How to be “right with God”… This is a supremely important issue!
I was having my time of “coffee with the Lord” today and part of the assigned Bible reading in “Necessary Food” (the Bible reading plan I developed) was Romans 3:21-31. Every time I read this portion of Romans I realize just how far short we all fall of God’s righteous standard… I mean, how can a person be “right with God?”
God has declared, “As He who called you is holy, you also must be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy!’” (1 Peter 1:15-16; cp. Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7) But the sad verdict we face is “There is none righteous no, not one!” (See the extended indictment in Romans 3:10-18)
Trying to be righteous and pleasing to God by scrupulously trying to keep a list of rules (“Law”) won’t cut it either… all that makes you is prideful and self-righteous (which is sin)!
God’s righteous demand – and my inability to meet it leads to a dilemma… My guilt is real and as a result I experience something called “conviction!”
There is “good news” however… and Romans 3:21-31 describes it! Guilty sinners can be “right with God” – how they can have the righteousness that God requires through faith in Christ…
“But now the righteousness of God…is revealed – the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and upon all who believe! For there is no difference; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God [and all can be] justified [i.e. made ‘right with God’] freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forth as a propitiation [a Divine satisfaction – an atonement] by His blood through faith, to demonstrate… that He might be just and the justified of the one who has faith in Christ. Where is boasting then? It is excluded! … Therefore, we conclude that a person is justified [made ‘right with God’] by faith apart from the deeds of the Law!” (adapted from Romans 3:21-31)
What a deal!!! This is really “good news!” Though faith in what Christ accomplished when He died on the cross for our sins, guilty sinners can be “right with God!” Just take it from one guilty sinner to another, I’m eternally grateful! I sincerely hope you’ve taken advantage of God’s offer through Jesus Christ!
Coffee With The Lord 