Back in Galatians chapter 5 tonight, I'm going to read down through these. I haven't done that last couple of times. I'm going to read down through them. So we will start in Galatians 5 and kind of recap what we went on last time and jump on into this. It's interesting to me as well. We'll pray and then we'll get into it. You know what? I'm going to break the norm and I'm going to open in prayer. Is that okay with everyone? Theron, is that going to hurt your feelings? Not a bit, okay. Father, thank you for this night. Lord, I pray that you'd teach us tonight, and Lord, we thank you for it, and pray that you'd open the understanding of each one here, and God, that you would just guide us tonight. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. All right. Well, it's interesting to me is I've been studying down through these, verse 19, verse 20, verse 21, that each verse kind of has encapsulated in it words that kind of match up with the other words, okay? And by that, I mean, you look at verse 19. Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. All of those things dealing with a sexual nature, dealing with that carnal side of lust and everything that is kind of encompassed in that. And then you get on down into verse 20, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies. Believe it or not, you get into those things as we've been studying down through. You see a lot of similarities come out in that. Last week we looked at wrath. The week before we looked at emulations. We're going to see some things in strife tonight. that kind of come out in wrath and emulations, all right? So the things that we've been going over are gonna kind of build on this. I know there's some here who weren't here for those, so I'm gonna kind of briefly go over those just a little bit. To emulate something is to copy or imitate it, okay? And emulations, as a work of the flesh, what it does is it instills in a person the desire to be better than somebody, always trying to one-up, all right? I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna do it just a little bit better than they do. Okay? And so it puts that emulation in there. And honestly, in the workforce today, that's kind of praised. Alright? In business, you know, hey, you can do better than them. And, you know, always trying to climb the ladder. But that is a work of the flesh. That is a carnal thing that comes out of your flesh. improves what's in your heart. And so it's basically the desire or ambition to equal or excel, to surpass others in achievement or quality. Then you get into the grudging against one another and all of that. And so those emulations. Wrath is basically It's anger in action, okay? So if love is the emotion, charity is how you show it. So then if anger is the emotion, wrath is how you show it, all right? And so we went through those last week, and we're gonna see those things come out in strife this week today. And so that's where we're gonna be. Let's go over to the Proverbs. We're gonna start in Proverbs and just kind of work through. We've got quite a number of them. One, two, three, four, five, six, oh, seven or eight of them in Proverbs that we're gonna go through that speak of wrath. And again, these things are not here as a list of things that you, or sorry, strife. They're not a list of things that you are trying to cut out of your life, or it's something that you're working on, and I'm gonna try not to strive, and I'm gonna try not to have strife in my life, and I'm gonna try not to have wrath. That's not what it's all about. It's to shed a light on you on the inward parts, that if these things are there, It means one of two things. It means you are either walking after the flesh and are dangerously close to the chastening hand of God, or it proves to you that you are lost. It's one of those two things. God can sift that out, whatever it is. But if you have these in you, as we go through these things, the Lord points this out and shows you. It's your responsibility before God to get in the Word of God and examine yourself with it, and let Him prove to you one way or the other. And so looking at strife tonight, we're going to start in Proverbs chapter 10. I don't know if I told you that or not. Proverbs 10. Oh, what a good brother getting a chair for his brother's wounded foot. Very good. Oh, I thought he was going to pull it out from under it. He thought about it. All right. Proverbs chapter 10, look at verse 12. It says this, hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins. And I wanted to start here because this really gives a good indication of where strifes come from. We're going to be defining it as we go, what strife is, and we're going to be seeing these things come out. And really the best way to define a Bible word is with the Bible, looking at where it's at, seeing what is accompanying that word in these other verses, and letting God build your understanding of what that word is. And so when we think of strifes, I'm sure we all have in our mind what strife is and what it would pertain to. but that might not be the full extent of it, and God might have something more for you to see out of this tonight, okay? And so with this, it says, hatred stirreth up strifes, okay? So it's hatred is something that brings strife to the surface. You think about that stirring of your heart by the Holy Ghost of God, and as he stirs your heart through preaching, and the muck and the mire that's down in the bottom of it just kind of comes to the surface. Hatred does that with strife. Okay, hatred is gonna stir up strife in you, and then it's gonna come out of you, all right? And then it's gonna be shown in wrath, and then it's just gonna continue on from there. But then this is in a very interesting statement here at the end of the verse, but love covereth all sins, plural, okay? This is speaking of those individual things. And what will cover those things is love. Your love that is put in you by Christ is gonna cover up all those things that people have done against you. Somebody has hurt you, somebody has harmed you, somebody has harmed your family, whatever it may be, the love of Christ constraineth us. And so the love of Christ covereth all sins. As you understand that, you'll understand that those little things that could eat away at you, and we're going to see here as we continue on that this is kind of where bitterness really comes into play. Each individual sin that someone has sinned against you, things that have been done against you, transgressions against your home, your life, transgressions against you personally, each of those things can become a bitterness within you, and they can just eat away at you. really destroy you. It's a root of bitterness that springs up and it defiles many. And so understanding these things that love covereth all sins, how important is it to have love? The opposite of love is hatred. And hatred stirreth up strife. Strife is going to come out of that if you have hatred in your heart. So it's not that you're, again, trying to get rid of the hatred in your heart. Christ gets rid of that when he moves in. Okay, he eliminates that, he eradicates that, kicks that tenon out and gets right in there and says, this is now my home, okay? And so when you look at these things, it really gives you an idea of what God's mind is on it. Go to Proverbs chapter 15 now. We're not gonna be necessarily going linearly through Proverbs, but we will for a little while. Proverbs chapter 15, I wanna look at verse 18. It says this, a wrathful man stirreth up strife, but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. So a wrathful man stirreth up strife. Now we just learned about wrath, what wrath was, that vehement anger, that anger in action. And someone who is wrathful stirs up strife. And as what we'd learn in Proverbs 10, 12, is that hatred stirreth up strife. So hatred and wrath go hand in hand. You have one, you've got the other. It's gonna come out. You can't have hatred in your heart and not have wrath eventually come out. You may be able to hide it around certain people, you may be able to hide it in certain situations, but if you have hatred in your heart, it is going to come out in wrath. And what it's gonna do is it's gonna stir up strife. And it's a stireth, so it's a continual thing. It just continually is working at that and working at that. Let's see, that was 1518. But he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. There is a way to eliminate strife when it arises, when strife arises, and really being slow to anger, being very slow to speak. That's an easy way to appease strife, to let strife just kind of go out. And as we look at this, we're going to see that strife is kindled. It's something that is kindled up, it's stirred up. Think about coals being stirred up in a fire and it ignites again and everything. You know, almost everybody in here has been around a campfire recently, you know, with the holiday and such. And you get down to it, you guys didn't? No? I don't know if Brother John Hall did either, but he says no. So there's three of us. But those of you who know campfires at any rate, You know, the coals get down there and you put some wood on it, it kind of just smolders there till you kind of get those coals stirred up and get them hot again, and it ignites again and it burns up. And it consumes that wood, that fuel that you put on it. And so just keeping that in mind in relation to strife, as we're building the case for this, building what God defines it as. Go to Proverbs chapter 16 now. Proverbs chapter 16, and we're going to look at verse 28. It's an interesting thing here. There's three different types of men spoken of in verse 27, 28, and 29. An ungodly man, a froward man, and a violent man. I don't necessarily know if it's three different men. It could be. But these are things that would be identifiers. What identifies you? You know some people that are just violent men. You just know some men that are just froward. They're totally anti-God. They're against God. If God is to, froward is against. And they're just going to have their back to God. They're going to go the opposite way of God. Every decision is going to be purposefully made so that they are not following God's way. And that's what a froward man is. And look at verse 28. It says, a froward man soweth strife. and a whisperer separateth chief friends. And I found this very interesting, that a froward man soweth strife. And this puts my mind in a place where Jesus is speaking of the parable of the sower. When somebody is sowing seed, there's their sowing seed, and they're casting it out there. And it's good seed, and whatever ground it falls on, whether it's the wayside, the thorny, or the stony, or the good soil, depending on how the ground was prepared, that's what's going to come out, and that's what's going to be produced, okay? And time doesn't really permit for us to get into that too much further, but other than to say a froward man soweth strife, If a man is froward, he's not going to be sowing good seed. He's going to be sowing strife. He's going to be casting strife out. Everywhere he goes, he's going to try to get strife to grow, okay? And this is contrary to the mind of God. This is contrary to the way God thinks. It's froward, away from God, all right? And so keeping that in mind, a froward man soweth strife, and then the second half of this, and a whisperer separateth chief friends. And I believe there's a lot to play in this, all right? You may say, well, I'm not forward, but are you a whisperer? All right, now, what is a whisperer? I believe you know, okay? And we'll let God define that for you on the inward parts right now. Just going around, talking about people, okay? It may be even a good light at first, but then it always quickly goes to the negative. And what you're doing is you're sowing strife. You're sowing bitterness in people's lives. You're talking about people. You're talking about your friends. You're talking about your neighbors. You're talking about your enemies. You're talking about this person, that person, that person. You're just a whisperer, and you're separating chief friends. You're sowing strife. You are that froward man, okay? You are contrary to God. God hates a whisperer. All right, and so consider these things as we are building the case for strife. Go down to Proverbs 17, and look at verse 14. I don't even need to turn my page, I need to just look over here. It says, the beginning of strife is as one letteth out water. Therefore, leave off contention before it be meddled with. And now we're gonna get into a little more of the definition of strife. Now when you're looking at this verse it says the beginning of strife is as when one let it out water. Now you remember the little story that's told about the person over in Amsterdam and they're there along the dike and you know Amsterdam is below sea level and they have the dike to keep the ocean back. Okay. And he sees a hole in the dike. So he puts his finger in the dike and it, it, it won't go any further. But if he takes his finger out, it's going to let more dirt go. And then the hole is going to get bigger and it's going to get worse and worse and worse and worse. And then pretty soon it's just going to collapse. Okay. This is how a flood, when a flood will break or breach a dam. And this is basically how it happens. It's always some little crack that the water finds its way through. and then the force of that water behind it just is uncontrollable and it just destroys the whole thing. And this is exactly what the beginning of strife is. The beginning of strife is as one let about water. When strife is beginning, that's when it needs to be just stopped immediately. If it isn't, it's going to get out of control. It's going to get way out of your control. Those things that you were selling, they're going to come back upon you. That pit that you're digging, you're going to fall into it. This is how strife works. And then, as far as defining it goes, strife is, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it's contention, conflict, a quarrel, or dispute. And so the first word there used in that definition, and I'm not replacing the word strife with contention, but that is an aspect of it. Contention, when there's contention there. And you look at this thing, it says, therefore, leave off contention before it be meddled with. When there's contention there, that is the beginning of strife. That is the beginning of a quarrel. That is the beginning of a separation. That's the beginning of troubles, okay? When that contention is there. So leave it off. Just let it go. You just got to let it go. But the problem is, your carnal mind won't allow it to be just let go. Even if you walk away from the situation, you're going to still mull that thing over. It's going to be in your heart, and you're going to have wicked imaginations that come out, and that strife is just going to build within you. Why? Because there was contention there. Right? Now, I want to go... just keep your place here, because we're going to come back. Go back to Proverbs 13. We're gonna look at an aspect of contention because it does play a part in strife. Proverbs 13 and verse 10. It says this, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. Only by pride cometh contention. So if there is contention, which is the beginning of strife, then it's because there's pride. Whether your pride, the pride of the other one you're dealing with, whatever situation it is going on, if there's contention, it's because there is pride. And understanding that, knowing that, our pride is, if not the most, our worst enemy, it's one of our worst enemies. What our pride does is it stops ourselves from seeing ourselves like God sees us. Our pride is always going to paint our picture better. Our pride is always going to make our case sound better. Our pride is always going to allow our side of the argument to come out just a little bit more on top, even though you know deep down you were wrong. You're going to, again, what's the word? Why can't I think of that word? You're going to justify yourself. You're going to justify yourself and what you did. You're going to justify your actions. You're going to excuse your thoughts. All of this is going to go on and your pride is going to stop the work of God in your heart. And what that pride is going to do is going to cause contention. That contention is going to cause strife. And that beginning of strife is when water is let out. It's the beginning of that water being let out. And it gets out of control. And from there comes wrath. And that's made manifest. So strife is a very big deal, and there's a lot that builds up to it. And as a work of the flesh, this is proof of your carnal nature in control. It's proof of your carnal nature in control. And I'll go so far as to say it's probably proof that you're lost. that you just need Jesus. If you just can't let it go, if you've got to state your case, if you've got to put your name out there, and you've got to make sure that you are right, and you've got to stir that strife, and you've got to go over there and sow that strife, and you've got to kindle that contention and kindle all this thing up, it's because you're lost, and your heart is wicked, and it's in control. You're child of the devil, and you are just living after your father. That's what you're doing, okay? And so what do you do about that? You run to Jesus. He says, come unto me all you that labor and heavy laden. I will give you rest. You come to Jesus. You come to him. You come to him in that state. Don't clean yourself up. You can't. You trying to clean yourself up is your pride coming to the surface again. And again, it is hindering the work of God in your heart. You just cannot do it. You can't do it. The hard thing is, Living clean can give you a prideful heart. It can build all sorts of pride in you. It can make you so proud. I'm not like that. I have never done those things. I've never even touched a drop of liquor. I've never fornicated. I've never looked at pornography. I've never done this, never done that. Well, stop trying to prove your salvation by the things you don't do. Stop trying to prove that you're saved by looking at everything you don't do. There's lots of people out there that have cut lots of things out of their lives. They're still lost and going to hell. How about you let God prove to you whether you're saved or not? Let him do it through the word of God. And so strife is a very clear way to see this. We were just in Proverbs 13, what was it? 13.10, only by pride cometh contention. And I wanna go now to, 1618, did we just read that? No, we read a different one. Look at 1618. It says, pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall. That pride is gonna go before destruction. It goes before it. Pride comes first, then contention, then strife, then wrath, then destruction. It's a process. It's just... And God lays this all out. And so he says in chapter 17, verse 14, the beginning of strife is as one letteth out water. Therefore, leave off contention before it be meddled with. Don't meddle with it. Don't get in there and meddle with the thing. Just leave it go. Leave it off. Just go away from it. Let it go. If you can't let it go, figure out why. Why can't you let this thing go? Why does it bother you that much? Search your heart on this. Let God search your heart with the word of God. Let's go to Proverbs 20 now. Proverbs 20, look at this. I guess we're in verse three. It says, it is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling. Every fool will be meddling. Now, what does it say in Proverbs 14.1? Somebody turn to Proverbs 14.1 and read it. Oh, I hope that's the right reference. Nope, that's not it. Oh man, there's my pride, just busted. Oh. Man, I thought for sure that was it. Well, the fool saith in his heart there is no God. Can anybody give me that reference? What is it? Psalm 14. That's it. I always thought it was in the Proverbs. Well, it's Psalm 14. The fool saith in his heart there is no God. The fool saith in his heart there is no God. A fool is somebody that says in his heart that there is no God. And it's a saith. It's a continual thing. It just abides there. There's no God. And so, looking at this here, we see in Proverbs 20 verse 3, it is an honor for a man to see strife from strife, but every fool will be meddling. Now it said, let off strife before it be meddled, let off contention before it be meddled with. If you're gonna meddle with contention, it's gonna come out in strife, and you're a fool. And again, God just proves to you that you say in your heart there is no God. If you're gonna meddle with strife, if you're gonna meddle with contention, you're gonna meddle with that pride, and you're just gonna meddle with all that stuff, it's proving that in your heart you are saying there is no God. Because this is a fool will be meddling, every fool. And so when you look at people and you see things, you observe, all right? I'm not telling you to be judging, all right? Don't be judge-y, I guess, because that's just your pride in the way. But you're to judge with righteous judgment. Righteous judgment is looking and saying, okay, this is what the Word of God says, and this is what I'm actually observing. And you're just weighing that thing. You're weighing that thing in the balance. And you look at that, and you see fools, and you see those that say in their heart there is no God, and we all know them. Sadly, there's a lot of religious people that say in their heart there is no God, and they don't even realize it, because they're living after the flesh, they're living according to their carnal nature. living according to what they desire, what they want, what they want to do, and all that. No regard for the Law of God, no regard for the Word of God whatsoever. They just know about God and what they've been told about God, and they've formed this mind that is an opinion about God, and it's not founded on the Word of God whatsoever. And it's another Christ. In most cases, it is anti-Christ. But these fools, you look, and they're gonna meddle with contention. They're gonna meddle with strife. I remember them in the workplace when I would, anywhere that I would go, and we're gonna see something about a scorner here in just a little bit, but there would be scorners. There would be those that would just say, I remember even just down at the bus garage, there was a guy that came up to me and said, you better watch your back, because these guys will stab you in the back as soon as they get the chance. It's like, you're driving a school bus, man. Really? We're going to play this game here too? And it's just proof that that's in every single workplace that you go to. There's going to be those that are just going to... The reason they're warning everybody about everybody stabbing everyone in the back is because they're doing their level best to do that very thing. they're the one trying to make themselves look good and they're gonna just go and they're gonna stir up this thing and they're gonna stir up that thing and they're gonna whisper here and they're gonna backbite here and they're gonna do that and that's a scorner and you can't you can't reprove a scorner you can't rebuke a scorner they just will not receive instruction and they're so proud they're so proud of their opinion and they're just gonna stir up strife and it's just proof that they're a fool that's all it is it's just proof that they're a fool and again that's not how That's not me being ugly about it at all. It's just using the Bible term in the right and proper sense. They're just being a fool, all right? Let's go to Proverbs 22 and verse 10. Proverbs has an awful lot to say about strife. Proverbs 22 10 says, cast out the scorner and contention shall go out. Yea, strife and reproach shall cease. Cast out a scorner and contention shall go out. That scorner is that one that's just stirring things up. They're being a fool about it, as I just described. And if you cast out that scorner, contention will go out. It's kind of like a fire tetrahedron, all right? Anyone has ever taken any kind of industry safety training, you've learned about the fire tetrahedron, all right? We learned about it at the plant. I'm sure they've learned about it there at Eaton and wherever else you may work. the fire tetrahedron. It's basically a triangle that needs all three parts in order for there to be fire. It's heat, fuel, and oxygen. You take one of those three away, and the fire is going to go out. If you take away the heat and you cool it below the ignition point of whatever substance is burning, the fire is going to go out. If you take away the oxygen, it's not going to have enough oxygen to have that chemical reaction with whatever chemical it's with and the spark and all of that, and the fire is going to go out. And if you take away the fuel, if you take wood out of the fire, there's not going to be any fire because there's nothing to burn. And so one of those three things, if you take it out, the fire's going to go out. And it's the same thing with a scorner. You take the scorner out of the equation, the contention's going to go out. It's going to cease. Yeah. I have a perfect example of that. There's a running joke in the shop. And you remember Chris. Oh, yes. Yeah. When Chris is on vacation, everybody's on vacation. Yeah. And that is literally the running joke of the entire shop. Yep. But he's known as a scorner. In your mind, you have an absolutely perfect definition of a scorner. Yep. Because that's the truth. When he's on vacation, It's just lighter. Pam, you know how that is when Theron's not there. I'm sure all of us who have worked in the workforce have somebody in mind that fits that. You ever consider it was you? You ever consider it might have been you? We don't like to think that. I know the guy that he's talking of, and I don't want to think myself like that, but I know I've been a scorner in the past. I've been that. So I've been a fool. I've stirred up contentions. And it's all silly stuff, but it's stuff that'll send you to hell. How terrible to go to hell over something silly. But yeah, where was that? Verse 10. Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out, yea, strife and reproach shall cease. It'll cease, it'll just stop. The fire's gonna go out. You remove one of those three things from the fire tetrahedron, the fire's gonna go out. You take the scorner out of the equation, it's gonna go out. And so if you have strife, and there are strifes manifested in your life or in your heart, and God is showing you that you are that scorner. Okay, God is proving to you that that is you. Your pride doesn't like that. Your pride's gonna try to hide from that. All right? But don't let it. Cast that pride down. Beg God to hide your pride from you so you can see yourself as God sees you. Yeah? I think we could also see it as persecution. Okay, explain. Because Chris doesn't like me because I'm not. Sure. Yep. You know what I mean? I don't I don't get into their conversations. I don't look at their phones. I don't. Yeah. I alienate myself from that. Yep. And for that, I'm literally persecuted for that. Yeah, I'm treated differently. I'm They just don't like me. I'm not one of them. I'm not in that clique. I think that can also be kind of put in there too. Yeah, because that strife and that contention is going to be against you because you're not going with the grain. It's like what they say, if you're petting the cat the wrong way, turn the cat around. You know, it's the best way to take care of it. If you run your hand against a board, against the grain, you're going to come back with splinters. It's just a fact. And when you go against the grain of the world, you're going to, it's going to, it's going to, it's going to hurt. It's going to smart for it. You're going to smart for it. But yeah, all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. It's just a truth. Now I have noticed that, I don't know if you've ever heard the old phrase, kill him with kindness? Well, sure. Yeah. Okay. Yep. I have found that when I treat him well, you know, like, be nice to him, whatever, like every once in a while, I'll bring in breakfast sandwiches for lunch, he's gonna pass around. I don't believe anybody else. Yep. I don't care who it is. Yeah. You know, I'm just, I can't do that. But I notice it boggles him. Like he doesn't know how to Well, in the Old Testament and the New Testament, it speaks of heaping coals of fire on their heads. You know, it's actually in Proverbs. If the enemy be hungry, give him food to eat. If he be thirsty, give him water to drink. In so doing, you're heaping coals of fire on his head. And so that concept of kill with kindness is a biblical concept. So that's good. Keep it up. But yeah, so there in there is that aspect of it about the scorner casting out that scorner. Let's go to Proverbs 26 now. There's a few verses in here that I want to examine. All right, understanding from what we just saw, contention, kindle, strife. A scorner is the one that strikes the match. I thought that was rather clever. If contentions kindle strife, a scorner is the one that strikes the match. So if you are that scorner, you're kindling that contention, you're kindling that strife, and you're letting out water that you can't control. It's gonna destroy you. But in Proverbs 26, verse 17, it says, he that passeth by and meddleth with strife belonging not to him is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. Okay, now we have a dog and she's a fairly nice dog as far as dogs go and you can take her by the ears and she's gonna love you for it, all right? Because any attention you give her is just like the greatest thing in the world to her. But the mindset of this is feral dogs, if you take them by the ears, you're right there next to the business end of that dog and it's gonna bite you. It's gonna bite you. And so if you're meddling with strife, you're passing by, you're meddling with strife not belonging to you. And even I would go so far to say meddling with strife that does belong to you. is dangerous too. But you're meddling with strife, you see a situation, you just gossip, you wanna know what's going on, you like being on the inside of things and you like to know what's going on. You're meddling with strife that doesn't belong to you. Things that are going on in people's homes. I know some things that are going on in people's homes because I'm the pastor. There's things you don't need to know. But yet you want to know. And so you try to get on the inward scoop. And I mean, everybody puts every, all bit of their junk on Facebook anyways now, anyhow. So, which is just, and then they get mad at you when you talk about them, you know. But well, you put it on at any rate. There's foolishness there too. But he that passeth by metal to a strife, belonging not to him, is like one that taketh a dog by the ears. And verse, let's go down verse 20. Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out. So where there is no tail-bearer, the strife ceaseth. And as coals are to burning, Sorry, as coals are to burning coals and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife. All right, and going back to everything that we just spoke of, these are the verses proving it, okay, that it is a fire. It's something that you kindle. It's something that you stir up. It's something that you burn. It's something, and once fire gets going, it can get out of hand very, very quickly. Very, very quickly. If it's not contained, if it's not killed, they say, what is the first two minutes of a fire is the best time to take care of it? Because after that, it's out of control. Okay, a fire in your house, you have two minutes to get that thing under control. Beyond that, it's beyond your control. Out in the woods, a fire gets away from you. You've got two minutes to get that thing under control. And if you can't, well, you better be calling the fire department and getting the forestry service out and all of that. And so, at the beginning of strife, get that thing under control, leave it off, leave off contention, just let it go, just walk away from it, get out of there. I would put this, lump this even into the flea youthful lusts. One thing about youth is there's vigor to it, okay? And you're strong and you've got something to prove. Young men are strong and you've got something to prove. And even if you don't have a contentious spirit, even if you don't have a warful attitude toward you, we don't like it when people attack us. And we'll fight back. That's a youthful lust, is to be right. And when somebody's trying to prove you wrong, and even when you know you can prove yourself right, don't defend yourself. Let God do that. Say what you need to say and leave off contention, okay? Just walk away from it. Just get out of there. Just flee it. Just get right away from it. Let's see, go to Proverbs 28 now. We only got three more in the Proverbs and then we're gonna jump into the New Testament for a little bit. Proverbs 28 and verse 25. Again, showing the, I guess the profile. of someone who is a scorner, someone who stirs up strife, somebody that has strife in them being manifested, okay? You know, when the police are looking for somebody, they put an APB out and they give the profile of that person, you know, five foot 11 and three quarters, dark hair with gray sideburns, patchy facial hair, medium to heavy build, late 30s, early 40s. Okay, that's the profile that describes me. Okay, that's me. The profile that describes a scorner that stirs up strife, one that has strife within their heart, this is what this is proving to us. Proverbs 8.25, he that is of a proud heart stirs up strife. So far we've seen they that hate stir up strife, and those that are scorners stir up strife, and now we see he that is of a proud heart stirs up strife, which is very interesting because of what we looked at with contention. Only by pride cometh contention, all right? You see how God is building the case against us, proving us? When we think we've got a way out, when we think we've got this angle, okay, yeah, but that's not me, and then he comes in with this verse. It's like, Lord, He's just proving it. He's just proving what's in your heart. He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. Now, Proverbs 29, 25, I need to turn a page. I don't need to read it to quote it, but the fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. That same concept plays right here. Putting your trust in the Lord, there's a safety there. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. You put your trust there. Put your trust there. Now, you're not putting your trust in the Lord to get saved. That's not how you get saved. But you learn to trust Him. he comes through for you, you'll learn to trust him. You've had friends in the past and maybe you got a new friend, you didn't know this person well, but the more you got acquainted to them, the more you opened up to them and you realized, hey, this is somebody I can trust. And so you open up even more and you start sharing some of the things that you really struggle with and you find out they struggle with the same, and there's that bond and those things happen. You're with your spouse, you're with your wife, your husband, And you know you get to know them and you learn them and you know their most inward parts and the fears that they have and you can begin opening up to them. Why? Because you've learned to trust them. Your parents provide for you so you learn to trust them. I've even seen it with kids jumping off of a playground, okay? The first time they jump into their dad's arms, they might be a little leery. There's those foolish kids that'll just jump without, you know, it's a bop. But, Connor, that would have been you, right? Amen. I saw the shared look back there. But that first jump might be a little leery until dad catches him a couple of times. And then after that, they realize, oh, dad's gonna catch me, I'm good. And they just throw themselves, you know? And so it's a thing that is built, all right? Trust is built. And once you become a child of God, you learn to trust him. And so you put your trust in him, you put your trust in the Lord, knowing he's gonna fulfill his promises, knowing he's gonna come through with everything that he promised. All the things he said he was gonna do, he does. All right, the good and the bad, he does those things. So you learn to trust him, you learn to trust his word, okay? And so there, he, what is it? The fear of man bringeth a snare, but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. Proverbs 28, 25, he that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat. Now that being made fat, that is the opposite of leanness. And we're not talking necessarily physical stature. Fatness in the Lord is showing blessings. It's showing that there's a great blessing being outpoured upon someone. Why? Because they have enough food. The lean cows in that vision that Pharaoh had, they were years where there wasn't enough. But the fat cows, those were the ones where there was years of plenty. Great blessings. So you put your trust in the Lord, he's gonna bless you. He's gonna come through. He's just gonna do it. And the great thing is, he's gonna bless you in a way that two or three years ago, you would have never thought that was a blessing. But when it happens, with everything he's brought you through and to that position and that point, you realize, wow, what a great blessing from the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for this thing. Sometimes he has to bring you through a knot hole in a tree and pull you out through the other side and put you all back together and send you on your way to realize, wow, I was stuck in a tree. You know? And it's a blessing to be on the other side of the thing. And so it's just the way the Lord works. His ways are higher than our ways. The things that He does, He doesn't need to explain to us. But guess what He does? Right here. He owes you no explanation whatsoever. No explanation. You ask, why God? He doesn't have to answer you. Not even a little bit. But if you get in His word and you go at it with the right attitude and the right heart, He very well may explain it to you. And you may not know until you see them face to face. It's not ours to know. There's a saying, and you're going to have to excuse me, those of you who are in the military, were in the military, but it's something that I have heard in the past. Ours is not to wonder why, ours is but to do and die. You don't wonder why, you don't wonder, why am I doing this? You've been given orders, you do it. How much more with our Lord? who has proven himself to be faithful, who has proven himself time and time again to be good. All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And all things, those all things, he makes all things new. Any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new. And that all things are good things. It's all good things, isn't it? All right. I glanced over at my wife and I totally got distracted. Okay, where were we at? We were in verse 25 of there. Let's come on down here to Proverbs 29, 22. Another profile of one that stirs up strife is A proud man, a scorner, but now look at this. An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. Now, I did a study on transgression a while back, and for the life of me, I cannot find the verse that I found that proves this, okay? So you can take it for what it is. I can't give you a reference for it, but there is a place where I found a couple of verses that prove what I'm about to tell you, okay? And I'm just being open and honest for you with this. But a transgression is to turn back from following and obedience. It's to not perform that which was commanded, okay? So something has been commanded to you and you purposefully didn't do it. That's a transgression, okay? And so the way of the transgressors is hard. And so the way of turning back from what you've been commanded, that's a hard life. And you see it played out in the lives of the people around you. You see all of these people that have hard lives, lives where sin has just destroyed them, it's just eaten them up, it's destroyed their skin, their complexion, their hair is falling out, okay? This hard life, it's a life of a transgressor. It's the way of a transgressor. They think their way is so good, but the ways they're in lead to death. And so it's the ways of death. And so an angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. And they go hand in hand, a furious man and an angry man. That fury comes out. And obviously it's angry man, angry woman. I don't really need to explain that, but it all goes hand in hand. That fury comes out. Contention is kindled, strife is meddled with, all of this is stirred up, and then all of a sudden, it's beyond your control, and you hate your life, and you hate your home, and there's seemingly no way to stop it. There's seemingly no way to stop it, and Satan just offers you a way out of suicide. Let me tell you what, if you are or ever have contemplated suicide, that was never from God, and so it came from one place, and one place only. That's Satan. The majority of those that commit suicide, they do it to get back at people. They're angry and they're gonna show them. Okay? It's this profile of a person that we're talking about right here. It's a dangerous place to be. Dangerous place to be. This is ultimately where Satan wants to get you to. And he'll get you there all the while thinking that you're lost. But we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. That's what the Bible says. I don't make that up. I'm not misapplying it. Murder is murder, and we know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Not a single one. Murderers can, but once they have eternal life abiding in him, they will no longer be a murderer. They'll be a child of God. Just consider these things. Now I want to continue on Proverbs 30 and verse 33, the last one that we're going to look at in Proverbs here tonight. Proverbs 30 and verse 33, and this is a comical one in sorts that you can prove to somebody that they do agree with a verse in the Bible. I didn't come up with this, I think it was even Pastor Askwith maybe that said it. They say, I don't believe a single verse in that Bible. Well, go up to them and wring their nose till it starts bleeding. And then turn them right here to Proverbs 30, verse 33. Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood. And there it is. You just prove to them that they do agree with the Bible. I wouldn't suggest it though. But it says this, so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife. The forcing of wrath. The forcing of wrath, if you can even imagine forcing wrath, all right? And I want you to understand, this does come into play with fathers, provoke not your children to wrath. You're forcing it. You're forcing them into that angry disposition. You're forcing them to lash out. You just poke and prod and just keep at them and keep at them and keep at them. You know, you may be joking. You may not be joking, but enough is enough. Enough is enough. And when you don't allow your children to be wrong, what do I mean by that? Well, when they are wrong, you don't correct them at all. You only ever come down harsh on them. There's never any instruction to show them the right way. It's just continually bringing it up and bringing it up and bringing it up and, oh, here it is again. Oh, there you are doing it again. And you're provoking them to wrath. You're forcing wrath, which is gonna lead to strife. It's gonna bring forth strife. and there's not gonna be any peace in your home, there's not gonna be a peace in your life, you're gonna hate your children, your children are gonna hate you. Don't provoke them to wrath. Same thing, those children, I want all the children in here to look up here. All right, I did see those eyes, thank you. Don't provoke your fathers to wrath either. Don't transgress against the law of your father and the law of your mother. They tell you to do something, you do it. You don't have to understand why. Maybe they don't handle things properly, maybe they don't do things right. But obey them in the Lord, for this is right. Unto thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that thy days may be long on the earth. I was talking with Brother McVeigh the other day, talking about Queen Elizabeth. She just passed away, but I've seen video clips of her during World War II. And then I've seen her in real life today walking about. Not today, today, but you understand. And I said, man, she lived long. We were talking about the diet, talking about this thing, that thing, what it could be. And he said, listen, she honored her mother. She honored the queen mother above anything else. And God proved his word. Isn't that something? If you honor your father and your mother, God promises life, that your days may be long on the earth. Just consider that next time you want to dishonor your parents. You're signing your own death warrant. All right, let's go to Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. We'll look at a couple of things here in New Testament dealing with strife. Just a few minutes left. Enough. We've got enough time. Luke 22, and we're going to start at verse 20. Now this is a time right before Jesus is gonna be taken and betrayed. They just take the Passover, all right? They're there and he says this, likewise also the cup after supper, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table and truly the son of man Excuse me, and truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined. And I love that because that's that determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. Okay, as it was determined. But woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed. And we see that all played out in Psalm 109, Psalm 69, all right, so many places there. All right, it says this, and they began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. and there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest?" Now, with everything that we've just learned about strife, how it is kindled, how it starts, the type of person that will kindle that stuff, and there's the Lord's disciples sitting around Him at the table, and they were wondering who it was. You know, is it I, is it I? And you see the other accounts, they go back and forth about that thing. And it was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest. Now, there's your emulations, wanting to be the greatest. There's your pride, wanting to be the greatest and knowing that you're right. Oh, surely it's not me. It's not me, is it, Lord? Oh, it couldn't be me. I would die for you, Lord, says Peter. And then Jesus tells him, when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren, You know, all of these things, nobody's immune to it. You think you've been in church long enough that you wouldn't stir up strife. You think that you've grown up in church and you've got that good church background and you know the Bible and you sing the hymns and you dress right and you spit white and you don't smell like smoke and I mean, your life is just exemplary and all of this. They literally physically walk with Jesus for three years. They were with him day and night, slept with him, maybe even heard him snore. I don't know if Jesus snored or not. But John the Baptist was just about at this point to lay his head on his breast and say, is it I? He's about to hear the heartbeat of God. And there was contention and strife that was stirred up. You think you're immune to it? Better let God search your heart. It's a work of the flesh. It's not a small matter. It's not a small matter. It goes so much farther than just getting along with everyone. This is a work of the flesh manifested. And so let's keep going. Romans 13. Romans 13. We're gonna be in verse 13, I think it is. Let's start at verse 12. Romans 13, 12, it says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day. Okay, this is how we're to walk, right? This is how our walk should look. This is the type of thing that the born again life, a life transformed by Jesus Christ should look. We had a walk as in the day, and then he says what it doesn't look like. Not in rioting and drunkenness, paired right up together. Not in chambering and wantonness, paired right up together. Chambering, it's that chambering in and out with women and men and, you know, the Romans would have their parties where they would go into the rooms and they would have their wild times together and all of that. That's that chambering. Wantonness, wanton eyes are those eyes that are looking to allure a man, trying to catch a man's eye. All right, it ties up with lasciviousness, okay, but wantonness is that putting yourself out there, right? You're advertising, okay? They're paired right up here. And then again, not in strife and envying. Now we have a new player that has entered the arena, envy. Envy is different than jealousy. I've defined it for a couple of you here before, but jealousy is a good thing. Men ought to be jealous over their wives. Wives ought to be jealous over their husbands. Jealousy is a good thing. A pastor ought to be jealous over his pulpit that he's been given to him and put in his trust, okay? God is jealous over his people. His name is jealous, okay? So jealousy is not that sin. Envy though, envy is really what we're thinking about when we're talking about those things. Covetousness is looking at someone's stuff, okay? Seeing somebody that has a nice car. We'll just use that for example, because it's an easy one, all right? Jeff West, he's got a bunch of cars, okay? Really nice cars. I can't even pronounce half of them, all right? Lord has taken all covetousness from me in those things, and I just, it would get me from point A to point B, and it would sound cool to me, all right? That's about it. But, You look at those cars and, boy, I really want those cars. That's covetousness, wanting what God hasn't given to you. God gave it to Jeff West. He didn't give it to you, okay? Envy is hating Jeff West because he has the cars. See the difference? Covetousness is focused on the thing. Envy is focused on the person, right? And you see that strife is paired up with envy here. Strife is paired up with envy. You're not gonna have strife if you're not envying. And if you are envying people, you're gonna have strife. It's gonna be kindled, which puts you in that category of an angry person. You're a scorner, you're proud. Then you look at those other things that are paired up with those words, proud, bolsters, blasphemers, haters of God, lovers of their own selves. Those ones in these last days, a perilous time shall come. And so all of this puts together the profile of what it is to have strifes. These are strifes. And it's not good. Go to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 3. Because we know the issues that go on here in the church, it says, He wishes he could feed him with meat, but he can't. He's got to feed him with milk. Verse three, for you're yet carnal, for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions, are you not carnal and walk as men? Are you not carnal and walk as men? You're walking carnally in that thing. If there is strife, you're walking carnally. If there is envying, you're walking carnally. If there are divisions, you're walking carnally. And he goes on to say that these carnal things, it's over the preachers. So over the preachers, for while one saith, I'm of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he that planteth is anything, neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. So if there are these strifes in your life, it is proof that you are carnal. You're just being carnal. It's your carnal mind in control. And if your carnal mind is in control and you are born of God, you have usurped the throne of your mind from God. You've given power back to that thing which killed and destroyed you. You've given over to it. And it very well may be that God has given you over to it. So you'd smart for it, so it wouldn't hurt. So you'd learn not to blaspheme. Paul delivered that one over unto Satan that he might learn not to blaspheme. Give him right over to Satan. Go ahead. Do what you want to. Paul had that authority. He could do that. I can't give anybody over to Satan. But God sure will. Now, I don't necessarily believe that that is to the destruction of their soul. If they refuse to repent, it very well may be, if they're lost. But it's for a purpose. It's so you'd hurt in the sin that you just absolutely demand that you're going to live in. I'm going to live this way. And it's going to hurt you. The way of the transgressors is hard. It's a hard life. And when you stir up strife, when you're angry, when you're wrathful, when you've got all of this that just is continually being kindled up and sewn around you, just look at where you've been. Listen, you wanna know where the tractor has been that was planting corn. You wait a few months and look where the corn comes up. You know that's where the tractor was that had the corn planter that had corn in it, okay? You just look at your life. What's growing? What's the fruit of your life? Look at the path behind you. Is it destruction? Mine was till I met Christ. It's destruction, absolute destruction. And then, to make matters worse, I refused to follow Him. And I destroyed my life even more. The way of the transgressors is hard, folks. And when there's strife in you, it's a work of the flesh, flat out. And Paul says, you're carnal. You're walking as men. We're supposed to walk as children of light, Jesus said. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 12, just about done. I got a couple more verses here. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 20. We'll have to start at verse 19. Again, think ye that we excuse ourselves unto you. We speak before God in Christ, but we do all things, dearly beloved, for your edifying. For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not. So basically, what he's saying is, I really hope you get all these things straightened out. By 2 Corinthians, the Corinthian church had really straightened a lot of stuff out. They had gotten right with God in a lot of things. But he's warning them. You better have gotten it all straightened out, because I don't want to have to come to you and straighten things out. You don't want me to have to come to you and get things straightened out. This is a man of God who cares for his people. There have been times where I've had to straighten some things out. Things where people were being hurt because of it. I just straightened some things out. It certainly wasn't pleasant, I didn't make any friends with it, but the strife ceased. And so, biblical example, it says this, lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults. And lest when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed." All right? So a lot of things that Paul was dealing with there. But again, lumping these things together, wrath, strife. Go to Philippians 2. There's actually seven places, and we're not gonna look at them all tonight, but there's seven places in total where strife and envy are paired up together. We've looked at a couple of them. Philippians 2 in verse 3. He says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Lowliness of mind. So what you're seeing is the opposite of strife and vainglory. Again, vainglory, paired right up with pride, paired right up with those emulations. All right? You see it all together, paired right up with envying. It's that vainglory. But he says, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, opposite of pride, lowliness of mind, having the right opinion about yourself. Okay? Knowing that you're just a ball of mud. You're nothing than a wet sack of meat that has been wrapped around some bones. That's a pretty good place to keep yourself, okay? This whole self-esteem thing that's been poured into our country for so many years back from, I'm sure it was before when we were children, but I remember hearing about it in school when we were kids. Gotta have good self-esteem. You ought to think good of yourself. You ought to be proud of yourself. Take some pride in what you do. Good night. That's the worst thing you could do. Tell a kid to have good self-esteem. They need to see themselves as a wretch before God because of the law of God showing them that so that God can give them a new life, give them life and happiness and godliness and contentment, which is great gain. But with the holiness of mind, let each esteem other better than themselves, which cancels out emulations. It totally cancels that out entirely. It cancels out any strife. If you're esteeming the person that you're striving with better than yourself, there's not gonna be any strife. The contention is gonna go out. Can you imagine if Chris would come up to you and say, man, you know what, you handled that way better than I would have. You did a great job on that. Thank you for getting that pump fixed. Can you imagine if you would do that? But what would that do? It would cancel out strife. There would be no strife, there'd be no fire, there'd be no fuel. It would just go out, okay? So, and what's amazing to me, you know, if you cast out the scorner, the contentions will cease and the strife will cease and all of that, the fire is gonna go out basically. There's two ways to get rid of a scorner. Completely remove him out of the position, remove him out of that situation, get him away from you. Or God removes the scorner in saving the scorner, changing them, making them somebody who's not a scorner anymore. And guess what? The contention goes out. The pride is no longer there. There's no more strife. There's no more striving for power. Oh, we see that so much in wives over their husbands. They just want to be in charge because they know that they could do it better. That's not what God gave for you. That's not what God gave for you. God gave you a husband so you could love him and so he could protect you and guide you and lead you. My wife has thrived in that I've noticed she's, and I want you to understand how I'm saying this, all right, in the way I'm putting this. She's been able to be a ditzy blonde again. I've just noticed some things recently where she hasn't been struggling to keep everything in control and keep everything together and make sure the house runs properly and make sure that I'm doing what I'm supposed to do and the kids are doing what they're supposed to do. And when I step into the position of leadership and I'm actually leading her, she's able to just relax. And with that, her blonde roots are able to come out. And it's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. So husbands, love your wives. lead them, guide them, guard them, get them in the house of God, get them under the preaching of the word of God, let God stir in their hearts. Listen, if there's wives in here that are contentious, it's because you're proud, it's because you're a scorner, okay? A contentious wife is like a continual dropping. It's better to live in a wilderness than to live in a broad place with a contentious wife. So many things throughout the Proverbs that speak of those things. Just let God take that strife out and change that scorner. Let God do that. Just go to him, just say, that's me, that's me. Let God switch that around, take care of that entirely. All right, James 3, and then we're done. James 3. Verses 14 and 16. We'll read all the way through it. Starting at verse 14. 13 would be best. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. Now that's an interesting statement. With meekness of wisdom. So that means Wisdom without pride. But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. Huh. If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, lie not against the truth. The truth is showing you what's in your heart, and you're trying to lie to yourself about it. Your heart is trying to deceive you and say, no, that's not me. That's not, no, that's not our situation. Our situation is different. We don't have to think like that. No, no, lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. Devilish. Sensual, that's not necessarily sexual, that's relating to the senses, okay? Your senses, what you're perceiving, what you're tasting, touching, smelling, feeling, okay? It's sensual. That's that type of wisdom. It's worldly wisdom. It's the wisdom of the world, and it's the spirit of Antichrist that's guiding it. It's devilish. It's wicked. You're lying to yourself against the truth. But he says, for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. Confusion and every evil work. So if there is strife, and it's just a mild thing, there wouldn't be ever evil work associated with it. I believe this is a good place to cap this off. I was gonna go into some things about going into that love covereth all sins, but I've got a few verses there. Maybe I'll preach it next Wednesday night. But looking at this here, you see that strife and envy is so wicked, and it brings confusion, and God is not the author of confusion. That's not from God. That's your own wicked heart stirring up strife, getting things riled up, envying, and it's stirring up confusion, and you're a scorner, and you will not hear rebuke, and you will not receive instruction, and you'd be best to be casted out. And look at this. There is confusion in every evil work. Now, evil in the Bible is that which brings destruction. We've already seen the connection between strife and destruction, and pride and destruction, and haughty spirit comes before destruction, all of that. Every evil work comes from strife. Eventually, you let yourself go in that thing, every evil work is gonna come out. It's all gonna come out, all right? And so, again, looking at this, God shows you it's in your heart, go to Him. Flee to him for mercy, begging for that mercy. Let him do that work in you, let him give you that thing. Let every, let God be true, but every man a liar. You've got to let that happen, because your pride is going to rise up against it and say, oh, not me. But yet God proved you time and time and time again, gave you specific things in your heart, times where you were that scorner, you were proudful, you were contentious, you stirred up that thing, you sowed that thing, you were angry, you were wrathful, all of that. He showed you that tonight, but yet you still say, nope, not me. Why not against the truth? All right, just believe God what He tells you. Okay? And know that Jesus Christ is the only answer for that. It's the only hope. He is the only hope. You can't clean that up. You can't stop it. It's because it's what's in you. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. All right, we're done. Any closing comments on that at all? No? All right. Theron, would you close us in prayer? Dear Lord,