Developing Righteous Character
To develop godly character,
we must first experience the
righteousness received by faith,
and then sincerely love and worship God
and live in His will.
Here now is Gene Getz:
As you look at this psalm, you'll see that
God is actually describing--
by the Spirit, through the psalmist--
a god-fearing person.
For example, look at just the opening verse.
I'll just pick and choose here from
verses 1 and 4.
I've called this the god-fearing person:
Hallelujah! Happy is the man [or blessed is the man]
who fears the Lord, taking great delight
in His commands. ...
...Light shines in the
darkness for the upright.
He is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
When you read a psalm like this,
you could actually, if you're out of context,
come to the conclusion that we're saved by works.
But the fact of the matter is that God is
speaking to a righteous man--
a righteous person who's already
been declared righteous by God.
And it's vey important that we
distinguish that. Because people get
confused about the fact that we're
not saved by keeping the law.
A lot of the Old Testament refers to the fact
of keeping the law. But we conclude
that a person then gets saved
by keeping the law.
Whereas, we get in the New Testament,
it's very clear. The whole purpose of the law
was to make us aware of our sins
so that we would respond to Jesus Christ.
And that's really clarified for us in
Ephesians chapter 2, verses 8 and 9:
For by grace you are saved through faith...
That's a pretty direct statement, isn't it?
How are we saved?
...For by grace you are saved through faith...
It doesn't say: For by grace you are saved by keeping the law.
You go on in the passage,
we see more clarification:
...and this is not from yourselves;
it is God's gift--not from works,
so that no one can boast.
And so it's very clear in the New Testament
that we are saved by grace through faith.
We're not saved by keeping the law.
But Paul explains that even in the Old Testament,
people were not saved by keeping the law.
For example, let me take you to
Romans chapter 4.
He goes all the way back to Abraham:
What then can we say that Abraham,
our physical ancestor, has found?
If Abraham was justified by works,
he has something to brag about--
but not before God.
For what does the Scripture say?
Abraham believed God, and it was
credited [to] him for righteousness.
How was Abraham made righteous before God?
By faith--when he believed God.
And you go on to chapter 5, by the way,
and we see the fulfillment of that
in Jesus Christ and all of fulfillment
when he says:
Therefore, being justified by faith,
we too have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he's building on this concept.
What Paul is saying:
No one has ever been saved by works.
Old Testament. New Testament.
However, once we're justified by faith--
and that, I believe, is what the psalmist
is referring to.
He's talking about a man who's
been justified by faith.
He's now living a righteous life.
And happy is the one who
walks in the will of God.
And Ephesians 2:10 picks up that theme, right?
Ephesians 2:10 says--
after he says we're saved by grace through faith:
For we are His creation--
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared ahead of time
so that we should walk in them.
Isn't it amazing how many people
miss this great truth?
I mean, religions that claim to be Christian
and have the full body of truth that we have
both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Theologians who've spent their life
studying Scripture and somehow miss
this incredible truth that we're
not saved by works.
But we're saved by grace through faith.
The question for Reflection and Response
relates to: Why does that happen?
Why is it easy to develop a view that salvation
is based on good works and self-righteousness?
Well immediately I would say that
we don't look at the whole biblical story.
We have to see the whole biblical story.
Which by the way, right from the very beginning
with the story of Abraham, indicates
that he was saved by grace through faith.
Particularly, beginning with chapter 12
and following in Genesis.
Another reason, I think
that we confused about this.
A lot of people get confused is because
we live in a culture that at one time honored
and glorified the Ten Commandments.
And the Ten Commandments was the basis
of our civilization in the western world.
And we talk a lot about the commandments,
which are good and righteous.
God says they're good.
Jesus says they're good.
Jesus didn't come to destroy the law.
He came to fulfill the law.
But people stop and don't realize that
our righteousness is in Christ,
enabling us then to carry out the
Commandments in our life
with the power of the Holy Spirit.
So we've been taught, I think, in our culture,
which confuses us.
And there was a lot of confusion, really,
in the founding of our culture. Even within
the religious movement of that day, way back then.
We have forgotten what the purpose
of the law really is.
And Paul really made that clear.
He said the law has been given--
in Galatians he refers to this--
to be, as it were, a schoolmaster to
bring us to Christ.
To make us aware of our sin.
And I would have to add in answering that question
about: why do people get confused on this.
I think it's a trick of Satan.
Satan's tool--his goal--is to take
advantage of our human tendency.
And our human tendency is to do
something to redeem us from our sins.
But the Bible says there isn't anything
we can do to redeem us for our sins.
Jesus paid for our sins. Once and for all.
And was resurrected. And now is at the
right hand of the Father interceding for us.
And the Bible says that if we believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be saved.
When that Philippian jailer came to the
apostle Paul after that great earthquake,
the chains feel off.
The [jailer] was going to take his own life.
Paul cried out.
He said: Don't do yourself any harm.
We're all here.
And this Philippian jailer just fell at the
feet of Paul and Silas and said:
What must I do to be saved?
What did Paul say?
Be a good man and keep the law--
is that what he said? No.
He said: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved.
Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Son of God?
If you do, there's the promise--you will be saved.