The Conduct of the Pure is Upright

Proverbs 21 Select Verses ESV

“The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;

    he turns it wherever he will.

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes,

    but the Lord weighs the heart.

3 To do righteousness and justice

    is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart,

    the lamp of the wicked, are sin.

8 The way of the guilty is crooked,

    but the conduct of the pure is upright.

16 One who wanders from the way of good sense

    will rest in the assembly of the dead.”

We who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives are only able to do so because of God’s grace to us and according to his providence. We cannot even believe in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to faith in Christ, i.e. unless he persuades us as to his holiness and righteousness and of our sinfulness and of our need to repent of our sins, to leave them behind us, and to now follow our Lord in obedience to his commands. And we can only obey our Lord in his power and strength.

So our faith in Jesus Christ is not of our own doing, not of the will nor of the flesh of man. We must be persuaded of God and then we can only obey him in his power. And God is the one who chooses what that faith looks like, not us. And he teaches faith in Jesus as obedience to his commands, and as holy living in the forsaking of our sins to follow our Lord. But does that make us puppets on strings who have no choice in what we do or don’t do? No! For all throughout the Scriptures we are taught that we must obey God.

Do I believe in predestination? Yes! But do I also believe in free will? Yes! For I believe the Scriptures teach both together. It is only because of what Jesus did for us that we are able to be saved. And it is only because he persuades us to believe in him that we can have faith. And the faith is of God, and is gifted to us by God, and is not of our own doing. But we still must exercise that faith. We still must choose to obey our Lord. God doesn’t just do it all for us while we sit back and do nothing. We must cooperate with God.

If God did everything and we did nothing, we wouldn’t need all the instructions that we are given in the New Testament that we must put off that and put on this, and stop doing that, and start doing this. And we wouldn’t have all the warnings that we have to the church against assuming that because we make a profession of faith in the Lord that we are now sealed for eternity and we can’t even choose to reject Christ. For it is those who are doing God’s will who will enter the kingdom of heaven.

So, God calls us. He provides what we need. He empowers us. And he guides us in the way that we should go. But then we must do what he says to do, and we must walk in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. We must no longer walk in sin, obeying its lustful desires. And we must guard our hearts against falling back into sin. And we must resist Satan and flee temptation. But all this comes from God, and it is all empowered of God, but we still must yield control of our lives over to the Lord and obey him.

So it all begins and ends with God, but we must still cooperate with his work of grace in our lives in doing what he has called us to do, in his power. We must surrender ownership of our lives over to the Lord and allow him to now rule our lives. For Jesus said that if we are going to come after him that we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For if we keep on living in sin, we will lose our lives for eternity, but if we die to sin and obey our Lord, we have eternal life.

So, our salvation from sin is not just contingent on what Jesus did for us on that cross, but it is also contingent on our heart and love response to our Lord in walks of obedience to him and to his commands in holy living, but as empowered and directed by him and by his word. For none of us are saved by our own fleshly works. For Jesus said 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, which we can only do in his power and strength.

And this is where there is much contention. Verse 16 says, “One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.” And this is New Covenant teaching, too. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord and to his commands, we will not inherit eternal life with God regardless of what faith in Jesus Christ we profess with our lips. And these warnings are given to the church, to the assemblies of those professing faith in Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures do not teach that we can make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ once in our lives and that we can never change our minds or that we can never be unsaved after that point. Some people teach that we have no free will at all. Others teach that we have free will but only up to the point to where we decide to believe in Jesus and then the free will is taken away. I believe neither is biblically correct. The Scriptures, instead, teach progressive salvation which will not be complete until Jesus returns and he takes his faithful bride to be with him for eternity.

And this is why Jesus and his NT apostles always stressed the importance of remaining and abiding in Christ and in his word, and of walking in obedience to our Lord and no longer in sin, and of loving other people, and of serving the Lord Jesus with our lives, and of working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. And they teach that we are saved (past), that we are being saved (present active), and that we will be saved (future) when Jesus takes his faithful bride to be with him for eternity, when our salvation is complete.

So, please know what the Scriptures teach, and please read them in their context, and guard against interpreting their meaning outside their biblical context. For many false teachings come from Scriptures taken out of context and made to say what they do not say in context. 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; 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 1:18; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 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 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]  

As the Deer 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water

 So my soul longeth after You

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield

 To You alone may my spirit yield

 You alone are my heart's desire

 And I long to worship You

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZv3jzOTE70

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