I Kept Thy Precepts

7 of 22 from Psalm 119

Psalms 119:49-56  ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.  (50)  This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.  (51)  The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.  (52)  I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.  (53)  Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.  (54)  Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.  (55)  I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.  (56)  This I had, because I kept thy precepts.

            In my previous writing, we delved into “Trusting In God’s Word.”  In this dissertation, we will look at the advantages of keeping the “precepts” laid out for us in our Holy Bible.

            Our Salvation is an everlasting, eternal, and forevermore Salvation.  God has told us many times we are given Salvation as a gift: consequently, it is forever.

Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The “gift of God” is “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

            Now we see both “eternal life” and “everlasting life.” (These words are synonymous.)  We know by Faith that God has given us an eternal, everlasting gift.  It is something we cannot lose, because it is eternal and everlasting.  So, (now we know what we have.)  “Why are we required to keep “thy precepts?”  It isn’t to keep from losing our Salvation.  It is for us to “Grow” within our Salvation.  

            We learn in God’s Word that “our home” is not here on earth (anymore.)  “Our home” is with the Lord Jesus and His Father in Heaven.  (We are just waiting for Jesus to come get us.)

2 Corinthians 5:1  For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Our “tabernacle” is “our body.”  “Once it quits” (dies) our saved spirit immediately goes to Heaven to be with The Lord.  When we, “Our Spirit” can no longer live within this body (tabernacle,) we are “absent” from our body and “present” with the Lord.

2 Corinthians 5:8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

            We also learn through the study of God’s Word that we will receive a reward in Heaven.

2 Corinthians 5:10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

This “appear[ing]” is for Jesus’ determination (of the value) of “the things” we have done on earth after our Salvation.  Jesus reminds us:

John 14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.

So, “Reader, do you love Him?”  If you can answer with an affirmative “yes,” realize that to follow His precepts is not a choice.  It is a command.  

            How will your “Works” for the Lord fare when you stand before Him?  Do you realize that you will stand before Him, regardless?

Romans 14:11  For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

Bro John R. E Chastain

Retired Pastor

Wylie, Texas

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