"But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed..."Romans 3;21-25
Do you want to be right with God? You hear a lot of times people say, "You gotta get right with God!" Maybe you have said it to somebody. Maybe you have had it said to you. What does it mean when someone tells you to, "get right with God?" It means you have to do something. Or it means you have to stop doing something. As soon as you say somebody has to get right with God you take away the righteousness that God is offering them or has given them through faith in Jesus Christ. When someone has to "get right with God," you first have to identify all the things that they shouldn't be doing and all those things that they should be doing and then get busy! You get busy, through the energy of your own flesh, to "get right with God." Or you have to start over and then get busy. By starting over I mean you have to "rededicate" your life to God. You would say something like, "Lord, I have fallen away from you. I have ignored you. I need to get right with you. I need to get forgiveness...." And there you go. You eventually get to the point where you say you have to get forgiveness. That is the root of the problem; you either have forgiveness or you do not have forgiveness. There is no asking God to forgive you when He already has forgiven the entire world at the cross. When you are saying you need to get forgiveness for your sins you are suggesting that Jesus Christ did not do enough when He died on the cross. The entire world has been forgiven! There is no sin that has not been forgiven except for unbelief in what Jesus Christ has accomplished. When you say you have to "get right with God" you are saying that you are not believing in what He has accomplished. This is a subject that you have to deal with because when you don't accept that the sin issue is over you will only end up in bondage.
Nearly every Christian will agree that Jesus died for their sins; that He took away their sins forever at the Cross. Yet, it is everything else they believe on top of that truth which negates it. The short accounts, confession booths, altar calls, repetitive prayers and so on only serve to put you back in bondage. Righteousness is by faith alone; by trusting and believing that there is no other righteousness. When you believe that righteousness comes by faith and works, then you will always be trapped in the lie that you must "get right with God." You can identify people that believe this because if you present to them the fact that the sin issue is over between man and God they will respond by saying things like, "Well, then how do we live?" "Isn't that teaching a license to sin?" There is a completely different way of living that they do not understand. Furthermore, they will never understand until they settle the forgiveness issue once and for all. It does not matter if you have been a Christian for years, if you're a pastor of a church, if you led people to Christ, have seminary degrees and have memorized the Scriptures. If you believe that your right standing with God is something attached to your works, your ability to overcome sin in your life or some combination of both, then you don't believe the truth. The Bible says that God, through the death of Jesus Christ, "passed over" sins. By passing over sins it means that He is not counting our sins against us. It is our faith, believing this truth, that makes a person righteous in Christ. When you accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you are right with God! Your sins are completely forgiven. You have the life of God indwelling you. You have access to God and He has access to you. Once you understand and accept this truth you will be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of our God and Savior, rest in His finished work for you and allow Him to live His life through you.
