Monday, October 3, 2022

Keeping God’s Judgments

You must keep my statutes and my judgments,

for the man who does them shall also live by them.  I am the Lord.

Leviticus 18:5


God’s judgments are the way, the only way, to eternal life.  Wise people desire them and walk in them.  We should keep in mind the following truths concerning God’s judgments.


God’s judgments are found only among His people.


Dt. 4:7–8: “What great nation has God so close to it, as Jehovah our God is in all that we call upon Him?  And what great nation has righteous statutes and judgments as all this law which I am setting before you today?”


Ps. 147:19–20: “He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.  He has not done the like for any other nation, and they have not known His judgments.”


God’s favor is upon His people when they live according to His judgments.


Lev. 26:18–19: “You shall do my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them, and then you will dwell safely upon the land.  And the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat to the full and dwell safely in it.”


Dt. 7:12: “And it shall come to pass that because you take heed to these judgments and keep them and do them, Jehovah your God will keep with you the covenant and lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers.  And He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you.  He will also bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground – your grain, and your new wine, and your fresh oil, the offspring of your cattle, and the offspring of your flock – in the land which He swore to your fathers to give to you.  You shall be blessed above all peoples.  There shall not be a barren male or female among you or your livestock.  And Jehovah will turn all sickness away from you and all the malignant diseases of the Egyptians, of which you know.  He will not lay them upon you but will put them upon all who hate you.”


If God’s judgments do not satisfy us, He will give us other ones.


Ezek. 20:23–25: “I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them among the nations because they did not execute my judgments. . . .  So, I also gave them statutes that were not good and judgments by which they could not have life.”


God makes His people able to keep His judgments.


Ezek. 36:26 –27: “I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit within you, and I will enable you to walk according to my statutes and my judgments, and you will diligently keep them.”


My prayer is that one day, we will all be together on the new earth with Jesus, enjoying the peace that God has promised to those who keep His judgments.