A Systematic Expository Study of the Word of God

                                   THE WATCHFULNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

                                       Genesis 7:1; 2 Peter 2:5; Genesis 9:20-22;

                                           1 Corinthians 10:11, 12; Matthew 26:41.

The declaration of the Almighty God concerning Noah is that he was righteous. He was not only righteous but uniquely righteous. In the midst of the corrupt millions of people that lived at his time, God declared him to be righteous in his generation. He was not only righteous, He was also a preacher, proclaimer, defender of righteousness.  But in subsequent accounts of his life, we learn something unfortunate and disappointing about this righteous man. This man, declared to be righteous by faith and by the grace of God, in both the Old and New Testament scriptures, later turned out to be a drunkard.  He “began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.”

Noah’s fall into the sin of drunkenness should serve as a warning to the heaven-bound pilgrim. If you are saved, born again, redeemed and made righteous by the precious blood of Jesus, then you need to be careful. If others fell, you too can fall. Even though you were made righteous by the grace of God, that righteousness cannot be taken for granted to the point that you begin to feel you can never fall no matter how you live.   Presumptuous and self-confident people often fall into sin. Peter wanted to honour the Lord. He wanted to stand by the Lord till the very end. But he was too self-confident and therefore fell into the sin of lying. “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”    

THE WEAKNESS OF THE RIGHTEOUS

Judges 8:22-27; 2 Chronicles 15:7, 8,19; 16:7,10,12; 26:5, 7,15-20; 2 Samuel 11:26,27; 12:7,9,10; Matthew 26:69-75.

We are made righteous by grace. It is not a quality or virtue that is innate or inborn in us. It is by grace that we are saved, not of works. Without grace, we are as ordinary as other people are. Salvation, boldness at the throne of grace, conviction and uncompromising stand on the truth are all by grace. Yet, the fall into sin of great men of God like Noah, Gideon, Asa, Uzziah, David, Peter after they had good testimonies serves as a great warning to all believers on the need  to be watchful at all times. Gideon was a man whom God used to deliver the children of Israel from the hand of the Midianites. The Midianites acknowledged him to be a great warrior.  But more than being a warrior, he was a righteous man. His reply to the request of the Ishmaelites to reign over them shows him to be a man of great humility. But his good testimony was soon stained by his slide into idolatry. Behold, the weakness of a righteous man! Christian, seek  not yet repose as there is an ever-present temptation to make you fall.

Some moral weakness was shown also by King Asa. For thirty-five years he reigned as king, he ruled with the fear of God. There was no idolatry but peace, rest and tranquility in his domain. But later, Asa began to waver in his commitment to the Lord. He became oppressive and dictatorial. The Lord sent His prophet, Hanani, to warn him. But he would not listen. Instead of taking corrections, in his pride he became angry at the prophet’s rebuke. Chastisement or rebuke came by  way of disease. The warning was meant  to draw him back to the Lord. But he was unrepentant. He could not seek the Lord. Instead, he sought cure from the hands of herbalists and witch doctors. He died from the disease. Uzziah was helped by the Lord to become a highly successful inventor and an engineer. But success got into his head. He became high-minded, arrogant and incorrigible. He died a leper. David, the man after God’s heart, the man who was so righteous that he would not kill his enemy, became so morally weak that he killed the husband of a woman he committed adultery with. Righteous people sometimes can be weak. Peter walked on the water, witnessed the transfiguration of Christ and stoutly defended the Lord his Master by cutting off someone’s ear when they came to arrest the Lord. Yet, thereafter, he denied the Lord thrice.

WARNINGS FOR THE RIGHTEOUS

Hebrews 3:12-14; Exodus 32:30-33; 1 Samuel 12:14,15; 1 Chronicles 28:9; Ezekiel 3:20; 18:24; 33:18; John 15:2,6; Romans 8: 9-13; 11:20-22; 2 Peter 2:20-22; Hebrews 12:15-17; 1 Corinthians 10:1-12.

There is nothing like eternal or unconditional security. There exists the possibility of departing from the faith once delivered to the saints. There is nothing like being  saved forever. You can fall from grace to grass if you are not careful. Warnings abound in the scriptures of such possibility. There are people who are only careful when they feel that members of the church may discover what they are doing wrong and report them to church leadership. Such people are afraid of only human and church discipline. But if there is no possibility of any member of the church knowing what they intend to do, they will go ahead and engage themselves in all kinds of evil deeds. If they know that there will be no way of anybody detecting what they are about to do, if nobody can hold them to it and discipline them, they feel disposed to doing evil. They forget that God’s eyes are watching them. The church may not see you and discipline you.  But God sees you and will take your name out of the book of life if you go into sin. His favour will continue to abide with you only if you are living right as a born again Christian, only if your life is glorifying to His name. If, on the other hand, you rebel against the commandments of the Lord, there will be judgment upon you from the God of heaven. When a righteous man takes things for granted and goes back into sin because he is no more watchful, careful and prayerful, judgment is sure to follow. If you die in sin, secret or open, you cannot get to heaven.  The righteousness of the righteous will not be remembered on the day he goes into sin! 

THE WARFARE OF THE RIGHTEOUS

1 Peter 2:11; Galatians 5:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 9:27; Matthew 11:12; Luke 22:31-34, 56, 57, 62.

The righteous is always faced with a battle, with warfare. As a Christian, the devil is battling for your soul. If he can, he wants to take you away from the Kingdom. He wants to fulfill this through seemingly small sin. No matter how strong you think you are, a little sin can bring you down. The flesh fights against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Satan will be happy to have you overlook the battle for your own soul and begin to fight against flesh and blood. But if you will be victorious in the daily battle going on within your soul, you need to be violent with self, bad habits or anything that can hinder you from getting into the Kingdom.

Satan does not like to fight ordinary skirmishes. He is always after significant people. If your life is significant in the hands of the Lord, if you have a significant role in the kingdom of God, if you have taken a stand for the Lord, Satan will be after, not just your physical but most importantly, your spiritual life.  Jesus prayed for Simon Peter. Yet, he fell when temptation came his way. Why? It was because Simon Peter belittled the power, the intention and purpose of Satan. The righteous ought to watch because eternal life is not something that is secured forever if you do not watch and pray.  The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.