once again and turn with me to
the book of Proverbs chapter 22. Proverbs 22. We go through this blessed book
verse by verse. And this too, this verse is a
Great, great, great comfort to God's people. Proverbs 22, verse
10. Cast out the scorner, and contention
shall go out. Yea, strife and reproach shall
cease. Now, the scripture declares without
any controversy, cast out, drive out the scorner, that which scoffs
at and despises the most sacred and precious of all things, the
Word of God. cast out the scorner, and here's
the only way that contention and strife and reproach is going
to stop, is if the scorner is cast out. That's the only way. There's no other way. Now knowing that all Scripture
is given by inspiration of God, that's what the Lord set forth.
all Scripture, the Spirit of God, the Lord God's Spirit, all
Scriptures are concerning Him, then we would do well to consider
this Scripture in light of the honor, the glory, and the praise
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, to establish the foundation
of this verse and the glory of Christ in it, we've got to begin
at the beginning. Let's just go back to the beginning
and ask ourselves this, on contention, strife, reproach, knowing that
it exists, I mean there's no doubt about it, it sets forth
if the scorners cast out, then contention will go out, strife
and reproach is going to cease. Now, knowing that it exists,
let me ask you this, Between whom does it exist? Really? I mean, you could say,
well, it exists between men. Men and men. Well, yeah. Yeah,
that's true. There's no doubt about that.
But more importantly, contention, strife, and reproach
is between God and men. Men against God. And when did
all of that start? Where did it start? It's in existence,
I know that. But how did it get here? Well, it started in the garden. That's
where it started. When Adam was created, God placed
Adam in a garden, and this is what the Lord told Adam to do.
You till this garden and watch it, guard it, watch over it.
And of all the trees that's in the garden, you can eat of all
the trees in the garden except one. One tree. So God set a boundary upon man. And concerning that one tree
that was forbidden, the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, that tree is off limits. In the day you eat of that tree,
you are going to die. And Adam did that which the Lord
forbid him to do. He ate of the tree. He ate of
that fruit. And he died spiritually in contention,
and strife, and reproach against God. We were all children of wrath.
Born that way. Even all God's elect. How were
they born? Well, they were born with contention,
and strife, and reproach against God. That's the problem. Well, Adam, having done exactly
what God told him not to do, Adam and Eve, now his wife, have
got one desire. We're going to hide ourselves
against God. They're ashamed of their nakedness
and they possess now a mind that's affected by sin. A carnal, now
they have a carnal. Now here's what the scripture
says concerning the carnal mind. To be carnally minded. What does that mean? To be carnally
minded? Well, here's what it means. A
mind that follows the inclination of a fallen nature. The flesh. It's a mind that follows after
its own desires. I'll not have this man rule over
me. What is that? That's contention. That's contention, and strife,
and reproach, and resentment, and hatred. To be carnally minded is death. That is death. It's the mind that is enmity
against God. What does that mean? It's hostile.
It opposes God. It opposes what God says, what
God purposes, what God wills. No, no, that's what a carnal
mind says. No, no, no, no, I'm not going to do that. No. I can handle my own destiny.
Well, if the Lord leads you to yourself, yeah, you sure will.
You'll get exactly what you want. Lord, don't give me my old carnal
mind. with which I was born, with contention,
strife, reproach against you. It's not subject, it's not in
subjection to the Word of God, the will of God, the Gospel of
God, the Christ of God, neither indeed can be. What does that
mean? It means it can't. That's what
it means. No man can come. except the Father
which has sent me drawing. No man can do that. So then they
that are in the flesh, those that possess that carnal mind,
they cannot please God. That's what Scripture. They cannot
please God. It doesn't matter what you think.
You can't. You just cannot do it. You can't think, say, or
do anything that pleases God. They possess a mind, a will,
and a heart that makes a mouth at and scoffs at God. It doesn't fear the Lord, doesn't
reverence the Lord. The Lord before whom every man,
every woman is going to stand and give account. Scorns all
the admonitions from the Word of God. I just read a precious
passage of Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 5. You know why
I asked, Lord help me. to bow to that. I want to, I
want to. So here's the problem. Since the carnal mind, since
the problem is the carnal mind, and the carnal mind, now listen
to me, the carnal mind is the scorner. That is the scorner. We just manifest We just manifest
what we are by nature. A cat acts like a cat because
it's a cat. A scorner acts like a scorner
because he's got a heart that's a scorner. So since we know that
the scorner, the problem, the carnal mind, That is the scorner. That's where all, as a man, thinketh
in his heart. That's what he is. That's what
he is. He's a scorner. So if man, if man can cast out
the scorner, if he can do that, then he's got some hope in himself. But without me, the Lord said,
it's impossible. With man, it's impossible. How can I remove my old nature? I can't do that. How do I do
that? I can't do that. How do I remove? You know, you
think this heart, well that beating thing that's located right here,
you can pull that out. You didn't do anything for your
nature. You just died. in your nature. You didn't remove
it. God's got to do something that
I can't even figure out what He's doing. How do you remove
a stony heart, a nature, and impart a new man? That's a miracle
of God's grace. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Or the leopard, his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. That's
what the Lord said. Man's problem is he's in spiritual bondage. I mean, we can't do anything
about it. Proverbs 5, 21, 22, For the ways
of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and he pondereth all
his goings. His own iniquities shall take
the wicked himself, and he shall be holding with the cords of
his sins. We're bound. So what must be done for a sinner
to have peace with God. Well, here it is. Cast out the
scorner, and contention shall go out, yea, strife and reproach
shall cease. When the Spirit of God comes
to an object of God's mercy, to gather him in regenerating
grace out of the state of sins, bondage, unbelief, That sinner,
that object of God's mercy, who is the scorner against God because
he's got a carnal heart, that one that God's everlastingly
loved and chosen in Christ, for whom Christ died and put away
the guilt of his sin by his own shed blood, the Spirit of God
does that which man could not do. What does he do? He casts
out the scorner. He removes that carnal, stony
heart of rebellion, though the presence, as I keep saying this
all the time, the presence of sin is still there. But I tell
you this, that old stony heart that hates God's not there. There's
a new heart there that loves God. And it still wars against
the presence of sin, but that heart of resentment and rebellion
against God does not have dominion over God's people anymore. There's a new heart imparted,
a heart of flesh. The only way we know that is
because God told us there was. We believe it. And that clean
water of Christ's blood is mysteriously, miraculously applied. That former
rebel against God is now made new in regenerating grace. God imparts, gives Spirit, and
the fruit of that blessed Spirit, the Holy Spirit, now there's
love. Now there's love for God, Love
for His people, love for His word, love for His gospel. His
agreement with God. No contention now. God's people
are not in contention with God. There's no strife against them. They love that new man. They hate, they loathe that old
man that's still there. You know that. Oh, wretched man! Who will deliver me, Paul says,
from the body of this death? sinner that possessed nothing
but a scornful heart, does something that he never desired to do.
He comes to Christ. He comes by faith. He casts himself
upon the mercy of God because the Lord has given him a desire,
made him willing. In the day of God's power, calls
out for mercy like old blind Bartimaeus. And the Lord hears. God has given him new eyes, new
ears to see, eyes to hear. You know what I'm talking about.
Eyes to see and ears to hear. And he's robed in the righteousness
of Christ, and now contention, quarreling and discord previously
existed in that stony heart of unbelief is cast out. And strife and reproach, shame
ceases. And all of a sudden, just like
old Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, letters of authority. The Lord stopped him, rested
him, revealed Himself to him. Saul of Tarsus said, Lord, what
would you have me to do? Before he was going to go take
the Lord's people, he was resisting the Lord. He said, you're persecuting
me. Now no more contention. Against
God, against God's people. Yeah, there's still that flesh,
as I said, that lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against
the flesh. Why? Because they're contrary, one
to another. But there's reconciliation. Peace
has been established before God. Paul said in Romans 5, 10, for
if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Oh, the blessed state of having
the scorner and cast out from His place of dominion, contention. And all that Almighty God's been
pleased to regenerate and reveal Himself to and saves Him by His
grace and has shown Him mercy and compassion, the Scripture
says in you that were sometime alienated. And enemies in your
mind by wicked works Yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight. Now here's what the scripture
says about salvation being of the Lord. Cast out the scorner and contention
shall go out. Yea, strife and reproach shall
cease. That's how God saves a sinner.
Saves him. Throws that old contentious heart
out. Gives him a new one. Reveals
himself to him. They just love to hear that story
over and over and over again. I pray God bless that to our
hearts for Christ's sake. All right, dear.