Tag: draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips

161. Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,

1 Timothy 3:1  But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.

Phillipians 2:21  For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

Titus 1:16    They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Matthew 23:27-28    So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Ezekiel 33:30-32     “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’  And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.  And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.

Isaiah 29:13     And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,

Why is it that we struggle with temptation when we have been regenerated (born again).  The simplest answer is because we had and still have a sinful nature.  This sinful nature tries to pull us down and give in to what the world has to offer.  Think about how a plane is able to fly.  When it is designed properly and has engines with enough thrust it is able to defy gravity and while these engines are operating it is able to fly.  If we shut down these engines it may be able to glide for a short period of time but ultimately gravity will pull it into the ground.  Our new lives are much like this example.  When we are regenerated (born again) and the Word of God is active in our life every day, then our ability to discern temptation and fight it keeps us lifted up.  When we choose to not have the Word of God active in our life every day, then, temptation will come at us like gravity and pull us in. We will fall into patterns of life that are not Godly.  Just because we have been regenerated (born again) does not stop temptation but rather gives us the engine to set ourselves apart from worldly temptations and the Word of God gives us the fuel to keep walking with God in ways that honor and glorify Him.  I am sure of this; fueling up on Sunday and thinking it is going to get you through the week is foolish thinking.  The word of God cannot be mixed with the philosophy of the culture of the day.  This will only make the fuel ineffective and though you may think your plane is worthy of flight, it is not.  Likewise, if the Word of God is not seen as fuel it will be neglected and we will be happy with a plane that never flies.  A plane that does not fly, and if it is not flying it will never honor and glorify God.

143. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

1 Kings 11:9   And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded.

Deuteronomy 3:26    But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.

Deuteronomy 9:8  Even at Horeb you provoked the LORD to wrath, and the LORD was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you.

2 Samuel 6:7    And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

Psalms 78:58-60    For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.  When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.

Psalms 90:7-8    For we are brought to an end by your anger; by your wrath we are dismayed.  You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Proverbs 4:23     Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.  And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,  therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

2 Timothy 4:10    For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me

Ben Dunson; “As the Israelites were on the verge of entering the Promised Land, Moses preached to them about what God would require of his people so that they would not be exiled from the land once they had taken possession of it. Deuteronomy, in fact, is largely comprised of Moses’ sermons expressing God’s commitment to Israel, and Israel’s necessary response of faithfulness to God. Among the many things that Israel needs to know are the qualifications for its future kings, which are laid out for us in Deut 17:14-20. The king must be an Israelite (v. 15); he “must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses” (v. 16); he must “not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away” to idolatry (v. 17); he must not “acquire for himself excessive silver and gold” (v. 17); and finally, he must diligently and humbly keep God’s law (v. 18). In sum, Israel’s king must avoid trusting in earthly power (symbolized by horses), idolatry, resting in wealth, and neglecting God’s commands.

“Solomon had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen” (see Deut 17:16). These large numbers are not necessarily sinful, but as Deuteronomy warns, such a large accumulation of horses will tempt Israel’s kings to trust in their own military might, rather than in the power of God to save his people.

Solomon’s love of these women violates God’s warning to his people that they should “not enter into marriage with them, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods” 

Solomon, as a king, is very different from us, but as a sinner with divided loyalties and a propensity to turn away from God, he is all too like us today. In fact, we can see in his life many of the most pressing temptations that all believers face in every age, namely, the temptations that come along with money, power, and love, as well as the idolatry that so easily takes root in our hearts.  If our hearts are not fixed on our Lord, love for other stuff, trusting in our own wealth and power will become all-consuming, and as with Solomon, will easily lead our hearts away from God so that we too become “not wholly true to the Lord [our] God”.

We must allow the word of God to correct us in the same way we allow it to encourage us. Stay in God’s word and learn from it.  Listen to it speak to your heart.  Cling to it, believe it, rely on it, and obey it with all your heart, soul and mind.  There is nothing more precious to the soul than to be in His word and then to be led by God to repent and turn away from that which is not pleasing and honoring to Him.