“For thus the Lord has spoken to me:

‘As a lion roars,

And a young lion over his prey

(When a multitude of shepherds is summoned against him,

He will not be afraid of their voice

Nor be disturbed by their noise),

So the Lord of hosts will come down

To fight for Mount Zion and for its hill.

Like birds flying about,

So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.

Defending, He will also deliver it;

Passing over, He will preserve it.’” vs4-5

The Lord is the preservation of His people! He is the reason that we are not destroyed; it is because salvation is by grace and to His glory [Eph 1:6]. Grace means that it is freely given to the worst of sinners. God’s glory is being gracious in a way that makes us holy and happy! All of this is through His Son’s blood, because He’s justified God to be gracious. “God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand [Rom 3:25].”

The gospel is GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS! It isn’t the righteousness of man; it isn’t what we deserve, or there’d be no gospel: it would be strict law from a holy God punishing our sins; it would be Him pouring out everlasting contempt and fury; it would be eternal hell. The gospel, however, proclaims what God has done in Christ, because He is gracious and delights in mercy. He did not have to save sinners. The angels fell, and He damned them all… but to show His greater glory, He had to give up His Son. This is the only gospel that befits God’s infinite glory as the One who gives all, dies for sinners, carries us home, makes us holy, and then blesses us forever in Paradise; it is the kindness of God through Christ the Son. “That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus [Eph 2:7].”

We must receive this when times are dark! Sin doesn’t change the gospel; it reveals how foolish and unthankful we are, but He’s accounted for our sins. It may astound us, and with quivering hands we may drink from mercy, but let us take the water of life freely. We are unworthy, but it is ours. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely [Rev 22:17].”

God is the reason that sin won’t overwhelm you. It will embarrass us and bring us to our knees, but it will humble us into submission, change the proud and forceful into the meek and mild, and it will cause us to abound in thanks through the Holy Spirit [Rom 15:16]. Sin and its consequent chastisement is the black backdrop for the diamond of grace. Take and eat of this grace. Drink abundantly. Be filled with God’s love, and sin no more!

There’s no other remedy and no other way. No matter how often we’ve fallen and how shockingly wicked we are, we must take, “No condemnation,” so that we can live. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death [Rom 8:2].” This isn’t licentiousness; it is survival.