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Okay, so Proverbs chapter 30, we're very close to getting through the book of Proverbs, our series. It's been going on for a long time. Like I said, I look back, we started it perhaps September, the year before last, and we had a break in the middle for another series on how to win souls. But we've been looking at Proverbs for a long time now. I've been enjoying studying through it. It's been, for me, very productive going through it, verse by verse as we have. We're in Proverbs 30. And as usual, just remember, if you do need a pen, I know the ushers have gone around, but you can always jump to the back and grab one if you didn't get one. Proverbs 30 and verse 1 says this, The words of Agar, the son of Jachie, even a prophecy the man spake unto Eithiel, even unto Eithiel an ukal. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and of not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. I'd like to pray, then we're going to get started with the message. Father, thank you, Lord, for this chapter of the book of Proverbs, and the many truths and many things we can learn from it. Please help me to teach them clearly, Lord, so people are able to just really listen and pay attention. Help me to preach boldly as well, Lord, and clearly full of your Spirit, and in an accurate way, Lord, help everyone to just have attentive ears after, you know, what's always an eventful Sunday, Lord, and to just stay wide awake and focused on the message. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Okay, let's just have a look at those first few verses again where he said, the words of Agar, the son of Jachie, even a prophecy, the man spake unto Eithiel, even unto Eithiel an ukal. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and of not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Now, who are Agar, Jachie, Eithiel, and ukal? And if anyone's looking for baby names, you've got a few there, right? Well, three of the names are only mentioned once in the Bible here in Proverbs chapter 30 of verse 1. That's the only time we see them. There is, though, an Eithiel mentioned in a line in Nehemiah 11, but there's nothing to suggest that it's the same person. Agar seems to be either relaying more of Solomon's Proverbs, or perhaps his own inspired words are being included too in the book of Proverbs, which is more likely, okay? That's more likely, with the style here in this chapter being a bit different if you notice as you go through, especially that second half. And I'm going to stop before that where it's talking about the three things, the four things, et cetera. But we could see a bit of a different style here. And perhaps, you know, I was thinking about this and looking at these names and thinking that maybe there's something in the names and what they, you know, what they mean with... Agar means gatherer. Jaki means pious. Eithiel means God is with me, and ukau means I am strong, with Eithiel and ukau being basically opposites, really, aren't they? With one saying God is with me, the other, I am strong. And one, you know, in a way is taking the credit, one is giving it to the Lord. And although Agar is the son of, it seems to be here perhaps, a pious or godly father. Remember, he's the son of Jaki, meaning pious. We might say godly. He's admitting to being brutish and not having understanding. With the words being relayed, I think there is something in the names. I'm going to go with that and I'll show you why. But the words are being relayed to two types of people. So those who have God with them, you could say, with Eithiel, and then with those that believe that they are strong being ukau. And again, you go, well, why do you believe there's something in the names? Because these people would mean absolutely nothing to you otherwise. Because they're not repeated anywhere else in the word of God, because he's gone to lengths to show us who these people are, because it does actually match up with what he says then in verses two and three and away as well. The reality of it is, is that when you believe that you are strong, God isn't with you, is he? If you think you're strong, if you're putting it on yourself, well, God's not going to be very much with you when you're feeling like that. Talking about, obviously, you know, saved people here. Who's relaying these following proverbs to us? So a guy that's called himself brutish, that lacks understanding, that didn't learn wisdom. He said, surely I'm more brutish than any man, and of not the understanding of a man, I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. So he doesn't have all of the religious knowledge, you might say. And to most followers of religion out there, this guy isn't the guy to listen to, is he? So to most religious people around the world, this description of this guy makes you think, not the person you want to be listening to, right? Where are his theology degrees? Where are his doctorates in religious studies? Where is his formal training? But this is the guy that God's using, isn't it? This is the guy that God's using to relay these words to us here in the book of Proverbs in chapter 30. 1 Corinthians 1-27 says, But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. And do you know who's least likely to listen to Agar? Ucao. If, by what it means, the I am strong. The people that think they're strong, that think that they know it all, that think that they have some sort of ability, knowledge, et cetera, that they're the ones that are less likely to listen to someone who's described himself as brutish, not having the sort of formal recognition, training, et cetera. And who's more likely to listen? I feel, I would say, that God is with me. The person who you could describe as someone who God is with. He's more likely to see through that stuff and listen. He's more likely to recognize that it's the word of God. Because that's ultimately what we're looking for. You can have a pastor, preacher, whatever out there with all sorts of lists off their name, all sorts of academic training, all sorts of ability, all sorts of gifts of the gab and everything else. But if God's with you, you recognize, it might take a little while, but you start to recognize, is that of God or not, right? And who's more likely to be an Agar or a gatherer? You might say the son of someone godly. Remember, he's the son of Jakey, Jakey meaning pious, who's more likely to be that gatherer of the things of God, of God's words, who's relaying them to us, maybe the son of someone who is godly. See, you can pay for the best education, can't you, with your kids? You can be strict with study time. You can get extra tuition. But it's your behavior that will affect your children most. It's really what it comes down to, doesn't it? Now, don't get me wrong. There are people here that are probably the children of maybe people that weren't so godly, that weren't so great, that maybe feel like, well, I'm turning things around. But as a general rule, you can teach kids what you like, but the way most people learn is by copying, isn't it? By the example that's set to them. So he said here in verse 1, The words of Agar, the son of Jakey, even the prophecy, the man spake unto Eiffel, even unto Eiffel and Ukal. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom nor have the knowledge of the holy. And it's not that knowledge is bad, okay? Just to make that clear. The problem, though, sadly, this is the reality is that often knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And that includes with the things of God. You know, so often when, as people gain knowledge and learn knowledge, and we're talking about this earlier, sometimes, you know, ultimately, and again, I'm not saying it's a wrong thing, but even before that, audio sermons and internet Christianity and sermons and all that stuff, it's good, don't get me wrong, you can learn some stuff, you can learn some doctrine. You might even make some changes in your life, but that's not really the way it was throughout history, was it? You had to go to a house of God and get serving God and worshipping him and everything else to hear the word of God. And often, and we've come across them, you know, over the years, people that, they've built up some knowledge, they've learned and listened and learned, but it's lopsided. The knowledge has puffed them up, but they don't have the charity that goes with it. They're not doing the things, they're hearers of the word and not doers, right? Well, so what do we do? Do we avoid it? Do we avoid knowledge? No, but we have to regularly remind ourselves that we're nothing special, I think. You have to remind yourself, you have to humble yourself regularly, remind yourselves that you're nothing, really. You know, ultimately, Psalm 103 verse 14 says, for he knoweth our frame, he remembereth that we are dust. He knows that we're dust, and which is what Edgar is saying here. He says here in verse four, on the back of that, he says, who hath ascended up into heaven or descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, or what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? So he's saying that only God can do any of this. In John 3.13, it says that Jesus said of himself, and no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that cometh down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is in heaven. So only the Lord himself has ascended to and descended from heaven. No man has done that. Only the Lord has power over nature, over the wind, the waters, the whole earth, as it's said here. And the Son of God is from everlasting. And the Holy Spirit inspired prophets of old spake of him. He says, what is his name, or what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? You go, oh, wow, they talk about the Son of God, yeah. The inspired prophets did speak of the Son of God. For example, Daniel's account of the events of the fiery furnace had Nebuchadnezzar saying in Daniel 3.25, he answered and said, lo, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Back in the book of Daniel, the Psalmist said in Psalm 2.12, kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled by the little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. Yeah, you know the Son of God is mentioned in the Old Testament, and Agar said here in the book of Proverbs, who have ascended up into heaven or descended? Who have gathered the wind in his fist? Who have bound the waters in a garment? Who have established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? So I believe he's highlighting the power of God, followed by the truth of God, which is then going to lead on to the next verse, but on the back of saying, look, I don't, he's basically saying, look, I'm not anything special. I don't have, you know, the wisdom, the knowledge, all these things that people would judge someone by, but really, no one's God. And if he's relaying the word of God, if he's a spirit-filled preacher of the word, for example, a spirit-filled prophet, if you go out and you go and preach the gospel, it doesn't matter who you are. People, they want to like, you know, well, who are you to tell me? You know who we are? We're just people with the word of God and the Holy Spirit, who know what the word of God says because we read our Bibles and we can relate to other people. And you can understand this book more than any unsaved theologian. You know, the biggest brains in the world cannot understand this without the Holy Spirit. And with the Holy Spirit, as a saved person, as a regular saved person, you can teach much, you can preach much, you can show people the gospel and beyond. So for me, that's what he's saying here. He's highlighting the power of God on the back of that. And it then leads on to verse five, I believe. A lot of this leads on to the next verse. It's a bit different, this style in this chapter where he said this in verse five. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. So not some of the words, okay? Not the general gist of the words. Every word of God is pure. Is that just in the originals? Long since gone? Well, Psalm 12, you don't have to turn there, verse six, seven say, the words of the Lord are pure words. Again, they're pure words. As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times, thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. So thankfully, it's God that said through the Psalmist that he shall keep his words, that he shall preserve them forever. It's not us that have to do it, okay? See, we are, in case anyone was wondering, we are one of those crazy cults here that are so extreme that we believe God's promises. I know, I know, it's crazy, right? We actually believe God's promises that when he said he'd preserve his words, he would. And we have his preserved words. And not just here in Psalm 12, in Matthew 24, 35, says, Jesus Christ said, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. God promised that his words wouldn't pass away. Psalm 119, verse 89, says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. It's forever. They're not going to pass away. They're not disappearing. They weren't buried for 1,000, 1,500, 1,700 years, or whatever it is, until they were dug up. No, no, forever, forever. They've been preserved from this generation forever. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. So how could all these different versions of the Bible be every word? How could they be pure if they add words, if they remove words, whole verses? He promised to preserve his words, didn't he? And we have them here in our King James Bibles, the most read book ever to this day. This is the word of God. And to suggest it's anything other than that, for me, at least in the English language, it's laughable. English is the international language of the world. It makes sense that we would have the perfect word of God in the English language, the perfect translation. And also in a language, I was thinking about this the other day with such a rich vocabulary. I was thinking about it just thinking about French, for example, and I'm not trying to knock French, right? But just because we have this French group and I'll see what they write on there and I'll be learning bits and pieces and stuff, it's got nothing like the sheer quantity of words that English does. It's nothing like the variation when people say things. Most languages are just a lot more simple, aren't they? Those of you that speak other languages, nothing like the amount of ways you can express yourself in English, which is a fitting language for that now standard to be that complete word of God in English in our King James Bibles. A language which was able to accurately preserve God's words. So you could be confident that you're reading the pure words of God when you're reading your King James Bibles. Verse 5 says, Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. So how do you put your trust in him? For example, if I said to you guys now, I said, look, you've just got to trust me. You've just got to trust me. And then just went quiet. You know, what are you talking about? What is it that you want us to trust, Pastor Taberna, right? What is it that you want us to trust? What is it that we're trusting? Well, when you say trust me, usually it's followed by something, isn't it? Well, it's the same with the word of God. It's the same with trusting God, right? When you put your trust in him, you're trusting what he says. And how do we know what he says? It's all in the word of God. It's in the word of God. See, the heart full is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know? You're not. It's not, well, I just trust God. What he kind of makes me feel when I pray to him. What he makes me feel in the night when I wake up in the morning and wonder if maybe that dream was from God. I'll just trust him on this. No, because again, you're probably going to be calming yourself, deceiving yourself. Sadly, that is the truth. But how do we trust this from the word of God? That's how you trust the Lord. It's trusting what he says. It's doing his commands. It's following his ways, even when it doesn't make sense to you. See, that's the litmus test, isn't it? When it doesn't make sense, when it doesn't really fit with what you want to do, with your preconceived ideas, with your ways of wanting to solve this situation, deal with that, whatever it is, right? It's saying, yeah, but God tells me to do it this way. God tells me to behave this way. God tells me not to do this, not to behave like that. That's ultimately how you trust him, isn't it? It's when you're doing the things that you don't want to do. And when you do that, he's a shield unto you. It's that faith in him through his word that protects you from the fiery darts. The fiery darts were mentioned to me earlier. It's from Ephesians 6 16, where he said, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. I was thinking about this when I looked at this verse. I notice it didn't say, just stop all the fiery darts. It's to quench the fiery darts. See, those darts sometimes land on you. They sometimes stick into you. But we're able to quench the fire, right? So we have to deal with the darts. We still get the darts, right? But what the faith does, that strong faith, that shield of faith, is it quenches that fire. It prevents, it stops, it dampens down that fire. Sometimes you have to go through a bit, don't you? Sometimes those fiery darts, they burn a little bit, but that faith is what quenches them. It helps you to get through that. And what's that faith, that trust in it's the pure words of God? Those pure, unadulterated, preserved words of God. And it's that faith, it's that trust, that protects you from the darts of false doctrine. It's having that trust in what the word of God says, knowing what the word of God says, that protects you from the false doctrine, from the false advice. And it's not always malicious, just be bad advice. A lot of people like giving bad advice, don't they? They don't mean it to be bad necessarily, they just, people like giving advice, don't they? False prophets, protects us from the darts of false prophets. False brethren, helps us to recognise, to see. And false interpretations even. And again, not necessarily bad people, just people that interpret scripture the wrong way. And it's a faith in the word of God, it's knowing what the word of God says, it's being able to recognise what the word of God says, that then we're able to compare, we're able to see, we're able to get what he's trying to tell us. We don't just have to jump off one verse not knowing the other verse to help us to understand it more. Every word of God is pure, not just some, not just your favourite verses. Every word of God is pure, here's a shield unto them that put their trust in him. The proverb is, remind us to trust God. How it is that we trust God through his word and the protection that comes from trusting God. That's ultimately what that verse, that's a great verse of the Bible, isn't it? A great reminder. With the next verse following on from that, where he then says this in verse six, Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. So on one hand you can have him as a shield, or on the other you can be reproved and found a liar. And a few applications here. So firstly, false Bible perversions adding to the words of God. That's the obvious, for me, first application most people are going to look at and think about. Turn to Acts eight, Acts chapter eight. Now although many of these versions are renowned for removing words, whole verses sometimes, we're going to look at a famous one here. They are renowned for that. They do also sometimes add words as well. So they're renowned for removing them. So it's easy to just remove things, isn't it? Just, you know, some call it the old magic marker, just out it goes, out that one, take it out, take it out. Sadly, that's what we see in false Bible versions, modern Bibles nowadays. A famous one being here in Acts 8, 36 to 37. One of many, but Acts 8, 36 says this, And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptised? So he's saying, look, there's some water, what's stopping me get baptised? And Philip said, If, so this is why we don't sprinkle babies. This is why we don't just go, oh, come on in, just get baptised. No, he said, if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. Then he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. Notice how they went into the water, and he baptised him. Now, with that in mind, the NIV, I'm going to read it to you, says this. Any of you who have got your NIVs with you, get out. Sorry, I mean, get them out of here. OK, hopefully you don't have an NIV with you. But the NIV says this in verse 36. So you look down at your King James Bibles. Verse 36 of the NIV says it in a nice and disjointed way. As they travelled along the road, they came to some water, and a eunuch said, Look, here is water, what can stand in the way of my being baptised? Verse 38. And he gave orders to stop the chariot, then both Philip and a eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptised him. Where's verse 37? Oh, just chopped out. Gone. Who needs it? I mean, who needs it? This is so key, isn't it? It's such a key part of doctrine, right? Just chopped out. There is actually, at least on the online version, depending on what versions you have, there is the number 37 in brackets with a little note, and then it's got like a footnote at the bottom. But most people are just reading through. That's it, 37 gone. Chopped out. No need for it. Now, you might go, OK, well, that's the NIV, right? The non-inspired version. But I use the intellectuals' choice. Always makes me chuckle. There's all these people that go, no, no, no. I use the ESV. That's like the kind of intellectual Calvinist type. They're always like, yeah, the ESV, that's the one. The English standard version. It's like the standard. Admitted from there, too. Gone. Yeah, they chopped it out as well. ESV, gone. NIV, gone. And that is a key verse, isn't it? Key verse. Let's look at the ESV. The ESV says it like this. Verse 36, you look down at your King James Bibles. The ESV says, and as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, see, here is water. What prevents me from being baptised? Then there's just an E, which is to go to a footnote if you can be bothered. Then it just goes straight to verse 38. And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him. Now, that's taking away, isn't it? Yeah, that's taking away from the Word of God. But just to show you the same verse with a little takeaway and a little addition, I'm going to show you another version, one of my favourites. This is for my daily readings. I like to read the message. Okay. And I don't really, okay. But what the message does is it takes away, adds a little, just a tiny little, and hey, presto, you support a false doctrine. The message says this. Now, the message just says verse 36 to 39, before this passage of Scripture. But it says this. And as they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, here's water, why can't I be baptised? He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptised him on the spot. Now, that's a big difference, isn't it? That's a big difference. Your King James Bible said, and he commanded the chariot to stand still, and they went down both into the water, here it said to the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptised him, here it said, and Philip baptised him on the spot. Now, you've got some nice support for infant baptism by sprinkling, haven't you? Now, you've got a little sprinkling support. No need to be saved. Just, what's stopping me? Let's go down, stand on the spot, and have a little sprinkle. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians 1. For another verse, where one word added completely changes the truth of God into a lie. One word. That's all you need. Just a little change, and you've changed the truth of God into a lie. 1 Corinthians 1. 18. 1 Corinthians 1. 18. It says this in your King James Bibles. 1 Corinthians 1. 18 says, For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. If you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you're saved, aren't you? You are saved. Well, let's look at the NIV. Verse 18 says, For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved. It is the power of God. By the way, it's the same in 2 Corinthians 2. 15 as well. So, one word added. Instead of us being saved, and suddenly you've got salvation, sounds like a process, doesn't it? Not just in the NIV, and tons of false versions, including the New King James as well. I mean, that is wicked, isn't it? Add one word and you've now got a false doctrine being promoted, being propped up, and no wonder that whenever you talk to people that use these false versions, these false perversions of the Bible, salvation, at least they're mixed up on it, and nine times out of ten, maybe 99 out of 100 are unsaved, aren't they? Can they both be God's words? They can't both be God's words. How can you have a verse saying that you're being saved, as opposed to the King James Bible saying you are saved? How can you have a whole verse chopped up, chopped out of the Bible, which makes it look like you don't need to believe to be baptised? Is someone adding to God's words? He said in verse 6, back in Proverbs in chapter 30, Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. And preachers like myself and many others have been reproving those that add to God's words for thousands of years. Nothing new here. People have been doing this for thousands of years. Paul said 2,000 years ago, you don't have to turn there, in 2 Corinthians 2.17, For we are not as many, he said many, which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of God in the sight of God, speak, Queen Christ. You know, there were many corrupt the word of God 2,000 years ago. And what do we have? We have the evidence of those in false Bible perversions written not long after that, and then buried, binned for the rubbish that they were, and dug up, you know, a couple of hundred years ago, and people act, well, they're older, so they must be right. No, they were some of those many which had corrupted the word of God that weren't being used. Remember, he said that he shall keep them from this generation forever. The word of God's always been there, right? Not buried somewhere for, you know, 1,700 years old. But they're also, aside from then false manuscripts, false translations, okay, many corrupt the word of God in those ways. Aside from that, there are also false teachers that add on to his words. Now, some would just outright teach worldly wisdom claiming to be biblical. Okay, so there are people who just claim what the Bible says and then just teach a load of just worldly nonsense, okay? So there are some that are obvious, some that are clear. And again, how do you know? Well, you've got to search scriptures. You've got to be like the Bereans. You need to search your Bibles. You need to know what the Bible says to be able to spot false teaching because others are a little more subtle. They quote a verse but take it out of context. They add a false explanation, and now they're adding to his words, aren't they? So false teachers do that. Think of false doctrine on salvation, like the adding of, for example, having to maintain your salvation. The maintaining of your salvation is adding to the word of God, isn't it? It's ultimately adding to salvation. It's adding a work to salvation. They're adding to the word of God. But this can be done with lesser doctrines too. So it's not just, you know, salvation, things like that. It's going to be done with lesser things. Teaching for doctrines of commandments of men is a way of adding to the word, isn't it? Adding to God's words. People do that. Where it might be, you know, it might be something that's a commandment, a tradition, and then acting as if it's a command of God, like it's God's words. You need to be careful with that. And, you know, you're not always going to get that right as someone preaching for the Behind the Pole, especially if you're preaching, like, seven hours every single week, you know. Sometimes you're going to say things that are opinion and maybe it'll come across the wrong way, but we should be careful to make it clear when it's an opinion and when it's the word of God and clearly the word of God. Certain ways of speaking, for example, with doctrines of commandments of men, certain ways of dressing, people who teach as if it's doctrine, as if it's the words of God, life choices as well, people who sometimes present it as if it's just, that's it, it's either, you either do it their way or you're clearly just rejecting the word of God. Parenting, et cetera, as well, and make it sound like it's a command of God. And that's not just false prophets, okay? So it's not just false prophets that do that stuff. It's not just pastors or preachers. All of us are capable of handling the word of God deceitfully, aren't we? Maybe you might handle the word of God deceitfully when you're trying to convince your spouse, convince your kids, convince your family member, your friend of something, of you being right about something, and maybe you might just be a little bit dishonest with that word of God. Maybe you rip it out of its context to prove a point. Deuteronomy 12 32 says, What thing soever I command you observe to do it, thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it. Talking to his people, don't add to it, don't diminish from it. And aside from maybe leading our family to something else, maybe even when contending for the faith you could do that, right? We've got to be careful not to do that. When you're maybe out of the friction of gospel and maybe there's a point, there's something that you want to show or prove, you've got to be careful that you're doing it with the right verse, you're doing the right thing, you're not being dishonest with the word of God to prove that you're right about something. We want to be like Paul who said in 2 Corinthians 4 2 of themselves, But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commanding ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And that's something we need to all strive to be. So it's not just false prophets. All people have the ability to handle the word of God deceitfully and we need to try our utmost not to do that, right? He said, add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar. So for me, that's a reminder that people do add unto his words and to be careful not to do so ourselves. Yeah. Verse 7. Two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die. So he said two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still and take the name of my God in vain. So let's look at verse 7. Start again in verse 7 where he said this, two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die. So this is being addressed to the Lord, okay? Just in case you're wondering, what are the two things? What are the two things? So I believe that the two things that Agar is asking for are the removing far from him of number one vanity and number two lies. He said two things have I required of thee, deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Within the rest of verse 8 and verse 9, expanding what he means with the vanity coming from riches, and of course lies can come from riches as well, but maybe more particularly the lies from poverty as well. And it's not that he's necessarily saying to get these people out of his face. I believe he's asking God to perfect him in these areas during his life. So he's saying to have them removed from him, from himself in his life I believe. And these are some big priorities for him and I would say they should be big priorities for us too. We should be asking God to remove far from us vanity and lies. He said remove far from me vanity. And vanity is emptiness and in the context of riches, it's fruitless desire, it's vain pursuit. He wants God to remove that vain pursuit of riches, that empty pursuit of riches from him. And isn't that something we should all want removed too? Shouldn't we want to follow that example? Yeah, I don't want to chase money, chase riches, chase the emptiness of cash, of money, of wealth, of trying to get rich. Remove that far from me God. Shouldn't that be a prayer for all of us? Yeah, but you know, a little bit wouldn't hurt. Yeah, but it's vain money, chasing riches. No, don't be one of those that will be rich. Just focus on the right things. Focus on what God wants you to focus on. Don't focus on the money. He said he wants him to, he said, two things that I have required of thee, deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. Then he said give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. So why, why does he want that removed? Because riches are a trap. They're a trap. First, you don't have to turn there first Timothy 6-9 says, but they that will be rich. So these are people chasing it. You didn't say that they that are rich, they that will be rich. Those whose goal is riches, those that want to be rich, but they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. And what do riches do? They puff you up, they increase pride, they increase arrogance and they lessen reliance on God. Lest I be full, he said in verse nine, and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? And whether it's for making riches the idol or putting them above God, or maybe it's just getting prideful about your own ability to gain those riches. There's various ways that you can become like that. And listen, in case you're just kind of glazing over, you're like, okay, yeah, no worries. This isn't me. Look, believers all over the world will read verses like this, hear preaching like this and still chase riches all over the world. And it's a snare. It's a trap. They fall into temptation and a snare, chasing riches to many foolish and hurtful lusts. They'll drown you in destruction and perdition. It's a wasted life. It's an empty life. It's vanity. You're not going to gain anything. And this is, I mean, this is controversial preaching nowadays, isn't it? I mean, we were talking about that Loser's Chapel down in Dartford, and that's like health, wealth, prosperity stuff, where somehow that's like the goal they're trying to push to their church members that you need to get, you know, if you give us more money, you might even get richer while the guy who runs the church. I can't remember what the false prophet's name is. He's got like private jets. I think he even has an island or something. I mean, it's ridiculous. And then he's going, look how holy I am. No, he's a wicked false prophet ripping them off. And they think that they're going to somehow get rich if they just listen to him more. They might even be like him because he's so holy. Look how rich he is. No, it's a snare. It's a trap. He hasn't gained anything. You know what that guy's gained? He's just gained a hotter furnace in hell for eternity. A wicked devil ripping off God's people. But believers will still chase riches. And this is, obviously it's more and more and more pushed. It's more and more in your face nowadays, more than ever, at least in my short life, at least from my point of view, maybe not for some of you youngers. In my life, this has increased rapidly since I was young where people are just openly chasing riches. No shame, no qualms about telling people that. It's all about riches. It's all about money. Just, you know, people will just ask people what they earn, what they, you know, how much cash they've got, how much this costs. And before that was known as vulgar talk. That was sort of things that people didn't do because they wanted to pretend they didn't care so much. Nowadays, it's in your face. People are just, it's all about money with all these clown celebrities everywhere just flashing cash, splashing cash, and people are impressed by that stuff. It ain't impressive. You know, men and women, children of God here should look at people like that and just think, how sad. What a loser. What a loser chasing cash. He said, remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. This is what the man of God is saying. He's saying, don't give me riches. He didn't say, though, give me poverty. He said, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. Because it doesn't mean that you have to then chase poverty either. And there are people out there that think somehow that they look holy if they're poor. That the poorer they are, the more holy people will think they are. But no, we shouldn't be chasing poverty either. He said, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. And of course, the nouveau cuisine every night and everything else maybe isn't quite what was suitable for you, right? And there's a balance there, isn't there? But he said, remove far from me lies. And I think lies are more likely to increase when you can't provide for yourself. In a really simple example, okay, just a simple example. Say you went across the road there and paid for some nasty halau rat-infested low-grade meat, yeah, for whatever reason. You're like, you went across the road there. You're like, I'm desperate. Everything's shut. I'm just going to have to get some of that nasty halau, right? The shopkeeper gives you an extra 10 pounds of change. Okay, scenario number one, you're comfortable. You're not chasing riches, okay? You don't need the money for anything particularly. Scenario number one, I would say you're much more likely to give it back, aren't you? Turn around and just go, you gave me 10 pound extra. Scenario number two, you can't afford to put food on the table. Now, I'm not saying this is okay. I'm not justifying this, but I'm giving you second scenario. You can't afford to put, maybe you've got kids at home. You can't actually afford to bring food home to put food on the table. Maybe not, maybe your wife, maybe it's just for yourself, whatever. What starts going through your head? God must have gifted it to me. This was of the Lord. Praise God, yeah? Or the guy's worshipping the moon, God anyway. Hey, God's just taken it from one and given it to me. It's like a Robin Hood situation. That stuff, you'll start to convince yourself of that stuff perhaps, right? You shouldn't, but it's more likely at least, right? But he said, remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal and take the name of my God in vain. And when it's poverty, you're just more likely to be dishonest. To blag the freebies, a little bit of guile here to get a bit extra, or get a few extra condiments, I'll take them home with me. Get a little bit of this, a little bit of that. It's more of a temptation, isn't it? It's reality. I'm not saying it's good, but it is more of a temptation. He said, two things have I required of thee. Deny me them, not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies. So we should all want both vanity and lies removed far from us, shouldn't we? And one way of helping that is this. By, well, what he said here. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me. So don't chase the riches. And you say, what is it? I mean, how do we avoid being poor? Well, don't aid in your poverty. You don't have to turn there. Proverbs 12, 11 is one of many proverbs we looked at over this whole series, which is he that tilleth his land, that's someone that works, that puts the graft in shall be satisfied with bread. But he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding. Do you know how you avoid being poor? Work hard. Put time, effort, work. You don't have a job, put effort into getting a job. You've got a job, work hard in your job. That's how you avoid it. That's how you avoid poverty. Till your land. Put your time and effort in. Put graft in. Don't be one of these idiots that spends their life trying to find the quick, easy solution, the quick, fixed cash, the easy money. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread. Your life, you've just got to work. You know, you're never happy when you don't. And I know I say this a lot, but it needs preaching because people get conned by this stuff. Like, they're somehow going to be happier with the early retirement. They're going to be happier if they do less work. They're going to be happier if they don't do much. They're going to be happier if they just sit around and be a man or woman of leisure. You ain't going to be happier. You're going to be discontent. You're going to feel unfulfilled. You're going to feel like something's missing in your life. We just need to work hard in life. Don't be a sluggard. Work hard. Put the effort in. He said, Lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still and take the name of my God in vain. How might you take the name of God in vain as well? So it's reducing him to something else. It's reducing him to something empty or worthless. And now that can be through our speech. And just a reminder, okay? When you just, your kind of, your go-to, even like use as an expletive is something like, Oh my God, or using Jesus Christ or Jesus as some sort of swear word. That's take the name of the Lord in vain. In emptiness. Worthless use of the name of God, of the almighty God. And just using his name like some sort of, just kind of roll off the tongue for nothing. That's take the name of the Lord in vain, right? And we should not do that. Get that out of your line. I know you hear it everywhere. And you know, you preach the gospel to someone and they're just saying it like, you know, multiple times in the conversation. And that's kind of life out there, isn't it? But we shouldn't be the same. Let it not be said of God's people that we carry on like that with our speech. But also, it can also be our actions too. It's him becoming worthless, irrelevant. We're demoting him and his standards due to our poverty. So you're basically, him and how he wants you to behave and the honesty he wants you to have and all those things, they become less important. You're taking the name of the Lord in vain. He's becoming more worthless because of your poverty here. The example being, you're poor, you're stealing, you're taking the name of my God in vain. He becomes less important in your life. It said in verse seven, Two things were required of thee, deny them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still and take the name of my God in vain. So do we just pray for this and hope he answers? No, for me this is on the back of verse five to six, which said, Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words lest he reprove thee and now be found a liar. So the answer is to trust in the Lord and his ways revealed through his word. Don't add to them, don't take away from them. Aim to grow and for him through his word to remove the vanity and lies far from you and you will be happy. Verse 10, Accuse not a servant unto his master lest he curse thee and now be found guilty. Now this proverb makes me think of the old saying, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. They still use that nowadays, you still heard, anyone heard that before? Everyone heard that before? Anyone not heard that before? Good, okay. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. It's basically saying, you know, don't be one of those people that loves to point the finger, that loves to call people out, accuse them of things that they're guilty of, insult people of something that you're guilty of, call someone out for something that you're guilty of. Now turn to Matthew seven. Basically the Bible condemns, and here's the key word here, hypocritical judgment. The Bible doesn't condemn judgment. Okay? But the Bible condemns hypocritical judgment, being a hypocrite. Matthew seven, you've turned to, and verse one says this, judge not that you be not judged. Right, close your Bibles, let's go home, that's it, right? That's honestly what Christians do around the world, right? Judge not that you be not judged, let's just keep saying it, that's a great memory verse, you know, no one can judge, what they mean is just don't judge me. You know, don't judge, judge not, judge not that you be, and they might remember the second half of it that you be not judged. Usually it's like a good half a Bible memory, you know, judge not. But the passage shouldn't end there, because he then says this in verse two, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And he goes on to explain it even more, where he shows us why and how, and why beholdest thou the moat that is in thy brother's eye? Okay, this is a splinter, but consider it's not the beam that is in thine own eye, like a beam of wood, or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the moat out of thine eye, and behold a beam is in thine own eye. Now that's going to be a bit hard to get this splinter out of someone's eye, whilst a big beam of timber's coming out of yours, right? He said, thou hypocrite, first, did he say, did he say just don't do it? No, he said first. First, cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shout thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. Okay, so helping people to get right on things can be done in the right way, agreed? Yeah? As long as it's not hypocritical. As long as it's not hypocritical judgment. As long as you're not guilty of the thing you're trying to tell them to get right on. And specifically it's with that particular sin. So again, so people then they go, oh, see, well, how dare you talk about sin when you're a sinner? Okay, well, that means no one can talk about sin because we're all sinners. But it's not about hypocritical judgment, the particular thing that you're trying to help your brother with that you're maybe guilty of, more so. It's a beam in your eye, let alone, you know, as opposed to the splinter in your brother's eye. It's talking about the particular sin. Otherwise everyone would have to be sinless to be able to judge anything. And we're actually even told in passages of the Bible, like in 1 Corinthians 6, two judge. Like in 1 Corinthians 5, two judge. Well, that would be impossible then if it was based on sin. No, it's the particular things that you're judging. So he said this in verse 10 with that in mind. Accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty. So he's saying be careful. Okay, he might curse or maybe we say he called for punishment to you and you're found guilty. And of course we can apply this to God, okay? We're calling someone out for some sin or other is ultimately accusing him to his master, isn't it really? So when you call someone out, when you say, look, that's a sin, what are you saying? You're saying you're breaking God's commandment. You're breaking God's commandments. You're basically accusing him to his master, yeah? But it's also something to be aware of in all areas of life as well. And here's a great example. Kids are a great example of this, aren't they? Kids who, you know, just examples when, I mean, I get this with my younger two boys who like one will run over and, you know, come up to you and go, for example, Charlie just did this. He just did this. I can't believe it. And then when you find out what happened, it's like he ran over, punched him, got hit backwards, oh, he's hit me. And it's like, yeah. Okay, but you did also, in fact, a lot of the time he will have done my sin, vice versa. So sorry, James, if you're watching this, it goes the other way round as well, right? Okay, look, kids do this, don't they? They'll often, they'll come, they'll accuse, they'll accuse, you know, the other one of something that they're guilty of. And then often they then get in trouble. Then you're like, you little, you little brat. You did it first, and now you've come and told a tale, right? Okay, so they're then cursed, they're then found guilty. But people can do this maybe in other areas. I was thinking maybe you could try to one up in the workplace maybe. People might do this in the workplace. Adults who are often just like big kids, you know, they're just kind of a bit clever at masking it. Maybe in the workplace when they're like accusing subtly, just say, oh, well, you know, I don't know. He went home early that day, you know. And it's like, well, now you better make sure that you ain't skiving off early, right? And such like in various ways, but just a little comment here, a little something there to accuse that servant to their master, to the boss, and it's to make yourself look good. Maybe in the sports team or whatever, you know, people do this sort of stuff. He said, accuse not a servant unto his master, lest he curse thee and now be found guilty. So I think the provost basically reminded, don't be a hypocrite. Just don't be a hypocrite, okay? Verse 11, there is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, oh, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. Doesn't sound too positive to me, does it? This generation. What does it mean by generation here? Well, although I believe it's talking about a people in a period of time, for example, in Luke 9.41, speaking of the people of that day, you'd have to turn to it, it says, And Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and suffer you, bring thy son hither? So that's a people in a period of time. I do believe, though, that as well as being a people in a period of time, it's also talking about a particular group of people too, a type of people, a people group. Verse 14 says of these people, There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. So that's not all people of a time period, is it? Okay, so it's not just like, you know, everyone in a period of time in the world, whether it's then or in the future, all of them are devouring the poor off the earth and the needy from among men. That's a particular people in that time period, isn't it? I think you're following. I hope you're following me, right? Who is it talking about? Well, Proverbs 1 and verse 1 says, The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. I don't believe Solomon or, you know, it's being related from Ego or it's Ego even speaking. I don't believe suddenly he's referring to the people of South America or like Northeast Russia. I'm thinking that place is far away from Israel at this point. He's talking about what we're at least physically speaking God's people. That's who he's talking about. It's the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. Yeah, look, these Proverbs apply to all, right? But here at this point, he's talking of a particular group of people at a particular time. Based on verse 14, this was a generation you could say perhaps still to come where it was talking about to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. And for me, their spiritual descendants at least still continue. And if you're wondering, well, wait a second, didn't you talk about this this morning? That's the theme of today, all right? He said there is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Now turn to Matthew 15, where Jesus is rebuking this generation for exactly this, this generation, these types of people. Who are we talking about here? We're talking about the physical nation and what was remaining at this, like the southern kingdom of Judah, what people would call Jews. That's who he's talking about here on the whole. And he's talking about, obviously, the leadership here. And he said in Matthew 15, in Matthew 15, well, the scribes of Pharisees, they're complaining that what they had added to the pure words of God wasn't being followed, basically, okay? The disciples weren't washing their hands before eating. And now, look, is it a good idea to wash your hands before eating? It sure is, right? Washing your hands before eating is probably a good idea. Do we always all do it? No. Is it a command of God, though? No. Did they want to make it sound like it was a command of God? Yes. But they didn't stop at just wash your hands before eating. See, and we talked a bit about this earlier and sort of mental health issues with these people as well. I mean, they used to do these bizarre rituals where you had to wash a certain hand with a certain cup first, and there was a certain way they had to do it. And this is what came out of teaching for doctrines of commandments of men, the most bizarre rituals, which Jews to this day still do. Well, the disciples weren't washing their hands before eating, let alone doing these sort of, you know, one hand, this side, depending on what time you wash, you start with a certain hand and everything else. And Jesus said this. He says, But the answer said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, this is verse 4, Honour thy father and mother, and he that curseth father and mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me, and honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. So basically, they're supposed to financially honour their parents in later life. They weren't really pension schemes going on and things like that. They were meant to financially honour them, financially help them, support them. But what they did is they turned it into an optional gift if you choose to. Well, if you help them, well, it's a gift. Otherwise, leave them to it. Jesus said this to them, Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And although he pointed out the lack of financially honouring them, they obviously weren't therefore blessing or respecting them in other ways too. Would you not agree? If they're leaving them to it, and again, this is before welfare systems, at least God's welfare system was, well, you'd better go and pluck those grains yourself after the initial harvest. And for the elderly, the infirm stuff, that was going to be difficult. They were meant to be honoured by their children, looked after, they weren't doing this, they weren't blessing and respecting their parents on the whole. It said back in verse 11 of Proverbs 30, There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother. So they're cursing or bringing evil upon their fathers, they're not blessing or benefiting, doing good to their mothers. Verse 12 says, There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not watched from their filthiness. Now turn to Luke 8. Luke 8 now, obviously we're going to keep coming back to Proverbs 30. Luke 8, wasn't that the problem with so many of the Jews of Jesus staying onwards? They were pure in their own eyes, but they weren't watched from their filthiness. Now in Luke 8, sorry, did I say Luke 8? Turn to Luke 18, Luke 18. Let's double check that side of the reference. Yeah, Luke 18 it should be, and verse 11. Luke 18, verse 11 says this, where are we, Luke 18, 11. It says, and this is the story of the Pharisee and publican, The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in a week, I give up, I give up, I fast twice in a week, I give tithes of all that I possess. So this guy's pure in his own eyes, isn't he? And it is in his own eyes because he's got his own criteria and selective tick boxes. So he's not an extortioner, he's not unjust, he's not an adulterer, he's not like the publican, and he fasts twice in a week, which is his own extra little addition, and he gives tithes. But that's not all commandments of God, is it? But that's his own ones, well that makes me holy, right? But they're not washed, he ain't washed. This guy is pure in his own eyes, but he's not washed from his filthiness. And there's only one way to be washed, isn't there? 1 Corinthians 6 and 11 says, and such are some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in what? The name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. That's how we're washed, that's how we're sanctified, it's in the blood of the Lamb that you're washed, not your own bloodline. John 1.13 says of the sons of God which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God. It's not their bloodline, not their goodness, not their will to be good, that's not what's washing anyone, right? And the problem with people that think that they can earn it is pride. The problem with people that don't accept that it's faith in Christ alone is pride. It's grace through faith and that's the only way of salvation. And then what happens is people get pride from the verse 13, carries on talking about this generation of people back in Proverbs 30 where it says there is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. Going back again, Matthew 23 this time, Matthew 23, we've just read there is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. And wasn't that the Jews all over by the time of Christ pretty much on the whole? In Matthew 23, he's speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, the leaders of the people and this is how they were behaving. He says in verse 5, but all their works they do for to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their garments and love the uppermost rooms at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues and greetings in the markets and to be called of men, rabbi, rabbi. And isn't that the same unto this day? And talking about this particular group of people, you want to try offering them the Gospel round here like we mentioned earlier. These people who've enlarged the borders of their garments, those funny little, is it a poncho that they used to wear in the Wild West? Am I right with that name? Have you seen these guys down here with their ponchos, they're like white ponchos with the little tassels coming off the bottom. Have you seen all that? Yeah, they're enlarging the borders of their garments with the big hats and the flowing capes while they cycle on their bike down the road and stuff like that. The same stuff. Same stuff that their at least spiritual fathers were doing previously. They love the uppermost rooms at the feasts, the chief seats in the synagogues, they love to be seen of men, they love the greetings in the markets. Why else would you walk around with all that clobber on? To look holy. And it's not just what we call Jews today. It's false religion all over the place. What's a Catholic priest wearing? What's that silly tag thing and the long dress that he's flowing around in? And the false apostle of the Pentecostal church with his flowing gowns. It's false religion, they love it, it's all pride. It's all pride and to be seen of men and all these different ways you can get attention and look holy to people. It's not God's way. Same with Islam, it's same with the Buddhist monk. Oh, they're just so pious and holy while they're walking down the road in some ridiculous outfit and barefoot. It's just to look holy, it's to look a certain way. It's all to be seen of men. But all their works they do for to be seen of men. And like I said, you try offering them the gospel, especially the people it's talking about here, the Jews it's talking about, at least as they were known, still then and now as we know them, as people know of them. But they're not Jews in God's eyes, that's the saved. But because they say, like in John 8.33, they answered him, we be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, ye shall be made free? Basically they believe that they're superior. They believe they're a chosen people, how lofty are their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. And that's what happens. If you try and preach a gospel to, obviously we've been preaching around this area for a long time now, and you knock on a door, you try and talk to one of these guys, one of these spiritual descendants of these types of people, usually it's like, I'm a Jew. And what they mean is, I'm fine, I'm alright, I'm a Jew. Why would I want to hear how to get to heaven or anything else? You'd be like, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Yeah, I'm a Jew. What do you mean? What they mean is, I'm fine, I'm already there because I'm a Jew, I'm so special, I'm God's people. But they're not. But they're not. Because he took away that kingdom from them. He took it away and gave it to a nation bearing the fruits there of. And that is a spiritual nation, that's believers. Keep a finger in Matthew 23. What's the result of all that? So what's the result of all of this, of this generation, that are lofty, their eyelids are lifted up, this generation that's cursing their parents, their mother, their father, that's not blessing their mother, that's pure in their own eyes, yet is not washed from their filthiness. If you keep a finger in Matthew 23, verse 14 in Proverbs 30, it said, there is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth and the needy from among men. So it's their mouths that are the weapons. That's the picture here, they devour with their mouths. Who are they devouring? The poor and needy. And they do this both spiritually and physically. He said back in Matthew 23, he said in verse 13, but woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. So that was spiritually by false teaching and trying to prevent people from hearing the truth, which is done on a large scale today, isn't it? You know, we mentioned a little bit this morning, Hollyweird, for example, what's that half of Hollyweird? It's mockery of Christianity, mockery of that, trying to act with all their different shows of things like the vast majority of people don't even believe in a God. The vast majority of people are too intelligent for that sort of thing. That's the sort of teaching you get out of Hollyweird. Promotion of false science, be it from Hollyweird or from the mainstream media, it's just constant promotion of science falsely so-called with their ridiculous evolution nonsense, which is laughable to normal people, trying to act like it's the intellectual choice, like this is somehow, you know, a done and dusted truth of the world. I remember something that I found really interesting. You remember that pervert Jeffrey Epstein? Well, Jeffrey Epstein, I think the thing that he donated most of his money to, at least the biggest sort of outlay, was to this, basically, evolution charity to push and promote the theories of evolution. But these are people that claim to be of some sort of religion, yet they're pushing and promoting this evolution theory en masse. And this goes to the rich guy giving millions, if not billions, to this, to the pushing of the false evolution, false science. He said here in verse 14 of Matthew 23, So this is done through financial shenanigans, usury, and sometimes, I mean, it's ridiculous usury, the interest rates through the roof on these different loans, things like that, false science like climate change rip-offs, etc., ways of just devouring widows' houses. But before, look, I don't want to just go off on one again and, you know, this isn't just about what the world calls Jews today. Let me tell you who this also describes. It's just false prophets on the whole. This passage is about false prophets on the whole, whether it's the, you know, those that say they're Jews and they're not, the synagogue of Satan, or it's just the false prophets of the world. There is a generation that curseth their father and doth not bless their mother. Usually false prophets are covetous. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not watching their filthiness, seemingly holy but unsaved. There is a generation now how loftier their eyes and their eyelids are lifted up. They're full of pride. There is a generation whose teeth are as swords and their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth, sorry, and the needy from among men, predators whose mouths cause destruction. Now, well, that's a bit of a disappointing point to end on, right? We're stopping there in verse 14. But we don't have to worry because Psalm 37 says this from verse 14. The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow to cast down the poor and needy. The wicked being talking about these types of people and to slay such as be of upright conversation, their sword shall enter into their own heart and their bows shall be broken. They won't win. We win. Look, I've read the last pages of the book. We win in the end, okay? Don't worry. You're going to be all right. However, in the meantime, that's something to remember that that's how these people are. These are bad people, right? These types of people in their various ways and they come in various walks of life. However, we don't have to worry. Their bows shall be broken in the end. And that was Proverbs 30. That was verse 14. Hope that's helped you. I understand those verses a little bit more than some of the application you can make from them. We'll be looking for verse 15 next week. And on that, we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the book of Proverbs. Thank you for the many truths, the many lessons we can get out of it, Lord. Help us to not just be hearers of the word, be doers too, Lord, to try and apply some of that to our lives, especially one of the very famous verses there about having our faith, having that shield, for that faith in you to be a shield unto us, Lord. Help us to trust in you, help us to trust in you in all areas of our lives, not just the ones that suit us, Lord. Help us to then rely on that protection from you in various areas by doing as you want us to do, by trying to follow your commandments as we go about our day-to-day lives, as we go home and get on with our week, Lord. Help those that are able to return on Wednesday for the midweek service, Lord, to be able to pray for others in this church as well, Lord, and help us to just have a great week and all get home and then get back here safely on Sunday. In Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.