Psalm 25:7
There are members of our bodies that can be surgically removed for our health's sake. But without a heart man cannot live. And when we are speaking about our spiritual life, the heart of our salvation is Christ. Without Him there just is no spiritual life for fallen man. That is why David wrote in Psalm 25:7: "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to Thy mercy remember me for Thy goodness' sake, O Lord." In those two words, namely, mercy and goodness, David speaks of Christ. For all of God's mercy comes to us through Christ. Our sins can be forgotten only because Christ suffered all their punishment, and because He performed all the works of love required of us. Apart from Christ man cannot taste and enjoy God's mercy. And is there any good thing, on earth or in heaven for sinful man other than and apart from Christ Who was sent into our flesh by God's grace? Is He not the way, the truth, and the life? John 14:6.
If Satan then is not going to have the victory over us, and we are going to escape the shame of everlasting punishment in the lake of fire because of our sins from the day of our birth till the day of our death, we must have Christ and His cross. If God does not remember what Christ did for us, and apply that to us, He will remember all our sins. We will be no more capable of covering our sins than Adam and Eve were. And God had to come then and shed the blood of an animal and use its skin to cover their shame. There Christ was pictured to us.
How necessary then that we sing this prayer (PRC Psalter):
My sins and faults of youth,
Let them forgotten be,
And for Thy tender mercies' sake,
O Lord, remember me.
For Thy mercies' sake is for Christ's sake. He is The Seed of the woman Who crushed the head of Satan and made us a people whose sins are covered. And because God remembers not only that cross, but also who it is that Christ represented on that cross, He remembers that we are righteous in His Son.
Our calling is to remember all this and thank God for His grace.
Read: Psalm 130
Psalter versification: #61:1
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #365
Why not sing along??
****
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Obadiah 1:1-21
Revelation 4:1-11
Psalm 132:1-18
Proverbs 29:24-25
****
Quote for Reflection:
"…The Christian life is not a thing of passive luxuriation, but of active "fighting the good fight of faith!" The Christian is not called to lie down on flowery beds of ease, but to run a race, and athletics are strenuous, demanding self-sacrifice, hard training, the putting forth of every ounce of energy possessed. I am afraid that in this wor-hating and pleasure-loving age, we do not keep this aspect of the truth sufficiently before us: we take things too placidly and lazily." - Arthur W. Pink
Additional Info
- Date: 13-December
Heys, John A.
Rev. John A. Heys was born on March 16, 1910 in Grand Rapids, MI. He was ordained and installed into the ministry at Hope, Walker, MI in 1941. He later served at Hull, Iowa beginning in 1955. In 1959 he accepted the call to serve the South Holland, IL Protestant Reformed Church. He received and accepted the call to Holland, Michigan Protestant Reformed Church in 1967. He retired from the active ministry in 1980. He entered into glory on February 16, 1998.