Wickedness Doesn't Work

Proverbs 12:3 A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

Proverbs 12:6 The words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood: but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them.

Proverbs 12:7 The wicked are overthrown, and are not: but the house of the righteous shall stand.

Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Proverbs 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil men: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.

Proverbs 12:13 The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.

Proverbs 12:21 There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.

Proverbs 12:26 The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them.

The chapter starts off by telling us that a man shall not be established by wickedness then it gives us some of the things the wicked man does that don't work.

#1- Their COUNSELS are deceit

#2- Their WORDS are lies

#3- They are OVERTHROWN

#4- Their MERCY is cruel

#5- They DESIRE to be with evil men

#6-They are SNARED by their own lips

#7-They are filled with MISCHIEF

#8- Their way is SEDUCTIVE

The WICKED, are those that a child of God should avoid their company this is for sure, but we should ask ourselves are any of these traits found in you and I? How about our Counsel? Is it Christ like or is our counsel words like "if that were me........ That is no more than Waffle House table counsel; worthless! Do we speak words of truth or do we too have lying lips? How about our Mercy? Is it too just as cruel or do we understand that Mercy is "not getting what we deserve." We love Christ because He first showed you and I love. What about our real desires? Who would we really like to spend most of our time with; no who do we spend most of our time with and around. Birds of a feather flock together! Are we filled with Mischief? That word means "Harm; hurt; injury; damage; evil, whether intended or not.

MIS'CHIEF-MAKING, a. Causing harm; exciting enmity or quarrels.

Do we at time have those moments of Mischief? Do we live a life that is Seductive? The word means SEDUC'TIVE, a. Tending to lead astray; apt to mislead by flattering appearances.

 At first glance we say no! But look at that meaning in this way; does my life style want others to go astray from the paths of evil or do we mislead by flattering appearances that are Christ like?

Psalms 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:

Psalms 139:24 And see if [there be any] wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Don't get over confident in ourselves for we may be surprised at how we have treated others. There have been two men that The Lord used to teach me about giving. The first one was my middle brother; he and I were going somewhere together when we came upon a Shriner collecting money. When my brother saw him he got out his wallet and put something in the man's bucket; that impressed me for the Shriners are doing a great work with children. The other man had an opportunity as he passed a similar type and he refused to give. The Lord used his wife as she said why didn't you give that man any thing? His answer was, "He more than likely was going to use that money to get something to drink.” Her response was, "You don't know that!” It's not what they will or will not do with the gift we give them for The Lord knows the intent of the heart; both hearts.

Gotten Use Too

I went to visit some friends that lived near a heavy industrial area where the mills filled the air with a shall we say very distinctive aroma. It was of a sulphur-like, rotten egg type of odour. When I asked what the odor was? They said what odor? They had lived around the stink so long; it just didn't register with them anymore

I started thinking about how many things have we just gotten use too? It may bother others but not us. My father-n-law told me one time that his mother told him not to go to a certain place, but he went anyways. I'm sure you or I never did anything like that. Anyways he got that Georgia mud all over his clothes and he started trying to get it off. He was able get a lot of it off. He went home only to have to answer the question from his mother, “Did you go where I told you not to?” He couldn't understand how she knew so he asked her; she said, “You had mud all over you.” He said I had gotten so much of that mud off and thought to myself I looked so much better than I did that my mother would never know. So what's going on in our lives that we have just gotten use to?

There's a man we find in John Chapter 5. We find him in Jerusalem by the sheep market at a pool called Bethesda. Now around that pool there are laying a great multitude of people and they all have health problems. Some were blind, some lame and some paralyzed. They were all there for the same reason at a certain season. An angel troubled the waters and the first one in was made whole. There was a man who had been there for the last thirty eight years waiting his turn. Thirty eight years and he was still waiting? I'm afraid that he had just gotten use to being sick, use to being helpless, gotten use to being useless. Could it be we too get use to things and do not try to change anything? Wait, what's this? It's Jesus and what is He saying;

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case , he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? Are you just happy being use to all that's around you? The same Jesus that changed this man can and will change each and every one of us. The question is do you want it or are you just use to the stink that’s around you?

Acts of Failure

Proverbs Chapter seven deals with the acts of failure; being talked into something you know is wrong from the get go.

First there's the act the catching of the eyes:

Proverbs 7:10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.

Second there's the act of making you feel important and special:

Proverbs 7:13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,

Proverbs 7:15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.

Third there's the act of Invitation:

Proverbs 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.

Fourth there's the act of Security and Safety:

Proverbs 7:19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:

Proverbs 7:20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.

Fifth there's the act of Doom:

Proverbs 7:22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;

Proverbs 7:23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.

Every wrong we do begins with what looks like a Silver Lining! Knowing what we are about to do is wrong we some how convince ourselves we can handle it. We can't, we didn't the last time and we won’t be able to this time either. It matters not whether it's alcohol, drugs, sex, lust, anger, pornography or gossip, just as the acts before we will fail! As my wife says it never just happens it's on going or on coming. Pay attention to the acts and learn them if not doom will happen!

Did You Noticed the Word

That is a word we use quite frequently, but have you ever really thought about what it means? Webster gives the definition as - That is a word used as a definitive adjective, pointing to a certain person or thing before mentioned, or supposed to be understood. "Here is that book we have been seeking this hour." "Here goes that man we were talking of."

A word that is used to point out something before mentioned. With that in mind let’s look at

Romans 6:6 Knowing this, (We know) that our old man (that the person we used to be) is crucified with him, (Jesus) that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  (Because of this we are no longer slaves to sin)

Did you notice the word “THAT” was used three times in that verse? The first time it is prefixed with “Knowing this,” So what are we to know? That our old man is crucified with Him, Why? That from now on we should not serve sin. That, from this time forward we are no longer slaves to sin. Webster says the word slave means a person who is wholly subject to the will of another; one, who has no will of his own, but whose person and services are wholly under the control of another. Does that mean that a person who is wholly subject to another has no will of their own? We want to stop doing whatever we are doing, drinking, drugs, lust, anger………...  but we can’t. We have tried many times but we have yet to succeed in becoming free. Listen!  So there must be a change. We can’t do this on our own I have tried to do it on my own just like you and have failed just like you. Until!!!!! I quit trying and started TRUSTING. For something to be old there has to be something NEW! The problem you are having is the same one I was having I didn’t know Christ and I had never asked Him to forgive me of my sin and come into my heart. Guess what, you haven’t either. 

John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

So knowing the truth does more than set you free, it makes you free. That is much better than set free. So here we are maybe for the first time or the thirty-first time it makes no different, for it is the truth that will make you and I free.  You want that which is giving you a problem to be old? It can be for there are many that have been made free and they now know Jesus and now they are no longer a servant to the drugs, alcohol, lust, anger. Well to put it in short form, you can have as much as you want or as little as you are satisfied with. The problem, many are satisfied with too little. I am like the man who says I want it all. How about you? 

We're Moving

We're moving! How many times have you heard someone say that? I don't know about you but I have heard many people say that. I would always ask why? Then they would say something like we are moving because it's closer to where I work, the schools are better, it's a better place to raise our children. Now they have spent time checking out the schools for the kids or how would they know it’s a better place to raise their children if they had not spent time checking into it?  How would they know if it was closer to work if they had not checked the mileage? You see they had committed themselves to the move. Now it's a sure fact that 100% of people being born will also die; and that includes you and I. Now in that length of time; no matter how much time it is do we really spend much of it investigating our eternal home?   The word “know” is found 299 times in the New Testament, I think you and I should know some things about our heavenly home. Jesus, on His last night with His disciples told them that He was going to prepare a place for them.

John 14:2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  He wanted them to know some things about their heavenly home. Then the Apostle Paul had this to say;

2Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.  Paul was confident that when death did take him he knew where he was moving to. Take some time so that you will know where you are moving to. My wife and I spent the night at a bed and breakfast a few years back. It’s like spending the night in someone else’s home that you don’t even know. I sure don’t want to leave this life and get to a place that I know nothing about. Ask yourself some questions, who will be there? What will the streets look like? What are the walls made of? Will there be any gates? The main question is will you be there? If you are, it will not be by accident. Now do you see why you need to spend some time knowing? Don’t play around with this moving business for you will be moving some day. 

Sensual Lure

I was watching a T.V. commercial and an older man was kissing his wife and the commercial said he was doing so without mistletoe. At the end it said that you don’t really need anything for you have all you want. A happy family with children all around and a Christmas tree shining in the back ground. I can identify with that for I don’t need mistletoe to kiss my wife for I like to do it often. I can’t think of anything that would make me any happier than spending time with my family. Some how if we are not careful we’ll get caught up in the bigger and better thinking it will make us happier; it won’t and we have a record that it doesn’t. We live in a day when man never earns enough. A woman is never beautiful enough. Gadgets are never modern enough. Houses are never furnished enough. Food is never fancy enough. Relationships are never romantic enough. Life is never full enough. So if you had the money what would you do and how do you think you would act? In other words how would it change you? There once lived a man who had the time, the money, and the energy to take such a journey. Not a mind trip, not across the imaginary back roads of his memory but into life itself. He was free to walk and because no one was able to restrain him his name was Solomon and he has left us a journal. His journal covers what only most dream of. In his journal he gives us the details of what happened and the results and leaves us with the message “don’t waste your time; it will not satisfy!” We can find his journal in a book called Ecclesiastes. I must tell you that the journey this man took was mind-boggling and left him Defeated, Depressed, and Disillusioned. Only one word is needed to explain his journey “Empty.” He also leaves us his motto on the front page of his journal;  

Ecclesiastes 1:1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

Ecclesiastes 1:2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. That is the way Solomon described how he felt before he took his journey, while he endured his journey, and after the journey was over. Nothing satisfied. Not so fast Solomon; I want to know what made your journey a pointless and empty one? You were King and had an endless supply of resources and you are telling us that nothing you did had any purpose! How could you make such a statement?  Solomon uses a phrase 27 times that tells us why nothing he had or did satisfied; it’s the phrase “Under the sun.”  Life is drab and depressing, hopeless, meaningless simply because he left God out of the picture. Laughter, comedy routines, booze, sex, entertainment, ego building projects, art collections, fun trips, serious work, and a half dozen other attempts at happiness and all of them blew up in his face.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, (accomplished) and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity (emptiness) and vexation (pointless) of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:17 Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity (empty) and vexation (pointless) of spirit.

Ecclesiastes 2:18 Yea, I hated all my labour which I had taken under the sun: because I should leave it unto the man that shall be after me. (Leave it to the person who replaces me.)

Do you want real meaning, purpose, an investment that will give lasting dividends? Solomon says wake up and wise up I can tell you before you get started it won’t satisfy.

1-      The sensual lure of something better tomorrow robs us of the joys offered today.

2-     The personal temptation to escape is always stronger than the realization of it consequences.

3-     The final destination, if God is absent from the scene, will not satisfy.  

The Good life, the one that truly satisfies exists only when we stop wanting a better one. When we realize satisfaction comes when we step off the escalator of desire and say, this is enough. What I have will do. What I make of it is up to me and the relationship with my Lord is vital. It did take a commercial to show me or tell me that we just need to be happy where the Lord has us and what He has entrusted us with.

Rape and more Evil

The culture that you and I live in often teaches that humility is a sign of weakness and aggressiveness will gain you the prize. Webster tells us that “Humility is freedom from pride and arrogance; humbleness of mind; a modest estimate of one's own worth. In theology, humility consists in lowliness of mind; a deep sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God.  While he says to be aggressive is tending to aggress; making the first attack. As we read what the Psalmist has to say in Psalms 84 does it sound like humility or aggressiveness;

Psalms 84:2 My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. {A deep sense of one's own unworthiness in the sight of God.}

Psalms 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. {A modest estimate of one's own worth}

Psalms 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Psalms 84:12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Wait a minute we must not forget the evening news that informs us of all that is going on so we can lie down at night and worry about what tomorrow will bring. Murder, death, robbery, rape and more evil; we face as the sun rises in the east on the next day of which we will hear the same. That’s the last thing most people hear before they go to bed; no wonder they have trouble sleeping at night! They may be wondering if they will be the next invasion by some drug crazed mind looking for an open door. No wonder people are fearful.  Look at what the Psalmist says “For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. “  So he humbles himself to the place of just being a doorkeeper and then he tell us that “For the LORD God is a sun and shield“ Is he telling us that it’s God that give him light in a dark world and that it’s God that has become his protection? Sure he is! Do you remember the day that Jesus disciples came to Him and asked Him to teach them to pray?

Luke 11:1  And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.  So what did He teach them? Among many things He taught that day, He said this;

Luke 11:3 Give us day by day our daily bread. How many days? One at a time! Not today and the rest of the week just today and today Lord protect me from evil and temptation “And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. “ In other words give me light to live by for this day. He didn’t tell us to be aggressive if we ever wanted to amount to something He just plainly said trust Me, Ask Me, follow My lead, you don’t have to be aggressive I’ll do that for you, just trust Me!  If you don’t listen to the news how in the world will you ever know what’s going on? If it’s bad enough someone who laid awake the night before worrying about it will be kind enough to tell me. So why should we both lay awake?