Romans 3:23-24 English Standard Version

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

The emphasis is always put on salvation which is the end game but we do not find that word in this scripture. We first find the word justified. God does not save what He cannot justify. This is why justification needs to be at the core of our understanding and our security in relationship with God.

Deuteronomy 32:4 English Standard Version (ESV) “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Psalm 118:22 English Standard Version (ESV) The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

Jesus Christ is the Rock, He is the Cornerstone upon which His church is built. His ways are justice. What He has done justifies us.

Romans 3:28 English Standard Version (ESV) For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

At the core of individual salvation is the feeling of being lost. We are searching for a way out of the trap that has ensnared us.

Psalm 9:16 English Standard Version (ESV) The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. 

Psalm 124:7 English Standard Version (ESV) We have escaped like a bird  from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken, and we have escaped!

Once we realize we have been caught in sin’s snare we want to move from Ps 9:16 to Ps 124:7 but we cannot do it on our own, we need help. We don’t care much about why we are freed so much as just escaping.

Ephesians 2:8 English Standard Version (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

How do we receive this gracious gift?

1 Corinthians 13:13 English Standard Version (ESV) So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 John 4:15-17 English Standard Version

¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

Some are of the “seeing is believing” mindset. The problem with that vision is judging ourselves by a standard we never could keep before Christ. The abiding love is God and God is Lord and the Lord is in charge. We are in fact helpless to control God, control love, and that means we cannot stop God from loving others.

Our failure in “seeing is believing” is self-effort. That effort has performance issues because it seeks to please self, to prove that we are acceptable rather than to believe we are accepted. The motivation is self-interest rather than to just love God and let God be the motivations of our hearts.

At the core of the “seeing is believing” viewpoint is insecurity, having never been good enough, we think we are still not good enough. This is why having a right understanding of justification is the only cure for that insecurity.

“How could God love a sinner like me?”

This is the root cause of spiritual insecurity. It is a spiritual matter and like all things spiritual, they are by faith. What God has done for us is how He can justify abiding in us. Justification makes that possible.

Romans 3:23-24 English Standard Version

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,