The passive righteousness of faith frees me from passing final judgment on myself.

Thankfully, while our self-righteousness reaches far, God's grace reaches farther.

The gospel is not about a lifestyle that we live, it's about the law-fulfilling life that Christ lived.

Only when we see that the way of God's law is absolutely inflexible will we see that God's grace is absolutely indispensable. A high view of the law reminds us that God accepts us on the basis of Christ's perfection, not our progress. Grace, properly understood, is the movement of a holy God toward an unholy people. He doesn't cheapen the law or ease its requirements. He fulfills them in his Son, who then gives his righteousness to us. That's the gospel. Pure and simple.

The cross [is] the ultimate statement of God's involvement in the world on this side of heaven.

The world tells us in a thousand different ways that the bigger we become, the freer we will be. The richer, the more beautiful, and the more powerful we grow, the more security, liberty, and happiness we will experience. And yet, the gospel tells us just the opposite, that the smaller we become, the freer we will be.

Our assurance is anchored in the love and grace of God expressed in the glorious exchange: our sin for His righteousness.