Psalms 119:37

Psalms 119:37 says, “Psa 119:37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”

This is a great verse in Psalms. It teaches us something very important and it has to do with the eyes. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.

The word vanity is a very interesting word. It actually means something very different than the way we use the word today to mean. We often use the word vanity to mean pride or as word associated with fashion. But the word vanity is a word that can mean uselessness, destructiveness, moral ruin, idolatry, lying. I think the key definition here would be moral ruin.

Now there are some other very great verses in the Bible that deal with the eyes of man. I’m going to read two of them.

Psalms 101:3 says, “Psa 101:3 I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

I John 2:16 says, “1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

The Lust of the eyes. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity. Eyes see and what you see then goes into your brain and you think about it and what you think about then goes into your heart. This is how the process works. This is why there are great warnings in the Bible about the eyes and about being careful what you see with your eyes.

Now we live in a day and age in which this is a great challenge: to protect the eyes from seeing the wrong things and from looking and then gazing deeply upon those things. One of the best examples of what to guard the eyes from is pornography.

I choose to mention Pornography because it is a big issue. It is a big issue because we live in a society where pornography is everywhere. Turn on the tv, open a magazine, look on a billboard, walk into a movie theater and you are likely too see naked people. Turn on a computer and get on the internet and you are one click away from pornography. Sometimes even without even clicking on anything the internet will give pop ups of pornography.

Now a lot of people in today’s age don’t really think of the word porn in the Biblical sense. They know what porn is but they don’t realize that the porn actually comes from a Greek word which means adultery and fornication. The word porn itself speaks of immorality. But a lot of people in society today when they think of the word porn they do not think of it as something immoral.

And this is the danger. We live in a society where pornography has become widely accepted. It’s not viewed as immoral or ungodly or vile or filthy. It’s become part of main stream culture. And this is why I want to talk about it. First of all pornography is sin. And anything that is sin is destructive to a human beings life.

Now it is a great challenge for a person to protect their own eyes from the lusts of the flesh and to set no wicked thing before their eyes. But it is even a greater challenge in today’s age to protect also your children from such things because of how easily it is accessible to them. The sad truth is pornography is something that more and more young people are becoming very familiar with.

The porn industry makes billions of dollars a year. It’s a very big industry. And someone might ask the question, well what is wrong with porn? So let’s talk about that. First let’s talk about some statistics. Now if you don’t believe these statistics you can easily look them up yourself on the internet yourself.

One of the problems with looking at porn is it causes people to become homosexual. Another problem with porn is that it promotes child molestation. Another problem with porn is that it can turn people into serial killers. FBI profiling and static’s point out that almost all serial killers have porn addictions. Another problem with porn is that it influences sex trafficking. Another problem with porn is that it does not show how sexual immorality can result in the spread of sexual diseases. Anyone who sets porn before there eyes is opening the doorway to all of these things.

The Lust of the eyes. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.

Porn comes in many forms not just nudity on the movie screen or images on the internet but it also comes in the form of government controlled sex education in public schools. Little children and teenagers don’t need to be taught about sex, they don’t need to watch videos on sex. That’s porn doing that. The only thing they need to be taught is that marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman and the way God designed it is for a man not to touch a woman until they are married.

Sex education in public schools is just promoting pornography when it makes students watch videos of sex. Who ever heard of society need the government to take the children from their parents and teach them about sex? For thousands of years the world has been procreating just fine without governments pushing their sexually immoral agendas on little children and teenagers.

You see men and woman have a natural attraction to each other, a strong attraction. And they are pretty good at figuring out what to do when they get married without governments teaching them weird things about sex. Sex honestly just comes naturally for a man in woman in marriage that love each other. It is like 1+1=2. People can figure it out pretty easily.

The real issue is the issue of people promoting sexual immorality. That is what the government schools are really doing. One of the worst things they do is teach safe sex. You see they say safe sex prevents the spread of diseases. First of all, that is not a 100% true statistic. It does not always. Second of all and most importantly safe sex does not mean that it is morally right to do. People are basically being led to believe that because it is safe sex then it’s ok. If you want safe sex then wait till marriage, it doesn’t get any safer than that.

The Lust of the eyes. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.

O be careful little eyes what you see. Sex is meant to be an intimate and private act between a man and a woman in marriage. Porn destroys the intimacy of romance. Common sense should tell a person this. The only thing I can compare it to is using the bathroom. People don’t normally use the bathroom in public. Common sense tells you why. The same is true about sex. It doesn’t matter how attractive the people are or how appealing the acts seem to be to do once you eliminate the intimacy of sex in marriage sex has then become a vile, vile act like using the bathroom in public.

You see God created sex for several reasons. 1. procreation. This is how people are brought into the world. 2 Sex also has a very big mental and emotional impact on a human being. Sex was intended by God to be an act of romance an act of love between a man and a woman in marriage. It is something that helps a person mentally and emotionally to grow into a strong and stable human being. This is why sexually immorality of any kind as well as sexual abuse is very destructive on a individual.

Do you really want to set things before your eyes that will damage you mentally and emotionally? Things that will make you a weak person, things that will cause you to be unable to have self control over yourself and your own desires, things that will result in you doing acts that damage and destroy and take away your ability to have natural affection for other people?

The Lust of the eyes. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity.

What should be emphasized is how wonderful and special the act of romance is in marriage. How fulfilling it is and satisfying it is and rewarding it is to keep yourself pure and to wait for the right time, God’s time. When two people who are meant by God to be together come together in Holy Matrimony such a situation creates a perfect environment for little children to be born into the world and thus creates a stable family unit and a stable society in the world.

Many people have destroyed themselves, many people have caused themselves great shame and great sorrow by not turning away their eyes from beholding vanity.

Psalms 119:37 says, “Psa 119:37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.”

Now after talking about the eyes Psalms 119:37 says a very interesting statement w hen it says quicken thou me in thy way.” The word quicken means to be made alive. Sin results in death. When a person comes to Jesus for Salvation they are made alive spiritually. And in a practical sense the more a person follows after righteousness, follows after God’s way the more that person is alive and will experience life to the fullest.

John 10:10 Jesus said, “Joh 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Now we just got done talking about the eyes and to careful what you see. You see this verse in John 10:10 could very well be used to show the difference between morality and immorality. To steal, to kill, and to destroy. That is what the devil does and that is what immorality will do to you. Immorality will steal your joys in life and leave you empty. Immorality will kill your health physically, mentally, and emotionally. And in the end immorality will destroy you, your character, your reputation, and your personality.

But Jesus is come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. Anytime you follow the way of righteousness life Is fulfilling. In righteousness and in holiness you can experience life the way it was designed to be by God and to experience life this way is to truly life. In righteousness things are so much more enjoyable and fulfilling to the senses and to the emotions and to the soul. If you want to live a full life and a fulfilling life then live a righteous life. The more righteous your life is the more it will quickened in the way.

Now that we have talked about the importance of what the eyes see we are going to move into some verses that talk about the Word of God.

Psalms 119:38-40, “Psa 119:38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Psa 119:39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good. Psa 119:40 Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.”

The Word establish means to continue to endure. We need the word of God in our lives. It is not enough that you don’t look at bad things with your eyes. You’re eyes have to look at something. So turn eyes upon Jesus and look at Him and His Word. Make sure that the word becomes established in your life. In other words that it doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other. But that it goes into the mind and into the heart and changes you and changes your actions and becomes the primary driving force of your motivations and primary basis for your thoughts.

Now what is really interesting is that in verses 38 and 39 fear is talked about. Lets read those verses again. Psalms 119:38-39, “Psa 119:38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. Psa 119:39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.

There are actually two different words for fear used here, a different word in each of these verses. In the first verse the word fear is a word that mean moral reverence.

Psa 119:38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear. It makes sense that a person who truly loves the Word of God and who loves Jesus will have a certain respect and awe for righteousness and for morality. If you don’t have an awe and respect for morality, a moral reverence then you don’t have a fear of God. Doing the right thing should be important to you for every reason in the world. How important it is for you to do what is right will partly determine how well you handle temptation, how quickly you flee from it, how much of an effort you put into staying faithful to what is holy despite all the wicked pressures in the world around you and all the things that will come you’re way in life to besiege your eyes.

If the word of God is established in your life then you will have a certain moral reverence. Doing what is right will mean everything to you. It will be a priority. It will be more important than your own sufferings and desires.

Psalms 119:-39, “Psa 119:39 Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.”

Now we come to another word for fear a word that literally means to be afraid. Turn away my reproach which I fear. The word reproach means shame. There is great shame in sin. And a wise person will fear the consequences of sin. Fearing the consequences of sin will help to keep you from sinning.

Listen carefully, don’t be naive. Don’t be fooled by Hollywood or the philosophies of the world that glamorize pornography and immorality and that make it seem fun and satisfying and kool. These things are all lies. There is great shame in sin.

Proverbs 6:32-33 says, “Pro 6:32 But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Pro 6:33 A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.”

O be careful little eyes what you see. Touch not the unclean thing and fear to even look upon it. Fear the consequences of sin. Flee temptation. Pray for the Lord to deliver you from evil. And let the Word of God be established in your life.

Well in conclusion if you have never trusted in Jesus for salvation you can do so today. Jesus is God. Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave. You can trust in Him and the moment that you do all your sins will be wiped away and you can begin your life anew as a new creature in Christ. The past won’t matter anymore. The things you’re eyes have beheld in the past won’t matter anymore they will dim and become nothing but shadows once you turn your eyes upon Jesus and His wondrous love.

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