Psalm 119:1-8 ESV
Blessed are those
whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessed are those who
keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart,
who also do no wrong,
but walk in his ways!
You have commanded
your precepts
to be kept diligently.
Oh that my ways may be
steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be
put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your
commandments.
I will praise you with
an upright heart,
when I learn your righteous rules.
I will keep your
statutes;
do not utterly forsake me!
As followers of Jesus Christ, this should be the attitude of
our hearts. We should have forsaken our former lives of living for sin and self
to now follow Jesus Christ in his ways and in his truth. We should have been
crucified with Christ in death to sin and have been raised with Christ to
newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).
Our old dead lives should have been done away with, and now
we should be living new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, free from our slavery
(bondage, addiction) to sin, and free to now become slaves of righteousness,
all in his power, working, and strength within us (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17).
We should now be walking (in lifestyle, in practice)
according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God, following the teachings of
scripture, i.e. the whole counsel of God, and not following only several
hand-picked scriptures which we can use to justify continuance in sinful
practices. The law (commandments) of the Lord Jesus should now be our delight.
We should no longer be walking in cycles of addiction,
living to please the lusts of our flesh, but now our desire should be for our
Lord, to walk with him in his ways and in his truth. We should not just be
hearers of the Word, but we should be doers of the Word, i.e. those who put the
Word of God into practice in our daily lives, living to please our Lord in all
that we do.
And, what we teach (share with) others regarding the Word of
God should not be surface-level only, but it should include the meat of the
Word where it talks about us leaving our lives of sin behind us to follow our
Lord in obedience. We should be teaching holiness, righteousness, and godliness
and not just being “nice” to people, as though that is going to bring them to
genuine faith in Jesus Christ. We should be loving and kind, and considerate of
others, but never placating sin or compromising the holiness of God.
Psalm 119:9-16 ESV
How can a young man
keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I
seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your
word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O
Lord;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your
testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on
your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your
statutes;
I will not forget your word.
Many people who call themselves Christians and followers of
Christ are still walking in darkness, in the lusts of their flesh, doing what
their sinful hearts desire. They are evading and dodging the Word of Truth in
order to justify their continuance in what they know is wrong and is evil in
God’s sight. They have not died to their former way of life of living for sin
and self, but they have continued in the cycle of addiction in order to fulfill
their lusts.
They find their delight and pleasure, not in the Word (commandments)
of God, but their delight is in the flesh, to do what ought not to be done.
For, many of them find extreme pleasure in unregulated indulgence in sexual
activity that is outside of God’s boundary lines for our lives and for our marriages,
too. They are so intoxicated with the lusts of the flesh that it renders them
senseless, stupid, with markedly diminished mental control.
So, they find themselves continually thirsting after what is
of the flesh, and looking for ways to indulge in what their flesh desires. Some
of them look for and seize every opportunity presented to them to indulge in
the lusts of their flesh. And, many of them today are addicted to porn, to
sexual fantasies, and to having sex or romance outside of marriage and/or to
dream about it. They oppose what they know is right in order to do wrong, and
then they cover up the wrong with lies and deceptions in order to appear as
though they are doing right and that they are not doing wrong (evil).
So, many of them chase after and pursue a cheap substitute
for the true gospel of our salvation in order to appease the lusts of their
flesh. They hold on to a false gospel with a false hope and a false god because
it makes them feel that their eternal destiny is guaranteed them, i.e. that
they are going to heaven no matter how they live while they are on this earth.
For this cheap grace gospel with its false Jesus and with
its false hope of heaven teaches its adherents that they don’t have to die to
sin and self, that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t
have to surrender their lives to Christ or follow him in obedience to his
commands. But, they can just say they “believe” in Jesus or “ask him into their
hearts,” but it doesn’t have to impact their lifestyles. They can still indulge
in their sinful lusts while believing that heaven is still guaranteed them when
they die.
But, this is a lie of Satan who wants us still addicted to
sin and following after him rather than us following after Jesus in obedience
to his Word.
So, if you want to keep your way pure, and you don’t want to
wander from his commandments, and you don’t want to live to fulfill the lusts
of your flesh, then you have to die with Christ to sin and to self, and you
have to be reborn of the Spirit to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus our
Lord, free from slavery to sin, and free to now become slaves of his
righteousness.
And, then you must walk (in lifestyle) according to the
Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. You must resist Satan and flee
temptation and you must draw near to God in full assurance of faith, and daily
put on the armor of God with which to fight off Satan’s evil schemes against
you. And, you must throw off those things that lead you into sin and those
weights that hold you down and that keep you walking in the flesh.
We have to not only be in the Word of God, daily bathing our
minds with the truth of God’s holy Word, but we have to be walking in obedience
to his Word, doing what it says, too, in the power and strength of the Lord.
And, we have to be proactive, too. We know our weaknesses, and we have to guard
against them by not denying them and by not ignoring them. For, as the saying
goes, if we don’t plan to succeed, then we plan to fail.
Praise
Be Told!
An
Original Work / December 28, 2013
Based
off Various Scriptures
He was pierced for our transgressions.
He was crushed for all our sin.
Our chastisement was upon Him.
By His stripes, we now are healed.
He has witnessed all our trials,
And the sins we choose to wear.
Yet, while we were dead in our sin,
Jesus died, our sins to bear.
He himself bore all of our sins
In His body on a cross,
So that we might die to our sin,
And live for His righteousness.
By faith in the pow’r of Jesus
And His blood shed for our sins,
We can be forgiven our sin,
And have life with God in heav’n.
He will lead us and He’ll guide us
In the way that we should go.
He will comfort and protect us,
Because Jesus, we do know.
Though He disciplines for our good,
He will heal us – Praise be told!
Do not fear, your Lord is with you.
Just have faith in Christ your Lord.
Thursday, July 18, 2019
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