"Made Anew"

"Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts." (Psalms 119:134)

  Every so often, there are those that come along breaking records and setting new goals for themselves and others. This is something that continues to show the complexity of God's creation; just when you think it can't getting any faster, someone will make a liar out of the naysayers. Just so you know, this is something that is also a problem in the lives of believers, in the wonder-working power of the cross of Christ. There was another thing that Saul's armor represented, it was the law; it was what was customary or expected, the thing that you do, or were expected to do. Who goes out to face a giant in battle without getting armored up? This is the point David is making about, "the oppression of man," as man is referring to man's existence, starting with Adam. To those that might not know this, we are born in sin; we sin because we are sinners, an inherited issue handed down and traced back to the very first Adam. The word, "oppression," is a word that speaks of extortion or something deceitfully gotten; something taken away by force or fraud. To put it in a way that even a simple minded person can understand: You are what you are because you are a descendant of Adam! It is really not your fault, this is what you are born into; which is the primary reason for the need to be born again! When Jesus mentioned this concept to Nicodemus, he said, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" The very simple illustration I am familiar with is shown at the back of just about every 'Chick Tract': the simple fact that we were born separated by God, and the Spirit of God was not living in us; because when Adam sinned, he became spiritually dead and the Spirit of God that had resided within him had been lost because of his sin. But Jesus' death upon that cross defeated sin and death, and for all that accept His free gift of salvation, the Holy Spirit is restored within us, and because He rose from the dead, we will rise also, to live forever with Him. There comes with that simple illustration, and the naysayers, which are the ones that will say it cannot be done. They are the ones that will use the law, as if, there must be something else that needs to be put on us, just like that armor Saul tried to get David to wear. Going all the way back to the sacrifice of Cain and Able, Cain's sacrifice was not just lacking blood, it lacked faith in the cleansing work of God. Looking at the word "precepts," it speaks of something that is a mandate, specifically (of God; plural only, collectively, for the Law). There is simply no other way to put this: but you cannot have both accounted to salvation, justification and works...

"Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself be Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who know no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 6:17-21) KJV