Now the Good News (Romans 3:21-31)

It has been a challenging week for our community. Several of your kids and grandkids have had school canceled for several days due to the threats made against their schools. Some kids are now scared to go, parents are worried, and we see society continue to degrade in front of our eyes. So how should we as Christians respond to the situation?

As we have looked at the first chapters of Romans, we have seen the challenges of today. In chapter 1 we looked at the wrath of God against a society. It is interesting that the chapter ends with this: 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. Even this week this feels like a prediction of today. 

In chapter 2, we discovered that acts of religion cannot save us or change society. In chapter 3 the picture became direr. No one does good, no one is righteous, no one seeks for God. All people are totally depraved. So what are we to do? Simply resign ourselves to the fact that depravity will continue without stopping? Live in a world in which our kids have to be scared to go to school? How can we see change happen?

After weeks of bad news, today we get to turn to the good news. Yes, man is totally depraved and hopelessly wicked, but there is good news.