April 6, 2023 -- Psalm 9:7-10 -- The Psalm Series: the problem of our lack of righteousness and the Father's extravagant gift

People loved by the Father, in the Spirit's power: Sh'ma ~ hear and obey Jesus!

But the Lord sits enthroned forever;
    he has established his throne for justice,
8 and he judges the world with righteousness;
    he judges the peoples with uprightness.

9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
    a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,
    for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 9:7-10 ESV

The opening line of the reading today is definitive, from eternity to eternity the LORD sits enthroned forever. Nothing can shake His power. Nothing can challenge His dominion. By way of contrast, the people are judged. The people are found to fall short of the justice and righteousness His kingdom demands.

     There are two reasons why man cannot work out for himself a
     righteousness by perfectly obeying the law. He has already sinned
     and the wages of sin is death (Romans 3:23; 6:23). And even if
     all former debts should be blotted out, yet man is still unable to fulfil
     the law. ‘By works of the law, no flesh shall be justified.’ Man’s flesh,
     weakened by sin, cannot walk in perfect obedience to the law.

     So convinced of his utter inability to make himself righteous by the
     law, man turns to some other way by which he can please God.
     Papists turn to buying works of supererogation and indulgences, to
     penances and to purgatory. This Paul calls a seeking for righteous-
     ness ‘as it were by the works of the law’ (Romans 9:32). They did
     not try and obey the law itself, ‘but as it were’ by the works of the
     law, substituting one thing for another. ‘By doing this,’ says Paul,
     they proved themselves enemies to God’s righteousness
     (Romans 10:3). They were enemies to God’s righteousness
     because they tried to establish their own righteousness. And they
     tried to establish their own self-righteousness because they were
     ignorant of God’s righteousness.
     John Owen (abridged, made easier to read by J. K. Law)

Simply put, God’s righteous is too lofty, too unattainable for people. Aware of this all kinds of other means of putting ourselves forward as righteous are being used. Supererogation in Roman Catholic theology is the heretical belief that some people’s righteousness exceeds God’s lawful demands, and a pope can collect the extra and dole it out as he deems appropriate. It is on a grand scale, what many of us try in our own hearts. We negotiate with God. If I do this or that, then God will be satisfied with me. We ignore all our sinful condition. We ignore the fact that our starting place is as those who are guilty before God, without any righteousness or justice, or plea.

This is why Good Friday and Easter are such a delight to the people of God. On Good Friday the Father put on Jesus the sinfulness and sinful deeds of fallen man, and Jesus was punished in our place. On Easter Sunday Jesus rose through the glory of the Father so that we may walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4)., that is, in the righteousness the Father has given us through the sacrifice of Jesus. The Spirit of God applies this to the hearts of those who are oppressed and troubled by their godless and unrighteous standing before God.

Those who know they have no righteousness and no possibility of being righteous before the Father run to Him. The Spirit uses the Word to awaken in us the awareness of our sin-oppressed and troubled state and shows us the extended hand of the Father’s mercy and love. Running to the Father we find in Him a welcome that clothes us in Christ’s righteousness and a confidence that the roaring of that old defeated lion the Devil (I Peter 5:8) cannot shake. In Jesus Christ we have a righteousness that matches all the Father’s requirements. By the Spirit’s work this garment of praise, this robe of splendour and great beauty, is wrapped around us until death is defeated and we see God, the Light of Life.

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name, O King in beauty and exalted in majesty. Who is a God like You?! Pardoning iniquity and passing over transgressions and delighting to show Your steadfast love to all Your people. This through the inexpressibly rich gift of Jesus Christ and His blood. You have shown Your faithfulness to Israel and then to all the nations and showered out Your steadfast love on all the sons of Abraham and those adopted into his family by the grace of Jesus Christ. 

https://youtu.be/TFPyyNNcYP0 “All Creatures of Our God and King” Shane and Shane

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