Hebrews 10:37-39 My righteous one
Bible obviously says, "There is no one righteous, not even one." (Romans 3:10) "There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins." (Eccl 7:20)
It means, all of the people in the world including you and I are sinners who were born in sins and commit sins. If Jesus came to this world to save the righteous, no one could be saved.
But fortunately Jesus said, "I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Luke 5:32) It means, if we come to Jesus and confess our sins, we will be forgiven and we will become the righteous persons.
And God calls us righteous and promised to give us blessings like this, "The righteous will thrive like a green leaf." (Pro 11:28) "Blessings crown the head of the righteous." (Pro 10:6)
"The Lord blesses the home of the righteous." (Pro 3:33) "The righteous man is rescued from trouble." (Pro 11:8) "The Lord loves the righteous." (Psalms 146:8) "The righteous will flourish like a palm of tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon." (Psalms 92:12)
"The eyes of Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer." (1 Peter 4:12) "The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)
"The Lord hears the prayer of the righteous." (Pro 15:29) "Blessed are his children after the righteous man." (Pro 20: 7) "The Lord makes the way of the righteous smooth." (Isaiah 26:7)
Brothers and sisters, in Genesis 18, we can see the cities 'Sodom and Gomorrah' were destroyed because there were not ten righteous persons.
But the family of Noah were saved from the Flood because Noah was a righteous man." (Gen 6:9) And the family of Cornelius the Roman centurion were saved and they received the Holy Spirit even though Cornelius was not an Israelite but a Gentile because he was a righteous man.
You and I also have become righteous because we believe in Jesus. What should we do as the righteous ones ? How can we live as the righteous ? God wants us to live like this.
1. My righteous one will live by faith.
Today's scripture says, "My righteous one will live by faith." (Hebrews 10:38)
People are afraid of losing money, losing job, losing health and losing honor because they think those are important.
But we are afraid of losing faith because we think faith is more important than money and honor. If we do not lose faith but keep it in our heart, we can recover everlasting life, everlasting prosperity, everlasting health and everlasting honor even though we lost all of the things.
Faith is like a power generator that creates something from nothing. If we lose faith, it means we lose everything. Therefore we have to keep faith even under the hardship, even under the prosperity.
Especially we need faith to live in this foreign country even though the good circumstances, good education system and good health system are given to us.
Furthermore we need faith to construct the kingdom of God in this foreign country. And our faith's foundation has to be set on the everlasting Rock Jesus, not on circumstances or on himself.
The righteous men mean 'those who see by faith, speak by faith, act by faith, accomplish one's purpose by faith. People think it is insecure and unstable because faith can not be seen by human eyes, not touched by human hands.
But think ! Visible things are easy to be stolen by thieves or robbed by robbers. But faith is invisible treasure so that no thief, no robber can steal or rob it. I pray all of you live a victorious life by faith.
2. Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again.
Proverbs 24:16 says, Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity."
We even believers face troubles and trials in this world. Sometimes we have disease problem, financial problem, family problem and other problems. But the bible says, "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again."
Brothers and sisters, as we know, a tumbling doll rises again and again , on and on whenever it falls because it has a weighty thing in it.
Likewise if Jesus is in us, we can rise again and again. That is, there is no word 'despair ' in the righteous persons.
Look at the righteous persons in the bible. They have also trials and problems. But they overcame them because they believed God who is bigger than the trials and problems.
Let's see Abraham, the ancestor of faith. He faced a lot of hardships in the foreign country. He suffered lack of food because of famine. He was humiliated because his wife was deprived by other.
His nephew became a prisoner of war. And he faced family discord because of his wife's son and his concubine's son. But he did not give up his faith or his life. He rather trusted in God, and he rose again and again seven times.
If you and I are righteous men, we do not despair when we face a lot of problems in this foreign country because we are not be destroyed by the problems.
Bible tells us about this, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair ; persecuted, but not abandoned ; struck down, but not destroyed." (2 Cor 4:8-9) It means "Though we fall seven times, we rise again."
Brothers and sisters, do you have a hardship now ? Rise again and go forward again. Our life span is 70-80 years long.
If we rise again and go forward again for 100 years in maximum, we can reach the door of the kingdom of God, and the crown of victory will wait for us.
3. The righteous rejoice in the Lord.
Psalms 64:10 says, "Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord." It does not say like this, "Let the righteous rejoice in money, in worldly pleasure or in worldly honor."
If the purpose we believe in God is to enjoy only material blessing, or to enjoy only worldly pleasure, our faith is corrupt. But our pleasure is in the Lord.
Bible says to us, "Be joyful always." (1 Thess 5:16) If our joy is in money, we cannot be joyful when we are out of money. If our joy is in the worldly honor, we will be unhappy when we lose our honor.
But our joy is in the Lord so that we can be joyful always even in the rainy day, even in the windy day, even in the cold day, even in Canada and everywhere else.
If our joy is in the Lord, worship service is real joy to us. But if our joy is not in the Lord, worship service is a waste of time, a waste of money and boring time.
But we can listen to the voice of God in the service, and we can meet God in the service because our joy is in the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, why do you pray everyday even though you are busy ? Isn't it because you can come to the Lord closely through prayer and you can feel the presence of God through prayer ?
If we rejoice in the Lord through prayer or through worship service or through words of God, God promised to give us the desires of our heart.
About this, the bible says, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." (Psalms 37:4)
Brothers and sisters, worldly people rejoice in the worldly pleasure. But the righteous men rejoice in the Lord. If we are in the Lord, we are full of joy, full of hope and full of happiness. Rejoicing in the Lord is the great privilege to the righteous. I want you all of you to enjoy this privilege.
If we rejoice in the Lord with our pure heart just like a child rejoice in the new toy, God promised to give us the kingdom of God and the treasures of the kingdom of God. If you are the righteous men, rejoice in the Lord greatly, and live by faith to the end, and rise again seven times. Amen !