Psalms 119:54
Psalms 119:54 says, “Psa 119:54 Thy statutes
have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”
Why this verse is talking about joy: the joy that
is found in knowing Jesus, serving Jesus, knowing and believing the word of
God. Where there is a song there is joy.
Human beings have a need for joy for happiness.
They pursue it. They follow it. They do the things that bring them joy. Why
some people make the pursuit of happiness their primary goal in life. People
like this are often party goers, happy go lucky people who love to party, go to
rock concerts all the time, do drugs, drink alcohol, and focus on their social
life.
One of the great downfalls of this kind of life
style is that such people are often weak minded and ill prepared when the
sorrows and tragedies of life strike them. And believe me,
the sorrows will come, because that is the nature of life.
What human beings really need is a sure
foundation. Jesus taught a very different philosophy when it comes to joy than
what the world teaches. Jesus said in John 15:10-11, “Joh
True joy lasting joy enduring joy, joy that is
not dependant upon circumstances, such joy is
spiritual in nature and such joy is found in doing what is right. If you want
joy do the right thing. Now this is a truth you will not hear from the world.
The world’s philosophy is, “do whatever makes you
happy.” Now that is a foolish, foolish philosophy because just as the Bible
says, Proverbs
If we took that philosophy of the world and
altered it just a little bit from saying do whatever makes you happy to saying
do what makes God happy then you will be headed the right way in the life, the way
towards experience a full and lasting joy.
There is joy in doing what is right because there
is peace in having a clear conscience. There is joy in doing what is right
because comfort and satisfaction in knowing you have treated other human beings
properly. There is joy in doing what is right because you can experience the
joy of loving others in knowing that you are an influence for good in their
lives instead of evil. And most importantly there is joy in doing what is right
because we know that it pleases God.
Psalms 119:54 says, “Psa 119:54 Thy statutes
have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”
The greatest source of joy you will ever find is
God’s Word itself. The Words of God are beautiful, elegant, and poetic, and
they reveal the secrets of the universe. The words of God bring joy because
they are filled with his great and mighty promises, promises which we know will
come to pass. The Word of God is the ultimate source of joy because it will
shape your mind to think properly to function the way a mind was meant to
function; thinking positively in even negative circumstances, and thinking
purely even amidst the evil of the world.
Psalms 119:54 says, “Psa 119:54 Thy statutes
have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.”
Now the phrase the house of pilgrimage refers to
the fact that for a Christian this life and this world is not our home but we
are just passing through. Where we live today is not our permanent dwelling
place but our permanent dwelling place will be heaven.
There is great joy for the Christian in knowing
that this life is temporary but that heaven is eternal. We keep our eyes on
heaven our final home. We can rejoice because we know that the bad things that
happen too us wont continue forever but will end one day. The sufferings,
the tragedies, the persecutions, the sicknesses, the disappointment, the heart
aches, one day it will all be gone and we who believe in Jesus will be forever
in the presence of Jesus. The resurrection is our great hope and our great joy
and our great strength as we journey through this life.
Psalms 119:55 says, “Psa 119:55 I have
remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.”
Of course another great source of joy is the name
of God itself. Over the Millennia God has revealed many different names which
have all taught us things about Him and His personality and His character and
the things that He does for us.
For example think about the name Jehovah. It
means the eternally existent once. What a great truth to understand that God is
from eternity to eternity. What an incomprehensible concept. Just to think
about all that time of eternity past and what was God doing, what was God
thinking, what was God feeling? O God is so incompressible.
Of course the greatest name of God is the name
Jesus. The name Jesus means Savior. The name Jesus is the most important name
of God because that is the name a person must believe in to be saved.
There is a false teaching which has come up in
recent years, a false teaching which through its cunningly devised argument
seeks to lure people away from the name of Jesus. And were
going to talk about that now.
There is this lie where people say the name of
Jesus is not Jesus because Jesus was A Hebrew and the name Jesus is a Greek
Name. And so they say the real name of Jesus is Yashua
which is the Hebrew for Joshua. Now Some people to
support this argument will lie and will say that some parts or all the new
Testament was origionally written in Hebrew and not
in Greek and therefore it couldn’t possible be the
name Jesus.
First of
all that’s a lie. The New Testament was originally written in
Greek even the unsaved liberal scholars of the world don’t deny that fact. It’s
a ridiculous lie. Now another way that these false teachers who seek to deny
the name of God that saves and who seek to lure away people from the name of
God, another argument they make is that they say well if you translate Jesus
from the Greek, which in the Greek is pronounced Yasou,
and translated into to Hebrew and then into English you get Joshua.
So lets
look at that argument now. For example if you take the name same and translated
it into Greek then into Hebrew then back into English are you going to get the
name John, no your going to get the name Sam. So how
is it even logical to think that in translating the name Jesus into different
languages that its going to
come back as the name Joshua. It’s not. Yeshua or Joshua is not the
name of God. Jesus is. God was never given the name Joshua. God was given the
name Jesus.
Matthew
The new Testament was
written in Greek and the name give is Jesus. Now Greek was the common language
of the
Don’t make the mistake of thinking one language
is more spiritual than another language. It’s not. God created all languages
and God uses all languages. In fact the Bible has been translated into just
about every language of the world. God uses all languages. Don’t fall into this
trap of thinking the Hebrew language is somehow more spiritual than other
languages, it’s not. It just a language. Just like Greek
is just a language.
Now concerning the issue of God’s name some will
say O, its not important. God name is not important. Really? That’s not what the Bible says. Lets look at what the Bible says about the name of
Jesus in the New Testament. There are many many
verses that deal with the topic of the name of Jesus. And whenever an issue in
the Bible is important then it is talked about many times. So lets look at some of the verses.
Acts 4:10-12 says, “Act
4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to
all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye
crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man
stand here before you whole. Act
Notice what acts
I John
It’s actually a commandment in the New Testament
to believe on the name of Jesus Christ. That is how important the name of Jesus
is. It’s so important God made it a commandment that we believe on His name,
the name Jesus.
Philippians 2:10-11, “Php 2:10 That at the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in
earth, and things under the earth; Php
2:11 And that every tongue should
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
When you die and go to the white throne of God to
kneel and to be judged for your sins guess what the name is you’re going to be
kneeling too, the name Jesus not the name Joshua. It would be best to get the
name of God right. You can’t call God by name that is not His name and say that
you are believing in and Worshiping Him that just is not true. We don’t get to
decide what the name of God is. If you’re believing in
the name Joshua you’re not saved. It’s Jesus that saves. It’s the name of Jesus
that has the power to forgive sins. Those who reject the name of Jesus reject
it because they do not truly want to repent of their sins. That is the truth of
the matter.
Let’s look at another group of verses. Hebrews
1:1-4 says, Heb 1:1 God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past
unto the fathers by the prophets, Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his
Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the
worlds; Heb 1:3
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; Heb 1:4
Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they.”
These verses are talking about Jesus Christ. Who
has the more excellent name Jesus does. Jesus does.
Now there are many, many more verses that could
be quoted in regards to this issue but I’m only going to share one more.
Revelation 3:8, “Rev 3:8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my
word, and hast not denied my name.”
One of the great things about the church o
In conclusion is the name of Jesus important. Yes
it is. It’s belief in the name of Jesus that saves. The word Jesus and the word
Joshua are not the same word anymore than the word
Sam and the word John are. Don’t be deceived by cunningly devised fables, or
intellectual arguments from those who seek to lead you astray.
Psalms 119:56-57 says, “Psa 119:56 This I had,
because I kept thy precepts. Psa 119:57 CHETH. Thou art my portion, O
LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.”
There is one very simple and great result of
believing God’s Word. You get to have Jesus.
When a
person falls in love that other person becomes everything to them. To be around their love means everything and is the most wonderful
thing to them. And that’s how it is with Jesus. Once you learn about Jesus and
come to understand His character and experience His personality and understand
His love and know His thoughts, His promises, His plans for you, once you
become the friend of God that God is your portion. He is all you need and He is
all you will ever want or desire.
His
holiness, His love, His kindness, the eternal depth to His personality, If you
have tasted of the sweet fellowship that can be between a man and Christ then
you will do anything to be in His presence, you will gladly serve Him and do
whatever He asks of you even if it be to taste of the cup from which Jesus
drank like the disciples desired and did.
Now if you do not know Jesus as your savior you
can come to Him today and experience His love for the first time. Jesus died
for your sins and rose from the grave defeating death. And Jesus is reaching
out the hands of eternity to you. He want’s to
fellowship with you, to be your friend to be the one who is always there for
you with His love, His mercy, and His grace to both give you eternal life and
change your life so that you become a new and holy creature in Christ. There is
power in the name of Jesus. Won’t you experience that power by believing in His
name?
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Copyright; 2017 by Bruce
Creech
All Rights Reserved