Righteousness Is Apart From Works Series

That story reminds me of how some people react to the plan of salvation. To some it sounds too easy and simple to be true, even though the Bible says, "By grace you have been saved through faith, . . . it is the gift of God, not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9). They feel that there is some thing more they must do, something they must add to God's "recipe" for salvation. They think they must perform good works to gain God's favor and earn eternal life. But the Bible is clear - we are saved "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy" (Titus 3:5). We are saved by God's mercy, not by our merit. We are saved by Christ's dying, not by our doing.

Unlike the cake-mix manufacturer, God has not changed His "formula" to make salvation more marketable. The gospel we proclaim must be free of works, even though it may sound too easy. [Richard De Haan. Our Daily Bread]

Salvation is a gift of God, Not something earned or won;

He freely gives eternal life To all who trust His Son. -Sper

Friend, you too can have forgiveness for your sins and peace with God. The Bible says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31). That's the best proposition I've ever heard! Salvation is not something we achieve but something we receive.

III. FORGIVENESS NOT WORKS, 6-8.

Paul's first argument for gratuitous justification was from the case of Abraham. His second argument concerns God's free acceptance of the unworthy and is from the testimony of David. "Just as David also speaks of the blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works,"

Paul again appeals to Scripture to support his statement. (According to a basic Jewish principle there needs to be two witnesses to the truth). David was plainly someone whose was a sinner. Yet God reckons him as righteous for certainly there could be no righteousness in himself. Yet David has received God's free pardon and is pronounced "not guilty" before heaven's tribunal.

Paul quotes Psalms 32:1-2 as David's written testimony in verse 7. "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered."

Forgiveness is the grounds on which David was acquitted. David simply acknowledges his guilt and casts himself in faith upon the mercy of God. The point is stressed that forgiveness granted and experienced was not the result of human work but divine grace.

[Three Wonders in Heaven] John Newton said, "WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN I shall see three wonders there. The first wonder will be, to see many people there whom I did not expect to see - the second wonder will be, to miss many people whom I did expect to see; and the third and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there."

[Martin Luther's struggle with the guilt of sin helped prepare him for the great freedom he found when the truth of justification by faith finally dawned on him. This poem, Sin Has Met Its Match, by Luther expresses it well:

I do not come because my soul is free from sin and

pure and whole and worthy of Thy grace;