Forever righteous in His eyes. In Him, we will NOT continue to sin.

Believers, the bible says "By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19.

As the righteousness of God in Christ, (not depending on our law-keeping to make us right with God but on that which comes from the righteous exchange that took place on the cross where our Saviour Jesus hung for our sake,) we are 100% righteous in the eyes of our heavenly Father, even when we sin.

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

Just as the good things that we did before we became born-again could not make us right with God (we were still sinners,) as the righteousness of God in Christ, our sins -past present and future - have been punished in the body of our Saviour Jesus once for all and can't make us unsaved. God does not remember them anymore (Hebrews 8.) We do not become unrighteous when we sin because we did not work for His gift of righteousness to begin with. It is a gift. See Romans 5:17.

But God's grace is not a license to sin! Certainly not! People that are under the law and thus slaves to sin seem to believe that all we "grace people" want to do is wallow in sin when the exact opposite is the case (and only by God's grace are we this way!) Like our heavenly Father, we “grace people” hate sin with a passion! We live right without trying to, yet not us, but Christ (the Way; our Way) in us!

A tightrope walker with a safety net installed far below to catch him if he falls will walk the tightrope with confidence and without fear because he knows that he will not die/get hurt if he falls. But the fact that the safety net is there does not make him love to fall. He doesn't deliberately fall just because the net is there. He hates to fall because it would ruin his performance! And he is less likely to fall because there is no fear of falling or anxiety to make him act irrationally or lose concentration while walking.

On the other hand, the one with no safety net will be consumed with thoughts of falling and what could happen if he does fall. He cannot concentrate on the task at hand because of the fear of falling and the consequences. He wonders what will happen if he takes just one wrong step, and panics! Because he cannot concentrate on the task at hand, because the thought of death by splatting on the concrete far down below consumes him, his greatest fear - falling and splatting- comes upon him! And because there is no safety net, he dies!

The letter kills but the Spirit gives life.

This is the same way (but waaaay better than) how you don't see diplomats/ambassadors from rich countries going berserk and breaking laws in their poorer host country just because they have diplomatic immunity. The law cannot prosecute a diplomat/ambassador for any crime that he commits in his host country, even murder. The diplomat's home country does the sanctioning. But you don't find them going on sinning sprees. They have no reason to lack because their home country makes sure that they are well taken care of.

How much more us believers in Christ that are citizens of heaven and Christ's ambassadors here on earth where our Lord God loads us daily with benefits! His gift of no condemnation empowers us to go and sin no more! His correction is for our profit too. See Hebrew 12:10-

"For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness."

In Christ, we have much, much more than just a safety net! In Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms us to the image of His glory, from glory to glory. If you can stop sinning all by yourself as many church daddies who nurse their own sins in secret ask you to, you don't need Him. But when you depend on His righteousness and not your own ability to be good, you'll find that the desire to indulge in those sins and addictions that you enjoy but are ashamed of will disappear miraculously. You find that you talk about our Saviour more, give more, love more and do exploits without knowing how, yet not you but Christ in you! You might not even notice that you're changing until someone points it out to you:)

This is the transformation to the image of the Lord's glory, from glory to glory. It comes by beholding Jesus, not beholding the Law or trying to remodel yourself to become righteous by your own effort at keeping the Law. This is Grace! In Christ, get to walk that tightrope successfully and in peace, without fear, yet not us, but Christ in us. And He can never fall! With Him as your righteousness, you will not continue to sin.

With Christ as our righteousness, we don't HAVE TO live right; we GET TO live right. According to Romans 7:4, we get to produce "harvest of good deeds for God."

Romans 7:5 tells us that those who still have the old nature (under Law and not under grace) get to produce "a harvest of sinful deeds that lead to death."

This is the logic of heaven. See 1 Corinthians 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God."

Believer, don't be like Eve who was deceived into thinking that she could be like God (be godly) by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (a picture of the Law.) The letter kills. It only brings death. The devil keeps perpetuating this lie that he used on Eve because he knows this is how to get believers to fall from grace and back under Law where his weapons (accusations) can prosper. See Galatians 5:4

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

All the law-keeping and works' doing in the world in order to be godly cannot save. Only Jesus saves and it has nothing to do with our own efforts at trying to be godly. See Romans 3:20 "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are."

Right living by human effort can never translate into righteousness in the sight of God. God's gift of righteousness in Christ (through which we have the gift of no condemnation) is what makes us go and sin no more.

Ask the Lord to lead you on the path of righteousness today. No long prayer or anything. A simple "Lord, help me" will suffice. He knows us more than we know ourselves. Like our heavenly Father, we prefer our kids' badly drawn/written birthday cards to the fanciest Hallmark card in the world. He loves you!

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right!