We have seen that in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation the believers experience God’s redemption continuously in being forgiven of their sins, washed, and sanctified. Now we shall see that the believers experience God’s redemption also in being justified and in being reconciled to God in the second step.
In the continuous experience of God’s redemption the believers are first sanctified and then justified. Daily in our Christian life we need to be justified by the righteous God.
The believers are justified in the Spirit. First Corinthians 6:11 says, “These things were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” This washing, sanctifying, and justifying are inward and in life. Inwardly the Spirit works to justify the believers in life. First, we are washed from sinful things; second, we are sanctified, separated, unto God; and third, we are justified, accepted, by God.
If we would experience God’s redemption continuously in being justified, we need to be found in Christ. In Philippians 3:9 Paul aspired to “be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith.” This indicates that Paul aspired to have his whole being immersed in Christ and saturated with Christ so that all who observed him could find him in Christ. We also should aspire to be found by others in Christ. To be found in Christ actually means to be observed, seen, or discovered by others in Christ.
Being found in Christ is a matter of the practical experience of Christ. We need to live in Christ, remain in Christ, lodge in Christ, speak in Christ, act in Christ, and move in Christ, having our being in Christ. Then whenever an angel or a saint finds us, we shall be found in Christ. Furthermore, being found in Christ is not a once for all matter-it is a daily, even an hourly, matter. Day by day and hour by hour, we need to be found in Christ by those who are watching us.
In Philippians 3:9 Paul does not speak merely in a general way but in a very definite way. He says that he did not want to have his own righteousness, but he wanted the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God based on faith. “Not having my own righteousness... but...the righteousness which is of God” is the condition in which Paul desired to be found in Christ. He wanted to live not in his own righteousness but in the righteousness of God and to be found in such a transcendent condition, expressing God by living Christ.
The righteousness which is of God based on faith is that righteousness which is God Himself in Christ lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ. Such righteousness is the expression of God who lives in us. It is based on faith because it is on the basis, or condition, of faith. Faith is the basis, the condition, for us to receive and possess the righteousness out of God, the highest righteousness, which is Christ.
There is a requirement or condition for being found in Christ, and this condition is that we do not have our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that we have the righteousness which is of God based on faith. It may seem to us at times that we are found in Christ. However, there will be no reality in these times unless we fulfill the condition of having the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ. We need to be found in Christ in the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ.
Home | First | Prev | Next