Archive for August 1st, 2008
”There is not one righteous man, no not one.” says the Word of God. Psalm 14:3 Romans 3:10-12
And yet we find even in the Old Testament there were those who were declared righteous by Him. None of them were perfect and their flesh was always showing . Their weaknesses were never hidden from us when we read the accounts of their lives in the Bible.
Job was one of these men. He wasn’t truly patient in his sufferings. He contended with God during his agony’s. What was the difference between he and his wise companions? It was his faith! It was his trust in God! It was his heart! It was by God’s Grace!
David was another man who was called a “man after God’s own heart.” He was a sinner, a womanizer, and shed so much blood that he wasn’t allowed to build the Temple and his son Solomon had to do it. But he was beloved of God, and the “picture” and forerunner of Jesus. He wrote the Psalms that we treasure. How was this possible of a sinner man? By Gods unbounded Grace!
Moses was another sinner. He murdered a man. Yet he was called the meekest man in all the earth, but when he struck the rock more than once angrily, he was not allowed to see the Promised Land and died just outside it’s bounderies. However , when Jesus was transfigured hundreds of years later on the mountain , there was Moses again to greet Him. How could this happen? It was by God’s Grace!
Abraham was another man who loved God and who was loved by God . He lied several times, he showed a lack of belief in God’s promise and took Haggar to get a son. Yet God declared him righteous because of his “faith.” Through Abraham came all the promises to the people of Israel , that all the nations of the Earth would be blessed through Abraham and Isaac. This was by God’s Grace. “For the promise to Abraham or his prosterity, that he should inherit the world, did not come through observing the commands of the Law but through the “righteousness of faith.” Romans 4:13
Then came Jesus , Son of God and Son of Man. He was a perfect man. The Bible says that “God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth upon Him might not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 Believing in the shed Blood of Jesus Christ is the only thing that declares us righteous since the death and resurrection of God’s only Son.
“Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives, All are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His Grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is provided in Christ Jesus. He Himself is righteous and He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has true faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:20-26Amplified
The Lord God has made the whole thing very simple for us weak, needy , helpless human beings. It is by Grace that we are saved. It is by Grace that we can even put any faith in the Son of God. Even our faith to believe comes from Him by His Grace.
When we see all He has done for His people down through the ages, all He has done at the Cross for us who are sinners, if we are His ,our hearts are moved with love for Him. We long to obey Him ,and trust Him, and put our faith in Him. He poured His Love into our hearts when we accepted Him as Savior ,and we pour it back upon others because He first loved us.
It is not by forced, and demanded obedience that we are made righteous or holy, as authoritarian leaders would have us believe ,so that they can get their own ego’s stroked and be “obeyed” themselves. We obey Him because we love Him, and He loves us. He knows we are not perfect, but His Grace is sufficient and being covered with His Blood is our righteousness. He knows what is in our hearts. Our only holiness is our belief in the Blood of Jesus Christ. We are declared righteous by faith in the Son of God , and this comes only by His Grace!