If you think the music at your church is dreary, how would you like to start worship with Psalm 14?

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.” (Psalm 14:1-3)

Well, David’s words may not be exactly uplifting, but they are nothing if not realistic. For there’s just no getting around it – we are all sinners in need of a Savior. Paul’s Jewish readers should have understood that from verses 10 through 18, all of which are quotations from the Old Testament, many of which they would have sung during their times of worship.

Yes, even Bible-believers can fall into radical sin – David himself did with Bathsheba. And if we take a good look in the mirror, all of us have to agree. We know God wants us to be in perfect harmony and fellowship with Him, and yet we find so many things so much more interesting. We know God wants us to love others just as much as we love ourselves, and yet we continue to put our own interests and desires first.

And of course Jesus Himself provides the clearest condemnation of our sin, not just in His words but in His whole manner of living. How many of us are so focused on the glory of God that we would lay down our lives to complete His will? How many of us love those who despise and reject us enough to die so that they might be saved? No, as Paul summarizes in 3:23, all of us “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

So, the only way any of us can be justified, declared righteous in the sight of God is to have Jesus stand in our place, taking the punishment for all our sins upon Himself (3:25). But the good news is that this justification is not something that we earn by doing good deeds or performing religious ceremonies. No, as Paul says in 3:24, we “are justified by his grace as a gift,” a gift which comes “through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (3:22).

So, if our sin is indeed greater than we dare to imagine, God’s grace is greater than we can possibly deserve. Doesn’t such a righteous and loving God deserve our trust?

Romans 3:1-31 (ESV)

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.”
5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)
6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
8 And why not do evil that good may come?– as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
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,
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30 since God is one– who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.