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All right, we're in Proverbs 24 and part 2 now. We're starting from verse 17. Verse 17, which says, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. I'm going to pray, then we're going to get going. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for these Proverbs. Lord, thank you for the wisdom we can get from them. Please help everyone here to gain from this sermon. Lord, to gain what they need to gain, especially right now. Lord, to help us all to just be wiser. Help us all to just grow in understanding and knowledge of your word. Lord, help me to preach full of your spirit and in an accurate way, in a way that people will be able to apply easily to their lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. OK, so he said, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. Turn to Psalm 58. Obviously, keep your finger here. Turn to Psalm 58. How do we reconcile these two angles? We're told here in Proverbs not to rejoice when our enemy falls. Yet we have all of these imprecatory psalms calling for the destruction of the wicked. And here in Psalm 58, where you've turned to, he actually describes the rejoicing with it as well. The rejoicing with it. So we've just read to rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Yet here, for example, in Psalm 58, verse six, he said this, Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord. Let them melt away as waters which run continually when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows. Let them be cut, be as cut in pieces as a snail which melteth. Let every one of them pass away like the untimely birth of a woman that they may not see the sun. Before your pots can fill the thorns, he should take them away as with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath. Verse 10, The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth a vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked so that a man shall say, Verily, there is a reward for the righteous. Verily, he is a God that judgeth in the earth. That's pretty clear there, isn't it? Rejoicing in that, rejoicing when he sees a vengeance. What's the difference? Well, turn to Psalm 68. So if you carry on another 10 chapters, Psalm 68, which spells it out for us what the difference is. Psalm 68, you're looking at it from verse 1. It's to the chief musician of Psalm, a song of David, and it says this, Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate him flee before him. So it's talking about his enemies. It's those that hate God. It's God hating reprobates. It's talking about the enemies of God. Verse 2, As smoke is driven away, so drive them away as wax melteth before the fire. So let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. So again, here he's talking about them being glad. He's talking about them rejoicing. But the point being that it's God's enemies. OK, Solomon, for example, righteous wisdom, said in Proverbs chapter one of verse 26, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. And of course, someone who loves God is going to rejoice when some God hating reprobate like, I don't know, like the pope falls. The pope falls or stumbles. We're going to rejoice. You're going to be glad. OK, once when some prolific child abuser gets their just desserts, you're going to probably celebrate. Aren't you going to be pleased when the high priest at the Church of Satan stumbles? He falls, maybe dies in a terrible way. You're not going to be mourning. You're going to be rejoicing. You're going to be celebrating. But back in Proverbs 24 and verse 17, back in Proverbs 24, 17, with that in mind, notice what he said. He said, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumblest, lest the Lord see it. And it displeased him and he turned away his wrath from him. So this is talking about your personal enemies in life. So I believe that the distinguishing part of this is it's your enemies. Maybe it's some work colleague that's persecuted you. An old friend that you fell out with the mum down at the park who just keeps letting the kids run up the slide. You know, one of those heinous mums out there, you know, he does nothing about it. They keep running up, you know, and your kids are just waiting there. You know, one of those real, real enemies in life. When it's our personal enemies, OK, don't revel in their misery. Don't celebrate their hard times, what it's saying. And don't just decide that they're a God-hater for no reason, then justify it. OK, because then people can do that. Oh, they must be the reprobate because I don't like them, right? OK, obviously for no reason, that's not that's not what we're to do. But there will be people throughout life that we don't like and don't like us. And with those people, it is going to be pleasing to the flesh when they stumble, isn't it? OK, people that you just don't get on with it, don't like you. Maybe you don't like them, whatever it is, you know, and it's not not necessarily, you know, it's not talking about the worst people. It's not all about the God-haters, just people in general. OK, why doesn't God want us to rejoice, to be glad if it's an enemy of us? I think for a couple of reasons, OK, something that we can all forget when we're in the midst of the spiritual battle, which we can, can't we? We're battling away. So then any time you have an enemy, you think it must be something spiritual. It must be a bad person. When we're fighting against the extremist, fake Christianity of loving God's enemies, too, is that God does want us to just love regular, unsafe people, though, doesn't he? So you've got like the extreme on one side where it's like, yeah, just love everyone, love the worst, the most vile people in the world. No. So we pull away from that. But then we can go too far the other side. And it's like, yeah, get everyone. But, you know, he does want us to just love the unsaved. He wants us to walk in the spirit, doesn't he? Yeah. And what are fruits of walking in the spirit? Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. There are things that God wants from us, doesn't he? And we can forget that because sometimes when you're battling, you're fighting, you're warring, you feel like in life it's easy to get in that battle mode and you forget the other side of it. Right. Celebrating and gloating at regular people's misfortunes of the flesh, whether they've wronged you or not. Isn't it really? OK, that's just that's a fleshly thing to do. That's not a spiritual thing to do. Now, you could also add that they're fools and stumbles. OK, people out there, whether they're your personal enemy or not, whether they're people that don't like you, maybe they're people you don't like. Those are probably times when they're more receptive to the gospel as well, aren't they? Rather than rejoicing, so please that happens. Maybe that's a time when that's a time to actually try and make amends with someone. And you might even get the opportunity to get them saved. People in your life. Right. But also because if you want God to protect you from your enemies in life, you need to be right with him. You need to be in the spirit. OK, it said in verse 17 back in Proverbs, it said, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it and it displease him and he turn away his wrath from him. So God can and does protect us from all sorts. OK, not not just the God hating scum out there. There are just people in life that are going to cause you grief. They're not necessarily, oh, they must be a really bad person at work because they don't like me. Maybe they're just a regular person who doesn't like you. OK, and they may be going to cause you grief. They might end up being, you know, what you would describe as an enemy in life. But if we want protection from them as well, we need to be in God's will, don't we? OK, now turn to Romans 12. And God's will is that we don't rejoice to celebrate when our enemies have hard times in life. OK, that's his will. OK, part of that, that's what we've just seen. Don't rejoice and celebrate when you're at your personal enemies are having hard times. Then you're in God's will. And when you're in God's will, you're more likely to get the protection of God that you need. Romans 12, verse 18 says this, Romans 12, 18 says, If it be possible as much as life in you, if it be possible, that is, as much as life in you, live peacefully with all men, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger again, it's your enemy, your personal enemy. If thine enemy hunger, feed him, if he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head, be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. So this isn't always easy, especially when it comes to people that have really wronged you. OK, it's not easy, is it? OK, that's why we're being commanded there to do that in Romans 12. That's why back in Proverbs 24, he said in verse 17, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumblest, lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turneth, and he turneth sorry away his wrath from him. So the proverb is a reminder not to be in the flesh and to leave our personal grievances to God to deal with. OK, and we need that reminder, don't we? Because often we can get in the flesh of these things. Now, look at verse 19. It then says this in verse 19, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked, for there shall be no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked shall be put out, which I believe also reaffirms that the previous proverb was about personal enemies as opposed to the wicked. And with that, if you then go back, it's actually part of a passage. And we finished on verse 16 last week. But look at verse 15. Verse 15, and you can read it like this. Verse 15 says, Lay not wait, O wicked man. So he's talking about wicked, bad people. Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous spawn on his resting place. For a just man falleth seven times and riseth up again. But the wicked shall fall into mischief, which is at least giving us a reassurance of what will happen to the wicked. But then he reminds us not to rejoice. I think he's saying when our own enemies fall. Verse 17 says, Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth, lest the Lord see it and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him, as opposed to the wicked who's destined to eternal wrath. And that can't be turned away, can it? Because verse 19 says, Not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious that the wicked, for there shall be no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked shall be put out. That's the definite, OK? So with that in mind, OK, so we're back to the evil man now. He's warned us. He said in the middle, yeah, but don't rejoice about your own enemy. But back to the evil guy where that candle shall be put out, OK? God's not turning away his wrath from that evil man. It shall. 100 percent, he's going to end up burning in hell, right? So with that in mind, what does it mean to fret in verse 19? To fret not thyself because of evil men. It's to be agitated, to be irritated, to be vexed. You might have heard the word as well. Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious that the wicked. So don't let these people affect you, OK? Don't look at the prosperity of the wicked and get so angry about it. And people do, don't they? You look at kind of wicked people that seem to do well in life, whether it's people you know more on a personal level, or maybe it's people, you know, that are maybe the more famous wicked people, just wicked people around in various places. And it winds people up, doesn't it, sometimes? You look at it, for example, it's politicians, you know, people get so angry. It's all right for them, isn't it? All right for them while they're just bringing in all these laws to kind of restrict us even more and change this and do this. And the poor farmers and whatever else, right? And it's all right for them while they're getting their money and they're doing this. And it's no problem for them, is it? And you get, and you can get, you fret, can't you? You can fret yourself because those wicked people, maybe it's those rich bankers. Oh, yeah, the rich bankers doing this, doing that, taking more money, you know, ripping us off, et cetera. Maybe it's the Jews. That's all right for those high level Jews, you know, with their money, their wealth, their wickedness, everything else. Maybe it's just, maybe it's false prophets in general. Maybe you just look at whatever false prophet in the public eye going, yeah, for that false prophet, you know, while he's, you know, with their pyramid scheme that we're looking at earlier, pyramid scheme, church planting and yeah, but all right for them, isn't it right? Well, don't be envious of them. Don't fret about them. Don't be envious of them either. OK, and people will, you know, if only I had their money, their power, their fame, their popularity, whatever it is, if only I had what that wicked person has, I just if only I could have that. Right. Well, what are you saying here? Don't don't fret about that. Don't be envious about that. Why? Because they're going to hell. They got whatever they seem to get in this life. However, however, they seem to prosper. However much those those people in control, those people in power, those rich people, those wealthy people, whatever they get out of this life, it's it's minuscule because they're going to spend eternity in hell. Last week, we saw in verse one, Proverbs 24, one says, Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. For their heart study is destruction and their lips talk of mystery. So it's a bit of a theme in this chapter, that that previous angle there being how wicked they really are and how in verse how wicked they are and also, you know, that you don't want to be around them. Don't envy them, you know. But here in verse 20, it's where they're headed. He said, For there shall be no reward to the evil man. The candle of the wicked shall be put out. So instead of, you know, living forever, they will be dying forever. So basically just don't let them bother you too much. Don't get so worked up thinking, why should they get this? Why should they have this? Why should they enjoy that? Why is it OK for them? How do they get away with this? Why do they have to get away with this? All these people in all these areas of life, just try not to stress them. Don't fret. You know, don't be envious because it's only going to stress you out. And you have to turn up at Philippians 4 says, 4.8 says, Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. And look, there's a balance in life. But if you're just constantly focusing on the bad people, if you're like just your, I don't know, your algorithms on YouTube or whatever you're on, your social media news feed is just full of, I don't know, it's full of the varying different forms of conspiracies about all these wicked people, telling you about how well all these people in power are doing and how wicked it is, how bad it is, it's just going to fret you, isn't it? It just winds you up. Are you really thinking on all these nice things while you're just there? I just can't believe it. This is happening next. I just see the news. And it just winds you up, doesn't it? And the thing is, nowadays with, you know, the different algorithm stuff and all of that, you start looking at that stuff and suddenly that's all you're looking at, isn't it? And it's just going to ruin your life. You're just going to waste your life worrying about this stuff. Whereas you could have been thinking about the good things in life, couldn't you? You could have been reminding yourself that you're saved. You could have been reading the word of God, reminding yourself of the promises. You know, you could have been reminding yourself of the salvations we're getting of all the different positives in life. Or you can focus on the negatives, right? He said, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked, for there shall be no reward for the evil man, the candle of the wicked shall be put out. So the lesson is to not let people's temporary prosperity bother you because it's eternity that matters. It's eternity. Focus on the good things in life, right? Verse 21. My son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change, for their calamity shall rise suddenly, and who knoweth the ruin of them both? So verse 21 said, my son, fear thou the Lord and the king, and meddle not with them that are given to change. Now, just to make clear, we're not anarchists here. OK, we don't teach rebellion against the rulers of the land. And there are places out there, there are versions of Christianity, other religions that will teach that sort of thing. OK, turn to Romans chapter 13, Romans 13. So as long as we're not being asked to sin, we should obey the laws here in this land. As long as you're not being told to sin, as long as that law isn't clearly contrary to God, to God's law, to how God wants us living, how God wants us behaving, you, in fact, you're sinning if you're not obeying the laws of the land. OK, let's make that clear. You're sinning, you're going against God when you're not obeying the laws of the land. Romans 13.1 says that every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God, the powers that be are ordained of God. God's put authority in your life, OK. Let's put a little bit of the stuff, a bit of paper there. If we're told not to go to church, for example, OK, we still go, don't we? OK, so as long as it's not going against God, if we're told not to go to church, we're going to go. Let's not talk about that sort of thing. If they said, right, church, the band, and they kind of did that. And again, I'm not like, I know they're a church. You've got to be careful with this, because there were churches that shut for good reason during, for example, Covid at the beginning. They were like, OK, this could be like, they weren't sure, right? It's easy to just go, load of old nonsense. Some people just didn't really know. And you've got to be careful, if you're pastoring, if you're leading a church and there's potentially this horrific illness, apparently just going for everyone. You know, if that week you're like, OK, I'm not so sure right now. OK, that's one thing, OK? But there were those that just kind of, I think, use it as an excuse, didn't they, right? OK, but if and then when the government started going, well, you should, you shouldn't really have church, we were going, church is banned. Well, that wasn't the case, right? Because we could still run church. And that's what we did at this church, didn't we? We just said, OK, we're still going to run church services. Pretty much everyone else was shut. And we were like, God commands us not to take the assembly of ourselves together, right? OK, so there's that. There was, in that Covid time, people thought we couldn't soul win, couldn't they? Oh, you can't go out, you can't do this. Well, it actually said for charitable purposes, you could go and do things. And you know what? No one here, I don't think, was getting paid to soul win. OK, we were going out for charitable purposes. We want to go out and preach the gospel. So we did that. For example, if you were in a nation where they said, well, the Bible's illegal, you can't read the Bible. We're still going to read the Bible, aren't we? Because we're told to meditate on that word day and night, right? And we should be reading the word of God on a daily basis. If we were told not to teach certain parts of the Bible, and some people are a bit unsure whether or not what we can and can't teach, maybe. Well, we teach the whole word of God, don't we? Now, that doesn't mean I have to go, right, time to just start to keep putting out there three minute, five minute, one minute clips on, you know, sods and whatever else you need to just really try and get some, you know, get some attention, stuff like that. Look, you know, we're still to be wise, right? Wise as serpents, harmless as doves. But we preach and teach our word of God here to the people in our church. First and foremost, if you're in a nation where that's highly illegal, well, I still believe that you should be teaching it to the church. You don't have to put it on YouTube. There's no law in the Bible that says you have to put your preaching on YouTube. Right. No law in the Bible that says you've got to put it on every social media platform. Otherwise, you're somehow scared of something else. Look, you still want to have your church running, don't you? You want your church to run. But on the flip side, if they tell us not to do that stuff, we still do it. Right. Because we should declare the whole council of God. First Peter 2.17 says to honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. So, again, if it goes against God's laws, we don't we're not going to honor the king. But aside from that stuff, we should obey the laws of the land, which shows some healthy fear towards the law of the land. Romans 13.4, where you are, said, for he is a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. And you get the feeling that when God's people just go and do wicked things that are against the law, they're going to get punished by the law. I reckon you could probably take that to the bank, really. That if you're saved, if you're one of God's children and you and you just go and willfully just break the law. And again, it's got nothing to do with going against God. He's a minister of God to thee for good, because if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain, it's not empty. He's a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. So if you're one of God's children and he's set up government and he set up authority in life to punish evil doing and your evil doing and you're breaking those laws, then I think you're going to get it one way or another. So in verse 21, where he said, My son, fear thou the Lord and the King, and meddle not with them that are given to change. Meddle not here means to not take part or maybe not to get involved with them that are given to change. Now, what's he talking about? So I believe that it's people that stop fearing the Lord and stop fearing the King. Those people that go from being seeming God fearing Christians to the complete opposite. Now suddenly they're deconstructing from all of that Christianity. For example, they're just given to change. I mean, what on earth, right? You go from, you know, there are these people out there, aren't they, right? It's like, yeah, I believe the Bible. I believe in God. I believe the Bible is the word of God. Suddenly, oh, no, don't believe any of it, right? Someone given a change, isn't it? Yeah, that's a big change, isn't it? They go from apparently fearing the Lord to spending all their time slandering, mocking and attacking God's people. Just weird, isn't it? I mean, even if you're like, yeah, well, I don't think that whoever it is, I don't like these these Christians. I don't like these, but I don't like this pastor. I don't know. It's like, yeah, but God, you know full well that God doesn't want you slandering, mocking, scorning, all that stuff. It's like just you don't want to be in a church. You don't like the church. You don't like the pastor. You don't. Just just move on with your life, right? OK, it's weird, isn't it? It's given a change. Well, there are also those that go from fearing the King, though, as well. Law abiding citizens, suddenly they're proudly breaking laws or suddenly what maybe it is that various goals or suddenly what it is. Suddenly they're into the whole political stuff. It's political protest. It's right. We need to rise up against this government again. That's not our battle. That's not what you're called to do. Let let let them let the people of the world do that stuff. That's not what we're for. And there are people that go from being here to in church and suddenly they're like some sort of political activist. That's someone given a change. That's not what we're called to. And often they're trying to encourage others into it as well. But he said to keep away from these sorts of people. One day they're on God's side. The next, everything is contrary. They're at the least double minded, at the least. James 1 says the double minded man is unstable in all his ways. And at worst, they're fakes. And either way, they're just going to lead you into trouble. I think that's what he's saying. Except for their calamity shall rise suddenly. And who knoweth the ruin of them both? Now, the both they're referring, I think, therefore, to both types of people. Those that are given a change of fear in God, those that are given a change of fear in the king. Otherwise, what else does it apply to? They say for their calamity shall rise suddenly. And who knoweth the ruin of them both? And we've just seen two types of people there. And their calamity, their misfortune will be sudden. OK, basically, you just can't predict when it's going to happen. You just want to keep away from these types of people. Just keep away from these types of people. They might sound like they're playing a good game. They might sound like, no, they've got some, you know, some fair grievances here, which is now suddenly why they're just anti everything God. Or they might sound like, oh, well, they've got some fair points here with their like political activism and we need to be fighting for a better whatever government this or that. It's like just just keep away from people like that. Right. Keep away from them. He said, my son, fear thou the Lord and the king and meddle not with them that are given to change for their calamity shall rise suddenly. And who knoweth the ruin of them both? So I think he's just saying keep away from these people. They're one person one minute and other the next. It won't go well for them. Verse 23, these things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect to persons in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse nations shall abore him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight and a good blessing shall come upon them. So when it comes to judging all sorts of things in life, OK, we want to avoid bias. You need to avoid bias in your judgments. Verse 23 said these things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect to persons in judgment. So if you're wise, these are things that you should know, OK? Not having respect of persons in judgment being the first of these. So when you're judging something and it's assumed to be king of the nation, Rehoboam here is, you know, sort of obviously who it's ultimately addressed to here. He would have been in plenty of judgment situations, wouldn't he? OK, he's like that king. He's going to be judging all sorts of situations, all sorts of things in life. But for us as well, OK, and obviously it's written to all of us as well. Anything from a situation between your children. Family members, work colleagues, employees, just whatever. This situation is all over life that we're regularly judging, OK? He said, she said we all often hear that sort of stuff, won't we? Whether it's your kids or whether it's just someone, whether it's some old friends have fallen out or family members. There's a lot of that sort of stuff. There's a lot of situations, a lot of times that we need to judge in life. We want to try to make fair judgments. OK, that's something that we need to remember. Try your best to make fair judgment. So not in favour of the child whose behaviour has been that little bit more pleasing that week. You know, it's like, well, that child, they're pleasing me a bit more this week. They tidied their room. So now when it's a he said, she said, I'm just going to go with that one because they've been better behaved. Not the family member that you get on best with. One is saying this, the other one is saying that. Well, I like that one a bit more. We get on a bit better. We've got a bit more in common. So I'm going to take their side. Not the work colleague who you just like more for whatever reason. We need to put that to one side. Judge a situation based on its merits, not on favouritism. OK, that's something we all need to remind you of regularly in life, don't we? Now, it's not to say that good character isn't a factor in judgment, though. So don't forget that. OK. So say we've got someone here that's OK. So say we've got someone here that's just known to be a dishonest thief. I don't know. They've been caught out before. They're a thief. They're just known to be dishonest. You know, they're always caught out lying. They're known to be a bit light-fingered. OK, and then we've got someone who's like just exemplary character with that sort of thing. They always end up being honest with things. You know, you know, you've dropped a 50 pound note behind you and they pick it straight up and give it to you. You know, just someone who's shown good character with those things. They clearly just show integrity. They show honesty. You know, they catch themselves if, you know, go like, oh, you know, that wouldn't be honest to say it like that. Let me, you know, they're just someone who clearly cares about being honest, right? They're both accusing each other of stealing the last ginger nut biscuit. OK, this is serious stuff. OK, we've got like a big issue now. Both are accusing each other. One saying, you start, you, you. Now, here's the thing. I'll tell you what, respect to persons would be if I like that thief more. I like the dishonest one more. So I'm like, well, you know, I'm going with them. OK, that would be respect to persons, wouldn't it? Whereas I should make a judgment based on all factors, shouldn't I? And a fair unbiased judgment or maybe because they were well respected by others in the church. It's like, well, they're they're respected by other people. So I'm going to I'm going to make a judgment in their favor. Maybe they had power in the community or whatever it is. Right. And I'm joking about ginger nut biscuits. But whatever the situation is, it's making a judgment call based on bias and not based on the facts of the situation. And obviously, character is a factor. Sure. OK, but ultimately, if you're going to make a call, it still has to be with some facts and everything else behind it. OK. So verse twenty three said these things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect to personal judgment. And that's ultimately what that's talking about. OK, so so there are those, though, that will go further and then justify wicked people for one reason or other. So verse twenty four said he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous. Him shall the people curse nations shall abhor him. So rulers that do that, that end up being cursed by their people. They end up being hated for it. And a recent case of this, just to put it into sort of modern, sort of, you know, recent history is, for example, Jimmy Saville. Jimmy Saville, there were, you know, there was kings and rulers and leaders in our nation that said thou art righteous about Jimmy. They knew full well what was going on. Everyone knew what was going on. That's come out, hasn't it? And what's what's what's on the back of that? We still talk about it now. If I mention King Charles, I can't get out of my head that he was best buddies with Jimmy Saville. That Jimmy Saville was was him and his wife's mediator in their marriage problems. I mean, what's all that about? And do you know what it makes you do? It makes you curse. It makes you a bore, doesn't it? Think what on earth? And the rest of them are all buddies with him. What on earth? Buddies, you knew what was going on. But they're trying to tell everyone else, no, no, he's righteous. At the time, they put him in this position of being close to the royal family. I mean, as if you even get to that position without people knowing what's going on in your life. They do background checks in you. If you go into just just certain units in the army, Marines, things like that, where you might be dealing with like Northern Ireland or so-called terrorism and stuff, they want to talk to all you old, they want to like really dig up any dirt on you. You think they didn't know what was going on with Jimmy Saville? Everyone knew. It was like a... For some reason in the BBC, it was some sort of like in-joke almost, because they're so sick and twisted there. They all knew just no one does anything about it. So what? But and again, what does it make you think about the BBC? You hate them, you filthy scum, because they all in it, because they just turn a blind eye to this stuff. That's what it does, doesn't it? Whether they're involved in it or not, just turning a blind eye to wickedness makes you hate people that do that, doesn't it? Well, he said that he that saith unto the wicked, thou art righteous, him shall the people curse, and they shall abhor him. And isn't that going on with all sorts of sodomites right now? Really? They're just saying to the wicked, thou art righteous. And what does it make you think as a nation? When you see all this going on, when you see all this, you know, queer promotion and transsexual promotion and all that weird sort of trying to mix bathrooms and allow them access to women and kids and all, it just makes you hate the people that are in charge, doesn't it? It makes you just despise them. He said, but to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. And do you know, there are still those out there. There are still nations out there whose leaders are rebuking them. There still are. For example, in southern Somalia, Somaliland, Mauritania, Northern Nigeria, Uganda, and I'm sure probably others, sodomy results in a death penalty. Results in a death penalty. I'm sure there are many people that are delighted about that sort of leadership, aren't there? I'm sure when they look at everything going around, I'm sure when them guys come to a nation like this, and it's just sodomites just like mincing around everywhere. You know, they're kind of, they're walking past the schools and they're like kind of, you know, mincing out of the schools and everything else. They're probably thinking, praise God for the leadership in my nation, at least not bending to the pressure from the sodomite west on that sort of stuff. You know, and to them that rebuke him, talking about the wicked shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. And I'm sure that they're blessed as a result. Oh, no, no, I've seen there's poverty there. Yeah, what's your point? Because you know what? I see in wealthy nations a lot more people damning themselves to hell or on their way to hell because they don't even want to hear the gospel. Do you know what? I don't see riches as a blessing in life. I see rich nations as being puffed up, prideful and unlikely to get saved. That's the reality of it, isn't it? Right? And in our areas of leadership, OK, we need to do the same, not to pander to the various wicked around, don't we? Don't we? And you go, what area is it? I'm talking about, I'm talking about dads out there. I'm talking about mums out there with the kids. I'm talking about people in various areas of work, obviously pastoring in a church, any other form of leadership in the church. We don't want to turn a blind eye to this stuff. Don't just turn a blind eye, don't put up with this stuff. And of course, we have to get that balance right. We've talked about this recently where, you know, you might have someone that's maybe like new or comes in or a visitor. And there's a few things that are a bit off. But we don't if you don't know for sure. Yeah, we we're wary, we're careful. But, you know, once you know, once something like that, and it doesn't just have to be that sort of thing, some sort of wickedness, we don't turn a blind eye to that stuff. And the result is not being cursed, not being a board by those you lead. And back to, for example, families, think about how many rifts in families there are due to family members didn't protect them. Yeah. You know, you might know people, and I can think of people I know whose families were destroyed, not just by some horrendous abuse, but by parents turning a blind eye to it. By people in that family turning a blind eye because they didn't want to fall out with the uncle, with the whoever, with the dad, with whatever it is. And there are people that can never get over that stuff because they abhor them, because they said, you were my parent and you allowed this to happen. You were my whatever and you allowed this to happen. But instead, if you get it right, if you rebuke them, all the good blessings shall come upon them and they'll be delighted. Your people will be delighted. You'll be blessed, basically. And again, you can apply that to all areas of leadership. So verse twenty three, these things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect to person in judgment. He that saith unto the wicked are righteous. Him shall a people curse. Nacious shall abhor him. But to them that rebuke him shall be delighted. A good blessing shall come upon them. So I think the lesson is in all areas of life to be fair in all judgment and don't turn a blind eye to wicked people. Don't however popular they are, whatever position are in your family and your life and your community. In the church, whatever else, don't turn a blind eye to that stuff. Verse twenty six. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. Now, remember that kissing was a sign of affection when greeting someone and was common between those that were close. So, for example, family, close friends, things like that. They would kiss as a greeting. That's not what we do in our culture. Other cultures still do that stuff. We don't do that here. And my thoughts are that because you see that kissing the lips, it is as opposed to maybe planting a whopper on someone's lips. OK, I think maybe if someone offers their cheek, maybe they were kissing their lips. I'm I'm just clutching at straws. Maybe that's what I'm looking at. There may be, you know, if people like go like cheek to mouth or whatever else. That's that's kissing their lips. OK, that's what I'm hoping for. But, you know, it's OK. But either way, let's move on from that. OK, either way, it was a sign of affection. OK, it was a sign of love, which is something that you should get if you give a right answer, you should get affection, you should get love. Or maybe you answer the right words, which is someone that is careful and considered with how they talk to people. Someone that's that's considerate, basically, that thinks about the effect of their words, which is the point here. OK, people appreciate you being considerate with your words. People appreciate that. You get these people that say things like, well, yeah, I say it straight. I'm not one of them people that beats around a bush. I just say it as it is. If I say it, I'm going to say it right. OK, great. Great. Yeah, great that you're honest. But did you need to say it at all, for example, or could you have said it honestly in a kind of way? Maybe. Yeah, OK. Maybe you need maybe someone asked you a direct question and you gave them gave them the answer. But maybe you could have said it in a way which was a bit kinder. Maybe you could have said it in a way that was a bit more considerate. Proverbs 25, 11 says a word fitly spoken is like apples or golden pictures of silver. So it's a great value. Say saying, though, the fitting the right words at the right time. Words are very powerful, aren't they? They're massively powerful, OK? They can cause great upset and hurt, and they can also help and heal, can't they? You know, words can do great things in people's lives. You can say the right thing at the right time to someone. It just really helps them. But you can also say the wrong thing at the wrong time to someone. It can really hurt them, really destroy them, really affect them. So we have to be very aware and careful of what we say because they're so important. If we care about other people, we're not just going to go, well, I just say it. That's it. Let them deal with it. Yeah, look, OK, there are some snowflakes around. Yeah, there are people that, you know, they're so sensitive. You can't say anything. And, you know, it seems like they're taking everything the wrong way. But however, if you're with someone that's sensitive, then you know what a considerate thing to do would be, would be to try and be a bit more careful about what you say to those people. They're sensitive because we don't want to cause that harm. We don't want to cause that upset where possible. Right. And I think what he's saying is if you want to be genuinely loved and appreciated, think about what you say before you say it. Be careful how you talk to people. Be considerate, basically. Think about other people is the point. How I say this, when I, you know, the way I say, look, sometimes because sometimes you do, you know, and you can go too far with this. But sometimes you you kind of go go home at night. You're like, oh, that actually came across really rude. I didn't even mean it like that. You know, I'm sure a lot of people think like that. So you think, oh, wow, I shouldn't. You know what? You want to try preaching three hours a week because sometimes you go, oh, that probably came out a bit off with someone. Oh, no, you might go away. You go, oh, I bet that person thought I was just really having a go at them. I didn't give I should have given the caveat, you know. And sometimes you can just go, well, you know, and sometimes it might be good just to say, oh, by the way, you know, I didn't mean any offence by that. You know, and obviously, if I did that with preaching, well, probably be at it all day. But at least in just in life, when you're chatting to people, when you you know, you're talking to people and sometimes you just say something it didn't sound right. And if you think that and you think about it often, nothing wrong with saying that to someone, because, you know, if you give that right answer, if you have the right words, you're saying the right things to people. Well, people appreciate it, right? He said, every man shall kiss his lips that giveth the right answer. And I think the proverb is just a reminder to think before we speak. Just think before you speak and be considerate with what you say. Verse 27, prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. Now, I think this proverb is really about living within your means. OK, it's making sure that you can afford things before you do them. And you could add as well, preparing for family life. You could add to that with getting your way of providing sorted first. But look, verse 27 said, prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. So he's saying to build your business before you build your house. That's what he's saying, OK? Build your business before you build your house. Yeah, get your business sorted first before you get that house built. Prepare it outside. So make sure that you can provide before you get into the house building part. Yeah. Luke 14, 28. You don't have to turn there says for which of you intending to build a tower, sit it not down first and count the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it. So we should do that. We should be we should consider the cost. We should count the cost. We should know whether or not we can do things before we do them. And I don't know, you know, maybe how many here are going to try and build a house nowadays. If you do, let me know if you got any good ideas with that. But but before take you on a rent, OK, before take you on a mortgage or maybe just moving out of mum and dad's or whatever it is. Right before doing that sort of stuff. You should really make sure that you're able to do that. Make sure you can afford to do it. Make sure that you've got that ability. And it's obviously important before building a house in terms of family, isn't it? Make sure you can provide for that family. You know, there's a lot of people out there like just, you know, if only I had the right woman, I had the right wife or, you know, if only I found that person, you know, there's an understandably right, because, you know, it's not like there's just all these great people everywhere. When you look outside in general, you just see a lot of bad people out there. Right. And you can understand, you know, single men maybe thinking that. But you know what? You need to make sure you're able to provide for that family first. You know, why is some saved girl? Why is her father up in heaven going to look down and go, oh, yeah, I'm going to give it to the guy who right now he's not able to provide? We want to be able to provide. Right. And one of the questions I ask people that plan to marry before I marry them is, is the man able to provide? Are you able? Do you have a job and you're able to provide for your family, for your wife? And beyond providing the bare minimum. OK, and look, some people look, you just have to live off the bare minimum. That's life. But beyond that, it's great if you're able to have less money strain on a marriage in the beginning as well. So if anyone is thinking that look like living like, you know, day to day, look, sometimes that's life. Right. But if you're able to take some of the strain off because you know, what's a big, big strain on people in general, on marriage, especially at the beginning is money. Money becomes a stress. It becomes strain. It gets people stressed out. They get stressed. They get worried. And then that that affects other areas of the matter. That just affects the marriage, basically, you know. So if you can get on top of that and you can get some, maybe some sort of contingency back up, sort of savings, things like that, it just takes a bit of stress off. If you're if you're like, yeah, OK, I'm in a position I can provide for someone, then you're in a good place, right? You've sorted that out before you try to build the house. So and with that, being single is a good time to build up your career and some savings, isn't it? Because, you know, when you do end up and look, just to anyone here, the kids as you grow up as well, you know, when you have the when you have the the ability to do that gets to say, oh, when I'm single, I could just spend all my money now, just go and party and have fun and do all these different things. You know, like they made like in this nation, it became like this rite of passage that, you know, late teens, that was time to just go and blow all your money abroad or something and get into debt, you know, traveling to random places to have a party and call it traveling and exploring cultures. But, you know, it's probably a better time to knuckle down. You know, yeah, you can put time into the things that go, but you can also, you know, learn and train and get, you know, get some savings behind you because things get expensive when you start building a house. Right. Well, he said, prepare thy work without and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. I just think the proverbs are reminding everyone to live within their means. And and I would say singles to get things in order before they marry. Get things in order. Get get get things, you know, get your finances in order before you end up trying to build a house. Verse 28. Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause and deceive not with thy lips. Say not I will do so to him as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work. So there's a temptation when someone has done bad to you to do bad back to them. If someone's lied about you to maybe lie about them, there would be a temptation there. Romans 12, 17, no said recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. God doesn't want to stoop into those levels, does he? He doesn't want us doing that. Think how easy it could be to do what our enemies do. I mean, that'd be easy, wouldn't it? That'd be easy to just do what they do. Add a little embellishment here. Use a little half truth to make a believable lie there. Distort facts to make things sound bad. It's easy to do that. You could do that, couldn't you? But God wants us to provide things honest in the sight of all men. OK, that's what he said in Romans 12, 17. recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. And verse 28 here said, be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause and deceive not with thy lips. So he's saying don't be a false witness. Don't be dishonest just because they deserve punishment. Don't deceive. Well, they've done this to me. Well, see what you know, I'm going to lie about this and lie about this situation. Don't do that. Proverbs 12, 22 says lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but they that do truly who is to lie. God hates lying, but he delights in honest people. Verse 29 said, say not I will do so to him as he has done to me. I will render to the man according to his work. So whatever they've done to you, however justified you think it is, leave it to God to deal with. Leave it to God to deal with. He'll deal with it. Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause and deceive not with thy lips. Say not I will do so to him as he has done to me. I'll render to the man according to his work. I think the lesson is to make it your goal to be always honest. Whoever it is that you're dealing with, whoever it is, whatever you think they've done, even at worst, just be honest. Be honest, do things God's way and God will deal with it. OK, last one from verse 30. I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding, and though it was all grown over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down, then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and I want as an armed man. So we're finishing off with the slothful or the lazy person. OK, he said, I went by the field of the slothful, verse 30, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. Now, remember that the knowledge of the holy is understanding. OK, so the two descriptions seem to be used interchangeably, wouldn't you say? He said, I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. And then he just talks about it as one from verse 31, and though it was all grown over with thorns. OK, so I think they use interchangeably the slothful or lazy guy. OK, he just doesn't get it. And often, I don't know if you've ever noticed this, if you've ever been soul winning and you find a house where it's just like everything's falling down, everything's overgrown, you're kind of like you wish you had a machete just to get into the get up to the doorway. There's this stuff growing in your face. You're trying to get your way through. And then you knock on the door. What do you reckon, receptive or not? Anyone think receptive? Because in your mind, you're thinking they might be humble. They're usually angry, seething God haters. They seem usually just void of understanding, aren't they? Right. And I'm not saying, right, if someone's lazy, they must not, you know, they must not be saved. But this sort of person, this sort of person, where everything's just falling down, where they're incapable of doing anything, where, you know, their home is just like an absolute state. You know, the nettles have covered the face thereof. It's all grown over with thorns. And this is a film, but this is, you could add their livelihood. Just say, just let it all just go to pot. Stonewall thereof was broken down. Well, he said it's someone void of understanding. And you could say, though, look, you know, with a Christian, a slothful, a lazy person, maybe they just don't have enough knowledge. And I think probably because that comes from living it, doesn't it? OK, you've got to live, you've got to live for God to get that. It's not just, you can read the Bible fifty, a hundred times. You're not going to get the knowledge unless you actually be a doer of the word as well. OK, not just a hearer, but a doer. The sloth isn't living for God, because if he was, he wouldn't let his livelihood go to waste like that. OK, because that's not how God wants you living at all, right? He said, and lo, it was all grown over with thorns and nettles have covered the face of the stone wall thereof was broken down. So you're void of understanding if you're giving into the lazy flesh instead of working for a living, basically. OK, you're void of understanding there. And he said, then I saw and considered it well, looked upon it and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands asleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth and I want as an armed man. Now, this is a subject that we've seen already in Proverbs. OK, with Proverbs six having identical words to these last couple of verses. Proverbs six said it like this. How long wilt thou sleep? Oh, sluggard, Proverbs six, nine, when will thou rise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands asleep. So shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth and I want as an armed man. Here in Proverbs 24, he said, then I saw and considered it well. I looked upon it and received instruction. Verse 33, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands asleep. Now, the folding hands, in case you've ever wondered this, is crossing your arms. That's what it's talking about, I think, with the connotations being not using them to work. So instead of using your arms to do things to work, you're crossing them, you know. For example, Ecclesiastes four, five says the fool foldeth his hands together and eateth his own flesh. So he's saying he's basically not working. And he ends up getting to the point where he needs to eat his own flesh because he's he's refused to work. And what an idiot, because now he hasn't got anything. And lazy people here, he said, he said, yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands asleep. Lazy people just want to sleep a lot often. You notice that if you've been around people that are just lazy, they just want to sleep. They just seem to want to sleep a lot. But what's the result of just sleeping a lot? Because, you know, there's only so much time in a day. I don't know about you, but I just often feel like there's not enough time in a day, is there? And it's hard to get that balance right because you want to sleep. But then, you know, if I oversleep, I've lost out on some time and I need the time, right? So you're trying to get that right. But then if you under sleep, you're going to be too tired to do what you need to do. So you're trying to get this balance right, obviously. Well, what's the result? So shall thy poverty come as one that travelth and thy wanteth as an armed man. Now, someone that travels is an earning, so they get poor. OK, so that's what I think it's talking about. In these days, people that are travelling, well, they're not working, are they? Not doing well like a travelling tradesman. It's just people that travel, they're going around a lot, so they're not actually just getting on with the job. And talking about that before, that was kind of, you know, that was when I was younger. There were these people that would do that, and a lot of the time it was like the wealthier kids and stuff from school. You know, as they got older, they'd be like, right, they're going travelling, you know. And really what it was, it was just not doing anything. So it'd be like, oh, wow, yeah, they're going travelling to explore cultures. No, they're not. They're going away. They're going away to live cheap in a cheap country and party and not really do anything. And, you know, and really it was to avoid having to do any more, like to avoid whether it was like further study or get into a job. Oh, they're going to go and travel because we should all go and see the world, right? Well, the thing is, is that without money, poverty comes. And some of these people, it wouldn't. I knew people that got into travelling, they'd find a country they really liked, wherever it was, a nation, and they enjoyed it so much that they were just finding any which way they could to go back to that nation and to go and spend time in that nation, travelling around these different nations, stuff like that. And they end up just getting poor and poor and getting in debt doing it because they couldn't really just get on with working. They couldn't get used to the idea of just working. They needed to just go and like live on the island somewhere and everything else. And then they're getting credit cards, things like that. Well, they get poor. And he then said, so shall though poverty come as one that traveleth. And look, just get through your head in life, you know, the odd holidays are right. But if you're just trying to, your goal is not working, well, you're just going to end up with poverty, right? We're built to work, right? And thy want, he said, is an armed man. And I think that's the result being desperation to the point of arming yourself to, well, to basically get what you want. That's what I think he's saying. Thy want is an armed man. I think he's talking about someone that's armed to get what they can and potentially even some sort of armed robbery or something like that. Which if you think about it is what a lot of criminals are. They're covetous people that are lazy. They're too lazy to just do an honest job, too lazy to just go off to get working. So they go and try and find a way of getting the big, easy cash, the easy money, whether it's robbery, armed robbery or whatever else it is. That's what a lot of the time they're just lazy, covetous people who should have just worked. But what he's saying is that there are people that they have it there. They have the ability to work. They have the ability to earn. And this is talk about people that can't. So again, just to, you know, I like to put them caveats there. There are people that are unable to work, you know, but, you know, if any would not work, that's what he's talking about. OK, people that choose not to, this is someone who's got it all there. They got that filled. They got those things and they're just letting it all get grown over. Well, they're out of God's will if they're doing that. They're void of understanding. OK, he said, I went by the field of the slothful and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. It was all grown over with thorns and nettles and covered the face thereof and a stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered it. Well, I looked upon it and received instruction. He had a little sleep, a little slumber, a little foley of the hands to sleep. What's the result? So shall I. Poverty come as one that traveleth and I want they'll become desperate like an armed man. So basically, don't blame God that you can't provide. Don't blame God for lean times. Just get right and get busy. And usually there's something we can do, isn't there? You just get right with God, get busy, get busy in life. You know, there's plenty we can do plenty. We can find things that you can do. God wants us busy doing stuff. And here's the thing with that as well. I think that when you're doing the things of God, when you know, you get a lot of people that kind of, you know, they it's a funny thing is that you'll often find with churches that and something I've noticed throughout the years is that the people that are usually in church the most again with the church, I know people travel and some people can't make it for certain reasons. But a lot of the time, the people that are in church the most are often some of the busiest people, are often the people, not always, but often you get people that are three to five in church, they're soul winning and they've got a family and they're working and they're sometimes even working two jobs and things like that. And it kind of goes hand in hand because when you're living, forgotten, doing those things, you're busy in life, you're just used to being busy and doing stuff. You know, being in church and finding a way to make it work and everything else. And then on the flip side, a lot of the time, people that you would think, well, they got all the time in the world, haven't they? And often those people aren't then in the house of God and they aren't doing those things as well, because it does, you know, there's an old saying, isn't there? If you want something done, find a busy person. And it is quite a truth in life. But a lot of that comes from the word of God, doesn't it? When you're living for God, you're doing things of God, you're in the word of God, you're busy with the things of God, you're likely to therefore be busy in your life anyway. Busy working, busy providing, busy doing the things you're meant to be doing for mums out there, for women out there, busy doing those things at home, etc. You know, if that situation you're in. But the lesson, I think, is to get some understanding and don't be slothful or things will go badly for you. OK, if we're lazy, things just go badly. We need to be proactive with life. And that was Proverbs 24. That was part two. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the book of Proverbs. Thank you for the lessons we can get out of that second part of the chapter there. Lord, please just help us to apply them to our lives. Lord, help us to just, you know, want to apply them to not, you know, want to just balk at some of the lessons that maybe spoke to us there and help us to just want to get right in every area of our life. Lord, just keep working to be wiser, to be more productive, to be what you want us to be. Lord, please bless our week. May I help everyone to have a great week this week, to have a week where they're, you know, in the spirit, walking in the spirit, not fulfilling the lust of the flesh. Lord, and help everyone here to make it back for the Wednesday evening service, Lord, and to also, you know, make it so winning, if possible, in a week as well. And if not able to make the times to try and find, you know, opportunities to present the Gospel to people, Lord, to give people the option to hear the Gospel. Help us to all do that this week. Keep you at the centre of it, Lord, and also to return on Sunday. In Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.