Salvation of the Righteous

“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully” (Psm. 24:3,4). It seems a lot of people just don’t pay much attention to what the Bible actually says, when it comes to who will be saved and who will not. This verse makes it clear that we will have to be of a pure heart, and that our doings and words must be clean and true in the sight of God, if we expect to inherit eternal life. The ‘Christian grace’ crusaders will bristle at a statement like that, but what is that to me, or to anyone who loves the righteousness of God, for that matter? You can bristle at God’s truth all you like, but it will not have a good outcome, I can assure you of that. Our text scripture passage, like all scriptures that instruct, has a flip side to it as well. The flip side is that anyone and everyone who does not meet the stated criteria, WILL NOT BE SAVED! Period! Don’t believe that? Then believe this: “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psm. 1:5). Some 'grace’ zealot will cry, “Oh that’s the old testament, we’re under [guess what] GRACE!” Okay, then let’s take a peek at the NEW TESTAMENT: “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (I Pet. 4:18).

Did I hear somebody say, “That’s talking about people who aren’t Christians, and are not under grace?” Okay, then let’s listen to the apostle Peter one more time: “For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire” (II Pet. 2:20-22). I’m sure the naysayers will just keep right on refuting the evident truth, even if I make this a book; or better yet, even if I just copy THE WHOLE BIBLE here. But I won’t, I’ll just copy one more passage that should make EVERYBODY happy; those who love God’s righteousness, as well as those who love SELF righteousness: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Rev. 22:11,12). Sounds like easy math to me. I bet there’s a really good reason that such a pointed statement about righteousness, unrighteousness, and coming judgment for our works is in the last chapter of the Bible. It was Jesus who said that, and it sure does sound like a statement that summarizes the whole Bible and the entire way of holiness to me. Amen.