Christ has rid all who believe of the sin/old nature. In Him, we are a new creation.

Believers, the bible shows us that committing acts of sin is not what makes people sinners. See 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."

All mankind became sinners because of the sin/old nature that was inherited from Adam and not because of breaking the Law or committing acts of sin. A person might do his best to keep the Law and not sin as is being preached in many places of worship but this does not change his sinner status. He has the old nature and so is still a sinner. He will pay the wages of sin, no matter how "good" he tries to be and no matter how well he keeps the Law.

The one with the old/sin nature does not believe that Christ's obedience is what makes believers righteous in God's sight. He strives to keep the Law in order to be right with God. But the very Law that he tries to obey in order to live a godly life causes him to sin profusely. See this in 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."

Acts of sin and all earthly ills (aka "death begun") are simply the result of having this inherited old/sin nature - much like how a person with untreated HIV (sin nature) will eventually progress to having full-blown AIDS (acts of sin,) no matter how much he tries to live a healthy lifestyle.

Just as Adam's disobedience is what made all mankind sinners, believers in Christ have been made righteous in God's sight by Christ's obedience and not because we kept the Law and did our best to not sin. Christ died to rid us of the sin virus (old/sin nature) that all mankind inherited from Adam. Colossians 2:11 says of Him:

"When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature."

As new creation in Christ, we no longer have the old/sinful nature which depends on human striving at obedience (law-keeping) in order to get right with God, an effort in futility according to 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."

Christ's sacrifice is what makes the believer forever righteous in God's sight. In Him, are dead to the law. See the result in Romans 7:

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. 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. 6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit."

Because of the obedience of Christ and not our own obedience, God sees all who believe in Jesus Christ:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.

In God's sight, difference between "the righteous" and "the wicked" is not based on what sins a person has committed. It is based on how one is made righteous: either by faith in Christ or by works of the Law. Acts of sin is not the issue here - Matthew 1:21 says of Christ:

She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Preaching that committing acts of sin is what cuts believers off from Christ or makes us fall from Grace contradicts God's word. Christ is Saviour from sins. Let's take our blessed brains to church: How can Christ who came to save us from our sins use the same sins that He came to save us from as an excuse for not saving us from them? This akin to an oncologist dad refusing to treat his own beloved child who has cancer...because the child has cancer. But see what cuts a believer off from Christ in 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."

Satan knows this and so his agents behind many pulpits are actively preaching dependence on human striving at attaining godliness (aka keeping the Law) as the means of remaining in God's good books. Same strategy was used to deceive Eve who believed that she could be godly (be like God) through human striving at doing something.

Believer, our salvation in Christ isn't based on weighing good and bad deeds on scales or human effort at suppressing sins. Acts of sin is not the issue. The sin "virus" (old nature) inherited from Adam which causes sins to proliferate when activated by law-keeping is the issue. Christ came to rid us of this old nature. When the believing is right, right living will follow.

The old/sin nature is characterized by unbelief in the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes forever righteous in God's sight. See how our heavenly Father in Christ sees we who are a new creation in Christ Jesus and no longer have the old/sin nature that all mankind inherited from Adam:

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Romans 5:9.

But the one with the old/sin nature does not believe God's word about the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice in making even the vilest offender who believes righteous in God's sight. He thinks that his sins are still hanging unpaid somewhere, still expects God's wrath to fall on him when he falls and wrongly believes that he can overcome sin, keep the Law and live a godly life by his own will-power. But see what God's word says of man and all his striving at living a godly life, a truth that Paul experienced: Romans 7:18-

"For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but will-power is not enough to accomplish it."

God's word says human effort at obedience (the arm of flesh) will fail, is powerless and cannot. But Pride in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience - a hallmark of the old/sinful nature) says:

"No, I can. God must be wrong. I still have some good in me. I can keep the law and resist temptation to commit sin by my will-power and sheer determination.”

To think that we can overcome sin and live a godly life by our own will-power when God says mankind cannot is Pride and the definition of "deceiving yourself." Reminds one of Peter telling Jesus that He was wrong when Jesus told him of his upcoming denials:) Like pre-denial Peter, what we have of our own human effort are good intentions, the undertaking of which are subject to life's circumstances.

In Christ, having Him as our Righteousness and Strength and having no confidence whatsoever in the arm of flesh aka human effort at obedience, God fills us to overflowing with His goodness and mercy so much that what is spilling over we can't help but be a blessing to those around us. We get to love and live a life of moral excellence that exceeds that which the law demands. We get to give beyond the lawful regulation of the tithe, yet not us but Christ in us, so we cannot boast in the flesh (human effort.) This is why we sing: "Tis no longer I that liveth but Christ that liveth in me."

To be "worldly" is to have this old/sin nature that was passed down from Adam. One has this sin nature if he believes that it is his own obedience to the law that makes him right with God and not Christ’s obedience, as it is written in Romans 5:19 above.

This sin nature or "worldiness" is not a feature that is stamped on people's foreheads. It is not defined by purple hair or by prostitution. It is like having HIV. People who have the virus present in different ways-

Presentation 1 - Many people who have the virus (like the sin nature) do not outwardly exhibit any of its symptoms (like those with no visible acts of sin.) No one discriminates against this group. Such boast in what they did to be healthy (aka sinless and to receive from God) e.g. 

"I sowed my car and God gave me a jet." 

"I got delivered from generational curses because I fasted for 70 days." 

"I do my best to be obedient and that is why God is blessing me."

Notice no Christ freely saving/delivering/making righteous in this equation? People even praise them for being perfectly healthy (sinless and righteous.) But they are not. Their sin is within, just like the "holy holy" Pharisees in the Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Christ called them "brood of vipers" and "white-washed tombs."

We often forget that the Pharisees who rejected Christ were not people who could not wait for their synagogue service to finish so that they could rush out to go and commit sin. They did their best to keep the Law in order to be right with God as many preachers tell churchgoers to do today. The result of their actions is still the same today: being cut off from Christ (Galatians 5:4.) Believer, by God's grace, let's not be found here - boasting in the arm of flesh (human effort at obedience) that will fail. The "sin virus" inherited from Adam remains here and the end is bearing fruit to death. (Romans 7:5)

Presentation 2-  Yet another group (believers in Christ) does not have HIV (old/sin nature) but sometimes exhibit symptoms of sickness (acts of sin) - just like Abraham when he slept with Hagar to produce a son after God had promised him Isaac and when he lied about Sarah not being his wife to save his own neck in the matter of Abimelech of Gerar. Throughout all of this, God still saw Abraham as righteous and even called him a "prophet" that would pray for Abimelech so that Abimelech would not die - right in the middle of Abraham's lie!  God hates sin and so do we who believe Jesus so this analogy about Abraham's sins is not to make sin okay. It is for us to see how weak we are of ourselves and how much we need God's saving Grace- Jesus Christ who saves us from our sins.

Every believer in Christ is in this second group. God is dealing with us as He dealt with Abraham who, after his fails, ultimately performed what is regarded as the greatest WORK OF FAITH by many Christians - his willingness to sacrifice his own son at Mt. Moriah. Many will be surprised to see this some in this group get caught up with Christ at the Rapture.

Thought to add that "Faith without works is dead." This is the truth. Some false teachers twist this verse by preaching that you who believe must produce your own WORK OF FAITH (like Abraham going to sacrifice Isaac) on the day that God pronounced you as righteous, or else you are neither righteous nor a child of God. This is akin to telling a child that he is no longer the child of his father because he does not have a long, full beard like his father. As the child lives and matures under the care of his father, he will grow a long, full beard, just like his father.

It took Abraham over a decade marred with failures to perform his work of faith which James used as an example when he wrote "Faith without works is dead." Good works are EVIDENCES of our salvation in Christ, not CONDITIONS. In God's time and by God's grace alone, we get to bear fruit like Sarah. See Hagar and Sarah as the two covenants of Law and Grace in Galatians 4. Sarah (Grace) did not need Hagar (Law) to help her raise Isaac (you and I in Christ.) God's Grace - Jesus Christ Himself - is sufficient for us.

The same false teachers who accuse believers in Christ with their twisted interpretation of "Faith without works is dead" would have called Abraham unrighteous and faithless if they were present during his fails. Such push you to bear fruit through the the law (human striving/Hagar) by accusing children of God along the lines of Satan's "If you are the Son of God..." Such try to deceive believers into doing works of the law (human striving at bearing fruit) in order to prove that we are children of God, just as Satan did with Christ in the wilderness. Such works, done to get right with God, are like Ishmael - there is no inheritance here, only rejection. Jesus did not have to jump off the pinnacle of the temple to prove that He is the Son of God. He knew who He is just as we who believe Him know who we are in Him: we are children of God not because we can produce works but because of what is written in John 1:12-

"Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God –"

Our good works are not CONDITIONS for our salvation in Christ, they are EVIDENCES - just like a child that grows a beard because he is he child of his father. But satanic pastors expect you to grow your own beard and drive on the day you got born(-again)

Presentation 3- The third group has full-blown AIDS (sinning outwardly and copiously) and many people shun or condemn them. These represent the people that we deem to be "worldly" because they are sinning outwardly; but they share the same virus (sin nature) that is in those with no symptoms in group 1 above. The virus makes them the same. If nothing is done about the virus, it is only a matter of time before these "holy" people get full blown sins!

Now imagine a doctor giving an HIV-positive person a clean bill of health because he has no AIDS symptoms, when he can easily infect others with the virus!

Imagine him telling the virus-free person (new creation in Christ) that he has HIV because he has a skin rash and cough!

Imagine him telling his patient with full-blown AIDS: "Just treat your tuberculosis and skin rash and you will be okay." Very silly, we think. We know that the cough and rash are mere symptoms of the HIV within.

But many doctors (pastors) are doing this in many places of worship. We hear things like: "Obey the Ten Commandments or else God will punish you." "How can you enter the kingdom of God when your skirt is so short and your wig so long?" There was even a heated debate on giving tithes as a means of getting God's blessing. Wonderful as these things are, paying tithes, trying to obey the Ten Commandments or doing evangelism IN ORDER TO enjoy God's blessings of salvation, health, wealth and wholeness is as useless as an HIV/AIDS patient trying to make himself whole by treating only his symptoms. As it is with AIDS symptoms, acts of sin, the curse, depression, sickness, ageing and death are mere symptoms of the old/sin nature within.

For the sufferer to be made whole, the virus (that old nature that all mankind inherited from Adam) has to be removed. Once this is done, health will return to the body. Christ came to get rid of this sin nature and to give us His life. Telling people to obey the law or do certain things by their own power in order to be made right with God and thus saved will only worsen their case: sin will multiply. See this in 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."

The very law that people are trying to keep causes them to sin more. This ties in with Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under Law but under Grace." Sin HAS dominion over those who are trying to keep the law in a bid to be right with God.

Those who believe that it is their law-keeping that makes them right with God have the Adamic sin nature. Christ gave Himself to redeem us from this old/worldly/sin nature. In Him, we are dead to sin. And this is the result: Romans 7:4-

"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 "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." The sin nature from Adam is like HIV. Everyone descended from Adam was born with it. When activated by the law that many are trying to keep, it produces "a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death." (Romans 7:5.) Death here covers guilt, condemnation, fear (of judgment for sins committed,) worry and anxiety, stress, silly mistakes, unproductiveness, sickness, lack, poverty, depression, fast-tracked ageing, physical death and the second death.

Christ died this death for us and as us. Because of His finished work, we no longer have to try to keep the law to get right with God or make it to heaven. He made us right with God. We are made righteous by His obedience and not our own useless efforts at keeping the Ten Commandments. We are united with Christ who was raised from the dead. Alive. No longer under law but under grace. The Lord is our Righteousness.

In Him, we get to "produce a harvest of good deeds for God." In Him, we get to be free from the process of death that we were doomed to face as a result of Adam's disobedience. Instead of this death, we get to reign in life (Romans 5:17 NKJV.) We get to live in triumph over sin and death (the entire process of death including lack, sickness and every earthly ill) as it is written in Romans 5:16-17-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ."

Beloved of God, God sees all who believe as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins." His word says so but this is what stumps many churchgoers - this is the stumbling block that causes many to stumble: Christ as our Righteousness.

This part of the gospel about God seeing all who believe in Jesus as righteous "even though we are guilty of many sins" also seems to be the only thing that many take away from whole counsel of God (Grace,) as if we have Grace just so that we can go and sin as we like. Not so. Only when (in your sinful state and having no confidence in your own ability to be good) you receive God's abundance of grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ can you get to live in triumph over sin and death.

Trying to keep the law in order to get right with God or curry His favour is to be "worldly" and to reject the gift of righteousness that Christ died that we might have. This has dire consequences. 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."

By God's grace, let's not be found here. With Christ, He gives us all things FREELY. (Romans 8:32.)

Believe Right and you will Live Right.