KEEPING OUR COMMITMENTS

Psa. 15:4

Morning Meditation 2/4/2014

"In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.."

I especially want to consider the words, "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not." Let's notice first of all,

WE NEED TO KEEP OUR COMMITMENT TO SERVE

Service for the Lord begins with salvation. The Lord does not call unsaved men to serve Him. Those who believe that salvation is a personal attainment would not agree with this statement. They are ego centered, filled with pride, and feel because they do something to help their fellow man they believe that the final judgment will be based on this. And so they find a false comfort in this.

These people are like the one illustrated by our Lord in Luke 18:9-14, "And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

The Pharisee received no mercy because he asked for none. Those in this condition feel they need no mercy because they are constantly seeing themselves as good men and are better than others. This type of person is hard to reach because he confuses the meaning and necessity of the gospel as being for those who are less righteous than himself. So he marches to judgment without the slightest chance of being saved. He does not agree with God concerning himself. Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Then again in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" God has stated this truth and then offers grace as a way out. God never condemns without keeping the door of His mercy open to the ones He confronts and convicts.

Then let's consider for a moment the publican. Jesus contrasts this man with the

Pharisee. "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

This man is hated by the self-righteous Pharisee. He hears the prayer of the Pharisee. And so when he begins to pray, it reveals this one's sense of base humility. One does not find in his words a condemnation of the Pharisee. In fact the publican agrees with the Pharisee. His prayer goes like this, "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." This man bows his head in humility. He beats upon his breast. This is an act that indicates agreement with what God says about himself. He asks God for mercy. The word "merciful" in this text translates, "hilaskomai" and means, "to expiate, make propitiation for." This word is also translated "mercy seat" as in the holy of holies in the Temple. The publican is asking God to meet with him at the mercy seat and forgive him of his sins. Jesus said this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.

Why did the publican obtain mercy from God? It is because he confessed himself "the" sinner. The definite article stands before the word sinner in the Greek text (the text from which our King James Bible was translated). The definite article before the word "sinner" makes this mean that he was the sinner at the head of the line. It is like Paul when he called himself the "chief of sinners" in 1 Tim. 1:5, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." This means more than just confessing oneself to have some sin in his life. It means that one has accepted God's diagnosis and verdict. It is when we realize that our smallest sin, offends a holy God to the point where we see ourselves without the slightest chance of going to heaven unless God intervenes to save us. We must cast ourselves without reserve to a just but loving God and ask Him for mercy.

The Lord does not call an unsaved person to serve Him. Man is not saved by his service to the Lord. He is saved by coming before the Lord in genuine repentance in need of mercy.

When one is saved, at that point he is almost speechless to express his gratitude for God to do such a thing for him. So I think I am safe in saying that every one of us have made a commitment to God and said, "Lord what ever you want me to do, I will do it." But the tragedy is that it does not take one long to forget that commitment. It is my aim in this meditation to face my own responsibility squarely and help any Christian who reads this to reaffirm his/her commitment.

If we are saved, we need to keep our commitment to serve. Service does follow salvation. It is the result of salvation not the condition to salvation. Next,

LET'S KEEP OUR COMMITMENT TO OUR LOCAL CHURCH

Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 5:14-16, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Jesus said, "Ye," are the light of the world. The "Ye" is a plural pronoun. He is speaking to all His disciples not just one. Next He says, "Ye are," the light of the world. In the Greek language a personal pronoun is usually attached as an ending to the verb. If it is attached to the ending of the verb it can be translated just like the above. However, if you want to emphasize the personal pronoun it is an added word. It is in this case. When Jesus said, "Ye are the light of the world," there was no room for doubt that He was speaking to all of them in this statement.

Next, Jesus said, "men don't light a candle put it under a bushel." That would defeat the purpose of the candle. Jesus is saying to His disciples in this marvelous illustration, "I have made you a candle. A candle is made to shine so that it gives light to "all that are in the house."

Now we are the candle. We were made so by a creative miracle called the new birth. Where are we to put the candle of our lives? On the candlestick!!! Where is the candlestick? The answer to that question is found in Revelation 1:20, "The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." If we do not serve the Lord in His Church, we put our candle under a bushel. Next,

WE NEED TO KEEP OUR COMMITMENT TO OUR MARRIAGE PARTNER

I don't know if you know it or not but the divorce rate among Christians is almost as high as in the unsaved world. One of the things that God makes clear it is His will for marriage to be permanent. Now I don't have nearly all the answers for those whose marriage has ended in divorce. I don't think this is the place to deal with that.

My wife and I were married in 1948. We are coming up on our 65th year of marriage. I have never considered divorce as an option over a disagreement with my wife. We still hold hands when we are out walking. I told her if she ever decides to leave, give me notice because I am going with her!!!

Paul's word on marriage is found in Ephesians 5:21-33, "Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband."

This passage speaks of unity. It speaks of permanent commitment. This passage gives a multitude of so-called Bible believers a problem. I had a young lady in the church I pastored come to talk to me about marriage. I told her that I would have to take them through at least five sessions of marriage counseling before I would agree to be the one who married them. We set a date to begin the counseling. I began in Genesis where God Himself performed the first marriage. The young lady who was a member of our church had a problem with "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord."

She sent the young man to ask me if I would leave that out of the ceremony. I told him as simple and plain as I could that this was and is the Word of the eternal God. I told the young man he needed to find another lady to marry. Well, they went and had someone else marry them. The marriage didn't last over three months.

This is what I am talking about. God established marriage. When one marries he makes a commitment to God and the one to whom he/she marries. We need to consider that we have made a commitment to one another and God. Then we need to keep it.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ

Bro. White