“You dirty, no-good so-and-so!” You have probably been called that or worse by some angry person. Some folks accept the “labels” people put on them, and come to believe of themselves that they ARE “worthless” and “no-good”.

God has done something drastic on our behalf, and made provision for people to receive a “new identity”. The apostle Paul wrote:

“God made him (The Lord Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin (or a sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (II Corinthians 5:21 NIV)

When you trust Jesus as Savior and Lord, you receive a “new identity” as now being “in Christ”. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross is then applied as payment for your sins, and since you are “in Him”, His righteousness is considered by God to be YOUR righteousness, too.

The promises of the New Covenant provide not only for a LEGAL righteousness, but also for the power of God working in us believers the desire and the power to DO righteousness–the RIGHT thing–the will of God. The righteousness of Jesus Christ becomes part of your very being when you put your trust in Him as Savior and Lord.

Then you can humbly and truly say, “I am righteous through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.”

If you cannot say this truly, then turn in repentance from your sin to the One who had no sin of His own, but made Himself a sin offering on the behalf of all who would put their trust in Him. Don’t wait. Do it today.

If this concept sounds like magic or nonsense, read the New Testament letters to the Galatians and the Romans. The book of Hebrews goes into more detail, but is harder to understand without a background in the Old Testament. The technical name for this teaching is the “substitutionary atonement.”

We would like to meet you and try to answer your questions. We get especially excited when we hear about someone who has just trusted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Put your trust in Jesus.