The Center Of Sin by Roger Smith

Transcription

1 The Center Of Sin by Roger Smith Proverbs 6: These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, 19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren. I don t know about you but the words of this passage discomfort me. First, am I guilty of any of these and/or some or many of them? And, with six things stated that God hates and an emphasis on seven being an abomination, am I guilty of seven of them? Or, does these passages mean that the seventh one is the abomination? Or, does it mean that being guilty of all seven results in an abomination? I don t know about you, but I want to know? Moreover, if I were you I would want to know too. So, let s look at the individual things in these three powerful verses in the middle of Chapter 6 of Proverbs and see if we are guilty of any of them These six things doth the Lord hate The word hate being translated from a Hebrew word pronounced saw-nay which means enemy or foe. I don t know about you but I certainly don t want to be an enemy or foe of God, to include, I don t really want anything inside me (thing) that would make me like an enemy or foe yea, seven are an abomination The word abomination being translated from a Hebrew pronounced to-ay-baw that means to abhor or loathe. Definitely one would not want to be a party to this situation. To be abhorred by God sounds eternally devastating and I don t know about you, but for sure I don t want to be guilty of this thing and must learn if it is the seventh sin or all seven. NOTE: God doesn t hate the person but the things that are in them, which accordingly results in His having to lose fellowship with the person either temporarily till they chose to repent, or permanently at death if they are not forgiven a proud look What is a proud look? A look that searches to gain something through looking and/or seeing digging wanting or just can t seem to live without it; a look to gain knowledge, understanding, or reach beyond one s limitations; that same proudness that Satan had in Heaven: Isaiah 14: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Ezekiel Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 17a Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted q thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: Wow the first sin.. a proud look.. and in Heaven and historically somewhere between when Satan was created and Adam and Eve in the Garden. Hmmmm, let s look at the Garden: And also in the Garden of Eden by Eve:

2 Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. So by Satan s proudness or proud look in Heaven that he could be like the Most High, God, he was guilty of this first thing in our reading, and so also, was Eve in the Garden of Eden because she saw that this fruit was not only good for food but would also make one wise and provide her with knowledge, which of course she gave to her husband and he did eat also. So this first thing listed in our scripture reading in Proverbs was the first sin in Heaven and in the Garden of Eden by the first children. PRIDE = Pursuing Rebellion I Decide Everything Anyone guilty of this sin? Unfortunately, me and if you will be honest with yourself, perhaps you will admit, me too. -- a lying tongue This is a biggie. And right there at the top of the list. Here are some very interesting yet distressing statistics: - A USA Today poll found that only 56% of Americans teach honesty to their children. - A Louis Harris poll turned up the distressing fact that 65% of high school students would cheat on an important exam. - One-third of all adults (32%) claim that: "the way things are these days, lying is sometimes necessary." - After doing 3.8 million background checks, Automatic Data Processing, Inc. announced that 52% of job applicants had lied on their resumes. - The book "The Day America Told the Truth" says that 91% of those surveyed lie routinely about matters they consider trivial, and 36% lie about important matters, 86% of teens and children lie regularly to parents, 75% of people lie to friends, 74% to siblings and 69% to spouses. - A national survey by Rutgers Management Education Center of 4,500 high school students found that 75% of them engage in serious cheating. Saul used it with Samuel when it came to carrying out God s instructions and Joseph s brothers used it to cover up that they had sold him to the Ishmaelites. Satan used it in the Garden when he said that Adam and Eve would not surely die were they to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Lying hurts our relationship with God, with others, and the church (corporately) for if we lie and the world witnesses that we claim Christianity and are also members of Berean Baptist Church, then we are telling the world that lying is part of God s church and especially among our fellowship.. in other words that one of our foundations is untruth. That is not God. God is Truth!! Jesus said in John 14.6, I am the way, and the Truth, and the life. and He said that the Truth will shall set you free John 8.32 And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free. If Jesus message was a lie then there is no salvation. If we lie, we are saying that we do not have His Truth, and therefore saying to the world we are not one of His. Anyone guilty of this sin? Once again, as much as I don t want to admit it, I have lied. Moreover, with the statistics stated above, the odds many or all of you have too. That being the case, we all are guilty of the first two things listed in our study that God hates and the first two sins in the Garden.

3 - - - and hands that shed innocent blood What is the third recorded sin in the Bible? Genesis 4 8 And Cain talked with Able his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Able his brother, and slew him. Surely WE are not guilty of shedding innocent blood right? That is, we are surely safe of not being guilty of at least one of these sins for sure right? None of us could be guilty of murder right? 1 John 3.15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 4.20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Wow! If I hate a brother I m guilty of murder? Don t like this idea? Talk to God, they are His rules, not mine. However, because these laws are His laws and because He wants me to abide inside them, they become my laws. So, anyone guilty of this sin? Truthfully, me. I have hated more than one brother and more than one sister. I wished I could say I had not but the truth is that I have. At my furthest distance from relational fellowship with God, I hated many a brother and sister. So, that makes me guilty of murder under His precepts. I am sure that many of you reading this have, or presently, are guilty of this one thing that God wants you to be released and free from your inventory of things. Let s pick up the pace now as the list goes on A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations This word heart is often presented by Bible scholars as mind, or that inner being, if you will. This is the intellect, emotion, and will of a man. Genesis 6 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. Throughout scripture we see evidence of peoples hearts being the source of both good and evil. From fondness from the heart to killing which we will cover more in a moment. These imaginations can be anywhere from simple small little matters to extreme heavy-duty crime and criminal activity. Are we guilty of this one? Unfortunately, when I look at my own life, I have to say that my heart has devised wicked imaginations. I hope you can be totally honest with yourself also and look to see that you too are guilty of this element of things feet that be swift in running to mischief, This is really simple; this element gives the idea of workers of iniquity; the ones that are running about causing trouble. Those whose goals are to increase their self. Psalm 5:5 The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. This element can be anything from simple idle mischievousness to serious planning, conniving and cunning illegal activity.

4 The important thing to realize here is that this is mischief that is going from thoughts and ideas to an action plan.. a seed of thought to a full scale germinated exploit that causes harm to the doer and often to a receiver or victim also A false witness that speaketh lies, This means living a lie. Saying we are one thing and doing another. Sort of like saying we are a Christian and living like an unbeliever who is bound for hell. Sort of like saying we love God in one breath and showing the world that we hate our brother. This witness turns others away from God and shows the world that saying one loves God is nothing more than a phrase and idle talk. Or in other words, speaking a lie by our actions.. either by commission or even by omission.. that is, something we know we should do which would be a Truth but avoiding doing it because of pride or hatred and thus the lack of action becomes a wrongful action by not acting and he that soweth discord among brethren. A planter of the seed of destruction by saying things that aren t true.. but.. unlike a lie this one is designed by the deliver to hurt someone else deeply or the whole body or organization and for what purpose? The ultimate desire of the deliverer of this thing or this element of things is for the deliverer to show one s position categorically in self supreme, knowledgeable, wise, requiring respect, reverence, as in a spirit of pride which ultimately as scripture states it.. gods. Genesis 1.27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. Genesis3.5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3.22a And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil, This one of us provides the illustration of like God in that we are created like Him with an intellect, emotion, and a will, and as Satan pointed out, not like Him completely because we are acting like an independent being, a god. Remember PRIDE? It s this self-god, self worship, self supremacy, rebellion that gives us this problem of these 6 things that God hates and even 7 that are an abomination, which brings us back to the original question.. is the abomination the 7 th one? Sowing discord among the brethren while certainly a biggie just doesn t sound that awful compared to that 3 rd one, murder. Or is there something we are missing? Let s look deeper. Look at these things, what are they? Sins, right? What are they again? Let s list them in a condensed list? - Proud Look (eyes see/saw) - Lying Tongue - Hands Shed Innocent Blood - Heart Devising Wickedness - Feet Swift To Mischief - False Witness Speaking A Lie - Sowing Discord To Brethren

5 What are these things? That is, what are the illustrations of the things that do the cause or delivery. - Eyes - Tongue - Hands - Heart - Feet - Walk (Hands, Arms, Feet) - Prideful Life (Mouth, Feet, Arms, Head, Whole Body) ANSWER: Body parts. Interesting illustration hey? By the way, where are these body parts physically (not metaphorically) speaking? ANSWER: Internal and external parts. Even more interesting right? I mean, look at the list again, more closely. Is one different? ANSWER: Yes; the Heart, it is an internal organ while all the rest are external. When I first surveyed and studied the Old Testament (a long time ago unfortunately) and before I learned it more thoroughly at Moody Bible Institute, I noticed that certain phrases and certain words or ideas were often repeated, that is, a word, element, or idea was told, then repeated. Like in Creation, on the 1 st day God brought forth light and after 3 rd day He repeated these first three days of creation by beginning another sequence of three with light in the Heavens on the forth. Again, He repeated the 2 nd day with another similar genre or element on the 4 th day and then the same on the 3 rd and 6 th days, which drew me first to know that God is into numbers and that through numbers and the process of teaching He was trying to get us to SEE something more valuable than gold IF we were willing to SEEK and FIND as Jesus so amply pointed out during his brief visit to earth. This thing that I was witnessing, and then of course learned at Moody Bible Institute under the most valuable teaching of Dr. Richard Fisher, is called Hebrew Parallelism. With in this methodology of teaching there are three types. Here they are: Synonymous Parallelism is successive lines of text, which state essentially the same concept in two different ways. Antithetic (anti-thet-ic) Parallelism is nearly the opposite of synonymous parallelism. This occurs when the second stich is directly contrasted to the first, and it is done to emphasize or confirm the thought of the first. Synthetic Parallelism where each successive line of this passage builds on the original passage concept. The passages, phrases, thoughts, ideas, precepts, or even concepts, may be right after each other, near each other, or even far away where others in between are other thoughts or Antithetic or even Synthetical passages. In this passage we have Synonymous. Here they are listed in the similarity in which the inspired author revealed a really awesome Truth to us: EYES (proud look) TONGUE (telling lies) HANDS (shedding innocent blood) HEART FEET (swift to mischief) MOUTH (walk) BODY LOOK (spreading against brethren) NOTE: Eyes Look and Body Look genre the 1 st and 7 th things, and then the Tongue and Mouth genre the 2 nd and 6 th things, and finally the Hands and Feet genre which are the 3 rd and 4 th things

6 that point us to the last thing in the list, the one and only thing that is internal, the Heart. Could it be that the writer wanted us to note the specialty of the Heart as the one and only element that controls all the rest. That is, the eyes, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the mouth, the whole body look and action cannot and will not do anything on its own without direction or input from the Heart-Mind part of ones being. The heart is the source of controlling, the intellect, the emotion, and will, it choses what we think and do. It is the source of controlling all that we are, all we do, and the result of our actions. So again back to the start. God hates these things that are in us that we do. Surely we want to get these things out of our life right? I mean, do we love God? Do we want His fellowship and His love in our life? If we ve been honest with ourselves, we probably have discovered that we are guilty of all seven of these things or sins that are in us because of our wicked hearts. So how do we rid them from our beings before God? ANSWER: Repent. Pray to God in Heaven and tell Him how weak you are and how you are guilty of one or more or all the sins listed in Proverbs 6 and how that you want Him to forgive you. Remind Him that your wickedness is sourced from your Heart and that you want him to create in you a new Heart, a clean Heart (Psalm 51:10a), a pure Heart, that He can love, fellowship with, and bless. However, before we pray lets look at some rather distressing knowledge that needs to be addressed before we petition God for our repentance. That is, we do want to receive forgiveness right? We already said that to hate our brother is shedding innocent blood and that in this sin there can be NO eternal life (1 John 3:15). So, now lets look at something that needs to be resolved before we can be forgiven. Matthew After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. Read verse 12 again. In verse 12 our debts are our trespasses, that is stepping across the line or if you will our sins, a debt against a creditor, in this case God and others. So then, according to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we are to forgive others just like we are asking God to forgive us, for that verse reads, forgive us our debts (trespasses or sins).. AS.. we forgive our debtors (trespassers or sins). The key word that I have capped in this verse is AS because the verse points out that we are to be forgiven as we forgive. In fact, conversely we are NOT forgiven IF we do not forgive. What? You say? Look even one more time at verse 12. You see if we do not forgive, we will not be forgiven. That is, if we don t forgive others, we are not forgiven. That s right. NOT FORGIVEN. Have any question about this? Don t believe that I m illustrating this right? Want proof? Will the Word of God be sufficient? Matthew For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Concluding then, why not get all this weight of the sins and wicked heart of Proverbs off your back? But before asking God to forgive you of them, is there anyone whom you can think of that you hold a grudge, dislike, or believe you have cause to hate? If so, you are sinning and those sins are not forgiven. You MUST, I restate for emphasis, MUST forgive them before you will be

7 forgiven. If you do not forgive them then God will NOT forgive you. Why not join me in this prayer below: Dear God in Heaven, We have read in Your Word that there are things in us that You hate. We know you love us but that you hate the sin that is in us. Let us please petition You tonight and ask You to bring those into our path whom we have sinned against or those to whom we hold malice and/or hate and give us the opportunity to ask them to forgive us, give us the spiritual boldness to go to them and say, please forgive me but I have had malice in my heart toward you wrongfully, and I ask you to forgive me for being wrong or dear brother (or sister) please know that I have had wrongful feelings about (or toward) you in the past and God has shown me that I need to ask you to forgive me, will you forgive me? Father, let this be my prayer and please use your Holy Spirit to mend our trying and sometime difficult hearts and then please forgive us of our sins as we forgive those whom we have sins against or have sinned us. It is our responsibility before you and we want our corporate spirit mended completely and fully. Father, let it be said of me and my church family that You are God, we love You with all our heart, all our soul, and all of our might. All this I pray in Jesus precious name. Amen If you enjoyed this message and/or prayed this prayer, why not go to and use the Contact Us link and drop us a line so that we know we are helping evangelize the lost and edify the saved. Thank you for reading and may God richly bless you AS you serve Him. This message is property of Love the Word Ministries and may not be used in part without written permission. It may be however, in its entirety, it may be printed, copied, and distributed without permission. Love the Word Ministries po box 31 - south webster, oh 45682