Why is it more appropriate to say 'I was made righteous' rather than 'I was saved'?
Because when a person believes, God imputes Christ's righteousness to them; that is exactly what happened. 'Saved' is not wrong, but 'made righteous' more precisely describes what God did. After calling upon the Lord and verbalizing faith in His death, burial, resurrection, and shed blood, the believer is made righteous.
Les explains that although 'saved' is valid, saying 'made righteous' is almost more appropriate. When we were saved, what happened? We were made righteous. God imputed the righteousness of Christ to you and me when we believed. Before that, a person must call upon Him and let Him know—verbalize it, not just assume belief. The believer should verbalize that Christ died for them, was buried, rose from the dead, and that His shed blood is payment for sin. Then, as Scripture says, whosoever calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.