Psalms 16:5-6 ESV
“The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”
When I read this passage of Scripture this time and I
thought of the Lord being my portion and my cup, what came to mind was John 6
where Jesus said that he was the bread of life and that unless we drink of his
blood and eat of his flesh that we do not have life in him. For his blood was
shed for us on that cross that we might honor him with our bodies, and his body
was given for us that we might die with him to sin and live to his
righteousness.
So, when we believe in Jesus Christ with God-given faith –
because God the Father has first persuaded us as to his righteousness and
holiness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of our sins and to
walk in obedience to him – we choose to die with him to sin and to be reborn of
his Spirit and to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness. We choose to forsake our sins to follow Jesus
in obedience.
Our lot is not a physical piece of land with physical
boundary lines around it, which is our physical inheritance, but the idea of
this should be carried over to the application of what it means for us. For us,
this lot is spiritual, and its boundary lines are God’s moral laws, and our
inheritance is salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And our lot is the
way of life God has chosen for us to live which is that we die daily to sin and
walk in obedience to him.
[Jn 6:35-58; 1 Co 6:19-20; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Co 5:15,21; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1;
Acts 26:18; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; Rom
12:1-2; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Psalms 16:7-8 ESV
“I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
When we are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ we are
in the best place we can ever be in this life. For our Lord not only provides
for us salvation from our slavery to sin, and he not only gives us new lives in
him to be lived for his glory, and he not only promises us who love (obey) him
eternity with him in heaven, but he lives his life in and through us as we
daily die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.
For our salvation is not just about being delivered from the
punishment of sin so that we can go to heaven when we die. Our salvation is
about delivering us from our lives of living in sin and for self and giving us
new lives in Christ to be lived for him and his righteousness. And the Holy
Spirit is given to us to counsel and instruct us in the ways of the Lord and to
strengthen and help us to walk in his ways and to do what he says.
And if we are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ we
should be able to hear the Spirit speak to us in our spirits, guiding us each
step of the way, prodding us to move ahead and to not fall behind. And we
should have open communication between us and the Lord to where we can hear his
gentle whispers even in the night when it is quiet and we are free from distractions.
And then we should be following his lead in doing what he says to do.
Psalms 16:9-10 ESV
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.”
When we are in genuine relationship with Jesus Christ via
God-given faith in him, which is not of our own doing, and daily by the Spirit
we are dying to sin and living to God and to his righteousness, and sin is no
longer our practice but righteousness is what we practice, by the grace of God,
then we can have the assurance of heaven as our eternal home and that we will
not spend eternity in hell away from God and in eternal punishment.
But, if we are still walking (in conduct, in practice) in
deliberate and habitual sin, and if righteousness and holiness are not what we
practice, and if we are not walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, as a
matter of life course, then we do not have that assurance of salvation from sin
nor of eternal life with God nor of escaping the fires of hell and God’s wrath.
So, we need to take this to heart for it is what the Scriptures teach.
Psalms 16:11 ESV
“You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The Lord has made known to us the path of life. We can read
all about it in the Scriptures, and more specifically for Christians we can
read about it in the New Testament. All throughout the New Testament we are instructed
in the way that is right for us to go, and we are warned against turning away
from the Lord to go after the ways of our flesh, instead. For if we live to the
flesh, we will die in our sins, but if we live to God, we have eternal life.
In our Lord’s presence there is fulness of joy if we are
dying to sin daily and walking in obedience to the Lord. But if we are not, we
are not going to experience that joy of the Lord, for our consciences will not
let us until we turn from our sin and we continue to follow our Lord in
obedience. And if your conscience does not bother you when you sin, then you
should examine your heart to see if you are truly in the faith.
The pleasures that we should be enjoying in this life should
not be sinful pleasures. We should be living our lives to give honor to God and
we should not be living in any ways which dishonor him. The main thing here is
that Christ is to be Lord (Owner-Master) of our lives, our lives are to be
surrendered to him to do his will, sin should no longer be what we practice,
but obedience to our Lord and righteousness should be our practice. Amen!
He
Keeps Me Singing
by
Luther B. Bridgers, 1910
There’s within my heart a melody
Jesus whispers sweet and low,
“Fear not, I am with thee, peace be
still,”
In all of life’s ebb and flow.
All my life was wrecked by sin and
strife,
Discord filled my heart with pain;
Jesus swept across the broken strings,
Stirred the slumbering chords again.
Feasting on the riches of His grace,
Resting ‘neath His sheltering wing,
Always looking on His smiling face –
That is why I shout and sing.
Though sometimes He leads through
waters deep,
Trials fall across the way,
Though sometimes the path seems rough
and steep
See His foot-prints all the way.
Soon He’s coming back to welcome me
Far beyond the starry sky;
I shall wing my flight to world’s unknown,
I shall reign with Him on high.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus –
Sweetest name I know,
Fills my every longing,
Keeps me singing as I go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S23RqEr7ox4
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