Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn back to Proverbs 21. I'd like to pick up here where
we left off on the last service. I'd like to look at verses 13
to 19. We began our study in the first
message concerning the deliverance of God's people from the vicious
captivity of false religion, that brawling woman. And now
let's continue. Let's pick up right here in verse
13. The scripture now is proving the point. Between verse 9, better
to dwell in the corner of a housetop than with a brawling woman in
a white house. And verse 19, it's better to
dwell in the wilderness than with a contentious and angry
woman. And all these verses in the middle,
between those two verses, prove those points right there. Verse 13 says, in proving why
it's better to come out, why it's better to not stay, whoso
stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry
himself that shall not be heard. All who stops their ears at the
cry of the spiritually poor, all who refuse to satisfy the
need of the spiritually poor, all who refuse to give them what
they so desperately need, they shall cry in due time. That's
what scripture says. And shall not be heard. Let me
ask you this. What is it that the brawling
woman stops her ears against? What is the greatest need of
the spiritually poor? What do you need, what do I need
right now more than anything else? Here's what we need. We
need to hear the gospel preached again. That's what I need. Don't try to tickle my ears. Don't try to glaze things over
and tell me that I'm doing really well. You tell me one more time,
not only how Christ has put away my guilt in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ, But you tell me one more time how God's keeping
me. You tell me one more time how there's therefore now no
condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus, because I'm
going to be real frank with you. I've seen enough rebellion in
my heart since I was preaching this morning to put a thousand
worlds in hell. And I know this, but for the
grace of God, I'd leave But for the grace of God, I'd go back
to that brawling woman. But for the grace of God, I would
embrace the lies of this world's false religion. So don't stop
your ears. The stopping of the ears. You
know, I refuse to hear. When Stephen was preaching to
the Jews, When he told them of the grace of God and God's purpose
to save His people. Brought out a whole group of
people out of Egypt. But in that group there was some
elect. There was some elect in that
group. And they didn't die in the wilderness. God brought them
into the promised land. And Stephen told them about it. And what did they do? They stopped
their ears. They came and gnashed on Stephen
with their teeth and stoned him. I'm not going to hear that. What is it? How do they stop
the ears? Well, hold your place in Proverbs
and turn over to Matthew 25. Matthew 25. I made mention that there's going
to come a day when God's going to call all men to Himself. The day of judgment. the sheep
from the goats. Now this is what's happening.
It's just a picture of what's going to happen. Look at verse
31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, and He shall
sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered
all nations. And He shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He'll
set the sheep on His right hand, goats on the left. Then shall
the king say unto them on his right hand, come you blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was hungered, you gave
me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. Naked, you clothed me. I was
sick, you visited me, I was in prison, you came unto me. Then
shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee
in hunger, fed thee, thirsty, gave thee drink? Saw thee a stranger,
took thee in naked clothe thee? be thee sick, or in prison, and
came unto thee. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, insomuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it
unto me. Now what did they do? Scripture
says the Lord said to the ones on his right hand, the sheep,
he said, I was hungry. He said, when you've done it
unto the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. What he was
saying is, my brethren, therefore I, union with them, I was hungry
for the bread of life and you gave me meat. You told me about
Christ, the bread of life. I was thirsty, and you, faithful
to the preaching of the gospel, told me of the water of life.
You gave me drink. I was a stranger, an alien and
a stranger to the covenant of promise, and you took me in.
You joined yourself to me and associated with me, telling me
of the haven of rest. The place of security. You told
me of myself. You preached the gospel. I was
naked. You clothed me. You told me of Christ and the
robe of His righteousness that covers the spiritual nakedness
of a sinner. I was sick. from the crown of
my head to my foot because of the fall in Adam. And you visited
me, you gave me relief, telling me of the great physician." That's
what you did. I was in prison, bound in trespasses
and sins, and you came unto me telling me of the strong man
who led captivity captive and deliverance to the captives of
sin. Oh, and you didn't shut your
ears to the cry of my people. That's what you didn't do. You
didn't stop your ears. You preached the gospel to them.
And therefore, you did that to me. That's what he told Saul
of Tarsus. Why are you persecuting me, my
people, when someone stands in a pulpit and they do not preach
the gospel of God's grace in Christ? The message of sovereign
saving, electing, redeeming, regenerating and keeping grace,
grace, grace. When they don't do that, they
stop their ears against the cry of God's people that says, tell
me the truth. I said, nope, I'm not going to
do it. All that stop their ears though
to the cry of the poor. All who refuse to feed the spiritually
hungry and thirsty and strangers and naked and sick and in prison. Here's what the scripture says
back in Proverbs chapter 21. It says, Whoso stoppeth his ears
at the cry of the poor, he himself shall cry himself. He's not going
to be heard. He's going to stand in the day
of judgment. We've read that. Lord, we prophesied in your name.
We cast out devil. We did many wonderful works in
your name. He'll say, I never knew you.
I never knew you. Look at verse 14, 15. He says,
a gift in secret pacifies anger, and a reward in the bosom, strong
wrath. The gift. The gift. There is a gift. There's a gift
for God's people. It's a reward to His sheep in
Christ. What's that gift? Listen to this.
For by grace are you saved. Here's the gift. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that not of yourself. It's
the gift of God. Not of works. Lest any man should
boast. But this gift has got to be given
justly, justly. This gift of life everlasting
must be given justly, and here it is revealed to be in a secret. A gift in secret. Now this precious, that word
secret right there, If we just took it at face value, if we
don't look up the words, I always encourage, look up words. Look
up the words. This is the only way we're going
to understand that scripture. That word secret, look it up.
This is what it means. It means a covering. Look up
the word secret. A covering. A shelter. To conceal. A hiding place. Here's God's gift. He gives life eternal. But how
does He give it? He gives it in a secret. He gives
it in a hiding place. He gives it in a covering. He
gives it in a shelter in Christ Himself. The shelter in the time
of storm. The covering, like that umbrella,
you know, that atonement, that's what it means. How does He give
it? He gives it, it says that a gift, the gift of life in secret,
What does it do? It pacifies anger. Well, whose anger has got to
be pacified? Not mine. Not yours. God's anger. God's anger because
of man's rebellion has been pacified one way. When I see the blood,
soul that sinneth is going to die. And here's the glorious
message of life. You tell me one more time how
God's gift to me. Don't tell me that I earned it.
Because if it's a gift, then I didn't earn it. If I earned
it, then it wasn't a gift. That was a reward to me. I was
due that. But if it's a gift, something
that I did not deserve, and it's been given to me in secret, in
a covering, in a shelter, in a hiding place, and He is the
secret. That secret that this world knows
nothing of. I thank Thee, Father, that You've
hidden these things from the wise and prudent. The world by
nature doesn't know this, but You that know it, You know it. Here's the secret. Here's the
hiding place. And what is that joyful The message,
God's anger has been pacified. He's not mad. He's not mad. He hadn't been mad eternally.
His anger was pacified from before the foundation of the world.
Oh, and that which the secret did. Oh, what a blessing. Look at verse 15. It's joy to
the just. to do judgment. Now that word
just right there is the just one. It's joy to the just one. It's joy to Christ to do right
judgment. It was joy to the lawful and
righteous man, Christ Jesus Himself, to accomplish God's judgment. God's verdict to show mercy and
compassion. The Lord said, I'm going to have
mercy on whom I'll have mercy. I'm going to have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. It's not him that runneth. It's
God that shows mercy. But Almighty God had a will. This is my Father's will. That
all that He's given me, I should lose nothing. And it was a joy
to Him. My meat is to do the will of
Him that sent me. It was God's will to show mercy
and it was the joy and meat of the Lord Jesus Christ to put
away the sins of His people by His own blood. And they're safe. Safe in Him. But I'll tell you
what else. I'll tell you something. The
one that's been called out from that brawling woman, he knows
this. The latter part of verse 15.
But destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity. I know that. I don't want to see anyone perish. But I can tell you this, I know
this, if a man or woman refuses to bow to the God of this Bible,
set forth through the message of this Bible, the gospel of
this Bible, I know this, it's going to be their end. Destruction. Destruction. Verse 16, the man
that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain
in the congregation of the dead. Where is he going to go? He's
not going anywhere else. The man that wandereth is found
to be deceived, that errs out of the way of life, out of the
way of the wise, the instructed, the prudent, the regenerate.
He who walks and wanders after his own way, thinking, That he's
done something for God? That he's pleased God? What am
I going to do to please God? The only thing that pleases God
is God. That's it. I'm going to have to have the
Lord to do something for me that I can't do for myself. Verse
17, He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. He that loveth
wine and oil shall not be rich. He that loveth pleasure. I'm going to show you something.
Hold your place there and turn over to Judges 16. While you're
looking at Judges, turn it over to Judges 16, verse 13. I'll say this. He that, Scripture
says, that loveth pleasure, loveth. My margin says sport. He that
loveth sport. What pleasure? What are you talking
about? Well, Judges 16 verse 13 gives
good understanding what that's talking about. He that loves
pleasure. Look at Judges 16 verse 13. I
believe I've... I believe I've got the wrong
one. I'll tell you what I'm looking
for. I've written down the wrong one. It's when Samson was taken. It's when Samson was taken. And
it's in this... Hold it, it's verse 23. I'm sorry,
it's verse 23. Then the lords of the Philistines
gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto
Dagon their God, and to rejoice. For they said, Our God hath delivered
Samson, our enemy, into our hand. Now that word right there, rejoice,
that's the same word that we see back here when it says that
he that loveth pleasure, What it actually means is this. All
those that love the pleasure or have the joy or the sport
of declaring that their success... Samson was a judge. He was God's
judge. He was God's man. Strength was
revealed in his hair. Delilah deceived him and cut
his hair off. He couldn't do anything. They
took his eyes out. God delivered Samson into their
hands and he was bound up and they rejoiced. What they were
saying was this, they were mocking God, saying that Dagon, our God,
delivered this rebel, this so-called master of strength who was God's
man, Dagon actually. delivered him into our hands.
And what happens is, he said, he that loves sport in giving
a false little g-god the credit for their salvation, for their
deliverance from their enemies, he that loves that sport is going
to be a poor man, is going to lose. He that loveth wine and
oil shall not be rich. The wine of that harlot, the
wine that made drunk The kings of this earth, that intoxicating
beverage of false religion, he that loves the wine of that false
religion, they're not going to prosper. He that loves the oil,
that anointing, whenever David was set apart by God, by Samuel,
he said, you pour the oil, the anointing on him. Man by nature
thinks that the anointing of what He calls the Holy Spirit,
the little H, Holy Spirit. He that loveth the wine and the
oil of rebellion, He's not going to be rich. The wicked shall
be a ransom for the righteous and the transgressor for the
upright. Actually, that last verse, I'll
read the last verse, but this verse 18 right here, What it's
saying is that according to the justice of God, Almighty God
is going to render unto every rebel against Him. Everybody. Every rebel. Every rebel that
has stood in opposition to Him. Every rebel that has stood in
opposition to His people. Every rebel that has stood against
His gospel. Everyone that has stood against
His purpose and His will. The wicked is going to be brought
into those troubles which they designed against God's people. Everything that, remember when
Haman, Haman was going to hang Mordecai. Remember Haman in the
book of Esther? What did he do? He built a gallows. Because Mordecai, God's man,
had stood against Haman. And Haman, who thought he had
the approval of the king, you know, of course in the process
of time, God revealed to the king what was really going on.
And Haman was just a rebel against God. Haman had built these gallows. He was going to hang Mordecai.
What happened? Who got hung on those gallows?
Haman did. God revealed to him what was
happening. Here's what it's saying right here. The wicked is going
to be a ransom for the righteous. Everything that was purposed. by the Egyptians against the
people of God. Listen, Isaiah 43, 3, I am the
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I gave Egypt
for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. The Lord in absolute
justice gave to Egypt, to Ethiopia and to Seba, enemies of God's
people. exactly what they deserved and
they had purposed against God's people. They wanted to destroy
them. And what happened? Almighty God
poured out His wrath upon Egypt with the plagues that in turn
they might get mad at the Israelites and let them go. God delivered
the Israelites, gave Egypt exactly what they deserved. Egypt was
going to keep God's people in bondage. I ain't turning you
loose. Pharaoh said, I'm not. Who's
the Lord that I should serve Him? I ain't letting them go.
I got these servants, these slaves. This is the attitude of false
religion. And Almighty God has set forth the wicked are going
to be the ransom for the righteous and the transgressor for the
upright. What all false religion says right now against God's
people, I despise you because I despise your God. I despise
your message. I despise you because you believe
it. That's what the Lord prayed.
He said they're in this world. They're not of it. This world
hates them. And what's going to happen? God's
going to give exactly what the wicked has purposed against God's
people. That's what they're going to
get. So in closing, verse 19, it's better to dwell in the wilderness. It's better to dwell in the wilderness
of this world. I'll tell you that temporarily. Separated in a world that you're
not of. It's better to get out of that
than with a contentious and angry woman. It's better. God's people
know that. The regenerate, they know that
by experience. They know it and they agree with
it. It's better. Where would you rather be right
now? Would you be satisfied somewhere where man was honored and everybody
was told how good they are, how holy they are? Would you rather
be there? But would you rather be somewhere
where God is honored, Christ is exalted, and God's people
are made in themselves to be abased, and in Christ they see
all their hope and glory. A believer would say, I'd rather
be in the tower, I'd rather be on the corner of a rooftop than
to be in the house with that brawling woman, that angry and
contentious woman. By the grace of God, we're here
this day. hearing the glorious message
of saving grace, electing grace. May the Lord bless it afresh
to our hearts again, for Christ's sake and our good. Amen.