Are You Righteous?

By the grace of God, all who take the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and repents from their sins are now made the righteousness of God. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Now when Jesus died the old sinner died with Him on the cross. That is why Christians say sin has been nailed to the cross. Now when Jesus was resurrected, so was the new you and me. No longer are we sinners, Romans 5:9 says, "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." That wrath we are saved from is all the things that sin brings along. Romans 5:11 from the 21st century King James Version says, "And not only that, but we shall also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." Atonement means the experience of humankind's unity with God exemplified by Jesus Christ. We are now united with God by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Glory to God!
Now if you flip over to Romans 6:13-14 Paul explains how we are to present ourselves. "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace." Folks we fall under the authority of God through the One Christ Jesus. That means anything that is not of God is beneath us and has no authority over us. We can not serve two masters. We are slaves to God not sin. Romans 6:15-16, "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?" In other words if you are sinning then you are under the law of sin, which is death. If you are obedient to God then you are made righteous. verse 18 goes on to tell us that we have been set free from sin and now we are slaves to righteousness. As verse 16 said, "to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey." So then you are righteous! When you are righteous then your reward from God is everlasting life.
Saints do not walk around the world boasting thinking that by your deeds and your works you are made righteous. On the same account do not walk around hanging your head thinking that you are an old sinner. If you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have been redeemed from the wrath of sin. Also you are now made the righteousness of God. Now you have authority in Christ Jesus to rule and reign in life. And now, if you are a slave of God, then you have authority in God. Which means you are of great value to the kingdom. James 5:15-16 says, "And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Glory to God!
In closing, do not let anyone tell you that you are not righteous yet. He said "Having now been justified by His blood," and "...we have now received the reconciliation(atonement)." If the scriptures tell us we can be righteous then we can be righteous. It is up to us weather or not to recieve it. It has already been bought and paid for. Just remember though, now that we are made righteous, we need to walk in the righteousness of God. We are an asset to God. We need to always be ready for God to use us. We can not let sin keep us and others from receiving God's best!

In Christ,

Eric R. Cox

Scripture to meditate on: NLT Romans 5:17-18

For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ. Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.