Sovereign Grace Church

…the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, 
He is their strength in the time of trouble

(PSALM 37:39)

We may say of righteousness, as Job says of wisdom, “Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living,” (JOB 28:12,13). The Patriarch says, It is not in me. The Prophet says, It is not in me. The Apostle says, It is not in me. The Lord saith, “All flesh had corrupted his way,” (GENESIS 6:12) “There is none righteous, no not one,” (PSALM 14:3). Why then do the Scriptures speak so much of the righteous, if there be no such persons upon earth? Indeed there are. This is a point of great importance. [May] the Lord settle it well in your heart and mine. We are guilty sinners in ourselves. We have no righteousness of our own. Yet, saith the Lord Jesus, the righteous One, “Their righteousness is of me,” (ISAIAH 54:17). We are made the righteousness of God in Christ, (2 CORINTHIANS 5:21). When we are taught this by the Spirit of truth, instead of looking into ourselves for righteousness, we cry out in the joy of faith, I have found it! “In the Lord have I righteousness” (ISAIAH 45:24). Then we have a living union with the Lord our righteousness, by faith. Being perfectly righteous in Him, we have righteous hopes, fears, desires, a righteous walk, and righteous expectations. For we know our salvation is of the Lord. The Spirit of truth does not leave us to the unrighteous notions of salvation, on any condition of our own work, duties, and performances, either in whole or in part. But He shews us such matchless glory in our Lord’s one everlasting righteousness, that it puts us at once, both out of conceit with our own filthy rags, and prevents us from placing any dependence on them for salvation. The Lord increase our faith in this righteousness. Lord quicken our love to thee for making us righteous. So neither are we left to live in sin, and walk in sin. But though thus righteous, yet sin is in us, therefore we have our troubles. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. Are we in trouble about the number of our enemies, the greatness of our sins and corruptions—the weakness of our graces—the strength of our temptations—a sense of desertion—the want of comfort, peace, and joy from the Lord? These are righteous troubles. The righteous Lord is our strength to support, under them—he has power to remove them. He neither wants strength of love, nor ability of power [of our own] to save us from them. For the Lord delivereth the righteous out of all his troubles (PSALM 34:17).

Salvation is a joyful theme,
To sinners lost and poor.

While Lord, ‘tis thine most glorious scheme,
O let us feel its pow’r.