Study 8 – Are You Righteous?

Earlier I asked the question, 'are Christians under the law?' Then, with the help of the Scriptures, I answered, 'No.' Now I'm asking another question, 'Are Christians righteous?' 'Ah!' you think, 'there is no one righteous, not even one' (Rom. 3:10) and you decide that except for Jesus Christ 'The Righteous One' (1 John 2:1), everybody is basically sinful. 'That's true of me,' you think. 'I'm just a sinner who does a few righteous acts now and again.'

You doze through the alarm and get up late. Someone else has used all the hot water, so you start the day in a bad mood. You try to pray, but you can't stop your mind from wandering. You open your Bible at the day's reading from Leviticus and discover that it's all about cleansing from mildew! You give up on that too. At breakfast time you upset the milk over the table and vent your rage on the cat. As you storm off down the street the devil whispers in your ear, 'Righteous? Never! There's no righteousness in you at all.'

His voice lingers in your ears all day. 'You're useless!' His accusations wear you down and everything you do seems to turn out wrong. You become superstitious, concluding that, 'It's all because I didn't have a decent quiet time.' In the evening you look back over a hopeless day and feel thoroughly condemned. Even when you're having excellent times with God, you still can't seem to win. 'I really made some progress this morning,' you think. 'That's true,' says the devil. 'Doing well, aren't you?' 'Yes,' you reply. He continues, 'You're quite proud, aren't you?' You wonder how you will get through.

Joshua, the high priest, once came before god. He was wearing filthy clothes which were symbolic of sin. Satan was ready to condemn him but God silenced Satan before he could utter even one word against Joshua. Then He took away Joshua's sin and clothed him in fine garments (Zech. 3:1-5). 'Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies' (Rom. 8:33). 'If God is for us, who is against us?' (Rom. 8:31).

We are 'a royal priesthood' (1 Pet. 2:9) and Satan accuses us 'day and night' (Rev. 12:10). He often does this to stop us from bringing our priestly offering of worship to God. But whereas God silenced the devil, we often prefer to listen to him! His accusations against us sound so accurate. We know how badly we fail. We feel wretched about it but conclude that we've simply got to live with the condemnation and do our best under the circumstances.

To Meditate On

Jesus is victorious over the devil.

'The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work'
(1 John 3:8).

'And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross' (Col. 2:15).

To Consider

LOOK UP the following verses and NOTE DOWN what they say about the devil:

John 8:44; 2 Cor. 11:14; 1 Pet. 5:8; 1 John 3:8; Rev. 9:11..

Food For Thought

READ ISAIAH 14:12-15 which illustrates Satan's downfall.
What was his chief sin?

READ GENESIS 3:1-5.
What was his chief temptation to Adam and Eve?

READ PHILIPPIANS 2:6-11.
How does Jesus' attitude differ from the devil's?

How do His followers triumph?

To Question

'Once a sinner, always a sinner' – true or false?

GIVE REASONS for your answer.

Be Inspired

'Christ in you, the hope of gory.' I'm not afraid of the devil. The devil can handle me – he's got judo I never heard of. But he can't handle the One to whom I'm joined; he can't handle the One to whom I'm united; he can't handle the One whose nature dwells in my nature.

A. W. TOZER