God's Lovingkindness in Psalm 119

Lovingkindness, hesed in the Hebrew, is one of my favorite words in the Scriptures.  It is part of the Lord's self-revelatory declaration in Exodus 34:6, where not only does the Lord declare that He possesses it, but that He abounds in it.  It is a vastly rich and nuanced word, and has a depth of meaning and a breadth of application as you can see through its use in the OT.  Read through its definition in the Word Study or Vines dictionaries and you will see what I mean. 

What makes it this way, though, is pretty simple when we boil it down to its essence.  Lovingkindness is God's love in action.  It is His love exhibited in and through His actions towards His own.  It is His strength, mercy, compassion, grace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, steadfastness, commitment, gentleness, benevolence, truthfulness, and favor towards His children, those with whom He is in covenant.  We see it expressed in the command in I John 3:18, "Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth."  God loves in deed and in truth...His love in action...and we are to love as He loves; in other words, we are to express His love through our actions.  We also see an example of this in Ephesians 2:4-5, "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ." His love for us moved Him to be merciful to us and make us alive in Christ, despite our sinfulness.  So we see His lovingkindness toward us in His saving us.  His love was put into action to bring about our salvation, and His love was expressed through His mercy toward us.

The Psalms, especially Psalm 136 are replete with the use of lovingkindness.  It is also used seven times in Psalm 119, and I want us to go through those and see how it relates to the Word of God.

Psalm 119:41...God's lovingkindnesses (notice the plural) come to us in salvation, and that salvation according to His Word.

Psalm 119:64...The earth is full, overflowing with the lovingkindness of God.  God has built His lovingkindness into the earth and all it contains, and all that is available to man in and through His creation.  The knowledge of the Word helps us understand and appreciate all He has provided for us in this world.  Reminds me of I Timothy 6:17...God supplies us with all things richly to enjoy, and He does this through His creation, and it is part of His lovingkindness towards us.

Psalm 119:76...The comfort that His Word brings to us, in any and all circumstances, is part of His lovingkindness to us.  God wants us to be comforted and has provided that through His Word of truth.

Psalm 119:88...God's lovingkindness renews, refreshes, and revitalizes us so that we will be strengthened to keep His word.

Psalm 119:124...Not only does God deal with us according to His Word (Psalm 119:65), but dealing with us according to His Word is also dealing with us according to His lovingkindness; and in His dealings with us, He teaches us His Word.  His teaching us His Word, the taking of the Word and making it part of the fabric of our life, is His love in action towards us.  Psalm 51:6 tells us that God desires truth in our innermost being and as part of His lovingkindness towards us He takes His truth and makes it a part of us.  Wow!  What a blessing!  What a God!

Psalm 119:149...His hearing our voice is due to His lovingkindness towards us.  In another Psalm it tells  us that He inclines His ear to hear our prayer.  God's response to our prayer is in accord with His lovingkindness, and in accordance with His Word through which we are refreshed, renewed, and revitalized.

Psalm 119:159...Here the Psalmist is saying, "Lord, in the exercise of Your love for me, take into account my love for Your Word, and deal with me accordingly."  What great faith and confidence the Psalmist has in the lovingkindness of God towards him.  This is a man who knows and trusts his God.  A great example for us.

In Psalm 34:8 we are exhorted to taste and see that the Lord is good.  In Psalm 119:68 we see that the Lord is good and does good.  His goodness is expressed toward us in His acts of lovingkindness, in other words, His lovingkindness is good, and He does not withhold it from us, but lavishes it upon us.  This begins with our salvation, and will be continued in the ages to come as He shows the surpassing (which means it is more than we can comprehend) riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7). 

Father, help us to know and understand Your lovingkindnesses toward us.  Cause us to see them.  Help us to not take them for granted.  May we be grateful now and for all eternity for Your active love for us.

According to His Word...Psalm 119

Pslam 119 is a wonderfully rich Psalm, with its main theme being the Word of God.  Throughout this Psalm we are shown the benefits, the power, the richness, the faithfulness, the insight, the holiness, the value, and the significance of the Word of God in the life of the believer.  One of the key phrases in this Psalm is "according to Your Word" (or according to...one of the synonyms for the Word).  In this post we want to look at what we have "according to His Word."

119:9...His Word keeps our way pure.
Not only does it clean us when we believe (John 15:3, Ephesians 5:26) but it keeps our life pure when we obey it.

119:25...His word revives our soul.
When we are in dust spiritually, His Word renews, restores, and revitalizes our soul, and lifts us out of spiritual oppression and depression.

119:28...His word is a bulwark in times of grief.
His word is what gives strength to our soul in our times of spiritual grief, the spiritual grief that comes because of sin. (Please note that the issue in vs 25-32 is the consequence of sin; and the Word is the balm that not only heals and restores the Psalmist spiritually, but is also what puts him back on the right path.)

Psalm 119:41...His Word brings salvation.
God's lovingkindnesses are bound up in salvation, and His word is the means through which we receive the bountiful blessings of salvation. (Romans 10:17, II Timothy 3:15)

Psalm 119:58...His Word reveals His favor to us.
God is gracious to us according to His word, and we see and understand the favor He bestows upon us through that same Word.

Psalm 119:65...His Word gives us understanding of how He deals with us.
God dealings with us are always in accordance with His Word, and always for our good. (Micah 2:7)

Psalm119:76...His Word brings comfort to us.
True comfort of the soul can only come from the Word of God, and through His word we learn of His lovingkindnesses.

Psalm 119:89-91...Creations stands each day according to His command.
His Word is in command of all things, both seen and unseen. (Hebrews 1:3)

Psalm 119:107...His Word comes to our aid in time of affliction.
His Word keeps us alive, lifts us up, and strengthens us anew in times of great afflicition.

Psalm 119:116...His word sustains us.
We have hope in this life and for the life to come, because of His Word.

Psalm 119:149...God responds to our prayers according to His Word.
Spiritual renewal and rescue are granted in accordance with His word.

Psalm 119:156...His mercies are revealed through His Word.
He is the Father of mercy and God of all comfort (II Corinthians 1:3), and we learn of the greatness and innumerable number of His mercies through His Word.

Psalm 119:170...His Word is Word of deliverance.
God, who cannot lie, has given us the promise of deliverance from darkness, sink, and death; and we find this promise in His Word. (Psalm 121:7, I Peter 1:5, Matthew 10:28)

Lord, you have given us so much in Your Word, and You act in accordance with Your Word.  Help us, no, cause us, to believe it, to stand on it, to live it; and to those of us to whom You have given the charge to preach and teach Your word, may we do so with clarity, precision, and conviction.

Our Great Delight

Our great delight is knowing God.

Repentance, Confession, and Forgiveness

I John 1:9 gives us a tremendous and really marvelous promise, and it is that when we confess our sins, our heavenly Father is willing and able to forgive our sins, and in that forgiveness comes a cleansing from all unrighteousness. 

However, the catch here is our confessing our sins.  For to be able to really and truly confess our sins, we must also be willing to repent of our sins.  True confession is always accompanied by appropriate repentance.  And for us to truly repent of our sins we must be willing and wanting to turn away from that sin, to forsake that sin, and to put ourselves as far away as possible from that sin. 

Confession without true repentance is merely saying to God, "Oops, I messed up, please clean up my mess while I go about making it again."  Confession without true repentance is wanting to have the consequences of our sin done away with, without wanting to do away with the sin itself. 

True confession is seeing your sin, thinking about your sin, and talking about your sin the same way God would.  It is having the mind of God concerning your sin, and saying the same thing about it that God would.  In fact, until we truly see our sin as God sees it, we will never have victory over it. 

The promise of forgiveness and cleansing in I John 1:9 is true, as is every promise of God.  Let us not make light of this promise, but let us come to our God in reverence, awe, and true repentance to receive the blessing of being clean before Him.  For in our salvation we have been made clean, all we must do now is wash what is dirty through repentance and confession.

Made Worthy

We have been made worthy of heaven;

not by anything we have done, but by

the accomplishments of Christ. 

When we are baptized into Christ, His

accomplishments become ours and

we are deemed worthy because

we are united with Him.

The Cross, God's Righteousness in Salvation and Forgiveness

No explanation is adequate which does not see God as shown to be just or righteous, legally in the right, in the way in which He provides salvation for sinners....the way God saves sinful man accords with what is right.  God is just, not only in saving, but in the way He saves....The cross demonstrates the righteousness, the justice of God.  In the very act by which sin is put away decisively, the death of Christ on the cross, God is seen to be just.. It is not the fact that God forgives that shows Him to be righteous, but the fact that He forgives in a certain way, the way of the cross.  It is the cross that shows God to be righteous in the very act of forgiveness...

...God forgives in a way which accords with right.  God does not set aside the moral law when He forgives.  It can never be said that He forgives simply because He is too strong for the devil.  That would mean that in the end with God might is right.  The language of justification is a perpetual protest against any such view.  It provides an emphasis on the truth that our God is just, is righteous, that He has regard to moral considerations even when He saves people who do not deserve salvation.  God saves in a way which is not only powerful but which is right.

Leon Morris
The Atonement
Pages 194-195

Accepted by God

We are accepted by God on the basis of Christ's merits,

not on the basis of our own; and by placing us into Christ,

God has guaranteed His acceptance of us.

The Most Riveting Description of the Goal of Christian Living I've Ever Read

This is exceptional!

The Most Riveting Description of the Goal of Christian Living I’ve Ever Read

The Bible, Sex, and Pastoral Counseling

In regards to Mark Driscoll's latest book on sex, and Ed Young's sexploitation/exhibition, there has been much written by those more erudite and better communicators than me. However, I do want to address the topic, and address it from a more foundational level than I have seen addressed, yet.

This is not the first foray into the arena of sex for either of these two pastors; and I call them pastors, because that is the position they hold.  This is Mark's fourth book on sex, and Ed has preached a series on sex from a bed on his stage and issued a seven day sex challenge to those in his congregation, so they are not neophytes in this area.  But let's go a little deeper into the reasons they have openly stated are behind their books and sermons....their people are coming to them with questions concerning sex, what's taboo and what's not, how much is enough or too much, what does the bible say about these issues? 

The heart of the matter is that many who profess to be Christians are too sex obsessed.  You see, the world, not just our culture, but the world is sex obsessed; and if you are paying any attention at all you can see it is not just an American cultural issue but a world wide issue.  I John 2:16 tells us that all temptation falls under the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life.  Sex has its roots deeply in all three of these categories, and as a result is one of the most appealing and controlling sins...maybe the most appealling and controlling.   

My point is this.  As pastors, instead of answering the questions above, instead of playing sex therapist, instead of giving in to the world's influence in this area, shouldn't we look to and bring to light the root of the issue?  Should we not first tell our people that sex is not the most important thing in the world, that maybe they need to take a step back and realize they are not to be preoccupied with it, it is not to dominate their thinking, and they should not be mastered by it. Shouldn't we have them take a good look at themselves and ask themselves if because of their background, television and movie choices, books and magazines they read, internet habits, music they listen to, emails they share or pass along, or conversations they participate in, that they might have a spiritual stronghold in this area.  And maybe perform this same spiritual check-up on ourselves, so that we can be sure our own attitude and thinking in regards to this area has not been colored by the world.

In dealing with this issue, many people want to quote I Corinthians 6:12...the part about all things are lawful for me...but leave out the part about I will not be mastered by anything.  The context of this verse is Paul dealing with the issue of food, and sex both outside the marriage and inside the marriage.  Paul also tells us in Romans 6:12-19 that we are slaves of what we obey...and ends this section talking about the weakness of our flesh. Christ gave the admonition to watch and pray that we would not enter into temptation, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. So it is obvious that even for Christians we can have ongoing issues because of the filthiness and wickedness (James 1:21) that is inherent in our flesh.  Pastorally we need to realize that this pre-occupation with sex is a hold over from our life before Christ, or, in some instances, an indication that they have never truly received Christ; and we should not respond in a way that panders to their natural fleshly inclinations, but respond in a way that sheds light on the true spiritual issue that is at its root.

The church has been too quick to give in the mind-set of the world; and I think that it is most pronounced in the area of sex.  Pastors, we need to take a stand against the mind-set of the world and tell our people and counsel our people that they are not to be sex-obessed like the world which has no control over its lusts, and is, in fact, controlled by those same lusts and indulges in the desires on both the flesh and the mind; and tell our people that this sex-obsession is not from the Lord, but from the world.  For knowing the truth is the key for them to be set free from the sex-obession that controls the world.

A Good Thing to Keep in Mind

As pastors, we cannot live the spiritual lives of our flock for them.

As parents, we cannot live the spiritual lives of our children for them.

But, however, we can model the spiritual life for them, so that

they can know what it is supposed to look like.

Wisdom from John Newton

Newton regarded it as of first importance for ministers to understand that grace matures slowly.  Few lessons were repeated more often to fellow ministers than this one.  It comes up repeatedly:

"God works powerfully, but for the most part gently and gradually."

"He does not teach all at once, but by degree."

"A Christian is not of hasty growth, like a mushroom, but rather like the oak, the progress of which is hardly perceptible, but in time becomes a great deep-rooted tree."

....For Newton, God's great patience in His people's slow progress in grace and truth was a lesson that ministers must ever remember.  Preachers are to teach, but they do not control the pace at which grace develops in their hearers.  They cannot give the experience that prepares a Christian for fuller light.  He concluded that it is a dangerous thing to hurry young believers into an acceptance of teaching they are not ready to receive....If pastors do not observe this principle and lack wisdom and gentleness in presenting the truth, they ought not to be surprised at bringing trouble into their churches.

Heroes
Ian Murray
Pages 101-103

Becoming Like Christ

In becoming mature or complete in Christ,
as we become conformed into His image,

what is true about Him becomes true about us.

What Our View of the Wrath of God Tells Us

Are we feeling like a multitude of people who have nothing but scorn for any ideas about hell and everlasting punishment?  Do we consider the wrath of God as a primitive or obscene concept?  Is the very notion of hell an insult to us?  If so, it is clear that the God we worship is not a holy God:  Indeed He is not God at all.  If we despise the justice of God, we are not Christians....If we hate the wrath of God, it is because we hate God Himself.  We may protest vehemently against these charges, but our vehemence only confirms our hostility toward God.  We may say emphatically, "No, it is not God I hate....God is altogether sweet to me.  My God is a God of love."  But a loving God who has no wrath is not God.  He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone.

R. C. Sproul
The Holiness of God
Page 176

The Responsibility of the Pew

Nearly every Christian wants their church to be healthy. 

But few Christians have contemplated their part in

making their local church family spiritually strong and vibrant.

 ...overall there exists a desire for healthy churches

 but not enough thinking about the pews’ responsibility for it. 

Thabiti Anyabwile

2011

True Obedience

True obedience is an active submission to the

will of God, which is expressed in the

Word of God, which keeps you in the

way of God.

The Key to Freedom

...just as truth is in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:21

Through the knowledge of the truth

we are set free and kept free.