Proverbs 16, 28, a froward man
soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends. Now it's always good to sort
of define a couple of words. A froward is not a word that
we use every day in conversation, so we need to understand what
that is. What's what's meant by a whisperer
here and things like that? Let's just establish what what
it is. It's being said The word forward it means perverse That's
the word we're more familiar with but we don't use it the
way the scripture uses it really The perverse means to turn to
overthrow to change To turn this way or that The scripture uses
the word unstable in the New Testament, and that is a good
definition of perverse, unstable, to change, to turn, to switch,
to twist, to turn this way or that. And we understand now what
that's talking about. We know people like that. We
see that in ourselves. in our flesh. A perverse person
is one who turns things around, who changes things, who twists
the meaning of things and is themself changeable, not steadfast, not
reliable. Listen to this passage in there
turn over there with me if you would Galatians 1 6 let's look
at these passages together in Galatians 1 6 Here is the Greek version of
the word or Or this word has the same meaning as the Hebrew
Galatians 1 6 Paul writing to the church at
Galatia said I marvel that you are so soon removed from him
That called you into the grace of Christ Unto another gospel
you see already the concept of perversion in this you've changed
you've moved you've turned from the true gospel to another gospel,
which is not another and He said there in verse seven,
it's not another gospel. It's just, in your mind, it's
the gospel, but it's not the gospel, it's not Christ. Which
is not another, but there be some that trouble you and would
pervert the gospel of Christ. That's pretty much the same meaning
as the word in the Hebrew, in our text. Would pervert the gospel,
would change it, would twist it. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. The gospel is of a
nature that there is no change in it. There's no such thing
as the contemporary gospel that people talk about. There's no
such thing, there's the gospel. It's always been the gospel and
it'll always be the gospel. It never changes. There's no
variableness in God, and there's no variableness in what he says.
So this perversion of the gospel of Christ is anything besides
the gospel. Any other gospel. He didn't sit
there and name all the false denominations. Anything else
but Christ. That's all you need to know about
it. Then what we've preached unto you, let him be accursed.
May God throw him in hell where he can do no more harm. That's
what Paul's saying here. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men or God? Do I seek to please men? For
if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
I wish I had more time to talk about verse 10 there because
that's something I've never really seen the way I believe the Lord
has shown it to me now. Do I persuade men or do I persuade
God? Am I trying to get man to do
something for God? Or is my hope and prayer and
all of my effort put toward trying to persuade God to do something
for you? That's the question. Religious false preachers and
those who listen to them pervert the scriptures because they don't
like the God of the scriptures. It's that simple. This book reveals
a person, reveals God Almighty, who he is and what he's done
for sinners. And religion doesn't like that.
People don't like that. They don't like the God of the
Bible. So they change him into a false god of their own liking
by perverting the word of God, by changing it, twisting it.
The word in our text Also now it's describing people that pervert
things But they themselves are perverted Think about this and
again, it's not the way we typically use the word perverted But listen
They're unstable they themselves are changing they like to change
things and that should never be changed, but they themselves
are always changing too. Not in their nature, the nature
of man never changes. But it is nature's, it is man's
nature to twist, to be unstable, to be like the troubled sea,
the wicked are like the troubled sea. Never at rest, always casting
up mire. That's our nature, and that don't
change. But listen, this word unstable,
turn with me to 2 Peter 3, verse 13. And let's look at the use of
this, because this is exactly what our text is talking about.
And think about this now. It would be so easy, and I've
heard religion do this. They found this, this passage,
this verse that's our text this morning, and they're like, this
is about what you need to be, you need to do, you don't need
to be unstable, you need to be steady, you need to be, no, it's
about Christ. What's being changed and perverted
and twisted and they're unstable about is the gospel. It's Christ. What this verse is doing is fixing
our hearts on Christ. Don't stray from him. Don't change
anything. If you add anything or take anything
away, God said, all the curses in this book are on your head. That's what it's talking about,
the gospel. So look at 2 Peter 3.13. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found
of him in peace without spot and blameless and account that
the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. even as our beloved
brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath
written unto you as also in all his epistles speaking in them
of these things in which are some things hard to be understood
which they that are unlearned and unstable in other words their
heart their mind is not fixed on Christ. You see him talking
about the gospel there. It's the gospel. It's looking
for new heavens and a new earth. It's looking for the salvation
that's in Christ alone. Some people that are unstable,
what do they do? They destabilize the scripture. Look at the word rest there.
Those which are unlearned and unstable, and that word unstable
means unfixed, vacillating. Vacillate, to vacillate means
to turn to one side or the other or to flip-flop. To always be moved about with every wind of
doctrine, instead of standing on the solid rock. And what they do, they're perverse,
they're changing, they're twisting, they're unstable, but they pervert
as well. They rest. That word means to
twist, to turn, to pervert. So what they are by nature, they
do as well. concerning the word of God, as
they do also the other scriptures. All the scriptures, what Paul
wrote in all the scriptures, they rest them, they pervert
them, they change them, they twist them to mean something
that they like, rather than the truth, which they don't like.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before,
beware, seeing you know that that's our nature. You know that
we're guilty of that. You know that this flesh is that
way. It's unstable. Beware lest you also being led
away. Away, away with the error of
the wicked. Fall from your own steadfastness.
What's the opposite of that? Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of what? Of who? That's what you're being perverted
away from. That's what you're turning away
from. You're turning to one side or
the other from what? Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Him be glory both now and forever
You see that so they themselves are perverted unstable changing
twisting turning like the troubled sea and They pervert they twist
they change That which is unchanging and
vitally so This is the anchor for our soul rocky This can't
change. This is the Northern Star. If
the Northern Star moves, then we can't ever get anywhere. That's
what we track by. That's what we depend on. This
is the only thing in this wretched world where you don't know who
to believe or what to believe, and probably your best bet is
not to believe anybody, or anything you hear except the
gospel. If this is unreliable, if this
can be twisted by somebody to where our eyes are taken off
of Christ, then what do we have? What solid ground do we have?
This is vitally stable and reliable and unchanging. That which we
most need as the very anchor for our soul, the word of God,
they turn it into whatever they want to hear and what other people
want to hear that don't love God. Unlearned and unstable. Many, many are deceived thereby
because the flesh loves it. And it says in our text, they
sow strife. That word is contention, discord. What is it that bonds brethren
together in unity? What's the opposite of strife?
Unity. What's the opposite of discord?
Fellowship, unity. What is it that bonds us together?
Ephesians 4, three, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit
in the bond of peace. What did he say next? There's
one body. There's one church, the body
of Christ, and one spirit. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, the gospel. We all have the same hope, the
gospel of Christ. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. That's our bond. He is a person. It's the simplicity, the singleness,
the all-inclusiveness that's in Christ that makes us one. Any perversion, any adding or
taking away, any vacillation, any instability that the flesh
would bring in causes division, strife, and discord. And these who sow strife by their
perversion and perverting know, they know that what they're doing
is not gonna hold up to the light of day. They know it won't be widely
received, at least at first. They know that it's sneaky. They
know that it's dishonest. They know that it's shameful.
So what does our text say? They whisper it. Anything you
have to whisper, probably should never be said. Maybe it's questioning what the
preacher said. I've seen that happen quite a
bit in my lifetime. When I say quite a bit, I'm talking
about four or five times, maybe seven or eight times. And it's
always a personal problem that turns into a doctrinal problem
because they're wanting to find something wrong. It's not that
they just find something wrong, they're wanting to. If you want
to, you'll find it. You'll find it every time. Every
time it's been that, it's personal. Maybe it's that, maybe it's being
a busy body and other men's matters. We're so prone to that, y'all.
Come on now, come on. If it's none of your stinking
business, then don't make it your business. I'm talking to myself and I'm
talking to every last one of you. This is vital now, this is vital. It's separated chief friends,
it destroys one of the most precious things that God has given us. Do you understand what a friend
is? Do we have any idea how precious
that is? I think about my friends and
how few I have. I've got a handful of friends
in this world. And what a precious gift from
God that is. And I'm not talking about, I'm
talking about friendship, that this world has no idea about. I'm talking about something that
cannot exist outside of Christ. It cannot. It's so precious. Whispering, sticking our stupid
nose into things. that are none of our business.
Maybe it's telling a tale on somebody. It may be true. But why in the world would you
tell somebody about it? I'll tell you why. It's to satisfy
our self-righteous hunger for attention. In our texts, it's just called
a whisper. It can be a lot of different
things, a whisper. But why do you think it's being
whispered? I'll tell you why, because it's
shameful, and they know it. They know it. They may not be
conscious of it at the time, but deep down, they know it.
Now, this doesn't literally mean that it has to be said in an
actual whisper. It doesn't have to be said like
this. Talking behind somebody's back, it don't matter how loud
you're talking, it's a whisper. The result is devastating chief
friends Lifelong friends are separated What a disaster And does that ring a bell by
the way The separation of friends that ring any bells listen to
Proverbs 6 16 These six things doth the Lord
hate and The A7 are an abomination unto
him. A proud look, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood. You think about the association
of these things, murder or somebody that would kill somebody that's
innocent. Proud look. You think of the
images that we see of the, Blatant pride of the most disgusting
human beings Most disgusting displays of human nature are
done so with a proud look A heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations feet that are swift and running to mischief a false
witness that speaketh lies and he that soweth discord among
brethren "'My son, keep thy father's commandment,
"'and forsake not the law of thy mother, "'bind them continually
upon thine heart, "'and tie them about thy neck. "'When thou goest,"
listen to this now, I wanted to read down a little further,
because I wanted to see this right here. When you go, when
you go on your way, when you go about your day, it'll lead
you, the truth. The truth, he's talking about
the law, the law. The commandment, that's not the
10 commandments, that's the word of God. Bind them continually upon thine
heart and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall
lead thee. When thou sleepest, it'll keep
you. And when you wake up, it'll talk
with you. Let me close with this. This
is a very important verse of scripture now that our text this
morning. It's not because we need to please
God by what we do. It's not it's not about what
we need to do and not do, although that's very much involved in
this. It's about who Christ is and what he's worthy of. The Lord Jesus Christ pleased
God for us. He is our pleasing of God. And
because he did, and because he first loved us, we love him.
And we must honor him in this world, in the church and in the
world. If anybody's ever going to listen
to a word you say, if your own children are ever going to listen
to a word you say, and have any respect for you
at all, or me, If you're gonna be a witness for God's Son, a testimony for Christ, if you're
gonna worship Him like He's worthy to be worshiped, if you are to
not bring reproach upon Him and His ministry, you must hear this
well. And if the honor and glory of
God is a secondary matter to you, next to you going to heaven
when you die, then don't pay much attention
to this. But if that's your attitude,
you're not ever gonna see heaven, I'll tell you that. You're not ever gonna see him.
You don't even know what it is. You don't even know what heaven
is. If we take his glory to be a
secondary matter, what's really important is whether we go to
heaven or not. Mm-mm, nah. Bind these things, Solomon wrote,
bind them continually on your heart. Bind them on your heart. May it always be the concern
of your heart to glorify Him, to not be the thing that God
hates. We're we are not the thing that
God hates because of Christ But I want to act like it why
because of Christ When you go may it lead you May
the gospel lead you where you go. I What a beautiful verse
that is. I've never seen that like this
before. May it lead you, the glory of
the Lord being that which motivates you and satisfies you. When you
lay down to sleep, may this be the comfort of your heart, that
Christ is all. When you get up in the morning,
may the Lord talk with you from his holy word. That's the remedy to our flesh
right there. May the Lord have mercy on us.