When we think about the finished work of Christ, an important question remains: What does that finished work mean for us when we stand before God? We know that God accepts us, but on what basis does He accept us?
If God is the ultimate Judge, the question we must ask is not, “Am I more righteous than other people?” but, “Am I righteous enough to stand before God?” God does not judge us by comparing us with other people. He judges according to His righteousness. This was one of the fundamental questions raised during the Reformation: How is a sinner made right with God? And can our own performance ever give us assurance that we are right with Him?
Romans 3:19–20 tells us, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
So how can a guilty sinner stand before a righteous God? Can God simply reduce His standard of holiness? The answer is no. The Law shows us that we are guilty. It exposes our sin and makes us conscious of our failure, but the Law cannot make us righteous. It can diagnose the disease, but it cannot provide the cure.
Our natural response to guilt is often performance. We think, “I will do better. I will be more religious. I will serve more. I will pray more. I will make up for what I have done.” We try to compensate for our sin by becoming better versions of ourselves. But our righteousness never meets the mark of God’s righteousness. Isaiah 64:6 reminds us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”
This leaves us with a serious problem: we cannot make ourselves righteous before God.
And this is where the gospel becomes so wonderful. Romans 4:5 says, “To the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
God does not justify us because we have become righteous enough. God justifies us because Christ is righteous enough.
This is the wonder of justification. At the heart of it is a wonderful exchange. Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Our sin is imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. Christ takes our guilt and bears the punishment that we deserve, while we receive the righteousness that belongs to Him. God does not simply overlook our debt. The debt was paid by Christ.
This is why justification rests entirely on Christ and His perfect righteousness. Christ is the ground of our justification, while faith is the instrument by which we receive Him. We are justified by faith alone—not because faith itself is meritorious, but because faith looks away from ourselves and rests entirely on Christ. Faith is the instrument, not the ground of our justification.
At the same time, true faith is never alone. We are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone. Living faith produces repentance, obedience, love, and a changed life. Faith leads to repentance, repentance produces obedience, and obedience bears the fruit of love and transformation.
This helps us guard against two opposite errors. Legalism says, “Christ plus my works equals justification.” It makes our righteousness depend partly on what Christ has done and partly on what we do. On the other hand, easy believism says, “I already believe the facts about Jesus, so my life need not change.” But genuine faith cannot remain fruitless.
The gospel gives us a better answer. Christ alone is the ground of our righteousness. Faith alone receives Him. Living faith bears fruit.
The wonder of justification also takes us beyond the courtroom and into the family. Romans 8:15 says, “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Justification tells us that we are acquitted; adoption tells us that we are accepted. God is not merely the Judge who declares us righteous. Through Christ, He becomes our Father.
This is why justification and adoption together provide the foundation of our assurance. We can have assurance because our standing before God does not rest on the strength of our performance, the consistency of our obedience, or the stability of our emotions. It rests on the finished work of Christ and our new relationship with God as His children.
David understood this reality. His assurance was not ultimately rooted in his own righteousness or his ability to live perfectly. He knew the reality of justification: that sinners can stand righteous before God because God Himself provides the righteousness they need.
So where does your assurance come from?
Does it come from how well you have performed this week? From how consistently you have prayed, served, obeyed, or read the Bible? Or does your assurance come from Christ—His perfect righteousness, His finished work, and His promise to receive all who trust in Him?
The wonder of justification is that when we stand before God, we do not stand on the basis of what we have done for Him. We stand on the basis of what Christ has done for us.
