Psalm 119 – 150 Days of Purposeful Meditation (Day 119) pt 12

Psalm 119:88-96

Lamedh.

89 Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.  90 Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands.  91 They stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants.  92 If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction.  93 I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me.  94 I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts.  95 The wicked wait for me to destroy me; I shall diligently consider Your testimonies.  96 I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad.

God is eternal. Our eternal God has eternally set His Word above all other things, such that His Word can never fail.  Men promise.  Men swear by heaven above, earth below and all things in between.  And yet their promises fail, either for lack of strength, wisdom or will.  But never so for God.  His Word is as eternal as He.  And just as it can never be said that God is not, for to be is a part of His essence – if He is God, He must be – it can never be said that His Word has  failed.

And on this basis, the Psalmist expresses great confidence in God.  That in the midst of his turmoil, he cries out to God for strength.  His own strength has failed, his enemies have overwhelmed him and at his lowest, he cries out to the eternal God who has promised to be a shield and refuge to all who call upon Him.  He cries out to this God because He alone has forever secured His own word in heaven.  Thus there is no one who can thwart His promise.  There is no one who can stay His hand of grace upon those who are His.  There is no one who can deter Him from lending help to those who are humble and contrite before Him.  All who are His shall be saved!

And this too is our confidence beloved.  We have no need to be ashamed when we look upon His law.  When we gaze upon His ordinances, when we proclaim His Word in the streets, we have no need to shrink away.  Because God’s Word is forever established in Heaven!  He does hear your cry for help.  He does see your turmoil and distress.  And He will answer.  He will not abandon your soul to Sheol.  He has safely hidden your life in Himself in Christ.  And as sure as His Word is to His Son “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.  “Thou hast loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee With the oil of gladness above Thy companions.” And, “Thou, Lord, in the beginning didst lay the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of Thy hands;   They will perish, but Thou remainest; And they all will become old as a garment,   And as a mantle Thou wilt roll them up; As a garment they will also be changed.  But Thou art the same, And Thy years will not come to an end” so sure is His Word to us “you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

Deuteronomy 33:27-29  27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’  28 “So Israel dwells in security, The fountain of Jacob secluded, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew.  29 “Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, Who is the shield of your help, And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, And you shall tread upon their high places.”

2 Samuel 22:1-7  And David spoke the words of this song to the LORD in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.  2 And he said, “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;  3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, Thou dost save me from violence.  4 “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; And I am saved from my enemies.  5 “For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me;  6 The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me.  7 “In my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears.

Psalm 5:11-12   11 But let all who take refuge in Thee be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And mayest Thou shelter them, That those who love Thy name may exult in Thee.  12 For it is Thou who dost bless the righteous man, O LORD, Thou dost surround him with favor as with a shield.

Proverbs 2:1-8  My son, if you will receive my sayings, And treasure my commandments within you,  2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding;  3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;  4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;  5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD, And discover the knowledge of God.  6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.  7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,  8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones.

1 Peter 1:23-25   you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and abiding word of God.  24 For, “All flesh is like grass, And all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, And the flower falls off,  25 But the word of the Lord abides forever.” And this is the word which was preached to you.

Coram Deo – Reckon the Reward

Sin is a lack of faith.  It is short sightedness.  It is an affront against the goodness of God.  It is the choice to partake in the passing pleasures associated with this world above that which is eternal and infinitely more enjoyable in God.  Consider what is said of Moses in Hebrews as he is praised for his faith in the God who is a rewarder of those who seek Him, “Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather o suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

In this description we notice 4 things, not in any particular order:

1)  Sin is pleasurable.  The alternative for Moses were the “treasures of Egypt.”  What pleasures would have been available for the son of Pharoah’s daughter?  It was not a small thing for Moses to simply choose not to partake in these things.  They were treasures.  They were glorious.  He probably would have had any number of pleasurable things at his disposal.  And so for us, in our “Egypt.”  Though we are not sons of Pharoah’s daughter, we have so many “treasures” and “pleasures” available at our very finger tips.  It does the believer no good to attempt to deny the desirability of sin.  James says that temptation is temptation precisely because it caters to a desire within the person who is tempted. Sin is desirable, just as the fruit was desirable to the eyes of our first father and mother in the garden, such that they sinned against their God.

2)  Sin must be deal with. Sin cannot be ignored.  Temptation cannot be ignored.  And it cannot be fought.  A person cannot man-up and struggle their way through a temptation as to overcome it.  We are told, in Timothy to “flee” from immorality.  Peter told us to “abstain” from fleshly lusts because they wage war against our souls.  Abstain – hold back from, keep away from anything that pertains to the lusts of the flesh.  We must flee from it, we cannot simply ignore it.  The problem is that most of the time, that which tempts us is not the wife of Potipher.  In those situations, many of us who have the spirit of God would turn in run.  But it is often not those situations in which we find ourselves.  We find ourselves in situations where we have to make a thousand little choices every single day in order to flee.  And every one of those thousand little choices can either bring us closer to sin or closer to the Lord.  Perhaps you’ll never have to decide whether to stay in Egypt or not.  But each day you must sit in front of your desk at work and decide to waste time or be productive.  Each day you must sit at your computer and decide to spend time looking at worthless things or to spend you time wisely in the Lord.  Each moment you must decide to complain and gripe about a situation that is difficult for you or to accept it as the Lord’s will for this season.  Each moment you decide how to respond to an arrogant, ignorant, hostile or demanding person in your life, whether you will continue to pursue righteousness or respond to them in the flesh. The point is that fleeing is not often a one time event, but rather a conscious decision that must be made daily, yea even each moment of your day.

3)  Often association with God brings affliction. This is clear and obvious from the text in Hebrews as well as it says plainly that Moses’ choice was to suffer affliction with the people of God.  Paul said to Timothy that “all who desire to live godly will face persecution.”   And that in the greater context of 2 Timothy where affliction and hardship is a major theme that Paul sought to convey to Timothy.  The man of God will face persecution from those who are crooked and perverse in his generation.  It must happen.  This world is anti-God and anti-Christ.  Those who are called by His name will receive just what He received.  Turning from sin to serve God is not an easy thing.  It is not a turning to “your best life now.”  It is a turning from the pleasures of this world to the cross of Christ, and it is taking up our own cross and making that same journey of death with Him…though it is a death to eternal life. If it were not for the cross, the world would be flocking in droves to the call of Christ.  But that is not the case because the call of Christ, a crucified and slain Christ, is foolishness to them.

4)  That brings us to our last point.  Pursuing holiness leads to the reward. Holiness is the opposite of sin.  Sin seeks its own apart from God.  Holiness seeks the pleasure of God in doing what is pleasing to Him.  While sin’s reward of pleasure is indeed enjoyable for a moment it is in reality only an illusion.  The one who is deluded may find great pleasure in his psychotic episode.  He may run free with reckless abandon in a secluded wood.  He may spend endless hours feasting upon his favorite meal.  But when he awakens from his slumber his belly will still be empty.  And if he were in his  delusion for long, the hunger pains may well lead him to starve himself to death.  There is no true reward with sin.  Only the image of a reward and an empty belly.  The reward of God is a reward indeed.  It is the reward of a better country.  Though a spiritual reality, a reality indeed.  Though unseen, its substance is what yields eternal pleasure and everlasting joy.  The reward of God is as real and eternal as God Himself, for He is the reward.  And the Christ of God is the reward giver who gives to all who both believe God and believe that He does reward those who diligently seek Him.

Reckon the reward.  Know that no matter how scintillating or how pleasurable the sin may be, beneath its surface lies a whirlpool which drags its captive down to the abyss of death.  But beyond the treacherous roads of Holiness mountain lies greater reward.  “In His face is the fullness of joy and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore!”

“Home is where the heart is…”

Why do we get so attached to our dwelling places?

We are going to be moving soon. Not sure exactly when…or where for that matter. But I feel a tinge of sadness in the whole process. Thinking about the fact that both of my children have been born here and have only known this as “home” is probably part of it. Its a great neighborhood, quiet and safe. You think a lot about safety with a wife and kids at home. Don’t get me wrong, we want to go into Missions and I know how “unsafe” it can be in different parts of the world. And I’d drop what we’re doing and rush off to the field in a heartbeat if I could now. (There was an opportunity to do a trip recently but things worked out differently).

Why do we get so attached to these places? For unbelievers, I know why it would be the case. I can understand why it is so important for someone who has nothing better to look forward to, to spend their time, effort and energy building up and saving up to get that which is bigger and better. To do whatever is necessary to be as comfortable as possible, that for themselves and for their posterity.

But for believers that ought not be so. Comfort should not be our primary aim.  It should not be so difficult to let go of “stuff” like houses and land. We are “aliens” as Peter said. We are “sojourners” and “pilgrims.” We do not belong here and are merely passing through. We ought to, like those in Hebrews, long for a heavenly kingdom, the true sabbath rest. But often that is not the case. Often our attitudes towards life, stuff and our homes is exactly the same as those who do not have our hope.

Perhaps we do not consider often enough that hope which is “imperishable, undefiled and unfading, reserved for us and that for which we are reserved for by God’s power” as Peter says in I Pet 1. Perhaps we do not consider often enough the “eternal weight of glory” that will come to us as we continually deny ourselves and rid ourselves of that which is temporary (like our bodies and even our possessions) as Paul says in Romans 8 and 2 Cor 4-5. Perhaps our hearts are not really where our true treasure is.

I know that I think too deeply about things sometimes. And perhaps this is not that big of a deal. There are a lot of sentimental things that took place in this apartment. But then again…its just an apartment. And there is much life and ministry to be done yet, if the Lord allows. Therefore its not really that important where we live, how much we have, how comfortable we are or what we like. It really matters most how passionately we are pursuing that which truly fulfills, that which truly matters, that which is truly of the Lord. It really matters that we continue “pressing on toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ.” And that we “lay aside any weight or sin which would entangle us” on the way to that prize…even if it means leaving our temporary “home,” any other possessions, people, or certain ambitions and comforts behind.

Pre Fathers Day Thoughts

Discipline and Disciple are in the same family.

Discipline is not merely punitive.  And its not a dirty word.  It is a necessary word to anyone who would call themselves a Disciple.  (For that matter it is a necessary word for anyone who would call themselves a parent, and who would claim to love their children).  Scripture teaches that the Lord loves those whom He disciplines (Heb 12, and Prov).  He wouldn’t bother with us if He didn’t love us.  He would allow us to go off on our own and to run headlong into sin, storing up wrath for ourselves for the day of wrath (Rom 1-2).  But He does love us and so He does discipline us for our good, to conform us to the image of His Son (Rom 8).

This is one of the second lessons that I have sought to teach my daughter.  The first was that of consequence.  That there is a consequence to every action.  Negative to those actions which are wrong and positive to those actions which are right.  If you obey, you will live.  If you disobey you will die.  If she doesn’t understand that then she will never understand the gospel.  I call this a second lesson because the next step in her cognitive development, as she grows to understand life more and her desire for “her way” grows stronger; she must understand that we will continue to discipline her, not for our own sakes, but for her own.  Because we love her (and ourselves obey the Lord’s command) and because we want her to live in God’s world, God’s way, we must discipline her.

If your children are not your disciples, then whose disciples will they be?  Will they teach themselves?  Will they be taught by the world?  If a teacher doesn’t discipline his disciple, is he really a disciple?  No.  Furthermore, if a parent doesn’t disciple or discipline, does he really love his child?  No.

I’m glad for my heavenly Father.  I am glad to know His love.  It doesn’t always “feel” good…but I know that it is good, and that I will be better for it.

Psalm 15 – 150 Days of Purposeful Medidation (Day 15)

God is Holy.   There are many who recognize God, in theory, as love, all that is pure and right and perfect.  And this is something that they aspire to.  Perhaps they desire his goodness and rightness as an end.  In other words, they desire to have his goodness and rightness in their end.  At the end of their lives they want the security of knowing that they will be in another much better place than the present.  The present is wrought with difficulty and chaos.  Confusion and strife, at every turn.  And people long for rest.  They want the rest that they know that no matter how hard they try and no matter what they try, they will not find in this life.  And so people envision “god” and/or heaven as the epitome of perfection and goodness and rest.  However their conception of their god is so far below the truth that they will never come to fully grasp the truth of who God is nor will they be able to fully please God according to that truth.

God is holy.  He is not just a concept of goodness and rightness and rest that we can come to enjoy at the end of our lives while living any way that we want or conceive of on our own apart from Him.  God is holy.  That should mean something.  David asked “who may sojourn in your tent, who may dwell on your holy mountain?” He doesn’t just call it a holy mountain.  He calls it literally “the mountain of your holiness.”  It is a mountain and it is holy, but it is holy because it belongs to God.  It is holy because His presence is there.  And therefore the question is rightly asked “who may sojourn…who may dwell” in such a place as that which is holy by virtue of God’s holy presence.  Who is fit for such a thing?

David goes on to take that thought to its logical end.  He doesn’t stop like so many others who would suppose that it is their right to dwell on God’s holy mountain simply because He is love.  They don’t presume upon God’s love or justice as if He were obligated to be loving toward them.  Rather, he observes the fact of God’s holiness and supposes that anyone who would enter into His holy presence, must himself also be holy.  Listen to the description…

“He who walks soundly, the doer of righteousness and who speaks truth in his heart.” I think that we could stop there.  Perhaps there are some who consider themselves sound in their lives…one who does acts of supposed righteousness and piety for others to see.  But how many can say that they speak truth in their hearts?  And how many acts of righteousness, and how many words of truth would that same one have to do in order to be considered “holy” enough to dwell on the mountain of God’s holiness.  His holiness is essential to His character.  There isn’t a time at which it could be said that He isn’t holy.  He doesn’t take a time out.  He doesn’t get tired.  He doesn’t have an off day.  He is Holy.  The very definition of holiness…the standard by which holiness is measured, is God.  That could never be said of the common man.  The common man is at times holy, does “righteous” acts, and perhaps occasionally has pure thoughts…but this is certainly not the rule for man.  We can sometimes fool other men who cannot see our hearts, but God is certainly not fooled.  The intents and thoughts of man’s heart in God’s eyes, is continually wicked.  Just look back at Psalm 14.  Already he is disqualified.  Though he would wish to sojourn and to dwell in God’s Holy mountain at the end of his life, he has no merit nor inherent holiness in himself to be fit to dwell there…and that’s just verse 2.

“He does not slander upon his tongue, nor do harm to his friend, nor lift up a reproach upon his neighbor.” The simplest way to understand this is to ask how your neighbors would classify you.  Not your family, but those who you live around.  This is somewhat different for us because our society is not as communal as it is for so many other societies in the world and as it was for Israel.  The neighbor would have been another Israelite and so their relationship to their brother in the flesh would have either glorified the God whom they worship corporately or brought disrepute to His name.  The closer correlation would probably be for those in the Church and how we either love or do not love one another.  We are all called by His name and therefore we all ought to show love for one another in His name.  But whether it is a fellow believer or not, the principles are the same.  Do you openly, or in your heart, curse your neighbor?  Do you look for opportunities to bless your neighbor or do you look for ways to take advantage of them?  Would your neighbor say that you are clean, loud and obnoxious…or would they say that you are generous and loving?  How would they characterize you?  Are you “me” centered or “others” centered?  Christ is the perfect example for us in His self-less display of love for us on the cross.  He exemplified that humble others-centered attitude that we ought to imitate in all of our relationships and especially within the body of Christ (Phil 2:3-4).

“In whose eyes the reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord, He swears to his own hurt but does not change.” Here we see that this one who is worthy to dwell on the holy mountain of the Lord despises those who are reprobate…and this is most likely reprobate in the eyes of the Lord in contrast to those who fear the Lord and are therefore accepted by Him.  Some revel in the wickedness of others.  Perhaps they themselves are not wicked but they enjoy and feed off of the lasciviousness of others.  Let me be more specific.  There are some who would not themselves fight…but who rush off to witness the fight.  There are some who would not themselves make coarse and inappropriate jokes, but who themselves would listen to and laugh at such joking.  There are some who would not…at least not normally…conceive of or commit adultery or fornication, but who would easily watch others do the same.  Do you love holiness enough to despise the wicked for their wickedness?  Do you love the holiness of God enough to hate the wickedness of wicked men who by their actions defame God’s holiness?

Conversely, do you love those who fear the Lord?  Do you…perhaps to your hurt (which may or may not be the intent of the last phrase of this verse)…intentionally honor those who live uprightly before the Lord?  Loving righteousness is not popular.  But perhaps more than that is loving others who openly stand for righteousness.  Would you associate yourself with those who call upon the Lord even when those are despised and rejected by others?  I remember the common thought about those who were virgins in high school…those who had kept themselves pure…that they were insignificant and foolish for doing so.  Furthermore those who didn’t go to all the parties and clubs were dishonored.  And anyone who associated with them…and in fact none of the “cool kids” would associate with them.  Maybe for you its a situation at work where someone, in their integrity, have made a decision that makes a lot of people upset.  And therefore are being ostracized and/or have lost their job.  Would you take your stand with this person who on account of their fear of the Lord has made an unpopular decision at the risk of your own job?  Paul said “all who desire to live godly will face persecution.”  Would you face persecution to live a holy life before your God, knowing that He is the Judge?

The third phrase of this verse speaks to his faithfulness and integrity.  “To his own hurt, he swear.”  He will not change his mind regardless of the cost to him.  He has decided upon following the Lord, upon upholding those also who follow the Lord and he will not allow the ostracizing of his peers, financial or physical harm to deter him.  Will you honor the Lord and those whom the Lord honors?  Will you pursue what the Lord honors even when its not popular…and even when it hurts?

Finally, this one “does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent…”   Are you generous with what God has blessed you?  Do your finances control you or do you control your finances?  Paul said that the “love of money is the root of all evil.”  Money is not the root of all sorts of evil…the love of it is.  Those who would love money and the comforts that it gives would have no desire to share it with others.  And if they did share it with others they would have no desire to give without interest.  Is it inherently wrong to give out money with interest?  No.  But which demonstrates grace, to give out money with interest for the sake of gain, or to give out money without interest for the purpose of helping one who is already down?

Furthermore…and perhaps this speaks more to the judges of the land…would you take a bribe to sentence one who is truly innocent?  In other words, in spite of the facts, would you side with someone who can provide you with some benefit or service without thought to justice or truth?  The root of this issue is not so much with the act of a judge taking a bribe as it is with the heart which seeks its own gain at the expense of another, and at the expense of God’s justice and righteous standard.  Again all holiness and righteousness is measured against God’s standard, but men have perverted God’s standard for their own gain.  And the heart which accepts bribes is the heart which does not accept God’s standard.

So how does your heart measure up?  How does your life measure up to God’s standard?  In all of these things, in this description of a man who is fit to dwell on God’s holy mountain, where do you stand?  “He who does these things will never be shaken.” Why is that true?  It is not true because these are a list of things that you must do in order to be good enough.  It is true because these things show a heart and a life which has been transformed by God’s grace to exemplify His holiness.  All men sin.  All men are “worthless” in God’s eyes, according to Psalm 14.  Therefore the man who would desire to stand on God’s holy mountain…the man who would desire to see rest and the goodness of God in His life must be made worthy.  And the only way that a man can be made worthy in God’s eyes and according to God’s will is to submit to His Son Jesus who has cleansed us from our sins and has given us a new life, with a new heart which is able to live according to God’s holy standard.

“He who does these things will not be shaken eternally” because they will be in the hands of Him who is eternally strong to save.  “Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them…by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified and the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying ‘ this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord, I will put my laws upon their heart and on their mind I will write them.’  He then says ‘and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’”  (Hebrews 7:25; 10:14-17)

If you do not know Christ, then you have no hope of dwelling with God once your life is over.  If you do know Christ, and He has become your salvation, then live like it.  Forsake the idols of your heart and walk in His holiness, with thanksgiving.  Rejoice in the confidence of one who rests in the unshakable grace of the Almighty.

Message Links

I am incredibly tired.  Its amazing how soon life can go from 0-60.  I’d love to get on here to update and blog more often, but its just not happening.  Perhaps more in the Spring.  I’ll have to get back to the Psalm series.  The Psalms are very encouraging to me lately.  They drip with praise to the Lord, men with real pain, real difficulties, real concerns; and yet with real trust in their Sovereign Lord…the Only Wise God.  Perhaps that’s the key…suffering girded with faith bears fruit of praise.  And who or what is more worthy of our faith?

New Sermon Links:

Paul’s Introduction to the Gospel – Rom 1:1

Paul’s Introduction to the Gospel – Rom 1:2-7

The Nature of Persevering Faith in Hebrews 11-12 pt 1

The Nature of Persevering Faith in Hebrews 11-12 pt 2