In this passage of Scripture, the Psalmist recounts Israel’s history of victory over the inhabitants of the Land of Canaan, called the Promise Land. This land was given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by Covenant (Genesis 17:8). Hebrews 11:8-16 proves that this land, the Promise Land, was a type of the City of God, a better country, even a heavenly country, even the Church of God!
“To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, Maschil. We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.” (Psalms 44:1)
“How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand, and plantedst them; how thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.” (Psalms 44:2)
“For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.” (Psalms 44:3)
The Psalmist relates, in verse two of our text, how Joshua and Caleb and the Israelites cast out the inhabitants of the Land of Canaan. (Read the account in the Book of Joshua.) However, verse three reveals that it was not by their power, but by God’s Power, that the enemy was cast out. The Psalmist wrote of God, “…but thy right hand (an expression revealing the Power of God), and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.”
There are two things that this devotion is focused on:
All victories over our enemies are by the Power of God
(or by Christ; 1 Corinthians 1:24).
The first thing you should do is identify your enemies. Who are your enemies?
1) The First Enemy is death (spiritual death; which is a separation from God). This separation, or death, started with the First Adam in the Garden of Eden, because of sin against God. (See 1 Corinthians 15:21; Genesis 2:16-17; Romans 5:12; 6:23a.)
This enemy was defeated by Christ on the Cross (Hebrews 2:14; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:24-25). When we sinned in Adam, we died spiritually and were dead in sins and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1-3). Being dead, we had no hope within ourselves to be raised from this death. “But God” (Ephesians 2:4-8) in Christ defeated death, and Justified us (or declared us Righteous) in His Atoning Work on the Cross. Therefore, Christ is our Victory over the enemy called death (1 John 5:4; 1 Corinthians 15:54d, 55, 56).
2) The Second Enemy is sin in the flesh; called the “old man” (self), or the old nature. Read Romans 7:15-24, where Paul declares that sin dwells in our flesh, or in our old man, our old nature, that was given us in sin:
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;” (Ephesians 4:22)
Even though you have been raised from the dead (Romans 6:4-22), and made free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2), in the Atonement of Christ, our Substitute and Savior (2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 1:7); even though sin is not the ruler of your soul from regeneration forward – the old man is still with you, until your physical death. His power has been broken; and you do not have to sin any longer. But his lies and deceptions are still attacking the saved man daily.
Paul wrote the Victory:
“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24)
“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:25)
Our Victory is again “in Christ.” When Christ comes to dwell in a person (Romans 8:14-16), then that person lives his life in the Life of Christ.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
3) The Third Enemy is people who know not God; those who the Scriptures call “the enemies of the cross”; the “false teachers”; “the Pharisees”; etc. We are not to take up arms and battle these people:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:” (2 Corinthians 10:3)
“(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)” (2 Corinthians 10:4)
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;” (2 Corinthians 10:5)
“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
The saved man’s battle is not with flesh and blood; but with sin that lieth in men, “…the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Then Paul said in Ephesians 6:13, “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day…” Paul lists the Armour of God, which is basically the putting on of Christ:
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” (Ephesians 6:10)
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)
The Apostle John summed up our Victory in Christ in 1 John 5:4:
“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
This is what Paul meant in Philippians 4:13:
“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
The second major focus of this devotion is “because thou hadst a favour unto them.”
The Psalmist makes note that the second reason the Israelites were able to cast out the enemy of the Covenant Land, the Land of Promise, is because of God’s Favor. The Favor of God, or the Grace of God, is lodged in the Purpose of God, and not in the works, or merits, of men. (Read Deuteronomy 7:1-26.)
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 7:6)
“The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” (Deuteronomy 7:7)
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
In these verses, Moses wrote of the Sovereign God in His Eternal Purpose in Himself; not in what man did or would do. It is the same truth in Ephesians 1:4-11.
Many people are afraid of the words sovereignty, predestination, ordained, etc. However, the Bible is full of Scriptures to explain and define “In the beginning God…” God is the Creator and Controller and Consummator of all things. It was through God’s grace, not Noah’s works, that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). It was God that sought out Adam and Eve, as they were trying to hide from God.
The Psalmist said the Israelites obtained the land by the favor of God. Paul said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am… yet not I, but the grace of God…” (1 Corinthians 15:10). Paul also wrote:
“For by grace are ye saved through [the] faith (not your faith, but by The Faith, who is Christ Himself); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:” (Ephesians 2:8)
“Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:9)
Christ said on the Cross, “It is finished” (that is, our Salvation). The Work of the Atonement was performed by Jesus Christ and by Him alone. No man can take credit for his salvation. In fact, you were not even born when Christ paid the sin debt for sinners on the Tree (Romans 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:22). When Christ satisfied the payment for sin, you were yet in your sins, dead in trespasses and sins. Christ alone is our Substitute, Sacrifice, and Savior.
Therefore, if you see God; if you hear God; if you know God (by experience); if you have the power to overcome the flesh (sin) daily; if you have the Hope in you – it is all because God has Favor to you. It is because of His Grace and Mercy in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!
Man wants a works salvation, so he can say he has a part in his Salvation. No, no, a thousand times no; for “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9).
The outworking of the Favor, or Grace, of God to a sinner is experienced in the sinner through Regeneration by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14-16). This is evidenced by the sinner confessing Christ as Savior. Confession then is the result; not the requirement, or foundation, of his Salvation.
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10)
The requirement is the Atonement of Christ for sinners on the Cross. It is in Christ’s work in Reconciliation, Redemption, and Justification (or declared righteous); and not in man’s work.
When a sinner comes to see what Christ taught Nicodemus (John 3:1-16), then he can and will confess: Now I see, and now I have the power to enter into the Kingdom of God. Now I see the Judged Serpent on the Pole (verse 15). And now I rest my case in Christ, who was judged for my sin debt. Hallelujah.
O happy day it is when, by God’s Spirit, you come to confess Jesus, the Lamb of God, as your Lamb, your Savior!
Therefore, the saved sinner concludes by saying:
“For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.” (Psalms 44:3)
It is by His Power I stand in His Righteousness. And it is by His Favor that He has given me Experiential Justification (or Regeneration). Whereby I now have the witness of the Spirit of God that I am a Child of God; that He is my Father; and He now dwells in me and I dwell in Him. Amen and Amen! (Read Romans 8:14-16; John 17:21-24.)
The Victory I am experiencing now, and in eternity to come, in His Presence, is by His Power and His Favor.
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