“No Strength” (Ps 88)

“O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength” (vs1-4)

Jesus suffered more that you and me, more than all Christians combined, and more than any sinner will suffer in hell: He died in the place of God's elect, and became the mark of God's anger, as He was punished in our place for the innumerable and infinite sins of God's elect people (vs1-4). Our whole guilt and punishment was laid on Him, and He died for us successfully but agonizingly. When you think of your own sufferings, you'll be helped to see Christ SUFFERING more, earning God's salvation for you, and His being faithful under duress. Throw out the pity party! The Son of God SUFFERED and we are free. You and I may have tough trials and hardships. We may be in present distress and confusion. But, we are not down as low as the Son who bore the curse, who died in torment, and yet who endured by faith.

I see this Psalm doesn't end in triumphant notes, but we know that's He's risen. We know that He waited on God and was heard. He said, “O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You”. You will be heard too, for His sake. He is already working things together for your good. Fret not and believe. Look not to what you can do to figure out your path, but look to His leading and receive mercy from His hand.

Christ believed God, leaned upon Him in the darkness, and rested His pain-filled soul upon God's faithful and merciful promises (vs6-13). He said, “My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You”. He could not FEEL peace, but He knew God would be there for Him. He says again, “But to You I have cried out, O Lord, and in the morning my prayer comes before You”. He couldn't receive any laughter into His soul, for the grief was too severe, but He kept on reaching out to God, even when He heard no response and felt no love returned back unto Him. I've NEVER been here! I've never been in a situation where I was without light, under the curse of God, and completely void of comfort. But, He did this because the wages of sin demanded God punish Him mercilessly. God must be just and upright, or He cannot save. He must PUNISH the sins, if they'll be pardoned.

I heard of a king whose son committed a crime, and the people knew it was him, but they delivered him from justice, because they loved the king dearly. Early in the morning, however, the king rang the church bells, and when the people came out, they saw his son, dead, hung by the neck. The king said, “Justice must be honored, even if it is the king's son”. And, when Christ was pleading for mercy, begging for assistance, and heaven was utterly quiet, God was saying, “Justice must be honored, even if it is the Son of God”. Let this teach you that pain inexpressible is the wages of sin, not your or my measly tears or our promises to improve. We can't say, “We're sinners, so of course we sin”, and we can't show ourselves SORRY enough. We believe, when guilty and filthy, we trust Christ when errors are made known in us, and we declare that His death alone is the answer God demanded. Christ died HOLY, so that God may give, forgive, and treat us to pleasures because Christ took our pain. The gospel is JUST above all else, and it is the sufferings of the Son!

Finally, it's OK to be low (vs14-18)! He said, “Lord, why do You cast off my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.” You hear talk about Christianity being joy and peace, and yet pain comes too! It is NOT a gospel of believe God, do what you're supposed to do, and it will be “happy, happy, joy, joy”. It is NOT a gospel of obey God, and you won't have much pain. But, look at the example of Christ. He admitted His grief, and yet He TRUSTED God amidst it, like a man who believes amidst tears and fears, though he has no smile on his face.

Don't let your hurt distract you from knowing that you're in God's will, as you look up to Him for help. He said, “Loved one and friend You have put far from me, and my acquaintances into darkness”. Don't let your pain become doubt producing, as if it means your faith isn't real. The GOSPEL will help you, even though we have times of pleading, and pleading, and help seems far off.

Christ was tormented for you, and He wasn't smiling as He died, but He was kept, heard, and successful. You and I will be too, because He was. And, we can't look at our problems as overwhelming, when God raised His own Son from the dead. Truly, your intense agony that you may be experiencing is GREATER than any trial you've had, but it isn't greater than the Son's death for you, nor will His work go unrewarded and you be without comfort for long.

Someone was telling their Facebook friends that they got no birthday present, but God. Well, that's getting more than the world gets by far.

Christ or Death (Gen 7:20-23)

(vs20-22) “The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died”.

Death is the result of sin, and we must pay the penalty or be found in Jesus Christ. We either TRUST Him to bear the wrath for us and present us safe, or we will die beneath God's eternal wrath, as assuredly as we die in the physical realm today.

The gospel of God's glory is GLORIOUS for saving us from death.

First, we must die because of sin or trust Christ, “Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive” (vs23). Sin has offended God, and He has promised death as the result. The wages of sin are not separation from God in this world, only; they are eternal consequences, even the second death, which is the lake of fire, “and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

God is serious about sin, and the only remedy is Christ. Christ DIED to pay the penalty, so that we may be free. He “redeemed us from the curse of the law... that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Gal 3:13-14). Honoring Christ is receiving the salvation that He gives, trusting Him to give it.

Secondly, if I've been spared of death, what kind of love is this? It is the love that gave us the Son and gives to us continually. John says, “I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning”, and God is love, “and who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7-8). We see His love by the gift of forgiveness and the gift of power to obey. But, behind the GIVING is the heart of love that glorifies itself (1) in the objects of His love (sinners), (2) the cost of His love (His Son's blood), (3) and the perpetual goodness of His love, so that He saves us now and forever, giving to us continually from the heart, “with goodwill” (Eph 6:6-7).

If I'm saved, it is because God LOVES me, gives me repentance, receives me freely, and does all for my good. He is gracious.

Thirdly, if I've obtained mercy and been spared of death, then I must love others. I cannot tolerate the mind state of “happy but unholy”. I cannot be happy that God saves me and be cruel unto my neighbor, “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (1 John 4:21). Christ's love constrains us to love, “because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Cor 5:14-15). This logic of faith declares that we can't act any other way and honor the love we freely receive.

Finally, know the certainty of death. Know of a certainty that while men partied and played, Noah built the ark, entered, and was saved... while everyone else was swept away. It shall be so in the end, for “the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word [that held back the flood until it came], are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (2 Pet 3:7).

Don't let the modern world fool you as if there is no Judgment, and God has died. Receive HOW MUCH He loves you (enough to save, and save, and save), and love people as your reasonable service.

The Glory of the Blood

1. Paid in full. Christ died to put away sins, and He accomplished it for all who shall be saved. He paid SPECIFICALLY for the elect, ransomed them to God, and guaranteed that all who's names are in, “the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, shall be saved (Rev 13:8). No name outside of the Book shall be saved, but every name in the book, even those who are not yet born, shall be saved by the Lamb's blood. He paid the actual price for sins and wiped them from the books.

2. God gives salvation FREELY by the blood. The blood is the only thing needed for BLESSINGS to hypocrites, harlots, and every manner of diseased. The gospel of God's GLORY is God GIVING to us by the blood His Son paid, so that it is JUST and free (Rom 3:26).

3. The suffering of His agony, as His soul was made an offering for sin (Is 53:10). The Son of God didn't give blood; He DIED, paying the price of hell's fury for every sin. The wrath of eternal God beat upon Him mercilessly, exacting payment for the crimes that we have done.

4. He willingly gave Himself to Calvary. He didn't die as kicking against His will, but in submission: He humbled Himself and gave Himself to die for sins of sinners (Is 53:7). He didn't love us less as He suffered in our place, bearing shame.

These aspects of the glorious blood strengthen faith and give power.

“The Forgiveness of Sins” (Col 1:14)

 

 

“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (vs14).

Forgiveness is a blessing the gospel believer enjoys. We have privileges as God’s people.  We might not attain to heights of human praise, etc, but, we feeble humans, may enjoy FULL and free pardon with God. We may know that sins that have caused such anguish are PARDONED by the blood of Christ, that He loved you so much as to send His Son to DIE for you, taking the wrath you’d endure, if He were not made, from everlasting, your surety.  The blood has availed for you, and in spite of the consequences of your actions in this world, God is fully appeased for the transgression and “Forgiven” is written over your debt, “Paid in Full, You May Go On“.

Without this pardon we can’t be happy inwardly because of fear, nor do we believe God - “them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage“ (Heb 2:15).  We must enjoy Him by forgiveness as wrapped in His love, lest we walk in unbelief, rather than faith, held back by sins that were long ago pardoned.  This unbelief keeps us from God’s grace, it hinders joy, it keeps us thinking that we can’t have the Beloved, so we choose (slothfully) this world, when there is more in Christ for us.  Don’t live below your inheritance: the Lamb is slain, but you and I must enter the full pardon before we can enjoy the blessings of assurance and peace.

“Mine” (Numb 3:12-13)

“And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that open the womb among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the Lord” (vs12-13).

We belong to Jesus Christ; we are the bride that He chose, elect from the world’s foundation.  We cannot have this world, when He said, “You shall abide for me many days; you shall not play the harlot, and you shall not be for another man: so will I also be for you”, so that He stamps His GLORY upon our faithfulness, and promises that sin won’t reign over us, washing us, quickening us, and helping us LEARN from instead of DIE for sin and our weakness (Hos 3:3). We are BLESSED of God, so we are His to use, and we are to SURRENDER to His will, serving Him in cleanness and pardon, honoring Him by what we receive, walking in humbleness, understanding that He is WORTHY of our devotion and commitment.  The gospel has made me yield to Him, because He is RIGHT and wonderful to have REDEEMED us to conquer sin and love people to Christ.  God becomes ours, and His purpose is mine now, too.  We SURRENDER to Christ.  This is His due, and the REDEEMED shall do it.