Tuesday, November 1, 2016, 9:00 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Gift of God.” Speak, Lord, your words
to my heart. I read Psalm 116 (ESV).
Pleas for Mercy
(vv. 1-4)
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and
my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I
will call on him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of
Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered
distress and anguish.
Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
Jesus Christ, God the Son,
had been tempted of Satan in the wilderness, and he had gone to live in Capernaum,
in fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied about him. Then, the Word says, “From
that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand’” (Matt. 4:17). Jesus also said, “No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn.
6:44). And, he said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6).
So, not one of us can come to
faith in Jesus Christ, and receive his mercy and forgiveness, unless the Father
first draws us to him. God will put within us the desire for him, and for his
salvation. And, he will reveal to us that Jesus is the only way to the Father –
that there is only one way to God, not many. And, it is through faith in Jesus
Christ, via repentance, i.e. via turning from our sin to God, to follow him,
that we are saved by God’s grace. So, we should praise and thank God, not only
for hearing our cries for mercy, but that God the Father first drew us to Jesus
Christ, that he put within us that desire for him, and that he even gave us the
faith to believe in him, too.
He Saved Us
(vv. 5-9)
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is
merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was
brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord
has dealt bountifully with you.
For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from
tears,
my feet from
stumbling;
I will walk before the Lord
in the land
of the living.
When we are born into this
world, we are born with sin natures, due to the sin of the first man Adam. We
are born in Adam’s likeness (See: Ro. 5:12-19; 1 Co. 15:21-49). Adam’s sin
against God separated humankind from God, so the Father sent Jesus Christ, the
Son, to the earth to die on a cross for our sins, to purchase us back (to redeem
us) for God. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, by faith in him, we can be
delivered from the curse of sin, and from bondage to sin, and we can be set free
to walk in Christ’s righteousness and holiness, and to have the hope of eternal
life with God.
The way in which we come to faith
in Jesus Christ is that, in the working and power of the Spirit of God in
regeneration, via the gift of faith from God, we put to death our old lives of
living for sin and self, we are made new in the attitude of our minds, and we
put on the new self, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness”
(See: Eph. 4:17-24). “We know that our old self was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we
would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has
been set free from sin” (Ro. 6:6-7). So, we are to count ourselves
dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6:11).
The Lord’s Servants (vv. 12-19)
What shall I render to the Lord
for all his
benefits to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on
the name of the Lord,
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the
presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death
of his saints.
O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your
servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have
loosed my bonds.
I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on
the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the
presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your
midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
So, are we under any kind of
obligation to God now that he has set us free from slavery to sin, and has
granted us, who believe in him, eternal life?
Romans 8:12-14 says this: “So then, brethren, we are
under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if
you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit
you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For
all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
We ARE under obligation to
live according to the Spirit, and to be putting to death, by the Spirit, the
deeds of our flesh, and to be led by the Spirit of God in how we now conduct our
lives. And, we are also under obligation to NOT live according to our flesh,
for if we do, we will die in our sins, even though we profess to know Jesus Christ
as Savior of our lives. For, Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to
righteousness; that we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave
his life up for us. He died that the righteous requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us who walk not according to the sinful nature, but who conduct
our lives according to the Spirit (See: Ro. 8:1-14; 1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15).
Jesus said that if anyone
would come after him, he must deny self, and take up his cross daily (die daily
to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. He said if we hold on to our old lives
(of living for sin and self), we will lose them. But, if we lose our lives (die
with Christ to sin), we will gain eternal life. He also said that his sheep
(his followers) listen to him, he knows them, and they follow (obey) him, and
they are the ones who can’t be snatched out of his hands (See: Lu. 9:23-25; Jn.
10:27-30).
Jesus also said, “If you continue in My word, then you
are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will
make you free” (Jn. 8:31-32). And, he said, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love
him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love
me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the
Father's who sent me” (Jn. 14:23-24).
You see, Jesus didn’t die
just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die. When we are saved,
we are not given carte blanche (complete freedom to act as one wishes or thinks
best) to do what we want without penalty or consequence. His grace to us is not
free license to continue in sin without guilt and without remorse. His grace,
in fact, teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to
live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return,
for Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify
for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good” (See:
Tit. 2:11-14). If we say we have fellowship with God, yet we walk (in
lifestyle) in darkness (sin), we are liars, and the truth is not in us (1 Jn. 1:6).
So, our vows to God, when we
trust him as Lord and Savior of our lives, are to leave our lives of sin behind
us, and to walk in his righteousness in the power and working of the Spirit of
God now living within us. When we believe in Jesus Christ, we enter into a spiritual
marriage relationship with him, where we profess him to now be our only Lord
(owner-master) and husband, and that we are his bride. We promise to love,
honor, respect, reverence and obey him, to be faithful to him, and to not have
any other gods before him. We may not voice all these words, but that is what
it means to believe in him, and for him to now be Lord of our lives.
If we are truly thankful that
Jesus has set us free, then we should want to fulfill our vows to him, and we
shouldn’t want to have other gods before him. We should desire to walk in his
ways, and in his truth, and to follow him wherever he leads us. We shouldn’t be
looking for a loophole to where we feel we can continue in sin without
consequence. That would be like getting married, and then immediately be
looking for ways to cheat on our spouse, to see what we can get away with. That
is not much of a marriage, is it? Jesus is a jealous God, and he wants us to be
faithful to him. And, we should do so, not because we fear hell, but because we
love him, and because we are so thankful that he died for us to set us free.
Amen!
Gift of God
/ An Original Work / October 25, 2016
Based off Various Scriptures
Jesus Christ, Son of God,
Died for us on a cross;
Conquered death, sin, and
hell,
So, with Him, we would dwell.
For, by His grace, we are
saved.
He set us free from all sin.
Thanks be to God for His
Gift.
Through faith in Him, we’re
forgiven.
Holy Spirit of God,
Given to us who believe,
Gives us new life in Christ;
Made to be just like Him.
We died with Christ to our
sin.
New lives in Him we begin,
Walking with Christ day by
day.
We read His Word, and we
pray.
Jesus, He is our Lord.
Follow Him where He leads.
Tell the world of His grace.
We’ll see Christ face to
face.
Soon He is coming again.
We’ll be forever with Him.
He’ll wipe our tears all
away.
Oh, what a wonderful day!
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