Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Private Forum Devotional Thought -- 78 -- a little long

Deliverance

“Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.” (Psalm 71:2)

Often, I find the smallest words have the largest impact in the scriptures. This Psalm uses one small word in a number of verses. Read the chapter through and see if you can pick out the word. One small word in the second person is used 35 times in one chapter. That is significant because it shows who the most important character is in our lives with Jesus Christ. You may say, “Well, obviously it is Jesus Christ.” Good for you, but does your life live out that truth openly?

In this Psalm, a phrase is used five times incorporating the small word and a much larger word as well. Did you get it? Read through it again. The small word is THY and the large word is RIGHTEOUSNESS. Thy righteousness in the context of this Psalm is not YOUR righteousness, it is God’s righteousness. Comparing his to mine, we can understand why God said, All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no not one.

But we are a strange bunch of people. We seem to like to do as my Mom would say, “Toot your own horn.” The Bible says it this way. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” (Proverbs 20:6) Isaiah shuts down that line with a very telling verse. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

And the Apostle Paul identifies the substance that makes the rags filthy. Look in Philippians 3:8-9. “and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:” Paul said that his own righteousness he counted as dung, and that would certainly make a rag filthy.

Imagine coming before the Lord and having him ask you why he should let you into heaven, and you hold up your filthy rag of your own righteousness covered with dung. And then you should not wonder why when the Lord shows you what is required is the perfect, spotless, pure, holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. THAT is what is required -- not a jot less. “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) The scribes and Pharisees had a lot of righteousness that came as a result of strict observance of the law, but Jesus said that we need more than that, and Paul said that hr counted his righteousness by the law as loss and dung that he might have the righteousness of Christ by faith.

Look in Romans 10:3-4. “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

Ignorance of God’s righteousness leads people to thinking they can attain to sufficient goodness in their own corrupt flesh to merit God’s grace, but thought like that fly in the face of the definition of grace and mercy. John says, “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1) The end of self-righteousness -- the end of self-justification -- the end of salvation by a combination of faith and works, and the beginning of grace through faith plus or minus nothing.

Righteousness imputed by faith in the shed blood of a spotless lamb -- the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world -- the Lamb of God who is worthy, and only worthy to accomplish his task as the Great High Priest and redeemer of our souls. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” (Romans 3:27, 28)

The imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ given as a free gift to a repentant sinner who places his faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cruel Roman cross at Calvary. You want some New Testament doctrine that goes so far beyond the so-called charismatic gifts, wrap your lariat around this one and see how far it takes you -- straight to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. After all, 1John 2:1 calls him “Jesus Christ, the righteous.”

Does that help you as you . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . keep pressing on in His strength?

Brother Keith

So,what's the whole point in just a couple sentences?

“For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” (Romans 10:3-4)

I'll let the Lord say the sentences. Him you might listen to, but the rest of the post has more evidence, and scripture.

The problem is that those words of scripture mean different things to different people. I wanted to know exactly what they meant to you. Just parroting scripture is pretty useless to anybody. I do own a Bible,and read it quite often.

My words are unimportant.

His words are the ones that should do the stirring -- the ones that were parroted.

If the words that I posted uselessly do nothing for you, quit reading my posts. It doesn't hurt my feelings. Bootsfishing does the same thing, and his posts are a blessing to me because they cause me to consider what God is saying to me. I encourage you to do the same.

Or start a thread of your own and show us how it is done, I'd enjoy that.

Keep it up Keith. You and Boots as well. I enjoy them.

Jim

Ok then. I thought we might discuss things a bit but I'll just read my Bible instead. Maybe that's why this forum is so dead.

Then why didn't you post what those verses were saying to you? That's how a discussion starts. Using words like parrot, and calling Bible quotations useless does little to start any productive dialogue, IMHO.

But to each his own, I guess.