"Forgiven Sinner?" - No Such Thing!

"He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He." Deuteronomy 32:4

God is righteous.

He's always been righteous.

There's never been any hint of blame or wrongdoing in Him.

This is why everything He made was "very good" when He was done with it. Creation came out of His righteousness, and was perfect and without a single flaw in it. At the end of day 6, there was no death, no sin, no sorrow, no Devil, and no demons. Everything was perfect...because it was all made by God Himself.

But shortly after Creation was finished, Satan and his angels fell from righteousness. Then shortly after that, mankind fell from righteousness. And because of man's fall, all of Creation broke away from God's standard of perfection.

In all of that mess, God alone remained righteous. Throughout history, He was praised for His constant and enduring righteousness.
"According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth: Your right hand is full of righteousness." Psalm 48:10
Unlike the angels, and unlike mankind, NO ONE could justly accuse God of any wrongdoing. He is the ultimate standard of "right". Any deviation from His character is inherently wrong.

The Struggle to Regain Righteousness

From the fall of Adam until now, people everywhere have been struggling to regain the righteousness that we forfeited. 

You can see this struggle when a child has been told not to do something...and then starts thinking about doing it again.

You can hear the struggle when people say things like: "I generally try to be a good person."

But you can also hear the same struggle when someone says, "You have no right to tell me what to do."

Whether we try our hardest to become righteous, or we throw up our hands and give up, we all know that we're not good enough.

You see, by our very nature, mankind has rebelled against God's righteousness. And there is simply no way we can earn it back. Just look at what God says about our best behavior: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

The best that we can do, the most decent person on earth, the person that the world calls a saint...God says, "I wouldn't use their righteousness to clean a smudge on my car!" (so to speak)

You see, the Law of God in the Bible reveals His righteous character - and we're commanded to live up to it. At the same time, the Law shows us how impossible it is to regain the righteous position that we lost. Even if it were possible for a person to obey all of God's commands from this moment forward (it's not), their prior sins would still be testifying against their righteousness before God.

The fall was devastating for us...and there was no way for us to re-earn what was lost. We were all unrighteous, and we knew it. 

Maybe...you still know you are.

But There Is A Way...

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe." Romans 3:21-22

Even in the Old Testament, God revealed His plan to make His people righteous again. How could He do that when we continuously failed to obey Him? There was only one thing He could do: He had to separate our right standing with Him from our behavior and attach it to something else. This is where faith comes on the scene!

When we turn to Jesus in faith, our righteousness no longer depends on what we do, but on what we believe. 

Look at what Paul says about God in Romans 3:26: "...that He may be just [righteous], and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." When you put your faith in Jesus' death and resurrection, and confess Him as Lord, God justifies you. This means He declares you to be "not guilty"!

He doesn't tolerate your sin.

He doesn't ignore your sin.

But when you put your faith in Him, God will eradicate your sin from your record!

Don't you want this? Don't you want to be clean, without a trace of guilt or shame? If so, this is the only way to get there - put your faith in Jesus' death and resurrection! Call on His name, and His righteousness can be yours!

No Such Thing...

"I know I'm not a righteous man...but I am a forgiven man."

This was an actual quote from someone I recently heard on a Christian radio station. He claimed to be a believer and said that he had received God's free gift of salvation. But then he proceeded to say something like this...something that is completely anti-Scripture!

No, my friend! When you are forgiven of your sin, you are made righteous.

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus." 2 Corinthians 5:21

Contrary to a popular Christian saying, there's no such thing as a "forgiven sinner".

You are either one or the other...but you can't be both. Why? Because forgiveness removes the sin! And without the sin, how can you still be a sinner?

"Forgiveness" is actually an accounting term that applies to debt. 

If I borrow money, I owe a debt and I am legally obligated to pay. it But if that lender forgives the debt, then I don't owe them any longer. I am no longer a debtor after I'm forgiven. I am in "right standing" with that institution.

The same is true for sin. When God forgives your sin, you are no longer obligated to make amends with Him for it. It's been removed from your account. You were given "right standing" with God...which is the meaning of the word "righteous".

So stop telling everyone that you're still a sinner! When any Christian makes the claim that they're just a "forgiven sinner" - It would be the same as saying "I'm debt-free, but I still make sure I pay my Mastercard bill every month". It just doesn't make any sense!

The truth for the believer is this: You were a sinner, but you've been forgiven!

There is no stain of sin on you any more - not a trace of it to be held against you. This is what it means to be made righteous. How awesome it is for those of us who have been made right with God by faith! 

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deed are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute [or charge with] sin." Romans 4:6-7