1. Life

In the ninth verse there is something God wants you to get which you have not got—life; and in the tenth verse, He wants you to get rid of something which you have got—sins. Had I written this, I am sure I should have put the tenth verse before the ninth, i.e., put the question of my sins first. But no, there is a deeper thing, the fact that I have not life,—eternal life. “In him was life." No one else had life; life was found alone in Jesus.
What is the state that Scripture describes as true of us? In death! “dead in trespasses and sins." I grant you you have natural life, but you cannot be sure of it for twenty-four hours. I press this, that you have an eternal existence. You will last as long as God lasts; but that is not eternal life. Eternal life is being with Christ—knowing Him; not merely eternal existence.
Think of it, sinner; God saw us in our ruined state, loved us notwithstanding all, and sent His Son to bring us out of it. Eternal life is association with Christ. What does the gospel present? There is a dead man, and God sends His Son to give him life. He might have left us alone. What an awful thing to be left alone! But, ah! blessed be His name, He brought in a remedy. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” What we have not got, He sends His Son to communicate; we get all through Christ; we are shut up to Christ.
But you say, What about the law? Could the law give life? Not Christ gives life; having gone into death, He has brought life and incorruptibility to light. A living Jesus will not do. We hear a great deal of a living Jesus, and very beautiful it is to trace His life and ways on earth; but He must die, for “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," hence we get:—