"But Now....."

Romans 3:21-26
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood-to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

 This is one of the greatest "But now..." passages in the Bible! We focus on the bad news that it is impossible for us to do anything to earn a right standing with God. We have all missed the mark and fallen short because of sin. So how can we ever hope to have a right standing before God if we cannot earn it? You find the answer in this great "But now...." Passage! But now......Paul states...... we have a right standing with God that is made possible by God Himself through Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He willingly stepped into the place of punishment that was meant for us. He paid the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the whole world (this is what Paul refers to as the "sacrifice of atonement"). At one and the same time, the death of Jesus represents God's judgment of sin and God's mercy offered for you and me. This means that the good news of the Christian faith has nothing to do with our goodness but everything to do with the goodness of God's mercy and grace in Jesus. God did for us what we could never do for ourselves! We have the assurance that our debt has been paid in full and we can now stand before God in righteousness when we surrender our lives to Jesus. It is the only way!

 Are you still trying to earn God's favor? If so, it is a tragedy of untold proportion! There are many people who are basing their eternity on attempting to live a "good and decent" life before God. The only problem is that this kind of pursuit in achieving right standing with God is nowhere to be found in scripture! Many are walking the treadmill of an endless and arduous life that leaves them drained, empty, and confused. At the end of the day, they have no idea how they measure up because there are no measurements in scripture for a right standing with God! Some are fooled into this effort because they somehow take comfort in the fact that their lives are not as bad as those around them as if right standing before God has to do with how well their lives compare with others. Once again....nowhere to be found in scripture! To still be attempting to live a righteous life on your own efforts is an affront to God and the ultimate slap in the face of the Divine. Jesus was slaughtered on a Roman cross of torture so that you and I would have the opportunity to stand before God in freedom and assurance. Don't allow one more day to go by trying to earn what only Jesus can provide!

 Heavenly Father, I surrender my feeble attempts at earning righteousness. Today, I surrender my life to Jesus Christ. May He be my righteousness! Amen. 

(If you have prayed to receive Christ for the first time, I encourage you to let someone know of this most important decision. If you don't know who to tell, feel free to contact me at jerry.sweat@beachchurchjax.com. This is the most significant and life altering step you will ever take and we certainly want to encourage you!)

 Jerry Sweat is Lead Pastor at Beach Church in
Jacksonville Beach, Florida.