(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Proverbs chapter 14. This is a really good chapter, a lot of good stuff, very long chapter. And the verse that I wanted to start off to look at was verse 12, where the Bible says there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the in thereof are the ways of death. And I think one of the best ways to look at Proverbs chapter 14 is that last phrase, the ways of death. There's so many ways that you can go to death. There's so many ways for destruction. Jesus said, broad is the way which leads to destruction, and many be which go in there at, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. There's a million ways to destroy your life. There's a million ways to go to the ways of death. And so as we look at Proverbs chapter 14, that's gonna be the focus that we're gonna look at a lot of these verses, because I think they just lend themselves to this type of thought. Look at verse 1, it says, every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. Now the interesting thing about this is I kind of, I spent a long time in Proverbs chapter 9 talking about a woman and building her house, and what that means, to build her family. You know in the Bible saying building her house, it doesn't mean get some wood and some nails and building a house, no, it means building a family. And it's saying every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. You wanna go to the ways of death? Put down your house by your hands. And notice it's by her hands. How many ways is there for a woman to destroy her house? I mean you got birth control, you got all kinds of forms of birth control, you got the pill, you got IUDs, you got all kinds of shots, I mean they have abortions, they have all kinds of partial birth abortions, there's all kinds of ways that women are plucking down their house with her hands. She's getting her hands dirty. And a woman that goes out and gets an abortion is getting her hands dirty. But the interesting thing about this is the fact that, you know we're talking about the ways of death. When you talk about a woman building her house, and the foolish plucking it down with her hands, you don't even understand the fact that the woman's actually causing harm to herself. It's really interesting, even if you look at the world today, they'll tell you that by not having children, you're gonna shave ears off your life. You're gonna shave ears when you commit that abortion, you're more likely to die early. I've got a lot of different articles here, I'm gonna read to you a couple of things here, and these are not Christian articles. The professor has been a Garibault, and his colleagues published a study in 2012 where they looked at 21,000 childless couples, and their study found that they are four times more likely to die early than women that have children. So if you don't have any children, if you decide to just destroy your house and not have any children, you're four times more likely to die early, according to just some secular article. And he goes on in the article to talk about how some evolutionary process is why this is the truth. They can get the facts right, but when they try to interpret it, they have no idea. But the Bible makes it very clear that it's a way of death to pluck down your house. I've looked at a couple of other articles. This is an interesting one, it was a long life family study, and it analyzed 551 families, and found that women that were able to bear children past the age of 33 were twice as likely to live to be 95 years old. So this article is saying if you have a child after the age of 33, so in the later years, you're more likely to live to be 95 years old, twice as likely. Now that's crazy because in the world today, most women don't want to have a child, you know, in their late 30s. They look down on that. They say oh there's all these negative risks, and oh you could possibly injure yourself, and you know there's so many women that have problems with childbirth at the age of 30. Well if you look at this article, it says you're more likely to live longer if you give birth after the age of 30. And why don't you just put it in the hands of God. Turn to Psalms 127. Psalms 127. The interesting thing is God says that giving children is a blessing. It's a blessing of the Lord to have children. And you look in Psalms 127 verse 3, the Bible says lo, children are in heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. You want to talk about true happiness? Having lots of sons, having lots of children, having lots of daughters. That's how a man gets happy. Having lots of kiddos. But look back at verse 1. It says except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. The interesting thing is we should just let the Lord build our house. We shouldn't worry about ourselves and the foolish are going to pluck it down with their hands. But the wise, they're going to just entrust the Lord. They're going to just trust God to build their house for them. They're going to say, you know what? I'm not going to worry about how many kids I have. I'm not going to worry about what my family looks like. I'm going to let God worry about what my house looks like. I'm going to put it in his hands. I'm going to put it in his trust. And there's a lot of women in the Bible. Look at Hannah. She took a long time to get pregnant but then she had 7 children. You know there's different women in the Bible that struggle to give birth and there's women that have lots of children but it's always a blessing to have lots of children. And you know if God for some reason doesn't build your house to have 10, 15 children or some big number, that doesn't mean that wasn't his plan. But you know if you can try to have birth control, if you try to interfere with God's hand, if you're trying to pluck it out, you might miss out on some child that God wanted to give you. Why don't you decide, hey God, you can determine how big my family's going to be. I'm just going to let the Lord build my house. So the first way to destroy your life is to pluck down your house, is to limit the number of blessings that God wants to give you by reducing the number of children that you could have. You see the wise woman will build her house. She's not trying to pluck it down, she's trying to get there. She's trying to have children. Look at verse 2, let's go back to Proverbs chapter 14, look at verse 2. The Bible says, he that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord, but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. Interesting thing about this verse is, those that are doing right fear the Lord, but someone who's not doing right, do they fear the Lord. It's an interesting thought, there's a lot of people that I know in my family or in different situations, they go to other churches. They go to like new evangelical churches, they go to the NIV church, they go to some lame Baptist church, and you're going to be talking about them and they're like, well, you know, I think they're saved, but at least they love the Lord. You know, at least they, you know, they really have a zeal for God. At least they, you know, they're really faithful in church, they really just love the Lord and they love Jesus Christ. Here's my question, do they really love the Lord? No. Do they really fear the Lord? I want to have you turn, turn with me to Revelation chapter 3, Revelation chapter 3. The Bible says in Deuteronomy 10, and now Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee? But to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. So God's saying someone that would love him is going to walk in all of his ways. Not just some of them, not just the ones they like, not just the easy ones, not the ones that everybody's doing, all of them. And they're going to serve the Lord thy God with all of our heart and all their soul. So if you want to measure how much you love God, it's a great way to measure it. How much are you serving him? Are you following in all of his ways or some of them? Look at Revelation chapter 3 verse 16. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing. And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. So he's looking at these people who aren't doing what? Well they're not going out and getting gold tried by the fire. They're not going out and soul winning. They're not preaching the gospel. They're not doing the things that he said and he said be zealous. So are these people zealous? Are these people that aren't going out and getting soul winning, are they zealous? No, he's saying he wants them to be zealous. They're not zealous at all. Someone that's not going out soul winning, that's not getting gold tried in the fire, that's not going out preaching the gospel has no zeal according to the Bible. Turn if you would to Romans chapter 10. Romans chapter 10. Jesus said in Matthew 12 in verse 30, he that is not with me is against me and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Did Jesus Christ say he that gathereth not is just okay, is just fine, is just my friend? No, he's saying you're scattering abroad. Either you're going out and preaching the gospel and furthering the keeping of God or you're reducing it or you're scattering it or you're making it worse. You're not anywhere in the middle. There is no middle with God. He doesn't look at somebody that's going to this NIV lame church and says, well, you know, I mean, they're not great, but they're still, they still love me. You know, they pray to me. No, he's looking at it and say, you're scattering abroad. You don't have any zeal. You don't have any fear of God. You don't love me. Look at Romans chapter 10 verse 2, for I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves into the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now in this chapter he's talking about the Israelites that just did not want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were trying to establish their own righteousness, but this can even be applied, I believe, to Christians because they think they have zeal because they're doing things for him, but they're going out to establish their own righteousness. They're not trying to do what God wants them to do. They say, well, I think God wants me to just give a bunch of money to the poor. I just think God wants me to just go out and give this money to this charity and I want God to give money, you know, me to go to this church and, uh, be part of their team and be playing the drums for them and doing all these things, but they don't understand what the Bible says. The Bible says in Matthew, uh, in Matthew, it says that do not your arms before men. You know, and unfortunately these new evangelical churches, what do they do? Are they doing their arms in private? Are they going to the poor and in secret and giving them money? No, they have a big billboard. They're saying like, big, you know, uh, we're going to have a big event this weekend. We're going to get money to all the children that are in need for this, for the school year. We're going to have a backpack to school and everybody's going to bring a backpack and fill it with goods and we're all going to, you know, get up and tell how many backpacks we gave and our church gave $100,000 to the poor this week and we went out and we gave money to this charity and we gave money to this charity and look how much money we gave. That's not doing your arms, you know, in private. That's not letting your left hand not know what your right hand's doing. Jesus said to do your arms, not before men to do it in private, but they think, oh, I'm so godly cause I get $10,000 for this charity. Look at me. Look at the check that I gave. Did you see the check? Hey, look at this check. They're trying to, you know, get a respect of persons, respect of men, and that's not the zeal of God. That's not the zeal of God. That's the zeal of men. That's the zeal. They're, they're establishing their own righteousness. The Bible says, uh, why don't you turn to, uh, second John, second John. The Bible says in Matthew six verse 24, no man can serve two masters for you will hate the one and love the other or else you will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammy. Now the person that's going to these churches, the person that's lukewarm, the person that's not in a Bible believing church is not serving God and they don't love God. They despise God. If you were to go to them with the Bible and to show them what they should be doing, they would reject it. They wouldn't want to do it because they despise the Lord, even though they may even be saved. They're despising the Lord. John chapter 14, the Bible says, if you love me, keep my commandments. So does someone that's not keeping his commandments is in willful sin, knows what the Bible says, but rejects it. Do they love the Lord? No, not at all. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now, of course, nobody's perfect. None of us is without sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Yet those that are going to be in willful sin and just reject what the Bible says and say, I don't really care, doesn't love the Lord. They don't truly love the Lord. Think about this. Think about a man that's married, okay? And now this man, he goes out and he leaves his wife and he goes to some other house and he joins himself into some other woman and he starts giving all of his money to this other woman. And then he says, you know what? I love my wife. How ridiculous is that? How foolish is that? Who would even believe that? You're like, what are you doing? You're not even in the right house. You're not even with the right woman. You're not even, you know, giving money to the woman that you love and you say you love her? But think about these Christians. They're not in the right house of the Lord. They're in some fake church and some false church and they've joined themselves into a harlot, a false teacher, a false preacher. And guess what? They're not giving money to the Lord. They're giving money to their harlot and they're not gathering with Christ. They're scattering abroad. So don't be confused about these people and say, oh, I love Jesus. No, you don't. If you're not following his commandments, if you're not in a Bible believing church, if you're not going out soul winning, if you're not getting the tithe of the Lord in a Bible believing church and someone that's preaching the gospel, you don't love the Lord. You have no zeal. You have no fear of God. So don't give me this stuff about somebody that loves the Lord, but they're not in a real church. They're not going out soul winning. They don't love the Lord. Look at 2 John, I'm sorry, I'm going to read one more place. The Bible says, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? Now back home where I lived, all the churches would always get together every year. I mean, the Catholic church, the Presbyterian church, the Baptist church, the Methodist church, they'd all get together and they'd have these big outreach events where they just have all the poor and needy come and they would just give them food and they would give them money and they'd give them goods and they'd give them, you know, school supplies and they'd give them clothes. Now is that what the Bible teaches that we're supposed to do? Are we supposed to join ourselves up with unbelievers and just give our own to the four men? No, that's not what the Bible teaches. And if we look at 2 John, give me a second to turn there, it's a very interesting thing because he's talking unto women. He says, the elder unto the elect lady and her children whom I love in the truth and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth. Now I think unfortunately women sometimes struggle with this doctrine. They want to believe that all those that are out there just like, well, they go to some church, they still love the Lord. You know, this person in my family, I know that they don't really use the King James Bible and I know they don't go to a good church and I know they, you know, they're giving money to that church, but I still think they love the Lord. They don't. And we need to be understanding that God's saying, hey woman, you need to pay attention to what the Bible says here because this is a very important doctrine. Look at verse 7, it says, for many deceivers are entered in the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. Look to yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that bideth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds. So we see a person coming and you know, at first face value you say, well it's something that doesn't have the doctrine of Christ. But look back at, uh, look back there at verse 10, I'm sorry, verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not. So it's talking about someone that even just transgress the doctrine of Christ. Now all these false preachers and these false teachers, they transgress the doctrine of Christ. They teach all you, you can be saved, you know, by faith, but you still got to come to church. I mean, you know, it's someone that's not coming to church that they really believe. You know, if you, if you didn't repent of all your sins, are you really saved? If you didn't get baptized, are you really saved? I mean, you're transgressing the doctrine of Christ. And if you're going out and bidding them God speed, if you're going to their church, if you're giving them money, you're going to be partaker of their evil deeds. Nobody in this church should ever be fooled into thinking, you know what, I'm going to go to the Lang Baptist Church. I'm going to go to the We Always Preach Nice Baptist Church. I'm going to go to this Methodist Church. I'm going to go to this Presbyterian Church. Don't ever get in a church with someone that transgresses the doctrine of Christ. You're going to be partaker of his evil deeds. You've been warned that you're going to be partaker. Do you think God's going to look down on somebody that's giving money to a harlot and be like, that's great, I want to give you more money. I want you to bless this false prophet even more. No, we should be very stern in how we receive these false prophets and these false teachers and we should not confuse our family by saying, you know what, it's okay that you go to this one church. It's okay that you give money to this harlot. I mean, can you imagine your brother coming to you and is like, you know what, I left my wife and I'm checking up with this girl and I'm just doing whatever and you're like, that's great buddy. Just keep doing that. You really love your wife. No, you'd be like, what are you doing? You need to get back in your house. You need to love your wife. We should look the same way with the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean, how much more the Lord Jesus Christ should we be warning our family, our friends, those loved ones, the strangers out there. You know, I've heard a lot of people say, they go to this whole thing and they say, hey, what church do you go to? And the person will say, oh, I go to this church and they say, well, we don't want to take you from a good church. I would never say that. That's ridiculous. If you don't want to say, if you don't want to say you're like trying to get them into your church, just ask them if they've died today, they go to heaven. But don't lie to the person. I mean, I don't want anybody to go to a Catholic church for one second. I want to go to a Methodist church. You know, I don't even want to, I think it's even worse to go to one of these fake, lame Baptist churches because they get deceived into thinking that they are serving the Lord. They get deceived into thinking someone who transgresses the doctrine of Christ is a good prophet. The Bible says that we should be under the prophets of the, we should only give money to the prophets of the Lord. We should only give money to the God's church. We shouldn't be giving money to these prophets of Baal or these people that are going to transgress, you know, God's word. I mean, think of the ministers of Satan. They're transformed in the angels of light. It's not Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. We're not confused. We don't think they're ministers of light. No, it's the pastors out there that you think are the right deal. Do you think they say the right things? They're a double minded man. They speak out of both sides of their mouth. Oftentimes when we look at Jeremiah, we look at Isaiah, we look at the false preachers, it was very hard to discern who they were to the people because they would say right things. They would say good things. They would say, thus saith the Lord. I mean, they weren't going around preaching, you know, some paganist, you know, heathenist doctrine. They were trying to preach the Bible. Every time Satan talked, you know, was trying to deceive somebody, he usually quoted part of the Bible, but he was moving out of context. And so it's very important that we understand that these false teachers and these false prophets are leading our families astray. We should never be confused and think, oh, well, they still love the Lord. If you're not in a real church, if you're not reading the real Bible, you don't love the Lord. If you're not going out soul winning, you have no zeal of God. You have no fear of God. I don't want anybody to ever be confused about that. In 2 Corinthians 11, the Bible says, for he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if he received another spirit which you have not received or another gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with them. Now Paul was condemning the Corinthian church for the fact that they would just secure any other Jesus. These false prophets are preaching Jesus. It's another Jesus though. They're not preaching, you know, some pagan Hindu God. They're preaching Jesus, but they're preaching another Jesus. They're transgressing the doctrine of Christ. Let's go back to Proverbs chapter 14. And I'll read you one other place because in Isaiah chapter 1, this is such an important point. I think, you know, in Isaiah chapter 1, the Bible's talking about the Israelites, and it said, when he was looking at them, he said, to what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts. I delight not in the blood of bullocks nor the lambs or the he-goats. When you come to peer before me, who is required to say your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and appointed feasts, my soul hated. They that are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. Now the Old Testament law, the Israelites are supposed to do a lot of different things. They're supposed to observe the feast days, the new moons, they're supposed to offer blood sacrifices. They're supposed to do all kinds of things. And Jesus, when he was talking in the Old Testament to Isaiah, he said, all these things that you're doing are just an abomination to me because you don't love me, because you don't have any faith, because you're not doing that which is right. And even though these people are going to church, good thing. Even though they're singing praises to God, good thing. Even though they're giving money, God's looking at it and he's saying, my soul hates that. You're giving money to a false prophet. You're singing false praises. You're not singing these words. You're singing some man's wisdom. You're going out to the wrong building. You're using corrupt words of God. And he's like, my soul just hates it because you're not doing it in faith. These people do not love the Lord. And when they do these things that you think are good, it's actually, God's even angrier. He'd rather just somebody just stay home. That's why he says, I word that you were cold or hot. You always wonder what it meant. Like, why would God want somebody to be cold? Like, you know, you're kind of wondering like, isn't lukewarm better than cold? No, not in the Lord's eyes. The unsaved person that's just staying home, God's not getting as angry at him as the lukewarm Christian that's going to a false church that's listening to a false preacher that's giving money and supporting the false movement. He's scattering abroad. He's not gathering with Christ. He's scattering people. He's ruining people. So don't be confused whether or not these people in these other churches love the Lord, because they despise him. They despise his word. We need to come with them with love and meekness and show them the Word of God so they can love the Lord. But don't be confused thinking, oh, these people love Jesus. All these people have a fear of God. All these people have a zeal of God. They don't, even though they could be saved. Go back to Proverbs chapter 14 verse 3. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. When you're full of pride, it's going to destroy you. So what was the first way of death? Just plucking down your family. What's the second way? Getting into false religion. Getting out of the will of God. Not keeping all of his commandments. Chasing that which is false. Being lukewarm. It's a way of death. Don't be, you know, impartial. Serve the Lord. If he's the Lord, serve him. Third way, be filled with pride. The Bible warns over and over against pride. Look at Nebuchadnezzar. He was lifted up with so much pride that he became an animal. The Lord just abased him completely. And when he was at the end, when he finally came to, he said, Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all whose works are truth and his ways judgment. And all those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. If you walk in pride, God's going to abase you. Did you hear that, Donald Trump? If you walk in pride, God's going to abase you. You know, I think that Donald Trump's probably the lesser of the two evils, but he's so wicked in himself that God's going to abase him if he becomes our president. If he just continues to walk in pride and think how great he is and talk how great he is, God's going to destroy him. Think of Nebuchadnezzar. He had great success. He had great riches, but then his heart got so filled with pride that he was abased. And the Lord will abase any man that lifts himself up in pride. He might get away with it for a while. He might, you know, be able to have great success for a long time. I mean, Nebuchadnezzar conquered country after country after country, and they became the top of the world. He was controlling the whole world, but then he became an animal. You know, if he could go full circle, do you think he'd still want to do that? Do you think he'd still want to spend all those years on the ground, eating grass, acting like an animal? No. And Donald Trump, he better get the warning of God that pride is an abomination to the Lord. Look at verse 4, it says, where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. You know, I think there's two applications here, but the first one, people just want like this perfect life. And you know, to have this perfect life, you know, they want to have just a few children and they just want to have, you know, they just want to go to their church that's real nice. They just want to go once a week and they want to have their, you know, little country club life. But there's not going to be any increase in that. They're not going to have any rewards in heaven. And you know, you can apply this to a lot of things in your life. If you ever want to have a great increase, if you ever want to have great success, you're going to have to get your hands dirty. You're going to have to go out and work hard. You're going to have to labor. I mean, nobody goes out and labors and doesn't get a little messy. I mean, have you ever seen the guy at the construction job and all those tools don't have any dirt on them? And you know, it's just all pristine and he gets the hammer out and he gets the nail and he hails it. Oh, there's no dirt. I'm going to get my wifey out and he wipes it. No, I mean, that's just ridiculous. You know, you got to get dirty sometimes to get the job done. But I think what this verse is really saying, let's turn to, uh, first Corinthians chapter nine, first Corinthians chapter nine, and I'll read for you in Proverbs. I don't have this in my notes, but Proverbs chapter 16, the Bible says, all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord weigheth the spirits. Man thinks that he's clean. Man thinks that everything that he does is right. And the Bible is saying there in Proverbs chapter 14 verse four, it says where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox. Now y'all turn to first Corinthians chapter nine, but the Bible gives us a parallel, uh, gives us a definition. I think of the ox here says in verse Corinthians chapter nine. Let's look here in verse nine for it is written in the law of Moses. Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that shreddeth out the corn. Does God take care for oxen? So if you get the context of this passage, God is comparing an ox unto a pastor, under a man that's going to be the shepherd of the church and he's giving them the comparison of an ox turning the corn as a pastor. One of the things he's supposed to do is to meditate on God's word. He's supposed to just get that meditating his mouth just like an ox would chew corn or would chew grass and he just sits there and chews on it. And that really gives him, you know, a cow. I mean cows that don't eat grass over and over and gives them the milk, gives them the milk of the word. I mean there's so many parallels there, but the important thing is that there's the ox and it says where there is no ox, the crib is clean. So if there is no pastor, if there's no man of God in the eyes of man, they're clean. They say, well there's nobody rebuking my sin. I mean who's going to rebuke your sin? The president? The school teacher? I mean maybe back in the day, not anymore. They're not allowed to. They can only give you positive encouragement. I mean parenting books, they say, well you can't spank. Oh don't give time out. Let's just do positive encouragement. Let's just give them the carrot. Where there is no ox and the crib is clean. They're just like, everything I do is right. But when the preacher comes along, things get a little messier. You start realizing what the Bible says. You start understanding that there's a lot of sin in this world. That the heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? I mean, can we really be clean? Are we really clean if we look at the lens through this Bible? Oh we're filthy. We're wicked. We're sinners. And we need a preacher, we need a man of God to show us our sin. And then there will be much increase. There's not going to be any increase. Just like sheep without a shepherd, if there's no pastor, there's not going to be an increase in the word of God. There's not going to be a going out soul winning. Whenever I was back in my town, there wasn't a man of God that got up and preached about soul winning. There wasn't a guy that got everybody fired up and said at 10am on Saturday morning we're going to go out soul winning. So I guess how many people went out soul winning? Zero. I had to go out by myself. I had to beg people to want to come with me. I'd be like, I'll buy you lunch if you just be my silent partner. Because when there is no ox and there's no strength, when there's no man of God getting up and preaching the Bible and convicting people of sin, telling you you need gold tied by the fire, there's not going to be much increase. Think about this, think about all the soul winning events. I mean think about when we get so many people gathered together and they go out and they get dozens saved, maybe even hundreds saved. Think about probably one of the best soul winning events of our group. What was it? It was the Red Hot Preaching Conference. Now how many oxen were at the Red Hot Preaching Conference? There was a lot of oxen and there was a lot of increase. We need more pastors to get more people saved. And when there is no oxen, the cribs clean. It just looks great. We all just go to church and live our lives and think we're all happy and great. When the pastor comes, when the oxen's there, there's much increase. And we need a man of God to get up and lead the people. And unfortunately because of these soul winning events, sometimes it feels like hurting a bunch of cats. I mean, you get all these people there and unfortunately there's a lot of guys that are good soul winners, but they're not good followers. And so they're all there and they want to go up there in time and they think, oh man, you know, there's just, I'm wasting time, I can just go out and do this or I can do my thing. They're not willing to follow. But when the oxen's there and he's leading the people, when he's being a shepherd, you can get many people saved. If you just got a bunch of random people and said let's go soul winning, you're not going to get as many as when you get a bunch of people organized and you get them strategically going out under the leadership of a shepherd. When you get them under the leadership of the oxen. And so we need to have the faith to get under a faithful man and understand you get the increase from the oxen. You know, and when you get like 80 people together, it's messy. It's not easy to organize 80 people. Why don't you try it sometime? It's like hurting a bunch of cats. You're like, come on, let's get over here and let's do this. And everybody's doing their own thing and everybody's talking, everybody's doing. I mean, it takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of effort. And we can have respect under the man of God who's trying to bring a big increase. We need to be there with the man of God that's going to be the oxen that's going to tread out the corn. And you know, the crib's clean when there is no guy. I mean, everybody's like, I'm doing great, I'm doing fine. But when the oxen comes, he's going to expose the sin of the world. Let's go back to Proverbs chapter 14. You know, the interesting thing, people having that perfect life. An American household now consists of only 2.54 people. I mean, that's just sad. I mean, you want to have increase in your family, you want to have increase spiritually, have a lot of children. But unfortunately, the ideal is not that anymore. 48% of Americans only want 2 children. They want to have that crib clean. And you know, the honest truth is if you only have about 2 kids, you can pretty much keep your house really clean. It's really pretty easy. You know, once you get them out of diapers, things just go on. But if you have like 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 kids, the crib's not going to be clean every day. The house isn't going to be clean every day. I mean, it's just difficult when you have a lot. But you have much increase. How much more joy is the father of 8, 9, 10 than the father of 1? You know, the thing that's a lie is this says that 48% of people want 2 children. I've never, ever, ever met an old person that said they wish they had less children. Every single person I've ever met, they said, man, you know what, I love my kids, they're so great, I just wish I had at least one more. I wish I just had one more son. I wish I just had one more daughter. And when the people get later in their life, and they're like, oh man, I get to enjoy retirement, and they go out for 2 weeks, and they come back, and they're like, now what? I mean, the people that have children have something to do. You're forced to do something with them. That's why they had to live the longer lives. They're not plucking down their house. And you know, the older people should be giving those younger people that instruction. Because the younger people are fooled. The younger people don't have that wisdom. They think it's better to just have like 1, 2 kids. No! Have 6, 7, 8, let the Lord build your house! The other way is the way of death. Go back to verse 5, it says, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. I'm going to read Deuteronomy chapter 19. Interesting thing is, it seems pretty self explanatory, a faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies, right? But the thing I thought about this verse is the fact that some people, they know somebody's a liar, but then they just like still trust the fact that they tell the truth. It's like, well I know that Donald Trump's told like 10,000 lies, but I still think he's a faithful witness. No! A faithful witness tells the truth! And an unfaithful witness tells lies. A deceitful man will continue to tell lies. If he's told 1, 2, 10, 50, 20, he's just going to continue to do it. Don't be deceived. And it's not to say that you can't change your life or get right with the Lord. It's just the truthful statement that a faithful witness will not lie. It's more important for him to have the integrity in his heart to not lie, than to become a false witness. But in Deuteronomy chapter 19 verse 18, the Bible says, and the judges shall make diligent inquisition. And behold, if the witness be a false witness and have testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother. So shalt thou put the evil away from among you, and those which shall hear and fear and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil among you. You want to get rid of false witnesses? Start punishing them. And you know the interesting thing is, we're talking about, there's a way which seemeth right into a man, but the end thereof is the way of death. A false witness will have death. Now, God said for man to do this, right? And in America today, I mean, man, you could tell all kinds of lies and get away with it. You can be a perjurer, but just think about Bill Clinton. I mean, he lied about all kinds of stuff to the whole, you know, America. Pretty much got away with it. But do you think God's going to let him get away with it? Do you think God, when he gave this law, and he was like, well, if man doesn't do that, then I'll just free, free, you know, he's going to get what he's got for you. He's not going to get any punishment. Think about Analectes and Sapphira. In the New Testament, they became a false witness and they died. God can still kill you in the New Testament for deciding to lie. And just because American laws say that you can lie, don't think that God holds you to the same laws. God holds you to these laws. So if you want to, you know, destroy your life, lie. Be a false witness. But the end thereof is the way of death. Go back to verse six. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not. But knowledge is easy unto him that hath understanding. If you want to, you know, the scorners, they're always seeking wisdom. They really do want, they're like, man, I just want to be so smart, I want to be so intelligent. But how are they trying to get that? By going to universities, by reading, you know, secular books. And what's the wisdom that they're getting? They're getting the wisdom of this world like birth control, evolution. I was thinking about the theory of the universe. You know, all these like scorners, they think they're so wise because they got the theory of the universe. Because they studied the origins and they have all the philosophy. But the weird thing about it is they like all say the same thing. I found this, this list. It was like 10 theories on the theory of the universe. And number nine was called solipismism. I've never even heard of it. I don't know what it means. But this is what it said. It says, it's a philosophical theory which states that nothing can be verified except the existence of one's own mind. So in this theory, they think the only thing that you can believe is real is your mind. Everything else is just an illusion. You can't be certain of the fact that, you know, there's a podium here or that the Bible's here or that your brother or sister are around. But how ridiculous. I mean, do you really think all the free will of all the humans in your life is just a figment of your imagination? I mean, you have quite an imagination. All of the senses, the taste, touch, smell, pain, love, joy, happiness. I mean, that's just a figment of your imagination. That's pretty prideful in my opinion. Let's go through a few more. I think this is just kind of fun. Number eight, idealism is the belief that all things exist as an idea in the mind. I mean, it sounds like the exact same thing to me, right? He just thinks, oh, everything is just you thinking. Everything's just some idea. It's just some dream. Number seven was Plato and the Logos. He said, all things we see around us here are merely shadows, imitations of the real thing. So he thinks just everything we see is just some fake fantasy. It's just an imitation of the real thing. Number six, presentism. It says that everything past is unreal. Everything future is unreal. Everything imagined, absent, mental is unreal. Ultimately, real is only the present moment of physical efficiency. So just like nothing really exists, just somehow what's happening right now exists, but then a moment later it doesn't exist. I mean, it's just everything's just a fantasy. Number five, eternalism. I mean, you can't make this stuff up. They said that time is illusion. Well, I guess they did it. Time is illusion is only observed by a certain point. According to this view, the future is hopelessly deterministic and free will appears to be an illusion. They said everything's so eternal that it's always existed. Well, if you've always existed and all your decisions have always been made, then there is no free will because everything's just already happened and we're just somehow going through the motions. Number four, brain and the vat. Another, it says, well, let's imagine for a moment that we're merely just brains and vats and our perceptions being manipulated by aliens or evil scientists. I mean, it's just like ten different variations of the same thing. And it even says at this point, it says if this sounds like The Matrix, that's probably because The Matrix was based on this exact philosophy, except for we don't have any red pills when we wake up. The Matrix was some movie where all these people were like in these vats and they were just experiencing life as if they, you know, were doing it, but they didn't realize that they were just sleeping. They were just sleeping and everything that was happening was just imagination. It wasn't real. And that's what all these, you know, scorners want. They want to seek this wisdom, the multiverse theory. It says that every scenario has happened somewhere. So there's some people that believe in this multiverse theory where there's an infinite number of universes, so everything has already happened. And then number two, fictional realism was like the same thing. It said infinite number of universes. So it said, according to this, Superman is real because if there's an infinite number of possibilities, then everything that we've ever imagined has happened. Every superhero, every imagination of the evil and the wicked and every thought has happened. Number one, phenomenalism. The belief that things only exist insofar as they are perceived. I mean, I don't even know how you can make this junk up, but they all go on one point. They don't believe in reality. They don't want to believe that things exist. Now why is it that you would not want to believe that things exist? Is it because from the beginning of the creation all things are known by the Lord Jesus Christ? For the things of him are invisible, the invisible things of him are known by his creation? For they being foolish and ignorant of God's word, confessing themselves to be wise, they became fools, right? They know that God exists. They know that God has created this world. They know that their sinners are deserving of hell. Their only escape is to imagine it doesn't exist. It's to imagine that it's not real, that we're just going through the emotions. They're seeking wisdom, but they're never going to find it. You're never going to find wisdom in this world when you go out and chase all the filth and the wickedness of them. The Bible says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. When they think there's no God, I mean, how can you even possibly believe that this place exists? It can't exist without God. So it must just be an imagination. It must just be some fantasy. It must just be an alien controlling your brain. That seems really logical. That's way, that's way easier to, you know, verify with science than the Lord Jesus Christ. Than the fact that this book has science written all over it. That every prediction it's ever made has come true. That every time it talks about science, it's 100% accurate. That's the same as believing aliens are controlling your brain. But you know, the thing about this is foolishness makes you harden to the truth. These people get so conceited when they go to these universities and they study these foolish theories. They study history. They believe that the earth is just millions and billions of years old and they get to the point of like, how could you even believe this book? It teaches the earth is only like 6200 years old. They get so hardened by the foolishness that they're never going to change. And these scorners are seeking wisdom but they're never going to find it because they're willingly ignorant of the Word of God. Go back to verse 7. It says, go from the presence of a foolish man when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge. If there's some guy talking to you seriously about one of these theories, just walk away. Just don't even be, have anything to do with them. But you know, Israel is supposed to be the light unto the Gentiles. You know, and the thing about this verse that I think is really good is a lot of people come at you with this lifestyle evangelism. They say, you know what, I'm not really a soul winner. I don't like to go harass people and knock on their doors. I don't like to confront people with the gospel. I'm just going to be this shining light and I'm just going to live this really nice life and I'm going to be buddy buddy with the unsaved. We're going to go play golf and I'm going to go over to his house and have dinner and he's going to come over to my house and have dinner and we're going to watch movies together and we're going to sing songs and then one day, this magical day, he's going to be like, hey, you just seem so righteous. Will you just tell me about Jesus? But what does this verse say? It says, go from the presence of a foolish man. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, is the beginning of wisdom. Someone that's not saved is a foolish man every time. So are you supposed to hang out and just be buddy buddy with some foolish guy? No, but does it mean that he's just avoiding like run away from all unsaved people? That's not what first Corinthians five says. It says, get not all together with the fornicators of this world, where the covetous or the extortioners or the idolaters, for then must he needs go out of the world. You know, when Paul is talking about the Corinthians church, he says, you know, you're supposed to separate yourself from someone that's a Christian, that's a brother, if he's in one of these wicked sins. But you can't just avoid every single person that's in one of these sins. You just have to go to some other planet. You have to believe in like Star Trek or something. But he's saying, look, he wants you to go out and preach the gospel to these unsaved people. But don't be joined up. If you're in the presence of a foolish man, he's just speaking foolishness, reject him. Go away from him. Don't have anything to do with him. I talked about those, you know, anti-naked, those non-denominational, you know, community events, right? They have the Baptist, the Methodist, the Presbyterian, the Catholic. They're all getting together. Well, when I know that this person's foolish because they're unsaved, what am I supposed to do? I'm supposed to go from the presence of him. It's so anti-non-denominational. This verse right by itself. Why am I denominational? Because I don't want to be in the presence of a foolish man. Because I want to have unity in the church about what we believe. I want to be around wise people. I don't want to be around the foolish. I don't want to be around, you know, anybody that's not saved unless I'm just preaching them the gospel, unless I'm trying to get them saved. Matthew chapter 6 verse 1, I kind of said this, it says, take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of your father which is in heaven. These people are giving all this money to the poor, how much reward do they have? Zero. The Bible says in Proverbs chapter 29, if a ruler harken to lies, all his servants are great. No, that's not what the Bible says. If a ruler harken to lies, all his servants are wicked. You know those people that go out and they go to these false churches with these false pastors? Oh, they love the Lord? They're really good. No, they're wicked. That's what the Bible says. If I run into some heretic out soul winning, after the second ammunition I'm going to reject him. When you perceive the foolishness in the lips of a fool, go from him. Don't hang out with him. Don't hear what he has to say. When I was out soul winning this week, I ran into some guy and I gave him my one verse and he's like, now let me tell you, you know something, you know, if you had your turn to speak, so let me tell you something. Okay. You know, God doesn't want you to, you know, just separate, you know, he doesn't want the Baptist and the Catholic and the Presbyterian. He wants everyone, you know, if you want to be with God, you got to be one and you got all joined together and God doesn't like religion. Religion was made by these people and you know, Egypt and Africa a long time ago. At least he kind of got that right. But I'm pretty sure that none of this Bible is ever written in Egypt. I don't think it was ever written in Egypt. That was an interesting study, but the Bible was not written in Egypt, first of all. But second of all, I had to interrupt him several times when he kept talking over me. I just had to leave. I don't want to listen to that foolishness. I don't want to listen to that junk. Jesus Christ came to bring the vision. He didn't come to bring, you know, peace on earth. He came to bring the sword. And there's supposed to be a division between the saved and the unsaved. And there's a division between the saved of those that are following the Lord Jesus Christ and those that are not. When you're in the presence of a fool, just apart from him. Whether he's saved or unsaved. And if you hearken unto the lies, if you're a ruler hearken unto the lies, if you're a servant, you're wicked. Go back to Proverbs chapter 14. We're going to have to go through some of this pretty quick. There's just a lot of good stuff in this chapter. And there's so many ways to death. How are you going to do the ways of death? By not looking at this book. By not reading the Proverbs. By not going through and studying his word. Shutting yourself approved unto God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6, Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. A clean thing cannot come out of an unclean thing. You say, man, I want our government to be great. A clean thing can't come out of an unclean thing. And you know what? Christians can't come out of an unclean church. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. A fool is just always wasting his life. Caught up in fantasy. I mean, he's just caught up in his own deceit. He's caught up in the idea that somehow every one of his thoughts is just some weird reality where aliens are controlling his mind. I mean, what kind of morality does somebody have that believes nothing's real? I mean, that person is just going to satisfy every lust of the flesh. I mean, why not? If there really is no God and everything that just happens is just some circumstance of your mind, why not just go live the most filthy, wicked life you can? That's what these people are doing. That's why we need to go out and preach the truth and preach the gospel because those people are going to get saved and it's going to give foolishness to them. The prudent thinks about the things that he does in his life. A foolish man doesn't care what he does. He doesn't care that he goes and watches TV for eight hours, goes and spends a bunch of time on YouTube, goes and spends a bunch of time on Facebook. He doesn't think about, hey, does this have any purpose? Does this have any value in my life? Is what I'm doing going to have any eternal consequence? But a prudent man, he cares about the things in this life. The prudent wants to understand his way. He wants to understand every decision he makes. He's like, God put me on this earth for a reason. There's a reason I'm here. There's a reason God made me. There's a reason I have the things in my life. The prudent man thinks about that and says, hey, what am I doing tomorrow? What am I doing this year? What am I doing next year? He's going to think about those things. But a foolish man, he doesn't care. He just wants to go see the next flick. He just wants to hear the next song. He just wants to hear the next meal. He doesn't care. Look at verse nine. Fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous there is favor. A fool say, you know, adultery's fine. Lying's fine. Stealing's fine. He doesn't care because everything's imagined, just a thought in his imagination. So there is no such thing as sin. But other people, most people realize that that's just foolishness. So when they look at a man that has integrity, that wants to do that which is right, that's following this book, they're going to be like, that guy's a good guy. He always comes to work. He's never going to lie. He's always doing that which is right. They're going to have respect under that person. But they're never going to have respect under a fool that keeps telling you, you know, adultery's fine and all these things. It's interesting that even in the workplace, most things that are a sin are like wrong in the workplace. You know, it's really looked down upon to commit adultery in the workplace. Whether or not you're saved or unsaved, you're working with your Christian company. It's looked down upon to lie. It's looked down upon to steal. It's looked down upon to kill. I mean, most unsaved people still have the law of God written on their heart, and they're going to not look at you with any respect if you're not following God's Word. Whether they realize that they're saved or Christian or anything. Look at verse 10, it says, the heart knoweth his own bitterness, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. You know, your heart knows the things that really bother you. The things that really get you, give grief unto you. The things that really you struggle with, your heart knows. It knows its own bitterness. But look at it says, and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. The interesting thing about the word joy, and we're not going to look at any other places, but joy is something that cannot be affected. When we think about emotions, joy is one of those things that no matter what's happening to you, you can have joy. When you're in prison suffering for Christ, you can have joy. When you're going out and you're having something good happen, you can have joy. Joy can sustain you through your life. And the Bible's saying a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy. You know, when you have true joy, because you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, when you have that in your heart, a stranger can't come and affect that. No stranger can come up to you and affect the joy that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. Even if he says all manner of evil against you. That's just going to give you more joy because you get more rewards in heaven. You know, a stranger can't intermeddle with your joy, but the heart knows its own bitterness. The things that we really struggle with, we have them tucked away in our heart. So we need to change our heart. We need to get our hearts affections on the word of God. It says, great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. You know, you don't want to be offended? Love this book. Love the laws of God. It says, the house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. You know, the sins of the father will affect the family. Family is blessed when the father is righteous. It says, the house of the wicked shall be overthrown. When a man is just wicked and evil, even his children are going to suffer. Look at verse 12, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but be in thereof are the ways of death. Don't ever trust your feelings. Don't trust your emotions. Trust the Bible. You can't trust how you feel about any situation. Get your feelings from this book. Decide, should I be happy in this situation? What does this say? Not, what does my heart say? Should I be angry at the situation? What does the Bible say? You should go to the Bible to get your emotions, to get your feelings. Then you're going to be stable. Then you're going to be steady. You're not going to be tossed to and fro with someone that doesn't know the Bible. When you're trusting your feelings, there's a way which seemeth right unto man. It seems right to go to the church that preaches nice all the time. It seems right. It seems right to go to the guys that always talk nice and they want to bring all the, you know, the unsaved people in their church and be nice to them and give them all these things. It seems right to give handouts to people and to not, you know, just think about why they're poor. It seems right to give money to the derelict that's sitting in the gutter many times. It seems right to do so many things that are contrary to the Bible, but the end thereof is the ways of death. It seems right to control pregnancy in today's world. There's so many things that people say, oh man, you know, I can't afford children and oh man, I don't want to have children. I'm this young and oh man, you know, I can't have another child. That's going to be so much harder. The crib's not going to be clean. It seems right, but it's the ends of the ways of death. There's so many things in this life that just sound right. You just think they're right, but go to this book to know what's right. Look at verse 13, even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful and the end of the mirth is heaviness. The wicked, the slothful, the vain, the backslider, they can laugh and have their fun, but they're always struggling their art. They always have sorrow. I mean, look at the Hollywood celebrities. If that can't tell you anything, these people have all of the lust of the flesh and they're so sorrowful. They're always filling themselves with drugs and alcohol and suicide and wickedness and filth because they're so sorrowful. They got to drown themselves in some other thing because they can't even, you know, stand to have a conscious thought for a moment. They hate reality. That's why they always have these actors and all these things. They love to pretend. They love to make fantasy. They don't want to live a real life. Even in real life, they usually act like they're personas because they just hate their life so much. That's why the Bible says in Proverbs chapter 8, but he that sinned against me wronged his own soul. All they that hate me love death. All those celebrities, they just want to die. They really do. That's why they're just filling themselves with all kinds of drugs and alcohol and sin and wickedness and filth. They just want to die. They just want to kill themselves because they just, there's nothing else to do in this life. They've already got it all. I mean, if you're not saved and you're going to go to hell, wouldn't you want to just please fill yourself with all the pleasures of this earth? But then after they get past the vanity of that and they've already had it and said, that sucked. That wasn't great. That didn't fulfill me. They just want to die. They just love death. In the end, there is the ways of death. If you chase the things of this world, if you chase the lust of the flesh, the last door is death because there's nothing else after that. Look at verse 14, the backslider and hearts will be filled with his own ways and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. Satisfaction comes from doing that which is right. The Bible says he will fulfill the desire of them that fear him. Verse 15, the civil believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. Don't believe anything at face value. Always check it out. Don't just be quick to believe anything. Don't even believe me. Don't even believe any pastor. Go to this book and verify it. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ. Put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because I'm a man. Every pastor is a man. Now we should be, you know, ready to hear, but don't put your faith in anything that's not in this book. If it's not in this book, don't trust it. Verse 16, a wise man feareth and departed from evil but the fool rages and is confident. You know, the wicked just run straight towards sin. He's confident. He just loves it. He's just pursuing it. He's just running to it. Verse 17, he that is angry, he that is soon angry deals foolishly and a man of wicked devices is hated. And you got to remember that word devices is not talking about like a cell phone or a computer. It's talking about plans. It's talking about schemes. The Bible says be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down on your wrath. You know, the thing about it is everyone like so many people hate Hillary Clinton. I mean, I almost feel like it's everybody. I'm hardly running into somebody that actually likes her. But why? Because she's so wicked. Because she has so many wicked plans and people hate those people. The Bible says a man of wicked devices is hated. I mean, can you find a person that's more hated in this country that's like alive than Hillary Clinton? I mean, you might say, well, she has some supporters, but how many people just hate her? How many people are going to vote this year just because they don't want her to be president? I mean, I would say more people are voting for Trump because they just don't want Hillary to be president than they actually love Trump. And I don't think that's a good reason to vote for him. But just the fact is when you have wicked plans, people are going to hate you. You're going to be hated. Nobody's going to love you. The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. And the Bible says the simple inherit folly. You know, the simple believe every word, but many times they're going to inherit that. Think about how many people are Catholic just because their parents were Catholic. I mean, they're inheriting that folly and they say, I don't want to change churches. I already have a church. I'll just go where my parents go. How many things do you just do when you're young because your parents did them? Because you're like, well, that's what my dad did, so I'm just going to do it. And these people are inheriting folly. That's why it's so important as fathers, as mothers, as people that are going to have children, that you don't leave them a bad inheritance of folly. You leave them inheritance of wisdom. You leave them inheritance of righteousness. It says in verse 19, the evil bow before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. You know, the evil aren't going to bow before me, but they will bow before somebody. And Philippians 2, the Bible says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. Everybody's going to say that. Every single person on this earth. Why not just do it now? Why not just get down and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and not have to be doing the resurrection of the damned nation? The evil will bow before the good. In verse 20, he says, the poor is hated even his own neighbor, but the rich have many friends. You know, it's not a blessing to be poor. There's thousands of warnings in the Bible about being rich. We should not desire to be rich. It's not a thing that we should want to be or to have, but it's not a blessing to be the opposite. It's not a blessing to be poor. I mean, do you really think the guy likes his neighbor coming over and be like, hey, how's it going? Can you give me a few bucks? Oh, hey, how's it going? Can you give me a gas tank or a tank of gas? Hey, how's it going? I need some dinner. Man, it just starts to get like annoying. Like this guy just never has any money. This guy's always coming to borrow off of me. This guy's always so dependent on me. He's just, he's just a bothersome under his neighbor. It's not a blessing to be poor. And if you are, if you are without, you know, just don't caress the same neighbor. Go and spread the wealth, you know. Go and spread, you know, your dependency on a lot of people. But it says the rich have many friends. It's just a fact of life that when you have money, people just like you. They want to be around you. They like it when you can bless them. They like it when you're like, hey, dinner's on me. Hey, I'm going to buy you a Coke. So he shouldn't be desirous to be rich, but it's just a reality that the rich have many friends. It says in verse 21, he that despises his neighbor sent him, but he didn't have mercy on the poor, happy as he. So even though it's just a reality that if your neighbor came over and was harassing you for money every day, it's really easy to want to hate him. But we still shouldn't. We should still love our neighbor as ourself. We should still want to give money, you know, money unto the poor. We should still have mercy unto the poor. Now think about the word mercy. Think about what the word mercy means to you and the Lord Jesus Christ saving you. Did you deserve it? I mean, how many times did you sin against the Lord Jesus Christ? How many times did you continue to sin? You gave mercy. That's the, that's how we should look at the poor. Even though your neighbor would come and bug you over and over and over. How many times did you forgive your brother? Seven or seven times 70, you know, seven times 70. The Bible says in Acts chapter 10, turn to Acts chapter 10. The Bible says, if any man, it's in 1 John chapter 3, it says, if any man have, I'm messing it up, I'm going to go look it up. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 3, it says, but whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shedeth up his vows of compassion from him, how dwelt the love of God in him? If you see your brother in need, come in this church, and you don't help him out, you don't have the love of Christ in you. Just think about a, a real situation where you went hiking with somebody, or you went jogging with somebody, and you brought a lunch, and the other guy didn't have anything, and you're, you get, you pack out your lunch, and you got a sandwich, you got some chips, you got an apple, and he's just standing there looking at you like, that's great, it's good that you have a lunch. I mean, is he really going to be like, man, you really love me, if you don't share it with him, if you don't give him something? But notice he said, if you have, if, if you have something, so you shouldn't go out into debt, just trying to give money to the poor, but if you have something, if you have the good of this world, if you have money, and you see somebody that has need, why don't you bless them, why don't you give them, you know, and the Bible talks about poor, I think the best way to, to explain the poor is if they have need. Well, who has need the most? Well, the Bible talks about widows and the fatherless, because a widow doesn't have a husband to provide for. It should be really bad on a church if a widow's in the church and isn't being provided for. If the men of that church aren't willing to provide for the widows, or for the fatherless, I mean, how is a child supposed to provide for himself when he doesn't have a father there? Those are the type of people that we should be looking at. This person has a need. I mean, does, does, do you literally look at a nine or ten year old kid that doesn't have a father and be like, well, you shouldn't eat unless you work. I mean, should we really say that to the widow? No, but when we see somebody has need, we should be blessing them. We should be merciful unto them. It says in Acts chapter 10 verse two, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming into and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, what is it Lord? And he said unto him, thy prayers and thine alms are come up from a memorial before God. So it's interesting here that we're not supposed to do alms before men, but if you do alms in the right way, look what it says in verse four, they came up as a memorial before God and God gave a miracle unto Peter and gave him a vision and told him to go preach unto Cornelius and all the people in his house to get him saved, to teach him the Lord Jesus Christ. We should give alms unto the poor. And look what the Bible's emphasizing, this guy giving much alms to the poor as being a good thing. It's a good thing to give money to the poor, to be merciful unto the poor, but we shouldn't be doing it before the eyes of men. If you want to receive a word of God, you should be doing that in secret. It says in verse 22, going back to Proverbs chapter 14, do they not err that devise evil, but mercy and truth shall be them that devise good. Don't have wicked plans. The thought of foolishness is sin. And the Bible makes it clear that God is going to reward those wicked thoughts. Verse 23, in all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. The Bible says a slothful man said there is a line without. I shall be slain in the streets. I mean the guy that's just making excuses for everything is going to come to poverty. He just keeps talking. Well, we could do some work. Well, we could do this. Many times in my work we have to have all these planning meetings, we have to talk about doing stuff. And a lot of times it will just go on and on and on about how to do it. Just do the work. The talk of lips tendeth to penury. I mean you're not going to get anywhere by just talking about it. Do it. Do the work. The Bible says in verse 24, the crown of the wise is the riches, but the foolishness of fools is folly. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. 1 Peter chapter 5. It says the crown of the wise is their riches. Do you want to have riches in this world? Why don't you get some crowns? Well, how are you going to get some crowns? Well, you're not going to get by the foolishness of fools. It says in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 3, neither is being lords over God's heritage, but being in samples of the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. So you want to have riches in this world? Preach the word of God. He's talking about pastors leading the flock. Even as a man that's not necessarily the pastor, he can be the second guy there. He can be a leader. He can lead other people and show them how to win people to Christ. Then you can get a crown of glory. That'll be your riches, but that's only to the wise. Only the wise are going to get that crown, that work hard. Go to verse 25. A true witness delivereth souls, but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. So again, the true witness is, you know, that speaking of which is right, deceivers speaking lies, but in this verse it says he delivereth souls. The person that goes out and preaches the gospel with truth will deliver souls. And who is the best witness? The Lord Jesus Christ. In Revelation chapter 3, the Bible said, and unto the angel of the church of the latest of the eons write, these things saith the Amen, the faithful, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Jesus Christ is the true witness and he delivereth souls. That's who gets people saved, is when they believe the Lord Jesus Christ is the true witness. They believe on the word of God, they believe the Lord Jesus Christ, all one and the same. Verse 26, and the fear of the Lord is strong confidence and his children shall have a place of refuge. You don't want destruction in your family? Then fear the Lord. But you want destruction in your family? Don't fear the Lord. There's a way we see with right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. The Bible says, the law of the wise is, oh sorry, let's look at verse 27. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Flip back just one, two chapters to Proverbs chapter 13, verse 14. The Bible says, the law of the wise is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. So he said here the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, but then he says in Proverbs chapter 13, the law of the wise is a fountain of life. You know, what does it mean to fear the Lord? To keep his commandments, to know what his laws say. People get so mad, they say, oh you're a legalist, you want to follow God's laws, you're trying to teach us to follow God's laws? Yeah, I'm trying to teach you to fear the Lord. I'm trying to teach you to love the Lord. Don't tell me you love the Lord if you don't want to hear his laws. In verse 28, the Bible says, the multitude of people is the king's honor, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. Well, this goes against China's one child policy. You know, if you want to have glory as a king, you have a lot of people. If you don't have any people, if you're in want of people, it's, you know, not good for the king. It's not good for the prince. Verse 29, he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. Do you get angry quickly? The Bible says so many things about not getting angry quickly. The Bible says, talking about the Lord, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Look at Proverbs chapter 16, two chapters over. Verse 32, it says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit, and he that taketh a city. Imagine a king that comes and takes over a great city. The person that can rule his spirit is mightier than him, is greater than him. We should not be quick to anger. We should be slow to wrath, just like the Lord teaches that he is. And verse 30, it says, the sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. The Bible says we can't serve two masters, and when I was talking about the Pharisees, it said that they were covetous. It says that they'd hurt all these things and cry to them, and they said ye would you justify yourselves before men. A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones. The Pharisees were covetous of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was just a rottenness in their bones, and they didn't have a sound life. They didn't have a sound heart. When you have envy and covetousness, the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil. We should not have any envy or covetousness. That'll destroy your life. You want the ways of death? Get caught up in money. There's so many ways in Proverbs chapter 14, we can't cover all of them in detail, in great depth, it would be here forever. But there's so many ways to death. There's so many ways of destruction. Let's just look at the last few verses here together. He that oppresseth the poor approaches his Maker, but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death. Wisdom rests in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness exalted the nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. The Bible says the king's favor is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him that causeeth shame. So look at a few of these verses. It says that he that oppresseth the poor reproaches his Maker. If you see a brother in need, help him out, or you're approaching God. Verse 32, the wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous hath hope in his death. 1 Corinthians 15 says, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? We have hope in death. We're more than conquerors through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. The Bible talked in Proverbs 29, says, A fool uttereth all his mind, but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. So we're going to find out what a fool is. He's going to be made known because he utters everything that is on his mind. Everything that comes in his mind just comes out of the fool's mouth. But a wise man, he keeps the knowledge in his heart, and he only speaks when he needs to. It says in verse 34, Righteousness exalted the nation, but sins are repotched to any people. The Bible says, for the kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations. The Bible says, blesseth the nation, whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance. Righteousness exalted the nation, not Donald Trump, not Hillary Clinton, not wickedness and filth and adultery and sin and lying and pro-abortion and pro-LGBT. That's not an exhalation. It's going to be your approach to any people, even Americans. We're not so great. We say, oh, you know, we trust in God. No, we don't. We trust in money. We trust in our own wisdom. There's a way which seemeth right into a man, but the end there is the ways of death. Sin is going to be your approach under our country. Look at the last verse. The king's favor is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him to cause a shame. The Bible says, a good man obtaineth favor of the Lord, but a man of wicked devices will he condemn. Good understanding giveth favor, but the way of transgressors is hard. The king is going to give favor under his wise servant. The Lord is our king, and he's going to give favor unto those that are wise, that look at the ways of death, and say, how am I going to avoid those? How are you going to avoid the ways of death? By following his commandments. So leave on this last verse, it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Let's close in prayer. Thank you Jesus for giving us this great chapter. Thank you for warning us for all the ways of death and for giving us instruction so that we can be wise, so that we can follow your commandments, so we can do that which is right, so that we can overcome wickedness and sin, and we thank you that you gave us the free gift of eternal life so that we could really overcome sin and still go to heaven. Thank you for this church and everyone in this room. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.