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Sunday, August 13, 2023

 ©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.

zWash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and acleanse me from my sin!

bFor I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

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.

Behold, fI was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth in gthe inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me hwith hyssop, and I shall be clean; zwash me, and I shall be iwhiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness; jlet the bones kthat you have broken rejoice.

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

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!

 All of us must come to an understanding of one truth: we are all Luten. For every harsh word he may have uttered, is not our hearts telling us you have “a swearing heart”. For every substance he put inside himself, does not our heart cry out “don’t smoke that cigarette, do not drink that alcohol!” Does our hearts not cry when we gossip, and backbite, fight, and hold ourselves over another? “There, but for the grace of God, go I” has to be a rallying cry from us to God:

·         “Father, I have an addicted head!”

·         “Father, I speak falsehoods, and murmur against your children!”

·         “I have a blasphemous heart…”

 The list goes on and on and on. I am guilty; we all are guilty. Do not look upon him as if this was something he brought upon himself. Who mentored him? Who prayed? Who searched? I am not saying no one did – but there was not enough of us. Are we not a community? How many more Luten’s are out there? I am looking in a mirror and at a congregation that are all Lutens’. We all harbor darkness, but praise God, Jesus overcame the darkness; now we all need Him to show us how to help others before another is lost. Let us not lose sight of the fact that he leaves behind children. What we could not do for him, let us not neglect them. As a community, we are meant to serve one another. Please, do not forget that. We must care for those left behind.

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:

 13 k“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.

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 otherwise cited, all material found on this blogsite (original text, opinions, conclusions, and other material not related to cited sources remains the collected intellectual property of the author of this site, David E. Robinson, Elder Teacher, and are owned and controlled by myself and are protected by copyright and trademark laws and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws of the United States, foreign jurisdictions, and 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 blog site may contain content that is not authorized for use by its owner. All such material will be cited back to its original source. According to Section 107 of the Copyright Act: “…the fair use of a copyrighted work […] for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright…” I have made and will continue to make every effort to stay within all ethical and moral guidelines in the use of material presented here, and the 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.

 

w See Ps. 4:1

v 2 Sam. 12:1

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.




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