The Pilgrim Path---Proverbs 24: 16 

“for the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”

RISING AGAIN

We fall because our sanctification is imperfect in this life. We Rise Again.

We fall because we are not sinless. Yet, we are as the followers of Jesus Christ, starting to sin less. We Rise Again.

We fall because we do not always do incredibly well in the battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil. We Rise Again.

We fall because we grow weary in the fray. We Rise Again.

We fall because we get off the, “Way of Righteousness” for a time. We Rise Again.

We fall because we listen to some new companions (who fear neither God nor man). We Rise Again.

We fall because we fail to heed godly counsel. We Rise Again.

We fall because we relish some old sin. We Rise Again.

We fall because we have not cherished Bible reading and prayer in our lives. We Rise Again.

How is it that we keep getting up? The great Apostle Paul has a simple answer, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1: 6). We were saved by grace---we are kept by grace---we will be brought home by grace. Spurgeon used to say that we “fall” on the deck of the glorious Ship of Salvation---but we may never “fall” overboard. This is marvelously true. We are working out the salvation---that He has wrought within us. We will get home, by His amazing Gospel power. We Rise again and again. Remember: sometimes to gain elevation, you will have to be far more particular in repentance concerning some sins (adultery, unforgiveness, bitterness, fornication, etc.,). To get to the heights---will require specific confession. Yet, we may rise again! The Blood of Jesus, God’s Son---cleanses us, from all sin…

From St. Jerome: The Lord judges every person as He finds that person. He doesn’t look on the past, but the present. There may be past sins, but the soul’s restoration and conversion erase them. “A righteous man,” we read, “falls seven times and rises up again” (Proverbs 24: 16). If he falls, how is he righteous? Yet if he is righteous, how does he fall? The solution is that a sinner doesn’t lose the name of a righteous man, if he each time repents of his sins, rising up again. If a sinner repents, his sins are forgiven, not only seven times, but seventy times seven! And whoever is forgiven much loves much, like the prostitute who washed the Savior’s feet with her tears, wiping them with her hair. To her, as a symbol of the Church gathered from the nations, Christ declared: “Your sins are forgiven” (Luke 7: 48). The self-effacing tax collector found salvation in confessing his sin.

“It is not the sunny side of Christ that we look to, and we must not forsake him for want of that; but must set our face against what may befall us, in following on till he and we be through the briers and bushes on the dry ground. Our soft nature would be borne through the troubles of this miserable life in Christ’s arms. And it is his wisdom, who knoweth our mold, that his children go wet-shod and cold-footed to heaven.” Samuel Rutherford

God is my strong salvation;

What foe have I to fear?

In darkness and temptation

My light, my help is near.

From Psalm 27, James Montgomery, 1822; mod.

Grace and Peace in Jesus Our LORD, Pastor Jason