Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (NKJV)
This is our first out of five stops along our journey down "Romans Road."
No one usually goes to a doctor until they admit they are sick, right?
(Okay, check ups don't count for this illustration)
Well, the first step of salvation is admitting they you are a sinner. This verse in Romans tells us that we have all sinned: you, me, your sweet little grandmother, Mother Teresa, the Pope, etc. ALL have sinned and fall short of God's glorious standard.
Since man's fall in the garden we are all S-I-N positive with no cure expect the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross. We can all run around telling our self that we are all good people and that God wouldn't send a good person to hell, blah, blah, blah...
The hard truth is that it doesn't matter what we think or what we believe in, we do not measure up to God's standard. Before Jesus' death on the cross, God instituted the sacrificial system as a covering for the sins of the people. All of this was designed to foreshadow the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ for not just the sins of Israel, but for the whole world.
We may look real good when we compare ourselves to other people or criminals on TV, but how good would you look standing next to Jesus?
I will tell you. Every little thing you ever did that was wrong would stand out like a gigantic oil stain compared to the pureness and sanctity of Christ.
And you thought the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989 looked bad...
So on this stop along Romans Road, we need to realize that no matter how hard we try, we will never measure up to God's standard.
Next time we will talk about what we get for our sinful ways versus the gift that Christ gave us...
In Christ,
