Psalms 119:81
Psalms 119:81, “My soul
fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word.”
What is salvation? Salvation refers to being
rescued and delivered from the power of sin, the consequences of sin, and the
judgment for sin.
Salvation is a free gift of God to all those who
believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s that simple. Jesus is God.
He has always existed. He came to this earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless
life, suffered and died on the cross for the sins of the world, and rose from
the grave the 3rd day then ascended into heaven.
Those who truly want to be saved will believe the
gospel and call out to Christ to save them. Those who prefer their sins will
reject Jesus. For those who turn to Christ there is that desire, the desire for
salvation. Such a person recognizes their own sinfulness and wants too be freed
from the power of sin, such a person realize the consequences of sin have
damaged their life and wants to be freed from it, such a person realizes they
will die one day and then will come the judgment of God and they want to escape
that judgment.
If you call out to Jesus and Jesus saves you at
that very moment then why would we find a verse like Psalms 119:81, “My soul fainteth for Thy salvation: but I hope in Thy word.”
To faint means to utterly expire, to waste away,
to consume away. If salvation is immediate then why would the soul faint? You
have to understand how salvation works. In regards to salvation God has made
many promises. Some of those promises are fulfilled immediately at the moment
of salvation other promises are not fulfilled immediately.
This situation was true even for the great mean
of the Bible. If you read Hebrews chapter 11 and read about such people as
Noah, Enoch, Able, and even Abraham it says of them in Hebrews 11:13, “Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but
having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
It’s very important to understand your own
salvation. And so its very important to understand how
the promises of God work. Some promises God fulfills in this life and some
promises God will fulfill in the next life.
When a person comes to Jesus there are certain
things Jesus does immediately for that person: forgives them of their sins,
givens them spiritual life (eternal life) and gives that person the permanent
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
So in talking about what we are saved from: the
power of sin, the consequences of sin, and the judgment for sin, two of these
we are immediately saved from: the power of sin and the judgment for sin. Once
in Christ you have the ability to do what is right. Once in Christ you never
have to worry about the judgment of God because righteousness has been imputed
unto you and God looks at you and does not anymore see your sins but sees the
righteousness of Christ. When the times comes for you
to stand before God God is going to declare you righteous because you put your
faith in Jesus. That is the power of salvation and the great power of the blood
of Jesus.
Despite these two things there is one thing we
are not immediately saved from and that is the consequences of sin you could
also say the presence of sin. Unless you are alive at the rapture when Christ
takes His bride the church off the earth, unless you are alive then you will
age and die. And we know that death came into the world because of sin.
Romans 8:22-25 says, “Rom
You see even though a
person receives eternal spiritual life at the moment of salvation and even
though a person receives a new nature at the moment of salvation, a person does
not immediately receive a glorified body. You still life in a sinful fallen
world and you still remain in your old flesh and you will remain in it until
Jesus returns or you die.
Its important to understand how salvation works
because you have many challenges to face in life once you are saved. As you go
through this life there will always be the conflict between the old man and the
new.
Romans chapter 7 talks
about this. Romans 7:21-25 says, “Rom
It is important to understand salvation, to
understand all the promises of God that pertain to salvation, to understand
what God has done for you immediately and what God has not yet done for you but
is going to do for you in the future. Some people are very confused about this
difference.
Some people teach and believe that once a person
is saved they can no longer sin. They misquote, misinterpret, and misunderstand
verses in the Bible. Verses such as 1 John 3:6 which says, “1Jn_3:6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known
him.”
Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not. Such people
take this verse to say that means a saved person cannot sin. But that’s not
what its saying. It says whosoever abideth in Him. To abide in Christ speaks of
your position in Christ. It means that God looks at you and does not see
your sin but sees the righteousness of God because you have put your faith in
Christ. You still have the same flesh you had before you were saved. You’re
body hasn’t been glorified yet. Creation hasn’t changed either. This should be
obvious.
The glorified that we will receive when we see
Jesus will be a sinless body and indestructible body. Death will not touch it.
There are a few other verses that are used by some people to support this false
teaching. But they basically say the same thing as 1 John 3:6.
Its important to not be confused about salvation. Make sure you know the
promises of God and understand the things God has done for you and the things
God has yet to do for you and the difference between the two.
Concerning
salvation the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 3:8-15, “Php 3:8 Yea
doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his
resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto
his death; Php 3:11 If by any means I might
attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Php
Notice in these verse that Paul said, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already
perfect.”
Paul knew He wasn’t perfect. Paul knew he was
still a sinner, Paul knew he made mistakes, Paul knew
he had not yet attained, Paul knew He still had to strive for the gospel. In
other words He like all Christians are a work in
progress. There was more to learn, there was more ways in His character to be
conformed to the image of Christ.
Now one might ask the question why would God when
He saves us not glorify us immediately? After all our sins are washed away and we have become children of
God. I think the answer to this is that God has a work He is doing in
this world, the saving of other souls not just yours, and he wants you to be a
part of that. So He keeps you in this world so that you can serve Him.
God also loves freedom, freedom of choice. God
loves the fact that those who choose Jesus choose to serve Him. Every day over
and over choosing again and again to make the right decision to pick that cross and follow
Christ and to live by faith. This pleases God. And one day, in the next life,
it will be a great many more reasons and plans that God has purposed which will
explain why God does things the way He does them, things such as making us wait
until the next life to received that glorified body and to be freed from the
prescence of sin.
Psalms 119:82-84 says, “Psa
119:82 Mine
eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? Psa 119:83 For I am
become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes. Psa
119:84 How many
are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou
execute judgment on them that persecute me?”
Once you understand salvation then you are
prepared to face life as a Christian. And you better get prepared because there
are sufferings and sorrows and persecutions to face. That’s what these verses
are talking about when they say, “I am become like a bottle in smoke.” A bottle
in those days was more like a leather container and in the smoke such material
could dry, crack, and wither.
As you walk through this life it can get to you,
age will creep up on you and age is a consequence of sin, the sorrows and
tragedies of life can wither you and weigh you down. And most importantly when
persecution comes your way and people do evil unto you you’re going to cry out
to God for justice and wonder when God will bring that justice. And the answer
to that question is not in this life. Ultimate justice and judgment comes at
the judgment seat of Christ.
But ultimately we are like bottles in smoke: we
age, we wither and we die. But there many spiritual benefits to growing
old. Walking through life and waiting
and looking forward to the day that God will fulfill his promises does a great
work to refine our faith in Christ. Slowly growing old and dying gives us time to truly understand the weakness and frailty of the
flesh and the consequences of sin. This is a good thing to understand because
it will result tin us valuing our own salvation more, appreciating and being
more thankful for the great forgiveness that we have through the death of
Christ on the Cross.
Psalms 119:85-87 says, “Psa
119:85 The
proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law. Psa 119:86 All thy
commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
Psa 119:87 They
had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.”
Persecution was mentioned briefly and these verse now go into more detail about what sinful men often
try to do to Christians. Of course they do it to eachother as well: dig pits.
Digging pits means plotting against someone, laying a trap. When you dig a pit
for an animal you cover it up so that it looks like the pit is not there. Then
the animal comes along and steps on it and falls into it. And that’s the idea.
Now there are many kinds of pits. Let’s talk
about a few of them. One way the proud dig pits is with words. They look for opportunities.
This is why as a Christian you need to be very wise in what you say to people.
Don’t curse don’t, don’t speak hastily out of anger, the proud will use it
against you. They will be glad and quick to point a finger at you. In addition
to that the more dangerous of the proud will find a way to try and take
everything you say and paint it in a negative light. They do this to make you
look bad, to discredit you, to try and cause others to hate you and to not
listen to you when you speak the truth of the gospel.
Not just words but actions too. The proud will
did a pit for you by looking to see if they can find you doing anything sinful
and wrong; if they do they will use it against you. This is why you need to be
above reproach and avoid all appearance of evil. If the proud can’t find you
doing anything wrong then they will try to get you to do wrong. One of the
common things that they do is try to make you angry so that you will react out
of anger and do or say something you shouldn’t. Then they will have an excuse
to accuse you and to point a finger at you and say A hah!
If you want a good example of what the proud are
like just look at how they treat our current president Mr. trump. There was a
situation recently that happened where some people were killed and the
President came out and gave a speech and condemned violence and racism. But the
proud who oppose him respond by saying well He did not condemn them enough and
he did not specifically name certain groups. That was their criticism and that
was their way of trying to make Him look racist. He did not condemn them enough
so he didn’t really condemn them so he’s racist they said.
The proud will do the same thing to you. They
will find any way they can to dig a pit for you to oppose the gospel of Jesus
Christ and to trap you. This is why you will need wisdom and a lot of it to
serve Jesus Christ.
The key thing to do is found in the last part of
verse 87 in the phrase I forsook not thy precepts. In
the end it does not matter what others say and what other do, no matter how
many pits they dig for you, no matter how much opposition you face, just keep
doing what is right. That’s what matters to God. Stay faithful under pressure
and in the end you will be victorious.
You don’t have to be one of the proud. You can be
a person that understands salvation and the great blessings and promises that
come with it. All it takes is for you to confess your sins to Christ and He
will save you and give you eternal life. Jesus loves you. Jesus suffered and
died for your sins. And Jesus has been waiting patiently for you to turn to
Him. Won’t you turn to Him? Won’t you trust in Him? Won’t you accept His love
and then at the judgment you too can face it knowing you will be declared
righteous not because of your own works but because of Jesus Christ.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2017 by Bruce
Creech
All Rights Reserved