Am I Righteous Enough to Enjoy the Promises in the Psalms?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - An anonymous listener of the podcast
00:00:06.880 | writes in to ask this, "Pastor John,
00:00:09.280 | "what constitutes being a righteous person
00:00:12.280 | "as referenced over 50 times in the Psalms?
00:00:15.020 | "For example, there are promises to the righteous
00:00:18.520 | "that God will hear their prayers."
00:00:20.920 | See Psalm 34, verses 15 to 22.
00:00:23.960 | So who is this righteous person in the Psalms
00:00:27.540 | and how do I become one?
00:00:29.240 | That's a really important question
00:00:31.580 | because of how many people stumble.
00:00:33.420 | We know we're sinners, we stumble over that
00:00:35.300 | and therefore we don't see ourselves in that category
00:00:37.580 | and therefore we can't make use of those Psalms
00:00:39.580 | and that's tragic.
00:00:41.220 | And what makes the question so urgent
00:00:44.220 | is that when Paul says in Romans 3.10,
00:00:47.220 | none is righteous, no not one,
00:00:50.140 | he's quoting the Psalms.
00:00:51.940 | - Exactly.
00:00:52.780 | - Right?
00:00:53.620 | - He's like, oh, I don't think the Psalms are right
00:00:55.820 | with all that righteousness talk.
00:00:57.460 | He's quoting Psalm 14 and Psalm 53 says,
00:01:01.660 | "God looks down from heaven on the children of man to see
00:01:05.100 | "and there are none who understand,
00:01:06.760 | "there are none who seek for God.
00:01:08.380 | "They have all fallen away.
00:01:10.100 | "Together they have become corrupt.
00:01:11.760 | "There is none who does good, not even one."
00:01:13.940 | That's the Psalms talking
00:01:16.060 | who are constantly saying things like this.
00:01:19.060 | The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous
00:01:21.660 | and his ears are toward their cry.
00:01:23.620 | That's Psalm 34.
00:01:25.060 | Psalm 37, "For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
00:01:29.100 | "but the Lord upholds the righteous."
00:01:31.660 | Psalm 37 again, "The salvation of the righteous
00:01:36.160 | "is from the Lord, he is their stronghold."
00:01:38.980 | Psalm 55, "Cast your burden on the Lord,
00:01:41.120 | "he will sustain you.
00:01:42.420 | "He will never permit the righteous to be moved."
00:01:46.040 | Can you embrace that promise?
00:01:48.460 | That's the key question.
00:01:49.580 | Or Psalm 146, "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
00:01:54.440 | "whose hope is the Lord his God."
00:01:58.620 | We are blessed if God is our help.
00:02:06.220 | And in that Psalm and elsewhere,
00:02:08.580 | help comes to the righteous.
00:02:11.820 | Or Psalm 146, eight, just a couple of verses later,
00:02:15.380 | "The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.
00:02:17.560 | "The Lord loves the righteous."
00:02:20.260 | That's why those two verses together are so powerful.
00:02:23.820 | But here's the catch.
00:02:25.820 | Immediately before that verse, Psalm 146, verse eight,
00:02:30.820 | comes a description of who the righteous are.
00:02:35.600 | And here it is.
00:02:36.660 | "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
00:02:41.660 | "whose hope is in the Lord his God,
00:02:44.880 | "who made heaven and earth, the sea,
00:02:47.340 | "and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever,
00:02:51.460 | "who executes justice for the oppressed,
00:02:54.620 | "who gives food to the hungry.
00:02:58.060 | "Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob."
00:03:02.780 | He's describing people here doing those things.
00:03:07.220 | So there's no thought in the Old Testament
00:03:10.820 | or the New Testament that the righteous are sinless.
00:03:14.460 | They aren't sinless.
00:03:15.740 | The whole Old Covenant is based on the assumption
00:03:19.340 | that people need forgiveness
00:03:22.460 | through the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament,
00:03:24.820 | through the mercy of God.
00:03:26.180 | The righteous know this and turn to God for mercy,
00:03:30.180 | mercy, not merit, mercy,
00:03:32.660 | and put their hope in Him for forgiveness.
00:03:35.980 | And then they live in the promise that God will help them.
00:03:40.540 | Fear not, I am with you.
00:03:41.740 | I will help you.
00:03:42.660 | I will uphold you.
00:03:44.060 | I'll strengthen you.
00:03:45.060 | They live in that awareness, and thus they do justice,
00:03:48.700 | and they do mercy,
00:03:49.860 | and they care for the hungry and the oppressed.
00:03:52.780 | I have found Psalm 103 to be really helpful
00:03:58.860 | in putting the pieces together.
00:04:00.700 | So it begins celebrating the forgiveness of sin.
00:04:05.500 | So we can be done with all thought
00:04:07.620 | that the righteous don't need their sins forgiven
00:04:11.300 | because they don't have any.
00:04:12.180 | That's not true.
00:04:13.860 | Verse two, Psalm 103, "Blessed, bless the Lord, O my soul,
00:04:17.860 | "and forget not all his benefits,
00:04:19.260 | "who forgives all your iniquity."
00:04:21.780 | Verse 10, "He does not deal with us according to our sins
00:04:25.420 | "or repay us according to our iniquities."
00:04:28.500 | So the righteous are people who know that,
00:04:32.540 | glory in it, base their lives on it.
00:04:35.620 | And then David adds in verse 17,
00:04:38.540 | "But the steadfast love of the Lord
00:04:40.180 | "is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him,
00:04:45.220 | "and His righteousness to children's children,
00:04:48.660 | "to those who keep His covenant
00:04:51.540 | "and remember to do His commandments."
00:04:53.700 | So even though sinlessness is not what righteousness is,
00:04:58.700 | and even though forgiveness of sins is continually needed,
00:05:06.140 | the righteous do keep the covenant.
00:05:10.460 | They do keep the commandments, not flawlessly.
00:05:15.020 | But otherwise they wouldn't need any forgiveness.
00:05:17.380 | But as the passion and the direction of their lives,
00:05:21.780 | that's the righteous.
00:05:22.840 | They're depending on mercy,
00:05:24.200 | they're getting forgiveness of sins,
00:05:25.940 | they're looking away from themselves
00:05:27.340 | to the sacrifice that ultimately is Jesus,
00:05:30.060 | and they are then in the power and strength of that,
00:05:33.100 | putting to death sin in their lives,
00:05:34.780 | and they're on a basic trajectory of obedience to God.
00:05:38.660 | And exactly the same thing is true of Christians today.
00:05:43.140 | The righteous in the New Testament are not sinless people,
00:05:48.140 | and they are not only people
00:05:51.780 | who are enjoying imputed perfect righteousness,
00:05:56.780 | as though that's the only way
00:05:58.580 | the New Testament talks about the righteous.
00:06:01.060 | That's the foundational way.
00:06:02.660 | We can't even make any steps in practical righteousness
00:06:05.660 | until we are counted righteous by God through faith alone.
00:06:09.500 | But once we are justified by faith alone
00:06:12.480 | and counted righteous in Christ,
00:06:14.580 | our whole lives are devoted to being the righteous.
00:06:17.900 | And that's why in Philippians 1, verse 11,
00:06:21.680 | when Paul prays for them,
00:06:23.180 | he expects that Christians are going to be found
00:06:25.740 | at the last day filled with the fruits of righteousness.
00:06:30.740 | That is how you keep the new covenant.
00:06:33.740 | You trust in mercy, you receive forgiveness,
00:06:36.980 | you enjoy a perfect standing with God,
00:06:39.340 | and as the fruit and overflow of the Spirit,
00:06:42.720 | you bear fruits of righteousness.
00:06:46.860 | So don't rank, quote, the righteous in the Psalms
00:06:51.860 | so high that you can't be one.
00:06:55.640 | Then those Psalms become useless for you.
00:06:59.300 | And don't rank the righteous so low
00:07:03.460 | that it doesn't require any real moral change in your life.
00:07:09.460 | That's a wonderful balance and perspective.
00:07:11.820 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:07:13.300 | Well, another full week of episodes comes to an end.
00:07:16.260 | This is our 148th straight week of episodes.
00:07:20.100 | That is a lot of grace,
00:07:21.620 | and that's a lot of time from you investing in us.
00:07:24.280 | So thank you for listening.
00:07:25.740 | You can keep up with all of our new episodes,
00:07:28.060 | and you can sift through the now over 730 episodes
00:07:32.040 | we have in the archive,
00:07:33.020 | all through our free app for your phone, of course.
00:07:35.860 | And of course, you can get the apps,
00:07:37.660 | and you can send us your questions online
00:07:39.980 | at desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:07:44.540 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:07:45.620 | Have a great weekend.
00:07:46.660 | We will see you on Monday.
00:07:47.980 | (upbeat music)
00:07:50.560 | (upbeat music)
00:07:53.140 | [BLANK_AUDIO]