“Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,
who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
For our shield belongs to the Lord,
our king to the Holy One of Israel…” (Psalms 89:15-18 ESV)
To “exult” in someone means to rejoice – to be joyful and delighted and to jump for joy – over them. To “exalt” someone means: “to raise to a higher level; to praise highly; to raise in rank, power or character, or to elevate by praise or in estimation” (Merriam-Webster). We are to do both in regard to our Father God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not only to find our delight and joy in God above all else, but we are to lift up God/Jesus and his Word by how we live our lives, by our words, and by our actions.
With regard to how we live our lives, we are to walk in the light of God’s character, his truth, and his divine will and purpose. Not only are we to do this, but what the Lord Jesus was showing me this morning is that we are to exalt Jesus Christ and his word in the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ – in the sharing of the only way, truth and life by which we enter into God’s eternal kingdom and we become members of God’s household, his church – the body of Christ.
What I believe this means is that we are to share the gospel of Jesus Christ according to the full gospel message, as taught by Jesus Christ and by his apostles, which is our foundation for our walks of faith. We are to teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. We should tell the people that Jesus Christ died, not just so we could escape hell and go to heaven when we die, but so we would no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us.
We should tell them that God’s grace is not free license to continue in willful sin without guilt, but his grace teaches us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age while we wait for his return. And, we should tell them that true faith in Jesus Christ means death to sin and that we are given new lives by God, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (See Ephesians 4:17-24).
You see in this passage where it says that the Lord is the glory of our strength and by his grace our horn is exalted, and that in his righteousness we are exalted. What I believe this means is that, because of God’s grace to us, and because of Jesus’ righteousness, which was credited to our account, so that we are forgiven of our sins and made right with God, we are raised to a higher level and our character is raised to a higher spiritual level.
We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. We no longer walk according to the flesh, to fulfill its passions and desires, but we now walk according to the Spirit, to please God and to walk in obedience to his commands (his teachings and instructions). This is what we are to teach, and in this way we are exalting God/Jesus and his word in the context of us sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, in presenting to people the only way to God and to heaven.
[Matthew 7:21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Galatians 5:16-21; Galatians 6:7-8; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:23-31; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
Draw Me Close To You
Donnie McClurkin
Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I’m Your friend
You are my desire
And no one else will do
‘Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace
Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus
You’re all I want
You’re all I’ve ever needed
You’re all I want
Help me know You are near
Caution: This link may contain ads
Walking Wounded 