What makes a person righteous

I was digging through some of my past notes and I came across this note from 5/20/01.

The law led people to Christ, but not by works of the law. The works of the Law never benefited anyone as far as righteousness is concerned. When a person sins after coming to Christ, they don’t go back to the law to lead them back to Christ. Sin doesn’t mean that you have left Christ (and therefore need to get back). Coming to Christ is a one time event. The law leads you to faith. You become “in Christ” by faith. Sin doesn’t get you “out” of Christ. It wasn’t your good works that got you “in Christ” in the first place.

Sin doesn’t mean rejection of faith or Christ. So you don’t need the Law to get you back to Christ. Once you’ve come to Christ, the law’s purpose is done and is never needed again. It led you to Christ. It doesn’t sustain you in Christ.

The law surely can show us what sin is (therefore it shows sinners, who haven't come to Christ, their need for righteousness). But the law doesn’t do anything to fix the problem.

In Christ, the problem is done away with. We have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Even when we sin, we are still the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Again, when we were sinners, our good works didn't make us righteous, and now that we're in Christ - and therefore no longer a sinner but rather a righteous person - our sin doesn't make us unrighteous.