Are The Times Very Bad?

 

 

"When the enemies of God, and religion, and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run down all that is just and sacred...when proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say, 'With our tongue will we prevail against the cause of virtue, our lips are our own and we may say what we will; who is lord over us, either to restrain us or to call us to an account'...then the times are very bad..." - Matthew Henry

 

 

Isaiah 13:11 tells us - "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."

Psalm 12:3-4 adds - "The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?"

 

There are certain things we can be sure that God will do.

What are they?

 

God will surely visit the world for their sin - "And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity..." He will punish sin.

 

Which sin? 

Particularly the sin of Pride. 

 

Nothing overthrows or brings a nation down under the swift judgment of Almighty God quicker than arrogancy and haughtiness. Hence, the Prophet Isaiah prophesied that God would crush the arrogancy of the pride and the haughtiness of the rich - "...I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible"(Isaiah 13:11) 

 

David shared the same sentiments as Isaiah in saying - "The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things."(Psalm 12:3).  

 

All boastful liars who speak great swelling words in self-confidence will be disowned, excommunicated, punished, destroyed, or "cut off."

 

God spoke through the Prophet Isaiah - 

 

"...I will punish the world for their evil..."

"...I will punish...the wicked for their iniquity..."

"...I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease..." 

"...I will...lay low the haughtiness of the terrible."        

 

David prophesied the same - "The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips..."

                                             "The LORD shall cut off...the tongue that speaketh proud things."

 

"The LORD shall..."

"I will..."

 

"The LORD shall cut off..."

"I will punish...I will cause...to cease...I will...lay low..."

 

Nowhere is found a more fitting example of a people's arrogancy and haughtiness than as depicted by David in Psalm 12:3-4 - "...the tongue that speaketh proud things: Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?"

 

Do you hear the brazenness of the people in these words?

Can there be a greater depiction of insolence and contempt for God?

 

What they were actually saying was that, through and by their tongues, they were going to do whatever they wanted - "...With our tongue will we prevail..." Through their speech, they would do mightily, accomplish their purposes, and manipulate and influence others to follow along according to their plans.  

 

"...With our tongue will we prevail..."

 

We will lie to our heart's content. We will manipulate others. We will turn multitudes to go our way and to do things as we say.

 

After all, "...our lips are our own..." Forget about our Creator. We are in control now. These lips belong to us. No one has the right to tell us how to use what is rightfully ours. We are our own gods, knowing good and evil. We have the power to make and break laws according to our own judgment.

 

"... who is lord over us?"

Who has the right to control us?

Who can stop us?

 

Sad but true - this is the prevailing attitude among the wicked in our day and time.

What is desperately needed is the Awesome Fear of God!

Preachers need to preach in such a manner that the people will actually get a fresh revelation of God for Who He is - the God of Holiness Who hates sin and punishes or visits a people for it.

 

Why don't most people know that the God of the universe is "a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed"(1 Samuel 2:3)?

Who is to blame for such ignorance being in the land?

 

Perhaps it's time like never before for the Pastors, Ministers, Teachers, Prophets, Evangelists, Apostles, Bishops, Superintendents, Parents, Leaders, etc. to emphasize that "...the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed"(1 Samuel 2:3).

 

Contrary to what man proposes, God is still in total control.

There is only one Lord and His name is Jesus!

He and He alone knows all things and is most wise.

He is never mistaken in His evaluation or appraisal of a man - what he is and does.

Therefore, He is the Judge over all.

Every man will give an account before Him and Him alone.

 

Hannah - a very humble and seemingly insignificant handmaiden of the Lord - declared then and speaks to us even now in saying - "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth..."(1 Samuel 2:3)

 

There are some men who will not listen to a woman or receive any kind of teaching from her lips. No matter what your religious persuasion is - it is to your great spiritual advantage that you lay aside your  denominational tradition and listen to what this woman of the Bible is saying to you today - "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth..." It will spare you of the Judgment of Almighty God to heed what she is preaching and teaching to the Church of our day here in this verse.

 

Oh! Where is the good, ole-fashioned Fear of the Lord - the kind that makes you hate sin like God hates it?

Where are the Preachers who will preach the Everlasting Gospel - the one that doesn't "sugar-coat" sin but brings about a total transformation in the people whereby they leave all of their wickedness behind and take up the Fear of the Lord which causes them to walk and talk according to God's standard of Holiness? 

 

In Proverbs 8:13, King Solomon instructed us by saying - "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy..."

 

The initial change which salvation brings into a person's life is that all arrogancy, pride, and haughtiness leave and humility comes into its place. A person who is truly saved or Born Again would never think to utter such words - "...With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?" Instead you will hear him say - "My life is not my own. I have been bought with the Blood of Jesus. Jesus is LORD(1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  

 

In closing, we quote from Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Commentary on Psalm 12:3-4 - "Because the wicked do not submit to any authority over them, much less God Himself, they believe they can say anything they want."

 

Also, let's read once again Pastor Henry's opening comment - "When the enemies of God, and religion, and religious people, are impudent and daring, and threaten to run down all that is just and sacred...when proud sinners have arrived at such a pitch of impiety as to say, 'With our tongue will we prevail against the cause of virtue, our lips are our own and we may say what we will; who is lord over us, either to restrain us or to call us to an account'...then the times are very bad..."

 

Are the times indeed very bad?

You judge!