Psalms 119:92-93 NIV
“If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have preserved my life.”
God’s Will and Purpose
Under the New Covenant we are not under the Mosaic law. We
do not have to obey all the liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification,
and dietary laws and restrictions of the Old Covenant. But that does not make
us lawless, for Jesus died on that cross to free us from all lawlessness. And our
faith in Jesus Christ, if it is God-given and God-persuaded faith, requires
that we obey our Lord’s commandments under the New Covenant, which we can read
in the New Testament, especially in the epistles.
So, “the law” for us is the Word of God, but specifically
the Word that is for Christians, for the church, for us who have believed in
Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives. It is God’s New Covenant
commandments, which include his moral laws. And we who believe in Jesus are
required to obey them, in practice, or else we don’t know God, we are not born
of God, and we will not inherit eternal life with God. For we must die to sin
and live to God and to his righteousness and no longer walk in sin.
Therefore, it is true that if God’s commandments under the
New Covenant are not our delight, and if our desire is not to obey them, and so
we don’t, then we will die in our sin and heaven will not be our eternal
destiny, regardless of what faith we profess with our lips. But it is also true
that if God’s Word to us is not our delight, what we long for, and that which
we feed on daily, then when we go through trials and tribulations and
persecutions, we will not survive emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. We
will crash!
Therefore, we are never to forget nor neglect the
commandments of our Lord under the New Covenant. For by God’s Word, by our
obedience to his Word, our lives are preserved (saved), but not just for
eternity. We are given new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to be lived for him
and in obedience to his commands, and for his pleasure, and for his will and
his purpose. Now our lives have meaning and purpose and direction, and when we
live by God’s word, then God’s purpose for our lives is able to be realized.
Psalms 119:94-95 NIV
“Save me, for I am yours;
I have sought out your precepts.
The wicked are waiting to destroy me,
but I will ponder your statutes.”
Persecution and Opposition
When we as followers of Jesus Christ are obeying the
commands of our Lord, in practice, and we are walking in his ways, and in his
truth, and not in sin, we are going to have enemies. And those enemies won’t
just be people who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. In fact, our
greater enemies may be those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, but not in
truth, and not in practice. For the same was true for Jesus Christ. His
greatest opponents were the religious and the rulers in the temple and the
teachers of God’s Word. And they were his own people and even some of his own
family.
So, this cry for the Lord to “save me” is not a cry for
salvation from sin, but it is a cry for deliverance from one’s enemies – from his
persecutors, his opponents, and all those who oppose God and His Word, in
truth. For even many who claim to believe in Jesus Christ, and who claim to
believe in the Scriptures, do not obey the commandments of our Lord under the
New Covenant, and so they don’t adhere to the Scriptures. And so they may
oppose those who do believe the Scriptures and who do obey the Lord, in
practice. For they may find their walks of faith an offense to them.
Thus, this also means that “the wicked” are not to be
assigned only to those who make no profession of faith in Jesus Christ. For “the
wicked” are all those who live wickedly, who live in sin, who make sin their
practice, and who behave “unseemly,” i.e. improperly, dishonorably, and indecently.
And this includes people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are still walking
in sin, still giving themselves over to the lusts of the flesh and to the lusts
of the eyes, and to the pride of life. So sometimes the “unsaved” behave way
better! Sometimes the “unsaved” put the “saved” to shame by how they live.
For just as Jesus’ persecutors and opponents plotted and
carried out his death on that cross, because they hated him, because he was
righteous, we will have persecutors and those who oppose us and who may even
want us dead and who may even plot out our murders. And the Lord allows us to
go through such things in this life, but sometimes he does rescue us physically
when he is not finished with us yet, and there is still work to be done. But if
not physically, he does rescue us spiritually and emotionally and mentally so
that we do not give way to our persecutors and so we continue to obey God.
No Less
An Original Work /
March 19, 2012
I can do no less
than praise You,
Lord, for all You’ve
done for me.
You died for my sins
to save me,
So I would be set
free.
I adore You! Lord, I
praise You!
Jesus, Savior, King
of kings!
You provided my
redemption.
Your grace has
pardoned me.
I can do no less
than serve You.
Lord, Your witness I
would be,
Telling others of
Your love,
And why You died on
that tree.
Tell of how You gave
of Your life,
So from sin we’d be
set free,
So we could worship
You forever,
And live eternally.
I can do no less
than love You,
Lord, for You have
first loved me.
You gave of Your
life so willing,
Because You cared
for me.
Turn from my sin!
Obey freely!
Live for You each
passing day.
Read Your word, and
follow Your lead,
Lord, as I humbly
pray.
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