Psalm 37 - 2008.03.29

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." — Psalm 37:23-24

It ought to be the ambition of every believer to please the Lord. Our "nugget" for today represents just such a man, and in the process presents us with a good deal of food for thought.

The man who pleases God, the man whose way delights the Lord, will be first of all a man who exercises care in choosing his way. It all begins with recognizing that one is not a "good" man, but a beleaguered sinner in need of a Savior. For essentially, "there is none good, no not one." That principle is first noted in Eccl. 7:20, "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not," and reiterated in the New Testament, where it is incorporated in Rom. 3:10-12 - "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." Goodness in man begins with an application for grace in God.

It is most important to recognize that having trusted Christ for salvation, "goodness" becomes possible, but is not automatic. The indwelling Holy Spirit can make us good, but that requires our cooperation. The apostle Peter urges, for example, "… brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure… [II Pet.1:10 and context]." Apart from the exercise of faith, we cannot "cooperate" in salvation; it is all of grace; but we must cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sanctification. The good man marks his steps with care, employing the Word of God as his pathfinder. That is what delights the Lord.

The second thing our text suggests is that we must never take our faith for granted. A professor of mine long ago was in the habit of saying, "It is not how you start, but how you finish that counts." The Psalmist remarks of the good man, "Though he fall… " The same care that decides our course must also govern it. Paul said to the Galatians, "Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth[Gal. 5:7]?" And most of us are familiar with the admonition, "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall [I Cor. 10:12]." And the reason for this caution is, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour [I Pet. 5:8]." The good man must stand his guard and never let it down. Our great resource in the relentless battle with the adversary is prayer, and we must be careful to keep an open connection with our divine headquarters.

Having thus recognized the danger, however, the Spirit comforts with the confidence, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand." That is the promise of divine security for all who truly put their trust in Him. It is the apostle Peter again who assures us, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls [I Pet. 1:3-9]." The same grace that secured our salvation secures our destiny. Of our ultimate victory, Spurgeon said, " It is not that the saints are strong, or wise, or meritorious, that therefore they rise after every fall, but because God is their helper, and therefore none can prevail against them." Hallelujah!

"Oh to grace, how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be;
Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above."
For God's glory,

"Pastor" Frasier

Resurrection Sunday Special (Matt 28) - 2008.03.23

Resurrection Sunday Special

"And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay" — Matthew 28:5-6

Out of deference to the day, allow me to digress from our pursuit of "Nuggets" from the Psalms and spend a few sentences reflecting upon the resurrection of our Lord, focusing particularly on the phrase, "as He s aid." If there is a peg upon which all of God's word hangs, it is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Without it, nothing in the scriptures can be assured. With it, nothing can can be effectively questioned. And in this day and age, when men are insisting that everything is relative, and there is no such thing as absolute truth, the Christian needs as never before, just such assurance.

Perhaps we can begin by noting the fact that the resurrection of Christ is anticipated in scripture. No Old Testament text more effectively indicates that than Isaiah 53:8-10

"He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand."

Cut off out of the land of the living and put in the grave, the prophet anticipates, "He shall prolong His days." That is nothing less than life after death. Near the climax of His earthly ministry the Savior made this remarkable statement: "And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee [Mark 14:27]." He did not say "If I am risen," but "After… I am risen." To be sure, the disciples missed it; but the statement stands as His personal prophecy of His death and subsequent resurrection from the dead.

Someone said of Jesus that He is either a liar, a lunatic or Lord of all. If He made such a claim with no authority to do so, He was a liar; if He entertained it as a fantasy, with no ground to assure it, He was mentally deranged. If, in fact, He could pass through the veil of death and return again, His Lordship stands assured, and His every word is justified "as He said." If in this momentous declaration He proves true, there is no ground for doubting anything He said.

The angel said, "Jesus… was crucified. He is not here: for He is risen, as He said." Later the apostle Paul, persuaded and transformed by the testimony of the risen Christ, declared that "Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures: And that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures," subsequently to be seen of more than five hundred witnesses, many of whom had also witnessed His crucifixion. The importance of this fact Paul observed when he said, "If Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain… But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept." (See I Corinthians 15!)

Reflect upon the truths that hang on this remarkable "peg." God is; Sin is; The resurrection of the dead is an established fact (I Cor. 15:22); Judgment is inevitable; and Jesus is coming again! (I Cor. 15:23.) This just to name a few. Indeed, given the resurrection of Jesus Christ, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no god [Psalm 51:1a]."

Take heart, Christian, and hold fast the faithful Word. There is a great day coming," Because He lives," and all shall be "even as He said!!"

Have a BLESSED Easter!!

Yours for HIS glory,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 36 [p3] - 2008.03.15

"For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart." — Psalm 36:9-10

"Love suffereth long and is kind." — I Cor 13:4a

Life, in the true and proper definition, is found in God and inherent in the Son of God. Those who do not have the Son of God within do not have life. We have given the title to the caricature of life the scriptures call "mortality." The fact is, those without Christ are not living, but dying and "dead already" in trespasses and sins. Again, Light, in the true and proper sense, the spiritual illumination of the soul, is also found in God alone. (Cf. I John 1:5) Apart from His light, we are a people who "walk in darkness," having knowledge, but lacking wisdom and understanding.

In every area of significance, man without God is bankrupt, and men without Christ are men without God. This is true with respect to the third major divine attribute mentioned in this text which has occupied us for these several weeks. The quality under consideration today is God's Love, specified in this verse as "lovingkindness." One dictionary traces the origin of the word in English to Coverdale's translation of the Psalms. It occurs frequently in Psalms and in several of the prophets. Interestingly, it does not appear in the New Testament, but its full definition does, in I Corinthians 13. Should you want to know what lovingkindness is and how it functions, you need look no further.

David describes God's lovingkindness as "marvelous" (Ps. 17:7); with "tender mercies" in Ps. 25:6 and 51:1, where it is linked with the forgiveness of sins; described as "better than life" (Ps. 63:3). In Psalm 103:1-5, all of God's benefits are ascribed to Him as the One "who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies [v.4]." In a remarkable passage, Psalm 89:20-37, a passage addressed to David but ultimately applying to Christ, the Spirit says of His children, "… My lovingkindness will I not take from him, nor suffer My faithfulness to fail… [v.33]." In context it is a promise not only of the salvation of those who are children of God by faith in Christ, but of their security as well, attributed to God's lovingkindness. This quality in the Creator/Redeemer is the fountainhead of hope for all who put their trust in Him. It extends His patience, restrains His wrath and initiated redemption.

The prophet Isaiah gathered it up as illustrated in God's dealings with Israel: "I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old [Isa. 63:7-9]."

Meditating on this great attribute of our God should lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving to Him, as it did for David. But, there is more. As we have noted earlier, though the term does not occur in the New Testament, it is defined there in I Corinthians 13, and enjoined upon the New Testament believer as the greatest grace we can exhibit to this tottering world. It is God's aim, by His Holy Spirit, to reproduce His lovingkindness in us. We are called to manifest it toward our spouses, our children, our fellow believers, our neighbors, even toward our enemies! "Love suffereth long, and is kind." Do I?

Apart from Christ we are without life, without light, without love. In Him we are positioned to exhibit all three. May His spirit motivate and enable us to that end, that the world may know that we are in Him, and He in us.

"Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD [Jer. 9:23-24.]"
For God's glory,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 36 [p2] - 2008.03.08

"For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart." — Psalm 36:9-10

We continue today our meditation on this text from which last week we focused on "Life," connecting this verse with John's reference to Christ, "In Him was life [John 1:4]," noting that Christ is not only the source of life, but that He is life. He is the very essence of life, so that those who are outside of Christ are devoid of life in the true and proper sense.

The second emphasis in our text which is enlarged upon and developed in the new Testament is "Light." This, too, is a property identified with Christ. John said, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. "The Savior said, "… I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life [John 8:12]." As with life, so with light; those who are not identified with Christ are enveloped in darkness. It is my judgment that "light" as used in this way alludes to mental and moral perception of "true Truth.". This light comes first and foremost through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ: "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness [John 12:46];" and then through the avenue of His word: "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. [Ps. 119:130]," and "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts [II Pet. 1:19]."

Men are inclined to rely on "reason," the natural resources of the mind of man, ignorant of the fact that reason without revelation will only result in mental and moral confusion and eventuate in chaos. So emphatically is this true that scripture declares, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them [Isa. 8:20]." The human mind acquires knowledge, and in the process is impressed with its own achievement, but apart from God is devoid of true wisdom.

It was to bring men to Light that Christ came into the world. He said to Paul, on the occasion of his conversion, "… I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me [Acts 26:18]." Men resist the gospel in their ignorance and rebellion against God "For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved [John 3:20]." And those who do so—the vast majority of mankind—stand condemned before God "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil [John 3:19]."

This is the reason why, for all the achievements of man in society, politics and technology, there is no peace in this world. By reason of our fallen nature we lack what it takes to bring order out of chaos, namely, "light." This explains why there is no hope in human government. Without the Light from above, men grope as blind and will never see the way out.

The believer stands in contrast to the unregenerate. "For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil [Eph. 5:8-16, my italics]."

Light stands in contrast to darkness; may we be found walking in His light in this present evil world!

For God's glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 36 [p1] - 2008.03.01

"For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. O continue thy loving- kindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart." —Psalm 36:9-10

It will not take a great deal of reflection on the part of the informed New Testament believer to see here a bud of Old Testament truth that comes to full bloom in the New Testament. Three concepts emerge that are major themes in the New Testament, especially in the inspired writings of the beloved apostle John. They are life, light, and love.

Not only are they prominent truths, but they lead one directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Here life is predicated as flowing from God as the fountainhead; there it is assigned to the Son of God as the immediate source: "In Him was life… " (John 1:4) In his first epistle the evangelist declares, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life [I John 5:12]." With that statement, life is defined exclusively in terms of a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who do not know Christ do not know life, regardless of the fact that we use the term much more broadly and loosely. They are "dead in trespasses and sins."

What men possess who are not in Christ is merely "mortality," a condition that gives the illusion of life, but is in fact a spiritual terminal illness that can be cured only by a spiritual transfusion of the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus the apostle writes of those who have received that life, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him [II Cor. 5:1-9 italics mine]."

That is the perspective of life. And it is not only that Christ gives us life, but that He is life. Consider Paul's declaration to the Colossians: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory [Col. 3:1-4, my italics]."

Mortality is the illusion of life, and ends in the mortuary— death and the grave. Life is from God and in God by faith in Jesus Christ and emerges in glory, everlasting. Tragically, the world has it all wrong. Jesus says to the misguided sinner, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life [John 5:39,40]." Sadly, the majority of Christians , lured by "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of 'life'," squander life on mere mortality, having our affection on the things of this world far more than on "things above." Life is being wasted by many of the few who have it!

One is reminded of the fictional, but telling illustration of the Texas oil man who decreed that when he died he should be carried to his grave seated at the wheel of his gold plated Cadillac. That day came, and as he was thus escorted through the streets to his tomb, a poor waif standing on the curb took it all in and cried, "Man, that's really livin'."

With God, via His only begotten Son, is the fountain of life. Have you been to the fountain? And if so, is the life you have found being wasted or invested?

For God's glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier