God Justifies Sinners

To the one who… believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

Romans 4:5

God justifies sinners. This is mind-boggling. You would expect this verse to say that God justifies the righteous. If God is just, surely He should be looking to justify people who have not broken His law. But nobody is righteous—not even one person (3:10). If God justified only the righteous, none of us would have any hope.

The good news of the gospel is that God justifies the ungodly. He throws out the legitimate charges against us. And He does this freely and justly on the basis of the redemption that came by Jesus Christ. Justice fell on Him so that mercy would be released to us. God says, “You are justified.” You are forgiven. You are clean. You are righteous, in and through Christ.

We believe this, but it feels like believing something that’s not really true. Your life is far from what you want it to be, and much further from what God wants it to be. If people knew what I was really like… you say to yourself. And the devil says it to you as well.

We are righteous in Christ, but it is also true that we still sin. It is easier to see our sins than our righteousness, so it is tempting to think that our sins are the greater reality. How can you be clean when you have done some stupid thing that you deeply regret? Or when your heart has been violated by images you find hard to forget? Or when you have come through experiences that made you feel wretched and worthless?

These are huge questions, but if you are in Christ, this is what God says: “You are clean.”

How big of a gap is there between what God says about you and how you feel about yourself?