Keeping Our Lord's Commands

“Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and forget not all his benefits,

who forgives all your iniquity,

    who heals all your diseases,

who redeems your life from the pit,

    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

who satisfies you with good

    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 

The Lord works righteousness

    and justice for all who are oppressed.” (Psalms 103:1-6 ESV)

“For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

    so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.

For he knows our frame;

    he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.” (Psalms 103:11-18 ESV)

Whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament, God’s promises to us always come with conditions. We just have to read them in their context, and not out of context, and we will see this plainly. For far too many people these days are claiming the promises of God over their lives but absent of the biblical conditions. And many of them do not meet the conditions for those promises to be fulfilled in their lives. 

Let me give you one New Testament example. Many people are quoting John 10:28-30 out of the context of verse 27 which explains the conditions for that promise to apply to them. So they are claiming that they have eternal life with God, that they will never perish, and that no one can snatch them out of God’s hand. But verse 27 says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” We are those who are listening to the Lord with our hearts and minds, he knows us, and we are following him in obedience. We are those who have eternal life and who will never perish, etc.

Okay, so back to today’s passage of Scripture. It begins with many of the promises of God to his people – the forgiveness of sins, his healing mercies, the redemption of our lives out of slavery to sin so that we can now honor him with our lives, his steadfast love and mercy, his goodness to us, and the strength that he gives us so that we can make it through each and every day. And then he also works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed, i.e. he is on our side and he will be there to meet all our needs.

But then look at the conditions for those promises to be fulfilled. So great is his steadfast love toward those who FEAR HIM. The Lord shows compassion to those who FEAR HIM. The steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who FEAR HIM, ..to those who keep (obey) his covenant and remember to DO HIS COMMANDMENTS. And this isn’t just Old Covenant teaching. This is also New Covenant teaching. This is what is taught in the New Testament, too. See:

[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]

And what does it mean to FEAR THE LORD? It means we take God to heart. We take him and his word seriously, we believe what he says, and we act on that faith in him and in his word in walks of obedience to him and to his commandments (New Covenant). We honor him with our lives, we revere him, and we respect him. Thus, we forsake our lives of living in sin and for self, we deny self, die daily to sin, and we follow him in obedience.

So we no longer make sin our practice, but now righteousness, holiness, godly living, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and integrity are what we practice, by the grace of God, and in the power of God’s Spirit now living within us. And we are steadfast and continuous in those walks of faith and we are not like the double-minded who go back and forth in opinion and in practice, on again, off again, still walking in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord and against other humans, in a cyclical pattern.

So, we need to know and to understand this. For the Scriptures teach that if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness, holiness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, then we do not have the hope of eternal life with God (see all the noted Scriptures above). We will die in our sins regardless of what faith we profess with our lips. For Jesus said that not everyone professing him as Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God (Matthew 7:21-23).

What a Savior

By Marvin P. Dalton

Once I was straying in sin's dark valley

No hope within could I see

God sent from heaven a loving Savior

To save a poor lost soul like me

He left the Father with all His riches

With calmness sweet and serene

Came down from heaven and gave His lifeblood

To make the vilest sinner clean

Death's chilly waters I'll soon be crossing

His hand will lead me safe o'er

I'll join the chorus in that great city

And sing up there forevermore

O what a Savior O hallelujah

His heart was broken on Calvary

His hands were nail-scarred

His side was riven

He gave His lifeblood for even me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRWCM-PFO8Y

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