Psalm 119:145-160

 

Psalm 119:145-152 Qoph:  Let your cry be heard by God.

The stanzas on soul-obedience and affirming God’s righteousness do not mean the Psalmist’s affliction is past.  They only indicate significant growth steps.  When we experience these steps we may think that God will now take away our problem.  But part of those steps is coming to terms with God’s sovereignty in the matter of how long the trial may last, knowing that He will be faithful (Heb. 10:13).

Therefore we see in this stanza that the trial is still intense.  Three times he cries out to the Lord (145-147).  Pay close attention to 3 ideas that are related to his cries to the Lord.

First is the timing.  On the one hand he is up before dawn, crying out (147). On the other hand, during the night he is meditating on God’s word (148).  Does this not fit experience?  We wake up early thinking about our loved ones who are in trouble or our problems at work or the latest national crisis.  Then it hits us: now is the time to get out of bed, bow before the Lord, and give Him our cares.  Again, when we go to bed in the evening we may find sleep eludes us.  We are again full of anxiety, until it occurs to us to submit the issues to the word of God.  We meditate on His word, considering specific passages and applying them to the various anxieties. 

Second, note the marvelous prayer that forms the substance of his cry to the Lord (149).  Initially he prays that God would be gracious and merciful in hearing him.  Yet he also prays that God would restore or revive him according to justice.  Only through the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ can God’s grace and justice operate together.  God’s reviving work is just only because by grace Christ has borne our sins in His body on the tree.

Finally note the matter of distance.  Imagine yourself standing, with your enemies on your left and God on your right.  Your enemies are near to you but far from God’s law (150).  God is near to you through His word of truth (151).  The trial is intense so the man of God cries out to the Lord.  He is confident because God’s word is so real to him.  The nearer you are to God the farther you are from the enemy. 

The word that you have trusted since childhood is forever (152).  So cry out to the Lord.  Pour out your heart to Him.  He will draw near to you through His word.

 

 

 

 

Psalm 119:153-160 Resh:  Pray for revival according to God’s word.

Again, in this stanza we find a wonderful way to approach God in our time of affliction. 

For example, the Hebrew word for “consider” appears 3 times (153, 158,159).  His prayer is that God would consider his affliction (153).  He maintains his commitment to God’s word throughout and prays that God would also consider this (159).  At the same time the Psalmist considers those around him who reject God’s word and he is disgusted (158).  We cannot help but see the wickedness around us but let us be sure we have a right attitude toward it.  Let us not enjoy or laugh at the jokes of those who do not seek God’s statutes (155).  Disgust is proper for that which dishonors God and His commands.

Again, as we come to the Lord, let us maintain a proper perspective.  Remember that His tender mercies are great (156).  That must not be forgotten, even as we remember the greatness of our difficulties (157).  To forget the former is to invite discouragement.  To forget the latter is to deny our need. 

Note that three times the Psalmist prays to be revived.  This has been a constant request through the entire Psalm but here it prevails.  His prayer is not necessarily for physical life but for the ability to live without succumbing to his circumstances.  So he prays to be revived according to God’s word (154), God’s judgments (156), and God’s lovingkindness (159).  Again, as in the previous stanza, do we not see the demand for our atoning Savior, the One who came that we might have life (John 10:10)?  We have been quickened by the One who came according to the word, and Who satisfied all justice by the grace of God!

For the third stanza in a row the final verse stands on the eternal nature of scripture (144,152,160).  What we are reminded of here is that God’s word is inerrant (it is all true) and infallible (it is true forever).  The longer the trial continues the more we must be assured that God’s promises and commands and warnings have not failed. 

Oh Lord God Almighty, consider our affliction.  It is great, though no more so than your tender mercies.  Revive us we pray through the work of Your Son.  May our trust in Your inherent and infallible word be unwavering today.  For Your glory and by Your grace. In Jesus Name.  Amen!

Col. 2:16-23; Heb. 10:1-4, Colossians Bible Study (12)

18)          In Col. 2:16-23, how does “religion” keep us from living the Christian life?

Before we answer this question, let’s lay a foundation.  First, we have come to see that “in Christ,” through the “spiritual circumcision and baptism,” we have all we need for “life and godliness” (as Peter put it, 2 Pt. 1:3-4).  Christ has taken away that which arouses sin in our lives (the law) and we have been raised in “resurrection power” to live the new life.

What do we mean by “religion”?  We are talking about religious systems or approaches to “godliness” that add obligations that are not given to us in Scripture.  In other words, systems that tell us we need more than what Christ Himself is to us.  This is the issue being addressed in this passage.

·       Briefly, the answer to the question is that it “cheats us” (2:8, as we said, it means to take us as spoil, to make us slaves to someone or something other than Christ), it “judges us” (2:16, judges us by something not prescribed by Christ), “cheats us” (2:18, a different word than 2:8, referring to an umpire that calls “balls and strikes” but not according to Christ), and religion is of  “no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (2:23).

·       Now, let’s consider the danger of “religion” in more detail.  The basic question is, “how does religion deny us of Christ and what He has provided for us?”

i)      In Col. 2:16-17: This “religion” might sound like the Jewish religion, since Heb. 8:5; 10:1 refer to the Old Testament system as a “shadow of things to come.”  But we also know that every religion has dietary rules, special festivals and holy days and so forth.  Since Christ has come and finished His work our focus needs to be on Him (Col. 3:1: “seek those things which are above, where Christ is.”

ii)   In Col. 2:18-19: This might refer to some Greek religions.  But again, every religion takes great delight in solemn and “holy” rituals that bring special blessings on the participants.  But what this does is satisfy my pride, that I am doing something worthy of God’s blessing.  I faithfully do these things rather than “holding fast to the Head” through Whom comes spiritual growth.

iii)     In Col. 2:20-22: Because religion is a system that emphasizes worldly principles (remember Col. 2:8, “according to the traditions of men … the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ”), it calls me to things that have no lasting value.  Every religion has these “don’t do this, don’t do that” rules that work against our death with Christ (spiritual baptism).

iv) In Col. 2:23: Religion is all about appearance, about externals.  Thus it is useless in dealing with our issues which are fundamentally spiritual, not physical.

Thus, religion not only adds things that we don’t need and that do not help; it also takes away our focus on Christ.  Look ahead to 3:1-4 and see what we mean!

1 Tim. 1:8-11; Rom. 8:1-4, Colossians Bible Study (11)

Before we move on in Colossians I want to add some discussion to the matter of “nailing the law to the cross.”  Some object to this idea.  They claim that the law is still valid as a guide for Christians, the Church, the Body of Christ.  One writer noted Matt. 5:17-18, that Jesus said, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.  He also referenced the new covenant description in Jer. 31:33, I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.  Some refer to translations such as the NASV, NIV and ESV that refer to the “certificate of debt” being nailed to the cross, claiming it was not all the law but a particular law having to do with debt. 

There is another argument, that comes from our Reformed brethren, that there is a distinction between the ceremonial and moral law.  This is one of those arguments that springs from the need to justify someone’s doctrinal positions.  Nowhere in the OT was this distinction made, and it is not made in the NT either.  Search these out, if you wish.  But I would like to suggest some Scriptures for you to consider. 

·       Mark 7:19: Jesus (or Mark told us what Jesus meant) declared all foods clean.

·       Rom. 14:5-6: Paul said the “day of worship” was a personal decision.

·       Rom. 13:8-10: Paul did not command us to keep the Law but said if we keep Christ’s law of love we will be keeping the law.

·       1 Tim. 1:8-11: Paul said “the law is good if one uses it lawfully.”  He explains, saying the law “is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless.”  Instead, he said, we (Christians, the Church) live “according to the glorious gospel.”

·       Rom. 10:4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

·       Rom. 7:1-6: The married woman who is free to marry another if her husband dies is critical here.  In the “parable” the woman represents someone who is beholden to the law.  Read carefully: you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 

·       Rom. 8:3-4: Again, read carefully!  Christ, the righteous Son of God, has kept the law.  Now, in the New Covenant, He lives in us and the life we now live we live by the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20).  Thus, the righteous requirement of the law has been fulfilled in us who walk in the Spirit.  

So, yes, under the New Covenant the law is in our hearts and we are obedient to it.  But only because under the New Covenant we walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh.  To walk in the flesh is to try to keep the law by my own best effort.  As Romans 7 illustrates, this cannot be done.  What the “spiritual circumcision” has done is removed this fleshly approach and given us life in Christ, the One who has fulfilled the Law.  We will come to this in Col. 3:1-4: our life is hidden with Christ in God!

Col. 2:11-15; Rom. 7:1-6, Colossians Bible Study (10)

Paul is concerned about the Colossian believers being deceived by someone with “persuasive words.”  They have apparently brought some powerful “philosophy” that tells these believers that having Christ is good but they need something beyond Christ so that they can faithfully walk as Christians day by day.  In today's passage we see details about this deception.  But we also see details about what it means to have “Christ” in our daily walk.  Let’s start with the truth before we consider the deception.

17)          In Col. 2:11-15 what two pictures help us see that we have all we need “in Christ” for our daily walk as believers?  How are we helped by these two truths?

·       The two pictures are “circumcision” and “baptism.” 

·       The circumcision is “spiritual” because it is “made without hands.”  This spiritual circumcision is something the Lord promised in the Old Testament, something that would make it possible for His people to walk in obedience.  And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live (Deut. 30:6).  God even commanded the people of Israel to circumcise their own hearts (Deut. 10:16; Jer. 4:4).  Yet they never did, nor could they do this.  It had to wait for the time when, through Christ, this spiritual circumcision would become a reality. 

·       As physical circumcision involves cutting flesh from the body, so spiritual circumcision involves putting off the body of the sins of the flesh.  Since birth our bodies have carried the sin nature, the “old man” (Col. 3:9).  As long as we live we live in this body of sins, but Christ has taken away the power of the old man.  How did He do this?  I believe He did it by fulfilling the law.  Romans 7:1-6 tells us about this.  The “law” is what excites the sinful passions that we have in our bodies (Rom. 7:5).  But Christ fulfilled the law, doing for us what the law could not do (Rom. 8:3-4).  In Colossians we are told that the law (the handwriting of requirements that was against us) was nailed to the cross.

·       The baptism is also “spiritual.”  Again, Romans gives us the lengthy teaching about this truth (Rom. 6).  Baptism involved being immersed in something and then being raised out of that something.  In this case. we died with Christ and were buried with Him, but then raised by the power of God, the same power that raised Christ from the dead.  In other words, when we put our faith in Christ, we were redeemed by His blood, and then we were raised, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4).  We can live this live because we have Christ: He is in us and we are in Him.

We have more to say on this, but you can see we have been fully equipped to live the Christian life (2 Pt. 1:3-4).  We do not need to add anything to Christ; we only need to be rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith.

Col. 2:1-5, Colossians Bible Study (8)

14.    From Col. 1:28-29 and 2:1-3, what was the goal of Paul’s ministry?  What did he long to see in the lives of those he ministered to?

o   He wanted the Colossian believers to be “perfect” (1:28).  This is not talking about sinless perfection.  The word “telos” means to come to one’s appointed end.  What is the end that God has in mind for believers?  It is that they come to maturity, that infants in Christ will grow to adulthood. 

§  Jesus lived a sinless life.  Yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered and was thus “perfected” so He could be the author of our salvation (Heb. 5:8-9).

§  In 1 John 2:12-14 what three types of Christians was John addressing?  (Children, Young Men, Fathers)

§  In 1 Peter 2:2, what kind of diet do “new born” Christians need?  (The milk of the word.)  In Heb. 5:12-14 what diet should older Christians enjoy?  (Solid food.)  In the same Hebrews passage, how does the Spirit describe a “mature” or “adult” believer?  (Skilled in the word of righteousness and able to discern good and evil.)

§  Back in Col. 2:2-3, how does Paul describe a “perfect” or “mature” believer?  (Attained to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.)  Since all the treasures are in Christ, a Christian matures by growing in his relationship with Christ.  This is what Paul desired in those to whom he ministered. 

o   We should note that this “maturing” process happens as, through the Word of God, our hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love.  Paul had never been to Colossae or to Laodicea; yet he was able to have a ministry in their lives through his letters as well as through those who served the churches such as Epaphras (Col. 1:7).  The word of God given through Paul can also help us to grow in our relationship with Christ so that we are no longer infants in Christ but have come to the full assurance of our riches in Christ.

o   Now one more question from Col. 2:1-5: how could Paul see that the Colossians had put their faith in Christ?  He had been told of their orderliness and steadfast faith in Christ.

Here is a diagram that might help see the flow of Col. 1:24-2:5.

The one who has put his faith in Christ is missing nothing.  He has a complete Savior. Paul already spoke of the “steadfastness” of their faith, but continues to encourage them in Col. 2:6-7: As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.  This is amazing advice.  We received Christ by faith, by trusting in the One who died for us and was raised from the dead.  Having become a Christian, we live our lives each day by the same faith in the same Christ.  As Rom. 5:10 says: For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.