Rescue Revealed by a King's Trust in God's Promise...

Yesterday, we looked at a section of a letter in the Bible called the Book of Romans. And in this section of this letter, we saw a man named Paul reveal for us the timeless truth that our rescue from selfishness and sin requires trusting in God's promise instead of our performance. Through an Old Testament story involving a man named Abraham, Paul explained that those who attempt to do things for God in order to get right with God, are only given what they have earned. To attempt to be rescued from selfishness and sin by trusting in our performance will only result in us receiving what we are owed for all our efforts. And as we discovered earlier in this series, our performance will never be able to rescue us from the problem we have with God as a result of our selfish rebellion and sin.

However, the person who trusts in God’s promise through the message of the gospel will receive credit to their account that previously had no credit. When we trust in God’s promise to declare us not guilty of our selfish rebellion and sin as we believe, trust, and follow Jesus as Lord and Leader, it is that confident trust in God’s promise that God credits our account as being right with Him. Because our rescue requires trusting in God’s promise instead of our performance. But Abraham was not the only prominent member of the Jewish people in the Old Testament that spoke of trusting in God’s promise instead of their performance. We see Paul introduce us to a second prominent figure in the Old Testament, beginning in Romans 5:6:

just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."

Here we see the Apostle Paul point the readers of this letter, and us here today, to a section of a letter that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the book of Psalms. This section of this letter was written by a man named David. To understand why King David is so significant we first need to understand who King David was and the role that he played in the Jewish nation. David was the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, who God chose to become King of the Jewish people. And it was David who was known as the greatest king that ever led the Jewish people. It was King David that led the Jewish armies to conquer their enemies. It was King David who captured Jerusalem and established it as their capital city. It was King David who established the Jewish nation as a military and political power in the world. And it was King David who was described in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart.

But notice what king David wrote when it came to his relationship with God which Paul quotes from Psalm 32:1-2. King David, in a Psalm of worship to the Lord, exclaims the blessings that come from being forgiven of the selfish and sinful actions that flow from a selfish and sinful heart. He exclaims the blessings of having our selfish and sinful acts of commission and omission forgiven. And he exclaims the blessings that come from the Lord not taking into account our selfish rebellion and sin. Now the phrase take into account is the same word that is translated credit or reckon.

King David is exclaiming the blessings that come because God does not credit our accounts based on our performance. Because King David knew what his performance was. And he knew that his performance would not rescue him or anyone else. He knew the blessings that came as a result of God giving credit to a person’s account that had no credit or account. And Paul wanted the members of the church at Rome, and followers of Jesus throughout history to know what king David knew, which is that our rescue requires trusting in God’s promise instead of our performance.

After pointing followers of Jesus throughout history to the reality that both Abraham and King David were rescued by trusting God’s promise and not their performance, Paul concludes this section of his letter to the church at Rome by asking and answering a question. Tomorrow, we will look at this question and answer that has profound implications for us today.