The Arrogant Wicked
Psalm 73:6-9 ESV
“Therefore pride is
their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out
through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak
with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths
against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.”
The arrogant wicked have set their hearts against the Lord
to bring him down. And, so they have devised evil against him, and against his
gospel, and against his messengers. They have devised a fake substitute for the
real gospel, which has the appearance of being the true gospel, but it is a
lie.
But, what they are passing off as the true gospel is a
stretch, i.e. it is not very believable, for it is full of holes. For, what
they are promoting is the opposite of righteousness, godliness and holiness.
For, their fake half-truth gospel requires no change of heart, no
transformation of mind (thinking), no repentance, no obedience to Christ, and
no submission to the cross of Christ.
Thus, it is vain, empty, fruitless, and unproductive with
regard to salvation from slavery to sin, and with regard to eternal life with
God.
Yet, its influence is far reaching, for it has superseded
the true gospel of our salvation in the hearts of the majority, at least here
in America. But, what it teaches is not holiness and godliness. What it teaches
is that we can be saved from our sins and on our way to heaven, but that it
doesn’t have to alter our lifestyles. We can continue in our sinful practices,
it claims, without guilt and without punishment, for they say God’s grace
covers it all.
Thus, they have lowered and devalued God’s moral standards, which
are his boundary lines for us. And, the God and the Jesus they are presenting
to the people are also not the God and the Jesus of the scriptures, but a false
god and another Jesus other than the Jesus (God) of the scriptures. For, what
they are presenting are a man-made God and a man-created Jesus (God) which
appease human flesh, but do not put sin and the flesh to death.
And, that is because these arrogant wicked have fat bellies,
i.e. they have insatiable appetites for the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of
the eyes, and the pride of life, and all that this sinful world has to offer.
And, so their fake god and their fake (half-truth) gospel accommodate those
insatiable appetites.
How Can God Know?
Psalm 73:10-12 ESV
“Therefore his people
turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
And they say, ‘How can
God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
Behold, these are the
wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.”
Satan is the one behind these arrogant wicked and their
plots to destroy the gospel of our salvation and to steal, kill and to destroy
the church, our Lord’s sheep (See John 10; Revelation 12-14). And, he is
turning the hearts of many who profess faith in Jesus Christ to follow His
ways, instead.
It would seem, at least here in America, that the vast
majority of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ have turned to follow after
this fake God, this fake Jesus, and this fake (half-truth) gospel. For, people
are flocking to these charlatans by the thousands, and perhaps millions. And, I
am not speaking here merely of Mega churches, either. For, this fake gospel
(cheap grace) is permeating the American church in little congregations, too.
So, not only does it appear that the vast majority of those
who profess to be Christians in America are following after these charlatans
and their cheap grace gospel, but by doing so they have invited this wickedness
into their own hearts and lives. Thus, many are living in sin, while claiming
Jesus as their Lord and heaven as their eternal destiny.
They do so arrogantly, too, because they have bought into
Satan’s lies. And, they have convinced themselves that God doesn’t even see
when they sin anymore, but that all he sees is Jesus when he looks at them. And,
if they do begin to feel guilty about their sin, they just ease their
consciences by claiming “who they are in Christ,” which is a lie if they are
not really in Christ by genuine faith in him, which repents of sin and follows
Jesus in obedience.
Coming to Understand
Psalm 73:16-17, 23-28
ESV
“But when I thought
how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
“Nevertheless, I am
continually with you;
you
hold my right hand.
You guide me with your
counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven
but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire
besides you.
My flesh and my heart
may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my
portion forever.
“For behold, those who
are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is
unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good
to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that
I may tell of all your works.”
So, if we want to have understanding of all of this, we need
to turn to the scriptures, but we have to read them in context, as a whole, and
not “cherry pick” the ones we like while rejecting the ones that we don’t like.
We need to hear the full message of the gospel, not this
half-truth altered gospel message that is conformed to the image of man,
instead of conformed to the image of Christ. We need to take in the whole
truth, the whole counsel of God, and not listen to these lies which are a
cover-up for evil, and which allow people to continue in sinful practices
unhindered.
We need to sit under the counsel of the Most High God and
not under the counsel of the arrogant wicked in their deceitful scheming. We
need to not get our truth from sermons or books coming from mere mortals, but
we need to study the scriptures for ourselves under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit so that we can discern truth from error. And, we need to be testing
whatever we hear against the scriptures (in context), too.
And, there we will discover the truth. And, our eyes will be
opened to see all the deception that is being passed off as truth, but that is
really a lie straight from hell intended to lead all who would have faith in
Jesus Christ to go after their flesh, and to follow the ways of man rather than
the ways of God.
In the scriptures, in the New Testament, in particular, as
we read book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse, seeking God’s
face and his truth, we will learn what the truth is as opposed to the lies.
The Truth in Jesus
For, we will learn that Jesus died, not just to forgive us
our sins and to promise us heaven when we die, but he died that we might die
with him to sin and that we might live with him to righteousness. He died that
we might no longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us
(1 Pet. 2:24; 2 Co. 5:15; Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9).
And, we will learn that Jesus shed his blood for us on that
cross to buy us back for God that we might now be God’s possession, that he
might be our Lord and Master, and that we might glorify God now with our lives,
not glory in our flesh (1 Co. 6:20; Eph. 2:10; Tit. 2:14; 2 Co. 5:21).
We will learn, as well, that if we walk (in lifestyle)
according to the Spirit, that we have eternal life with God, and salvation from
sin. But, if we walk (in lifestyle, in conduct) according to our flesh, that we
are going to die in our sins because we would not die to our sins (Lu. 9:23-26;
Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph. 4:17-24; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Gal. 5:16-21; Eph. 5:3-6;
1 Jn. 2:3-6).
And, we will learn, too, that we are all going to reap what
we sow in this life. If we sow to please our sinful flesh, from that flesh we
will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to please the Spirit, then
from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. We are not promised heaven on a mere
profession of faith, but only on a walk of faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 6:7-8;
Rom. 2:6-8).
Psalm 19
Song lyrics taken from
Psalm 19 KJV
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever:
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine
gold:
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
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