Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 

Acts 13:38-39 

Acceptance with God is never by works. It has not ever been by works and will never be. There are only two types of religion. The one type demands a plethora of works for acceptance with God. The other is free grace with works as the evidence of true gratitude for what we have received. Ancient Judaism was based on the law of Moses. The Ten Commandments provided much of the basic foundation from which the rest of the practices derived. Having said that, the law could not ever bring anyone into a right relationship with God. Along with the law there was always the promise of Messiah. From Genesis through to Malachi ‘to Him give all the prophets witness.’ As Paul points out in Galatians, ‘Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.’  Therefore, as Paul is preaching to the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia he articulates justification by faith and goes on to point out that justification is not by the deeds of following the law of Moses. Paul is setting forth salvation by free grace. Here is where the faith of Christ departs from every other religion, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.’ As Paul says elsewhere, ‘by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.’ This plants the knife into the heart of all self-righteousness and works-righteousness. We cannot ever do enough. Christ, has done what the law could never do.  

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that You are the reason we can be justified. 
We praise You that what You have done 
is what we need most.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. 

Acts 13:38-39 

How can we be just with God? This is an old question. Job asked it in what is perhaps the oldest book of the Bible. The nature of the question is how can a person be righteous before God? In his message, Paul answers that question. He begins with forgiveness of sins and proceeds to, ‘by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.’ The law of Moses laid down spiritual and moral demands which are humanly impossible to meet. No matter how we attempt to satisfy those demands, we will never succeed. Because we are the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are sinners by nature and by choice. As Isaiah puts it, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’  The end of that verse points to Christ as the Bearer of sin. If we want to understand how we can be righteous in the eyes of God we must look to the life and death of Christ. By His life, He satisfied all the demands of the law of God in precept. By His death, He satisfied all the demands of the law in penalty. He has been the righteous person. In order to be declared legally righteous in the eyes of God and of His law we believe in Jesus. God imputes His righteousness to us. He accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us and received by faith alone. Thus we can be just with God.  

Our Holy and Righteous God, 
we rejoice that You have given us Your only begotten Son. 
We praise You that by His righteousness, 
we can be justified. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. 

Acts 13:38 

Paul preaches Christ for the forgiveness of sins. As he was preaching in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia, he laid the historical groundwork to introduce Christ. He brought the account of His death, burial, and resurrection to his hearers, proving his points from the Old Testament. He introduced Jesus as the Man through Whom there is forgiveness of sins. This is the place in the message toward which Paul had been working all along. The congregation who were listening were well-versed in the matter of sin. They knew the law of Moses. They knew, not only the Ten Commandments, but also the extrapolations and implications of the law which their teachers had been expounding for centuries. An astronomical amount of their discussions had been about sin and the forgiveness of sins. Now Paul introduces Jesus and says, ‘through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.’ This was striking news. Paul, having excelled in Judaism above others, knew how radical his message was. It is still a radical message. Forgiveness of sins is through Christ. This is one of the premier facts of the gospel. As such, Paul emphasized it to his hearers. We do the same. By Jesus is forgiveness of sins.  

Our Good and Gracious God, 
we rejoice that You have provided Christ for us. 
We praise You that, by Him, 
we have the forgiveness of sins. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning