We Have a Strong City

“In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

    he sets up salvation

    as walls and bulwarks.

Open the gates,

    that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.

You keep him in perfect peace

    whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

For he has humbled

    the inhabitants of the height,

    the lofty city.

He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,

    casts it to the dust.

The foot tramples it,

    the feet of the poor,

    the steps of the needy.” (Isaiah 26:1-6 ESV)

That day is now, and it began the moment that Jesus Christ gave his life up for us on that cross to put our sins to death with him so that we would die with him to sin and now live to him and to his righteousness. For, prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection and ascension back to heaven, the people of God were those of Jewish descent who were under the Old Covenant relationship God had with his people Israel. And the temple of God was a physical building in a physical city with physical walls surrounding it.

Now the city of God is the people of God who are of genuine walks of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives. We are the temple of God in whom God dwells by this Spirit. And our salvation from slavery to sin is our fortification (walls), our safeguard, our protection from our enemy, by the grace of God. But our salvation is not just forgiveness of sins and absence of punishment for our sin, but it is deliverance from bondage to sin and it is empowerment of God’s Spirit to now live holy lives, pleasing to God.

For it is the righteous (in the sight of God) who keep (obey, cling to and persevere in) the God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ who may enter into this city of God, the family of God, the body of Christ, his church. For we are not saved from our sins and promised eternal life with God on a profession of faith, but on our walks of faith and obedience to our Lord, by the grace of God, in the power of God. And this requires self-denial and dying daily to sin, and walks of obedience to our Lord (Luke 9:23-26).

So, if we want to have peace with God and be assured of our salvation from our addiction to sin and of God’s empowerment in our lives to live holy lives, pleasing to him, and to be promised eternal life with God in heaven, our minds (hearts, actions) must be stayed (continued, persevered in) on the Lord and on his word and his commands to us, his children, to obey them. For this is what faith is. It is divine persuasion of God to forsake our lives of sin and to now follow him in obedience to his commands in holy living.

Therefore, our trust must remain in the Lord throughout our lives on this earth, and to trust him is to submit to him as Lord, and to surrender our wills to the will of God, and to obey our Lord’s commands under the New Covenant. It doesn’t mean that we will be absolutely perfect in everything that we do and say, but lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued and deliberate sin against the Lord. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we will not have eternal life with God.

For God will judge the liars, adulterers, sexually immoral, disobedient, rebellious, slanderers, unfaithful, and drunkards, etc. who make sin their practice and for whom righteousness, godliness, moral purity, and obedience to our Lord is not what they practice. And many will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, calling him “Lord,” and claiming the works they thought they did in his name, and he will say, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” for they did not obey the Lord.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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