In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith emphasizes the importance of not making pleasure our god and seeking fulfillment in material possessions. He warns that those who love pleasure and pursue worldly luxuries will ultimately be spiritually poor and empty. Pastor Chuck also highlights the significance of understanding and staying on the path of righteousness, as wandering away from it leads to spiritual death. He encourages listeners to consider the fate of the wicked and the importance of helping the poor, as God will bring retribution against the wicked and those who ignore the cries of the poor will find themselves unheard in their own time of need.

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 In Proverbs chapter 21, verse 12. And now with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck. The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked. There's the 73rd Psalm that fits with this proverb. Asaph, the writer of the 73rd Psalm, speaks about being envious of the wicked when he saw their prosperity. He was going through hard times. He was having heart problems. He was very sick. And he looked around and he saw the wicked and it seemed like they had anything and everything they wanted. They weren't sick like he was. They didn't have the problems that he had. And yet they were blasphemous. They were evil in their speaking against God. And he said, I almost was wiped out until I went into the sanctuary of God and I saw their end. I saw the result of living a life of wickedness. I saw what was going to happen to them. And then rather than envying them, he felt a pity towards them. And he realized how well off he was. For Lord, Thou art continually with me. You hold me by the right hand. You guide me with your counsels and you will receive me into glory. Whom am I on earth beside Thee? And who in heaven do I desire but Thee, O Lord? I am so fortunate. I am so blessed. When he saw the end result of a life of sin compared with the end result of a life of righteousness. The end result of the life of sin is destruction. Thou hast put them in slippery places. In a moment they are going down into the pit. They are utterly consumed with terror. The end result of a life of sin compared with the end result of the life of righteousness and Thou wilt receive me into glory. And then he sort of rebuked himself for the thoughts that he was thinking that it doesn't pay to serve God. It doesn't pay to try to live a right kind of a life. So foolish was I. I was like a beast. I was thinking like an animal that the grave is the end and I didn't look beyond to eternity. And thus the wise, the righteous man, wisely considereth the house of the wicked. You see them with all of their riches and all of the splendor and all, but wisely considering it you realize that death is going to bring the end. It's going to bring worse than the end. It's going to bring horrible retribution of God against their wickedness. For God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness. God will overthrow them. Whoso stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard. Again, how that in so many of the Proverbs, Solomon takes up the cause of the poor. The Lord takes up the cause of the poor. Here's another proverb that is encouraging us to help the poor. If you stop your ears at the cry of the poor, then when you are in need and are crying, there will be no one to listen to you. A gift in secret pacifieth anger, and a reward in the bosom strong wrath. And so the way to appease, and I think that most husbands have found this out, take some flowers home, you know. Pacifieth anger. Bring home a gift. One of the major problems that wives have is does he love me? And sometimes by our actions, we don't show loving, tender concern, and that's what they need. They're made of a finer temperament than we are. We are coarse, rough, tough, macho. They're fine and weak and tender, and they need to feel that they are loved. And sometimes in our coarseness, we don't show it, and we hurt them, not meaning to. Then they get angry with us. Time for a box of candy. A gift in secret will pacify anger, and a reward in the bosom strong wrath. It is a joy to the just to do justly. If you are a just person, doing the right thing is just a joy, it's a delight. Don't you feel good when you've done the right thing? It's just a joy to the just to do judgment. But destruction shall come to the workers of iniquity. The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead. How important it is to have an understanding. If you wander out of that path, you're walking in the congregation of the dead. And he that loves pleasure shall surely be a poor man. What poverty, spiritual poverty, that person has who lives for pleasure, what an emptiness is there. For pleasure is so fleeting, it's just a moment of exciting, the moment of thrill. But you have to go back and seek more, more, more. And I'm always amazed at how we are developing more and more gimmicks and things to bring sensations and excitement and thrills. When I first surfed, it was the old long balsa wood board. And you just get there and you just stand, you know, and ride the wave in. And that was great stuff, you know. Man, you see these guys today with these short little boards and curling up on the wave and making a fantail and watching them go on those waves. And it's just absolutely... And I think of myself on that big old long board, you know, just standing there. And compared with what these guys are doing today, man, I'm lying. Can't believe the stuff they do. But, you see, the excitement wears off after a while, and so you've got to get some new little twist, some new little angle, some little thing to give it another little, you know, different shape of the board and a different feel on the wave. And you just go and go and go. And the same with water skiing and the types of skis and the types of things that they're doing now with water skis and even just snow skiing. You've seen some of these guys that are doing these flips and all with snow skiing. I can't believe. Because when you make pleasure your big thing in life, it's sort of like an opiate. It takes more and more to bring the same degree. I mean, after a while, anything gets old. And so you have to add a new wrinkle. You have to add a new twist. You've got to do something else to make it a little more, to get that same excitement and that same rush that you had, you know. And so you're a poor man when pleasure is your God. And he that loveth wine and oil, luxuries, shall not be rich, shall be poor in the things of God. The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous and the transgressor for the upright. You remember when the children of Israel were finally coming into the land, being led by Joshua, and they had conquered the city of Jericho by unusual means, marching around it for seven days. And then as they began their journey up towards Bethel, moving now into the land, they'd have established now their stronghold at Jericho, and now they're beginning to move into the land. And as they move up the valley towards Bethel, there's this little town of Ai over here. And the men said to Joshua, you don't need to deploy the whole army for that little town. We'll just go over there and wipe it out, and then we'll join you, you know, at Bethel. And so these men went over, and the men of Ai came out, and they began to get the better of them in the battle. And the men of Israel came fleeing back to Joshua, defeated. And Joshua cried unto the Lord. And the Lord said to Joshua, hey, there's a problem here, Joshua. There's sin in the camp. You know, I told you that Jericho was mine. I was giving you the victory. Thus, all of the spoils of Jericho belonged to me. But there is a man in the camp who took some of the spoils into his own tent. And so God fingered Achan, who had taken this Babylonian garment and had hid it in his own tent. And so they brought him forth, and he was put to death. God couldn't give them victory as long as this sin was in the camp. And so in that case, the wicked man Achan became a ransom for the righteous when he was dealt with. Then they went back, and they took Ai, and they went on and took the land. The transgressor becomes the ransom for the upright. God seeks to remove the evil out of the camp of his people. Here is the other one. It is better to dwell in the wilderness... He's moved out of his little shack on the roof. ...than with a contentious and an angry woman. There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spends it up. The importance of savings. Treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise. To have, remember, we have the wise and the foolish virgins. The lack of oil. The foolish man spends everything he has. He that followeth after righteousness and mercy will find life, righteousness, and honor. What are you seeking? Are you seeking righteousness? Are you seeking mercy? Then you're going to find life and righteousness and honor. A wise man scaleth the city of the mighty, and he casteth down the strength and the confidence thereof. So by wisdom a city is taken. The wise man will scaleth the city of the mighty. Whoso keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from trouble. How many times have you gotten in trouble because you said something, you know? The Bible talks about the tongue being an unruly member. And how much better it is just to keep your mouth shut. So many times. And so he who keeps his mouth shut and his tongue will keep his soul from trouble. You can just stay out of a lot of trouble by just keeping quiet. Proud and haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in proud laughs. So proud and haughty scorner, that probably is a bad name. That's the name of the one who deals in proud wrath. Now the desire of the slothful or the lazy man kills him. For his hands refuse to labor. You desire, you want, but you're too lazy to work. And so that desire can just kill you. It just drives you mad. Oh, I wish I had this. Oh, I wish I had that. Well, go out and work. No, I don't want to work. But I sure wish I had it. The desire will kill you. For he covets greedily all day long. It's just there. It's nagging on you. You desire it, but you won't work. But the righteous he gives and he spares not. Now, we dealt with the sacrifice. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable, Lord, than sacrifice. The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination. How much more when he brings it with a wicked mind. God knows your hearts. And the sacrifice of the wicked is just an abomination of God. And it's even worse when he does it with a wicked mind. A false witness shall perish. But the man that heareth speaketh consistently. A false witness, the problem is, as you are questioned over and over again, and you're trying to make up an excuse and make up an alibi, and you're lying about it, as you tell your story, you're going to become inconsistent in the telling of your story. And then they begin to catch you up with your inconsistencies. Well, I thought you said there were two people. Well, I mean, there was actually three. I only saw two to begin with. But you see, you have to, you know, going from one toe to the other and you get talking faster and you get caught up with. But if you're telling the truth, the one thing about it, it's consistent. The story remains the same. That's the way I saw it. And you're telling a straight story. So the man that heareth speaketh constantly, it should be consistently. There's a consistency to the story. Now the wicked man hardens his face. But as for the upright, the Lord directs his way. Now the wicked so often get hardened in their position. They harden their face. They say, I'm going to do it and I don't care what people say. I don't care what they think. I don't care what God thinks. I'm going to do it. He hardens himself in his way. But the upright, he looks to God for direction. I'm pliable. I'm open to be directed by God. Now an important proverb that we all should take and really put to heart, for there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. There's an old Greek proverb that declares, the dice of the gods are loaded. That is, you can't really go against God and win. There's nothing you can do. If you put yourself in opposition to God, there's no way you can win. You go against the word of God. You go against the will of God. And you're the loser. You're going to lose. The dice of the gods are loaded. For there is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. No way that you can defeat him. Now the horse is prepared against the day of battle. The horse was the tank in those days. He was the super weapon. He was the advantage in a battle. The horse being strong and large was a definite advantage in any battle. And so the horse is prepared against the day of battle. But the real safety isn't in the horse. It's of the Lord. And so a person shouldn't look to the horse for safety, but look to the Lord. Don't look to material things or whatever. Look to the Lord. Now a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. That you have a good name. That you have a good reputation. If you have the choice, being very rich or being known as a very fair, honest person. Better to take the choice of being known as an honest man of your word. A good name is a better choice than riches. Loving favor is better than silver and gold. Now the rich and the poor meet together. The Lord is maker of them all. Where do the rich and poor meet together? When you stand before God. I mean the rich have no advantage standing before God. The rich and the poor meet together. The riches may get you a lot of things in this life, but they get you nothing with God. They don't buy favors with God. The rich and the poor are alike before the Lord. As far as the meeting of justice and all, they stand side by side. And there is no discrimination between the rich and the poor when you stand before the Lord. We have a problem with our court system now. And many cases are being taken to the Supreme Court. Because they say that there is not a true equity in the judgments that are coming forth. And they show statistically how more poor people are executed than rich people. Thus it shows an inequity in the sentence. And thus they're trying to get people freed from their sentences because of inequity. Well, it is true that there is inequity in the court system. But what do you expect? You're dealing with man. You're dealing with man's system. Those gay activists that broke into St. Peter's back in New York and disrupted the service and all. They each got a $100 fine. Some of those that were involved in the Operation Rescue down in San Diego have been meted out $10,000 fines and three years in jail. So tell me, where is the fairness? Where is the equity? What is worse? You know, something's wrong. Don't expect it to get right until the Lord comes and then watch out. I'm going to be sitting in the front row just cheering like everything. We 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. 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 21, verse 12 when visiting thewordfortoday.org. 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. And 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. 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. Now once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing comments. I pray that God will give you a very special week. A time of spiritual growth and development. A time of coming into a clearer understanding of God's love and God's grace. A time of rejoicing in the discovery of the goodness of God. That your heart might be filled with happiness and joy and the understanding of God's purpose and plan for your life. Truly, may you have a merry heart this week as God's Spirit draws you close to Jesus Christ. I'd like to tell you about a book written by Chuck Smith entitled Living Water. In this book, Pastor Chuck explains how God has the power to change your life through His Holy Spirit. This book will help you to understand how the Holy Spirit works in your life covering such topics as who is the Holy Spirit? What does the Holy Spirit do? What are the gifts of the Spirit? And how should I respond? It's Pastor Chuck's desire that by God's grace and through this book, the Lord will develop in you a hunger and thirst for the things after the Spirit that will help you come into a deep and personal relationship with Him so that your life will be transformed. To find out more and to read a book preview, visit thewordfortoday.org and click on the link to download Living Water by Chuck Smith. Or, if you would like to order this book in print, call The Word for Today at 800-272-WORD. That's 800-272-9673. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.