Sermon: Walking In Wisdom

Walking in Wisdom from Proverbs 4

Open your Bibles to Proverbs, book of Proverbs, chapter 4, Proverbs chapter 4, I have this beautiful new Bible and all the pages are sticking together so, it's actually my favorite part of new Bibles is breaking them apart.

Proverbs chapter 4, this is the book of wisdom from God, Proverbs chapter 4, starting in verse 1, hear now the word of the living and the true God, hear O sons of fathers instruction and be attentive that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts, do not forsake my teaching.

When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast to my words, keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom, get insight, do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth, do not forsake her and she will keep you, love her and she will guard you.

The beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom and whatever you get, get insight, prize her highly and she will exalt you, she will honor you if you embrace her, she will place on your head a graceful garland, she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.

Thus far is the hearing of God's word, let's pray together. God I pray that Lord you'd bless us as a church, strengthen us, guard our hearts and minds, grant to us the strength Lord not to just pursue knowledge of you, but wisdom.

Grant to us the ability to live with skill and godliness. Grant to us the strength Lord to be like Jesus, Lord Jesus you are wisdom incarnate. Grant to us the ability Lord to look to you and to walk like you, to bring you glory.

You've saved us from our sin, grant to us the ability to daily be saved from our sin. I pray that you'd be glorified in all that you do to us as a church, Lord how you use us, how you give us a voice for your glory in your kingdom.

I pray especially for us as a church you'd grant to us wisdom, in Jesus name, amen. So this is actually powerful, if you don't know this, the book of Proverbs is something you can really go through every single month, just read a chapter today and you're going through God's book of wisdom, and the Proverbs is, it's so amazing, it's of course not like the other books that we've been doing in the New Testament that are historical narrative, or it's a teaching letter from the apostle to a church from a dungeon, it's very different, and you can see the differences even, for example, in the book of Romans it's didactic, it's teaching literature, it's systematic, it's going from point A all the way to Z and you're working through an argument and a line, you're instructing and teaching, this is knowledge, this is truth, and this is truth, and this is how you know this is true, it's very different say from James, where James is so focused upon, okay, you say that you believe, but here's what I see, and how do we know that you really believe, well it's by what you're doing, is it a dead faith, is it a living faith, and James is just packed full of wisdom, wisdom, skillful living, and it's amazing, here's just, this is an aside, but I truly think it's amazing that you have all these amazing things in the New Testament from the Gospels themselves, the historic narratives, the witnesses of what Jesus did and said, and the resurrection, all of that's there, but then you also have the letters that, you know, just transform your life, renew your mind, yes, but it's an amazing thing to me that James, the Lord's brother, is the one that grew up with Jesus, and we see such an amazing focus in his letter upon actually living like what you know is true, and wouldn't you expect that from James who grew up close to Jesus, with Jesus, as Jesus' brother, that his emphasis in his letter is so much not just on didactic teaching and systematic stuff, it's on if you really believe this, then live like it's true, stop being a hypocrite, if you really believe this, then walk with godly, skillful living, and you see that in James, and I just, I personally think that's just a mark of like, well, that's what I would expect because he lived with Jesus, knew Jesus so well, grew up with him, saw how he acted with his mom, saw how he acted with his family, how he acted with neighbors and strangers, how he lived his life, and so James is zeroing in upon wisdom, living godly, applying knowledge, applying truth.

Wisdom Versus Knowledge in the Christian Life

It's an amazing thing to me, I think that we have that in Scripture, the book of Proverbs is just filled with godly wisdom, it's skillful living, it's so different than the narratives because you'll be going through a chapter and you'll have just this section that's emphasizing one aspect of wisdom, skillful godly living, and then it switches to just another aspect, completely different, but it's just full of just point after point after point, godly wisdom, get wisdom, get wisdom, and I want to talk, I want to emphasize this as we talk today, very important as a church body, because why do a message like this?

It's important, and I'll tell you why I think this is so vital. God has us involved in so many amazing things, to proclaim his truth, to serve one another, to raise our children in godliness, he has us involved in so many amazing things, and I think we have to just be aware of the fact that when you are coming against darkness with light, there is a spiritual aspect to all of this, there is spiritual warfare that we have to be very, very vigilant about and aware of.

We have to sort of expect it constantly, that we are fighting something that is a spiritual battle, so as we go out there to proclaim the gospel and to fight against darkness and to shed light where there is darkness, all of that, be salt and light to the world, there are spiritual attacks coming, and sometimes, as I said over the last couple of weeks, those spiritual attacks, they come from the outside, they come from those who hate God, they're enemies of God, and it's so easy as a church, it's so easy as a church to see the unbeliever railing against God, railing against God's truth, you see that and you recognize the foundation, this person hates God, they're an enemy of God, they're not even standing on the word, they are trying to collapse the faith, and so it's easy at times when those attacks come against any church from the outside to recognize where it's coming from, that's from the enemy, that's from unbelief, and those sort of attacks and that sort of sin goes right off the back of the church most of the time, right, just like water off a duck's back, it's easy to recognize, you see it for what it is, and it just goes right past you, those attacks come, you anticipate them, and most of them are just simple parlor tricks of the enemy, but the one thing that I think many believers are not always vigilant about and aware of is just the lack of wisdom within the body of Christ, within a particular church body, where sin can be creeping in, jealousies, strife, disorder, broken relationships, gossip, slander, and all the rest, these are tools of the enemy, they really are, and the way to preserve your own walk with the Lord and the relationships within the body of Christ and the unity of the body is to always pursue wisdom, applying God's truth, because God's truth has victory over the schemes of the enemy, so whether the enemy is working from the outside or working from the inside, godly wisdom and the pursuit of wisdom will preserve our church, any local church.

There's a difference between knowledge and wisdom, now if you want to hear a main point of this message that I think is one of the most important aspects in terms of what are you saying Pastor Jeff, what are you trying to aim at, it's this, the difference between knowledge and wisdom, knowledge and wisdom, I want to just say I love the reformed faith, I love it, I love what's expressed in the reformed faith in terms of scripture as the ultimate authority, what's true, how do I know, it has to be God's revelation as the ultimate, you are to test your own inner monologue, you're to test the voice of the one who comes knocking on your door with another gospel, you're to test even your own pastor by the ultimate standard, the word of God, I love that the reformation has that, that core, that God's revelation is central, I love the story of reformed theology that shows us from the word of God that salvation is from beginning to the end, all to the glory of God, soli deo gloria, it is all to the glory of God, that it is by God's grace alone through faith alone that we come into this relationship with Christ, I love the reformed faith, I love that we emphasize that it is Christ alone for salvation, I love it, I love tulip, I grew up in Holland and they're everywhere, but I love tulip, what came out of that time of the reformation where a fight really was brewing over the issue of how gracious is God's grace, and essentially what tulip expresses is that it's real grace, from beginning to end, it's total grace, it's all to God's glory, I love it, but one of the things that I think is most damaging in the reformed community, most damaging, it isn't everywhere, you can't say it's always like this, but it has some hot spots where it just grieves my heart, is people who get into reformed theology that see these truths, they're consistent, they're everywhere, this is what God says, and so they pursue that knowledge, this section, this section, knowing this, knowing where it's at, being able to put the story together, being able to explain the trinity, being able to explain the deity of Jesus Christ, being able to explain the distinction and natures of Christ, he's God and man, being able to explain Sola Scriptura, but not able to live with wisdom, gossiping, slandering, trying to attack and bring people down constantly, being just mean people, mean.

Some of the meanest people I have met in my entire life are reformed Christians. Some of the most unwise, ungodly people I've met in my entire life are people who claim to be in the same theological camp that I am.

Having all this knowledge about God, being able to articulate these truths that are glorious and should break down any pride or haughtiness in anybody's life, being able to do that so well, pursuing knowledge which is so vital, and yet not able to live with basic godly wisdom.

Not gracious, not humble, willing to entertain gossip, willing to just buy accusations, willing to just buy slander, passing along slanderous reports. You see it online all the time. All the time. So there's a difference between knowledge and wisdom.

Wisdom is the application. It's the application of godly truth. How do I actually live with skill as a godly man or godly woman? It's very different than someone who says, I can explain and articulate all these things, here's where it comes from, this is the truth.

We need to be those kinds of people that care about what does God actually say, but we need to also prize wisdom, applying what God actually says. That's what God calls us to, applying skillful living.

And one of the ways I thought, this hit me last night, I thought it was a beautiful expression of this, is last night, so I think it's around 7 o 'clock, and for about two hours, we had some very qualified men, you guys know what I'm talking about, some very qualified men teaching the men at Apologia Church how to fight.

Now, the interesting thing about this is that it was freezing in Prescott, so you had to contend with the cold, which tightens everyone's muscles up and everything else, so you're already kind of brittle because of how cold it is.

And we're in this very small room with how many men? It was like 150 men, something like that, 150 men. So packed into a room with like 150 men, there's barely any room to breathe or move in there because everyone's just packed in there nice and tight.

And the men up front who were highly qualified to teach how to defend yourself and to hurt other human beings, if you have to, they're showing and they're telling, this is why you do it like this, and here's what you're going to do.

And they explained and they would go over it and over it, they would explain, this is the move, this is why you're doing it, here's what you want to do with your elbow, here's where you're bringing it in, and so they would explain and they would impart the knowledge.

They would say, this is true, this is why, and this is what you need to think as you're doing this. And then came the moment where everyone was going to partner up and start rehearsing it. And the guys said, they said, now, be really careful and make sure that you know you're swinging an elbow at a man's face.

So it's best maybe just to put your hand up, hit the hand, or lightly touch the chest. And I'm sitting there going, oh, this is going to be interesting. And it was amazing because I think that if you would have taken the time that these guys explained, here's why you're doing this, this is the truth, this is the move, they would give them the knowledge, I bet you, you could have pulled most guys up there and said, OK, could you just explain real fast the basic points of knowledge that these men gave, right, before you actually apply it?

Can you explain what this is and sort of like why you're doing it? I think most of the men could have gone up there and did a pretty good job. You need to put your hand here, here's why you're doing it, they would have explained and you would have gotten all the knowledge.

But now was the moment of application and it was epic. First of all, that room stunk a lot. Some guys are just sweating profusely and they're throwing the moves and I watched about five men get clipped right in the nose with the elbow, right, because there was one thing being able to say, I know the move, I just saw it 10 times, I had it explained to me, I can tell you what they said to do, but it was a whole different thing figuring out how do I get my body to move this way and how do I figure out this range?

Some guys like thought they were a mile away and they were this close, they were like whack! Elbow right to the nose and it was interesting to watch it because, you know, it's Christian, you know, brotherly love and you see guys just get smashed in the face with an elbow and the guy's like, are you OK, are you OK, he's like, yeah, I'm fine, he's like clenching his fist, you know, oh, I love you, Lord, I love you.

But you saw guys get clipped with elbows and guys get hurt and taken down and it was amazing to go to watch that difference between the knowledge imparted and then the guy's ability to actually do it.

When they say, OK, I know what he said, but being able to actually get in there and maneuver the right way, they were backwards, they were facing the wrong direction, they were using the wrong arms, that's the difference.

That's the difference between knowledge, knowing stuff, getting certain truths and then wisdom, actually being able to apply it with skill, there's a difference. We should prize as God's people, knowledge of God, truth from God.

We need to care. What does God say about this? What is God's truth in this area? We have to care and I want to say this, we should be the people that care the most and.

Work the hardest.

Have you ever read the Puritans? You ever tried to read the Puritans? The way that they talked about God and spoke about God and wrote about God, all of that, it is amazing. You can read an old guy named Stephen Charnock on the attributes of God and you have to admit, nobody today living can write like this man and think thoughts like this man.

They thought long and hard. You have to read just a page of Charnock and then take 30 days to eat it, to try to like contemplate and just meditate on, oh my goodness. You can't read straight through the book, it's just a page at a time, a day at a time.

It's so much knowledge and we have to be skilled in that, we have to care. However, we have to prize also wisdom. How do you actually live in a way that's pleasing to God? Because you can say that God says, without holiness, no one will see the Lord.

Saved people are people that God renews and transforms. You will become more and more holy. You can say that as a theological, you know, claim. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. That's in Hebrews, by the way.

But if you don't live like you're pursuing holiness, then you're not mature as a believer. You're not deep with God. I don't care how much you say you know about God and God's truth. If you don't act like Jesus and you're not pursuing wisdom and holiness, becoming more slow to speak, more patient, fighting against division, fighting against gossip and slander, then I would say you're not even stepping on the first step of Christian maturity.

We have to pursue wisdom and prize it as deeply as we do knowledge. Now, you might see that I'm very passionate about this. I am, because my own experience as a Christian is very much like this. As a young man, I was so passionate about knowing God's truth.

I don't like to put myself into sermons too much, but I just want to let you know where this is coming from in terms of passion. I was a young man that cared so much about studying and learning. I had heroes that I was looking up to, heroes like Dr. Walter Martin, who seemed to know everything there was about history and church history and theology, and he could just use it to like win people to the Lord and take down arguments.

And then I got to know my hero, my friend, my mentor, Dr. James White. And I watched these guys, I looked up to them so much, I thought to myself, I need to be able to reason like them and think like them, and so it was study, study, study, study, and being able to explain and make sure that the explanations are sharp and clear and being able to actually engage even in fights with it against unbelief and the cults and all the rest.

But what's amazing about that is if you would have seen me as a young man, I think I would have been able to actually go toe-to-toe with some of the best of them in terms of theology and like where's this at in the Bible, where's that in the Bible, and how do we know this?

I would have been able to explain just over and over and over, page after page after page on particular doctrines of the Christian faith, but I was not wise. I wasn't wise. I wasn't patient with my wife.

I wasn't slow to speak. I had a quick temper. I would entertain gossip. I didn't know how to manage when someone's accused. I was not a wise man, but I could debate the Trinity back and forth. I could explain all the differences in eschatology, all the historical pedigree of the eschatology and where they get this from and where they get that from, but I was not a wise man.

I wasn't patient. I wasn't always loving and gracious. Pursue wisdom. Pursue wisdom. That's the call of Scripture. I want you to see this in terms of this is what's given to us over and over and over.

In Scripture.

Proverbs on the Tongue, Slander, and Discord

Look at Proverbs chapter 6. Proverbs chapter 6, starting at verse 12, and this, by the way, this is just, you'll see this in and out, in and out of the Proverbs, in and out. You'll get a section, it'll break for a minute, and then it goes right back to these themes.

Proverbs chapter 6, verse 12, a worthless person, stop there, take that in. Take that in. That's the Word of God. A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech. Winks with his eyes, signals with his feet, points with his finger.

With perverted heart, devises evil, continually sowing discord. Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly. In a moment, he will be broken beyond healing. There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to Him.

Worthless, wicked, abomination. Are there stronger words in the entire Bible to express God's detestation? I don't think there are. Abomination to Him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, murderers.

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 brothers.

There's godly wisdom.

Here is what God hates, not dislikes, not is uncomfortable with, God hates. We always talk about God as love and justice and mercy and unchanging and all that's true. But God does have this attribute of hatred for evil.

And isn't it interesting that what God puts together with murderers, murderers, is a person who sows discord among brothers. If you are a person who lives comfortably in the realm of discord in God's church, then God puts you in the same category of what He hates along with the murderers.

He hates murder, He hates lies, and He hates those who sow discord among brethren. Just consider that. It's interesting. My experience within the church, I wasn't raised in the church, and so my experience in the church, you know, it wasn't from a young age, but it was, you know, teenage and young adult years.

And I have seen so many churches just disappear or split, get broken, wounded, hurt. And you would ask, like, well, how did it happen? You know, amazingly, the reason that sort of led to the break and the split and everything else was gossip, factions, that kind of thing slips into the church.

It seems so subtle, it seems so small, and yet when you have, in my last church I was pastoring before planting Apologia, we had a massive break within the church. I was pastoring the college groups at the time and serving the church in a number of different ways, and that church to this day now no longer exists.

It's not even there. It's not even on the map.

Why?

Because groups of women started with very subtle gossip about other women in the church. And then the pastor's wives started having their own thing in terms of gossip about the other pastor's wives. And then it started, not with any forceful or serious big ticket accusations, it was just typical gossip and taking down people's dignity, trying to ruin their reputation with, you know, small subtle jabs at their character or how they did things.

And then what ended up happening ultimately is this faction building and gossiping within the church led to essentially a church split, and this church exists today. I was able to, by God's grace, with Pastor Luke, recover much of that, and then God called us ultimately to plant Apologia Church, but that church was just barely teetering because of what had been happening to them, and they were traumatized by the issue of gossip and factions amongst the women.

It was a church that was like 750 people strong. It was one of the best churches I had ever been a part of, amazing pastors, and it doesn't exist today, and the ultimate answer is, well, how did that all happen?

It started with gossip between women in the church. No big ticket items, accusations, just subtle taking women down, degrading them, talking poorly about their group of women, those sorts of things, and so an entire church was destroyed and doesn't exist anymore, ultimately because of no wisdom.

No wisdom. I want you to see this more. In Proverbs chapter 6, we were just there, go to chapter 10, just move over to the right, chapter 10, I'm going to again show you that this just weaves in and out of the story of godly wisdom.

Proverbs chapter 10, 18 through 19, it says, The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.

The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. Whoever utters slander is a fool. That has had such an impact on me personally, in terms of walking with Christ and understanding God's hatred for division, God's hatred of gossip, God's hatred of lying and slandering, and God actually saying, very specifically, if you utter slander, you are a what?

Let's say it together, you are a what?

You're a fool.

You are, from God's own mouth, a fool if you utter slander. Worthless, wicked, abomination, God hates it, you're a fool. That's how God tells us, speaks to us, about the issue of lying, disorder, breaking up unity, and slander.

More. Proverbs 10 .30 It says, the righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in a land. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse.

Does that sound kind of familiar to anybody, in terms of anything you've read like that in the New Testament? There's a very famous section from the Lord's brother, James. I want you to see it real fast.

Go just quickly to James, New Testament, right before Peter, right after Hebrews. James 1 .26, famous, right? We all know this. It says, if anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless.

There it is again. Worthless. What comes out of your mouth, those sorts of things, lead to the state of being worthless. Your religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

That's wisdom. That's wisdom. Pure and undefiled religion before God is this, that you can quote Reformed Dogmatics by Herman Bovink.

Right?

No. There's nothing there about that. It's all seen in what actually happens with your religion. You say you're religious. You say you believe in Christ. What does it look like? What does it actually affect and impact in the world?

How does it move from here and here to out there? That's what James is saying. It's worthless. This is what pure and undefiled religion is. But he goes on. After this great section of James 2, you know what I'm going to.

James 2 verse 4.

He says,.

Look at the ships also, though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder,.

Wherever the will of the pilot directs.

So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beast and bird and reptile and sea creature can be tamed, and has been tamed by mankind. But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessings and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs?

Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. Pause for a second here.

Isn't this challenging?

Think about what's being said here. This isn't a letter being written to unbelievers. Mark that down. This isn't being written to unbelievers. Who's it written to? Christians.

Christians.

Oh, we can't struggle with that. We're not going to struggle with cursing people and blessing God. We're not going to have that problem. Is this really to me? It's written to the church. This is a charge being brought against Christians.

People who profess the faith, they say one thing, and then they do another. They curse the brethren. They curse others while they're trying to bless God at the same time. How does this work? James is saying, how is this possible?

What a deadly thing the tongue is. So make war with our sin. Amen? Yes? Make war with our sin. Make war with our own tongues. Be constantly aware of the fact God is sanctifying me. God loves me. God lives in me.

And so I have to guard myself against myself.

Against my own sin.

Who in this room is not guilty of gossip and slander? To some degree, all of us. Maybe you're engaged in it now. Maybe you're sitting in the midst of it within this body. Don't be a worthless person. Don't be practicing what God calls an abomination.

More. Proverbs 10. Proverbs 10. We were just there. Sorry. 11. Verse 1. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. There's another of the many examples in Scripture you have.

God even has them practicing this in Old Testament holiness code. He has them even practicing this in terms of how they do their weights and measures with their stuff just as a rehearsal to always have equal weights and measures.

Equal weights and measures always. So we are to live with one another with a biblical balance. No partiality. No partiality. How would this come out in terms of the body of Christ and us living together in our marriages, in our homes, in our small group communities,.

Or whatever?

How would this come out? Equal weights and measures. No partiality. We treat one another with honor, and we treat one another the same. That is skillful living. I don't show personal favoritism to somebody.

This happens. That's how factions are built, by the way, within the body of Christ. What happens? Just consider it. It starts with the subtle accusations, then maybe the big-ticket accusations from someone that you really love.

And so what do we do as Christians? We love these relationships. We love these people. And so what do we do? We fall prey to partiality. Unequal weights and measures. Meaning what? Is that I have such a close and deep relationship with this person, I am just going to be on their team, be on their side, right?

This will be my team, and that is their team, right?

And why?

Because I really love this person. Because I really care for this person.

And so what do I do?

I show partiality. Unequal weights and measures. One of the things that I have tried my best, I know that I failed as a father in so many ways, but one of the things that I have tried my best to do with my own children is try to emphasize this.

The standard is always the same.

For both of you. I love you both,.

But if one of you comes to me with a story, and we have to manage this, I can't say, well, you're in my good graces today, so I'm just going to believe you over them. No partiality. Equal weights and measures.

I will treat you both the same. I will give you the same justice, the same standards,.

Because what does God say?

Pause here for a second. Don't we do this? Do we not do this? When we are coming against this culture with its perverse sexual ethic, and they're saying, no, you can live with homosexuality, you can live in this lifestyle and be a godly person, you can do these things, these perverse things, you can do these things and still be a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.

What do we always do?

We try to say,.

No, wait a second,.

You don't understand. The Bible is not muddy on this point. It is so clear to the degree that it uses the word to-e-va,.

Abomination,.

When it actually describes this lifestyle. We actually emphasize that. No, the Bible is not unclear. How is it not unclear?

Because it says to-e-va,.

Abomination. It's an actual abomination to God. You know what God says also? We love to give that to the world. This sexual ethic is an abomination to God. God says here that a false balance, unequal weights and measures, is an abomination to God.

So let's challenge ourselves. Are you ready to challenge your own heart and your own mind as a believer over this issue in life and godly wisdom in terms of unequal weights and measures? Or are we just going to keep picking on the homosexuals with our favorite proof texts saying abomination to you, but never to me.

Just consider it. How seriously we take that. That's an abomination. So is unequal weights and measures. So is showing partiality. Side note. Important one. People often ask us.

I'll tell you this story.

It just happened. We had the opportunity. We're fighting this battle constantly. We had the opportunity. Someone suggested to us, hey, we'll put a bill into Arizona for you. We'll put a bill into Arizona for you again for the issue of abortion.

Great.

Equal justice for all humans. Equal protection for everybody. Well, it'll say that, but the punishment for abortion will just be severe counseling.

Brothers and sisters,.

That's an abomination.

Why?

Because it's partiality.

It's saying in the state of Arizona, before God and using his standards, you, if you kill this 10-year-old boy, you will be treated as a murderer. You will be guilty of homicide, and this will be the punishment.

But if a mother and a father dismember, disembowel, and decapitate their own child in the womb, severe counseling.

What is that?

Partiality.

What does it do?

It's saying treatment for these people.

Will look like this,.

And treatment for these people.

Will look like this.

One of the things we will never do as a church,.

Ever,.

Is support anything that shows partiality.

Why?

Because it's an abomination before God.

God hates it.

People have said that to us as a church. Guys, why won't you just support, say, a heartbeat bill? Why won't you support this bill of 10 weeks? Aren't we at least getting closer? And our answer is always, that is an what?

Abomination.

Why?

Because it's saying, you can be free to kill these human beings, but not these ones.

So people say,.

Why are you so committed to that? And my answer is, because the law word of God. Because godly wisdom doesn't practice like that, doesn't live like that, showing partiality. This goes not just to the issue of personal relationships and showing personal favoritism to some, and not to others, but this moves throughout all of life.

How do you apply the wisdom? How does it feel? What's it look like? How do you actually master this? It goes everywhere. No partiality.

More.

11, verses 8 and 9.

It says,.