Saturday, August 29, 2015

A life of repentance

Ps 103 1 Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--


The spirit of christian repentance is rooted in Gods benefits. When we meditate on grace we reorder our view of ourselves and our God. Our salvation is rooted in Gods covenant promises that are the foundation of our faith in which our knowledge of these benefits has a direct effect on our confidence in God.  This is a man who has a daily remembrance of this grace which is the reason that he proclaims that it has been driven deep into his "inmost being". These desires are expressed in how the psalmist feels about himself when he says to "praise His holy name." 

God has order the salvation of sinners by uniting our experience with His deliverance. You will see in this Psalm that God communicates salvation in a holistic deliverance. This is his whole argument that leads to his conclusion. "19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.20 Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.21 Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.22 Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, O my soul." This verse is the same description of the throne of God in Revelation in light of His work in redemption to bring all things under His control. This reasoning of our being complete in Christ when we are delivered is a description of the covenant unity that we enjoy by a growing confidence that the future is visiting our present experience. This covenant unity is how we are now related to the law. This is why when the Psalmist praises His holy name , he is declaring that God is meeting his every need both physical and metaphysical through the law, covenants, decrees, and promises in giving him a complete experience by his understanding of one word in which he experience the mysterious effect of the holistic  healing of all the words.

When we are delivered we receive everything we have by grace.  When we were in our cursed state the law was an instrument that prevented us from being successful. Deu. 27 15 "Cursed is the man who carves an image or casts an idol--a thing detestable to the LORD, the work of the craftsman's hands--and sets it up in secret." Then all the people shall say, "Amen!"...Deu. 27 16-26This interaction of the leader with the people of Israel is a repetition of the law and the consequences that the wicked are under. The condemning power of the law is absolute...as if the future judgement of Christ is visiting the present state of man under sin. There is no reality that is suspended in between the effects of the curse and the state of deliverance. At all times there are only two realities in which men live. In setting aside our preconceived ideas that we have come to accept in this pragmatic age, we are forced in approaching God to acknowledge that there are no other ways to describe all the experiences of men in this world in real reality unless we are able to understand the clear line between destruction and blessing. Unless we accept this clear line that cannot crossed in how we describe the events of this world then we will trust in things that are imaginative.  






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