Our Righteousness Through Christ

Our Righteousness Through Christ
Genesis 49-50, Exodus 1 | Psalm 17 | John 17

David's plea for justice in today's Psalm could be summarised as follows:

Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea: (1)
If you test me you will find nothing for I have resolved to follow your path. (2-5)
Protect me from my enemies for they seek my harm. (6-14)
In righteousness I will see your face and I will be happy. (15)

Central to David's plea is his insistence of his own righteousness. In this and most Old Testament cases, the application of the word righteous (with respect to God) to a person implies a correct relationship with the will of God as opposed to a sinless standing before God - i.e., a 'righteous' person in the Old Testament is most likely declared so as they truly seek God's will though they still sin.

The conviction in David's writing is most important to consider: 'Lord, I seek to do what you want: please look after me.' David has reflected on his life and is convinced of his own desire to do what God wants of him. His claim to righteousness is neither false humilty or arrogance: it is the result of honest reflection.

In general today and in the New Testament (and for the remainder of today's message), the application of the word righteous (again, with respect to God) to someone means that that person has a right standing before God - i.e., God views that person as being without sin and therefore perfect in His sight.

Now, all believers have been declared righteous through trusting in Christ. Again, this righteousness is not the type referred to by David: believers declared righteous are said to be without sin in God's sight.

I, and I know many other Christians, have often found it hard to truly believe this wonderful truth - especially after failing God time and time again - but it is nevertheless the case. Indeed, having faith in Christ - the one prerequisite for becoming a Christian - means trusting that His death and resurrection secured believers' righteousness in God's sight: faith in Christ means understanding and applying the truth that through Christ and through Christ only we are worthy to live in a relationship with God.

After failing repeadedly, or perhaps in what they consider particularly heinous ways, too many Christians (I among them at times) stubbornly and often unconsciously refuse to believe that they in Christ are worthy of God. It may be that they wonder whether the heinous sins or string of sins committed can be overlooked by God. They cannot: God does not overlook any sin. But the sins of all believers were paid for by Jesus on the Cross: the punishment for every sin was taken by God the Son so that believers, in unity with Christ through their faith in Him, could be viewed with His righteousness. To think that God couldn't forgive a believer for a particular sin is to display a lack of faith and display your belief that the Cross was not strong enough.

Just as David approached God without arrogance though with confidence and conviction in his standing before Him, so too we must approach God and all things knowing that in Christ, and only in Christ, we are righteous and so can come before God with confidence and thanksgiving.

Praise God for His plan which secured your righteousness, and pray that you can live always knowing and trusting in Christ's saving power.