“They Have Not Prevailed Against Me” (Ps 129)

“Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth’, Let Israel now say – ‘Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth; yet they have not prevailed against me” (vs1-2).

God’s grace doesn’t allow sin to rule over us - not our inward sin, nor the sins of others, no matter how much they try to lead us off Christ (vs1-4).  We keep believing, and we are sure that He is the Christ, the Son of God. Therefore, we worship Him accordingly.

The Christian’s life isn’t roses and “Easy Street”; it is warfare, many times, day after day. He says, “The plowers plowed on my back; they made their furrows long” (vs3). The world wants you to trust yourself and to pursue the things of the world, but God keeps us going by conviction, by revealing lies as lies, and by giving us STRENGTH in our need. He says, “The Lord is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked”, and broken the power of sin. 

In ourselves, we’d be destroyed.  Like Judas, we would leave Christ for a little money, or like Esau, for a single meal!  Scripture says, “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright” (Heb 12:16).  The human condition is dreadful, but the One Hope of Christ is ours assuredly. He proves His power by keeping us, manifesting that He saves for real!

He is sufficient for our sins, our temptations, and every struggle that we endure.  Like a prize fighter who wins in the end, we have scars from the battle.  Paul said that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus, and we bear our marks too (Gal 6:17).  We have the temptress at work, tempters everyone around us, and every unbeliever is of the devil, wishing to hide our light and pull us into sin (2 Cor 4:4).  But, we have God, the Lord Jesus’ blood, and the Spirit’s faithful and continual help. We conquer, because God loves us, and so, we love Him.

Finally, do not be easy on heretics and people who deny sovereign grace (Ps 129:5-8).  Don’t give them the, “It’s OK that you don’t believe the truth. God loves you”, speech, for it isn’t true! He says, “Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.  Let them be as the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.  Neither let those who pass by them say, ‘The blessing of the Lord be upon you; we bless you in the name of the Lord!”

He loves all men as He provides food and gladness, and He is willing for all to be saved.  But, if I don’t believe on Christ, God’s WRATH and not His saving love abides on me.  John the Baptist said, “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36). I have no reason to believe I’m loved by God, like Jacob, unless, like Jacob, I’ve come to Christ and endure.

The grace of God is ONLY in Christ, and outside of Him, we are cursed (Rom 8:38-39). It isn’t possible to hate the gospel and live tempting others into sin, persecuting the way of light, and then to expect salvation. God can’t reward someone who’s suffered who’s suffered for the gospel and forsaken all with the same blessings as someone who rejected Christ and led others to hell. This cannot be.  If we are in Christ, then we are cared for, safe, and loved.  He will prove Himself continually more gracious than our ability to declare.  Yet, He will show wrath to His enemies, and we are not to support or speak well of false gospels (2 John 1:9-11).

I see men in my day giving in to the signs and wonders movement, as if babbling is speaking in tongues, when it bears no relationship to scripture and God’s gift in Acts (Acts 2:1-12).  I see people who hate sovereignty in God coddled as Christians, when the bible says it’s either election – God saving whom He wills and predetermining us from before the foundation of the world – or it is works, survival of the fittest, and one man being stronger than another (Rom 9:11-16).  I see holiness of life cast away, as we lower the standards, and it is wrong.  No one, except those who follow Christ according to the Scriptures, is of God.  Those who do righteousness truly love Him, and they are loved (3 John 1:11). Those who do wickedness don’t know Him, and He will say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”, when He meets them in Judgment (Matt 7:23).  In Christ, all is well.  Outside of Him, you’re God’s enemy, you persecute His church, and you’ll be justly punished for your sin.