AT THY RIGHT HAND THERE ARE PLEASURES FOR EVERMORE.
Psalm 16:5-11 "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth; My flesh also shall rest in hope. For Thou wilt not leave my soul in sheol, neither wilt Thou permit Thine Holy One to see corruption.
Thou wilt show me the path of life: In Thy presence there is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
How wonderful that David could say,
"The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup; Thou maintainest my lot."
This, is what belongs to me when the Lord Jesus is my personal Saviour.
He is my portion,
What is the difference between "my portion" and "my cup?"
My portion, is what belongs to me - whether I enjoy all of my portion or not, the whole portion still belongs to me.
My cup, is what I appropriate and make my own.
For example, I am given a plate of dinner and it is filled with all sorts of food on it, that is my portion, but I only like to eat certain pieces that are on my plate.
The greatest joy of my salvation is, that although I do not eat all the food that is on my plate, the whole portion still belongs to me.
My cup, speaks of what I actually consume.
True born-again believers are blessed with all spiritual blessings - they have been given a full portion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Once they are in Christ, then the Word of God tells us,
Psalm 34:8 "O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man who trusteth in Him."
The more of the Lord Jesus that we taste, the more we will enjoy our Saviour. Our lives will be filled with joy because He is our joy.
The Lord Jesus said
John 10:10 "These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full."
Some of us do not enjoy life, we have only a little fun in this world.
There are many reasons why, but one thing is certain, we still have our portion of Christ and He can never be taken away from us.
Nothing, can ever separate us from our portion of Christ.
Christ, who is our portion, is at God's right hand.
Romans 8:34-39 "Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
We are blessed with all spiritual blessings.
Isaac in Gerar.
Genesis 26:12 "Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the Lord blessed him."
God was with with Isaac.
That is the blessing that God promised to these people from the day He called Abraham.
It was an earthly blessing.
Later on when God put them into that land, He told them He would bless them in their basket; that is, it would be filled with foodstuff.
God did exactly as He had promised when they were walking in fellowship with Him.
We must remember that God is not promising us that blessing.
He has promised spiritual blessings to us.
We are told that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings, and that is our portion today.
But those blessing are on the same terms.
They depend on our walk with God.
If we will permit Him, He wants to bless us abundantly in our spiritual life.
We find here that Isaac is greatly blessed.
Genesis 26:13 "And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great."
Don’t miss the fact that Isaac is greatly blessed.
His field brings forth an hundredfold!
The impression some of us have is that Abraham was outstanding, and Jacob was also, but not Isaac. Let me say that Isaac is also outstanding.
It is significant that the life of Isaac is tied in with that of Abraham.
Isaac’s birth and his life are interwoven with Abraham’s experiences.
Although Isaac was important when he was offered there upon the altar, again it was Abraham and Isaac together.
It presents a wonderful picture of the intimacy between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.
The Lord Jesus said,
John 14:9 "… he that hath seen me hath seen the Father …"
And He said in His high priestly prayer,
John 17:4 "… I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do."
He Also said,
John 5:17 "… My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
Therefore, it is very proper that the story of Isaac and the story of Abraham be identified together.
In this chapter we see Isaac standing on his own two feet, and he does not look too attractive. He exhibits a weakness and repeats the sin of Abraham.
However, the Word of God makes it clear that Isaac was a very great man in that land.
Genesis 26:14 "For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants: and the Philistines envied him."
The Philistines couldn’t stand to see all this prosperity -
Genesis 26:15 "For all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth."
Abraham had been digging wells in that land, and now his son comes along and the wells become his. But every morning he would go out and find that the wells were all filled up with dirt.
This was done by the Philistines and, this is the first mention of the enmity of the Philistines.
This led to continual warfare later on in the days of David.
Genesis 26:16-17 "And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we. And Isaac departed thence, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there."
This man Abimelech said, "You are causing a great deal of difficulty now, and it would be better if you left." He had great respect for Isaac, as we can see.
This is a part of Isaac’s life that looks like weakness but it is not.
Isaac returns back to the land where his father Abraham had been.
Genesis 26:18–20 "And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac’s herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him."
This reveals the struggle that was carried on.
The water is a picture of the Word of God.
We are to drink deeply of it.
It is called the "water of the Word" and is for drinking purposes to satisfy our thirst, and it is also for washing.
The Lord Jesus said that we are cleansed through the Word which He has spoken.
Water is a very necessary item in life.
We cannot have life without water.
And water is the explanation for the differences between God’s children in any church - the water of the Word of God.
There is a great difference in the lives of believers who study God’s Word. And there will be a struggle.
I believe that you will always have to pay a price if you are really going to study the Word of God.
The devil will permit you to do anything except get into the Word of God.
Genesis 26:21-22 "And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land"
Then he called the well Rehoboth. It means "there is room for us."
Before that he would dig a well and they would take it away from him. He would move on, and dig another well, and they would take that away from him. He would just keep moving on.
This certainly reveals that Isaac was a man of peace and a man of patience.
The apostle Paul assures us that we have liberty in Christ.
We are "saved by faith and living by law perpetrates falling from grace."
This is what it means to fall from grace: you are saved by faith, then you drop down to a law level to live.
Galatians 5:1 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Paul is saying here that not only are we saved by faith rather than by law, but law is not to be the rule of life for the believer.
We are not to live by law at all.
The law principle is not the rule for Christian living.
Paul is saying that since we have been saved by grace we are to continue on in this way of living.
Grace supplies the indwelling and filling of the Spirit to enable us to live on a higher plane than law demanded.
This is all our portion when we trust Christ Jesus as our Savior.
It is in Christ that we receive everything - salvation and sanctification.
WE DO NOT NEED TO SEEK A SECOND BLESSING.
When we come to Christ, we get everything we need.
The apostle Paul tells us that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
WE ARE TO BELIEVE THE WORD OF GOD.
WE ARE TO TRUST CHRIST FOR EVERYTHING.
Let’s stop trying some legal system.
We have freedom in Christ.
Christ does not put us under some little legal system.
We do not use the Ten Commandments as a law of life.
I don’t mean we are to break the Ten Commandments - we all understand that breaking most of them (i.e., thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, etc.) would lead to our arrest by local authorities.
Certainly Christians do not break the Commandments, but we are called to a higher level to live.
That level is where there is liberty in Christ.
I have a liberty in Jesus Christ, and that liberty is not a rule, but a principle.
My conduct should be to please Jesus Christ - not to please man, and not to please any organization, but only to please Christ.
That is the liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage."
Galatians 5:2 "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
Circumcision was the badge of the Law.
A badge indicates what organization or lodge we belong to.
Perhaps Christians should wear a badge because that is about the only way we are able to tell that some people are Christians.
But Paul says that if you so much as put on the badge of the Law, which is circumcision, then Christ does not profit you anything.
The apostle Paul is saying that if you trust Christ plus something else you are not saved.
If you go so far as to be circumcised, which is only the badge of the Law, or if you go through some other experience and rest your salvation on that, "Christ shall profit you nothing."
How can Christ profit you anything when you have made up your own concoction rather than trusting Him alone for your salvation?
Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer put it like this:
"I want to so trust Christ that when I come into His presence and He asks me, ‘Why are you here?’ I can say, ‘I am here because I trusted You as my Savior.’
If He asked me, ‘Well, that is commendable, but what have you done? I happen to know that you were president of a seminary, and that you were baptized. You were also a member of a church. You did many fine things during your ministry,’
then I would reply,
‘It is all true, but I never trusted in any of it for salvation.
I trusted only You, my Lord.’"
Dear reader that is the only way.
Are you trusting Christ Jesus?
Paul makes it very sure when he says, "if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."
If you trust anything other than Christ, you are not a Christian.
Galatians 5:3 "For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law."
We cannot draw out of the Law just those things that we like.
We cannot leave out the penalties and a great deal of the detail.
We must take the whole Law or nothing.
I am delighted that I am not under the Law.
I have liberty in Christ!
I must confess that I have a problem of always pleasing Him,
but He is the One I strive to please.
I am not following some legal system.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Galatians 5:4 "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace."
If you have been saved by trusting Christ, then go down to the low level of living by the Law, you have fallen from grace.
This is what "falling from grace" actually means.
"Falling from grace" is the opposite of "once saved always saved," although both expressions are unfortunate terminology. The apostle Paul deals with this matter of falling from grace in the remainder of the chapter.
He also deals with it in his Epistle to the Romans.
In Romans he begins with man in the place of total bankruptcy - without righteousness, completely depraved, as unprofitable as rotten fruit.
Man is a sinner before God.
Then at the conclusion of Romans you see man in the service of God and being admonished to perform certain things.
Not only is Paul admonished to perform certain things, he is completely separated to God, and he must be obedient to God.
There are 2 mighty works of God which stand between the man in his fallen condition and man in service to God.
These are: salvation and sanctification.
As we have seen, salvation is justification by faith.
That is all-important.
Sanctification means that after you have been saved you are to come up to a new plane of living.
I think the greatest fallacy is to believe that service is essential in the Christian life, that we must get busy immediately.
The early church was more concerned with its manner of life, and that life was a witness to the world.
Today the outside world is looking at the church and passing it by because we are so busy, busy, busy, but we do not have lives to back up our witness.
Rather than concentrating on trying to do good, we ought to live holy lives.
If we are pleasing Christ, we will be doing good.
I think there is more about sanctification in the Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians than anything else.
How does God make a saved sinner good?
He gives him a new nature.
Is the saved sinner to keep the Law?
Oh, no.
Emphatically no.
This does not mean that the saved sinner is to break the Law, but that the saved sinner is called to live on a higher plane.
There is no good in the old nature.
Paul found that out, and he also found out from experience that there is no power in the new nature.
As to salvation, he said,
Romans 7:18 "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing,
and he also found out,
for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not."
And then he cries out as a saved man,
Romans 7:24 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"
He is not afraid that he is going to lose his salvation, but he is a defeated Christian.
God gives us a new principle.
We will find in this chapter that the new principle is the fruit of the Spirit.
Living the Christian life by this method for some Christians is as farfetched as living on the moon!
They never expect to live there.
Perhaps they have never even heard about the possibility.
Dear reader, this is the life God wants us to live - by faith.
We are saved by grace; we are to live by grace.
Galatians 5:5 "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith."
"The hope of righteousness" is the only prophetic reference in the entire epistle.
This is quite remarkable, because in all Paul’s epistles he has something to say about the rapture of the church or about Christ’s coming to earth to establish His kingdom.
But here in Galatians he says only this:
"the hope of righteousness by faith,"
and the hope of righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only hope is the blessed hope, and Christ is made unto us righteousness.
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
I think Paul’s reason for saying this here is that believers are not going to reach perfection in this life.
And the greatest imperfection I know of today is to think we have reached perfection in this life. People who think they are perfect are imperfect like the rest of us - but sadly, they don’t know it.
PRAYERFULLY MEDITATE ON:
John 10:28 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
That is, those who have entrusted their lives into His hand?
Have you placed your life in His hand?
Is He your personal Saviour?
Have you tasted of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Have you experienced that He is all goodness, grace, and mercy.
The only real joy in this life is the Lord Jesus Christ and that joy is not like the happiness that the world enjoys.
It is a joy that comes to us after we have had deep sorrow - when we are sad, very sad because of the sin in our lives.
Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted ."
The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength, it is our portion.
Paul gave this commandment to believers,
Philippians 4:4 "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, rejoice!"
That is not just laughing - you do not have to go around grinning like a Cheshire cat to reveal you have the joy of the Lord. It’s not that type of thing.
It is something that is down deep in the heart, something that is very meaningful, something that comes from the Lord by the Holy Spirit.
It is a fruit of the Holy Spirit:
Galatians 5:22 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy …"
Joy is the second great side benefit that can be given to us only by our Lord.
The Nazirite was to find his joy in the things of God and in God Himself.
That was the first requirement of the Nazirite vow.
The Lord Jesus longs to become your portion and He wants to fill you with all spiritual blessings. He is right now seated at the right hand of God the Father, and He is making intercession on our behalf.
HYMN.
I am not skilled to understand,
What God has willed what God has planned;
I only know at His right hand,
Is One who is my Saviour.
I take Him at His Word indeed;
"Christ died for sinners" - this I read.
For in my heart I find a need,
Of Him to be my Saviour.
That He should leave His place on high,
And come for sinful man to die.
You count it strange? - so once did I,
Before I knew my Saviour.
And Oh that He fulfilled might see,
The travail of His soul in me,
And with His work contented be,
As I with my dear Saviour!
Yea, living, dying, let me bring,
My strength, my solace from this spring,
That He who lives to be my King,
Once died to be my Saviour.
AMEN.
Are you willing to make a conscious decision to accept Christ Jesus as your Saviour?
Reply to Caryl@cherith.co.za.
THIS PAGE UPDATED: 11-4-2007.