In the progressing stage in God’s full salvation, the believers experience God’s redemption in being forgiven of their sins, in being cleansed, and in being sanctified. The believers also experience God’s redemption in being justified and in being reconciled, in the second step, to God.
In the continuous experience of God’s redemption, the believers are sanctified and then justified. In our Christian life we need to be justified daily by our 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.” Washing, sanctifying, and justifying are inward and in life. The Spirit works within, justifying the believers in life. First, we are washed from the sinful things; second, we are sanctified, separated unto God; and third, we are justified, accepted, by God
If we want to continuously experience God’s redemption in justification, we must be found in Christ. In Philippians 3:9 Paul aspired to be found in Him, not having his “own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.” This indicates that Paul aspired to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ. We also should aspire to be found in Christ. Being found in Christ means that we are observed, seen, and discovered by others to be in Christ.
This is our real experience of Christ. We need to live in Christ, to remain in Christ, to dwell in Christ, to speak in Christ, to act in Christ, to move in Christ, and to have our being in Christ. In this way we will be found in Christ, whether by angels or saints. This is not a once-for-all matter but a daily matter, even a moment-by-moment matter. Daily and moment by moment we need to be found in Christ by those who are observing us.
The righteousness that is out of God and based on faith is God Himself in Christ being lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ. This righteousness is the expression of God, who lives in us. This righteousness rests upon the basis or condition of faith. Faith is the basis, the condition, upon which we receive and possess the righteousness that is out of God, the highest righteousness, which is Christ. Therefore, there is a requirement or a condition for us to be found in Christ; that is, we should not have the righteousness which is out of law but the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith. This is the righteousness of God that we obtain through believing in Christ. We need to be found in Christ, having the righteousness of God through faith in Christ.