Journal for Christ: The perseverance of God

July 18, 2016

Worship: The Love of Christ is Rich and Free by William Gadsby & Sandra McCracken

TEXT:

MUSIC:

1. The love of Christ is rich and free;
Fixed on His own eternally;
Nor earth, nor hell, can it remove;
Long as He lives, His own He’ll love.

2. His loving heart engaged to be
Their everlasting Surety;
Twas love that took their cause in hand,
And love maintains it to the end.

Chorus: Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day.

3. Love has redeemed His sheep with blood;
And love will bring them safe to God;
Love calls them all from death to life;
And love will finish all their strife. (Repeat chorus)

4. He loves through every changing scene,
Nor aught from Him can Zion wean;
Not all the wanderings of her heart
Can make His love for her depart. (Repeat chorus)

5. At death, beyond the grave, He’ll love;
In endless bliss, His own shall prove
The blazing glory of that love
Which never could from them remove.

Tag: Which never could from them remove.

Video: Video: https://youtu.be/TWAXkaWS8o0?list=RDTWAXkaWS8o0

Witness:

Looking back over my life I can describe it as one long cry expressed by the father of a child possessed by a demon “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24 NKJV). In this life, our faith is never pure nor is it static. It ebbs and flows and hopefully continually grows.

I have always struggled in my faith walk. Praying for many things and seeing so little results and yet persisting in prayer in spite of so-called “unanswered prayers.” I have questioned my salvation and wondered if I truly had “enough” faith. After all, even those whose faith was the size of a mustard seed are told they can move mountains (Mt. 17:20; Lk. 17:6). I wasn’t moving any “mountains” in my life when I prayed so maybe I am not really saved. Heaped upon that was an incipient and persistent atheism that dogged my faith walk and reared its ugly head from time to time though I quickly rebuked it when it did. This often happened when someone died and I felt the fear that perhaps they are really gone without any conscience going on after they died. If there was no God and no life after death that was a scary thought to me. Perhaps that’s why I am always thinking even when trying to sleep.

It took the trauma when I discovered my wife’s infidelity and her subsequent flight in the night to shake me up and stir up my faith in and reliance on my Sovereign God. My faith is still not “pure” and still subject to ebbs and flows, but it is stronger now and growing in ways it hasn’t before. In the past, it has been rather stagnant but now it is becoming more dynamic.

What precipitated this excursion into my life of faith was a word I came upon in the song I sang for worship this day. It is the word “Surety”. That is not a word we use today. We use words like “guarantor” or “sponsor” if it refers to a person or “pledge”, “collateral”, “guarantee”, or “bond” when referring to an action taken or an attitude of “certainty” when referring to a state of being. As I read the words again another song was playing that used the word. These are songs from another generation refreshed with more contemporary sounding music. I had a good idea what the word meant but did a little word study in several Bible dictionaries on it. I will not go into what I found. Anyone can do that just by consulting a bible dictionary or a regular English dictionary for that matter.

Here the word is personified and refers to Christ as our surety of salvation. In Christ, we are secure in our redemption and final destiny. I believe in the perseverance of the saints. I am living proof of that. However, this song points out something deeper and more wonderful than that. Without this “something”, my perseverance means nothing and is the grounds upon which this doctrine stands and the entire structure built on it as well. What do I call this? I call it the “perseverance of God”. Every verse and the chorus of this song breaths out this truth. Read the words of the song again and praise God for His persevering love for His chosen and redeemed people. Thank God for His persevering love towards yourself in spite of your faltering faith.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1:3-6 ESV

When I wander lost in shame

I only have myself to blame

When I am sinking in the mire of doubt

And wonder what my life’s about

It’s times like these when it becomes clear

I need to trust and draw near

To seek Your face, to seek Your grace

To find my peace in Your embrace

WORD:

Ps 25:8-15

Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right

and teaches them his way.

10 All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful

for those who keep the demands of his covenant.

Ps 25:8-10

8 The Lord is good and does what is right;

he shows the proper path to those who go astray.

9 He leads the humble in doing right,

teaching them his way.

10 The Lord leads with unfailing love and faithfulness

all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.

Ps 25:8-10

8 Good and upright is the Lord: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.

9 The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

KJV

Ps 25:8-10

8 Good and upright is the Lord;

therefore he instructs sinners in the way.

9 He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

ESV

Oh, to be able to pray like David. When I pray, my mind will often wander or I will fall into a daze. In those times my thoughts are not usually Godward but self-centered and focused on my present situation. They may involve fantasizing on a fictitious conversation or action I want to take. David, however, moves from prayer to pondering the attributes and actions of the One he is petitioning. Here he focusses on God as good, upright, loving, and faithful and some of the actions that flow out of these attributes. These attributes form couplets and are found in verses 8 and 10.

Let us look at the first couplet found in verse 8.

“Good and upright is the Lord”

We have seen the first word “good” (an adjective) intimated in the preceding verse when the psalmist refers to God’s “goodness” (a noun). In a previous study I referenced Vines concerning this word:

"Tob OT:2896, "good; favorable; festive; pleasing; pleasant; well; better; right; best." …This adjective denotes "good" in every sense of that word."(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.)

I went on to say that I believed that in reference to God that all possible meanings of good can apply. The TWOT says this about the word:

"Good, pleasant, beautiful, delightful, glad, joyful, precious, correct, righteous… Some usages blend two or more of the areas of meaning discussed above. The "good land" of the Old Covenant included practical, economic, and esthetic overtones (Deut 1:25; Josh 23:13). Likewise, the concept of God as "good" is rich with the overtones of all possible meanings of the term "good" (1 Chron 16:34; Ps 145:9)."

(from Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Copyright © 1980 by The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)

Recently I have been listening to a series on the book of Job by John Piper. It has been a blessing as I learn and reaffirm things through this suffering saint. As I go through the dark valley of suffering I am guided by a “friend that sticks closer than a brother” (Prov. 18:24b). There are times I am tempted and times I do question whether He knows what He is doing. I have received the gentle but firm rebukes of the Lord in those times and I have repented. People often say it is okay to be angry with God and leave it at that. However, it may be okay to be angry with God because of our frail humanity, but it is never right to be angry with Him. The end of our anger should always result in repentance and praise as we discover that the goodness and mercy of God were even at the core of our suffering.

"… Job's suffering has a twofold explanation: its purpose at the outset was to demonstrate God's value and glory, and its ongoing purpose was to refine Job's righteousness. His suffering is not punishment. It is not a sign of God's anger. Job's pain is not the pain of the executioner's whip but the pain of the surgeon's scalpel. The removal of the disease of pride is the most loving thing God could do, no matter what the cost."
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/job-the-revelation-of-god-in-suffering

He may be purging sin from our lives or seeking to draw us nearer to Him or using our suffering to reach others. I would expand on what John Piper says by pointing out that Job was not the only one who learned from his sufferings, but his wife and his friends as well.

I must remember this truth I learned today from listening to John Piper’s message from Job:

"The goodness of God is just this: that he upholds his glory by abasing the proud and giving the humble delight in his excellence."
http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/job-the-revelation-of-god-in-suffering
Is this not an echo of Psalm 25:8-10?

Lord,
May I ever praise You
For whatever You send my way.
Whether it be “good” or “ill”,
At the end of the day,
Let me see what others may not see-
Your goodness at work to set me free
From sin that binds me and keeps me from Thee.

AMEN!

Journal for Christ

Monday, May 1, 2017

The perseverance of God

No comments:

Post a Comment