Romans 3:10-31

"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
Romans 3:10-11

"This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood." Romans 3:22-25a

We can not truly be thankful for the wonder of our salvation until be begin to understand the depth of our sin.  We often try to compare our lives with others. We can so easily imagine ourselves better than say a hardened criminal who has perhaps killed people.  The truth of the matter is, however, that outside of Christ we are all sinners.  If we would commit only one sin in our entire lives, we would deserve God's eternal punishment.  That is how horrific sin is in the eyes of God.  The fact remains, however, that we commit many sins against our Lord every day.

Romans 3:10-11 tells us, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."  Not one of us is righteous before God in ourselves.  Only if we are washed in the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, can we have a right relationship before God.  In our natural sinful state we have no understanding about God and about what is right and holy.  Romans 3:12b goes on to say, "there is no one who does good, not even one."  Our natural minds, hearts and wills are turned against God.  In our natural state outside of Christ there is only deceit and corruption.  Hence, outside of Christ there is no peace, humility, or reverence for God and the will of God found in our lives.  Romans 3:17-18 says, "And the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes."

But praise God, Jesus Christ has provided a remedy for this horrid sin condition in which we find ourselves!  Jesus Christ came to this earth to first live the sinless life that we fail to live and then to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins.  If we have accepted Christ's awesome gift of salvation, we now stand righteous before God because of Christ's atoning sacrifice!  Romans 3:22-25a tells us, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood."

What grace and what love was shown to us by our Lord and Savior!  It is only when we recognize the depth of our sins that we can truly be thankful for and delight in our salvation.  As we begin to more and more realize the depth of our sins from which we were redeemed, we begin to more passionately seek to live our lives in gratitude and service to the Lord.  It is only then that we begin to passionately desire to make Jesus not only our Savior but also the Lord of every area of our lives.  Some of us have heard the story of salvation so often that we may be in danger of beginning to became complacent in our awareness of the depth of our sins and the awesomeness of our salvation.  Let us spend time today thinking about the wonder of our salvation!  More importantly, let us live our live today and every day in gratitude for God's grace to us!