In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith addresses the issue of lawlessness and violence in society, particularly drive-by shootings. He expresses his frustration and weariness with the state of the world, but also emphasizes that the righteous will eventually see the fall of the wicked. Pastor Chuck encourages listeners to turn to God and allow His Spirit to fill their hearts and bring them peace and satisfaction. He concludes by discussing the importance of correcting and disciplining children, as well as the significance of having a vision from God to guide and protect us.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole Here's Pastor Chuck. Where there is no wood, the fire goes out. So where there is no tailbearer, the strife ceases. As coals are to burning coals, and wood to fire, that is, they are feeding the fire, the wood. Coals feed the burning coals, keep them going. So is a contentious man to kindle strife. You get a contentious man, he's like wood to a fire. He just keeps the thing going, causes it to blaze up. The words of a tailbearer are as wounds. They go down into the innermost part of a person. Words of a tailbearer, they're cut. They destroy. They destroy inwardly those emotional cuts. And sometimes I think that those emotional hurts take a lot longer to heal than a physical hurt. Those cutting things that were said, they just seem to hold on. Month after month into the years, they continue to hurt. And so the wounds of a tailbearer, wounds that go down deep into the innermost part of a person's being. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a pot shard that's covered with silver dross, the slag of silver covering over a pot shard, which is a broken piece of pottery, but yet it's covered with silver. So burning lips and a wicked heart. You can gloss over, but it's just clay underneath. He that hates dissembles with his lips, and he lays up deceit within him. Hatred, a horrible thing, it is destructive to the person who hates, and it is destructive to the person who is hated. But if you hate, then you use your lips to bring discord. You use your lips to separate, to dissemble. And hatred's a horrible thing. But when he speaks fair, don't believe him. The man that hates you, he says, oh my, you look so nice today. Watch out. Believe him not. For there are seven abominations in his heart. They flatter you to soften you up. Watch out for the flattery of the person who hates you, whose hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness shall be showed before the whole congregation. Jesus said that which is spoken in secret shall be shouted from the housetops. There is really no secret sin. God is aware, and God knows, and God will reveal. You try to cover your hatred by deceit, but yet it will out, it will be seen, it will be known. Whoever digs a pit shall fall in it. You set a trap for someone else, falling the trap yourself. You dig a pit to trap somebody, then you fall in your own pit. And he that rolleth a stone. And one of their weapons of warfare and all in those days was the use of stones, getting up on a hill, and they would chip these stones like a ball. They're rather round. And then they would get up on the hill, and when someone's going by they didn't like, they'd roll the stones down. They'd big old bold stones come rolling down the hill, and it was a way by which they defended their fortresses and all. At the top of the Herodian, the fortress of Herod, they have a pile of these rolling stones, the stones that were used in the defense of that fortress. The idea is it will return to you. You'll be crushed by the stone. It will return upon him. A lying tongue hates those who are afflicted by it, and a flattering mouth works ruin. So the last part of these Proverbs deal with the tongue, the abuse that can be given by the tongue, deceitful tongue, tongue that's filled with hatred or comes from hateful motives, lying tongue, and deceitful words, flattery, cruel words, hurtful words, tailbears. So the groupings you find are generally in the three there. Now let's go to 29. He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. God is very patient. God is very long-suffering. And as God deals with man, I marvel at the patience of God, far more patient than I could ever be. But if a person continues to harden his neck, God is dealing with you on an issue, and you only become stiff. You become rigid. You become obdurate in your position. Suddenly, you'll be destroyed, and that without remedy. I think that this applies mainly to the sinner. As God deals with a person to turn from their sin, to receive his mercy and grace, and a person hardens his heart over and over and over again to the wooing of the Holy Spirit, there comes a day, there comes a time, there comes a place where God says it's enough. As in the days of Noah, God said, My spirit will not always strive with man. Through the hundred years that Noah was building the ark, God was speaking to the people, striving with them. But there came the day. God said, It's enough, Noah. Get in the ark, get the animals in there. God shut the door. And they were destroyed, and that without remedy. And so it is. You harden your heart to God, to the things of God, to the Spirit of God. There will come a day when God will withdraw His Spirit from you. Then there's no remedy. Suddenly destroyed. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. How great it is to have leaders of the nation who are righteous, who are God-fearing men. But when the wicked bear rule, then the people mourn. Because there is always that oppression, there is always that disintegrating of freedom when the wicked rule. For the wicked are ruling or using their position of power for their own self-interest. And they begin to oppress. And their purpose is the perpetuating of themselves in power and the extending of their power. And so it causes the people to mourn. Whoever loves wisdom rejoices his father. The young fellow who loves wisdom, how the father's heart rejoices in a wise son, in a prudent son, rejoices the heart of his father. But in contrast, he that keeps company with prostitutes spends his substance. It's a heartache to the father to see his son going astray and wasting his life, destroying his life. The king by judgment establishes the land. But he who receives gifts overthrows it. That is a person who is open to bribes, a person who will receive bribes. They overthrow the land. A king by judgment, things are established by righteous judgment. But bribery causes the land to be overthrown. A man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. So often, you've got to be careful of flattery, so often the purpose of flattery is to trip you up, to soften you up. Biblically, the Lord said, when they say peace and safety, then beware, because then comes sudden destruction. A man that flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. In the transgression of an evil man, there is a snare. Sin is always a snare. It's amazing how a person can become ensnared in sin. You start doing something. It's a lark. It's a sport. It's a laughing issue. But as time goes on, that thing begins to get a hold on you. You're bound by it. You find yourself enslaved to it. You've become ensnared by it. But the righteous, in contrast, does sing and rejoice. The wicked become ensnared, but the righteous rejoice with singing. The righteous considers the cause of the poor, takes up the cause of the poor, is interested in the poor, in helping the poor. But the wicked tries to ignore that the poor even exist. They're taken up with their own ways and ignore the poor. Scornful men bring a city into a snare. Leadership, if it's scornful, they can bring a city into a snare. But wise men turn away wrath. It's amazing how that scorn can engender wrath, can develop wrath. But a wise man will turn away wrath. If a wise man contends with a foolish man, whether he rages or laughs, there is no wrath. There really ain't nothing you can do for a fool. Rage at him, laugh at him, doesn't make any difference. The bloodthirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his soul. Bloodthirsty men, evil men, they hate the upright person. They make fun, they laugh, they scorn. They deride a person for their honesty, for their integrity. But the just person, they seek after them. The fool utters all of his mind, but a wise man keeps it until afterwards. We'll get another one that's sort of similar to this, and that is a person who speaks hastily. But a fool just, right off, utter his mind, all of his mind. A person says, let me give you a piece of my mind, and I'll be careful. You may not have much to spare. A wise man just will wait before he makes his decision or his judgment. Keeps it till afterwards. If a ruler hearkens to lies, then the corruption goes all the way down. A corrupt leadership carries right on through. It comes down to every level, every strata. So a corrupt ruler, corrupt servants. Corruption has a way of coming on down. A corrupt ministry, corrupt priesthood. You have a corrupted religion. The poor and the deceitful man meet together. There is a common ground when we stand before God. Rich, poor, sinner, saint. Poor, deceitful. They meet together, and the Lord lighteneth both their eyes. We stand before God. He is the judge of the earth. We all stand before Him, no matter what your position is. The king that faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever. And so, again, Solomon expressed a tremendous interest in the needs of the poor people, which indicates really a good king. He has a heart for the needy people within his kingdom. And the king that faithfully judges the poor, God will establish, or his throne shall be established forever, and the idea is God will establish his throne. The rod and the reproof give wisdom, but a child that is left to himself will bring his mother to shame. Solomon told us that the foolishness of the world is bound in the heart of the child, but the rod of instruction drives it far from him. We don't like to admit it, but a child possesses a sinful nature, and that nature manifests itself very early in the child's life. That me, me first, mine, serve me, take care of me, I want my way. It manifests itself very early in a child's life, and you can be thankful that a baby is as weak as it is or it would tear the crib apart. Screaming, yelling, flailing. Now, these frontiers of selfishness and all must be kept in check. A child has to be disciplined, a child has to be trained, has to be taught. You just leave that child to itself. Give in to every whim and wish of that child. Pamper, coddle in the name of love, and you are creating a monster that the world is going to have to deal with later in a more severe way. A child left to himself will bring his mother to shame. Those frontiers have to be driven back, held in check, or else you'll find that that child will become so destructive that he'll bring shame to his mother. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases. Surely I think that we are living in such a time right now when the wicked are multiplied, wickedness abounds, and we look at all of the evil that is resulting out of it. We see the gang wars on the streets. We are appalled at the number of people in this area that have been killed by indiscriminate drive-by shootings and the lawlessness that does exist and our seeming inability to deal effectively with it. And sometimes we're prone to want to find some remote island and start all over again. When we look at the way things have gone, the way things are going, there are times I say, God, stop this thing and let me off. I mean, I'm tired of seeing the way things are going. But the righteous shall see their fall. The one neat thing about being right is that time will take care of it. If you wait long enough, you'll see the wheels of justice, they grind slowly but exceedingly fine, and you see that it will come around. The righteous will see their fall. The day will come when we will see the results of that evil that a person has given himself over to. In the beginning, they may be getting by. They may seem successful. They may have everything, but just wait. It'll catch up with them, and you'll see their fall. Correct your son, and he will give you rest. Yes, he will be a delight to your soul. Correct him, though. Don't let him just get by with it. Don't let him just do it. Correct him. Otherwise, he won't give you. You'll have, you know, he'll just yell and scream, and you'll have no rest. So correct him, and he'll become a delight, a joy to be around. Where there is no vision, the people perish. Now this vision is the word of the Lord, really, and in that day there was no vision. It says that God was not speaking. Where God is not really speaking to hearts, the people perish. Where there is no working of the Spirit of God in speaking to people, they perish. But he that keeps the law of God happy is he. The word blessed in the Hebrew is literally how happy. How happy is the man who keeps the law of God. Happy is he. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next broadcast, as Pastor Chuck continues his study through the book of Proverbs, and we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you'd like to secure a copy of today's message, simply order Proverbs chapter 26, verse 20 when visiting the wordfortoday.org. And while you're there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, all this can be found at thewordfortoday.org. If you wish to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD and our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Once again, that's 1-800-272-9673. For those of you preferring to write, our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse study through the Bible. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. And now, once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing comments. I pray that God will make this a very special week for you, that you might follow after the things of the Spirit, that He'll protect and shield you from those influences of the world that are so prevalent. We're surrounded by them on all sides. But may the Lord just put a shield around you. And may you walk in holiness and in purity and in righteousness before Him. And may the love of Christ just dwell in your hearts richly as you experience His love and power working in and through your life. In Jesus' name. As Easter is approaching, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is on the hearts of Christians everywhere and how they might witness this beautiful story to their loved ones. With this in mind, The Word for Today would like to present a special MP3 entitled My Redeemer Lives that includes 14 reassuring messages to answer the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and a life that should bring hope to everyone. Also included is a special presentation of the crucifixion from a doctor's perspective as well as a powerful salvation message shared by Pastor Chuck. And when you order My Redeemer Lives MP3, we'll include a free CD by Pastor Chuck to witness to your loved ones that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. This CD entitled A Risen Love clearly presents the evidence to help others make a decision that will impact their immediate and eternal future. For more information, contact The Word for Today at 800-272-9673 or visit us online at thewordfortoday.org This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.