SECURITY

We know that when David was chosen by the LORD to lead Israel there was a minor fulfillment of this Psalm-Prophecy, but it is also prophetic of the GREATER SON of David's line, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. In another place God spoke through Moses, saying, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet from the midst of your brethren, like me [Moses]; to him you shall listen" (Deuteronomy 18.15, Amplified Bible). Many years afterward Peter referred to this passage, and declared that it had been fulfilled in our LORD, the Servant Son. (See Acts 3.22-26).

And it's being fulfilled in His Body, now.

God has most certainly raised up ONE WHO IS MIGHTY, our Saviour, and laid "help" on Him, "For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit WITHOUT LIMIT. The Father loves the Son and has placed EVERYTHING in His hands" (John 3.34-35, NIV, my emphasis). So now it is in HIS NAME that we rejoice, and in HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS that we are being exalted, being lifted up. He is the "YES" and the "AMEN" of the covenant delivered to us, and therefore the SECURITY of life for ALL men.

"But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also mediator of a better covenant, which was enacted upon better promises.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel

After those days, says the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds,

And I will write them upon their hearts.

And I will be their God, And they shall be my people.

And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen,

And everyone his brother, saying, `know the LORD',

For all shall know Me From the least to the greatest of them.

For I will be merciful to their iniquities And I will remember their sins no more".

(Hebrews 8.6, 10-12, NASB)

Our God declares: "...the covenant I WILL MAKE....I WILL WRITE...I WILL PUT...THEY SHALL BE". God makes promises for both Himself and for us saying, "I will...and you shall."

The reason "we shall" is because He has "laid help on One that is mighty", and this MIGHTY ONE shall take up permanent residence in us by His Spirit, and then live out the New Covenant through us. What HE WRITES IN, HE LIVES OUT -- the energizing force of His own life brings forth the reality of His righteousness in us.

As children in Sunday school most of us were taught that a great many of God's promises are conditional, such as: God said to Israel, "If you will do this...then I'll do that". That pattern was presented to us and we grew up believing we must DO, if we expected God to keep His part of the promise. And there was truth in that teaching as long as God's promises were viewed from the position of the old covenant: God said, "If my people, which are called by my name, shall....THEN will I..." (2 Chronicles 7.14).

The foregoing and many like passages are quoted again and again exhorting people TO DO, with the hope that perchance God will hearken and also DO...whatever it is they ask in prayer.

The point at issue with all such CONDITIONAL PROMISES is that man can't do, the flesh can't do, and all self-effort finds man failing -- for all have come short of the glory of God.

God has instituted a BETTER way, a BETTER COVENANT, which is established upon BETTER PROMISES, swallowing-up all of the old promises into the new. Then He guarantees fulfillment of them in HIMSELF -- unconditionally, without any dependence on man -- and He has become the SURETY of all the promises He made to us in the New Covenant. "While we were yet in weakness -- powerless to help ourselves -- at the fitting time Christ died for (in behalf of) the ungodly" (Romans 5.6, Amplified Bible). Man can not in any way add something to that and help God in the outworking because -- "in due time Christ died for the ungodly". He doesn't count on man for one iota of input. It's plain that man did not then and doesn't now have the strength to save himself, and man's ungodliness just compounds the misery of man's plight. A sinner is absolutely incapable of adding to God's righteousness -- CHRIST HAS DONE IT ALL!!

All through the part of the Bible we call the Old Testament we read how God gave precious revelation to men and women, and they'd speak of things beyond their present time (or dispensation, as some say). Jesus pointed this out in John 8.56, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

In another place David reveals one of these God-given insights when he says, "Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render praise to you and give you thank offerings. For You have delivered my life from death, yes, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life and of the living" (Psalm 56.12-13, Amplified Bible).

It would be foolish to think that David wasn't aware of the "conditional promises" of God, and all of his life he sought to DO those things which would bring God's blessing. But as man relying on his own efforts at godliness must, David often stumbled along the way and found his flesh could not overcome the iniquity within. When that happened David cried out for the Divine help which alone could deliver him; but beyond all the doing, the falling, the failing, and crying for help, David had a revelation from a dimension where GOD MAKES THE VOW!! "BY MYSELF HAVE I SWORN..." (Genesis 22.16) -- and this makes God Himself solely responsible for the outcome of man's predestined place in His Kingdom. No conditional clauses are inserted. IT'S ALL GOD.

Whenever God took an oath to do something, "Because He could swear by no greater, He swore by Himself" (Hebrews 6.13). It was in thus confirming His word by an oath that God truly INTERPOSED HIMSELF, placed Himself as GUARANTOR of fulfillment.

"So help me God" ends the oath of natural man when he swears to do something. What man is saying in this imprecation is that he knows his own faith, his weakness, his lack of any real power to perform, so he invokes the name of God to help him fulfill what he's sworn. Literally he is saying, "God will be my reinforcer, my backup, my help in performance of this oath." "God also, in His desire to show more convincingly and beyond doubt, to those who were to inherit the promise, the unchangeableness of His purpose and plan, intervened (mediated) with an oath." (Hebrews 6.17, Amplified Bible). God gave His word, and that in itself is enough now as it was when He gave it. "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119.89).

God was and is ever mindful of our weaknesses, our unbelief, and He added CONFIRMATION by an oath. But there is none greater to swear by! "...Is there any God beside Me, or is there any other Rock? I know of none" (Isaiah 44.8, Amplified Bible). Because there was none greater, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, `I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply you'" (Hebrews 6.13-14, NASB. See also Genesis 26.16-17).

Now we have HIS WORD backed by HIS OWN STATE OF BEING, HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS . When God makes a promise and backs it up by Himself, we have a vow that is unalterable, irreversible -- because so is He.

The Psalmist says, "Your vows are upon me." What God has sworn to do is a promise that is ours, personally and absolutely. It's not conditional; there is no dependency upon our stumbling and staggering walk because the promise rests solely on God, on His Word and on His Being.

We don't know what was in David's mind when he uttered this statement, but we read, "My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will submit and consent to a parable or proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle -- my problem." (Psalm 49.3-4, Amplified Bible) Can we not see, in our spiritual mind's eye, the Psalmist strumming his harp, perhaps singing praises to God, -- and then the Spirit of God moving upon him to sing "dark sayings" (parables or riddles or proverbs), truths reaching out through the ages? Then, in this instance, "Your vows are upon me, O God".

When our God makes real and alive to us that the New Covenant is GOD'S VOW TO US, and that He has sworn by HIMSELF to fulfill it in us, we have rest, peace, joy, and security which cannot be expressed in man's words. So it is firmly and for the ages; THE WORD IS OF GOD "at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose." And isn't this a great process we're experiencing in which He is bringing us always closer to the glorious climax when He shares His glory with us?!

See, I have refined you, though not as silver;

I have tested you in the FURNACE OF AFFLICTION.

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.

How can I let Myself be defamed?

I will not yield my glory to another.

(Isaiah 48.10-11, NIV, my emphasis).

He has promised us a UNION, a oneness with Himself, wherein He shares Himself with us and imparts to us His glory. "And the glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them", says our Lord Jesus in John 17.22, BUT only after He has already fulfilled the qualifying verse, 17, "Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth". It's this sanctifying process that sets us apart from all that is unholy, all that is inferior, all that is of a state other than His. He says He'll not yield His glory to another of lesser quality, inferior in character and holiness, because He will not allow His name to be profaned and polluted. That's why it's written:

"My Son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD,

Nor faint when you are reproved by Him.

For those whom the LORD loves He disciplines,

And He scourges every son whom He receives."

(Hebrews 12.5-6, Proverbs 3.11-12).

And He does it for our profit, so that we might be partakers of His Holiness. (Hebrews 12.10).

When we are partakers of His divine nature, conformed to and completed in His image, we shall share in His glory, for, "we shall be found to His praise".

A lot has been made of 1 Peter 5.8-9 by dupesters who have appointed themselves shepherds: "Be sober! Watch! For your plaintiff, the adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow up; whom withstand, solid in faith, having perceived the same sufferings being completed in your brotherhood in the world" (Concordant Literal New Testament).

Holy-humbuggers often use this scripture to frighten their "subjects" and instill a sense of insecurity in them. They completely suppress the last clause of verse 9 which in the King James Version says, "...knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world". It seems to me that our Father is using Old Scratch as an aide-de-camp in order to accomplish His foreordained disciplinary ends.

In any case, this assault of our adversary isn't to be feared no matter what the priestly paralogists might say, because verse 10 gives us a most beautiful promise: "And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will HIMSELF restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." (NIV, my emphasis).

Note well -- the GOD OF ALL GRACE WILL HIMSELF restore, make strong, firm and steadfast those who trust the Christ to have overcome so that they have overcome with Him. HE processes us and has supplied all the grace necessary to perfect us. IT IS GOD ALL THE WAY!!

Jesus said, as we may say, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (John 14.30). Our "adversary" can never gain even a toe-hold in the realm of Jesus Christ -- because he will find nothing in us that he can fan to a flame of unholy desire -- for we have become "the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5.21).

Total consciousness of God leaves no room for the accuser. "In EVERYTHING give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5.18). "At ALL TIMES and for EVERYTHING giving thanks in the name of our LORD Jesus Christ to God the Father" (Ephesians 5.20, Amplified Bible).

That's wonderful! AT ALL TIMES...IN...and FOR EVERYTHING! We know that our wise and loving Heavenly Father has chosen the best way to prepare us to become partakers of His glory. "Yes, if we share in His sufferings we shall certainly share in His glory. In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us" (Romans 8.17-18, Phillip's Translation).

Let's be perfectly clear -- man is not "suffering" in payment for sin. He may often "suffer" because of his sin, reaping the crop he has sown, and through that harvest become chastened until he turns to the Saviour-God for salvation, but no suffering serves as payment for our sin. Jesus Christ became and remains the SACRIFICE offered for our sin and it is complete. Nothing need be added, in fact CAN'T be added. To even suggest that any other payment is necessary totally discredits Calvary's triumph, because "He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, BUT ALSO FOR THE SINS OF THE WHOLE WORLD" (1 John 2.2).

We come to the point where we again identify ourselves with the Psalmist, "He weakened my strength in the way: He shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days" (Psalm 102.23-24).

Why did He weaken my strength? So that HIS ALONE would be the STRENGTH which fulfills the New Covenant. "He has said to me, and His declaration still stands, "My grace is enough for you, for power is moment by moment coming to its full energy and complete operation in the sphere of weakness. Therefore, most gladly will I rather boast in my weaknesses in order that the power of Christ may take up its residence in me" (2 Corinthians 12.9, Wuest's Expanded New Testament).

He has chosen to test, try and train us in the "furnace of affliction". He has "weakened our strength" while He merges us into union with His unlimited, unimaginable strength. Is not that, if nothing else, reason enough to endure with patience?

All the moments in this passage of processing when we feel forsaken, moments when His wrath seems to grind us down are, He says, "as the days of Noah to me". For those who despair under the discipline of Our LORD'S wrath, I remind you that His wrath is His energy directed in corrective judgements and will abate when we are purged from our own ways and yield completely to His will. Then when there is only one will in us -- HIS -- the wrath is lifted and He reminds us that "the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth". Sure, there is a judgement working of God, but not to a total wipe-out. Read Isaiah 54.9-10 in the NIV:

"To me this is like the days of Noah,

When I swore that the waters of Noah would Never again cover the earth.

So now I have sworn not to be angry With you, never to rebuke you again.

Though the mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed,

Yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed",

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

And that's not the end of the promise:

"All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children's peace.

In righteousness you will be established:

Tyranny will be far from you; You will have nothing to fear.

Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you".

(verse 13-14)

He has established HIS COVENANT OF PEACE and He has declared HIS TREMENDOUS MERCY for ALL His creation.

That perfect peace and mercy is extended to "All thy children" because He has sworn to do so, and in order for ALL to know this peace and recognize His mercy, ALL will be "TAUGHT OF GOD", not just taught ABOUT God -- (that is being done through various creeds and traditions of religious institutions) -- but BY GOD HIMSELF. The Greek is plain in John 6.45, which cites Isaiah 54.13: the word "Theou" is "by God", ablative of source. ALL will have HIM, in person, as their teacher.

What will all be taught by their Saviour-God? "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them on their heart." When the ONE GREAT TEACHER illumines the heart of every man and all "know Him from the least to the greatest", then peace will reign throughout the universe because what He swore to do is done and the Covenant is fulfilled.

There is security in this beyond the grasp of the carnal mind, because down through the ages man has been programmed with negative teaching founded upon man's own beast nature. This breeds insecurity and fearfulness. In order for the true nature and character of God to be revealed to and in man, he must be taught by God.

Jesus verified the prophet's word in John 6.44-45, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, They will all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from Him comes to me." (NIV)

Until man is taught by God he can't hear, because HE must speak, HE must put His word in man's heart and mind. As His word enters the heart the more man learns from Him and the more man yearns to actually come into Him.

There are depths in His wisdom infinitely beyond our comprehension, but there is one specific thing which Paul, by the Spirit, tells us that GOD teaches: "Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are TAUGHT BY GOD to love one another". (1 Thessalonians 4.9, NASB).

Only the TEACHER whose very nature is love can teach us to love. Love is the fruit of HIS SPIRIT -- and when we partake of His nature He writes His laws in us -- yes -- HE INSCRIBES THE PRINCIPLES OF LOVE IN OUR MINDS AND HEARTS, so that out of our innermost being flows love for His creation; love that never fails.

Now, that old covenant's ministration couldn't teach or impart love, because it did not change man's nature, but only regulated his works. This great contrast between old and new is clearly seen when comparing John the Baptist's ministry with that of our Lord Jesus Christ: John was the last of the old order of the law; Jesus is the beginning of the new order of love and grace.

John came saying, "...bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; (Luke 3.8 NASB) -- and the people, long used to the regime of works, asked, "then what shall we DO?" And he answered them, "Let the man who has two tunics share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise. And some of the taxgatherers also came to be baptized, and they said to him, Teacher, what shall we DO? And he said to them, Collect no more than what you have been ordered to. And some soldiers were questioning him, saying, And what about us, what shall we DO? And he said to them, Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages." (Luke 3.10-14, NASB)

All these do's and don't's are covered in the Law of Moses, and of course, all good deeds and acts of honesty are commendable, BUT -- the deeds required by John were not produced by a love nature. They REQUIRED DOING.

Even this forthright teaching of morality put people in suspense, questioning and mulling over among themselves whether or not John was the Christ. John cleared that up: "...as for me, I baptize you in water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. And His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Luke 3.16-17, NASB).

The opening Psalm of this discourse prophesied, "I have laid help upon one that is mighty". Now John declares Him, "One is coming who is mightier than I" -- and HE WILL baptize...HE WILL gather...HE WILL thoroughly clear...HE WILL burn.... The emphasis is taken away from "What shall WE DO?" and placed absolutely upon what HE does for HE brings salvation to the people, and that salvation completely changes the nature.

There was a young man who came to Jesus and asked, "...Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answered that if he would enter into life, keep the commandments. That answer was perfectly in line with the realm in which the young man lived -- the law, "...that the man which doeth those things shall live by them." (See Mark 10.17 ff and Romans 10.5).

The young man then asked WHICH of the commandments -- because every Rabbi had his own list of works to prescribe, placing more or less emphasis on this or that commandment, so he wanted to know what Jesus' own list of do's and don't's might be. Jesus quoted six of the ten commandments, knowing full well that His interrogator had known them from earliest childhood.

THE WAY HAD NOT YET BEEN OPENED!!

So Jesus restated the Law given centuries earlier and the young man said to Him "...all these things have I kept from my youth up: WHAT LACK I YET"? He knew from experience that "the law made nothing perfect" (Hebrews 7.9), and that his inner nature remained unchanged, no matter what he DID to be whole and cleansed.

Jesus zeroed in on this and said to him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast...and come and follow Me". (See Matthew 19.16-21)

Get rid of all that hinders -- be willing to be stripped of all. Good works may gain some riches, but all the good works a man may do in an infinity are not enough! Man must be willing to be stripped of all that SELF has accumulated.

"...The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it". (Matthew 13.45-46, NASB)

What Jesus wanted from that man He wants from us -- complete surrender -- of the gifts, grace and other things we have paid a great price for through the years, giving them all back to God from whom they came. And having apprehended the "pearl of great value" -- "COME, FOLLOW ME!" "Find in ME all your heart's desires, I WILL BE YOUR PERFECTION! Place your trust in ME. I will become unto you wisdom, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the LORD." (1 Corinthians 1.30-31).

In John 6.28-29 we see people so accustomed to a religion of WORKS (as is most of our gotta-do-something-for-God-right-now-before-it's-too-late churchdom) that they came to Jesus and said to Him, "WHAT SHALL WE DO ", that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him, whom He hath sent."

"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Hebrews 11.6). -- So, if you really want to "do the works of God" -- lay hold of this and bury it in your innermost being: ALL GOD ASKS OF YOU IS THAT YOU BELIEVE ON THIS MIGHTY ONE WHO COMES TO BE YOUR ALL . And keep this ever in mind: YOU CAN'T GENERATE YOUR OWN FAITH. The Holy Spirit says that faith is "...not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2.8). You can't earn a gift; you can't deserve a gift; you can't buy or beg a gift: it is all up to OUR GREAT GIVER. As HE draws you, as HE gives you faith, then you can respond by believing, while HE fulfills that faith by being your redemption.

Believing is a response, not an initial action, because the initial action is ALWAYS GOD'S. Faith is produced in you by someone other than you, and it's not accrued to the praise of the one to whom it is given, but to the glory of the One who gives and gives and gives and keeps on giving.

"Faith" is a noun; "believe" is a verb. "Believe" is what "faith" does; when God gives you faith, response will surely follow. He gives His gifts without repentance and NEVER gives them in vain.

Tell me, if you trust someone do you trust him because of what you are in yourself, or because of what he has proven himself to be to you? It is the obligation of the one who wishes you to place your trust in him to prove himself trustworthy.

Has not our LORD revealed Himself to be totally trustworthy? All that He does is for US, and "if God be for us who can be against us...who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth." (Romans 8. 31,33 - look it up!).

THAT is the security of the New Covenant. HE is our justifier. HE brings us into union with HIS righteousness. HE draws us, HE gives us faith so we respond in belief, and then, wonder of wonders! ...HE honors that faith and belief by working in us the FULLNESS of our salvation.

It is God working all the way, and that is why the salvation of ALL mankind is secure.

"I was found by those who did not seek me". (Isaiah 65.1, NIV)

"And all mankind will see God's salvation". (Luke 3.6 and Isaiah 40.5)

Keep yourselves from idols.

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