Introduction

Some of us walked in today carrying a quiet ache. Maybe it’s a memory that won’t loosen its grip. Maybe it’s a habit that keeps hollering our name. Maybe it’s the nagging sense that we should be further along than we are. If that’s you, you’ve come to the right place. Not a museum for the perfect, but a home for the honest. A place where we bring our dents and dings to a God who loves fixing what we’ve bent and healing what we’ve broken.

Have you ever missed the mark and felt it in your bones? A word you wish you could take back. A promise you meant to keep but didn’t. A moment you quickly rationalized, then slowly regretted. We know this feeling. The heart shrinks, the head hangs, the whisper comes: “You blew it.” Shame is a loud liar. It amplifies your worst day and mutes God’s mercy. But listen closely—beneath the noise of regret there is another voice, faithful and tender, strong and sincere. He’s not waving you away; He’s welcoming you in.

Tim Keller once captured this tension with a sentence that feels like a soft chair for a tired soul: “The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.” (Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage)

That’s the melody we’ll hear today: the truth about us, and the greater truth about Him. Our text is short, but it speaks straight:

Scripture Reading Romans 3:23 (NLT): “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

Everyone. All. No exceptions. The playing field is level and the label fits us all. We have all fallen short—tripped over ourselves, tangled up in temptation, tired from trying. Sin stains, shame sticks, and souls sag. But God does not leave us there. He is near to the brokenhearted. He is kind to the contrite. He is patient with the slow and gentle with the fragile. He knows your name, your need, and your next step.

So as we begin, breathe. Put down the heavy bags you’ve been hauling—guilt, grief, grudges. There’s a Savior who holds nail-scarred hands out to you, not to scold, but to save; not to heap on burdens, but to bear them. Have you wanted a fresh start? A clean slate? A new song? Grace does that. Grace sets the table, pulls out your chair, and says, “Eat, rest, be renewed.” Grace gives what sin stole, mends what sin marred, and restores what sin ruined. Where your strength fades, His strength holds. Where your love thins, His love thickens. Where your hope trembles, His hope steadies.

We will hear three simple truths that fit like stepping stones for sore feet: - Everyone falls short before God. No finger-pointing, just truth-telling. - Sin separates us from His glory. That’s why our hearts feel hollow and hungry. - Christ restores what sin has broken. He rescues, He rebuilds, He makes new.

Before we walk further, let’s ask God to meet us with mercy and speak to us by His Spirit.

Opening Prayer Father, we come with open hands and honest hearts. We confess that we have fallen short—by our thoughts, our words, and our ways. We’re tired of pretending, and we’re ready for Your presence. Wash us with the blood of Jesus. Warm our cold hearts with Your love. Whisper peace to our noisy minds. Give us ears to hear Your Word, eyes to see Your glory in the face of Christ, and courage to trust what You say. Lift the lowly, steady the shaky, comfort the wounded, and call the wandering home. Let the weight of shame slide off and the wonder of grace settle in. We ask this in the strong and saving name of Jesus. Amen.

Everyone Falls Short Before God

The Scripture tells the truth about us with simple words. In God’s sight we come up short. Our record cannot carry the weight. Our efforts have limits. He sees the whole story without blur or guess.

This is not a contest with other people. The measure is God’s glory. His beauty. His purity. His power. His steady love. Place your life next to that, and the gap shows itself. Like a mirror with smudges, our reflection of Him is faint and streaked.

Sin is more than breaking rules in obvious ways. It runs through our desires and habits. It bends our loves out of order. It pushes self to the center. It quiets His voice and turns up our own. It can hide under polite words and tidy plans.

This touches thoughts we nurse and words we speak. It also touches what we fail to do. The kind act we could have offered. The truth we could have said with care. The prayer we could have prayed yet never did. Omission and action both tell on us.

Paul does not say this to crush the soul. He writes so we will stand in the light. Honest. Unmasked. Ready for help we cannot produce. Ready for grace that does not begin with our strength.

“All” means all. No group stands outside this line. The very moral and the very reckless share the same need. The long-time churchgoer and the newcomer sit under the same word. In Romans, Paul speaks to people from every background. Some had law and tradition. Some had none of that. He gathers them together with one sentence that levels pride and removes excuses. This is a family portrait of the human race. A shared condition. A shared lack. We can list our good deeds. We can recall our worst moments. The verse gathers them and still says, every person falls short before a holy God.

This helps us stop the habit of grading on a curve. We like to think we are fine because someone else seems worse. We set up a scale that matches our comfort. Paul takes the scale away. He places God’s glory in front of us. Under that light, no one stands taller than another. The gap is real for all. This truth is bracing, yet it clears the fog. It gives a firm place to stand because the ground is the same for each of us.

“Has sinned” is a plain phrase with deep reach. Sin includes willful acts that break God’s commands. It also includes hidden motives that turn good things into little gods. It shows up in envy that smiles on the outside. It shows up in anger that simmers for years. It shows up in greed that dresses up as wisdom. It shows up in lust that uses people rather than loves them. It shows up in pride that loves credit more than truth.

It also shows up in neglect. Love withheld. Mercy postponed. Courage delayed. Faith kept quiet. The greatest command is to love the Lord with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. None of us lives that way all day, every day. We cannot meet “all” with “almost.” That is what the verse means when it says we have sinned. The word covers action and inaction, public and private, the deed and the desire that fed it. It is honest about the whole person.

“Fall short of the glory of God” tells us why sin wounds us so deeply. We were made to reflect Him. To bear His likeness in the world. To think true thoughts. To speak true words. To act with holy love. God’s glory is His worth on display. His character shining. His ways beautiful and clean. Place our lives beside that brightness and the shortfall is clear.

Think of a lamp with a dim bulb. The fixture is there. The switch is on. The light is weak. That is the human problem. We still carry traces of His image. We can build, create, think, laugh, serve, and sing. Yet the light is low and flickers. We are not what we should be. Our loves point the wrong way. Our worship drifts to lesser things. The verse names this without softening it. The standard is God Himself. His glory is the mark. We are under it.

This verse also teaches that the problem is beyond repair by effort alone. If the standard is God’s glory, then more comparison will not help. More rule-keeping without a changed heart will not help. More promises in our own power will not help. The distance is too great for ladders of our own making.

That does not mean despair. It means honesty that makes space for grace. The next lines in Romans will speak about righteousness given, not earned. They will speak about mercy in Christ that meets us in our lack. Before we can receive that, we let this verse do its work. We let it end excuses. We let it end blame-shifting. We let it soften our voice. We learn to say, “I need help,” and to say it without spin. This is where real change begins, under the bright and kind gaze of God.

Sin Separates Us from His Glory

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