 Hey man, keep your place there in Philippians chapter number two, we'll get there in just a minute. So tonight we're having part two of our Pride and Prejudice book study, Light of the Bible. Now just to give you a little bit of a recap on why we're doing this sermon series, why I've chosen this sermon series, I mean this is a fictional story, this is a fictional novel with fictional characters and you say why do a sermon series on something that's not even real. And the reason that I think it's such a good sermon series and hopefully you can see it tonight is it gets a conversation going about character traits especially. There's some very strong characters in this story, as a matter of fact if you've read the book, which I encourage you to do, even if you haven't finished it yet I encourage you to finish it. If you've read the book it's especially good at making you really, you can almost see the characters, you can almost feel how they are and how they're described very well and characterized very well in the book. But the point is that we all have certain tendencies. So the idea is to look at this fictional story with these characters in light of the Bible, some character traits in this story are bad, some are good, look at what the Bible says and then how can we apply that to ourselves. See we all have certain tendencies. I did a sermon series a few years ago on personality types and there's a test you can take, it'll tell you your personality type and some of these personality types have a lot of bad tendencies and some of these personality types have a lot of good tendencies. But the point is if you know what your personality type is, meaning your tendencies, you can look at that in light of the Bible and you can do what? You can change the bad. You can work on the bad things and try to fix some of those character deficiencies. Our anchor is always the Bible. No matter what our tendencies are we're all different, we all have different struggles with different things. Some people are outgoing, some people are introverted, some people may have more struggles with different areas than others. But the point is if you are aware of that you can change those things and look at changes very difficult for a lot of people. It is something that if you have certain character traits ingrained in you since you were a child it can be a real struggle for you to change those things. But the point is this, when you get saved all your character problems don't just go away. You don't get saved because you repented of your bad character. You get saved because you repented of unbelief towards belief in Jesus Christ. Repentance of sin or repentance of character traits, all those things, those are things that we need to work on throughout our life. That has nothing to do with salvation. So of course it's good to start with good character. It's good to raise our children with good character but if we have traits in us or traits that have been ingrained in us since we were younger, we got saved later in life. Okay, so I got saved later in life as many people that I know, many people here got saved later in life. We may have character issues that we need to work on and work through. And change is difficult. So Christians, Christians that struggle with character problems, it can destroy their Christian life if they can't get the victory over those things. It can take them out of the Christian life. And really if you just wanted to put it in a nutshell, the better you are as a saved Christian, as a Bible-believing Christian, the better you are at improving your character and getting your character in line with the Bible, the more fruitful of a Christian life you will have. There is your motivation right there. We had a very fruitful day today as a church. And that is because we are doing the things regardless of how we grew up, regardless of what we used to believe last year or 10 years ago or 20 years ago, we are now doing the things that we are supposed to do and we are being very fruitful because of that. So that is why we want to look at these things. So tonight, the title of the sermon tonight is Deconstructing Darcy. That's the title of the sermon tonight. So if you've read the book, Mr. Darcy, and if you read novels or stories, there's always a protagonist and an antagonist usually. And these are two people or two groups of people that are struggling together against each other. There's usually every story has some sort of goal, some sort of ultimate success to it. The protagonist is the one that's trying to accomplish that goal. The antagonist is the one that's against that goal. Mr. Darcy is kind of an interesting character because he starts out as kind of the antagonist in the story and then he kind of becomes a co-protagonist towards the end of the story. But I want to look at some of the character traits of this main character in the story of pride and prejudice and take a look at what we can learn from him and his character. Now I'm going to break it down to three character traits that Mr. Darcy has. One is bad and two are good. So the first one is this. Let's get right into it tonight. The first character trait is bad. He's self-centered and he's prideful. You say, oh, that's terrible. That's terrible. So he is a self-centered person and he is a prideful person. Mr. Darcy is this character. He's a young man. Keep that in point. Young man, I'm going to be talking specifically to you this evening, especially in this first part because I'm sorry, but this first trait of Mr. Darcy is a common trait to young men especially. So he is self-centered. I'm calling you all self-centered and prideful tonight. No, I'm just kidding. But it is something that young men especially will struggle with at the beginning parts of their life. So Mr. Darcy, he's rich. He's spoiled by his own admission. He says this. He's obviously rich. We see that right away at the beginning. Now being rich is not a sin. If you were born rich, that doesn't make you an evil person or a wicked person, but it gives you tendencies and you'll see that with Mr. Darcy in his own admission. This is what he says about himself towards the end of the book. He says this. He says, and I quote from the book. This is Mr. Darcy. I have been a selfish being all of my life. I was given good principles but left to follow them in pride and conceit. He said he was taught the right way but he followed the right way in pride and conceit. What does he mean by that? Look, there's a valuable lesson here because the book actually differs slightly from the Bible. Imagine that. But the book differs on pride slightly from the Bible because it is kind of left up in the air on whether or not pride is a bad thing or not in this book. However, the Bible is very clear on pride and I want to break down pride for you in two categories tonight. Now this is kind of my breakdown but I'll back it up with Bible. Turn to Galatians chapter 6. There's two kinds of pride that you will find and the first kind is not the kind Mr. Darcy had. We'll get to that in just a minute. But there's two kinds of pride that you'll find out there but the Bible is very clear that pride is bad. Pride is not good. There's two kinds of pride. So Mr. Darcy admits that he is selfish and prideful to some degree and there's a valuable lesson here. Pride is bad always says the Bible. There's two kinds of pride though and I want to point that out to you tonight. Look at Galatians chapter 6 and verse number 3. The Bible says this and Galatians chapter 6 and verse number 3 about being prideful. It says this and this is the first type of pride right here. The first type of pride that I want to bring up to you this evening is false pride. You say what do you mean pastor? Let's read. Look what the Bible says. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself. This is somebody that thinks they're awesome and they're terrible. Like they think they're the best employee and they're the worst employee. They think they're the smartest and they're the dumbest. I mean they think, I mean isn't it true that some people are more intelligent than other people? And unfortunately that's true. Not everyone is equal. Sorry folks. Sorry to burst that bubble for you. But certain people are better at things than other people. We're not to compare ourselves but this is somebody who thinks they're the best when they're the slowest runner. They think they're the track star and they're coming in last. And the Bible is saying that this person is foolish. That is prideful when they have literally nothing to be prideful in. I remember when I first came to California one of the soul winning stories that really stuck out to me that I'll always remember is we were at a park in Sacramento. And there was a lot of times we would go to parks when we weren't getting salivations in neighborhoods because parks were just seemed to be more receptive. People didn't have anything to do. They were kind of standing around being leisurely. It was easier to get people saved in parks. But there was this guy who was living out of this old car in this park in Sacramento. And I went up to this guy. I had just been in California for not very long. Just a couple months at this point. And I went up to this guy and I remember thinking I'm definitely going to get this guy saved. Why? Because he's living in his car. I mean this guy's living in his car. I mean he's going to be just happy that somebody's coming up to him and wants to show him the Bible and he's just going to be like, hey, you know, great. But there I mean I was shocked. This guy like he knew everything about how it's definitely works and like he was just like he was so convinced in all the false doctrine that he knew he was super spiritual. But here was a man that was super prideful. And I was very surprised that he was so prideful. But look I don't want to throw any blanket statements out there but you'll find a lot of people like that especially in California. People that what? They think themselves to be something when they're nothing. They think that they've got it all figured out when they have nothing figured out. This is false pride. This is somebody who's foolish because you can't tell them anything when this is the type of person that needs to be told a lot of things. But you will see that type of pride. So that's the first type of pride. There's a lot of that pride out there. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 9 but here's the second type of pride and this is the type of pride that especially young men need to be aware of right here. And this is the type of pride that Mr. Darcy suffered from. Here's the problem. Look at Jeremiah chapter 9 and look at verse number 23. So you say yeah that guy was living under this car, yeah that guy was just probably he was probably had some drug problems. He probably just was all messed up in the head and all those things. But what if you find somebody that's kind of got it together? What if you find somebody that's good at things? What if you find somebody that does have some things figured out? What if you have somebody just think of it from a secular perspective? What if you find somebody who is smarter, faster, better? Maybe you find somebody that's more successful than most people. How about that person? Can't they be prideful? I mean many times you will find that person prideful. But look what the Bible says in Jeremiah chapter 9 in verse number 23. This is maybe the most dangerous type. Well I guess all pride is dangerous so it's maybe not a good statement to say. But look at Jeremiah chapter 9 in verse number 23. What if you find a Christian that knows the Bible? Let me tell you something. People that just got saved recently either watching this or sitting here. When you get saved and you start coming to a Bible preaching church and you start reading the Bible, it is not going to be very long before you realize you know a lot more about the Bible than the vast majority of people that you know or have ever known. One of the all time lows in this country is knowledge of the Bible. People that even believe the Bible is at an all time low in the United States. It doesn't take a lot to bypass 99.9% of people. Most Christians who are even saved know nothing or very little about the Bible because they don't read it. Look at Jeremiah 9.23. The Bible says this. It says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. This guy is smart. It doesn't say he thinks he's wise and he's not. It says no he's wise. But he shouldn't glory in his wisdom. Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. This guy is strong. He's a mighty man. But he shouldn't glory in his might, the Bible says. Let not the rich man glory in his riches. The problem isn't that he's rich. The problem is that he's glorying in his riches. He's being prideful about his riches. He's saying I'm rich because I'm better than these people that are not as rich as me. I'm great because I'm wiser than all these people that aren't as wise as me. So yeah, you get smart. You get wise. You start to fear the Lord. You start to read the Bible. You start to figure some things out. You start to change your life. You start to get some things right. And doing what the Bible actually says. And look, then you go ahead and you get prideful about those things. I said, look at the things that I've got right. Look at the things that I am doing compared to these people over here. I'm a much better Christian. That may be the case. But if you're prideful about it, not really. Jeremiah 9.23 is saying, this is what I would call true pride. Meaning you are figuring some things out. You are getting some things right. And I've said this to some young men in the church. And I'll say this in the circles when we're talking late at night. I'm saying, young men, when you start to get things figured out and you start to do what the Bible says, especially in the environment right now in the United States, you're going to have some success. You're going to make it. You work hard. You do what the Bible says. You come to church. You don't steal from God. You get things right in your life. You get the sin out of your life. Some things are going to fall together for you. But don't get prideful about those things. That's the kind of pride that Mr. Darcy had. He was richer. He was probably smarter than most people. But he had good principles and he had some good character about him as we see as the book goes on. But he had pride about those things. He looked down his nose on people that didn't have those things. Even though he had some things figured out to be prideful and conceited was still wrong. And that's what we always have to remember. Now turn back to Philippians chapter 2. Because the Bible says that no matter what your situation, whether you're the guy living in the car or you're the guy that is getting some things figured out and getting some things together in your life, or Gal that's getting some things together in your life, the Bible says pride is always bad. Look at Philippians 2 in verse number 3. The Bible says this. It says, let nothing be done through strife or vain glory. But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. That gives, first of all, it says nothing. So that's an absolute statement right there. And each person is supposed to esteem others better than themselves. It doesn't say unless they're not as smart as you, unless they don't have as much money as you. It says, no, you should always be esteeming others better than you. And in the very next verse it says, look every man not on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. And that's kind of the answer right there is no matter what your situation in life, you should care more about your brother than you do about your things. You should care more about your brother's success than you do your success. You should be more concerned about other people than you do yourself. Because why? You should esteem them no matter what their station in life at that point. You should esteem them higher than you esteem yourself. And the problem is, is that Mr. Darcy was at a pretty high station. We're talking aristocrats here in this story, which none of us can really relate to. But the point is he esteemed himself at the exact state that he really actually was. And he esteemed himself above other people. And that came across to some people that were very important in the story, especially to him, in the wrong way. So all pride is bad. And look, we shouldn't be comparing ourselves amongst ourselves anyway. It's not like you should go up to a brother in church and be like, well, we just met Brother Peter from Poland and we shouldn't just be like, well, where is he at in life? And put him in a peg where we think, I mean, what in the world? We should never be doing that. So it should just be automatically esteeming others above ourselves, no matter what the station of we shouldn't be comparing ourselves amongst ourselves anyway in 2 Corinthians, chapter 10. Churches have had that happen. That's why Paul, you know, we shouldn't be sizing each other up, you know, as far as things like that go. Now, let's go to the second trait of Mr. Darcy, because I really want to get through the first two. They're pretty easy and I want to spend some time on the third one. The first one was that he was selfish, he was self-centered, and he was prideful by his own admission, all right? And pride is always bad. So you kind of need to answer that one from the book from the Bible, all right? He's always bad whether you are great or not, according to the world, all right? Look at what the Bible says, we're not sorry. Look at the second trait of Mr. Darcy tonight. The second trait that I want to point out is a good trait, and it's that he was disciplined. He was a very disciplined person. Now there was a story or a part in the book where at the very beginning when Elizabeth Bennett was with Miss Bennett, so these two girls are talking to and about Mr. Darcy, and they're talking to him, and they're kind of sizing him up, they're kind of looking for weaknesses in him. They're kind of joking around about this, but they're trying to figure him out, they're trying to look for weaknesses, and Elizabeth says this. She says that a good way to get him uneasy or whatever, she said, we could laugh at him. And then Miss Bennett says, oh no, no, you can't laugh at Mr. Darcy, I'm not, I'm kind of paraphrasing here, but she says, you know, she's looking for weaknesses in him, something that she could ridicule him about, and she says this, she says, I hope I never ridicule what is wise or good, so she's looking for a weakness that she can ridicule, because she will never ridicule anything that is wise or good. Now this is a good little tip for you, and I'm going to show you some things, I learned of Proverbs chapter 17, but this is how you can not be made fun of in your life. You're like, oh, I'm always ridiculed, well, this will help you, all right? Because she continues saying this, she says, follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own and laugh at them whenever I can. So she's looking for follies, she's looking for inconsistencies, she's looking for goofy things about him that she could poke fun at him about, and they can't find any, but there's an interesting lesson here. Now there's some pragmatic truths that you're going to see tonight, all right? The Bible warns us about these things, but these are pragmatic, really applicable truths to us. If the Bible here is saying, look at Proverbs 17 in verse number 28, the Bible says this, it says, even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. This is paraphrased many times. People many times will say, it's better to be silent than to open your mouth and prove yourself a fool. I mean there's lots of different ways to paraphrase this, but the Bible is saying this, even a fool. So you could be a fool, the Bible is saying you could be a fool and say nothing and nobody would know you're a fool. I mean you could be a total moron, you could be in a room of people talking about, I've been this guy many times. I've been in many rooms where there's some super smart people talking about some stuff that I don't completely understand. And you know what you do? You shut up. You don't say anything. Why? Because if you try, if you're this type of person, they're just like, oh, I got to say something. I got to throw something in here so they think I'm smart, you're just going to make a fool of yourself. This is what the Bible is telling us. I mean this is brilliant from the Bible right here. The Bible is saying, if you don't understand, if you don't know what to say, don't say anything and you won't be made a fool. You know, Mr. Darcy was very disciplined in this area in his life. He simply did not speak things just to speak things. He didn't say things just to have words come out of his mouth because that's how people catch you in what? In inconsistencies, in silly sayings, and what? They ridicule you for it. You say it's not Christian to ridicule people. People are going to ridicule you. There's the pragmatism for you. Let everybody follow the Bible out in the world. If you don't want to be ridiculed, don't say stupid things. That's what the Bible is saying. Look at Proverbs 29, look at verse number 20. Look at Proverbs 29 and verse number 20. If you speak without thinking, you will be ridiculed. Hopefully not by anybody in this church, but it will happen to you. And this is what Mr. Darcy was very disciplined about. Look at Proverbs 29, verse number 20. The Bible says this. It says, seeest thou a man that is hasty in his words? There is more hope of a what? Of a fool than of him. It says be measured in your words and think before you talk. People that are hasty and just want to say stuff, just to say things, are going to be ridiculed. They're going to be thought a fool. The Bible is warning us against, this is a very pragmatic advice from the Bible. And this just happens to be what Darcy responds with when he's talking to Elizabeth. She's like, I'm looking for something to ridicule about you, but look what he says. The second trait about Mr. Darcy is that he is very disciplined. He is a very disciplined person. He's very careful what he says and what he doesn't say. He responds with this. He says, it has been the study of my life to avoid those weaknesses which often expose a strong understanding to ridicule. You know what he meant? I think before I talk, that's what he said. I don't just say things. And look, this is one of the reasons. There was two reasons in the book that he doesn't say much. One of the reasons was this right here. One of the reasons was that he's just, it's the study of his life. What does that mean? The second reason is the study of your life. It means you put a lot of effort, you put a lot of thought, and you put a lot of training into becoming that thing. He is very trained and very disciplined at measuring the words that come out of his mouth. And if you noticed in the book, one of the things that people are against him and beat him down is that he doesn't say anything. He doesn't speak. And they assume that he doesn't like them, that he thinks that he's better than them. They make all these assumptions because of the fact that he's rich and he's a person of a high estate. The other reason he explains why he doesn't say much, it's that he's introverted. It's that he's not good at speaking to people. He's shy. So he's shy and he's very measured in his word. He's disciplined. And this is the defining trait of Mr. Darcy, is that he just doesn't say much. And look, this is easier for someone to do than others. And look, if you're the type of person that just you just have to be constantly talking constantly about yourself, this is a bad trait that you need to fix. This is something, because you know what people will do? If you've ever been in conversations or you've ever known somebody that when you get in a conversation with them, all they're trying to do, they're just waiting, they're not even listening to you. They're waiting for you to stop talking so they can tell you a better story. And they can tell you a better thing about themselves. This is the one upper. Right? This is the guy that's always got something better. He's done it faster. He's done it better. He's not even listening to anything anybody else is saying. He's just constantly just talking about himself constantly. You know what happens to that guy? He's constantly, he's ridiculed. He's the point of jokes. He's the point of people just making fun of him when he's not around. Look, I'm not saying it's right, but that's what happens. Because he's not disciplined. He's speaking before he thinks. He's just saying things just to bring what? Vanity upon himself. So if you don't want to be ridiculed, measure your words. Think before you talk. Mr. Darcy was very disciplined at this. The third one is this. And this is a good one, and I think maybe people will miss this one. But this is another good characteristic of Mr. Darcy. He makes a comment to Elizabeth and Ms. Bingley at this same time. He makes a comment when they're trying to forget, or they're trying to, I'm not trying to forget, they're trying to figure out flaws in him and it's kind of this joking conversation going back and forth. And he gives them one. He gives them a flaw about himself. And he says, I do have a flaw. And here it is. And I'm going to just quote it for you. He says this. I cannot forget the follies and vices of others so soon as I ought nor their offenses against myself. So he says, I mean, so that's not great. But he doesn't say in the, the movie gets this wrong, by the way. The movie says that I can't forgive others. This says I can't, I don't forget as soon as I should. So it's not that he's unforgiving. It's that he takes longer to forget things than he should. He's aware of it, which is a good thing. He's aware of it. Look, he can forgive if you want to, you know, paraphrase it that way, but just not soon enough, he says. But then he ends with this. So that might be kind of a gray area right there. But he ends with this statement, and this is really what I want to focus on tonight. He ends with this statement. He says this, and it's an absolute statement, and I want you to pay very close attention to what he says. The good opinion, once lost, is lost forever. Whoa. He basically says that once he has lost a good opinion of a man, it's gone. And that good opinion is never coming back. So the question I want to ask tonight, and the question I want to look at this evening, and this was all introduction up to this point, is this. Is that biblical? And the answer may surprise you. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 16. We see a story about this in the Bible. We see a story about this in the Bible, and I got to give a little credit to Garrett because him and I were discussing this, and he pointed me to this story, and it's just a great example of exactly what I'm talking about here. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 16. There's a man in the Bible. See, forgiveness, folks, is one thing, and I've preached on forgiveness extensively. This is one thing. Forgiveness should be one way. Somebody should do something wrong to you, and you should forgive them. That is what the Bible says. You should show mercy, and you should forgive. But what Darcy is talking about with this absolute statement where he says, my good opinion once lost is lost forever. What he is talking about is trust, and that is not the same as forgiveness. And I want to show you that this evening. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 16. Look at verse number five. And King David. King David has just been kicked out of his own city by his son. He's just been overthrown by Absalom, and when King David came to Barherum, behold, thence came out a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gira. He came forth and cursed still as he came, and he cast stones at David, and all the servants of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left, and thus said Shimei when he cursed. Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial. I was calling David a man after God's own heart, a son of Satan. Verse eight. The Lord had returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou has reigned, and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son. And behold, thou art taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Then said Abishai, the son of Zariah, unto the king, why should this dead dog curse my Lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. The king said, what have I to do with thee, ye sons of Zariah? So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, curse David. Who shall then say, wherefore hath thou done so? Now I'll turn to 2 Samuel chapter 19. So here's this man at David's lowest point, who's just kicking dirt in his face. He's kicking David while he's down. David even at that point would not allow him to be put to death. David at that point was humble enough to realize that what he was going through was judgment of God on him. And Shimei he looked at as just more judgment coming down upon him. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 19. Now David comes back after Absalom is defeated. David has won the war. David is coming back to reign once again. He's coming back into power. David's no longer down. David is no longer, you know, in the position where he can't do anything. And he still, he wasn't really in chapter 16, but look at verse 21. It says, Abishai the son of Zariah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed. And David said, What have I to do with you, you sons of Zariah? That ye should be this day adversaries unto me? Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king swear unto him. You know what David did there? David, let it go. He did it. He chose to forgive and not have resentment towards Shimei by letting him live. He ended it right there. But let me look at this for a second. It's turned to 1 Kings chapter 2. So while he may have forgiven him and pardoned him from being executed, did he trust Shimei? Did he think that Shimei was somebody that he could rely upon in his life? Look at 1 Kings chapter 2. Did he have a good opinion of Shimei? Look at 1 Kings chapter 2. And look at the advice that David gives to his son Solomon, who is going to take over the kingdom. Look at verse number 8. And behold, thou hast with thee Shimei, the son of Gerah. David is talking to his son. He's saying, Hey, there's this guy. There's this guy, Shimei, a Benjamin of Barum, which cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahendem, and he came down to meet me at Jordan. And I swear to him by the Lord, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. Now therefore, hold him not guiltless. Look at this. For thou art a wise man. You know what he's saying to Solomon? He's saying, I personally let it go. He's telling his son this. But as you head into your new reign, you can never trust this man. And it would be best if he was gone. So David personally let it go. He didn't have bitterness over Shimei and what he did. He let it go. He pardoned him at that point. But he tells Solomon, you can never trust him. Now look, here's a Bible tip for you. Here's a Bible reading tip. This is Old Testament, this is a historical book. This is what David did, this is not doctrine. You have to remember that when you read the Bible. There's plenty of people in the Old Testament, especially, you know, don't read Judges if you don't understand this. There's plenty of people in the Old Testament that just did stuff. And it doesn't mean that it's Bible doctrine. So I'm pointing you to this story of Shimei, but that doesn't mean that what David did was right. So we need to look further. Because it's just what David did. He let it go, but when his son was gonna take over, he's like, you better execute this man, he can't be trusted. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. So the question, again, what is the Bible answer? When a lost good opinion happens, when you lose good opinion about somebody, look, it'll happen to you in your life. Should it be gone forever? That's the question. That's the question. Is that biblical? The answer may surprise you that the Bible does not take that question from that angle. Turn to Proverbs chapter 22. But the Bible does say this. The Bible does say this. It says this, look at Proverbs 22 in verse number one. The Bible approaches this answer from a different direction. And this is something that you all need to recognize. You need to think about this in your life. Look at Proverbs 22 verse one. It says a good name. You know what that means? A good opinion. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold. It is talking about, in Proverbs chapter 22, it is talking about good opinion. It's talking about reputation. It's talking about other people's trust in you. It is telling you in Proverbs 22 one, other people's trust in you is super valuable. And you don't want to lose it. Let's say you had a whole, you worked your whole life and you had a whole stack of gold. And then you lost it all. Wouldn't it be easy to get that back? This is what the Bible is saying. The Bible is saying that this good name is more valuable than all of these riches. You say, I mean, what does it matter? What does it matter? What is someone's good opinion of me matter? This is what people today will say. I don't care what you think of me. People will say, what does it make, you know, I can just get, you know, if I have a, if you don't have a, if I have a good, you have a good opinion of me and then I lose it, I can just get it back in certain cases. You know, maybe, maybe in certain cases you and I had a deal, you know, I promised you something or I told you I would do something and then something came along that was just more beneficial to me. And so I just couldn't keep that deal over there. And I just went and I did this thing over here. Maybe I could throw somebody under the bus at work and get myself ahead. Maybe if I, you know, somebody made a mistake and I make that mistake really public, I know that that will get me next in line for that promotion or whatever it is. Maybe I can do that. Maybe, hey, guess what? Maybe I can not follow through on that payment. You know, Psalms chapter 37 says, you know, the wicked borroweth and payeth not again. But maybe, you know, people do this all the time. People do this all the time. They're like, well, you know, I need the money somewhere else. So I'm just not gonna pay that guy over there because I just, I need that money for myself. Let me tell you something. I've dealt with this with a friend that I knew about 20 years ago. And this friend, I mean, you know, we were friends and this man ended up stealing $30,000 from this company. And I literally approached him one day after work and I said, you know that you owe that money back. And he just said to me, he just said, I spent it. I bought furniture for my house. I don't have it. That was his excuse, why he was not gonna pay it back and he never did pay it back. I just, I spent it. But let me tell you something that my good opinion of him is gone and it's gone to this day. 20 some years later that my good opinion, it's just gone. I don't think it's gone forever or it could never be gained back or whatever. But I mean, 20 years and counting, still gone. Is it worth the money? You see, what you need to understand is that this is a major problem with people. A major problem with people is that they do not value the trust that people have in them as much as they should. This is a major flaw with a lot of Christians, unfortunately. It's a big deal when they think it is not a big deal. See, the problem is this, folks. The problem is this, whether Darcy is right or not is really not the question. Really the problem is that there are many people out there like him, real people today. There are many people walking around this world that you know and I know that, I mean look, he's a fictional character. He's a fictional character, he's not real. But many people like him exist that once you lose their trust, you will never get it back. And this is what the Bible is warning against in Proverbs chapter 22. Value that trust that people have in you because once you lose it, it's possible that they will never trust you again. This is the lesson. And let me show you something else and I'm sure most people will miss this about the book. But what this shows about him, what this shows about Mr. Darcy, the fact that he is this absolute saying once I lose trust in somebody, I will never trust them again. One thing about him, many people will look at that and be like, that is unmerciful, that is crazy. Many people will look at that and just have a knee-jerk reaction that that is negative, but here's what they're missing. Here's what they're missing. And Elizabeth missed it too because she summed it up, after they had this conversation and he gave this flaw of himself that once my good opinion is lost, it's lost forever. She's like, oh, you mean you have a propensity to hate everybody. She kind of summed it up into this funny little statement. But what she missed is that because he is this way, because he puts such a high value on trust, meaning if you abuse his trust, he will never give you trust again. Look, you will find many leaders that are like this. You should think about this at work. You should think about this when next time you're gonna call in sick and why about being sick at work. Because once you've lost that trust, because many leaders, especially in the workforce today, are just used to people lying to them. They're just used to people being liars. They almost default to the fact that if somebody calls in for some reason that they're not telling the truth. That's how bad it is out there today. That's how few people value their name today. That's how few people know what Proverbs 22 verse number one means, because they don't care if people trust them. But what you have to understand is that experienced people that have this trait, so don't look at this trait and say, oh, that's terrible. That's terrible that he'll never trust him. On the contrary, because they value trust so much, it means that they tend to be very trustworthy people themselves. And that's the positive trait about his statement. Whether you agree with that blanket statement or not, it means, and I can tell you that this has been my experience too, people that have that extreme view of trust are very trustworthy people, because they know what trust means. They know what trust means. And you see this in the book. This is one of the ingenious parts of the book. You see his friend, Colonel Fitzwilliam, saying he's very loyal, just talking about the loyalty of this man, that he's a loyal friend, that as soon as he would get married, his wife would be lucky, because he is such a loyal person. Why? Because he values trust so much. He puts trust on such a pedestal. And even when he answers Elizabeth, when she asks him, she asks him, because if you lose trust, I'm paraphrasing again here, she asks him, if you lose trust, you will never give it to somebody again. She's like, are you careful about who you put in that lost trust category? And he says, I am. So he's very careful about moving people into that category. But once they're in there, they're in there. But the lesson for us is that many people are like this. Many people that we work for, many people that, personally, I don't have a problem with it. I don't have a problem with it. Especially, look, let me tell you something. Forgive people, don't be resentful. That will harm you personally. That will make you a bitter person, that root of bitterness will grow in you. But trust, that's up to you. That's up to you when you wanna grant trust to somebody or revoke it from somebody. And look, as a follower, think about this, ladies and kids especially. As a follower, I would much rather have a Mr. Darcy than somebody who is just like, I trust everybody. Because a Mr. Darcy is gonna protect his family. A Mr. Darcy is going to be somebody that kinda defaults to not granting a lot of trust to people up front. And if he has any reason to not trust somebody, look, parents, let me tell you something. You should start with zero trust. You should start, look, I know people that like, okay, I trust the kid's grandparents and things like that, and look, that's a good level to start with. But you shouldn't trust anybody with your kids. Especially in this day and age, no one. There will never be a time, and there never has been a time where my kids are gone off to some sleepover somewhere. That is from Satan, right there. And a lot of kids are harmed in very bad ways by relatives. So I would much rather have a Mr. Darcy as a dad. Even if you know what? He wasn't this goofy guy that was always joking around all the time, but he was just this stern guy, didn't say a lot, but he was a protector. And he knew what trust was, and he valued trust, and once trust was lost for some reason, he never trusted somebody again. That's a good place to be with your kids, right there. I mean, turn to Acts chapter 20. Think of a pastor that just trusted everyone. It was just like, hey, no matter what, just met you five minutes ago, and just trusted everybody. Paul warned against this. Jesus warned against this. Look at Acts chapter 20, right before Paul is going to Jerusalem, he tells the church, he tells the Ephesians. I mean, again, last words, important. The last words that he will personally speak to them, this is what he says. Look at verse 29, he says, for I know this, after my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Why wouldn't they do it when he's there? Because they're not gonna come around when the shepherd's there. Dads pay attention. People are gonna attack your wife and your kids before they come after you, every time. Satan's gonna come after your wife and your kids before he comes after you. Why? Because they're weaker. These wolves were gonna come in after Paul left when he was gone. Also of your own selves, shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them, giving this idea that you're not gonna know who they are. I'm not trying to make you paranoid tonight. But he's saying Jesus himself says in Matthew 7.15 that there'll be wolves in sheep's clothing. I mean, 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, I mean, verse 14, same thing. You know, talking about 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, turn there, 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, I don't wanna misquote it. Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and look at verse number 14. 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, look at verse number 14. See, these wolves are not working for the Lord. And Satan never comes at you saying, hello, I'm Satan. Never knocks on the front door and says, I'm Satan, can I come in? Look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, verse 14. And no marvel for what? For Satan himself has transformed into an angel of light. It's trickiness. It's slowness. It's subtlety. That's how Satan works. It's, so look, you can't just trust everybody. You can't be a leader of a family and just trust everyone. Because you'll put people in danger. You would be much better off being a Mr. Darcy that people think is a jerk and have your family safe. And have your church safe. So you gotta watch. You gotta pay attention. Now look, I mean, I'm telling you, this is how, look, this is how it works, folks. Trust, trust a good name. It takes a long time to create. That's the first thing you need to realize. A good name takes a long, I mean, you almost say, you'll listen to these three things that I'm about to say and you'll say it's not fair. But trust, building a good name takes a long time to create. And it's destroyed like that. A long time, I mean, think about it. I look at the guys that have been here since the beginning of the satellite ministry and they're here today. Look, I trust those guys. Look, I'm not saying I don't trust other people, but I'm saying like I got the most trust in them. I'm not ashamed to say that. Why? Because they've proven that they can stand up to Satan and his attacks. They've proven that they will be on the right side. They've proven that they have some Christian maturity. They've proven themselves. They've built that trust over a long period of time. And look, I'm not immune to this. I hope that I've earned their trust. I hope that I've earned their trust. Guess what? I could lose their trust just like that. Just like they could lose mine just like that. It's like it's not fair. That's the way it works. That's why Proverbs 22.1 is there. It's destroyed quickly and many times it will never be able to be gotten back. This is the problem. And this is what we need to realize. So, I'm actually for this blanket statement for Mr. Darcy. The Bible doesn't address it. The Bible doesn't say when you should stop trusting somebody and when you should bring that trust back. That's up to you. The Bible just tells you how valuable your name is and how well you should protect your name so people can what? They can trust you. And that's why this trait of Mr. Darcy, while many people may read that book and think that's a negative trait, I actually think it's a good one. I think he'd be a good dad. I think he'd be a good husband. I think his loyalty, even though it may come off as judgmental, will pay off in his life. Of course he's not real. But it's something we can definitely apply to ourselves looking at what the Bible says about keeping that good name. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.