Proverbs chapter 12, talking about deliverance, been on the subject of deliverance. Proverbs chapter 12. You know, they say when you get a certain age, you stop counting your years. I will stop counting mine when I'm 70, because that's when I get the full amount of retirement. After that, we won't count anymore. but I could have gotten my, they call it full retirement benefits at 66 and four, but you get the bonus stuff if you wait until you're 70. So I've got a year to go. I think I might make it, and maybe I won't, but I might, I don't mean live, I mean apply, that's what I'm saying. But that's the plan, that's the goal. Proverbs chapter 12, after 70 we no longer count. Right, Don? Proverbs chapter 12. We all there? All right, let's pray. Well, Father, it's good to be in your house tonight. Lord, we have the joy of being able to sing praises unto Thee. We can pray tonight for People, pray for missionaries. The Lord rejoicing as far as Caleb and Abby's ministry is concerned. And Lord, great things have been done in Lusaka in spite of the crazy stuff that goes on there. Lord, we thank you for the work that he's done, the work that Abby's done. Lord, you have blessed and given them much grace. We thank you for that. And Lord, we pray tonight that you would minister to us. Father, we continually need help. We need to learn things. We need to be reminded of things. We are mere human beings. We are easily distracted, deceived, discouraged. Lord, we need your help tonight as every time we get together. So, Father, I pray you'd take this piece of dirt you have up here. You've chosen the foolishness of preaching, and this is what you got. And so, Lord, I pray that you would fill it with your spirit and your power, your passion, your words, your wisdom. Put a watch by its mouth and a guard by its lips. Give it grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Holy Spirit of God, please stand behind this pulpit. Sit next to us in our seats. But for the next few minutes, Father, we pray that you would minister to your children and give us things that will help us as we navigate through this life. Well, thank you for it in Christ's name. Amen. Proverbs chapter 12, and look at verse 6. Proverbs chapter 12, and look at verse 6. The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. There's that phrase, to lie in wait for blood, we touched on this last week. To lie in wait for blood, the concept of murder in its many forms. I am reminded of Jezebel. We know the story of Jezebel married to Bill. No, I'm sorry, that was Hillary was married to Bill. Jezebel was married to Ahab. And Ahab was a wimp. He was very, very wicked, but he was kind of a wimp. And he had talked to Naboth. He said, Naboth, man, he said, your garden here is right next to the palace. Why don't you sell it to him? And he said, you know what the law says? You can't sell land from one family or one tribe to another. I can't sell it to you. And so he went into the house and he pouted. And Jezebel saw him pouting and she said, I'll fix this problem for you. And so she just spread the word that Naboth was a blasphemer and very wicked and had been guilty of some terrible crime, some terrible sin, capital offense. Got the word out, had a couple false witnesses come up and go out of the witness stand and lie about him and all that. And sure enough, they put him to death. And then she went back to Abab and said, go take your garden, it's all yours. Wicked words in one way or the other. Absalom. Absalom was in his coup against David. Started out, if you read that closely, started out with him hanging around the gate. And people wanted to go see the king and get some counseling. He said, well, you know what? The king's pretty busy. I'll talk to you. And in the process, he won the heart of the people. to the point where he could pull off a coup, he thought. And just wicked words, which cause death to many people, including himself. So many words have been used. Scholarly euphemisms. I mentioned last week, the SS in World War II talked about liquidation, and that's not a business going out of business. Liquidation was getting rid of the Jewish people. But it sounds much nicer when you say liquidation or resettlement. You know, we're going to take you all out of the city of Warsaw. We're going to put you in this area right here, which is where the Warsaw Ghetto got its name and with brick walls that would be built to all the streets that were that are leading in there. I've been there. We saw that in Warsaw. There's still the remnants of those brick walls that the Nazis had built to wall in the Jewish people. And from there, they would go to the trains. And we were at the place where the trains were at one time, loading up these Jews on the trains, taking them to the concentration camps. They called that resettlement. Final solution. That was Hitler's term. What are we going to do about the Jews? Well, I have a final solution. Special treatment. The Mafia has been known to give people special treatment. And the Russian gulags, you were in the Russian gulag for a re-education. I'm gonna give you a little re-education. And so various words come out, but the result in all of these words was death. And that's what the wicked will do. The words of the wicked are to lie and wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright will save him. Something else that we can be delivered from, and that's trouble. Look at Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11. And look, if you will, at verse 8, Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 8. It says, the righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. So spiritually speaking, if you look at that, you say, man, preacher, that sounds like the rapture. And spiritually speaking, we are talking about the rapture. Because what happens at the rapture? The righteous are delivered out of trouble. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Out of trouble! No more trouble. And the wicked come to take our stead. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. If you're worried about how this world is going and all that, understand this, before it gets really, really bad, we are going to be taken out. Before God judges this planet for seven years, we will be taken out. And that's what we have to look for. It's called the blessed hope in scripture. First Thessalonians chapter five, starting in verse one, he says, but of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord, which is the tribulation of the second coming. So cometh as a thief in the night, for when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. year old the children of light the children of the day we are not of the night nor of darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night and they that be drunken or drunken in the night but let us who are of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation I look at verse 9 for God hath not appointed us to wrath okay Why is the church not gonna go through the tribulation? Because the tribulation period is to judge the wicked on the earth. We are not appointed to that. We're not to face the wrath of God. Christ took that for us. So we're not appointed to that. We will be out of here before that. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation. We're talking about physical salvation. I've told you before about salvation. When you got saved, your soul and spirit got saved, this thing didn't. And if you don't believe that, live in it for a few days after you get saved, you realize something wrong here. I'm loving God on the inside, but this thing out here is just causing me fits. And it'll cause you fits until the day the Lord calls you home. But at the rapture, the rapture's a resurrection. And he takes this thing right here and he changes it in the twinkling of an eye. This mortal must put on immortality, this corruption must put on incorruption. And done with it, okay? We're not gonna face the wrath of God, we've got that. So the church is not in the least subject to the wrath of God that'll be poured out during the tribulation. Don't let anybody lie to you and tell you that church is gonna go through the tribulation, preacher. Church is not gonna go through the tribulation. We are gonna be taken out before that. The problem is that some people are confused because they say, well, Christians have gone through wrath, the wrath of God, and Christians have never gone through the wrath of God. What we have had to deal with, not us as an American, but what many people have had to deal with in the world today and in history is the wrath of the devil. That's one thing we do have to deal with. And you read the accounts of what life was like in the first three or four centuries of ancient Rome and the persecutions during the Middle Ages and what certain areas in the world are going through today and what they're facing there is the wrath of Satan. They're not facing the wrath of God. And so we have to deal with that a little bit. And in America, we really don't have hardly any persecution at this point, okay? The day may come when the worst thing in America are Christians. So that will be a dark day for Christianity. But it hasn't happened yet. But we are not gonna face the wrath of God. Go to 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2, look at verse 5. It says, and spared not the old world, but saved Noah, the eighth person, the eighth patriarch, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly. and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly. But when he judged Sodom and Gomorrah, look at verse seven, and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked, and what doesn't mean it was just Lot, Lot came out with his two daughters, it was the fact that Lot was considered by God a just man. And he is considered, we'll see here, a righteous man. You know, the only thing Lot, the only thing you can look at Lot and put your finger at, point your finger at him. is that Lot never opened his mouth as far as we see from scripture. We just read Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Noah, probably when he got tired of building the boat, stood up on something and began to preach. And he was a preacher of righteousness. Jonah, Jonah was not what we would consider, I mean he was a great prophet, but think about Jonah. Jonah, number one, disobeyed the Lord, said, I'm not going to preach at Nineveh. I've heard about those people. Jumps on a boat, and you know the story. He ended up getting swallowed by a great fish. He graduated from the University of Wales, et cetera. And he went into Nineveh to preach. Did he want those people to be converted? Absolutely not. He went in there and said, 40 days, and you all are going to fry like French fries. 40 days and there's going to be this mushroom cloud coming over the city and you're all going to be dead. That was his attitude. And he preached to him and lo and behold to his shock and surprise the whole city repents. And what does he do? Sits on a hillside under a gourd pouting. And God says what's wrong with you man? 120,000 people have just been rescued from judgment and you're upset because the gourd you're sitting under dried up. He said something wrong with you Jonah. But he was a great man. And he spoke up. Lot never spoke up. Let's read through here. Verse 7, And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. I mean, he's sitting in the gate. And vexed means he's, you know what it means to be vexed. He's sitting there watching this stuff every day, every day, every day, every day. And it's driving him crazy. But, now watch it. Look at verse 8. for that the right for that righteous man dwelling among them seeing and hearing was he a preacher of righteousness doesn't say that he saw what they were doing he heard what they were doing it vexes Rachel so righteous soul from day to day never spoke up And if you want to find fault with Lot, I mean, God says he's just. God says he's righteous. God is going to call him godly here in the next verse. All those things. But he never spoke up. He never spoke up. He compromised with the people he was living with to the point where even his own sons-in-law thought he was a hypocrite or crazy or what have you. He came out of there with two daughters when he had more than that in his family. Verse nine, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly, and this is the point, the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust in the day of judgment to be punished. So in spite of the fact that Lot never spoke a word, he was still God's, and God said, get him out of there before, I can't judge the city if he's in there, so get him out of there. And whoever in his family can come with him, get him out of there. So he came out, his wife came out, two daughters came out, she said, what am I doing out here? There's a sale at Walmart today. I need to get back in the city. And turned around and you know the story. Punishment, we get delivered from punishment. Go to Proverbs chapter 11. You may already be there, close there. Proverbs chapter 11. And here's a very interesting verse. Proverbs chapter 11, look at verse 21. We've talked about this before, though hand join in hand, I talked about that hands across America thing back in the late 80s, I think that was. He says, though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. But look at the next part. The seed of the righteous shall be delivered. The seed, the offspring of the righteous shall be delivered. I've told you time and time again, the way you live will greatly affect the way your children turn out. This is just another proof of it. The seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Well, how come they're living righteous? Probably because mom and dad are living righteous. Listen, I've told you one of the greatest things you can do as Christian parents is to live the life in front of your children. You can buy all the books you want and there'll be books that'll help you and all that stuff. But the greatest thing you can do for your kids is live your Christian life out in front of your children. And when we were involved in ministry in Toledo, working in the housing projects, not only did we live it out in front of them, they were working. We had our kids involved in the crafts and the teaching stuff and what have you, even when they were little. I forget who it was, was in the car seat. Who was in the car seat on the bus? Might have been Caleb or what have you, or maybe Emily. We had one of the kids there, his name was, oh, come on, brain. Darnell, Darnell. His name was Darnell. Darnell was a problem for us a lot of times, but in this case, Darnell, sit next to that kid, don't let anything happen to him. Yes, sir. So Darnell would be sitting next to whoever. Was it Caleb, you think, or was it Emily? Do you remember? Anyway, they're all involved in ministry. Why are my kids involved in ministry today? Probably because we got them involved in ministry as soon as they could get involved in ministry. Well, Fritz, shouldn't you let your children make their own decisions? When they turn 21, I let them make their own decisions. Until then, they're working with us. We are the adult, they are the child, okay? We need to get that. But for you to live the Christian life in front of your children, let them see you serving God, let them see you laboring for God, let them see you praying, let them see you in church, let them see all that stuff. It has an incredible effect upon them. Now, here's an interesting thing. The seed of the righteous shall be delivered. There was years ago, I think it was in the late 70s, when Jack Chick first started doing comic books. And you know, the little Chick tracks that we pass out, there was a time, I think he still does it, there was a time when it was a nine by 12 comic book. And I remember the first one I saw was a nursery in a hospital. And there's a nurse there, she's panicking, she's screaming, doctor, doctor, the babies are all gone. And it's a comic book about the rapture. And the thought was that when the Lord raptures the church, since babies are innocent, he's gonna take all the babies too. And then we got to thinking about that, wait a minute. When God judges the world with a flood, there wasn't a big nursery in the ark. All those babies died in the flood just like the wicked did. We just talked about Sodom and Gomorrah when God judged Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone and all that. Lot didn't bring out big carriages full of babies. All the babies that were there died in that. So why do we think that because there's a rapture, why do we think the babies are gonna go too? And so we debated that. We debated it on and on. And here's what the conclusion we came to was that if the parents were believers, and I think it was first written in 724, if the parents were believers, at least one of the parents were believers, they sanctified the children. And then I look at this verse right here, the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. I would say this, at the rapture, if you're a Christian and you have babies, those babies, I believe, will go with you. The other babies who are not in a Christian home will not go. That's my conclusion, that's my thought, okay? How many have ever been into that debate or heard that debate? Yeah, it's very interesting. It's something that you do in the truck on the way to work. If you gotta drive 20 or 30 minutes to get to the job, that's a great conversation to have on the way to work. Anyway, let's go to Proverbs chapter 11. We're there. And let's look at verse 9. It says, a hypocrite, and we're gonna talk about hypocrisy next. But it says, a hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor. but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. So knowledge has the ability to deliver. Somebody said one time, there's nothing that stops malicious gossip quicker than the truth. Another saying is that he that blows dust will fill his own eyes. Slander expires at a good woman's door. Here's a good one. If someone throws mud on you, stand still till it dries and it'll just fall off. Somebody throws mud at you, just stand still, relax, don't do anything, it'll dry, and it'll fall off. Well, that's good advice. Some of these old timers came up with some really good stuff. Interesting. I always said, you know, if you have a problem, let the dust settle first. Before you do anything, say anything, or whatever, let the dust settle. I guess in this case, it's let the mud fall off you. To have slanders forgotten, forget some you've heard yourself. And he who handles tar gets smeared himself. Boy, I can attest to that. Being in the roofing trade for all the years, 25 years, when I was in the roofing trade, and we used a lot of tar. And you use tar because it seals things up. It keeps things from leaking. And tar would be under the valley. Tar would be underneath the shingles that go around the soil stacks. Tar would be under the shingles that go around the chimney. We used tar. Sometimes we just put an 18-inch strip of tar. This is before ice shield, which none of you know what ice shield is because I went to buy some of that in Florida one time. I was helping a church there fix something up. And I said, I need ice shield. And I looked like, huh? And I had to describe, ice shield is three feet wide. It's sticky on one side. It's very rubbery and sticky on one side. And as you put it on, you have to peel the paper off. Oh, and then they named whatever they call it up here and out here and whatever. They do it all over the houses down here. They do it all the complete house. I'm thinking, how in the world can that roof breathe if you're covered putting that stuff? But anyway, before that coming about, we would put an 18-inch strip of tar on the edge of the roof so the ice couldn't get back up, you know, Boy, I know this is foreign language or something. The ice couldn't ease, so I just couldn't back up and get underneath and cause a leak. But anyway, we had tar with us all the time. We always had a five-gallon bucket of tar, and I don't know if it was tar or mastic or whatever they called it, but it was black and it was messy, and we always had it. And there was no way I could walk five feet away from a bucket of tar and turn around, and I got it on me. There was one time I bought a new pair of shoes, which you do twice a year in the roofing trade, I bought a new pair of shoes, and I was trying to keep them looking nice. And the foreman caught me doing that. And I was roofing away and he had walked over and dipped his finger in the bucket of tar and he reached down on my shoe and went, just like that. He said, there Jim, you know you're gonna get tar on it anyway, right? But yeah, I mean, whoever handles tar gets smeared himself, you're gonna get it. So the idea of slander and things like that, you know, a hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge the just shall be delivered. Let's go to Proverbs 14, Proverbs 14. I had, my pants, they teach me about it. I've had tar pants, and I did. Because I was doing something, if I had tar on my hands, I didn't want to get it on the shingles, so I just wiped it off right there, right there. And after a while, I had this nice coating of tar on my pants. Look at those tar pants. Well, I don't get wet when it rains, at least there, you know. But yeah, Proverbs 14. I'm reliving too much of the past and I've got to get out of that. Proverbs chapter 14, look at verse 25. Chapter 14, 25, it says, a true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. This is a great verse for soul winning. A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaketh lies. And so when you go out to tell people about Jesus Christ, we're telling them the truth. Christ died on the cross for your sins, was buried, rose again the third day from the dead. He's alive today. You're saved by grace, through faith. It's not works or anything like that. We're the true witnesses. And people will listen to what we have to say. They'll trust Christ as their savior. and they will be delivered. But a deceitful witness, which come out of the kingdom hall, which come out of the temples and the stakes and the branches, whatever they call those things, the temple, with their little, you know, white shirts and blue ties and little things that say elder, they are deceitful witnesses. They're not telling the truth. And any other cult is not telling you the truth. A true witness will testify to the facts. And a quote of famous American, Joe Friday. He used to say, just the facts, ma'am. Remember, Joe? Just the facts, ma'am. And when you witness, what are we doing? We're giving them just the facts, what they need to know to be saved. Think about Stephen in front of the Sanhedrin preaching away. What's he doing? He's giving them the facts, preaching away. Paul before Felix. Almost thou hast persuaded me to be a Christian, Felix said. Christ before the Pharisees, giving them the facts. Luther, talked about this before, before the diet of worms. He said, here I am, I can do no more, so help me God. This is the here I am sermon. It's a great, great sermon, but that was the gist of it. Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Somebody said one time, falsehood is the devil's daughter and speaks her father's tongue. Something else it can deliver, and that's parents. Parents can deliver who discipline their children. Go to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23. It's verses like this will eventually have the Bible be outlawed. But look at Proverbs chapter 23, look at verse 13. He says, withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and shalt deliver his soul from hell. And Oliver is in that situation right now. He was always getting in trouble for something. Notice it says, beatest him with a rod. And beat implies repeated. You talk about the song, what's the beat of a song? Is it two, four, is it four, four? You know, the beat, this is the beat of a song. So it implies more than once. And it says the rod. So a rod is a shoot or long twig of any woody plant, a branch, or the stem of a shrub, as a rod of hazel, of birch, of oak, or hickory. How many of you have ever heard about the hickory switch? Oh yeah, I mean, I had an uncle that always threatened, I'm gonna go out and get the hickory switch. And I'm thinking, what is a hickory switch? I didn't know what it was, but I knew it's something I didn't want to experience. So, but they talked about the hickory switch, that's the way they did it in the old days. I didn't know the hickory switch so much, I knew the belt. You know, there were times I was just acting up and what have you, and my dad would simply take his belt off, fold it up a couple times, and just sit there and do that. And I knew it was time for me to straighten up, or I'm going to feel that. And usually it worked pretty good for me. But the idea is we need to discipline our children. And sometimes you have to use corporal punishment. And I went through this before. It's not illegal in the United States. It's not illegal in the state of Arizona to use corporal punishment upon a child. Just don't get stupid about it. You never discipline a child when your temper's hot. So many times you tell your kid, go to your room. I'll be up there in just a little bit. And think about what you did. Well, you're not so much wanting him to go up there and think about what he just did. You need to give yourself a cooling off period. So you never discipline a child when you're mad. That's when trouble can happen. But a child needs to understand that there's punishment. And if they don't understand that as they're growing up as children and they go out in this evil world here, suddenly they're going to find out, hey, I'm being punished. What am I being punished for? Why do I have to go through this and all that? Never, you know, don't understand it. We need to teach our children there's a right way to behave and there's a reward for that. There's a wrong way to behave and there's punishment for that. And they need to know that. They need to know that. I'll give you something else that'll help you. Deliverance from stupid financial obligations. Proverbs chapter six, go there. We've looked at this before, we'll look at it again. Proverbs chapter six. Stupid financial obligations. Proverbs chapter six, look at verse one. He says, my son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, what's he talking about? Co-signing, he's talking about co-signing and alone. Verse two, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, or with what you wrote with your pen, your signature, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself when thou art come into the hand of thy friend. Go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend, keep him your friend, make sure he's your friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. You keep that guy as your friend and say, are you making your payments? Let's work on that and just try to stay a friend. Now, here's something a lot of times people don't understand. You can get out of a co-signed loan. You can get out of a co-signed loan. There is such a thing known as a co-signer release. Most available more for student loans and sometimes for auto loans. It's a possibility, it's one of the easiest ways to get out, but it rarely happens unless it's a provision in the original loan. So if somebody's cosigning and there's a provision there that you can have a cosign or release, you can get out of that. If you don't have it, it's very difficult to get out of it. Ideally, a cosign or release is something you look into before you agree to cosign. So if it's, and we've told you, never, never, ever, ever co-sign for anybody. But you'll probably have a child or somebody will come up to you and they'll have their puppy dog eyes or whatever, and I need a car, I need a car. And you give in and you say, okay, I will co-sign for you. Make sure that they put a co-signer release in the document. because if you have that in the document, you can get out of it. Here's another option. Another way is to refinance or consolidate, especially an unsecured debt like a personal or student loan. That's when the primary borrower refinances. Refinancing means the borrower opens a new loan that pays off and replaces the original one, and so you're out of it. The original one is gone. Similarly, your co-borrower can also look into getting a consolidation loan. You hear about these all the time. You say, well, those aren't the best things. Well, in this case, it'd be the best thing for you. If he will get a consolidation loan where they take all the debts, and as soon as you do that, then the original is done away with. There's another option, and that is to try to talk the person into selling the asset. They wanted a car, they gotta have a car, okay, they've got a car. They made the first two payments, and after that, they're not making the payments and the bank is coming for you. It would be wonderful if you could go to that person and say, look, you can't afford a car. You needed a car, but you obviously can't afford a car. So let's sell it. And let's take that money and pay this thing off and figure something else out. And if that person is friendly or if that person is a relative and they're concerned, they would probably agree with you. Or you pay off the loan. The quickest way out of a cosign debt is to pay it off, assuming that one or both of you have the means to do it. It'd be worth doing it yourself just to be free of the burden and the drama. especially if the balance is relatively low. So sometimes it's better to just say, you know what? I'm paying this thing off. It's about 3,000 bucks. I can handle 3,000 bucks. I'll pay it off, and I'll be done with it. And I won't be responsible. And of course, when you do this, you gotta make sure that the account gets closed, because if it doesn't get closed, your name is still on it. Make sure it gets closed. But you're out of it. The drama is gone, and everybody's happy. Dummy's got the car, who knows how he's even gonna put gas in it, but he's got the car. You're out of the situation, everybody's happy. But how many people can just pay it off? And do you wanna pay it off? So anyway, there's deliverance from the Lord in numerous things and numerous subjects. All right, let's go to the next one. Go to Proverbs 11, verse nine. Proverbs 11, verse nine introduces us to another subject. And I know when people co-sign, the borrower, the main borrower, that you're co-signing for, the intentions are always the best. Oh yeah, I'm gonna work hard, I'm gonna get two jobs if I have to, I'm gonna pay this off. And intentions have a tendency to just drift away now and then and everybody's stuck. Proverbs 11, verse 9, hypocrisy is the subject. An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. So if you ask Mr. Webster what would be the definition of hypocrisy, he says this, one who plays a part, especially one who, for the purpose of winning approbation of favor, puts on a fair outside seeming, one who feigns to be other and better than he is, a false pretender to virtue or piety, one who simulates virtue or piety." In other words, he's an actor. He's playing a part. He's pretending to be what he's not. That's what a hypocrite is. The second clause in that verse draws your attention to the fact that even though the hypocrite may destroy the reputation of his neighbor, The neighbor will be delivered from injury to character, property, or holdings if he is just. Hypocrite with his mouth, verse nine, destroyeth his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. His reputation may be destroyed for a while, and that's what a hypocrite will do. They'll try to destroy your reputation. But again, through knowledge, when it's all laid out, when all the facts are laid out, the just will usually come out ahead, and people will see somebody for what they are. Hypocrite is found, hypocrite or hypocrites found 31 times in the Bible. 8 times in Job and 15 times in Matthew. And we're going to look at those 8 times and those 15 times and just get an idea of what the Scriptures have to say about hypocrisy. This is a... this would be classified as a topical study or a topical word study where you pick a word and you just go through the Scriptures and see what every Scripture has to say about it. We're not going to go through every Scripture. We're going to go about through some pertinent ones so you get an idea. So, let's start at Job chapter 8. Job chapter 8. Job chapter 8. Job chapter 8, and look at verse 15, 13, I'm sorry. Job chapter 8, verse 13. He says, so are the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish. So you got a couple things that are working together. Somebody that forgets God, But it says, then the hypocrite's hope shall perish. Let me ask you this. If someone has forgotten God, what would be the hypocritical response of them among others? Let me rephrase that. Let me just say it. You can forget God in your heart, but on the outside still make it look like you love the Lord. What do you call that? Hypocrisy, right? And I guarantee you there are people that are sitting in churches all across this country, all across the world, who are sitting there that years ago have forgotten God. They're living their own life. They're doing what they want to do, but they're in church. Oh, yeah, they're in church at least once a week, and they'll stand there and sing the hymns just like everybody else, and they'll pray just like everybody else, and the offering plate goes by, and they'll stick some money in the offering plate, but inside, God is so far away from them, and they are hypocrites. They're in every church. They're in every church. And sometimes it's purposeful. They know what they're doing. Sometimes I would say they're ignorant of it. I talked to a fellow today at the Sky Vista. He was, in fact, I counseled my whole congregation today at Sky Vista. And I talked to one man. And interesting, very interesting fellow, raised a Mormon. Got into the army, got away from Mormonism. And he's telling me that he's, you know, met a young lady who took him into the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod. And this is after I gave my testimony and said that I went through the whole, the same thing. He went into the Missouri Synod and thought it was a wonderful church. And long story short, you know, he believes that Christ died on the cross for his sins and rose again from the dead and all that. And I'm thinking, do you really? Do you really? It's so difficult when you have people that are, and he went through training in the Lutheran Church. It's so difficult when you're taught the stuff. but you don't understand the necessity of a personal relationship. And I tried to explain that to him about the time, I told you before, you know, we were in our catechism class and I saw the, you must be born again in the book, and I said to the minister, what does this mean? He said, don't worry about it, you were baptized and all that, and I told that to him, and I don't know if it got through or not. And again, here's the problem. 18 inches. 18 inches. I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross. My sins was buried and rose again the third day from the dead. Are you trusting him and him alone for salvation? I can recite the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, that's wonderful. Are you trusting Christ and Christ alone for your eternal salvation? That's the issue. And there are people that sit in churches that think, you know, they're Christians, they're gonna go to heaven and all that because I believe that Christ died on the cross for my sins, you know, crucified, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, dead and buried, descended into hell, third day he rose from the dead, seated at the right hand of God the Father. I believe all that stuff, but is it here? And I've given you the illustration, one of the greatest illustrations I ever heard. I forget the guy's name, but it was the guy that used to stretch a cable across Niagara Falls, and he would get a, he would take a wheelbarrow, and he would put that wheelbarrow, the wheel and the wheelbarrow on that cable, and he would walk across Niagara Falls with that wheelbarrow, get to the other side, turn around, and come back, and the crowd is just cheering like crazy. And he'd say, how many think I can do that again? And boy, they'd all raise their hands. Then he'd say, who'd like to get in the wheelbarrow? Then it was a different story. Because one is, yeah, we believe you can do it again, but I'm not trusting you to do it with me. Yeah, I believe Christ died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead, but I haven't trusted him in here. For the heart man believeth unto righteousness, what the mouth confesses made unto salvation. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And a lot of time, a person is hypocritical in an unknowing way. I mean, it's just, they think they're okay, and then they're not. Most of the time, in this case right here, it's a hypocrite that knows he's a hypocrite. He goes to church, you know, every Sunday, a lot of times to make business connections. He wants to make sure people in the church know that he does this, or he does that, or he sells this, or he sells that, and he wants to keep his connections there. His heart's not in it. And that is hypocrisy. Go to Job 13. Job 13. And look at verse 16. He also shall be my salvation, for a hypocrite shall not come before him, before the Lord. And a hypocrite can fool everybody but God. They can fool everybody but God. They can put on a show, man, they can say, praise the Lord, amen, hallelujah, we're the best of them. But God's not fooled, you can't fool God. Go to Job 15. Job 15, look at verse 34. where the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. That's an interesting verse in light of what's going on in California. Especially when you define a hypocrite as an actor. Wow. Go to Job 17. Notice none of this speaks well of hypocrisy. And a lot of times we look in Scripture that there's a good, like hate, there's a good kind of hate, there's a wrong kind of hate. Anger, there's a good kind of anger, there's a wrong kind of anger. Hypocrisy, there's no good kind of hypocrisy. It's all bad. Job 17, verse eight, upright men shall be astonished, astonied, it means astonished or stunned at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite. You know, one thing people don't like is a hypocrite. That's why we have such a hard time with politics. because we hear so much hypocrisy. There is so much phoniness, so much I'm gonna say this to get your vote, and then I'm gonna do this, and you get just fed up with the hypocrisy of politics. And I guess it's a, politics has always been a necessary evil. Go to Job chapter 20. Job chapter 20, verse five. Job 20, verse five, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. So hypocrisy like wickedness is short-lived. Like the Bible says, there's pleasure of sin for a season. So there's judgment coming on the hypocrite, just like the wicked. Go to Proverbs, excuse me, Job 27. Job 27. Here's an enlightening statement. Job 27, look at verse eight. Job 27 and look at verse 8 for what is the hope of the hypocrite comma though he hath gained when God taken away his soul a hypocrite will gain they have the capability of gaining they will increase mean like I just mentioned there's the guy that comes to church every Sunday to make contacts and pass out his business cards and all that and people in the church well think well he's one of our church members I'm gonna have him do the job or I'm gonna buy his product or what have you and he gains he gains keep your finger there and go to mark chapter 8 anything a hypocrite gains has no redeeming value no redeeming value Mark chapter eight, Jesus said this. These are poignant statements. Mark chapter eight, look at verse 36. Matthew, Mark. Mark chapter eight, verse 36. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? You wanna talk about gain? Oh, I gotta get more and I gotta get more and I gotta get more. What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Go to Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12. That's a great street preaching text right there, Mark chapter 8. Look at Luke chapter 12. Here we have a case of a guy. Luke 12, look at verse 16. And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully. And let me say this, in the Old Testament, if somebody was rich, it was assumed he was godly. It was assumed he was right with the Lord. The prosperity doctrine that is heresy in this day and age was true in that day and age. If a person was living right, God would bless them physically, okay? So here's a rich man. The assumption is the guy must be right with God. Verse 17, and he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruit. You see his mistake? He thought within himself, what shall I do? He never said, Lord, what do you think I should do? And the Lord might have said, well, you know, these people over here, they're pretty poor, and these people over here, they have a problem. But he never considered asking God, why? It's his money, right? This is my money. Does any of the money you have your money? You realize you can't even breathe unless God says breathe? But here's the guy, look at verse 17, he thought within himself, saying, what shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, he's talking to his soul, I will say to my soul, soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. The Epicurean philosophy, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall all those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that laith up treasure for himself is not rich toward God. Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. And all the money in the world can't wash away one little sin. I'm going to win the lottery preacher and all that money that the government lets you keep, all that money cannot wash away one single teeny tiny little sin. No redeeming value. And that's the problem. That's the problem. And the hypocrite's happy with that. Hypocrite don't care about, you know, the pie in the sky and the sweet by and by. He wants one right now. But eventually, You'll get the word, thou fool, this ninth-sized soul shall be required of thee. All right, we're gonna stop there for tonight. Any questions or any comments? If you have a question, don't be hypocritical, ask it. Yes, ma'am? Say that one more time. Matthew, Matthew, yep. All right. Well, let's not forget what we need to do. We've got a door hanging Saturday. We'll meet here at 10 in the Outreach Room. Church Sunday. Oh, and the chili cook-off. The chili cook-off. One qualification, you have to be in church that morning to be able to qualify to be in the chili cook-off. Just thought I'd bring that up. But you do need to be in church. And you have to be in church, not in the kitchen, cooking your chili, okay? Make it at home, bring it, we'll love it, amen. All right, let's have a word of prayer and we'll be dismissed. Father, we thank you again for your goodness and grace. Lord, we thank you for your word that you give us sound advice, sound counseling, sound doctrine. Lord, I pray that you give these dear folks safe traveling mercies on the way home. Lord, pray that you'd bless our outreach Saturday, our services Sunday. And Lord, we thank you again for all the goodness and grace you've bestowed upon us. We still have some people here, Lord, that are sick. Pray that you would reach down, even as we speak, touch their bodies and heal them, or at least accelerate the healing process. Lord, it'd be good to have everybody in this Sunday. I thank you again for your goodness and grace. Bless our weekend, in Christ's name, amen. All right, you are dismissed. Thank you very much for coming.