Psalm 119:3 – Aleph – They

Psalm 119

They

(Psalm 119:3)

ALEPH

They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. (Psalm 119:3)

   For multitudes of the redeemed both in heaven and on the earth there is a great hope.

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; (Revelation 5:9

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; (Revelation 5:11)

Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. (Revelation 5:12)

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:13)

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever. (Revelation 5:14)

But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, (Hebrews 12:22)

To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,(Hebrews 12:23)

And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:24)

They: The New Race of People, The Heavenly People

   You are a new people, a new creation, a living company of just men’s spirit made perfect. You have taken company with the angels of God. You are a new company and the title of this company is The Church of the First Born. You have been justified before God in Jesus Christ who (through His Spirit) has created you in a new image before the Almighty God. Your spirit is as a just man made perfect in Jesus Christ the righteous. This is the ‘they’ in Isaiah Chapter 40, verse 31. But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. This is the patience of our redemption, the patience of the saints of light; we become the ‘they’ as a great multitude as we patiently wait for the Lord of glory every day renewing our strength in Him. As we are a heavenly people, our desire is to soar like eagles in heavenly places. Our labor of love is for the Almighty God Jesus Christ. We run to Him and walk with Him, His truth never brings weariness but energizes us in His Spirit as the beasts of Revelation Chapter 4, who call out ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.’ And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8) The beasts of Revelation Chapter 4 rest not day or night. The labors of these beasts are endless and tireless for they are energized by the Lord God Almighty. In Revelation Chapter 5, we see the innumerable company of the redeemed with their song of praise and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. They also are energized by His life, His endless life, which in turn, gives them His life for in Him was life and that life is the light of men. Verse 3 of Psalm 119 brings in the sinlessness of the saint whether they are in heaven or on earth because of the finished work of Christ for (before God) they cannot sin. No sin follows the sinner when they are redeemed. The statement of their redemption is that they are washed clean in the redeeming blood of Christ. They have been made spotless before God in the spotless One. They do no iniquity for they walk in His way and in His truth.

   The liberal gospel has no power over sin, therefore, multitudes make an endless journey week after week confessing their sin at man’s altar, and not the altar of God: our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This powerless gospel of unregenerate mankind is only trying to mend a broken toy. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ makes a whole new toy. This is a very simple analogy of the creature (man) being born again and not simply having a face lift or a make-over. Man loves to change his appearance before others, but God looks on the heart and not the outward appearance. In Chapter 2 of the gospel of John, the Omnipotent Creator knew the heart and knows the heart of all men. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, (John 2:24) And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. (John 2:25)

   The liberal gospel is a gospel of defeat for both sin and death are not defeated, therefore, man tries other ways to make himself clean. Man tries to rid his own sin, therefore, man will never see himself sinless before God. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:6) Along with sin (because it brings forth death) the merely religious person continues to live in fear of death. He has no way to defeat sin or death. He, himself, in his man-made religion is defeated, and there is no way outside of Christ Jesus that he can taste eternal life and the spiritual presence of Christ Himself. He has never been through a quickening spirit experience, so instead of building on Christ, he builds on rituals, the traditions of men, and the multitude of religions of mankind. And by denying Christ as the Head of the Church body, he has set his own path and this path will lead to the judgment of God against his sin and here we will see the complete explanation of the second death. For they who wait upon the Lord do no iniquity, they walk in His way, they do not get weary, they rest not day and night for they have entered into God’s rest and God’s glory.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (Hebrews 4:4)

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Hebrews 4:8)

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Hebrews 4:11)

They  Rest

   The saint has a rest: His rest, he rests in Jesus Christ. For the child of God, the words of the Lord Jesus on the cross, It is finished, brought in the divine rest in God. For after He had purged our sins, He (the Lord Jesus) sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high. This is His rest, He has completed the work of redemption. This rest that we enjoy in Him is the fruit of grace, and it is God’s rest and not mankind’s. We enter into this rest because we are born of God. As the children of the first born, Jesus Christ we enter into His rest, His glory, and His life. The cries of the heart of the redeemed truly match the voices of the beasts in Revelation, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Even so, Come Lord Jesus. When my heart declares, Even so, Come Lord Jesus, I am not seeing the millennial kingdom, I am seeing His personal return in the clouds, not to the earth, for He will come as a thief in the night to take His loved ones home. These are the redeemed of the earth that He will translate into His own presence, and from that time forth, they will enjoy the glory and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will have the resurrection of the saints, from the past, and their ascension into glory. The Church, at the present moment, is a bride in waiting. She has already been betrothed for she was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. The book of her members in the body of Christ is signed in the blood of her beloved. The world cannot see this, in fact, man’s religion cannot see beyond their own righteousness, and the traditions of their fathers. Being brought up in a building does not make you part of God’s house. In many ways, the buildings of today keep you from God for they speak of the accomplishments of men, and not what Christ accomplished on the cross.

But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. (1 John 2:27)

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. (1 John 2:28)

If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him. (1 John 2:29)

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. (1 John 3:6)

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (1 John 3:7)

   These verses describe ‘the now’ of every Christian life. If I have a growth on my arm, and I have it removed, it is gone. Christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh. He did not come in the sinful flesh of Adam. He came as the holy thing of God to take sin upon Himself, and to remove sin completely, but that’s not all through His sacrificial death (as the Divine Sacrifice on the cross) He paid both the price and the penalty for all sin. He paid the price for sin, and He removed the penalty which was death. He removed sin itself. The sin that came into the world through Adam was taken away, in fact, even Adam was removed in the flesh. And in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the new Man who ascended into heaven for us. This is the glorified Man, who destroyed sin, defeated death, and destroyed the works of the devil.

   Now put on your spiritual thinking caps, and ask the Spirit of God to lead you, I cannot lead you into these truths, they have to become part of you, and only the Lord Jesus can accomplish this for you, and through His Spirit He can lead you into all truth. You can reach the summit to the highest, and the highest Himself will open the Word of God in its fullness to you, but you have to take Him at His Word, you have to believe (within yourself) that the Spirit of God has been given to guide you into all truth. The Scriptures declare of our Lord Jesus Christ that He was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) This makes Him the acceptable sacrifice, and the Spirit of God takes us to the Lord’s complete life as an example for us to follow, for He did no sin. For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. (1^st Peter 2:21 -22)

   Within every man who is in Adam (the unregenerate man) is the sin of Adam. This causes mankind to rebel against God because of sin. Sin has caused and brought forth the death of mankind. Sin is the dominant force in humanity. This is why the apostle in his day described the world as the present evil world. The world was also described as lying in wickedness. And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19) Adam (in no way, nor in any part) was in Christ. It was God who was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ knew no sin. He was the GodMan, and therefore, God was in Him reconciling the world unto Himself. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

   We also have the irrefutable truth that Christ was sent of God the Father to do the will of God to fulfill all righteousness, and to deliver mankind from sin and death by the death of Himself upon the cross of Calvary as the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The Lord Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness, not to complete righteousness, for God is righteous, and Christ does not need to fulfill His own righteousness, but to fulfill the righteousness of the determinate counsels of God for us so that He, Himself, could justify a new divine race of people for Himself. And these people delight themselves in Him. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)

   The result of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ was to take away our sin, however, prior to His finished work on the cross, and upon the cross, and in eternity: in Him was and is no sin. The Spirit of God confirms this in 1^st John, Chapter 3. We have three divine witnesses to the purity of the Son of God Jesus Christ.

  The first witness is God the Father, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Christ is the Father’s delight, all things that He did spoke of His purity in God’s pleasure. In the parable of the vineyard, we read that lastly He sent His Son after all the law of Moses, and after the prophets, and after John the Baptist; lastly, He sent his Son to be the propitiation for sin. The work of the Spirit of God has truly transcended the history of mankind, but in our now, in our today, the Spirit of God testifies through the Word of God. In all these verses before us it is the Spirit of God testifying to us of the uniqueness of the purity of the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   The second witness is the Lord Himself when speaking to His disciples He testified of Himself concerning His accomplishments that would take place on the cross. He told them in the gospel of John, Chapter 14, verse 30 that the prince of this world, the devil, Satan, or Apollyon, is the old serpent, do you get the point? That he would come and examine the divine sacrifice and would find nothing in Christ to tempt. Both in Matthew 4 and in Luke 4 we have the temptation of the Lord Jesus Christ, this temptation continued and was finalized at the cross for Satan could not derail the salvation of God. Satan found nothing in Christ that he could tempt or defile. Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. (John 14:30)

   Notice in the temptation of the Lord by Satan the words of the devil in Matthew Chapter 4 and in Luke Chapter 4.

And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: (Matthew 4:9)

For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:(Matthew 4:10)

And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Matthew 4:11)

And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:12)

   At these words Christ replied, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. We also miss the temptation at the cross. It was the same temptation. Satan spoke through the Jews when they said, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest [it] in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. (Matthew 27:40) and in Matthew 27:42, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. This was impossible in the determinate counsels of God for this time had been set before the foundations of the world. Christ had nothing in Him to respond to the temptation of the devil. He is now in heaven for us as the undefiled and glorified Christ, a high Priest of God interceding for us every moment of our new life.

   The third divine witness (the Spirit of God) goes even further in the book of Hebrews, Chapter 7. The Spirit of God brings heaven down to us in verse 26. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. This is my Savior, this is my God, and Christ lives in me. This is why the Spirit of God moved John to write of these victories in Jesus Christ in 1^st John, Chapter 3, verses 5 thru 7.

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)

Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.(1 John 3:6)

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. (1 John 3:7)

   John proclaimed a victorious life in Christ; a power of Christ within, for Christ cannot sin, and Christ lives in me. This is one of the mysteries of our new being. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1^st John 5:4) Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God? (1^st John 5:4)

   Let us now compare our text in Psalm 119:3 to these New Testament windows. The psalmist writes that ‘they’ who wait upon the Lord do no iniquity, for they walk in his ways, the way of the highest Himself. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

The Only Way

   Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) When the Lord Jesus declared that He was the way, (it was that He only was the only way, there are no other means, nor other ways, there is no plurality, nor myriads of paths) for He IS and WAS and WILL BE throughout eternity the ONLY way that man can approach God. For He, Himself, overcame the world by His death upon the cross. And by us entering into His death, we have the victory, and we also overcome the world in Him. He declared that He would come, and that He would make His abode with each and every saint. This is not a collective indwelling, but an individual indwelling of the Spirit of Christ. The Lord Jesus said, I and my Father will make our abode with them.

   We also have the multiple witnesses of Scripture that God the Holy Spirit dwells within the child of God. Do you see what we have here? We have God the Father within to reveal His Son, we have the Son of God within to glorify the Father, and we have the Spirit of truth within who will reflect and teach us all things concerning the Son of God. With the complete representatives of the Godhead bodily within us, God cannot sin, therefore, the new creature in Christ walks through this world and they also do no iniquity.

  His new divine nature is Christ in me the hope of glory. This is a key truth of our salvation, the new creature, the new creation, the new man, the new born babe cannot sin. This seems to contradict another Scripture that the Holy Spirit gives to us, but it is not a contradiction. While we remain in this evil world in the flesh, the flesh wars against the spirit. You have the same flesh that you had before your salvation. Whether you like it or not, this flesh is condemned because of Adam’s transgression and your own transgressions before salvation. This is why John wrote in 1 John 1:7-10, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8)

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:10)

   In the new creation, the sin question (or the issue of sin) is totally settled. Even Paul speaking of our past tells us to put off the old man which shows the conflict between the new child of God and the old dust of Adam. I don’t think from this side of heaven that we can totally understand our position in Christ, and in the world. The Scripture unfolds to us a new life, the sinless life in Jesus Christ. Why? It is because He dealt with the total sin question: the core issue of sin from all views, God’s view, man’s view, before the cross, after the cross, before salvation, after salvation, as born again creatures in the flesh, as born again creatures of the Spirit, the old man, and the new man, every part of sin and the victory over sin is examined by Scripture and explained by Scripture. We are to recognize in ourselves, in the old man, that we do sin, but we are to confess those sins, and Christ (who is the sinless One) will cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

   In Johns’s 1^st epistle, Chapter 2, verses 1 and 2, we have the Daysman for us. For it is Jesus Christ the righteous who is the advocate for us because He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: (1 John 2:1) And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)

 Notice in verse 1 that sin is mentioned twice, and in verse 2 sin (as in sins) is again mentioned twice. The first point: He is the propitiation for our sins, this part of the issue of sin He settled with God for His children. Then, so there will be no contradiction of sinners; the second point is that He is also the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.

   Just to stay on this point a little longer, I ask two questions of you and of me: since Christ is in me, could Christ sin within me? The answer is no. Could I sin within Christ? Again, the answer is no. This is the divine truth of our salvation. We are in Him as a divine race bought with His blood, and His blood has cleansed us from all sin. John, who was greatly beloved by the Lord, stated that we (the new creature) shall be like Him (meaning the Lord Jesus Christ) and there will come a day when this new race, this new creation will be manifested as the sons of God in heaven. As He was given a body of flesh to redeem us, so we are given a glorified body to glorify Him. Yes, we do not see it yet, however, the victory has been won at the cross, and it is that victory that overcomes the world. And for each one of us, it is by faith in Jesus Christ that we embrace that victory to overcome the world.

   Galatians 2:20 is one of the most important verses for the child of God. 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. In this verse the world is removed from us by our own death upon the cross of Christ. And yet, the Spirit declares that we live, but not the old man, for Christ lives in me. Then, the life ahead is lived by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me. Meditate on this verse, if you can, memorize it, dwell on every word, and as you travel through this life, this verse will expand itself in your heart and in your soul and spirit.

   As we look out from the top peak of our spiritual Pisgah, God allows us to see the totality of the new man. We are not there yet, for we have to go into the cocoon of death. I find it amazing that with Moses it was God Himself who put Moses to sleep, and it was God who laid him to rest. I find this interesting because on the mount of transfiguration we have the two witnesses: Moses and Elijah. Moses was put to sleep and Elijah was taken up, in these two we see the resurrection of the just made perfect in Jesus Christ. And we see the body of Christ on earth translated out of the world into the glories of heaven.

   As we look out from Pisgah, in our spirit, we see the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, we see through prophecy the emerald throne and the Lord who sits upon it. We see in the very center the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. We are not there yet, for we have to also go into the cocoon of death, and those who are alive will be changed in a twinkling of an eye, but rest assured, we will be glorified for we will always be in the Man of glory, Jesus Christ. For we walk in His way, the way of truth, the way of life, the way of victory, and the way of His glory. His glory is my glory, we cannot grasp all of this right now, but soon, beloved, we shall see Him as He is, and glory to God in the highest, we shall be like Him. They that wait upon the Lord shall and will have continued strength, for His mercies are renewed every morning. As the sun completes its course each day so every day the Son of God completes His course in every believer. Every day He gives us wings to fly, and every day He gives us wings to abide under. He is never separated from His own. Before the cross, it is the teaching of the Spirit of God of man under sin. After the cross, it is the teaching of the Spirit of God of the redemption of God in the Man Christ Jesus. This truly brought forth the fullness of time in Jesus Christ for the highest Himself has embraced our souls for all eternity that there should be no iniquity as we walk in the way everlasting.

The Greater Works

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18)

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. (John 5:19)

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (John 5:20)

We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (1 John 5:18)

And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19)

And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)

    The New Testament declaration that sin is gone in the believer is truly the tree of life: Jesus Christ within every child of God. This gift is the greater work of John 5:20, and these are the works of the Man in heaven for us.

   Going back to Adam, if Adam had not embraced the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then sin would not have come into the world. Sin would not have taken possession of every man. Just suppose that Adam had turned from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the tree of life, we suppose there would have been life everlasting, and this would have been life without sin. This is only man’s speculation, for we have the recorded witness of the Spirit of God, that man took of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He listened to the deceiver and not to God. The deceiver had one plan for man, and that was to destroy man’s standing with God, and to destroy man through both sin and death. For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) This death was both a spiritual and a physical death to completely alienate man from the Almighty God. In the book of the Revelation (at the completion of the history of the world) mankind is in ruin, and without God, and finally all stand before the great white throne in the judgment seat of God.

They: Unrepentant Mankind in Adam

   Even today, in the end of our age, or at the end of the dispensation of grace, man is still listening to the voice of the deceiver, and the cry and voice of sin. This is the ‘they’ of the lost and evil heart of man.

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. (Revelation 3:14)

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. (Revelation 3:15) 　

So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.(Revelation 3:16)

Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: (Revelation 3:17)

I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. (Revelation 3:18)

   As the Lord tells us in Revelation Chapter 3, verses 14 thru 18 of the last church in the Church age, the church of Laodicea, the ungodly church, so the Spirit of God in 2^nd Timothy Chapter 3 gives us the detailed description of both political and religious life in the last days; the opposite of verse 3 of Psalm 119, therefore, Let’s look into the Spirit’s message for us in 2^nd Timothy Chapter 3, verses 1 thru 7.

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. (2 Timothy 3:1)

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, (2 Timothy 3:2)

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, (2 Timothy 3:3)

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; (2 Timothy 3:4)

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. (2 Timothy 3:5)

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, (2 Timothy 3:6)

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7)

   These actions and these characteristics describe the condition of the last church at the end of church history. And this description fits like a glove in our day. Every finger itches to do evil. If you are not completely given over to their evil then they despise, you and if you are living a testimony for Jesus Christ then they hate you with a fervent hatred. Let’s take our time, and identify each one of these characteristics as we travel through 2^nd Timothy, Chapter 3.

   We have this list of evil people by the Spirit of God. You know these people, you have met these people, you have resisted these people, and these people have resisted you.

lovers of their own selves

   We find that they love themselves, both in private life and in public life. They create around them a desire to have the laud and worship from others. They will not be denied of their self love for it is either their way or the highway, or should I say the low way. They love themselves so much that they cannot stop looking at themselves in every mirror, they love every mirror that they meet, and they love every camera  that scans in their direction, and they love their images on every phone.

covetous

You know people who are covetous. In my life time members of my own family have tried to destroy what little I had, yet, they had more than I had. This is covetousness. It not only affects individuals, but whole nations go to war against each other over what other nations have. It is not because they are good, but evil. Covetousness is also called a form of idolatry. That would be the worship of one’s own material possessions, and the possessions of others.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)

And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. (2 Peter 2:3)

   The Spirit of God identifies covetousness as idolatry. Peter relates covetousness to the feigned words of those who would drag others into their own coveteousness, and this is done on a weekly basis with the worship of men’s shrine to themselves. The so-called offering plate has become the vehicle to worship the building in which they are supposed to be worshiping the Almighty God. This is the grossness of covetousness, and it will be to their own damnation.

boasters, proud

   You have met the proud, and the boasters always setting themselves up higher than everyone else. They boast of their power, they boast of their position, and they boast of their possessions. Their eyes never see you, for their eyes are centered on themselves. Their egos become the mirror of their own sin. These proud boasters jump at every opportunity to show themselves off, or to declare what great things they have done. I knew a person that everything in their life was far above everyone else, and you listened to it every day or at every meeting. Enough said about the proud.

blasphemers

   You know the haters of God. You listen to their blasphemy every day. They not only deny the Person of God, but in their own stupidity, blaspheme a God that they insist does not exist. They take the name of God in vain though they believe not in any god. This is a fact of life today. Blasphemy even sinks into the political makeup of a nation, especially our own nation.

   When the Democratic Party met at their 2016 convention and began the process of forming their political platform to express their core values, they purposely requested to take the word and name of God out of their platform. (This was nationally televised for all to hear and see). They voted three times to hate God. (I and thousands of viewers heard the hate filled screams from the delegates to remove God from their platform. This can be viewed on YouTube). Everyone who voted that way was a blasphemer, and everyone who voted that way in the election was a hater of God. We saw the result of the beliefs of the delegates from their national convention after the elections by the actions of seemingly unruly, but organized ungodly violent mobs of God haters. If anyone went into the election booth (after that bold scene of the denial and hatred of God with all forms of blasphemy at the Democratic National Convention) and checked off in favor for the democratic candidate then you voted for a hater of God, and joined your soul and your spirit to a hater of God and to a system that publically and proudly proclaimed their hatred of God.

    These are the blasphemers, and they do not try to hide their hatred for God. You hear it, and see it every day in the world we live in. Every form of media cries out against God, and against His Son, Jesus Christ. Enough said.

disobedient to parents

   You know the children who are disobedient. You have met them and their parents. This is part of American life today. I have even heard parents boast of their children’s disobedience, they laugh about it, and enjoy their own laughter. This is a sad state for a nation for the future generation will be out of control. It will be a calamity of an uncontrollable society.

   You have heard these very words, “Not my baby!” Well, your baby is now 31, and you have kept your 31-year-old baby at the age of five. It is too late because you have raised an evil child at the foot of the tree of good and evil, and you are still blind to what you have raised. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6) When you hold your infant in your arms, you have to make a choice before God to bring up your child according to God’s rule, or to bring up your child in the shadow of the tree of good and evil. An obedient child becomes an obedient adult, a disobedient child becomes a disobedient adult, and usually a disobedient person is the product of disobedient parents. The result is that they will not obey: they will not obey authority, they will not obey laws, and they will not obey God. What a thought.

unthankful

   You have met the unthankful. In our day, it is the welfare state, and it is their right to have others take care of them for they look to the state for all their needs. They state, “Why should I be thankful, for you owe me.” The rubbish that comes out of their mouths is unbelievable. As I stood in line at a grocery store chain the woman in front of me pulled out one of the state’s Give Me cards. The card happened to be empty, so she reached into her pocketbook and pulled out card #2, however, it was also empty, then she complained to the cashier, these were her exact words, “The government should give me more money.” Then to my surprise and maybe others in the line were also surprised — she pulled out card #3. This card was good, and the state paid her bill. The irony of this was that it was only the 9^th day of the month, and she was on her third card, how many more did she have, we will never know, but this is the state of the Give Me system. Was she thankful? No, God was not in all her thoughts. She was not thankful to God nor to the system that provided her with benefits. If God had been in her thoughts of thanksgiving, then she would not be a thief, stealing from others under the guise of welfare rights. It is one thing to rightfully accept benefits, but it is another to demand more benefits in the belief that somehow others owe you. This system of benefits without accountability has become a central political platform that is eroding our society.

unholy

   Now we come to the unholy. God declared, Be ye holy, for I am holy, but the God of holiness is not in all their thoughts. As a people, as a nation, as a world, and this also includes the religions made by mankind, they have diabolically denied the authority and the holiness of God in Jesus Christ, and have created doctrines to overcome God’s Word, God’s authority, and God’s people. The religions that they subscribe to are more interested in mammon and wealth than the Lord Jesus Christ, and true holiness. All through the history of mankind, man has been engrossed in his own religion that is solely about humanity. Cain had his own religion (and he brought it in rebellion) the works of his own hands to deliberately pervert the way of God’s truth.

   Egypt worshiped its own gods, and its own religion, so too the Amonites, and the Philistines, and their fish god Dagon. Nebuchadnezzar worshiped himself in his golden idol. The Jews worshiped their law and their traditions above the Word and the law of God, therefore, is it any wonder that before the 1^st century of Church history was in the books, ungodly men had crept in unawares. And ‘they’ opened the door of their continuous evil to the throngs of the world. They would cast the Lord Jesus out with the holiness of God. This has continued into our current age, they declare with their rituals, their traditions, their idolatry, and their disobedience that ‘they’ in (according to God’s light) are unholy. They are the disobedient children of world religion. They declare that holiness is a thing of the past, for they have evolved in their own traditions and their own doctrines of devils. God’s Word has no authority over them for they spend their time in dark rooms trying to dismantle this great cathedral of the Word of God. They, like the devil, are the deceivers and liars of today. They desire (in their own being) to have the preeminence over God and God’s people. These are the men of reprobate minds, and these are the men of the religious course that leads to hell, and not to heaven.

without natural affection

   We now come to verse 3 of 2^nd Timothy Chapter 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, In the very beginning of this verse we see the progressive outcome of what has gone before in verse 2. This is the accumulation of what has gone before, consequently, we see the corruption of the worst kind, men and women without natural affection. These cannot love God, nor can they love in any way, they are reprobates and beyond help, and I will make this bold statement according to Romans 1, that God has given them up, and they are beyond salvation, they have gone in the way of Cain, and have whored after strange flesh. They are enemies of all that is good, and have an inward hatred for natural affection. They must pervert in every way, and by all means the human mind, the human heart, the human spirit, and the human soul. They have an inward hatred for that which is good, an abundant hatred for God Himself, and one more thing, these perverted beings destroy themselves. They desecrate their bodies in body markings called tattoos. They pierce themselves with abundant cuttings showing themselves outwardly that they are slaves to sin. (Historically, body markings, and ear piercing was a mark of slavery, as the slave owner marked his property). Why do we still have body mutilation today, it is not for beauty, nor is it for art? They are trying to destroy any remnant of the image of God that is left in them. They want to show God how they (in their self will) can destroy the image of God. But they fail so badly, for you see that their self will is only the will of Satan. ‘Ye shall not surely die,’ is the lie from the beginning, if you don’t believe this, ask Adam. And how did that work out for Adam? He followed a path that Satan had prepared and that path was a path of sin and death, therefore, man from the age of Cain has been trying to destroy the image of God or what is left in their own being. The followers of Baal cut themselves, and when Israel followed Moloch they offered their children to destroy (in any way that they could) in the fires of Moloch the seed of God. And now, at the end of the dispensation of grace, we see a society being prepared for the tribulation and the great tribulation. They have prepared their own hearts to hate God, to hate their own beings, and to hate their own bodies. They have a blind hatred where they cannot see, they have no vision for the truth (for hatred has no vision) but their eyes are wide open to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Whether it is man or woman, they wander in the darkness of their own souls, never coming to the truth of God. Sad, but ever so true.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. (Revelation 6:14)

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; (Revelation 6:15)

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: (Revelation 6:16)

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17)

trucebreakers

   Now we come to truce breakers. This is one description that every American Indian would understand. How many treaties are recorded in the Library of Congress that have been broken by the government to the real American? Someone should publish them all, or better still, publish them on the internet so that everyone could see the complete hypocrisy of a nation that claims to be under God. Being under God, and being obedient to God are two different things. The most liberal American reading the many treaties that have been broken would be shocked. As a nation, we are paying the price of all our sins, slowly the mills of God’s justice turns till one day Sodom receives fire for rain. Nineveh was destroyed, Jerusalem was thrown down one block at a time, and Rome burned, and so on and so on in man’s history. It is only a matter of time before the once great mountain crumbles from within as sin eats like a worm at their very souls. The soul of a nation is the reflection of the condition of the soul of its people. Look in the mirror, look at the reflection, what does that reflection tell you? Sin becomes a mountain, and it blocks the light of God’s mercy. His scales of justice when He judges a disobedient nation is as a merciless wind that sweeps everything before it away. The nation that forgets God will end up being judged by God because they have become traitors of God’s grace, and trampled under foot the blood of Christ. The only reprieve that a nation can have is complete repentance toward God. Repentance saved Nineveh for a while, then the evil brought down their great walls and crushed the very heart of a once great city. This is the repeating story of man’s history.

false accusers

   You are very familiar with false accusers; every day in the news whether it is radio, TV or newspaper, or even the web, we have false accusers, multitudes upon multitudes, and where do they get all their lies? The earpieces of these newsreaders (note the word ‘newsreaders’ because they have not earned the right to be called journalists or reporters) must be connected to Satan’s dark temple. Watch them while they are on a camera, their eyes are dark with sin, their bodies twitch nervously at their own lies. Their earpieces are a hot line directly connected to Satan and his throne. They deliberately mislead and stack lie upon lie, and throw mountains of disinformation to confuse and abuse their listeners. They too, are the haters of God, and the haters of Jesus Christ. But we must move onto incontinent.

incontinent

   You have met these people, these marvelous specimens who have no restraint in their lives. They are like wandering stars, they have no root in anything, nor are they content with their situation. They lust for mammon, and their byword is money — money — money. And the more that they have the more out of control they become. They are like the mad dog that you release from the leash. They run to every wind and path of their imagination. Their thoughts run through their minds as rushing wind, never being rooted to pure sustainable truth, nothing that they do speaks of restraint. You have met these people for they are many.

fierce

    Have you ever experienced a meeting with the fierce? As the world says, They get in your face. Their eyes burn with rage, only the law and the penalty of the law keep them from ripping out your heart, and sometimes, even the law is not enough to stop them. The rage of murder is in the heart of evil men, and it comes out and destroys many. Ask Abel, for his blood yet speaks. Ask Moses what he had to endure when the children of Israel raged against him. Ask Naboth as he was stoned by the rage of the corrupt elders. They looked like many bulls, with steam streaming from their nostrils. The many bulls of Bashan surrounded the cross in their fiery, their rage was over whelming as they cried out for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Chris. They could only be described as bulls, and not as human form. The madness of their rage had taken hold of their whole being, and there was no continuity of thought in their minds, and hearts, and souls. The only unity of their madness was to kill God’s Christ. The fierce do not use arguments of words, they only use violence.

despisers of those that are good

   It was in Jerusalem that goodness came, the goodness of God in Jesus Christ, and He was despised and rejected of man. (Isaiah 53) He was afflicted and they laughed Him to scorn. He was in the world, and the world refused to know Him. He came to His own, Israel, and they received Him not. For mankind loves darkness, and hates the light in Jesus Christ, therefore, the goodness of God heard the cry of humanity as they cried out against Him, Crucify him, crucify him. Goodness was refused. In the death of Stephen the goodness of grace was again refused. Now ask yourself, If man did this in a green tree, in a good tree, what are they going to do to the redeemed (in the age of dried up corrupt and evil tree)?

   Let’s begin with Stephen in Acts Chapter 7, they looked upon him, and they raged, and stoned him. Let’s look at Antipas, in the book of Revelation, when he cried out for the truth among the professing church: he was murdered. So the redeemed are not the popular populace whether it is in governmental or religious circles. You will hear the many stories of God’s martyr’s at the hands of these political and religious haters of God. There are many ways in which these deceivers work (as leaders in the service of God): they will cut off all your funding, they will ostracize you, they will cast you out of their world, they will shun you, they will mock you in the dark rooms of their dark halls of religion, they will speak evil of you, they will plan all manner of evil against you, and they will falsely accuse you, this they have done to all the prophets of God. Until you go into the sanctuary of God, the holy of holies, the holy place, and into the very presence of Jesus Christ, it is only then that you will know their end. (Read  Psalm 73 through this link, and it is also posted at the end of this article.) 

If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. (Psalm 73:15)

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; (Psalm 73:16)

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (Psalm 73:17)

traitors

    Yes, you know traitors. Do you see the progression of a civilization going wild without God? Traitors are the norms of our age. In all my lifetime I have never seen this level of national political treachery when elected officials try to deliberately overthrow their own nation, and they betray the very populace that elected them. The vast numbers of these traitors in government and world wide are unparalleled. They laugh and joke about their misuse of power and about their treachery against the very people that they have sworn to represent. Sometimes I think that we have an active third party called Traitors. This party is formed from both existing parties, and the party of Traitors is larger than both of the other two parties. As we look into their faces we see Brutus — Brutus — Brutus is every where on the national stage, in state governments, in county governments and in townships and city governments, we see Brutus everywhere. How can a nation survive when elected officials are cutting the throat of their own nation? At this level of treachery and treason, the nation will crumble and become worse than the most wicked nation on the earth. We see it. We see Benedict Arnold, he was not hanged, he was set free. Why? He was set free because the party of Traitors is larger than all the other political parties combined. And the party of Traitors hates God and hates the United State of America. Just listen and you will hear the beast in them crying out and spewing out their evil doctrines. These are the traitors and they are many. We see and hear them daily, yes, we know them.

heady

   How many heady people have you met? Not only do they hold their nose in the clouds, they have more knowledge than you do for they spent 16 years in college to get a high school education. They spout one false hood after another. They embrace their weak meaningless education to keep from doing any manual labor. They look down from their high mountain of headiness of artificial education to promote reeducation or social indoctrination of their wicked philosophies, is it any wonder that they are heady? They are elated with themselves, for it is all in their heads. All their lives they have been around heady people. Their parents were heady, their teachers were heady, their professors were heady, their social mentors were heady, and the friends they choose are heady as well. They are impressed with themselves, and they are truly heady, but nothing else. And this carries us over into the highminded.

highminded

   There is a difference between heady and highminded. Those who are heady are nothing more than just that ‘a head,’ but high-mindness is truly different from plain old impressive headiness. High-mindedness is the elite of headiness. They move socially according to their own mind, and not the will of the people. They have no use for traditional values, in fact, they have no use for the Constitution or the rule of law. They will not obey laws of the land for it is passé and they are so very progressive, so we need to follow their mind for they are high-minded. The mind that is better and bigger than everyone else, so therefore, it is their mind that should rule, and they should rule over lesser minds, you know, the little people, the deplorables, you know these people, you see them every day. They have an endless song, and the title is “How Great I Am,” and one of the lines is, “how small God is, and how small you are if you believe in God.” They, like the fool, have said in their own hearts, that there is no God. And they sing it over and over with such merriment as they tread the path to their own destruction and to the gates of hell. These minds belong to those on a higher plain, their opinions, and their statements need to be accepted as having value and worth. One of the prerequisites of membership in the club of high-mindedness is to be a member of what is referred to as the entertainment industry. This membership alone gives them the authority to possess a higher mind above everyone else while living a life at the lowest plain, with a mouth filled with filth and hatred.

lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God

   This is one description that you know very well because the popularity of pleasure has affected your life and the lives of others around you. They are lovers of pleasure more than the lovers of God. You have witnessed your children carried away from God by pleasure. Pleasure is the opposite of hard work, or physical or mental restraints. Pleasure is the opposite of holiness, for pleasure is self indulgence of the individual above all the rights of God, therefore, is it any wonder that they would love their pleasure more than they love God. They never consider ‘love not the world, nor the things that are in the world,’ for their pleasure is part of the world that surrounds them. They never get to the end of this verse in John’s epistle ‘for the world passeth away and the lusts thereof,’ and this includes the pleasure of it. Pleasure is what man seeks after in all forms of life. To be lovers of pleasure is to be diverted from the things of God. It is a tool to distract from the Word of God. Man pleases himself and does not please God. And yet, in those who are born of God, it is ‘they’ who should please God, and give Him pleasure.

having a form of godliness

   The Spirit of God now saves the worst for last, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Do you know how many erroneous gospels are being preached today? These men and preachers who preach another gospel have no fear of the eyes of God watching them. We have a lesson from the book of Judges, in the very last verse of this book, Chapter 21, verse 25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. These self willed people cried out, “Give us a king like all the other nations.” In the Church today we hear that very same plea, “Give us a pastor, or a preacher like all the other churches.”  “Give us programs like other organizations.”  “Give us media centers like all the mega-churches.” “Give us works to do like other works.” “Replace our Bibles with whatever others’ are using as their authority.”

   They do not want God to pick their man, and they do not want the man that God  picks. They have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof. The gospels, which are many, and are being preached today have no power. First, they deny the Christ of the cross and what was accomplished and finalized on the cross by Jesus Christ the Son of God. Secondly, they deny the purity of the Son of God. Thirdly, they deny the sacrifice of God Himself on the cross. They deny the fullness of salvation and the new birth. They deny the new race of heavenly people bought with the blood of Christ. They deny the Omnipotence of Jesus Christ. They deny the Omnipresence of Jesus Christ. They deny the Omniscience of Jesus Christ. And most of all, in their actions, in their creeds, and in their doctrines, they deny the love of Christ. Do you see God’s power in their life? Every ill wind upsets them. They have no trust in God. They have no faith in God in their day to day life. The result is that they have no salvation in God. And the Scriptures tell us, from such turn away.

   But that is not all that the Spirit of God has to say, He wants our eyes to be wide open, so therefore, He gave us a very exact description of the leaders of ungodly religions. In our age, this not only applies to religious leaders, but also to the political leaders because the political leaders have learned from religious leaders diabolical doctrines and lies. Ungodly men fill both halls (the halls of religion and the halls of politics), and they employ the same deception techniques to keep their audience enslaved to them.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, (2 Timothy 3:6)

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3:7)

   This is how they act: they creep on their bellies like the old serpent, they come into homes to promote their lies. They look for Eve, and when they find her, they deceive her, for the woman was first deceived. They captivate these women with silly sins of their erroneous doctrines, and their political agendas. They look for women of lust, the deeper the better. They tell these women that they can keep their lust, but they must follow them. What they do not tell these deranged souls is that their way leads to hell and not to heaven. The halls of perverted religion and the halls of perverted justice are the same. The Jews of the temple and Pilate at his pavement were gathered together against the Lord and against His anointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. Is it any wonder that there is an amalgamation of both religion and politics shaking each others hand and smiling while God’s sword of judgment hangs over them. There is only one answer and that is national repentance toward God. In spite of religion and in spite of politics, in order to have national repentance it must begin with one man and one woman repenting before the Almighty God. This drives the silliness of religion out of the heart, for there is only One Mediator between God and man, and that is the Man Jesus Christ, the righteous.

ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth

   The Spirit of God is not done here, as Jude described the wandering stars through the darkness of night, the foaming waves foaming out their own shame, in 2^nd Timothy, the Spirit of God states, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

   A man will sit one hour, or fifteen minutes every Sunday listening to the Word of God, afterwards, when he is asked what he has learned from the message. His reply (as in almost a daze) is “Who . . . what”? He has not comprehended or understood one word that he has heard, ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. He sits in his seat thinking of what he is going to do with the rest of this day. Going over his troubles, and dreaming of his future, but never hearing the words of truth. Why? Because they resist the truth, they are men of corrupt minds and they are reprobate concerning the faith. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, it is the divine evidence of things not seen, and without faith it is impossible to please God. And this is one of the impossibilities that man will not preach, he will not acknowledge the faith that is of Christ, and in Christ. The redeemed of the Lord know all these things, They look at the world with a heavenly view, they see everyone listed in 2^nd Timothy Chapter 3, and they are set apart to God in God in Psalm 119:3.

They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways. (Psalm 119:3)

   To the child of God and to all the children of God, we have a real contrast with the list of the ungodly. Do you see them meditating on the Word of God day and night? (Psalm 1) Do you see them walking by faith and trusting in the Lord? And do you see them walking in HIS way for? His way is the truth and eternal life. No, no, no, you do not see them make one step toward God. It is time for a reality check, Who is your faith founded on? Is it Christ or the social community of your church? Is your foundation sure and steadfast in the truth of God? If you have a foundation in Christ then it is up to YOU as an individual Christian to build on that foundation by walking in His ways, the way of righteousness.

   Solomon’s temple was a marvel, like the tabernacle all its parts, and all of its architecture was designed by God, every description of every part and piece has a spiritual message for us as Christians. In Psalm 119 we have the Spirit’s view of this marvel brought out in the Word of God. Consider the steps leading up into this temple, the grandness and the number of the steps. Within Psalm 119 there are 176 verses, each one is  a step to draw you into the presence of God, and as you step higher and higher, you approach the holy of holies, the very holy place of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

© Copyright 2018, Michael Haigh

Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.

All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)

We have attached Psalm 73 for your benefit and convenience. Read it very slowly and meditate on every verse, then you will know their end.

Psalm 73

<<A Psalm of Asaph.>> Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. (Psalm 73:1)

But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped. (Psalm 73:2)　

For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:3)

For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. (Psalm 73:4)

They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. (Psalm 73:5)

Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. (Psalm 73:6)

Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. (Psalm 73:7)

They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. (Psalm 73:8)

They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. (Psalm 73:9)

Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. (Psalm 73:10)

And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? (Psalm 73:11)

Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. (Psalm 73:12)

Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. (Psalm 73:13)

For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. (Psalm 73:14)

¶ If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. (Psalm 73:15)

When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; (Psalm 73:16)

Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. (Psalm 73:17)

Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. (Psalm 73:18)

How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. (Psalm 73:19)

As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. (Psalm 73:20)

¶ Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. (Psalm 73:21)

So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. (Psalm 73:22)

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. (Psalm 73:23)

Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73:24)

Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. (Psalm 73:25)

My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. (Psalm 73:26)

For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee. (Psalm 73:27)

But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works. (Psalm 73:28)