The Haughty Eyes You Bring Down

“With the merciful you show yourself merciful;

    with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

with the purified you show yourself pure;

    and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

For you save a humble people,

    but the haughty eyes you bring down.

For it is you who light my lamp;

    the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

For by you I can run against a troop,

    and by my God I can leap over a wall.

This God—his way is perfect;

    the word of the Lord proves true;

    he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.” (Psalms 18:25-30 ESV)

Jesus Christ, in his death and resurrection, opened the way for us to be delivered out of our lives of slavery (addiction) to sin so that we can now serve the Lord Jesus Christ with our lives in walks of holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. He made the way of escape from temptation to sin through his death and resurrection. But we must choose to take his way out if we are to have true freedom from slavery (addiction) to sin and now walk in obedience to our Lord and in righteousness, in the power of God, according to his will.

Only by the grace of God, and in his power and wisdom, because of what Jesus did for us on that cross, can any of us now be free from our slavery (addiction) to sin and now walk in moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness. For we are not righteous in the sight of God via our own human efforts to do what is right and to not do what is wrong. And I am not saying that a non-believer can’t live a morally pure life. But it is only through genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ that any of us can be delivered totally from our slavery to sin and have forgiveness of sins and God’s redemption.

But the point here is that if we are to keep the ways of the Lord, and to walk in holiness and in righteousness and in moral purity, etc., the power to do so comes from him, and because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of slavery to sin so that we will now serve and honor the Lord with our lives and no longer yield control of our lives over to the flesh. We need the strength and the power and wisdom of God in our lives to live godly lives and no longer in sin. And he will help us if we will yield control of our lives over to him and obey him.

But sadly we have many professers of faith in Jesus Christ who are still living in deliberate and habitual sin against the Lord. Even though the Lord has already made the way for us to be free from addiction to sin, many are not taking his way of escape, for they are full of pride and self-indulgence and they still want to maintain control over their own lives. But they are of the “My Do It” mindset, and so they make attempts at changing, but many of those attempts are still in the flesh, and thus they are insubstantial, and so they fail time and time again (cyclically and habitually). 

So, even though the Lord has already provided the way out for us, out of our lives of addictive sin, many professers of faith in Christ are still holding on to their sinful practices, while some of them may make some fleshly attempts at changing directions. But because they are the ones still in control, and not God, and so they are trying to make these changes themselves, but perhaps not in full honesty or sincerity, those attempts will habitually fail them because it is flesh trying to drive out flesh, and that is counterproductive. But the “struggles” themselves are part of their addictive patterns.

And so it will not end well for them. For the Scriptures teach that we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to him, in practice, if we are to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if sin is what we practice (our habit, addiction, cyclical pattern), and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, we will not inherit eternal life with God because we do not truly know God, and so we are not born of God, but we are of the devil. For it all comes down to what we practice in lifestyle in repetitive patterns of behavior. Is sin or is righteousness our practice?

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

The Lord’s Anointed  

An Original Work / December 16, 2011

Based off Isaiah 61

The Spirit of the Sov’reign Lord on me;

Anointed to preach the Good News;

Sent me to bind up the brokenhearted;

Proclaim freedom for the captives.

He sent me to preach release for pris’ners

Who are walking in sin’s darkness;

Proclaim God’s grace to all men who’ll listen;

And tell them about God’s judgments;

Comfort all who mourn;

Give crowns of beauty;

Oil of gladness and thanksgiving. 

They will be called oaks of God’s righteousness,

A planting of our Savior, God,

For the display of our Lord’s splendor, and

They will rebuild God’s holy church.

God will renew them, and will restore them,

And you’ll be called priests of the Lord.

You will be ministers of our God, and

You will rejoice in salvation.

The Lord loves justice;

He is faithful to 

Reward those who are seeking Him.

I delight greatly in the Lord;

My soul rejoices in my Savior, God.

He has clothed me with His salvation,

And in a robe of His righteousness.

He has given me priestly garments to wear, 

As the bride of Jesus Christ.

As the garden of our Lord and Savior, 

He causes us to grow in Him.

He makes righteousness, 

Praise, and thanksgiving

Spring up before all the nations. 

https://vimeo.com/114836524