To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: (Psalms 18:1-2)

With no enemies left what can life be? For David, love celebration.

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

There is no mention here of either sword or slingshot. God is powering him.

See how he thinks of God!

The Lord is

1. my rock
2. my fortress
3. my deliverer
4. my God,
5. my rock, in whom I take refuge,
6. my shield
7. my salvation’s horn
8. my stronghold.

What exactly is the character that God is forming in us? Is it not the goal for Christ to be formed in us, (Galatians 4:19)?   Yeshua had a crisp view of what is great about the sacred texts, and that for Him and the early disciples was the Law.   The great thing about the Torah is not found in the Covenant Handwriting (the Decalogue).  It is obvious to us, as it was to the succeding generations of Hebrew people, that there had to be a break in the anxiety and fruitless labour cycle.  They could not keep claiming that the law is great and does wonders for the people who embrace it, while no exit appears.  This is where the search for the one thing to do begins.   If one violation  brings the sacred journey to a screeching halt, one has reason to think that there is one thing that can either end the cycle or put the traveller on the right path. If one’s character is defined by what one does not do, we have to admit that the character remains hidden, because one can actually do nothing that is good and just and holy and still claim to be obedient. People have a longing to be accepted as something they are not. The things God wants to produce in us are not inaction and condemnation.

Trying to debate one’s way into righteousness is still popular. Yeshua faced it regularly.

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22:35-36

The answer to this question does more than state what is great in the law. It also shows two ideas as false. First that only the Decalogue is admissible as a moral guide. Neither total love for God nor love for one’s neighbour is found in the Decalogue. Second, the vast majority of Christians legitimately have no regard for dietary scruples, what to wear, or festivals of any kind. It is moot to mention the issues of uncleanness or rebellious children, two (of many) circumstances which can result in capital punishment.

Consider the injustices that would abound if people are being sentenced to death for sabbath violation anywhere on the planet today.. Who would be the executioners? If people are being cut off for coming into contact with unclean animals, other individuals or vessels anywhere on the planet today there would be no safe place anywhere. There would be all kinds of kangaroo courts and lynchings, but Christ does not allow condemnation.

If law is paramount then someone had better tell us who is responsible for our conduct and for seeing that the consequences apply. Christians who think they know the law and do everything to put it at the top of their list have removed themselves from any benefit of grace. The Law is not of faith: faith liberates and law imprisons. The Law was not introduced for righteous people; but some people do not believe that the saved are also justified, are just and holy and good. The Law was not introduced to create righteous people. That is why the evangelists wrote “The law was done when John showed up”. By the time Christ died on the cross the law was the husband of yesterday, the man we had no right to be in bed with.

There seems to be more people who either do not care or never thought about the distinction of Christ’s work for the human race than those who know that dying to loose us from our sins is redemption’s story. The blood of Christ (both his death and life) is a priceless commodity with a single eternal purpose. People who reject the offer of eternal life will find alternate uses and invent slogans to cover their deception, but Christ’s blood was shed once and is sprinkled daily when a sinner is turned from destruction.

Clarity and Precision

Romans 3:25-26 addresses the precision of blood on three fronts.

1. CHRIST’S BLOODWORK declares God’s personal righteousness
2. Faith in that blood results in remission of sin
3. God is just in justifying the (ungodly person who believes

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Blood is covenantal and a one-shot deal

Blood is for the spiritual life: remission that facilitates adoption. Blood does not heal diseases, correct finances, mend relationships, and does not drive out demons. Blood is shed and sprinkled.

Hebrews 9:12 addresses Yeshua’s entry into the holiest place

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Hebrews 10:19 assures our participation with the High Priest.

Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Once one embraces the blood the passover is assured. The rest of our lives are in our power, as enabled by God. Let us leave the blood right where it is.

Another preacher picks this text and has nothing to say about Paul’s things behind.

Philippians 3:13

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

Paul was not writing about personal troubles: pain, failure, hurts, ingratitude, or unforgiveness.

Behind Paul, in his own recollection were:

• circumcision
• tribal pride
• ethnicity
• sectarian zeal
• resume of opposition to the truth

(from Philippians 3:5-6)

Other disturbing games religious people play include the absurd belief:

• that God cannot hear a believer who does not first seek sinlessness by asking for it.
• That humans needed cleansing but animals did not (who made unclean humans and animals?)
• That God has to do what he has always done
• That God can only say what he has always said
• That Love crashes and burns every day when believers sin

But we are not hopelessly trying to please God

Loving him never fails. Hope affirms that there is something to strive for. Our tendency to seek out sin and the condemnation of others shows the child’s game that most religious people are engaged in. They promise people victory and deliverance but they wear a permanent robe of condemnation and all kinds of illness, disability and lack of knowledge.

In our haste to imitate the people of Bible times we run from “Lord I need You” to commiserate about where we have fallen from, desire what “we have lost”. We were never in Eden, nor were we ever in possession of eternal life (and lost it).

God only restores things we had.

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5