I want you to take your Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 14. Proverbs
14. I'd like to read verses 30 to
32, and I've entitled this message,
Having Hope in His Death. Proverbs 14. A sound heart is the life of
the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. He that oppresseth
the poor reproacheth his maker, but he that honoureth him hath
mercy on the poor. The wicked is driven away in
his wickedness. But the righteous hath hope in
his death. Let's pray together. Father, we ask you this morning,
would you bless the word to our hearts. Lord, we need you. Help us to worship. Help us to
hear. Help us to see. For Christ's
sake. Amen. We know that when a man, a woman,
a child, every child born in Adam is born in this world, we
know that that child is born spiritually dead. We know that. Psalm 53. I was looking at this. How many
of these scriptures? Psalm 53, verses 1 to 3. This
is a fact. Psalm 53, verses 1 to 3. The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Of course, there is. It shows
us in italics. It says, no. God. No God. Corrupt are they. Done abominable
iniquity. There's none that doeth good. God looked down from heaven.
upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand
and did seek God. Every one of them is gone back. They are all together become
filthy. There is none that doeth good. No, not one. That settles this. That settles the issue. There's
none that thinks right, does right, speaks right. There's none that doeth good. That means that a man is absolutely
Totally depraved. Now, I'm going to read a scripture
to you, Isaiah 1, 5 and 6. And we've read this before. But
let me read this, Isaiah 1, 5 and 6. It says, Why should you be
stricken anymore? Ye will revolt. The whole head
sick. The whole heart faint from the
sole of the foot even to the head. There's no soundness in
it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores have not been
closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. Now,
let me tell you, when we say a man is totally depraved, this
is what that means. Now, it doesn't mean that all
men act as badly as they could. It's only by the restraining
grace of God they don't. I mean, we've got instances in
this world, we know. There's people that are just
madmen. They're savages. Unrestrained,
it appears as though it's just by the grace of God that men
are not all like that. The Hitlers and Saddam Husseins
and people like that are just butchers. It doesn't mean that
all men... A lot of times men will justify
themselves. Well, I'm not as bad as Hitler. When we say that a man is totally
depraved, That means that there's no part
of the being of that person, whether you call it his intellect
or his desires, whatever you call it, there's no part of his
being that is not touched, polluted by sin. And therefore, there's
nothing in a man that can please God in himself. That's what it
means. Nothing pleases God. From the sole of His foot, the
crown of His head. There's nothing there that God
is satisfied with in a fallen creature. Only, only as a man
or a woman, by the grace of God, has been considered, found, placed,
chosen, sanctified, set apart in Christ, that God's satisfied. And only for his sake, his righteousness
imputed, only that's it. Man is a mess. His heart, the very seat of his
being, is governed by envy, jealousy. And let me tell you what he's
envious of. He wants God's honor. That's
what he wants. He wants God's glory. Now there is a zeal. There is
a jealousy. There is an envy. That is good. It's good. Psalm 69, verse 9
says, "...for the zeal of thine house..." This is the Lord Jesus
speaking. "...the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up." That zeal, that envy, that jealousy, is totally
for God's honor, God's will, in the redemption of His people,
and in the honoring of the Lord Jesus Christ. The zeal of thine
house, thy people, your elect, your church, the bride of Christ,
the zeal of thine house, eating me up. Psalm 119, 139, My zeal has consumed
me because my enemies has forgotten thine words. But I'll tell you
something, that envy, that jealousy, that desire is only found within
him who is God. God-man. But envy, jealousy,
that is found in an unconverted heart. The Scripture says in
Proverbs 14.30, the latter part of that, and I'll start with
that last part of that first verse. It says, but envy the
rottenness of the bones. That envy, it rules everything. There is a nature within that
fallen creature, that old man. And this is the heart of it right
here. I want God's honor. I want His honor. The Scripture sets forth Envy
is the rottenness of the bones. Now, bones here, I know we read
the bones and we think of the skeleton, and that's true. But this word right here means
the entire man, the pillars of mankind or his substance. Envy. Envy is the rottenness
of the whole man. The destruction. Psalm 62, Have
mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak. O Lord, heal me, for my
bones are vexed. There's a man that knows something
about himself. This is the way I am. So the
very rottenness of the unregenerate, the very rottenness of him, The
very heart of him is envy. You say, what is it about the
unregenerate? He's envious. Envious. But what is envy? What is this
depraved envy? Envy is the desire to deprive
another of that which is rightfully his. That's envy. First time, I looked it up, and
I thought, where is the first time that envy is mentioned in
the Scriptures? Genesis 26. Genesis 26, verses
12 to 15. First time that envy was ever
mentioned in the Scriptures. I'll read this to you. Genesis
26, 12 to 15. The Scripture says, then Isaac
sowed in that land, and received the same year a hundredfold.
And the Lord blessed him. And the man waxed great and went
forward and grew until he became very great, for he had possession
of flocks and possession of herds and great store of servants,
and the Philistines envied him." God had blessed him. God had
prospered him. God had abounded toward him,
gave him stuff, and they wanted it. They desired something that
was rightfully his. But the ultimate envy, spiritually,
found within the carnal heart, I said, is God's honor. That's what a man wants. If you
want to know, What is the real problem? What is the issue? It's God's honor. Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14. Here again, we've
read this before. I'm telling you, I've told you
this before. I'm not telling you anything
new. Aren't you glad? Isaiah 14, verses 12 to 15. Now
here's where envy. Remember when the Lord told some
of those Pharisees, He said, you are of your father, the devil.
The way you think is what he thinks. He was a liar. He was a murderer from the beginning. And this is the very heart of
envy. When you desire something that
rightfully belongs to somebody else, this is what you say in
your heart. I'll kill you to get it. I'll kill you. Listen
to Satan. Isaiah 14, 12. How art thou fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut
down to the ground which did weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thine heart... It's going to take God to tell
us what somebody says in their heart. Somebody says, I didn't
say that. That's just like when Sarah laughed. Remember that? She laughed within
herself. He said to Abraham, why did Sarah
laugh? She said, I didn't laugh. He said, yes you did. Yes you
did. Thou hast said in thine heart,
I will. I will. I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell to the sides of the pit." If you want to know where man
came up with this idea, of free will. And when I said
free will, you remember what I'm saying now. It's bound by
nothing. It's free. No bounds. Nothing binding. Free will. That's a lie. We are bound, the
Scripture says, in trespasses and sins. You remember when I
was in elementary school, you've seen this little... I guess they
still have it. You know, you're supposed to eat a lot of grains.
And they put meat way up here. I mean, I'm thinking, I don't
know where they got that place. Meat. But that little triangular
food chain thing. You take that triangle and at
the very pinnacle, if you want it spiritually, if you want to
know where the height of depravity, you want to know man's will,
free will, there's the very pinnacle, the ultimate pinnacle of sin
and rebellion against God. Satan says, I will exalt myself. Above the stars of God. And when a man says that he has
the last say, this is what he is saying. I call the shots. I make the decisions. Why was
Christ delivered by the Jews to Pilate? Now you think about
it. Why did they ultimately? Why did they? We read these scriptures
and we see how they hated the Lord. They hated Him.
Hated Him. Why? Matthew 27, 18 says, For
he knew that for envy they had delivered Him. I'm not going to have that man
to rule over me. I'm my own man. I call my own
shots. I do as I will. And against God's
people, Acts 7 and 9 says, And the patriarchs moved with envy
and sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him. The patriarchs. Jacob. Jacob. Jacob and Esau. Jacob if I loved, Esau if I hated.
Jacob. Jacob wrestled with God. You remember that? He wrestled
with the man. And the Lord told him, he said, let me go. Jacob
said, I'm not going to let you go. Bless you, bless me. I'm
not going to let you go. By the grace of God, God allowed
him to hold on. He held on because God had him. Jacob. The Lord told him, He
said, you're not going to be called Jacob anymore. Supplanter,
trickster, heel grabber. Not anymore. You're going to
be called Israel. A prince with God. Israel. Israel. A prince with God. Israel. Jacob, now called Israel. His sons, the patriarchs. The twelve tribes, it was Jacob's,
Israel's sons, plus Joseph's two boys, Ephraim and Manasseh. We'll talk about that later. We talk about the patriarchs.
Those that God Almighty set aside. The sons of Israel. Jacob. The twelve tribes of Israel. That blessed man that God set
apart. The twelve tribes. The patriarchs. Reuben. Simeon. Dan. Gad. Patriarchs. It says, and the patriarchs,
the brothers of Joseph, they moved with envy, and they sold
Joseph into Egypt, and God was with him. Those men, by the grace
of God, that God raised up and made them to be the heads of
the twelve tribes of Israel. That's what's in a man's heart.
Envy is that rottenness, that decaying of that carnal man. Envy. Envy. A man desiring the
honor of God in salvation and hating that which rightfully
belongs to God. All the souls are mine. They're
mine. Doesn't the potter have the right
to do what he will with his own? They're God's. Envy. But the
Scripture sets forth, and here's the first part of that 30th verse,
a sound heart, a renewed heart is the life of the flesh. Flesh
there means the person, the person, mankind. But in the sense of
being now healthy, spiritually healthy, A sound heart. Here's a man dug from the same
pit as one that was consumed with envy and jealousy. And that
old nature, that envy and jealousy, is still there. Still there. Nothing's changed. That's what
we struggle with right there. If you want to know where the
fighting's going on, you know we talk about trying to pray
and trying to seek and trying to do right, Here's what it is. There's an old nature within
us that wants God's honor. It wants to talk about everything
else but that which is right and honorable to Him. Here's
a man that is settled now, a sound heart, settled with his lot in
life. Paul said in Philippians 4.11,
I have learned in whatsoever state I am. Dare with us to be
content. Life. Sound heart. Now let me
ask you this. I've got three quick things I
want to ask you. And then we'll close. What's
the source of that life? A sound heart. A new heart. That's the life. That's the life. That's the life of a man. Of a renewed man. A sound heart. What's the source of it? You
know what it is. Ezekiel 36, 26, I'm going to give you a new
heart. I'm going to put a new spirit
in you. I'm going to write my laws on your heart. You're my people. I'm your God.
A new heart. A believer has got a new man
within him. That's the source of it. According
to God's infinite mercy and grace, God Almighty gives life to those
that He's chosen to give life to. I will give them all of His
people. God-fearing, God-respecting heart
is imparted. And that old man, that old man
that ruled and reigned, dethroned. I said before, the effects of
it are still there. And you know it. You know it.
If we say we sin not, we make God a liar. If we confess our
sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins, cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. But there's a new man there,
created after God in righteousness and true holiness. And here's
a man that loves God's honor. He loves God's glory. And he
does not envy God's majesty. He does not. That which is born
of God doesn't sin. Sinneth not. He loves that which
God loves. He loves his Son. Not as he desires
to. Not as he shall. But he does. Secondly, what's the fruit of
that new life? What's the source of it? God. He gave them a new heart. What's
the fruit of it? Scripture says, verse 31 here,
it's mercy on the poor. That's the fruit of it. Verse
31, he that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his maker, but he
that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. He that oppresses,
he that defrauds, he that violates, deceives the poor, the weak,
the needy, reproaches, reproacheth his maker. He curses God. Now, there's a couple of different
things on that, he that oppresseth the poor. I know this. It means either deception or
lying that is against God's saints. He that oppresseth the poor.
Those that are poor in spirit. He that oppresseth the poor. Those that God has made to see
their need, their hope in Christ. Those that oppress God's people. They curse God. Those that hate
men and women that stand for the honor and glory of Almighty
God in the preaching of the gospel. God's people love this message.
They love it. They know it's of the Lord. God
Almighty has set forth. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
it. I'm not ashamed of this gospel. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, insomuch as you
have done it unto the least of one of these my brethren, you
have done it unto me. Is it a big deal that people
hate and despise and talk about and oppress the poor? God's people? God's poor? Yes,
they curse God. They say in their heart, God's
choice makes no difference. God's honor makes no difference.
Or, secondly, it could mean this, and it says, he that oppresseth
the poor. It means the lying tongue of false prophets that
make merchandise of men's souls. 2 Peter 2.1, there were false prophets
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among
you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. I went back this morning, I read
that scripture again, and I wanted to go back to that part I know,
first of all, just like there was false prophets in the Old
Testament, all through history, there's always been liars. Liars
against God. But we can rest assured, there's
going to be liars, false teachers who privily, in a subtle way,
not openly, They kind of start off slow. That's the way deception
is. It's not right in your face.
It's slow. And they bring in damnable heresies,
denying, disavowing, rejecting, contradicting the Lord that bought
them. Now, let me tell you what I know
it doesn't mean. I know it does not mean that
Almighty God and the blessed person of His Son paid by His
blood, the debt of every person without exception. I know that. I know, I've told you before,
if there's a scripture and it appears as though it says something,
you put something on a fence post that you know is so. When
the Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep, who did He
lay down His life for? The sheep. Did He lay down His
life for everybody? No. No. I know that there were
some Pharisees and He told them in the next few verses, He said,
you're not My sheep. My sheep, hear My voice. They
followed Me. You're not My sheep. I can tell
you that all that the Father has given the Son shall come
to the Son. And He says, I give unto them
eternal life and they'll never perish. You know why they're
never going to perish? Because He was made sin for them
and He put away their guilt. And He paid their debt. Who's
going to be found in heaven? All that the Father chose and
the Son redeemed, the Spirit of God shall surely call them
out. So I can tell you this, I know
this, when it says, I know it does not have anything to do,
because I can contradict that thought with Scripture. I know
it doesn't mean that. If it meant that, then there
is a contradiction. There's no contradiction. There's
no controversy in God's Word. I know it doesn't mean that.
Well, then what does it mean? If it doesn't mean that, then
tell me what it does mean. Let me show you. Turn to Deuteronomy
32 and I'll show you. This Scripture confirms this.
Deuteronomy 32, verse 5 and 6. This word, bought, right here,
if you look it up, and I would always tell anybody, please,
just because I say something, check it out. This word, bought,
right here, is concerning God's providential power and right
over all men. because He is the Creator. That's
what the word bought means. I'll show you right here. Deuteronomy
32, verses 5 and 6. They have corrupted themselves. Their spot, their blot is not
the spot of His children. They are perverse and a crooked
generation. Do you thus requite The Lord,
O foolish people and unwise, is not He thy Father that hath
bought thee? And the next line explains what
he just said. Hath He not made thee and established
thee? Bought, right here, means that
God has the right to do what He will, as He will, with whom
He will. In 2 Peter, there will be false
teachers among you who privilege shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord that has the right to do what He will. They'll deny Him. They'll deny
that God is God. That's what it is. He that oppresseth,
he that lies to the poor, curses God. And these shall bring upon
themselves swift destruction. But he that honoreth him, he
that honors the Lord, blesses the Lord, praises the Lord, he
that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. In direct contrast
to those that oppress the poor, God's people love God Almighty
and His right. to do as He will. He's right. He's honorable. And then lastly, the reward. The life that was spoken in verse
30. Sound hard as the life of the
flesh. The source of it? God Almighty. The fruit of it? God's people
don't oppress the poor. They want to be honest with men.
And then the reward of that life, verse 32, the wicked is driven
away in His wickedness, but the righteous have hope in His death. I don't think that there's a greater
point in a believer's life There's
not a greater point in a believer's life when the exhibition of the
sufficiency of God's grace is manifested. There's not a greater
point in the exhibition of God's grace to a believer in that believer's
life as when that person comes to die. When he comes to die, That's
where you're going to find out what a man believes. The Scripture sets forth that
Almighty God has declared, He said, I'll never leave you. I'll
never forsake you. I'll be with you. Jacob, soon
Lord willing, we'll look at going through Hebrews. The Scriptures
speaks of Joseph, made mention of his bones. He trusted Almighty
God. He trusted his soul to the Lord. But of all the things that were
said, I don't want to go too far with this because I'm going
to preach on this, but of all the things that were said of
Joseph, in his life, how God kept him, preserved him, directed
him. The thing in Hebrews 11 that
it mentioned concerning his faith was he told him, he said, don't
leave my bones here in Egypt. He trusted. He trusted Almighty
God in dying. He trusted his soul to Him. You
cannot trust the body that's going to be put in that ground.
You say, well, I didn't think too much about it. He believed
that Almighty God was going to raise that body out of the grave. He trusted the Lord in dying. The Scripture sets forth, verse
32, the righteous have hope in his own personal death. But I'll
tell you this, there's a greater being here too. God's people
Trust in the Lord's death. I believe that Almighty God truly,
and it's all my hope, I truly believe when He said He was made
a curse to deliver me from the curse of the law, He was made
a curse. Galatians 3.13. That He put away
truly did. You truly believe that. You truly
believe. When Almighty God set forth,
it's finished. It's finished. The work is done. The work that He's given me to
do, it's finished. I trust Him. When He died, I
believe that I died in Him. When He cried out with a live
voice, Father, into Thy hands, I gave My Spirit. I believe. that Almighty God saved me by His grace, kept me
by His power. God's people trust in His death. The wicked, cast out. But for God's people, I've got
hope in Him. Lord, bless these words to my
heart. For Christ's sake, Amen.