“With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
I will keep your statutes.
I call to you; save me,
that I may observe your testimonies.
I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
O Lord, according to your justice give me life.
They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
they are far from your law.
But you are near, O Lord,
and all your commandments are true.
Long have I known from your testimonies
that you have founded them forever.” Psalms 119:145-152 ESV
There is a particular Christian song out there which has the appearance of all goodness, but if you listen closely to the words, and especially if you compare the message given there to the message given in this Psalm, perhaps you will see what I am seeing, but maybe not. But I believe the song lyrics, much like what many are preaching today, are a mixture of truth and untruth (deception). I cannot say that the deception is willful on the part of the author, but that the lyrics, I believe, give a mixed message.
So, first I want to look at the words of the psalmist. What I find consistent all throughout this 119th Psalm is that the Psalmist speaks continually about walking in the ways of the Lord and obeying his commandments and seeking the Lord and his will. He speaks of keeping the word of the Lord diligently, and of being steadfast in faith, and of having an upright heart. He wants to be kept from sin and to have his eyes fixed on the ways of the Lord. And he speaks of his opponents as those with evil purpose, far from God’s law.
But in this Christian song I am speaking of, when the person is concerned that her faith may fail, or when the tempter would prevail, or when she can never keep her hold, for her love is often cold, then she just claims that Christ will hold her fast. And then she continues by stating that Christ will not let her soul be lost because her soul was bought by Christ at the cost of his blood shed for us on that cross. For her Savior loves her so, she states, and therefore the love of God will hold her fast, even if her love is often cold.
Do you see the contrast between these two messages? Now, as I am writing this, I will have to say that I just looked up the author to these hymn lyrics. She died in 1918, so these lyrics are not modern lyrics. And they do have truth in them. But let’s compare them to what the Psalmist said. When he cried to the Lord, looking for help, his response was “I will keep your statutes.” When he called to the Lord to save him, perhaps from his enemies (see v. 150), he wanted saved so that he would observe God’s testimonies.
But in contrast, the song writer, when she feared her faith may fail, she just claimed that Christ would hold her fast. And when the tempter would prevail (conquer, win) in her life, again she claimed that Christ would hold her fast. Then she claimed that she could never keep her hold for her love was often cold, but that Christ would hold her fast. Now are we perfect people? No! But we are not to be those who go through life not keeping our hold and having love that is often cold and expect that God is just going to hold us.
That is not the message of the cross of Christ, and it is not the message that Jesus taught and not what the NT apostles taught. And I am not pushing legalism here nor harshness nor a hammer hanging over your head the first time you get out of step even a little bit and then “BAM!” No! This is not what this is about at all! This is about this attitude that is being spread today that we can have our salvation from sin but that Christ does it all for us and that no matter what we do, he will always be there for us. Just not true!
For the Psalmist, he was focused on his love response to the Lord for all that the Lord had done for him. He was focused on a walk of obedience to the Lord and to his commands with a strong desire to please the Lord in all things. And he saw the enemies of God who were persecuting him as those who were workers of evil who were far from the Lord and his commands. And he didn’t want to be like them. He wanted the Lord to rescue him from his enemies so that he could keep the commandments of God.
But the hymn writer, at least in this one song that she wrote, presumed upon the Lord that he would hold her fast even when the tempter prevailed in her life, and even when she did not keep her hold, and even though her love was often cold. It was all about what Jesus could do for her despite her failures to be who he wanted her to be, and with no mention of those, in fact. And it was presuming that her salvation was secure solely on the basis of God’s love for her, but not with regard to her response to him.
Do you see what I am getting at? And this is not legalism. This is the gospel that Jesus taught and that the NT apostles taught. They didn’t teach that Jesus does it all and that nothing is required of us at all other than a profession of faith in Christ. We can’t go on living in sin and expect that God is going to let us into his heaven on the basis of lip service. Whether intended or not, though, that is the message this hymn is giving, for the focus is solely on what Jesus does for us despite what we do in return.
So, what did Jesus teach? He taught that if we are going to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self, we will lose them for eternity. But if for Jesus’ sake we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience, then we have eternal life. For if we deny him by our actions in this life, he will disown us when he returns (Luke 9:23-26).
And he also taught that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father in heaven. For many will stand before him one day professing him as Lord and proclaiming all the things they did in his name, and he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they did not obey the Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).
And Paul taught that genuine faith in Jesus Christ results in us being crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as slaves to God and to his righteousness. So we are no longer to allow sin to reign (prevail) in our bodies to where we obey its sinful desires, for if sin is what we obey, it will lead to death. But if obedience is what we obey, it will lead to righteousness, and to sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (Romans 6:1-23).
So, no matter what you may think of my assessment of the woman’s hymn (song) lyrics, and how they compare to the words in this psalm, please know that our salvation is not just God’s gift to us so we can be forgiven all our sins so that we can escape hell and go to heaven when we die. He died that we would die to sin and live to his righteousness. But, Jesus does hold fast those whose true trust is in the Lord, who are walking in his ways in obedience to his commands, and who are no longer walking in sin.
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
“He will hold me fast
He will hold me fast
For my Saviour loves me so
He will hold me fast”
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