Proverbs 30:18 three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:
Proverbs 30:19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.
See, the blood of Christ cleanses our sin beyond hint, suggestion, tinge, or smidgen of remembrance. It carries our sin into the forgetting determination of an Almighty God as a permanent washing. As far as the east is from the west, into the depth of the sea, and to a land uninhabited our sin has gone. Behind God’s back, as a thick cloud, into the “never before having existed,” our sin, (what sin?), went. “Just as if we had never sinned” has become our position before God.
We call this miracle; Justification, and its counterpart; Perfect Righteousness. Justification is ours by faith and Paul found Righteousness to be a gift to the faith-believer.
The Bible says Lot was righteous. 2 Peter 2:7 says “… delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 2Peter 2:8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;). Wow, is that the same dude? – “Lot” from the book of Genesis? Yes. He didn’t seem so righteous when he fought against the angels trying to get him out of the city. He lingered there and later, having escaped the city, committed incest with his daughters in a cave.
Self-righteousness he did not have, neither any performance based or religious right. Relative righteousness would put one guy above another because one is not as bad as the other. This kind of stuff didn’t count either for Lot. Paul on the other hand had a lot of credentials morally and religiously but counted them as dung. He wanted only the “righteousness by faith,” in Philippians 3.
So, lets go back to the eagle, ship, snake and guy. We look to see evidence of their movements, but they have already passed, and we missed it. We see no evidence of their travels and when we say “an eagle went through” the question comes; “how do you know that?” “Did you see the bird?” “No, but another saw it and told me.” “So, you believed them.” “Yes.”
Faith believes and hope receives. O, so you want to believe it is true? Yes I do. “Do you trust the one who saw the eagle pass?” “With all my heart I do.” “Is that person trustworthy?” “That person is God.” He beckons us to examine His trust. Try Him out. Dare to believe Him, learn of Him, put His promises to the test. Seek Him and you will find Him, draw near and He will draw near to you. Purify your hearts you double-minded.
Friends, Romans 4:6 says “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” In 4:5 it is not a wage. It’s a grace, a gift, an imputation or legal declaration, but never a reward or wage. Should I quit my good works? Quit every work that you do if you count its merits as worthy to gain a reward of righteousness as a wage or “special” favor from God.
Perhaps your motives are pure. What do they look like? They emanate from a heart that is so grateful for the free gift of righteousness that they overflow with joy. These love the freedom to serve and they do works by love. See, our big works-of-duty inhibit our love. How can we love when we have so much to accomplish just to maintain our obligations? Folks, keeping obligations can be good, but watch out for the motives. Motives count with God, and love is His favorite.
Lastly, James 2:18 says “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” The eagle has flown, the snake went over the rock, the ship sailed by, and the man was with the maid and by these my works are born?