Are You One Who Hates Discipline?

[Christsfreeservant]

“But to the wicked God says:​

‘What right have you to recite my statutes​

or take my covenant on your lips?​

For you hate discipline,​

and you cast my words behind you.​

If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,​

and you keep company with adulterers.’” (Psalms 50:16-18 ESV) ​

Who are the wicked? They are all who despise the commandments of God. And what does that look like? They do not obey the Lord’s commands but they chart their own course, instead, and they walk in the ways of the flesh and in their sinful practices. Sin is their practice and not righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord. And some or many of them are also those who profess faith in Jesus Christ, even some pastors. But their actions do not match their professions of faith.

And that is exactly what this passage is talking about. It is talking about those who recite the statutes of God (the Scriptures) and who take his covenant upon their lips (make professions of faith in Jesus Christ). But they hate discipline. And so they cast the words of the Lord behind them, and they ignore them when what they want to do opposes the commands of God. And so they do not live honest, godly, and morally pure lives, to the glory of God, but they take pride and glory in their own flesh.

And then they come up with all sorts of excuses and rationalizations for why they still keep returning to their vomit, i.e. for why they keep repeating the same deliberate and defiant and habitual sins in the face of God and against God and against their spouses and their children, and against others who also profess faith in Jesus Christ. They claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and heaven as their eternal destiny, but they hate the discipline of the Lord, and they will not bow to the Lord and give up their sinful practices.

And as far as the idea of keeping company with adulterers, several things come to mind here. The first one is that so many professing Christians today are addicted to pornography and to sexual sin of various kinds. And if not pornography, per se, then to sexually charged and sexually explicit material of various kinds, such as movies, music, video games, sex texting, and the like. And the other thing that comes to mind are these self-help groups where men (mostly) are in fellowship with other men addicted to porn.

“You give your mouth free rein for evil,​

and your tongue frames deceit.​

You sit and speak against your brother;​

you slander your own mother's son.​

These things you have done, and I have been silent;​

you thought that I was one like yourself.​

But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.” (Psalms 50:19-21 ESV)​

Gossip has always been a problem, and it still is. But I find that putting other people down and talking badly about others without their knowledge so that they cannot defend their own honor seems to be rampant. And so people form their opinions of other people based upon what they are hearing others say about them, and this can do so much harm to the ones being talked about. It can do great damage to their reputations, as people judge them. Mocking other people who are different from us seems to be for sport, too.

Do we need to call out false teachers? Yes! Do we need to exercise church discipline against those within the gatherings of the church who are sinning against others without true repentance, who are sinning deliberately and habitually? Yes! Do we need to call out rampant and deliberate and habitual sin in the lives of those professing faith in Jesus Christ? Yes! For their own rescue! But we should not be gossiping about one another behind each other’s backs, especially if we are spreading lies and are slandering others.

“Mark this, then, you who forget God,​

lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!​

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;​

to one who orders his way rightly​

I will show the salvation of God!” (Psalms 50:22-23 ESV)​

So, what is God saying here? And please know that this is not Old Covenant teaching only. This is what the New Testament Scriptures teach, too. There is a solemn warning here against deliberately and habitually forgetting the Lord and his commandments, especially so that one can commit deliberate and habitual sins against God. And the warning is that if one continues on that course and does not repent of his evil ways, he will not be rewarded with heaven, but he will die in his sins and face the judgment of God.

But on the plus side of this, God lets us know that those of us who order our ways rightly and who demonstrate by our actions true thanksgiving to our Lord for what he sacrificed for us on that cross, we will receive salvation from sin. And in the New Testament Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to our sinful lifestyles, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, and follow our Lord in obedience, in practice, then we have the hope of eternal life with God.

And Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father. Many will stand before the Lord on the day of judgment, calling him “Lord” and claiming all the things they did in his name, and he is going to say to them, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of lawlessness,” because they refused to submit to the Lord and to obey his commandments, but they went their own way, instead. (Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 2:21-23)

So, please know what the Scriptures teach. Read them in context. Compare the Old Covenant teachings with the New Covenant teachings, for much of what was taught to the people under the Old Covenant is repeated for us in the New Testament under the New Covenant. For God has not changed, and his moral laws have not changed. Obedience to God, submission to his will, and the forsaking of our sins is still demanded by God as part of genuine faith and for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

Trust and Obey

Words by John H. Sammis, 1887
Music by Daniel B. Towner, 1887

When we walk with the Lord
in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will,
He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Not a shadow can rise,
not a cloud in the skies,
But His smile quickly drives it away;
Not a doubt or a fear,
not a sigh or a tear,
Can abide while we trust and obey.

Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
But our toil He doth richly repay;
Not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
But is blessed if we trust and obey.

But we never can prove
the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay;
For the favor He shows,
for the joy He bestows,
Are for them who will trust and obey.

Then in fellowship sweet
We will sit at His feet.
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way.
What He says we will do,
Where He sends we will go;
Never fear, only trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

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