The Word Is Near You

Last Sunday, John outlined for us how Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (10.4). The section 10.5 onwards explains the last part of verse 4: righteousness for everyone who believes. The wonderful gospel that we have is that we do not need to do anything to achieve our own righteousness: Jesus has done all that is necessary to make us righteous – coming down from heaven to live amongst us in the likeness of sinful flesh but without sin, bearing our sin in his body on the Cross and rising again from the dead. When we hear this message with faith, it is more than mere words: it is Christ revealing himself to us. We, therefore, confess Jesus is Lord and believe he has risen from the dead because we have not only heard the gospel message, we have heard his voice. That is, we have been met by the Lord Jesus personally. Thus the confession we make is the response to the revelation we have received. And with that confession and faith in Christ comes justification and salvation – how good is that! The beauty of it is that this justification and salvation is accessible to all who believe in Christ Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile. So, the gospel is to be proclaimed in all the world so that by hearing the word of Christ many will come to faith – ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news’.