Declared innocent

Michael sat by the desk in his small home office, rubbing his forehead. “God, I promised Kathy I’d hold my temper. You know I meant it. I love her and I hate myself for yelling at her this evening. If I can’t stop, I’m afraid she’ll leave me.” He paused. “And You? Well, I don’t see how You can accept me.”

The old man tugged on the weathered church door. Once inside, he stumbled down the aisle. At the altar he threw himself on the floor and beat the boards with his hands. “Jesus, Son of God!” he cried. “That cursed pub! Another drink. How can I ever call myself a Christian!”

Is this your story?

It happens thousands of times a day to people around the world. We vow to overcome our temptations, but they get the better of us. And we feel horribly condemned and unacceptable to God. 

If you’re honest, this is your story.

So what’s the answer to this dilemma? Is there an answer? In our worst moments we fear that it’s “No.”

I have good news for you. Once you’ve confessed your sin, the answer is “Yes”! Paul said: “If God is for us, who can be against us? . . . It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” (Romans 8:31, 33, 34).

God is on your side!

“But look what I’ve done,” you protest. “How can God be on my side?”

Read those two sentences again: “It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” Do you feel condemned? Paul said, “It is God who justifies”—and that’s the solution to all the condemnation that Michael, the old man, and you and I experience from time to time.

What is justification?

The Greek word for justification means “to declare righteous.” A good example is the prisoner who receives a pardon from the judge. He’s now righteous in the eyes of the law, not because he never violated the law but because the state has declared him to be innocent of his crime. Similarly, God has declared you and me to be righteous, free of all sin in His eyes. 

Paul said: “No one will be de­clar­ed righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known” (Romans 3:20, 21).

You and I cannot be justified or declared righteous by our obedience. Regardless of how faithfully we try to keep the law, we can’t make ourselves good enough to be acceptable to God.

So what’s God’s solution? He provides the righteousness we need to stand innocent in His presence. Paul explained this clearly in Philippians 3:9. He said he wanted to be found in Christ, “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith” (italics added). God gives us the righteousness we need to stand before Him innocent of all wrongdoing.

In another place Paul said, “I know that nothing good lives in me” (Romans 7:18). He meant that he couldn’t possibly keep the law well enough to make himself acceptable to God. The only solution was for God to give him His own righteousness, what Paul called “the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”

Jesus illustrated this in the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). A young man demanded his share of the inheritance and when he received it, he left home and spent it on wild living. But his money soon ran out and he was forced to herd pigs for a living. At this point he realised what a fool he’d been. He resolved to return to his father and ask to be taken on as a servant.

However, his father ran to meet him, put the family’s best robe over his shoulders and threw a huge “welcome home” party for him. And the Bible doesn’t say that the father asked his son to take a bath before putting on the family’s best robe—the robe went right over the dirty clothes.

That’s how God treats you and me when we come to Him. He gives us His righteousness to cover our sinfulness. We can say that He covers us with “the robe of His righteousness.” And when He does this, in His sight, you and I are innocent of all wrongdoing.

Paul said this righteousness comes “from God” (Romans 3:21; Philippians 3:9). It’s His righteousness attributed to you and me as though it were our own!

I propose, however, that God actually gives us Christ’s righteousness. Read the italicised words in 1 Corinthians 1:30: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness.” Jesus lived a perfect life while on this earth (2 Corinthians 5:21) and now He takes our sins and gives us His righteousness. Christian writer Ellen White stated it succinctly: “Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share.”

By His perfect life on Earth, Jesus earned merit—righteousness, goodness, if you please—that’s available to you and me right now. His holy life becomes your holy life when you accept Him as your Saviour.

The really good news

And here’s the good news: This righteousness is for bad people. (Good people wouldn’t need it.) The more sinful you are, the more you qualify to receive Christ’s righteousness. All you have to do is ask for it. Just say this prayer next time you feel guilty over something you did: “God, I confess that I just sinned, and I ask Your forgiveness. You’ve offered to give me Christ’s righteousness as if it were my own. Thank You for this gift. I accept it.”

When you say this prayer, you stand perfectly innocent in God’s sight—just as if you’d never sinned. You don’t need to feel condemned a moment longer, because God can’t condemn someone whom He views as having never sinned. And remember what I said earlier: The more sinful you are, the more you qualify to receive this gift.

That’s the solution to the condemnation that Michael and the old man at the beginning of this article felt. It’s the solution to the condemnation you feel when you sin. So claim it!