A key to the message in Romans

Here's what Peter Bogert found in preparing for today's sermon on Rom. 3:1-20:

The key to the message in Romans so far, from what I see, is not that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, but that you and I are standing on the precipice of eternal judgment and facing a God who is not at all impressed with whatever paltry goodness we offer Him. Thankfully the message continues with the words of 3:21 - "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law . . . the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."

Certainly we want lost people to think about their lostness. But is it good for Christians to consider this from time to time? . . . . I don't believe that we fully understand what we have or who we are in Christ unless we remind ourselves from time to time of what we would have gotten without Him.

It's good to be reminded that the center of Christian discipleship is not the purposefulness of our own lives, but the holiness of God. Only in the light of God's holiness does the gospel make good sense: God is holy; we are not. Because of our sinfulness, we are eternally excluded from the presence of a holy God. Yet because God loves us, he makes us holy and pure not by our own efforts, but through the blood of Jesus Christ. It's good to remember that it's not really about us, but about the God who loves us and makes us new.