve the true and living God and that He might declare us justified by that blood and that we might be saved from His wrath through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We understand, then, that the good news of the gospel is that the blood shedding of our Lord has given us a righteousness whereby God has justified us freely from all things, and we stand in Christ where no condemnation can touch us and this we have received by faith in His precious blood. Also, this perfect righteousness imputed to us in heaven has brought about a change in our lives down here on earth if we indeed have laid hold of Christ and the eternal life He gives to every believing soul.

The first change we read about is found in Colossians 1:20: "And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." At the cross the Lord Jesus overcame that which takes away peace, that is, sin. By the shedding of His blood, He also overcame Satan, who robs us of our peace. The Lord Jesus satisfied the justice of God whereby God gives us peace by faith in His blood, and Christ by His blood becomes our peace. That is one of the benefits of the gospel of the grace of God, as He tells us in Romans 5:1: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

This great truth of the blood shedding of Jesus Christ, His great work of redemption, His death in our place, paying for our sins, has done something else. It has opened the way back to the throne of God. It is the theme of the New Testament. God has made a way that we could come by the shed blood into the very presence of God and have entrance to that throne of grace by that new and living way that Hebrews 10:19 describes: "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus."

1 John 1:7 declares another truth, that through the blood of Christ, we who have believed in Christ have been cleansed from all our sin. Ephesians 1:7 declares unto us the same thing, that in Christ we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. Also in Romans 5:9 we are told that we who have trusted our never dying souls to Christ have been justified by His blood before God and are thereby saved from God's wrath through Christ. We read in Hebrews 9:14 that our conscience, our innermost man, is purged through the blood of the Lamb, who gave Himself unto God for us, a Lamb without spot or blemish. his is grace; this is mercy; this is precious-the conscience purged from dead works that we might serve the living God!

Revelation 12:11 tells us that by the power of the blood of our crucified and risen Lord we are able to overcome the wicked one: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." In fact, Acts 20:28 tells us that the whole living church of God has been purchased through and by the blood of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This precious blood of Christ as the Lamb of God is and shall be the song of heaven, as we are told in Revelation 5:9-10:, And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Praise God for such a salvation, such a gospel that is the power of God unto salvation, all by and through the blood shedding of our blessed Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, that lets us into the very presence of God and breaks the power of sin!

The effect of the blood of Christ upon our lives, as we have come to rest upon that blood of Christ for our cleansing and our standing before God, will make a marked difference between us and the world of unbelievers. Why? Because it brings us, as redeemed sinners, into a holy relationship with a holy God by the Holy Spirit, based upon the holy sacrifice of our blessed and holy Savior. When we believe and trust Him and are made to stand by faith in this blood, cleansed and justified before God, there is then a marked difference between us and the world of unbelievers.

By the cross of Christ, by His death and shed blood, we have been crucified unto the world and the world has been crucified unto us. The shedding of the precious blood of Christ means death to self, sin and the flesh. The difference between the believer and the world of unbelievers is this: the believer has been washed in the blood of Christ by faith and has died to the world. He is no longer an unbelieving worldling; he has become a believing one in Christ and belongs to another world. He has been crucified in Christ to the world; he has been buried with Christ in death. His old man, his former life and ways, have been crucified with Christ; he has died to the power of indwelling sin, for they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts.

This is the reason the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, for by the power of the gospel we are made free from the power of indwelling sin, according to Romans 6:22, and are made free in Christ to follow and serve Him as His children. We are delivered from the power of the world and the power of the devil and are made by God's grace to walk in newness of life. Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. We have been given new hearts and new natures, so we desire to please God, to follow after holiness and hate every evil and false way.

But that is not all. Scripture teaches that the blood of Christ has secured the death of my old man, my fleshly man. It will lie down and die at last and never rise again. For this I praise the Lord! Also, the blood of Christ has secured the death of Satan, the accuser of the brethren. He will be cast into the lake of fire, for our blessed Lord defeated him at the cross.

The blood of Christ has secured the death of sin, for the plague of my heart will one day be left in the grave. One day I will be able to say, because of the blood of Christ shed on my behalf, "O death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?" The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory in our Lord Jesus Christ!

The blood of Christ has secured for me a new body wherein dwelleth righteousness, and I shall stand before God perfectly redeemed in spirit, soul, and body, being made like my blessed Lord in holiness. Oh, I praise the Lord for this! This is real to my soul, and this to me is what the verses in our text teach: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."

The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation because of substitution. Christ died in my place. His blood was shed for the remission of my sin, and on believing in Him as a poor, lost, hell- deserving sinner, I have been brought before God completely justified by His blood from all sins. They have been blotted out forever and never shall be remembered against me any more. This is the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is what it does in the hearts and lives of those whom He saves by His grace.

This work of Christ was not only for me, but for all those whom the Father had given to Him in electing love and in whom the Holy Spirit has worked effectually by His grace, showing them that they are sinners and deserve nothing but the wrath of God. Unto them, the Scriptures say, He will have mercy. Who are they? No man knows, so the invitation goes forth, "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely."

Will you come and believe and trust Him and look to Him? He alone can save by the power of His gospel.

Taken From Chapter 24 of Man's Ruin God's Redemption

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