Tag Archives: Faith

The Righteousness of Faith

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Paul writes the following in Romans 10:2-3: “For I testify about them [his Jewish people] that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For not knowing about the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.”

He’s writing here about his desire to see his Jewish friends and relatives come to know the salvation that is found in Jesus the Messiah. But what he teaches us here about their error in thinking, could be said of most religious people, no matter what the religion.

He says that they “have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.” The Christian faith is built on truth and on knowledge of that truth. God has acted in history by sending his son Jesus into this world for the purpose of dying on the cross to pay the price for the sins of the whole world. The events surrounding all of what took place, happened on this earth in space and time. On the day Jesus was executed, the sun came up and a new day had arrived. When Jesus died, it was a specific time of day and his heart stopped beating. On the third day his heart began to beat again, and his entire body came alive. These are real events. Having a zeal for God outside the truth of these events is futile. Our faith must be according to knowledge of the truth, not just religious wishful thinking.

What did these religious Jews not know? They did not know about the righteousness of God. This is the plight of all human beings. We know a god exists and we also know we are not perfect, but we do not recognize or realize how righteous and perfect God is. That’s the problem. Further, these people, not knowing the righteousness of God, sought to establish their own. And that’s what we do. We establish our own standard of righteousness, making sure that it is a standard that we can attain. We say we treat others fairly and kindly, but what we mean by that is that we treat them as fairly and kindly as our own standard specifies. We never compare ourselves to the standard of kindness God requires.

And here is what Paul writes as the conclusion of the above passage: “They did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” We subject ourselves to our own righteousness which has a standard we can meet, but we don’t subject ourselves to the righteousness of God because we know that we can never reach that level of perfection. We recognize immediately that if we are subject to God’s standard, we are doomed! In Romans 3:23, Paul tells us that everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s glory. That’s the truth that we have to accept to be able to receive God’s solution to our problem.

What is God’s solution? The Bible speaks of the righteousness of faith. In Romans 10:9-10 he says, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord  and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.” According to the Bible, God counts believing as righteousness. What we do is try to earn our salvation by trying to be righteous enough. But as we have seen, that is an impossible goal. There is a righteousness separate and apart from the list of rules. Romans 3:21-22 tells us that “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and upon all who believe.”

God’s righteousness is given to all who believe what God has said. This is a crucial thing to understand. When we believe what God says about himself and about the accomplishment of his son on the cross; and when we believe the solution God has provided in Jesus the Messiah, our believing is counted by God as righteousness. It’s a gift from God because of his amazing grace toward us.

Here’s what Paul writes in Philippians 3:9 with my comments added in brackets: “I want to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness [because my righteousness will never ever measure up] which is from the law [the list of rules God has laid down for us to obey], but [the righteousness] which is through faith in Christ [believing that Jesus Christ bore all of my guilt on the cross], the righteousness which is from God by faith [by believing God and his word].

In other words, when we believe what God has said about his son Jesus, God declares us righteous and we are assured of Jesus’s life living through us here and now, and a home in heaven when we die, and the promise that there will be no condemnation for us ever! (See Romans 8:1). Rule-keeping plays no part in this righteousness. It is righteousness as a free gift from God when we believe the record that God has given of his son. Do you believe this?

An Important Truth

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Guys — make sure you understand and are able to pass on this important truth from God’s Word. I came upon this passage as I was reading this morning: Genesis 15:5–6 (ESV) 5 And [God] brought [Abram] outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

This verse is an important key to understanding the gospel. God gave Abram a promise and Abram simply believed God. God counted his believing as righteousness. The law had not yet come, but we know that Abram, like all of us, was a sinner. And yet, because he believed God, God credited him with righteousness.

In Genesis 12, God had promised to bless Abram and his seed. This promise was unconditional and had nothing to do with obedience. It had to do with believing the promise which God had made.

Another key passage that the New Testament picks up is Habakkuk 2:4, which says that the just shall live by faith. Faith doesn’t mean just believing that things will turn out all right. Faith means believing what God has said. A just person, a justified person, is one who believes God.

Now you will have to dig out the rest of this for yourselves, but the gist is that God unconditionally promised to bless Abram and his seed. (Unconditionally means Abram had no laws to obey to earn the promise.) The New Testament teaches that the seed is Jesus Christ and all of those who are in Christ because of their faith in Him. Jesus says that He will eternally save those who believe Him. Those who trust Christ in this way are forgiven all of their sins and justified from everything from which you cannot be justified by keeping the law (Acts 13:39).

The promise is to Abram and his seed, and if you believe what God has said, you are Abram’s seed and heirs of the unconditional promises of God (Galatians 3:29). Don’t try to earn it by keeping the law. The standards are so high you can’t keep it no matter how hard you try. But God, in His grace and kindness, has provided eternal life to all those who believe His promise of forgiveness in Christ. (Dig deeper into Romans 4-6 and Galatians 3-4)

Ephesians 2:8-9

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For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Now that we have gone through the previous verses, you can see the context for verse 8 which many of us have memorized. The verse starts with “For.” It’s connected to what has gone before. We memorize it as a stand-alone or with verse 9, but it belongs with the previous verses. He is explaining the grace part of the previous several verses related to God’s purpose in demonstrating the glory of God.

It is by grace we have been rescued. God’s rescue of us and lifting us up out of the miry pit and placing us on the solid ground of salvation is totally and completely by grace.

God has extended favor toward us, and that favor and kindness are not related in any way to any good we think we may have done. It is not a reward or a benefit, or a response to our goodness. It is a totally unmerited blessing given from the generous hand of God by grace.

We receive this gift by faith. That means by believing. God has announced the good news of the gospel that Jesus came to pay the penalty for all of our sins when He died on the cross. Believing this and trusting God with His promise to save and forgive, is the way this grace is received. Salvation is not a reward for believing. It is freely offered, and the way we take advantage of it is by believing it.

And all of this is not of ourselves. It is not of our own doing. Our new birth is not by the will of man, but by the will of God (John 1:12-13). It is a gift. And you don’t work for a gift.

Verse 9 goes on to tell us it is not of works. Works give us an opportunity to boast: I was smarter than you in taking God’s offer of salvation; I was more faithful in obeying God; I went to church more; I paid more attention to my BIble reading than you; etc.

But salvation has nothing to do with any of that. It is a gift of God, period.

Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:43 PM November 4, 2020.

Be Still My Soul

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Heard this song playing at a restaurant yesterday. The words seem appropriate to what we all are facing these days.

1 Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side;
bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to your God to order and provide;
in ev’ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: your best, your heav’nly Friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2 Be still, my soul: your God will undertake
to guide the future as he has the past.
Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;
all now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
his voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3 Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
and all is darkened in the vale of tears,
then shall you better know his love, his heart,
who comes to soothe your sorrow and your fears.
Be still, my soul: your Jesus can repay
from his own fullness all he takes away.

4 Be still, my soul: the hour is hast’ning on
when we shall be forever with the Lord,
when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past,
all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Some Thoughts on Anxiety and Fear – Part 5

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One more thought is that we are to enter into the peace of God. It is His peace that we are to take as our peace. His peace is completely restful. He is not stressed out about anything that is going on, and He asks us to join Him in that rest. It is not so much that we should try to create peace within ourselves or struggle to come to terms with things. It is a matter of entering into the peace that God already has. We need to accept His peace as our peace.  Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27, NKJV). All of these things fit together. Phil 4:6-7 tells us to be anxious for nothing. Rather than that we are to let our requests be made known unto God, and we are to be thankful. Then God’s peace will be a garrison around our heart. This thankfulness is not just a general thankfulness for all things, but a thankfulness for a faithful God who has promised to meet our needs and be with us. This kind of regular thankfulness for today’s providential care engenders trust which enables us to be less fearful, as God’s peace surrounds us.

Trust is probably the bottom line. When we are fearful, we are not trusting. We lack faith. As Jesus asked His disciples one time, “Why is it you have no faith?” And it’s OK to say, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” We can help ourselves immensely by keeping the truth before us and reviewing the promises of God on a regular basis. We need to learn to avoid the “what ifs.” As Jesus said, tomorrow has enough cares of its own. So we need to focus on what is before us today. Are we safe today? Do we have the food and clothing and shelter we need today? Do we have health and strength today? If so, we can be thankful and joyful. The key is trust. The Psalmist says, “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You” (Psalm 56:3).

Some Thoughts on Anxiety and Fear – Part 4

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As we see things happening in the world, we wonder how governments can be so corrupt or abusive of their people. However, here is what God has to say about all of this:

“Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.” (Isaiah 40:15, NKJV)

“Why do the nations rage, And the people plot a vain thing?” (Psalm 2:1, NKJV)

“The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying,” (Psalm 2:2, NKJV)

“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh; The Lord shall hold them in derision.” (Psalm 2:4, NKJV)

Picture a bucket and a drop of water in that bucket. That is how God sees all of the nations together. Or think of the old fashioned chemical balance with a pan on each side. In chemistry there might be a small speck of dust on one side, and we would blow it off to make sure that speck wasn’t being weighed. That is how God sees all of the fuming of the nations. One little breath does away with them. When the kings of the earth array themselves against God and His plans, He laughs because it is a vain thing they are attempting. That is the way we need to picture it rather than as the big tumult it appears to us to be.

As I said earlier, we may believe these things, and we know God is accomplishing His purposes, but we are afraid of what those purposes might entail for all of us. There is no question that God may have difficult things planned for us, but His motive is always good, His presence is always there, and His purposes are always for our good and for His glory.

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 3

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Here are some other passages that can be helpful:

God values us more than birds and we are so much on His mind that the hair on our head is counted. Think of that the next time you find a hair in the sink. God just took note and subtracted one!

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7, NKJV)

John tells us that love casts out fear. As our love for God grows, our trust in Him grows. We begin to know His heart and fear diminishes. Perfect love and therefore absence of fear is the goal, but getting there often takes a lifetime.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18, NKJV)

Our confidence needs to be in God and nothing else. He promises His care and protection.

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.” (Proverbs 3:25–26, NKJV)

Here’s another verse that reminds us that our trust is to be in God. Notice that the Psalmist is repeating this to himself. This is a good practice—to say things like this to ourselves. Sometimes we have to say it repeatedly until our heart begins to believe the promise.

“In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” (Psalm 56:4, NKJV)

And here is another that emphasizes trust in the Lord:

“Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” (Psalm 112:6–7, NKJV)

So it seems to me the biggest cause of fear is the lack of trust in God. We tend to not trust His heart, His strength and often His motives. The Bible tells us that faith comes from hearing the word of God and so that is where our meditation and attention needs to be.

When it comes to what might happen politically, there are several passages that we need to keep in mind. Daniel 2:21, “And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.”

“For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another.” (Psalm 75:6–7, NKJV)

“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.” (Romans 13:1, NKJV)

“‘This decision is by the decree of the watchers, And the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, Gives it to whomever He will, And sets over it the lowest of men.’” (Daniel 4:17, NKJV)

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. Proverbs 21:1

From these passages I think we can see what we know to be true, but often forget. It is God who rules in the affairs of men. He promotes whoever He wishes to positions of authority. He is the one who places them and removes them for His own purpose. That purpose is always for the good of His people and the glory of His Name. Of course on the human side we are to pray and vote and perhaps even campaign for those we think would do the best job and rule in a way we believe would honor God. But in the end, we need to recognize that through all of the millions of votes cast by people who make decisions for a whole host of reasons, God is placing into power those of His choosing. We need to accept that and trust Him through it. I think we should respect God’s work, not in a resigned Eeyore way, but in faith, trusting that God is in fact working and accomplishing His great goals for history, and we get to be a part of it!

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 2

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Another key verse to help us along is this one:  “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). Temptation here should not be thought of as only a temptation to sin, but a testing or trial. The promise here is that God will not allow a testing or trial that you are not able to bear. So when you are going through something really difficult, don’t say things like, “I don’t think I can take this.” Or “This is way too much for me.” Those would be lies because God has said that He won’t test you at a level more than you can handle with the strength He provides.

Here are some other thoughts that might be of some help in taming fears. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25). He goes on in this section to tell us that it is wrong to worry and He finishes the section talking about the fact that each day has enough worries of its own so don’t borrow from tomorrow. There needs to be a good level of thankfulness for what God has given us today. We’ll take care of tomorrow’s issues tomorrow. That doesn’t mean we don’t plan and prepare, we shouldn’t grab a hold of tomorrow’s cares. Most of the things we worry about never come to pass anyway.

Here are a couple of thoughts, then, about Matthew 6:25. First, He starts with “therefore.” That means He is relating it to something. Just before verse 25, He had said that we cannot serve two masters. We will be drawn to one but will despise the other. Then He says, “Therefore do not worry about your life…” As hard as it is to accept or to grow in this area, I think He is telling us that worry is related to trying to have another master besides the true God. Idols have been erected. You cannot serve two masters so stop worrying! That’s what He is saying. And I think if we really think about it, that is what is going on. The things we worry and fret about are things we are trying to hang on to regardless of whether God is trying to take them away or curb our desires or attraction for them. They don’t have to be bad things. They just have a priority higher than God and so we worry that we will lose them. We sing songs such as “Christ is all I need,” but in reality we think we need more than Him. How would we feel if He took everything away but himself? I think most of us would not be satisfied with that. So little by little we need to meditate on the glory of Christ so that He truly becomes all we need.

Some Thoughts on Worry and Fear – Part 1

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There are so many things happening these days that it all tends to increase our level of fear. We hear of shootings, we watch all of the political shenanigans and we begin to worry about the future, especially for our children. When we begin to fear, it is always good to go back and refresh our hearts concerning the truth given to us in God’s Word. Certainly we know these things. They’re not new, but we sometimes forget when we take our eyes off of what is true. So let’s review a few things.

The first thing we need to remind ourselves of is that “God has not given us a spirit of fear” (2 Timothy 1:7). If the spirit of fear is not from God, we surely know where it is from. It is from the one who Jesus called the father of lies. Not believing the lies but believing the truth is where we need to start. In order to believe the truth, we need to know what the truth is, and have it firmly planted in our minds and hearts. All the while we understand that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:6). That means our faith will seem to defy what things look like all around us. What we see and hear doesn’t give us peace. And it is not generic faith that dissipates fear. It is believing in the God of the Bible that keeps us secure.

One of the key truths we need to keep in mind is that God is with us. Jesus promised to be with us until the end of the age. In Isaiah 41:10 we read, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Through all of the perils of life, God has promised to be right there with us, to give us strength, to help and to uphold. Whether it appears that way or not, it is true and we should believe it. Now I realize that this is more easily said than done. So we need to not just glibly say that God is with us. But we need to reassure our hearts over and over with this truth until there is strong settled belief.

A couple of chapters later, Isaiah writes this to the people of God, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you” (Isaiah 43:1-2).                One of things I know we worry about is that although we know God is in control of all things, some of the things he controls actually do hurt. But His promise here is that when we go through the tough things, He is right there with us to help and sustain. God is working all things together for our good and His glory. Sometimes we begin to focus on what we think is our good, but I think that God’s opinion of what is our good, or the goal He is shooting, for is often different from what we think it should be. God is working in us to conform us to the image of Christ for the glory of Christ. We often forget that, or at least we minimize it because our focus is on health, safety and comfort. When these are threatened we feel like our “good” is being attacked when in fact it is being enhanced. That’s why James can tell us to count it all joy when we fall into various trials because these help produce other positive characteristics that God is looking for (James 1:2). Paul also writes the same thing in Romans 5 where he tells us that character, endurance and hope are the result of suffering. Somehow we are to learn to rejoice in these things because we become firmly convinced that the results will be good. And this is true for our children as well. So while it is difficult to see them go through hard things, if we work with them through it, these things will make them stronger.

One of the things I especially like about the Isaiah 43 passage is that God says that he has called us by our name, and we belong to Him. We are His treasured possession and He is not about to allow anything to happen that will thwart His ultimate goal of increasing our good for His glory. What God sets out to do He accomplishes. God says, “Do not fear little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). We are someday destined to rule and reign with Him and therefore, although the preparation period is sometimes difficult, it should not generate fear in us but rather faith and hope in what God is accomplishing.

Part 5 – God’s Remedy

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In these blog posts, I’ve been musing about the purpose of life and how God fits into the picture. The Bible clearly describes our condition as one of rebellion and sin against God. He is our creator, and we have rebelled against Him. The punishment for that rebellion, or sin, is death – eternal separation from God forever.

But the Bible presents us with it calls the Gospel – the Good News. The good news is that Jesus Christ, the second person of the trinity, took on human flesh and came here to live among us. He did not do this merely to be a good example. What good is a good example if we don’t want to follow that example, or are incapable of following that example?

The gist of the Good News of the Christian message is this:

1) Jesus Christ came and took our punishment on Himself when He died on the cross.

Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the [cross], that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5)

For [God] made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

2) God offers salvation and forgiveness as a gift to everyone who repents and believes the Gospel.

Repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15)

Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

3) God offers to give us His righteousness in exchange for our sin.

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. (Romans 4:3, 23)

And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Philippians 3:9)

4) God offers eternal life to those who trust Him with their souls.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16, 17)