Dr Greg Bahnsen - Proverbs: Proverbs 6:12-19 (Seven Things God Hates) (Part 19)

This morning we take as our text Proverbs the sixth chapter, verses 12 to 19. Please turn with me to Proverbs, the old Testament, chapter six, and we'll begin our reading at the 12th verse. And this morning we take as our theme seven things that God hates. Hear now God's word. A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he that walketh with a perverse mouth, that winketh with his eyes, that speaketh with his feet, that maketh signs with his fingers, in whose heart is perverseness, who deviseth evil continually, who soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, on a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy. There are six things which Jehovah hateth, yea, seven, which are an abomination unto haughty eyes, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that deviseth wicked purposes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, a false witness that uttereth lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren, and thus far, the reading of God's Word. I was sorely tempted earlier in this week to change my preaching plans, to depart from the outline that I had set in getting through the Book of Proverbs, and to change the theme to the question of terrorism in the world. Because I think that the preaching of God's Word ought to be relevant to our times, relevant to our lives, and that includes not simply relevance to particular things that are happening to us individually or as a congregation, but also to our lives in the midst of our nation, in terms of world peace and matters such as that. And then I changed my mind, because as I considered further Proverbs, the sixth chapter, it seems to me that what I have to say, what the Word of God would have me say to you, not only bears directly on your lives, but says a great deal about terrorism in the world anyway. And so if Muammar Gaddafi could be here with us today, I would not change in the slightest the text. Because it seems to me this text deals directly with him, his sin, and the way God will deal with it. And by the way, lest you think we're shooting very high, then for world leaders, this text deals very directly with you, too. God hates those who sow discord. Terrorists do that. That's rather obvious. Indiscriminate infliction of suffering and pain, the taking away of innocent human life, the general disruption of social conditions for the sake of striking terror into the hearts of people is something that God hates. He detests that. But what we need to see is that each and every one of us is a little bit of a terrorist, too. We all have our terrorist means within us, and that's because what separates us from Gaddafi is not a great deal morally. What separates us is simply the degree into which we have externalized that same ruthless inner character of sin that each and every one of us comes into this world with. And so let's consider this morning not a sermon on terrorism, but a sermon on discord that applies to terrorists and us alike. The organization of this passage is an interesting one. In verses 12 to 15, we have a description of the worthless person. I'm going to later describe for you what the Hebrew for worthless one is, because that will explain something important, but there's a better time for it. The worthless person is described as a man of iniquity who walks with perversity of mouth and does certain things. And verse 15 ends by telling us of the outcome of that worthless person. Then verse 16 goes into a list of seven things that are particularly hated by God. Now, what ties these two sections of our passage together? What ties them together is the fact that the subject matter in both points to the very same kind of person. And that person, which is the subject of the first section and the subject of the second section is a person who sows discord. We see this if we look at what comes close to the crowning end of each of those sections. Verses 12 to 15 is one of them. Look at verse 14. The crowning description of this worthless person is one who devises evil continually and. And sows discord. And then if you look at the end of the list of things God hates, building up to its climax, verse 19 says, he that sows discord among brothers. What we see here is a double dose of God's condemnation of those who sow. Discord. Troublemakers. God hates troublemakers. Very simply, that's the theme of the passage. If you want to fall asleep after this point, you will have gotten the main point. I hope you listen to the conclusion, too. God hates troublemakers, and the Bible puts it very strongly. First of all, let's look at verses 12 to 14 and the description of the troublemaker, the one who sows discord. We read here, a worthless person is a man of iniquity, he that walketh with a perverse mouth. And then it's always humorous to ask children, what does this next verse mean? Maybe humorous to ask you too. He that winks with his eyes and speaks with his feet and makes signs with his fingers. You know, you imagine A guy who's walking down the street, scraping his feet and pointing his fingers and winking his eyes, and he gets some kind of. Boy, that is a weird person, isn't it? Well, that isn't what the passage is talking about at all. That's somebody with strange, you know, gestures or odd body habits or something like that. Rather, the passage is talking about a person who, with a wink or with a gesture of some sort, can sow discord at will. Here's the person who knows just the right time to raise his eyebrows, just the right time to point in this direction. The part about the feet is difficult. The Hebrew says he teaches with his feet or communicates with his feet. And you might imagine somebody who points the way by putting his foot out or something. These are idioms. We have our own idioms in English that are not easily translated into, say, German or French and so forth. And when our English idioms are put into another setting, people say, what do they mean by that? That's what we're experiencing here. Hebrew people had an idiom for someone who gestures in a way that causes trouble. And when it comes across into English, since we don't do that or we don't understand the idiom itself, it may sound strange, but the point should be obvious, I hope. The point is, here's a person who, with his mouth or with body communication. Hey, now that begins to sound like something we know about, body language. Here's a person whose mouth and body language conspire to cause trouble. Just little subtle movements indicating that he's up to no good. He's a malicious person. He's underhanded. To put it another way, he's devious. And the Bible says he's a worthless man of iniquity, this one who walks with a perverse mouth. Interestingly, the description of the perverse man begins with his mouth. Because, you see, the mouth leads us. If you don't mind the unflattering comparison, we're like horses. You know how you lead a horse? You put a bit in its mouth. You control the mouth of a horse. You control the horse's body. By the way, that's not my idea. It's an inspired one you find in James, the third chapter. James says, we put a bit in the mouth of horses and direct them any way we want. We put a little, you know, rudder on a ship, big ship, direct it wherever it goes. And so is the human mouth. If you could control your tongue in, you could control the rest of your life. And so the perverse man is the man who first of all is described as having a wayward mouth. And with a wayward mouth, he doesn't have a controlled life. He's unruly. And the rest of his body follows him as he winks, he points, he gestures. And all of his body language is all fitting in with what you hear from his mouth. And that's a matter of perversity, underhanded deviousness. Literally. The Hebrew says he's twisted. He's a gnarled up, twisted person. Morally inside. His gestures, his tone of voice, his facial expressions are all calculated methods of misleading people, manipulating people or causing trouble of some sort. Very simply put, you have then in this perverse man, someone with a facade of sincerity but a mind and intending discord. You have a hypocrite. You have the man of. And I realize that I may get in trouble for saying this, but I must say it. You have a man who follows what we call Southern manners. I lived in the south for a while, and it was a matter of genuine interest to draw comparisons between the way Western people tend to be very open, lay everything out, and also very casual about that, and Easterners tend to be very quiet. It's hard to get along with them and maybe a little bit arrogant in dealing with newcomers. Southerners can be just as sweet as can be and hate you to the uttermost. Now, I know that these qualities are not watertight and these can be overdone. They can be used to put certain people down and put, say, another characteristic that you like up. That is not my point. But what we do mean by the person who can smile at you while stabbing you in the back is described here as a devious person whose body language is used to deceive, whose body language is underhanded. The reason I brought up the reference to Southern manners is just this, that while I was in the south and I would comment on this, I was often told that's because the south had more of a Christian, Christian character. Some people seriously thought that Southern Gentile manners were more in line with biblical manners. That's pretty hard to reconcile that with the Book of Proverbs. It's very hard to reconcile a hypocritical demeanor with the word of God in general. Now, obviously, what part of Southern manners are we talking about? If we're talking about somebody who doesn't make a point of putting people down, who is cordial, who is, then that should be commended, no doubt about it. But the idea that we should hide our criticism, hide our intentions and Manipulate people with smiling faces because that's easier. We can say one thing to them and go out and create all sorts of mischief for them behind their backs is not at all biblical. So behind a facade of sincerity must not be a mind lurking with professional perversity. According to the Book of Proverbs, verse 14 tells us this man has a heart full of perversity and devises evil continually. And then the climax of it all sows discord. He's a man who brings contention, dissension, and strife into his social setting. The word for discord here. I don't like to get into the key kitchen often with you, but this is pretty interesting. It's noteworthy. There's only 18 uses of this word in the Bible in Hebrew, 15 of which appear in the Book of Proverbs. The Book of Proverbs is very interested in this question of discourse. It was obviously this theme of discord. One of the main curses in the ancient world was obviously troublemakers. Our world isn't all that different either, is it? Troublemakers. Let's look at some of These passages. Hebrews 15:18. A wrathful man stirs up contention, but he that is slow to anger appeases strife. There's a whole sermon lurking right there, isn't there? Proverbs 16:28. A perverse man scattereth abroad strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Proverbs 17:14. The beginning of strife is as one letting out water. Therefore leave off contention before there is quarreling. Proverbs 18:19. The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parteth between the mighty. A brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city and such contentions are like the bars of a Castle. Proverbs 21:9 19. It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman in a wide house. Verse 19. It is better to dwell in a desert land than with a contentious and fretful woman. The point of this chapter is rather clear. You don't want a contentious wife. Better to go to the desert and live on the roof. Proverbs 22:10. Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out. Yea, strife and ignominy will cease. Proverbs 23:29. Who has woe? Who has sorrow, who has has contentions, who has complaining, who has wounds without cease. Look in the context. The one who drinks and doesn't control himself. Proverbs 25:24 again comes back. I'm sorry, wives, I'm not picking on you, but another One. It's better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a contentious woman in a wide house. Proverbs 26:21. As coals are to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. Then Proverbs 27:15. A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. Then Proverbs 28:25. He that is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife, but he that putteth his trust in Jehovah shall be made fat. In Proverbs 29:22. An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in transgression. That's rather obvious from this long list of passages and Proverbs that deal with discord and dissension, that God's not pleased with it at all. He says, often doing something leads to strife. The implication being if it leads to strife and contention, it's not good. And so control your temper. Don't be a slanderer. Be someone who can stop running to a quarrel. Don't be a wife who's continually nagging. Don't scoff. Don't be a drunkard. Don't be someone who kindles strife like a fire. Don't be arrogant. Don't have an angry temper. All these things, and many more could be mentioned, undoubtedly. But all these things easily lead to hardship, lead to a lack of harmony, disturb the peace, and bring discord. The book of Proverbs wants us to know that God is unhappy with that. So here's the troublemaker, the devious one, the one who with his mouth and his body language, with his perversity of heart, is continually sowing problems. And then we come to verses 16 to 19, a list of some things that God hates. Before we even look at that list, we have to stop and think about the very concept that's been introduced that God hates. God hates things. Have you ever been told by people that God doesn't hate anything? That God's very open and tolerant, that God is forever forgiving, that God is love? Doesn't the Bible say that God is love? And if God is love, then he doesn't really get angry about anything, you see? And when we get angry, or if we hate something, or if we have righteous indignation, then we are told that we are wrong because that isn't Godlike. Well, I got news for you. The Bible says God hates a lot of things. Jacob, I loved. Esau, I hated. And you know, there will be people who take that verse and say, oh, well, that doesn't really mean what it says. God didn't hate Esau, but that must mean he loved him less. Okay, Jacob, I loved Esau. I loved less. And so what we mean by this is that hate is just a little bit less of the love that God has for everyone. To which I have two things to say. First, if that's what it means about Esau, that's what it means about Jacob. He didn't love Jacob. Don't give us that. He just loved him a bit more. It's all relative, and that's all we're getting at here. And whatever you want to make of that word hate, you may call it love less. But you know where it ends up for Esau? In hell. And anything that ends up with God saying, I want nothing to do with you forever, depart from me into everlasting darkness, into the place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, where there is constant burning and the worm never dies. Anything that ends up with eternal condemnation and separation from God is as close to hatred as anything I can think of. Call it loving less if you wish. It has the outcome of what we consider hatred. God hates certain things. I'm not going to go through the Bible, talk about all of them. Nor am I going to spend time again today reminding you of what the word abomination means in the Bible. How God detests certain things. That word is used for excrement, that is, out on the ground in a camp. How people abominate that. And God also has an attitude of detesting certain things in this world. The book of Proverbs summarizes some of them very nicely for us at verse 16. There are six things which God hates. Yes, seven. Which are an abomination unto him. There are six and seven. You have to understand, that's a very nice poetry idiom that means there are a number of things that God hates elsewhere in the book of Proverbs, chapter 30. We'll come to this later so we won't turn to it now. We'll read of There are two things. Yes, three. There are two things. Yes, three. Which means there are two or three things. That is to say, there are a few things like this. We find the same use in Amos, chapters one and two. There are two things that God has against you. Yes, three. The author says in a poetic way that the ancient world would understand. Here's a list of things God hates. The list is specific. It's not meant to be exhaustive it just expresses the idea of an indefinite list of things that fall into this category. Well, let's look at these things that God hates. Verse 17 Haughty Eyes does God hate haughty eyes? He certainly does. The eye that is lifted up, that shows itself to be proud and arrogant, God hates. Look at Proverbs 16:5. Everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination to Jehovah. Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. An excessive regard for oneself and a disregard for other people's dignity and other people's rights is haughtiness. And when the eye shows that, you see this is something that God detests, it's abominable to him. Secondly, we read that God hates a lying tongue. Well, that shouldn't surprise us too much. Psalm 56. Any number of passages of Scripture could be looked at, but Psalm 56 tells us this as well. Let's return to that. We read, thou wilt destroy them that speak lies. Jehovah abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. In Revelation 21:18, we read that those who are kept outside the New Jerusalem, who cannot enter into the kingdom of God forever, are those who tell lies. That's something for you to start thinking about, because my guess is there's no one in this room who would dare walk out and think they haven't told a lie. God hates it. He detests it. He abhors it, and puts it outside his kingdom forever. And so, just as the worthless man in the previous section has a false mouth, now in this section we learn that God hates a lying tongue. Thirdly, we read that God hates hands that shed innocent blood. In the previous section, we heard about hands and body language that are devious and underhanded. And now we read God hates hands that actually bring about the destruction of the innocent. In Isaiah 59. 7, a very similar condemnation is heard by the prophet where he says, their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Now this should of course, sound familiar to those of you who are Bible students, because In Romans the third chapter, verse 15, that's exactly the way Paul describes all who are sinful. They have feet that are swift to shed blood. He combines the idea of fear, feet that are eager to do it, and hands that actually accomplish it, that have innocent blood upon them. Of course, we live in a society where it's rather easy to see the desire to shed innocent blood and to have that bloodshed Evident right on our hands in the abortion mills of our land. But it isn't just in the case of abortion, just in the case of street muggers who happen to kill their victims. All of us fail to do those things which are conducive to human life and to supporting of the poor, and to do those things which God would have us to do. All of us fail to take those measures which are necessary to protect human life, to advance it in this world. And therefore we have blood stained hands. The Bible says, moreover, God hates a heart that devises wicked purposes, a heart that devises wicked plans. We read earlier of the perverse man who has devices, who has ideas and plans foaming up inside him all the time. And then finally we come to the thing that taps off the whole description of what God hates, he that sows discord among brethren. In this list we find a graphic description of the sinful nature of man, don't we? The superior look, the shifty talk, the destructive hands, all those offenses which are destructive of harmony among people, destructive of human society, all of which are hated by God. We see sins of attitude, haughtiness. We see sins of thought, wicked plans. We see sins of speech, lies and perjury. We see sins of action, bloodshed and hurrying to evil, having feet that are eager to get involved in sinful plans. And we have sins of influence, spreading strife among other people. The man who does these things schemes to ruin his fellow men. The Bible says that above all is what God hates. He detests it, it is abomination in his sight. Now let me tell you what some variations on troublemaking might be. Lest you think we have described here just those terrorists that Gaddafi has sent around the world and others like him. The Bible is describing a kind of person here that may be all too familiar to you and to me. Because when we take stock of our own lives, it seems to me we find those things that God detest. We find in ourselves a troublemaking spirit. How do we troublemake? We don't plant bombs on airliners, we don't go around and kill people indiscriminately. Well, let me tell you how we sow discord. First of all, we meddle. We are meddlesome people. We like to get ourselves involved in things that are none of our business. I teach at a high school and I have a certain area of responsibility and authority at the high school. I have a certain area of accountability. And I am going to be held accountable for the way I teach and the way I manage my work and those sorts of things. But now, what if I were to spend a certain portion of my time, maybe even a good amount of my time, going around and talking to my colleagues and finding out, well, how they're grading their papers and how they're spending their class time? What if I were to go and just kind of stand at the door of the principal's office all day long and say, well, I don't think you should have said it that way. Or don't you think we ought to send this letter out? Or don't you think this is the way that discipline case should be handled? See, I'd be meddling into an area of responsibility God has not given me to worry about. Bill Gothard, I think is a very good definition of worry. I won't give it word for word. I can't do that. But it's something to the effect that worry is that sinful involvement in an area of responsibility God has not given me. Isn't that right? We start worrying about things that are not our business, that are not under the umbrella of our authority, that are not in the realm of our responsibility. We start meddling here. And God hates that. We need to learn our place. We need to learn to keep within our boundaries. In fact, we don't do such a good job in those areas of responsibility God has given us. What right have we, as though we've managed all that now, to start pressing beyond the boundaries and getting involved in other people's lives or other people's areas of responsibility? Calling. And that's something children need to learn. Children, you need to remember that God has made your parents to have authority over you. It is not for you to make up your mother or father's mind about certain things. It's not for you to dispute points of family policy. Wives need to learn this. It's not for you to try to run your husband's life. Husbands need to learn it, too. Another way, another variety of causing trouble is gossip. And boy, that's a tough one to beat down, isn't it? That tongue of ours just loves to go at it. Telling stories here, telling stories there. And you know, Christians are amazing at developing subtle forms of hypocrisy. We'll sometimes tell stories about people to put them in a very bad light, and then we can cover it over very nicely so that we can pray for them or some such thing as that. Well, I want you to start taking stock of yourself, whether you aren't using stories you tell behind someone's back to bring them down to cause trouble, to bring a wedge between people. We tell these little stories often not for the good of others, because it was for the good of others. We'd be telling the story to them and praying with them and talking to them about. About how these things can be settled. Another variety of troublemaking and sowing discord is a general argumentativeness that we see in ourselves, that I see in myself. It's very easy to sit back and say, well, now I can pick that apart. I know what's wrong here. Things may be 98% all right in someone's presentation. I can still find 2% that's wrong. And we sow discord and disharmony, and no one knowing my pastorate or my writings or personality will suspect. I take it that I'm saying error must be overlooked. We must somehow just turn a blind eye to sin and never deal with it. I know that you might hear that in some sermons. You know, you're not hearing that from me. So let me say, however, on the other hand, God hasn't called us to correct everything that's wrong in the world. And when our Christian brothers, let's say a Christian brother, comes to me and he wants to communicate something, that's for my good. But I'm a little put back by it. I don't like to hear that. And so I criticize his grammar. I say, yeah, but you see, there was a lack of agreement between subject and verb in your sentence. And if you're not going to say it right, I'm not going to listen. Now I'm drawing a very extreme picture to make my point. We can find things wrong, but what should we be doing? We should be not aiming to be argumentative, but teachable and peaceful and doing those things that build up the body of Christ and bring harmony among his people. But we're too argumentative, aren't we? In fact, among some of us, I hope we will see it in ourselves. If this is true, I would see it in myself. But among some of us, isn't there just this general character of being contrary? Have you ever heard that expression, while she's just contrary? That's. That's a kind of an archaic way of saying her personality is such that she's just got to be negative. She's got to be on the contrary, she's got to be in conflict with something. So let's say you were to go to a party and everything went very well at the party, but you came short of one cup of punch. Well, the contrary person would be glad to point that out to you. Well, it's too bad you didn't have enough punch at the party. I unnecessary sowing of discord and dissension by the person who's just looking for something to harp on. And of course we sow discord by deceit. Also, you see, I talked about gossip as though we were telling true stories about people. By the way, gossip is not defined by telling lies about people's back behind people's back. It's defined by telling it behind their back, whether it's a lie or not. But deceit is also often used. And see, we're getting into some heavy major league sins here, aren't we? The fact of the matter is that sometimes we aren't just telling a true story or being kind of negative in our evaluation of some situation. Sometimes we just out and out don't tell the truth because it's inconvenient, because it's awkward, because we've been caught in some other problem and now we fabricate a new story to make up for the previous story that we didn't tell, right? And we get caught in a web of deceit. In so doing, we sow discord. One more illustration that comes to my mind, and that's of rebellion against authority. Not just meddling into areas that don't belong to us, but sometimes not submitting to the authority God has put in our lives. The Bible has a lot to say about that because God detests men who drive wedges between friends and who sow schism in the church. I think you need to see that. Turn to Romans 16:17, 18 Romans 16:17, 18 very strong words of the Apostle Paul. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them that are causing divisions and occasions of stumbling, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and turn away from them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by their smooth and fair speech they beguile the hearts of the innocent. There are people who sometimes enter Christian congregations who can be real smooth in the way they talk, really friendly in their outward demeanor, but they sow heretical ideas and drive wedges between people and create divisions and occasions of stumbling within the congregation. And Paul says very clearly, mark them out so that you will not have anything to do with them. Turn away from such people. God detests those who bring schism in the Christian church. If you think that's strong language, look at the 19th verse of Jude. Jude, verse 19. There are they who make separations sensual, having not the Spirit, the Bible says those who cause divisions. Now of course, these are divisions that are not called for by adherence to principle and the truth. To cause a division over the sake of righteousness, over the sake of telling the truth is something God requires. But those who enter into a church that is for the most part righteous and orthodox, and not in order to correct it and to bring it about, but love drawing these differences and setting people against one another have not the Spirit. The Bible says the Holy Spirit doesn't live in them. They don't serve the Lord Christ. They serve their belly. They serve their own selfish interest. And sometimes I get that impression in our midst too. Sometimes we argue with one another, not for the glory of Jesus Christ and not really because things are so bad they have to be corrected. We argue because we want to put ourselves ahead of others and we don't serve the Lord Jesus Christ and we don't show that the Spirit is within us when we do that. One more passage, 1 Corinthians 3:3 4 Corinthians 3:3 4 says, but you are yet carnal fleshly, for whereas there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not fleshly? And do ye not walk after the manner of men? For when one saith, I am of Paul and another, I am of Apollos, are ye not men? What then is Apollos and what is Paul ministers through whom ye believed, and each is the Lord, Lord gave to him. Paul says it is a sign of fleshliness, of an unregenerate nature to go about having all these divisions, saying, yeah, but I side with this person over against you. And so what's the Bible's word on discord? I put it all together. It's rather strong, but it's biblical. God hates it. God says those who engage in it are selfish and self centered people. They do not have the Holy Spirit worth working in their lives. They are carnal, fleshly people who are not really born again. Wow, are you like that? What's the outcome of the troublemaker? Verse 15 tells us in our passage, therefore shall his calamity come suddenly, on a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy. God's hour will arrive for troublemakers. And when it does, sudden destruction, instant brokenness. According to the Hebrew, this calamity will come in an unexpected way and most importantly irreversibly. When God finally steps in and he says, I so detest your troublemaking. I so detest the way you bring trouble to people. That he steps in and brings that judgment, it will never be reversed. And that's why I agree with many commentators who think this must refer to. To the judgment that comes at death, because at death nothing will be reversed. At that point, we face our maker. Judgment awaits us beyond the grave. And the point being is, we never know the day that tribunal will be held. You never know in the midst of what argument, in the midst of what dissension, in the midst of what wicked little plan, God's going to finally call you right before him and say, I detest you. That's a frightening passage. This is a passage that tells us we better get our lives in order. We better start thinking about our motivation. We better ask, what is the character of this stuff that is in us? Let me go back now as we conclude here. And look at that word, a worthless man. The Hebrew is a man of Belial. A man of Belial. You may not be familiar with that word Belial, but you'll find it in Second Corinthians 6:15. It's one of the names of Satan in the Bible. A worthless or satanic man, a man of the devil. One is reminded of how Jesus said to his Pharisaical opponents in John the eighth chapter, you are of your father the devil, and it's his desire that you do. He was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. And so you too are liars and murderers. Amazing, isn't it? Because in just a short amount of time, those same people would take Jesus before the tribunal and lie about what he had said to bring about his murder of their father, the devil. We are reading here in Proverbs of a worthless person, literally a man of Belial. Ephesians 2, 3. Paul tells us that all of us are children of disobedience, sons of wrath. That we are all born with that character, a satanic, hard to get along with, troublesome, discordant character. What we have before us is just a basic description of fallen human nature. Look at verse 14. What better description could we have? In whose heart is perversity? Who devises evil continually? The Bible sets it right. You know what's wrong with us, our hearts? Jesus said, out of the heart come all these abominable things, lies and distortions and adulteries and things which God detests. The heart is full of internal perversity. The heart is full of restless evil. So what do you do about that? What if you find yourself described here? What if you say, God must detest me? Look at how haughty I am. Look at my lying tongue. Look at my hands full of blood. My Wicked ideas and plans. How eager I am to involve myself in sin, my perjury, and all the discord that I sow. God hates me and I'm not going to mitigate that. He does. He hates you unless you hide yourself in the shadow of his Son, Jesus Christ. Because there's only one person who ever walked this world who did not have a haughty look. There's only one person who did not shed innocent blood. There was only one person who did not devise wicked plans. There's only one person who didn't go about looking. How to sow discord among the affairs of men. That was the Prince of Peace, our Savior, Jesus Christ. And if you wish to escape the burning hot wrath of God and his hatred of your sin, then the only hope you have is to come to Christ so that God might see him and not you. Him, the one who he says is beloved, the Son of God, in whom there is no harm nor a hurtful device, but only love, grace, righteousness and truth. And in Christ you will be given a new nature. Very simply, Christ will bring it about that you'll be born again. That's what he told Nicodemus. He said, you must be born again. You haven't got a chance in your own strength. Look at your character. Look at your fallen nature. Look at your motivation. Look at. Look at your track record. There's no hope for you. You need a new nature. You need to be made over again. You need to be born again. And so, my friends, I will not mitigate the judgment of God. If this describes you, to whatever degree if this describes you, God hates you. And you may say, well, that just means he loves me less. I don't care what you make of it. The fact is you will end up in eternal perdition that is irreversible. When that judgment comes, it will never be changed. And the Bible says you never know when that sudden judgment will be right upon you. If you find yourself described in this passage today, turn to Christ. Ask that God would see him, not you. Request of the Son that His Spirit might make you again bring into your life a new nature, that you might be born all over again, spiritually speaking. Because those in whom God finds the character of His Son and the reflection of the work of His Spirit are those from whom he will never turn away. We read in our responsive reading this morning that though my foot slippeth by his mercy, I am held up. Your nature is not going to become clean automatically. You're not going to become morally perfect overnight. You will continue to struggle with sin and to work on your sanctification. But all along you will not do so under the judgmental curse that God is going to hold you accountable for everything and that you will never pass his judgment. You will do it in the joy and in the hope and above all, in the strengthening of a new nature that God himself will provide by his grace. Friends, don't let God hate you anymore. Let's pray. Lord, we dare not even pray to you, thinking that our good intentions should make us right before you. And so we don't begin our prayer with any thought that you should listen to us for what? What is in us. Because what is in us is so foul and unclean. And all of our motivations and our activities as they come under the searching glare of your holy judgment are found out to be unclean, to be spotted, to be broken down, to be worthless, indeed, to be detestable. We confess it, it's true. We are people like that. As we ask you to hear our prayer today, not for any good in us, but only for your Son, Jesus Christ, only because of his righteousness and his acceptability in your sight. How we thank you that he indeed is beloved of the Father. How we thank you that he lived a perfect life of holy obedience to your law. And how we thank you going far beyond that, that he gave up his perfect and spotless life on the cross so that his blood might wash away our stains, so that his life might be put in the place of ours, so that he might bear our judgment and we might gain his character. O Lord, make us over again by the power of your Holy Spirit. Turn us around, make us new, regenerate us, give us life from above and teach us as we begin new lives in Christ. Forgiven by the power, strength by the power of the Spirit. Strengthened. Teach us to hate the things you hate and to progressively put them far from us, to rid our lives of them in the sanctifying and progressive work of your Spirit. And Lord, we praise you and thank you for the grace and mercy you show that we have been given opportunity indeed by your grace, have been brought into a new relationship so that we don't have to worry about those things that you hate. Because we know that you love us in Christ and through the Spirit, and love us with an undying, everlasting love, a love that never stops. We certainly don't deserve that. So we thank you and ask our lives to be changed, that we might show a gratitude evident in lives that are obedient, cheerful, and God glorifying, we pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.