How to Make Things Right with God

Saturday, April 23, 2016

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?”

Luke 10:29

The man whose question sparked perhaps the most famous of all of Jesus’ parables—the story of the Good Samaritan—was not asking out of a sincere desire to know the truth. Instead, the Bible reveals that his motive was to make himself look better. So often we yield to the temptation to think that we can handle things without God just fine on our own, unlike some others. I read a story about a children’s Sunday school teacher who taught her pupils from the parable of the Pharisee and the publican praying in the Temple. When she finished her lesson she called on one of her students to pray. The little boy said, “God, thank You that I’m not like that Pharisee!”

If we set out to justify ourselves, we can always find some reason that will show why what we have done is not as bad as others, or some excuse that will rationalize away or explain our behavior. But God doesn’t grade on a curve. He does not compare us to what others are doing, but rather to the perfect standard of His Son. And He is not deceived by our attempts to make ourselves look better. He sees us as we really are, and He will not accept any attempt to avoid responsibility on our part.

The only hope we have is to abandon our efforts to justify ourselves and instead rest on the finished work of Jesus Christ. It is sufficient for everything that we lack, and because of grace we have already received God’s stamp of approval: “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). When in our pride and self confidence we attempt to make things right with God, we always fail.

Today's Growth Principle
Since God sees through all our excuses, we should humbly confess our sins rather than justifying ourselves.

Old Testament Reading

2 Samuel 19-20

CHAPTER 19

¹ And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. ² And the victory that day was turned into mourning unto all the people: for the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. ³ And the people gat them by stealth that day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle. ⁴ But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! ⁵ And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; ⁶ In that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. ⁷ Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak comfortably unto thy servants: for I swear by the LORD, if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. ⁸ Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told unto all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.

⁹ And all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom. ¹⁰ And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? ¹¹ And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his house. ¹² Ye are my brethren, ye are my bones and my flesh: wherefore then are ye the last to bring back the king? ¹³ And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab. ¹⁴ And he bowed the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy servants. ¹⁵ So the king returned, and came to Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king over Jordan.

¹⁶ And Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. ¹⁷ And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the king. ¹⁸ And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; ¹⁹ And said unto the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. ²⁰ For thy servant doth know that I have sinned: therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. ²¹ But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD'S anointed? ²² And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? ²³ Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.

²⁴ And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came again in peace. ²⁵ And it came to pass, when he was come to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said unto him, Wherefore wentest not thou with me, Mephibosheth? ²⁶ And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me: for thy servant said, I will saddle me an ass, that I may ride thereon, and go to the king; because thy servant is lame. ²⁷ And he hath slandered thy servant unto my lord the king; but my lord the king is as an angel of God: do therefore what is good in thine eyes. ²⁸ For all of my father's house were but dead men before my lord the king: yet didst thou set thy servant among them that did eat at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet to cry any more unto the king? ²⁹ And the king said unto him, Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land. ³⁰ And Mephibosheth said unto the king, Yea, let him take all, forasmuch as my lord the king is come again in peace unto his own house.

³¹ And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim, and went over Jordan with the king, to conduct him over Jordan. ³² Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even fourscore years old: and he had provided the king of sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim; for he was a very great man. ³³ And the king said unto Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem. ³⁴ And Barzillai said unto the king, How long have I to live, that I should go up with the king unto Jerusalem? ³⁵ I am this day fourscore years old: and can I discern between good and evil? can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden unto my lord the king? ³⁶ Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king: and why should the king recompense it me with such a reward? ³⁷ Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in mine own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and of my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do to him what shall seem good unto thee. ³⁸ And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good unto thee: and whatsoever thou shalt require of me, that will I do for thee. ³⁹ And all the people went over Jordan. And when the king was come over, the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him; and he returned unto his own place.

⁴⁰ Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chimham went on with him: and all the people of Judah conducted the king, and also half the people of Israel. ⁴¹ And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said unto the king, Why have our brethren the men of Judah stolen thee away, and have brought the king, and his household, and all David's men with him, over Jordan? ⁴² And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us: wherefore then be ye angry for this matter? have we eaten at all of the king's cost? or hath he given us any gift? ⁴³ And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye: why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be first had in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

CHAPTER 20

¹ And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel. ² So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem. ³ And David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and fed them, but went not in unto them. So they were shut up unto the day of their death, living in widowhood.

⁴ Then said the king to Amasa, Assemble me the men of Judah within three days, and be thou here present. ⁵ So Amasa went to assemble the men of Judah: but he tarried longer than the set time which he had appointed him. ⁶ And David said to Abishai, Now shall Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom: take thou thy lord's servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fenced cities, and escape us. ⁷ And there went out after him Joab's men, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men: and they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸ When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa went before them. And Joab's garment that he had put on was girded unto him, and upon it a girdle with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath thereof; and as he went forth it fell out. ⁹ And Joab said to Amasa, Art thou in health, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with the right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰ But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab's hand: so he smote him therewith in the fifth rib, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again; and he died. So Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹ And one of Joab's men stood by him, and said, He that favoureth Joab, and he that is for David, let him go after Joab. ¹² And Amasa wallowed in blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he removed Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a cloth upon him, when he saw that every one that came by him stood still. ¹³ When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri.

¹⁴ And he went through all the tribes of Israel unto Abel, and to Bethmaachah, and all the Berites: and they were gathered together, and went also after him. ¹⁵ And they came and besieged him in Abel of Bethmaachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. ¹⁶ Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. ¹⁷ And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. ¹⁸ Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. ¹⁹ I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the LORD? ²⁰ And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. ²¹ The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. ²² Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.

²³ Now Joab was over all the host of Israel: and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites: ²⁴ And Adoram was over the tribute: and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder: ²⁵ And Sheva was scribe: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: ²⁶ And Ira also the Jairite was a chief ruler about David.

New Testament Reading

Luke 18:1-23

¹ And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; ² Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: ³ And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. ⁴ And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; ⁵ Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. ⁶ And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. ⁷ And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? ⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

⁹ And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰ Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹ The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹² I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³ And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

¹⁵ And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. ¹⁷ Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

¹⁸ And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? ¹⁹ And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. ²⁰ Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. ²¹ And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. ²² Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. ²³ And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Proverbs Reading

Proverbs 24

¹ Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. ² For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. ³ Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: ⁴ And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ⁵ A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. ⁶ For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. ⁷ Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate. ⁸ He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. ⁹ The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men. ¹⁰ If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. ¹¹ If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; ¹² If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? ¹³ My son, eat thou honey, because it is good; and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: ¹⁴ So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off. ¹⁵ Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place: ¹⁶ For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. ¹⁷ Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: ¹⁸ Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. ¹⁹ Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; ²⁰ For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out. ²¹ My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: ²² For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both? ²³ These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. ²⁴ He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: ²⁵ But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. ²⁶ Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. ²⁷ Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. ²⁸ Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive not with thy lips. ²⁹ Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work. ³⁰ I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; ³¹ And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. ³² Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. ³³ Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: ³⁴ So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.