 Okay, here we are, Proverbs chapter 28, I'll begin at verse 1, just read verse 1 and begin our study. Proverbs chapter 28, verse 1, the wicked flea when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. So in this verse here, faith is contrasted with anxiety. Faith is contrasted with fear. Notice how he puts it. The wicked flea when no one pursues. Now when he speaks concerning the wicked, and he says the wicked flea, the wicked are those who have no relationship with God. They're unbelievers. And because they are unbelievers, their consciences are troubled by their sins. That's why they would flee when no one's pursuing. Because they have no relationship with God, no peace with God, no cleansed conscience. They're troubled. They're troubled by their sin. And that produces anxiety because they have no confidence for the future. A person who has got a troubled conscience very often is afraid that people are out to get them. All you need to do is look in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, and remember the example of one of Adam's sons, a man by the name of Cain. You know the story of how that God had received offerings, one from Abel and another one from or had had an offering offered, and the other by Cain. And God, the Scripture says, accepted Abel's offering, but did not accept the offering of Cain. And that got Cain very upset. And he was so upset that he went out and slew his brother. And when it speaks concerning the fact that Cain slew Abel, the Hebrew word to describe what happened is a real strong word. It actually literally can be translated, he butchered his brother. So it wasn't something that was accidental. It was something that was done on purpose and brutally. And he went out and he butchered his brother. As a result of that, God banished him and declared him to be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth. Now, when this happened, Cain said, this punishment is more than I can bear. And in Genesis chapter 4, verse 14, he went on to say, I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me. The wicked flee when no one pursues them. When you have a bad conscience, you think everybody is out to get you. And so we need to understand that the person with no faith in God lives in fear all the days of their lives. They have no confidence for the future, but ultimately they do stand before God in judgment. Yet he says the righteous are as bold as a lion. Those who put their trust in the Lord have sure confidence. They don't live in fear. God is with them. God works for them. God will deliver them because they have a relationship with God. One of my favorite scriptures is found in 1 John 4, verses 17 and 18, and it says, love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love. Fear casts, love casts out fear. Why? Fear has torment. There is no sense of confidence that you are going to go to heaven because you have no relationship with God. And so when you don't have a relationship with Lord, all you really will have is anxiety. You see, a righteous person can have confidence in the face of trial as well as danger. That's because God is on their side and their trust is in him. The psalmist said in Psalm 46, verses 1 and 2, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help and trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Isaiah 26, 3 says, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. And in Hebrews 13, 5 and 6, let your conduct be without covenessness. Be content with such things as you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And so the wicked flee when no one pursues. They have an impure conscience. They have a paranoia. They live in anxiety. They have no hope for the future. The righteous, on the other hand, are as bold as a lion. Because God is on my side, I will fear no one. In verse 2, because of the transgression of a land, many are its princes. But by a man of understanding and knowledge, right will be prolonged. So this seems to say that because the nation is sinful, you'll have officials that continue to multiply in number. When many are pushing for power, the unity of a nation is undermined. We see that in our own nation to this day. When you cannot have unity, there's nothing but division. And so each new ruler brings new rules and they bring new taxes. They bring new laws and they bring other burdens that they'll put on people. So in undergoing constant changing of leadership direction, that that nation ultimately is unstable. But it goes on to say, but by a man of understanding and knowledge, right will be prolonged. So when a wise and faith-filled leader is in office, stability will occur. Justice can prevail. National stability can exist. Verse 3, a poor man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no food. One would expect a poor man to have sympathy for others who are also poor, but sometimes they could be less compassionate, especially when survival is on the line. Verse 4, those who forsake the law praise the wicked. But such as keep the law, contend with them. We'll develop this for a moment. People who don't have biblical morality, people who don't believe that God's word is true, people who don't have a relationship with the Lord or value the things that He's given to us in His word, while they end up praising those who are wicked. Paul spoke concerning this in the book of Romans in chapter 1. In chapter 1 of the book of Romans, he spoke of those who exchanged the truth of God for the lie. And in chapter 1, verse 32, he spoke of them in this way. He said, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. We live in a time that people who don't obey the things of the Lord are approving of those who are also rejecting the things of God. That's the way our world is today. We know that. I'm not saying something that's revolutionary or new, but when a lack of reverence for the ways of the Lord is evidenced, there's going to be contention. It's interesting how he says in verse 4, the second portion such as keep the law, contend with them as we ought to. That simply means that you don't roll over and allow them to run rough shot over the nation or over your home or over you personally in the sense of them taking advantage and pushing their evil upon you. We don't allow that to take place. There will be a contention or the differences. There will be difference. You see, the righteous don't always remain silent. The righteous actually speak up when necessary. And I'd encourage you, by the way, to do that. I'd encourage you not to be afraid to speak up. There are a lot of believers who know better. They know better and they'll be in an office and there'll be a discussion and that does take place and all and there'll be a discussion in the office and people will be giving their opinions and you may be there and you think you're alone and there's nobody there in that office who will agree with you. And after all, you're the new kid on the block where you don't want to cause any problems and all. And you'll hear all of this discussion in the lunch room or between employees or whatever and it gets worse and worse and worse and so a lot of believers I see today are kind of timid. They're a little nervous or even afraid to speak up. But the Scripture says, such as keep the law, contend with them. There are times when you're going to have to speak up and you can do so lovingly and you don't have to do so as a bully and you don't have to come off arrogantly and you don't have to speak with a lack of charity. You don't have to do that. All you need to do is say, well that's an interesting point that you have, I actually differ with that and this is the reason I do. And you can say what you have on your mind and you'll be surprised at how many people are silently listening to conversation who haven't heard a different side. And when you stand up and you say something and you don't again have to be argumentative and mean or belligerent when you simply say, well, you know, I see things differently than that. This is how I see them. You'll be surprised how many people can be influenced for good or at least begin to realize that there are other sides to that argument. There are other things to consider. I encourage you to be somebody who takes the chance to speak up. I encourage you to say something on behalf of truth and that which is right when given the opportunity. I did that long before I was called Pastor David. I did that when I was 23 and 24 years old when I'd be in secular classes in college and people would say something that was just not right and I would speak up and I would contend with them. I would say there's a different way to say that or see that and yeah, I got mocked and yeah, there were people who did make fun of me and all, but you know, I really didn't care. And one class in particular literature class that I had that Cal Poly Pomona, I was the class idiot because I contended for these things and then I realized that and I realized that well, because they basically said it, you know, and I'm okay with that. I was okay then. I'm okay with it now because there is another side. There is something else and there is the Lord's side and you ought to be the person. If you don't speak up, who's going to? And if you begin to think, well, that person over there will, well, they may be thinking you will and then nobody does and then you end up and you still fail the class so you might as well speak up, right? Speak up when necessary. Verse five, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all. Evil men. These are men without biblical morality and because they have no biblical morality, justice is twisted to benefit anybody who can buy it. So it takes moral foundations to discern dimensions of righteousness and truth. You see, evil men don't understand. They don't have moral dimensions. They basically think as brute beasts, if you will, but those who seek the Lord understand all because God's word informs them and the spirit instructs them. It takes a moral foundation to discern dimensions of righteousness and truth. Verse six, better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways though he be rich. To be poor yet honest is better than to be rich and without character. There are a lot of people, I don't, you know, I don't believe that the Bible teaches that it's an evil to be rich because the Lord entrusts wealth to people. He gives people the power to have wealth according to Deuteronomy chapter five. He gives you the opportunities and the abilities to get those things and all. But when you begin to say my own ingenuity, strength, wisdom has given me these things. At that point, you're taken from God the credit that should be given to him. But there are people who like to be rich and they will do almost anything to be rich and yet the bottom line is to be poor yet honest is better than to be rich and without character. The most important thing that you can develop in your walk with the Lord, and I'll say this briefly, is character. Is character. You know, I'll say it like this by way of illustration. There are a lot of people who hold the office of pastor who may have gotten degrees and they may be able to speak concerning a lot of the information that they've learned by going to college and receiving a seminary education. But the one thing the seminary can't give to you is character. It can give you training. It can teach you. You can learn classes. It's not hard if you have the ability. You can learn Greek. You can learn Hebrew. You can learn archaeology. You can learn history. You can learn how to divide the word. You can learn those things. Those are tools. They're actually tools. In theological languages, they speak concerning the tools that you get, homiletics, which is the ability to preach or training you to preach. You learn terms like Icegesis, exegesis, how to take out of the passage and not put into the passage. You learn these things through your studies and anybody can go through classes to learn how to outline a message and even to communicate it. It's not hard to do that. And there are a lot of people who have learned how to take the Bible and to outline and give a message from it, but they don't live the message when they're outside of the pulpit. And what they do is they undermine that message. And I would rather have a sincere believer who's walking in integrity who may not be eloquent, but loves Jesus. I would rather that person be my pastor than somebody with no character, than somebody who may be trained and may be eloquent, may be humorous, may be have a great personality and may be very handsome and magnetic in the whole nine yards. But if that person doesn't have character, he's dangerous in that pulpit. Character counts. Character matters. And that's something that we ought to really look for. So better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich. Because so many people like Wealth, he's simply saying character matters. Integrity matters. Verse seven, whoever keeps the law is a discerning son. But a companion of glutton's goes to David Rosales's house on Thanksgiving. A companion of glutton's shames his father. Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son. A discerning son, a son with discernment, the ability to judge, has religiously based morals. And because he's discerning, he has morals that are biblically based. He can be wise and well as well as self-controlled. So when he lives righteously, he's what is referred to as a worthy son. But a son who lives unwisely, even as a prodigal, or that son is an embarrassment to the father. He's an embarrassment to the father. Proverbs 17.21 says, he who begets a scoffer does so to his sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy. Proverbs 17.25, a foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him. And so I would desire a son who is discerning, a son who knows the law and keeps it. Verse eight, one who increases his possessions by usury and extortion gathers it for him who has, who will pity the poor. Now when you look in the Old Testament, the law of Moses forbade the rich from taking advantage of the poor. When you look in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, it's in the law. In chapter 25, verses 35 through 37, it reads, if one of your brethren becomes poor and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him like a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him, but fear your God that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, no lend him your food at a profit. You don't lend your money with interest to gain from him. There are people who increase their possessions by taking advantage of the poor, aren't there? I was thinking about that today. Just think of all the scams that exist today. The FBI scam. You've heard of that one recently, right? The FBI scam? Yeah. Raise your hand if you've heard of it. Okay, good. I'll scam you right now, myself. No, it's the FBI phone scam. It's taking place in the United States. What happens is somebody will call you up and you are the intended victim, and they will tell you something like this. They'll say that they've been investigating you, that you didn't pay your taxes, and this is your final notice, and your address is being investigated, an arrest warrant has been issued for you, and what will allow you to pay this off if you meet us at this corner at this time. And there are people who are giving thousands of dollars to these scam artists. That's the reason I thought I had to bring this up in as much as some of you haven't heard it. You may get a phone call, and you'll answer it alone. And they'll say, hello, this is the FBI, and yes. And then they'll say that, you know, we've been investigating you and blah, blah, blah. This is happening quite often. It's in the newspaper, it's been in the news, and they're saying, beware of this. There are the phony repairmen that are going through neighborhoods, and they'll knock on your door. They especially are looking for the elderly, because the elderly are very trusting, and they'll knock on it, and they'll say, we were examining the foundations of your home. There are cracks in it, and we can repair that for $12,000, and all you need to do is sign this contract, and then the little old lady goes and looks, and she's usually the little old lady goes out and looks, and she doesn't know, you know, and they're taking advantage. My mother-in-law, they tried to scam my mother-in-law like that. Well I tried to, I needed $12,000, but I did it for two. But that's happened. That happens. There are romance scams on the internet, and I was looking through your profile, and I can see that you're a very nice looking person, and from Russia, they're usually from Russia for some reason, and I would like to be your wife, you know, so that's going on. One of my friends' mothers got ripped off by somebody calling the house saying, Grandma, I need your help. You've heard that one, Grandma, and she sent this person a couple thousand dollars. Yeah, because, because what they'll do is this, they'll say, Grandma, I need your help. Is this, is this Billy? Yes, Grandma, this is Billy. I don't have a grandson named Billy, hang up, you know. But that's what they did. They said, yes, this is, this is, and they take that name. And you have to send it Western Union, and send it to this address. And one of my friends' mother got scammed for a couple thousand dollars that way. There are those that call you up, and they'll say, you have a virus on your computer. Have you gotten that one? I have. I got a call. You have a virus on your computer, and you need to send us information so we can clear it for you. So they called me at my house and said, we have, you have a virus on your computer, and I said, really, what kind of computer do I have? Click. You know. And because they're just ripping you off. They want your information. Send us this information. I've won, I've received millions of dollars from Nigeria because, you know, somebody died and left this and they want to share their money with me or whatever. You know, I'm telling you one thing after another. And so that's what's taking place, and that's something the Lord hates. And He says that one who increases his possessions by usury and extortion, gathers it for him who will pity the poor. It would seem to be saying that the one who takes advantage of the poor eventually loses it, and it's given to one who will be kind to those who are poor. Verse nine, he who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. Why? Well, because God doesn't listen to the one who doesn't listen to him. If you're deaf to instruction, how is the Lord going to speak to you? You know, there are those who say, I wish the Lord would speak to me. And I think what they're saying often is I wish he'd call me up, send me a text message or email me, you know, because he already has. He already has. He's right in front of us right now. These are the words of the Lord. He has spoken to us. And if you don't want to read the word, and there are those who don't regard it, they don't see any value in it, and they ignore it. They're refusing to hear the Lord. And so if you're deaf to instruction, how will the Lord speak to you? He doesn't speak to the one who doesn't listen, apparently. So refusing to obey God is refusing to care for or to pray according to his will, because he reveals his will in his word. You may desire something that he doesn't desire for you. And so what you do is you read the word and you seek the Lord. Or if you're not that conversant yet in Scripture, you speak to those who are and you ask for prayer and you speak to them and ask for instruction and you search the Scriptures and you determine to obey the Lord and in a desire to obey the Lord, the Lord listens to you as you pray. In Psalm 66 verse 18, the Psalmist said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. In Proverbs 15 verse 29, the Lord is far from the wicked. He hears the prayer of the righteous. The wicked don't care to honor him, but the righteous do. And so if you turn your ear from hearing God's word, the law, your prayer isn't going to have an effect. It isn't something acceptable to him. And so we turn to the word, we pray in the direction of the Spirit in his word, the Lord listens to us as we do so. Verse 10, whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he himself will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good. Everybody has a certain amount of influence on other people. Everyone of us does. You may think, oh, I have no influence. That's not true at all. You have influence on various people. You have a certain amount. Everyone does. You have a certain influence on your family or your friends. You have an influence in the neighborhood or with coworkers. And you do have an influence in a variety of ways. You can influence by the things you say. You can be a tremendous influence in your example. People will actually see how you live. And you may not even realize that, but it's true. They will see how you live, and that can actually convict them. And they see you as an example of somebody who has a good life. And you can influence people by the advice that you give to them. So be careful, because if we wound the weak conscience of a believer, we are actually committing a great sin. There are those who minimize bad habits or minimize their sins, and they influence other people in that way. But we need to be careful how we influence others. In 1 Corinthians 8, verse 12, Paul said, when you thus sin against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. So don't corrupt other people. Judgment awaits those who lead the innocent astray. In Matthew 18, verse 6, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Don't cause one of these little ones who believe in Jesus to stumble. There's a great judgment when there are those who do such a thing. Verse 11, the rich man is wise in his own eyes, but the poor who has understanding searches him out. Well, why is that? Why would the rich man be wise in his own eyes? Well, often a rich man can be a bit arrogant, a little conceited, thinking they're all that, but the humble, poor, sees right through him. In the book of Job, chapter 32, verse 9, Alhew said this. He said, great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice. That's an interesting, powerful statement, to be honest with you. Great men are not always wise, and that's true. There are men who've arrived at a certain plateau in life, a certain place in life, that actually had others who propped them up to get there. They knew how to climb on top of people's backs to get where they wanted to get. It wasn't necessarily that they had all the great ideas, as they knew how to use people to get what they wanted. One of the best-known billionaires in the world outside of me, Bill Gates, was asked what the secret of his success is, and he said, I always hire people who are smarter than me. That's a great business principle, by the way. Here in the ministry, I've spoken to my own staff, and I've said to them this. I've said, listen, you can only go as far as your gifts will take you, and you may have and you will eventually hit your limit. You will reach your level of incompetence. You're going to get there. You're going to get to whatever level it is, but if you're wise, as a leader, you will look around for those who are better than you in various areas, and you will place them in positions. You may have ideas, but they have the capacity to see those ideas through. But if you think that you're going to do it all yourself, you're going to limit your ministry to your abilities, and when you limit your ministry to your abilities, you're going to hit a plateau, you're going to stay there, and you won't go beyond that. So be wise enough to have your eyes open to see those who are better than you at certain things and place them there. That's just a basic principle. You know our church was young, here's something for you to laugh at, when our church was young, I basically did pretty much everything because it was a homemade church. My wife Marie was the children's minister. We had like five kids maybe, I don't know, ten kids, we had ten kids, and I was sharing with the women just this last week how that. Our first Sunday, Marie was the children's minister, so she decided to take the kids because she likes to do this. She decided to take the kids for a walk, and they came running down the sidewalk. They were running down the sidewalk, running into the house after the walk because she had disturbed a hive of bees, and the bees were chasing them down the street, you know. I said you need to let them be, but no she didn't. But we only had, we had a couple people singing, three people singing, we didn't have a bulletin, and we had a Bible study. How hard is that? It's not that hard at all. But now in this church, you know, 37 years later, we've got well over 50 individual ministries that have multiplied into different ministries. So I can't handle all of those things. I can't do all of those things. So what I want are those who can. And so you put those people into those places to serve. Now, a rich man could get to the point where he thinks I had all the ideas, and it's all, you know, blossoming because of me, and his arrogance, and his pride get in the way, and a poor man looking at him sees right through, and knows this man's insecure. This man's braggart. This person here isn't all that he thinks himself to be. And so the rich man can be wise in his own eyes, but the man who is poor, who has understanding, searches him out. Verse 12, when the righteous rejoice, there's great glory, not Greglory, there's great glory, but when the wicked arise, men hide themselves. So when godly people are in leadership, joy amongst the people is possible. Notice in Proverbs 29, verse 2, how it says, when the righteous are in authority, people rejoice. When a wicked man rules, the people groan. So when the righteous rejoice, there's great glory. Verse 13, he who covers his sins will not prosper. Whoever confesses and forsakes him will have mercy. That is a powerful scripture. Repentance and the rejection of sin results in peace with God. And not only does it result in peace with God, because you see, the gospel is a declaration from God of terms of peace. You've heard the term the gospel of reconciliation. Reconciliation is the bringing of two parties that are in opposition to warring parties, it's bringing them to a peaceful resolution. Reconciliation is bringing two warring individuals or parties into a resolution. The gospel of peace is the gospel of reconciliation. The gospel of reconciliation is the message of God of terms of peace. It's a declaration that God has won and is declaring the terms. It is not a terms of peace that says this side was wrong and this side was wrong and so they're gonna reconcile. No, it's a declaration of God saying that you need to 100% lay down your arms. You have lost completely. It's the same picture of Douglas MacArthur on the Missouri receiving the sword from the Japanese emperor when he handed him the sword and said, we have lost and you have won. It's 100% the United States representing the victorious forces and the Japanese handing over the sword representing the forces that lost. There are no conditions. This is an unconditional thing. It is you can have peace by laying down your sword, but if you do not, we will destroy you. See, that's what happened at the end of World War II that a lot of Americans perhaps have forgotten. What God did when Jesus died on the cross is he had victory. Satan was conquered. The grave was conquered. Victory is ours through Jesus Christ. God has given the message of peace called the gospel. And he says, these are the terms of peace. You're not going to negotiate with me. You're going to completely surrender. See, that's what you did when you got saved. I surrendered. I didn't negotiate a piece of God. I didn't say, well, I want to keep this in here and these sins there. And I've been liking this for a while. I didn't do that. I laid down my arms and I said to God, you win. I lost. I accept your terms of peace. And so that's how you get saved. That's how you have relationship with God. That's how it happens. But a person who will not confess their sin, they cover it, they hide it, they're not going to prosper. It doesn't happen that way. What happens is you have to say, God be merciful to me. I'm a sinner. That's why it says whoever confesses and forsakes him has mercy. No, it's not a matter of me just saying, I'm kind of sorry. It's a matter of me not only repenting, but also forsaking. In Psalm 32 verses three through five, David the psalmist was writing concerning that what he went through after he had committed adultery with one of his friends, wife, the sheba. And he says in Psalm 32 three through five, when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord. And you forgave the guilt of my sin. That's how it happens. If you don't completely forsake and confess, you're not really confessing. You're not really repenting. It's when you say, God be merciful to me, I'm a sinner. So whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. Verse 14, happy is the man who is always reverent. But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity. This is a contrast here obviously between reverence and a hardened heart. The fear of the Lord will produce a godly lifestyle. And a godly lifestyle is one known for avoiding sin. It like it says in Psalm 2 verse 11, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Or Proverbs 8.13, to fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. So the fear of the Lord produces a godly lifestyle. And we serve him with fear and trembling. Verse 15, like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people. Simply put, tyrants are destructive. They're insensitive to pain that they cause other people. That's true. Verse 16, a ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor. But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days. It's the righteous ruler who remains in power because they are often loved by the people. Verse 17, a man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit. Let no one help him. That's interesting when I was reading that. It speaks of a man burdened with bloodshed. Burdened with bloodshed is speaking of someone who committed murder. So when you murder someone, you live in guilt and isolation your entire life. And the unrepentant murderer receives just punishment and will die without pity. Verse 18, whoever walks blamelessly will be saved. But he who is perverse in his ways will suddenly fall. To walk blamelessly is to walk unimpaired or to have integrity or to be innocent. And the point he's making is integrity will produce security. But a perverse or twisted life only produces insecurity. Verse 19, he who tills his land will have plenty of bread. But he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough. Diligent work produces prosperity and can result in a comfortable life. There's nothing wrong with working and earning your bread. That's the point he's making here. There's nothing wrong with it. As a matter of fact, he's saying, if you work hard, you're going to produce enough to live in a comfortable way. And that's what we ought to follow as an example. Verse 20, a faithful man will abound with blessings. But he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished. A faithful person is one who works within the rules. As a result of that, will be blessed. But an unfaithful person chasing after wealth and not caring how they get it ultimately will pay the price. Colossians 3.25 says, he who does wrong will be repaid for what he's done. And there's no partiality. So in verse 21, to show partiality is not good. Because for a piece of bread, a man will transgress, valuing a person more than what is true and just, destroys proper justice and administration. And when you have a tendency of wanting to receive something for your judgment, say you're in a position to be able to make judgments, you're opening yourself up to bribes. And the point he's making is some people can be bought very cheaply. Verse 22, this is an interesting phrase. A man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him. Evil eye, how many of you ever heard the term evil eye? That's an interesting term, the evil eye. You go to Israel and they actually have their hands and they'll have an eye in the center of it. And I don't really remember what that's supposed to be or whether it's to ward off the evil eye or not. But there's a phrase, there's a term that is used and a lot of cultures have that, the evil eye. The evil eye, I grew up hearing that term, the evil eye. And the evil eye was really a curse. It was something that would make you ill or whatever. And a lot of you grew up hearing stories like that. I'm not here to teach you about superstitious stories. But when I first got saved and I read the evil eye, I thought, what is that? What is the evil eye? And so let me share with you what this means when it says a man with an evil eye hastens after riches. An evil eye speaks of how a person views life. It's what influences them and their behavior. It's interesting, Jesus used that image in the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6, 22 and 23, Jesus said it like this. He said, the lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness? So he's speaking of the eye. So if your eye is good, when he says if your eye, that speaks of your spiritual priorities. If your eye or your spiritual priorities is good or focused, clear and healthy, if you have singleness of vision, if you're devoted to God, the result is having God's light that leads you through darkness. But then he said in Matthew 6, 23, but if your eye is bad, the word bad means to be unfocused, even diseased, your whole body will be full of darkness. And so the point is, materialism produces spiritual blindness. That's what's being referred to. A man with an evil eye hastens after riches and does not consider that poverty will come upon him. There are people that will do just about anything for money. I'm still trying to figure out what talent the Kardashians have. I haven't got a clue. You know, and that's not a judgment. It's just like, I don't get it. You know, anyway, I could go off on that because I trip on that. There are quite a number of people who they know exactly what they want and are willing to do anything to get it. Anything, they'll sell their own mother if it gets them a foot ahead of somebody else. That's a fact. They will do anything. They will betray anybody. This is a person with an evil eye hastening after riches, but they don't consider that poverty will come upon them. A person who's greedy for wealth ultimately will pay. In 1 Timothy chapter six, verses nine through 11, listen to what Paul said. He said, people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction for the love of money, not money itself. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people eager for money have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs, but you, man of God, flee from all this, pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness, why? Cause those things move on into eternity, but you can't take material things with you. Lay your treasures up in heaven. Verse 23, he who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue. You know, flattery may make you feel good, but it doesn't help you become better. Flattery very often is used just to try and get something from you. Flattery is insincere. It's intending to appeal to some vanity in your life so they can use that later on to bargain for something for themselves. And so someone who's flattering you isn't necessarily doing you good, but somebody who's willing to correct you is actually a good friend. We've seen this already in Proverbs 27.5, open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. And I've already said this, I'll say it one last time. Thank God, thank God when you have a friend who's willing to take the chance of losing friendship by telling you the truth. Thank God for someone who loves you enough to tell you the truth. That is so important. You're not as good as you think you are, and you're not as bad as you think you are. You're probably somewhere in between, but you'll always have someone who will tell you you're worse than you are, and you always will have somebody who's telling you you're better than you are. So if you've got a good friend who's willing to tell you the truth at all times, someone who loves you enough to say, listen, I know this may bother you, but I really, I love you, man, and I'm telling you the truth because I'm concerned for you. That's a friend, that's a friend. And you may go home and you may cry and you may go tell friends, you know what that jerk told me? Told me this and that, and they'll just smile at you because they agree with him. They just have never told you. That's a real friend. And so it really is important. He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue. Verse 24, whoever robs his father or his mother and says it's no transgression, the same as companion to a destroyer. Whoever robs his father or mother, that means they're taking from them what doesn't belong to them. Or it may even be keeping from them what rightfully belongs to them. They may be taking the material from them or they may not give to them the honor that is do them as a father or a mother. And he's saying that the person who robs father or mother is like a companion to a destroyer. He's equal to a robber on the highway. He's like a thief and he's a violent robber and he has no right to his parents' goods. He has no right unless they give them to him. And so a person like that is not to be respected at all. Verse 25, he who is of proud heart stirs up strife. But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. People who reject correction have a tendency of stirring up people against other people. But the one who trusts in the Lord is blessed and you can live happily and you can live comfortably. But the proud of heart will stir up strife. Verse 26, he who trusts in his own heart is a fool. Whoever walks wisely will be delivered. When you're confident in and you rely on your wisdom and strength, that's a foolish thing to do. But when you walk in the wisdom of the Lord, God will bless you. You know, trusting the Lord with all your heart and not in your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Verse 27, he who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many curses. God blesses sincere generosity. But when you hide your eyes, that's another way of saying you're looking at someone with disgust and indifference. God is greatly upset with that. A truly generous person doesn't miss what they've given away. And then finally verse 28, when the wicked arise, men hide themselves. But when they perish, the righteous increase. When the wicked arise, men hide themselves. People will avoid even hide from wicked rulers to avoid being harmed by them. When the wicked perish and often they do so violently and they lose their power, there are others who rise up and will take it. And now righteous can rule and can encourage justice and righteousness. This can result in a nation being blessed, especially when good people are in office. And I'll close with just a couple of thoughts. When the wicked perish, the righteous increase, speaking of the righteous increasing, we need to pray for godly government, obviously. And I'm not saying anything to you, you don't already know, but I'll say this briefly. There's so much lack of civility. There's so much lack of civility today. It's difficult for us as Christians to understand. In many ways, I don't understand. I'm old enough to say I've lived through the presidencies of a number of presidents and I can say this. I don't think I've lived in an era where there's been so much anger and so much disrespect as we're seeing right now. And there's so much that's being said that isn't even true. That you have to be aware of these things. And I just want to say one thing, and then let me say it quickly here. And I want to be careful how I say this because I want it to be clear. I'm grateful for the Supreme Court nominations that have been ratified and that are pending. I'm grateful for Neil Gorsuch. I really am because this is a man who has morality. This is a man who has integrity. This is a man who is making judgments in the right fashion. And the Supreme Court, keep this in mind. I always remember this and it's true. So I can say it like this. The United States has a tendency, people in general here in the United States, I can say this very easily and I think it's factual. We have a tendency of saying if it's legal, it's also moral. If it's the law, then they will equate it with morality. That's what happens. And you can look at theories of moral development and there are stages of moral development that have been postulated. And one of the stages is that a person's morality is based on whether something is legal. Therefore, if it's legal to do whatever, if it's not illegal, then they will equate it with being a moral thing. And that's what's happened here in the United States is laws have been passed that actually have influenced the moral thinking of people. And so for the last 20 plus years, certain things have been said to us as a nation that have basically brainwashed a whole generation to believe that certain immoral acts are actually moral and the person who stands up against those acts is a hater themselves. And so pastors like me who try to give the scriptures as they stand and go through the passages that actually define sin. And when you preach it the way that it's there, there are those who get upset, they walk out, they're angry, they think that you're a hater. And that happens here all the time because we try to go through the word of God with that said. When Gorsuch became a Supreme Court justice, one of the cases that was being tried related to a baker who had refused based on moral convictions as a Christian, he had refused service to a homosexual couple who wanted to have a cake that was gonna be baked for their wedding. And there are cake shops everywhere, bake shops everywhere, but they wanted him to bake the cake. And they were customers and he had spoken to them more than once, but when they said, we like to have you do our cake, he said, you know, to be honest with you, I can't do that. I can't bake a cake blessing something that my conscience doesn't allow. And so he was sued. Now all of you are aware of this, he was sued. And as he was sued, they started going through lower courts and finally it reached the Supreme Court recently. And the Supreme Court stated that he was within the pale of his rights to refuse based on his conscience. Listen, if Gorsuch was not on that court, you'd have probably had a split court on that. It would have been dropped down to a lower court and who knows where it would have gone. I thank God for Neil Gorsuch. I do, I actually do because this is a man who actually just, he did it justly and regarded the convictions of that baker with respect. Well, we right now have another Supreme Court nominee. His name is Brett Kavanaugh. He's regarded as a solid justice. He's what is called an originalist. He judges based on what the constitution originally meant. And there is a war against him. There was already a war starting before his name was brought. They were already preparing their arguments. Why? Because they want that, because an opposing side, the Democrats to be honest with you are in opposition to the morality that you embrace. They are in opposition, firmly to the morality that you embrace. And so they're already working against this fellow, Brett Kavanaugh, who is from what I understand, a believer in Jesus Christ. That he's a man who is impeccable in his credentials and they're afraid because if he is placed on the court, they're afraid that various laws that have been upheld like Roe v. Wade and others will continue, will be actually, what's the word, reversed. Yeah, and that's their concern. That's their concern. And so it's really an important thing for us to be aware of the fact that though we as Christians honor government, we pray for government, we also have a voice that we can exercise. And we can do that through our votes and we can do that especially through our prayers, but we can do that through our votes. And they're just opening up and talking about these things because I really do believe that righteousness exalts the nation. And I believe that it's not elected, but most certainly those who are elected certainly reflect the righteousness of the nation because we're the ones who are voting them in. And when somebody doesn't vote and yet complains about the government, I don't even listen to them because they weren't part of the process. They basically didn't do anything. That was what was almost, it was ironically humorous to be honest with you. How so many were so mad when Donald Trump was elected, there were so many people who were so mad. And yet when they were asked, and I saw many men on the street interviews, when they were asked, did you vote? Nope, you didn't vote, you think you have a right to complain? You didn't vote. You didn't vote, you didn't make your voice heard. See, so on the one hand, we know that righteousness exalts that nation. We know that a nation that fears God, God will bless. On the other hand, we also know that we have an ability to make our voices heard. And we can do so in our votes and we can do so in the Lord's ear as we pray because I really wanna see the Lord raise up men who fear him to be in government positions because that will enhance the ability of this nation to move forward because if not, the Lord eventually will bring his judgment on this nation. Billy Graham was famously remembered for saying, if he doesn't judge the United States, he will apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Because we've gone in a direction we should not be going. So may we go in the right direction.