"being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"

Believer, consider Romans 3:23- "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

Almost every Christian knows this verse by heart and many of us, even pastors and leaders, seem to have accepted this as our status forever. Due to the teaching and hearing of a false and faithless doctrine, the next step for many churchgoers after hearing this verse is to work one's way up the ladder of righteousness/justification before God by confessing sins, doing one's best to keep the Ten Commandments and generally doing things to get back into His good graces so that He can bless and save.

But what many of us do not consider is the verse that comes immediately after this Romans 3:23. See both verses below: 

23 "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"

See the New Living Translation: 

"23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins."

Notice that "being justified FREELY by His GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," is how we who believe are justified before God? FREELY.

To be right in God's sight/justified freely means God sees us as not having a single speck of sin, spot or blemish and not because of anything we did but by His Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Even though we don't have it all together in our physical walk, God sees all of us who believe that we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" the exact same way He sees our Saviour Jesus Christ  - as if we never committed a single sin. This is His gift of love to us. 1 John 4:17 says-

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

It is impossible for the churchgoer who depends on his obedience to the law, fasting, tithing and other useless works that are done to get right with God to be justified freely by God's grace. His (self)-effort at doing things to notch up points of righteousness with God or to get God to bless have already disqualified such. Only those who see how truly helpless and hopeless we are without God's Grace can be freely justified by God's unmerited favour (Grace.)

Should the trumpet sound right now, all who believe Jesus and receive God's FREE gift of justification/righteousness by faith in Him will be caught up in the air to be with our Lord Jesus Christ forever. This is why the coming of our Lord should comfort all believers. But these days, even pastors use Rapture to threaten helpless flock. Many churchgoers are fearful when talk of the Rapture comes up. Believer, we are to look forward to Christ's glorious appearing! Christ paid for it for you and I 100% when He sacrificed Himself for us at the cross. It is a finished work that has got nothing to do with our puny efforts at keeping the Law.

This right-standing that we who believe have with God is not because of anything we did. It is 100% what Christ has done. This is crux of the message of the cross: Righteousness by faith. 

Remember the Pharisees who despised "the tax collectors and sinners" were all about God and keeping the Law but rejected His saving Grace-Jesus Christ? They were anti-Christ. Meanwhile the despised tax collectors and notorious sinners followed Jesus with their baggage of sins and addictions.... and they never remained the same- 

The message of Christ annoys religious Pharisee-type pastors and churchgoers who feel that they have some good in them and can keep the Law in order to get right with God or sow seed to get Him to bless. But to the helpless sinner who knows that he is a sinner and that he can do nothing to redeem himself from sin and death, it is Good News.

The one who is confessing sins in order to be justified before God is not justified/made right with God, because his justification/right-standing before God is not FREELY through Christ.

The one who is depending on his own ability to obey the Ten Commandments, pay tithe, sow seed or do restitution in order to be made right with God is not justified, because his right-standing with God is not FREELY through Christ.

In essence, the one who is trying to work his way up the ladder of righteousness/justification and back into God's glory by confessing sins, doing his best to obey the Law and doing good works to make God have a good opinion of him or to make it to heaven is wasting his time. God does not justify people who can attain a modicum of godliness by their own human striving. He freely justifies the ungodly. 

All of us have sinned and were destined for hell. No amount of law-keeping, good works done by man (arm of flesh) can redeem anybody from this destiny with death in hell-

"For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the Law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." This from verse 20 of the same Romans 3.

Believer, by grace, don't let any pastor lead you on the wild goose chase of pursuing justification/righteousness before God by your puny efforts at keeping the law and doing good deeds. All such works done to get God to have a good opinion of one are worse than worthless in His sight. See Isaiah 64:6 for how God views those righteous works that many churchgoers are being deceived into doing to make God bless:

"We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in Your sight."

The only Way to be justified/made righteous in the sight of God is through the blood of Jesus, and it is FREE for all who believe. Romans 5:9 says of how our heavenly Father sees all who believe in Jesus:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Believer, God's freely-given gift of righteousness/justification is free for all who believe Jesus. It is everlasting and apart from works. The vilest offender who acknowledges his sins and looks to Christ for salvation can freely receive and the moment he does this, God sees Him as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." Romans 5:16. This is Grace-undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. 

This is where antichrist pastors who deceive themselves and the flock by preaching that their "a menstrual rag" works of (self) righteousness matter before God like to jump in.  Such call God's saving Grace that saves from sin  and death "hypergrace" in a derisive manner and lead the flock to depend on useless works to make them right with God/get His blessings. The spirit of the antichrist is not anti-God. It is antichrist - it seeks to remove and replace the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes godly (be like God the Righteous) with human effort at being godly. The same strategy was used by Satan the chief antichrist to deceive Eve into trying to be godly (be like God) when God CREATED she and Adam in His likeness. In Christ, we are a NEW CREATION, made to "be like God" through the sacrifice of Jesus. 1 John 4:17 says of our standing in Christ who is one with God:

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world."

Believer, God gave His own Son to suffer and die for us to make us like Himself. The spirit of the antichrist is simply one that promotes self-effort at attaining  righteousness/godliness (being like God) and unfortunately, this seemingly godly thing to do is an acceptable standard that is preached in many churches today. Believer, God's word counsels us in Philippians to "Beware of dogs!"

Worse, these antichrist pastors imply that Grace (who is Christ Himself) is synonymous with sins and will make people go on sinning sprees and do no good works! 

But God's word says differently. His word says only by receiving His abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ do we get to live in triumph over sin and death-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.  

Believer, Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him: "God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

Jesus Christ (Grace Himself) is our Salvation from sins. The moment even the vilest offender believes, God sees him as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." Only then can Christ do His work of transforming the sinner who believes to live right and to bear much fruit (do good works.) This is why it is difficult for true believers to boast about how "I sowed my car and God gave me a jet." For all our giving and receiving, Christ gets all the glory.

Satan and his ministers don't want churchgoers to enjoy Grace's benefits of salvation from sins and the grace to produce good works so they try to rubbish "Grace" and preach dependence on human effort at attaining justification/righteousness before God aka Law-keeping. But this is how to get cut off Christ so no salvation from sins for such who follow such antichrists- 

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the Law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace." Galatians 5:4.

Believer, by God's grace, shine your eye in church and flee from all appearances of evil, including that seemingly godly but evil Pharisee-type antichrist preaching that reinforces sin-consciousness and lies that we are justified by what we do and not what Christ has done. Some are even peddling this horrid doctrine in a different format by saying:

"Yes we know you are saved by Grace but we still have to keep the Law, not for justification, but as a guiding principle for morality and to ensure that we have good works, blah blah blah."

This is just more antichrist teaching. It all goes back to dependence on the arm of flesh that will fail in order to be something before God. Worse, its teachers imply that we who are now married to Jesus Christ (Mr. Grace) have to maintain an adulterous relationship with Mr. Law in order to bear the fruit of godliness and morality; as if Christ has none to give us! Romans 7:1-6 explains this in detail - as believers in Christ, we are married to Grace. Trying to produce fruit (works) by having any kind of relationship with the Law is ADULTERY. Grace is sufficient for us. 2 Peter 1:3 says of Him:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness."

We have all that we need for living a godly life NOT through the knowledge of the letter that kills BUT through the knowledge of Jesus Christ who is Grace Himself.

Right believing always produces right living.