welcome each one to our service
today, especially those who are visiting with us. Before we read the scripture,
I have three announcements I'd like to make. First of all, let's
remember Brother Brian McGee and his family. His mother passed
away this past week, this past Friday. Let's remember them in
prayer. And also, On the table here in
the front, there's a clipboard and there's some papers. If you
would like to give us some information, we want to make a new directory.
And if anything has changed, you had to change your birthday
or anything like that, a new address or a new addition to
your family, you might want to put that information down for
us and Mrs. Crumpler will get that made up
soon. And then tonight, remember, we
have the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of each month. Now
let's begin in Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1 and beginning
with verse 12. giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear
Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness
of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of every creature, For by him were all things created that
are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.
All things were created by him and for him. And he is before
all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. May the Lord bless his word to
each one of us here. Now let's worship the Lord together
in song, number 127. But before we sing, we'll have
prayer. If you will, bow your heads with me in prayer. Our Father, we give Thee thanks
today for another day of life. We thank Thee, Father, for the
health that allows us to come today. And we do think of those
that are part of our church family that are sick, and Father, others
who have sorrow in their lives at this time. Lord, we pray for
your special blessings upon each of them. And Father, for your
healing hand upon those that are physically sick, and we're
so thankful that some are able to be with us today who have
not been able to come for some time. And Lord, we're just thankful
and give you the praise and the glory and the honor. I do pray
that you will bless each one of us today. As we sing, Lord,
help us to worship Thee and praise Thee, to glorify Thy name. And as we study Thy word today,
I pray that You will teach us that God, the Holy Spirit, would
just so move upon me, giving me the thoughts and words that
I need, and Lord, giving all of us hearts to receive Thy word,
that we may learn of Thee. And Father, we may trust Thee
and follow Thee in all things. Again, forgive us of our sins.
And we do want to mention, Father, your people are suffering today
in Ukraine, over in that part of Europe. Lord, we know they're
going through great trials. And Lord, we just ask for your
special mercy for your people there, for your help, Lord. For all of these things today,
I ask in Christ's name and for his sake, amen. Now again, number
127. Man of Sorrows, number 127. Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Alleluia! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place content he stood, Silled my pardon with his blood. Alleluia! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless, we
Spotless Lamb of God was seen Full atonement, can it be? Alleluia! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, It is
finished was his cry. Now in heaven exalted high, Alleluia! What a Savior! Let's turn now to hymn number
424. There's a call comes ringing
o'er the restless way, send the light, send the light. There are souls to rescue, there
are souls to save, send the light, send the light, send the Send
the light, the blessed gospel light, let it shine from shore
to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel
light, let it shine forevermore. We have heard the Macedonian
call today, Send the light, send the light. And a golden offering
at the cross we lay, Send the light, send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel
light, let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the
blessed gospel light, let it shine forevermore. Let us pray that grace may everywhere
abound Send the light, send the light And a grace like spirit
everywhere be found Send the light, send the light Send the
light, send the light, the blessed gospel light. Let it shine from
shore to shore. Send the light, the blessed gospel
light. Let it shine forevermore. Let us not grow weary in the
work of love. Send the light, send the light. Let us gather jewels for a crown
above. Send the light, send the light,
send the light. Send the light, the blessed gospel
light, let it shine from shore to shore. Send the light, the
blessed gospel light, let it shine forevermore. My sheep know my voice and the
path that I take They follow wherever I go My sheep know my
voice, and come at my call, For strangers, for stray, do not
know. My sheep know my voice, and day
by day, they'll find me. And they grow not astray. They love me because I have made
them my choice. And they follow my call. O my sheep, know my voice. My sheep know my voice, and the
pastures of the plain, Where I lead them so often to feed. My sheep know my voice in the
cold sparkling stream, Where beside these still waters I lead. My sheep know my voice, and they,
by day, They'll bide in the cold and go not astray. They love me because I had men
in my choice. And they follow my call, for
my sheep know my voice. My sheep know my voice in the
valley of death, through which I shall lead them someday. But hope, no danger, no harm
can touch one of them, for I will be with them always. my sheep,
know my gold. And day by day, dividing the
gold and gold on a string, they love me because I had made my
drawers and they follow my call. I appreciate that. That's a beautiful
hymn, isn't it? If you will open your Bibles
with me today to the book of Proverbs once again, and this
time to chapter six. Proverbs chapter 6 and beginning
in verse 16 through verse 19. These six things doth the Lord
hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, and heart that deviseth
wicked imaginations. feet that be swift in running
to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that
soweth discord among brethren. I have three very simple truths,
very simple but very important truths that I'd like to say to
us this morning from this passage. These truths all concern God
and sin. First, God hates these seven
things, these abominations, these seven sins. A proud look is mentioned
first of all. That comes from pride. You know,
it appears that pride is the sin that turned one of God's
holy angels into Satan, the prince of darkness. In Ezekiel chapter
38, these words, and we believe they refer to Satan, in verse
15, thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created
till iniquity was found in thee. And what was that iniquity which
was found in him? Thine heart was lifted up because
of thy beauty." Pride. Beauty. Thy heart was lifted
up because of thy beauty. Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom
by reason of thy brightness. And God said to Satan, I will
cast thee down to the ground. We know, and that passage of
scripture speaks of him being in the Eden, being in the garden
of God, in Eden. So we believe that refers to
Satan, and it was pride that turned him, the sin that caused
him to become the power of darkness, the prince of darkness, rather,
who had been created holy and a holy spirit of God. a Holy Spirit, not the Holy Spirit
of God, but a Holy Spirit, an angel. And then when he came
in the garden and tempted Adam and Eve, you remember part of
that temptation was you shall be as gods. What is that? But tempting them to pride, you
shall be as gods. And James tells us that God resisted
the proud. but giveth grace to the humble.
These six things God hates. A proud look, he mentions first
of all. In our Lord's parable that we
quote quite often and refer to quite often, found in Luke chapter
18, our Lord told about two men who went up into the temple to
pray. One was a Pharisee and one was
a publican. And the Pharisee prayed, I thank
thee, O God, that I am not as other men, as this publican. What is that but pride? I thank
thee that I am not as others. So that's the first thing that
is mentioned here of these seven things that God hates. God hates
a proud look. Number two, God hates a lying
tongue. God is a God of truth. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
God, he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father, but by me. This lying tongue is one who
intentionally, now we may tell a lie unintentionally. We may tell something, believing
it to be the truth, and it not be the truth, but it's still
a lie. But this here, God hates a lying
tongue. This is someone who intentionally,
knowingly tells what he knows is not true. And in Psalm 58
in verse three, we read, the wicked are estranged from the
womb. They go astray as soon as they
be born, speaking lies. You know, that word estranged.
I think we most often hear that when a husband and wife separate
for some reason or the other, and one is called the estranged
wife. It means that peace, that harmony
that they one time had has been broken, estranged. And God says that babies, that
all of us go astray from the womb, or strains, rather, from
the womb go astray as soon as we be born, speaking lies. God hates a lying tom. Number three, God hates hands
that shed innocent blood. Of course, this is what we call
murder. One of the Ten Commandments is,
thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not murder. Now, when
a person is executed by the state, when a person has committed a
capital crime and the law punishes that crime by taking that person's
life, that is not murder. That is not murder. When a person
is executed at our penitentiary in Conroe, or in Huntsville rather,
you see people out there demonstrating against capital punishment and
whether we want that or not, they have that sign up, thou
shalt not murder, thou shalt not kill. That's not murder. God gives the authority, the
power to the civil rulers to execute justice and there are
some crimes which are deemed worthy of death. But this is
hands that shed innocent blood. Thou shalt not murder, thou shalt
not kill. And you know when the Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world and in his sermon on the mount, he
spoke about murder like this. He said, you have heard it said
of them of old time, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not murder.
In other words, you've heard them quote that Old Testament
commandment, thou shall not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall
be in danger of the judgment. But, now listen, but I say unto
you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger
of the judgment. God hates hands that shed innocent
blood. And the thought just occurred
to me, but what is more innocent than these babies that are being
aborted? God hates hands that shed innocent
blood. The fourth thing mentioned here,
God hates a heart that devises wicked imaginations. The thing
that God hates here, we see is in the middle. There's seven
of these things mentioned that God hates and this fourth one,
there's three before it and three after it. And this one is God
hates a heart that imagines wicked imaginations or that devises
wicked imaginations. It reminds us that out of the
heart, this is man's problem. It's not that which goes in to
the man that defiles the man, the Lord Jesus said. But it's
out of the heart these evil things come. We come into this world
and all of us come into this world and inherit a heart that
is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. No one escapes
that. We're all born with a heart like
that. And the prophet said, and who
can know it? Many times people say, well,
if I know my heart. Well, you don't. You don't. No one does except God. We have a heart that's desperately
wicked and deceitful above all things. And in the things concerning
God, the heart of man deceives him so, so much, so greatly. are men deceived by their hearts. The fifth thing that we read
here, God hates feet that are swift and running to mischief. I thought about how I might illustrate
this especially to you young people. God hates feet that are
swift and running to mischief. But in school you hear, there's
a fight. There's a fight in the hall over
here in front of this classroom. What happens immediately? Everybody
wants to run there, don't they? Everybody wants to run and see
the fight. Those are the kind of feet that
all of us are born with. God hates feet that are swift
and running to mischief. Matthew Henry said, The policy
and vigilance, the eagerness and industry of sinners in their
sinful pursuits may shame us who go about that which is good
so awkwardly and so coldly. That's the way we go about the
things that are good, so awkwardly and so coldly. But men are swift
afoot in running to mischief. Number six, God hates a false
witness. A false witness. I think of the
example we have in the Old Testament of a king by the name of Ahab.
And there was a man who had a vineyard close to his palace by the name
of Naboth. And Ahab wanted that vineyard
and he asked Naboth to sell him the vineyard. And the law prohibited
him from selling that vineyard. The land was God's land, the
land of Canaan. It was always God's land. He
owned the land. He gave it out to the people
of Israel, but they didn't have the right to sell it. Naboth
would not sell his vineyard to the king. So what does the king
do? He goes into the palace and he
turns his face toward the wall and begins to pout like a little
baby, like a little two-year-old. And he has a wicked wife by the
name of Jezebel. And she said, what in the world?
Aren't you the king? Aren't you the king of this old
country? And you're letting this man upset
you? cause you to have the pain and
sorrow that you're showing? I'll take care of this." And
remember how she took care of it. She sent a letter to the
authorities of that village or town where he lived, and she
said, get two men, two sons of Belial, in other words, two wicked
men, sons of the devil, and get them to bear false witness against
Naboth. And so they did. They held a
feast, and one of these men said, I heard this man blaspheme God.
He took God's name in vain. And the other man collaborated
that testimony, and with those two witnesses, Naboth was put
to death. God hates a false witness. And you cannot help but notice
that two of these seven things that are mentioned here that
God hates has to do with the tongue, has to do with lying. James tells us that the tongue
is a small member, small member in our bodies, and yet it's set
on fire of hell. Who can tame it? A man one time
said, God gave us two things to control our tongues. He gave
us our teeth to shut and our lips to shut before we speak. I heard this the other day. I
thought it was good. A man said one time, a politician,
he said, you know, we should come to a problem with an open
mind. But he said, most people come
to a problem with an open mouth. with an open mouth, a lying tongue,
bearing false witness. God hates. And the last thing
we read here that God hates, God hates he that sows discord
among brethren. God is a God of love and he's
a God of peace and he delights in harmony and concord among
brethren, tailbears, whispers, backbiters, those that sow discord. This is one of the things that
is mentioned here. So that's my first point. Very
simple. These seven things, these seven
sins, God hates. My second point is God hates
all sins. God hates all sin. It's not just these seven sins.
And I don't know where men came up with seven deadly sins. Not
these sins, but other sins that man has devised his own list,
you know, of seven deadly sins. All sin is deadly. The wages
of sin is death, the scripture says. God hates all sin, not
just these seven that are mentioned here in our passage this morning. It's all sin that God hates.
God is a God of absolute holiness, a God of absolute holiness. Even
the heavens are not pure in His eyes. He charges even His ministers
with folly, that is, angels with folly. I don't think any of us,
I speak for myself for sure, but I don't think any of us fully
appreciate and understand just what it means when we speak about
the holiness of God. The holiness of God. And sin
is an antagonist of God's holiness. The antithesis of God's holiness
is sin. He hates all sin. The prophet
Habakkuk, he declared this about God. Thou, thou God, art of purer
eyes than to behold iniquity, behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity. I have seven things I wrote down
here that I want to bring to us about sin, seven things about
sin. Because I feel like sometimes
people go, maybe come to church and they hear about Christ being
a savior and saving from sin. But what are we talking about?
What are we talking about when we talk about sin? Well, I have
seven things here I want to mention. Sin is, number one, sin is coming
short of the glory of God. coming short of the glory of
God. When God created Adam and Eve,
he created them to glorify himself, glorify their creator. How could
they glorify him? By their obedience, by their
love, by their praise, especially by
their obedience. And they did. When they came
from the hands of God, Adam and Eve, they did glorify God. But
for how long? None of us know. But what we
do know is just as soon as Adam disobeyed God, they fell short
of the glory of God. They came short. They missed
the mark of the glory of God. Sin is, number one, coming short
of the glory of God. When Adam was created, he was
created in the image of God. As I said, he could and did glorify
God until he disobeyed God. But you and I, we do not come
into this world like that. We do not come into this world
as Adam was created, but we come into this world in the image
of Adam. Not holy Adam, but fallen Adam. Adam had a son in his own image,
the scripture says. Sin is coming short of the glory
of God. God created man for His glory. But because of sin, my sin, your
sin, we come short. We miss the mark. We do not glorify
God as He had created us to do. Number two, sin is the transgression
of the law. Now this is usually the definition
that is given Sin is the transgression of the law according to 1st John
chapter 3 in verse 4. When you step over the line,
you transgress the law. And what is that law? It's the
law of God. It's the law that tells us, thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, Our Lord said,
this is the first commandment. This is the law. Sin is a transgression
of the law. We do not love God with all our
heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our
strength. And the second, he said, is like
unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. What is
sin? Sin is the transgression of the
law. The law to love God perfectly
and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What is sin? Sin is the thought
of foolishness. Look here, turn over a few pages
here in Proverbs chapter 24. What is sin? It is coming short
of the glory of God. It is transgressing the law of
God. And here in chapter 24 in verse
9 we read, it is the thought of foolishness. You see that
in verse 9? The thought of foolishness is
sin. Now what does that mean? It means
the foolish thoughts that we have about God. You know, there's
two Psalms, Psalm 14 is one of them, which begin, the fool has
said in his heart, and then there's two words in italics, there is, and then there's two
words in the scripture, no God. The fool has said in his heart,
no God, no God for me. No God for me. Other people may need a God. Other people may be weak and
need a crutch, and religion is a crutch for them. But no God
for me. What is sin? Sin is the thought
of foolishness. Foolish thoughts about God. That God is such a God of love
and such a God of compassion that He would never punish anyone. That hell, that's just some boogeyman
that preachers have made up in the Middle Ages, you know, in
the Dark Ages to scare people. No, the doctrine of hell, the
doctrine of punishment comes from the lips of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one that said concerning
that one man, in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. The Lord Jesus said that. The thought of foolishness is
sin. Foolish thoughts about God, that
God can somehow overlook sin. And that's a thought I think
most everyone has. Because we can. As parents, we've
done that a hundred times. We tell our children, don't do
that. Don't do that. And sure enough, they do it.
And we overlook it. And we can do that. Why? Because
they're fallen, and so are we. God is absolutely holy. You cannot overlook sin. To do
so would be to ungod God. No. Sin is the thought of foolishness. How foolish is the thought that
God can overlook sin when you look at the cross? If people
will just look at the cross. and see there the darling son
of God hanging there upon that tree, bearing the sins of his
people. Did God overlook it? No, no. No. His son suffered and died
in the stead of his people. Why? Because he was bearing the
sins of his people. Sin is the thought of foolishness. Number four, sin is against God. All sin is against God. Now,
this is what David said in that Psalm 51. He had sinned against
Bathsheba. He was repenting for his sin
of adultery, his sin of murder. The husband of Bathsheba he had
killed. But yet he confesses against
thee, thee only have I sinned, O God. All sin ultimately is
against God. Sometimes we see on the news,
you know, someone has been wrong. Maybe a family member has been
murdered even, and the family says, well, I'm forgiving that
person. Well, you may forgive that person, but that doesn't
mean that person is forgiven before God. Not if they've committed
murder. You don't have the right. All
sin is committed against God. Number five, sin is a debt. It's
a debt. And we know this because in Matthew's
gospel and in Luke's gospel, we have the model prayer, the
prayer that our Lord taught his disciples to pray. And in Matthew's
gospel, I believe it is, forgive us our debt. But in Luke's gospel, it is forgive
us our sins. Sin, what is sin? Sin is a debt. That's one reason I like that
little chorus we sing sometimes. We sang it down at the meeting
last week. Sin is a debt. I owed a debt that I could not
pay. He paid a debt he did not owe.
Sin is a debt. It's a great debt. I've seen
I've read, brother, I've read passages of Scripture, passages
where men have tried to compute the number of sins that we might
be guilty of. You just take five a day, multiply
that by 365 days and that by a decade and go on, my friends.
How many sins are we guilty? What a great debt do all of us
owe. Our sin is a debt. And it's a
debt that none of us can pay. You say, well, I'm gonna start
right now, and I'm going to obey God perfectly for the rest of
my life. You can't do it, but if you could,
what about these in the past? What about those sins in the
past? What about that debt? Sin is a debt. Number six. Sin is that which
only God can forgive. Only God can forgive sin. Our
Lord told a man, a paralytic one day, thy sins be forgiven
thee. And there was some Pharisees,
some religious people there and they heard him and they thought
within their heart, well, who can forgive sin but God only? And they were right. And God knew, the Lord Jesus
knew what they were thinking, didn't He? And He asked them,
which is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or rise up
and walk? What's easier to say? It's easier
to say, thy sins be forgiven thee. I could tell you that today. I'm a preacher. I could have
on a robe. And I could tell you, your sins
are forgiven. Can you see if they are or not?
Can anyone else tell if they are or not? Of course not. But
if you are crippled, a person who cannot walk, and I tell you,
rise up and walk, you can see right quickly if I have that
power or not, can't you? If that man can't move a muscle,
you know I'm a fake. Our Lord said, what's easier
to say? It's easier to say your sins
be forgiven. But that thou mightest know that
the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, I say
unto thee, rise up and walk. And the man stood up and walked.
Only God can forgive sin. And the last thing, sin is that
which takes men to hell. Election doesn't take men to
hell. People like to throw that up against those of us who believe
the Bible teaching of God's sovereign election. Election doesn't send
men to hell. Sin is that which takes men to
hell. Men go to hell because of sin. Sin against God. The Lord Jesus
said, this is the condemnation that light has come into the
world and men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds are not evil. Because their deeds are evil.
That's why. You hear all kinds of stories
as you go through this life. This person, they don't believe
in God because they had a dad that was a tyrant and claimed
to be a Christian. This person doesn't believe in
God, doesn't trust Christ because they knew this deacon and ran
away with somebody's wife, all kinds of things. No, none of
that's true. All of that's just a pack of
lies. Men do not come to Christ because
they love evil, because their deeds are evil. They will not
come to the light. Now that's the truth, that's
what our Lord said. Here's this last thing I wanted
to say. God sent his son to save his
people from their sins. Turn with me to Matthew chapter
one. I'm ready for some good news,
aren't you? See, you've got to hear the bad
news, as Brother Richardson used to say, before you'll appreciate
the good news. The bad news. Sin. Sin. And we're all guilty of
it. Now, here comes the good news. Matthew chapter 1. Verse
18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his
mother Mary was his spouse to Joseph, before they came together,
she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her
husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public
example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought
on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto
him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to
take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in
her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus. You see that in your Bible,
each letter capitalized Jehovah Savior. Thou shalt call his name
Jehovah Savior, for he shall save his people from their sins. He's named Jesus, why? Because
he will save his people from their sins. The Apostle Paul
in 1 Timothy wrote, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. And I hope you've accepted this.
I hope you realize this is a worthy saying, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. And Paul went on to say, of whom
I am chief. The Lord Jesus has his people
that he came into this world to save from their sins. They
were given to him as his people by the Father, from before the
foundation of the world. And they're sinners like all
men, and he saves them from their sins. He doesn't save them so
that they should remain in their sins, but he saves them from
their sins. Now, how does he do this? Number
one, he became a man. He was born of the Virgin, the
eternal Son of God came into this world as a man. Number two,
he lived a holy, obedient life, obeyed that law that we have
all transgressed. And he suffered a death to pay
that debt that all of us owe. Number three, he has to wash
his people from their sins. To save us from our sins, he
has to wash our sins away. And there's only one thing that
cleanses from sin, and that is the blood of Jesus Christ, God's
dear Son. And thank God it cleanseth from
all sin. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that
flood, lose all their guilty stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day. And there may I, though vile
as he, wash all my sins away. There must be a fountain for
him to wash his people's sins away. And he is that fountain. And number four, he has to give
us a new heart. We come into this world with
a heart that loves sin. We love sin, as a hog loves mud. So man, by nature, loves sin. It's got to give us a new heart,
a heart that loves righteousness, a heart that loves God, a heart
that loves the gospel. Do you love the gospel? You love
to hear the gospel. Does it set the joy bells ringing
in your heart when you hear about Christ, about His person and
His work and how He's done that for sinners, undeserving sinners,
hell-bound sinners, unworthy sinners? He's done this for men
and women like you and me. Does that cause your heart to
leap within you, to rejoice? Has He given you a new heart
that loves God, loves the Word of God, the people of God, the
house of God? He's got to give you a new heart.
You must be born again. One day, the last thing I'd mention,
He's going to save His people from their sins. He's going to
take us home. He's going to take us to His
home. And sin does not go there. It does not exist there. He saves
his people from their sins. I pray that the Lord would bless
this message to all of us here today. I try to make it as simple
as I can. I know that only God can revealed
these things to us. And if He's revealed, you say,
well, you didn't tell me anything I didn't know. Aren't you glad?
Aren't you happy? Aren't you glad God's already
taught you these things? Aren't you? I hope so. Let's sing 125, Jesus paid it
all, all to Him I owe. Let's stand as we sing number
125. And don't forget the