When the question of our being able to stand before God-- that is, to be accepted by Him--comes up, there are really only two major views to consider. Either I am good enough, or can become good enough to merit His approval; or I am not and I can’t. In other words, either I can produce a righteousness which God can accept or I can’t, in which case He must produce a right standing for me...a righteousness not my own (Romans 3:10, 21-24). Herein lies the great battle between God’s Word and man’s religion.

Religion, at least that segment of religion that calls itself "Christian," while using Bible words and phrases, will always balk at the Bible’s major thrust--the pure, unadulterated Grace of God! (Galatians 1:6) The spectrum of resistance to Grace on the part of religionists runs from outright rejection to subtle compromise. To compromise Grace, in the final analysis, is to reject it. Grace is infinite--as infinite as the God of Grace Himself, and to make it less than infinite is to make it less than Grace (Romans 11:6). Nursery water plus arsenic is no longer nursery water...it is poison! "A little leaven, leavens the whole."

Two things should be abundantly clear when we study God’s Word. One is that when a person is lost, he is totally lost (Ephesians 2:1). The other is that when this lost person is saved, he is totally saved (Ephesians 2:8-10). One can hardly be a little bit pregnant, a little bit dead, or a little bit saved. Salvation must be a complete and instantaneous change of standing before God. Otherwise it would be probation, and probation would not be salvation. If I am on probation, one thing is sure...I have not been saved. And if I have been saved, it is also certain that I am not on probation.

Scripture knows nothing of a Christ Who died to be our Probation Officer...only a Christ Who died to be our Savior (1 John 4:14). To be 99% saved, would be to be 100% lost. There can be no gray area here. Either I am completely equipped, right now, with the righteousness necessary to stand before an infinitely holy God, or I am not equipped at all (John 3:18).

A good concordance will readily reveal that, in the Bible, clothing is used metaphorically to represent righteousness. In Isaiah 64:6 God views human righteousness as "filthy rags." This doesn’t mean that God is against good works. He is against good works when they are presented to Him for salvation. An infinite amount of good works could not remove the smallest sin, or reduce man’s lostness by an ounce. The gap that existed between this totally lost race and a thrice-holy God could only be bridged by the crosswork of God’s Son on Calvary. Nothing less than that could rectify our ruin and, thank God, nothing more than that is needed. "If there had been a law given which could have given life, indeed righteousness should have been by the Law." (Galatians 3:21) But, "If righteousness is through law, then Christ died for nothing." (Galatians 2:21)

In short, if God could have found a way to justify (declare righteous) ruined sinners other than the way He employed...sending His Son to die as our Substitute...then Calvary would not only have been unnecessary, it would have been foolish, even evil. For God to send His Son to the Cross to suffer the immeasurable anguish of being judged for our sins, if some other way were possible, if something less would suffice, if there were any other alternative, would have been quintessential stupidity and unimaginable wickedness. But the God of the Bible is neither stupid nor wicked. He found, not only the best way, but the only way to declare the "ungodly" righteous while retaining His integrity (Romans 3:26).

The story is told of a judge who, looking at the accused suddenly recognized him as his boyhood friend. In grade school, junior high, and high school they had been inseparable. When time for college came they separated not to see each other again until one stood before the other at the bar of justice thirty years later. That the accused was guilty became obvious and now the judge had a problem. He did not wish to compromise his integrity; he was a just judge, but neither did he wish to punish his long lost friend. The conflict in his bosom raged for but a moment, then he stood, removed his judicial garment and came down from his bench to pay the bailiff the fine he had himself imposed. Christ is both our Judge and our Savior, and for this reason God can declare sinners righteous without dispensing with His justice. Christ, Who is perfect righteousness, Who had no sin became sin for us that we, who had no righteousness...had only sin...might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ is our righteousness! (1 Corinthians 1:30) In human society some people have more relative righteousness than others, but no one can stand before God clad in human righteousness! (Romans 3:20) To stand before God, you and I need a perfect righteousness, and this we have in Christ. This means that if you and I as Grace Believers, as those who have fully trusted the finished work of Christ on Calvary, were to die and stand before God today, God would find no more cause to condemn us than He could find to condemn His spotless Son! (John 3:36)

No unregenerate child of Adam can stand before God in the rags of human righteousness. No regenerated child of God can fail to stand before Him in the spotless garment of the righteousness of God.

If you died today, what garment would you wear into His presence?