PRÉCIS ON THE DANGER OF SPIRITUAL CALCIFICATION: LIVING OR DYING ACCORDING TO YOUR FAITH

SCRIPTURE. “If I regard sin and baseness in my heart [that is, if I know it is there and do nothing about it], The Lord will not hear [me].” – PSALM 66:18, AMP

KEY TERM: “REGARD.” ‘Raah’ [רָאָה]: “A primitive root, ‘To advise oneself; consider, discern and take heed of it.” Also: to look at, inspect or perceive; see clearly [our inner self reality].” NOTE: “The Hebrew verb ‘ra’ah’ primarily means ‘to see’ in a literal sense, but it also extends to more abstract meanings such as perceiving, understanding, or experiencing. It is used in various contexts, including physical sight, visionary experiences, and intellectual or spiritual perception. The verb can also imply the act of ‘looking with intention or consideration.’”

QUOTATION. “‘Above all, don’t lie to yourself.’ The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love.” ― FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY, The Brothers Karamazov, 1880; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘If I regard iniquity in my heart.’ There was iniquity in his heart, as there is in every good man’s heart, and a great deal too; it is full of it; and it should be regarded in some sense, so as to guard against it, and pray to be kept from it, that it may not break forth into action; and so as to loath it, abhor it, and be humbled for it; but not so as to nourish and cherish it, to take delight and pleasure in it.

Or, ‘if I look upon it,’ as it may be rendered. That is, with approbation of it, and satisfaction in it, and ordered his conversation according to it; or acted the deceitful and hypocritical part in prayer; or had any evil intention in his petitions, to consume on his lusts what he asked for; ‘The Lord will not hear me;’ for the Lord hears not sinners that delight in sin, and live in it; neither profane sinners nor hypocrites; see John 9:31.” – JOHN GILL, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, 9 vols., 1746-1763; edited

DK’S TAKE. There is a rather alarming passage of Scripture that goes hand in hand with this one that I have cited before. But that holds a very special Gravitas for our study of Psalm 66.

“But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons, [misled] by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared as with a branding iron [leaving them incapable of ethical functioning], who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from [certain kinds of] foods which God has created to be gratefully shared by those who believe and have [a clear] knowledge of the truth.” – 1 TIMOTHY 4:1-3, AMP

THE POINT. For decades now the American Churchgoer has been coddled into a false sense of spiritual security and frankly, ‘self-love’ under a decades-long torrent of the Hyper-Grace Heresy, that we no longer cannot see ourselves objectively.

The great Scot poet laureate ROBERT BURNS perhaps said it best: “O wad some Pow’r the giftie gie us, To see oursels as ithers see us!” Translation: “Oh, would some Power the gift give us, To see ourselves as others see us!” Burns continues: “It would from many a blunder free us, And foolish notion: What airs in dress and gait would leave us, And even devotion!” – “The Louse,” 1786; edited

We’ve even been lied to for generations now that when we sin, God cannot even see it because He only “Sees Jesus” when He looks upon us. So, by that twisted, venal perversion of Sound Doctrine, God didn’t actually “see” Adam and Eve violating His Covenant in The Garden. He did not actually “see” Cain slaying his brother Abel a bit later. Nor David sleeping with Bathsheba and murdering her husband, Uriah.

Oy!

CODA. We are a long, long way from Theological Home, beloved, but we are all here committed to the Retrieval of the True Gospel from the insidiously humanized, politicized, and syncretized american gospel. That we might humbly walk before our King in abject honesty, adoration of Him, and joy in knowing that it is still the case, both now and forever, that:

“It is the Truth that sets us fully free!”  Selah.