Psalms (Program #13) – The Christ Who Has Passed Through the Redeeming Death and Entered into the Church-Producing Resurrection

Isaiah 53 spoken prophetically some eight centuries before Christ, provides us with one of the most remarkable accounts of His suffering on the cross for our redemption.  Beginning in verse 5, “He was wounded because of our transgressions; He was crushed because of our iniquities; The chastening for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we have been healed.  We all like sheep have gone astray; Each of us has turned to his own way, And Jehovah has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”  Of course, this is just a small portion from this tremendous chapter but this chapter is matched by another portion from the Old Testament book of Psalms.  Psalms 22 gives perhaps even more graphic details of the Savior’s all-redeeming death and life-imparting resurrection.

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Psalms (Program #12) – David’s Concept Concerning David’s Kingship Before God Based upon the Keeping of the Law and the Principle of Good and Evil

Psalms 19:7 says, “The law of Jehovah is perfect, Restoring the soul; The testimony of Jehovah is faithful, Making the simple wise;” In the whole Bible there is no other portion which uplifts the law as highly as Psalms 19:7-11. Many Christians today also uplift this portion in Scripture; yet even if we could fulfill the law in the prayer expressed here about being clear of secret faults and presumptuous sins, God would still not be happy.

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Psalms (Program #11) – The Lines, the Principles and the Spirit of the Bible Concerning Christ and the Law

In order to understand, that is to really understand the Bible, we need several things. First, of course, we need light from God for we simply cannot apprehend the real spiritual significance with our natural understanding. But practically, there are some helpful points to bring us into that light. First, we need to see the lines or the threads that run throughout Scripture. Then there are the principles that govern Scripture. And finally, there is the Spirit of the Bible. If we see the lines, the principles and the Spirit of the Bible, we will begin to enter into not just a superficial knowing of God’s word but we will begin to enter into the depths of His words.

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Psalms (Program #10) – What Kind of Man May Dwell with God for His Heart’s Desire and Good Pleasure?

In the gospel of Mark in chapter 8, there’s a marvelous account of the Lord Jesus healing a blind man. After laying hands on the man, the Lord asked him if he could see anything. The man responded by saying that he could see man, but as trees walking. Well, his sight was partially restored but not yet cleared. So the Lord touched his eyes again and this time the Bible says, ‘And he began to see all things clearly’. This is how we are in our spiritual seeing. We need the Lord’s continual touch and healing of our spiritual eyes, especially when we come to His word. Take a book like Psalms. It’s quite easy to see something on the surface, but do we see all things clearly? Do we see Christ unveiled, magnified and exalted? Lord be merciful to us all, touch our seeing again and again.

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Psalms (Program #9) – What Kind of Man May Dwell with God for His Heart’s Desire and Good Pleasure?

Two trees were there in the Garden of Eden before Adam. Two trees that signify two sources and two lines that run throughout all of Scripture. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil is one line and the Tree of Life, with God Himself as the source, is the other. The human thought perfectly matches the line of good and evil, while the divine thought always brings us back to the line of life, the line of Christ. David, the psalmist, often teetered back and forth between these two lines- one minute declaring the superiority of keeping the law and doing good, while at other times he would abandon that altogether and flee to take refuge in Jehovah or as we would say in the New Testament, coming to Christ.

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Psalms (Program #8) – David’s Concept Concerning God’s Judgment on David’s Enemies Among the Nations and Concerning Man’s Condition Before God

The Psalms beloved by all of God’s people are composed of the expression of the sentiments, feelings, impressions and experiences of godly men. Many of the psalms express primarily the concept of the writer. David, for example, in a number of the psalms was frequently in grave danger being pursued by his enemies those who were desiring even to do away with him. And so we see his crying out to Jehovah for safety and deliverance. Other of the psalms exult and uplift the law of God connecting God’s blessing with our ability to keep the law. There are however, many psalms that express a much higher thought, even the divine thought. Psalms which present the very Christ of God maybe not in direct reference but in unmistakable clarity. These are psalms which convey God’s deepest feeling and His heart’s desire for man that Christ would occupy the center in our lives as He occupies the center of God’s own economy.

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Psalms (Program #7) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (2)

The psalmist David had a particular perspective or point of view when he wrote the 8th psalm. After being intensely occupied with his own desperate messy situation in Psalms 3 through 7, his gaze turns to the heavens and his language and his psalm becomes equally heavenly. “When I see the heavens”, he writes in verse 3, “the works of Your fingers – the moon, the stars which You have ordained…”. Well at this point, David utters one of the great lines in all of Scripture, “What is mortal man that You remember him? And the Son of Man that You visit him?” This is a line so central to God’s eternal plan that Paul quotes it in the New Testament.

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Psalms (Program #6) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (2)

The early Psalms, many of which were written by David, present us with two very strikingly different concepts; Psalm such as 3 through 7 give us David’s idea of what it is to live a godly life. But the language, the content and surely the inspiration expressed in Psalm 8 is altogether different. “Oh Jehovah our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, You who have set Your glory over the heavens!” Here the language is heavenly and the thought does not convey the human concept of godliness but rather brings us to the divine concept and the divine thought where Christ is exulted and uplifted to the uttermost. Clearly though this Psalm was also penned by David, it was initiated by God Himself and full of His heart and thought.

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Psalms (Program #5) – David’s Concepts Concerning a Godly Life in Comparison a Godly Life in Comparison with His Inspired Praise of the Excellency of Christ (1)

In Psalms chapter 1, David, the beloved King of Israel, extols the value of God’s law and exults the law to the uttermost. This is wonderful. But, recall the story of 2 Samuel when the same King David so grossly abuses his kingly authority to have an innocent man, even one of his generals murdered, so that he could steal away his beautiful wife, Bathsheba. In the span of this one sin, David breaks two of the most serious commandments, those which he exulted – murder and fornication. How could this happen, we ask? Well the answer comes from the apostle Paul in the New Testament – where the Bible reveals that although the law is good and holy and righteous, it is also powerless to help us because though it may motivate us to keep it, it cannot supply us with the life supply to meet its demands. So its demands fall upon the flesh for their strength. Both David in the Old Testament and Paul in the New Testament discovered this harsh reality the hard way. The question is, have we?

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Psalms (Program #4) – Christ in God’s Economy versus the Law in Man’s Appreciation (3)

In our natural common mentality, the law of God easily assumes a preeminent position.  We can relate to the notion of keeping a high moral standard of conduct.  And surely this seems in line with what must be God’s plan and desire for mankind.  After all God Himself gave the commandments to Moses to pass on to His people, the children of Israel.  But there is a fundamental problem; when we afford the law the central position in our relationship to God and that is although it is good and righteous and holy, the law is powerless and must rely on man’s fallen flesh to carry it out.  Try as we may and regardless of how much desperate prayer expressing our earnest desire to carry it out we add to it,  the result is inevitable, an utter failure, leaving us defeated and condemned and spiritually dead.  Oh that our eyes would be open to see that this righteous law that so vividly portraits God’s holy nature has never occupied the central place in His plan.  For that place throughout eternity is reserved unchangingly for the Christ of God alone.

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