While thinking about a song by Third Day, which is literally the lyrics from Psalm 2
4, I made a note to look up the Psalm and read it again. I found some interesting stuff in verses 4 and 5.
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart ,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Who has clean hands? In verse 6 the question is answered….well kind of.
6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Who are those that seek the face of God? I would have to use scripture to answer both of these questions. Romans 3 tells us that none is righteous, and no one seeks for God. So who has clean hands? No one has clean hands. Psalm 14:3 tells us as well that no one does good. Who seeks the face of the God? No one seeks the face of God. Only God can give us the desire through His grace to seek His face. Only God can declare us to have clean hands. He does this through justification. Justification that happens when God give us the faith to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ. God then declares us righteous.
Our senior pastor Patrick Abendroth has been leading us in a study of justification for the past few weeks. Ah….justification is such a sweet word that explains the believer’s position before a holy God. Pastor Pat has expressed that there is nothing he desires more to read about or study than justification. I would have to agree. It is amazing when it is foremost in your thinking how much it comes out in scripture. For when the psalmist asks in Psalm 24, who has clean hands, the believer can reflect that only through justification he has clean hands.
The recommended audio for the justification messages can be heard from the links below. Give them a listen.
Upon This Rawk 