There are three basic truths that every believer needs to understand in order to make this walk an effective one. These truths are WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE HAVE and WHO GOD IS. If I do not understand something as simple as who I am in Christ, how am I going to know where God wants to take me? God has a plan for each of our lives and in order to understand His plans we must first understand WHO WE ARE.
The scripture says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, King James Version (KJV) 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What is this saying? It tells you a number of things. First of all if you look at this scripture carefully you will see that an exchange took place between man (sinner) and Christ (redeemer). Let us break it down. “For He made Him (Christ) to be sin for us (man); that we (man) might be made the righteousness of God in Him. So in essence what this is saying is that Christ became what we are so that we might become what He is. Let me break it down for you a little further.
We know that God is righteous. This means that God is always doing right. He cannot be any better that He is. He is constant. The bible says in James 1:17 “…in whom there is no variableness neither shadow of turning.” What this means is that God doesn’t change even in the slightest. He is called the “I AM” meaning that He always is. He always is in the past, He always is in the present and He always is in the future. Because God is righteous it was not possible for Him to commune with man face to face under the Old Covenant. Why? Because man became unrighteous (the fall of Adam). Didn’t God say in Isa. 64:6 that our righteousness are as fitly rags? Under the Old Covenant when women were experiencing their menstrual cycle they did not have sanitary napkins like we do today, so they used rags. These rags are what God likened our righteousness too. Makes you wonder doesn’t it? So our Heavenly Father is saying this is what our self-righteousness amounts too. Man was lost and needed a saviour. So now we are back to 2 Corinthians 5:31. Christ becoming sin for us.
Before I continue let me explain something about righteousness. Righteousness is not something that you grow into. It is not something that gets better the older you are in Christ. One believer can never be more righteousness that the other. You cannot lose it because of sin. Satan can never take it away from you. Righteousness is simply who you are. When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, God declares you righteous. He takes of His very own righteousness and clothes you with it. It was not so much making you righteous as much as it was declaring you righteous. If God made you righteous then you would be just like him always doing right. He simply declares that you are and as we know when God says something it becomes law. It cannot be changed. God’s righteousness is that He is always doing right. When He declares you righteous this meant that you have RIGHT STANDING with God.
A believer has right standing with God. This means that you have the right to go before the Father without any sense of SIN, GUILT, or INFERIORITY. What do I mean by this? It means that (1) SIN; when Christ died on the cross He took care of the sin problem forever. I am not speaking about your everyday sin. I am speaking about that eternal sin that qualifies us for hell. Romans 3:23 says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” When Adam sinned man inherited his nature. This nature is what we call the carnal or sinful nature. This nature goes against everything God stands for. This nature is unregenerated and therefore is bound for hell because it is separated from Christ. This nature carries with it that eternal sin (Romans. 3:23). “Because of this carnal, sinful nature, man is spiritually dead.”.
When Christ died on the cross He not only shed His blood for you He also gave you His nature. It is part of your inheritance!!! You no longer have a nature that is bound for hell but a nature that is life and peace and bound for heaven. It is clothed in righteousness and no longer a sinful nature because IT IS OF HIM. He became what we were so that we can be what He is. Isn’t that wonderful!
When the scripture says “if you confess your sins He is faithful and just to forgive you your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). This sin that He is talking about here is the everyday sin. It is not the eternal sin that we spoke of earlier. Notice He says He will forgive you. God cannot forgive you if you are unrighteous or unregenerated. He can only do this for those who share the same nature as He. The unrighteousness that He speaks of in this verse has nothing to do with losing your righteousness. It actually means your sense of unrighteousness, how you see yourself when you sin. . If you were to lose your righteousness every time you sin then God would have to save you over and over again. Righteousness is a positional truth. It cannot be changed because of sin. The only way a positional truth can change is if you decide to walk away from God. If you reject Him. Remember it is your righteousness that gives you the right to stand before God.
Your righteousness says you go to the Father without any sense of sin because the sin problem has already been taken care of.
Take time to think on this. We will talk about the guilt problem next.
If there are any questions please feel free to ask.
This is Pastor Karen Bruce. God bless.