The difference between the righteous and the wicked.

Believers, in God's eyes, the difference between the righteous and the wicked is not what they do or do not do. It is HOW they are made righteous. When your believing is right, right living will follow.

The bible tells us in Romans 5:19 - "For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous."

Committing acts of sin is not what makes a person a sinner. Adam's sin made the whole human race sinners. Wicked. Committing acts of sin, alongside sickness, stress, depression, lack, oppression, etc are fruits of the old nature (sinner nature) that was inherited from Adam. Everyone with this old nature is under Law. As long as this old nature is intact, sin will multiply. Because "the strength of sin is the Law" (1 Cor. 15:56,) those who try to keep the Law in order to be righteous only strengthen the grip of sin over their lives. The more people with this old nature try to keep the Law, the more they sin. See Romans 7:5:

"When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death."

By the same token, keeping the Law and doing righteous things is not what makes a person righteous in the sight of God. Many non-Christians do their best not to sin but this does not mean they are saved. Romans 3:20 says "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."

In Christ, we are a new creation. Reigning over sin, addiction, sickness, stress and all earthly ills are fruits of the new nature that we have in Christ as it is written in Romans 5:17 -

"For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)"

This "death" that reigned through Adam's offense is not just a physical death. It is death preceded by its symptoms - all of the curses in Deuteronomy 28 and every earthly ill - acts of sin, sickness, stress, disease, foolish mistakes, depression, oppression, every ill that came as a result of Adam's sin. As the righteousness of God in Christ, we reign in life over all these things.

Romans 7:4 also shows us how we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God - only when we are dead to the Law and united with Christ!

4 "So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God."

Remember 2 Corinthians 5:21

"For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Christ performed a perfect work in cleansing us of all our unrighteousnesses and giving us His own righteousness as a gift.

In Christ, we are made righteous apart from works. In Him, God sees us as 100% righteous. He sees us as Christ is (righteous,) even when we sin, but we do not continue to sin. Why? Because with His gift of righteousness comes no condemnation; there is no condemnation for all who are in Him (says Romans 8:1) and it is His "Neither do I condemn you" that makes us "go and sin no more." In Christ, under grace, you will not continue to sin.

Believe Right and you will Live Right!