Only if we stop defending ourselves, then God is able to
keep us from falling. Only if we stop complaining for anything, then God is
able to forgive us. Only if we stop hardening our heart, then God is able to
outpour peace and joy in any circumstance. Only if we stop blaming others for
anything, then God is able to lift up the depressed heart. Only if we admit our
fault and trespass, then God is able to make us righteous and holy in his
sight.
“If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from
all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a
liar and his word is not in us.” (1 John 1:9-10)
That’s what Adam did when he was questioned by the Lord in
the garden where he was hiding among the trees from the face of the Lord
because what he had done was wicked and evil in the eyes of the Lord.
“And he said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you
eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The
woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’”
(Genesis 3:11-12)
That’s what King David did when he was exposed and convicted
of the double sin of adultery and murder by Prophet Nathan who bluntly told him
that he sinned against the Lord. King repented and that’s all what he could do before
the Lord who knew his heart.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according
to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and
cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always
before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your
sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. Surely I
was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you
desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret
place. Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be
whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed
rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me
a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me
from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of
your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Then I will teach
transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Deliver me from
the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will
sing of your righteousness. Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your
praise. You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take
pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken
and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. May it please you to prosper
Zion, to build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in the
sacrifices of the righteous, in burnt offerings offered whole; then bulls will
be offered on your altar.’ (Psalm 51:1-19)
That’s what Job did when he was exposed the vicious and
diabolical evil force within like Leviathan and Behemoth. He stopped defending
himself any longer because he was made known the evil inside who persistently provoked
him to defend himself. Job unwittingly kept on defending himself until he was
made known the sheer truth on the presence of such a monstrous thing in
himself. When he was made known of God who held the evil forces under his
control safe and secure, he couldn’t say a word anymore.
“Then Job replied to the Lord: ‘I know that you can do all
things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that
obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not
understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” (Job 42:1-3)
Why does our God forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness?
It’s because our Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood and died for our sins,
becoming the ransom payment in full for the sin of the world. God cannot deny
the forgiving grace to those who admit the sins in a broken and contrite heart
only because Christ defends us with his redeeming blood which perfectly
satisfies God’s justice. There is no other way to cross over from death to life
except through the blood of the Lord Jesus. Even the best man, the sinless
Jesus Christ must have died when the Father made him who had no sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
So, now we shall keep on living a life worthy of the Lord
which is eternal life and forevermore. Is it not enough evidence for us to fix
our eyes on Jesus who is the perfecter and author of faith? (Hebrews 12:2) Is
it not the intellectually right thing to do no matter what?
If God is for our side because of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who can condemn us, even the devil?
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If
God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but
gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us
all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is
God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who
died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is
also interceding for us.” (Romans 8:31-34)
So, why don’t we keep on fearing the Lord in a broken
spirit? Yes, this we shall keep on doing in Christ Jesus? No wonder Apostle
Paul prayed for the saints like this.
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom
every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his
glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your
inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray
that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with
all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the
love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be
filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19)
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for being raised from the dead
in order that we may partake his life ever and evermore. In Christ’s name.
Amen.
March 26, 2016
©2015-2016 David Lee Ministries - All rights
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