Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus

The promises of the twenty-third Psalm apply to us only to the extent that we are keeping our eyes steadfastly on the Lord Jesus Christ.

(10/3/2004) Actually I was all over the place Sunday morning. But I had three burdens on my mind: the peace and quietness of the twenty-third Psalm; the difference between the Lord’s firstfruits and the remainder of His elect; and the lack of integrity one finds in the Christian ministry and among God’s people, sad to say.

The twenty-third Psalm is a quiet time with the Lord. When we find in our Christian walk that we are not lying down in green pastures it is because we are not keeping our eyes on the Shepherd.

My friend Bob Taylor, recovering from his near-death experience, had two words from the Lord concerning the twenty-third Psalm. One word was that the promises apply only to those who follow the Lord as their Shepherd. The other word was that the expression "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me" does not mean the goodness and mercy are given only to us; rather they follow in our train so that other people receive goodness and mercy. I like that interpretation, don’t you.

The second idea concerns the firstfruits of God’s elect. These are found in the sixth chapter of the Song of Solomon as "the only one of her mother." Also in the fourteenth chapter of Revelation as the "firstfruits to God and the Lamb."

The fact that there is no lie in the mouths of God’s firstfruits led me to my third topic, that of integrity. One time God went through Jerusalem and could not find a person who told the truth. This always seems to be true of God’s people, particularly of the ministry. There is more cheating, lying, stealing, seeking for preeminence, fraud, immorality, and every other thing practiced by the Christian ministry, and also by the believers, than anyone could guess.

If I am correct, the problem has arisen because we are defining grace as an alternative to righteous behavior.

God has integrity. He is "faithful and true." But His people are not always faithful; neither do they always tell the truth.

Does God still have 7,000 people in the churches who have not kissed Baal? I am not certain.

The common people heard Jesus gladly, but the leaders of Israel ordered His crucifixion because of their envy.

If there are only three believers out of a thousand who walk with Jesus in integrity, then there are three people who will sit at Jesus’ table in the Kingdom.

What about the great multitude of God’s elect who slip and slide around? I believe God is going to save them, but only after He has pounded them in His mortar until there is no lie left in them.