Psalm 5:8-9 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“8Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make straight Your way before me.
9For not a word they speak can be trusted;
destruction lies within them.
Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
Make Straight Your Way
Who are the enemies of those of us whose trust is in the
Lord, who follow the Lord wherever he leads us in doing whatever he has called
us to do? They are all who are enemies of God, who choose to ignore God’s
commands and to go their own way, instead. Now, they might not all be actively
against us, attacking us, lying about us, and persecuting us, though some of
them most likely will. But they are enemies of us because they are enemies of
God, because they are opposed to God in order to please their own flesh.
For example, we have many men (mostly men) who serve as
pastors of “church” congregations who are still living in sin, still living to
please the flesh, and not God, who are teaching lies to the people. They have
diluted the gospel message to make it less offensive and more attractive to the
ungodly, so they are also teaching against the biblical gospel of Christ,
calling it “works salvation.” And they are leading many people to reject the biblical
gospel message that we who are following Christ are teaching.
So, although we may not know these people, and they might
not know us, many of them are leading many people to reject the gospel taught
by Jesus and by his New Testament apostles, taught in the correct biblical context.
And they are leading many to believe that God makes no requirements of them other
than to make a profession of faith in Jesus. They are leading the majority, it
appears, to believe they don’t have to repent of their sins and they don’t have
to obey God. And so we who teach the truth get rejected.
So, we who are holding to the truths of the Scriptures, and
who are teaching the biblical gospel of our salvation, have many opponents who
are teaching the opposite of what we are proclaiming. And so we get opposed by
those who are believing the lies. And so we need the Lord to lead us in his
righteousness and to give us the strength and courage to keep speaking the
truth in the face of all opposition. We need the Lord to lead us on a straight
path that teaches repentance and obedience to God for salvation from sin.
The Biblical Gospel of Salvation
Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self,
take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we
hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But
if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to
our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God.
For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the
one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).
For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our
own doing, 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 righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no
longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires.
For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is
what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with
God (see Romans 6:1-23).
For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For Christ “gave
himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a
people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)
And we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have
fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we
claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we
are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in
Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and
who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice,
and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God
in heaven.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts
26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans
8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; 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 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24;
1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation
3:1-22]
Jesus, Lead Me
An Original Work / July 22, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
Jesus, lead me all
the way.
Be my hope and be my
stay.
Gently lead me where
I should go,
So Your Spirit, I
want to know.
Open up my heart to
You.
Fill me with Your
love and truth.
Make my heart want
to obey.
Be my Lord today.
Gently lead always.
Jesus, lover of my
soul,
Cleanse my heart,
and make me whole;
Be transformed in my
heart today,
As I turn from my
sin and pray.
Make Your will known
to my heart.
May I not from You
depart.
How I long to hear
You now,
As I humbly bow.
Jesus, hear me now.
No comments:
Post a Comment