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Okay let's have a look just at one of the verses there but we're going to cover a few verses in a second. 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 26 verse 26 which reads then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king for her vows yearned upon her son and she said oh my lord give her the living child and in no wise slay it but the other said let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it and the title of my sermon today is the power of envy the power of envy let's have a quick word of prayer father I thank you um I thank you for this church I thank you um I thank you that you you know give us the opportunity to learn from your word and and I pray that right now everyone will just just have understanding hearts and and want to want to just hear what you've got to say and want to apply it to their lives and just help me to preach boldly and accurately fill me with your spirit please father and just help me to to just preach your will today in Jesus name we pray amen. I read through this story uh this week in my morning bible reading and it it really made me think about this this emotion this sinful emotion of envy and something that maybe we we I don't know maybe it does get preached a bit but you know it comes up time and time again in scripture as well and um but before we get into this emotion before we get into the envy let's back up a few verses here we're gonna make sure that everyone knows what's going on in this story and and what's happening here basically Solomon has just inherited the kingdom from his father and he's fairly young he's likely a teenager here it's it's hard to know exactly how old but he's clearly young as he's saying here and and God appears to him and asks him you know what what would you like me to give you what what do you want from me and and many people would start sadly asking for all these you know carnal desires and everything else but you know we see what Solomon asked for here if you look at first kings chapter 3 and verse 9 says give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discern between good or bad for who is able to judge this side so great this thy so great to people and the speech please the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing and God said unto him because I was asked this thing and has not asked for thyself long life neither has asked riches for thyself nor has asked the life of thine enemies but has asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment behold I have done according to thy words though I have given thee a wise and understanding heart so that there was none like thee before thee neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee so he's been given a wise and understanding heart that no one else can compare to before him or after him and obviously save God himself save the Lord Jesus Christ but then straight away it's time to prove it so straight away in this chapter we see him prove this and look at verse 16 there then came there two women that were harlots unto the king and stood before him okay so these are prostitutes women that go with men for money verse 17 and the one woman said oh my lord I and this woman dwell in one house and I was delivered of a child with her in the house and it came to pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also and we were together there was no stranger with us in the house save we too in the house so they live in the house together and they've they've had babies three days apart verse 19 and this woman's child died in the night because she overlaid it so she basically accidentally smothered slept on top of this this baby and killed her I mean that's pretty sad isn't it um verse 20 and she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom and when I rose in the morning to give my child suck behold it was dead but when I considered it in the morning behold it was not my son which I did bear and the other woman said no but the living is my son and the dead is thy son and this said no but the dead is thy son living is my son thus they spake before the king now we don't know the truth and the story does actually tell us which of the women is actually telling the truth there but either the first woman is telling the truth like we see and that you know what she's saying here is has happened so basically the other one has swapped her dead child with her living baby I mean that's extreme isn't it um or or she's pretending that the other woman swapped the child to claim her child so either way this is pretty extreme behavior here isn't it okay verse 23 then said the king the one saith this is my son that liveth and thy son is a dead the other saith nay but thy son is a dead and my son is a living who do you believe what can he do here who does he believe and the king said bring me a sword and they brought a sword before the king and the king said divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other then spake the woman who's a living child was unto the king for her bows yearned upon her son and she said oh my lord give her the living child and in no wise slay it but the other said let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it so the real mum is saying it's better to give away her child than to kill it understandably the other one is saying yep cut the baby into then the king answered and said give her the living child in no wise there she is the mother thereof and all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged and they feared the king for they saw that the wisdom of god was in him to do judgment now at first glance you can look at this story and think well why was the other woman just happy to kill the baby because you're thinking which she's gone to these great lengths isn't she to steal a baby one way or the other of the two two stories that you're gonna whichever one you end up believing there why did she go to why was she happy for the baby to just be killed because of envy because of envy but isn't envy just wanting what someone else has got isn't that envy no it's not it's a lot more complex than that it's a hell of a lot more complex than just wanting what someone else has so the ptolema sermon the power of envy and point number one though is or question number one is what is envy so what exactly is envy because it's not jealousy is it it's not jealousy and the world confuses that see the world uses the word jealousy for envy and and gets this confused but it's not jealousy is actually very different turn to exodus chapter 34 our world's definition of jealousy is is not the bible's definition of jealousy the first time that jealousy is used in the bible is actually in the 10 commandments in exodus 20 talking about graven images where it says thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them for i the lord thy god am a jealous god visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me so god is a jealous god it's therefore not a sin is it okay it's therefore not a sin real jealousy is not a sin exodus chapter 34 where you've done and from verse 12 it says take heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land with thou goest lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee but you shall destroy their altars break their images and cut down their groves for thou shalt worship no other god for the lord whose name is jealous is a jealous god one of god's names is jealous doesn't sound like a sin does it one of his names is jealous he's described in the bible as a jealous god time and time again jealous over his people jealous over his prized possessions his people the people of god turn to numbers five elijah said that he's jealous for the lord god of hosts paul said that he's jealous over the carinthians with a godly jealousy in numbers five there's a procedure set up if a man is jealous and suspicious of his wife to see if she's committed adultery in numbers five and from verse 29 says this is the law of jealousies when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband and is defiled or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him and he be jealous over his wife and shall set the woman before the lord and the priest shall execute upon her all this law then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity and this woman shall bear her iniquity so either way here whatever the result even if she hasn't actually done the thing the man's guiltless okay he's jealous but he's still guiltless of an iniquity here because he's gone through the procedure right okay people get jealous about things it doesn't mean necessarily that just because you feel jealous that something's definitely happened to cause you to be jealous but it's not a sin in itself if it's for the right reason because if you're not jealous over your spouse there's something wrong with you isn't there if you're not jealous over your spouse there's something wrong with your relationship okay either way yet the world acts if you're insecure doesn't it the world acts if you're jealous over your spouse your son must be very insecure no because our spouses we should be jealous over shouldn't we we should be jealous over our the the important things in our life and god's jealous over his people and god's name is jealous there's nothing wrong with being jealous envy isn't jealousy okay envy isn't jealousy but it's also not the world's version of jealousy either okay because part of part of every year is sometimes wanting people's possessions their qualities their successes etc but it's more complex isn't it it's more than that now there's a great dictionary there's different different dictionary definitions of envy actually and i like the websters i think it's 1828 i think the websters uh version of this which i think lines up perfectly with scripture where it says envy as a noun is pain uneasiness mortification or discontent excited by the sight of another's superiority or success accompanied with some degree of hatred or malignity and often or usually with a desire or an effort to depreciate the person and with pleasure in seeing him depressed it also says envy springs from pride ambition or love mortified that another has obtained what one has a strong desire to possess so pain uneasiness mortification discontent and it's not just possessions superiority success and that's often perceived though has some amount of hatred ill feeling usually has a desire effort to take away some of what that person has and pleasure in seeing that person down or low or or some some ill effect to that person and and for me that perfectly lines up with scripture as you're going to see today now that's a pretty wicked emotion isn't it that is pretty wicked when you look at that you think wow and and you know what people think like that multiple people so many people get this emotion yeah and it's no surprise is it that it's in the description of a reprobate in romans one is it romans 129 says being filled with all unrighteousness fornication wickedness covetousness maliciousness full of envy murder debate deceit malignancy whispers one of the reason why they're so dangerous full of envy envy is bad enough imagine being filled with it filled with envy well thank god we're all saved christians here eh thank god that we're all saved christians that we're not going to be envious are we no because you know because because we've just got rid of our sins haven't we they're all gone is that is that the truth is that what the bible says no the bible constantly warns us saved christians not to be envious constantly warning us about envy turn to proverbs 14 while you turn i'm going to read galatians 5 26 which says let us not be desirous of vainglory provoke you one another envying one another that's envy between christians that's that's envying other members of a church and obviously other other christians there and look not only can we envy each other but also the wicked as well proverbs 3 31 says envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways now that's envying the wicked rulers those that oppress us with their laws people envy these people you can you hear these things oh it's okay for them one more for them and another for us how many people are really just envious of the downing street boozy parties truthfully is it that they're just so angry a lot of it's envy oh if only i had the money the power it's all right for them you hear people people would just just you know with no shame come out with stuff like that how dare he be so rich basically is what it's how dare someone have this how dare they have money proverbs 14 and verse 30 says a sound heart is the life of the flesh but envy the rottenness of the bones we're warned about envy because it's so damaging okay it's so damaging sound is a right heart but here it's saying envy destroys you okay it destroys you so it's not just the the object of your envy which is going to have problems yourself as well envy that bitterness that goes with it that hatred that comes with it it will is is a very very destructive destructive emotion turn back to first kings 3 where we were and while you turn i'm going to read something which i've always thought about this verse a lot proverbs 27 4 which says wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy wrath is cruel anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy it's stronger than wrath and anger and when you think of wrath you think about some extreme anger don't you it's so powerful that it's hard to stand in front of it's such a powerful emotion and in the story of the harlots the grieving harlot didn't really want another baby so i don't think that's what she wanted and look i think that that story it's easy to gloss over and i've looked at that before and thought well he was fortunate there maybe king solomon that it turned out that that she was happy for that baby to be chopped up no she envied the other woman she didn't want her to have what she had lost did she okay that was the truth of it that's why in first kings chapter 3 and verse 26 she said let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it so she claimed that the baby boy was hers to depreciate or take away the the from the object of her envy didn't she she was even happy for the baby to be chopped in two that's extreme isn't it oh well that was back then what are you saying that that you know people back then oh well they were just so much so much more wicked no and king solomon the wise understood this so didn't he so king solomon was so wise he had such understanding that he understood what he was dealing with here the lengths that this woman was going to was more than just wanting to replace her dead baby wasn't it the lengths that she went to was more than just i just want someone else's child because you know it it was more than just wanting what wasn't hers because she was willing to steal another woman's baby imagine doing that stealing someone else's baby that is messed up isn't it absolutely messed up she was even happy for the baby to be killed so she was willing to steal another woman's baby to depreciate that woman and look this all happened pretty quickly didn't it so she's lost her baby and in that grief suddenly she's looking over at the next bed and the envy's just taken hold of her and then she's looking there and and and by the end of it she's happy for that baby to even be killed so that woman doesn't have what she's just lost that's the power of envy okay that's not jealousy that's not just oh i quite fancy you know what the world calls jealousy i just want what's what's not mine that's that's willing to even for it to be whipped away and stripped from that person just to appease yourself the power of envy so number one what is envy and discontent pain due to something that someone else has it includes hatred and want to take away whatever they have causing pleasure but number two what i really want to talk about today is what are the results of envy what are the results of any envy because it's not just a dead emotion it's not just something that you feel and that's it as we've just seen here there are results of envy and they're they're the wickedness that goes with envy envy leads to wickedness james 3 16 you don't have to turn there says for where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work okay we clearly want to avoid this don't we okay i would imagine that everyone here i hope you see you're going i want to make sure i don't have this in my life i never get mixed up in envying people that if i if i do have this in my life i'm going to get rid of it today okay because where envy envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work okay look at verse 20 there and she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me while thine handmaid slept and laid it in her bosom and laid her dead child in my bosom so the envious harlot here has either stolen a child and put a dead baby in someone else's arms that is messed up isn't it or she's lied and pretended that someone has done that either way how wicked is actually slandering that other person to steal her child okay and either way like that's that is wicked isn't it but that's not enough that's not just where it leads after that she's willing to lie in front of the king and then we see in verse 26 jump forward to 26 then spake the woman who's the living child was unto the king for boughs he earned upon her son and she said oh my lord give her the living child and know why slay it that's a you know that that's the one who's not lying but the other said let it be neither mine nor thine but divide it she's calling for the murder of a baby because of envy okay let's just remember that she's calling for the murder of a baby because of her envy now you might sit there look at that and go well she was an immoral harlot she was some wicked harlot she's probably a reprobate wasn't she maybe she was we don't know but turn to genesis 37 because we're talking about the results of envy now we've had taking from someone else and other examples of this i'm thinking about other examples of that kind of result of envy maybe purposely ruining someone's marriage that happens a lot doesn't it in the world yeah a lot of a lot of that stuff it comes from envy because a lot of the time do do affairs and things like this do they even last of course that person really want that that person to marry a lot of the time it's because they envy they envy the person who's married to them in the first place and it works both ways there are men whose whole life is is based on just finding married women it's not just it's not just the harlot that does this and there's the other way as well and look for me that's that's the result of someone of envy just wanting to take what that other person has preventing someone's promotion at work could be an example of that couldn't it just wanting to it's not that you necessarily want that job but you just want to stop them having what you would have liked to have had or you you just envy that person so you're just going to stop them even if you can't have it yourself just try some out of bad mouth someone to get them disliked by people because you just can't stand them having what you would what you would have liked or being someone that you would like to have been now i think about as well with kids what about older children that just want a younger child's toy but they don't even want to play with it and you see this a lot with kids you see when you watch kids playing that the older child sometimes the one who's maybe maybe more confident or a lot of the time bigger stronger a little bit older will just come up and take a toy to upset the other baby and then just go off and do something else without that toy or just with the toy next to them it's not that they actually want to play with the toy they just envy the other child having it okay this sin is from young and all these crazy sort of children know best type raising of kids and then they somehow are born unsinless it's ridiculous isn't it okay but okay genesis 37 okay this is the next next result when the story of joseph is told okay who's his father's favorite and genesis 37 before it says and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him and joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren and they hated him yet the more and he said unto them here i pray you this dream which i've dreamed for behold we were binding sheaves in the field and lo my sheaf arose and also stood upright and behold your sheaf stood round about and made a basis to my sheaf and his brethren said to him shout thou indeed reign over us or shout thou indeed have dominion over us and they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words so why do they hate him well one reason because his father plays favorites okay and look i'm sure people don't need remind you of this but it sadly happens it still happens this day playing favorites with your kids you're going to breed monsters okay anyone does that don't do it cut it out you know you can't raise kids like that because as soon as you're showing any sort of favoritism the hatred starts forming between them you you're basically doing your other children disservice i've seen this i actually grew up with some of this as well and you'll end up with with it you'll cause trouble between the siblings and you end up that child that's your favorite in inverted commas ends up a lot of the time with a lot of hatred directed at them because of your favoritism yeah and you don't you don't want to raise kids like that because as well it causes so many emotional issues okay so one of the reasons because that maybe because of his dreams because he's obviously been blessed by god with this with this gift of of you know prophesying in dreams as well um he tells him another prophetic dream okay and although jacob rebukes him verse 11 it says and his brethren envied him but his father observed the saying so they envy joseph okay they envy joseph because of these reasons it wasn't because he had necessarily done anything well they just envy joseph what was the result well they want to kill him don't they ruben eventually stops he manages to stop them killing him and they end up casting him into a pit and he ends up being so and they they're planning to sell him sell him into slavery i think he then gets stolen doesn't he and sold him slavery their own brother why what had he done they envied him but i'm sure they justified it didn't they if you look at genesis 37 and verse 19 when he's approaching them before they do this and they said one to another behold this dreamer cometh so you can kind of almost feel the animosity there can't you oh it's because of his dreams how dare he tell us dreams that raise him above us you know how dare he be like that or he must be making them up he must be a liar he must be just making things up it's his fault that jacob loves him more he's a goody two shoes he's obviously slandering us or something you can imagine can't you because they're not going to go oh we're just so envious of him they're going to make excuses make reasons just to fight themselves just fight between each other because you've got basically 11 people there who are willing to kill him barring ruben so 10 out of the 11 were up for murder murdering their own brother so i'm sure they weren't all just going yeah let's murder him because we're all envious okay they they they came up with what they considered with some good good reasons for it and it was envy okay 100 act 7 9 yap it says and the patriarchs moved with envy sold joseph into egypt but god was with him the result was going to be murder and they threw him in a ditch and planned to sell him as a slave that's a real hatred there isn't it what sort of hatred is that that comes from envy a hatred that's willing to murder someone a hatred that's willing to destroy someone to sell him as a slave for the rest of their life now i was again thinking about other examples of this type of thing maybe less extreme examples examples would be maybe purposely getting someone sacked from a job yeah just destroy their life because you're envious of them in the workplace so you start finding a way to to maybe get them sacked manufacturing a hatred of fallout to remove someone from your life people do that yeah you see friendships that do that where they create an issue they they manufacture it really but start finding a reason to hate someone to then be able to just discard them and get rid of them so you don't have to deal with them anymore so you get getting rid of them out of your life and you see it in families a lot where kids will do that as they get older slander other children trying to ruin their relationship with a parent maybe um again because of envy turn to acts 13 so we've had results of envy heart we've had the harlots taking from someone else we've had the patriarchs getting rid of someone and in acts 13 here paul goes to antioc persidia okay this is another antioc antioc persidia and preaches in the synagogue now look at verse 44 and the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god this is acts 13 and verse 44 the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of god and when the jews saw the multitudes they were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by paul contradicting and blaspheming okay so the jews are filled with envy and they start contradicting the word of god blaspheming which is nothing new here is it okay nothing new here the persecution that goes with it as well remember in matthew 27 18 pilot where he says he knew that for envy they delivered him talking about jesus christ but where we are in acts here look at verse 46 then paul and barnabas waxed bold and said it was necessary that the word of god should first have been spoken to you but seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life lo we turn to the gentiles for so have the lord commander saying i have set thee to be a light of the gentiles that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth and when the gentiles heard this they were glad and glorified the word of the lord and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed and the word of the lord was published throughout all the region but the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them out of their coasts so now they're stirring up the religious women the leaders to persecuting paul and barnabas and this for me always makes me think of the envy the sort of envy we see from dead churches okay for me whenever you see whenever i see this sort of thing it just makes me think of the envy that that churches like ours receive from dead churches okay or from churches which aren't as popular from churches which don't have as many viewings or from churches which are basically completely dead as well you get this as well so it says here but when the jews saw the multitudes verse 45 they were filled with envy and spake against those signatures spoken by paul contradicting and blaspheming so they see churches like ours getting people saved and and not us obviously we're a new church and there have been some much bigger and better churches than ours but getting big followings online when it comes to real saved christianity i'm not talking about compared with the false prophets growing quickly and they get filled with envy don't they okay and and what do they do they start contradicting and blaspheming because that's what they really are doing so they start contradicting the word of god which talks about soul because instead of getting on and doing something being inspired instead they get envious then they start hating on the churches the pastors encouraging it and then they start criticizing then they start trying to change the word of god oh well you don't get people saved or well um you know it's a one two three repeat after me easy believeism or whatever else now obviously some of these are damnable heretics but not all of them some of them will just start contradicting blaspheming and going to a certain point they start hanging their hat on false doctrine like like zionism because again it's really because they have to have something they have to grab some oh well i can't really criticize the soul winning so i'm going to grab zionism and i'm going to go that's the reason but really it's because you hate them it's because you hate them and you want to find something something to be able to feel justified in your hatred of people that are just going out and preach the word of god to preach the truth out of the bible or the pre-trib rapture it's envy that's why like how could how could you be that fixated on that nonsense like it's something that is a disqualifier where you'll ban people from going to a church which doesn't preach the pre-trib fraud where you'll ban people are going to ban your members from having any fellowship you won't get involved with any sort of church that doesn't preach that the jews are a special chosen people that they're better than everyone else and they're automatically going to be some sort of apple of god's eye years down the line with having much genetic mixing and everything else based on their false religion i mean it's it's absurd isn't it but again what does it come from it comes from envy comes from envy that's why they blaspheme and they contradict because they see the multitudes because they see the sat and it comes against so many churches we were talking about this uh yesterday who's another guy that a lot of them a lot of them really have a problem with especially in the dead church the non-soul-winning churches brother jack harles so they love to slander and criticize and everything else why because they saw the multitudes because he went out and he's preaching the gospel he's getting people saved and it's envy it's envy all day long and that's where that hatred that bitterness that anger you have people you have soul-winning church sorry you have saved we assume churches around this country around the states around the world that will actually preach regularly against people like past stephen anderson and others okay when half their churches a lot of the time are made up of people that got saved by him when the reason they're even at church faithfully tithing faithfully serving the church guide every week is because they're encouraged by him and he's preaching not just salvation he's preaching to attend their church and they try and be a good church member yet they'll preach against him week in week out why because of envy oh i'm just so angry that he doesn't believe what i believe on a on a doctrine which has got nothing to do with salvation oh yeah well we don't care about the false prophets oh yeah well they can get on with oh well they repent of your sins yeah well it's just repent of your sin they're a bit muddled up on that but pastor anderson how dare he get people saved how dare he reach the multitudes that's that's the truth isn't it that's what it comes down to and it's absolutely wicked and we see examples of it in scripture and of course these people here you know that these jews here are unsaved sadly a lot of these guys are as well i think but but not all of them are but like i said they see it they they see us getting people saved and then what they do they not only start start blaspheming because they are blaspheming okay they blaspheme they blaspheme about salvation they blaspheme about soul winners they blaspheme about about clear doctrines in the bible really they blaspheme about what type of god we have as well don't they and they'll go to any other angle maybe they'll be so they'll go down the calvinism angle instead you know and then just basically blaspheme god with that and then i'll say people mixed up in that but look at verse 50 here says but the jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them out of their coats they do also pull on the women's heartstrings as well they'll go down the angle of how hateful and and how dare you you know claim that that like the sodomites are unsavable you know and love and all and they try and pull on the women's heartstrings and they go down the emotive angle as well that they could be saved up to their dying breath but the bible didn't say that does it the bible clearly doesn't say that does it but they'll try you know and it's just hatred and it's and they're misogynist or whatever they try and say they try and come out with anything they can to try and then pull on the emotional angle as well don't they they stir up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city they stir up the leaders don't they they start these guys in these churches they're getting these pastors they get sent stuff how to deal with andersonite stuff and how this is what happens how to deal with you know the the posthood pre-wrath doctrine and they they can't deal with it so you can only imagine the stuff they get except but they do they actually have like they have they have like conferences about this stuff like the anti-anderson conference you know and others it's nuts isn't it yeah absolutely nuts but but again the chief men of the city and they raised persecution against paul and barnabas and expelled them out of their coats so they do don't they they raise persecution persecution against so many christians how many people here have been expelled out of churches maybe not quite expelled but preached out to some degree why because they're so winning really that's what it really comes out you could go there not they want that conversation they want to trigger you into the zionist conversation you can go there and just keep your mouth shut for a year getting preached at about it week in week out and they want it they want any questions about the sermon today nope sir any questions today week in week out why because they want it they want to have a reason to boot you out people who can't even become a member of a church because they they will not lie and pretend that they agree with the pre-trib rapture will not lie and pretend that they agree that the jews are god's you know everlasting chosen people that they're still this this nation of israel it's that we need to pray for them we needed all this stuff it's nuts isn't it and why why envy envy they they they even hate the soul winner in their church they'll even happily have an even quieter church and not have that person in there because of envy because envy that they're going out preaching i've been at church where they preach you know constantly about you don't do the saving etc it's like way to go to encourage people you know you don't do the saving how dare you come in and say you've been on a soul-winning marathon you know you're going to innocently think yeah it'd just be nice to talk about these things with other christians they hate you for it hate you for it wicked isn't it that's envy that's envy stirring up the leaders in act 17 5 it's the same old story where it says but the jews which believe not and turn over there if you like act 17 5 while you're in the book of acts but the jews which believed not moved with envy took unto them certain lewd fellows of the base assault and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of jason and sought to bring them out to the people and obviously you see the unsaved for this as well just the envy at people meeting going to church going out preaching the gospel getting people saved to the point where they're going to have the most the the dregs of society you know gathered together to cause to cause an uproar but envy envy resulting here in full stock stream blasphemy persecution look aside from the obvious envious pastors and christians and there are obviously it's not just pastors as well other examples would be for example what about the envious old family and friends how about the envious old family friends blaspheming and persecuting because you dared to clean up your life blaspheming god persecuting you to some degree because why why because you don't dress your kids like whores anymore because you don't because maybe you you don't want to turn up and and at the family the family booze up at the one-year-old's birthday party where it's a massive booze up because you don't fancy getting involved with that anymore and you do it very politely and and you just say well it's not you know i don't you know we try not to have drinking around oh you know and then it's and then it's a blasphemy against god and the persecution one way or another maybe that the envy of the world maybe for having kids that the at least a capable of some behavior because uh all of us here we've all got kids like all kids will will misbehave but wow and you compared to some of the world's kids out there who literally were not getting chastised or anything at all and and what do they do then then then it's what it's persecution blasphemy over biblical child rearing what sort of a horrible you know person would smack their kids bottom you know how evil you must be and everything else and really they're just blaspheming against god because there's a he chastises us doesn't he yeah chastisement is is one of the natures of god chastising his children turn to number 16 so results of envy we've had the harlots taking from someone else we had the patriarchs getting rid of someone we've had the jews with the blasphemy and persecution and in number 16 from verse one let's read now korah the son of ishar the son of kohath the son of levi and dathan and abiram the sons of eliab and on the son of pilaf sons of ruban took men and they rose up before moses with certain of the children of israel 250 princes of the assembly famous in the congregation men of renown and they gathered themselves together against moses and against aaron and said unto them ye take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them and the lord is among them wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the lord so korah dathan and abiram tried to rebel against moses and aaron against god really why because of envy okay because of envy how do we know it was envy well psalm 106 you don't have to turn there verse from verse 16 says they envied moses also in the camp and aaron the saint of the lord the earth opener swallowed up dathan and covered the company of abiram and a fire was kindled in their company the flame burned up the wicked but of course they and the 250 leaders said it was because they take too much upon themselves didn't they yeah they didn't say oh just so i just so wanted i just so want to do that myself i just hate them because they've got that job maybe they don't even really see themselves doing it but no it's because they take too much upon themselves that everyone is holy and able to do the job why are they lifting themselves up they're lifting themselves up aren't they how dare they how dare they preach the word of god how dare they preach from the bible and call out our sin they rise themselves up against others above others sorry and of course the obvious application of this is church rebellions isn't it okay the obvious application is church rebellion and look this has happened at all all good churches to some degree there'll be some sort of group formed or some sort of issue start you know people start trying to rise up a problem try and cause rebellion try and cause a split try and cause some issue why because of envy okay because of envy that's what it comes down to every now some of those are wicked people okay in that group there you've got obviously korodathan and abiram they're wicked okay they go straight down into hell okay but not all of them are they've got the princes the men of renown they've just been stirred up with envy haven't they okay stirred up with envy now but you could also and i'm not going to go off on one on church rebellions here but you can also apply this to marriage too couldn't you yeah the rebellion envy envy that oh well it's because of the feminist agenda you get wives are so envious of their husband it's all right for you you get to make the decisions you get to go to work you get to whatever it is they deem to be so much more superior so much better by being a man and then they get envious and then the envious results in rebellion yeah okay and and that happens in in marriages that will happen that will happen often that will happen sadly in Christian marriages um rebellious kids as well rebellious kids how about that they start to envy the fact that their parents get to do whatever it is that they want to do their parents get to make the rules their parents get to tell them what they can and can't do as they get older rebellious kids what does it come from really envy envy of that position envy of that role envy of being the one that calls the shots envy of being that that that you know that parent figure basically and again what does it result in rebellion does god like rebellion no no way does he it's a sin of witchcraft isn't it an idolatry okay turn to genesis 30 so results of envy we've got the harlots take you from someone else we've got the patriarchs getting rid of someone we've got the jews with blasphemy and persecution we've had chorora etc with rebellion and in genesis 30 labe and a trick jacob into marrying leah first yeah before marrying rachel over the next several years we see like leah has four children and rachel none okay genesis certain from verse one and when rachel saw that she bear jacob no children rachel envied her sister and said unto jacob give me children or else i die so she's envying her sister leah but don't miss what she just said that she's blaming jacob and she's threatening suicide basically i think so give me children or else i die so she's threatening suicide because of her envy look at verse two and jacob's anger was kindled against rachel and he said am i in god's stead who is withheld from thee the fruit of the womb so jacob gets angry and says it's not me but god that opens and closes the womb amen to that eh if only people that get caught up in all this ivf and other stuff just put their faith in god but no it's god that opens and closes the womb verse three and she said behold my maid bilhar go in unto her and she shall bear upon my knees i may also have children by her you you see that there she she basically feels that by giving him her maid bilhar that she's somehow having children and she gave him bilhar her handmaid to wife and jacob went in unto her so that's some pretty bizarre lengths isn't it okay that is bizarre and bilhar conceived and bear jacob a son rachel said god has judged me and has also heard my voice and has given me a son therefore called she his name dan and bilhar rachel's maid conceived again and bear jacob a second son and rachel said with great wrestlings have i wrestled with my sister and i have prevailed and she called his name naftali for me i'll just read down i think the envy there has sent her mad isn't it it's basically sent her doolally okay she's blaming jacob fursi who's clearly not the problem he's just had four kids with leah okay but she's blaming she's blaming jacob then she's threatening suicide offering her handmaid to wife and telling herself then at the end that she's somehow beating her beaten her sister by doing that okay it's absolutely nuts isn't it okay she's gone mad there that's so what's that that's envy resulting in crazy erratic behavior isn't it look at the erratic crazy behavior that's a result of her envy and again examples of that would be maybe the woman who wants to have what her peer has and just starts getting more and more pent up and starts doing more and more erratic things because she's so envious of whoever it is someone else's wife someone else a friend family member the envy will and can drive people mad the man that just goes off the rails because he couldn't get what he wanted and guys do this as well don't they people that just go nuts in life just start going more and more mad doing crazy stuff because of really of envy of someone else envy of whatever it was they wanted and really that not getting to what they want it's like that kid who has a crazed tantrum how many kids have crazed tantrums because their sibling has something they want or another child has what they want okay and again we we see all of this in kids don't we and that's why train the child up and away should go yeah that's why we train our children don't we because we're trying to train the sin out of them okay but but it's there isn't it it's present from young it's a part of the flesh and you can see here there is example after example in the word of god of envy and the wicked results of it hey yet again how often are you sitting there saying that god just helped me not to be envious how often do we recognize when we are full of envy how often or do we instead convince ourselves we're justified in hating whoever the object of envy is do we convince ourselves that there's a good reason for it that in fact it's because of the way they said something the way they do something the way they whatever it is that every single person here can and i'm sure has been guilty of envy okay the power of envy what is envy discontent pain due to something that someone else has it includes hatred and a want to take away whatever whatever they have causing pleasure what are the results of envy so we saw the harlots taking from someone else saw the patriarchs getting rid of someone the jews with their blasphemy and persecution cora with his rebellion rachel we saw madness number three then what to do about envy what do we do about envy turn to first peter two the bible has a few solutions to envy and i would say they're probably the pretty obvious solutions to a lot of things but let's have a look at them anyway because it does actually spell it out first peter chapter two and from verse one says wherefore laying aside all malice and all guile and hypocrisies and envies and all eve excuse me and all evil speakings as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby get in the word of god desire the word of god instead of whatever someone else has yeah when you start feeling that anger that discontent that whatever it is someone getting the word of god because it will make a difference won't it get in the word of god and look if you are if you if you are full of envy or people are looking you thinking you're an envious person by the way as well they probably look at you thinking you're probably a babe in christ and and look it's not measured in years is it okay if you've got to apply apply the word of god to your life to grow from being a baby in christ not well i've been listening to sermons for a long time now i'm no longer a baby in christ oh well i've i've read the bible through 20 times now i'm not a baby in christ yeah but have you applied it to your life have you actually tried to change you try to live for god are you actually trying to seek god's will in your life or are you just trying to chalk up the numbers to tell yourself that you're no longer a babe because if you're if you've got all this all evil speakings he's he's just he's he's putting it to newborn babes here now obviously he's talking to newborn babes but he's saying you've got to lay aside the malice the guile the hypocrisies the envies the evil spanking the evil speaking sorry as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby we should all be designed a word of god shouldn't we and why and what's that going to do when you're reading the word of god well hebrews 4 12 says for the word of god is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart when you're reading the word of god when you're in the word of god when you're listening to preaching when you're living for god the word of god will help you discern what that hatred is really about won't it that word of god this i hope this sermon it will hopefully have helped people discern what some of that hatred they feel in life what that unease they feel at certain people is actually all about because so often it's envy isn't it time and time again the bible talks about it turn to galatians 5 so solution number one get in the word of god get in the word of god galatians chapter 5 and from verse 16 galatians 5 16 says this i say then walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh so get in the spirit number two yeah get in the spirit for the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other so you cannot do the things that you would but if you be led of the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these adultery fornication uncleanness lasciviousness idolatry witchcraft hatred variants emulations wrath strife seditions heresies envyings murder drunkenness revelings and such like of the witch i tell you before as i've told you in time past that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of god but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance against such there is no law and they that are christ have crucified the flesh of the affection and lust if we live in the spirit let us also walk in the spirit let us not be desirous of vaingloy provoking one another envying one another okay by the way that's an exhortation to be like that it's not an automatic okay let us not be desirous of vaingloy provoking one another envying one another see if we walk in the spirit if we're living in the spirit then we aren't going to be envying each other and envying others because look for some of you though and for many people they might listen to that and go well that's easier said than done how'd you just walk in the spirit is it just something you just do you just choose to do well have a look at just turn to ephesians five you turn to i'll tell you to turn to a piece if i turn to ephesians five say walk in the spirit deny the flesh in a firm from in ephesians five from verse 18 it says and be not drunk with wine where in his excess but be filled with the spirit okay get filled with the spirit how well look verse 19 speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody in your heart to the lord when you're singing to yourself and god are you are you feeling all carnal at that point in time you're not are you you might be envying someone's singing voice but other than that other than that i don't think you are you're not like praising god in song and then just like in your mind you're like god you're so great and you're you know i hate that person but lord thank you it's not is it it's one or the other and really look you know you look at that and you think well yeah okay well i think to god and say look we should be singing to god every day shouldn't we and you know get some get some get some hymns that you like and and obviously the words are important aren't they in the hymns as well don't just find some contemporary christian music just going love love love or something else you know listen get something that's got some substance of words about who god is about the doctrine about salvation about something you know but you're not going to be carnal are you he said in verse 20 giving thanks always for all things unto god and the father in the name of our lord jesus christ same when you're thankful when you're in regular prayer to god when you're praying to god are you praying with with envy in your heart are you praying to god and i just hate that but you're not are you i hope you're not i mean maybe that it's going to be a bit i mean look you should be look nothing wrong with it with you know with with with prayers when it's about the wicked yeah and yeah we should hate them that hate god but the majority of the time when you're in prayer and you're in prayer giving thanks okay that's a different type of prayer well in those times look i think but i would say as well in those times maybe that's a good time to assess your dislike for someone as well yeah when you're in prayer to god if you're feeling that kind of you just got on your heart that dislike that hatred for whoever it is that just you just find it really hard to get that person off your mind that's a good time to assess that isn't it it's a good time to go to the lord in prayer and find out really what that is you know really what that is and be honest with yourselves assess that why am i feeling like that he said submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of god submitting that's being humble isn't it okay and again so much of it comes from pride doesn't it a lot of the time envy comes from pride submitting is being humble and look that fear of god there he said submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of god that fear of god is important isn't it turn to proverbs 23 what to do about envy we said get in the word of god walk in the spirit and remember you're denying the flesh like that and how to get in the spirit we're talking about you know singing to the lord giving thanks unto the lord obviously being in the word of god as well as part of that and proverbs 23 and verse 17 says let not thine heart envy sinners but be thou in the fear of the lord all the day long i fear the lord fear the lord that's kind of an alternative to envying sinners instead of envying sinners fear the lord if you fear the lord what are you going to be doing keeping his commandments aren't you if you fear the lord you're going to be reading your bible you're going to be praying to god you're going to be doing the things he tells you to do you're going to be in church you're going to be soul winning and you're going to be trying to get sin out of your life aren't you if you fear the lord if you don't fear the lord and sadly there are christians that don't fear the lord it seems yeah and they just well i'll just do my best and they don't and and a lot of time because of pride they don't want to see anything that might be chastisement they don't want to assess that they don't want to think that god could be punishing them because of the problem i'm doing all right i'm a good person well it says here let not let heart envy sinners but be thou in the fear of the lord all the day long and when you're in fear of god when you're fearing god you should be then focusing on yourself and not on others you know in terms of like not on the hatred and the envy you have for other people you should be focusing on getting your your things right getting yourself right with god turn over to proverbs 24 it says in verse 19 proverbs 24 19 fret not thyself because of evil men neither be thou envious at the wicked for there shall no sorry for there shall be no reward to the evil man the candle of the wicked shall be put out see the wicked are ending up in eternal death there's nothing to envy is there nothing to envy about the wicked and again people do that don't they because there are christians that look at the wicked look at oh well it's all right for them and well they can you know they can spend some day you know lying on the sofa eating junk and watching rubbish on tv and people get people do get envious of that oh it's well they don't have to do this and you know maybe there are husbands or envious because oh well i wish my wife did go to work would have more more stuff envious of the wicked or maybe there are wives envious oh if only i could go and you know live like some worldly whore somewhere i'd be so much happier but really they're envying the wicked but there's nothing to envy is there there's nothing to envy but also if you're envying other christians you should fear god shouldn't you if you've got hatred in your heart for other christians and it's look you shouldn't have hatred for other christians anyway but let alone when you've got no justification it's only it's only your own wickedness it comes from envy think about the results that that will come from that and think about the results that come from envy anyway in the word like what we've just seen in the word of god because it's not a dead emotion you start feeling that you look something's going to come from that they're going to be some results okay you're not necessarily going to start calling for babies to be chopped up but look look results come from it yeah results envy it's not something that just sits at that when you see it and that's why the world talks about they get it wrong they call it like the green eyes of jealousy don't they oh you see the green-eyed monster but they're talking about the green-eyed monster of envy aren't they okay and it is a green-eyed monster when you see that in people and you see that envy in them look there's some power there yeah wrath is cruel anger is outrageous but who is able to stand before envy okay that is a it's a powerful emotion it's hard emotion and it's a very common emotion and it's something that we see time and time again in scripture a war time and time again for the sake of this sermon just for time i haven't gone to a load a load more scripture talk about envy about envying people about about not envying people it's time and time and time again in the word of god in the new testament to save christians who who who know full well there's no like you know well we're trying to sift through there and and see you know those pictures have it look clearly talking to save men of god stop envying stop envying people yeah stop being envious the bible's telling us time and time again yeah how often are you sitting down and assessing whether you're being envious and i hope after the day you will and i hope and again not just because of the results that come but for your own good really okay for your own good for your own walk with god for your own happiness for your contentment but hatred for god's children that's a bad place to go down isn't it anyone you ever had anyone hate one of your children i don't know i i've had that before actually we've we've had that and look when you see that or you you feel like and you know and like we you know i don't want to go into it but but yeah i've had that before and look that's not that gets you angry okay that makes you want to start start you know doing all sorts of things you know when you feel like someone hates your child how do you think god feels i think god feels and when you know it's completely unjustified it's just because of envy like that makes you angry it's like you should be controlling that and you should be analyzing that assessing that and we should make sure that we're not doing that for god's children okay so what to do about envy get in the word of god walk in the spirit fear the lord so the power of envy just reminded this because it's i kind of split it into three points it's probably about 10 points over but um you're not going to remember these 10 points but just think about it what is envy okay it's not jealousy envy is discontent pain due to something that someone else has okay not always possessions it includes hatred and a want to take away whatever they have not necessarily for yourself okay causing pleasure number two what are the results of envy okay so we saw the harlots taking from someone else and obviously the extreme was actually willing to to steal a baby or kill a baby but take for someone else we had the patriarchs getting rid of someone okay and that was obviously murder and and or being sold into slavery but but you could see many many versions of that just getting someone out of your life because of envy you've got the jews with their blasphemy and persecution okay and and that's something i think we're more likely to be on the end of it i hope again i hope people here wouldn't start maybe due to envy start trying to fight against clear doctrines of the bible because of envy towards someone else towards another christian korra we had we had rebellion okay rebellion and the envy that comes from that and that's something you know we as we grow as a church and as this church goes on we are going to face it okay and when we face that you need to recognize that okay you need to recognize what it is and how wicked it is and where that comes from as well okay when that happens and we saw with rachel we saw madness okay we saw basically her losing her mind because of envy okay and all of that i believe could and should have been solved by what getting in the word of god walking in the spirit and fearing the lord yeah on that let's pray father i thank you for your word i thank you for how clear you make it with all these many examples what a great story we started with in first kings chapter three and and we focus so much on solomon's wisdom there and wow was he wise to see that but but really also we can take so much about the power of envy and the results of envy from that story and many many others in the bible and it's something maybe we don't think about enough and i pray that all of us here would all go away and just just make sure that we don't we're not suffering without or guilty of that however you want to you want to term it and look that that will get right we'll get right in that part of our life and we thank you that you warn us that you guide us that you give us the solutions thank you for your word that just covers so much of life and every aspect of everything we need is in this bible and we thank you for that and um thank you for this church we pray that you just help us to to go on and be a strong church and to get rid of these sorts of carnal sins out of this church and um we pray that you help us to have a great afternoon now of soul winning to get many people saved and to all return back for for service this evening in jesus name we pray all of this amen