Romans 3:21, the word justified means, to be declared totally innocent and right in the eyes of the judge, you can never be declared innocent by trying to follow the law, because you’ve already broken the law thousands of times. Trying to use the law to save yourself is like looking into a mirror to wash your face, a mirror is very good at showing you the dirt on your face, but the mirror has no power to scrub the dirt away. The law gives you the knowledge of sin, you are completely stuck, you are trapped in your own guilt, you have no way to reach God and you have no way to clean your own heart.
Romans 3:19-20, when humanity was trapped in darkness with no way out, God stepped in and did for you, what you could never do for yourself, God demands perfect righteousness, but you had no righteousness to give him, so God reveals a completely different kind of righteousness. This is the righteousness of God apart from the law, this means there is a way to be declared completely right with God that has absolutely nothing to do with how well you follow the rules, it has nothing to do with your moral performance, it has nothing to do with your religious attendance, it is a righteousness that comes entirely from God himself.
How do you get this perfect righteousness? You receive it entirely through faith in Jesus Christ, this amazing gift is available to all who believe, it does not matter if you were a religious person who grew up in the church and it does not matter if you were a criminal who broke every law in the book, there is no difference between us, we are all equally broken and we all desperately need the exact same savior. Romans 3:23-24, every single one of us has missed the mark, we have all fallen completely short of the brilliant glory of God, but God does not leave you in your failure, God promises that you are justified freely by his grace.
Let that beautiful truth wash over your exhausted soul, you are justified freely as a pure gift, there is no hidden goodness inside of you that made God save you, God did not look down and say you were trying so hard that he had to reward you. No. God saved you simply because he loves you, that is what grace truly is, it is a completely unearned favor of God poured out on people who deserve the exact opposite, you do not have to exhaust yourself trying to balance the scales of your life, the scale has been completely smashed to pieces by the grace of God, you are declared innocent, totally forgiven and completely loved purely as a free gift.
Romans 3:19-20, when humanity was trapped in darkness with no way out, God stepped in and did for you, what you could never do for yourself, God demands perfect righteousness, but you had no righteousness to give him, so God reveals a completely different kind of righteousness. This is the righteousness of God apart from the law, this means there is a way to be declared completely right with God that has absolutely nothing to do with how well you follow the rules, it has nothing to do with your moral performance, it has nothing to do with your religious attendance, it is a righteousness that comes entirely from God himself.
How do you get this perfect righteousness? You receive it entirely through faith in Jesus Christ, this amazing gift is available to all who believe, it does not matter if you were a religious person who grew up in the church and it does not matter if you were a criminal who broke every law in the book, there is no difference between us, we are all equally broken and we all desperately need the exact same savior. Romans 3:23-24, every single one of us has missed the mark, we have all fallen completely short of the brilliant glory of God, but God does not leave you in your failure, God promises that you are justified freely by his grace.
Let that beautiful truth wash over your exhausted soul, you are justified freely as a pure gift, there is no hidden goodness inside of you that made God save you, God did not look down and say you were trying so hard that he had to reward you. No. God saved you simply because he loves you, that is what grace truly is, it is a completely unearned favor of God poured out on people who deserve the exact opposite, you do not have to exhaust yourself trying to balance the scales of your life, the scale has been completely smashed to pieces by the grace of God, you are declared innocent, totally forgiven and completely loved purely as a free gift.