The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one. (Psalm 14:2-3)
In his letter to the Romans, Paul made the argument that no one — Jew or Gentile — is exempt from the penalty of sin because all have sinned. No one is born righteous nor are we accounted as righteous just because we are born into a particular family. To underscore the point, Paul quotes David saying, “They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one” (Romans 3:12).
Again it would appear that, though David may have intended to address a current situation he was facing, he was nevertheless speaking broadly, even prophetically, about the state of mankind from age to age. David made this declaration just after his statement about foolish men who have become so degraded in their thinking that they profess, “There is no God.” Again, if there is no God, then there is no consequence for our actions — actions that are manifested when we decide to do what is right in our own eyes and hearts.
Following the evil inclination of our heart, mankind has habitually and increasingly turned from truth, purity and holiness to embrace corruption. From David’s point of view, no one — not even he — has escaped this trap. All the while, the Creator looked upon mankind to see if there are any who are willing to hold fast to what is good and reflect His holiness and righteousness in the earth. According to Isaiah, He could find no one and thus it is written:
“I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me.” (Isaiah 66:5)
What did He mean by “My own arm brought salvation”? It is important to know that the word rendered as “salvation” is yeshua, which you should already know is the actual name of the Messiah. The point is, because all have sinned and are worthy of death, Yeshua (Jesus) came into the world to pay the penalty of our transgressions. By pointing out that, like sheep we have all gone astray, it became necessary for God to insert Himself into this world and reconcile humanity back to its Creator. It was not just a good man who accomplished this, for among men there is none righteous, not one. But we are thankful unto God that, through trust in Messiah, we are regarded as righteousness before God, and being so regarded, are duty bound to faithfully represent Him in the earth. So then, let us be diligent in our duty.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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