To Know Your Ways
Psalm 25:4-5 ESV
“Make me to know your ways, O Lord;
teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation;
for you I wait all the day long.”
There are a lot of things being taught today as truth which
are not truth at all. There are many things being said today as though they are
truth when they are not truth but are trickery and deception. So, we need the
Lord to teach us His truth and to reveal to us the lies.
We live in an age of much deception where lies are being
passed off as truth and where truth is being called lies. For, good is being
called evil and evil is being called good. It seems like everything is
backwards and/or upside down from what it should be – from what God intended it
to be.
When it comes to biblical truth or error, we have the Scriptures
and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, so we can always test
what we hear against the Scriptures (in context) to see whether what is being
taught is biblical truth or if it is man-created lies.
But then we have politicians and news media and social media
giving out all kinds of messages which are not specifically related to
Scripture, so it is here that we must depend on the Holy Spirit to speak to our
hearts and to reveal to us what is truth or lies or how we can know what is
truth and what isn’t.
We need to know the truth as God defines truth so that we
don’t fall into deception and end up straying from our pure devotion to our
Lord, and so we don’t end up following after the gods of this world instead of
following Jesus Christ, and so we don’t end up falling for the lies of the
antichrist.
And we need to know God’s truth so that we can walk in it
(live in it) and so we don’t end up walking (remaining in, living by) the flesh,
thinking we are doing right. For we must walk according to the Spirit and not
according to the flesh if we want to have eternal life with God (Rom 8:1-17; 1
Jn 1:5-9).
Steadfast Love
Psalm 25:8-10 ESV
“Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
He leads the humble in what is right,
and teaches the humble his way.
All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,
for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”
Many people today are teaching a false grace gospel which is
man-created, and which is a half-truth man diluted gospel, which appeals to
human flesh. It patterns the gospel of our salvation around the flesh of humans
so that it makes no requirements regarding death to sin and living to
righteousness.
They do teach that Jesus, God incarnate, sacrificed his own
life for us on a cross to save us from our sins, that he died, rose again,
ascended back to heaven, and that he is coming again to take his own to be with
him forever. But they reduce the word “faith” to saying some words or to making
a mere profession of faith.
But as we study the Scriptures we realize that the
Scriptures teach us what this faith looks like, and that if we don’t look like
that, we don’t have faith.
For they teach that coming to faith in Jesus Christ means we
die with Christ to our old lives of sin, that we are born anew of the Spirit of
God, and that we now walk (in practice) according to the Spirit and not
according to the flesh. And if we continue walking according to the flesh, we
will die (Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Jn
2:3-6).
The problem is that these false teachers try to bring God
down to our level or they remake God in man’s image. But God isn’t like us. He
is sinless. And Jesus died to free us from our slavery (bondage) to sin so that
we would now becomes slaves of his righteousness, and so we would walk in his
righteousness (Rom 6:16; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14).
So, Jesus doesn’t save us from our sins so that we can go on
living in sin, only now without guilt and condemnation. Good and upright is the
Lord, therefore he instructs sinners and the humble in his ways, and he leads
the humble in what is right (righteous).
And all his paths are righteous and holy and upright, and
they are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his word. And this
isn’t just Old Testament teaching. It is what the New Testament teaches, too.
For, if we deliberately continue making sin our practice, we will die in our
sins because we would not die to our sins (Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6;
Lu 9:23-26).
For Those Who Fear Him
Psalm 25:11-15 ESV
“For your name's sake, O Lord,
pardon my guilt, for it is great.
Who is the man who fears the Lord?
Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.
His soul shall abide in well-being,
and his offspring shall inherit the land.
The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant.
My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
for he will pluck my feet out of the net.”
Many people are teaching the gospel of Christ as though it
is all about us, as though it is all for us and that we don’t have to honor,
revere, respect or worship the Lord. They teach we don’t have to repent of our
sins or walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands and as though the whole reason
Jesus died was to forgive us our sins so we could go to heaven when we die.
But God, who is without sin, and who is good and upright, is
not going to save people from the punishment of sin so that they can keep on
living in sin in blatant and deliberate rebellion against the Lord. No! His
grace instructs us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for his return (Tit 2:11-14).
And Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to God and
to his righteousness. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but
for him who gave his life up for us. And he shed his blood for us on that cross
to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so we would honor God with our lives (1
Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15, 21; 1 Co 6:19-20).
So, we aren’t saved from our sins just so we don’t have to
go to hell and so we can go to heaven when we die. It isn’t all about us. Jesus
saved us from our sins for his glory and praise, and that our lives might be
for his glory and praise. And to fear him is to respect and obey him, not to
snub him or treat him as though he is our slave.
If we want to be saved from our sins, be in relationship
with Jesus Christ, and have eternal life with God, we must fear (respect, obey)
our Lord, walk in his ways (according to the Spirit) and no longer walk in the
ways of our sinful flesh (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn
2:3-6).
A
Believer’s Prayer
An
Original Work / July 31, 2012
With my whole heart, Lord, I pray
To be Yours, and Yours always.
Lead me in Your truth today.
May I love You, and obey.
Lead me in Your righteousness.
When I sin, may I confess;
Bow before You when I pray;
Live for You and You always.
Love You, Jesus, You’re my friend.
Life with You will never end.
You are with me through each day,
Giving love and peace always.
You will ne’er abandon me.
From my sin You set me free.
You died on that cruel tree,
So I’d live eternally.
Soon You’re coming back for me;
From this world to set me free;
Live with You eternally.
Oh, what joy that brings to me.
I will walk with You in white;
A pure bride, I’ve been made right
By the blood of Jesus Christ;
Pardoned by His sacrifice.
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