Our Unshakable Foundation

If Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! . . . But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

1 Corinthians 15:17, 20–22

The apostle Paul proclaims Jesus Christ is risen from the dead in today’s scripture! And because He is risen, you are no longer in your sins. Jesus’ resurrection is the living proof that all your sins have been completely and totally forgiven.

Our forgiveness is not contingent upon us and what we have or have not done, so no one can boast that they earned their forgiveness through their own efforts. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9).

Through faith in Jesus’ finished work at the cross, we have received the gift of salvation. When something is a gift, it means that you cannot work for it, earn it, or merit it. A gift is lavished upon the recipient by the giver, and Jesus gave of His own life to ransom yours.

But Pastor Prince, I don’t deserve forgiveness.

You are absolutely right. We deserved punishment for all the sins we have committed and will commit in our lifetime. We deserved death, but Jesus took that death for us and gave us eternal life. He took what we deserved and gave us what we didn’t deserve. That is why we are saved by grace—His unmerited, unearned, and undeserved favor—through faith.

Now, always remember this: How are you saved? By grace through faith. How have all your sins been forgiven? By grace through faith. How have you been made righteous? By grace through faith. This is your unshakable foundation, built upon the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Don’t allow any teaching to diminish the cross of Jesus in your life and make salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness things you have to work at in order to maintain and keep. You received salvation, forgiveness, and righteousness by grace through faith in Jesus’ finished work, and they are secured by His obedience to the Father at the cross:

“Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”

Righteousness is not about right doing. Righteousness is about right believing. You are made righteous in God’s eyes when you believe or put your faith in Christ and His sacrifice for you. It is through Jesus’ obedience that we have been made righteous and justified from all our sins. Justification is our Lord Jesus removing all the guilt and penalty of sin and proclaiming that we have been made righteous by His shed blood.

Beloved, when you are buffeted by the voice of accusation and condemnation over your failures, believe and learn to declare that you are saved, forgiven, made righteous (justified) by grace through faith in Christ. You’ll see His favor, wisdom, power, and every benefit of His finished work released into your situation to turn everything around for His glory.

This devotional is taken from the book Glorious Grace—100 Daily Readings from Grace Revolution.