8. A Forever Conclusion Psalm 73:26-28

Text: “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion FOREVER.”

Psalm 73:26.

Good morning, forever-settled Christian!  Since from before the foundation of the world, the Lord God has elected you and the author to be His Fatherly gift to His Eternal Son, Jesus Christ. Scriptural fact!

In time, God the Holy Spirit quickened us by His regeneration power, to be what the Lord God in His Sovereignty pre-ordained us to be – “…new creatures in Christ Jesus.” Scriptural fact!

Wow!  What a profound, yet simply understood, wonder of the Lord God’s Sovereign and Triune grace to Hell-deserving sinners such as we!  Glory to the Lamb Who is worthy! Glory to the Father of Sovereign grace!  Glory to the Holy Spirit of Eternal quickening!  Amen.

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ: grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.”  (1 Peter 1:2)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with all Spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be Holy and without blame before Him in love.”  (Ephesians 1:3-6)

“All that the Father giveth Me (Christ Jesus) shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.  For I came down from Heaven not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.”  (John 6:37-38)

“And you hath He quickened (made Spiritually alive), who were dead (Spiritually dead) in trespasses and sins…Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).  (Ephesians 2:1;5)

Knowing that the Lord God, the Creator of all things - Omnipotent, Omniscient; and ever-present God – has had, and will forever have, all pertaining to you and I firmly in His own hand and Divine will, brings us an Eternal relief from everything else that we might face in the duration of our puny lives upon planet earth.  Our destiny has a forever conclusion!

Verse 26. “My flesh and my heart faileth.  Now, here is a fact that few Christians would be foolish enough to refute.  The strongest Christian woman is still merely a fallible woman.  The strongest Christian man, is still merely a fallible man.  “…The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matthew 26:41)

Were we Christians, no matter how fervent, or committed to Christ, to begin to depend or rely on our own strength in order to do Spiritual Battle with the powers of darkness – we would very quickly realise the impossibility of such a mammoth task. 

Show me the professing Christian who has never failed in his/her faith and Spiritual strength – and I will show you a bare-faced liar!  Show me the Christian who has never felt totally overwhelmed by the world, the flesh, and the Devil – and I will show you Christ Jesus, and Him alone!

“There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:22-23)

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…If we say we have not sinned, we make Him (Christ Jesus) a liar, and His Word is not in us.”  (1 John 1:8-10)

It is only when Christians can honestly assess ourselves at this depth that we can admit the reality of our weaknesses, faults, and failings.  It is only when we servants of Christ can get to this stage of personal honest assessment – that self-righteousness is taken away from us, and we can learn to totally depend upon the Living Lord God and His Omnipotent strength.

Verse 26. “…God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.  Through all the troubles of my life, and my trial at death, my heart is ready to fail me, yet I have a strong cordial which will cheer me in my saddest condition: God is the strength of my heart.”  (George Swinnock, 1627-1673)

Verse 26. “And my portion forever. Without alteration, this God will be my God forever and ever, my Guide and aid unto death: nay, death, which dissolveth so many bonds, and untieth such close knots, shall never part me and my portion, but give me a perfect and everlasting possession of it.” (George Swinnock, 1627-1673)

In these God-inspired verses of Psalm 73, we find a concept that was so very relevant then, in the Psalmist's time in history, and still so very relevant today, in this 21^st Century of increased apostasy and an easy-believism that frightens the life out of us! 

Our KJV Bible is, in my humble opinion, God’s own breathed inspiration message to us, ‘His people’.  Others may disparage this doctrine of written infallibility in God’s Word, but many like myself do not, and will not give way on this profound belief.  Without the Word of God, written in a most dependable translation, our core belief system as Christians is immediately undermined. 

Modernism, Liberalism, Humanism, and Easy-believism are a bane on the promotion of God inspired faith in Christ, and in daily Christian practice and Holiness!

Verse 27. “For lo (look and understand), they that are far from Thee shall perish.  Why shall they perish?  Because they are far from God.  Simple, but most profound statement.

Verse 27.  “…Thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from Thee. God has, and will continue to destroy all those that go a whoring from Him, that corrupt His Word; that teach/preach ‘another gospel…’; that teach error and join in unity with those that do. Fact!

Verse 28. “But it is good for me to draw near to God.  Continual confession of sins/faults to the Lord God; continually being ‘…washed by the washing of the Word…’; continuing on in prayerful fellowship with the Lord, day by day – is what we theologians call Progressive Sanctification.  What a totally GOOD it is for us to be permitted of God to draw close to Him in sincere worship, thanksgiving and praise.  Bless the Lord, Oh my soul!

Thought: Thank you, Lord, that we have a Forever Conclusion with Thee, In Christ.