Saturday, April 27, 2019

We Too Are God's Inheritance



Worship in WORD:


Ps 28:6-29:1

6 Praise be to the Lord,
for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
and I will give thanks to him in song.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people,
a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your heritance;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.

A psalm of David.

NIV
Ps 28:6-9

6 Praise the Lord!
For he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and shield.
I trust him with all my heart.
He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy.
I burst out in songs of thanksgiving.

8 The Lord gives his people strength.
He is a safe fortress for his anointed king.
9 Save your people!
Bless Israel, your special possession.
Lead them like a shepherd,
and carry them in your arms forever.


Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®,
copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

8 The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.

9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance: feed them also, and lift them up for ever.

KJV
Ps 28:6-9

6 Blessed be the Lord!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.

8 The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
9 Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
 Be their shepherd and carry them forever.



ESV

I.  Minor Key: vv. 1-5
            A. Pleas (vv. 1- 3)
1.     Hear Me! - v. 1  
2.     Have Mercy! – v. 2a
3.     Help! – v. 2b
            B. Imprecation (vv. 4-5)
II. Major Key: vv. 6-9
            A. Praise (vv. 6-8)
            B. Supplication (v. 9)
    1. Preserve: Oh, save your people... ESV
    2. Pour out
    3. Provide
    4. Protect            


Psalms 28:9
The secret source of the saints' supplies: -- An old Scotch baron was attacked by his enemy, who encamped before his gates, and would allow no provisions to enter them. He continued the siege long enough to have exhausted the supplies within, but there were no signs of capitulation. Weeks and months passed away, and yet no surrender. After a long time the besieger was surprised, one morning, to see a long line of fish, fresh from the sea, hung over the wall, as much as to say, "We can feed you; and surely you cannot starve us out so long as there are fish in the sea, for we have an underground connection with it, and the supply is exhaustless!" So Satan may besiege our gates, but he can never compel us to surrender, for our food comes, not through the gates, but from above, and through channels invisible to his eye, the supply of which is inexhaustible.(from The Biblical Illustrator Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006 Ages Software, Inc. and Biblesoft, Inc.)

I have included this quote above to go along with part two of my outline – Pour out – but it really illustrates in some ways the whole of verse 9.

2. Pour out - bless your heritage! ESVESVeritag

As I look at David’s supplications in verse 9, I see that these are 4 interrelated petitions. One can also divide them into two couplets. The outline I gave in the previous study (and included above) might expand to look something like this:

     1.     First Couplet
      a. Preserve – save
      b. Pour out – bless
2.  Second Couplet
      a. Provide – shepherd 
      b. Protect – carry

However, one must not make a sharp division between the two couplets. They all are related and may be seen as positive and negative aspects of one great wish for God’s people on the part of David. Come to think of it, they are also part of one gracious desire by God Himself. For is this not the inspired word of God? Is this not a Spirit-led petition?

David asks the Lord to “bless” His “heritage” (NIV, ESV) or “inheritance” (KJV). Who is His inheritance? They are the “people” David asks for God to “save” in the first entreaty of verse 9 (see also Duet. 32:9). Remember this is a couplet. There is a parallelism between petition one and two in which the second includes, and in some ways, expands upon the first petition. Here is the positive aspect of David’s request. The first request was for deliverance and thus a negative aspect of the prayer. God’s people needed saving out of trouble. In this second appeal, he is requesting that they will be brought out of trouble into triumph. Yet, as the illustration above portrays, the enemy may still surround us, but the Lord will preserve, provide, and protect us in spite of this.

The reason why I say that the phrase “bless your heritage” (ESV) is related to the first petition of verse 9 is that to be saved from tribulation IS a blessing, but it is not the only blessing. David desires that God’s people would enjoy the blessings of the covenant He made with them. There is an underlying warning in this for the people of Israel. The covenant shares the blessings of obedience, but it also stipulates the curses of disobedience (see Duet. 27 – 28).

But we are also God’s inheritance. We who have called upon the Lord Jesus to save us from eternal destruction and believe that He died for our sins and rose again for our justification (Romans 4:25). We do not inherit a temporal blessing but an eternal one!

Heb 9:15
For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance — now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.NIV 
But along with this promise comes warning to those who profess to be Christians but fail to continue in belief. False professors who fail to persevere because they are not really partakers of the New Covenant.

Heb 12:22-27
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
 25 See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."  27 The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken — that is, created things — so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
NIV

And along with the promise and the warning, comes an exhortation.

Heb 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our "God is a consuming fire."NIV

Finally, we who are the “heritage of the Lord” are also “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”

Rom 8:17 
Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
NIV

Titus 3:4-8
4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
NIV

In the meantime, until we receive our full inheritance, and because we are partakers of the New Covenant and thus heirs, the Holy Trinity is transforming us into the image of Christ. That is, to those who are called, justified, sanctified, and glorified.

Romans 8:28-30
 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
 NIV
  
Heb. 10:14 ESV
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. 

2 Cor. 3:12-18 NIV
12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Worship in Witness:

As you can see, I have been sitting on this quote below from Spurgeon’s devotional – Morning and Evening. I wanted to use it at the right time. Today as I finished my studying, I didn’t have anything come to mind to share in this portion of my journal. That’s when the thought came to me to share this little jewel with whoever might read my blog. When calamity strikes, how do we respond? What kind of disposition do we face life with? Do we have the spirit of Winnie-the- Pooh’s friend Eeyore? Are we always looking at things negatively? Are we possessed by the spirit of Murphy*? Or do we look at things in light of the providential workings of our sovereign and loving God? Only people of the latter view can pray the prayer of Psalm 28:9.

"She called his name Ben-oni (son of sorrow), but his father called him Benjamin (son of my right hand)."
Genesis 35:18
To every matter there is a bright as well as a dark side. Rachel was overwhelmed with the sorrow of her own travail and death; Jacob, though weeping the mother's loss, could see the mercy of the child's birth. It is well for us if, while the flesh mourns over trials, our faith triumphs in divine faithfulness. Samson's lion yielded honey, and so will our adversities, if rightly considered. The stormy sea feeds multitudes with its fishes; the wild wood blooms with beauteous flowerets; the stormy wind sweeps away the pestilence, and the biting frost loosens the soil. Dark clouds distil bright drops, and black earth grows gay flowers. A vein of good is to be found in every mine of evil. Sad hearts have peculiar skill in discovering the most disadvantageous point of view from which to gaze upon a trial; if there were only one slough in the world, they would soon be up to their necks in it, and if there were only one lion in the desert they would hear it roar. About us all there is a tinge of this wretched folly, and we are apt, at times, like Jacob, to cry, "All these things are against me." Faith's way of walking is to cast all care upon the Lord, and then to anticipate good results from the worst calamities. Like Gideon's men, she does not fret over the broken pitcher, but rejoices that the lamp blazes forth the more. Out of the rough oyster-shell of difficulty she extracts the rare pearl of honour, and from the deep ocean-caves of distress she uplifts the priceless coral of experience. When her flood of prosperity ebbs, she finds treasures hid in the sands; and when her sun of delight goes down, she turns her telescope of hope to the starry promises of heaven. When death itself appears, faith points to the light of resurrection beyond the grave, thus making our dying Benoni to be our living Benjamin.

* Murphy's law is an adage or epigram that is typically stated as: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."

Lord, 

Lead me to worship
Fill me with a song
A song about Your worth-ship
As sung by the heavenly throng

A song  about Your glory
That fills all time and space
And tells the gospel story
About Your glorious grace

Amen

 Worship in Song: Hear it From Me by Bebo Norman

A love song, You must have heard a thousand times
How can mine compare?
For so long, I've wondered if I'm lost behind
A thousand tongues there, a thousand tongues there

It's all been done before, but I'll do it again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me

I see all the ways I don't add up
And all that I never did
But You seek empty hands still lifted up
With nothing to give, nothing to give

It's all been done before, but I'll do it again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me

More beautiful to You
Than the songs of angels and gifts of kings
More beautiful to You
Are what empty hands can bring
And what desperate tongues can sing
And when broken hearts cling to You

It's all been done before, but I'll do it again
'Cause I know that You want, You want me to

It's all been done before, but I'll do it again
'Cause I know that You want me to
It's all been said before, but I'll say it again
'Cause I know that You love to hear it from me
So hear it from me, so hear it from me
So hear it from me

Written by: 
Jason David Ingram; Adam Moritz; Jeffrey Stephen Norman


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