Psalm 16
“Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”
There certainly is no good apart from the Lord. James tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.” The Lord cannot create anything that is evil or sinful, for out of something holy and something fallen and carnal come? No, only evil emanates from evil, and only good emanates from good. You cannot have goodness apart from the Lord, for, as Christ said, “There is none good but God.” And “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” The use of the word “good” here is much stronger than the intent that we generally use it. In our vernacular, “good” usually means something that is better than average, but not excellent. However, in these passages, “good” is being used in a sense of absolute moral perfection: moral holiness. We are also told that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” that there is “none who does good,” and how could we do anything but fall short of the incredible holiness of the Lord?
For He is the definition of perfect, both in mind, power, and morality. Everything, every attribute, is contained within His holiness, and He cannot do anything apart from being perfectly holy. This is why Christ cried out on the cross, “eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani!” Or, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” For the first time, sin was laid on the account of the Holy Creator of the Universe, the Good Master, and the Lord of Hosts turned His head. Sin cannot abide in His Presence, and where sin remains, surely His Presence, His Grace, is not there. What then, does this mean that we, carnal fallen humans, do not have the grace of God within us, for we still sin. By no means! We know that “grace will abound” and forgiveness has already been bestowed upon us.
Our sins are taken away the moment that we accept Christ and repent of our wrongdoing, we are completely forgiven. Of course, “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.” And, “No one who remains in Him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has seen Him or known Him.” These passages are fairly clear, that no one can claim the forgiveness of Christ and return to their sins. Those who practice wickedness are born of the devil, and to the devil they shall return. The good news, of course, is that all can receive forgiveness, but it comes at an incredibly cheap cost! Indeed, this is certainly no cost at all! We must forsake the very thing that nailed Christ’s wrists and feet to the cross. Why then should we not live in utter righteousness? Why should we continue to obey the prince of this world, the lord of darkness and forsake the way of the Lord? I will never receive a coherent answer to this question, for there is no good reason to go on sinning. It only brings about sorrow and pain, separation from the Lord, both carnally and eternally.
Turn from your sins, beloved, for they do nothing but separate you from the Lord of Hosts. Humiliate the devil, “resist the devil and he will flee from you.” He has no power to overcome a child of the Most High God, for, as the original text states, “In you I take refuge.” He will protect us from all temptations, and when we feel ourselves being tempted, when we feel that evil whisper in our ear to do wickedness, we can boldly defy the devil through the tools the Lord has provided. Sin often is lightened, the effects are weakened, sadly, even by the modern church. It is not treated with the same holy abhorrence with which the Lord abhors it, and the flock is led astray by not instilling within them a true understanding of the practice. For sin, to most people, means something that is wrong, and we shouldn’t do things that are wrong. In a weak, pathetic sense, that is true. Sin is wrong, but the terminology is also wrong. Sin is wickedness, it is evil in its purest form selfishness to the highest degree and absolutely disgusting to the Lord of Hosts. Sin cannot abide in His Holy Presence, and no one who goes on sinning can abide either.
Sin defines a person, either they overcome it, and live in righteousness before the Lord, or they let it become their whole person. There is no halfway, there is no grey area, it is certainly black and white. Everything, every action, is either sinful or righteous, there are no neutral actions. Allow me to quote a simple, logical syllogism that I just made up.
Actions are either sin or not sin.
Action A is not sin.
Therefore, action B is sin.
Not sin, of course, being righteousness, and the flip of that being wickedness. There is a choice that every human must make, either sin or blessed righteousness in the Lord. We have been equipped specially by the Lord Himself so that we might overcome sin, that we might deny it, deny our lustful flesh, and obtain the righteousness found in Christ. He has given to us a complete set of armor so that on the day of battle, that is, every day, we might overcome the devil that we might kill him and his forces on the battlefield day by day.
Praise the Lord for the wonderful gifts that He has given to us! For He has given to us life, a mind to comprehend His Ways, “For His ways are not our ways,” a beautiful planet on which to live, and an amazing universe that truly declares His Glory. Most of all, sing a praise to His Name for the wonderful sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ, so that we might have forgiveness of sins, so that our wickedness and evil might be washed away in the blood of sanctification. Praise the Lord, for He is Holy!
