Go ahead and turn to Proverbs chapter 4, we'll continue there. I really want your prayers today that the Lord will help me. I trust Him to. And when I say that, I guess I mostly mean pray for me to get out of the way. My own opinions or thoughts aren't going to help anybody much. But God has some truths to teach us that are heavy. They're heavy. I want to remind us as we begin in this lesson today, and we'll read the scripture in a moment. John chapter 3, we're told that men hate the light because they love darkness. But it says everybody who loves light come to the light. Do you remember the rest? So that their deeds might be exposed. I find even in a book that we would think is full of practical wisdom like Proverbs, and it is. Proverbs, if you want a guidebook for how to operate in everyday life, in business, in finances, in practical matters, there's not a better writing than this. It's full of practical wisdom, and yet the more I've patiently dug into this, it's also full of deep spiritual wisdom, which is light. And before I say anything else, this message, you just remember when a preacher preaches, to be able to get up and try to bring what God gave, he's already preached it to himself. So nobody think I'm being unnecessarily critical, and yet I want to try to preach what God has put here, so that he'll continue to expose the darkness in each of our own hearts. so that more of His light might shine. You know, that's what we really want as His children. It really is. And so, we're going to begin in verse 20 and read through the end of the chapter. We concluded with verse 19 last week, and I might, before I read, just mention that. 18 and 19, the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter into full day, but the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know over what they stumble. Brothers and sisters, anytime someone says something that makes us uncomfortable, resentful, angry, or any type of those kind of emotions, this is a lesson for all of us for life. Be careful to see, is it because they're wrong, or is it because we're wrong in our heart? Sometimes somebody says something that makes me mad because it's exposing a brokenness, a sin inside of me. And we have an opportunity as God's people to have more and more light, the light of Jesus Christ. So let's begin reading in verse 20. My son, be attentive to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart for their life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance. For from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech. Put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot away from evil. Reminder, as we're studying this, we're studying to better know God, to better know ourselves and our relation to God, and to better know the world and our place in it. In Solomon's thesis, this whole book, The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge, Fools Despise Wisdom and Instruction, you say, why do you keep repeating that? Because we need to get it. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We don't have any hope for wisdom without God. and his fear. First of all, this phrase in verse 20, My son, be attentive to my words and incline your ear to my sayings. We've seen this exact wording before. And there's a beautiful picture of how we're supposed to respond to truth and to Jesus, who is truth. He says, be attentive. That is an active posture of being ready and willing to listen. Too many of us live life seated just slovenly, just sort of kicked back, not ready. He says, be attentive. This father tells his son, you be waiting and ready. Say, why are you so emotional about that? Because this is the key to having life. That's how you respond to salvation. Not being forgetful here or lazy here. You need to be attentive. When you are the Son of the Father in heaven, we should live our lives almost on the balls of our feet like, what's next Lord? Not with anxiousness. With anticipation. Attentive. Ready to go! We just had the Olympics and I see these runners and, you know, they get on their marks and the start of the race can change, even a short race, how it finishes. They get off the mark to a hundredth of a second. Attentive, they can only do that if they're attentive to that fire, that gunshot, that bell, whatever they use. That's how God wants us. That's what so many parables of Jesus are about. Live in this life, not just ready for your Master to return at any moment, but ready for your Master to give out any instructions at any moment. He doesn't expect us, brothers and sisters, God does not expect His children to wander in darkness. He has given us, let me quote scripture, all things that pertain to life and godliness. If you're confused about what God wants you to do in your life, it's not His fault. Well, whose fault is it then? I almost don't want to say that out loud. Anytime there's a disconnect, anytime the communication is interrupted, anytime we don't understand, it's our fault. Why? Because we're sinners. And I need boldness to preach this message today, because I don't want you all mad at me. That fleshly part of me. And yet the spiritual part of me, I want God, man, I want Him to break me and rebake me every day how He wants. My flesh doesn't want that. But down in here somewhere I do. So the first thing is be attentive. And then, not just be attentive, you can be attentive. You can be aware something happened. You can hear the voice, but then you don't like what it said. You can live like this, leaning in, attentive, ready, but then when he says what he says, then you lean back and say, I don't know about that. So he tells his son, not only be attentive, but once you hear your father speaking, incline. See me bending my ear? Have you ever seen older people with hearing loss? They will sometimes literally do this. Because you can cup a little bit of extra sound in your hand. That's what inclined means. You see how I'm leaning in? He says, bend your ear. Have you ever heard this? We have all these colloquial phrases. Can I bend your ear for a minute? You know, maybe it's rooted in this verse. Or at least in this idea. He says, my son, listen. Why? Because I have words of life. Where did I get them? From God and from my Father. That's the model. Godly men should learn from godly men and should teach godly men. And then they teach everybody. Listen attentively, once you hear your Father begin to speak, or once you hear the truth of God. God is speaking today. I don't want to overemphasize what I'm doing, but the preaching of God's Word is one of the ways He has established to speak to His people, and to the world. And He intends to get our attention. Not so much with what I'm saying, but with what He's saying. And what has been written. These are the words of God. Be attentive. Incline your ear. Lean in your ears. And I want to emphasize this point. Incline your ear is the opposite of recline. You know why we sit in a recliner? It's a lot more comfortable than an incliner. But God doesn't want us to live as recliners. He wants us to live as incliners. He wants us to lean in to everything He gives us. Everything He says. In the picture here is a person who's attentive, who's actively waiting and listening, and as soon as their master begins speaking, they lean in to listen. 21st verse. Let them not, now to be clear, my son be attentive to my words, so when he says them, let them not escape, he's saying my words, the words of truth, the words of life, I'm telling you. Let the words not escape from your sight. Truth is like this. There are layers, not only depths of truth, but also layers of how it can escape from you. There's times that I'll be at home and God will put something on my heart and my wife or daughter might say something and I'll say, I can't talk right now. I have to write this down before it escapes. Now you might think, well if God really gave it to you, He can give it to you again. Well, we have limitations. Physical limitations. And there's practical wisdom. You're not supposed to rely on God to do things that He means for you to do. So, when God tells you something, and it is profound, and it's something you need to remember, you should put it somewhere that you can remember it. This is what Solomon's telling his son, and by extension, all of us. Be attentive, inclined, don't let them escape from your sight. How do words of truth escape from your sight? You don't put them somewhere you can see them. So, this is the model. We're living attentively. The Father in Heaven begins to tell us something, we lean in, we listen to what He said, we realize it's important, and then we put it somewhere we can see it again. That's why God gave us a written book of a compilation. Scripture said, holy men spoke as they were moved by the Spirit. This is so beautiful that God inspired multiple authors over Maybe thousands of years to put these truths in one place where they can be written so that they don't escape from our eyes. No wonder the enemy tries to distract us from looking at the truths of God. Let them not escape from your sight. But that's not enough layers. He adds another one. Keep them within your heart. Actively live. Incline your ear. Don't let them escape from your sight. If you're not letting them escape from your sight, what does that mean? You're looking at it. Look at the truths of God over and over and over and over. It shouldn't get boring. If it does, we're missing the point. I've read Proverbs probably more than any other book in the Bible as far as frequency. And yet God is showing me things I have never seen. That's the depth of His truth. The Hebrew rendering might be more accurately, instead of just keep them within your heart, it could say this, guard them within the midst of your heart. It's not just sort of rolling around in your heart somewhere. The truths that we have been given through attentively listening, bending our ear, and then a repeated visual exposure, are supposed to be central. in the central part of us. The heart is... I don't know if metaphorical is the right word. He's not talking about your cardiac muscle that pumps blood. Here we're talking about heart, that central part of a person. The essence of you that governs what you do. This is where you get your world view, this is where you get your character, this is where your behavior comes from, this is where your word comes from, your words come from. Everything that happens emanates from your heart. That's the central part of you. And He says, these words that I've given you, that you've actively listened to, inclined your ears, looked at with your eyes, they need to be central in your heart and guarded. Lest the evil one come and pluck them out. You say, well, that can't happen. God said He'll write His words in our heart. He does. But Solomon tells his son, you keep these words central. God does so much. In fact, He does everything. And we live by His grace. Let that be clearly stated. And yet, you have obligations. You know? A good father raises his children to behave in a certain way, but the child has to do the behaving. He can't behave for them. Right? So God saves us. He makes us His own. He gives us His Holy Spirit. And yet, He does not do what we're supposed to do. It's so beautiful. This should not be internalized as harshness or criticism, and I hope nothing I'm saying comes across that way, because this is deliverance. There's a way God wants us to live. Guard these words within the midst of your heart. Why does this matter? Why is the heart so important? Proverbs 17.3, and this is all throughout Scripture, but just one verse, the Lord tries the hearts. The Lord tries the hearts. Or another way, the crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests the hearts. What does that mean? What is a crucible? What's a furnace when it comes to metallurgy? Do you know how purification of precious metals works? There has to be an appropriate amount of heat, pressure, discomfort to melt away everything else. That is why we're admonished in Scripture, count it all joy when you fall into various temptations for the trying of your faith. Brother Steve mentioned that this morning. The trying of your faith works patience. And there's a whole list of things that should be added that begin with the purification of the heart through the fire of God. It's not comfortable because it's not supposed to be comfortable. Because it hurts. for all of the mixture to be burned away. Why is it so easy to be saved and so hard to be saved at the same time? I think about that. I battled it. Some of you might relate to this. For five years, I battled trying to be saved my own way, even though I knew better, even though I'd been taught the truth, even though I could quote Scripture, even though I could have a religious debate. I battled it. Why? Because there was mixture inside of me, there was impurity, there was brokenness, there was sin and there was darkness that I did not want to be melted away by the fire of God. It hurt. But once I actually surrendered, it was so easy that the enemy even used that to say, is that all there is? Did you really just get saved? Oh, there was such peace, but it wasn't noisy for me. A lot of people talk about noisy things, and that's okay if that's your testimony. Maybe God used some loud things to get your attention. For me, it was profound peace that was so subtle, and that foundational peace hasn't ever left. That took the purifying fire of God. Now, many of us are saved. I hope many people listening, maybe I hope most people are listening today, know the Lord. You're not saved if you didn't have a moment of unconditional surrender. Period. Modern evangelism doesn't teach this very well. Salvation comes when you yield yourself to God. You have to believe, but believing doesn't save you. God saves you when you yield, when you give up unconditionally. And that same nature that made it difficult for some of us to surrender to salvation is still here. A lot of Christians have an unnecessarily difficult life because they don't have a surrendered life. Too many children of God, the last time they ever surrendered was the day He saved them. And they've been living their own life, their own way with some sort of shadow, a shadowy framework of what God meant for them to have. He wants us to live a surrendered life, and a surrendered life is the pathway to a good life. You want to have abundance? Jesus said, I came to give abundant life. It's impossible without continual surrender. It's very difficult for things that escape from our sight. He says, don't let these truths escape from your sight. It's hard for things that escape from your sight to become embedded in your heart. God does write His law in your heart, but part of the writing comes through visual exposure. Really. And also, on the flip side of that, if you look at something too much, it gets lodged in your heart. Even if it's a bad thing. Maybe especially if it's a bad thing. Be careful. We need to be careful what we look at. And how. The Law of God is written in the hearts of His sincere children and they keep it ever before their eyes. Oh, God wants this living word to spring up out of the central part of our heart to prompt us to see the things that He wants us to be exposed to again so that it might be written more clearly and more deeply here. That's what He wants. 22nd verse. They, what is the they? It's the words that he's telling his son, the words of life, the words of wisdom that are coming from God. They are life to those who find them. And healing to all their flesh. This is one of those verses that I read and it convicted me. And this is where I don't want you all to... Well, I'm just going to try to preach, but I don't want you to misunderstand. anything I'm saying, the words of wisdom. We're not only talking about the revelational speaking of the Holy Spirit. Most of our life is not God saying, do this, do that, I said this, and people who talk to me that way, I'm very skeptical. God told me to tell you all the time about everything. Be careful, because a lot of what God has told us is here. I'm not saying the Holy Spirit doesn't speak. He speaks. But the primary place He speaks is here. From, and if you can't see me, I'm picking up my Bible. He speaks from your Bible to your heart, primarily. It goes through your eyes or through your ears. Healing to all their flesh. So, the words of wisdom are life. Solomon's saying, the things I'm teaching you will give you life. And we've talked about, there is no wisdom apart from Jesus. Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. Solomon is teaching his son the right way, but ultimately the right way is Jesus. And even though Jesus hasn't come at this time that Solomon's writing these writings, he knows he will. So he's teaching Jesus. Life. I don't think we understand this, the depth of it. There are battles going on in the world all around us all the time. There are things happening. I've tried to understand a lot of this, and I don't even know what to call some people, but some people I've tried to have conversations with and it has proven impossible, because they're so far to one extreme. And I've finally recently understanding, the reason we can't relate, the reason we can't have any conversations is because their world view is demonic. Say, who are you talking about? I don't know what label to call people, but I'm saying there is an agenda in the world, the only way I know how to call it is anti-human. Anti-human. And we're going to dwell on this for just a moment because this is deep in my heart and I don't know how to get it across without the Lord helping me, so please pray for me, this is important. God has given us, in Jesus Christ, all things that pertain to life and godliness. Everything we need is in Christ. There shouldn't be confusion or lack or wandering for any lengthy period of time in your life. God has given us everything we need. And Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Life. He also said, the thief comes for naught, nothing, but to kill, steal, and destroy. I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. Some of these people that I've hoped to have logical conversations with, I can't. Because their agenda is to steal, kill and destroy. Because they're influenced by the father of lies. And we're going to get to how we should interact with these kind of situations in this chapter. Doesn't mean you shouldn't try, doesn't mean you shouldn't speak to people. I'm just saying there's a reason that logic doesn't always apply. Because it's illogical if you're human and not influenced by demons. It's not logical to relish in the destruction of human life. Jesus said, I came to give life. So people who go around campaigning and parading and celebrating, I mean, I want to be careful how I say it, but these things that our culture is doing, and the only reason I'm being careful is for the sake of the children. We need to speak truth, but up till the moment of birth, You know the person running for vice president on the other ticket, that's what he supports? Do you know that? So you shouldn't talk politics. This isn't politics. This is good and evil. This is light and darkness. I don't care what color you vote for, if you vote. I don't even care if you vote. I'm saying if you blindly support an agenda that is anti-human, that's a problem. and destroying life. That a baby, the only thing they're guilty of is being inside of the person who's supposed to protect them. That's evil. And it's been too long that God's people aren't using clear language. That's evil. I don't care what letters behind your name. That's evil. It would be just as evil if there's an R behind it. Maybe worse, because they pretend to support life. The thief. Who's the thief? Satan. The adversary. The father of lies. The accuser. The thief comes to steal. He wants to steal your children. He's doing it. He wants to steal your peace. He wants to steal your sanity. He wants to steal your power. He wants to steal your resources. He wants to steal your time. Why do you think there's so many distractions? He wants to steal your time, your focus. He wants to kill. That's the opposite of what God wants. And I've never thought about this until lately in this same regard. And this will bring it out. We're in the South. And I've thought a lot about the Civil War. And they teach you a certain thing about it in school. It's a very union-focused perspective. And something that's always troubled me is there are journals from soldiers and leaders on both sides, the blue and the brown, the Union and the Confederates, whatever you want to call them, who believed they were doing God's work. It seemed sincere men of God, following God. That's what it sounds like. And here's something I've never understood until God showed this to me. You've got to get this. There's not a right and wrong side. It's deeper than that. There's spiritual warfare, and destruction of human life is demonic. I'm not saying there's not a time to fight, and you shouldn't stand up, you shouldn't protect your family, all of these things. But when you end up in a place that you believe you are on the right side, I think somebody in history said, I'm not so much concerned about whose side God is on, but if I'm on His side. something like that, it's less important to be on the right side than it is to be in Christ. And when you start to think that the ends justifies the means or standing for this side at all costs, it's dangerous. You know why it's dangerous? It's demonic. And I'm not using that word carelessly, I'm using it literally. We have been convinced, this is heavy, we have been convinced It's taken hundreds of years. It has taken thousands of university professors. It has taken the Enlightenment movement. It has taken history books to convince all of us that the world is more material and less spiritual than it is. The essence of life is spiritual. Have you ever seen the moment of conception? It looks like lightning going off. It's been recorded. the sperm uniting with the embryo, I have chills. You know why? Because the Holy Spirit is present, because He gives life, because He's there doing a miracle. And we've been convinced, maybe not even in our minds, but in our behavior, that that's just an evolutionary process. Man, we're so deluded as a culture. And we need people to speak truth, or those people out there have no hope. This is why I'm less hesitant than I used to be to talk about things that are perceived as political, because I'm not talking about politics. I'm talking about something deeper. Evil agendas that destroy life are demonic. And we need to know that. What does this have to do with this part of Proverbs? How did you get all that out of it? Well, God is putting this in my heart, but it's here. The words of life that Solomon's teaching to his son are health, their life, and the phrase is healing to all their flesh. How much of our physical suffering, including sickness and illness and torment and all of these things are directly linked to our neglect of God's wisdom? This is the part that I don't really want to say because some of you might think I'm being mean. But people blame a lot of bad things in their life on something other than a culmination of their own choices. One of my really good friends is a physical therapist. He actually knows you all, he told me. He just met Donnie and Ida. Smart young man. Hungry for truth. And he talks about how almost all of his clients are just tragically ill. And that the simple truth is they've made a lifetime of decisions that have brought them to that place. Now, I'm not picking on anybody or being mean. There are external factors and some of your suffering somebody else's sin caused. That's true. But all of this lack of life and lack of healing to the flesh does not come from God. That's the focus. The trying fire of God is not the same thing as the suffering imposed by the enemy. It's not the same thing. God's purifying fire strengthens you. The enemy's suffering debilitates you. It's not the same. Scripture teaches us how to live, brothers and sisters, and how to relate to this world and all things. Are we listening? I realized some years ago, I want to be careful about saying never, but I really think this is accurate. I don't think I ever get sick unless I have a lot of stress in my life in that season. What is stress? Stress is where my emotional focus is. Stress. We use these words. I have stress. I'm a pretty stressed out person by temperament. It's not an excuse. You know where it really comes from? Come unto me, all ye who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. You know where your stress and anxiety and all that stuff comes from? Refusing to give it to Jesus. And that's your fault. I'm saying that to myself first. But we don't need to be gentle and not say the truth about these things. I've never suffered stress or anxiety except that I refused to let go and let God have it. Ever. And almost all of my worries in life have been completely unnecessary, maybe all of them. Have you all noticed that? I will be completely consumed by some particular thing. And a month from now it has resolved and it doesn't even matter. Jesus came to give us life and Solomon is saying this is so important to put the words, be attentive, incline your ear, look at them with your eyes, put it central in your heart. Why? Because this will give you life and health. It doesn't mean you won't ever get sick. It doesn't mean bad things won't happen to you. But the idea of chronic illness is demonic. God doesn't treat His children like that. It comes from something broken. You know what Jesus did? There's not one record He went around healing, restoring sight, lifting up the downtrodden spirits, giving spiritual freedom. There's not a one single example of Jesus paralyzing someone for His purpose. Is there? Is there? Think about it. Tell me if I'm wrong. Now there's something sort of like that when Lazarus' sisters are weeping and Jesus says to them, this sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God. But it doesn't say that God killed Lazarus, and even so Jesus restored him. You see what I'm saying? Jesus doesn't produce brokenness. He doesn't produce suffering. If He breaks, it's with a definite purpose of healing. Chronic, chronic, chronic anxiety, chronic illness, chronic whatever you want to call it, none of that's from Jesus. And I want to say again, Scripture teaches us how to live, how to relate to the world and all things. Are we listening? Are we hearing? Are we inclining our ears to wisdom? Are our eyes open to the truth of wisdom? Are they? I've been really... I don't want to say this, and I've been battling it the whole time, but I have to. Why are so many Christians overweight? I mean morbidly obese. It's demonic. It's demonic. I don't mean it's not... you don't have any control over it. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying the enemy is using a thing that you have become a slave to, to destroy you sooner than God wants you to be. My friend, the physical therapist, all he does is research. And he tells me almost all of these problems people have are related to metabolic health. What does that mean? There's something wrong with how your body metabolizes things. Why? Through a lifetime of decisions. And some of it's genetic, according to him and people I've listened to. Why are you even talking about it? You've gone to Medellin now, I can imagine. Baptists like to eat. Oh, I love to eat. And you've heard me maybe sort of flippantly say, you know, I talked about when I met John, I was 50 pounds lighter. And I was pretty sick back then, and that was too skinny. But look at me. I didn't need to gain 50 pounds. 30 would have been enough. And we just, we excuse it. And I'm going to get to this. Why does this, am I picking, what do they call it now, fat shaming? I'm not doing that. I'm saying the enemy is destroying people that wouldn't be destroyed any other way. You think you're better because you're not an alcoholic. Or a drug addict. You're still an addict. When I go in my house, because I'm feeling stressed out, and I stuff some chocolate in without... I do that a lot now. That's not pleasing to God. I'm a slave to that moment. It's wrong. I'm not saying you can't ever have chocolate, don't misunderstand me. But to stuff things in your body without thinking about it means you're a slave. Jesus came to deliver us from that. Every area of our life affects every other area. You can't be morbidly obese and think you're as sanctified as you are. You can't. You can't be an adulterer by habit, sleeping around with different people and think you're sanctified as you are. It troubles me when I go among God's people and there are people who can't make it through a Sunday morning service and fellowship without going outside to smoke. They're slaves. Now, I'm not saying I don't have things that I struggle with, I do. We're not supposed to be slaves, brothers and sisters. This matters. Why does it matter? Because it's spiritual. The enemy is trying to destroy. This is so heavy. One of the things that I pray about, and I struggle with, and I'm not where I want to be. I don't have the discipline I want in my life. Don't think it doesn't affect other areas, it does. You're undisciplined in your eating, it will affect your speech. And I could give example after example. This is so heavy. I don't know if this is hitting anybody like it is me. All the stuff that's going on in our world right now, things that start with the word trans, transhumanism, transgenderism, these things are demonic. Why are they demonic? Because they're anti-human. I heard a quote recently, we need to understand this, the purpose of any system or organization is what it does. I listen to a lot of these left-leaning people, I'm going to call them anti-humans from now on, who say things that sound nice, they sound compassionate, we need to save the world, save the environment, fix the climate change, all these false religions. But then I look at what it does. The purpose of anything is what it does. It doesn't matter what they're saying, look at the outcome. It destroys, and it is demonic. What's going on with young people now? And not all young people. We've got some capable, sitting right there, some capable young... I mean young people. But I mean younger, like twenties. There's still exceptions. But as a whole, this generation is struggling. You know why? It's demonic. The enemy wants to destroy. He doesn't want you to thrive. He doesn't want you to be confident. He doesn't want you to be capable. I think we've spent too much time talking about the soft parts of Christianity and not enough time talking about the meat of it. Did you know Jesus didn't come to spread kindness throughout the earth? Do you know that? It doesn't mean you shouldn't be kind. But He came to lift the curse of sin from the world and to be truth. And truth is not always kind. Or you could say maybe kindness, the definition has been twisted, and truth is kind. Maybe we could look at it that way. It's not kind to lie to somebody. You're not caring about their humanity when you participate in a delusion. It's not kind for me to sit up here and pretend that all of our lives are okay if there's categories of our lives that are utterly chaotic. It's not kind to pretend that's okay. And the enemy, he wants to destroy. Oh, he'll use whatever he can. Y'all know this. But here's what I'm saying, we need to be aware of it. There is a spiritual... You know what I want to try to get young people to realize? What is life? There's a warfare. Why are you here? To be a soldier. There is a spiritual warfare going on right now and God brought you into this world to be a soldier. Now here's what people don't realize. You are going to be a soldier for one side or the other. There is light and darkness. There is only the servants of Christ and the enemies of Christ. There is no lukewarm middle ground. Why do you think our culture focuses so much on grey areas? And that was the point, I don't know if I made it well, but that was the point I was trying to make about being on the quote, right side. That turns into this grey area where you start making moral exceptions because I'm on the right side. That's no, no, no, no, no, we need to be in Christ. This might be the heaviest message I've ever preached if we understand the depth of it. Because what am I talking about? Through the Word of God, the wisdom of God's people, through the power of His Holy Spirit, I'm talking about our lives being conformed to Christ. Conformed. And I'm troubled. I'm troubled by the areas of my life that aren't conformed. I'm troubled. You say, well, you're not fat. I don't think I'm fat either, but I've got some sloppiness that troubles me. I'm troubled by when I speak unkindly and it's not necessary to my family. I'm troubled. I could go on and on. I'm troubled by how much I worry about things that I could just give to Jesus. I'm troubled by the harshness in my heart that none of you know about because it's just there and I don't verbalize. I'm troubled. You understand? I'm troubled by who I am. In this, that's what Paul was talking about. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I'm troubled by the dying death in my flesh. That's why I'm telling you it's not okay to be obese, or an alcoholic, or an adulterer. It's not okay. See why I don't want to preach some of this? It's hard. This is heavy. It's heavy. But I pray that God will use it for all of us. Because I guarantee you, I promise you, this isn't hurting any of you more than it has me. Because I've already felt it and heard it. God's already been preaching it to me before I got up here. All the lack in my own life. Praise God for Jesus, but I don't want to get to that point yet. We need to see truth before we... God doesn't want us to falsely comfort ourselves in Him. He wants to comfort us. He doesn't want us to appropriate one of His promises inappropriately. We need to see truth, and right now I'm preaching light, so we can see where the darkness is and then let God heal it. Don't pretend it's healed when it's not healed. That's where gangrene comes from. My sweet little daughter, I don't know where she got this from. Anytime she gets hurt, this is how it goes. Did you fall down? No. Did you get hurt? This is what she says. No, nothing. Are you hurt? Nothing. Not a thing. This is exactly how it goes. I don't know where she got it. Where'd you get it, sweetie? I don't either. But you know what? If she really was hurt, that's not going to help her get better. And that's what we do with God sometimes. Nope, nothing's wrong, I'm okay. That doesn't apply to me. No, what we need to do is realize our brokenness, pour it out before our putridness. There's rotten, do you know what rottenness is? There's rottenness in our flesh. That God wants to heal. He wants, this is what this verse says, to be healing to all our flesh. Spiritual health, mental health, emotional health, physical health. That's what He wants for us. Okay. Let's look at, and we'll go through the rest of these verses a little bit faster. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. There's a reason you need to keep your heart. Because life flows forth from your heart where the central wisdom of God is. Wisdom is not just a good idea or a better alternative or something like that. Wisdom actually brings life. And foolishness brings death. You see in the chapters, and I don't know how to handle these yet, but 5, 6, and 7, all about the sexual sin, adultery, and immorality. One of the persons, he says, he dies for lack of discipline. Because of his great folly, he's led astray. Foolishness brings death, and we don't need to forget that. The next verse, 24th verse, put away from you crooked speech, put devious talk from you. In Hebrew, this literally means, turn away from you a crooked mouth. There's a little bit more depth here. Turn away from you a crooked mouth and put perverse lips far from you. What is he saying? He's not just talking about your speech. He's talking about other people's. And when you discern that a person has a crooked mouth, you're supposed to get away from them. Not accommodate them. This is the phony, feminized, tolerance version of religion that we've inherited that's not biblical. You're not supposed to accommodate people with a crooked mouth. You're supposed to speak truth and escape because they're perverse. That's what this says, a crooked mouth and perverse lips. The anti-humans, they have a crooked mouth and perverse lips. I've tried for literally decades to have conversations with people in that category and it's never possible. I've tried. I've tried being gentle, kind, accommodating, all these things, not possible. Get away. By the way, they're who own the media. I think you all know that. I hope you do. The prince of the power of the air. Be careful what you watch. Disney is not okay. It's not innocent, by the way. It's corrupt. They have an evil agenda. It's evil. There's a reason my daughter doesn't know what that is. She saw one of the little... somebody gave her a figurine. I only know this from being embedded in culture. It was Elsa, you know. Mary Grace thinks it's Goldilocks. I don't want her to know about that stuff. It's not okay. There's an agenda. You say, man, you're just raining on everybody's parade. That's not the point. Can't be fat, can't go to Disney World, can't Can't smoke. Can't drink. What can I do? Oh, you can live in the love of Christ. It's so much better. It's so much better. Put away from you crooked speech. Turn away from you crooked mouth. Put perverse lips far from you. Keep them far from you. Don't use crooked speech and have nothing to do with those who do. That's what this is saying. You've heard this expression, he's talking out of both sides of his mouth. I like living in the South. It helps me understand sometimes things on a deeper level. Talking out of both sides of his mouth. That's what this is saying. One thing over here and one thing over here. Double-tongued, to use a biblical phrase. Don't do that. Why? James says this, he says, With the tongue we praise the Lord our Father, with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursings. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives or a grape vine bear frigs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water." He's saying, what did Jesus say? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. James is telling us, there's something wrong if putridness and blessing comes out of the same mouth. There's something wrong, there's some mixture that shouldn't be there. And so I have a lot of trouble believing that a person who thinks babies should be murdered as a policy, and that boys can't know if they're boys, and all this pollution going on in our culture, I have trouble believing that they know anything about God. It's a demonic agenda. And I could go, I don't want to, I don't even like... These are things Scripture says they shouldn't even be spoken about. But this is the world we're in. Keep perverse lips far from you. Twenty-fifth verse. This is where the hope starts coming in, brothers and sisters. If you all feel like you've been beat up on, here's where the deliverance is. Let your eyes look directly forward. Let your gaze be straight before you. Your eyes look forward. In Hebrew it literally says, let your eyes look forward and your eyelids be straight before you. This is interesting. I don't know all the depth that's there, but there's something about the Yeah! You've seen horses, we lose some of this, but horses that drive a cart or carriage, workhorses, draft horses, they wear leather blinders so that their eyes will be directly forward. That's what the Word of God is supposed to do for us. Like this. What are we looking at, by the way? Andrew got to that in his Sunday school lesson. We'll conclude the message when I get there with that. Let your eyes look directly forward, let your gaze be straight before you. In other words, look straight ahead as if with blinders on, don't get distracted by the things on the right or the left. We need to remember that in an election season. I know most people in here are Republicans, but don't get puffed up or haughty with being a Republican. Because they can be wrong too, and a lot of them are. A lot of them are participating in a demonic agenda even though there's an R behind their name. It's true. This is not politics. I'm not in a party. I'm in Jesus' party. But there's still good versus evil. I'm not saying the election does matter. This one coming up might be the most important one of our lifetimes. Because there's one side, I've got to say this, that has some semblance of a normal life, and there's another side that wants to undo all of it. Remake it. Anti-human. Let your eyes look directly forward. Keep your eyelids straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, that all your ways will be sure. You know how much easier, less affected, less troubled our lives would be if we didn't walk somewhere without pondering whether we should go to that somewhere? I mentioned this recently, people, so much of their suffering. I've known people, a lot of the military guys I used to work with, they would end up in trouble with the military police. I dealt with guys who were court-martialed. It all started with their feet going somewhere they shouldn't have gone. Because they didn't think about, do I need to walk over there? It's hard to be in the wrong place at the wrong time if you're not in the wrong place to start with. And there's a reason some places that God's people just shouldn't be. Ponder the path of your feet. When I talked about us living attentively, inclining our ear, that doesn't mean that we should live carelessly or without consideration. It's okay when God lets you know something that you need to do to ponder the path. That's actually what wisdom dictates. We're not supposed to live impulsively. Living spiritually... Listen, immature Christians live impulsively. I used to do that. I probably still do it more than I should. Impulsive. The big emotion, I can't do it right now. That's immaturity. God expects us to see what the truth is and then ponder it and then do it with stability. Now, this gets so even deeper. 27th verse, do not swerve to the right or the left. Turn your foot away from evil. Look straight ahead. Don't be distracted by the noise. Don't swerve to the right or to the left. Try to have a picture of this. There is one direction God wants us to go and everything to the side is a pitfall. I mean actually. Everything that's not on the straight path is only going to cause damage. Actually, that's all it can do. We could also apply from this verse, this truth. Look straight ahead. Don't go to the right or to the left. As church people, we need to make sure that we don't make main things out of side things. This would be a whole other sermon, but I just want to get that point there. The enemy, again, he has people, even in churches, fractured into us versus them, the right side and the wrong side. And the way he does it is, they make side things into main things. Stuff that doesn't matter as if it did matter. That's what the enemy, he will use anything he can. I'm not convinced he minds much if you're on the right or wrong side as long as you're distracted. My grandpa used to say, he'll play you up and out or down and out. You can be uplifted. I believe it was Solomon that talked about that, about being uplifted in pride too much and cast down too much by despair. I can't quote it exactly right now, but that's the point. Look straight ahead. Keep first things first. Now here's the beautiful part. And by the way, let me say this, let me say one more heavy part before I get to the really good part. When I said earlier that all these things that I didn't want to talk about really are sin, part of the support for that, listen, Romans 6.16, Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey his servants you are? Whether sin leading to death or obedience leading to righteousness. Any behavior we participate in that feels irresistible is enslaving, and therefore idolatrous, and therefore ungodly, and therefore potentially demonic. You think your Oreos don't matter? Or your beer? Or that girl walking down the road with not enough clothes on that we look at too long? Or, I mean, I could go on and on. The harshness you use toward your husband, or the rage you have in traffic, all these things matter. They matter. Because it can enslave us. And Jesus makes it even more clear and deeper when He said, The light of the body is the eye. Y'all know that one? The light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that's in thee be dark, how great is that darkness. Now it's interesting that he says, if your eye is single versus if it's evil. You notice those don't seem to be contrasts. Single versus what? Multiple? Double? Because anything other than single is evil. That's what Jesus is teaching us. Everything other than undivided focus on Him is dangerous. And that's where we conclude this message, Hebrews 12. See, and we're also encompassed with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight. The sin which doth so easily beset us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. The translation Andrew read said, I think, author imperfector. That grabs more of the depth of meaning. The Greek word is archegos. I've been preaching this since God showed me, I don't know, 15 or 18 years ago. There's so much depth to that word. It's not just author and finisher. It's like a trailblazer who goes through the woods where there's no city, establishes the city, puts up the walls, builds the buildings, and then protects it himself. That's what Jesus is like for our faith. And by the way, you look in your King James translation, it says the author, finisher of our faith, our is in italics. It's just not there in the original. It's not our faith. We don't have any faith. Whatever faith you have is a gift from Him. Keep that in perspective. But that's our hope, brothers and sisters. Say, are you trying to neatly tie up a terrible message with a little splash of happiness at the end? No. I'm just trying to preach truth. you know it matters how we live and the only way all these things I talked about that we should and shouldn't do the only way we're really going to be able to is through the power of Christ you don't just need more willpower if you could do it with willpower that would be enough brothers and sisters we need Jesus and so with a message like this I don't I mean I'll let God do his work it's not my job but my heart with the Lord dealing me with this week has been praying for God to change me in the ways that I need it. That's what I want for this church. That's what I want for my home, my family. For the Lord to make us what He would be pleased with. And when He does that, this group of people will be a city on a hill. Light shining in darkness. Healing to the brokenness around us. We're getting glimpses of it. This is not a beat you up message. This is a saying, let's keep going into Christ deeper message. We're getting glimpses of the goodness of God, aren't we? But there's more. There's more.