Posted by: admin in Psalm
Recall how My Son declared that when the new wine is produced it requires new wine skins. Is it not also said by My servant Paul that if anyone is in My Son, he is a new creation, the old has passed away? Here you see in the words of My servant David a representation of the old, which in My Son will pass away. For though David in considering the enmity and the maltreatment of those who have risen up against him, even those to whom he showed love and kindness, expresses the heart attitude of the one who represents the old wineskin. To David it did not seem contradictory to hold his vehement desire for revenge and at the same time acknowledge Me as a God of mercy. And yet, as you see in his words, he wanted that mercy reserved for himself and for others whom he thought worthy of receiving it.
And you, as you read these words, feel uncomfortable and discordant with David’s attitude. Yet have you not felt the same strong rage and indignation towards those who, like David’s enemies, turn upon those who have shown them kindness and those who have oppressed the weak? Have you not had thoughts of delighting in their destruction, in their judgment?
Are not such attitudes and thoughts derived from the same source from which David drew them, even the old natural man, the old wineskin; and the old that must pass away when the new must come. What is it that causes your own hearts to be moved with discomfort as you read these words of My servant David? Is it not that which is new that has been placed within you? And what is it about that which is new that makes a difference in your heart attitude, so that even though you might be tempted to think and feel in the same way as David in the face of similar circumstances, yet you resist that temptation? Is it not that the real difference is in that new which has come which imparts to you not only My heart of mercy for those who you deem worthy to receive it, but even for those who you would deem completely unworthy? And is it not the heart of mercy which was expressed to Me by My Son as He hung upon the cross and was being reviled, and yet cried out for My forgiveness to those who were reviling him? Is it not that heart which teaches you to love your enemies and to pray for those who mistreat you? Here in this portion David expresses the heart that has not yet received that which is new that makes the difference between the desire for the destruction of your enemies and the desire for My mercy to be bestowed so that they might repent and be redeemed. I have said many times to you that the new heart, the heart of My Son which I give unto you, really gives you a choice. Yes, you have a choice between what David expresses here in this Psalm and what My Son taught and expresses upon the cross towards those who arose up against Him. Which heart would you choose to express? Which desire would you choose to embrace, especially upon those who have risen up with unkindness, ingratitude and mischief against you?
Which heart would you embrace toward them, the old heart of the natural man who desires vengeance, or the new heart that desires mercy?
Tags: Merciful Heart
In the midst of great popularity, of being hailed and celebrated, even though there was the opposition of the Pharisees and the unbelief of a significant number of the people, My Son kept His heart focused on the purpose for which He came into the world and the awesome means by which that purpose would be fulfilled. You must understand that it is not naturally easy for one who is popular and who is even sought out by foreigners, as He was sought out by the Greeks, to keep His heart resistant to the vain praises of men and to walk steadfastly towards suffering and death. But you see from the analogy of the seed falling into the earth and dying in order to bring forth abundant fruit that My Son well understood and thoroughly embraced the purpose for which I sent Him into the world.
But even though that purpose involved suffering and death, and as you see here prompted a struggle in His soul, He not only understood the redemptive purpose that would be accomplished by it, but He was motivated even more by the desire that through all of this I would be glorified. And that is why I spoke from heaven to confirm that what He had chosen was truly of Me.
And while all of this accomplished your redemption and you are part of that produce of many seeds, the truth that I would be glorified by all of this, even by the necessity of suffering and death to accomplish it, is the real manifestation of the heart of My Son as He chose suffering and death, not only to bring salvation, but to glorify Me. And surely it must be that if your hearts are truly motivated by that same purpose that was in His heart, though you are not called through suffering and death to atone for anyone’s sin, you surely are called by whatever may be the consequences of your full obedience to glorify Me. That is the fulfilling to the greatest extent of the purpose for which My Son came, that is the fullest extent of the fruit that results not only from the laying down of His life, but for the reproduction and the multiplication of it in you and in all who truly believe.
Tags: Glorify God
My servant Paul declares that believers are to become slaves of righteousness. He uses this term to contrast with the term slaves to sin.
By it he is describing the contrast between those who are united with My Son and those who are not. Does this imply then that My Son in His earthly life was a slave of righteousness? Remember that My servant Paul declares that he is expressing these truths about sin and righteousness in human terms because of the limitations of those who believe in being able to grasp spiritual realities. And I have already pointed out to you in a previous word that by using the term slave of righteousness that My servant is not intending that you understand the term literally as one who is held captive to the will of another to serve that other. Instead one who is a slave of righteousness has a real choice and serves by the free choice of his own will. And the motivation for serving, for being a slave of righteousness is love. The difference between the ones who believe in being called a slave of righteousness and My Son is that they formerly were slaves to sin and had no choice but to serve it, but as slaves of righteousness their will has been freed to make a new choice in the direction of righteousness and away from the direction of sin. But My Son never was subject to sin and His will has always been free and never subject to the bondage of sin. And while He is the true and perfect model of the one who serves righteousness and is the one who is the foundation by which all in Him can serve righteousness, He is in that respect much more than what My servant Paul describes here as a slave of righteousness. And since you are urged as slaves of righteousness to reckon yourselves as dead to sin and alive to Me, recognize that it is by the power of the life of My Son within you that you can do this. This means then that as you determine to identify with My Son, to be focused upon Him and to continually depend upon His life within you in order to truly be alive unto Me in every respect, that you will indeed be able to walk out what it means to be a slave of righteousness. And as I have told you before, though the term slave is used here, it actually refers to what is the only real freedom, that is the freedom to do My will. That is indeed the purpose for which My Son has set you free. And in this sense you might say that you, as a slave of righteousness, are also a slave of love. And remember that this kind of slavery brings life, in contrast to the slavery to sin which brings death.
The former condition, as My servant Paul declares, is a free gift, while the latter is bondage. Thus you are able because of the life of My Son within you to live in true freedom and to exercise your will in true liberty.
Tags: Righteousness, Slave of Righteousness