The Doctrine of Sin - Feet..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. And so we're going to continue. So we can refresh the text in our minds.

We'll read from 16 through 19 by God's grace. And then we will concentrate our efforts on the point in verse 18, the second point, which is, Feet that make haste to run to evil. Feet that make haste to run to evil. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among the brothers.

Amen. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord, it remains forever. So brothers and sisters and friends, we've been working our way through Proverbs 16 through 19, and it's a section that has been titled, The Sins That God Hates, the sins that are an abomination to him. Seven sins, in fact, and we've been working our way through these sins. Now, it is obvious to us as Christians and those who have come and read the Word and have committed time to studying the Word, that all sin is an abomination in God's eyes.

All sin is detestable to Him. God hates sin. God hates unrighteousness. So when we look at these sins, we ought to be reminded that God hates all sins, but we have seven sins here in particular that are listed for us, that are spoken of as sins that He hates, sins that are an abomination to Him. And I believe these sins, if we look carefully and take some time to read and meditate upon these sins, we'll find that these sins are actually representing most, if not all, sins that we can commit.

Beloved, God hates sin, and this is obvious. We read His Word, we know God hates sin. A good and holy God created man in His own image, He created them, and He created them so that they would be obedient to His law, His law which is good and holy and is a reflection of His own character. And if God is the Creator and we are the creatures, then what is the rightful response of a creature towards the Creator? The rightful response is one of obedience.

That is the only right response between a creature and the Creator. Yet what we find is sin. Sin is rebellion against God. It's transgression against God's law. And when man sins, he acts as though he is autonomous, as if he can do as he pleases with no consequences.

We are not autonomous beings that can do what we want without consequences. God is king, and he deserves obedience from his people. Rebellion against God is unacceptable in his heart, in his mind, and it will one day be judged. Every sin will be accounted for. And the judge of all the earth will judge every sin that everyone has committed in action or in thought.

Every last one will be judged. You hear us say every week in our studies on the topic of sin, you hear us say that the heart is always at the center. Last week our brother took us through the sin that is primarily, in verse 16, a heart that devises wicked plans. The heart is mentioned there. And you'll find that we will mention the heart every time that we come to the Doctrines of Sin, the 10-week series that we're working our way through.

Why is that? It's because our brother said last week, the heart is very much the epicenter and the core. It is the essence of mankind. And the heart is where sin is rooted. It's the expression of the whole person, but it is also where sin is rooted.

It's critical that we understand this. It's critical that we understand what the heart is. Because the heart is not just a physical organ that pumps blood through our veins and takes it throughout the body, because our bodies are in need of oxygen. That's not what the heart is in relation to how the Bible speaks of the heart. When the Bible speaks of the heart, it speaks of the very core and the essence of who we are.

And it also speaks about where sin is originated, which is in the very heart of a man. So sin begins in here. And that's a scary thought when you think about it. That sin begins in here. Every one of us has a heart.

And sin begins in our hearts. And that's why when we speak of sin, we need to realize that there's no superficial ailment, no superficial remedy that can treat sin. It requires something far more than what you and I can access with our own hands. Why is that? Because skin is not like a rash that you can put an ointment on and in a few days that rash is gone.

That's not what sin is. Sin is rooted so deep within us, it becomes a heart issue. It's deep in us. And it affects our whole being. Every part of us is affected by sin.

It's so deep, it permeates every part of who we are. We heard that last week. So for us to understand sin, we need to understand that point. Because once we understand that sin has permeated every part of us in Adam, then we can come to understand that the solution for sin is not something that we can reach or come across in and of ourselves, but it needs to come from outside of us. Because every faculty of ours has been corrupted by sin, stained by sin.

The remedy, the hope, lies outside of us. Intentionally or otherwise, we blame external things for our sins. Sometimes we can make excuses by looking at the things outside of us or external circumstances or even people and say, if it wasn't for them, we wouldn't have sinned. They caused us to sin. If it wasn't for these external things, then we may not sin.

But beloved, that's very dangerous thinking. Because thinking like this gives you and I way too much credit. We don't deserve that credit. James says, but each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by his own desire. Yes, there's something outside of us that may allure us, something outside of us that may tempt us, something outside of us that may draw us unto itself.

But the reason we're drawn unto it is because we have a desire within that longs for that thing. It's that desire within us. The corruption is in us. It's not out there. It's in us and we live with it every single day, every moment of every day.

And that ought to be in our minds because sin must never be taken lightly. And that's why all the strategies in the world and even so much of what modern day Christianity speaks to about resorting to look within for the solution, look within to build your self-esteem or to somehow find the power or the strength within to overcome, that doesn't work. It doesn't work. It's not true. You can't reach within and get anything within yourself that is able to overcome sin because whatever you find within the person and the heart is the center and everything comes from it, everything has been corrupted.

If the heart is corrupted, Everything is corrupted. Everything is infected. Everything is contaminated. Everything is corrupted by sin. And so all our faculties, our emotion, our will, our intellect, all of it is rooted in what the Bible calls our heart.

And it's all being tainted with blood. Every last part of it. And the clearest teaching of this is found, I believe, from the mouth of our Lord in Mark chapter 7 and the parallel passage in Matthew 15. Let's open Matthew 15. Let's start reading from verse 10 just to give us an understanding of what sin is and where it's rooted from the mouth of our Lord.

So Matthew chapter 15 from verse 10. Matthew 15 verse 10 through 20. And he, that is Christ, called the people to him and said to them, hear and understand. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person. Some background, the disciples were pulled up by some of the religious leaders of the day and they were told, why don't you clean your hands with the ceremonial cleanings?

That's corrupting and Jesus is addressing that. Jesus says, verse 11, it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth that this defiles a person. Then the disciples came and said to him, Do you know the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying? He answered, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone.

They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. Peter said to him, Explain the parable to us. And he said, Are you still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled, but whatever comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart?

And this defiles a person, for out of the heart comes evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat what is unwashed, with unwashed hands, does not defile a person. So what Jesus is saying, is saying the problem is within. The unrighteousness, the defilement, that which is unclean is within us.

It's not outside of you, but it is from inside of you. It lies directly in your heart. The enemy, beloved, the enemy, is within. And that's a scary thought, to think that your enemy, they say, well I'm not going to go there, that the enemy is within our hearts, just to think, just to think that wherever we are, wherever we go, wherever we come, that the enemy resides within us. He's in here.

Enemy, sin, is within us. You see, we often pray We often pray, if you think about our prayers, we often pray that the Lord will protect us from external influences. We pray, Lord, protect us from our enemies. And we're thinking they're out there somewhere. Protect us from maybe evil, abusive bosses.

Protect us, Lord, from maybe the evil, tyrannical governments. We may even pray, Lord, protect us from the flaming arrow of the enemy. And these are good. We ought to pray for such things as these. But when's the last time we prayed, Lord, protect me from me.

Protect me from my own heart. Protect me from my own sin. You see, that's where the greatest evil lies, in here. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick or desperately wicked. Who can understand that Jeremiah 17 9, the heart is wicked, beloved, the heart is dark.

Often when we quote this verse, we may, it's a very well known verse, and we may remember the first part. And the first part is pretty scary, it's terrifying. But I think the second part is also very, very terrifying. The part that says, who can understand it? The heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.

But who can understand it? See, we have an inclination of the disposition of our heart. We live with ourselves after all, so we know our sin. We know the things that tempt us. We know the things we think about.

We know some of those sins that we may not deal with straight away. We know the thoughts of our minds. We know these things. But this passage in Jeremiah is telling us that what you know is only the beginning. Only God has complete and full knowledge of how evil your heart is and it is beyond what you can imagine.

It's darker and it's even more evil than you can fathom. Jeremiah says, who can understand it? In other words, we cannot understand the depth of the depravity that lies within the sinful nature. But God can. God knows.

And the Bible presses us to realize that our hearts are indeed probably far darker than we give them credit for. And that ought to bring us to our knees before God. They don't want to bring us on our knees knowing that we are completely dependent upon Him because the evil that lies within will overpower us if it weren't for the grace of God in Christ Jesus. So looking within is not the answer to overcome sin or evil. Looking within will only exasperate the problem.

Our hearts are sin factories after all and that's where sin is fabricated, in here we're told. and the evil is manifested or carried out of the heart according to the Bible with our hands and with our feet. Now these are metaphors for instruments that carry the manifestation of the heart and and take them out and act upon them. More pertinent to our study this evening are the feet metaphors. The feet that are quick or in haste to run towards evil.

You see, it's the feet in their hands that execute or perform the evil that has been hatched up in the heart. That's the Bible's metaphor for these things. So this evening, feet that make haste to run to evil will be the topic of our meditations. Now, to state the obvious, in order for us to understand this text, we need to understand some definitions, words, concepts that we have in these few verses here in chapter 6. First, we know what the feet are, and I've said just earlier, it's the instrument along with the hand, and this is how the Bible uses those two terms that act upon or execute the manifestations of the heart.

You can say the feet and the hands are heart in action. heart in action. And the text tells us that the feet, in our passage, act in haste. That is quickly and swiftly. They act in haste to manifest whatever is in the heart, to take whatever is outside the heart and bring it into fruition, bring it to action.

It's the fruit of the heart that is brought out by the hands and the feet. You see, Jesus said, no good tree bears bad fruit. And again, he says, no bad tree bears good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. And then he continues a little later and says, the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of the evil treasure produces evil.

Luke 6, 43, 45. So Jesus is saying, whatever's in here will come out. Whatever is in here will produce fruit, and the fruit will always be consistent with what's in here. And this evening, the manifestation of the heart is not the good tree that Christ spoke about, but rather the bad tree, because we're talking about an evil heart, and we're talking about feet that are haste to run to do evil. This type of heart compels a person to quickly and rapidly run towards evil.

So what is evil? How do we define evil in our minds? Now, evil is a big concept. It's a massive concept. And tonight's Bible study is not particularly on explaining all the facets of evil.

It's a massive concept. But we all have in our minds an understanding of what evil is. We have a good grasp, I hope, of what evil is. We read it over and over. You can't go through even a few pages of Scripture without coming across the word evil.

We know what evil is. We read it multiple times in our scripture. And so most of us will probably be thinking that evil is the opposite of good. And that's not a bad place to start. Evil and good, we know they are contrasting difference.

You can either have one or the other. The Bible says they are distinctly different, good from evil. Even from the beginning, the forbidden tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Jesus says a tree is either good or evil. It cannot be both.

Paul tells us we can overcome evil with good. It's distinctly different. Paul also says abhor what is evil and hold to what is good. is good. How can we forget the struggle and the frustration of the apostle that is articulated for us in chapter 7 where he says, for I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

So throughout the word, we see a contrast between good and evil. But to help us understand evil, we need to remember evil was not always present. This is important for us to remember that. Evil was not always. Good was.

Always has been. There was a time before evil existed, but there was never a time where good did not exist. We have to remember that and keep that in our minds. You see, back in creation, when God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days, in the account of Genesis chapter 1, on five occasions during their creation narrative, we're told the Lord behold upon what he saw, and it was good. And then we're told after he created the crowning glory of creation, he created man, he created male and female in his own image, in his own likeness he created them.

And then when he created man and he finished his work of creation on the sixth day, he looked upon everything and he said, it was very good, no evil. It was good, God's creation is good. There was no evil, why? Because God is good. God is good.

We read over and over again this concept that God is good. We read through the Psalms. The Lord is good. Psalm 100 verse 5. For you are good.

Psalm 86 verse 5. You are good and you do good. Psalm 119 verse 68. That means that he is good and what comes from him is always essentially good. In other words, if God's hand is in it, It is good.

It is always good. Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Luke 18, if you remember the words, he said, no one is good except who? Except God alone. God is good. And there's not even a hint of darkness in God.

And all he does is good. And so when he finished creation, he looked upon it and he said he was very good. And that includes, hear this, man's heart. Adam was created. Adam was formed and when God looked upon his creation including Adam, Adam's heart was included in the very goodness.

Man's heart was good. When God created man, man was devoid of anything evil. No hint of evil in Adam when God created Adam. He was in the likeness of God, and Adam and Eve were made in the likeness of God. They were made in the image of God.

No evil in them. They were very much like God in His likeness and in His image. But when sin entered into the world, everything changed. Everything changed. They were no longer like God.

Humanity fell. It plunged into sin. And the goodness that Adam and Eve experienced has now become corruption. In fact, in a few generations, the way the Bible describes humanity is very scary. In chapter 6, the Lord says, "...

the Lord saw that the weakness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart were only evil." What? Evil after evil after evil without a break. Continually means no breaks. There's no good breaks in between.

The man's heart is only evil continually. You see, God likeness is good. But being unlike God is evil. Because God is the standard of everything that is good. As I said earlier, if God touches it, if God is in it, it is always going to be good.

If God's hands are in it, it is good. Ultimately, it is good. It is righteous. So basically, godliness is goodness. Everything is measured against God, and so anything that doesn't align to the goodness of God, ultimately the standard of God, in whom God is all of that which is good, then if it doesn't align to God's goodness and God's standard, then it is evil.

That's why we find over and over again the Bible describes evil as anything that is un-God. What do I mean by that? God is righteous. That which is unrighteous is evil. God is just.

Anything that is injustice is evil. God is faithful. Anything that is unfaithful is evil. God. Ungodliness is evil.

And so, evil exists in the absence of what is good, and what is good belongs solely to God. And that's why sin is so abominable in God's eyes. That's why sin is detestable. It is loathsome in the eyes of God, because His creatures were created to be like Him. He created them in His own image, in His own likeness, to reflect His own goodness, His own righteousness, His own faithfulness, His own godliness.

These people, no longer concerned for His glory, the very reason for Him creating them, so that He would be glorified through that creation, they turn away from God and they do what is contrary to Him. They do what is opposite to what He created them to do. This is what we call rebellion against God. Rebellion. And although all men are sinners, and all sinners act in some way or in some degree or another in evil, the passage before us, beloved, that speaks to feet that make haste or are quick to run to evil, these people are exceptionally evil.

Because this text isn't talking about someone who stumbles in sin. This text is not talking about someone who falls into temptation or someone who dabbles with evil every now and then. These things are definitely detestable to God in his eyes. But what we have here is far more sinister. Feet that are quick to do evil in this passage speak of a person who has no hesitation at all to jump into evil.

This is a person who acts in violence or greed or lust, fill in the blank, whatever sin you can think of, and is a person who is swift to do so, who runs to do so. And so there is no hesitation to go straight and engage in sinful, evil activity, as though there is no restraint to him, as though there's no restraining this person. The sin is engaged in like someone drinking a cup of water. That's what this passage really is speaking to. Now of course there's different levels of this type of sinfulness.

We've all heard the horror stories. We know the horror stories that take place, even recently. We know of tribal places overseas who have had militia groups or gangs that come in and what they do to, they kill the men, what they do to the women and children is just beyond comprehension. I'm not going to give any examples, but I'm sure some can come to your mind. Disgusting, disgusting acts of evil.

And these are examples of feet that make haste to run to evil. We know that. These men are certainly evil. But beloved, even unregenerated people condemn this type of activity. And the Bible is full of this type of wickedness.

We have examples in the Bible that speaks to this type of wickedness, that there are in particular some who are quick to engage in evil. All men are evil, all men are sinful, but there are some who relish evil acts, and we're going to talk about why that is. We have examples in the Bible, but even in the book of Proverbs, the book that we're studying together, right at the beginning we have an example. Let's open up a few pages back to Proverbs chapter 1, and we'll start from verse 8. Proverbs chapter 1, let's start from verse 8.

This is instruction from a father to his son and by extension all of us. Hear my son your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching for they are graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. My son if sinners entice you do not consent. If they say come with us let us lie in wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent.

Without reason. There's no reason for this ambush. These people that are being ambushed haven't done anything against these sinners. They're just innocent. We can understand if someone has hurt someone and the other wants to retaliate or avenge.

That can be understood. Wrong, evil, sinful. Yes, but this is not what's going on here. Innocent, and yet you have some that want to do evil to them. Verse 12, like Sheol, let us swallow them alive, they say, and whole, like those who go down in the pit, and we shall find all precious goods.

We shall fill our houses with plunder, throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their parts, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. These are lives that pursue evil against one another.

Evil aggression, violence with a full force, not even concerned for the consequences. Their hearts are playing wickedness and they're quick to act upon it. It seems they have no restraint against this type of wickedness. It's a scary type of wickedness. It's in your face type of evil wickedness and manifestation of the heart.

And the father's advice to his son and by extension to every single one of us is this, stay away from such men. That's what he's saying. Stay away from such men. A few chapters later, the father's advice, or the father speaks to the son and gives a little bit more detail about these sort of people. And this is what he says, he says, for they, speaking about the same group of people, the wicked, for they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong.

I want you to think about those words. They cannot sleep unless they've done wrong. And then he goes on, and then he goes on to say, they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. Beloved, this type of wickedness connotes that there are some who find pleasure in doing the most heinous of crimes and evil acts.

There is a delight in their heart when they're engaging in this form of wickedness. That's a scary thought. But it's clear that not everyone is like that. All have fallen Adam, but not everyone is like what we've just read. In fact, Proverbs gives different titles to different types of people, and it does that for a reason.

For example, you'll find that in the Proverbs there is the simple, and then you might find beyond the simple, the fool. They stand for two different types of people. Sinners, but different. And then you have the mocker, or the one who scorns. And then you have the wicked.

The wicked is the depth of wickedness. He is the most morally wicked in this book. So when you come across the Proverbs, Solomon, the teacher, speaking or writing about the wicked, he's speaking about the really morally corrupt evil person. These are the ones who plan in their hearts to be swift to do evil. And some of the Proverbs speak about the wicked being malicious, violent, dishonest, enjoy their dishonesty.

They enjoy unrightful or dishonest gain. They love to bring ruin and destruction upon others. They hate correction. And here's the thing, they love others to join in. And as the Father's instruction was given to the Son, in that passage in Proverbs chapter 1, they're saying, come, join with us.

Not only are they relishing and enjoying it and finding pleasure in this form of depth of grievous sin, but they want others to come and enjoy this sin with them. Come with us. Come and enjoy. This is the wicked that the Proverbs speaks about. Beloved, although we read through this book and we'll find that the wickedness or the evil that is spoken of, especially here, they're the feet that run to wickedness, it is very much, it's a sin that is against God first and foremost.

And as we read through the Proverbs, it's normally a sin that is affecting others as well, always. Through the Proverbs, mainly, it's a sin that affects others, shedding blood or taking away a dishonest gain or something along those lines. But also I'm here to tell you, and I want to submit to you, that this type of manifestation of evil can actually be present in someone who is sinning against God alone. That means someone can have feet that are haste to run to evil in a less visible, less obvious way than what we've just spoken about. Because remember, evil can manifest in the private place.

All you need for evil to manifest is what? A human heart. That's it. A human fallen heart. And so one can be placed in this category, the category of feet that make haste to run to do evil, even when we're engaging in our private sins.

And I'm going to explain how that is. Think about the lust of the eyes. Think about adultery in the heart. Think about using the Lord's name in vain. Think about entertaining prideful thoughts.

Bursts of anger even when you are alone. Quick to be loose with your mouth, swearing, idolatry, drunkenness. You see, these are activities that can take place when there are no other individuals around us. And if we are prompted to run to evil, if that's our natural reaction, then we can be considered people who have feet, who make haste to run to evil. As human beings, we have in our sinful nature pride.

We heard about that when we first started the series. We value our reputation, and we don't want others to see our dirt, our sins. We don't want to hang out our laundry for everyone to see. So we may be actually in our best behavior when we're out in public, but what we do in private matters, when no one is watching, We have to ask ourselves, do we have feet that quickly run to evil? Or do we act in private in a way that is restraint?

Because we can act in a way that is unrestrained. And if we do, if we're quick to race to what is evil, if we're quick to embrace what is evil, then we will find ourselves in this category. But the question we have to ask is this, why is it that although everyone in Adam is a fallen sinner, why don't we all have this feat that rush to evil in the same way as, for example, the Hitler, and the Stalins, and the Maos, and of the world? Why don't we see that everywhere? Because we know that everyone's heart is wicked.

It's desperately wicked. We know that. Theologically speaking, we know that Hitler's heart is just as depraved as anyone else's heart because you can't get more than total. Total depravity, total permeation. You can't get beyond that.

So why is there greater manifestation sometimes? in some people than others. Why do you see sometimes people's feet are quick to run in haste to do evil, horrific acts that you and I can't even think about, acts that Paul says are even shameful to even mention, and yet others not so? What is the difference between one person and the next? Simply said, God in His mercy and His goodness has put restraints in place.

Restraints to hold back the full expression of man's evil heart. In other words, man's evil heart is not let loose to do as he pleases. There are certain restraints that God has put in place. There are several. Among them there is the discipline of the father and the mother because we know a child is screaming and crying when he wants something done because that child is so selfish.

You don't need to teach a child to be a sinner. That child is in and of himself a sinner. There's a restraint of the government, the rules they put in place, and the punishment to enforce those laws and rules. Because many people obey the law, not because they want to, but because they don't want to be fined. They don't want to be in prison.

So these are restraints God's put in place. Also, His restraint is especially evident in the conscience. in the conscience of all mankind. Our brother spoke to us about that last week. And of course the restraint ultimately in his people is in his spirit, his Holy Spirit.

Our brother spoke to us last week about the works of the law and the testimony of the conscience within every person. There is not a single person who God has created who he hasn't put a conscience into. And God has given everyone a conscience. He took us last week to Romans 2, a passage that speaks to that truth. We won't go back there this week.

But the light of the conscience, as I said before, which is in every man placed there by God, either convicts the soul or accuses the soul according to one's deeds. It's the high court that is being given by God. with an innate awareness of what is right and wrong, an awareness of what is good and what is evil. Even civilizations that haven't got the Bible, and if one goes into those civilizations, there's still a semblance that they do have a God-given conscience. You can see evidence of that.

Now, sure, they're capable of atrocious sins, but that is a piercing or a defiling or a wounding of the conscience, and it can also be seared. But therein lies why some people are quicker to run to evil than others. Because the Bible tells us that the conscience, the conscience, although given by God for a particular function within a man and a woman, everyone, the conscience can be wounded, we're told, in 1 Corinthians 8. It can be defiled, Titus 1 verse 15. Or even worse, the conscience can be seared, as we're told in 1 Timothy 4.

Continual rebellion in sin, a little at a time, sears and hardens the conscience to a point that it no longer convicts a person of heinous sins. And then the heart becomes one that is relentlessly producing and planning and hatching evil, like we heard last week. And it produces feet that continuously are driven hastily to execute that evil without being concerned the slightest for any consequences. We call these folk hardened criminals, right? That's the way we see it.

But beloved, hardened criminals aren't unique in that. All people have corrupt hearts, and given enough time, if they continue in rebellion, and if the Lord allows that restraint to be seared, our conscience to be seared, then only God knows the depth of depravity and darkness that man is capable of. It's scary when the conscience is seared, but it happens, beloved, one sin at a time. One at a time. Incrementally, it's a slippery slope.

I want you to think of a dam. Think of a dam that has this massive wall constructed. A dam is in a basin where water rains and just fills up. And then that wall is constructed so that it holds the water in. It might be 100 meters, 150 meters high.

And then they can open it up every now and then and release some water. But this huge wall is holding back this massive amount of pressure. But then it starts to rain, and the wall is not meant to hold that much water, and the water goes up and up, and then before you know it, the top of the wall begins to break. A few bricks at a time just begin to crumble, and the water starts to come down, starts to rush and burst out. And then more rain comes and it filters down the mountains into the basin and more of the bricks start to break off as well.

And then more water starts to come down there. Generally, that water is gonna follow the river or whatever it is it's connected to. But if more pressure than usual is coming, then that water will start to exceed the banks and start to go over the little trees and the shrubs and start to affect the terrain. But then if there's more rain, If more and more rain continues to come down, and those walls begin to crackle and break and crumble, and that finally the pressure gives in, the wall gives in to the pressure, and the damn wall just breaks open, what do you have? You have this massive amount of water just rushing through.

And it doesn't respect the river anymore. It just steamrolls everything in its way. Everything in its way. No respecter of the terrain. No respecter of anything.

It just goes and steamrolls absolutely everything in its way. The body of water with unbelievable force. Beloved, that is not unlike the conscience, which little by little, if assaulted, if left unchecked, will bring down the conscience. And when the conscience is seared and no longer effective at restraining the evil heart, then when it's assaulted, and it's violated, it's wounded, it's defiled, and then it's seared, then the evil heart is manifest for what it is. God may just give that person over to their evil heart to earn the rewards of their evil sins.

We know this is the concept of Romans 1 and Romans chapter 2. And God may actually end up giving them over to a dishonorable passions within. And that's a horrible place. It's a horrible place to be. Natural desires are exchanged for unnatural desires.

And the evil that the heart is capable of is beyond our thinking at this point. But then the things they would never have done, they will do because the conscience, that restraining power that God has put in place, has been broken. It's been seared. And now the waters are just rushing through. And beloved, this is a serious matter.

not hitting the warnings of our conscience is dangerous and it's a foolish thing to do. I hope that none of us have seared consciences here today even on particular sins because it doesn't necessarily mean seared full stop on all unrighteousness. It could be an area, it could be a pet sin, it could be something a particular type of evil that our conscience can be seared in. Beloved, I want you to think of the first time, the first time you knowingly disobeyed your parents, if the Lord brings that to your memory. Or the first time you lied to someone, or the first time you took something that didn't belong to you, you stole.

The first time your eyes willingly looked upon something you should not have looked upon. Go on, but if the Lord has given you a remembrance of this, then you would know that the first time you committed that sin, it was far more severe than any other time you committed from that point on. You may have been nervous, you may have been trembling, you may have been unsettled the first time. Maybe even in tears you may have lost sleep that night. Maybe you couldn't eat because food would just not be digested into your stomach.

But the next time one sins, that sin becomes easier. And then it becomes easier again and again. And herein lies the danger. Because after a few times, and given enough time, this sin, unchecked, will actually loosen and loosen your conscience. Breaking away the restraints that God has put in place.

And then you will find that your feet will be haste to run towards evil. Beloved, Your feet will run towards evil, even wicked sins you never imagined you'll ever commit, even more heinous sins than the ones that used to make you sick. You'll be able to commit those sins as if nothing ever happened. Have a meal and go and sleep like a baby. Whereas if that sin was committed years earlier, you wouldn't be able to eat or sleep.

You'd be a nervous wreck. Beloved, the conscience is a serious, serious matter. The danger someone is in if there's a particular sin that we continually commit over and over again, a pet sin that we know resides in us and we don't deal with it. Beloved, if our conscience is no longer piercing us, We're actually in a very dangerous place. A very dangerous place.

Doses of Brothers did it. Open with me to Genesis chapter 37 for a quick example of this. Genesis chapter 37 verse 17. I'm a little behind for time so I'm going to read them pretty quickly. So Genesis chapter 37 verse 17.

This is Joseph's brothers, the narrative. We know the story so I'll read the narrative from 17b about halfway through where it begins with So Joseph. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. Did you see those words?

And before they came, before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. He hadn't even arrived. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer, come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see that what will become of his rings. But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life.

And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, throw him into the pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him, that he might rescue him out of their hands to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him in a pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it. Beloved Joseph hadn't even made it to his brothers yet, and they'd already conspired to kill him." Talk about feet that are haste to run towards evil.

He hadn't come. He hadn't even said hello to them. He was still at a distance. They saw him and they wanted him gone. They conspired to kill him.

Tell me that that is not something that had been festering in their heart for a while. We know the history. The hatred, the jealousy had been festering in their heart. Bitterness, resentment hadn't been dealt with. And so sin was allowed to abide within sin that produced a hatred and a hatred that was prepared to murder their own brothers.

They conspired to kill Joseph. Now look at what is written in the next verse. Verse 25. Then they sat down to eat. that conspired this horrific sin in their hearts.

No trembling, no weeping, no remorse, no, no, oh no, what have we done? Then they sat down to eat. Beloved, I don't know about you, but if I'm a little nervous, or worried, or anxious, I can't eat a thing. Then they sat down to eat, as if they've done nothing wrong. And beloved, as I said before.

when one allows sin to fester in the heart, unresolved, unchecked, undealt with sin, bitterness, and that's a big one, resentment, hatred, greed, lust, name your sin, allow that to fester in your heart, and before you know it, it will take control of you, it'll destroy the very restraint that God has placed in you, and you'll end up committing sin as though you're drinking a cup of water. And beloved, one sin gives birth, or begets sin, and it gets deeper and bigger and wider and more egregious than you can even remember. And I'm going to open up now, I want you to open with me if you can, to Matthew 26, verse 69. Matthew 26, verse 69. This is an incredible, incredible passage.

It's when Peter denies Christ and betrays Him, essentially, three times. So open 26, Matthew 26 verse 69. And I want us to see something in particular, I'll point it out when we get there, but it is unbelievable. from verse 69. Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard and a servant girl came up to him and said, now we know Jesus has been captured and it is the night he was captured and betrayed by Judas to be crucified the next morning.

The servant girl came to him and said, you also were with Jesus the Galilean. His first response. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean. Okay, so he denied it once. And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, this man was with Jesus of Nazareth.

72. And again he denied it, but this time what did he do? With an oath. So first he denies it only. Now he denies it with an oath.

Are things getting worse for Peter? I'd say they are. Alright. I do not know this man, he says. After a little while the bystanders came up to Peter and said to Peter, certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.

Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I do not know this man. And immediately, the wrist of Christ. Talk about a rapid decline into sin. Now I'm not saying that Peter's conscience was seared here. I'm not saying that happened over the space of a few minutes.

But I do believe by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we have this account to show us the slippery slope that sin begets more sin. It gets deeper and more egregious. Every time we don't deal with that sin. He denied Christ once. He went against his conscience.

He denied Christ again in a worse way. He went against his conscience. And then when he denied Christ the last time, he says he invoked a curse on himself and swore, I don't know this man. Sin gives birth to more sin. Undealt with, it gets deeper and worse and worse.

So why does a person continue to violate his conscience? Why does a person not adhere to the danger when the conscience is piercing the heart? Stop this activity. Stop this thought. Turn from your evil ways.

Stop doing this. Look the other way. Turn that off. Don't go down that path. Don't do it.

Why is it that that warning is not adhered to? Understanding two things, beloved, will help us to understand why this is. It will make it clear in our minds. First, the desire and the passion of the flesh within. Remember how we spoke about the heart that is corrupt?

The heart that produces sin, the evil that is formed within, that heart has desires. Sinful desires. The natural heart, the unregenerated heart, the heart in Adam, has sinful desires. They're the passions of the flesh. And beloved, they are very powerful.

They are very enticing. They are very alluring to that person. And man naturally loves his sin. We need to understand that. In Adam, a person wants nothing more than to give himself the satisfaction and the gratification that comes for the flesh in engaging in sin, in engaging with the things that the flesh enjoys.

and the things that God attests, the things that are abominable in His eyes. When that sin and that evil is acted out, the flesh enjoys it. It's a heart thing. And the other thing we need to know, that's the first, is that the reason why people don't respond to their conscience, they no longer fear the consequences of evil. Beloved, the reason why people no longer adhere or take the warning seriously is simply this, they have no fear of God in them.

devoid of the fear of God. Listen to Proverbs chapter 8 verse 13. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. You hear that? The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Proverbs 3 7. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Proverbs 14, 2, but the fear of the Lord, or by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil.

That's instruction given. By the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil. That's 16, 6. Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him. Did you see the common denominator there?

Fear of the Lord brings about hatred to sin. You see, the culmination of Paul's indictment of all humanity, both Jew and Gentile, and everyone, all humanity in Romans, is culminated in Romans chapter 3. And this is what he says. After listing all the depravities of the human heart, they do not seek after God, there is no righteousness in them, none of them does good, not even one, their mouths are open graves, and it goes on. In the final summary of that passage, he says this, there is no fear of God before their eyes.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. You see, a heart that doesn't fear God is a heart that plans wickedness. And it's a heart that also engages with feet that run swiftly to evil. And if you don't reverently fear the Lord, if unrepentant sin is allowed to reside in the heart, then the conscience is seared and then one will scorn God. He says he despises him in Proverbs.

Beloved, this is just like the false teachers in 2 Peter that we've been hearing about over the last few months. They have the word, they're in the context of the church, yet they've seared their consciences to the point where they swallow sin, they commit sin, and there is no fear of God in them. They don't tremble, we're told there. They don't tremble before the Lord because they know what is right and wrong beyond the conscience. They have the Word of God and yet they continue to engage in this illicit activity with no concern of the consequences.

Beloved, God's patience is unfathomable and sometimes He allows that to happen. He's God, He's good, He knows what He's doing. But apart from grace, beloved, He will give these people over to judgment. It may be He gives them over in this life for them to earn the just recompense for their sinful behaviors like we hear in Romans 1 and 2. But He may await until the final day.

Either way, everything will be put on show and be judged as he is the God who sits on the throne of righteousness and of justice. And how come they don't fear the Lord? We have to ask that question. So if they don't have the fear of the Lord in them, and the Solomon, the teacher's telling us that the fear of the Lord, if you fear the Lord, you'll hate sin. And so we say, we want to hate sin.

We want to live righteous lives. So how is one to fear the Lord? Or ask another way. Why don't these people who have feet that are swift to run to evil, why don't they fear the Lord? And the answer to that question is because they do not know God.

They don't know God. They don't fear Him because they do not know Him. Now, they know of Him and God has made plain some things to them in, again, in the creation and all glory speaks to His goodness and His eternal power and His divine nature. We're told that that's clear to them, but they don't know Him in an intimate way. The knowledge of God is not in the minds.

It's not in their hearts. Proverbs 2, 1-5. Let's go there now, a few pages from where you are. Proverbs 2, 1-5. Let's just read this little section quickly.

Proverbs 2 1 through 5 again the father giving instruction to his son and by extension to all of us. My son if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. You see, the goal is to know God for who He is, and by knowing Him, you will reverentially fear Him. The reverential fear comes through an intimate love relationship with God, where your heart is aligned with His heart.

You begin to see Him for who He is, His greatness, His majesty, His wonder, His power, His judgment. His goodness, His grace, but His wrath and His judgment. And seeing God and knowing God for who He is will create in you a fear of God. And it will create in you a heart. that is aligned with his heart.

Desires that are aligned with his desires. As we heard, he becomes the treasure of your soul. And only then will you fear him with the reverential fear that is spoken of here. And then begin to hate evil. If one is going to begin to hate evil and love righteousness, remember hating evil, love righteousness and goodness, all that is godly, all that belongs to God, then one needs to know God.

One needs to fear God. Because without knowing him, without fearing him, we will only continue to sin in everything we do. Because we cannot hate evil, we cannot overcome temptation, we cannot pursue righteousness unless we know him and unless we fear him. That's Joseph. His brothers were haste to run to evil.

We made that example. They sold him out. And he did it tough, but finally he gets a break. Remember, he gets a bit of a break, and he's in Potiphar's house, and Potiphar gives him some authority in that home. He does well, and the Lord is with him, but then he comes across this temptation.

Potiphar's master's wife is an evil woman, and she has advances upon Joseph, and he needs to make a decision. You know, it's one of those decisions that sometimes we have to make that will cost us dearly. And he probably knows at that point that this decision he makes will cost him dearly. But irrespective of the cost, he's willing to pay that cost. Because if you remember the reply he gave to the woman after she made her advances and he says, no, I can't.

Do you remember the reply? This is what he says. He says, behold. Because of me, my master has no concern about everything or anything in his house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. He's not greater in his house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you."

And then he goes on to say, you, his wife, and then he goes on to say these words. How then can I do this great wickedness against Potiphar? Oh no. Oh no, that's not what he says. How can I do this great wickedness against you?

No. Do you remember what Joseph says? How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? It's interesting because it sounds like he's going to bring Potiphar into the piece, right? Potiphar has given me everything.

He's not even greater in his home than me. I've got access to everything, authority over everything except you, his wife. Why would you think I would betray Potiphar? Why would you think I would do this great evil to Potiphar? No, that's not what Joseph says.

Then how can I do this great weakness and sin against God? Yes, he would be sinning against Potiphar, but Joseph knows that his conduct is first and foremost before the Lord, and he's looking at pleasing an audience of one. He knows God, and he fears God, and he's not willing to sin against God. How can I sin against the one who I love? How can I sin against the only true God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of my father Jacob?

How can I sin against him? Beloved, I believe the only way Joseph is able to say those words is if he truly knew God. If God had done a work in his heart and given him a love for him, a reverence for him, a fear for him, and then he gives him the empowerment to walk in his ways. The only way to overcome sin, the only way to have feet that are cleansed from running in haste towards evil is to know God. It's to know God in Christ Jesus, because God is unknowable apart from the Son, Jesus Christ.

Now I'm not going to spend too much time on that point, although it is a big point because it was the main point running through the last two Lord's Day sermons. So I'm not going to build that point but we know that God is unknowable apart from the Son of God Jesus Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. Now in Christ We have been given, if by faith, if by grace, through faith, we have embraced Jesus Christ, then we have been made known by God and he has revealed God to our hearts. Not just that, but he's also given us his spirit. His Holy Spirit, a Spirit that now empowers us to see God for who He is, to love God for who He is, to desire the things of God.

You remember early on how I said there were some restraints? You have the family, the parents and the discipline, the parental, you have the government, and them enforcing the law and punishing that which is evil, rewarding that which is good. And I said, the conscience is a restraint in the life of every believer, of every person, not just believers, I should say. But here we have the restraint of the Spirit of God. Because the Spirit of God doesn't restrain us by saying, oh, no, no, don't do that sin, because you could be in trouble.

That is a consequence. Discipline can come. Rather, it changes the very desire of our hearts. It changes the desire of our hearts to love our God, to seek our God, to walk in His ways, to love the things He loves, and to hate the things He hates. So as we work through the list here, the six sins that He hates, and the seven that are abominations in His eyes, as we work through those sins, We should hate the very things God hates.

When we look at the haughty eyes, may it be that our hearts despise that, the lying tongue and the hands that shed innocent blood, the heart that devises wicked plans, the feet that make haste to run to evil. May it be that our hearts have the same desires as our Lord, and may those things be an abomination in our eyes. May they be detestable in our eyes. May we love the things that God loves. and hate the things that God hates.

Because beloved in Christ we're told in Ephesians chapter 2 that we are now able to use these feet that once were feet that were used for unrighteousness and in many cases were at haste to run to evil. He gives us to use these feet to walk in righteousness. In Ephesians chapter 2 we're told that we once walked, we once walked in our trespasses and sins following the prince of the power in the air. But that's in the past tense. We once walked, back then.

And that ought not to be us. But now we know God in Christ. And he goes on to say, by grace, through faith, we were saved and we know him. We know God. This is not of your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no man can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Our feet are now being cleansed so that we can walk in the righteousness of Christ. Walk in good works that He's prepared for us. Our hearts have been forgiven.

Our feet have been cleansed. Feet now used not to be haste to run towards evil, but to walk in righteousness, in the faith that He has given us, in the fear of the Lord, in the knowledge of God, and in the love of God that we have experienced in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It is all in Christ Jesus. All of it, the complete work is found in Jesus Christ. All the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies are found in our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we know Him, we know God. And we fear God. What about our conscience? And this is the last point I want to make. What about our conscience?

What about if we've wounded our conscience? What about if we've defiled our conscience? Even worse, what if we've defiled or seared our conscience? Is there still hope? Is there still hope for someone who's had his or her conscience seared?

And I would say absolutely yes. Because it's not you, remember, who are cleansing. It's not you who are coming up with the remedy for your sin and to repair your conscience. It's not you. Because these hands, whatever faculties, whatever intellect, whatever understanding, whatever power we have access to in and of ourselves, is only corrupted.

Because remember, the heart is corrupt and it is the very core of everything we are. No, it's not you. It's God. Our hope is in God who is able to cleanse us. In Hebrews 9, verse 14, it says that the blood of Christ who offered himself without blemish as an atoning sacrifice to God, and he did it in order to cleanse our conscience and equip us to serve the living God.

Tell me that's not great news. No longer pursuing evil with our hands and our feet that run to evil. But now we pursue Christ in His righteousness, no longer walking in darkness and stumbling in all sorts of sins. But now we walk in the light of God. And we ought to walk as children of the light.

Our hearts cleansed, our conscience is purified and continually conformed and informed by the Word of God and by faith where we are strengthened and by the Spirit, we're empowered. To walk in the manner pleasing to God, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. 1st Colossians 10 11 Beloved, the only one who can cleanse us, the only one who can deal with our sin, the only one who can deal with our conscience, whether it's wounded, defiled, or even if it's seared. is God in Christ Jesus. The only remedy is to know Him, it's to fear Him.

It's to embrace Christ by faith to be forgiven of our sins and to have the Spirit of God working in and through us so that we have the eyes and the hearts of our Savior. So that we look upon sin and say, how can I do such a wicked thing before my God? May God give us, may the Lord give us That heart, that when we are confronted with sin, we deal with it from the beginning. When our conscience pieces for the first time, may He give us to deal with that sin, to bring it to the feet of the one who is faithful and just, who is able to cleanse us from all our sin and all our unrighteousness. Because if we allow that sin to fester, Even though we are in Christ, if we have trusted in Him, even us, beloved, if we allow that sin to fester, if we allow that sin to go unchecked, undealt with, then it will cause in us a corruption and it will be the beginning of our destruction.

We ought to be careful. We ought to cling to Christ, fix our eyes upon Him and Him alone. May the Lord give us to desire these things. Let's pray.