Your Testimonies are My Delight

[Christsfreeservant]

“Deal bountifully with your servant,​

that I may live and keep your word.​

Open my eyes, that I may behold​

wondrous things out of your law.​

I am a sojourner on the earth;​

hide not your commandments from me!​

My soul is consumed with longing​

for your rules at all times.​

You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,​

who wander from your commandments.​

Take away from me scorn and contempt,​

for I have kept your testimonies.​

Even though princes sit plotting against me,​

your servant will meditate on your statutes.​

Your testimonies are my delight;​

they are my counselors.” Psalms 119:17-24 ESV​

Those of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness, who have died with Christ to sin, and who have been raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin but as slaves to God and to his righteousness, should also be those who are walking according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. And we should be those who love the Word of God and who desire to walk in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. And it should grieve us to see so much of what is presently going on in the name of Christ, and in the name of his gospel of salvation.

For so much of what is called “church” today are human-based businesses being marketed to the world just like any other businesses, with the intended goal to attract the ungodly of the world to their gatherings. And so they alter (and dilute) the character of God/Christ and of his church, and they alter the message of the gospel of Christ by teaching Scriptures out of context and by twisting them to say what they do not teach in context. And so many of them are refusing to listen to the truth of God’s word, for it is opposed to the way in which they choose to live their lives.

For so many of what are called “churches”, at least from a leadership standpoint, are giving their people, particularly the wanderers, permission to keep on living in sin, in self-indulgence and immorality, practicing what is dishonorable, corrupt, vile, immoral, wicked, depraved, and dishonest. For they are coddling them in their sins and teaching a diluted and altered gospel which does not demand death to sin and living to God and to his righteousness. So they help the self-addicted to excuse away their dishonorable, vile, immoral, wicked, and depraved life choices.

Now, if you are someone who loves the Lord and the truth of his word, and so you are also someone who grieves over the sinful condition of today’s church here in America (and perhaps is like this in other nations), and so you are also someone who speaks out the truth of God’s word, and who exposes the fruitless deeds of darkness, don’t be surprised if church leaders do not support you at all or even if they reject you and cast you aside and don’t want you to be part of their fellowships. For so many today are supporting the sinfully addicted, so they will not support you.

And, thus, the selfish and the self-indulgent, who are wanderers, are given permission to go from bad to worse and to return to where they were before they made professions of faith in Jesus Christ. And now their past has become their present and their future. For they are being given permission to remain in the flesh, to do what the old man sinful nature dictates, and to lose all sense of conscience and morality and propriety. So many are now engaged in the unthinkable, with no one to stop them. But they are being assured of their salvation and eternal life with God.

But the leaders (pastors, elders, etc.) of many of these “churches” are listening to and are following the lies of the enemy of our souls, and they are not listening and are not willing to listen to the truth. But they are engaged in altering the character of God and of his church and of his gospel message to make them more acceptable and attractive to the ungodly of the world who they want to attract to their gatherings. They are those who are saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace, and who are putting “Band-Aids” over serious sin wounds. And so the sinfully addicted continue on in sin.

Now, not every church congregation and/or pastor is like this, but many are, probably the majority are, from what I have witnessed, heard, and read about and observed and experienced. And I have experienced a lot! And I have heard and read much! And I would say that this represents the majority of what is out there called “church” here in America today. For so many are now following marketing 101 over and above the Scriptures, and they are more concerned with attracting the world to their gatherings than they are with saving people’s souls from sinful addiction and from hell.

But all of us who delight in the Word of the Lord, and who desire to obey our Lord’s commandments (New Covenant), and who grieve over the sinful condition of today’s modern market-driven “churches,” and over the lives which are being destroyed by the lies of Satan, are to keep on following the Lord. We are to keep on speaking the truth of the gospel and calling for people to repent of their sins and to obey the Lord, even if we are rebuked and attacked and rejected, in return, and even if we are thought evil of while the wicked continue to go from bad to worse. We must stay the course!

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

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