Amen. Grab your Bibles and stand, please. Do I even need to tell you where we're going? Revelation 21, 27. Now, there's several ways to know. First of all, we've been there a long time. Secondly, it's in your bulletin on the back. And it's been there for a long time. Amen. Alright, this is verse number 27, and it's part number 28. And no, I have not preached 28 sermons in Revelation 21. I've preached 47. And so... Not kidding. When I get done, it'll be 49. I'm really tempted to find a way to preach one more sermon in this chapter, so that it can be an even 50. But we could probably just, what's that? Recap. Oh. I do that every week. Anyways. Alright. Verse number 27. It says, And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for your word. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to open it today. Lord, I just pray that as we look here at at this concept of abomination, Lord, that you would guide us, Lord, that, Lord, you'd empty me of self and fill me with your spirit, Lord, help me to communicate what you would have communicated today. Lord, I pray that each of us would be spirit-filled listeners and that we would apply what we learned. Meet with us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. All right. So there are many things. Today's message is on no entry, abomination. Now, I was going to change the message title. It was going to be Revelation 21, New Jerusalem 28, Abominable, no man and I just decided not to do that but I thought I'd say it anyways cuz it's fun and so not snowman no man no man that is abominable will be in the New Jerusalem what is this abomination or abominable mean by the way I I did look up the the abominable snowman and I forget what it said No, I kind of remember, but I forget the actual like what culture, what country, what language. But there was a translation error. And when they were talking about this Yeti or abominable, this snowman thing, it's like a bear or something, whatever. But anyhow, the legend was mistranslated and the translation was filthy snowman. or terrible snowman and it ended up evolving into abominable snowman and that was the idea. Right, well the word abominable is a word but that was the concept of abominable snowman came from that and anyhow so and you get to watch it on the little animated figure thing for Christmas every year with the other cartoon things that happen, right? with the Rudolph and all the other fictional things. So anyhow, so American culture, right? So there are many, many places in the Bible where this concept of abomination or abominable things Show up. We're not going to address all of those. I'm actually just going to go to one place And it's going to be what your memory verse is and that's our memory versus that's Proverbs 6 verses 16 through 19 and I have not I have not worked on trying to memorize this these verses so We're going to go to Proverbs 6. While you're going there, I'll explain abomination. Abomination is something that is filthy, something that is disgusting. And so when you talk about abomination, it is something that disgusts God. When God considers certain things, there are some things that disgust Him. And He calls those an abomination. Like I said, there are a lot of things that we could look at throughout the Word of God that the Bible says are an abomination. Some of them relating to how you dress. It's in the book of Leviticus. You can look it up. Look up abomination. See what it says. about the way that you dress in the book of Leviticus. It also deals with the area that is a very popular topic of today, sexual orientation. There is an aspect of that or a decision that you can make that is an abomination to the Lord. There's several things, you know, the activity of Israel was an abomination. We're not going to go to all those passages. We're going to go here to Proverbs 6, 16. And I'm going to read for you these verses 16 through 19, Proverbs 6, 16. And just so you know, there's seven points today. These six things doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination unto him. Just a side note here. Yes, God hates some things. There you go. Seven are an abomination unto him. A proud look, a lying tongue, 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. There you go. Seven points. They're all right there in the text. They're all right there in the text. So we'll deal with each one. I don't have flowery names or poetic words today. All I have is seven points and each point is actually what the verse says, what the text says. So, point number one, a proud look. A proud look. And let me kind of build up to this a little bit. So, not the proud look, but the abomination or the abominable thing. So, these seven things are things that God says are an abomination to Him. He specifically lists them out because they're important to see. That it disgusts God. Alright? In Revelation 21, verse 27, it says that, "...there shall in no wise enter into it," talking about the city, New Jerusalem, "...anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination." whatsoever worketh abomination now one thing I did want to point out in our original text before we get into this other was if you'll notice here the how do we put it the stripping of personalization in verse 27 notice here he doesn't say he that defile it he says anything that defile He doesn't say, He that worketh abomination. It says, whatsoever worketh abomination. He doesn't say, He that lies. He says, or maketh a lie. Isn't that interesting? It's like a stripping of personality or personification. There's a whole other message that could be preached. Maybe that's message 49 and then 50 is the other. But taking away that personage, your identity when you are born again is with Christ. When you reject Christ, and you're cast into the lake of fire, your identity doesn't exist anymore. And so when referred to in verse 27, it's kind of like referred to as an it. As just something that's not allowed here. Now that may seem uncaring, but it's reality. And it's your choice. It's not something that that God imposes on you or forces on you. It's your choice. You decide if you are going to be in the New Jerusalem or not. You decide if you're going to be with God for eternity. If you choose not to, you decide to disenfranchise yourself and de-identify yourself, remove your identity. Some would even go as far as to say that we become worms in hell. I don't know that I'd go that far. I'd say that there are worms. I think that the worms are described as eating you, not described as you being them. Although I know I've heard preachers say that you become a worm. Maybe. Maybe. Very interesting things to talk about there. But it does refer to those that are without or not in the New Jerusalem. Again, in verse 15 of 22, and it lists out dogs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters. and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie so understand that it's not a hundred percent this is my my theory on why it uses this type of verbiage here in in that stripping that or depersonalizing that concept because these are those excluded because they chose to be excluded because they were defiled because they decided to Work abomination. Working abomination here we'll look at. By the way, anything that is not according to the faith of Jesus Christ is an abomination. But we're going to get specific here. We're going to look at seven things. First thing is a proud look. A proud look. I'm going to read you a bunch of verses to try to save you a little bit of time on this, but you can write these down. Psalm 10 verse 4, it says, "...the wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts." This is a disgrace that the wicked will not seek after God. Again, that does not mean that he cannot. It means that he chooses not to. The wicked doesn't. And why? Why is that? Because of the pride of his countenance. The pride of his countenance there. Your countenance is your expression. But through the pride of his expression, he chooses he's not going to seek after God. It says here that God is not in all of his thoughts. Now, the condemnation of this verse is not that God is not in any of his thoughts. The condemnation of this verse is that God is not in all of his thoughts. Think about that for a minute. And think about whether or not we might also be guilty of that. At least that part of that verse, not the whole thing. God is not in all of his thoughts. In describing the wicked, God is not in all of his thoughts. We ought to think about God a lot. In fact, everything we think about ought to include God. It ought to be able to include God. That requires you to have pure thoughts. We'll talk about that in a minute. Proverbs 29-23. I have four passages here for a proud look. Proverbs 29-23. By the way, this could be a seven-sermon series. One sermon for each thing. But rather than doing that, I just grabbed verses that will go with it, with each one. and I'm giving you the point and the verses and moving on, right? So, Proverbs 29-23, a man's pride shall bring him low. I do have like a major theme passage that we're going to go to for some of them though. A man's pride shall bring him low, but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. Go to Daniel chapter 4. Daniel chapter 4. So, many, many, many, many years ago, my cousin Luke, long ago, I mean this was probably 20 years ago, 18 years ago, something like that, he was at a different church other than McGregor Road, and the pastor went through a series on the book of Daniel. I wish I could find his titles. Because he had a poetic way. I didn't listen to any of the messages, but I Luke was telling me about like the titles of the messages he had a poetic way to title each chapter and Daniel chapter 4 was Daniel 4 fleas galore. Daniel 4 fleas galore. Every time I come to Daniel chapter 4, or I think about Nebuchadnezzar and going crazy and eating grass and all that kind of stuff, I think about that Daniel 4 flees galore. I don't know any of the rest of them. I can't remember any of the rest of them, but I'd love to have every one of them written in my Bible next to the chapter. If somebody could find the rhyming titles of Daniel, but I don't know. I don't know if he came up with them or got them from somebody else. I don't know, but I've tried to find that kind of thing and couldn't find it. One of you will probably have it before service is over, though. But Daniel chapter 4, and I'm going to try not to go through the whole chapter here, but what I'm going to do is I'm just going to kind of tell you about it. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. By the way, this is one place in your Bible that it's not Greek and Hebrew. This is actually written in Chaldean. Nebuchadnezzar himself wrote, I believe, either all or most of this chapter. So, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream. And his dream was... Well, I'm not going to give you the whole thing. You can read it. He had a dream that, it was a strange dream, we'll just put it that way, I'll try not to go through the whole description, but he had a strange dream, and he said, he found, you know, hey Daniel, you can interpret dreams, come tell me the interpretation of this dream. And Daniel basically said this, God's given you a kingdom, He's given you power, He's given you all, all of these great things. And you think it's all you. Well, God's going to show you that he's able to abase the proud. And I'm just again, I'm kind of summarizing and paraphrasing. So you can read Daniel chapter four on your own at another time. But basically, he tells him God's going to show you that he can abase the proud and that he can bring the proud low and what you're gonna go through is you're going to lose your mind and you're gonna eat grass like an ox and your fingernails are gonna get long like like I think is said like an eagle and You're gonna lose your mind. You're just gonna go wander around in the wilderness and for seven years But they're gonna hold the kingdom for you and you're gonna come back To yourself and you're going to come back and rule the kingdom again It's like, that is a pretty crazy dream. I don't think he believed Daniel because the time came that he was standing there looking at his kingdom and he said, where is it at that he says this? Okay, at the end of 12 months, this is verse 29. So after 12 months, King Nebuchadnezzar, must have forgot about it or something, but he said, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. You all know Babylon was ruling the whole world at that time. It says, the king spake and said, is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty? Wow. Verse 29, 30. Look at 31. While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken. The kingdom is departed from thee. They shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make thee to eat ox, or ox, eat, that would be good, right? Some steak. Eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee that seven years, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar, and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws. At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me and I blessed the most high and praised and honored him that liveth forever and ever there forever whose dominion is and everlasting dominion. And his kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou? At the same time my reason returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom My honor and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and my lords sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. Man, I could not imagine, well I've tried to imagine King Nebuchadnezzar. Yep, he was definitely wild. Yes, so I mean you think about the king, that's wow. The king of the world! Not the guy on the Titanic, but the actual king of the world! I always picture him being on his balcony and he's in the palace and he's looking out at his kingdom. I don't know if that's really what was going on, but he was in the palace and he looks and he says, look at all this, look at all I've done. Next thing you know, he's like, man, I'm really feeling hungry for some grass. Got down on all fours and scurried off. Came back seven years later. Seven years later. Man! I mean it was long enough his hair had grown like feathers. Wow! Hey, God knows how to abase the proud. Turn to James chapter 1. James chapter 1. Look at verse number 8. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. Let the brother of low degree, verse number 9, rejoice in that he is exalted, but the rich in that he is made low, As the flower of the grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass and the flower thereof falleth and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth. So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. This isn't just talking about someone who is financially rich. This is talking about someone who is rich in his pride. And the reason that we know this, you'll find that being poor and being rich is likened to being proud and being humble, or being humble and being proud throughout the book of James. And it focuses on the need to ensure that you're, you know, not to have respect of persons and ensure that what you do and why you do what you do should not be For sake of pride and he deals with that throughout the book and in chapter 4 I know I brought that up on Wednesday night as well but he he says, you know, he deals with this matter of fightings and wars and all that chapter 4 and verse number 6 he says but God giveth more grace wherefore he saith God resisted the proud God resisted the proud but giveth grace unto the humble Grace is absolutely needed. You can't do life without grace. You need grace. God hates a proud look. It is an abomination to Him. Now we talked about the proud. The proud look is just having that air about you that's prideful. That's full of pride. The proud look is even from the perspective of being humble proud. or humble boasting, or what they say, humble bragging, right? Or somebody says, listen, I'm not proud, I'm the most humble person that I know. That is pride. That is pride. If you think you're humble, you're proud. If you think you're humble, you're proud. And that's something that as God blesses you, often times man gets to thinking that he had some sort of credit in it. And he ought to get the credit for it. That's not the way it ought to be. When God blesses us, we need to remember the ditch out of which we were digged. Yeah. The pit, rather, not the ditch. The pit out of which we have been digged. I know, I'm not... I'm just trying to leave Doug out of this, alright? So... One of the prophets in the Old Testament, God reminds the people of Israel, remember that pit I dug you out of. In... In Proverbs, I'm sorry, in Psalm, Psalm, oh, is it 40 or is it 91? I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 40 verse 1, yeah. I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, many shall see it in fear, and shall trust in the Lord. That's what we need to remember. You know, as a pastor, and as somebody whose life has changed quite a lot since, you know, since I was a youth, I often have people compliment me. Well, look at all that you've done. No, don't look at all that I've done. I've not done any of that. In fact, if it was up to me, I'd still be that knucklehead that I was when I was 15. I'd still be a wretch. I still am a wretch. Everything good that is about me is because of God. I can't take credit for it. I thank Him for it. I praise Him for it. It's a blessing to have what I have and to be able to do what I'm able to do. But all of that is God. All of it is Him. And so, we need to remember that. That anything that's good in us is because of the grace of God. If we want to have more good, we need grace. And in order to have more good, we must have more humility. Number two, a lying tongue. A lying tongue. Proverbs 12.22 says, Lying lips are abomination to the Lord. But they that deal truly are his delight. Y'all know what it means to lie? It means you didn't tell the truth. Alright? So, a lying tongue. That doesn't mean a tongue that's laying down. A lying tongue is one that lies. That speaks falsity. By the way, this pops up again later, but we'll talk about it then. Proverbs 14, verse 5. A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. We'll mention that again later. Proverbs 26, 28. A lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth worketh ruin. Think about that for a minute. Y'all be careful about your speech. It says, a lying tongue hateth those that are afflicted by it. Understand that when you lie, even if you think it's a little white lie, you are afflicting someone. And the Bible says that you hate them. Y'all know the word hate in the Bible isn't exactly what we look at when we think of the word hate today. Hate means to... I'll just try to make it a simple definition. It has to do with minimizing the value of the person. And so it isn't about absolutely detesting the person, but minimizing their value. For example, in the New Testament when Jesus said if a man come after me and hate not his father and mother and sister and brother and his children and his wife and all of that, right? In various places. And there's two places where it talks about that. And he says that if he doesn't hate these people, then he's not worthy to follow me. And you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, why would he want us to hate our wife or hate our children? It's not the way that you think of hate. In comparison to your love for Christ, their value is diminished. So it's not an active hatred towards someone. Their value is diminished in comparison to your love for Christ. And here you see that the tongue, the lying tongue, hateth those that are afflicted by it. Those that you afflict, you diminish their value in your perception and oftentimes in others' perception when you lie. Toward them and you afflict them and it says a flattering mouth worketh ruin flattery is when you when you're pumping up The not the truth, but you're you're emphasizing certain things to try to flatter someone you're you're using your Sometimes flattery is true, like you're just emphasizing something good about a person and you're flattering them. In other cases it's false, like you're telling them something that you're saying is good about them that isn't really good about them. But flattery, the purpose of flattery is to try to inflate someone's ego, or someone's pride, so that you can then deceive them or use them for your own purposes, manipulate them. John 8, 44, Jesus said, "...Ye are of your father the devil." He spoke to the Pharisees in this way, the religious Jews. He says, "...Ye are of your father the devil." And the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning. He abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it." A lying tongue is an abomination to the Lord. Speak the truth. Speak the truth. Don't be like the devil. Speak the truth. Yes, sir. 1222, sorry. Well, that's in this text, or in this point. There was another one up earlier, but in this point, Proverbs 1222. Next time ask Daryl. Alright, number three. Hands! It's interesting here, by the way, that it seems that the first five of these have some sort of body part connected to them. You have a proud look, that's your facial expression, or your look, your eyes. You have a lying tongue. Hands that shed innocent blood. Hands that shed innocent blood. Just a few passages here. Proverbs 1. You can turn there real quick because we're going to cover six verses. It'll be easier to read it. in place there. I've got it typed out, so I'll just read from my text here. Proverbs 1, verse 10, My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us lay wait for blood. Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. My, oh my, if somebody ever says that to you, you ought to just know better. You know what? I'll pass. I'll pass. As you're calling 911. I'll pass. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us. Let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou in the way with them." That's some good advice right there. Refrain thy foot from their path. Don't even go near where they go. For their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Watch out for those kind of people. By the way, who you hang out with matters. Who you spend time with matters. Yeah, it's who you become. It's who you're associated with. You know, even in American law, if you, somebody's like, hey, I need you to give me a ride to, say you're driving somebody home from church. And they say, hey, I need you, can you stop by the pharmacy real quick? And they hold up the pharmacy and then come out and get back in your vehicle and you drive off. Guess who all's guilty? That person and everyone in the vehicle. And you all go to prison for armed robbery or whatever it is, however they held up the place. What's that? An accomplice, yeah. Yep, that is exactly right, guilty by association. By the way, there's other things that we do in life that we can be guilty by association. You know, there are things, by the way, if you, as a teenager, now my daughter's about to be 18 here in a few minutes, a few months, and as a teenager, so she's 18, let's say she's got some friends that she goes and hangs out with, and one of them steals something. Y'all don't steal, alright? And don't let your friends steal either. One of them, let's say one of them steals something. And... Sorry, we started this on Sunday, so you guys were here. So, one of them steals something. And they all get picked up for it. Say she just turned 18. They go to one place, she gets to go somewhere else. yeah and and most of the time they get and she gets to spend some time there free hotel room free free baloney uh all of that um and carrots i don't know anything about it i just heard it was nasty baloney i don't know anyhow They said it was green bologna and carrots. Alright, we don't need to know everybody's experience around here. So, you've got to be careful who you associate with. Hands that shed innocent blood. That's really why we're going there. The point isn't really about association. It's more about the actual doing of the act here. You know, hands that shed innocent blood. You know, the thing that first comes to mind is the innocent children. Or the innocent, those who don't have a No, the innocent are those that are not involved in whatever evil you are doing. Or whatever evil the other person is doing. Hands that shed innocent blood, They've gone and they've involved somebody in their sin that isn't a part of it. They've gone and attacked someone who didn't deserve it. Of course, if they attacked me, I probably deserve it. At some point in my life, I did something to deserve whatever wrong comes on me. Hands that shed innocent blood. The reason I went to Proverbs 1 is the first thing that came to mind was all of the language there. You know what? When I was a kid, a teenager, that's the way some of me and my friends thought. You know, the gang life and that kind of stuff. I mean, let us lay wait for blood. Let's go find somebody to beat up. So stupid. So wrong. Such an abomination. Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause. Man. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. You don't want to be involved with people that are trying to do those kinds of things. You say, you know what? I go a different way now I'm not gonna so I'll give you an example when I was a kid I Had a friend. He's a good friend of mine at one point we walked to and from school together every single day to and from school and I could tell you his name, but I won't I saw him in a gas station a while back and But we walked to and from school every day, and he lived right over there. I'll give you his address. No, I'm just kidding. My wife cut his mom or grandma's hair or something at the nursing home. Don't say his name. We'd walk to and from school. I think I was in third grade, something like that, second or third grade or something. And we're walking home from school and he's like, man, I want to fight somebody. I was like, all right, I'll try to help you find somebody. And we're walking. I'm just a little kid. What grade's Ezra in? Third now. OK. I was about his age. So we're walking home from school and he's like, I want to fight somebody. I'm like, well. You know, I don't see if we can find somebody and I'm looking around like how can we find a fight? So that was such a dumb kid Next thing. I know he grabs me by the shirt and turns me around and clocks me right in the jaw Like what in the world? What are you doing? What is wrong with we're friends. We're supposed to be finding somebody to fight together and he just starts hitting me and I'm like Dude, stop! What's wrong with you? And my sister's picking up pop cans and throwing them at him and stuff and I don't know what happened exactly. I don't remember how it went, but I was like, I was just broken. I was like, who's my friend? Why did he do this? I was walking in the way with him. You know what I did after that? Not because I was afraid of him, but because I wasn't getting involved in whatever it is he was going to get involved in for the rest of his life. And I wasn't a good kid, but man, at least that much, you know, I was like, I'm not, I don't need to be, I don't need to be looking for somebody to fight. I'm like, I'm going to go a different route, you know? And so I would take the the alley down and over the river and through the woods, over the creek and up the alley over here. And it was actually a more direct route. The reason that I walked the way that I walked with him was because we would pass his house that way and so I could walk him home and we would walk home from there and we were friends and whatever. But I didn't go in his path anymore. Just went a different way. Now that was helpful for me because I didn't become the object of his desire to fight anymore. And I don't really know whatever happened to him after that really. Other than I saw him at the gas station, I was like, how's it going? And he's like, what's up? That was it. I mean, you know, he looked exactly the same. 35 years older. But I was like, you're not looking for anybody to fight now, are you? No, I'm kidding. I stopped going to that gas station. No, I'm kidding. I still go to the gas station. But no, you don't, you don't, don't go in the way with them. Refrain your foot from their path. They're looking out. Listen, I don't know what happened to him after that. He might have changed his life around. He might be a preacher somewhere. I don't know. I hope he is. That'd be great. Man, that'd be so awesome. It'd be awesome to walk up to him in the New Jerusalem and say, How you doing? I won't remember what he did because the sin part, all that's gone. But I'll be able to say, Hey man, it's good to see you. Man, that'd be awesome. Anyhow, Psalm 11 verse number 5 says, The Lord trieth the righteous, but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Ouch. Ouch. You realize that that's a pretty, that's pretty heavy there. I was thinking about it this morning. This verse was going through my mind this morning while I was exercising. I do boxing for exercising. I don't box people, okay? I'm boxing, well, I mean, it's all fictional anyways, but it's virtual reality and there's these balloons flying at me and so I'm hitting these balloons, you know, and I was thinking to myself, I'm like, is this violence? No, it's not. I'm popping balloons. It's not violence. Now, if I put somebody's face on those balloons as I'm doing it, that would be violence, right? I couldn't imagine. I've thought about scenarios. You know, we've done training here. I mean, I'm in the military. We've done training and things. In fact, when I was in basic training, there was a training we did. a bayonet training, bayonet training when I was in basic training. And so you fix bayonets. And I don't know, anybody been there or done that? It's a pretty cool knife. And it goes on the end of your M16 or M4, what's that? And it clicks on. It's a knife, like it's a nice knife, you know, and it clicks on to the thing. You fix bayonet and then and then they say make ready attack and they go and you go and you're running and you're going through this this obstacle course of sorts and you're running with a knife which your parents told you not to do and you're screaming you're hollering and then you get to this mannequin thing this big dummy that's shaped like a person and you're supposed to stab it and Slice it and stab it and you're supposed to yell die kill die and you're it's like and I'm like and the drill serge like sound off Campbell and I'm like I really am kind of conflicted about this. I didn't say, I'm like, yeah. Okay, go to the next one. Drill Sergeant, leave me alone, you know. I'm like, what have I done? As a matter of fact, when I got to AIT, I called my pastor, I said, Pastor, what have I done? I joined the military, and they want me to kill people. He's like, well, duh. You joined the military. I'm like, I don't know if I ever want to be in a situation where I'm going to actually have to do that. That's why people come back with their heads not right. You guys realize that more than 90% of the firearms that fire in the military are not actually aimed at the target. Because most soldiers don't want to kill the enemy. Because we in ourselves God has put in man a natural inclination to not want to kill another man even when you're at war. There's actual statistics that most most weapons in the military are fired far above the head of the enemy. And most casualties of war are either accidental or there are special forces that have been desensitized to do it. And most of the time, a lot of times they, you know, they got issues. They come back with issues. Hands that shed innocent blood now at war. It's not innocent blood There is a difference between protecting your homeland and your family and all that, you know, there is just cause for for war Sometimes I'm not not saying that every war that we've been in as a country's just I I'm fortunate enough that I've not had to go to war, not been deployed in war. My job has been to keep the ones here safe. And then in my current capacity, I'm actually a noncombatant. And so I'm a chaplain. So that's, I'm a double noncombatant. So even if we went to war, I would not even be carrying a firearm. So, but anyhow, hands that shed innocent blood. It's very difficult for me to think. Now, sometimes people, you've got to be careful about this, Psalm 11 5. You've got to be careful about this. I know that there are such a thing as sports and Martial arts and things like that and those things are not necessarily all wrong. But when you're excited about About the violating of a person that's not good. The heart isn't where it ought to be and It's it's one thing to look at the sport concept. By the way, there's a whole lot of problems with with martial arts sports Like MMA and things Most of you know, there's a lot of flesh and a lot of pride and a lot of there's a lot of reasons to not Be involved in it, but you you have to answer to God for those things anyways But if you're watching it because you love violence, that's not good You're watching it because you like the technique and the skill and the sport and things and you're looking for you know How a person wins and things like that. That's one thing and But I'd still be real careful about that. I mean, there's so much with it that there's possible danger. But hands that shed innocent blood are an abomination to God. Hands that shed innocent blood are an abomination to God. Number four, a heart that diviseth wicked imaginations. A heart that diviseth wicked imaginations. We dealt with this matter of the heart before, several times here in the last month or so. Genesis chapter 6 and verse number 5, it says, 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. And God destroyed the earth with a flood. And heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Go to Ezekiel chapter 8. Ezekiel chapter 8. Yeah, Ezekiel. I'm going to try not to spend too much time here. Ezekiel chapter 8. Let's look at verse number 12. I'll just give you kind of a background here. So, Ezekiel, some people call him the weird prophet. He got to see some things and do some things. And if you read some of the things that he had to do and some of the things that he got to see, he was the weird prophet. So one of the things here, let's just read from verse 7, how about that? It says, And he brought me to the door of the court, and when I looked, behold, now this is like a vision, okay? And he says, When I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. And he said, Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in, and saw, and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel portrayed upon the wall round about." This is idolatry. And there stood before them 70 men of the ancients of the house of Israel in the midst and in the midst of them stood jazz and I the son of chiffon with every man his sensor in his hand and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said He unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? For they say, the Lord seeth us not, the Lord hath forsaken the earth." It says here, "...and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations." I know one preacher, he says that imagination is all evil. Every time you see the word used in the Bible, it's wrong. It's in a negative context. I would not go as far as to say that all imagination is wrong. I think imagination can be helpful. However, if in the chambers of your imagery, you devise wicked imaginations, it's wrong. And that can be any wicked imagination. Wicked imaginations is not only the things that people originally think about as wicked like lustful thoughts or like violent thoughts or things like that. Wicked imaginations can also be imagining things that you ought not be thinking about, you know. Man, how do I not go that far? I'm reading a book right now on how the occult has invaded the church and Christianity and all of that these days. One of the things is it deals with man's imagination and how the devil will get people to use their imagination to try to go places and do things and learn things and all these kinds of occult practices. A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. That's you taking your heart and using it for what God did not design it to be used for. You can go into all of those different things. As we talked about, I mentioned that our theme for this month is meditate upon the Word of God. We're not talking about quote-unquote transcendental meditation. Because if you were to try to transcend in some way, the term transcendental meditation is a misnomer. It's an incorrect term. If you wanted to transcend, then what you would do is you would pray and read your Bible. You wouldn't try to take yourself to some quote-unquote higher level. The higher level is with the Lord Jesus. There's no transcending any higher than meeting with God. And so the chambers of your imagery or devising wicked imaginations, and by the way, that even goes as far as to, and I'll name some names, as far as to taking on some of the self-help gurus and their thought processes. Tony Robbins and some of those guys, they will tell you to sit and to think and to visualize where you want to be and what you want to do. I've seen friends, folks that we know, that have gone down that, they're talking about getting on a certain vibration and getting on a, and attracting things to yourself using the quote-unquote law of attraction, which by the way, if you've ever, I don't recommend it, I don't recommend the book, I don't recommend it, but I, I heard somebody talking about it one day, and they're like, yeah, it's a real thing. And I said, well, I'm going to research it. I'm going to go find it. So I found the book. The audio book. The audio book is the actual audio recordings of the interview where that law of attraction was created. It is absolute 100% demonic possession. 100% demonic possession. It is a devil from the pits of hell speaking through a woman, teaching her about the law of attraction. how to attract things to yourself through vibration and through visualizing what you want and then going after it. It has become so common among even Christian leaders today that you visualize what you want and then you go after it and you're going to attract it to yourself. And every morning you get up and you visualize what you want in life. Why don't we just pray and ask God to put us where we ought to be according to His will. It may be God doesn't want you to want that. Or if He wants you to want it, maybe He wants you to seek Him for it and not just try to figure it out yourself and get there yourself. Kind of go back to the proud look thing. And heart that deviseth wicked imaginations. Let me remind you that the heart, well, Jeremiah 17.10, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins. Remember in Jeremiah it also says, the heart is what? Deceitful and desperately wicked. Hebrews chapter 4 verse number 12 says, For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature, verse number 13 says, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Psalm 139 verse number 2 says, Thou knowest my down-sitting and my up-rising, and Thou understandest my thought afar off. God knows your heart, and that's not a comfort. Yeah. And I was starting to read there, Jeremiah 17.10, it says, I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. And heart that devises wicked imaginations is an abomination to the Lord. number five feet so what we have so far we had a look right look hands was hands next no tongue next hands Feet, or heart? No, was it feet, then heart? Yeah, feet. Or hands, heart, then feet. Yeah. Feet that be swift to shed innocent. I'm sorry, two. I'm sorry. I'm thinking about the hands. Feet that be swift in running to mischief. Now, you could go back to Proverbs 1, right? In verse number 16 it says, For their feet run to evil. and make haste to shed blood. Proverbs 4, verses 14-17 say, Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not except they have done mischief, and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence." That's rough. Psalm chapter 1. You all know Psalm chapter 1? Verse number 1? Anybody have it memorized? Psalm 1? That's what I'm looking for. Walk? No? Something like that, yeah. What is it? Oh, blessed is the man, thank you. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Right? But, but delighteth in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night. He should be as a tree planted by the rivers of water. Right? His leaf also shall not wither, Almost. "...bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Amen. Amen. I don't have the rest of it memorized, but it says something to the effect of the ungodly or not so, but they're like the chaff that's driven with the wind, right? That wasn't in my notes. That just came to mind as I was reading that passage in Proverbs. Isaiah 59. Turn over there real quick. Isaiah 59. We're getting close, y'all. The last two points don't have as many verses. I passed it. Isaiah 59. Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save, neither is his ear heavy that he cannot hear. Praise God for that. Amen. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood. and your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. My! None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies, they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, they hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web. He that eateth of their eggs dieth. And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands, their feet run to evil. and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not, and there is no judgment in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace." feet that shed, or I keep saying feet that shed, feet that be swift in running to mischief. Jump over to Romans 3 real quick. Last one in this passage, Romans 3. Verse number 10, As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher with their tongues. They have used deceit. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. That's why I keep trying to say that, because it's right there. Destruction and misery are in their ways. The way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Notice how that sounds real familiar? It's not a quote, but it's a paraphrase from Isaiah 59. A reference, yeah. Illusion. Allusion. Feet that be swift in running to mischief. Now before we go on to the last two, I want to give you some opposing points here. A proud look, instead, we ought to have a humble appearance or be using our eyes in the perspective of looking out for blessing God, praising God, and helping others. A lying tongue, rather speak the truth in love. Hands that shed innocent blood, rather hands that are used in the work of the Lord. And heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, rather a heart that cares and prays for sinners and saints. Number five there, feet that be swift in running to mischief, rather feet that be swift in running to share the gospel. Number six, a false witness that speaketh lies. Say, wait a minute, pastor, we already talked about lying. If we did, that must mean that this is kind of a big deal to God. A lying tongue, somebody's alarm's going off. Don't know if it's one of ours. A lying tongue and a false witness that speaketh lies. What's the difference? There's not a lot of difference. But there's a slight difference. Proverbs 19, verse 5 says, "...a false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape." Just a few verses later, in verse number 9, it says, "...a false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall perish." You know, lying is a big deal. Let's see. It says, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. That's the ninth commandment. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. A false witness that speaketh lies. The difference is, so the tongue, right? A lying tongue, that's in general. That's just telling lies in general. A false witness that speaketh lies is telling someone a testimony or something that you supposedly saw and you are giving a false witness. You're telling them something that's not true. That's false. A false witness isn't just, you know, people lie about all kinds of things, you know, you say something that isn't true. But being a false witness goes, it's that step of you're telling a story, but you're telling a story. Right? You're not telling the story, you're telling a story, right? You're not telling the truth of what happened, but you're either embellishing or you are just flat out fibbing. A false witness that speaketh lies is an abomination to the Lord. It disgusts Him. It's quite a thing. by the way the reason now it's mentioned twice here it's also mentioned twice when talking about the new jerusalem it's mentioned well next week we'll talk about lies some more and then it's mentioned in verse 27 and then it's mentioned in chapter 22 of Revelation. When it lists those who aren't there. Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. It's also mentioned earlier in chapter 21. Chapter 21 verse 8. It says the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. That's like thrown out there a whole bunch. Must be kind of a big deal. Because God desires that man has truth in him and speaks the truth. That's the way that we ought to be. You know, it should not be a consideration that you would ever have to wonder whether someone is speaking the truth or lying to you. We ought to be able to, especially among ourselves, among saints, we ought to be able to just simply trust. You say, that's kind of gullible. Yeah. We ought to be able to tell the truth though. Come what may. A lot of times we lie because we don't want to be in trouble. We care about, if someone knew the truth, what would they think about me? What would they think about you if they knew you were lying? Tell the truth. I know it's easy. You know, man, I was quite the quite the fibber in my day. Those that knew me growing up, they didn't know what was true and what wasn't true. Tell them all kinds of things. I became a good storyteller. Now I tell stories, I try to tell the truth, right? If I don't, if I'm not telling the truth, it's not on purpose. In fact, you know, you ask me where I'm at, like, if I'm on the way somewhere, my wife, it bothers my wife sometimes, she's like, why you gotta be so specific? Like, because I'm trying to tell the truth. You know, if I'm like, well, I'm on my way there. On my way there means I'm actually in the vehicle and left the house. Just so you know, y'all, if you say I'm on my way, don't lie to me. On my way means you're in the vehicle and you've left. Getting ready to leave means that you are getting ready to walk out the door. You're getting ready to. Almost there means you're actually almost there. It doesn't mean you're almost at the front door, or you're almost out of bed, or you're almost, you know, getting ready to brush your teeth or eat breakfast or something. No. No, and I try to be specific on that, you know. And then I'll be general sometimes. Like I said, I'll say, I'm on such and such street, or I'm coming up on this street, or whatever, you know, that way people know where, you know, that kind of thing. But accuracy is important too. Accuracy is important too. How about this? I'll call you right back. Don't lie to me. Don't lie to me. You're not calling me right back. What do I say? I'll try to call you back. If I forget, text me. I always say I'll try. If I remember. Or hey, you call me back. I told Pastor Adams that one time. He's like, I'll call you right back. I'm like, dude, you never call me back. Yeah, okay. But then he did it again. I said, listen, don't tell me you're going to call me right back. He's probably watching now. Hi, brother. Don't tell me you're going to call me right back if you're not going to call me right back. Tell me something else. I'll talk to you later. Or you call me back. Or whatever. And he's changed it. Now he says, leave me alone. No, I'm kidding. Now he says, he's like, oh, that's my wife calling. Call me back. Or, I'll try to talk to you later. Okay, no problem. That's great though, that he pays attention to what he's saying. Because you have to be careful that you don't lie by accident. When you tell somebody you're going to do something that you might not do. I say, I'll try. We're going to try to do this. When I call people and I tell them, you know, let's schedule this claim for such and such time, right? My daughter's got my whole script memorized on what I say. I should just have her call him. She can just say exactly what I say. But, so I call him and I say, alright, I've got a time, you know, Tuesday at 4 p.m. and I say arrival time would be somewhere between 4 and 4.30 unless one of the other claims goes late or some other appointment goes late or something. I usually tell them some other appointment because if my Help is late. Then that was an appointment. They were late They made me late and I just when I get to that first when I say man, I'm sorry. I'm an hour late My first appointment was and I'll stand there and say it right in front of my help was very late today And so that's why we're that's why we're that's why we're late. I'm sorry You know, it happens sometimes and they're like, oh, yeah. Yeah, but anyhow But speaking the truth being accurate in what you say. And sometimes people are not accurate on purpose because they want to hide truth. That is a false witness. Be truthful. You can. It's called perjury. If you are on the stand, and you hold something back, or you fail to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, then you are lying. And that's perjury. Alright, number seven. He that soweth discord among brethren. This is a big deal. He that soweth discord among brethren. Y'all know, I forget which psalm it is. How good and how precious it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the, what is it? It's like oil that runneth down on Aaron's beard, right? Amen. I like that verse, right? Behold how good and how precious. Anybody know where that is, psalm what? Nobody looked it up. Y'all just think that I have the whole Bible memorized. I don't. I don't. See, I messed that up. I even started it out wrong. It's, behold how good and how precious. And I might be wrong about that. Behold how... Anybody find it? It's Psalm 100 and something. It's a short psalm. There's like three verses, I think. Don't make me look for it. No, how good? 133. Oh, yeah. But he shaved it off for drill. No, behold, how good and how pleasant, not precious, how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment. There you go. Upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments. As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descendeth upon the mountains of Zion, for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore. It is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is not good for brethren to have discord sowed among them. He that soweth discord among brethren. Proverbs 6.14, frowardness. This is just before our secondary text here. Frowardness is in his heart, he diviseth mischief continually, he soweth discord. Proverbs 16.28, a froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends. You've got to be careful what you go spreading around. Remember Sunday school we were talking about slander? And what Brother Wilhelm didn't do? If you go sharing things, whispering, you can separate friends. Chief friends, you know, that's like best friends. Sowing strife, sowing discord. By the way, sowing discord can also be, let's say you disagree with something that someone says. And you say, you know, I love this guy, but man, I disagree with this. And then you go telling everybody that you disagree with this thing that this person believes or said. You're sowing discord because you're causing other people to think about something you disagree with that person on. And then they're thinking, do I agree or disagree with that person on this? Maybe I should disagree. And you start sowing that discord. Proverbs 22 verse 10. Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out. Yea, strife and reproach shall cease. So what does that have to do with discord? Well, that's what causes discord. Someone who scorns. Someone who causes contention and strife and reproach. It says cast out the scorn. Now does that mean that you completely excommunicate someone who has done such a thing? No, if they repent, then you restore them. But while someone is scorning, they should be removed from the situation where they're given audience to scorn. Proverbs 26 verse 20, Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail-bearer, the strife ceaseth. Sowing discord often involves tail bearing. Tail bearing is, and by the way, bearing a tail, it can be two different ways. You can bear a true tail, or you can bear a false tail. Remember what Terry was saying about Brother Wilhelm this morning? Yeah, you remember? He told the truth. Well no, at first he was telling something that wasn't true. And then later, we changed the story. We changed the truth. It was a, it was a, if I keep preaching, that pew's going to explode. It just keeps on adding more and more people to it. But we, and we changed the scenario, right? Then, then Terry was telling the truth. But even though he was telling the truth, he was bearing a tale that he, that wasn't his to bear to other people. In our scenario, Terry wasn't really doing that, okay? But sowing discord among brethren is an abomination to the Lord. Now please understand that just because you don't work abomination does not mean that you get to go to heaven. We just spent, I don't know, six hours on what an abomination is and examples of abomination. But just because you don't work abomination does not mean that you get to go to heaven or that you'll be in the New Jerusalem. He's simply giving us examples of those that won't be there. That doesn't mean that when you don't do certain things, it gives you access. Those things exclude you, but they don't include you. You say, well, I've done some of these things. I've done some of these things. I've told you today in the message. How am I going to get to go? Somebody had to trade places with me. Jesus took my abomination on himself. at Calvary. And he gave his life a ransom for my sin. A ransom for me. Paid for my sin at Calvary. And he was buried, and he rose again the third day. And because of that work that he did, I have access into the New Jerusalem. I have access into Heaven because I've trusted in His work. I believe the Gospel that Jesus Christ died for my sins. He was buried and He rose again the third day. He was made sin for me, even though He didn't know any sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. I get to go into Heaven because I am perfect. Not because I'm perfect in deed, but because I'm perfect in position because of what Jesus did for me when He took my place. He took my sin, I took His righteousness. I became the righteousness of God in Him. So the reality of who I am now, in position, is that I am righteous before God because of Christ's work at Calvary. How about you? How about you? Understand that if abomination, I said this last week about defiling, defileth. So there will not be anything that worketh abomination in New Jerusalem. There will not be. There will not be anything that worketh abomination in New Jerusalem. Therefore, there should not be anything that worketh abomination in your life.