And if you'll take your Bibles and turn to Proverbs chapter three, Proverbs chapter three. And we're going to begin reading in verse 31. So Proverbs chapter three. And verse 31. We're going to read down through 35.

Envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

Let's go to the Lord once more. Lord, thank you for your word. Lord, may you take it and may the Holy Spirit use it as the sword of the spirit to pierce our hearts today, to bring conviction where it is needed, challenge where it is needed, hope where it is needed, understanding in faith, Lord, where it is needed to our heart today. And if there be one here that is yet to receive Jesus Christ, I pray today, even today would be their day of salvation. In Jesus name, we do pray.

Amen. Do not envy the wicked. It is foolish to do so. It is naive to do so. It is shortsighted.

It demonstrates a weakness of faith and a lack of understanding into what brings true joy and peace, life more abundantly and eternal. It is naive because the little g God of this world, the prince and power of the air has blinded the eyes of those who know not the Lord, has robbed them of their joy of knowing their maker. It is they who are missing out, not us. It is shortsighted. The Bible says this life is like a what?

Vapor. It's here for a moment, then it's gone. The wicked around us may have some beautiful things, some nice things, some pleasures that maybe some of us might not enjoy in this life. They do not compare to what is awaiting us in heaven. It is shortsighted of us to envy those who have so little for so little time when we have so much in Jesus Christ for so long.

To envy someone is to be covetous or jealous of their fun or frivolity or seeming freedom or fortune. It shows a lack of contentment. The Bible says with contentment is great gain. To be envious is to be discontent with what we do have. It shows a lack of contentment on the part of the envious who believes they're missing out on something the other person has or has experienced.

To be sure, envy is not a good and productive desire or attitude, which generally the Bible does condemn. Covetousness in particular in contrast to the more godly and beneficial attitude of contentment. But to specifically envy sinners or the wicked is the subject of our message this morning And something God warns his people against. A ploy of the enemy to destroy your happiness, your joy, your peace, and your testimony. And one to which God's people are too often sadly vulnerable because we're looking with these eyes and not eyes of faith.

I wanna look at my message only has two points this morning. So we'll be out of here in ten minutes, right? Okay, they might be might be a few sub points to the two points, but here's the two points. The command and the reason for the command. Too often, many times, we emphasize and bring forth the commands.

This is what you must do. But God created us in His image. And created in His image, we have the desire to know what's that three letter word started with a w? Why? Why?

Why? And so we're going to look at the commands, we're going to look at the why this morning. And the two kind of overlap a bit, so you get a little bit of the why while we're looking at the commands. But but I I want to kind of emphasize it in those two places this morning. And you'll find as we go through that there's actually quite a few verses on this specific issue because it's a problem for God's children many times and one which should not be.

So first of all, the command. Do not envy the wicked or the oppressor or the one who commits iniquity or sin. Don't envy the violent or the cruel, the unjust or the immoral. It uses the word froward in one of those verses we read. It means immoral disobedient.

In high school, it was the cool crowd that treated others with contempt and always seemed to get their way. Even the adults seemed to cater to them sometimes. I vaguely remember those days. Today, it might be a coworker that seems to always get what their way and what they want and but they're not doing it the right way and But it seems they get what they want anyway. It might be a family member.

It might be an opponent in a city council election. It might be a neighbor. Fill in the blank. But they're out there. And sometimes we rub shoulders with them.

Sometimes we end up on the opposite side of something. They're underhanded in their dealings, dishonest and hypocritical maybe. They know how to work the system. They care for who? Themselves.

They have, it seems, no or little conscience about things. So they don't play by the rules and it seems to give them an advantage. It seems sometimes that it pays off. They get the promotion. Everybody pats them on the back.

They're the popular one. It seems like it pays off, but in God's book, it doesn't. Neither does it in their life or their heart as it might seem at first. We'll return to that in a few minutes because that gets back to the why. But we live in a wicked world.

We live in a world system that is largely controlled and influenced by the enemy of truth and righteousness. And so he rewards those who sign on to his playbook, who play by his rules. Sometimes it seems like they're the ones that have it easy. And so we envy them and we shouldn't. In Proverbs three thirty one, we read here, envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways.

This was a big issue in the past. It is still an issue today. There are those that are the oppressors and they have control over other people's lives and they're unjust. They take advantage of their power. They exist.

Don't envy them. Don't think, hey, they got they they do whatever they want and here for me, I have this job and I have six bosses and and do not envy them and do not choose their what? Ways. It doesn't pay. It does not pay.

It may look like it pays, but trust the Lord, it doesn't pay. Proverbs twenty three seventeen, it says, let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. Get your eyes off of them and get your eyes on who? On the Lord. You start treasuring the things that they have.

The Bible says, where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Don't envy them. Don't envy their treasure. Their treasure's passing away. Their treasure's fleeting.

Their treasure is fool's gold. It looks pretty, but it's not worth anything. It's not worth anything. It's not worth it. Fear the Lord.

Stick with him. Psalm thirty seven one, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. Don't fret or worry over their seeming good fortune. Well, look, this happened to me and that happened to me and I'm struggling with this and boy, I have this bill to pay and I don't know if I can pay it and I got this report and my boss does And look, everything seems to go perfect for them. The word important word there is seems to, and that's exactly the way the devil wants it to look.

Human beings by nature, they hide the hurt and they hide the failures and they hide the fears and they show the world around them that they're happy and everything's great when it's not. One of the dangers of Facebook and social media is these kids go on there and they think these people's lives are just so great and wonderful, but they're only seeing the snippets that people want them to see. Don't be deceived. Don't envy them. Don't fret over the way it looks because the way it looks is not what matters.

What matters is the way it is. And the one who is in your corner, you don't wanna have Satan in your corner. You wanna have God in your corner, and it matters. This despite their seeming success, do not choose their ungodly ways. You are accountable to God.

Trust him. Do right. At the end of the journey, in the midst of it as well, you will be glad you did. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not into thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him. He shall direct thy paths. He hasn't forgotten about you. He's there. He'll lead you in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

It's by the cool waters and the green pasture. Don't be distracted. Proverbs 30 seven:three-six say this, Trust in the Lord and do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he will give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.

I like that verse four there in the middle. That's my wife's life first. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. What you truly desire. What you truly need.

It isn't money. I mean, it isn't big bank accounts and boats and cars and mansions and fame and popularity. No. What you need is love, peace, joy. Those things may seem to provide them, but they don't last.

It's a facade. It's fool's gold. Delight yourself in the Lord, you will get what? The desires of your heart. Envy the wicked, follow their path, and you'll give up some of those.

Proverbs 20 four:one says, Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. Do not be envious of them. Don't desire to be with them in their fun and frivolity and in their pleasure and because it well, we're getting into the why again. There's pleasure in sin for a season and then comes the consequences. Sin always has consequences.

And the consequences are far worse, both temporal and eternal, than any pleasure you might gain. Sadly, most of them don't know better. They're trying to squeeze what pleasure they can out of life in any way they can. They need Jesus. You have Jesus.

Give them Jesus. Let them see Jesus in us and the smile that he puts on our face. Don't envy them. Show them. Do not desire their unjust gain or fame.

Do not participate in their unjust enterprise nor fantasize about being in their place. I think sometimes we use TV and entertainment as a way for Christians to fantasize about being the wicked. Is that smart for us day after day to sit there and be entertained by their wicked ways? Maybe not the wisest thing to do. Proverbs one fifteen says, my son wilt not in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path.

Psalm one one and two, blessed is the man that walketh not in the council nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his light and in his law doth he meditate day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Yes.

Verse three and four weren't up here. Don't desire to be with them. Desire to be with who? Desire to be with God and his people on his path. He won't fail you.

Proverbs twenty four nineteen says, fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked. Psalm thirty seven one and two, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity, for they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Vengeance is mine, I will what? Repay, saith the Lord. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

For the wages of sin is death. You get a theme there? Death, destruction, that's where their path leads. The Bible says God's eyes are open. They see everything, the good and the bad.

Their day of reckoning is coming. That brings us to the why, the why. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Back to Proverbs three, if you're still in Proverbs three. Why?

Why envy not sinners? Well, I don't want to be in their place, do you? I don't want to be standing one day at the great white throne judgment. I don't want the books to be open and every one of my rotten sins entered into the record and punished forever, cast out from his kingdom and his presence. I don't want that.

I know this life is not here gonna last forever. I know eternity is coming. I know God is watching. It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the what? The judgment.

There's a good reason not to envy them because you don't want to be in their shoes one day. You don't even want to be in their shoes today. Verse 32, Proverbs 30 Proverbs three verse 32 says, for the froward, the disobedient, is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous. The the word abomination applies something that has been set apart for destruction. It is abomination to God.

The wicked aren't going to get close to God. They are set aside for destruction. They do not know His love and His mercy because they have rejected it. They will never enter heaven because they've never been born again. But you who are a child of God, you are his delight.

You have been reconciled. He draws you close. He shares with you his secrets, His word and His insight. He whispers comfort when you need it. He gives peace in the midst of your storm.

His covenant is with you. You're secure. They are not. Why would you be envious of the wicked? Verse 33, the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

Which side do you want to be on? The curse or the blessing? If you're a child of God, you're on the side of blessing. Don't squander it by by looking at the grass on the other side thinking it's greener there. It's not.

It's it's a facade. It's deceiving. The grass is greener where you are, and the grass will be green for how long? Forever. Stop looking over there.

Stop allowing Satan to tug at you, make you think that you don't have vest because in Jesus you do. But but you have trouble. You have financial problems and health problems and you have loss and yeah, those things happen in this life to everyone. But I want God in my corner, and he's there. For if you're a child of God, he's in your corner.

Don't don't allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the problems or the the guy that you're going into the ring against that is bigger and stronger than you. You have God in your corner. You're gonna be alright. You don't want the curse of God. You want the what?

The blessing. James four:six says, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the what? To the humble. Bible says God brings low the mighty, but he lifts up the fallen and he will lift you up.

You'll let him. Don't envy them. God resists them. Your hand can be out like this or your hand can be out like this. If you're a child of God, how is God's hand?

Like this or like this? Which isn't? It's like this. Don't envy those because God's hand is out like this. He resisteth the proud.

He reaches down to lift up the what? The humble. You may be down, but God is there lifting you up. They may seem to have it all together. They may seem to have a lot of good things, but God's hand is like this.

And unless they humble themselves before him, one day when they stand before him, he will say, depart from me ye that work, what? Iniquity. I never never knew you. Do not envy them. They are never satisfied, never truly happy or at peace.

They're like the chaff which the wind blows. Back to Psalm one. It says, But the ungodly are not so. They're not like the tree planted by the river of water, but they're like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore, the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. In Jude, the book just before Revelation, I'm gonna read a few verses from Jude, starting in verse 11. Little tiny book just before Revelation. Says this of the wicked, woe unto them. That means bad things are coming.

For they have gone in the way of Cain, ran greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. These are spots in your feast of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without water, carried a bound of winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars to whom it is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. We look at them, we don't see that description there sometimes, do we?

We see all the bunny and the glamour and the glitz and it seems like everything's going great with them. Is that how God sees them? Is that their end? Is that the truth? Is that are they really that happy and that at peace?

The answer to that is one. No. And given enough time, what happens? Well, they turn to drugs many times and alcohol. Their relationships, they fall apart.

And their kids destroy many times their lives. And at the end, they have nothing what? Nothing to show. You can't take it with you. You've never seen a hearse pulling a U Haul.

You ever heard that? Somebody once took a picture. They hooked a hall U Haul back up to the end of a hearse just to say, hey. I've seen him. No.

Doesn't work that way. But you, child of God, you are the tree planted by what? The rivers of water. You're not tossed to and fro by the winds and you're have a firm foundation. You're the one who built your house on the rock.

Don't envy the mansion sitting on the sand. Because when the winds come and the rains come, what happens to the mansion sitting on the sand? And in Florida, sometimes you see this. It collapses. Great is the fall thereof.

Be thankful you're on a rock. Recognize that it's you that are secure. You need to be helping others up on the rock with you. Do you not? Rather than getting down in the sand with them.

My dad owned, when I was a kid, owned a Jeep truck. It was a four wheel drive, positraction, tractor gear. That thing was phenomenal. It didn't like the water and the salt and the thing like was half fallen apart from rust. We had to try to use different manners to keep it all connected together.

But we lived in snow country from time to time. It was snow country in Virginia and lived out in the country. And sometimes, we would have to go somewhere in the snow and, boy, that snow didn't matter, that thing. It go through two feet of snow and like it was nothing. But sometimes we'd run up on people who were in the ditch.

So, so we pull em out. Dad would kind of chain or rope. Sometimes, he'd help people pull em out with his Jeep truck. So, did he keep the Jeep truck up on the road and hook it to the person and pull them up? Or do you think he drove the Jeep truck down into the ditch with them and then tried to pull them up?

He stayed on the what? Stayed on the road. You stay on solid ground. There's others around you. Jesus loved them.

Jesus died for them. Jesus wants to save them, and he can. But you don't need to get down in the what? You don't need to get down the gutter to help him. You need to stay on solid ground.

You don't need to envy them. You need to care for them. You need to pray for them. You need to help them, but you don't need to get down in the muck with them. Because you are standing on solid ground.

Are you standing on solid ground this morning? Do you know Jesus Christ as savior? Have you accepted him? I hope you have. If you haven't, you can today and you can be placed on the rock, Jesus Christ.

And you can know you have eternal life. You can have your name written in the what? The book of life and you will never perish. But also Christian, you are on the rock. Would you recognize that?

Would you stop looking at the world around you and wishing you had what they had? Because it's they that need what you have. So don't allow your heart to be pulled in different directions. Allowed it to be pulled in this one. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you Lord for your word today and thank you for the grace that you have given to us, the precious, exceeding great and precious promises, Lord. We have in Jesus Christ.

We thank you that our God, our savior, will supply all our needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. We pray Lord for those we know, for those we see who need Jesus, even those who seem to have it all great in this life. Lord, they're empty inside, and their end is not good. Lord, link us to be a shining light, lighthouse on the hill to draw people to the savior. And Lord, forgive us for envy the wicked around us.

Forgive us for valuing things so highly that are so fleeting. And Lord, give us joy and peace that passes all understanding as we grow closer to you and recognize more each day all the wonderful things it means to be a child of the king. In Jesus' name, pray. Amen.