2009-08-28
Hi There Loved Ones,
We continue our examination of vertical righteousness, as concerning judgment from comparing MT 7: 7-11 with other Scriptures. You’ll remember that MT 7: 7-11, from the Sermon on the Mount, begins with the ask, seek, knock passage and goes into an example of what would happen if you asked your friend for bread after midnight upon the arrival of unexpected company to your home. From there, it comments in (11), “As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more , then will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Now let’s see how all this stacks up with more of God’s word.
The Lord Jesus wants us to see the importance and reward of persistence. We actually should already know this from the number of times such concepts as God’s love for us [PS 16: 9-11, PS 65: 6-7, PS 145: 17-19, IS 54: 10, IS 64: 4; HO 14: 9], his desire for us to be holy [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2, 1 PET 1: 16], God’s direction and correction [PS 25: 4-5, PS 37: 23-24; PS 139: 9-10; PS 143; 10, JER 10: 23-24, PS 86: 11 etc.] and so on. The point here is that God repeats concepts that He thinks are important. He is persistent in the lessons He has for us. God tells us to be persistent in several places [HE 12: 1-2; EPH 6: 18, for example.] He wants us to trust Him and never give up, even when the going gets tough for us.
PS 16: 2, “I said to the Lord, ‘Your are my Lord. Every good thing I have is from You.’” The examples of our lives where this applies are too numerous to list. We can put this together with PS 24:1, “The world and all that is in it belong to the Lord; the earth and all who live on it are His.” This goes back to the very creation of the earth and everything on it. All that we are and all that we have is really “on loan” from the Lord, and it’s clear from His mission statement, in EPH 1: 4-5, that He eventually wants it to return to Him. Where judgment comes into the picture is in how we respond to God’s call to live in righteousness, so we can come back to Him. That’s what our response to sanctification efforts on His part is. He must also use judgment in deciding for how long He will give us to respond in cooperation with Him and then, finally in when to bring on the Lord Jesus in His second advent, which begins the end time clean up of all sin. We must truly understand that there will be nothing but evil left on our present earth, once all the end time events happen. What will replace our earth will be the new earth and the new heaven, described in REV 21-22, where there is no evil [REV 21: 27].
PS 31:19, “How wonderful are the good things You keep for those who honor You! Everyone knows how good You are, how securely You protect those who trust You.” When we decide if we will honor God, we are making a value judgment. Do we value God and what He has to offer, or do we reject these things? Inherent in this is: Do we want to be a child of God or not? Are we willing to submit to God and to believe in His Son, Jesus Christ? We all know the answer people raised in traditional Judaism would give, those who embrace that rejection of Christ have been carefully taught to reject the His deity. And yet, a remnant of Jews go on to become “completed” or “Messianic Jews” because they can’t deny Christ’s deity. The practicing traditional Jews don’t work to dishonor God; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. We, who are eager for the day when the veil of doubt and rejection is lifted from their eyes, hanging on God’s words in RO 11: 25, “There is a secret truth, my brothers, which I want you to know, for it will keep you from thinking how wise you are. It is that the stubbornness of the people of Israel is not permanent, but will last only until the complete number of Gentiles comes to God.” Just as the day when traditional Jews must make a judgment-decide whether or not to accept the truth of the Gospel, so too is the case for all those who come from beliefs other than Christianity. I believe that is one of the reasons God doesn’t just destroy evil right now. He is giving time for these people to come to faith [2 PET 3: 8-9]. But make no mistake, the Scriptures have told us there is a cut-off line, a time when God will no longer tolerate rejection of Himself.
We must understand that God keeps every promise He makes. PS 138: 8, “You will do everything You have promised; Lord, Your love is eternal. Complete the work that You have begun.” We are urged in PS 31: 23-24, “Love the Lord, all His faithful people. The Lord protects the faithful, but punishes the proud as they deserve. Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the Lord.” In addition, we must observe the directive in PS 85: 13, “Righteousness will go before the Lord and prepare the path for Him.” Thinking and acting in righteousness means going against the temptations of the flesh, one’s natural self. This is hard to do and requires some judgment and discernment. God encourages us to seek Him out [JER 29: 11-13] and to ask for both wisdom [PS 51: 6] and discernment [PS 119: 125]. God knows we can’t make the right judgments all the time without His help, and He is only too willing to give it to those who ask for it with persistence and a genuine heart.
PRAYER: O Lord, when we read PS 85: 13 above, we were reminded of the prophecy of IS 40: 3, “A voice cries out, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a road for the Lord! Clear the way in the desert for our God!” PS 68: 4, “Sing to God, sing praises to His name; prepare a way for Him Who rides on the clouds. His name is the Lord-be glad in His presence!” and IS 62: 10-11, “People of Jerusalem, go out of the city and build a road for your returning people! Prepare a highway; clear it of stones! Put up a signal so that the nations can know that the Lord is announcing to all the earth: ‘Tell the people of Jerusalem that the Lord is coming to save you, bringing with Him the people He has rescued,’” refers to the same thing. And, we must not forget the words of MAL 3: 1, “The Lord Almighty answers, ‘I will send My messenger to prepare the way for Me. When, the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to His temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim My covenant.’” The truth of this is borne out in MT 3: 1-3, “At that time John the Baptist came to the desert of Judea and started preaching. ‘Turn away from your sins,’ he said, ‘because the Kingdom of heaven is near!’ John was the man the prophet Isaiah was talking about when he said, ‘Someone is shouting in the desert, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord; make a straight path for Him to travel!’” [IS 40: 3]. We come before Your mighty throne today to acknowledge the message today to repent of our sins, since the Kingdom of heaven is near. You have repeated this message so many times in the Bible that we would make stupid judgments if we didn’t listen to it! You are persistent in Your efforts to bring us back to yourself. You “constantly renew us in Your own image, so that we might have a better knowledge of Himself” [COL 3: 10] because of Your eagerness to bring us back to You. You want nothing more than to see us have a blissful and close fellowship with You for eternity. How could we ever had denied that all good things come from You? We thank and praise You for Your part in the Covenant of Grace, in the holy and mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Next week, we continue to look at persistent dependence on God-the vertical aspects of righteousness, as they apply to making judgments. If you feel like this long list of judgment messages still in progress has forced the issue with forwarding our spiritual maturation, you have plenty of company. I had no idea the Holy Spirit would have so much for us. But if we stop and think about it, this is necessary briefing for all kinds of decision-making and action taking. God wants us to “be holy because I am holy” [LV 11: 44-45; LV 19: 2; 1 PET 1: 16]. We are at the place in our lives when we must truly understand what God means when He gave us that directive. We must not only understand it, but we must put it into action in our lives. I’m reminded of the story about Abraham Lincoln who was working in a general store. A customer came in to by some thread, and Lincoln charged her 2 cents too much. She was walking down the road with her purchase when he realized the mistake. Lincoln had a decision to make: should he let the matter go since so little money was in involved, or should he chase after her and return the money she overpaid him? We all know that Lincoln took the latter course, and none of us would ever forget the story of his honesty. That’s a small example of making the right judgment, but a powerful one nonetheless. Lincoln could live with himself afterward, because he knew he had done the right thing. Can we feel the same about ourselves and our decisions and actions? The Lord be praised and thanked, for giving us the values we should embrace, the ones that will lead us to eternal life with Him.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn