Proverbs 6:18 (Mini Sermon)

February 3 2021

Audio

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,
1. The fourth thing in this list that the LORD hates is an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.
2. This one gets to the core of man’s being.
  1. Heart n. – ** As the seat of feeling, understanding, and thought. a. = mind, in the widest sense, including the functions of feeling, volition, and intellect. 6. a. The seat of one’s inmost thoughts and secret feelings; one’s inmost being; the depths of the soul; the soul, the spirit. 9. a. The seat of the emotions generally; the emotional nature, as distinguished from the intellectual nature placed in the head.
  2. The heart is the seat of the intellect (1Ki 3:12), emotions (Pro 15:13), and thoughts and will (Heb 4:12; Exo 35:29).

The heart is where wicked ideas are devised.
1. Devise – 1. trans. To divide; to separate, part; to distribute. Obs. (last usage in 1483) 5. To order, appoint, or arrange the plan or design of; to plan, contrive, think out, frame, invent; b. something immaterial or abstract, or a product of the mind. (The chief current sense.)
2. Wicked ideas are planned and designed in the heart.

The heart plans wicked imaginations.
1. Imagination n. – 1. The action of imagining, or forming a mental concept of what is not actually present to the senses (cf. sense 3); the result of this process, a mental image or idea (often with implication that the conception does not correspond to the reality of things, hence freq. vain (false, etc.) imagination). The mental consideration of actions or events not yet in existence. a. Scheming or devising; a device, contrivance, plan, scheme, plot; a fanciful project. Obs. exc. as a biblical archaism.
2. All sin begins in the heart with a thought (Mat 12:34-35; Mar 7:21-23).
3. Sin must first be conceived in the heart before it can be spoken or acted out.
4. Adultery in the heart is a prime example of a heart that deviseth wicked imaginations which God hates (Mat 5:28; Job 31:1; Pro 6:25).
The heart of fallen man is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9).
God hates an heart that devises wicked imaginations because it is the root and fount of all sin.

feet that be swift in running to mischief,
1. The fifth thing in this list that the LORD hates are feet that be swift in running to mischief.
2. Walking in the ways of darkness (Pro 2:13) is bad enough; running to mischief is far worse.

The wicked waste no time trying to sin.
1. Swift adj. – 1. a. ‘Moving far in a short time’ (J.); moving, or capable of moving, with great speed or velocity; going quickly or at a great rate; rapid, fleet. Of movement, or action regarded as movement: Taking place or executed at high speed; rapid, quick.
2. Mischief n. – 1. Evil plight or condition; misfortune; trouble, distress; in ME. often, need, want, poverty. Obs. 2. a. Harm or evil considered as the work of an agent or due to a particular cause.
3. The persecutors of the saints pursue them swiftly (Lam 4:19).
4. The feet of the wicked run to evil and make haste to shed blood (Pro 1:16; Isa 59:7).
5. God hates slothfulness and laziness, but He also hates sin that is done quickly and with diligence.
6. Examples of feet that are swift to run to mischief:
  - running downtown to a riot to loot stores
  - “running” for political office for the power, perks, and kickbacks
  - “running” a charity in the wake of a natural disaster in order to profit oneself under the guise of helping others
  - drug “running”
Our feet should be swift to run away from (flee) mischief instead of running to it (2Ti 2:22; 1Co 6:18; 1Co 10:14; 1Ti 6:11).

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