Archive for the Bible Study category
The Names of God
Posted on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 at 5:17 PM by David Zavadil
Thus far we have studied the following names of God:
ELOHIM: God (a plural noun, more than two, used with singular verbs); Elohim occurs 2,570 times in the OT, 32 times in Gen. 1. God as Creator, Preserver, Transcendent, Mighty and Strong. Eccl., Dan. Jonah use Elohim almost exclusively. See Gen. 17:7, 6:18, 9:15, 50:24; I Kings 8:23; Jer. 31:33; Isa. 40:1.
EL SHADDAI: God Almighty or "God All Sufficient." 48 times in the OT, 31 times in Job. First used in Gen. 17:1, 2. (Gen. 31:29, 49:24, 25; Prov. 3:27; Micah 2:1; Isa. 60:15, 16, 66:10-13; Ruth 1:20, 21) In Rev. 16:7, "Lord God the Almighty." The Septuagint uses Greek "ikanos" meaning "all-sufficient" or "self-sufficient." The idols of the heathen are called "sheddim."
EL ELYON: 'Most High" (from "to go up") Deut. 26:19, 32:8; Psa. 18:13; Gen. 14:18; Nu. 24:16; Psa. 78:35, 7:17, 18:13, 97:9, 56:2, 78:56, 18:13; Dan. 7:25, 27; Isa. 14:14.
I will post the outlines early next week, after my next sermon. As they are available, the sermons will be posted on the church website, EPC Website .
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)
What is in a Name?
Posted on Monday, July 13, 2009 at 11:20 AM by David Zavadil
As I have been reading and praying over the last few weeks, I have become convinced of a frightening problem in the Church. We have a boat load of people who know of God but do not really know God. They can share a few facts here and there, though many couldn't tell you where they could be found in Scripture, they can sing a popular song that mentions God, but they know very little about the attributes of God.
In ancient days, your name meant something. Even up until relatively recent history, your name was a billboard of sorts, telling people what you did as an occupation or where you lived. The Tanners worked with animal skins, the Coopers made barrels the Taylors made clothing and on and on. In the Old Testament you find over 230 different names for God. Each name brings out a different nuance of the character of God. As I desire to know God deeper, I want to see our people know Him deeper. To that end we will begin to study the names of God. Join us in this study. We will be beginning with Elohim. Read Genesis 1 and Psalm 104 and begin to get a picture of God, Elohim.
Edited on: Monday, July 13, 2009 11:20 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS)
Respectable Sins Chapters 5,6
Posted on Wednesday, September 10, 2008 at 11:51 AM by David Zavadil
These two chapters of our book, Respectable Sins deal with our dealing with our sins. They are very practical in that Mr. Bridges seeks to give us "something to do." In Chapter 5, he begins with a look at the Holy Spirit in our lives. We are brought face to face with the presence of the Almighty within us in the person of the Holy Spirit and reminded of the redeeming work of Christ. We are encouraged to acknowledge and yield to the working of the Holy Spirit as a step in overcoming sin. While he does not use this phrase, we learn that many of us are professing Christians but practicing Atheists By that I mean, we assent to the presence of the Holy Spirit, but in practice rely on self almost exclusively. On the very first page of this chapter we read, "The absolute forgiveness of our sins is just as rock solid as the historic reality of Christ's death." This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
I found interesting the discussion of what Bridges calls, "dependent responsibility." He defines that this way,
...We are responsible before God to obey His Word, to put to death the sins in our lives, both the so-called acceptable sins and the obviously not acceptable ones. At the same time, we do not have the ability within ourselves to carry out this responsibility. We are in fact totally dependent upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit works in us in a number of ways
- He brings conviction of sin.
- He enables and empowers us to deal with our sin.
- He works "monergistically" ( I love that word), meaning alone, without our conscious involvement.
Chapter 6 gives us the "practical application" in dealing with sin. Rather than describing it, I am going to list the seven points Bridges gives us for practically dealing with our sin.
- Apply the gospel.
- Depend on the Holy Spirit.
- Recognize your responsibility.
- Identify specific respectable sins.
- Memorize and apply appropriate Scriptures.
- Cultivate the practice of prayer.
- Involve one or a few other believers with you.
Next we will begin to look at specific sins. Join us again.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Books (RSS)
Respectable Sins Chapter 4
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 2:04 PM by David Zavadil
It has been a while since I have posted an entry about this book. We are now working through this in our Adult Sunday School class.
The author begins this chapter by introducing to saints of the past, John Newton and the Apostle Paul. He illustrates through their lives and their writings the way they viewed themselves as they grew in relationship to Jesus Christ. Newton summed it up best when he said, "My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." Before we can deal with sin we need to understand our standing before God. We are sinners, fallen far short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23)
The question we all want to know is what is the remedy for our sinfulness? The short answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel does four things for us in dealing with sin.
- It plows the ground of our heart so that we can see our sin. (pg 34)
- It frees me up to deal with my sin. (34)
- It motivates and energizes me to deal with my sin (35)
- It gives me assurance that God no longer counts my sin against me (35)
Each day we are to "preach the gospel to ourselves." This personal sermon prepares us to deal with our sinfulness throughout the day.
Here are some questions to think about. Why do we think everyone else needs to hear the gospel but us? What are some ways that I can preach the gospel to myself?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Books (RSS)
Respectable Sins postponed
Posted on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:23 PM by David Zavadil
I apologize to the readers. In preparing for our mission trip next week, I have not posted a new Conversation on Respectable Sins. I will post for Chapters 4 - 7 on Monday. I will be out of the country from the 18th through the 28th and will resume the study on the week of the 28th. To see a blog of our trip to Northern Ireland check out our Church Web Site .
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS)
Psalm 119 Teth
Posted on Sunday, June 01, 2008 at 1:10 PM by David Zavadil
65 ¶ <TETH> You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. 67 ¶ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. 68 ¶ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. 69 ¶ The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. 71 ¶ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. 72 ¶ The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
65 ¶ <TETH> You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD, according to your word. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Have you ever considered how God has dealt with you? Have you received what you deserve from God? Has God been fair or unfair in your life? This passage begins with the Psalmist speaking to the way God deals with His people. “You have dealt well.” A more literal translation might be, “you have made things pleasant with your servant.”
In the previous passages we have seen the writer express that it is by the hand of God that he is kept from evil doers, by God he is protected from evil. Not wanting to take for granted the care and provision of the Lord, he writes that the Lord has done pleasant things for him. I wonder how many of us remember the good things God has done for us. What are some of the good things God has done for you?
Note that not only has God done pleasant things, but that He has done so with His servant. The writer is encouraging us, the people of God, not the unbeliever. It is also a reminder of our position in Christ. As a believer, I am never a man unto my own, I am a servant of the Most High God. In our society, our picture of slavery is one of pain and suffering. Our politically correct world does not want the loving and humane treatment of slaves to be portrayed, as if that will some how condone the slavery. Here we are reading of the proper treatment of servants. “You have dealt well with your servant, O LORD...” This treatment is done in accordance with the Word of God. God has promised to love and care for his people. Ex 19:5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; De 7:6 ‘‘For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Mal 3:17 ‘‘They shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. 1Pe 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
When ever we are treated well, a certain amount of boldness enters the relationship. When we can trust someone to treat us right, we feel we can trust them to do other things. 66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. How do we go about gaining knowledge and judgement? We read books, go to classes, watch videos and gain more knowledge. To gain both knowledge and judgement is hard without God's intervention. He has thanked God for dealing well with Him, now he builds on that. “ For what blessings can be more suitable to an ignorant sinner, than good judgment and knowledge; knowledge of ourselves, of our Saviour, of the way of obedience – and good judgement, to apply this knowledge to some valuable end?” (Bridges, Psalm 119) Bridges further writes, “These two parts of our intellectual furniture have a most important connexion and dependence upon each other. Knowledge is the speculative perception of general truth. Judgement is the practical application of it to the heart and conduct. No school, but the school of Christ – no teaching, but the teaching of the Spirit – can ever give this good judgement and knowledge.” The Puritan, Greenham was once asked to make judgment on a matter. He replied, “ Sir, neither am I able to speak, nor you to hear; for we have not prayed. I may, indeed, talk, and you may answer, as natural men: but we are not now prepared to confer as children of God.” (Greenham, Works) What better blessing can we ask of God than for knowledge and judgment?
67 ¶ Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word. Knowledge and judgment will cause us to think of ourselves and our condition. When we have much we find it easy to stray much. Note that the writer says, before I was afflicted. We all are afflicted with sin, from birth. David writes, Ps 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. In those days, before our sin is revealed to us, those days before coming to Christ, we struggle and stray. I do not believe it would be right to say, “In those days before I was afflicted with Christ.” Before we understand the state of our affliction with sin, we go astray. A more contemporary way of stating this phrase may be, “ Before I came to Christ, I sinned, but now I keep your word.”
68 ¶ You are good and do good; teach me your statutes. We can never be reminded too often about the goodness of God. Even in those times when our sin is being shown to us like a movie on a big screen tv we should be reminded of the goodness of God. There is nothing good in us apart from Christ and apart for Christ we can do no good. Goodness is the summation of all of God's attributes. When life is getting us down, God's goodness leads us to His word.
69 ¶ The insolent smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; 70 their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. The proud and arrogant will always think they are better than God's people. The struggle we too often face is trying to please the “insolent.” We think if we can make them happy, they will just get off our backs. The psalmist writes that our lives are to be different. Even though we are smeared, we are not to bow down and behave as they wish, instead, we are to turn to His Word. The insolent have hearts like fat, gooey and sickening, nothing they say brings any nourishment. God's word, on the other hand, brings life. Too often we are concerned with what others are saying, this passage speaks of our keeping and delighting in the Word of God. Our only concern should be with what God is saying , not what man is saying.
71 ¶ It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. Earlier, the psalmist wrote that before he was afflicted he went astray. Here we read, that it was good. How can our affliction of sin be good? “None indeed but the Lord's scholars can know the benefit and this teaching.” (Bridges, Psalm 119) Often times, our best lessons are learned when we are our lowest. Some times it takes our failure to learn the right way to go. Some ask me how I learned to repair computers. My reply has been, “When you mess up enough computers, you learn what not to do.” Martin Luther once said, “ I never knew the meaning of God's word, until I came into affliction. I have always found it one of my best schoolmasters.” This verse calls us to daily examination. What are those areas in my life that have led to failure and sin? How can I overcome my sinfulness?
72 ¶ The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. This verse answers the previous questions. Where do we turn when in need of guidance and correction? The Word of God. Where do we run to find words of comfort and counsel? The Word of God. Where do we turn to find teaching about our Savior? The Word of God. There is nothing as great as God's Word properly applied. We can have a billion dollars, but it can not point us to eternity, it can not even purchase a moment of time. Only the Word of God can point to eternity. What can be of greater value than the truth of life in Christ?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
Psalm 119 Heth
Posted on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 6:04 PM by David Zavadil
57 ¶ <HETH> The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words.
58 ¶ I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise.
59 ¶ When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; 60 I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments.
61 ¶ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law.
62 ¶ At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules.
63 ¶ I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.
64 ¶ The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!(ESV)
We Americans like everything big. We go to a restaurant and try to figure out which dish will bring the most food. We like big houses, big cars, big pets, big everything. Yet, one thing that scares almost all of us to a person is a big God. The Psalmist calls our attention back to our view of God. 57. The LORD is my portion; I promise to keep your words. These words are difficult in our modern English What does the writer mean by "my portion?" We might could paraphrase that first line as, "The Lord is all that I need." He is enough. We always seem to want more, but the Psalmist reminds us that in Christ we have all that we need. What does it mean to be content? We think it means having more, but the Scriptures teach us that contentment is found in all we need, it is found in God. Because I have all that I need in God, in Christ, I am going to keep your word. There is nothing else I need, so why live or do anything else but live for you Oh Lord?
"But a portion implies, not a source of ordinary pleasure, but of rest and satisfaction, such as leaves nothing else to be desired." Charles Bridges, Psalm 119
58 ¶ I entreat your favor with all my heart; be gracious to me according to your promise. When we find the portion of the Lord, the sufficiency of God in our lives, we are driven to call out for his favor. Anytime we discover contentment, we cry out for more. The psalmist, finding that God fulfills all of his needs, cries out, "Lord show me favor." As God's word works in our lives, making us more like Him, we desire even more. The natural question that arises here is, "what is God's favor?"
Is not the favor of God, God himself? In Christ we find the true fulfillment of this promise. The grace and mercy found in Christ is all we could ever want. Like the Psalmist we are to seek God with all our heart. God has promised to be gracious to us, fulfilling this promise in Jesus Christ. "We 'joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we now receive atonement.' (Rom. 5:11) Mercy, however, is the source of that favour which we entreat; and the word is the warrant of our expectation - Be merciful unto us according to thy word." (Bridges, Psalm 119) Never forget, dear reader, the promise of mercy and grace is found throughout the Word of God. Our cry does not fall on deaf ears but lightens upon the God of the Word. He will fulfill His promises. Rest in those promises.
59 ¶ When I think on my ways, I turn my feet to your testimonies; Oh, if we would only rest on the Word of God. If only God were our constant thought. Most of us, however, think more of our stomachs that we do of God. The Psalmist teaches us what should happen when we turn our thoughts to ourselves. We should be driven back to the Word of God. "Multitudes live for the world - forget God and die! This is their history." (Bridges) Anytime we are dwelling upon self, we should be driven to Christ, for as we think of self we realize our need for Christ. He is both our starting place and our finish line.
60 I hasten and do not delay to keep your commandments. When we begin to see our lives for what they are, sinful lives in need of a savior, we shouldn't dally around, hoping one day we might find the answer to our condition. We are in such a need of a savior that we should run to Christ, not walk and wait. "If ever delays are dangerous, much more are they in this concern of eternity." (Bridges) We must not take our time in learning the Word of God. His Word must become a daily part of our lives. When we see who we are apart from Christ we must run with haste to the commands of God. They are the guide to carry us through the day.
61 ¶ Though the cords of the wicked ensnare me, I do not forget your law. The world bombards us with all kinds of influences every day. We have become so desensitized to sin that we too easily find ourselves ensnared in the very sin we condemn. What are we to do when facing the temptations of the world? First we need to remember the Word of God. I do not forget your law. Paul writes, 1 Cor. 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. There is nothing we will face that God can't over take. Remember we can endure temptation. Second, we must flee the cords of the wicked. Put the sins of our youth behind us and live a life worthy of Christ. 1Ti 6:11 But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 2Ti 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Turn to the Word to find the strength to flee sin and walk with Christ.
62 ¶ At midnight I rise to praise you, because of your righteous rules.
63 ¶ I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.
64 The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!
What a feeling of relief it is when we succeed in overcoming sin. When the Scriptures become central to our lives and we find our lives driven by the power of God in us, we are moved to praise. The psalmist is so moved that he awakens in the middle of the night to praise God. The question that arises is this, "Do you praise God when you find His Word powerfully at work in your life?" Our life should be a life of praise, we read that throughout the Bible.
You are never alone when you walk with God and are a man or woman of the Word. We are, as the psalmist writes, are "a companion of all who fear you." There is a unity of faith that is found in the unity of the Word. The uniqueness of the Christian faith is that no matter where you are in the world, the Bible is still the Bible. The language may be different, but the truths are still the same.
One of those truths is expressed in our final verse. The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; The love of God is all around us. Ps 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. Since His love surrounds us, we can look to God for contentment, for His portion. The psalmist begins by pointing to God and ends this passage by pointing back to God. He is our portion, all that we need, because of this, we should rest in His Word.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
Comments Restored
Posted on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 at 3:28 PM by David Zavadil
I have restored the comments on this blog. It is a new account so all of the previous comments, including the spam have been deleted. I plan on writing more and moderating the comments tighter. I pray that at some time this site will be used by people around the world for edification and growth.
Edited on: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 4:03 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Books (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Family happenings (RSS), Fear of God (RSS), Just For Fun (RSS), Locarb (RSS), Ministry (RSS), Mortification (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS), Puritans (RSS), Stupid Movie Quotes (RSS), The Church (RSS), TNT (RSS)
Comments Spammed
Posted on Sunday, March 23, 2008 at 6:27 PM by David Zavadil
My comments were spammed recently so I have eliminated them until I can find a better system.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Books (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Family happenings (RSS), Fear of God (RSS), Just For Fun (RSS), Locarb (RSS), Ministry (RSS), Mortification (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS), Puritans (RSS), Stupid Movie Quotes (RSS), The Church (RSS), TNT (RSS)
Psalm 119 Zayin
Posted on Tuesday, January 22, 2008 at 2:28 PM by David Zavadil
49 ¶ <ZAYIN> Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
50 ¶ This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life.
51 ¶ The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law.
52 ¶ When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.
53 ¶ Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.
54 ¶ Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
55 ¶ I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law. 56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.
Zayin begins with the Psalmist reminding God of His hope giving promise. Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. As we study Scripture and seek to apply it to our lives, the Word of God should always be pointing us to the source of true hope, God. God is to be the focus of our lives, our object of hope. This verse serves to remind us that in the Word we find the teachings of hope. When we are downcast or persecuted, we can find in God's Word hope. God has promised us life, forgiveness, provision, care, healing, peace and an abundant life. We are challenged to remember these promises as we look for God at work in our lives. Charles Bridges, in his commentary on this psalm writes, "Faith trusts - now what the eyes sees, but what the word promises." For us to truly know the truths of our faith we must know the truths of the Word of God. Like the Psalmist, we should seek God's teaching and direction to help us understand God's Word.
All of us at some time will suffer affliction. We will know first hand of sickness or watch a loved one struggle. It is all around us and yet what do we do when affliction hits? The writer states, 50 ¶ This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life. The promises of God, as found in His Word are to be our source of comfort. In a world where doctors and scientists are considered among the intellectual elite we are called back to this ancient book to find comfort. Building upon verse 49, the Psalmist reminds us, the readers, that the promises of God, we are asking Him to bring to memory and that give us hope, will be the same promises that bring us comfort.
There is a thought that is essential for us to understand. We will find no hope nor comfort in the Scriptures if we do not know the God of the Scriptures. You note through out the Psalm that the writer speaks to a God he has a relationship with, not some far off God he can not access. To know the hope and comfort you read about, you have to know the God you read about. "But first the word becomes life - then comfort. And those only, who have felt the quickening power of the word, can realize its consolations. Be thankful, then, Reader, if , when dead in sins, it "quickened you"(James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23); and when sunk in trouble, once and again it has revived you." (ibid)
In verse 51 the author touches upon the most common form of affliction we, as Christians, face. 51 ¶ The insolent utterly deride me, but I do not turn away from your law. Persecution, whether verbal or physical hurts. More, in my estimation, are caused great pain by the power of words than any other form of affliction. The truth, however, is that as a Christian you are opened up to derision. The most humbling phrase we can hear is, "I thought you were supposed to be a Christian." Bridges writes, " Faith in the doctrine of Christ, and conformity to the strict commandments of the gospel, must expose us to the taunts of the unbeliever and the worldling." If you are walking the Christian life, living in the power of the Holy Spirit, your life will be different for the world. People do not like different and react by deriding and taunting those who live that way. If our heart is set upon the God and His Word, the scorn of neighbors, the harsh words of coworkers the derision of the lost will drive us to the Word of God not away from the Word. The harsh treatment of others causes us to recall the merciful and gracious treatment of our Father in Heaven.
The Psalmist brings us back to the Word of comfort during times of affliction with these words.
52 ¶ When I think of your rules from of old, I take comfort, O LORD.
53 ¶ Hot indignation seizes me because of the wicked, who forsake your law.
54 ¶ Your statutes have been my songs in the house of my sojourning.
When the words and actions of others are pressing upon us we can find comfort in the Scriptures. At the same time, there should burn an anger within us against all that steals away from God and His Word. When put upon we will get angry, we will suffer hurt, we may even want to fight back. Though indignation comes, we are to remember the grace of the Father. Though convicted of crimes he didn't commit, tortured and nailed to a cross, Jesus did not lash back, he hated the sin, but sought their forgiveness and redemption. Despite my sinfulness and the pain I cause God, He forgives me and calls me to His Word. We may get angry with the wicked, but that is never to be an excuse to forsake the teachings of Scripture. I wonder what would happen if, instead of lashing out when hurt, we began to literally sing the songs of Scripture. God's Word is to be such a part of our life that daily instead of the song we hear on the radio, the words of Scripture are to be singing in our brain. What would happen if the next time someone made you angry you started singing a psalm to them?
I confess that when I get home at night, I usually just want to chill out, to sit and do nothing. To often that is just what I do. This passage teaches us that we are to think otherwise. 55 ¶ I remember your name in the night, O LORD, and keep your law. 56 This blessing has fallen to me, that I have kept your precepts.
There are two final points I want to touch on from these verses. First, there is no time of day or night that is truly "ours" they are all the Lord's. During those times when we just want to rest and relax, to forget about everything, in those very times we are called to remember our Lord. Secondly, those times of keeping God's Word just serve to remind us of what a blessing the Scriptures are for us. Think about it for a moment. The Bible you hold in your hand is an intimate love letter written to you from the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Almighty God loved you so much that He wanted to make sure that you had in your possession His instructions, that you might live to His glory all the days of your life. What greater blessing has fallen to us than the Word of God that leads to hope?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
The Puritan Challenge
Posted on Monday, January 07, 2008 at 10:41 AM by David Zavadil
It seems I was not the only one who felt called to the challenge of reading a puritan a month. The Puritan Reading Challenge has a plan for the monthly readings. I will be adapting, slightly, the list of readings as there are a few on the list I have already read. In the next day or two I will post my reading list for year. Won't you join me on this quest?
Edited on: Monday, January 07, 2008 10:44 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Books (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Just For Fun (RSS), Puritans (RSS)
Psalm 119 Waw
Posted on Thursday, December 27, 2007 at 10:38 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Tuesday, April 11, 2006
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
42 then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
43 And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever,
45 and I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts.
46 I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,
47 for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love.
48 I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on your statutes.
I have to apologize to those of you who have been following this study. I have been substitute teaching, while seeking a call and have had little time to sit down and write. I had hoped to maybe make use of my palm, but have not yet found the software that would allow me to write a post and add it to my site. At any rate, let me do this today, let me begin on this section and rather than trying to cover the whole passage, I will work on part and finish in the next couple of days. Fair enough? I pray so.
41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise;
Love. I think that if there is one thing every human wants to experience it is love. Not necessarily erotic love, but the fullness of love that overwhelms the life of the recipient. The Psalmist prays for that type of love. Charles Bridges writes, " A prayer of deep anxiety-large deisre-simple faith!" That it is!
The word translated love in the ESV is rendered mercies in the KJV and "unfailing love" in the NIV. The Hebrew word is chesed and carries a meaning that emcompasses the fullness of God's mercy and love. To experience the chesed of God is to experience the fullness of the character of God and is seen in His loving mercy to us. It is bound in and with his salvation, promised to us beginning in Genesis 3:15 and repeated throughout Scripture. In fact, the true mercies of God can not be seen apart from the salvation of God. To think of God's mercy, His full love, without contemplating His salvation is impossible. Bridges put it this way, "Therefore general notions of mercy without a distinct apprehension of salvation have their origin in presumption, not in warrented faith." Lord, let your mercies come upon us!
This mercy/salvation relationship raises a question. Why are we in such a need of the fullness of love displayed in God's saving mercy? ( Ok, I know none of us really talk like this, but it sounds nicer than,"Why do I need that stuff?") We first need to be saved from the wrath and punishment of a Holy God. The sinful acts of our first parents, Adam and Eve, left us all condemned as sinners. At birth we are already marked with a death sentence. The merciful salvation of God, frees us from this death sentence.
Not only are we condemned from birth, we are also under bondage to sin. Sin wars against us all of our lives, but through the saving mercy of our God, it has no victory. However, it is not a foe to be taken lightly. William Bridge, not the same man I quoted earlier, said, "If the guilt of sin is so great that nothing can satisfy it but the blood of Jesus; and the filth of sin is so great that nothing can fetch out the stain thereof but the blood of Jesus, how great, how heinous, how sinful must the evil of sin be." Apart from the mercy of God found in the salvation brought us through Jesus Christ, we could never overcome the bondage of sin. In the merciful salvation of Jesus Christ, we are made righteous through the effective work of Christ, not anything we have done or will do.
We also need to be saved from ourselves. I don't know about you, but I do know myself. If I am in charge, I will make a mess of things. I will begin by taking the easy path and then seek the one that will make me feel the best, and give me the most in return. Left to myself, I not only won't but can not seek the way of God. The mercies/love of God found in His salvation frees me from this bondage to self. I am no longer bound to mess things up but freed to live in grace and mercy, resting in the righteousness of Christ.
Every day we should begin as the Psalmist begins this passage. 41 Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise; Make this your prayer each day as you awake. We will next examine how this is carried out in our lives.
This completes my previous posts. I will begin next week with a new study from Psalm 119. I pray that this study will be edifying to all who read it.
Edited on: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:55 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Ministry (RSS), Psalm 119 (RSS)
What Mortification is Not
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 3:17 PM by David Zavadil
“Suppose a man to be a true believer, and yet finds in himself a powerful indwelling sin, leading him captive to the law of it, consuming his heart with trouble, perplexing his thoughts, weakening his soul as to duties of communion with God, disquieting him as to peace, and perhaps defiling his conscience, and exposing him to hardening through the deceitfulness of sin, what shall he do? What course shall he take and insist on for the mortification of this sin, lust, distemper, or corruption, to such a degree as that, though it be not utterly destroyed, yet, in his contest with it, he may be enabled to keep up power, strength, and peace in communion with God?”
In this week's reading of The Mortification of Sin, Owens discusses what mortifying sin is not. While brief, it is a section worth reading. I found myself convicted of my own attitudes toward sin as I read this chapter. Listen to some of Owen's words:
"A man may be sensible of a lust, set himself against the eruptions of it, take care that it shall not break forth as it has done, but in the meantime suffer the same corrupted habit to ventitself some other way; as he who heals and skins a running sore thinks himselfcured, but in the meantime his flesh festers by the corruption of the same humor,4and breaks out in another place...He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he has mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He has changed his master, but is a servant still."
How often do you, like me, find yourself patting yourself on your back for overcoming a sin only to find that you are suffering from another form or manifestation of sin? Have you wondered why you just can't seem to eradicate some sinful behavior? Owen reminds us that we will never be fully free from sin this side of heaven. In fact, our constant mortification serves to draw us closer to Christ. If we completely eliminate sin, succeed in putting it all to death, would we need Christ?
"This we would have; but God sees it best for us that we should be complete in nothing in ourselves, that in all things we must be “complete in Christ,” which is best for us (Col. 2:10)."Edited on: Thursday, December 13, 2007 3:24 PM
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS)
Psalm 119 He
Posted on Thursday, December 13, 2007 at 11:05 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Thursday, March 09, 2006 at 11:25 AM by David Zavadil
33 ¶ <HE> Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
35 ¶ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!
37 ¶ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.
38 ¶ Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared.
39 ¶ Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good.
40 ¶ Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
Left to ourselves, what do we want to learn most? Is it God's word? How to love? The way of salvation? No, what we want to learn most is whatever will make us feel better at the moment. Face it, we all struggle with the same condition. We are fallen men or women who, when left to ourselves, always seek self before God. It takes a constant effort on our part to follow God. The psalmist begins this section with a cry to God. 33 ¶ <HE> Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Charles Bridges, writing on this passage states, "We need no instruction in the way of sin." (Eccle. 7:29; Isaiah 53:6; Job 21:14; Romans 8:7) We do not need directions to sin, we need guidance to walk with God. Thus this prayer. Bridges continues, "But for a child of God, this is a prayer of constant use. The outward revelation is of no avail with out the inward teaching. The Divine Instructor must interpret and apply his own rule." We can not follow God in our own strength but only through the grace and strength of God in Jesus.
This verse, actually this entire passage, helps us to see the connection between our practice and our hearts. It is not enough that we know how to live, how to walk with Christ, we must also know, deep in our hearts, how He wants us to live and walk. We need the Divine Teacher to show us how. Only with his divine guidance will we ever be able to keep God's statues to the end. What a blessing this is, as we grow in our relationship, our knowledge of the Word, our nearness to Christ, we will be able to keep his word to the end. Our perseverance as his people is directly tied to our relationship with Him. As He teaches and keeps us, we are then enabled to keep His word for eternity. We are dependent upon Christ for our eternity and in that is blessing (Revelation 2:26-28).
Many talk of discipleship and evangelism today. Yet, why do we not see more true disciples of Christ? Could it be that we really don't know what we are talking about? Oh we know the basics, the Sunday School stories, the great stories of the Bible, but do we really know God? The previous verse showed us our utter dependency on God for revelation of His Word. In this verse, the psalmist cries out for more understanding that he might apply it to his life. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Bridges writes, "Man cannot teach what he does not know; and of God and of his law, he knows nothing." What an inditement upon our churches. We know how to run the best programs, draw the most people, have the most fun and excitement but we don't know how to make disciples. Why? We do not know God and his Word.
Look at this verse again. 34 Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. What should be our attitude toward studying and learning God's Word? Our response should be to whole heartedly embrace it. Is it not sad that the groups and classes in the church that are the smallest and worse attended are usually those that are the in depth expository (verse by verse, book by book) study of God's Word? My friends, our walk should include a passion to know more about God and this passion should drive us to the Scriptures. There is no use for us to be saying that the American church is Biblically illiterate. Christians should be learning and keeping God's Word with their whole heart.
Verse 35 continues in this path. 35 ¶ Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. We, as I said earlier, are incapable of following God without God. As we look down the road God has for us, to many of us it is frightening. We wonder how can we ever make it. We question and doubt our way through church and life, wondering if we ever really will make it to heaven. The psalmist points us back to our source of hope and strength. Lead me in the path of your commandments... we can not and will not venture forward in our lives and walk without the gracious work of Christ in our lives. In our own strength, not only could we not make the trip, we would not want to. There are too many obstacles, to many trials, it is easier to leave it all alone. To sacrifice the fun and pleasure of the world is too hard for many. The only way to make it is to rest and trust in Christ. Like the paralytic, we must simply trust, pick up our bed rolls and begin to walk Matt 9:6).
We must not be content just to walk. I try to walk/jog for exercise. I confess, I hate it. By itself it is boring and seems a waste of time. However, I know that the benefit of it will pay off, that I will be blessed by it in the end. So, to get through, I find ways to make it fun, enjoyful. I may sing, or pray or take my ipod® and listen to a sermon. The walk along God's path is much the same. No where does God say it will be fun and easy. Yet, over and over again, we are told to delight. In this passage, for I delight in it. Bridges again, "Delight is the marrow of religion." God does not want forced contrition, passive aggression in our obedience and faith, He wants delight. Maybe that is why the Westminster Divines added that phrase, " and enjoy Him forever." to the end of the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism; "What is man's chief end?" Look at these encouraging words.
Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart. (KJV) Read this along with Hebrews 10:7 - 18. God rejoices in our delightful obedience to him.
Verse 36 continues in this vane, 36 Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Our own inclination will be toward selfishness. One of the first things our kids learn to say is not, "sure you take it, I don't mind." but "No! Mine!" We are in desperate need of God's grace in our hearts to move us toward Him and His Word. We need Christ to be able to resist the selfishness of life. Our constant prayer should be, "God work in me to not be me but to be more like you!"
37 ¶ Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Some of us walk as if we are impervious to everything. We read, "There has no temptation...." and some how think, "that is right, nothing can tempt me, I am king of the world." Then, we sit down and turn on the tv and watch our six hour average of tv or head off to the movies to watch killing, mayhem and sex. All the time we are wondering, "how is this stuff affecting me." The saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out." The Christian should be in prayer daily, seeking God and asking for His strength to avert his eyes. Not just his physical eyes but his inward, spiritual eyes also. Averting them from those things that are worthless, time wasters. Rather than focusing on the worthless, we are to focus on God's ways. "The sincerity of our prayer will be proved by the watchfully avoiding circumstances and occasions of temptation. The fear of sin will manifest itself by a fear of temptation." (Bridges p. 90)
38 ¶ Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Fear is a characteristic to be desired by a Christian as long as it is in the right mind set. We are not to fear spiders or snakes but to have a godly fear of God. It is a honor to fear God for we know that our fear draws us closer to Him. Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. The promises of God, salvation, forgiveness life, etc... give us the hope and strength to maintain our godly fear. Our fear of God is not like our fear of heights (personal confession time), but like the fear of a son toward his father. He is not scared of dad, just fearful of letting him down, or breaking the relationship. This fear, as it rests on God and his promises, moves us to know more about God, to study Him in the Bible, to seek to draw near to Him. Verse 39 is speaking of this type of fear.
39 ¶ Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. As hard as our parent's rules are for us as we grow up, we ultimately learn they were for our own good. As hard as God's Word is to live and understand, we know that it is ultimately for our own good. To that end, we fear reproach, God's disapproval, and so we seek to apply and live by His Word. If we are driven to study God's Holy Writ to learn more, to be able to debate better or even to share the gospel we miss the mark. We are to learn God's Word that we might know God better, that we might not see his reproach but may rest in His promises. The reason we have the Bible is not to promote religion but to know God. That knowledge and relationship should be the driving force behind our evangelism and worship.
The psalmist writes, 40 ¶ Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! Life is found in Christ (John 10:10). The Bible teaches us where and how to find that life. Our prayer should be that the Word of God would be opened more and more that we may know Christ and all he is and that in His imputed righteousness we will find and live life.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 199 Daleth
Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 at 11:30 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, February 08, 2006 at 1:48 PM by David Zavadil
25 ¶ <DALETH> My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word!
26 ¶ When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
28 ¶ My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word!
29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law!
30 ¶ I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
31 I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame!
32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart!
When you sin, how do you feel? Does it drive you crazy until you confess and repent or do you just move on, as everyone sins? The Psalmist provides a picture of how he deals with sin in his life, what it does to him internally and how he reacts. 25.My soul clings to the dust; give me life according to your word! The sin in his live is such that it knocks him to the ground. The picture he paints for us is of a man prostrated before God, confessing and even then not feeling he is low enough. If you have seen the movie "Luther," you may remember a scene where Luther is praying in his chamber and is laid out on the floor with his arms spread wide confessing his sinfulness to God. This is the picture the psalmist creates here. Bridges writes, "To have a soul cleaving to the dust, and not feel the trouble, is the black mark of the sinner, dead in sins - dead to God." The power of sin in our lives should continually remind us that we came from dust, created by God, but over taken by sin. Apart from our clinging to our creation and crying out to God for help, we can not overcome our sin. No matter how hard we try, how hard we pray or study, if God does not cleanse us, we will not find forgiveness. What a blessing we have in his promise, 1 John 1: 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We may, in our hearts, be led to cling to the dust over our sinfulness, but we can rest in the sure confidence that God will forgive, and this is according to His word!
26 ¶ When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes! We find a simple picture of the believers walk with Christ. As we lay our hearts before the Throne of Grace, God works in us. To often we question, "Why do I need to confess my sins, God already knows?" That is true, God does know our sin. A better question, and the one addressed here, is, do we know our sin? I can tell you, the reason I fail to confess and repent of sin is not that God already knows, but that I am not convicted of it or know it. The psalmist finds and reveals to us the way to dialog with God, open ourselves up. Confess and talk to him. When we confess our sinfulness it let us know and God know that we realize what we have done. When we confess, he answers with forgiveness. It is only as we come before God in His righteousness that we can then begin to understand His Word. Forgiveness leads to illumination. As we confess our sin and come to the cross, the Scriptures are opened up for us, leading us closer to the throne.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works. How often do you, like me, open the Scripture up and read only to find yourself saying, "What did I just read?" The sin we just spoke about can often lead to a lack of understanding. Blinded by our sinfulness, we find ourselves blinded to all of the things of God. As our hearts come under the caring hand of the Holy Spirit, we are taught. Joh 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. What the Church needs most today are not smarter teachers and preachers, but men of God who go to God daily to find clarity to the teaching of Scripture A knowledge of Greek and Hebrew doesn't make my preaching deeper, it doesn't allow me to expound any deeper, it is only as my knowledge, via my walk with God, grows, that I begin to find a new deepness in my preaching and teaching. I am to seek God's guidance through the Holy Spirit to understand and interpret the Scriptures and then I am to meditate upon them. Dwell on these teachings until they become and integral part of my life. The wondrous works spoke of here are not necessarily miracles of God's mighty hand, but the wonders we find in Scripture. In your next quiet time, instead of just reading, ask God to show you His wonders in the passage you are reading. Write them down and meditate on them. How do they apply to your life? How do these wonders make God even more real in your life?
28 ¶ My soul melts away for sorrow; strengthen me according to your word! This verse brings to us a contrast of hearts. As our heart is is set on self and sin, we experience sorrow. I don't know about you, but in my life, when I focus on self, I am almost always led toward sorrow. Why? Because the sinner that I am, I always want what I want. Sorrow enters because I rarely get what I want. Sin only begets more sin, it never brings fulfillment. So where do we go for fulfillment? Where do we go for strength The psalmist points us back to the Word of God. He cries out, strengthen me according to your word! In the last verse I challenged you to look for God's wonders in the Scripture. In this verse I want to challenge you to seek those passages that provide strength to the weak of heart. Passages like, Ex 33:14 And he said, ‘‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’’Mt 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Our strength is found in God and the promises of God found in Scripture bring us assurance and hope.
29 Put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law! Do you find yourself struggling with the same things over and over again? Are you like the addict that just needs one more hit and then they will quit? Our struggle with sin is often like that, it is addicting and difficult for us to over come. It is this power that the psalmist calls us to overcome by calling out to the only one who can help. For some of us, we will always have a weakness say for chocolate. It is not enough to say we won't eat any more, sometimes we need someone just to remove ever last crumb of it from our lives. We need God to remove those false ways from us. Sin over powers us, often keeping us from fighting back. We need to seek God and ask that He show his mercy to us by removing the temptations far from us. Ask God to remove those things that tend to tempt and then fill your mind with His Word. As we meditate on Scripture, we find we have less time to think of those things that taunt us daily.
30 ¶ I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me. 31 I cling to your testimonies, O LORD; let me not be put to shame! 32 I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart! These next three verses highlight the paths set before us. One path is laden with lies and deception, the other with truth. As Paul writes, 1Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. We will all be tempted. We will all face a decision, walk the way of God or follow our temptations. Here we see the writer, dealing with the fine line between God's active work in our lives and our responsibility. He makes clear that we have a responsibility in this thing we call sanctification. We are to choose, cling and run.
First we are to chose the way of faithfulness. He is not talking about our salvation but our sanctification or holiness. Jesus said, Lu 9:23 And he said to all, ‘‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Every morning as we arise, we have a choice to carry the cross or to leave it by the bed. To follow Christ and grow in our relationship or to watch our relationship stagnate on the vine. My friends, you will never draw nearer to Christ if you never choose to read the Word, let alone set His rules (Word) as your guide for life. You can not have it both ways. I believe in Christ, but I want to live my own way. No, you must chose the way of faithfulness and then set about to live according to God's Word. This concept teaches me that I must make the Word of God and integral part of my life, not just light reading for late in the evening.
Second, we must cling to that Word of God. The world bombards us with all sorts of messages. Even within the Church universal, we are being told that the Bible is a nice story but is not authoritative. The efforts to downplay the power of the Scripture is evident in everything from the evening news to the local school system. Yet, look where we are today. We have seen more advances by intelligentsia in the last hundred years than in all of history and still we have poverty, our kids struggle with drug and alcohol addictions, sexual addictions and people in general are no more happier than they were even fifty years ago. The Word of God promises fulfillment and satisfaction. It teaches they are found in the Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. What a shame it would be if on that day we stand before God, He asks, "Why should I let you into my heaven?" and our only answer is, "uh, cause I didn't drink, I didn't swear, I didn't chew and I did not date any girls that do." The Word of God provides the teachings that will keep us from being shamed. As they point us to Christ, we find our confidence in Him.
Finally, we are to run in the way of His commandments. Paul writes of our walk being a race. 2Ti 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Heb 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. The life of a Christian isn't a one and done proposition. We don't simply pray and all is over, we must daily hit the track we call life and live as though we are His chosen people. Again the psalmist reminds us of where we will find the strength to run this race, we are to find it in Christ. As we run according to the Word, our hearts will be enlarged, we will be enabled to see and receive more and more of what Christ offers. We do not receive all of our understanding of Christ and our relationship upon conversion, as we grow, as we walk, more and more comes clear. We need to run our race in such a way as to draw nearer to the prize, "for which we have been called heavenward." We need to run to Christ, that we may run with Him.
Edited on: Thursday, December 13, 2007 11:07 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 119 Gimel
Posted on Saturday, December 08, 2007 at 11:17 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, February 01, 2006 at 11:18 AM by David Zavadil
17 ¶ <GIMEL> Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
19 ¶ I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me!
20 ¶ My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
21 ¶ You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments.
22 ¶ Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies.
23 ¶ Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes.
24 ¶ Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.
The author of this psalm changes pace on us. In Gimel, we find a change to a prayer. The psalmist request of God and as we will see in Daleth, his confession.
Verse 17 begins with the phrase, Deal bountifully with your servant. When you think of the word bountifully what comes to mind? Abundance, greatness or goodness? In 21st century American Christianity bountiful blessing is always to be desired, but then so is a bountiful plate, family, household, job, etc... We struggle with wanting the most of everything. The psalmist however is not seeking bountiful blessing of material things but the bounty found in God's dealings with His people. He desires the most God has, God himself. His eye is first on God but then also on himself. Note, your servant. God provides the bounty, we are to be the stewards of that same bounty.
The phrase your servant calls to question our mindset or attitudes concerning our relationship with God. How do we view ourselves in light of God and His Word? Do we see ourselves as deserving of God's attention and bounty or as servants, serving a Holy God and being blessed by God's bounty. It causes me to ask as the Westminster Divines, "What is man's chief end?" I then must cry out in prayer, "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!" Only as we grasp this concept and apply it to our lives will we be able to fully live and keep God's word.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. The prayer turn to God's illumination of His Holy Writ in our lives. There is a doctrine within the Church called Perspicuity. This doctrine states that the Scripture as written is clear enough for us to understand what is needed about God. Within the text of the Scripture the gospel is clear enough that some deep theological interpretation known only to a few is not needed. The psalmist here prays that God will open his eyes even more.
18 ¶ Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. Consider the thought of God's wondrous works. As you read the Scripture, do you see God's "wondrous things?" Our prayer, like that of the psalmist, should be that our eyes would be open to see God's "wondrous things" throughout the Scriptures. A challenge I gave to the members of Grace Presbyterian Church was to read through the Book of Numbers and list all of the "wondrous things" you find in that book. Try it, you will be surprised how many wonders you find.
19 ¶ I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your commandments from me! We are all sojourners, pilgrims in this life on earth. Our citizenship is not on earth but in heaven. Php 3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We travel this earth, for God's glory, until we are called once again to come home. As we travel we are not alone, we have the body of Christ, the Church, joining us in this journey. Our brothers and sisters feel our pains, struggle with us as we pray and rejoice with us. Yet, too often we live as though we are alone and can do it ourselves. It makes me wonder, why did the psalmist pray that God would not hide the Word from him? I see him finding in the Word, friend, counselor, teacher and guiding light. Through our journey on earth, the Word of God is the one place we can always turn for a true answer, for guidance, for direction. As sojourners we need to have our eyes opened to see "wondrous things" as God leads us to pursue the call of the heavenly prize.
In verse 20 we continue the theme of a traveler. 20 ¶ My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. The picture that comes to mind is one we have seen in all of the old movies and cartoons involving the desert. In those movies there always seemed to be some man, crawling around crying, "Water! Water!" He was consumed with one thing, his longing for water. In our journey hear on earth we are to be consumed with longing also, not for water or material things, but for the Word of God. We should be consumed with a desire to know what God desires of us, to know what He wants to teach us, to know how we are to live. Is your life consumed with longing for God and his Word? What are those things that consume you? I am a fan of the music of Rich Mullins. In his song, "My One Thing," he sings,
Save me from those things that might distract me
Please take them away and purify my heart
I don't want to lose the eternal for the things that are passing
'Cause what will I have when the world is gone?
The life we call Christian is not a problem because God is too difficult to understand, no our problems stem from our distractions. We are not consumed with a longing for God and His Word, we are consumed by the distractions, the TV, the radio, our cars, our jobs even, at times, our families. The psalmist calls us to radical living, open our eyes, seek the cross, and be consumed with the things of God.
21 ¶ You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones, who wander from your commandments. Sin will be with us throughout this journey on earth. It is the common trait among all human beings. God does and will deal with each of us as we struggle. The sins of sinners, the pagans, the heathen, we can understand. The sin and wanderings of the saints are often more difficult to understand. The psalmist reminds us that God will take care of the sinful. He will bring the rebuke. This statement is in contrast to our eyes being opened and our longing for God consuming us. If we continue in faithfulness upon the path of righteousness, we will not be rebuked. If we stray, even the slightest, we will find God's rebuke. Not our of anger but love. 2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
22 ¶ Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Our prayers of repentance and forgiveness will bring cleansing. Here the psalmist prays for a removal of the reproach or scorn and a removal of the contempt or anger. How often have you found yourself struggling with some secret sin and live a bitter angry existence Friends, pray that God will open His Word to you and that you will find freedom from the angry bitter existence Search out the Scripture and see God's blessings and desire to make you pure. Pray for His purify power to be active in your life.
23 ¶ Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. This verse seems odd in light of the earlier discussion. Yet it serves to address our attitude as we take our journey. We are to plant our minds and hearts upon the Word of God. Rather than dwelling on what other people are doing or thinking about you, focus yourself on God and His teachings.
24 ¶ Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. He closes this passage with a reminder of what brings him the most gratification, the Scripture. Where do you go when facing trials? What or who is your source of counsel when problems arise? Take joy, delight in God's Writ for in it you will find guidance and direction for the weary traveler. Come to Jesus, and find your rest. Delight in his teachings and statutes as they carry you through the day. Meditate on His wondrous works and consider all of his promises to a sin filled world. God's Word is truly amazing.
Edited on: Saturday, December 08, 2007 11:22 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Psalm 119 Beth
Posted on Thursday, December 06, 2007 at 7:26 AM by David Zavadil
Originally posted on Wednesday, January 18, 2006 at 12:57 PM by David Zavadil
9 ¶ <BETH> How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 ¶ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 ¶ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. 12 ¶ Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! 13 ¶ With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. 15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.
The psalmist begins this passage with a question. How can a young man keep his way pure? The question raises a question. Why is he picking on young men? Anyone who is a male, has married a male, born a male or has a father can probably answer the question. Young men tend to demonstrate, better than others, the influence of sin. Remember your school days? Who were the ones most often in trouble? The young men! When you purchase auto insurance, who's is most expensive? The young men! When we look at our prison population, who make up most of that population? The young men! sin is the problem we always deal with, young men provide us with the clearest picture of this struggle. Thus we are asked, How can a young man keep his way pure?
The psalmist quickly answers the question, By guarding it according to your word. What does this tell us? First, environment and upbringing won't protect us from falling into sin. Money won't protect us from sin. It is only as we look to God's Word and find His directions for avoiding sin that we can keep from it. Note it is not the Word that saves, but the one it points too. Reflect on these passages for a moment I Cor 10:13; I Cor 6:18; I Timothy 6:11; II Timothy 2:22 . The Scripture gives us guidance as to how to avoid sin and keep our way pure. This brings up a thought for parents. Rather than dwelling on choosing the right friends and environments, focus on teaching your child the Word of God. As the Word begins to dwell with in them, as they begin to use it to find answers, they will choose the right friends and environments.
In verse 10 we find the author combining two elements of Christian piety. 10 ¶ With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! In this brief verse we find both a reference to the Word of God but also a reference to prayer. The author desires to know and seek God and cries out to Him. He has realized and teaches us that prayer and the Word together can keep us from wandering. It is hard to look at something else when your sight, mind and ears are focused on God.
11 ¶ I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Returning back to the question he asked in verse 9, the psalmist speaks about dealing with sin. How do we store up the word in our hearts? Reading and study is good and necessary, but what if you don't have the book with you? We can store the word by memorization and meditation. For most of us the meditation is easy to understand, it is the meditation that is more difficult to comprehend. A simple picture to remember is that of a cow chewing its cud. It takes a mouthful of grass, chews it, swallows, brings it back up, chews it some more and then repeats the process. Meditation of Scripture is just the process of chewing on and bringing back to memory the Word of God. Memorize the passages I gave earlier, in the paragraph on verse 9, then each day for the next week, bring them back to memory and think on them. Ask God to show you something new through them. Meditate on them. As the Word becomes a daily part of our thought process we find we move away from sin.
As we begin to grow in the Word of God and experience victory over our sinfulness, we are naturally led to praise God. 12 ¶ Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes! God is to be praised for He is the only one who can keep us from sin, the only one who can give us the strength not to sin, thus he deserves our praise.
What happens when we seek God with our whole heart, dwell on his word and praise him? We want to talk about Him. 13 ¶ With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. Remember your first love? All you wanted to do was talk about them. Your friends probably got sick of hearing, "she did this" and "she did that..." When we fall in love with God, as the psalmist has pictured for us, we want to talk about them. As we share, we take our faith from the intellectual element to a verbal. It becomes something we can give away.
Verse 14 returns the the relationship. 14 In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. What do you delight in? What is it that makes you excited? The psalmist challenges us to consider God's Word our delight. What do you do when you delight in something? You want to be with it, hold it, know it as much and as often as you can. If you delight in something or someone, you never want them to leave your side. Oh, how I am challenged. Do I really delight in God's Word? Can I live without it in my life? If i had the choice between Bill Gate's billions and the Word of God what would I choose? For the psalmist the answer was easy. How about for you?
15 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. Because the Word is a delight, valuable beyond all riches, we are to meditate on it. We are to focus our eyes upon God and his Word. Why is it that the psalmist keeps returning to meditation instead of studying? What is the difference between the two? When we study the Word of God we make focus on a single theme, but we tend to get the big picture of that theme. When we meditate on the Word, we chew down through the theme, become singularly focused. What does this verse, word, thought teach? How does it apply? We become focused on learning His ways. Study should lead us to meditation as we take what we learn in our study and ruminate on it throughout the day.
As our understanding and meditation of the Word grows, we will find ourselves delighting in the Word. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. Our delight will lead to a hunger that will only be filled by the Word. It will constantly be on our minds, keeping us from forgetting it and pointing out to us day in and day out how God expects us to live. This intimate love letter from God is his directive on how to live for Him. As we make it a part of our lives, we live more and more for Him. What can you do today to ensure that the Word of God becomes your delight?
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)
Psalm 119 Aleph
Posted on Thursday, November 29, 2007 at 11:51 AM by David Zavadil
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Ministry (RSS)
Psalm 119 Intro
Posted on Tuesday, November 27, 2007 at 11:44 AM by David Zavadil
Psalm 119 is one of my favorite passages. It is simple, yet poignant. A jewel in the center of our Scripture. Charles Bridges, a contemporary of J.C. Ryle, has called Psalm 119, "twenty-two pearls upon one string." C.H. Spurgeon wrote, "This marvelous poem seemed to me a great sea of holy teaching, moving, in its many verses, wave upon wave; altogether without an island of special and remarkable statement to break it up." A poetical and Scriptural masterpiece, this chapter is worthy of every believer's study.
There is not title or author ascribed to this Psalm, yet this does in no way diminish its majesty. Written as a teaching Psalm, it has just as much to teach us in english as it did in the original Hebrew. As most of you know, if you want learn the Hebrew alphabet, Psalm 119 is a great teaching tool. Each section is identified by a letter of the alphabet. In the original Hebrew, each verse of the respective section begins with a word starting with the letter for that section. For instance, the first section is labeled aleph. Each verse in this section begins with a word beginning with the letter aleph.
Not only does this book offer us an education in the Hebrew alphabet, it offers us an education in the walk with God. Throughout the Psalm the author deals with elements of piety. Our walk with God. It is interesting to note that virtually every verse in this Psalm there is a reference to the Word of God. Let me illustrate with a few references.
1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!
10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
71 It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.
119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies.
The psalmist challenges us, the readers, to grow deeper in our walk with God, not just through our study of the Word, but through prayer and meditation also. Throughout the psalme we are challenged to move beyond the theoretical and philosophical to the practical. Our daily walk is one of practice, practice to live within the rigors of the world. The only way we can do this is though the strength of God. Psalm 119 guides us to the Word of God and the disciplines of our faith to find see his strength.
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)
Mortifying Sin
Posted on Wednesday, November 21, 2007 at 12:45 PM by David Zavadil
Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it while you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. - John Owen, The Mortification of Sin
As many of you may know, I am taking part in the Challies dot com book club. We are reading Owen's The Mortification of Sin. This book is a must read, that is being said after just two chapters. In a Previous Post I posted the address to download a copy of the book. You should also be able to find it at your local bookstore. Download or purchase it and join is in our reading, it is not too late.
In Chapter one, Owen set about to clarify and define what is meant by the term mortification. It is a term we rarely hear any more. We may here that someone is mortified, "scared of or afraid of something," but ask if they have mortified anything and most people will go, "Huh?" Taking Romans 8:13, "If you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body you shall live," as his foundation, Owens demonstrates that mortification means to put to death. We are to put to death the sin that reigns in our bodies. He writes:
"The mortification of indwelling sin remaining in our mortal bodies, that it may not have life and power to bring forth the works or deeds of the flesh, is the constant duty of believers.... The vigor, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh." (pg 49)
Chapter two begins, see quote at top of this article, by challenging the reader to make mortification a daily habit. He warns of that happens when we allow sin to abide and do nothing to resist and fight temptation.
"When sin lets us alone we may let sin alone; but as sin is never less quiet than when it seems to be most quiet, and its waters are for the most part deep when they are still, so ought our contrivances against it to be vigorous at all times and in all conditions, even where there is least suspicion." (pg51)
"If sin be subtle, watchful, strong, and always at work in the business of killing our souls, and we be slothful, negligent, foolish, in proceeding to the ruin thereof, can we expect a comfortable event? There is not a day but sin foils or is foiled, prevails or is prevailed on; and it will be so while we live in this world." (pg 52)
What a challenge to us in this day and age. Though the author was writing in the 1600's, the issue is timeless. In a day when everyone wants it easier, the true road is one of constant fighting. We are to be daily putting our sin to death. To rest even one day is to give victory to the evil one. Though he has lost the war, through our slothfulness he is daily winning battles and leading "professors" into sin at astounding levels. We have become so enraptured with our needs, our wants, our work, our families our everything that we forget the challenge to forsake it all for the cause of Christ. Anything that causes us to take our eyes off of Christ leads to sin. Think about it. Is it any wonder that our churches are so weak and ineffective today? Listen again to Owens.
"If vain spending of time, idleness, unprofitableness in men’s places, envy, strife, variance, emulations, wrath, pride, worldliness, selfishness (1 Corinthians 1) be badges of Christians, we have them on us and among us in abundance." (pg 56)
I read that passage and stood condemned. Like Paul, I find myself crying, "I am chief among sinners!" How often during the day do I spend my time allowing sin to fester instead of putting it to death. I have begun a diet and workout regimen and have become a legalist with it. I want to discipline my body and must also work to discipline my soul. Daily I, WE, must be seeking out the sin in our lives and be putting it to death. "The root of an unmortified course is the digestion of sin without bitterness in the heart." (pg 56) Oh that we, the Church, would get past our complacency and learn to hate sin to the point of wanting it to die, totally. "The good Lord send out a spirit of mortification to cure our distempers, or we are in a sad condition!" (pg 56)
Posted in Bible Study (RSS), Commentary (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
The Reign of Grace
Posted on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 12:07 PM by David Zavadil
"They that receive the abundance of grace shall reign in life through Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:17.
Let us once more think what the Throne of Grace can be to us. The grace that reigns through Jesus Christ enables us to gain the victory over sin in our life here below.
Salvation does not, as many think, mean a life of falling and rising again. No, it is God's will that His children should be conquerors in their life here upon earth. But on one condition that they should day by day live in the abundance of grace that is to be obtained atI the Throne of Grace. Let us read again the words in which the reign of grace is revealed to us. In the verses which follow on our text, this point is made clear (Rom. 5:20 21): "The law came in beside, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly." Is it it wonderful that, although sin abounds grace is always greater and more abundant than sin can ever be? 1 may, reading God's Word, have an overpowering sense of the great power of sin but I have also the assurance that grace as the life power of God within me, is far more abundant and powerful.
Then these words follow: "As sin reigned in death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Whatever I may know or feel of the power of sin in the world, or in myself, I know too that grace is stronger, grace always has the victory over sin- "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." This is a sure word. They who receive the abundance of grace reign already in this life through Jesus Christ.
Do you not see how everything depends on appearing daily before the Throne of Grace with a deep sense of need, but fully assured that abundant grace, as the power to conquer sin, will be given us? Oh, that God's children would realize that the footstool of the Throne Of Grace is the place where each one may experience that "God is able to make all grace abound unto us, that we, always having all sufficiency in everything may abound unto every good"!
Andrew Murray from The Secret of the Throne of Grace
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)
The FEAR of Isaac
Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 12:11 PM by David Zavadil
Ge 31:42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.’’
Ge 31:53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.’’ So Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac,
Isa 8:13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
Jacob had set out to find a wife and ended with two. In the process he had found himself indentured to Laban, the father of his wives. In Genesis 31 we find Jacob having another of his famous dreams. The angel of God tells him to take his wives and flocks and flee Laban's abusive treatment.
Jacob drives his flocks toward home as he and his wives flee Laban. When Laban hears of their flight, he gathers a posse and sets off in pursuit. After seven days he catches up to them and confronts Jacob. Unknown to Jacob, Rachel had stolen her father's idols, seeking some sort of inheritance. Laban lays into Jacob. 26 And Laban said to Jacob, ‘‘What have you done, that you have tricked me and driven away my daughters like captives of the sword? 27 Why did you flee secretly and trick me, and did not tell me, so that I might have sent you away with mirth and songs, with tambourine and lyre? 28 And why did you not permit me to kiss my sons and my daughters farewell? Now you have done foolishly. 29 It is in my power to do you harm. But the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.’ 30 And now you have gone away because you longed greatly for your father’s house, but why did you steal my gods?’’
Jacob expresses that he feard Laban, that he would take his daughters back by force leaving him without a living and without his wives. He tells Laban to look around, if he finds the idols, who ever has them will be killed. Laban searches but can not find them. Neither relized that at that moment Rachel was sitting atop them on her camel. When Laban comes to search the animal's bags, she tells him (this is my paraphrase) 'Daddy, you don't need to come near me, it is that time of the month." Laban steps back, fearing becoming unclean, and does not check her saddle bag.
After Laban's failure to prove his claim, Jacob begins to berate Laban and in the course of this monologue shares what we read in verse 42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.’’
As we continue in our look at The Fear of God we come to this passage. The word translated fear is used only here in verse 42 and in verse 53. It literally means "the dread or terror." Here we find Jacob ascribing to God, as a name of God, "the FEAR of Isaac." Isaac had become the spiritual leader of his people. He was a man of God and as Abraham's son, the first in the Abrahamic promise of blessing. Jacob was not saying that Isaac was fearful of God like we might be scared of the bogey man or dreading God like we dreaded the announcement in school calling us to the office. I believe that Isaac had learned something on the altar in Genesis 22. That day he saw the hand of God in ways many of us never will and at the same time came to a greater understanding of Jehovah Jirah so that his fear was not on of fear of what God could do, but a fear of what would happen with out the God who sees all.
Jacob is learning a lesson, obviously taking more time to learn than his father, that without God there is not hope. He is learning, as we all must learn, that to fear God is to fear what our lives would be like without God. He is confessing here, that if God had not seen what was happening and moved on his behalf he would be undone. The thought of being alone, without God's protectiona and guidance, produces a godly fear.
The prophet Isaiah develops this thought in Isaiah 8: 13 But the LORD of hosts, him you shall regard as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.’’ As we fear life without God, not just fear it but dread it, we find our true sanctuary and rest. My friends, when was the last time you truly thought about what your life would be like without Jesus, with out the salvation you now profess? Does the thought bring chills and dread to you? Can you not bear the thought of life without the Almighty in your life?
The FEAR of Isaac brought santuary to Jacob and there he found hope. Isaiah paints a picture of our life in Christ. As we are in awe of our relationship, in fear of being separated, we find sanctuary, protection and strength to be what he desires of us. In fact, as we grow in this holy fear of God we become living rocks of stumbling for the lost. As the see our hope they will literally stumble all over trying to figure out how they can have it. It is only as the Spirit convicts them and brings to light Proverbs 1: 7 ¶ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction, that they will truly be able to find sanctuary. Only as they see that apart from Christ they can do nothing (John 15:5) will they be able to know true peace and salvation.
Edited on: Sunday, November 18, 2007 3:18 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
The Fear of God is
Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 2:52 PM by David Zavadil
Ps 19:9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
Ps 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pr 8:13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
Pr 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Pr 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Pr 15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.
Isa 33:6 and he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
As we continue in our study of the subject of the fear of God, let me move to some Biblical descriptions of the fear of God A search of the Scriptures finds eight verses including the phrase, "the fear of the LORD is." Today I want to look at each of these verses and seek to learn a little more about what it means to fear the LORD.
Ps 19:9 the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.
This verse from Psalm 19 states that the fear of the LORD has two characteristics; it is pure and it is enduring. First, let me address the thought that the fear of the LORD is clean. The phrase could also be translated that, "the fear of the LORD is pure." There is nothing in holy fear that defiles God or the awe we are to have. It is a fear looks to the ultimate source of purity, Jesus Christ, and realizes that apart from Christ we can not be pure. "And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." 1 John 3:3, ESV. Thus for the New Testament believer, the fear of the LORD intimately involves our relationship to Jesus Christ. To be pure in Christ is to be able to fear the LORD. Without Christ we could not and will not fear God, but will fear that which is impure and unclean. "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." Titus 1:15, ESV. A healthy fear of God brings clarity of mind, brings purity of thought and clean, right decisions.
This verse also tell us that the fear of the LORD is enduring forever. The fear of God didn't end with the Old Testament. It was not some how intricately linked to the Mosaic covenant and with the entrance of the New Covenant in Christ the fear of the LORD is no longer necessary. As Christ reigns eternally, the fear of the LORD continues eternally. As the Spirit of God works in us, each and every day for all of our known and unknown days we will be confronted with the awesomeness of our Almighty God. The fear of God is not that one time event that occurs just before our conversion but a daily life style that is based on our faith in Christ. An understanding of the fear of God is missing from many Christian's lives. This passage tells us that the fear of God should be an everyday happening as long as we live.
Ps 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!
Pr 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
In these three verses we read that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom and of knowledge. We should first note that the fear of the LORD is the starting place. We are not to wait until we become wise or until we reach some age of maturity to begin really "fearing God." If we truly desire to grow in the wisdom and knowledge of the LORD, we must begin with a healthy fear of God. It is this fear of God that will bring us wisdom and knowledge and give us good understanding. My brother in law, when ever someone had a question about something, would say, "Ask David, he knows everything." It seemed that every time we talked I knew someting about the topic we were discussing. Now that was partly because I am a "know it all who has to be right all the time" ( a sinful attitude I am working on) and partly that my head is filled with all kinds of trivia. This is neither wisdom or knowledge, it is simply trivia. The beginning of my wisdom and knowledge is this, "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5, ESV. Without Christ, I know nothing, I can do nothing, I am nothing. The fear of the LORD will bring about wisdom and knowledge, not trivia.
The writer of Proverbs writes, Pr 15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. Here we find that not only is the fear of the LORD the beginning of wisdom, it is the way we learn about wisdom. To learn and know what is truly of God, what is true wisdom, we must fear God. My friends, if you desire to learn to be wiser in your life, begin by fearing God. To understand true wisdom, begin to understand the true and living God. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom. As you humbly and reverently come before the King of Glory you will begin to learn more and more about Him. The word translated instruction literally means discipline, correction or chastisement. A healthy fear of the LORD realizes that the corrections God brings our way is beacuse He loves us and wants us to be more like Him. Heb 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." ESV A God fearing man begins to learn that to fall away, to turn to self, to rebel will lead to discipline, this brings about a beneficial and growing fear of the LORD and this is wisdom.
Pr 8:13 The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
The fear of the LORD is also a hatred of evil. Many will read this passage and say, "well I hate satan and anything satanic. Is that all that is meant here? " The Bible makes it clear that anything that is opposite of the LORD is evil. Every thought that suplants a thought of God, every action that replaces a godly action, every word that replaces a glorifying word is evil. It is a perverting of God's creation in a way that is evil. It is far more than just "the Devil made me do it." The evil that is to be hated is anything that is contrary to God. We see evil around us every day. you turn on the news and hear about murders, rapes, drugs and alcohol addictions and say, "that stuff is evil." In Matthew 15 Jesus redefines our view of evil, Mt 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. ESV Evil is no longer a toy of the Devil, it is in the heart of man. The man who fears the LORD will hate all evil, especially the evil in his own life. What thoughts in your life are evil? What influences around you are evil? Is your fear of the LORD greater than your love for these thoughts or vices?
Pr 14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death.
Isa 33:6c ...the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
The final two verses we will examine speak to our hearts and faith. The fear of the LORD is a part of and demonstrated in our salvation. To overcome death and gain new life we must come to Christ. Jesus, speaking to the Samaritan woman, said,''If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.''" John 4:10, ESV. Later He says, ‘‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.” John 7:37b, ESV. Jesus made it clear that He is the water of life, the fountain of life. To fear God apart from a loving faith in Christ is impossible. The fountain of life, we are told in Pr 14:27, turns us away from the snares of death. Jesus said it this way, "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand." John 10:28, ESV. A God fearing man is one who is set in his relationship with Christ. His eyes are on the cross. A God fearing man will be drinking of the fountain of life daily.
Isaiah tells us that "the fear of the LORD is Zion's treasure."Isa 33:6c ESV The fear of the LORD enables us to, through the Holy Spirit, be a storehouse, a treasure of God's. A treasurey or storehouse was used as a central keeping place to take care of an entire community. To fear God is to be treasured by God. God desires our hearts and souls. He wants our full devotion and life. As we come to Him in the Fear of the LORD, he imparts to us, throught the Spirit, all that is His. We become a living storehouse, treasure of the LORD's. We inherit all that He has as his adopted children. We now become the place that our neighbors and aliens in need of comfort are to turn. Though we are filled with the priceless treasure of life through Christ, it is not meant to be hoarded by us, but shared with those around us. We are not to hide our faith in a bottle in the ground but we are to let it be seen. A God fearing man or woman is someone who knows the treasure of God so intimately that he or she wants to share it with others, that they might be blessed also.
What is your perspective of the Fear of the LORD? Do you seek the purity found in Christ? Do you fear what would happen in your life without the purifying Spirit of God within you? Are you growing in your wisdom and knowledge of the LORD? Do you hate those things that are contrary to God? Have you taken a drink from the fountain of life? The fear of the LORD is all of this and more. Join me next week as we examine this topic further.
Edited on: Sunday, November 18, 2007 3:19 PMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
The Fear of God
Posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 at 11:08 AM by David Zavadil
Months ago I mentioned that I wanted to begin a series on the fear of God. We occasionally hear phrases like, " He feared God." "He was a God fearing man." "The fear of God was in him." Maybe you, like me, have wondered about what is really meant in those type of statements. We rarely hear sermons on the fear of God, in fact it has become a forgotten topic in most churches. Yet the concept flows throughout Scripture.
To force me to go where I have been resistant, I shared with the remnant, (the name our evening service has taken), that we would study this topic for the next few weeks. My interest peaked, and now a new motivation, I begin today to move forward.
What comes to mind when you hear "the fear of the LORD," "fear God," "the FEAR (see Genesis 31:42,53)?" Do you think, "Uh oh, here comes one of those old fashioned fire and brimstone messages."? Some would probably say, "The Bible says that?" If you do a search of the ESV you will find that there are 27 verses that use the phrase "fear of the LORD," 10 using "fear of God," 34 stating, "Fear the LORD," 15 more state, "Fear God," 5 say "fear of Him" and 24 "fear Him." I could go on for a while with numbers and derivations of the phrase "Fear of the Lord." It is suffice to say that the Scriptures are replete with references to the fear of God. At least two natural questions are raised. "What does it mean?" "How can we apply this to our lives today?' These questions will be our goal for the next few weeks.
Genesis 3:8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (ESV)
The verse above is the first time the concept of fear, or one of its derivatives, appears in the English Bible. Adam and Eve have been created man and woman. They are placed in the garden and told not to eat of the tree in the middle of the garden. Satan enters the garden in the form of the serpent and deceives them and they eat. Now I am not going to deal with original sin or deception but I want to begin our look at the fear of God. After Adam and Eve's eyes were opened to their true nature, they realized they were naked. Hearing the voice of God in the garden they hid themselves.
9 ¶ But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."
I want to focus for a few minutes on verse 10 for I feel it has much to teach us about the fear of God. The speaker in this verse is Adam. Notice that four times he uses the first person "I" to describe his actions and his state. I want to look at these four "I" phrases.
"I heard the sound of you in the garden." The word that is translated "sound" in the ESV (kole in the Hebrew) is most often translated "voice or the sound of your voice," in the Scripture. The man and woman are in the garden after eating the apple. With new opened eyes and hearts, they hear the voice of God in a new way, the way of a sinner. The word translated here is also used to speak of thunder elsewhere in Scripture. Before the fall there was no sin, no reason for God to "raise" His voice. After the fall we see both anger and wrath. Could it be that Adam and Eve heard God's voice thundering throughout the garden? At any rate, God calls out to Adam and Adam hears him. Rather than responding, "Here I am," Adam hides. Why?
"I was afraid." Adam heard something different in God this time out. He heard the thundering, powerful voice of the Almighty God searching for him. There was the fear of a child before his father, a child who knew he had done wrong. Adam says, "I was afraid because I was naked." Often I have read this and glossed over it. Adam had not had a need for clothing prior to the fall, now he realized his physical nakedness. As I read this verse again, recently, I realized that there was also a spiritual nakedness here. When Adam and Eve ate the apple, their eyes were opened up to the knowledge of good and evil. Adam was afraid because he realized his heart, his soul, was now naked before God. God saw and knew the sin that resided deep with in, he was naked before his Father and was afraid.
Think about what we have just seen. Adam hears the voice of God, thundering in his ears. He is caught and realizes that his entire life is laid open before his maker. He is petrified. We all are just like Adam. We hear, we read the Word of God. Through the Spirit we hear in our heart of hearts the thundering voice of God and are brought to fear as we realize we are opened up before God, naked. Today we call it conviction, but it is the same. A realization that our lives are naked before God, He sees everything. The fear of God is a healthy thing, a humbling thing. This fear reminds us of the creator and the creation. It reminds us of our need for God and our love for our Father. We fear God not because He is some cosmic vigilante out to rid the earth of sinners, but because He is the Heavenly Father and we stand naked and open before Him. He sees all of our scars, all of our warts, all of our blemishes.
"I hid myself." Adam's response was the same one we all too often face. When we are confronted with being wrong, with our sin, we want to run away and hide. Much like the child who was told, "Wait until your Father gets home" runs and hides when the door opens, we, when confronted with our nakedness before God, desire to hide. Adam hid that his physical nakedness might not be seen. Isn't that funny? Hiding from the very one that created the body that now Adam was wanting to hide? How often do you find yourself doing the same thing? God breathed life into you. He called you and brought you to Himself, adopting you as an heir to the Kingdom. Yet when the Father enters the doors of our heart, we run and hide and hope he doesn't see how dirty we have become.
As we begin to study the teaching of the fear of God, we must begin with an understand of our heart. We are opened up before God, naked before Him. Ps 139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. Ps 139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. The writer of Proverbs begins, 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. To begin to understand the fear of the LORD, we need to know that we are before the Almighty God. There is nothing that He does not know, nothing that can be hidden from Him. We begin with a fear because he knows more about us that we can even begin to know about ourselves. When we hear from the Word of God, in study or message, we should rightly be afraid. It is piercing, it cuts and prunes, it convicts and renders us naked before our Father. Unlike Adam, at that time we come with fear in our hearts, but with repentance to our Father seeking forgiveness and restoration. One characteristic of the fear of God that jumps out to me is this, if this holy fear does not point us to the cross, does not convict us of our sin and our need for Christ, than it is not a holy fear. We may be fearing retribution or punishment and discipline, but we are not fearing God.
Today you stand before God naked and alone. If you are not afraid, you should be. Are you going to run and hide? Run to the cross and and the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ. Put on the new self found in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Eph 4:24).
Edited on: Monday, October 15, 2007 10:42 AMPosted in Bible Study (RSS), Fear of God (RSS)
Quote from Andrew Murray
Posted on Friday, May 04, 2007 at 9:13 AM by David Zavadil
One of my favorite devotional sets is Andrew Murray's "Secret Series." Here is a quote from the passage I read this morning.
O Christian, when the world crucified Christ, it crucified you with Him, When Christ overcame the world on the cross, He made you an overcomer too. He calls you now, at whatever cost of self-denial, to regard the world, in its hostility to God and His kingdom, as a crucified enemy over whom the cross can ever keep you conqueror.
What a different relationship to the pleasures and attractions of the world the Christian has who by the Holy Spirit has learned to say: "I have been crucified with Christ; the crucified Christ liveth in me"! Let us pray God fervently that the Holy Spirit, through whom Christ offered Himself on the cross, may reveal to us in power what it means to "glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world had been crucified unto me."
The Secret of The Cross by Andrew Murray
Posted in Bible Study (RSS)