Romans 4:6: Just As David Speaks Of The Blessing Of The One To Whom God Counts Righteousness Apart From Works

Romans 4:6
[6] just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: (ESV)

Our goal should be to obtain the righteousness of God. He is our Creator. We exist to give him glory. Man is never truly satisfied in life until he is satisfied in God. So then, how ought we to achieve the righteousness of God. Left to our own devices we will depend on our own works to achieve it. As we have seen here in Romans, our works are incapable of achieving God's righteousness.

Not only are our works not capable of achieving God's righteousness they are not preferred. In the next two verses Paul is going to quote the words of David. In today's verse he describes David as one who knew the blessing of having God count him righteous apart from his works. We should take a closer look at David.

David is a hero of the Jewish people. He is a hero of Scripture. The Bible refers to him as the "apple of God's eye." In the famous story of David and Goliath it was David's great faith in God that was used to bring about the death of Israel's enemies. David loved God. David worshiped God. David had faith in God. And David failed God.

As great as David was, his works would have condemned him. David had the affair with Bathsheba. He not only took Uriah's wife, he had Uriah killed in battle. David was guilty of adultery and murder. David surely did not want his works to be the means by which he attained righteousness. David knew very intimately that it was a blessing to have God count him righteous apart from his works.

You may have done many "good works" for God. They will never be enough. They weren't enough for David. Receive the blessing of being counted righteous apart from your efforts. That is achieved by placing your faith in God through Jesus Christ,and his sacrifice on your behalf.