Psalm 119:75 states "in faithfulness You have afflicted me." This odd statement by the psalmist makes sense because the psalmist, like all sinners, didn't naturally obey God's law and was prone to going the wrong direction. Put together with the psalmist's previous comment, that before he was afflicted, he went astray (Psalm 119:67), God demonstrates His love and faithfulness by afflicting the psalmist to correct the error of his destructive ways. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end is destruction." (Proverbs 14:12) This dynamic certainly applies to believers, who though they are regenerate children of God, they nevertheless require periodic scourging to discipline their unruly flesh. "He scourges every son whom he receives." (Hebrews 12:6) The net effect of affliction should be practical holiness, the keeping of God's Law. "He disciplines us for our good that we might share in His holiness." (Hebrews 12:10) So the psalmist declared, "before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word."
Affliction: When God Speaks Loud
This episode addresses the impasse that many believers discover in sanctification: they agree and delight with the Law of God in the inner man, but they're really not convinced that God's way is better. While many would give lip service to the Scriptural claim that sin leads to corruption (Gal 6:8), many are not really convinced. The apparent consequences of sin are ignored or considered tolerable. So unless God reveals that sowing to the flesh really does lead to corruption, we likely continue in sin. This dynamic is typical for every believer undergoing sanctification, and the answer to this predicament is the same as the psalmist in Psalm 119. "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." (Psalm 119:67) Affliction is the God-given means to destroy the self-delusions that sin is tolerable and/or that sin is without painful consequences. And, affliction is God's answer to the psalmist's prayer that his ways be established to keep God's statutes. (Psalm 119:5) The Holy Spirit, who always intercedes according to the perfect will of God, pleads the same petition, sometimes resulting in pain in the lives of believers. Is it possible that believers' lack of conviction that God's way is better, requiring affliction as the remedy, is the reason why Paul declared "we do not know how to pray as we ought..?" (Rom. 8:26)
Loving the Law Presumes Knowing the Law
This episode elaborates on the reasons why many Christians fail to fall in love with God's Law, as the psalmist did in Psalm 119. In addition to failing to embrace holistic salvation promised in Romans 8:2, leading to a convoluted appreciation of God's Law, many modern believers do not intentionally set their minds on the Spirit. They presume that regeneration automatically makes them spiritual. Survey evidence by George Barna indicates widespread Biblical illiteracy among evangelical Christians, resulting in an inability to accurately discern flesh from spirit. (Hebrews 4:12) Since Scripture is substantially an expression of God's moral Law, failure to love God's Law partly stems from ignorance of the Scripture.
The Law Helps to Think God’s Thoughts after Him
This episode exposes the fleshly arguments that some use to justify continued expression of the flesh. The argument largely rests on using Paul's own words in Romans 7 as an excuse for not forcefully advancing spiritually. Paul himself describes himself as a prisoner of the law of sin and death in verse 23. In verse 25 he observes 2 warring principles within, and neither is ascendant. Selective proof texting of Romans 7 is naturally a convenient rationalization for Christians bent on tolerating a fair degree of carnality. Romans 8:2 thoroughly debunks the flesh's convenient co-opting of Paul in Romans 7, insisting that substantial victory is available for Christians who set their minds on the Spirit. Love of God's Law also becomes the lens of the mind set on the Spirit.
Life in Christ Trumps Sin and Death
This episode spells out the answer to the question raised in the previous broadcast: "Why do many REGENERATE believers have less appreciation for God's Law than the UNREGENERATE author of Psalm 119? The short answer is that many Christians' theology of sanctification is the pessimistic lens of Romans 7:14-25. Perpetual war between the flesh and the Spirit is the defining description of their sanctification experience and critically, their perspective hasn't been qualified by the clear promise of Romans 8:2: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." Paul set up his argument for Christian freedom in Romans 7, where Romans 8:2 is the optimistic conclusion. The key to growth and spiritual victory is verse 6, where the "mind set on the spirit is life and peace." Based on what Paul just declared in verse 2, the mind set on the spirit is stronger and more powerful than the mind set on the flesh. Christian failure to appropriate victory is sometimes a casualty of bad theology where the pessimistic lens of Romans 7:14-25 is divorced from the optimistic conclusion of Romans 8:2. With respect to appreciation of the Law, a pessimistic adoption of Romans 7:14-25 as the final word understandably colors one's view of the Law. A holistic love for God's Law is one of the many benefits believers should experience when their sanctification expectations are informed by Romans 8.
How an Exclusive Romans 7 Theology Undermines Delight in God’s Law
This episode provides another possible reason why many Christians do not have a full appreciation of the Law, and this lack is made more salient because the psalmist in psalm 119 wasn't even born again. The psalmist was nevertheless beside himself with love and delight in God's law. So how is it that NT believers, who by definition are born again, have less delight with the Law of God than the unregenerate psalmist in Psalm 119? The episode first addresses the presumption of many that the psalmist was born again, showing that the Scripture indicates regeneration is a result of the resurrection (1 Peter 1:3) and the glorification of Christ (John 7:39) Believers consequently were NOT born again in the Old Testament. They nevertheless put their faith in God and even delighted with the Law of God, based on the influence of the Holy Spirit. So again, how is it that the unregenerate psalmist, who is INFLUENCED by the Spirit, delighted more with the Law than many REGENERATE Christians today? The episode contends that the sanctification expectations of "Romans 7" Christians stunt appreciation of God's Law. If Christians are at best divided souls, where the fleshly and spiritual principles are intractably at war, WITHOUT the expectation that the Spirit gains the upper hand, then the natural consequence is that these believers can never attain a holistic appreciation of God's Law. But this purely Romans 7 theology collapses in light of Romans 8:2, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." The episode closes by exhorting believers to embrace the substantial victory of the Spirit over the fleshly principle and as a bi-product holistically delight in God's Law.
Are You a True Believer or a Mercenary?
This episode addresses the purely "transactional" understanding of salvation by mercenary Christians. "Transactional" Christians are professing Christians who have made a calculated decision to "follow" Christ, not because His way is better, but because He's the only One who can satisfy their sin-debt. While elements of this perspective are also embraced by genuine believers, true Christians follow Christ because they actually see Christ's way as so much better. They reflect on their false ways by contrast, and repent. Like the Psalmist, they have two encounters with the Law of God: one challenging and convicting, the second delightful and instructive. Mercenary "believers" are likened to the wicked, lazy "servant" in the parable of the talents. That servant also had a transactional understanding of "accepting" Christ. He took care of his sin-debt problem by ostensibly trusting Christ and then went off and buried his talent in the ground. He never fell in love with Christ and never delighted with the Law of God in the inner man. The other 2 servants delighted in the gifts of the Master and invested those gifts to honor Him. A transactional, mercenary view of Christ and the salvation He offers is consequently not salvation at all, for the wicked lazy servants ends up in hell.
Are You a Worshiper of Christ or a Mercenary?
This episode bluntly calls into question the professed "salvation" of some believers, based on a transactional, even mercenary view of Christianity. This superficial acceptance of Christianity acknowledges that Christ paid our sin-debt in full so that we would not have to pay those wages in hell. So a logical response, based on self-preservation, is to "accept" Christ. Well this simplistic mercenary picture of Christianity, where one sides with Christ SINGULARLY to escape consequences, does not correspond to the whole gospel presented in Scripture. While the fear of hell, the ultimate consequence of breaking God's Law, motivates a surface "acceptance" of Christ, genuine repentance and faith in Christ is the response of those who renounce their way in favor of God's Way, Christ Himself. Fear of consequences isn't their only motivation, but a genuine disgust with themselves coupled with devotion to Christ. This is precisely the dynamic present in the Psalm 119 where the psalmist turns to the Lord in faith because he loves God and His Law, though he has in fact suffered severe consequences for breaking God's Law. True believers would follow Christ even if the ultimate destination of heaven or hell wasn't an issue.
The Law Expresses the “Beauty of Holiness”
This episode is a recap of the previous week's teaching on Psalm 119, emphasizing the common threads of God's work in establishing our way, ultimately leading to a genuinely positive delight in God's law. Since the law is a reflection of God's character and beauty, love of God coupled with disdain for God's Law is inconceivable. While true believers would never seek to justify themselves by keeping God's Law, they nevertheless delight in that Law based on being born again. Romans 7:22 affirms that they "delight with the Law of God in the inner man." The episode closes with Jonathan Edwards' phraseology describing believers' delight in God's holiness described in the Law. Christians alone can apprehend the "beauty of holiness."
Starving for the Will of God
This episode closes out detailing the positive encounter with God's law that believers should ideally experience. Many unfortunately rarely get beyond the first encounter with God's law, which brings conviction and crisis as they grapple with the demands of God on their lives. While the psalmist clearly wrestled with God's law, ultimately resulting in confession and repentance, the vast majority of his descriptions are very positive. The psalmist describes the law as his delight (v. 77) as he anticipates discovering "wonderful things" in God's law.(18) The psalmist at one point is starving for God's law (v. 20) and considers the Law his food. Christ Himself noted that "His food" was to do the will of the Father. (John 4:34) Such expressions underscore the path to true fulfillment. When we cultivate our longing for God and His law/His will, we discover that this second encounter with God and His Law/will results in incomparable satisfaction.
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