The Rule of Right, The Way that's Just

"Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity that is in me." -Psalm 7:8 [KJV]

What! is David become a self-justifier? Does he trust in, and depend upon his own righteousness? Does he plead it, even before the Lord, and expect justification by it? Hath he not elsewhere declared, “In Thy sight shall no man be justified”? (Psalm 143:2.) Why then does he here talk of my righteousness? and why does he say, The Lord reward me, according to my righteousness? (18:20.) It was far from David’s heart, to make his own righteousness the ground of his acceptance before God, or to place his hope of eternal life on it. He was a poor sinner. He knew it well. He confesses it constantly to the Lord. He declines it in point of justification, “I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine ONLY,” (Psalm 71:16.) 

Why then does he here talk of his own righteousness? Let not this puzzle thy mind, nor pervert thy judgment, O Christian! You now also do the same, in the same sense. Consider, David is here speaking of false calumnies, and unjust against him by Saul, his cruel and unkind enemy. Hast thou not met with the same treatment? Has thy conscience acquitted thee of what has been laid to thy charge? Hast thou known, that thy hands were clean, thy heart pure, and thine integrity free from base imputation? Then thou hast a right to carry thy cause to the Lord, and to plead thy righteousness, uprightness, and integrity of conduct, in this sense before him: thank Him for His grace which kept thee from doing, as thy enemies unjustly charge thee, and enabled thee to do what was just and right: and to beseech the Lord to save thee from them, who unjustly persecute thee: to pity their cruelty before him: to pray to thy Lord for them. 

All this is perfectly consistent with thy faith, thy hope, and thy love. Study to profit by thy enemy’s treatment. Cease ye from man. Like thy Lord, learn obedience by the things which you suffer, (Hebrews 5:8.) Commit thy cause unto the Lord. “For all men have not faith.” (II Thessalonians 3:2.) A Christian’s moral character should be held most sacred by him. Righteousness, integrity, and uprightness to all men, should ever be practiced by him, that the way of truth be not blamed on his account. O it grieves one to the very heart, when professors give cause to the enemies of Christ to say, See, here are your saints! they pay no regard to moral righteousness and integrity! Be careful to give no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed. -see II Corinthians 6:3

 

The rule of right, the way that’s just, 

O may I ever prize! 

Tho’ in my works I dare not trust, 

Yet works faith justifies. 

Dear Lord, I daily need Thy grace, 

Each duty to fulfil. 

Blameless to walk before Thy face, 

Tho’ charged with ev’ry ill.

 

-preacher Wm. Mason (1724-1797 A.D.)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

JESUS - Rock of Ages

Jesus remains the same in all ages. He is the One who is constant when everything and everyone else fails. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is our R ock [I SAMUEL 2:2 ] . In the Old Testament, in Exodus 33, Jesus is pictured as the Cleft Rock. In that chapter, verse 18 and following, Moses desired to see the glory of the Lord, but was told, "You cannot see My face; for there shall no man see My face and live.” And the Lord said, “There is a place by Me, and you shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by." Notice that as Moses stood upon the rock, the Lord hid him in the cleft. This wonderfully applies to us today! Believers are both standing on and hidden in Christ [COLOSSIANS 3:3 ] . We are both in and on the Rock. As life with its many bitter events presses upon us,
Read more

CHRIST OUR ONLY AND PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

" The flesh lusteth against the Spirit." —Galatians 5:17 [KJV] Christian experience fully proves this apostolic truth. Hence the children of God cannot do the things that they would: nor have we any authority from God's word to conclude this lusting ever ceased in any of the saints till they got to glory; none are delivered from it while in the flesh. For, as the renewed soul or spirit loves to enjoy spiritual and heavenly objects, so the flesh, or unrenewed part, lusts after those objects it is naturally conversant with, and from which it derives its happiness.  Here is thy conflict, O Christian. Hence the necessity of thy Lord's command, "Watch always." This is the use of the doctrine. What woeful effects have fulfilling the lusts or desires of the flesh produced in eminent saints! Thou standest by faith, be not high-minded, but fear. The conceptions of lust are the productions of sin.— see James 1:15 . The commission of sin contracts fresh s
Read more

GLORY ALONE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

" Lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." -Judges 7:2 [KJV] Thus the Lord reasoned with Gideon. He knows what is in man. He sees the pride of the human heart: how prone we all are to boast in an arm of flesh. The Lord is jealous of His own glory. Gideon’s army of two and thirty thousand, is brought down to three hundred. By this handful of men, and no more, did Gideon gain the victory of the Midianites. The Lord’s wisdom in this was, “Lest Israel should vaunt themselves, and say, Mine own hand hath saved me.”   But I have not transcribed the text right. There are two little words of great import, which I have omitted. Mind then, O Christian— against Me. Now remember, whenever thou dost boast of thy power, thy free-will, thy human goodness, thy works, ditties, conditions, and performances in order to be saved, thou art then, as it were, two and thirty thousand strong. Thou vauntest thyself against the Lord . Thou art gloryi
Read more