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Okay, so we're in Proverbs 21, we're in part two, which is from verse 16. And Proverbs 21 and verse 16 starts with this, The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. I'd like to pray and then we're going to get started. Father, thank you for this second part of this chapter, Lord. These, well, 16 Proverbs we're going to go through now. Help me to just preach them in a clear way, in a way that people will be able to apply them to their lives, Lord, in a way that's accurate as well, that explains the meaning as you'd want it to be done, Lord. Just fill me with your spirit as I do this, please, Lord, in a room too. Help people to stay wide awake and alert. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen. Okay, so it said the man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. Now, I believe that you could apply this proverb in two ways. So firstly, you could apply it to the unsaved. The way of understanding is here, okay, with the ultimate way being salvation. So, you know, in the Word of God, the ultimate way is salvation. Those that wander out of the way that choose to forsake the knowledge of God, which is understanding, they will remain in the congregation of the dead for eternity, won't they? Okay, so that's one way you could apply that. If you choose to wander out the way of understanding, you don't want to hear the way, you refuse to hear the way or you reject the way, you will remain in the congregation of the dead forever. Okay, that's where you'll be dying forever in hell. But also for believers, okay, if you forsake God's ways in your life, you wandereth out of the things of God, well, you're going to end up hanging around with the dead, basically, aren't you? Okay, the more you wander out the things of God, the more you're going to end up in the congregation of the dead, i.e. those on their way to hell, those that are spiritually dead. And that is a pretty grim existence, really. Okay, it is, you know, hanging around with the unsaved all your life. If, as a child of God, as someone, it does vex your spirit, doesn't it? I mean, think, you know, we see that Lot was vexed with the conversation or that behavior of the wicked on a daily basis, wasn't he? And that was a back-sitting Christian, that was a guy that was offering up his daughters, that was a guy that calling these people brethren, but he was still vexed by it, wasn't he? And, you know, okay, he was in Sodom, okay, but you know what, sometimes you look around, it doesn't feel much different, does it? Sometimes you look around and you wonder, am I in Sodom? Because there's a lot of weirdos, there's a lot of freaks around, there's a lot of Sodomites around, aren't there? And they're pretty much everywhere. We see them all over the place. It's pretty bad. We saw it when we went down the road. We saw when we went down the road a full-on bull dyke. And when I say bull dyke, you double take it. Is that a man or a woman walking down the road with another woman with two kids who are skipping along in front of you? Just like, it's horrific. It's bad out there, isn't it? Okay, and you want to hang around with those people all your life. You go, well, does it mean just because I'm forsaking the way of understanding that I'm going to be hanging around with Sodomites? Well, not necessarily, but there's a way of looking at it, is that your brothers and sisters in Christ might irritate you sometimes, okay? We might not all be exactly each other's cup of tea, yeah? We all come from different backgrounds, we all have different, you know, different people click with other people in different ways. But it is a darn sight better than the opposite, okay? Your congregation, your fellowship, being with the dead. Think about the conversation topics when you're out there in the world. Think about in the workplace. The conversation topics going on around you. Look, I hear it when I'm around people of the world, I'm listening to them talking. It's just, look, and I'm not trying to say we're better than them, we're just different, okay? We, you know, we're different. We're sinners saved by grace. You have the Word of God. Look, the difference in the conversation is pretty light between, it should be. The conversation you get around your brothers and sisters here, compared to what you get in the world, is like something else. I mean, these people, all they want to care about is whether or not they're justifying their drinking, their drugs, their whatever it is, their covetousness. It's just what people talk about. That's the sort of stuff that you're going to get around them. The values, just their values, the mockery of morality in one way or another. That's just what you get, isn't it? Out there in the world, and you know what? Remaining in the congregation of the dead is not a nice place to be. So the point with it is that you might be like, well, you know, do I have to do things God's way? I'm just going to reject this. I'm going to turn away from that. I'm just, you know what? It will just be a slippery slope because it's only so long you can persevere. On one hand, there's stuff which will just get you kicked out of church in the end, sooner rather than later anyway. We know about that. Church disqualifies him. But on the other, just the more you're just doing the stuff that's opposite, contrary to the word of God, the harder you're going to find it to be in God's house. People hide from the house of God. They hide from God's people. Then their existence is with the congregation of the dead, with all the just opposite morality, opposite values, opposite conversation, just opposite behavior, really, to how God wants you to behave. And that is not a nice existence. The man that wandereth out of the way of the understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. The warning could apply to all people, really. You wander out of God's way, you end up surrounded by the dead. Verse 17. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. Now, there's a difference between those that enjoy some pleasures, okay? They enjoy the finer things in life. And I would think that most people would enjoy some of these things to a degree. Most would get some enjoyment from some nice clothes that maybe don't make you itchy when you put them on, yeah? That maybe some nice clothes that maybe fit nicely, and maybe they don't stick, like I was talking about earlier. There's certain cheap fabrics where you're sweating them once and they just seem to stink, you know? They get like funny smells and things like that. Maybe there's some enjoyment from that stuff. I'm sure there's some enjoyment when you're driving an expensive car. I've rarely driven an expensive car, but you're even getting something that's a bit nice in your car and there is some enjoyment from that. There are some creature comforts there. There's some enjoyment from some good food, isn't there? And when you're chewing on a bit of meat that you're not kind of gnawing it and spitting out the fat and stuff, you know, there's some enjoyment from that stuff. But those loving those things, when it becomes a love, it becomes an adoration for those things. It's a step further. It's the next emotion, and that will result in poverty. So when you start to fixate on these things, they become an object of your love, then you've gone too far. Look, you want to pretend you don't enjoy some nicer things in life. Well, you're probably lying, right? But when you start to love it, you've got a problem. And yeah, there are those out there that flash all of this wealth and stuff, OK? And there's many out there, and obviously the world pushes this stuff in our face a lot. But often it's more for them. Often it's not necessarily that they love that stuff. Often it's that they love the adoration. So those kind of flash the cash types out there and people that think that people are impressed by money and fast cars and, you know, expensive clothing and all the things that people do. A lot of the time, the ones in the public eye, it's not necessarily they love the stuff so much. A lot of the times that they love the adoration, they love the envy that they might get from others. They love looking and feeling like they're better than everyone else with it. But when you really love all of that stuff as well, what's the reality? You're just going to buy more and more. You're just going to spend more and more. And it just becomes this trap. It becomes a snare, doesn't it? Because all you want is more because you're loving it. The car doesn't get faster. I mean, there are people with like garages of some of these idiots with like seven, eight supercars and stuff. It's like one is surely enough. I mean, one is beyond enough. I mean, it's something practical. Where do you even park that stuff? Can you imagine going in like the Tesco, going in the Audi car park? The Lidl car park with your Ferrari. I mean, it's just ridiculous. You're just, you're never going to want to park it. You're going to be nervous about people scratching it, people, bitter people keying it, people dinging it. Because even just one little knock costs a fortune. It's just, I mean, what a stress, right? What a life. And then just constantly sitting in traffic thinking, if only I had an open road in front of me, which I'll never have. And then the speeding tickets, if you ever do have an open road. I mean, ridiculous, right? But, okay. But you're just going to spend more. And there are many wealthy people that throughout history have squandered their money on pleasure, aren't there? Many in the public car. I always think of that old, the lottery guy, Michael Carroll. Do you remember this guy? I don't even remember, yeah. And this guy, he won million, sitting on the lottery. He'd done it all in about a year, didn't he? I think he ended up bankrupt. He did all sorts of crazy. I think he turned like some luxury mansion garden into like a stock car sort of course or something. This guy just done the whole lot. And if you love that stuff, you're just going to spend it all. And to a lesser degree, okay, you know, loving even just the finer foods and drinks alone, even without necessarily resulting in poverty, will prevent wealth. So it said, he that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. And wine being fresh juice here. And it was a luxury item. And, you know, I've preached this at length. I'm not really going to go into the wine thing again. It's very clear. I did a sermon a couple of months ago, if you're unsure about this. I think it was, if you drink alcohol, you're an idiot. Okay. And I still stand by that. You're an idiot. Okay. But wine was a luxury item. I mean, we were talking, we had some grape juice here for the baby shower. And I was just joking when someone said, oh, did you press him? And I said, yeah, I did it with my feet. If you saw my feet, you would never have drunk it. Okay. But my point was is that, you know, what we were just joking about, my point is, thinking about it, is that was ultimately how they press grape juice. So can you imagine what a luxury item that was to go through that many grapes in it? And not a lot of juice comes out of a grape, right? So these guys have to go through a lot of it. It's a luxury item to be able to have that and have it fresh as well, freshly pressed. And oil as well was a luxury item. It said, he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. And it's the same thing. And I think really ultimately with these things, aside from, you know, kind of mass farming and mechanical pressing and stuff like that, the amount of olives or grapes to produce a quantity of oil or grape juice is a lot. So it's a luxury item. It takes a lot of that product to produce it, especially to, you know, good quality as well. And the point is that you can spend a lot of money on food. And I'm not encouraging everyone to go and get a load of cheap, fake food. Okay, there's a lot. Because some people go too far with this. You know, they're like, I'm not going to spend a lot of money on food. And then they just eat absolute filth. Yeah. Or they just eat stuff which isn't food. There's a lot of cheap stuff out there made in a lab, mass lab made stuff, which isn't even food. Again, I think we're supposed to eat food, not fake food. But there is a line, isn't there? Some people would go the opposite way and they just spend an absolute fortune on food in various ways. And if you do that, he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. Because where's the line? And you just keep going more and more and it, you know, well, this one's organic, but I don't know, you know, it's organic, but I don't know if it's the finest cut. And everything just keeps going higher and higher. And again, I'm not saying you have to eat filth and you have to eat stuff that's poisoned and everything else. But there is a line, okay? He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich. So the lesson is to have some temperance and to be careful what you set your affections on, basically. So be careful. If you feel like, yeah, I've just got to love for like the finest things, the finest things, you need to get that in check. Otherwise, it will just affect you financially in the long run. Verse 18 says it like this. Verse 18 says this, sorry. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and a transgressor for the upright. And I'd say that again. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and a transgressor for the upright. Now this makes you think of Proverbs 11 eight. If you remember, we went through Proverbs. Proverbs 11 eight said, the righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his stead. So there's kind of like a trading of places there. The righteous gets delivered, the wicked comes in his stead. And I think that's the same sort of truth we're seeing here in verse 18 of Proverbs 21. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and a transgressor for the upright. So the wicked are a ransom or they trade places with. They come in the stead of like in Proverbs 11 eight, the wicked cometh in his stead. They come in the stead of the righteous. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and a transgressor for the upright. So the wicked try to go for the righteous, but so often it's them that end up suffering instead, don't they? And this is something that you see in life and that you see in the word of God. Think of those wicked nations that were replaced by the children of Israel. And they just basically ended up being replaced. And one of them said, you know, and they got a chance, some of them, when they're on their way to the promised land and they were given a chance and Moabites and others and the Ammonites and Edom, they just want to pass through the land. They came out against them and eventually they ended up being smashed. They ended up being destroyed. Those that tried to destroy God's people, his kings, his prophets, that ended up trading places in the end. You can see many examples of that in the word of God. And when we looked at this in chapter 11, I did reference Proverbs 26, 27, which is who so diggeth the pitch shall fall therein. And he that rolleth the stone, it will return upon him. And I believe that this still applies now. So where God's enemies are constantly trying to attack us in one way or another, they try to set us up. They lay traps. They want to destroy us. But if we're living right, if we're upright, they have nothing and they just end up destroying themselves. That's what happens. They just end up eventually destroying themselves. They end up exposing themselves. The more desperate they are, the more they just reveal themselves to others while they're trying to destroy us. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and a transgressor for the upright. The lesson is if we want to defeat God's enemies, we need to live right. Okay, you need to live right. You need to be upright. You need to be righteous. And then they will become that ransom for you. They will be that transgressor. Again, just to make it clear, I'm not talking about the righteousness that comes from faith in Christ. That's imputed unto us. But there is on top of that, there are those, and you're not going to be righteous in God's eyes without that. But then on top of that, we can live upright. We can live righteously. And when you do that, then they will be a ransom. They will trade places with you. Verse 19. It is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. Now remember earlier in the chapter, okay, and this is like, you know, this is hit a couple of times this chapter. Back in verse nine when we looked at a couple of weeks ago, it said it is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. And we looked at how when a woman is brawling or we might say arguing, it's not talking about throwing punches. Although, you know, if you have a woman like that, well, maybe you need to learn to defend yourself a bit. But it's talking about really arguing, okay. And when a woman is brawling or she's arguing, and this can be, okay, it's not necessarily wives. It can be other family members. Like I mentioned, it can even be just random women in different situations. Maybe not even people you know, right? You're better off just getting out of there. That's what we said last week. Just get on your toes, yeah. Learn to run, maybe not literally, but you know, just to remove yourself from the situation. That's what we talked about. You know, it did say that it's better to dwell in the corner of a housetop. So basically out of the way, it's better to be in that corner of the housetop. And we looked at how women need to try to avoid being like an escape dangerous creature. So don't get empowered by this woman and thinking, yeah, when I'm kicking off, you better run. Yeah, you better get out of there because you're going to get it. Instead, women, you should be inspired to think, I don't want to be someone that people are just trying to escape from, okay. It's not a good thing. However much, you know, the world tries to make out, like being some sort of aggressive female is a good thing, okay. But, and how do you do that? By learning what causes it, by learning what triggers you, by dropping the pride, because so often it's by pride that cometh contention, isn't it? And learning your triggers, learning how to avoid to get to that point of being contentious, being angry, being brawling like we saw. But we also looked at how men need to try to avoid the triggers that result in those women in their lives brawling, okay. If we're to love our wives and we're dwelling with them according to knowledge, then we need to find a way of avoiding them behaving like that. And not just wives, and that would include family members, people around you, just finding ways of avoiding that, okay. Now, although all of this applies here to this verse as well, you could say it says, it is better to dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and an angry woman. I believe that not only are we being given an outdoor option, okay, but also being reminded that even the wilderness, even the desert is better. That's what it's saying. It's better to dwell in the wilderness. That's what it's talking about, the desert. It would be better to be in the desert, and I don't know if anyone's been in the desert before, but it's not really the most pleasant place, okay. It's better to even be in the desert than with a contentious and an angry woman. So rather than encouraging men to dwell or abide or stay in the desert, it's not going, right, men, get your first trip out to the desert, okay. You know, whilst a woman is contentious, obviously, it would be better to avoid her being contentious. That's the point, isn't it? It would be better to avoid that woman in your life, and often, you know, and usually here we're going to apply it to wives especially, it's better to avoid her being contentious, to avoid her being angry, because when she's angry and she's contentious, you'd be better off in a desert. The point is that you'd be happier in the desert than with a contentious and angry woman, so make her happy, yeah. Like that should be a goal, because it can be such a problem. It can be so destructive. You can have like a nightmare relationship. You can have a nightmare marriage if your wife is constantly contentious and angry, so we need as men, as husbands, to find ways to avoid that happening, because you're better off living in the desert than having that. So the point is that we need to put some effort in, men. Yeah, I mean, and also women. You know, you don't want to be that wife that where your husband thinks you'll be better off dwelling in the desert, okay. And another difference here as well is that brawling, okay, is the act of quarrelling or rowing or arguing, but being contentious and angry is more of a precursor to that, isn't it? So being contentious, being angry, kind of comes usually before the brawling, but it's one of those precursors that's pretty guaranteed as well as a guaranteed end, okay. So once the contention and the anger starts, the reality is the brawling is gonna follow, okay. So once the contentiousness and the anger starts, basically don't wait for a brawl, okay. Try and either reduce that or you're better off out of there, back to point one, okay. So when the anger and the contention's there, it's not like, all right, solve this little, you know, I don't want a little cutting remark here will solve this, you know. You know, a little like, shout it down there, that will solve it. You know, if I just tell her I'm the man here, then that will end the contention, won't it? I can't work out why this isn't working. You know why? Because the reality of it is, is that when someone's contentious and angry, when you get a woman to that point, the brawling's gonna follow. So this is a precursor, really. So it is better to run the wilderness with a contentious and angry woman. The lesson is to avoid making women contentious and angry, but recognize it before it's brawl time and leg it. On your toes, yeah. And if you're not very fast, start to learn to run fast, yeah. There's technique to it and stuff like that. You can get a bit more speed, okay. Verse 20. There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spendeth it up. So he said there is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spendeth it up. So I believe this proverb is reminding us that it's sensible. It's wise to have a rainy day fund, to have a fallback, to have something of worth. There's something worth to fall back on. You don't know what life will throw at you, whether it's essential things breaking, you know, sometimes that happens, isn't it? Essential things, oh no, I didn't foresee that coming. An inability to work for a time, it can be, you know, you could end up injured, you could end up sick, you could end up with problems depending on what your work situation is, you can end up losing your job and not necessarily find a new one. God forbid it was even funeral bills or something, you know, who knows? Maybe yours, maybe a loved one, maybe, you know, whatever. It's wise to have a rainy day fund if possible, isn't it? A wise thing to have, yeah. There is treasure to be desired, and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spendeth it up. But just to make it clear, okay, rainy day fund isn't to be confused with stockpiling money and wealth for the sake and love of it. So there are people whose rainy day fund seems to be getting added to for the whole of their life, yeah? That ain't a rainy day fund, that's just covetousness, okay? That's just stockpiling money because you love it and you love counting it and seeing those figures get bigger. But there are the opposite, though, that can be guilty of maybe needing to spend everything they have. So there are many people that can be like that, where it's impossible to even have a rainy day fund because it's like the pockets just seem to have holes in them and it's, you know, there's just a burden to spend when money comes. They maybe feel like, you know, any money is burning a hole in their pocket and they just love to spend. There are people like that out there as well, okay? And that's not a good thing either because then you don't have that rainy day fund, you don't have that full back, you're unable to deal with, you know, problem situations. So it's wise, I believe, to just be somewhere in the middle, okay? Don't be a stockpiler for the sake of stockpiling, but don't be someone that just spends every single penny. There is treasure to be desired and all in the dwelling of the wise, there should be some things of worth there, but a foolish man spendeth it up. The lesson is to be wise, not just with saving, but with spending too. Verse 21, He that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness, and honor. So when we go and preach a gospel, there are different types of people that get saved, aren't there? There are those that sometimes even begrudgingly hear the word and it convicts them and they get saved. You had people like that before, where, you know, they're kind of like, you know, looking at you, yeah, whatever. Oh, okay, well, I suppose I'll listen to it. Oh, I've got a bit of time. And the next thing, you know, they call you on the name of the Lord, you know, have a long after. But there are those that, you know, with that maybe just pottering along with a loose form of religion until they were just offered to show the ease of salvation. It's not that maybe they just had nothing to do with God, but they were just kind of pottering along, didn't really think it through much, and then you've shown them, maybe talked to them with a kind of a lead up and they've realized, yeah, actually, this doesn't make sense what I'm believing. And then next thing you know, you're getting them saved. So that does happen. And, you know, we don't want to get like, you can easily go too far with this, what I'm about to explain as well, where you just think, well, if they're going to get saved, they're going to get saved, they're going to be seeking. But there are those that are seeking the truth as well. So there were those that you just, you pull to one side and they're like, yeah, actually, yeah, we'll hear the gospel. They get saved. There were those that, you know, weren't even thinking anything. I've had people that claim to be atheists, that 30 minutes later, who have been willing to hear the gospel, and I've asked them and just said, well, the Bible does say faith comes by hearing, you might just find it interesting. You know, see, you can make an informed decision, 30 minutes later, they'll call you on the name of the Lord, okay? So it's not that everyone's seeking, but there are those that seek the truth. There are people that are genuinely just seeking the truth, not the truth that is compatible with their life. There are people that claim to be truth seekers, but they don't really want the truth. They want some sort of work salvation to make them feel good or something else. But there are those that are genuinely seeking the truth. How many times, when you're preaching to someone, I would imagine most soul winners here have had someone where you've preached them the gospel in some way, either at the beginning or at the end of the conversation, they said, you know what, I was literally praying to God today to just show me the truth. How many people have had that? Something similar to that. Most of the world, okay? That's reality, isn't it? How many people, you know, we've had it before, they're coming to the church. They've just, they've gone, I just felt like I wanted to come in here. I just wanted to, you know, want to hear the word of God or something, and then next thing you know, they're getting saved. You knock on someone's door and they say, and you know what, doesn't mean they'll necessarily get saved, just to make it clear, because we had someone else with Pastor Thompson, where she said, I was thinking about this, I even opened the Bible this morning, I was trying to look for some truth, et cetera, but she wouldn't get saved. She made that choice at the end to reject salvation. But you know what, when people are seeking, looking like that, you're thinking, okay, I think I could just get this person saved, don't you? And we've all had people like that. And if they're generally seeking the truth, I believe they will at least find the truth. Doesn't mean they'll accept and put their faith in Christ, but Jeremiah 29, 13 says, and ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. So they will find the truth if they're genuinely seeking the truth, which is what verse 21 here in Proverbs 21 is saying, I believe it says, he that followeth after righteousness and mercy findeth life, righteousness and honor. But I think perhaps, and hear me out here, perhaps it's going a little further, that those that are following after or pursuing God's righteousness and mercy, and not those who are self-justifying, those that follow after his mercy. They're looking for his mercy, basically. They're looking for his mercy in life. They're following after it. They're trying to find God's mercy. They will not only find eternal life, but maybe they will also find righteousness and honor. So maybe that sort of mentality, that seeking, that following after his righteousness too, results in people more likely to serve. You ever thought that? Because I don't know, I found in churches a lot of the time and amongst believers and other people, a lot of the people that are in the church and serving God as well as getting saved are people that were seeking, that were looking for truth, that actually put some effort into trying to find the truth, and they don't just kind of stop at that. They're like, in fact, but he that followeth after righteousness and mercy, they found life, righteousness and honor. They've not only found that eternal life, but also they've actually gone on to try and live righteously, to be in church, to be serving, and then the honor that comes with that, the honor that comes with that ultimately from God. They're more likely to go on to that. I'm not going to do a show of hands just because I don't want to make it awkward for people that maybe didn't, but I know just from a lot of people's personal testimonies that a lot of people in here were basically looking and searching for the truth and were what you might call a truth seeker. You might call someone that was just, you know, that was spending time looking, and not everyone, they're not saying that's, this isn't like a rule, right? If you weren't, then you'll never go on to serve God, but there is that, isn't there? A lot of people are like that and they're looking for the truth, they look for something, and then on the back of that, they go on to serve, and it's not the only types of people in the church, but you do see that. He that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life, righteousness, and honor, because there's more than just eternal life in this book, isn't there? There's the righteousness of God that we seek after, and there's true honor as well to be sought after as well, the true honor that comes from God, the honor that we're looking for, the honor for actually being men, women, children of God, right? Oh, he that followeth after righteousness and mercy, findeth life, righteousness, and honor, reminds us to keep persevering after salvation, not for our salvation, we don't believe in Calvinists' perseverance of the saints, if you're saved, you're saved, you bet your faith in Christ you're saved, but it should remind us that, if you're to follow after that righteousness, that honor that comes after salvation as well. Verse 22, A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof. So the picture here is of city walls being climbed over, resulting in the confidence of those inside waning, okay? And as New Testament Christians, we're not looking for literal castles to storm, okay? We're not, and sorry to break it to you, but there ain't gonna be no castles being stormed, or maybe you're pleased about that, I don't know. It doesn't sound too fun, does it? Especially if they're pouring, or burning all over the top, and flaming arrows are coming out, and things like that, and getting over some of those moats don't look too funny. Especially when you realize that, do you know where, what their sewage system is? It's usually the moat. So if you've ever been to any of those castles, and you've seen where the toilet hole is, the toilet hole goes straight out to the moat. So wading through the moat, that's enough to put me off straight away, okay? So however geared up I am for the battle, wading through raw sewage is probably one step too far, okay? But we don't have to do that. That's not what we're looking to do as New Testament Christians. However, there is a spiritual application. It's on the back of a verse about those seeking, okay? We've just seen about those seeking, he that followeth after righteousness and mercy, okay? And then we see this verse, a wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, cast down the strength of the confidence thereof. Because they're not the only people that we try to reach. We're not just looking for those that are seeking. We're not just looking for those that are praying out to God and going, someone show me the truth. We're also looking for those that somehow it takes, they're a bit of a tougher nut to crack, aren't they? There are some people that are hard to crack. There are those that are considered mighty, that may be very confident in their false religion. They're considered mighty in the world. Maybe those, you know, with more wealth, those with more, you know, sort of recognition in life that seem to think that they're up here in one way or another in society. And there are those that are maybe as well as that within the walls of those false religions too, that are within the false religion, within a mighty religion, and ones where it's harder to break down those walls. Well, if we're wise, we should be casting down the strength of that confidence. And we do that with the word of God, don't we? We cast down the strength of that confidence, whatever their confidence is in, whatever that wall, whatever that castle is, of usually false religion, wealth, things like that, with the word of God. And although it could be useful to know, you know, some of the different angles and arguments of the false religions, that can be useful, can't it? Sometimes, you know, some of these things help. The most important thing is to know your Bible and how to use your sword. Okay, if you want to cast down, you know, if you want to scale the city of the mighty, you can't scale a city if you can't use a sword. And that's what it ultimately comes down to when it's tearing down strongholds. Because as well, you'll notice with a lot of false religions, a lot of the religion is set up to basically counteract grace through faith, to counteract the gospel, to counteract Christ being the son of God, to counteract, you know, just the key truths of the Bible which are required for salvation. And it's useful to know how to handle the word of God, to know how to handle the sword. You don't have to study every false religion, but it's good to know what it is you stand on. And to have that ability to be able to answer, be like, well, hold on, because actually no, this verse says this. They try and come out with a new sort of so-called attack on the word of God, attack on the deity of Christ, attack on the gospel, a new so-called work salvation verse. And to be able to say, well, no, because look what the word of God says here. No, because look at that in context. No, because I understand what this word of God says. It's good to be able to use your sword. You can't scale that city without it. It's a word that cuts through the various forms of work salvation, isn't it? Because it isn't. Sometimes you're talking to someone who is, you can see they're gripped in the false religion, and then you just start showing them this verse, you show them that verse, and they try and argue with their James 2, and you show them what that means, and then you compare it with Romans 4, for example. And you're showing them these things, and you start to see you're cutting down, you're cutting through, you're scaling that wall, aren't you? No, they might not go and get saved that day, but they might go on to in the future. Maybe they will next year or the year after. That's why, where possible, even if they're a bit of a rabid work salvationist, short of it being an obvious reprobate, you want to give them a chance to come back the next year, where possible. Where possible, try and leave it on a good note. We had a couple today without where you could see we weren't going to break through today, so we just gave them a lot of verse to think about, made it clear, left it in a nice polite way, didn't go, you filthy, unsaved devil, you, and give them a chance that hopefully next year, the next time, they're more likely to hear it, we're tearing down those strongholds often. It's a word that does that, and it cuts through other various heresies, and then reduces that confidence in them, doesn't it? That's what the word of God does. It will then reduce the confidence in those heresies when you're showing them that that does not marry up with the word of God. And just thinking about strongholds, just quickly, we noticed on our way back in the pattern, my kids apparently had told me this, but it seemed to go one ear out the other. But anyone notice that the witchcraft shop is shutting down? You'll notice that? All the stock gone? I went in there to get a wand and... I'm joking, I'm joking. I got one last week. I'm still kidding though. No, but it's shut down, and everything's gone out of there. I mean, that's a victory, isn't it? We planted a church borderline across the road from a witchcraft shop, just up the road there, and the witchcraft shop has gone out of business, it seems. They're moving for whatever reason. We've torn down that stronghold, haven't we? And we've had a victory there, guys. And, you know, the mosque is next. Those synagogueers up the road might be a tall order, but I think we can take them down one day, okay? And I'm not telling anyone to go and take down a... Okay, just for the camera here, spiritually speaking. But, amen, right? Witchcraft shop gone, yeah? And let's hope it doesn't turn into a synagogue. So, a wise man scaleth the city of the mighty and casteth down the strength of the confidence thereof. Get the wisdom from the word, you'll be more able to break through against those higher walls, okay? Verse 23, who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from trouble? So this is something that we've looked at a lot as a church recently. The need for having control over our mouths is something that keeps coming up in obviously the book of Proverbs. I've preached a whole sermon on it not that long ago. Proverbs 13, 3 said, he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life, but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction. And in Psalm 14 and verse 3, David said, said, I watch I, Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. And that's something that we could all do with praying to God. Because if you keep your mouth, your tongue, you will be that bit safer in various areas, in various ways. It will just help you succeed in life in many, many places. It will prevent so many problems, so many issues. Who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. The soul here being you as a person, as opposed to just your eternal soul, okay? And it's not that we're all to walk around as though we've been struck dumb, okay? So you don't have to do that. You don't have to just never open your mouth to anyone and just maybe wink and nod and give thumbs up and kind of stuff like that. But it's having control over it. It's keeping it shut at the right times. Being careful what we say at other times. It's just having some control over our mouths. And in this day and age, it obviously applies to the written word too, more than ever, doesn't it? So you could go, oh, well, I just don't say anything, but I'm just online, just like slandering and replying and arguing. And I'm just constantly just, whether or not people now do it with voice activated or they're typing it out, that applies. It never ceases to amaze me, okay? Not just verbal diarrhea, okay? We can all get that sometimes, okay? But typed diarrhea that comes from people and specifically those professing faith. There's a lot out there, aren't there? I mean, if you ever look at any of the online dramas and whether it's Facebook, YouTube, I don't know, Instagram, whatever the stuff is, comment sections, things like that, all these people that claim to be saved, claim to be believers, and it's like every thought is just being typed out. And that's the same thing, isn't it? It's like, they need to learn to keep their mouths or keep their thumbs, you know? Maybe we need to give a new version of this, is to keep your thumbs, okay? Whoso keepeth his thumb keepeth his soul from troubles, right? No, seriously, like the impulsive rants. How many people out there with their impulsive rants, yeah? Judgments, public arguments, and now and then there is a cause, okay? But most of the time it's not the case. Most of the time you just don't need to get involved in this crap, yeah? How many self-important clowns think that everyone needs to hear their two pence worth on something that they know nothing about? Well, we all need to hear your judgment on it, MrNoName on YouTube, MrNoName on whatever. Oh, thank you that you've done. Oh, thank you, random church member from Random Church for all giving us your judgment. It's like, who cares? Who cares about your judgment? I don't care. Oh, I've just had to comment. Why? Why did you? Because you don't know how to keep your thumb shut. It's true though, isn't it, right? And I believe that it's something I do believe. It's a good testimony to our church that we don't have a load of online railers, a load of online tail bearers, a load of online strife seekers, unless you're going under aliases and random, we just don't have that. And like I said, now and again, I understand, sometimes you just feel drawn to kind of deal with something, but you know what? We don't have that, do we? And that is a good testimony. I like that, you know? And I get it, you know, sometimes there's a pastor and others you kind of want to defend something or want to like, and sometimes you do need to answer something now and again on a comment section or something, you know, because sometimes the goal is to put people off. For example, they'll come on a comment on like, you know, one of our Bible ways to heaven and then try and start coming out with a load of work salvations. Some of that stuff sometimes needs answering, right? But you know what? The vast majority of the time, it's better just keep your mouth shut. When it's people railing and arguing and rowing and judging situations they have no idea about, it's better just to keep your mouth shut. It's better just to keep your mouth in your tongue and keep yourself from troubles. And what's funny about the worst of these types of people is that they just end up in hot water themselves. So these people with their online judgments and their online stuff, either they expose who they are from their dummy accounts or a lot of the time they just discredit themselves because the more they're just commenting on everything, they're judging everything, they're on everything, they're giving their oh so important views on things that they know nothing about, they've got nothing to do with, they're just exposing themselves. And the worst types just expose themselves. So ones who are just on everything, just slandering, railing, just constant accusing, just trying to tear down churches left, right and centre, it's like you're just showing what you are. You're just showing what you are. But for us, whether it's the writ of word or the smoke of word, who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles, let the default be no comment. That's the key, isn't it? Let the default be no comment, don't be impulsive, remember the power of the mouth and maybe pray for help controlling it. Because we can all sometimes, you can get wound up by things, you want to say something, you want to reply, but let the default be a no comment and take your time. And if you take your time, a lot of the time you'll decide probably the best answer is no answer. And let the Lord, you know, the Lord shall fight for you, you shall hold your peace, right? And often that's the art, often, not always, but often. Who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth his soul from troubles, learn to control it, remind yourself that what you have to say is and always that important and you'll be that much better off. Verse 24, Proud and haughty scorners his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. Isn't that so often the cause of contention? Like I said earlier, pride, problem of certainty intents, only by pride cometh contention, but with the well advised is wisdom. Well, when it steps up to proud wrath, so not just contention but wrath, you're often dealing with proud and haughty scorners. So when it's pure rage, the rage, the wrath due to pride, and wrath is extreme rage here, then often you are dealing with a proud and haughty scorner. And a scorner being someone that scoffs and scorns and mocks and things of God. And isn't it these types that you often see getting the most angry out there? And obviously many of the things I talk about will come back to soul winning because that's so often our interactions with the public a lot, isn't it? With those out there when it comes to things of God. The non-religious God scoffers. And sometimes they get pretty angry, these guys, don't they? When they're kind of so, you know, these people that are suddenly like, because you've knocked on their door and invited them to a church, and they're, you should be shoving it up, it will slouch and slam the door. So what is wrong with you? Why would you be that angry? Proud and haughty scorners is his name, who dealeth in proud, and they're proud of it, aren't they? The religious King James Bible scoffers. How angry do some of these guys get? Claim to be believers, claim to believe in some form of the word of God to some degree, but they just hate the King James Bible. They hate anyone that wants to use the King James Bible. I mean, how bizarre is that? The religious gospel scoffers just scoff what they all call easy believism, and, you know, all of this, that sort of stuff that they come out with, can't lose your salvation. You know, these people believe that. But they scoff, and a lot of the time they get really angry with it, don't you, when you press them a bit more, especially when you show them that the word of God is true, the word of God is right. And it's the same people, yeah, and along with their scorning is usually pride and haughtiness, isn't it? So when you see the scorning, often they're very prideful, they're very full of themselves. When it's challenged, the wrath, that prideful wrath is raging, isn't it? When it's challenging, when they're shown to be wrong, I mean, they get angry and angry, but aren't they usually so proud of that wrath? So they justify it, they boast of it, they even advertise it. And I've seen people do this with all these sorts of things, you know, they're just, they're, they're, I just, you know, you know what I hate most is these King KJV only types, you know, people come out and say this stuff. What they hate most is, you know, people going out and trying to preach the Bible. And it's like, so you're actually proud of your wrath, of your hatred for people going out and offering to show people salvation. I mean, how pathetic is that? Proud and haughty scorn is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath. So the proverb helps us to recognise what we're dealing with. It's often easier with these people just to move on. So when you've got someone who's like that, they're proud and haughty scorn, or you see that proud wrath, it's time to move on. Yeah, it's time to move on. Verse 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hand is refused to labour. So the desire here, probably referring to his laziness, his desire to do nothing. But you could also add his desire for carnal things as well. So without that labour, without being occupied, the lusts, the desires in life are just indulged in more, aren't they? That's just kind of, that's life. If you're not, if you're, if you have more time, if you, you, if you're unoccupied, you know, a lot of the time, you're just going to do more, right? Do more bad stuff. And it's these things that kill you off. So think of those alcoholics around here. They're often congregating down the road there and we see, you know, shuffling up and down here. It's often due to slothfulness that they're able to be a full-blown alcoholic. I mean, how do they have the time? And they walk around drunk all day. They walk around drunk all day because they're not doing any work. And a lot of the time it's when they're not doing any work that they become a full-blown alcoholic rather than maybe before that they might have been a functioning alcoholic who is able to work and, you know, at least hold down a job to some degree. Same with the drug addicts. I mean, I hate to break it to you, but most drugs don't mix well with most job sites. You know, it doesn't work well. So how are people able to be drug addicts and able to be high on drugs or whatever it is, you know, most days and in the daytime, it's because they're not working, because they're not doing anything, because they're lazy, because they're slothful and that desire, those lusts end up killing them because a lot of these people end up killing themselves off very early, don't they? But you could also add other things. You could add, for example, obesity. Okay, you could add that, that sadly, you know, that desire, the slothful, those people that just lounge around and often then suddenly it gets worse and worse and worse, it can really snowball. And so much sin that gets out of control with a lack of labour, just you could name any sin. And so many sins and addictive sins, they get out of control with that lack of labour. And you'll probably find as well the STDs, I would imagine, or are they STIs now? I don't know. After sodomites, okay, sodomites is up there, okay, but after that, I would say they're probably rifist with the non-workers, wouldn't you say? I would say those that are unemployed out there across this nation, you'll find STIs are at their peak because they've got more time, they've got more time to go and sleep around and do weird stuff. Petty crime is highest amongst the unemployed, even though, sadly, those people are a lot of the time paid for and provided for, to some degree, by a benefit system. So it's not, it's not, oh well, they're stealing to live and survive, it's because they've just got too much time, too much time on their hands. And isn't that often the motivation behind more seemingly lucrative crime? So if you think about all the different crimes out there, and the sort of financial crimes and the crime that's, you know, that's motivated by money, a lot of the time it's just a refusal to just labour. That's what it comes down to, so many criminals out there, it's just because they refuse to labour. So many criminals are lazy, they're bone idle, they're slothful, that's why they want the easy money, the quick fix, for his hands refuse to labour. The proverb should remind us, okay, of the many benefits of working, shouldn't it? And it leads, I think, into the next proverbs as well, but just before we do, the desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour, so all that stuff, it just kills you. It'll just kill you off, and you could have just worked, and people just find any which way to try and justify, refuse working, and it just ends up killing them. The desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour. And like I said, it leads on to the next one, where it says, he coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. So I think that he probably referred to the slothful, we've gone from the desire of the slothful killeth him for his hands refuse to labour, he coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. So I think it's probably referring to that same slothful, that same lazy person, and there's a contrast here. So you have the lazy covetous who wants what's not theirs to have, okay, they're focusing on what they can get, he coveteth greedily all the day long, and then you've got someone who is righteous, and that would therefore include being diligent, a hard worker that gives unsparingly, okay, because that's part of being righteous, you know, that's part of the righteousness of God, being diligent, working hard, grafting, providing for your family, providing for those of your own house, and that is something that I've seen often in life, okay, those that are lazy are often covetous as well. Lazy people often covetous, they're rarely generous with what they do have, because it's not that, well, if they're lazy, they must not have anything, because there are people that are lazy, and maybe, you know, receive whatever from someone, or maybe they've lived off their family, maybe they have money for one way or another, and often they're also covetous, they're often not generous, rather than the righteous that giveth and spareth not, so people that are morally upright, they're living righteously, are generally also generous too, even though they're earning it, even though they're working for money, they're working for what they have, they've put the graft and everything else, they're more generous with it, which is a bit of a strange thing if you think about it like that, right, and it includes with their time too, you know, there's an old saying, if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it, because they're just generally more, they're more generous with their time, they're more generous with their resources, they're just more generous, a righteous person is by default a busy person, by default, if they're righteous in God's eyes, they're going to be busy as well, because there's just so much to do in life, in a short life, isn't there, and they'll be busy not only spiritually, but they're going to be busy in other ways as well, because we're told to label with our hands, aren't we? The righteous will not only be tithing, they'll be giving as well in various ways, be it money, time, resources, energy, because the righteous giveth and spareth not, and they won't be sparing when they do that, when they're giving of their time, their energy, when they're giving things to others, he coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not, so the lesson is to not be a covetous sloth, and instead be a righteous giver, that's the lesson. Verse 27, the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination, how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? Now remember that the wicked is usually talking about reprobates, children of the devil, haters of God, okay? So that's what it's talking about here when it's talking about the wicked. You say, why would the wicked bring a sacrifice? Well, because they want people to think that they're not wicked, okay? That's why they bring a sacrifice. In fact, they somehow manage to convince themselves that they're not wicked, and this is something, you know, I've kind of thought about this a lot, and obviously in ministry, when you're dealing with people like this, you know, often, and, you know, it's something that, you know, you do sometimes think about, and I've wondered about this, that there was a certain type of wicked person, I don't think that they're all like this, but there's, I think when it comes to the ones that we will deal with, you know, as a soul winning church, as getting attacked by these sorts of people, that often it's a type that will not accept that they're wicked. So that's why Matthew 7 22 said, and you don't have to turn there, it says when Jesus Christ is obviously giving that, he's talking about these people, he says, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, and in thy name have done many wonderful works, but he calls them works of iniquity. So these are false prophets, this passage is clearly about false prophets, what are they saying to the Lord Jesus Christ? They're going, you rumbled us, and they're going, I hadn't been for those pesky kids, and they take off their masks, and they're like, you caught me out, you know, you always knew, Lord. No, they're going, but look at everything I've done. So these people are workers of iniquity, but they're saying to the Lord, but look at everything I've done. In thy name we've cast, in thy name we've done many wonderful works, they've convinced themselves, even though the Bible says they're full of all unrighteousness, they've convinced themselves that they're right with God. I mean, that is weird, isn't it? Isn't that a weird thing to think about? The self-righteous Pharisee, you don't have to turn to Luke 18 from 11 to 12, it says the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are. So he's praying to God in his mind, right? Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as his publican, I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. So this guy, he's not righteous in God's eyes, but he's convinced himself he is, that he's found something that qualifies his righteousness in his eyes, which along with their hyper-inflated pride, results in the perfect sheep's clothing, because he's convinced himself he's a good person. That's why often these people are so effective, because they've convinced themselves that they're right, even though probably nagging in the back of their mind is like, I don't really believe the gospel, but they've convinced themselves they're righteous anyway, they've convinced themselves, well, yeah, but I'm good enough anyway, but my works will get me there, and after all I've done, look at all I've done, Lord. You know, of course I'm righteous, because look, my work's proving. They've convinced themselves that they're sheep. How weird is that? And somehow, they somehow explain away the barky and howling. Honestly, they've convinced these dogs, these wolves have convinced themselves they're sheep, and that maybe it was just like, they do the odd like, must just be the old dodgy cough, you know, it's that throat that betrays me, but I'm not, you know, I'm not like one of them, right? That's why they're such effective infiltrators, that's why they're so effective leading false religions, they somehow convince themselves. That Catholic priest has convinced himself he's a righteous person. Seriously, the Jewish rabbi down the road there, with the dungeon and the tunnels underneath the synagogue, with like horrendous stuff going on, he's convinced himself, but actually he's quite a righteous guy. I mean, it's bizarre, isn't it? But that's what the workers of iniquity, and they're saying, Lord, Lord! The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination, how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind? And it's not just that they go through the motions, bringing their sacrifice, okay? And in the New Testament, that's our time, our bodies, right? They even bring those sacrifices with an ulterior motive, so of competing for works, maybe, okay? Often people will bring even the sacrifice in the New Testament of our time, our bodies, to the Lord, to the house of God, to wherever it is. But really, the ulterior motive is competing to try and be the best, the most works, or uplifting themselves to try and look so holy and special, of causing division even as well. Sometimes they're like, if I come along and do this, and you know that, these people will want to follow after me and everything else. Yea, their sacrifices are abomination. He said the sacrifice of the wicked is abomination, but even more so when there's other wickedness linked to it. Yep, they still convince themselves of the righteous, it's bizarre. The proverb reminds us that false prophets still try to appear holy, even when doing wickedness, but regardless, God hates it. So even with ulterior motives like that, they still convince themselves though, but they're righteous for whatever reason, but God hates it. Verse 28, we're nearly done. A false witness shall perish, but the man that heareth speaketh constantly. So when someone is referred to as a false witness, it's not just someone that's lied, okay? Everyone here has lied, everyone here has bared false witness to some degree. This is referred to false prophets. A false witness shall perish, okay? False prophets, false witnesses of God, that's what they are. Like, for example, the Jehovah's false witnesses, but there's many false witnesses out there, they shall perish. There's no convincing them. You ain't getting them saying, I know, I've talked about this a few times, we've gone through this a few times, you're not going to get the rabbi down the road saved. Ain't happening, you're not going to go down to the synagogue, go, look, I just need to have a word with you, if I could just show you a few, if I could just show you Isaiah 53, you know, we could get this solved, okay? And he's going to go, oh, if only, oh, you know, oy vey, if only someone had told me that earlier, okay? It ain't happening, you ain't getting him saved, okay? It ain't happening. You ain't going to go and get the Catholic priest, you're not going to go and get repent of your sins past the saved. If he is teaching that you've got to repent of your sins, you've got to, you know, turn away from your wicked way, you've got to give up these sins of your past life, all that stuff to get saved, he's teaching that, he's preaching that, he's a wicked false prophet, you ain't getting him saved. A false witness shall perish, that's as sure as you like. He shall perish, he said, but the man that heareth speaketh constantly, and the opposite is the man that heareth, that didn't reject the words of God. He heard, he wanted to hear it, that didn't change the truth of God into a lie. He won't perish, but due to his hearing, I think he's probably saying he will be speaking forever. But the man, as a contrast, a false witness shall perish, but the man that heareth speaketh constantly. And I think it's just talking about eternity, I believe. It's the two contrasts, a false witness versus a saved, with two contrasts, the eternity is a false witness shall perish, but the man that heareth speaketh constantly, and it's a reminder of the certainty of both the false prophet and the believer's destinies, that's what I think. Verse 29, a wicked man hardeneth his face, but as for the upright he directeth his way. So the wicked are stubborn, rebellious to God's ways. Oh, they pretend sometimes, but really they harden to all that stuff. So hardening the face is a sort of impudence, it's a shameless boldness. And it's something that you notice in the online world as well, a shameless boldness while openly slandering, accusing pastors, accusing people in the ministry and stuff like that, who seem to be saved as well. And it's like shameless sometimes, isn't it? It's like there's a hardness to it. A shameless boldness when trying to destroy churches. Like, I find it remarkable sometimes when you see this stuff going on, and they're claiming to be believers, claiming to just try and be righteously fight to fight, and there's a shamelessness with it. A shameless boldness with their ad hominem attacks. And you see that stuff, don't you? They're just attacking someone, attacking their appearance, attacking their physique, attacking the way they talk, whatever it is. Yet, at the same time, they somehow think that these wicked people, they still have convinced themselves they're good people. It's bizarre, okay? A shameless boldness whilst yoking up with proven wicked people. Bizarre! A shameless boldness, a boldness, a confidence, the arrogance, whilst yoking up with just provable, clear as day, wicked, vile people. A shameless boldness when lying through their teeth about things. Isn't that bizarre when you see that? The boldness, the shamelessness with it. A wicked man hardeneth his face, but as for the upright, he directeth his way. So the upright people genuinely trying to live right, okay, this is what we're talking about here, trying to do the right thing and having their way directed by uprightness, not slandering because we should be getting directed by uprightness, not trying to pull people out of churches. You know, it's kind of should be a pretty normal thing that you wouldn't do if you're directed by that. Not knowing a wicked person, not lying and deceiving at any opportunity. They're things which are directed by uprightness, aren't they? As for the upright, he directeth his way. They're directed by being upright, by the Word of God, by how God wants you to live, let alone with the sheer confidence that these people do it, it's crazy. A lot of the time, it's hard to get over when you see this sort of stuff. A wicked man hardeneth his face, but as for the upright, he directeth his way. It's contrasting the wicked with the righteous to help us spot the difference. A lot of the proverbs spot the difference type stuff, yeah. Verse 30, okay. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. So anything that is in opposition to the Lord is not wise, okay. There's no true understanding of anything that is contrary to what the Lord says. There's no opposite counsel to the Lord's that is worth a thing, is there? Okay, so anything in opposition to God's ways is foolish and everything that we need to know about God's way, he not only wrote down, but he preserved it too, didn't he? The Word of God's preserved. He's got it here, it's inspired, it's preserved. It's all here. So when a church says that they have a great new way to reach the lost by using worldly music, using irreverent worship, no. We say no. There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord. How's that wise? The Word of God doesn't say to do that. The Word of God says to use reverent worship. The Word of God says to go out and preach the Gospel to every creature, not turn the place into some sort of nightclub to try and get them in. When the latest opposition of science, falsely so-called, appears and they just keep churning out. I think they rehash some of them as well, you know. It's like this cycle of so-called science. The opposition's coming out to try and disprove, discredit the Word of God. We just say no. Because there is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel that's against the Lord. And you know what? And when you hang your hat on the Word of God, you prove them right in the end anyway. Eventually it's like, yeah, okay, yeah, that one's gone. You know, if you'd gone, oh yeah, no, no, because the world's millions of years old. Oh no, it's like whatever million, whatever they had. I think at the beginning they were going into the hundreds of thousands. They're trying to make it sound a bit more believable. It's been getting more and more bizarre as we've gone on, yeah. Well, you would have been disproven by the so-called scientists, and then went into the millions. And the ones that were like, yeah, no, definitely it's millions, I trust the scientists. Well, they would have been disproven by the billions. I mean, none of it stands, does it? And you know what? It'll probably go full circle. It'll go back to like 6,000 or something years. There are scientists out there that will say that. So it depends on who you're going to believe, right? Well, you know who I'm going to believe? I'm going to believe God. I'm going to believe the Word of God. When the newest fashionable social experiment comes about, and there's some new fashionable social experiments out there, aren't there? I mean, right now, the latest one is that there's no such thing as male and female. You just call yourself what you want. We don't have to go, hmm, I don't know about this. We just go, there is no wisdom nor understanding that counts against the Lord. And God, in the beginning, created a male and female. It's all here, but it's no good being here if you don't read it. In fact, one of the points I'll preach time and time again, if you don't read it, why is it here? Why is it? Oh, it's only here for people. It's only here for the priest to tell you about, you know, in the Catholic Church. It's only here, and of course they don't even have the Word of God, but regardless, it's only here for the pastor to explain it. Well, you know what? If I had to explain and preach every single part of this for you to get it, well, we'll never do it in a lifetime. It's impossible. There's 1189 chapters in here, and that's a lot of preaching, okay? And you're stuffed until we get to, like, somewhere around the 1000 mark, because there's still so much you missed, you know? Of course not, you need to read it, read the Word. It's all here, there's no wisdom nor understanding that counts against the Lord, but you've got to read it. If you want to judge the wisdom, right, that you understand the council, that you're receiving, you better know what the Lord says. You better know what he says if you want to judge all the other stuff out there and see if it's against the Lord or not. So the proverb not only reminds us of the folly of being in opposition to the Lord, but it's a reminder to know what is and isn't through his Word. It's got to be through his Word. Read the Bible. Verse 31, the last one. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. And I don't think many people have heard this proverb many times used to apply in different situations. If you were getting ready to ride into battle, okay? For starters, you might think it wise to put a saddle on your horse, wouldn't you think? Yeah, I don't know if many people are even able to ride a horse, let alone without a saddle on it, okay? You probably think, yeah, I better prepare that horse, yeah? I'm about to go to battle, I might put a saddle on it. Then you're thinking about arrows flying around, aren't you? You're thinking, yeah, you've got a few arrows whizzing by, so maybe some light armour on your trusty steed might be helpful as well, wouldn't you think? Because you might be more likely to get through the battle. What about your weaponry, though, too? Okay, you might think, yeah, maybe it's handy to have some, do I need to, how am I going to ride the horse whilst carrying all, maybe I need to put some, you know, put a little sword in here, maybe a little spear there, you know, and load up the horse, etc. Well, you might need some water for before or after the battle. Maybe it'd be handy to bring a bit of water for your horse, some food for the horse. But it's not just on the day that you want to think about this stuff, is it? Okay, so that horse needs looking after long before battle, doesn't it? In fact, it needs to be prepared for battle. So it's not just it needs to be fed and watered, it needs, you need to do some training on that horse. That horse needs to be prepared to ride into battle. You need to know how to ride that horse into battle, you need to know your horse. You need to get familiar riding that horse. If you're going to go to something as serious as a battle, you need to be prepared for it. You'd be foolish not to do all of that, wouldn't you? You'd be foolish if you're going to go, if you're going to be some sort of mounted cavalry, you'd be foolish to have never ridden a horse, to have never prepared the horse for that battle. But you'd also be foolish to not also rely on God, wouldn't you? Verse 31 says the horse is prepared against their battle, but safety is of the Lord. So there's a balance between relying on our own selves, but also on not tempting the Lord. So you've got to get the balance right. When being tempted by the devil to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple, rely on angels to protect him, it says in Matthew 4.7, Jesus said unto him, it is written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. So we're not to take foolish risks, are we? Okay, that would be tempting God. In fact, we should even prepare for battle, but then have our trust in the Lord to deliver us. So we prepare, we do what God wants us to do, be diligent, you know, be prudent with everything we do, be wise, do the right things, prepare, but then we put our faith and our trust in the Lord to protect us, to deliver us in that battle, the safeties of the Lord. And this verse is a balance between the two extremes. With some not wanting to acknowledge God in anything, there are people out there that are just kind of like, God doesn't really exist, it's all about them, their efforts and everything else. Talking about safe people here as well. And then there's others acting as if it's sinful to put any thought or effort into anything and not relying on God. You get a hold of the nails that do this sometimes. You're like, well, you know, I need to think about this. Don't worry, God will solve it. Oh, don't you have faith? Yeah, but God still wants me to prepare. God still wants me to put some thought, some effort into things, not just put my feet up and go, God's got it all. Okay, that's tempting the Lord thy God. And with most extreme views, as always, the truth is usually somewhere in between, okay? So just remember that. When people would like to go extreme on views and extreme with these things, it's usually because they're extremists and they don't understand the word of God and they don't understand that the truth is usually somewhere in between. So it's, for example, and it's something just, it's something that I've dealt with a lot and people ask these questions before. And it's just been an interesting subject for me. It's sensible to have ways and means of self-defense. The horse is prepared against their battle. You'd be a moron not to. You'd be a moron to not at least have an idea of how you might defend your house, defend your family, how you might defend yourself. I mean, why wouldn't you? I mean, you know, there is some danger out there, isn't there? That is the sort of world we live in. Especially if you're a dad and you're responsible for a family, or you're a husband, you're responsible for a wife, you need to be able to defend your family, defend yourself, yeah? And if you don't, you ain't prepared. As long as you still put your safety in God's hands though. And how do you do that? Well, it's sensible to maybe pray to God. It's sensible to be close to God. It's sensible when you're in awkward and dodgy situations, the first thing you should do would be to pray to God to help you and protect you with it. But it's also sensible to actually be prepared for things. It's sensible, like we said earlier, to have some savings, isn't it? Sensible to have some savings as long as you don't make a God of those savings. It's sensible to be prepared, however, to not make a God of them and still put God first. It's sensible to have some contingency plans for many things in life, as long as you seek God's will in prayer and obviously through the word of God. So this verse for me, it's all about the balance, okay? It's all about the balance. A horse is prepared against their battle, but safety is of the Lord. The proverb teaches us to be both prudent and also faithful in life. It's to balance the two together, okay? And on that, we're going to finish in a way. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for, well, just so much wisdom from the Book of Proverbs you give us, Lord. It's there for us, it's there, it's at our fingertips and sadly, we have it all here and we so often ignore just your clear instruction through the Book of Proverbs. Help us to just try and apply these proverbs to our lives, to those that have hopefully made notes of proverbs, which maybe they need to think about, especially right now, Lord, to not just think about them tonight, but to apply them to their lives, put them into practice this week, to think about them, to dwell upon them, to meditate upon them, Lord. Help everyone, help us all to just improve in response to your word, Lord. To all just want to be better, to be wiser, ultimately, and to act with that wisdom in our lives. And help us to get home safe and sound, Lord. Help us to return on Wednesday for the midweek service and for the soul to go great this week as well. In Jesus' name, for all of us. Amen.