Justification by Grace

     Perhaps you've read the account of Brian Banks, a young man who was falsely accused and convicted of rape over a decade ago.  Banks was a talented rising high school football star when a fellow student accused him of rape.   Advised to plead no contest even though he was innocent, Banks served over 5 years in prison and then was paroled as a registered sex offender.  But just 2 weeks ago, Banks and a private investigator recorded the accuser admitting that she fabricated the whole story, and Banks has now been fully exonerated.  And incredibly, a number of pro football teams offered Banks a tryout for the sport seemingly denied him by his false imprisonment.  His tryout with the Seattle Seahawks went so well that they have invited him back for the team's mini-camp training session.  Go Brian!
     When I read this tragic account, I was reminded of the numerous stories we've all heard about in which men or women lose years and even decades of their lives incarcerated for crimes they did not commit.  One of my favorite books, Choosing Cotton, covered this very story--a true account of a man falsely accused and convicted of  a rape in Burlington, NC.  It is a  painful and remarkable and beautiful story of terrible injustice but then forgiveness and redemption.
     What must it be like to serve year in after year in prison, knowing you are innocent and feeling powerless to find redemption?   And then, what must that unexpected pardon and redemption feel like when it suddenly arrives?  New life?  New hope?  New dreams that only a day earlier seemed utterly impossible?
     Imagine the radical transformation in Brian Banks' life.  From felon and registered sex offender wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet, condemned by the world, mistrusted, hated even... to complete pardon, to a new life, to attempting to play the game he loved best in the world and never dared hope he would ever play again.  From felon to hero.
     But Christ did so infinitely much more for us.  For you see, we were guilty.  We are guilty.  We committed the sins; we deserved the time; we earned the punishment.  We are the ones full of pride.  We are the ones who hate, who lie, who envy, who hoard, who gossip.  We are the ones who refuse to demonstrate compassion or kindness or love.   We are the felons in God's sight who rightly deserve every day from now into eternity for our unrelenting selfishness or self-pity or faithlessness.
     "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together in Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." (Gal.2:4-9)
     He died for our sins.  We were sinners... He took the full punishment.  We were guilty... He served the full time.   Unlike Banks, we were rightfully accused... but He freely pardoned us out of His grace because He became the accused and the convicted in our place.  Just incredible.  May we never ever get over the wonder of that.
     But even more incredibly, He didn't just take our sins and pardon us.  He gave us His righteousness and elevated us to His position as sons of God.  It's a bit like Brian Banks--he wasn't just pardoned; he was also given the opportunity to be elevated to playing pro football.  We are not just pardoned... we are elevated and given infinite, eternal accolades and applause, because we are given Christ's perfect righteousness.
    Richard Hooker (who wrote in the 1700's) expressed it perfectly: "Such are we in the sight of God the Father as is the very Son of God Himself.  Let is be counted as folly or frenzy or fury whatsoever, it is our comfort and our wisdom and I care for no knowledge in the world but this: that man has sinned but God has suffered, and that God has made Himself the sin of man and that men now are made the righteousness of God."
     How can we even begin to wrap our minds and hearts around that astounding, glorious truth?!  "God made Himself the sin of man" and "men now are made the righteousness of God."  How is that a fair exchange?!  Of course, it is NOT!  It is the worst, most horrifically unfair, terrible... but gloriously wonderful and eternal life altering exchange ever made.
      What can be our response?  I know of nothing save overwhelming gratitude.  I did absolutely nothing to earn it.  Nothing to deserve it.  Nothing to contribute to it.  It is all by God and all by grace alone.  And so, Lord, help us to live lives of overflowing joy and gratitude and trust in the One who did it all for us, who gave it all for us, so that we might be with You forever and ever.
     To our Savior, our Redeemer, our One and Only Lord, be all the glory forever.