Some people cringe when they hear other Christians say that they are righteous. Declaring that "You are the righteousness of God"will cause some people to go into a religious frenzy. Others quickly remind us of the last part of the scripture which says, "In Christ Jesus!" If you are a Christian, then you are already in Christ Jesus and you will always will be.
When do we become in right standing with God? Now or after we die? Many believe that everything Jesus has done on our behalf, is for when we get to heaven. If this is true (and it's not), then we can only look forward to misery, hopelessness and failure while we're on earth. We have dishonored the sacrifice of Jesus when we don't believe what He accomplished on our behalf.
We don't receive "eternal life" only when we die, but we have it now. When we received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we received eternal life (the God kind of life). 2Corinthians 5:26 (Amplified) says, "For our sakes He made Christ (virtually) to be sin Who knew no sin, so that in and through Him we might become (endued with, viewed as being in, and examples of) the righteousness of God (what we ought to be, approved and acceptable and in right relationship with Him, by His goodness)."
We've made the decision to believe that Jesus bore our sin, but it's difficult for us to believe the last half of that scripture. If you've received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are now in right standing with God. We've accepted that Jesus was our sin bearer, but we continue to walk in the same condemnation as the sinner we once were.
1Corinthians 6:9-11 (Amplified) says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous and the wrongdoers will not inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (misled); neither the impure and immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who participate in homosexuality." Verse 10 goes on, "Nor cheaters (swindlers, and thieves) nor greedy graspers, nor drunkards, nor foul mouthed revilers and slanderers, nor extortioners and robbers will inherit or have any share in the Kingdom of God."
Many of us stop reading or preaching at the end of that verse, but that isn't where the Holy Spirit leaves the believer. Thus, Verse 11 says, "And such were some of you (once). But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin) and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed) and you were justified (pronounced righteous by trusting) in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the (Holy) Spirit of our God."
This scripture reveals who we were in past tense and who we are now, before God, in our present tense. We've labored so hard trying to forget who we once were, that we haven't concentrated on who we are now. We've remained so sin conscious, that we never sought after a righteousness conscience.
We can never live the life we've been given by clinging to who we were. James 5:16-18 (Amplified) says, "Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray (also) for one another, that you may be healed and restored (to a spiritual tone of mind and heart) the earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available (dynamic in its working)."
This scripture implies that if you begin sinking back into your old ways of thinking and behaving and you begin remembering more of the old, dead man rather than the new one, then you must shore up your thoughts and feelings with someone who is spiritual. Fellow believers will remind you of who you are and of the cleansing you've received in order to restore your way of thinking and behaving. Remembering who you are, instead of who you were, and praying as one who is in right standing with God, will produce powerful and dynamic prayers and works.
James 5:17-18 (Amplified) says, "Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have (with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours) and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. And (then) he prayed again and the heavens supplied rain and the land produced its crops (as usual)."
Elijah wasn't a born again man, He was a prophet of God. His nature was never changed by the new birth. Look what happened after he prayed and stopped the rain for three years. 1Kings 17:1 (Amplified) says, "After he had stood the test of Baal's prophets, he forgot who he was in God and ran in fear from Jezebel." He forgot who he was. God restored him in spirit and mind so that he would remember his triumphs instead of his failures.
We seem to remember our failures more than we remember our triumphs, in our walk with God. Elijah confessed his fear before God and was restored to his office of prophet. If your mind isn't renewed by the Word of God, then it will remember the old man that you are not.
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