Psalm 86:17

Quoted in the Believer's Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald in connection with this passage:

"This is indeed what is everywhere the great lack among the people of God.  How much of our lives is not spent in positive evil, but frittered away and lost in countless petty diversions which spoil effectually the positiveness of their testimony for God!  How few can say with the apostle, 'This one thing I do!'  We are on the road...but we stop to chase butterflies among the flowers, and make no serious progress.  How Satan must wonder when he sees us turn away from the 'kingdoms of the world and the glory of them'...and yet yield ourselves with scarce a thought to endless trifles, lighter than the thistle-down which the child spends all his strength for, and we laugh at him.  Would we examine our lives carefully..., how should we realize the multitude of needless anxieties, of self-imagined duties, of permitted relaxations, of 'innocent' trifles, which incessantly divert us from that alone in which there is profit!  How few, perhaps, would care to face such an examination of the day by day unwritten history of their lives!"


Footnote: F. W. Grant, "Psalms," in The Numerical Bible, III:330.

Romans 13:8

From the Believer's Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald.

"The one debt that is always outstanding is the obligation to love.  The word used for love in Romans, with only one exception (12:10) is agape, which signifies a deep, unselfish, superhuman affection which one person has for another.  This otherworldly love is not activated by any virtue in the person loved; rather, it is completely undeserved.  It is unlike any other love in that it goes out not only to the lovable but to one's enemies as well.

"This love manifests itself in giving, and generally in sacrificial giving.  Thus, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.  Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it.

"It is primarily a matter of the will rather than the emotions.  The fact that we are commanded to love indicates that it is something we can choose to do.  If it were an uncontrollable emotion that swept over us at unexpected moments, we could scarcely be held accountable.  This does not deny, however, that the emotions can be involved.

"It is impossible for an unconverted person to manifest this divine love.  In fact, it is impossible even for a believer to demonstrate it in his own strength.  It can only be exhibited by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

"Love found its perfect expression on earth in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Our love to God manifests itself in obedience to His commandments.

(emphases in original)

Hymns #64 - At the Foot of the Cross

I met Jesus at the foot of the cross
When I was bound by sin;
Jesus met me, cleansed my heart of its dross,
He gave sweet peace within.

Refrain

I met Jesus at the foot of the cross,
I met Jesus at the foot of the cross;
All my sins were washed away;
Sin’s dark night turned into day
When I met Jesus at the foot of the cross.

I found pardon at the foot of the cross,
Forgiveness full and free;
Now I love Him only, all else is loss,
His grace availed for me.

Refrain

I met Jesus when I needed Him most,
Despair possessed my soul;
I was under condemnation and lost,
When Jesus made me whole.

Refrain

(Words by Robert Harkness)

The Cross

Quoting today from a letter we received from Alistair Begg of Truth for Life:

In 1946, John Sloan Dickey, then president of Dartmouth College told the graduating class: "There is nothing wrong with the world that better human beings cannot fix."  Recently, one of the elders at Parkside Church (a Dartmouth man) told me that the current president told last year's graduating class: "You are the better human beings that we've all been waiting for!"

We may be sure that there are some exceptional young people graduating from there as well as from other academic institutions, but they are not going to fix our world.  The problem with our world, the Bible tells us, is that each of us has turned to our own way by suppressing the truth about God, denying what is obvious and embracing what is foolish.  Furthermore, God's Word explains that we are by nature unworthy of God, unfit for His presence, and unable to rectify our circumstances.

But there is good news and a solution to our problem.  Someone has come from outside who shares in our humanity but not in our sin.  He has "lived for us the kind of life we should live but can't, and He has paid fully the penalty we deserve for the life we do live but shouldn't."

The [Resurrection Sunday] story is that in the person of Jesus, God has come to deal with our alienation by making peace through His blood shed on the cross.  This story, Paul tells us is "foolishness to those who are perishing but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God."  Horace, the Latin poet and satirist of the first century gave this advice to his students in writing plays: "a god must not be introduced into the action unless the plot has got into such a tangle that only a god can unravel it."  There we have the problem with our world in a nutshell!

The Good News of [Resurrection Sunday] is the story line of the Bible....

Hymns #61 - Ivory Palaces

Ivory Palaces

My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,
And myrrh their texture fills;
Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine
With joy my being thrills.

Refrain

Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Savior go.

His life had also its sorrows sore,
For aloes had a part;
And when I think of the cross He bore,
My eyes with teardrops start.

Refrain

His garments too were in cassia dipped,
With healing in a touch;
Each time my feet in some sin have slipped,
He took me from its clutch.

Refrain

In garments glorious He will come,
To open wide the door;
And I shall enter my heav’nly home,
To dwell forevermore.

Refrain

(Words by Henry Barraclough)

Psalm 76

Tidbits from Believer's Bible Commentary, by William MacDonald:

The historical backdrop of Psalm 76 is the threat against Jerusalem by Sennacherib and the Assyrian army.  The first verse praises God for His spectacular overthrow of the enemy.  His angel came and slew 185,000 of the Assyrians as they slept. 

In verses 2-4, we see God designating Jerusalem, the city of peace, as His capital, and the hill of Zion as the place where He dwells.  Here He smashed the weapons of the enemy--arrows, shields, swords, and all the other weapons they had.  Jerusalem's God is greater and more glorious than any power that might lift up a hand against Judah.

Verses 5-6 describe what happened to the Assyrian army.  "The stouthearted warriors suddenly dropped their weapons.  In a moment they became powerless.  One word from the God of Jacob and both riders and horses sank into the sleep of death."  (p. 664)

In verses 7-9 we see how great God is, how greatly He should be feared, and how futile it is to oppose Him when He is angry.  He pronounces judgment from heaven, earth trembles and becomes still, and He steps in to right the wrongs of earth, delivering the oppressed people.

Verse 10 tells how God makes the wrath of man praise Him.  This poem comes next:

The wrath of men shall praise Thee,

The rest shalt Thou restrain,

And out of earth's disasters

Will bring eternal gain.

The purpose of man's evil heart

Works out Thy sovereign will.

Our God is still upon the throne,

Therefore, believe, be still.

Be still and know that I am God,

This banishes our fears,

While passing through this scene of strife,

Of sorrow and of tears.

The One who rules the heavenly hosts

Holds all within His hand,

And none can say, "What doest Thou?"

Or can His arm withstand.

~Author unknown

(from pages 664-665)

Verses 11-12:  "In view of the inexpressible greatness and glory of the Lord, the people of Judah are exhorted to make vows to the Lord their God, and to pay them.  Then the Gentile nations surrounding Israel are counseled to bring presents as tribute to the Supreme Ruler--this Mighty One who can reduce earth's princes to size and cause awesome things to happen to the most powerful rulers."  (p. 665)

Law and Grace: I Corinthians 9

Thoughts from the commentary I'm using right now, from I Corinthians 9:20ff:

"At this point a brief word of explanation is necessary.  As a Jew, Paul had been born under the law.  He sought to obtain favor with God by keeping the law, but found that he was unable to do so>  The law only showed him what a wretched sinner he was, and utterly condemned him.  Eventually he learned that the law was not a way of salvation, but only God's method of revealing to man his sinfulness and his need of a savior.  Paul then trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in so doing he became free from the condemning voice of the law.  The penalty of the law which he had broken was paid by the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary.

"After his conversion, the apostle learned that the law was not the way of salvation, nor was it the rule of life for one who had been saved.  The believer is not under law but under grace.  This does not mean that he can go out and do as he pleases.  Rather, it means that a true sense of the grace of God will prevent him from even wanting to do these things.  Indwelt by the Spirit of God, the Christian is raised to a new level of behavior.  He now desires to live a holy life, not out of fear of punishment for having broken the law, but out of love for Christ, who died for him and rose again.  Under law the motive was fear, but under grace the motive is love.  Love is a far higher motive than fear.  Men will do out of love what they would never do from terror."  (Believer's Bible Commentary, William MacDonald, p. 1777)