God can make us righteous.

God can perfectly save us even if a human being can't. God can cleanse our consciences and make us confess that we are righteous and that He is our Father and our Savior. You have to know that faith begins from believing in the true word with your heart. It begins with the word of the truth. We are made righteous by believing in the true word with our hearts. We can never be made righteous by the deeds of the flesh.

However, those who are not born again cannot free themselves from their own thoughts because they are locked in their thoughts. They can never say they are righteous because they think with carnal minds. On the contrary, faith by which we can say we are righteous begins with knowing the truth of God's word. If you really want to be born again, you can surely be born again only by hearing the true word through a concretely born again person because the Spirit in the born again saint pleases to work with the truth and " searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). People can be born again when they hear the word of God through the righteous because the Spirit dwells within the righteous, who have been born again. I want you to bear it in mind. You have to meet the righteous, who are born again, if you want to receive the grace of being born again.

Abraham begot Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael was born of a bondwoman. Ishmael was already 14 years old when Isaac was born. Ishmael persecuted Isaac, who was born by a freewoman. Who actually had the right of succession? Isaac, who was born by the freewoman Sarah, had the right of succession.

Isaac had the right of succession and was approved even though Ishmael was older and stronger in the flesh than Isaac was. Why? Isaac was born after the word of God. Faith that is established by human thought is like a sandcastle. People can be born again only when they learn the truth of God's word and believe it.

"What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written: 'There is none righteous, no, not one'" (Romans 3:9-10). What do these passages mean? Do the passages indicate the state of human beings before being born again or after being born again? We were all sinners before we were born again. "There is none righteous" was the state of human beings before Jesus blotted out all the sins of the world. One can never become sanctified without believing in Jesus.

The word "gradual sanctification" came from idol worshippers of the heathen religions. The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." How can one become sanctified by training oneself? A human being cannot become righteous by himself/herself. There is no one who will become righteous or who became righteous by oneself. There is no one who is sinless by his/her efforts. It is possible only by the faith in God's word. The Bible says, "There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God" (Romans 3:11).