From Guilt to Grace — Romans 3:19–26
Preached August 9, 2026, at the local county jail

This past Sunday at the county jail was, for the most part, an uneventful afternoon. There was nothing particularly unusual about the service. But one moment after the message has stayed with me.

The message I preached was called “From Guilt to Grace,” from Romans 3:19–26, with particular attention given to Romans 3:24: “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

It was a very straightforward Gospel message.

I tried to make it as plain as I knew how that the Bible does not teach that we are justified before God by our works. We are not saved because we go to church enough, do enough good deeds, clean ourselves up enough, become religious enough, or somehow manage to make ourselves worthy of God.

Romans 3 first brings every one of us into the courtroom of God and shuts our mouths. We are guilty. We have sinned. We have come short of His glory. But then comes that wonderful turn in verse 24: “Being justified freely by his grace.”

That is the great movement of the Gospel—from guilt to grace.

Toward the end of the message, a man sitting on the back row raised his hand. That does not happen very often at the jail. When someone does have a question, I usually tell them, “Hold onto it, and when I finish I will come back to you and do my best to answer it.”

So after the message I turned back to him and said, “I know you had a question. Tell me what your question is.”

He said, “Yeah, I don’t spend a lot of time praying every day. Do you think God will forgive me?”

I tried to answer him as sincerely as I could from the very truth I had just preached. God’s forgiveness is not based upon how many minutes we spend praying each day. Prayer matters. Obedience matters. A changed life matters. But none of those things are the price of our salvation.

We are forgiven because of Jesus Christ. We are justified through faith in Jesus.

For just a moment, I will admit that the question was a little disheartening. My first inward reaction was almost, “Have you heard what I have been trying to say?”

But maybe that moment was as much for the me as it was for the man on the back row.

I cannot make anyone hear. I cannot make anyone understand. I cannot cause truth to take root in a heart. I am not responsible for the reception of the seed or the germination of the seed. I am responsible for faithfully distributing the seed.

Psalm 126:6 says, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

So I will keep preaching it.

We are guilty before God—but Christ has paid the price. We cannot earn righteousness—but God justifies sinners freely by His grace. The way from Romans 3:23 to Romans 3:24 does not run through our good works. It runs through Calvary.

Maybe somebody listening to this message needs that truth as much as that man on the back row did.

Maybe you have spent years wondering whether you have prayed enough, done enough, changed enough, or become good enough for God to forgive you.

You never will.

That is why Jesus came.

I invite you to listen to “From Guilt to Grace.” My prayer is that the Lord will take the precious seed of His Word and make unmistakably clear what no sinner should ever miss: salvation is not something we achieve. It is something God gives freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.