Justified By Faith
Justified By Faith
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1).
Notice that our opening verse didn’t say “Therefore being justified by the law…,” but by faith. In other words, you’ve been declared righteous by faith. There’s a righteousness which is without the Law; that’s the righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. That’s the righteousness that has been credited to your account as a child of God. It excludes works. In other words, it’s not based on the works of the Law or your good deeds; it’s based on faith. It has nothing to do with what you did, or what you didn’t do, rather, it’s the result of what Christ has done.
It’s therefore pointless for anyone to keep “trying to be righteous”; struggling hard to please God in the flesh. The Apostle Paul, in Philippians 3:8-9 describes the futility of such self-righteousness: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
You may have done many wrong things in your life. Perhaps you’ve lied, cheated and made a lot of mistakes. Well, you don’t need to hate yourself and be overwhelmed with self-condemnation. Stop brooding over all the wrong things you’ve done. Instead, think about His grace. Think about the gift of righteousness that’s been freely made available to you. The Bible says our God is the God that justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). Believe in Him and in the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus that turns sinners to saints.
The Bible says “And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). Meaning that all who believe in Jesus have been accounted righteous and declared not guilty, not by their own work, but by the faith of Christ. That which couldn’t be achieved by our keeping the Law with its ordinances has now been perfected by the faith of Christ. We’ve been justified by faith, to reign and rule in life.
Confession
I’ve embraced the righteousness which is by faith, through which I’ve been justified from all things by which I couldn’t be justified by the Law of Moses. I reign and rule in life today as a king, because of the gift of righteousness which the Lord has lavishly bestowed upon me. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY
Romans 3:20-24
