©2023, David E. Robinson: At the Gates of Yerushalayim Ministries
Lessons from the
Wilderness, Volume 57
…There, but for the Grace of God, go I…[i]
[ii]
[iii]
[iv]
[v]
51 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when vNathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
19 wHave mercy on me,1
O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your xabundant mercy
yblot out my transgressions.
2 zWash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and acleanse
me from my sin!
3 bFor
I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 cAgainst
you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil din your sight, eso
that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.
5 Behold, fI
was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, you delight in truth in gthe inward being, and
you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.
7 Purge me hwith
hyssop, and I shall be clean; zwash
me, and I shall be iwhiter
than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; jlet the bones kthat you have broken
rejoice.
9 lHide
your face from my sins, and yblot
out all my iniquities.
10 mCreate
in me a nclean heart, O God, and orenew
a right2 spirit within me.
11 pCast
me not away from your presence and take not qyour
Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and
uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and
sinners will rreturn to
you.
14 Deliver me from sbloodguiltiness,
O God, O tGod of my
salvation, and umy tongue
will sing aloud of your vrighteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare
your praise.
16 wFor
you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it: you will not be pleased
with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are xa broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
18 yDo good to Zion in your good pleasure;z build up the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then will you delight in aright sacrifices, in burnt offerings and bwhole burnt offerings-
then bulls will be
offered on your altar. [vi]
There, but for the
Grace of God, go (insert your name)
This small, eloquent statement is
attributed to a man named John Bradford, who was a protestant preacher during
the reign of Mary the First, around the year 1553. Queen Mary had sworn revenge
upon any who dared to oppose the Catholic faith. While watching some criminals
being marched to their death, Bradford uttered these words:
“There, but for
the grace of God, goes John Bradford.”
A pious man, Bradford was known for
his love of God, of Christ, and of his fellow man. Why did he utter these words
if he was such a pious man? Perhaps he understood that the same sinning ways
that those who were being led to their slaughter, held in their hearts and
minds, what existed in his. How little did he know that just two years later,
he would suffer his own execution, by being burned at the stake for the crime
of not beholding to the Catholic faith. [vii]
Now why
did he name himself? Most have these words spoken as the title says: “There,
but for the grace of God, go I.” It is possible to understand when one sees the
plight of sin in another, one can shake their heads and say, “I am glad I’m not
like that.” It is easy to see one so lost and exclaim “Why didn’t he or she just
quit? Why let it kill them?” It is easy to look upon the darkness of another
and say a little prayer, but deep in the soul, say “I’m glad I’m not like that.” To deal with
that, let us hear Yeshua’s words:
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He
also told this parable to some cwho
trusted din themselves that they
were righteous, eand treated
others with contempt:
10 “Two men fwent
up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, gstanding
by himself, prayed1
hthus: ‘God, I thank you
that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like
this tax collector.
12 iI fast twice a week; jI
give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, gstanding
far off, kwould not
even lift up his eyes to heaven, but lbeat
his breast, saying, ‘God, mbe
merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you; this man went down to his house justified, rather
than the other. For neveryone
who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be
exalted.” [viii]
I
want you all to understand something. No matter how he died, he was not nobody.
He was a father, a brother, an uncle, a son. He was loved. But speaking as one
who has walked in his shoes – sometimes the heart can be so broken, so lost, those
who do the things he did, cannot find a way out. I have heard from one who
loved him, that he carried a backpack everywhere he went. He treated it as if
it was his home. When he passed and the one that loved him got that backpack –
what do you think was found? Bibles. The word of God. Maybe there were those
who were tempted gave up on him, but not God!
·
“Father, I have an addicted head!”
·
“Father, I speak falsehoods, and murmur against
your children!”
·
“I have a blasphemous heart…”
I speak these words not as an indictment against anyone else. They are more for me than you. He was not a nobody. In God’s eye’s, he was a broken heart and a broken soul. Let none here think that there is no grace or mercy for Luten from God. To even think that places one in a dangerous spot – encroaching upon the sancta of God – His providence, His decision alone if Luten is saved.
Paul said in Romans 9:
9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
9:15 For he
says to Moses:
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on
whom I have compassion.”29
9:16 So then,30
it does not depend on human desire or exertion,31 but on God who
shows mercy.[ix]
A broken and contrite heart He will not despise. Let these words comfort you, but also, let them be a warning. None of us are promised tomorrow. We are all one heartbeat away from eternity. Can we all use the time we have left to rely on God’s grace rather than that which pleases us? Jesus said this in Matthew 7:13-14:
14 3Because narrow is the gate and 4difficult
is the way which leads to life, and
there are few who find it.[x]
There, my family, my Mishpacha, but for the grace of God, go I and go you.
May the Lord Richly bless you all and comfort those who mourn, and may a broken heart be ushered into His presence, Amein.
[i]NOTICE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
RIGHTS: Unless
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international conventions. Any errors found within, rest solely upon me; please
do not blame the Father for my mistakes. I am teachable and correctable, not
infallible. 😊
[ii] FAIR USE DISCLAIMER: This
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107 of the Copyright Act: “…the fair use of a copyrighted work […] for purposes
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use of these materials is solely intended for educational purposes only, and
all efforts to obtain or sustain fair use of non-owned material will be made.
[iii] Author’s note: This site is
for education only and is not affiliated with any institution, organization, or
religious group. It is the sole production of its editor. Use of information
from Jewish-themed websites (or any other source material) should not be
construed as these sites endorsing or confirming any thesis introduced by the
author of this epistle. I present the information from their respective sites
for instructional purposes only and/or to aid in the readers understanding of
the subjects discussed.
[iv] Author’s note:
Throughout this study I will be using the NET Bible® and the NET Notes®: within
the notes you will see symbols like this: ( א B Ψ 892* 2427 sys). These are
abbreviations used by the NET Bible® for identifying the principal manuscript
evidence that they (authors and translators of the NET Bible®) used in
translating the New Testament. Please go to https://bible.org/netbible/ and see
their section labeled “NET Bible Principals of Translation” for a more complete
explanation on these symbols and other items pertinent to the way the NET Bible
uses them.
[v] Author’s Note:
In these studies, I have used the notes that come along with the passages I
cite from the sources that I cite: these need a bit of a disclaimer though. As
in all things, not everything that is footnoted is something that I necessarily
agree with, especially if it contradicts what I believe pertains to any matters
of the Torah or the commandments of God. I give you the notes as they are
written by the authors of the material I cite from, so that you can see the
information contained within them. It truly is not my place to edit them; if
they state anything that is in opposition to what I teach, then so be it. I
will address these issues if requested. That is not to say I should not
challenge something I believe, in my humble opinion, might contradict the truth
of God’s word; that I will do in the main body of my epistles for that is where
my gentle dissent belongs. Most (but not all) of the differences will come when
I quote from a source that displays a decidedly Western/Greek mindset, as
opposed to a Hebraic perspective. I must be intellectually honest – I am biased
toward the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and His son, Yeshua the Messiah. I
pray then we all can find common ground as we study the Scriptures. Also, some
may be put off by the length or depth of the notes; not everyone has access to
the references I do, therefore I try to include the notes that come with the
material I use, so each can see for themselves the information the originator
has pointedly gleaned. I hope you avail yourselves to these inclusions – they
help us to understand how the material in scripture is laid out – the thought
process of the original writer.
1
Or Be gracious to me
x
See Ps. 106:45
y
ver. 9; Isa. 43:25; 44:22; Acts 3:19; Col. 2:14
z
ver. 7; Isa. 1:16; Jer. 4:14; Mal. 3:3; Acts 22:16
a
Heb. 9:14; 1 John 1:7, 9; [Lev. 13:6]
b
Ps. 32:5; [Prov. 28:13]
c
Gen. 20:6; 39:9; 2 Sam. 12:13; [1 Cor. 8:12]
d
Luke 15:18, 21
e
Cited Rom. 3:4
f
Rom. 5:12, 19; Eph. 2:3; See Job 14:4; 15:14
g
Job 38:36
h
Ex. 12:22; Lev. 14:4; Num. 19:18; Heb. 9:19
z
[See ver. 2 above]
i
Isa. 1:18
j
Ps. 35:10
k
Ps. 44:19; Isa. 38:13
l
Jer. 16:17
y
[See ver. 1 above]
m
1 Sam. 10:9; Jer. 24:7; Ezek. 11:19; 36:26; Eph. 4:23, 24
n
Ps. 24:4; Matt. 5:8; Acts 15:9
o
Lam. 5:21
2
Or steadfast
p
Ps. 102:10; 2 Kgs. 13:23; 17:20; 24:20; Jer. 7:15
q
Rom. 8:9; Eph. 4:30
r
[Luke 22:32]
s
2 Sam. 11:17; 12:9
t
Ps. 24:5
u
Ps. 35:28; 71:8, 15, 24
v
[1 John 1:9]
w
See Ps. 40:6
x
See Ps. 34:18
y
[Ps. 69:35; 122:6]
z
Ps. 147:2
a
Ps. 4:5; [Mal. 3:3]
b
Deut. 33:10
[vi]
The Holy Bible: English
Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles,
2016), Ps 51:title–19.
[vii] From “The Writings of John
Bradford, M.A…Martyr, 1555” published by The University Press,
Cambridge, England, 1853, Vol. 2, pg xliii.
c
ch. 16:15; [Matt. 5:20]
d
2 Cor. 1:9
e
Prov. 30:12; Isa. 65:5; John 7:48, 49
f
2 Kgs. 20:5, 8; Acts 3:1; [ver. 14]
g
Matt. 6:5; Mark 11:25
1
Or standing, prayed to himself
h
[Rev. 3:17]
i
Matt. 9:14
j
ch. 11:42
g
[See ver. 11 above]
k
Ezra 9:6
l
ch. 23:48
m
Ps. 79:9; Ezek. 16:63; Dan. 9:19
n
See ch. 14:11
[viii]
The Holy Bible: English
Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles,
2016), Lk 18:9–14.
29
sn A quotation from Exod 33:19.
30
sn There is a double connective here
that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,”
emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.
31
tn Grk “So then, [it does] not [depend] on the one who desires nor on
the one who runs.”
[ix]
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First
Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible
(Biblical Studies Press, 2005), Ro 9:14–16.
k
Luke 13:24
3
NU, M How narrow …!
4
confined
[x]
The New King James
Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Mt
7:13–14.
