Where Is Your Confidence?

We have now been justified by his blood.   Romans 5:9, NIV

“Justified by faith,” a phrase we find so often in the Bible, is shorthand. We are actually justified by Christ, through his blood applied to us when we put our faith in him. But what does the justifying is Christ’s blood. Faith is simply the means by which this justification comes to us. God does not invite us to have faith in our faith but to have faith in Christ.

I am a sinner in the process of being restored. God’s work in me has truly begun, but it is not yet complete. So while it is wonderfully true that I love Christ, am committed to serve Christ, and have faith in Christ, not one of these things is what they might be or what, one day, they will be.

We are not yet what we will be, and that is why we can never find a basis for security or confidence before God through anything in ourselves. There is only one solid ground of assurance, and it has nothing to do with me. It is the blood of Christ. We are “justified by his blood.”

If you want to cultivate assurance and joy in God, the question you should be asking is not, “How strong is my faith?” or “How warm is my heart?” or “How deep is my commitment?” Instead you should ask, “Is the blood of Jesus Christ rich enough and strong enough to wash away every sin and to cover every weakness, failure, and inadequacy in my life until the day I arrive in the presence of God?”

The answer to that question is absolutely, without question, yes! Since our standing before God is not based on anything in us but rather on the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we can be fully confident that all will be well on the last day, because our salvation will rest, then as now, not on us but on him.

No wonder Paul said, “We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11, ESV). We rejoice because our final salvation rests not on our performance in the Christian life but on the blood of Jesus Christ.

For further reading, see Hebrews 10