Luke, The Bridge Builder

Building Bridges Between Brothers Initiative. Join us if you want to connect with like-minded believers and grow in your Biblical Knowledge.

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

"60 Days In Genesis 1-11" is out! 📖

This is a FREE e-book containing a collection of all of the studies that we did on Genesis 1-11 here at the @BiblicalBridges profile.

This devotional book walks you verse by verse through the opening chapters of Genesis, providing rich theological commentary throughout the daily studies.

To get the PDF, it's very simple:

- Make sure you are following our page.
- Like AND repost this post.
- Leave a comment saying "I want the 60 Days In Genesis 1-11 e-book."
- Share this page with at least one person from your family or church.

I will DM you the PDF of the e-book as soon as possible.

*Credits for the cover: @ShekinahVisor

#Genesis #BibleStudy #Devotional

P.S. The e-book is 100% FREE, but if you do want to support this project financially, you can see how to here: https://t.co/Cfz3iEZ499

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The Bread & The Cup - A Communion Song

This song is not in English, but I added subtitles to it.

My desire is that this song will lead you to meditate on the glory of Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for His people and on the blessing of communion with our brothers and sisters.

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

What more can I say after that, brothers and sisters?

The Bible is an inexhaustible treasure of truth, promises, comfort and refreshment for our souls, instruction for our lives, and correction for our failures.
We ignore the Word and fail to give priority to reading the Bible at our own risk.

I want to close this study and this series with Proverbs 4:13
“Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go:
keep her; for she is thy life."

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

Final Summary - The Word: Righteousness And Life (Psalm 119:137-144)

I’d like to break protocol a little and do something a bit different in the conclusion.

My intention is to close not only this study but also this series on Psalm 119. And I’d like to do two things:

First, I want you to watch a one-minute video. Some of you may have already seen it or a similar one.

(1/4)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The second thing I’d like to do is to leave a direct quote from a famous excerpt from John Piper called "The Bible Is Not Boring". It impacted me deeply when I first heard it.

"I [God] have spoken it. I invite you to enjoy it. I invite you to live in it — not [just] lick this lollipop once every 3 days.

I invite you to live here, hold this, love this, read this, meditate on this, memorize this day and night.

Don’t let the world shape you so that this looks boring.

God Almighty has spoken! It can’t be boring! It can’t be boring! We’re the problem!

He’s a Vesuvius of joy and energy and power and wisdom and strength and love and grace and justice and truth. He can’t be boring!"

(3/4)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The Word: Righteousness And Life (Psalm 119:137-144) [8/8]

The psalmist then concludes by speaking about what is the central theme of this passage: the justice of God.

Notice that there is a clear progression in the psalmist’s reasoning.

First, in verse 137: “God is Righteous.” Here he speaks of the very nature of God, the essence of God.

Then, in verse 142: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” In other words, he is saying that the attribute of justice in God is eternal, just as God Himself is eternal.

And now, in verse 144: “The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting.” That is, to the same degree that God Himself is just and eternally just, so also are His actions — and in this case, the words that come from Him — just and everlasting.

(1/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

Earlier in Psalm 119 we saw verse 18: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.”

Paul instructed Timothy to meditate on the Word, but he also made it clear that true understanding comes from the Lord. (2 Tm. 2:7)

Only when our eyes and minds are illuminated by the Holy Spirit of God can we truly understand, comprehend, and grasp what God has revealed in His Word.

The psalmist’s confidence was that by learning and understanding the Word of the Lord — this just, pure, right, and eternal Word — he would have life.

This confidence echoes through the centuries until we hear something very similar from Simon Peter in the Gospels. After one of Jesus’ harder teachings, when many turned back and walked away, Jesus asked His disciples if they also wanted to leave.

Peter answered: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

May the Lord give us understanding of His Word, so that we may have life — and eternal life — in Him.

(5/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The Word: Righteousness And Life (Psalm 119:137-144) [8/8]

The psalmist then concludes by speaking about what is the central theme of this passage: the justice of God.

Notice that there is a clear progression in the psalmist’s reasoning.

First, in verse 137: “God is Righteous.” Here he speaks of the very nature of God, the essence of God.

Then, in verse 142: “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness.” In other words, he is saying that the attribute of justice in God is eternal, just as God Himself is eternal.

And now, in verse 144: “The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting.” That is, to the same degree that God Himself is just and eternally just, so also are His actions — and in this case, the words that come from Him — just and everlasting.

(1/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

So, after everything that has been said in this study, after everything we have seen about the Word of the Lord and about our own smallness, what more could the psalmist — or we — ask of God than this:

Understanding, so that we may understand and interpret the Word.

We should not read “understanding” here merely as the mental ability to grasp the Word, but as the actual understanding itself. “Lord, help me understand what I am reading. Give me insight to comprehend what You are revealing.”

(4/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

If you keep looking at your problem, you’ll only see how big it is, how much bigger it is than you, and how it feels like more than you can bear.

But if you stop staring at your problem and instead look to God — to the greatness of God — then you’ll realize that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, too big for Him to handle.Neither death nor life,
neither angels nor principalities nor powers,
neither things present nor things to come,
nor any other dimension of problem or anguish can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And of course, you will encounter this greatness of God — the greatness that triumphs over every problem and difficulty — most intensely and most really in His Word. It is by reading and meditating on the Scriptures that you will meet this Great God.

(5/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The Word: Righteousness And Life (Psalm 119:137-144) [7/8]

See how interesting the similarity in language is here between this verse and verse 139.

There it says, “My zeal has consumed me.” Here, trouble and anguish have taken hold on me.
In other words, poetically speaking, the author is painting a portrait of himself as vulnerable — as if these things were bigger than he was and were possessing him.

Perhaps when he spoke of being “small,” he wasn’t only referring to being small before God, but also before the problems he was facing. Just like many of us can feel small in the face of the difficulties in our lives.

(1/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

What is the secret of this happiness? In other words, how can we cultivate this lasting, steady joy in the Word of the Lord in the middle of suffering?

Well, there’s a famous saying that’s probably written on the bumpers of many trucks, but it’s still very good:

“Don’t tell God you have a big problem. Tell your problem that you have a big God.”

See, brothers, the reality we need to understand is that before God, our problems are just grains of sand. And I’m not saying this to minimize your suffering — it can be very real and very heavy for you. But it is not heavy for God.

(4/5)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

Therefore, those who do not place their faith in the person and work of Christ, and those who do not repent of their rebellion and sin, have no hope and will suffer God’s justice for all eternity.

However, those who have been born again — whose hearts have been transformed by the Gospel and who trust in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross for their salvation — for these the justice of God brings peace. It brings the joy of salvation and the restored relationship with our Creator and Lord.

(4/4)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

The Word: Righteousness And Life (Psalm 119:137-144) [6/8]

As I said at the beginning, all the verses in this passage begin with the same letter in Hebrew — the letter that starts the word “righteous” or “justice/righteousness.” That’s why we see it appearing several times in these verses.

The psalmist invites us once again to reflect on the justice of God in this verse.

(1/4)

[Luke, The Bridge Builder @BiblicalBridges]

Why fear? Because God is pure and just, and we are not. We are not righteous; we are not holy as God is holy. Our sin offends God’s holiness and creates a barrier between us and Him, for God does not dwell with sin.

And because God is just, He must punish sin with His justice. The punishment that is rightly and justly due for offenses against God is hell — eternal torment. A justice that is eternal and infinite must punish injustice and sin eternally.

That is why our only hope is that this punishment we deserve would be poured out on someone of eternal and infinite worth. Only God Himself can deliver us from the judgment of God.

And it is through the Cross that He remains just while also becoming the justifier of those who have faith. God does not deny His own justice when He forgives us, because He Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, chose to come into the world and receive in Himself the wrath of God against sin.

(3/4)