Proverbs 18 6 a fool's lips enter
into contention and his mouth calleth for strokes Or for violence for Strife here's another example
here in the Proverbs of something that's true in everyday life
and But it's especially true in spiritual things. It's taught all through the scripture. And there's always opportunity
for contention. If you're looking for a fight,
you're going to find it. It's not going to be hard to
do. There's always contention. Notice the way that this verse
is worded. A fool's lips enter into it. He ain't even got to look for
it. He just participates in it. It's always there. There's always
grounds for a fight. Some of you are on Facebook and
a lot of people hate Facebook. I just feel like they're not
using it right. I just keep in touch with my friends and I don't,
I can scroll past some nonsense faster than you can bat an eye.
And I enjoy it. I enjoy keeping in touch with
my, some of my friends that still live in Texas and family and,
and, uh, keeping in touch with y'all, seeing, seeing some pictures
and things like that. People in other churches. But
there's a joke that you've probably seen on there, it says, to prove
that people will argue about anything, here's a rock. Have
you ever seen that? And of course people, you know,
say, well that looks like a stone to me, and stuff like that, and
it's just a joke. But if you've ever been on Facebook,
even for a little while, you realize how many fools there
are out there. Based on our verse, fools. always
Stirring up Wrath and Contention it's a good indicator of having
here out there a wise man just doesn't enter into it He sees
it. He sees reason for it But he
just doesn't get in on it It's always there It's just a question
of whether you want in on it or not. I And a wise man does
not think, God, I'm a fool, but by the grace of God, I don't
want any of this. Not anymore, anyway. I used to
love a good fight in every way. But even if you're right, this
is important now, even if you're right, arguing is not right. Does that make sense? You can
be right and be wrong if you're gonna argue about it. Listen
to Proverbs 13, 10. Only by pride cometh contention. You notice the key word, I'm
sure there. Only by pride. The only way you're
gonna fight with somebody contend with somebody, strive with somebody,
argue, debate, whatever you want to call it, is if you're proud. That's the only way it happens.
Only by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised is
wisdom. In spiritual matters, it's forbidden
to contend. I'm not sure that's sunk in on
everybody just yet in the church. Because it's still a lot of people's
favorite thing to do. So-called preachers, for year
after year, I've known a lot of preachers in my life, ones
that preach the gospel and ones that don't preach the gospel. but often a person's entire ministry
is based on contention. Everything they say is one big
argument. That's not feeding the sheep.
It's real tough to tell good news that way. Pride is inexcusable and it leads
to all manner of sin, this being one of the most insidious. If
you think you're doing good by confronting somebody, think again. Proverbs 17, 14, listen to this,
the beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water. In other words, you prime the
pump and then it just, it's KD by the door. Therefore leave
off contention Before it be meddled with The scriptures are real
clear about this Don't even meddle in it. Don't even get your two
cents work And I'm mad about that. I know It's our nature
to do that anybody can fall into contention with someone and but it's the fool who is prone
to it who is characterized by that and that's all of us by
nature now we know that it's just our natural our natural
instinct if somebody crosses us or if we see something somebody
said that's stupid even if it's just our opinion that it's stupid well we want to we want to put
our two cents in on it and get into it with them Every one of us by nature now Thankfully by the grace of God
in the worship In God's church Right here in the worship of
God a fool Tends to stand out They tend to stand out and I'll
tell you why because God has taught his people otherwise and
And he puts down our foolishness to a great extent. So if somebody's
always looking for something, you know, some kind of a fight
to pick with somebody, it kind of stands out in the church.
The Lord will reveal that. And so, because they do, we have
this divine advice. And when God gives advice, it's
a command, isn't it? Listen to this divine advice
concerning that Proverbs 22 10 cast out the scorer You know
what a scorer is if somebody's always You can call a pessimist. That's a It's not my favorite
term for it, but just some man. It's always down on everybody
about everything it seems like I hate to say stuff like this
because you're going to be thinking, you know, we've had them right
here and we've had them right here. You're afraid to even come
up to them because you know it ain't going to be good. Cast out the scorner and contention
shall go out. That's a good thing. Let me start over. Proverbs 22,
10. What a beautiful thing that is. Oh boy. And thankfully, typically,
and this has happened here too, Typically, they stand out so
starkly in the worship that they end up just leaving on their
own because they've got nobody to argue with. The people of
God just aren't going to live like that. I believe that with
all my heart, that God, His Spirit dwelling in us will not abide
drama, strife all the time. And so they just stand out so
starkly that usually they're forced on their own to just drift
away, and that's great. Wonderful thing. Strife and reproach
shall cease. Thank God for that. Contentions
in matters of doctrine are very common. And usually it's because
of personal issues. A man will sit and say amen for
20 years and then he gets some petty grievance against the preacher
and all of a sudden the preacher's not preaching the gospel. Nonsense. Contentions and matters of doctrine
are common, and they're to be dealt with harshly. Listen to
Titus 3.9. But avoid foolish questions. I should have you turn to these.
Let's do that, and even if we go a little bit later, I'll make
up for it later. Titus 3.9. I feel like this is
very important now, because anything that Disrupts the worship We need to understand what it
is and what God says about it By God's grace now we have the
words of eternal life Matters of life and death are at stake
in the worship when Christ is preached That's why we have these warnings
and these exhortations. Titus 3, 9, but avoid foolish
questions and genealogies and contentions. Now foolish questions,
we could sit here and talk about this passage right here all morning. Foolish questions, just, you know, did God When he elected
his people, did he consider them sinners? Or did he just pick
a group of people before considering them as sinners? You're saying,
well, then you might not even think about that. Oh, they do.
They do. Foolish question. Who cares?
Who cares? If you're an infralapsarianist,
or whatever you want to call yourself, or a superlapsarianist,
or any of that, if you are any of that, I say to you this morning,
and I hope everybody listens to this, who cares? You're asking foolish questions,
things that aren't revealed in the word of God, and you can
argue until you're blue in the face. about it and it won't amount
to anything. It means nothing. It's not the
gospel. Genealogies. There again. Trying to find some secret thing
in the scripture that, oh wow, you know, nobody ever saw that
before, you know, I'm gonna find it. Or trusting in your genealogy. You know, Paul said, I'm a Hebrew
of the Hebrews. I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
That meant something to him at one time. And then when he met
Christ, that was done. And contentions, contentions,
that's pretty broad, isn't it? Contentions about what? It doesn't
matter. Avoid contentions. Avoid them. Avoid them. And strivings about the law,
you know, that's very common too. Well, I know that it's grace,
but you know, we got to do this and that or the other or this.
They are unprofitable and vain. It's vain. A man that is an heretic
And in other words, if it gets to the point where, you know,
it's just not Christ and it's persistently that way, after
the first and second admonition, reject. And notice that there's a little
bit of specificity in that passage, but it also just says, and contentions. But I'm right, it doesn't matter. It doesn't say unless you're
right. But they're lying. There's a
right way to handle that. And this ain't it. Contending
over is not it. Arguing about it is not it. But
I'm just trying to correct them. No, you're not. No, you're not. You're trying
to say I know more than you. Your unkind spirit gives you
away. Nothing else explains your pride. I see the look in their eye,
don't you? Nothing else explains that pride and that bitterness. Except you're not trying to help
anybody You're not trying to teach you're trying to say I
know more than you do and you're going to hell I'm just trying to correct. Well,
the scriptures are profitable for correction. You're not I Neither am I. So I'll use the
scriptures to rebuke people then. You'll answer to God for that.
That's not... That's not how scriptures are
to be preached and taught and used. Well, then it's the preacher's
job to condemn and rebuke and argue doctrine from the pulpit.
No. Listen to 2 Timothy. Turn to
2 Timothy 2 with me, please. Absolutely not. Not the preacher,
not any of you, not anybody. 2 Timothy 2 But foolish, and now this is
Paul speaking to Timothy. Sometimes it's important who's
being spoken to, what they're being spoken to about, the context
of it. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid knowing that they do gender strike. Before you ever get into
the argument, you know it's not gonna be profitable. You know
before it ever starts, it's gonna be destructive. knowing that
they do gender strifes and the servant of the Lord must not
strive. Could that be any clearer? But be gentle. There's a negative
and a positive. You must not strive. How are
you going to strive and do this too? Can't be done. They're opposites. Here's the opposite of striving.
Be gentle unto all. Act to teach, not to prove wrong. Patient. Have you ever heard anybody argue
in a point of doctrine that was patient and long-suffering and
meek about it? I haven't, and I've been in on
a lot of it. including myself now. I've never
done it that way because you don't, you can't strive and be
gentle at the same time. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. If God perventure will give them
repentance, that might be one of his sheep you're talking to.
Before you consign them to hell, consider that. If God permits you, here's our
desire not to prove somebody wrong, maybe God will give them repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. Even if you're telling them the
truth, you must not strive. Is that clear? Not only do not engage in it
from the pulpit, Paul talking to a young preacher here, a servant
of God. He's talking about somebody that
speaks for God. Not only don't engage in it from
the pulpit yourself, but forbid others from engaging in it from
the pulpit. Not them engaging in it from
the pulpit, but from the pulpit, forbid them to do it. Listen
to the rest of that. Listen to 2 Timothy 2.14. This
is actually before that other part that we just read. But look. 2 Timothy 2.14, of these things
put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they
strive not about words. It's a no profit. If your doctrine
hinges upon the meaning of one word, and I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, I know several in my limited scope of acquaintance, that their
whole system of theology hinges upon the meaning of one word. This book screams the gospel
on every page. You don't have to figure out
what and means in order to know what God said. If he reveals Christ to you,
you can't miss it. It's Christ from the beginning,
all through the middle, and at the end. Strives about words, to no profit,
but to the subverting of the ears. It's not just useless,
it's damaging. And listen, people quote this
verse a lot in the next verse. But they don't quote it in the
context of verse 14. Study to show thyself approved
unto God. A workman that's approved unto
God that doesn't need to be ashamed, that rightly divides the word
of truth, preaches what screams from every page of this book.
They don't cross teeth and dot eyes and figure out, you know,
assume that things mean this and this word, you know, if it
wasn't for that word, now I might preach a whole other message.
But there it is. There it is. Rightly dividing the word of
truth. Not rightly dividing words, but
the word of truth. There's one truth, and it's Christ. But Chris, a preacher has to
be ready to argue, sometimes argue doctrine in case somebody's
a heretic. Nope. Second Timothy 2.16. But shun profane and vain babblings. This is still Paul talking to
Timothy. For they will increase unto more
ungodliness. It's ungodly. God declares the truth. He don't argue about it. Those who speak for him do the
same. So what happens when somebody
starts saying things that just aren't true, that are heresy?
You shun them. You don't argue with them. You
keep doing what God sent us to do. You preach the gospel and
you shun them like the plague. For they will increase into more
ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker. Of whom? Should I name some names for
you this morning? I guess I won't. Paul did. of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus. This is too important to be nice
about it. We're gentle with those that
don't maybe understand something. We're apt to teach, not to demean. But those that do that, that
do demean, and are just flat mean. Scripture's pretty harsh, aren't
they? Isn't it? About them. The Lord
said, don't even bid them Godspeed. Don't even wish them well. We
don't wish them well. Not in that endeavor. If the
Lord can save anybody, it will rejoice. But you see the seriousness
of this. Of whom is Hamanaeus and Philetus,
who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection
is past already. That was in that day. These days it may be other things. and overthrow the faith of some.
That's how serious it is. That's why they have to be dealt
with harshly in that instance, in that matter. And this is a good and vital
warning to us, even if that's not an issue right at the moment. It's a vital warning to us and
to all who name the name of Christ. The word canker there in that
passage in 2 Timothy 2 is gangrene. There's a reason why if you develop
gangrene in part of your body, they immediately amputate. There's
a reason for that. Because it spreads. It's deadly. It's serious. That's what we're to do in spiritual
matters as well. Paul said, those that would hinder
you, I would that they were even cut off. It's never easy to amputate.
It's never pleasant, but it's necessary. And may God Here's
the remedy to all of that. May God keep us right here. You
know where here is? Christ is enough. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my doctrine. Not something that I deduced
and wrote down in a book somewhere on a plaque on the wall. I always point to a wall when
I talk about that because I've seen it on that wall right there.
When we moved into this building, some of y'all saw it too. It
was pretty sound, wasn't it? Yeah, but I went to one of their
services one time, and that wasn't sound. Our hope is not doctrine. It's
not doctrinal points. It's Christ, it's a person. So
may God keep us right there. Hey, bless you all.