Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

A House Divided Pt.1

Let's turn to Luke's gospel. We want to talk about an area that's vital in the day that we're living in as far as the preserving of ourselves in this warfare that we're in. We know that we said that the man of sin, of course, is going to continue to escalate the spirit of lawlessness in the last days. The spirit of iniquity that's already moving in our midst, we talked about that being a lawless attitude, or each one living to themselves is really what we're talking about in lawlessness. There is no standard by which man is governed other than his own perception of truth and reality, or as the Scripture says, every man doing what's right in his own eyes.

So this is going to continue to be the environment that we're living in. It's going to come down to individual's rights to where the individual is more important than the whole. What's the new slogan for the Army? It's not "Be All You Can Be"; it's what? "An Army of One." Isn't that interesting? In other words, the Army is about me! The Army of one--it's about me and me getting what I want and being happy and having my attorney represent me because somebody treated me bad in boot camp and all of the different things that's the environment that we're living in.

That same spirit, of course, is in the church because it's not just cultural; it's the make-up of man--pride, selfishness, all of these different things that we all contend with in our lives on a daily basis. But it's going to escalate in the last days. It's going to be a supernatural expression of lawlessness, not only sociologically to where people are out shooting one another in the schools and these type things that people seem to get upset with and all of the violence now that they're finding in airports and in the airplanes. There's a real increase in there. What about all that's taking place on our streets today? We call in road rage. You count it a victory if a guy gives you this [fist gesture] instead of one digit! They're shaking their fist at you, and everybody's mad, and everybody has a right. "I have a right to run this red light." It's the environment that we're in.

Now how does this translate over into the church if we begin to understand that this is a supernatural increase of lawlessness? We're going to have to watch for it in our own lives because it's in every one of our members, isn't it? But when we begin to see it in the church, we see it in the vein that the apostle speaks of--self-will, self-expression, which we call strife, which we call division. And we have to understand that the Master said a house divided against itself, say it with me, cannot stand. So we have to be aware that this is the tactic that the enemy is going to use in the last day. If he can divide the house, it won't stand.

Let's talk about your individual homes for just a moment. If he can divide the house, what will happen? Say it: it won't stand. So what should be one of the great pursuits for your home? Unity. Now how does unity come? Unity comes by being able to agree upon a course of action, the right choice, and this is it. So for us as believers, we have not to establish a standard but to follow one. The standard is already established. We have to agree to follow it, to make it the final authority in our lives in every area. What's going to keep us from doing that? Because most of us here are professed Christians. We say we love the Lord; we say we believe the Bible is the Word of Truth and we want to do what the Word of God says. What is it that keeps us from doing that?

Luke chapter 9. Let's read just a little bit concerning the disciples. Men that you and I, the Bible says, are supposed to follow--be followers of those who through faith and patience are inheriting the promises of God. They're the great cloud of witnesses that have gone on before us. They never had any problems though. They were all perfect. They were supernaturally endowed with grace and faith that they never made any mistakes, and you and I are struggling and battling. They had some kind of an extra empowering to do the works of God. Well, we see too much testimony against that, don't we, with the denial of Peter, the doubting of Thomas, the betrayal of Judas. They're men of like passions just like you and I. These guys are no different than you and I. We find them sleeping in Gethsemane--no different than you and I. We find them fearful in the boat on the Sea of Galilee--no different than you and I. So when we begin to see what God's expecting of us, it's nothing abnormal. It's normative Christianity. We're not always going to get it right the first time, but God, as He reveals Himself to us, sets the standard of which nothing else is acceptable.

So we see on the Mount of Transfiguration, in this 9^th chapter of Luke beginning at verse 28, that the Lord reveals Himself to these men. They were sleeping, of course, and then woke up at the last minute startled, and they see Moses and Elias with the Lord. Of course, Peter makes his presumptuous statement, "...let us make three tabernacles..." And a voice from heaven says, Not so; this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased; hear Him. They saw the glory of the Lord, and we would assume that it would change their lives. But instead we see them going down the mountain, and they go about ministry as usual. We find a child that's in need, and they try to minister to him, but they couldn't.

They had just been in the presence of God; Jesus transfigured before them; they saw His glory; they heard the voice from heaven. Prior to all of this great supernatural intervention and experience, prior to this they had been out casting out devils, healing the sick. Now this boy is brought to them, and they can't do anything. Jesus comes, and He rebukes them and says, "O faithless and perverse generation [verse 41] how long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither." "...And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and delivered him again to his father. And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God..." (verses 42-43).

What is it that causes--and we've talked about this before--what is it that causes these who were in Matthew 10 fulfilling the mandate to go into the world and preach the gospel, to heal the sick, to cast out devils? Well, verse 46 tells us, "Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him. And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be [say it] great" (verses 46-48). Now every one of us wants to be the greatest. "I am the greatest!" Muhammad Ali said. It's within man. And the Lord said if you're going to be the greatest in this Kingdom, you're going to have to lower the value you're putting upon yourself. You're going to have to take on the form of a servant, and not always want your way and think you're right. You're going to have to be able to humble yourself so that God can exalt you, instead of self-promotion.

Now it's interesting, here in Luke it says that there arose a reasoning among them. But Luke says it a little differently. Turn over to Luke chapter 22, and let's look at this account. I think this is really what the real issue is. This is what caused the anointing to be ineffectual; this is what caused the power to wane in their lives. This is what will cause the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit to stop moving in your homes. I'll show you in the Scriptures that when this spirit is present, the Holy Spirit isn't. You're on your own. And the Bible tells us very clearly in the 24th verse, "And there was also a strife among them..." The other said there was a reasoning. It seems like they were just kind of, you know, reasoning. That they were saying, "Well, you know, let's just look at this thing matter-of-factly. I'm the smartest; I'm the most popular; I'm the strongest; I'm the most disciplined. Therefore, I should be leader. Let's reason about it. Come, let us reason together." They were not reasoning. The word that's used in the Luke 22 passage is far more accurate. They were striving.

Now, what is this word "strife"? When we talk about strife, what are we really talking about? We gave a simple definition: expressed hatred. But the word "strife," when you really understand what it means, it means to be contentious. What is "contentious"? To contest everything. Let me ask you something. Are you always contesting everything? "Why? How come? Explain it to me; justify it. Why? Why? What about this? Don't you think...? I, me..." This contentious person can't ever just receive an admonition, receive some type of direction or correction. There always has to be a response, a protecting of self, self-interest. That's the defensive. The offensive is thinking that you're always right, that you know everything about everything, and that you should express something about everything. Contentious: a contesting. "My opinion's as good as theirs! Who do they think they are? Why should I always have to do what my parents say? Don't I have rights? I'm a man! I'm 13!"

That spirit that's within every one of us--and it's in every one of us, in our members--it came with Adamic sonship. So it's in there; we all know it's in there. It's not like, "Wow! Where did that come from?" We all know! So what are we going to do about it, and are we going to wink at it and not realize how serious it is because I want to tell you again, beloved, listen. A house divided will not stand. It may not happen instantly, but it's going down, and you can take it to the bank.

Now these were men who were in full-time ministry. These are men who were called of God and anointed of God. These are men who had just had a visitation of God. And they're striving. Another word for strife is to be "quarrelsome." Contentious, contesting everything; quarrelsome, got to argue about it. They were arguing. Can't you see these guys walking down the road arguing? "I'm the greatest!" "No, you're not; I'm the greatest! You're ugly!" Always something to say; always some kind of response.

I saw a thing on the Astor family just the other day, and it was interesting. The Waldorfs who went over to England had come to great prominence over there. One of the women was in Parliament, I think one of the first women, and she really hated Winston Churchill--just hated him! Winston had a pretty good wit, and this woman was really sharp, and she had a great wit. They were at this meeting one time, and she was seated next to him. And Winston Churchill was being himself--you know, kind of aggravating people. She looked over at him, and she said, Sir Winston, if I was your wife, I would put poison in that tea! He turned and he looked at her and said, Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it!

Quarrelsome, always something going on. We've all heard the other very famous one about that. He was on the elevator, and he was just almost falling-down drunk. And this lady told him, You're a disgrace and obnoxious and just a sloppy drunk! He said, Madam, you're right, but in the morning I'm going to be sober, and you're still going to be ugly! Quarrelsome spirit. Now that's the kind of guy you want when you're fighting the Germans, but you may not want to go to tea with him! You could end up insulted! A guy who looked like W. C. Fields shouldn't be calling other people ugly! And so we realize that it's within ourselves, how we see ourselves as superior to others, and always having to speak toward an issue. We need to be slower to speak if we're going to be wise, the Scripture says; be not rash with our mouths.

Now how does it practically affect us here as a community? Well, there's more, but right now, in this fellowship, we have three families that are involved in great strife and division, to the point of being on the verge of breaking apart. In one family, there's delusional statements being made and accusations against another with absolutely no merit. Others, there's contention and strife so bad that it gets involved in physical confrontation. Others, there's manipulation and deceptions and all of these things that are going on. That's here in our midst, and they're here this morning! A house divided can't stand. It's not acceptable to God.

There's others I could share--how many of you want to hear a dozen other incidences? You say, "No, thank you." None of us like hearing it; none of us like having to deal with these things. But the spirit of lawlessness, beloved, can't be winked at. We will not be unaffected in the body of Christ. It's in our members. The only way that we can deal with it is not dealing with that other person, but dealing with ourselves. The problem is not external; it's internal. Nobody can make you do anything. We like to blame all of the outward circumstances. "The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me." "I can't go out there; there's a lion in the street!" It's really just a little cat, but it's all in perception.

So what are we going to do? I think we have to understand how vile, how destructive this really is. Turn over to James for just a second. When we talk about strife, I want you to see the source of it. It's very important for us to understand the source of strife or of a contentious relationship. You're just always battling; there's never agreement. It's just always something. "It's never going my way enough. Nobody understands me. Everybody's stupid but me!" Some of you are sitting there and saying, "Yeah, that's true. Everybody is stupid but me!" What is this all about? James chapter 3. "Who is a wise man [verse 13] and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation [lifestyle] his works with meekness and wisdom [good pattern of living]. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."

If you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not; you have nothing to boast in. You are, in fact, according to 1 Corinthians 3:1, carnal. Are you not carnal, Paul says to the Corinthians, because of the envy and the strife and the divisions that are among you? "You see, the only reason I'm at strife is because of that other person, because of these circumstances." No, they can't make you be in strife. It's only how you respond to these things. You see, when you turn the other cheek, there's not any strife. When you esteem others better than yourself, there's not any strife. When you humble yourself, there's not any strife. When you learn to be submissive, there's not the strife. "What about when I'm being abused and used and mistreated?" Well, let's determine the cause. Maybe it's for righteousness sake. Then what are you supposed to do--get in strife or do what? Count it all joy that we're counted worthy to suffer for His name's sake.

The Bible says you're going to be misunderstood because they didn't know Him, and they're not going to know you. So what are we going to do--get in strife and bitterness and bickering and try to establish our rights? Now these are extreme cases; and we can look at them and say, "Okay, I understand that." Let's bring it back to our intimate interpersonal relationships. Let's talk about in our homes, and let's talk about in the community of believers here. Because that same tendency is in your flesh to respond, to want to judge the actions of a child or a spouse in ways that may not be biblically pure, to want to question the deacons or the pastors. "Because, I mean, after all, I'm intelligent and I'm saved and I have the Spirit of God in me. Don't we all have rights to be heard, and doesn't our opinion count as much as anybody else's?"

Well, when you study the Scriptures, clearly the answer to that is, "No." The child's right to be heard is within the parameters of "Children, obey your parents...", the wives within the parameters of submitting, the husbands within the parameters of loving and dying as they represent the head of the family, Jesus. No, the answer to that really is, we don't have rights to be anything other than what God's Word demands us to be in a given relationship: family, fellowship, society. The Scripture speaks very clearly what every one of our roles are to be and how we're to respond in given situations. If we're carnal, we're going to be envious, striving, and experiencing the fruit of division. It's the ultimate, ultimate fruit of carnality.

We're going to talk about that in just a second and look over at Galatians, but as James is speaking here, he says, "But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom"--and there is a wisdom to it. You can get a lot done. You can manipulate things; you can intimidate people. You can go and sow seeds and break up coalitions so that you can overpower them because their house is now divided and they can't stand. You just made some little innuendoes; you made some accusations, whatever. Now they're contentious and now they're weak, and you kill them. It's a wisdom. It works, but it "descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." But it's innate, and you can watch little two-year olds use this wisdom; it's natural to them. It's called selfishness.

So when we understand what the source is--the source of strife is sin; the source of strife is satanic, demonic empowering--it's not from above, the Scripture says, because "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." As we begin to look at how we relate to other people, if this fruit that we just spoke of--the fruit of the Spirit that James is reiterating here a little bit in another area--if we're responding to people by the fruit of the Spirit, then of course it's the wisdom that's from above. But if we're always worried and protecting ourselves and wanting to hold onto our territory and realize that everybody's out to get us and "Nobody understands me" and "I've got to defend myself" and "I've got to promote myself," then we're moving in the wisdom that's not from above, and the source is earthly, sensual, demonic, and your house won't stand. Not only will your house not stand, you won't.

Go to Galatians for just a second. Let me show you something. The book of Galatians--we'll talk about some practical ways to perceive whether or not you're moving in strife. One of the ways will be that you're not at peace. The wisdom from above is peaceable. Are you at peace, or are you ticked? "I'm ticked. I don't like the way I'm being treated. I don't like the way these people are acting. I don't think they are doing this properly, and I'm ticked!" Has anybody ever been there? It's the wisdom that's earthly and it's sensual and it's demonic, and your perception is that your perception is truth. What we've done then is we've each set our own standards, and we're lying against The Truth. We're going to be in unity and harmony if we all accept The Truth (Holds up Bible). We all agree to it; intellectually we all agree. "Amen! We're going to do the Word! We all need to do the Word!" How do you respond when somebody comes to you and says, "You're not doing the Word; here's what you should be doing"? "Well, the reason I'm not doing the Word is because it's the eleventh [is today the eleventh?] and it's overcast, and we're on Triple Seven Road." There's always a reason.

Let me tell you where that comes from. Did you find Galatians yet? Galatians chapter 5, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (verses 16-21). "Humm, you mean if I continue in strife, I'm going to hell?" Yeah, that's what it said.

Now where is all this coming from? Keep your finger there in Galatians, and go back to James real quickly. We're coming right back to Galatians, but let me show you something. There's a wisdom that's not from above; it is earthly; it is sensual; it is demonic. Chapter 4, verse 1 of James says, "From whence comes wars and fightings among you?" What's the deal with all of this conflict and contention? How come I'm always at odds with people, and they just don't seem to be getting it done the way that I think they should? Why am I always misunderstood? We're talking about these households that I just mentioned that are in our midst right now, active, right here this morning. All of this spiritual force is going on in this room right now. Now where does that come from? "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have..." You see, what we're talking about, beloved, is lust. We're talking about covetousness. We're talking about pride. We're talking about self-will. We're talking about a wisdom that is earthly.

Now look at verse 4: friendship with earthly wisdom is making you the enemy of God. "Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? [verse 5] But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the [temptation of the] devil [to exalt yourself, to always have to speak what you're thinking, to always have to demand your own way, to always feel like you're the victim], and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you..." "Humble yourselves [verse 10] in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law..." So as you read the context of what James is saying there, you begin to see that he's dealing with that contentious spirit and that spirit of self-exaltation.

Now Galatians makes it very clear that the man who's involved in strife, sedition--"Now I'm in strife, so now I'm going to have a seditious spirit. I'm going to separate myself. I'm going to get over here with just the ones that agree with me, and we're going to fight them!" Hatfields and McCoys! We try to rally our kids around us in the home and defend ourselves against the "evil" one--whether it's Mom or Dad, whatever. So now we've got to get them rallied around so that we can defend ourselves and show that that other person is wrong and needs to be dealt with. If they do, there are biblical ways to do it, but not strife. If there's a legitimate issue, then it needs to be resolved. But it's not going to be resolved with wisdom that's earthly, sensual, and demonic. It's going to be resolved when both parties can realize their error, their wrong, and conform to the truth of the Word of God. The way to get out of strife is to seek the multitude of counsel and establish some wisdom, not try to gather more information to destroy that one that we should be trying to restore, and preferring that one instead of ourselves. When you find a brother in a fault, Galatians says, restore them in a spirit of meekness lest you be tempted. This is ugly; this is the ugliest that we're talking about here.

It can be seen in a lot of very mild ways--this leaven. "What do you think about what they decided to do?" "Well, I think..." And we begin to get the sister spirit with all of this that's called talebearing, whispering. How many of you know that something no good is going on when you see two people (whisper, whisper)? Are we children of light or not? So whenever you have to whisper, whenever you just have to, "Hey everybody. Hi! [whisper, whisper]." That whispering spirit that we're talking about that's always trying to just get a little bit of ammunition, a little bit of support.

Now watch how the Spirit of God speaks toward this. He says first of all, you're not going to inherit the kingdom (Galatians 5:21), and your house is not going to stand--your home, the fellowship, whatever. If this spirit is allowed to go unchecked, it will destroy you and yours.

So now, let's talk about it as believers and how we contend with this in our midst. Turn over to Proverbs 6 for just a second. A lot of times, until you see how ugly something is, you don't really deal with it. "Yeah, it's bad; we shouldn't be doing that. But, you know, everybody does it. I'm not at strive; I'm not slandering. I'm just asking a question! I would never slander my husband! I'm just asking you if you think he should have done that. I just want to ask you something. Do you think my husband should have spent all this week's paycheck on new golf clubs and played golf all day Saturday and all day Sunday? We never even saw him, and the children didn't see him, and none of us ate. Do you think he should have done that? I'm not slandering him. I'm just asking a question of my friend."

You already know he shouldn't have done that! You're not trying to seek counsel! You're slandering! You're involved in strife! You're sowing discord among the brethren! Your house is divided, and you're on your way to destruction! "Well, I have to talk to somebody." Well, I know somebody that never sleeps or slumbers. Anybody know His number? 1-800-JESUS. There's a way to receive counsel, but don't lie to yourself as to why you're doing some of the things you're doing in response to whatever you perceive to be an error. God has given clear direction as to how to resolve conflict--internal conflict, interpersonal relationship conflict, community conflict. The Word of God gives clear direction on how to resolve conflict, and it's not strife. It is not whispering. It is not talebearing. It is not to be slanderous or contentious in any way.

The first process is always to do what? Take the beam out of your own eye so you can see clearly to help your brother. Before you start taking care of anybody else, take care of you. Do I know that my motives and my methods are biblically pure before I endeavor? I didn't say perfect. We're getting ready now to do some surgery; we're going to do some splinter removal. Have I done log removal first, because that's the biblical order? "You mean to tell me that we can't say anything to anybody else if we don't have our lives perfect?" I didn't say perfect. I'm talking about this is a specific, contentious problem; and you need to make sure that in this area, your motives are pure and your methods are pure, or you're not going to get biblical results.

Now, in Proverbs chapter 6--interesting thing. Verse 12, "A naughty person [King James is so cool--naughty], a wicked man, walketh with a froward [crooked] mouth." "I saw a crooked man; he walked..."--whatever, however that little thing goes. "A crooked man walked a crooked mile, who had a crooked mouth..." That's what froward means--crooked. What do we mean by crooked? Always talking out of the side of his mouth; always trying to manipulate things; never quite gives the true, pure information needed. It's always slanted; it's always got a little twist! We're to rightly divide the Word of Truth, the Scripture says. That word "rightly divide" means to cut straight down the middle. And here it's always slanted, just crooked. It's always slanted, off just enough that I can justify it if somebody calls me on it. Crooked, the Scripture says, instead of children of light, instead of cutting it straight down the middle--crooked mouth.

"He winketh with his eyes..." He says to his companions, "Check this out; I'm going to kill him, too. We'll take them for all they've got." "...he speaketh with his feet..." That's quite a mental image, isn't it? What it's talking about there is his course--swift to run to mischief, the Scripture says. You can always see that they're headed in that direction. When there's something going on, they're always involved; and they're always the victim. The Bible says flee the appearance of evil. You speak with your feet. If you're always where there's problems, you've spoken. You're to deny; you're to flee. "...he teacheth with his fingers." The teaching with the fingers is just talking about giving instruction.

This is all stuff within a week--last week--that we're trying to help people through. Boy, don't you wish you had this cushy job, where you only worked one day a week?

The Scripture speaks to us, and it says, "Frowardness is in his heart, he deviseth mischief continually; he soweth discord. Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly..." Suddenly doesn't mean quickly; it means suddenly. God can let it go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and boom! You're cut off without remedy. He's not going to keep giving all of these chances and one last warning. He's going to contend; He's going to bring reproof and instruction and correction with the Word of God. And the people who continue to resist the truth and to set forth their own will, God at one time will just suddenly, the Scripture says, cut them off and without remedy--allow the searing of the conscience, the hardening of the heart, whatever it might be. Just the swift death--unexpected, like a Dale Earnhardt or somebody out on the highways. It happens in a moment.

Then God speaks and says this. Now I want you to look at something. This is one of the most powerful phrases in all of the Scripture. Verse 16, "These six things doth the Lord hate." That's a pretty powerful statement, isn't it? "These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: [number one, say it] A proud look." Okay, a proud look. Pride, the original sin we all know, that tendency within every one of us--the self-will, the self-reliance. God is wanting us to learn to trust in Him and to walk by faith and to die to ourselves--take up the cross and follow Him.

That pride that we deal with; this proud look God hates. It's not, beloved, just that we walk around with our nose in the air and think we're better than everybody else. That's part of it; that's how it many times can express itself. It's the defiance, the stiffnecked defiance of God's truth and God's love for us and His mercy and His grace. We're too proud to ever ask for help, and we're too proud to ever admit we're wrong. A man that thinks more highly of himself than he should think. That proud look is that pretentiousness. We're trying to put this thing on instead of just being able to walk as a servant and to walk humbly and be able to realize we don't know everything and we can't do everything except through Christ, Who strengthens us. Nobody expects you to have all of the answers. Nobody expects you to be perfect. We expect you to be perfectly pursuing.

"A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood"--you know, the little ones? Be careful, man. Be careful in all of this stuff that you don't set up a stumbling block in front of the innocent ones, the little ones. Be careful that your conflict with your wife, your husband, whatever it is--be careful that you having to show that you're right and have your own way doesn't send your children to hell and a stumbling block. You're better off to have a millstone tied around your neck and be cast into the sea. Instead of having to stand to show that you're right, why don't you humble yourselves and let your kids see what humility can accomplish? Why not show them what "servant of all" is about? This lying spirit, this shedding of innocent blood--preying upon the innocent with those demonic wiles and seditions and heresies, who "by good words and fair speeches deceive the simple" Romans 16 says. These people walk in our midst quoting Scripture, talking about the Lord, how they love everybody, but the fruit doesn't indicate that.

"An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to [conflict and] mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies..." We're talking about all this little twisting, just this little bit here, and leaving just this thought in somebody's mind about this other person or about the circumstances. False witnesses, slanderous results, half-truths. "and he that soweth discord among brethren." God hates this. It's going to cause a cutting off without remedy.

It's interesting. It doesn't say that there's a perceived conflict between two individuals. Somebody can be opposing you, and you're responding to them biblically and not opposing them. The fact that somebody doesn't like you--we're not talking about that. The fact that somebody's saying ugly things about you--we're not talking about that. They're making accusation--we're not talking about any of that. Now the truth will have to be determined in this thing, but we're talking about how you respond or whether or not you're the initiator, because look what it says: "he that [what?] soweth discord..." You're the source; you're the one that's causing this environment. You're the wood that's keeping the fire going, the Scripture says.

Well, if that's the case, then let's dig one layer deeper and see if we can find out--this is what the results are, and God hates it--let's see if we can find out what the cause is. Let's see if we can dig a little deeper and find the cause. Proverbs speaks to it over in the 10^th chapter. Proverbs chapter 10, verse 11, "The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life [it brings life and peace and joy and refreshing to everybody around]: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked." The wicked person is a person that speaks toward others with destructive and divisive intent. In fact, "Hatred" the Scripture says, "stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."

So what we're looking at then is, number one, a person who's involved in this is moving in hate and not love. You hate. If you hate your brother, you are a (say it with me) murderer. And don't think that any murderer will inherit the kingdom. Now what could possibly cause me to hate somebody? "Well, they stole my car; they burned my house down; they killed my wife; they killed my child." Can those things make you hate? Can they? How many of you think something like that could make you hate? Let me see your hands. Anybody? Come on, hold them up if you think that. No, they can't. They really can't. They can give you an opportunity to hate, but only one thing can make you hate, and that's what? Your choice. "I choose to hate instead of forgive."

Now I don't know about you, but if somebody did that to me, I really would love to think that I would forgive them, but I really think my tendency would be to mess them up and then forgive them! How many of you think you kind of have that tendency? But God's grace is sufficient, isn't it? If you're walking in humility and were cultivating the emptying of self and the daily death, when these tragic things come into our lives, God's grace is there, and it is sufficient because if those things could make you hate, then shouldn't God be full of hatred with all of the rejection and everything that was directed toward Him from His creation? But God is what? Love.

So if I'm full of God and full of love and have experienced love and what I've freely received I freely give, how can I then respond to you in this conflict with anything other than compassion and thinking, "Man, if they only knew the Lord and they were right, they wouldn't act this way; they wouldn't be involved this way! I need to pray for them. I do need to speak to them; I do need to bring the Word of God and make the standard, but I'm not going to get in conflict with you. I'm not going to take up your same tactics and draw on the world's wisdom, because I'm no longer a hater."

Now, let's define it in another way. For me to hate you means that I am, in a perverted way, loving myself. For me to hate you is to love myself in a perverted love. And so it's very important for us to look at the root and think, "You know, the best I can tell, they really shouldn't have done that. Why am I responding this way? What is it in me that always makes me think I'm the victim and everybody's out to get me and I've got to defend myself and I'm going to set things right and bless God?" Thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought. What about restoring in the spirit of meekness lest we ourselves are tempted in these things? You see, when you respond that way, it's an internal problem with you. Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers the sins. Now, we know that we're not talking about cover-up, hiding it from everybody in hypocrisy. We're not talking about that. We're talking about it covers. It's able to realize that these things are under the blood of Jesus, if we would both come to the agreement of the established truth of the Word of God.

Proverbs 13--let's look at Proverbs for just a second. Proverbs 13, verse 10, "Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom." What brings contention? What brings strife? Say it: pride. So, whenever there's strife involved, whenever there's contest, whenever there's wrangling and bickering, what's present? Pride. "Yeah, and if they could get rid of that, things would be right!" Right? How many of you have a tendency, when you're in conflict, to first of all assume they're wrong? Does anybody have that tendency? How many of you always assume that it's probably you, as your first thought? Let me see your hands. Unanimous, or how many of you are just afraid you might not have the right answer this time? That's pride! How many of you are trying to discipline yourself to look at you first? Let me see your hands. I am. I'm getting better at it. I'm a lot better than I used to be.

But pride, the Scripture says, is the cause of this contention. I don't have to even think I'm wrong. In fact, beloved, listen, hear this: the more you're sure you're right and in the will of God and doing the truth, the less you become contentious. You don't have to prove anything; you already know. You don't have to justify. "I know." It's when we're unsure, when we're trying to defend something, we're having to still battle and try to convince people. When you know you're in the truth, man, you're at rest! Nobody can get you upset, but pride will always cause this response and this contentious spirit. Now we've got a contest: "Bless God, we'll find out who's right here!" Why not just fall on your face before God, like Moses, and let the earth swallow them?

That's what I've chosen to do; I've made that choice. I made this choice years ago; I'm not fighting anybody. I'm not going to fight you; I'm not going to get in conflict with you. If I know I'm right, then God's going to justify; you're going to get swallowed up. If I'm wrong, God will bring it to me and judge me, but I'm not going to fight you. I'm not going to try to beat you out of anything and sneak up on you and see if I can con this out of you. I'm just going to tell you the truth, and if you like it, you like it; and if you don't, you don't. Now you've got a choice, but I'm not going to fight you. It's a peaceful way to live, and it's a walking in the Spirit and it's supernatural.

The pride that you battle with--of course, being a naturally humble person, I'm really proud that I don't have any problems with that! When you become aware of your own heart and your own besetting sins, you don't have to try to protect that false image of yourself anymore. And when people respond, you're not in contention now; you know they're speaking the truth. Yeah, it hurts. "You're ugly, and your momma dresses you funny!" "That hurts, but I've come to understand that's true." Now, when people who, in the flesh, verbalize that--"You're ugly and your momma dresses you funny!"--that's sin, but now I don't have to respond. I can just say, "Yeah, and in the morning..." No! You've already identified it; you're not having to protect this area. You're free to walk in the Spirit in truth and in the light, and that pride doesn't cause retaliation to try to bring some kind of a punitive response. Those hateful things that people say when tension comes up that you can't ever take back--they go into the spirit and they're wounds that can never be healed. You need to put a watch over your mouth.

Proverbs 15:18 says, "A wrathful man stirreth up strife..." Now who is this wrathful man? It means someone that doesn't have control of their spirit. The walls of their city have fallen down, the Scripture says. It means someone that's quick to anger. So the one thing we can know is that strife then, if we would be slow to anger--if we would be patient and humble and sober and disciplined to where we don't throw fuel on this thing and make quick statements that cause a retaliation and a reaction and become harsh in this thing and next thing you know, there's a conflict going on--if we would be slow to anger, we would then begin to reduce the degree of strife that we find ourselves in in these relationships. But if you're a person that finds yourself in strife a lot, then you're a person who is of an angry spirit. You're an angry man.

What do you think causes someone to be an angry person--just fly off the handle, just short-fused? Anybody know what causes that? It's what we were just talking about in the last verse. What is it? [Pride.] Yeah. "Nobody's going to do that to me!" A guy cuts in front of you, you have James Bond machine guns put into your car, and you take them out, man! "Nobody's cutting me off, bless God!" You ram him, right? What causes that? Where is that coming from? "He's not doing that to me!" Who are you! "I'm the proud owner of a Yugo! Bless God, I have a right to be on this road! I paid my taxes! Who is that jerk?" Well, pardon the rest of us for being on the planet! Who are you? Do you think maybe you're thinking of yourself a little more highly than you ought? Well, let's look at it rationally. Is the guy a jerk? Yeah. Stupid? Yeah. Possibly a woman driver? I couldn't resist that! We all know that's not true.

The thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to think--we just really don't see it that way. "It's just my nature. I'm a Spaniard, hot-blooded!" "I'm an Italian!" I wouldn't admit that if I were you! I don't want to get too ethnic. It's okay with Italians. I grew up in a whole city full of Italians. Monterey--you go out there on the wharf, and instead of singing "Day-O!" it's "Dago." No, I had a lot of good friends--the Garibaldis--they're all Mafia. As you begin to look at these things and you really understand what the root cause is, you can't put it off on the fact that we're some kind of an ethnic group. You put it off on the fact that it's pride, a lack of sobriety and discipline.

Proverbs 17 is a killer! Look at Proverbs 17:19. We're just about out of time for this morning; in fact, we are out of time. We'll stop here because we don't want anybody getting contentious! Proverbs 17, verse 17, "A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. A man void of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend. He loveth transgression [or sin] that loveth strife: and he that exalteth his gate seeketh destruction. He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief" (verses 17-20).

So we realize then that if you're involved in strife, you find yourself just constantly in it, it's a result of the fact that you just plain old love sin. That's what it says. You just thrive on the conflict. It gives you an excuse to express all these ugly attitudes and tactics that are so natural to you and that you're so proud of. Now if you sat down and tried to say, or if someone asked you, "Is that why you're doing that?" you'd say, "No, man; that's not what I'm doing." What are you doing? "Well, I'm defending the truth. I'm just defending the truth. I'm just wanting to make sure they do what's right. I'm just wanting to make sure that they don't take advantage of me because that wouldn't be right for them, and I'm really concerned about their soul!" I think, as we look at these Scriptures, that maybe that's not what really is going on here. Maybe we ought to start looking a little deeper inside as to why we're responding this way because Jesus never did, and He was tempted in every way such as we are, and He's given us sufficient grace. If you find yourself in that environment this morning, I'd look at you first.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God. We just ask that as You continue to speak to us we would humble ourselves that You might lift us up. Father, help us to understand. We've talked about some of the real vivid, obvious, ugly things, but help us to see that this always questioning--"I don't agree with that; I don't think that"--that's what we're talking about. That's the spirit we're talking about. We're not talking about knock-down, drag-outs. We're not talking about the purposeful destruction of another person's business, the slandering and defamation and spreading obvious lies about another member of the congregation to the demise of their household. Now that happens, and those things we look at and say, "That's horrible!" I'm talking about just, "I don't agree with that. What do you think?" "I don't know. I think..."

"Well, don't we have a right to have an opinion?" Of course we do, and we'll talk about that tonight. There are avenues that are given scripturally to remedy any conflict, to assure biblical order and truth, and anything outside of that leads us into sin. It leads us into division, and the house won't stand. We speak the truth in love. We bring all, when necessary, order by the Word of God--through reproof and rebuke and instruction into righteousness that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished to every good work. There is provision to straighten the other person out, but you've go to straighten you out first.

Ask yourself the question this morning: How pure are my motives, and how pure are my methods, and is the beam out of my eye? If not, I would encourage you to take care of that before you destroy anybody else. "Yeah, but somebody's got to set them straight." Let's let it be somebody other than you, somebody that has the beam out already. What makes you think you're the conscience of God and the prophet of God and the absolute defender of truth on the planet? If God needs it straightened out, He can do it without your help. Let's take care of you, for love covers. Pride and hatred and strife exposes. It's earthly, it's sensual, and it's demonic, and there's no place for it in the house of God.

Let's stand before the Lord this morning. As Gary plays for us this morning, we'll just rest in God's presence. We're living in a society where Antichrist is being raised to prominence in the spirit of lawlessness and the emphasis on self that's in the world, the "I" generation. We're all susceptible; it's in us. But when the prophet stands and says, "Thou art the man," then hear the Word of God. It'll save your kingdom; it'll save your life. It may not save the child, but you'll go to him. Selflessness is so unnatural; it's supernatural. Humility, going for help, looking for others to help you through is so unnatural, but it's the power of God to salvation. Humble yourself, and God will exalt you. Let's sing it together and worship Him this morning. "Purify my heart..."

Lord, do the work in our hearts this morning. Father, complete the work in our hearts. Let the sanctification of Your Spirit bring us into the image of the Lover of our Souls, Who loved us so freely. How can we but love others? Forgiven so totally, how can we not totally forgive? Father, cause it to become a reality to us, and we're going to give You the praise for it. Hallelujah!

You know, as I look at my own heart and that scenario where someone destroyed my wife and my babies, my babies' babies, and if you were to ask me, "Do you think you could just turn the other cheek?" my response to you would be, "I don't think so. I really don't think so." And because I don't think so, it keeps me prayerful every day. But I didn't think that I would be able to do it when we were still in Herndon, and I didn't think I could do it through the years when we were in the gymnasium, and I still don't think I can do it, but His grace is sufficient. His grace is sufficient, and He'll finish the work in us.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Humble yourself." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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