Our Sin, His Righteousness (Pt. 5)

 For our sake he made him
to be sin who knew no sin,
so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21

When we by grace alone
through faith alone put
our trust in Christ alone
for the forgiveness
of our sins we were given
His righteousness.

We were baptized into
His death
and buried with Him.
We no longer live.
We were crucified
with Christ.

Listen to Paul describe
himself in Galatians:
“I have been crucified
with Christ.
It is no longer I who live…”
Galatians 2:20a

And just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the
Father we were raised with Him!

Paul continues:
“…but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20b

Hear Paul explain
this in his letter to the Romans:

“Do you not know that all of us
who have been baptized
into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore
with him by baptism into death,
in order that, just as Christ
was raised from the dead
by the glory of the Father,
we too might walk
in newness of life.”
Romans 6:3-4

In Christ
we are saints and as saints are now
called to live, act, think,
and love as saints.
Ephesians 1:1;
1 Corinthians 1:2, 6:11;
1 Peter 1:15-16

We are no longer
who we once were.

Therefore,
we should be
daily…
moment by moment…
thought by thought…
word by word…
deed by deed…
praising God and
thanking Him,
as we walk forward
trusting
IN CHRIST
and in
HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS,
considering all the
riches of Christ in us
AND
the hope we have of glory.

Does this describe
our daily experience?

Since we have been given
Christ’s righteousness,
you would think that
this would be the norm
for us no matter what
happens….
Shouldn’t we all be
perfect now
since we have His
righteousness?
BUT
this isn’t our daily,
moment by moment
reality.

Does that mean we
are not saved?
May it never be!

We have to see the
whole picture.
When we trust in Christ,
God declares us righteous.
He gives us a new
position before Him.
This means that He
sees us and treats us
AS IF we are perfect.
It doesn’t mean that
we are actually perfect yet.

But God is also working
in us to bring us
to that place of practical
perfection.
We will not be there
till heaven
but the process begins
and continues
in this life now.

Yes, our sin still remains!
Yet we are not
under its reign any longer.
We have been set free
to sin no longer.
We are now
called to rule over
sin by grace through
the power of the
Spirit.

And–
praise be to God!–
someday that victory
will be complete.

O Lord,
thank you for the
understanding
of who we are in Christ.
Help us remember
that we were once
sinners unable to
do anything
except sin.
Now we have been saved
by grace and are therefore
SAINTS
who put their trust
in the blood of their SAVIOR
and the strength of
the NAME OF GOD
to walk forward
picking up their cross to
follow their LORD
JESUS.

We want to walk
in your way,
in your Spirit,
by your grace.
We love you Lord
please be our help.

In His hands for His glory,
Laurie