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Right, so we're on Proverbs chapter 12 now and we're continuing through the book of Proverbs and like I said I'm going to keep reminding you to use a pen and take notes please and things that you think are going to, you know, speak to you this week, this month, this year, whatever you think, some Proverbs which stand out to you, please just make a note of them as there's going to be a lot of topics covered going through these individual Proverbs here. Now we're on Proverbs 12 and we're going to start in verse 1 which reads, Who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish. And I'm going to pray before I get going with this chapter of Proverbs. Father, thank you for your word, thank you for this great book of the Bible, Lord, and this great chapter here and the many talking points, many truths here, please help me to preach them accurately and boldly and fully in spirit, Lord, for everyone to have attentive ears and to really take home something from today, Lord, at least one thing if not more. Please help everyone to really just pay attention now and just don't pray, Amen. Okay, so it said, Who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish. So if you love real knowledge, then you need to love instruction really, don't you? If you love real knowledge, you really want to have knowledge, then you need to love instruction because like it or not, none of us have knowledge without some instruction. You have to get it from somewhere, don't you? You've got to love that and that means that you've got to be willing and actually seek out some instruction in life and because there are many in life that just can't be told anything, aren't there? And many of us will come across people like that, you'll be across them, sadly even in church but in the workplace, other places like that, you just get people that just can't be told a thing. They can't accept that they didn't know that already. So you get those people, you tell them, oh yeah, yeah, I knew that, no you didn't, what are you talking about? They just can't, you know, you get people, I've had it before when I'm preaching when you're kind of preaching something and you get people who you're thinking like, you know, they're like a baby in Christ, like as if they already knew it, you're like, what are you talking about? It's so weird, isn't it? We just have to be humble enough to go, look, I need teaching, right? We all need teaching, don't we? We need to love that instruction. There are people that just can't be taught sadly, okay? They have to already know themselves. They need to be the one teaching, they can't just accept that they didn't know something. So they always act as if they already knew it, oh yeah, yeah, oh of course, yeah, I knew that. And that's not a place we want to be, okay? We don't want to be like that. You want to just be able to be humble enough to say, yeah, I love knowledge, so therefore I'm going to love the instruction, right? And true knowledge comes from the Word of God, okay? From the Word of God, not from me, not from the Church Fathers. You get these people who are like, well, what did the Church Fathers say then? I had a guy in here, I was trying to explain salvation to him, when I sat here in our last building, and he was going, well, I'd like to go back and look and see what the Church Fathers said. Well, who cares what the Church Fathers say? What does the Bible say? You know? But there are people, well, the Church Fathers, well, what does the Bible say, right? You don't sound more intellectual because you're talking about the Church Fathers. Oh, well, you need a history degree to understand the Word of God. No, you don't. You need to just read the Word of God, right? You need the Holy Spirit, and you need to understand the Word of God, not the Church Fathers. Not your old priest, not your old vicar, not your old pastor, not your favourite preacher, okay? True knowledge comes from the Word of God. And if you love learning, you love being taught, especially from the Word of God, then you will grow in knowledge, won't you? So if you're willing to grow and learn, then you're just going to grow and learn, right? And part of instruction, though, is reproof, isn't it? Because often instruction is about something that you've already been doing, okay? It's not always going to be just new things that you've never even encountered before and heard. So a lot of instruction is something you've already been doing, and the truth is, you're often already doing it, but wrong. Aren't you? I mean, it's just life, isn't it? We're often already, we're doing most things in life, and a lot of the time we're doing them wrong, so you're automatically going to be getting reproved when you're getting told how to do it right, because if you're being told this is the right way, then whatever way you're doing it is already wrong. And if you hate that, then you're like a brute beast. That's not a good thing, all right? And really here we're seeing really another characteristic of the wicked, aren't we? But he that hateth reproof is brutish. Both Jude and Petey, you don't have to turn there, when describing these reprobates, use the word brute. Jude 1.10 says, And I'll tell you something that the proud hate is reproof. They just can't take it. They can't take reproof. They sometimes blag and pretend like they can, and they might act and put on and they'll crouch down and pretend to be humble, but the reality of it is they just can't take reproof. In the modern, you'll see them turn when the reproof is just clear, it's at them, they just can't deal with it. The proud just can't deal with it, because they're proud. They just can't take the reproof. He that hateth reproof is brutish. And as we go through, you're going to see just a contrast here a lot of the time about the two extremes of people in the world. Verse 1 said, Let's look at verse 2. So we all want favour from God, and there's a simple way to achieve it by goodness, by living right, by putting on that breastplate of righteousness, like we've talked about as we were going through these proverbs a lot of the time. It makes you think of the people saying you will have encountered them on the door and stuff like that. Well, God didn't help me when X, Y and Z happened, right? God didn't help me when I needed him. You know, while they're standing there, they've never set foot in a so-called church for ever long and everything else. It's like, why didn't he do this for me, right? Well, a good man obtained the favour of the Lord. How about you get saved and start living right, and you might obtain some favour, right? Instead of complaining about the God that you don't even believe in, apparently, not doing what you wanted him to do and giving you the favour that you thought you deserved. And again, a lot of it comes down to pride, doesn't it? Those with their wicked devices, which are basically schemes, okay? The plotting and planning of the wicked are condemned. It's a bit of man of wicked devices will he condemn. And it's not just eternal hellfire. All those scheming guile-filled wicked types out there are ultimately condemned by their actions, aren't they? Condemned in the sight of other people. When you see all that wickedness, that scheming, that guile, all that plotting and planning and everything else, they're just kind of condemning themselves, really, to those that at least have their eyes open to that stuff. It's said, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn, and ultimately they end up condemned in hell. Verse 3 says, a man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. So established is being stable, fixed firm. Turn to Ephesians 4. It makes me think as well, your turn to Ephesians 4, of Jude, verse 12, which says, these are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without, water carried about of winds. Trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. We've just read, a man shall not be established, he will not be fixed firm, by wickedness. He goes on in Jude to call them wandering stars. The wicked aren't stable, they're easily swayed by the new doctrine. I don't know if you've ever noticed this with these people. One minute they love the NIFB, they love everything about it, y'know, pin up pastors, they love it, they're like full on, y'know, fanboys, and then the next, the next, y'know, calling on the name of the Lord is works. So wait a second, you were like loving everything, great gospel presentation, oh this is amazing and everything else, and then it's suddenly, oh it's works, calling on the name of the Lord? I mean what? A load of nonsense. It's one of the most ridiculous ones, isn't it? Or one minute it's a trinity, next it's just a more cleverly worded oneness, when you go back to the church fathers, or something else, y'know? One minute they hate repent of your sins, and next it's just semantics. It's semantics, just a turn of phrase. And these people, they're just swayed by anything they can, because they're not fixed firm, they're not established, a man shall not be established by wickedness. And the thing is though, it's not just the wicked, the saved can be blown about by these people too, look at Ephesians 4.14, he says that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. You won't be established by all of that wickedness, basically. Avoid that junk. Avoid the YouTube Bible teacher. Avoid the social media Bible teacher who doesn't even go to church. But don't worry, he knows best. Don't worry, he knows how it should be done. I mean, like I've said many times, if you ain't in church, you're missing out on literally probably half of the New Testament and its application. But no, no, but they know best. They know best while they're sitting on YouTube with their, you know, well let me teach you this, let me teach you that. Avoid that YouTube Bible teacher. God ordained churches. He didn't ordain YouTube narcissists, basically. He didn't ordain them. Why do people go? But people still do, don't they? They're like, well this person seems pretty interesting, they've got some interesting stuff. Are you sitting in his basement? Sitting in his bedroom? Sitting in the spare room in his mum's house? And if he turned the camera slightly, you'd probably see a load of toys and junk and some funny old wallpaper and everything else with trains on it or something, because they haven't changed it since he was young, but don't worry, he knows best. He knows about the way. And I'm not trying to say just because I'm a pastor I know best, but what I am trying to say is these guys definitely don't know, okay? They're not even in church, most of them. With the dodgy ex-church member, who cares just so much about you? Because he really cares about you, she just really cares about you. Because she just couldn't stop thinking about how much she cares about you. And my point being is that people get, they get tossed to and fro, they get carried about by that. But you won't be established by that wickedness. A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. They won't be standing strong in that false doctrine. They never do. The people, they don't stand strong in it because it just doesn't add up with the rest of the Bible. So it just, it doesn't work. It's like they're trying to stand on something but it doesn't add up. But you can be rooted in righteousness. And here, aside from salvation, it's talking about those that are upright, righteous. Where does it come from? And ultimately, you know, like I've explained in chapters gone by and chapters gone by, Yeah, there's a righteousness of Christ imputed unto us, but it's also living upright and living righteous as well. Turn to Colossians 2. Well, I read Psalm 119 in verse 172, you're turning to Colossians 2, Psalm 119, 172 says, My tongue shall speak of thy word for all thy commandments of righteousness. It comes from the Word of God. And Colossians 2 and verse 6, Colossians 2, 6 says, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. That's how ye established, how ye shall not be moved by walking in him, by walking in his righteousness. Let's look at verse 4 of Proverbs 12, A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bone. So virtuous being morally upright. And it obviously includes being chaste too, okay? And it's a good reminder to single men out there, okay? When the inch-thick make-up gets peeled or often scraped off, okay, the fake tan runs off, the years go by and there's no more room for any more Botox. What's underneath? Because that's what's important, isn't it? What's underneath? What you want to live your years with, you want to spend your years and live your old age with is a virtuous woman, isn't it? Not someone who at one point years ago was the fashionable good looks because she kind of spent a lot of money on it, a lot of the time, which is what you see out there, isn't it? Is she a virtuous woman? Because the opposite is as rottenness to your bones. It is, isn't it? It's as rottenness to their bones. The embarrassment, okay, and ashamed isn't just embarrassment, it's worse than that. You seem usually due to bad stuff, like bad sin. And if you've ever looked, I don't know if you've ever seen that in the world, you look at some of these couples out there and you just see the stress when you see them just dealing with, and it can be both ways, can't it? Someone's dealing with their wife who's just like full of rottenness and wickedness and it just, I mean, that's not, I mean, that was something I could have talked about in our health principles, right? You know, here's a lifestyle principle, avoid the harlot, okay, because she's going to be rottenness to your bones for the rest of your life. And that's not what any of us want, is it? And those men out there, look, we don't have that in the women in this church, but you don't want to just jump the gun and be like, oh, well, I just need a wife, well, she looks attractive because she that makes the shamed, well, is rottenness in his bones, okay? The stress, the pain that you're going to get from that. Look at verse five, verse five says, the thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. So if you're living righteously, then your thoughts will follow, okay? When you're meditating on the word of God, your thoughts will reflect that, won't they? When you're seeking his righteousness, your thoughts will reflect that. If you want to control your thoughts, well, you can control your behaviour first. Make sure you're in the things of God, make sure that you're in your Bible reading, make sure that you're soul-winning, make sure that you're thinking about the things of God. And you will be able to control your behaviour with that because the thoughts of the righteous are right. So if you're living righteously, your thoughts should follow with that, shouldn't they? But the wicked, they'll deceive you, their teachings, their advice, their counsel, it's all deceit. Some of it's clever deceit, some of it sounds like they care about you, some of it sounds like they just care about, you know, just really got to tear down these wicked whatever churches or got to tear down this wicked doctrine of grace through faith or whatever it is, right? But it's deceit. It's all deceit. They're merchandising you ultimately. They're pretending they're looking out for you because that's what they do. They pretend like they just really care about you, that they're just so much more loving. You know, they're just out there to look out for you. However, the false prophet who appears holy will then bind heavy burdens, grievous to be born, laying them upon your shoulders. And we've seen that before, haven't we? They seem like they're just so holy. These men in these churches are like, just got so much love, just so loving, you know, just so loving, whilst they're just preaching some form of work salvation, whilst they're just preaching some sort of standard that they don't keep themselves, that they're claiming is something that will prove your salvation or something else, right? And there's so many of these around, they'll pretend they're well-meaning whilst trying to destroy legitimate churches, for example. Oh, we just really, we just care so much about those poor people in that church preaching grace through faith. Just got to help them somehow. Funny, because you don't seem to care about anyone else. I've got to help them because, you know, it's calling on the name of the Lord, it's works. The funny thing to really care about is that there's literally work salvation everywhere. Open work salvation everywhere. Every, pretty much every church, you name it, in this town, in this country, is preaching some form of work salvation. But what they really care about, apparently, is those grace through faith guys saying call upon. I mean, it's madness, isn't it? It's so ridiculous, but people get, their heads turned by that junk. The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Don't forget that. Okay? It's deceit. They're deceiving you. Verse 6 says, the words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. So it's their words that do the most damage, by the way, okay? It's the false doctrine, the damnable heresy, the little seed sown. Now the reality of it is, as vile and disgusting and reprehensible as they are, that sodomite, who's somewhere around the corner there that you barely see, that, for example, that weird eye that's like some old builder in a frock, yeah, who walks up and down there, it's disgusting. You don't want to see some old builder in a frock, okay? But you know what? He's a lot less damaging, if you don't talk to him, than the false prophet. He's a lot less damaging than the one whose words are to lie in wait for blood, because it's the words, it's the false doctrine, it's the damnable heresy, it's even the little seed sown. The doubt that's put in people's minds, it's the most damaging, isn't it? It's a little thing they can say to you just to start turning your head and get you to doubt and get you to stop serving God. It's a little way they can do this and say that, or it's just the open damnable heresy, whichever flavour it is, that's the issue, it's the words of the wicked. Their goal is to lead people to destruction, whether directly or indirectly, by hindering the work of God's people. So some are just out there open, I'm going to put it on the line and preach false doctrine and false gospel, and that will affect some people, right? Others, it will just be hinder, hinder, hinder, find any which way you can hinder the work of the church, hinder the work of that church there, this church here, hinder the work of the soul winners, hinder, and it's just hinder, hinder. And honestly, I can tell you stuff here which I can't say, well, 100% this, 100% that, there's stuff I've experienced where people will literally hinder your soul winning whilst claiming to be saved, and they're just out there to hinder you, they're out there to just try and prevent you getting people saved. And that stuff, it's real, the battle's real, believe me, the battle's real, okay? It's not just, oh yeah, well it's like that Catholic priest, and I sodomise. The battle's real. What delivers those victims? The mouth of the upright, that's what it is. But the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. And because the words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. You deliver the ones who are being targeted by the wicked, by your mouth, by the gospel, by getting them saved. It all comes back to the gospel all the time, doesn't it? And they'll always try and stop you in one way or another, try and prevent you just getting out and preaching the gospel, because it's the gospel that saves. That's what saves people from the wicked, it's the gospel, it's the mouth of the upright, it's those going out and preaching the gospel. Because I tell you what, you ain't an upright Christian if you ain't soul winning. The wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. Now this is similar to verse 3's, a man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. The wicked aren't stable, they're overthrown easily. So often their life will crumble at some point, okay, and they can put on an act for a time, a season, could be a long season, but eventually it crumbles. But if you're living for God, you're living righteously, it's not just you, but your house will be strong too. If you're doing it right, if you're trying to do it how God wants you to do it, you're not doing it for show, you're not doing it to appear to be something you're not, you're just trying to do it God's way, you're just saying God I want to do it this way, you're not trying to do it to one-upmanship on someone else, you're just trying to live for God, you're trying to have a righteous house, because living according to God's commandments includes being a godly husband, being a godly wife, being a godly parent, being a godly employee. That's how your house stands, by living according to God's words, right? Some will say things like, well the family, you know, well that family there, that wife, or that, you know, that kid, you know, that older kid just couldn't cope with the Christian life. No, the truth is they couldn't cope without it, you can't cope without it. And the problem is people aren't living the Christian life, they're claiming to be, if you're doing it God's way, and that's with the nurture and admonition of the Lord, that's loving your wife, that's obeying your husband, that's doing all the things that God wants you to do, that house will stand. The problem is that people fail at that, and then blame God for it, and then blame the Word of God. It's a bad version of it that destroys the Christian house. Verse 7 says, the wicked are overthrown and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. Look at verse 8, a man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. And where does wisdom come from? The Word of God. Eventually it will make you wise. And apart from God-haters, people do start to recognise that, so God-haters, look, they're not going to respect that in you, but normal people, you know, he maketh even your enemies to be at peace with you, right? Normal people just start to see that wisdom growing in you, they'll start to respect the wisdom in you. You might even get the unsaved asking for advice. And look, I'm not trying to say I'm this amazingly wise person, but as I was growing in the Word of God, I started to find when I was in my previous job as well, people just kind of wanted advice. They wanted to hear, because they start to recognise the wisdom that comes from the Word of God, doesn't it? And if you're giving wisdom according to the Word of God, you will eventually be commended according to that wisdom. The perverse, though, he said, but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. The wicked, again, we're talking about here, they end up hated, okay, ultimately. The charm and the goal might give them some leeway, okay, the trickery, the fakery, pretending to be something they're not, but eventually people just see through it, don't they? If you get close to someone who's wicked, eventually you just start to see through it, and you just see more and more wickedness. And people hate that. And eventually they just start to despise that, because there's nothing worse than being with someone who's filled with all unrighteousness, whether you're wicked or not, or at least whether you're unsaved, whether you're at least in the world. Maybe if you're truly wicked, you kind of put up with it, although there's a lot of infighting between that mob as well, isn't there, because imagine trying to put up with each other. Oh, horrendous. Okay. Verse 8 said, a man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. So if you want commendation, get wise, because then the glory, who does it go to? To God. That's who it goes to. And if you're giving the glory to God, and if people are asking you, and they want to see the wisdom, and you're saying, well, this is what the Bible says, this is what the Word of God says, that's ultimately where the wisdom is coming from, isn't it? Verse 9 says, he that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that honoureth himself and lacketh bread. So it's better to be hated and have some substance, some ability to survive in life, than to be telling yourself how great you are, but you're living in poverty. And for me, it makes me think of those that think they're just too good for any old job and end up with no job. You know, you get those types. Oh, no, I'm much better than that. I'm much better than the basic job. No, I need to be employed in this, and they just never end up ever employed, because they're just too good. You know, they honour themselves, but they don't even end up with a job, they lack bread in the end, right? And in this country, that might be a bit different at this point in time with our welfare system, but those that pat themselves on the back for how righteous they are. Oh, I'm not covetous, I don't really care, and everything else, but they won't just get up and go to work, you know? It's like, yeah, you're not as good as someone that is despised by others, but at least they have some wherewithal in life, right? Those who go on about the rich this and the rich that, the wealthy elite, the man, the man, he's just getting us down, it's these wealthy people, the rich, you know, I'm not like that, you know, I can see through it, or I'm so wise I can see it all, I'm not going to get stuck in a rat race and everything else, but they're sitting at home stoned instead of going to work. That's these types of people, isn't it? The one that honours himself and lacks bread, yeah? He that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that honoureth himself for lacketh bread. And verse 10 says, A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. So people that are needlessly cruel to animals are weird, okay? Let's just make that clear here, because you don't want to go too far with this, okay? Some people, like, you know, they obviously, they see that we've got the opposite side in the world and they go, yeah, we've just got to hate animals. No, we don't need to hate animals, okay, that's just weird to be like, and there are people, I don't know if you've ever grown up with people like that, you just want to be cruel to animals and torture, like, just weird stuff, isn't it? And I used to even find it weird when people do weird stuff with insects and stuff, you know, like get the blowtorch out. I remember I had a friend at school who wanted to blowtorch ants, and he's like, what's wrong with you? I know it's only an ant, but it's like, why is that fun? Blowtorching ants, yeah? It's weird, right? I mean, obviously, you know, I don't think you could probably, I mean, that's a crawling thing rather than a beast, but still, okay, you get the point, right? And people do stuff to, obviously, animals. But it's even more weird if it's your own beast. I mean, that's just bizarre, and it's foolish, isn't it, as well? Because it makes less sense, because why is it, well, obviously, it should, usually beasts are for a purpose, okay? And even if that purpose is just to have the comfort of an animal as a pet or something, it'd be a bit weird then to be cruel to it, wouldn't it? Because you're probably not going to have the best relationship with your dog, cat, budgie, gerbil, or whatever else, right? Okay. But if you're righteous and upright, you're not going to mistreat your animals, okay? Et cetera. However, I did preach on the worship of dogs, obviously, last week, and you can see that with many animals, so many are just animal obsessed. It's not just dogs, okay? Dogs is a big one, obviously, in this nation, but it's many animals, isn't it? And a lot of these animal obsessives are wicked, okay? A lot of them are just wicked. So think of the, think, for example, of the crazy vegan lesbians trying to knock people off their horses for fox hunting. I mean, that's just bizarre. I'm going to knock this human being off their horse and possibly kill them, or at least like maim them for life or something else, break their neck or something, because they're trying to hunt a fox. I mean, look, fox hunting's a little bit odd when they're in all that gear and everything else, you know? It's a bit strange. But that's just, it's just out over there, isn't it? You know, the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. Or even those that refuse to chastise their dog and end up with just this unhappy dog just always getting everything wrong and getting screamed at all day, because they never chastised it because they're just so loving to animals that they couldn't give it a whack when it's bad. They never understand why you're screaming and shouting and constantly upset with it. With its tail between its legs just wondering, well, I didn't really know what I was meant to do because I never got shown, you know? The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel, okay? A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. We don't want to go too far with that, okay? Verse 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. So basically, if you put the work in, you won't go hungry. It's pretty simple, isn't it? If you put the work in, you're not going to go hungry in life. You just got to graft. You just got to get it in your head. And really, we need to teach that to kids young, don't we? Just you need to put some work in in life, in all areas, okay? You won't go hungry. The tilling is the hard bit, by the way, okay? Anyone tried to turn over tille land, especially before you got machinery to do it. It's back-breaking work, isn't it? Especially in hard, arid land and stuff like that, you got to put some effort in, yeah? You need to put the work in. Life isn't easy. Whatever you do. Life's just not easy. You got to graft. You got to put some grafting in life. And that applies to all areas of life, okay? All areas of life, if you want to get results, you need to put the work in. You need to put the work into your marriage and not just take the easy option of divorce nowadays or whatever else, yeah? You need to put the effort into your children. You need to put the effort into your job. You need to put the effort into your relationships in life. You need to just put some effort in in life. You need to put effort into your job, right? And then there are those that, instead of grafting, just follow the pound note. But either follow the vein purses is void of understanding. They network or buy into the latest get-rich-quick scheme because they're just constantly trying to find and follow someone that will help them to get there without putting the graft in. And do you know what? That stuff is almost always a scam, isn't it? All of that stuff, all of that quick way of getting this, easy way of earning cash, easy way of getting, it's always a sham. You've got to till your land. You've got to put the work in to be satisfied. And if someone's trying to give you this quick... For example, one that just went around our church was the cat breeding. It was a joke. So it's like, don't worry. You get this cat. £1,000 each cat and everything else, and then just everyone ended up with like cats with like diarrhoea and all sorts, and it was horrific, and people were like cats dying. It was horrendous. And of course, you know, it was the fruits of people that weren't really very right with God, right? But point being that it's never... The quick, rich scheme is just never... Because let me give you a quick clue. If it was that easy and you just buy this certain breed of cat from, it happens to be someone in our church as well, and you buy that breed and suddenly you're going to have like tens of thousands of pounds from every litter, everyone would do it and then those cats wouldn't be worth tens of thousands of pounds. It's always a sham. You've just got to put the work in, got to put the work in. Verse 11 said, he that tills his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he that followeth rainpersons is void of understanding. Get some understanding, right? To get to make it, you've just got to put the work in. Verse 12 says, the wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. So here it's how these false prophet types want to snare and trap others, okay? They want a following and they're willing to go to great lengths, okay? What's the root, by the way, here? Remember that Colossians 2, 6 and 7 said, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. It's the word of God that yields real fruit through God's people, okay? The root of the righteous yielded fruit, it's the word of God that yields fruit, okay? Through God's people. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but they just want to snare and trap people, okay? They want a following, they'll go, they'll do whatever it takes to get it, okay? That's so often what their goal is, is just to get that following, just to merchandise people, just to have that lifting up, you know, that need to be followed. The wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit. In verse 13 it says, the wicked who snared by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble. And by their fruits you should know them, right? By their fruits you should know them. The wicked eventually expose themselves in one way or another, they're snared by the transgression of their lips. Turn to Matthew 12 in fact, turn to Matthew 12 quickly. We just read in verse 13, the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble. In Matthew 12 verse 34, Matthew 12, 34 says, O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh, and some of the best ones are very careful with damnable heresy. I was talking about this with someone earlier. But their wicked hearts are usually exposed by their mouths at some point, okay? So it might not be that they come out with a blade to damnable heresy, but you just start to hear and see it. I've been with people who are false prophets, and when I say they're false prophets, you know, you just don't have that, and when I say you don't have the goods, I just want to make this clear, it's not like, well I just think they must be, because you've got some pretty good reasons, right? And hearing them preach the gospel, and what they'll do is they'll preach the gospel, but they'll just, there'll be little things that they say isn't enough to jump on, but it's like the way they've said something makes it sound like it possibly is works, makes it sound like works will automatically follow, or it's something that's just disparaging to God, or something, and it's subtle, it's subtle, but you see it, right? Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. And often it's just like blatant, just, you know, sometimes it is just damnable heresy will come out, right, eventually at some point. Verse 37 of Matthew 12 says, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And for the just, the saved, it's our words that justify us, and result in our salvation, isn't it? Really, that's how we're justified, it's our words that we're justified, it's not because we're going out preaching the gospel, it's not because we're, you know, because we're just such lovely people, and we're, and the fruits of the Spirit just come out. You're justified by the words of you calling on the name of the Lord for salvation, which goes hand in hand with putting your trust in Jesus Christ. Verse 13 said, the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the just shall come out of trouble. Verse 14, a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him. So continuing the theme of the result of our words, and here it's the power of our words to do good. Proverbs 25, 11 says, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. Words can have great value to people, can't they, okay? You can lift someone up with a few words, really, can't you? You can say just the right thing to someone that needs it at the time, or, you know, just say something that they maybe just need to hear, and you can just literally change someone's day, you can change someone's month, change someone's year sometimes, you can change someone's life through words. You can really help people, you can lift them up, you can give guidance, it can be life changing. You're not just from behind the pulpit, you can do that in many areas, you can do that with family, friends, with people you're around, with brothers and sisters in Christ, and obviously you can do that from behind the pulpit as well. Words have a massive effect on people. You can give invaluable support when people need it. And I was thinking about this briefly, okay, I was thinking it with the guys preaching here, okay, because recently, you know, as things have progressed with time here, you know, there's some guys that have been getting up here and preaching an hour of sermon behind this pulpit, okay? And believe me, like, most of those guys haven't preached many sermons, okay, and they're getting up and they're preaching sermons, and this isn't about me, okay, I'm years down the line, I don't kind of need that support necessarily, and I find it interesting to hear feedback and I really wouldn't, it wouldn't bother me if someone said to me, oh well I'm not sure about this or something like that, I find that interesting, right, but when one of these men spends several hours writing and preparing a sermon, on the back of, by the way, years of Bible reading and study, after a sermon, okay, and this is a good advice to everyone here, and again, like I said, it's not about me, okay, you don't have to all start talking to me after a sermon, telling me about the sermon, but for people that, especially that are new to preaching, and that will continue as time goes by, at least an acknowledgement is kind of nice, okay? Please remember that guys, like where they've literally just preached to you for an hour, you might be sitting there going, oh well great, I've just had some preach for an hour, they put a lot of time and effort into that sermon, okay, they've put a lot of thought into that sermon, just a thank you, or perhaps just something that you took from it, just, it's kind of quite normal, like it's a big thing, believe me, the men here know that, okay, standing behind you, in the spotlight, in the light, with the camera on, yeah, they're not coming up to you going, please let me preach, I'm asking them, say look, could you please preach for us, I'm making that decision to ask someone to preach, okay, they might have been a bit 50-50 with it, and be like, okay, yeah, look, I think I want to do this, you know, God wants us to preach, stuff like that, give them a bit of support guys, yeah, and look, you know, preaching, especially early on, okay, does make you feel pretty exposed, it really does, especially after a sermon, you walk off here and you preach to, I remember in the early days, you like preach, especially you preach something, whatever you preach, you're feeling very exposed, you're in the spotlight, you've been in the goldfish bowl for an hour, it is nice if people actually acknowledge something to do with it, and it's, I've found it amazing over the years, like I said, because I know this will happen with the other guys as well, I don't think it's just myself, where you're literally like, you've finished preaching, you'd be standing next to someone in the church, they'd be like, yeah, so the weather's interesting, you're just like, what, why, come on, I mean, you know, because in your mind, you'd be living this, you'd be thinking about it, you'd be studying it, you'd be, and it's like, there are people who literally cannot even acknowledge the fact you've just preached for an hour, and that's going on with people that are new to preaching behind the pulpit, it's like, come on, give them a bit of like, acknowledge please, like, think about it and give them something about the sermon, because people want to hear feedback, you know, it's nice to support your brothers and sisters in Christ, even if you didn't really like the sermon, you can at least say thank you for it, yeah, because they didn't have to do it, and you know what, that might, might end up blessing you in one way or another as well in the future, right, okay, maybe that person will give you some support or some acknowledgement or something back in the future, something you've done, yeah. Verse 14 said, a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him, so, sorry, we just went on from, sorry, that was verse 14, so you'll be satisfied with good by the fruit of your mouth, and the recompense of man's hands shall be rendered unto him, and of course the ultimate fruit, okay, is the tree of life, the words of eternal life, and we should be satisfied with the good that comes from soul winning, shouldn't we? But, and it's great, isn't it, the soul winning, and that should satisfy you, but whatever we do, we will receive the recompense, the repayment for it, you have to turn to Galatians 6, 7 says, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Okay, so you're going to receive the recompense of what you do in your actions in life, okay, and you know what, try and do some good with your mouth, and you'll receive the recompense for that, yeah. Verse 15 says, the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. So a fool can mean what we would use a word for today, someone stupid foolish, it can apply in the Bible to that, we see this in scripture, for example, Jesus called the two disciples on the way, on the road to Emmaus, oh fools and slow of heart, if you remember, okay, so he's not saying you reprobate scum, okay, these are like his disciples who are on the road to Emmaus, but it can also refer to wicked reprobates, for example, Psalm 53, verse 1 says, the fool have said in his heart, there is no God, corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity, there is none that doeth good. So it depends on the context of what we're talking about here, and when it comes to these people, those types of fools, however wicked they are, their pride, their heady high-mindedness, it helps them to convince themselves that their way is right, doesn't it? It's amazing. The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, and I think that's what it's talking about, these just wicked vile people, and they're doing all sorts of wickedness, right, and all sorts of pre-planned wickedness and guile and deceit and plotting and scheming and planning and just, you think, wow, and then somehow they convince themselves that their way is right. It's amazing, and this for me is one of the miracles so far of the ministry that I still am trying to get my head around, it is amazing, the self-righteousness, the way these people think their way is right, while they're literally just scheming and plotting and planning and it's all sorts of just guile-filled tactics and everything else, how do you do it? How do you do it? And something that they won't do either is harken unto counsel. They just won't do that either, will they, like we said earlier, okay, these types of people, they won't harken to it, they'll pretend to listen to it, they'll pretend that they, but really they won't really harken, they won't try and change their life because of counsel. Basically, don't be like the fool, okay, harken unto counsel and be wise, yeah, be wise, don't just say your way is right, well, you know, it must be alright because, you know, I'm alright, you know, I'm a holy guy, it doesn't matter what I do, I must be holy, I must be okay, don't be like the fool, harken unto counsel, okay. Verse 16, it says, a fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. So usually with that pride comes a self-righteous anger that isn't always hidden. I mean, sometimes these people can hide it for a while, but their wrath is presently known. Basically, I look back to like people I've dealt with before, like bad people, and then you look back, yeah, yeah, there was just like this self-righteous anger, this indignation often and I should have seen that before, you know, the fool's wrath is presently known. Again, I think it's talking about these same types of people. But a prudent man, and a prudent is like cautious, circumspect, prudent man covereth shame. So be prudent. Usually it's prudent to cover, to control your wrath, okay, I don't mean cover like cover it up, I just mean to actually, to just control yourself, right. Because what usually follows wrath, shame, usually. Do you look back and go, I'm so glad I got really angry then, I said this and I did that. Usually you look back and go, I wish I hadn't lost my temper, because I did things and said things and acted in a way that I probably wouldn't have done had I been karma, okay. A fool's wrath is presently known, but a prudent man covereth shame. Now, he's talking about the shame that comes from that. Verse 17, he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. So he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit. So two applications here for me. Number one is salvation. Jesus Christ said in John 17, 17 thy word is truth. So when we speak his word, the truth, yeah, he that speaketh truth, we show forth both the righteousness of God and the Gospel, don't we, okay. Jesus Christ's righteousness imputed unto us, and a false witness, a false prophet deceives people with some form of work salvation. That's what it pretty much is, 99.9% of the time, it's just some form of work salvation, that they're false witnesses. They're a false witness, aren't they? Like we call the Jehovah's false witnesses, but the Catholics are false witness. The Anglicans are false witness. They're all false witnesses in one way or another, right. And what they're ultimately doing, they're false witnesses, they're showing deceit. But number two, the other application is, he said he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness but a false witness deceit, is being honest is righteous, okay. When you're lying about things, you're being a false witness. And that's a good thing to remember, isn't it? If I just, for a bit of pride, and just to make myself look better, just say a little white lie, ultimately I'm being a false witness, aren't I? And if I'm speaking truth, I'm showing forth righteousness, and that's how we want to behave, don't we? And just another reminder in just trying to be honest in life, right. Verse 18 says, there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. Now what's he speaking about here? This isn't the good word of God type of sword, okay, like we see in Hebrews 4. This is a negative, okay. In Psalm 57, you have to say, David said, my soul is among lions, I lie even among them that are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword. He's talking about those that will harm you with their mouths, and here again, there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword. Again we're just seeing these wicked people, just seeing constantly just behaviour characteristics of the wicked people in contrast to the righteous. He said, there is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword, it's those that harm you with their mouths. Now, it can be obvious stuff, some people will just be blatant and obvious, won't they? People who will literally just say things to just harm you and upset you and hurt you and whatever else, and it can also be really subtle stuff as well, can't it? Being around people like that, a little dig here, a little comment there, just to upset you a little, just to knock you down a little bit there, just to make you feel a bit rubbish. Sometimes it starts a bit of flattery and then they rip it out of you, they flatter and pull it away and put you down, you know, it's like build you up, smash you down, yeah? Kind of like, it's like in boxing, knock the chin up, smash it down, you know? Put your chin up, then bury you, you know, with some horrible comment, guile, guile-filled dig, and you know what all that stuff is really, and I just want to make it clear to men here, all of that stuff, when you, and again, I hope people aren't here like that, but you know, everyone has a flesh, although this is characteristics of wicked people, safe people can do this stuff as well, when you're just kind of like, how can I hurt that person? If I say it like this, just to say a little dig, and a little something, and a little hurtful comment, a little way to knock them down and everything else, really it's kind of schoolgirl stuff really, just makes you think of like the playground and schoolgirls in the playground, men, okay? And I'm not trying to knock the younger girls, it's just, because it's not manly stuff, because it's not, none of this reprobate behaviour is manly, okay? It's schoolyard stuff, trying to be clever with your words to try and make someone feel rubbish, it's like, sort yourself out, right? It's just, it's pathetic, right? If you're wise, so, if you're wise, then you can, then what you say can have great positive effects, can't it? But the tongue of the wise is health, and again, this could also be in the context of salvation with the false prophet's words, destroying people, and the wise are saved giving eternal health, yeah? Okay, you could see it in that as well. But it's also the case that your tongue, the tongue of the wise, and ultimately, look, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, so if you're growing and you're becoming wise in the things of God, it is, your tongue can be healthy, like we looked at earlier, how, you know, words, you know, can be pleasant, they can be like honeycomb, you know, sweet to the soul as well, and you can help people with your words, can, you can be nice to people, right? And, and obviously you can speak the words of God to them as well and help them even more, but here, like I said, it could be, you can also apply to salvation, which is the case with the next one, because the next one in verse 19 is, the lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. So with those that are saved, that have the words of eternal life being established forever, okay, it's eternal life, isn't it? The lip of truth shall be established forever, okay? The, the, the words of eternal life, you know, if you have the words of eternal life you establish forever, and the lying tongue, it said, is but for a moment, it will only last for this vapour of a life, really, won't it? And it is only a vapour of a life when you put it in the context of eternity, and it is frustrating seeing these wicked lies everywhere, isn't it? It is, in the various areas of various ways, but they don't last long when it comes to eternity, just remember that, they don't last long. The lip of, the lip of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. That's a nice reminder there. Verse 20, deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to the counsellors of peace is joy. So we're just getting reminder after reminder about the two extremes, if you notice that as we go through it, just reminder after reminder you've got God's children, you've got the devil's children. So we're just seeing time, deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil, but to the counsellors of peace joy, just proverb after proverb after proverb. Wicked, wicked people, righteous, righteous people, they're the two extremes in life, aren't they? We want to make sure we're over on this extreme with the righteous, don't we? And not be, and look, look, yeah, if you're saved, you're saved, right, but you don't want to be behaving like the wicked either, but also he's also just reminding us of characteristics all the time here as well. This is the book of wisdom and we're constantly being warned about these types of people. Proverb after proverb here, we're seeing it's just contrasting the two people, isn't it? Here we're reminded of their deceit again, deceit, deceit, deceit, and it's like, I just can't work out, you know, they said this, they seemed to like me. It's like, no, they're full of deceit. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil. Here we're reminded again of the deceit, the deception, yet we so easily fall for it, don't we? We all fall for it. We've all fallen for it before we'll fall for it in the future. It's deceit and you've got to just understand it. You have to be negative about everyone in life, but you have to understand that there's a lot of people that are out there trying to deceive you. And do you know why they're trying to deceive you sitting in this church right now? Because you're serving God and you're getting people saved, which means you're a target. Every single one of us is a target and they want to deceive you in one way or another. Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil. Yeah, they'll flatter you first. Yeah, they'll lift themselves up so that you just think, there's no way, they were so holy, so righteous, they couldn't be deceiving me. However, the counsellors of peace, well, to the counsellors of peace is joy. And the counsellors of peace is another word for soul winners. Okay, Romans 10, 15 says, and how shall they preach, set they be sent as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and big glad tidings of good things. The counsellors of peace are soul winners. Okay, they're teaching, they're preaching the gospel of peace. And how joyful is it to lead someone to Christ? It's so amazing, isn't it? When you do, and I had one today, it was a bit of a 50-50, so it wasn't like that joy. It was like one of those, I don't know if the house is getting cold and she just got to an agreement point, you know. But when you get the people where you're just like, I know I got that person saved, you get those people where you can be as sure as you can, right. You know, it's like, you feel like, yeah, this was a solid set, like how great is that, right. And it's such a great feeling, and what a great thing to be used by God with that, right. To the counsellors of peace is joy. It's joyful, isn't it? And look, if you're there going, oh, you know, I don't know, I find it, I don't often get people saved. It's like, you know, you know what the answer is, just do more of it. Soul win more and more and more and more, and the more you do, the more likely you're going to be leading people to Christ and getting that joy. Verse 21, there shall no evil happen to the just, but the wicked shall be filled with mischief. So this is talking about hell, okay. The just are the saved. There shall no evil or harm happen to them in eternity, but the wicked shall be filled with mischief, which is harm, hurt, injury, damage, evil, okay. That's what mischief is, like I say many times, not cheeky, chappy, practical jokes, okay. Okay, they'll be filled with the harm, the hurt, the damage, the evil, the bad stuff. It's just a reminder for me of the simplicity of the Gospel. There shall no evil happen to the just. It's not happening, but the wicked shall be filled with it, and you could also say it's a reminder of the levels of punishment in eternity. The wicked are getting filled with mischief, which is all sorts of bad stuff, because they're going to be burning in the lower steps of hell, right. Verse 22, lying lips are abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Now this is, let's be honest, this is likely a continuation of our two contrasts, okay, with lying being filled with deceit being one of the characteristics like we've been seeing, okay. Let's see about the deceit, okay. Those lying lips, and again it's contrasting those wicked people where their lips are just full of lies. Everything they do and say is just lie, lie, lie, yeah. But it is a good reminder though that God hates lying as well, okay. It's an abomination really, those lying lips. If you're you're prone to lie, it is ultimately God hates it, okay. Now you might tell, look, at the end of the day we're all liars, okay. Let God be true and every man a liar, okay, and we make that clear and we preach the Gospel to people, don't we, okay. Look, we've all lied and the sad truth is everyone here will lie in the future as well, okay. That's just the way it is. And you might tell the odd lie, but God forbid, okay, that one of his children would just plan to lie, would just decide to lie, to choose a course of action that involves lying, to take their time to think about, well should I do this or should I just lie and do that and go, I'm just going to lie and do that, okay. That's a presumptuous sin, isn't it? And the sad truth is many will do that, right, but that's something we want to try our best, our utmost not to do. Yeah, you can't defeat the flesh in terms of, look, yeah, we want to, each day, you know, it's a new day, yeah, you want to try and live in the Spirit as much as possible, but you can choose whether or not you're going to purposely go, I know God tells me not to do this, but I'm going to go and lie about this. Well, I just had to tell a lie. No, you didn't. You didn't. You didn't have to tell a lie. There is no reason that you had to tell a lie, but people do that, oh, I'm just going to do this, I'm just going to call up the boss and just say I'm sick for this one. That's not the course of action God wants you taking, it's clear, you know. He gives you options all the time. When you choose that, whatever people try and justify, and I remember this kind of these debates back when with, you know, in the Covid times, people were like, well, in this instance, you know, it's like, look, God's going to give you an option that doesn't involve lying, right? Okay. Because they that deal truly are his delight, and you have to, or you can if you want, it's only the page before, Proverbs 11-20 said, they that have a forward heart of abomination to the Lord, again, the contrast here, but such as are upright in their way are his delight, and dealing truly as part of being upright, God loves it when we're morally upright, honest, not planning to sing, trying to do things right, God loves that, okay, and that's a good motivation, that should be a good motivation for us, shouldn't it, right? We want to be God's delight. Lying lips of abomination to the Lord, but they that deal truly are his delight. Verse 23, a prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. So we don't have to tell everyone everything that we know about everything, and that might sound, you know, strange. You're like, well, why shouldn't we impart knowledge? That's not what he's talking about, okay. It's prudent, it's sensible to think about what you impart to people. For example, you don't have to talk about the ins and outs of the reprobate doctrine and sodomites and Leviticus 20-13 to just random, unsaved people. It's probably not a sensible thing to do. You don't need to do that, right? A prudent man concealeth knowledge. You don't have to convince all you unsaved family and friends about the ridiculous Zionist brainwash out there. You know, you don't have to just tell everyone that will listen about the Jews. And look, here's the thing, some people are open to it. Sometimes it can be a way in. The reprobate doctrine can help to get someone saved, but not everyone. You know, we need to be prudent, don't we, about these things, right? A prudent man concealeth knowledge. But on the flip side, the fools out there want to tell everyone their perceived knowledge, even when it is just clear foolishness. They really just want to tell you everything that's like everything that they've thought and decided and everything else, and all they're doing, they're just proclaiming foolishness all the time. They just want to tell you about how they're an expert in this, they're an expert in that, they know everything about this, they know everything about that. The heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Think about, for example, the militant protesting types out there. They're just like, they so want to be out there telling everyone, and so often it's a complete red herring. So often it's worse than that, is to say, just on a complete false worldview of false truth, their knowledge is absolute garbage. Sorry, we're in England. Rubbish. But, I'm just gearing up for going to the US at some point, you know. But, yeah, you know, the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Think about, like, these absolute nut jobs who queued up outside churches, all sorts of places, you know, with their prosodomy stuff. Complete foolishness. Complete nonsense. Claimed to be science lovers, complete unscientific, like, junk, yeah. But the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. But the lesson there is that if we're prudent with real knowledge, then we should also be careful not to spout nonsense. Be careful not to spout nonsense. For example, and one that people will do, for example, settings like ourselves, it's just completely unfounded conspiracies. Don't be like that, yeah. Look, you can say, oh, I wonder about this, or you often wonder, I question this, you know, I'm not so sure about that, but when you're just like, this is what's going on, this is what's happening, I know the truth, I know what's going on behind closed doors there, and it's like, really? Because if it's not in the Word of God, and it's not clear, a lot of the time you're just spouting out foolishness, you're just proclaiming foolishness, because you want to think that you know best, you know, and everything else. So we don't want to be like that, right? If we're prudent with real knowledge, then we need to be careful with what we say, right? A prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaimeth foolishness. Verse 24, the hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute. So another reminder to be a hard conscientious worker, isn't it? Yet again, if you want to progress in any area of life, then you need to roll your sleeves up and get grafting, okay? That's like we saw earlier. You want to progress, get grafting. Get working hard, whatever it is in life. Be diligent, put some effort in, so it's not, I'll just work hard, but I'll just do a slapdash job, but I'll just do it this way. I've been with people like that, so they're people that work hard and farce, but they're not diligent, you know, they just rush through a job so they can get home quickly, and often it's because they've got some addiction or something they want to get to, yeah? But you don't want to be like that either, you want to be diligent, you want to put the effort, and we were talking about it earlier, about, sadly it's hard to find workers who won't just, right, time to clock out, done, gone. It's like, but you're halfway through a job that you're meant to finish, it's like, be diligent in your work, right? Be diligent, put effort in, put some graft in, be attentive to your job, take your role seriously, whether you're running a company or collecting bins, it doesn't really matter, whatever you do, God wants you to work as unto the Lord, he wants you to work in, right? I've noticed something interesting about collecting bins, our bin men where we live, and we live up on top of a steep hill as well, they jog behind the bin truck, you've seen that, haven't you Jack? Yeah, they jog behind the bin truck, and they're like, it's almost like they're like in a march almost, yeah? These guys put some work in, honestly, I mean they're the fittest bin men I've ever seen, usually you imagine like the kind of slob, yeah? These guys are jogging, getting the next bin, putting it in, jogging behind it up this hill so the guy doesn't have to stop the bin truck, and do you know what? At the least those guys finish work early, and that's why they're doing it really, let's be honest, because the truth is they've got around and the quicker they do it, the quicker they finish, but what happens with that is that where they're finishing work early, they could pursue other avenues, they could train themselves up with something else, they could do a side job, at the least their governor's probably pretty impressed with them anyway, and look, that's a good way to be, isn't it? That's a good way to be, and they're fit and healthy with it as well, they've turned their job into exercise, a good way of living, right? They don't have to go to the gym, they're jogging behind the bin truck lifting up bins all day, and then they can spend that spare time on something else you would hope productive, sadly, maybe not so much, although they're pretty fit guys, so I don't think they're burning the candle too much at both ends, you know, but those guys at the least, like I said, they'll be able to do something with that time. The slothful though, the lazy, the idle, will always just end up with the smallest slice of the pie, that's just the way it goes, with someone else taking the lion's share, and that made me think of like agency workers, for example, in many areas of life agency workers are renowned for being slothful, and no offence if you're an agency worker, just often that is the case, right, and in many workplaces they end up with a lot less than what's charged for their services, so because they're not really, they're not going to be able to get the full-time job, they're not going to be able to get the employment along the contract, everything else, they work through the agency, and the agency takes a massive cut of what they could have got a lot more of if they'd actually not just been some lazy good-for-nothing who, you know, well the agency will throw them along there, but you know, they're not expected, they're not expected to get much out of them anyway, right, that's why verse 24 said, verse 24 said, the hand of the diligent shall bear all, but the slothful shall be under tribute, and that's another way they're under tribute, okay, verse 25, heaviness in the heart of a man maketh it stoop, but a good man maketh, sorry, a good word maketh it glad, so heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad, heaviness in the heart is sadness, sorrow, some would use the word now depressed, okay, people use that word a lot more nowadays, rather than heaviness in the heart, they're talking about being depressed, stoop is to bend or lean down, like stooping down to pick something up, you know, leaning, bending, etc, so when we're feeling depressed we're more likely to descend, and you can say in many ways, okay, obviously in our happiness, but I would add also in our output as well, so in your output you're just going to get less done when you have heaviness in your heart, right, it makes you stoop, and you could also add in your uprightness as well, sadly, depression often leads to sin, doesn't it, indulging in things, skipping church, skipping soul winning, skipping bible reading, skipping prayer, indulging in certain sins and things that your go-to crutch, which is often something that's a sin, something that's not good for you or something else, heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, and that's not an excuse by the way, oh well I just get depressed, so you know, oh fair enough, I just can't sin him, because what's the answer? A good word, and of course one angle is from those around you, okay, we promised 25 11 said a word fitly spoken is like absolute gold in pictures of silver, we saw that earlier, but where are the best words found? Well Psalm 119, 103 says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Write those words in your heart, at the least, if you're someone that's prone to that, they're prone to kind of have that heaviness of the heart that makes you then stoop, affects your walk, stops your living for God, stops you doing the right things. Remember my verse about salvation? David said in Psalm 51 12, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, uphold me with thy free spirit, because it should be a joy to us really, shouldn't it? It should, because if there was if there was any reason for joy, it would be that you've received the free gift of eternal life, you shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck the out of my hand, said Jesus. He said, my father which gave them is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck the man of my father's hand, that's you. If you're saved, no nothing can change that, and that should be a cause for joy. And if you can remember that and memorize it, that's why often, that's why soul winning is such a big part of that defence against many of those, even like the helmet of the hope of salvation, because you're constantly being reminded of that, you've got those verses written on your heart. I mean, you can memorize soul winning verses without even trying to, if you're soul winning enough. And then when those times come, you should just be reminding yourself, yeah but I'm saved, I'm saved. If it's a part of your life, and you're preaching the gospel, and you're reading your bible, and it's just a big part of your life, it's hard to forget that. It's hard to forget those eternal heavenly things, and it's easier to then combat against your heart, you know, stooping basically. The heaviness in your heart making you the stoop. Okay, verse 26 says, the righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, but the way of the wicked seduceth them. Okay, excellent being of more value or worth, and that applies if you're comparing both righteous as the saved and the unsaved neighbour, but also if you're comparing a more righteous believer to an unrighteous, backsliding believer. Why? Because only a believer can get someone saved, and a righteous believer is more likely to go and get someone saved. Because if you're living righteously, according to God, that means that you're going out and you're trying to get people saved, you're part of, at least you're part of a pair, you're trying to learn to soul win. You're going to be on that road, right? You're going to be on that journey to being a soul winner, or you're going to be a soul winner. You're of great worth, you have more value, you have a worthwhile job to do, right? However, whether righteous or unrighteous, whether saved or not, the way of the wicked can still seduce you. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, but the way of the wicked seduceth them. The covetousness, the carnal pleasure seeking, the pridefulness, the feminism, the emasculinating of men, all that stuff, the way of the wicked can seduce you. The attacks on soul winning, all the different areas, the different ways that the wicked tries to seduce you, it does seduce you. We can all get seduced, so we need to take heed lest we fall. You need to respect that. You can get seduced in many different areas, you need to respect that, you need to take heed. No one ever gets too prideful about the fact that you don't think you can fall because you will fall then. The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour, but the way of the wicked seduceth them. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. So this is talking about the wastefulness of lazy people, basically, okay? The slothful man has done the hunting, but then can't be bothered to prepare the food, basically. So he's gone out, he's hunted, he's got the animal, and then he can't be bothered to skin it, to pull off the feathers or whatever it is, and put it in the oven, okay? The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting. And what happens? It ends up inedible. And you ask my family, or one of my pet haters in life, okay, is food going off and getting binned? I hate it. There's anything to get me raging, it's going to be food going off and needing to be binned, okay? I just don't like that. It winds me up, okay? And that's just the way I am, right? But if you're a diligent man, then you're not just throwing away money, basically. We shouldn't just be throwing away money. Now, we don't have to be just staring at the pennies and counting them up all the time, but if you've done the work to get the food, and for most now the work will be in the workplace. You might not go out with a bow and arrow, but you've put the work in in the workplace, haven't you? You've put the graft in, you've been to the shops, it just needs preparing. And then if you don't prepare it, then understandably it's being wasted then, isn't it, right? And you could apply this to many areas. You could apply this to just looking after your possessions in life. You've put the work in, you've got the possession, and then you just treat it like it's a nothing, it's a waste. It's wastefulness, okay? Yeah, you don't want to be like over the top with that, but you don't want to be the opposite and just be wasteful with it. You can go too far, okay, where it becomes beyond precious and then it becomes obsessive, okay? Idolizing, and then that just becomes a form of covetousness, okay? So think of like the classic old miser counting every penny because he loves it so much. That's just a covetous guy. He might not have much, but he's still covetous because he's just like counting and, you know, just loves money too much, right? However, we don't just want to give it away and we don't just want to waste it for no reason, okay? And that's what it's talking about. It's talking about lazy people that do that. The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious, okay? Don't waste your substance. And verse 28, in the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death. So true life is found living for God, okay? The way of righteousness is life. That's when you're really living it, isn't it? That's real life, isn't it? When you're living for God, when you're in the things of God, when you're soul winning in church, reading your Bible, you've got a prayer life going with God, you're fighting the battles, you're fighting on different fronts, you're doing the things of God. You're really living it, aren't you? You're living life, being on the front lines. You're living out the Bible, really, aren't you? You're reading the Bible, it just comes to life the more you're just living for God, right? And whatever happens, however hairy it gets, you're saved. And it gets hairy. Life is just hairy, that's the way it is, right? Life's hairy. But in the pathway thereof there is no death. In the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death. You have eternal life. Praise God for that, right? Praise God. And on that we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for just all the many great truths you're giving us through this just amazing book of wisdom here, the book of Proverbs. In chapter 12 there, I pray that you just bless everyone in this church, Lord, with just, you know, the knowledge, the wisdom that you want to impart to them through your word, Lord, that they'll take some of those proverbs to heart and go home and apply them to their lives, Lord, and think on them and dwell upon them, meditate upon them and make a difference. And every single one of us here, Lord, myself, studying it out and preach it and those listening to the preaching, just all of us to just grow, to get stronger, to get wiser, Lord. Help us to have a great week now, a week where we're just remembering the things that we've heard and speak about those things, Lord, as well to those that are ready to listen and help us to all make it back for Wednesday evening service. In Jesus' name, for all of us. Amen.