GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 26 ~ ~ Psalms 27:1-5 ~ ~ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.”
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Our gifted teacher, Charles Spurgeon on these verses:
“After conversion our God is our joy, comfort, guide, teacher, and in every sense our light; He is light within, light around, light reflected from us, and light to be revealed to us. Note: it is not said merely that the Lord gives light, but that He is light; nor that He gives salvation, but that He is salvation……Under David’s painful circumstances we might have expected him to desire rest, safety, and a thousand other good things; but no, he has set his heart on the pearl, and leaves the rest.”
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From John Piper’s book, Day 15, of why Christ Suffered and Died:
TO MAKE US HOLY, BLAMELESS, AND PERFECT
Hebrews 10:14
“for by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Colossians 1:22
“He has now reconciled (you) in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.”
1 Corinthians 5:7
“Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lab, has been sacrificed.”
One of the greatest heartaches in the Christian life is the slowness of our change. We hear the summons of God to love Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength (Mark 12:30). But do we ever rise to that totality of affection and devotion? We cry out regularly with the apostle Paul, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24). We groan even as we take fresh resolves: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me His own.” (Philippians 3;12).
That very statement is the key to endurance and joy. “Christ Jesus has made me His own.” All my reaching and yearning and striving is not to belong to Christ – which has already happened if I have made the decision to believe and live for Him – but to complete what is lacking in my likeness to Him.
One of the greatest sources of joy and endurance for the Christian is knowing that in the imperfection of our progress we have already been perfected – and that this is owing to the suffering and death of Christ. “For by a single offering (namely, Himself!) He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14). This is amazing! In the same sentence He says we are “being sanctified” and we are already “perfected.”
Being sanctified means that we are imperfect and in process. We are becoming holy – but are not yet fully holy. And it is precisely these – and only these – who are already perfected. The joyful encouragement here is that the evidence of our perfection before God is not our experienced PERFECTION, but our experienced PROGRESS. The good news is that being on the way is proof that we have arrived!
The Bible pictures this again in the old language of dough and leaven (yeast). In the picture, leaven is evil. (and it takes over and controls the dough as evil takes over and controls us if we’re not saved, and not on guard against it after we are saved) We are the lump of dough. It says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Christians are “unleavened.” There is no leaven – no evil. We are perfected. For this reason we are to “cleanse out the old leaven.” We have been made unleavened in Christ. So we should become what we are.
The basis of all this? “for Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” The suffering of Christ secures our perfection so firmly that it is already now a reality. Therefore, we fight against our sin not simply to BECOME perfect, but because we ARE. The death of Jesus is the key to battling our imperfections on the firm foundation of our perfection.