Romans 3:27-28, if you believe that your good behavior is what gets you into heaven, you will eventually become a very proud and judgmental person, you will start looking down on people who struggle with addiction, you will start feeling superior to people who have messy lives and broken marriages, you will secretly boast in your heart that you are a better person than they are. But Paul says that all human boasting is completely excluded, it is shut out and locked away forever, because you are justified entirely by faith apart from any good deeds you have done, you did not earn your salvation, so you have absolutely nothing to brag about.
The Christian has no right to be arrogant, when you realize that you were completely lost, guilty and broken and that Jesus Christ saved you simply out of pure love, your pride melts away, it is replaced by a profound and weeping gratitude. You become gentle with other people who fail, because you know how much you have failed, you become quick to forgive, because you know how much you have been forgiven, this beautiful grace is available to everyone regardless of their background. God is the God of all people, there is only one God and he justifies everyone exactly the same way through faith.
The ground at the foot of the cross is totally level, the highly respected religious leader and the criminal in prison both have to come to Jesus Christ the exact same way, they both have to abandon their pride, confess their sin and trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to save them. Now, someone might ask, if you are saved completely by faith and not by following the rules, does that mean you should just throw the rules in the trash, does grace mean you can live a wild and rebellious life without any consequences? Romans 3:31, grace does not make you want to sin more, true grace completely breaks your heart and makes you fall deeply in love with the God who saved you.
When you realize what it cost Jesus Christ to rescue you from the storm of justice, you do not want to go back to playing in the mud of sin, you want to honor him, you want to follow his commands, not out of a fearful obligation, but out of an overwhelming joy, you start to obey God, because you are a child who loves their father, not because you are an employee trying to earn a paycheck. The law of God is established, because the Holy Spirit comes to love inside of you and changes your desires from the inside out, you begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates, your life transforms entirely, not to gain the approval of God, but because you already have the full approval of God through Jesus Christ.
The Christian has no right to be arrogant, when you realize that you were completely lost, guilty and broken and that Jesus Christ saved you simply out of pure love, your pride melts away, it is replaced by a profound and weeping gratitude. You become gentle with other people who fail, because you know how much you have failed, you become quick to forgive, because you know how much you have been forgiven, this beautiful grace is available to everyone regardless of their background. God is the God of all people, there is only one God and he justifies everyone exactly the same way through faith.
The ground at the foot of the cross is totally level, the highly respected religious leader and the criminal in prison both have to come to Jesus Christ the exact same way, they both have to abandon their pride, confess their sin and trust in the blood of Jesus Christ to save them. Now, someone might ask, if you are saved completely by faith and not by following the rules, does that mean you should just throw the rules in the trash, does grace mean you can live a wild and rebellious life without any consequences? Romans 3:31, grace does not make you want to sin more, true grace completely breaks your heart and makes you fall deeply in love with the God who saved you.
When you realize what it cost Jesus Christ to rescue you from the storm of justice, you do not want to go back to playing in the mud of sin, you want to honor him, you want to follow his commands, not out of a fearful obligation, but out of an overwhelming joy, you start to obey God, because you are a child who loves their father, not because you are an employee trying to earn a paycheck. The law of God is established, because the Holy Spirit comes to love inside of you and changes your desires from the inside out, you begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates, your life transforms entirely, not to gain the approval of God, but because you already have the full approval of God through Jesus Christ.