Proverbs 15 Select Verses NASB1995
3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
Watching the evil and the good.
8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But the prayer of the upright is His delight.
9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,
But He loves one who pursues righteousness.
10 Grievous punishment is for him who forsakes the way;
He who hates reproof will die.
19 The way of the lazy is as a hedge of thorns,
But the path of the upright is a highway.
26 Evil plans are an abomination to the Lord,
But pleasant words are pure.
28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
29 The Lord is far from the wicked,
But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
This is Old Testament, but the same thing is taught in the
New Testament under the New Covenant. God’s grace is not cheap, like many would
have you believe. You cannot profess faith in Jesus Christ with your lips and
then live however you want, and then expect God’s love and grace to cover it
all. For God separates the wicked from the righteous all throughout the New
Testament writings. And the wicked are those who make sin their practice, and
the righteous make obedience to God and holy living their practice.
And I am not speaking of sinless perfection here. For all
who are in Christ, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord, and not
of our own doing, we still live in flesh bodies, and we still have the vulnerability
to sin. So it is possible that we might still sin sometimes (1 John 2:1-2). But
if sin is what we practice, deliberately and habitually, and not obedience to
God, then we are not of God, not in fellowship with him, and we don’t really
know God (Romans 6:1-23; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10).
So, by faith in Jesus Christ we are 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.
The old life of sin is to be done away with at the cross when we put our faith
and trust in the Lord Jesus. And now our lives are to be surrendered to God, to
doing what pleases him, to walking in his ways and in his truth, and to no
longer make sin our practice. But righteousness and godly living are to be our
practice.
So, when this says, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord,” what does that look like? What came to my mind when I
read this has to do with all who make professions of faith in Jesus Christ with
their lips but their hearts are far from God. For what they want is forgiveness
of all sins and the promise of eternity in heaven with God, but while they are
not willing to die with Christ to sin and to surrender their lives over to God
to now walk (in conduct) in obedience to his commands in holy living.
And then it says here that “Grievous punishment is for him
who forsakes the way; he who hates reproof will die.” The same is taught in the
New Testament under the New Covenant God has with his people Israel (Jew and
Gentile by faith in Jesus Christ). If all we do is give lip service to God, and
so we go through the motions of religious practice (or not), but our lives are
still given over to pleasing the flesh, and not God, for sin is still our
practice, and not righteousness, then heaven is not what awaits us when we die.
So, just like in the New Testament writings, God separates
those who are of genuine faith in him from those who give lip service only to
God but whose hearts are far from him. And those who are of genuine faith are
those who have died with Christ to sin and who are walking (in conduct) in
obedience to his commands, in practice. They are the upright who pursue what is
of God, and what is righteous in his sight, who are following the Lord in his
ways, going where he sends them, and doing what he commands.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
George Matheson / Albert L. Peace
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt69WDtYNLo
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One Who Pursues Righteousness
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