And the ruler will not take any of the people’s land or force them to leave their land. He must give some of his own land to his sons. In that way my people will not be forced to lose their land.”
I hope I will never boast about things like that. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is my only reason for boasting. Through Jesus’ death on the cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world.
Does this mean that something that is good brought death to me? No, it was sin that used the good command to bring me death. This shows how terrible sin really is. It can use a good command to produce a result that shows sin at its very worst.
You might think I am saying that sin and the law are the same. That is not true. But the law was the only way I could learn what sin means. I would never have known it is wrong to want something that is not mine. But the law said, “You must not want what belongs to someone else.”
No, even if everyone else is a liar, God will always do what he says. As the Scriptures say about him, “You will be proved right in what you say, and you will win when people accuse you.” Psalm 51:4
David said, “God, I cannot drink this water. It would be like drinking the blood of the men who risked their lives to get this water for me.” That is why David refused to drink the water. The Three Heroes did many brave things like that.
He said to his men, “I pray the Lord never lets me do anything like that to my master again. I must not do anything against Saul, because he is the Lord’s chosen king.”
And as for me, I would never stop praying for you. If I stopped praying for you, I would be sinning against the Lord. I will continue to teach you the right way to live a good life.
“The truth is, we don’t want to be against the Lord. We don’t want to stop following him now. We know that the only true altar is the one that is in front of the Holy Tent. That altar belongs to the Lord our God.”