What is the second step in obtaining righteousness, in obtaining salvation?...

To believe in our heart that God has raised Christ from the dead.

Believing that God raised Jesus from the dead shows that we have faith in God’s power. There is such a note of victory here! The Lord Jesus promised us eternal life, and God guaranteed that promise by raising Christ.

In raising Christ, God confirmed two facts: (1) God has received and approved of the sacrifice made for our sins; and (2) Satan did not possess enough strength to keep Jesus bound in Hell, and does not possess enough strength to prevent our resurrection with the Lord.

Our faith in these two facts causes God to regard us as righteous. God did the work, and we receive righteousness by believing and receiving God’s efforts on our behalf.

In raising Christ from the dead, God gave us something difficult to believe—something impossible in terms of the principles of nature with which we are familiar.

In promising Abraham that his descendants would be in number as the stars of the heavens, God gave him something difficult to believe—something impossible in terms of the principles of nature with which he was familiar.

When Abraham believed that God would do what He promised, would do the impossible on his behalf, God counted that act of faith as being Abraham’s righteousness.

When we believe God performed the impossible by raising Christ from the dead, and that He has raised us up in Him, God counts that act of faith on our part as being our righteousness—our right standing in His sight.