Proverbs 6:16-19
I’ve always admired people who can wear a T-shirt that’s so outrageous that you wonder what made them wear it in the first place. For instance, there was a retired guy who wore one that said, “At my age I’ve seen it all, heard it all, done it all. I just can’t remember it all.” Someone else had one that said, “I used to be horribly schizophrenic, but now we’re both O.K.” And then a mother with three very hyper-active kids had a shirt that read, “Now I know why animals eat their young.” One guy had a shirt that said in the front, “Bomb expert” and on the back it said, “If you see me running, you better keep up.” Then there was a deaf couple who were signing to one another and his shirt said; “Don’t yell at me.” And hers said, “I’m not yelling.” The one I really got a kick out of was the guy whose shirt said, “I’m with stupid” and he was all by himself.
Even stranger than what people put on their T-shirts is what people put on their gravestones. Here are a few I read, “Harry Edsel Smith of St Albans born 1903 died 1942 and then the phrase, “I looked up the lift shaft to see if the lift was on the way down. It was.” In a Somerset, England read one, “Here lies an Atheist, all dressed up and no place to go.” On the grave of Jobe Aikle in London, England it said: “Here lies Jobe Aikle, age 102, only the Good Die Young.” I guess that was his evaluation of himself. And then another one in London, England said, “Here lies Ann Mann, who lived an old maid but died an old Mann.” Now, here a strange one in Ribbesford, England and it makes you wonder what member of the family wrote it; it says, “Anna Wallace; the children of Israel wanted bread, and the Lord sent them manna. Clark Wallace wanted a wife and the Devil sent him Anna.” I don’t think that was written by Anna. In Kent, England one said, “Here lies Johnny Yeast. Pardon me for not rising.” And then in a Birmingham, England cemetery: “Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake who stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake.” A lawyer’s gravestone in England said, “Sir John Strange. Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange.” John Penny’s epitaph in Wimborne, England says: “If cash thou art in want of any, dig six feet deep and thou wilt find a Penny.” In a Hartscombe, England one reads: “On the 22nd of June, Jonathan Fiddle went out of tune.” Anna Hopewell’s grave in Devon England says, “Here lies the body of our Anna, done to death by a banana. It wasn’t the fruit that laid her low, but the skin of the thing that made her go.” And then the last one was on a grave from the 1880s in Epping London: “Under the sod and under the trees, lies the body of Jonathan Pease. He is not here, there’s only the pod. Pease shelled out and went to God.”
It’s nice that some people give us something to think about after they’ve gone and when we read about Solomon the first thing we think about him is that; he was the wisest man who ever lived, right? And he was; because God gave him the wisdom and then he went on to demonstrate how wise he was by the things he said and the many things he did. I mean, God used him to write the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs and then he built huge estates beginning with his own house which we’re told took him thirteen years to build and they say it was the size of a football field and then he built the Temple in Jerusalem; which as I said a few weeks ago; his father donated the first four billion dollars and then Solomon threw in the rest. On top of that he also had his own fleet of ships to support his shipping and mining businesses and brought in everything his heart could possibly imagine. He had so much money that he was considered to be the richest man who ever lived.
But listen; a good beginning doesn’t always mean a good end because we also see that the wisest man in the world did some really dumb things. For instance, he had a thousand wives and there are several suggestions why he did. I’m sure many these were part of his political alliances but there was a cost to this because many of these women led him into various forms of cultic worship to the point that God said about him in 1 Kings 11, “But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites: of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.”
And besides the political reasons for these affiliations, he may have also liked to show off to everyone how important he was and demonstrate how one woman could never satisfy his particular needs. So, as wise as he was, he was also arrogant in the sense that he believed that the commandments of God applied only to other people; and not to him.
And that leads us to the 2nd reason Solomon’s heart was turned away from God and that’s because he spent his time with the wrong people. His father David wrote in Psalm 1, “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. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in His law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” And what David was saying was; there’s a certain type of people you don’t want to hang out with if you want to have the blessing of God on your life. For instance, you don’t want to hang around wicked people. You don’t want to stand around with those who enjoy and rejoice in sin. And you certainly don’t want to sit down with people who would mock God or you’re having faith in Him. Listen, if you hang out with the wrong people; you’ll pick up on their bad habits, you’ll begin to use their language, you’ll begin to look at your family, your school or your job the same way they do and then you’ll begin to view God the same way too.
So, he ignored the word of God and then he hung around with those who ignored it as well. You know, over in Ecclesiastes 1:16 Solomon said to himself, “Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me.” And this verse tells us that when God initially gave Solomon wisdom, He gave it to him on a human level. He gave him wisdom to make successful decisions and judgments; and although divine wisdom was also available; I believe Solomon opted for human wisdom the greater portion of his life and in the end of his life even the kingdom was taken away from his son.
In other words, he was wise but he also did dumb things; just like the other people God used. For instance, there’s Moses who began his relationship with the Jews by murdering a member of the Egyptian army and then he ended up in the desert taking care of sheep for around forty years. Then we have Gideon who we first met when he was hiding in a hole in the ground threshing wheat and he was doing this because he was afraid of his enemies and then after God empowered him to lead Israel to victory the last thing we hear of Gideon is that he turned to idolatry with all the things he received from the battles he won. And then there’s David who had everything anyone could ever want but he wasn’t happy until he got his neighbors wife and then he ended up killing him rather than face his sin. And then we see Jonah who seems to be the weirdest choice of a prophet or an evangelist we could ever imagine because he started out by running away from God and then after God had a whale swallow him and throw him up three days later He used him to save more people than anyone else in the Bible and yet the book ends with him arguing with God and having a really bad attitude.
But listen, in spite of who these people were and what they had done wrong; God still used them and don’t forget that He was the One who chose them in the first place even though He knew they’d fail. Listen, God doesn’t chose us because He knows our potential but as Augustine said, “He chose us because He chose us.” Listen, that’s great news; because God is still using losers!
So, here in Proverbs 6, we have a little piece of wisdom God gave Solomon and He said, there are seven things I hate and since all of us who are saved are indwelt by the Spirit of God then it only makes sense that we should hate them too! And these seven things are found in Proverbs 6:16-19:
"These six things does the Lord hate. Yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that devises wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaks lies, and he that sows discord among brethren.”
Or as someone said, “A liar, a murderer, one who always makes criminal plans, a mischief maker, a slanderer and a troublemaker in the church.”
Now, let me just sidestep this passage for a minute and tell you that there are several other things God says He hates. For instance, He tells us He hates divorce in Malachi 2:16 and the reason He hates divorce is because divorce disolves marriage and marriage was created for the benefit of both the man and the woman. And not only does it disolve the relationship which was meant to last for a lifetime but it also marks the lives of those who are divorced. I mean, God even says there are certain offices of the church; like pastor or deacon where He doesn’t want divorced people serving.
And then in Deuteronomy 16:22 we’re told God hates idolatry. And we can understand this because someone is putting something either large or small, pretty or pretty ugly in the place of God. And God finds this repulsive.
Let me use a really strange illustration here. Let’s say, you went away for a week and when you came home you found a blown up doll with your picture on it sitting in your favorite chair in front of the television and when you asked what this was all about; your husband or wife said, “I made that when you went away because I really missed you and it kept me company when you were gone.” And you think, well, my picture is glued on the head and it’s about my size; but it’s not alive and there’s an awful lot missing. And no matter how long you look at it you come to the point of realizing how stupid it is. And the same is true of anything we use to represent God and that’s why He hates idolatry because anything we use to represent Him; actually takes away from who He is; because there’s always so much more to Him than anyone could ever imagine.
And then in Psalm 45:7 we’re told God hates evil and that means He hates any kind of evil. So, what’s evil? In Genesis 6 it says, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.”
John MacArthur said, “God is not the author of evil. If God created evil then God would be both good and evil. And if God were both good and evil, there would be no hope for the ultimate triumph of good which the Bible promises. If God were Himself evil, He could not therefore triumph over evil, so good could not triumph. If God were the source of evil, He would have to be evil Himself. And if He were evil Himself then there could be no basis for salvation, for God could not save us from evil if evil was in His nature.” And then he went on to say, “Evil is not a created thing. Evil is not a substance. Evil is not an entity. Evil is not a being. Evil is not a force. Evil is not some floating spirit. Evil is a lack of moral perfection. God created absolute perfection. Wherever a lack of that exists, sin exists. And that cannot exist in the nature of God or in anything that God makes. Evil comes into existence when God’s creatures fall short of the standard of moral perfection.”
And then in Isaiah 61:8 we’re also told that God hates robbery and injustice. Now, according to the scriptures, robbery and violence are contrary to the commandments we’ve just studied which told us we are to love God and our neighbors.
And then in Amos 5:21-23 we’re told where God was talking to those who said they were believers but didn’t act like it and He said, “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.” And what God hated was the fact that these people were doing all the right things and acting like they had a relationship to Him when they didn’t.
So, there are certain things God hates and the seven sins that are named here are sins that are especially destructive to every one of us because they really deliver a deadly punch not only to one another but especially to our relationship with God.
And the first one is ‘a proud look.” A proud look literally means someone has haughty or lofty eyes; it’s the idea that someone thinks they’re not only better than they really are but they also think they better than everyone else. Have you ever been around people who acted as though they were a cut above you? I remember when I worked as a handy man and my boss and I were doing a job for a guy who brought us both a cup of coffee and on the coffee cups it said, “Granite Club” which was a prestigious club in Toronto. So, my boss asked him if he was a member and then he told us that not only was he a member but he went on to tell us who he knew just to let us know how important he was. And I’ve got to admit that the only thing that really impressed me was the fact that we got free coffee for listening to him.
And we’ve all got to watch this thing called pride because Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” I was reading about the Battle of the Wilderness in the Civil War where they said Union general John Sedgwick was inspecting his troops and at one point he came to an open window that stood in the direction of the enemy. And as he stood there one of his officers suggested he should duck and hurry past this look-out point and he said, "Nonsense," they couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist--" and the general fell dead from a gunshot. Listen, he wasn’t just killed by a gunshot but it was his pride that killed him and just like him none of us are above falling on our faces out of pure stupidity; after all, not only did this general do it but so did Solomon and he was the wisest man in the world.
You see, pride is a not only sense of a person’s own worth but it’s also an attitude that has a way of reducing the size of everyone else and it can also be used as a weapon to cut everyone else down and this was the attitude the Pharisee had in Luke 18:9-14 where it says, “And he (Jesus) spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself; God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week; I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Listen, a proud look is the first sin that ever existed because even before the beginning of the world we see in Isaiah 14:12-14 where Satan said, he wanted to lift himself up above everything else and sit side by side with God. And yet, we all know that he wouldn’t have been content with that; because sooner or later he’d want to be above God. And listen, this is the same lie that Satan subtly tempts Christians with; because he doesn’t say, we can be equal with God or even that we can become gods but that we deserve more than God is giving us. After all, he says, aren’t you better than you’re getting?
Proverbs 13:10 gives us another expression of pride where it says, “Only by pride cometh contention” and this is the kind of contention that destroys relationships. There was a lady who had been found dead in her bath tub and they said she had been dead in the tub for 3 years. She had sisters and brothers but none of them had ever checked on her and do you know why? They had a family reunion and she didn’t show up or tell anyone why she wasn’t there, so, they were all mad at her and never bothered to call; but the reason she didn’t go was; she was dead. (When I heard that, my first thought was, think of all the potato salad they missed.)
So, God hates “the proud look” and it’s the result of a proud heart which is revealed by proud words and they’re often directed toward others in the form of criticisms or “put downs.” And listen, this really makes God mad. But what makes Him glad is to see a heart of humility that’s demonstrated by words that are meant to be a blessing and encouragement to others.
Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 2:2-3, “Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”
And the second thing God hates is the lying tongue. There was a book out last year called, “The Day America Told the Truth” and it says that “91 percent of those surveyed lie routinely about matters they consider trivial, and 36 percent lie about important matters; 86 percent lie regularly to parents, 75 percent lie to friends, 73 percent lie to siblings, and 69 percent lie to spouses.”
So, the point of the book is that lying is a way of life. So, if your mother says she loves you, you’d better get a second opinion. Proverbs 12:22 says, “Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.” So, what does God think about lying? Well, He hates it!
And yet, as the survey says, everybody is doing it. After all, they’re only little white lies but as Austin O’Malley said “those who believe it is alright to tell a little white lie soon grow color blind.”
God desires truth in our life. Psalm 51:6 says, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” God is a God of truth and that tells us that if we have a relationship with Him then we’ll value truth as well.
As a matter of fact, Proverbs refers to our tongue, our mouth and our lips over 150 times in just 31 chapters! So, everything we say is important. As a matter of fact, Proverbs 18:21 says: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” So, everything you have said this week has either assassinated someone or breathed life into them.
The words we say are powerful for at least three reasons. And the first is; our words are everywhere. According to researchers, on an average day, we open our mouths 700 times and use about 18,000 words! If we talk this much then we’re bound to say a few right words and plenty of wrong. No wonder Jesus said in Matthew 12:37: “By your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
And then second, our words are powerful. Proverbs lists several examples of how the tongue can be used to hurt, destroy and kill.
For instance, there’s gossip. Proverbs 20:19: “A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.” Proverbs 18:8 tells us that some people feed on gossip like others enjoy food: “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man’s inmost parts.” This means that gossip is usually fun and interesting because it appeals to our desire for information and details. The problem is; when we feed on gossip we’ll always crave more. It’s like potato chips; you can’t put down the bag no matter what.
And the strange thing about gossip is, it has a way of coming back on us. I mean, whatever we say about people behind their back, we can expect those we say it to; to say the same about us when we’re not around. I always promise that if someone wants to tell me a secret that I’m going to tell everyone but I’ll tell them not to tell anybody else.
So, there are two lines we should all stop using and they are, “I probably shouldn’t say this” and “I know this is wrong, but.” We all need to check our internal motives for saying the things we say.
I heard about three old guys who were talking about what their grandchildren would be saying about them fifty years from now. The first one said "I would like my grandchildren to say, ’He was a hard worker.” The second one said “50 years from now, I want them to say, ’He was a loyal family man.” Turning to the third person, he asked, "So what do you want people to say about you in fifty years?" "Me?" the third one replied. "I want them to say, ’He certainly looks good for his age!”
The fact is; we all want people to say nice things about us. We all want to be loved and appreciated, so we should do for others what we want them to do for us. The Quakers have a saying filled with a lot of truth: “Never break the silence unless you can improve on it.” Abraham Lincoln was fond of saying, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Proverbs 10:19 puts it this way: “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
A wise man once said, “If your lips would keep from slips, five things observe with care. To whom you speak, of whom you speak, and how, and when, and where.”
Let me quickly give you 7 situations where all of us should hold our tongue. “When we’re tempted to say, “I told you so,” don’t. When we have information that makes someone look bad, keep it. When someone is upset about a problem and we’ve had a similar experience, be careful not to try to shift the focus of the conversation by sharing your horror stories, no one wants to hear them when they’re feeling bad about their own. When we’re tempted to judge or criticize someone, let it pass. When we want to correct someone on a minor point as they tell a story, remember, no one really cares. When someone has not asked for our opinion but we feel it’s important you share it anyway; don’t. And when we want to tell a story to impress someone about how important we are; don’t bother, they probably already know.
There was an old poem that said, “A wise old owl lived in an oak, the more he heard, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard, why can’t we all be like the wise old bird?”
And then the third thing God hates are hands that shed innocent blood. And we can think of those who are guilty of murder, abortion and even those who are involved in fighting against the innocent people of this world. I remember when I used to jog with a friend in New York and we talked about all kinds of things and one night we began discussing his military background and I asked him, “What would you do if you were ever commanded to do something you knew was absolutely wrong?” And his response was, “It’s my country, right or wrong.” In other words, if he was told to do it, then he’d do it. Now, on one hand you have to admire both his loyalty and the faith he had in those who were above him but on the other, his attitude certainly lent itself to doing all kinds of things we’d consider wrong. I guess in his situation you’d have to remember the verse that says, God hates the hands that shed innocent blood.
And then the fourth thing God hates is; an heart that devises wicked imaginations. The Hebrew word for deviseth means something that’s done in secrecy and subtlety and it’s a sneaky thing. In other words, it’s in your heart and you and God are the only ones who know what’s there. Think of the way Satan approached Eve; he didn’t come right out and ask her if she wanted to sin but he asked her a simple question, “Did God say?” He was very subtle and she should have been alert to the fact that he was questioning God’s word.
Listen to how the scripture describes us in Matthew 15:19 “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” And then in II Corinthians 10:5 we told to be “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
A heart that devises or comes up with wicked ideas is the opposite of an honest heart and honesty is the always the best policy and not only because God commands it but also because dishonesty has a way of blowing up in our faces.
I heard about a really stingy guy who had to send a birthday present to a friend but he didn’t want to spend too much, so, when he was in a store he noticed a broken vase that the owner was about to throw away. So, he bought it for next to nothing and then had the store mail it to his friend. He figured his friend would think this expensive gift had been broken by the post office; but a week later he received a note from his friend and it said, “Many thanks for the lovely vase. It was nice of you to have each broken piece wrapped separately!” And I’m sure that after the fact, he would have thought that honesty was the best policy.
And then the fifth thing God hates are “feet that are swift in running to mischief.” And this speaks of people who are quick to carry out what has already been devised in their hearts. This is more than falling or sliding into sin, which is common to all of us but this is the execution of a premeditated act of sin. Isaiah 59:7 “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.”
And we’re told to do the opposite in Ephesians 6:15 where it says, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”
And then the sixth thing God hates is a false witness that speaks lies. Literally; this means, “he that breathes out or utters a false witness” and we looked at this a few weeks ago in the Ten Commandments where it says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” In other words, you shouldn’t lie to them and you shouldn’t lie about them.
And then the seventh thing God hates; is he that sows discord among the brethren and the emphasis here is on the person who intentionally seeks to destroy the harmony and unity among believers. Bitterness and vindictiveness have no part in the lives of true Christians.
Paul said to the Corinthians in I Corinthians 3:3, “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” And this tells us carnality in the church is very disruptive because it takes the focus off of the important issues. It stifles the growth of the church. It disrupts the witness of the church and it divides the body of Christ.
I was listening to CBC one night and a Jewish homosexual was being interviewed for some kind of an article. And when they asked him about religion he said, “I used to be an atheist but now I don’t really care anymore so I guess you could call me an apatheist because I just don’t care.” He was apathetic because the whole idea didn’t appeal to him one way or the other.
And then he went on to say that several of his friends are Christians and they seem to organize their whole lives around God. And yet, he said, they are not in the least concerned about me or my ‘lost’ condition. In other words, they’re just as apathetic about God as he was but somehow they felt secure in knowing they were going to heaven when they died. And then he said, “I just don’t understand them.” He wasn’t angry or bitter, he was just bewildered by evangelical Christians that didn’t evangelize.
Listen, God hates it when we misuse of the parts of our bodies that He intended to be blessings. He gave us our eyes to see His light, our tongues to proclaim His truth, our hearts to feel His compassion, our hands to hold out His blessings and our feet to follow His way.
So, how do we act in response to what He said? If God hates a proud look and a proud look is the result of pride then we need to see ourselves as we really are; as sinners who are simply saved by the grace of God and that our salvation has nothing to do with who we are and what we’ve done but that we’ve accepted what He has done for us on Calvary. Then second, since He hates a lying tongue we need to focus on telling the truth and make sure the truth we tell is in love. And since He hates those who shed innocent blood then we need to do just the opposite and where it’s in our power to protect the weak and less fortunate in our world, we need to do what we can. And then since He hates any heart that devises wicked imaginations, we need to cleanse our lives daily in the word of God so we’ll live as though our hearts are as clean as they should be. And since He hates feet that are swift in running to mischief, we need to avoid those things that are offensive to both God and man. And since He hates any false witness that speaks lies, we need to stand for truth whenever it’s in our power to do so. And then since God also hates those who sow discord among brethren, we need to do all that’s in our power to sow peace and sometimes that simply means avoiding those who are sowing any kind of discord.
Or as Matthew 5:9 says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.”
