GOSPEL,
GOOD NEWS OF

A YOUNG lady one day was speeding through a small Georgia town. She was traveling 70 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. The police pulled her over and wrote her a ticket that would cost her $100. She didn’t have the money to pay it and ended up having to go to court over the ticket.

In the courtroom, the judge said, “You were found guilty of going 70 miles an hour in a 55 mile speed zone. You have to pay $100.”

The young lady said, “I’m guilty, but I can’t pay it. I don’t have $100.”

“Well, if you don’t pay the ticket, we’ll have to lock you up for the weekend.”

“I can’t pay the ticket, but I don’t want to go to jail. Can you please just have mercy on me?”

The judge matter-of-factly replied, “I can’t change the law. The law says that you’ve got to pay $100, or you have to spend the weekend in jail. Those are the rules, and I can’t change the rules.”

Starting to tear up she spoke in a small voice. “Isn’t there something you can do? I can’t pay it, but I don’t want to get locked up. Have mercy on me.”

The judge looked down on her, pushed his chair back from the bench, zipped down his robe, and took it off. He went over to the side, picked up his jacket, and put it on. He walked down and stood beside the girl, reached in his wallet, and brought out a hundred-dollar bill. He put the $100 bill on the bench, took off his jacket, then went over and picked up his robe. He zipped his robe and got back behind his bench.

“Young lady, you’ve been found guilty of going 70 miles an hour in a 55-mile-per-hour speed zone. The law is the law. I can’t change it; the law says you must pay $100, or spend the weekend in jail. Ah! But I see somebody else has already paid the price.”

God saw us speeding down the highway of sin. He zipped down the independent use of His deity and put on the jacket of humanity. He came down, died on the cross, and paid the price that you and I could not pay. He picked up the tab, rose from the dead, zipped up his glorified body, and ascended up to heaven. The good news of the gospel is that a bill we could not pay has already been paid. It has been paid by God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. Isn’t that good news?416

[Cross; Gospel; Justification; Mercy]

Isa. 44:22; Eph. 2:8–9; Gal. 3:13