All of mankind are sinners by nature. We all have a sin
nature. The moment we each were born into this world, we were placed into Adam.
There are two kinds of people in this world. You are either a dead sinner or a
living saint. Every sinner is “in Adam.” Every believer is “in Christ.” In
order to go from death unto life, from being “in Adam” to being “in Christ,” it
is necessary to be justified. To be justified means to made righteous.
We learn in the early chapters of Romans that there is none
righteous among us.
Romans 3:10-11 As it is written, There is none
righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God.
Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that what things soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be
stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is
the knowledge of sin.
The law makes everyone in the world guilty before God. We
have sinned against God and continued to do so that there is no righteous
person who could keep God’s perfect law. We can’t be justified by the deeds of
the law (by following the law). The law itself reveals to us that we are
sinners. We have all come short of the glory of God. So, how can one be saved
and justified? Read Romans 3:21,22.
Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all
and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
The righteousness of God without the law is manifested or
revealed. The righteousness of God is by the faith (or faithfulness) of Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, God Himself in the flesh, died on
the cross of Calvary for all the sins of the world. He has offered salvation as
a free gift to all, and upon all them that believe. He was obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). It is offered to all, but it is only
conferred upon those who believe (those who have faith that He died for them personally
by dying for their sins).
2 Corinthians 5:21 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.
It is because of Christ’s finished work on the cross that we
can be justified or made righteous. We are made the righteousness of God in Him
or “in Christ.”
Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
We are justified freely (without a cause) by his grace. It
is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Salvation is made possible
because of Christ’s work on the cross. We cannot save ourselves. So, we
conclude as the Apostle Paul does in Romans 3:28 that “a man is justified by
faith without [apart from] the deeds of the law.” To receive salvation and be
justified (made righteous), all you have to do is believe that Jesus Christ
died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day (1
Cor. 15:3,4).
