Pleasing God
Introduction
Pleasing God is our primary concern. We read the words of Jesus Christ in John 8:29, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” Using the imagery of the theater, Dr. Jeremy Taylor (1613-1642) affirms, “God is the Master of scenes; we must not choose what part we must act; it concerns us only that we be careful to do it well, always saying, ‘If this please God, let it be as it is.’”[1]
If God is pleased, it doesn’t matter who is displeased; and if God is displeased, it doesn’t matter who is pleased. Sadly, multitudes are satisfied to placate the gods they make rather than to please the God who made them. Still others give no regard to religious expression. For example, I found this message by James Russell Lowell (1819-1891) in The Pennsylvania School Journal: Organ of the Department of Common Schools and of the State Teachers Association (1885). Allow me to share an excerpt. Lowell writes, “The worst kind of religion is no religion at all, and these men living in ease and luxury, indulging themselves in the amusement of going without religion, may be thankful they live in lands where the gospel they neglect has tamed the beastliness and ferocity of the men who, but for Christianity, might long ago have eaten their carcasses like the South Sea Islanders, or cut off their heads and tanned their hides like the monsters of the French Revolution. When the microscopic search of skepticism, which had hunted the heavens and sounded the seas to disprove the existence of a Creator, has turned its attention to human society, and has found a place on this planet ten miles square where a decent man can live in comfort and security, supporting and educating his children unspoiled and unpolluted; a place where age is reverenced, infancy respected, manhood respected, woman-hood honored, and human life held in due regard-when skeptics can find such a place ten miles square on this globe, where the gospel of Christ has not gone and cleared the way and laid the foundation and made decency and security possible, it will then be in order for the skeptical literati to move thither and then ventilate their views. But so long as these men are dependent upon the religion which they discard for every privilege they enjoy, they may well hesitate a little before they seek to rob the Christian of his hope, and humanity of its faith, in that Savior who alone has given to man that hope of life eternal which makes life tolerable and society possible, and robs death of its terrors and the grave of its gloom."[2]
Imagine a message like this in a public school publication today, highlighting the power of the gospel of Christ over the ill effect of sin in society.
From Hebrews 11:5-6 we read, “By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, ‘and was not found, because God had taken him’; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
We read in Proverbs 6:12-19, “A worthless person, a wicked man, / Walks with a perverse mouth; He winks with his eyes, / He shuffles his feet, / He points with his fingers; / Perversity is in his heart, / He devises evil continually, / He sows discord. Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; / Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy. These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, / A lying tongue, / Hands that shed innocent blood, / A heart that devises wicked plans, / Feet that are swift in running to evil, / A false witness who speaks lies, / And one who sows discord among brethren.”
Our purpose is to gain a deeper understanding of those featured in our text and to learn more about pleasing God.
I. First, notice the outflow of malignity. (Proverbs 6:12-14)
According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, the term “malignity” means, an “intense ill will or hatred; great malice.”[3]
We read in Proverbs 6:12-14, “A worthless person, a wicked man, / Walks with a perverse mouth; He winks with his eyes, / He shuffles his feet, / He points with his fingers; / Perversity is in his heart, / He devises evil continually, / He sows discord.”
Dr. George Lawson (1749-1820) explains, “The mischievous person casts off the yoke of God, but he remains the willing and active servant of the devil. He rebels against God beyond his might, and beyond nature presses the members of his body into the service of iniquity. He not only speaks, but walks with a froward [lying] tongue, making a constant trade of slandering his neighbours, and spreading dissension.
His tongue is a world of iniquity, and yet it does not serve him sufficiently for expressing the wickedness of his heart. To supply its defects, therefore, he makes artificial tongues of his eyes, his fingers, and his feet. By winking with his eyes, by stamping with his feet, and by pointing with his fingers, he shews the scorn and the malice which he bears towards others, and conveys his instructions to his accomplices in wickedness.
It is the malice of his heart that employs all the members of his body, as the instruments of his unrighteousness. His heart overflows with malignity, and is still running over into the words and works of mischief. The greatest miser takes some rest to his body, from the toils by which he expects to enrich himself; but the heart of this profligate wretch takes no rest from the contrivances of wickedness. He is perpetually torturing his own brain, in devising methods for destroying the happiness and the peace of others.”[4]
The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. Jesus explains in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” In Proverbs 4:23 we read, “Keep your heart with all diligence, / For out of it spring the issues of life.”
II. Second, notice the outrage of deity. (Proverbs 6:16-19)
We read in Proverbs 6:16-19, “These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, / A lying tongue, / Hands that shed innocent blood, / A heart that devises wicked plans, / Feet that are swift in running to evil, / A false witness who speaks lies, / And one who sows discord among brethren.”
Please note these detestable sins include thoughts, words, and deeds. We may further notice the description moves the head to the feet mentioning other parts of the body. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The phrase “seven deadly sins” came into use many years ago. However, it is interesting to note, how with the exception of one sin, pride, the list recorded by Solomon differs from the one proposed by Pope Gregory in the 6th Century. The list proposed by Pope Gregory is pride, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, greed and sloth. We must remember all sin is deadly as we read in Romans 6:23a, “The wages of sin is death.” The sins listed in our passage are deadly to the spiritual health and welfare of individual Christians or local congregations.
Dr. George Lawson writes, "Every sin is hateful to God. The sins enumerated in this passage are not mentioned, because there are not others as hateful to God, but because they are nearly allied to that vice which had been last reprobated by the wise man, and are generally found in the character of the mischievous person. They are all abhorred by him who is the guardian of his creatures, and the avenger of injuries done to his saints.”[5]
Therefore, we must avoid them if we would please God. We will briefly look at each of these seven detestable sins.
1. The first detestable sin is “a proud look”. This means to have “haughty eyes” looking down upon others and looking defiantly toward God. This “chief sin” of pride is illustrated in the face of the Pharisees, “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others” (Luke 18:9). Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee who genuinely repented and believed, who became Paul the apostle. Mercifully, the Lord gave Paul “a thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7) lest this detestable sin gain a foothold in his life. Paul writes in Romans 12:3, “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
From Proverbs 16:5 we read, “Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; / Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.”
Daniel writes about a proud king named Nebuchadnezzar and how God humbled him. From Daniel 4:37 we read, “And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, / And His kingdom is from generation to generation.” In spite of the pain of humiliation, Nebuchadnezzar would tell you, “It was worth it.” In 1 Peter 5:5b we read, “be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, / But gives grace to the humble.’”
We read in Proverbs 3:32, “For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, / But His secret counsel is with the upright.” Remember, our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself when He came to earth (Philippians 2:5-11).
2. The second detestable sin is “a lying tongue”. A lie is an intentional deception. Men hate a lying tongue because it tears the fabric of society. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). You are like the devil when you lie and you are like God when you tell the truth. We read in Psalm 51:6, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, / And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.”
Paul the apostle warns in 2 Timothy 3:13, “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” In 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11 we read, “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
From Isaiah 63:8 we read, “For He said, ‘Surely they are My people, / Children who will not lie.’ So He became their Savior.” We read about the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:27, “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
Dr. Luke writes about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11. As Dr. James Merritt said, “They lied and they died.” Remember this happened under the grace of God. They lied to God about the sale of a piece of land. Be careful how you handle money, it reveals a lot about your character. “A lying tongue” is a most detestable evil to God, who is the God of truth. In Proverbs 8:13 we read, “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; / Pride and arrogance and the evil way / And the perverse mouth I hate.”
3. The third detestable sin is “hands that shed innocent blood”.
Cain was the first murderer (Genesis 4:5), as he killed his brother, Abel. We read in 1 John 3:10-15, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
Jesus told the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44a). Saul of Tarsus was one of those Pharisees persecuting the church (Philippians 3:6). In fact, he consented to the death of Stephen (Acts 8:1). He held the coats of those who stoned a deacon named Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). After his conversion (Acts 9), he became an apostle renamed Paul with a glowing testimony (Philippians 3).
We read in Psalm 5:6, “You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; / The LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” In Psalm 51:14 David prays, “Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, / The God of my salvation, / And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.”
Here we remember, “There arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8), who commanded the death of all the Hebrew boys to control the population of that enslaved people in Exodus 1:15-22. The midwives feared God and did not play along with this wicked plan. We also think of King Herod’s wicked plan called “the Massacre of the Innocents” (Matthew 2:16-18). King Herod attempted to remove the threat of a rival to the throne. Since the United States Supreme Court decision in the Row vs. Wade case in 1973 over 50 million innocents lost their lives through the abomination of abortion.
4. The fourth detestable sin is “a heart that devises wicked plans”. Any sin is basically the execution of a wicked plan or scheme. Someone with “a heart that devises wicked plans,” desires to see others fail and develops schemes to make it happen. They are not satisfied until they cause pain to others. We read in Psalm 10:2-4, “The wicked in his pride persecutes the poor; / Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; / He blesses the greedy and renounces the LORD. The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; / God is in none of his thoughts.” From Genesis 6:5 we read, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
In Hebrews 4:12 we read, “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
David, known as a man after God’s own heart, prays in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; / Try me, and know my anxieties; / And see if there is any wicked way in me, / And lead me in the way everlasting.”
Through the Word of God and prayer we can discern the condition of our heart. From Proverbs 4:23 we read, “Keep your heart with all diligence, / For out of it spring the issues of life.” Later, we read in Proverbs 11:20, “Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD, / But the blameless in their ways are His delight.”
5. The fifth detestable sin is “feet that are swift in running to evil”. Note the progression of sin in this list of seven detestable sins. These display the impulsiveness of a horse running to sin. Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:1-6, “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.”
Paul warns Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:1-2a, “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron.” We know from other Scripture passages the conscience can become “defiled” (Titus 1:15) or “evil” (Hebrews 10:22). In Acts 24:16 we read, “This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men.”
In Deuteronomy 32:35, we read, “Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; / Their foot shall slip in due time; / For the day of their calamity is at hand, / And the things to come hasten upon them.”
Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe explains, “But the wicked use their feet to get involved in sin: meddling as busybodies (2 Thes. 3:11; 1 Tim. 5:13), tempting others into sin (Prov. 5:5 and 7:11), and breaking God’s laws (1:10–16). If the saints were ‘on their feet’ and as eager to obey the Lord as sinners are to disobey, the lost world would soon be evangelized!”[6]
6. The sixth detestable sin is “a false witness who speaks lies”. We read in Deuteronomy 19:16-19, “If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days. And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.”
In 1 Kings 21:8-14 we discover an example of this detestable sin, as the wicked Jezebel employed false witnesses to lie about Naboth, the vineyard owner. Bearing false witness is a clear violation of the ninth of the Ten Commandments. Jesus condemns it in Matthew 19:18. We read in 2 Kings 9:30-37 about the violent death of Jezebel, as God judged her. From Proverbs 21:28a we read, “A false witness shall perish.” This is a sin God hates.
7. The seventh detestable sin is “one who sows discord among brethren”.
Dr. George Lawson writes, “The sowers of discord among brethren, are worse than those who set fire to the houses of their neighbours. They kindle flames which burn with unrelenting fury, and set on fire families and provinces, and sometimes even nations themselves. They not only sin, but, like Jeroboam the son of Nebat, they cause multitudes to sin, destroying that charity which is the soul of every commandment, and disseminating those corrupt passions, which prove incentives to all the works of mischief. The God whose commandments are all included in love, and who sent his Son to be our peace, cannot but abhor these sons of Belial.”[7]
Linguistically, we understand the word “belial” breaks down into two thoughts, namely [beli-without / yaal-profit]. Therefore, it means without profit. This explains the use of the words “wicked” and “worthless” together in Proverbs 6:12. Thus, indicating that wicked thoughts, words, and deeds do not yield anything profitable.
David affirms in Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is / For brethren to dwell together in unity!” Paul the apostle writes in Romans 12:18, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” From Hebrews 12:14 we read, “Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” We do not desire unity at all costs, as some might propose. We must beware of those who cause discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:14b and 19b). From Job 5:19 we read, “He shall deliver you in six troubles, / Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.” Dr. John F. Walvoord (1910-2002) and Dr. Roy B. Zuck explain, “The purpose of this kind of numerical pattern (x and x + 1) is not to give a complete list. Instead it is to stress the final (x + 1) item, as the culmination or product of its preceding items.”[8]
Dr. Stephen F. Olford (1918-2004) shares, “It was Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the Italian author and statesman, formulated the maxim, "Make division and get dominion."[9] Simply put, “Divide and conquer.” We must beware because Satan is trying to do this in the church! Paul the apostle warns in Romans 16:17-18, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.”
How many churches like the one in Corinth suffer at the hand of those who caused division and stirred up discord? Paul the apostle writes in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”
Oh, for a return to the days of the early church when they operated “with one accord” (Acts 1:14) and “they were all with one accord” (Acts 2:1)! Paul provides the prescription for such unity in Philippians 2:1-4, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Dr. J. Vernon McGee (1904-1988) explains, “This list of seven sins is like a mirror. We look into it, and we squirm because we see ourselves. May I ask you to take a good look at yourself in this mirror of the Word of God. After you and I see ourselves as we really are, let us go to God and make a confession of these things. Let us be honest with Him and ask Him for His cleansing.”[10] Dr. Clive Staples Lewis (1898-1963) wrote, "Those who do not think about their own sins make up for it by thinking incessantly about the sins of others."[11] A servant is rightly concerned about avoiding what grieves and offends his master. How much more should we seek to please our Master? We read in 1 John 3:20-23, “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” In 1 John 4:19-21 we read, “We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” Why would we want to displease the God who loved us first? As he exposes the acts of the apostates, Jude exhorts genuine believers, “Keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 1:21). We read in Proverbs 11:20, “Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD, / But the blameless in their ways are His delight.”
III. Third, notice the outcome of equity. (Proverbs 6:15)
From Proverbs 6:15 we read, “Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly; / Suddenly he shall be broken without remedy.” Later, in Proverbs 29:1 we read, “He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, / Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.”
We read about the Lord in Psalm 98:9, “He is coming to judge the earth.
With righteousness He shall judge the world, / And the peoples with equity.” In Romans 2:11 we read, “For there is no partiality with God.” As he was in the house of Cornelius we read in Acts 10:34-35, “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: ‘In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him.’”
Dr. George Lawson writes, “Surely he will make their mischiefs to recoil with an awful vengeance upon their own heads. What will be the end of a fiend like this? He shall, while dreaming of success in his hellish plans, fall a prey to some unexpected calamity. He may possibly flatter himself with the intention of repenting of his misdeeds, before called to that war in which there is no discharge; but he is suddenly and irremediably broken. He lived like a devil clothed with flesh, and his soul shall be chased out of his body, to dwell with its kindred devils. He that does evil to others, does a thousand times greater hurt to himself.
O my soul! come not thou into the secret of such creatures. Blessed be God, who checks that corruption which abounds in the hearts of men, and makes the earth a habitable world. Who could live an hour in peace, if God did not provide for our safety, by his all-governing providence? To this must our safety be all ascribed, since evil spirits, numerous and crafty, constantly traverse our earth, and men whose hearts are filled with all iniquity, abound on the face of it.
The mischievous man is a compound of vices abhorred by the Lord.”[12]
Conclusion
When we experience the malicious mischief of a person featured in our text in the church or in the world; we must remember the words of Paul the apostle to Timothy. He writes in 2 Timothy 2:3-4, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.”
Rev. Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960) penned these words in 1917, “Living for Jesus, a life that is true, / Striving to please Him in all that I do; / Yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free, / This is the pathway of blessing for me.”[13]
We read in Romans 4:5-8, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,/ And whose sins are covered;/ Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’”
From Hebrews 13:20-21 we read the following benediction: “Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
As believers in Jesus Christ, our primary concern is pleasing God.
[1]Jeremy Taylor, Holy Living and Dying: Together with Prayers, Containing The Whole Duty of a Christian by Jeremy Taylor, D.D.: To which is prefixed A Memoir of the Author's Life, "Of Contentedness in all Estates and Accidents, Section VI, (London: Charles Baldwyn, MDCCCXXIV [1824], p. 102
[2]The Pennsylvania School Journal: Organ of the Department of Common Schools and of the State Teachers Association, ed. E.E. Higbee “Without Religion” (Lancaster, PA: Inquirer Printing and Publishing Company, 1885), pp. 62-63
[3]The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2011), online edition, Available from: http://ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=malignity Accessed: 01/07/12
[4]George Lawson, Exposition of the Book of Proverbs, in Two Volumes, Volume I (Edinburgh: W. Oliphant, 1821), pp. 116-117
[5]IBID.
[6]Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Skillful, (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1995, 2044), p. 69
[7]Lawson, pp. 117-120
[8] John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament Edition (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), Database © 2003 WORDsearch Corp.
[9]Stephen F. Olford, Expository Preaching Outlines, Volume Three, series titled “The Laws of Life”, message titled “The Law of Hate”, Proverbs 6:12-19, (Memphis, TN: Stephen Olford Center for Biblical Preaching, 1983), All rights reserved used by permission of Institute for Biblical Preaching. Database © 2004 WORDsearch Corp.
[10]J. Vernon McGee, “Proverbs 6:16-19,” Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee WORDsearch Corp.
[11]C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology and Ethics, (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1994), p. 124
[12]Lawson, p. 117
[13]Thomas O. Chisholm, “Living for Jesus” (1917) Available from: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/l/i/livingfj.htm Accessed: 01/05/12
By Dr. Franklin L. Kirksey, pastor First Baptist Church of Spanish Fort 30775 Jay Drive Spanish Fort, Alabama 36527
Author of Sound Biblical Preaching: Giving the Bible a Voice Available on Amazon.com and WORDsearchbible.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Biblical-Preaching-Giving-Bible/dp/1594577684
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http://www.webspawner.com/users/franklinlkirksey / fkirksey@bellsouth.net / (251) 626-6210
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