Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
If I’m honest, most of my Christian life, I feel like I’m not doing enough for God. I’ll have days where I don’t read the Bible, I won’t pray. Then the next day, here I am, trying to earn God’s love for me.
I asked myself a question not too long ago: Why do I always try to earn what’s been freely given to me? God’s grace has been freely given to me. I don’t have to earn it. God’s grace is received. It’s not achieved. I’ve preached that sermon before, over and over and over. Yet I still find myself trying to earn God’s love and God’s acceptance.
The Bad News
What I love about this verse is this captures the heart of the gospel. In order for us to really understand the context of this verse, I want to read just one verse earlier, and it says this: "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard."
Then we get to our verse, and it says, “Yet God, in His grace…” Here’s the bad news. Verse 23 is the bad news. It says all have sinned. Everyone has sinned. We are born sinners, and we sin by choice. Because we’re born sinners, God had to send His one and only Son to live a perfect life, to die a death that you and I deserved. When we place our faith in Him, we have eternal life.
The Good News
This is what Paul says: “Yet God”—that’s the good news—“in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight.” You and I, when we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we are made righteous. When we stand before God, because we’ve placed our faith in Jesus, we can stand with confidence, because we are now the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Then Paul says this: “He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins.”
I love that, because we’re freed from the penalty for our sins. What’s the penalty for our sins? God’s wrath, condemnation, eternal separation from God. Our greatest need is to be forgiven of sin. Because of Jesus Christ, because of the price that was paid for us on the cross, you and I have a hope.
Extend That Grace
That grace that’s been extended to us, we don’t just hold on to it. Here’s my challenge to us: Extend that grace to somebody else. Your whole life, my whole life as a Christian, is based on a Man, and His name is Jesus Christ, who extended His grace to you.
Listen, you don’t deserve grace. I don’t deserve grace. That’s why the grace that’s been extended to you needs to be extended to somebody else today.
