There is something in man that hates the idea of receiving salvation without earning it. We want to contribute.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
There is something in man that hates the idea of receiving salvation without earning it.
We want to contribute.
We want to believe that somewhere in the transaction between God and man, we brought something valuable to the table. We prayed. We gave. We served. We were baptized. We joined the church. We stopped doing certain things. We started doing better things. We became more disciplined, more respectable, more religious.
Then we quietly begin believing that God accepts us because we finally became acceptable.
Scripture destroys that idea.
“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.”
No flesh.
That leaves no exception.
The moral man cannot earn justification.
The religious man cannot earn justification.
The generous man cannot earn justification.
The preacher cannot earn justification.
The person who has spent his entire life in church cannot earn justification.
If righteousness could be achieved through human effort, then the cross was unnecessary.
Paul said it plainly:
“For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
That is how serious this doctrine is.
Either Christ accomplished what was necessary for our salvation, or He did not.
Either His righteousness is sufficient, or ours must somehow be added to it.
The gospel declares that Christ is enough.
What Does It Mean to Be Justified?
Justification is God's declaration that the believing sinner is righteous before Him because of Jesus Christ.
It does not mean the sinner never sinned.
It does not mean God lowers His standard.
It does not mean sin suddenly becomes insignificant.
God does not overlook sin.
He judges it.
The question is where that judgment falls.
At Calvary, Christ stood in the place of sinners.
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Christ took what belonged to us.
Judgment.
Guilt.
Condemnation.
And through Him, the believer receives what he could never produce for himself.
Righteousness.
This is not God pretending that sinful people are righteous.
This is God declaring the believer righteous because the debt has been paid and the righteousness of Christ has been credited to him.
Paul wrote:
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Freely.
That word offends human pride.
We want to earn what God says must be received.
Faith Is Not Another Work
Even faith can be misunderstood.
Faith is not something impressive we perform so God will reward us with salvation.
Faith is not believing hard enough.
It is not producing the correct emotional experience.
It is not crying enough tears.
It is not walking an aisle.
It is not repeating certain words in exactly the correct order.
Faith rests upon Christ.
Abraham is the great biblical example.
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Paul then makes the point even sharper:
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
Look carefully at what Scripture says.
God justifies the ungodly.
That should stop us.
We naturally imagine that God justifies people after they have improved themselves enough to deserve His attention.
Scripture says the opposite.
Christ did not come for people who had successfully repaired themselves.
He came for sinners.
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Not after we cleaned ourselves up.
Not after we proved ourselves.
While we were yet sinners.
Works Cannot Save You
Paul leaves almost no room for misunderstanding:
“Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
Our works do not complete Christ's work.
Baptism does not complete Christ's work.
Church membership does not complete Christ's work.
Giving does not complete Christ's work.
Religious rituals do not complete Christ's work.
Personal morality does not complete Christ's work.
Jesus did not say from the cross, “I have done most of it. You finish the rest.”
He said:
“It is finished.”
Finished means finished.
The debt was paid.
The sacrifice was offered.
The price of redemption was satisfied.
The sinner does not come to God carrying a résumé.
He comes empty-handed.
Then What About Good Works?
Good works matter.
Obedience matters.
Holiness matters.
A changed life matters.
But we must put them in the proper order.
Works are not the cause of salvation.
They are the evidence of it.
We do not obey Christ so that He will save us.
We obey Christ because He has saved us.
Paul writes:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
And then, immediately afterward:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
There is the order.
Saved by grace.
Through faith.
Not by works.
Then created unto good works.
Works follow salvation.
They do not purchase it.
What About James?
Someone will eventually say, “But James says faith without works is dead.”
He does.
And James is right.
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
James and Paul are not fighting each other.
Paul is answering:
How can a guilty sinner be declared righteous before God?
By faith apart from the works of the law.
James is answering:
What does genuine faith look like after a person claims to possess it?
It produces fruit.
Living faith changes things.
A person who claims to believe Christ but whose supposed faith produces absolutely nothing should examine whether that faith is genuine.
But the works are evidence of life.
They are not the source of life.
Fruit does not make a tree alive.
A living tree produces fruit.
Stop Trying to Make God Accept You
This is where justification by faith becomes intensely personal.
Some Christians spend years trying to earn what God has already given them in Christ.
They sin.
They feel guilty.
They promise God they will do better.
They succeed for a little while.
Then they fail again.
And suddenly they begin wondering whether God still wants them.
That cycle can become spiritual slavery.
Your standing before God was never supposed to rest upon how well you performed this week.
It rests upon Christ.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Peace with God is not the reward for having a good week.
It comes through Jesus Christ.
That does not give Christians permission to live carelessly.
The man who understands grace should hate sin more, not less.
But when he fails, he does not need another Savior.
He returns to the One he already has.
He confesses.
He repents.
He gets back up.
And he keeps walking with Christ.
Your Righteousness Was Never Enough
Isaiah said:
“All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”
Notice that he did not say merely that our sins are filthy.
Even our righteousness cannot meet God's perfect standard.
That means our hope cannot be that the good outweighs the bad.
Christianity is not a set of heavenly scales where God places your kindness on one side and your sins on the other and hopes the good side wins.
One sin makes us guilty before a holy God.
We need righteousness that does not originate in us.
We need Christ.
Paul wanted to be:
“Found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.”
That is the heart of justification.
Not my righteousness.
His.
Not my record.
His.
Not what I accomplished.
What Christ accomplished for me.
Christ Is Enough
The gospel leaves human pride nowhere to stand.
You cannot boast about grace.
You cannot brag about receiving mercy.
You cannot stand beside the cross and congratulate yourself.
There is only one boast left.
Christ.
“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”
So stop trying to impress God.
Stop imagining that religious activity can erase sin.
Stop believing that your failures are stronger than Christ's blood.
Stop believing that your successes somehow make the cross more effective.
Christ does not need your help saving you.
He calls you to trust Him.
And when a sinner places his faith in Jesus Christ, something extraordinary happens.
The guilty are forgiven.
The condemned are justified.
The unrighteous are clothed in a righteousness that is not their own.
And the sinner who had no peace with God can finally hear the words of Romans 5:1 and understand what they mean:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Not because we earned it.
Not because we deserved it.
Not because we finally became good enough.
Because Jesus Christ is enough.
Vaelerin Movement Ministries
Stand. Resist. Endure.VaelerinMovement.org