As we prepare for Communion this Sunday, it would be good to spend some time thinking through what Jesus did for us. 

Romans says we were all under the same sentence of condemnation, because: 

No one is righteous — not even one.

No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.

All have turned away; all have become useless.

No one does good, not a single one…

They have no fear of God at all.

(Rom. 3:10-12, 18 NLT)

If that were the end of the story, we would all be hopelessly and eternally separated from God, but Jesus stepped into our mess and made a way for us to be redeemed, forgiven and adopted by God.  Isaiah says:

Yet it was our weaknesses He carried;

it was our sorrows that weighed Him down.

And we thought His troubles were a punishment from God,

a punishment for His Own sins!

But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole.

He was whipped so we could be healed.

All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.

We have left God’s paths to follow our own.

Yet the Lord laid on Him the sins of us all.

(Isa 53:4-6 NLT)

We could not save ourselves and no one else could help us – no one but Jesus.  He took our place.  He paid our penalty.  He made a way for us to become God’s dearly loved children.  That’s why:

there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ESV)

But praise God there is salvation in Jesus. 

But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12-13 NLT)