SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
3/15/2013 8:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 The God
of Righteousness
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs
Message
of the verses: We will continue to
look at the God of Righteousness in Today’s Spiritual Diary.
God’s
acts are righteous. We will begin by looking at a verse from the prophet
Jeremiah: “I am the LORD who exercises
lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these
things," declares the LORD (Jer. 9:24b).”
“The LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we
have not obeyed His voice (Dan. 9:14).” The Bible teaches us that God cannot do
anything that is wrong, “The LORD is righteous within her; He will do no
injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But
the unjust knows no shame (Zeph. 3:5).”
God
wants His people to be righteous. It
would not make sense for God, who is righteous, to want a people who are not
righteous. God wants this so much that
He gave His only Son to die in our place so that we can have His
righteousness. We have the righteousness
of Jesus Christ when we are born into His family, but we are also to practice
righteousness. When we put on the armor
of God the second piece we put on is the breastplate of righteousness and by
putting this on we are to walk in a righteous manner. Since we are born again we have a desire to
always do what is right, even though our old nature always wants to do what is
wrong. Paul speaks of this battle that
is going on inside of us in Romans chapter seven.
God spoke of the desire of His
people, Israel, being righteous even before He gave us His Law: “5 ’Now then, if you will indeed obey My
voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the
peoples, for all the earth is Mine; 6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the
sons of Israel.’” (Exodus 19:5-6) In Matthew 5:48 Jesus also spoke about this,
“"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
I mentioned above that the problem
with man is that we are born into sin and that is our nature which is contrary
to the nature of God. “Every man’s way
is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts (Pr. 21:2).” Eccl 7:20 says “Indeed, there is not a
righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins.” Paul also speaks of this in Romans 3:10 where
he writes, “As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one,” which
is a quote from Psalm 14:1-3, “The fool has said in his heart, "There is
no God." They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is
no one who does good. 2 The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of
men To see if there are any who understand, Who seek after God. 3 They have all
turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good,
not even one.”
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this
sub-section with these words, “When you read Proverbs, you discover that God
mentions many different sins that people committed in ancient Israel and still
commit in our communities today, sin like anger deception, thievery, murder,
slander, gossip, drunkenness, adultery, bribery, jealously, rebellion against
parents, and a host of other things that all of us would recognize. Proverbs makes it very clear that people are
sinners.”
God
provides righteousness for those who will accept it. Looks like we save the best until the last
for in this section we will answer the question how can an unrighteous man
receive righteousness so that he is right with God? The problem is that we are all born sinners
and we sin because we are sinners, but God is Holy and will not allow sinners
to enter into His heaven. In the OT we
see that sacrifices were offered according to the Law, but Proverbs 21:3
states, “To do righteousness and justice Is desired by the LORD more than
sacrifice.” We also see this in 1 Samuel
15:22, “Samuel said, "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to
heed than the fat of rams.” Samuel
understood this however Saul did not. In
Micah 6:6-8 we read “6 With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before
the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling
calves? 7 Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand
rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit
of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the
LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly
with your God? Isaiah 64:6 states
“For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds
are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us
away.”
Proverbs 17:15 states “He who
justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are
an abomination to the LORD.” God has
done this through His Son Jesus Christ “For Christ also died for sins once for
all, the just for the
unjust, so that He
might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in
the spirit (1 Peter 3:18).” We need an Amen for this! Peter goes on in 2:24 with more good news for
us, “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin
and live to righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed.”
3/15/2013 8:46 AM 3/15/2013
11:32 AM
Dr. Wiersbe writes “God justifies
(declares righteous) the ungodly, not when they do good works but when they put
their faith in Christ. ‘But to the one
who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is
credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5)’” Now we will look at his endnote: “Paul is referring to Abraham’s faith in
Genesis 15:6. Some people have the idea
that sinners during the Old Testament era were saved by good works while
sinners today are saved by faith in Christ, but this idea is wrong. Anybody
who has ever been saved has been saved by faith, because nobody can be saved by
good works (Eph. 2:8-9). Hebrews 11
informs us that Old Testament saints were saved by faith, and Habakkuk 2:4
states, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
This verse is quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38;
these three epistles make I very clear that salvation is by faith in Jesus
Christ and faith along.” I would like to
point out that when we look at Habakkuk 2:4 where it is quoted in the three
different epistles we will see that the phrase “the just” is emphasized in the
Romans passage, and the phrase “will live” is emphasized in the Galatians’
passage, and “by faith” is emphasized in the Hebrew’s passage.
Solomon writes “The wicked shall be
a ransom for the righteous and the transgressor for the upright” in Proverbs
21:12, however that was not the what happened at Calvary. At Calvary the Righteous One became a ransom
for the wicked ones because of the truth we find in Isaiah 53:4- 6 which
states, “4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet
we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But He was
pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The
chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are
healed. 6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his
own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Verse twelve states, “12 Therefore, I will
allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the
strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the
transgressors.” 2 Corinthians
5:21 is also a part of this as it states in the following wonderful words, “He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him.” There are
some people who want everything to be fair for them, well as we look at this
verse was it really fair for the Lord Jesus Christ?
We will look at another endnote from
Dr. Wiersbe: “Justification is the
gracious act of God whereby He declares the
believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ and gives us a righteous standing in
His sight. Sanctification is the divine
process where God makes His children
more like Jesus Christ as we walk in the Spirit and yield to His will. The person who is justified will want to
reject sin and obey God because justification involves sharing the life of God
as well as having a right standing before God (Rom. 5:18). A right position before the Lord leads to a
right practice in daily life.”
True believers in Jesus Christ
understand righteousness “Then you will discern righteousness and justice And
equity and every good course (Pr. 2:9).”
They also meditate on the Word of God and desire to obey it.
True believers do righteousness “To
receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity (Pr.
1:3).” The reason they do righteousness
is because true faith always will lead to works (See James 2:14-26).
True believers will speak
righteousness “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of
the wicked conceals violence (Pr. 10:11).”
“The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, But the mouth of the
upright will deliver them (Pr.12:6).” “He
who speaks truth tells what is right, But a false witness, deceit (Pr.
12:17).” “The righteous hate what is
false, but the wicked bring shame and disgrace (Pr. 13:5).” “The heart of the righteous weighs its
answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes evil (Pr. 15:28).” “Kings take pleasure in honest lips; they value
a man who speaks the truth (Pr. 16:13).”
True believers pursue righteousness,
as they desire to make it a passion of their hearts. “The LORD detests the way of the wicked but
he loves those who pursue righteousness (Pr. 15:9).” Jesus states in Matthew 5:6 which is part of
the Sermon on the Mount, “"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for
righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Dr. Wiersbe concludes this section
with the following, “When people are right with God, He leads them in ‘right
paths’ (Pr. 4:11) and teaches them ‘right things’ (8:6). Their minds and hearts are filled with right
words (23:16). Their work is right
(21:8), because God works in them and through them to accomplish His will
(Phil. 2:12-13).”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: What we
have been studying today is a wonderful reminder of what happened to me on the
day that I became born-again, and it also reminds me of the way that I am to
walk now that I am a believer. Sometimes
I tend to forget all that Christ has done for me and is doing for me through
His Spirit, His Word and also from the Pastor that He has provided me with.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord to work in my heart to continue to remind me of the things that He has
reminded me of today.
Memory
verses for the week: Psalm 32:1-6
1 How blessed is he whose
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! 2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD
does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit! 3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body
wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained
away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
5 I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said
“I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; and You forgave the guilt of my
sin. Selah. 6 Therefore, let everyone
who is godly pray to You in a time when you may be found; surely in a flood of
great waters they will not reach him.
Answer
to yesterday’s question: “Spices” (Luke
24:1)
Today’s
Question “Who said, ‘Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt and I will give it to
thee’?” Think about this one before you
answer as it is a bit of a trick question.
Answer in tomorrows SD.
3/15/2013
12:46 PM
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