We Always Fall Short of God's Requirements for Holy Living
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the LORD is sure,
making wise the simple; Psalm 19:7
What God requires of us once we committ to abide in Him is always beyond our ability to acheive.
We are weak and trend in our thinking toward sin and depravity.
As we see in the Old Testament Israel was unable to keep God's Law once the Ten Commandments were given to them. They remained ungrateful, disobedient and sinful.
We today are no different.
God made it clear to Israel of Old and to us that He expects us to be obedient and strive for Holyness through the Person of the Holy Spirit.
God's law presented in The Ten Commandments begins by saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Ex. 20:2).
God started His relationship with Israel by rescuing them first, His grace and power on display, then He gave them His expectations.
Like Israel under the leadership of Moses (the Pharisees later), we are very often self-deceived. We work hard to keep God’s law by our own strength as a path to self-improvement or moral superiority over others. Before God’s good and perfect law however, we are exposed. Our sin is revealed and we can see the vast space that stands between us and what God’s perfect love demands.
All of us must continue to do good works in respsonse to God's good favor.
We can never meet God's requirements, yet when we fall short our Lord waits for us to turn to Him for His grace and mercy are without end.
Stephen Dempster - How to Read the Old Testament (as More Than Just a Collection of Books)
Video from The Weird Christian Podcast
"Dr. Stephen Dempster (PhD, University of Toronto) is Professor of Religious Studies at Crandall University. Dr. Dempster is the author of numerous academic articles on the Old Testament canon and biblical theology. He has also authored two books, a forthcoming commentary on Micah in the Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary Series. In this episode, we discuss his book, Dominion & Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible and how to read the Old Testament as a complete narrative rather than a hodge podge of books. We talk about the literary view of scripture, the original order and structure of the Hebrew tankah (which differs from the Masoretic), when the exile ended, dominion being usurped at the fall, the Torah, the former prophets, the latter prophets, and the writings. Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/Dominion-Dynas..." from video introduction
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