10. Justifies the Ungodly
Romans 4:5a But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly.
God promises to justify the ungodly. He will make the ungodly godly, the unholy holy, the unrighteous righteous. To apply this promise to my life I need to admit and believe: 1) I am ungodly, and 2) God justifies me by faith.
To admit that I am ungodly admits of two aspects of confessing: 1) I do and say things that are opposed to God and God’s way of living, 2) I do not do and do not say the things that are godly and good and right and true and helpful to people. I do the ungodly and don’t do the godly. But more important that what I do is what I am: I am ungodly; I am an ungodly person; I am an enemy of God; I am evil at the core of my being, totally corrupt. I admit that God is not just talking about all people; He is also talking in particular about me. I don’t like to describe myself as ungodly because I say, “I’m not that bad.” But yes, I am that bad.
Then I admit that God justifies the ungodly: that’s the good news. God justifies the one who believes, not the one who works. The one who believes is ungodly: he believes he is ungodly and he believes God justifies him. “The one who worketh” is not the one who is justified and he has a hard time admitting he is ungodly. The bad news is that I cannot make myself godly and acceptable to God; the good news is that God makes me godly and acceptable to God. God does what I can’t do: He justifies. I believe that I cannot change my ungodliness, and I believe that God justifies me and changes my ungodliness into righteousness. How remarkable is this; look how far we have come, from extremely bad to extremely good.
That’s a promise we can live with.