Monday, January 8, 2024

            Most people probably prefer to think of themselves as “good.”  We like to see ourselves as basically good people—folks who would do whatever we could to help others and to live in neighborly and kind ways.  But there is a difference between how we understand the word “good” and God’s perspective on goodness.  Indeed, Jesus said in Mark 10:18 that “no one is good except God alone.”  God’s standard for true goodness is the perfect and unblemished keeping of His law.  True goodness and perfection are winning every gold medal in the Olympics and making every shot in basketball.  In baseball terms, goodness is defined as batting a thousand not .999 but 1.000.  Now bear in mind, consistently hitting .300 is Hall of Fame level performance for many baseball players.  But not in God’s estimation.  God calls us to be holy because He is holy (Leviticus 19:2).
            Peter has a word to say about goodness and righteousness.  He quoted Proverbs 11:31. He wrote, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18).  The apostle was saying that a goodness or righteousness of our own making is not sufficient to stand blameless before the Lord God.  Such goodness is not sufficient for salvation.  We tend to give ourselves some credits that God does not.  We tend to give ourselves a few passes here and there when we mess up or sin.  We can easily blame others for our sins.  Simply put, we cannot save ourselves...ever!  We do not live up to God’s standards of holiness, perfection and righteousness.  We miss the mark—routinely, consistently and even regrettably. 
            Peter wrote to ensure that we do not deceive ourselves into thinking that we have earned and accumulated a right-standing before the Lord by the manner in which we have lived.  While we may prefer to think of ourselves as good, that is not the conclusion that God has drawn.  The Bible says, “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one’” (Romans 3:10-12).  When considering the billions of people who have walked the earth since creation, no one passed the test of living a perfect and sinless life with the exception of Jesus.  Not the best person you have ever met.  Not you.  Not me.  Not Billy Graham.  Not Paul.  Nobody. 
            The good news is the righteousness or goodness of Christ is credited to us.  We receive His righteousness since we are unable to live righteously by ourselves.  His righteousness is handed to us as we hand our sinfulness and guilt to Him.  Jesus died for us and in our place.  Peter’s words underscore the importance of our need for a Savior.  The enemy would like to convince us that we are “good enough” and “righteous.”  But the reality is, such conclusions and beliefs leave us as lost as we could possibly be.  As Peter said, it is “hard” for the “righteous” to be saved because our humanly produced goodness and fruit are not perfect and complete.  We think so much more highly and rewardingly of ourselves than Scripture does or God does.    
            When it comes to salvation, we have to be careful not to slip into a way of thinking that is works-based where we convince ourselves that our good deeds, acts of charity and best efforts count for something.  Isaiah gave this stern warning many years ago, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away” (Isaiah 64:6).  It can be convicting and indicting to read that our self-professed and self-attained righteousness is but rags.  Any righteousness that we think we might have gained is quickly swept away.  God dismisses and disqualifies those acts of goodness that we are so tempted to think are righteous.  We find a warning from Peter that says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5c). 
            The witness of Scripture teaches us to surrender completely and fully to the Lord.  To rest on Him and Him alone for our righteousness, hope and salvation.  Human ideas, philosophies and the wisdom of other religions are just noise.  And that noise can blind and deafen us to the truth of God and His Word.  We need to see God’s truth each day and embrace it into our lives.  One reason that we want to spend time in Scripture is to ensure that we are centered on what God has said and not the opinions and ideas of the world around us.  Christ and culture are often in conflict.  The enemy would love for us to choose anything but Christ because Christ is the only decisive answer and way that leads to life here and forever. 
            Faith can mean that we rest our full weight upon Christ and Him alone.  We trust nothing else.  We bend to no other argument.  We lean unhesitatingly upon Him alone.  He is the firm foundation.  He is the rock and the cornerstone.  In Him, we are never disappointed and defeated.  Rejoice today that His righteousness is sufficient.  And receive it by a surrendered faith.  Remember you can enjoy our worship any time at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.