No Peace to the Wicked, pt 1

[0:00] A discombobulated series called One-Liners of the Prophets, and we're going to come up to another one. Last time we met like this was in Isaiah chapter 6, where Isaiah said, Here am I, send me.

[0:14] And that's a message, that's a thought that's on my heart still today. But we're going to move forward and catch another one here, another popular statement of Scripture that you've probably heard. I'm sure you've heard it, I'm sure you've read it.

[0:26] But if I asked you where it was, you may not find it. But let's get into it. We're coming to the end of the chapter, and verse number 18 is where we'll read. I'd like to read the entire chapter, but for sake of time, we'll kick it off in verse 18.

[0:39] The Bible says, I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. I create the fruit of the lips, peace.

[0:51] Peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

[1:05] And now the one-liner, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. There is no peace. None. Saith my God.

[1:18] To the wicked. Now God, in this chapter, reveals in verse 18 that he's aware of their sin. He just went through a list of it through the previous verses. And he says, I've seen his ways.

[1:29] And God knows what wicked man is up to. He knows what his people have been up to and how they've turned from him. And he's wroth with them. He says in verse 17, he says, For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him, and hid me, and was wroth.

[1:46] God's ticked off, and for good reason. And just skim some of it. Come back to verse 3. Isaiah 57, verse 3. This is what God sees when he's looking at his people.

[2:00] He says, But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Now, that's what he sees in his people. He's calling them children of these adulterers of whores, of fornication, of sorceress, of devilment.

[2:18] He's not looking at a kingdom of priests that he said he wanted to make them. And back in Exodus 19, before with the Mount Sinai and Moses getting the law, this is why I'm making you a holy nation, a peculiar treasure unto me.

[2:33] And he is not looking at that right now. He says, I'm seeing the seed of an adulterer and a whore. That's what you people are to me. Not at all what he wanted from them.

[2:44] In verse 4, at the end of the verse, he says, Are you not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, and flaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the cliffs of the rocks?

[2:59] He's not seeing a holy nation. He's seeing his own children and people that he birthed and brought forth unto himself and set apart and sanctified unto himself.

[3:10] And he's watching them go after wickedness and idolatry. He sees them offering themselves, their allegiance, and their service, even later in this chapter, to false gods, offering worship, and even as we read in verse 5, their own children to devils.

[3:27] Sacrificing their children to devils. How disgusting. How vile. How low. He says in verse 9, the end of verse 9, he says that they've debased thyself even unto hell.

[3:39] That's how low you are to me. But God offers to revive the spirit. Look at verse 15. Thus saith the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy.

[3:54] I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit. To revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

[4:06] God is naturally angry. He's angry with the wickedness of his people, and he should be, but he offers to revive their hearts and their spirits if they'll humble themselves.

[4:17] He offers, as we've read in verse 18 and 19, he offers healing. He offers leading. He offers restoration. He offers comfort.

[4:29] And ultimately, he offers peace. Peace. Peace is priceless. There's no value you can place on peace.

[4:42] It's precious. Peace in your heart. You can't put a value on having peace in your heart. You can't put a value on having peace in your home.

[4:53] You can't put a value on having peace and being at peace among those that you know and love in your family or your relationships. You can't put a value on peace.

[5:04] It's too wonderful. The Bible says, Better is a dry morsel and quietness therewith than a house full of sacrifices with strife.

[5:14] I'll take the quietness. I'll take the peace. It's far better than having things, material things. It's far better. But to get it, in this passage, the sinners must humble themselves.

[5:28] Now look at chapter 59. And we'll come back. But chapter 59, and verse number 1, the Lord says, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear.

[5:45] So God's telling them, Look, I can fix the problems you have with the sin, with all that you've done. I can fix this. But your iniquities, there's the problem, have separated between you and your God.

[6:00] And your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear. For your hands have defiled, or are defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity, your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

[6:12] None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth. They trust in vanity. They speak lies. They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

[6:23] They hatch cockatrice eggs and weave the spider's web. He that eateth of their eggs dieth. And that which crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their web shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works.

[6:36] Their works are works of iniquity. And the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil. And they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction around their paths.

[6:47] The way of peace they know not. And there's no judgment in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.

[6:59] He describes the judgment far from us in verse 9. Justice. They walk in darkness. Later in the chapter, verse 13, in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and undering from the heart, words of falsehood, and judgments turned away backward.

[7:17] Justice standeth afar off. Truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth. And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.

[7:29] Things are out of order, messed up, and they're never going to know the way of peace because there's no peace to the wicked.

[7:42] It's impossible to know peace when you live like that. It's impossible. So I wonder, and it makes me ask the question, why continue in verse 13 transgressing and lying against the Lord?

[7:58] Why continue in verse 13 departing away from our God? Why continue to go away from God? Why remain wicked? Why not turn?

[8:08] Why not come clean? That was the theme of camp. Clean. What a great word. Why not come clean? Why not get right? Why not reach for his hand of healing because it's not shortened?

[8:21] God can reach down and pick you right up out of the filth. So why not reach for his hand? Why not call out to him? His ear's not heavy that it can't hear.

[8:33] Why would you reject peace? And I see in the Bible, I see some reasons why wicked man and even children of God who've gotten a taste of worldliness, I see why they reject peace in their life and in their heart.

[8:49] I see some reasons from the Bible. Why they reject healing and why they reject restoration that God offers and why they reject comfort and why they reject peace.

[9:01] The Bible reveals for us a few of these reasons and I want to look at them today and probably next week as well. A few reasons why the wicked refuse to depart from their wickedness even when they have no peace, even when they have no security in it and they know it's wrong and they know it's going to end bad.

[9:18] They still won't walk away. They still won't let go of it. Let's go to Lord in prayer for a minute, Father. As we enter into this message, please captivate our thoughts and our hearts into the text.

[9:29] Lord, help us to see the truth of the Word of God. And Lord, may your Holy Spirit, God, your Spirit is holy. I pray that you'd have access to us, that you'd be able to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that you'd point out the sin, that you'd be thick and heavy in our minds and hearts.

[9:46] And Lord, that we'd be forced to see ourselves according to the Scripture. God, I pray that we would seek peace and, like Peter said, ensue it.

[9:58] I pray you'd give peace in someone's heart who's fighting or departing from the Lord. And God, may we submit to your words today, we pray in Jesus' wonderful name. Amen.

[10:09] Amen. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. That's what God said. There's no peace to the wicked. Nope. That's not possible.

[10:19] The way of peace they have not known. And as we read in verse 8, they shall not, they'll never know peace. He said, Whosoever goeth there and shall not know peace. And the Bible reveals a few reasons why.

[10:33] Someone will keep their sin and reject God's peace in their heart. And I'll tell you a few of them this morning. I'll give you at least two of them. And the first one is, well, the wicked don't have peace. They do have something. You know what they got?

[10:45] They got prosperity. Look at Job 21. I'll show this to you from the text on the book. They have prosperity. And for them, that's enough to keep them from giving up their lives and their transgression and being at peace with God and getting right.

[11:06] Job 21. Look at verse number 7 and we'll read a few verses here. Job 21, verse 7. Here's a good question.

[11:20] This is what Job, he just couldn't help but think this way. Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? He's saying, why God? Why are they successful?

[11:31] Their seed is established in the sight of them and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

[11:42] That being the rod of chastisement. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth and faileth not. Their cow calfeth and casteth not her calf.

[11:53] They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave.

[12:05] Therefore they say unto God, depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. What is the almighty that we should serve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?

[12:18] The wicked have prosperity. The wicked, everything in some cases is just going so good. Why would I turn my back from him? Why would I take the Lord? Why do I need God?

[12:30] I have everything I want right here. We're up there at that camp, a beautiful area and we're on the Spokane River. The property borders the river. And one day we were able to take the kids tubing and I got to go with the pastor of the church, Tim Havman and he has a boss who's just got a ridiculous house right on the river there and we drove to his house and we walked down through his property and just into his enormous garage which was bigger than this building it seemed.

[12:59] And grabbed the keys and grabbed a tube and some things and went down to his dock and got on his boat. And his boat was a $500,000 31 foot thing with two twin 350 whatevers and Volvo.

[13:16] It was ridiculous. And I'm standing on this boat just drooling. Shame on me. Forgive me. But I just, oh it was just so cool. And we got off and we took off and then we're going down this, the river and we go around and there's this, this massive estate.

[13:32] I mean four stories tall you can see it just kind of a pyramid shaped house but with, just gorgeous. I got a picture of it if you want to see it. And we just, I was just taken back by the sizes of the homes on this river and the property value.

[13:48] Just ridiculous down there. Everything's skyrocketing thanks to everybody from California. We had to hide where we were from. We're Bible Baptist Church from Silmar, Colorado.

[13:58] So they didn't hate us. But yeah, they don't like Californians too much up there. But the amount of money that they had in that area and the wealth was just, just unrealistic around some of those properties.

[14:14] And you go knocking on their door and say, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? No. You know what the Lord Jesus Christ, you know what the Bible said?

[14:25] Get out of here. I don't need anything that you can offer me is what they feel. It's how most of them think. I have every single thing in this life. If I want it, I buy it.

[14:37] If I want it, I get it. Someone gets it for me. God has to take a man like that very, very, very low for him to turn and look up to God. Because in this life, he's blinded by his prosperity.

[14:50] But what he never sees and he fails to see is that he doesn't have peace. He can't lay down at night. He knows inside his heart. His conscience is screaming at him saying, you don't have peace.

[15:01] You don't have something. You're missing something. There's a hole inside of you. But he won't humble himself. He doesn't have peace. He has prosperity.

[15:11] Their future, we looked, is marked though in Job 21. Their future is marked by some things. Verse 13, we read it that in a moment, go down to the grave.

[15:22] And then in verse 17, he describes how off is the candle the wicked put out, how off cometh their destruction upon them. God distributes sorrows in his anger.

[15:32] That's what's coming. And in verse 20, his eyes shall see his destruction, he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. This wicked man, he's wicked, verse 7.

[15:43] He's living, he's established, he's safe, he's enjoying life, he's enjoying family, the music, the partying, the wealth, and then he tastes death.

[15:56] And then he can't take his prosperity with him. And then his children pay for it. In verse 9, God layeth up his iniquity for his children. He rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

[16:06] As a matter of fact, come down to verse 30, that the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction. He's asking a question. They know these tokens. They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.

[16:18] God is going to call that wicked man up before him, and he's going to cast his soul into the lake of fire. He's never going to get out. The smoke of his torment is going to ascend up forever and ever.

[16:29] And that prosperity and that joy and that rejoicing and dancing and music and wealth is gone, gone, gone. But today, he's got prosperity.

[16:41] He's got so much prosperity, he doesn't even realize how badly he needs peace. Come to Psalm 37. Let's read a few verses here. Psalm 37. There's no peace to the wicked, but there is prosperity.

[17:00] And that will keep them from turning to God. Psalm 37. We'll read the first 11 verses. 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.

[17:18] Instead of being envious of them, trust in the Lord and do good. Christian, keep your eyes focused on the Lord. Notice how that comes up here. So shall thou be fed, or dwell in the land, verily thou shalt be fed.

[17:31] Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord. Trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgment as the noonday.

[17:45] Rest. There's your peace. Rest in the Lord. Wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man that bringeth wicked devices to pass.

[17:56] Cease from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil, for evildoers shall be cut off. But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. For yet a little while and the wicked shall not be.

[18:09] Amen. Amen, amen, amen. For yet a little while, church, and all of it's going to be gone and you're not going to see them anymore. You're not going to envy them or think, man, they did have a good...

[18:20] No, you're going to say, whoa, thank God I didn't chase that dream. Thank God I didn't seek after that prosperity to be my God. You'll see it come to pass. That's why you get in this book.

[18:32] The book will keep your mind right. The verse 11 says, The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. There's a kingdom promised to these Jews in the Old Testament.

[18:45] They're promised rest in the Lord. They're promised peace. A kingdom of peace and righteousness. And the wicked before them that they see with their eyes, look at Psalm 73, they have to be careful.

[18:56] They have to be careful not to envy that and not to, like Demas, forsook Paul having loved the present world. Something got a hold of his heart and he saw with his eyes and he walked away from God.

[19:10] This is Asaph. I think you know this one. Psalm 73, verse 3, For I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. There are no bands in their death.

[19:21] Their strength is firm. They're not in trouble as other men. They're not plagued like other men. They don't have bills to pay. They're not sweating about their health. They're just, they're fine. They're all good.

[19:31] He's worried about it. He thinks, he thinks in verse 13, I've cleansed my heart in vain. I'm trying to live sanctified before God. I'm trying to observe his words and his commands.

[19:43] I'm trying to walk and keep my eyes on him and it's all in vain. I got nothing to show for it. But look at them out there. Look how good they look, how happy they seem. Until verse 17, I went into the sanctuary of God.

[19:58] Then understood I their end. Their end. It's coming. And God, it's destruction in verse 18. It's desolation in verse 19.

[20:10] Consumed with terrors in verse 19. I don't even, I can't imagine what it's going to be like for that wicked man to live his days in wealth and then drop into hell and suffer and suffer and suffer and suffer and suffer and suffer and never get out.

[20:31] Never have light to be damned for eternity. To never know peace. To never know righteousness. To never know clean. To just suffer.

[20:43] And you know why they don't seek that now? Huh. Because they're prosperous. They've got prosperity. It's gotten their heart. In a moment, in verse 19, it says, how are they brought into desolation?

[20:58] As in a moment, like Job said, in a moment, go down to the grave. In a moment, they go from wealth to the grave to hell.

[21:09] Where the Bible says, the wicked shall be turned into hell. So Christ asked the wonderful question, what shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?

[21:21] What profit is there at the end of this life? What can prosperity do for you? It can't give you peace. Peace cannot be bought. Peace can only be found from the Prince of Peace, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[21:34] He says, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. You'll find rest unto your souls. Well, take the peace of God. That's found in Romans 5, verse 1.

[21:47] Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christian, if you've taken the peace, you made the right choice.

[22:01] But if you're chasing prosperity, you're going to mess your life up. You can't do it. You're going to regret that. You're going to stand before God naked and ashamed without any righteousness to show for it, without anything to offer.

[22:16] There are some reasons why the wicked refuse to depart from their wickedness. One of them is their prosperity. Another one, let me take you to this, another one is their pleasure. They might not have peace, but boy, do they have a good time.

[22:29] They have pleasure. Pleasure has become a God in the United States of America. It is absolutely a God. Wherever God is blessed or wherever, I should be careful saying God is blessed, but wherever there's prosperity, pleasure as follows as a God.

[22:51] It's taken the place of God. In Romans chapter 1, there's a man that doesn't choose God and he doesn't know the judgment of, or he says he knows the judgment of God. He knows that these things are worthy of death, but it says not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

[23:07] He's rejected God and what he does is he chooses sinners to party with instead. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, instead of believing the truth, the wicked had pleasure in unrighteousness.

[23:19] In Titus chapter 3, it says that instead of serving God, the wicked man is serving diverse lusts and pleasures. It's replaced God. Pleasure has. It's replaced the truth.

[23:30] It's replaced the people of God. Pleasure, pleasure. Come to Hebrews chapter 11. And in Hebrews chapter 11, what a wonderful thing this book cautions us over, causes us to beware, and gives us light and understanding if we choose to receive it.

[23:54] Hebrews chapter 11, there's pleasures. I'm going to give you two kinds. Number one is the pleasures of sin. In verse 25, speaking of Moses, it says, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

[24:11] The pleasures of sin. And yet, we all know that verse, right? That it's for a season. It's temporary. There's an end to it. But thank God, this Bible gives us that understanding.

[24:23] Look back at chapter 3. Because without this Bible, you won't get that. You won't understand that. You'll just see good times, good times, and not step back and look at it for what it is.

[24:37] Hebrews chapter 3, there's something about sin that as a believer, you have some understanding and you need to exercise it. But the lost, the wicked man does not have it.

[24:50] Verse 13, but exhort one another daily while it's called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Sin's deceitful.

[25:04] And it can harden you. It can sear your conscience that's telling you, no, no, no. Stay away. This isn't healthy. It's not good. It's wrong. It's going to end bad.

[25:15] Sin says, forget that. Look at how good it is. Look at the pleasure. This is so much fun. Just let go. Just have fun. Throw caution to the wind.

[25:27] All you need to do is find an idiot friend and you can go downhill pretty quick. Some friend that says, forget all that. I mean, they don't tell you, oh, by the way, I'm going to be dead in six years.

[25:42] Or I'm going to be in a hospital bed in a few months. Or I'm going to have a disease that I'll never get over the rest of my life. You don't tell you those things, but they say, forget that.

[25:52] Come on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's just go have fun. Just forget it. Let it go. Let your hair down. You only live once. Let's live. There's a deceit.

[26:02] To sin. Come back to Romans 7. Paul says the same thing about sin. It's deceitful. It shows you the pleasure. It doesn't show you the pain.

[26:14] And here's something else about sin. Not that it's deceitful. Another thing about that deceit is that it doesn't appear sinful in some cases.

[26:28] You may recall, as preaching about your heart, being deceitful above all things. And how your heart will deceive you. It's desperately wicked. It'll make sin seem okay.

[26:39] It'll justify unrighteousness. And here's what Paul says about sin. Romans chapter 7. And just verse number 8. No, let's just read verse 11.

[26:50] For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me. Sin deceived me. And by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, and just, and good.

[27:01] Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin. Because it wasn't appearing to be sinful. That it might appear sin, working death unto me, but that which is good.

[27:13] That sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. That is, when the word of God came in and shed light upon sin, it didn't appear sin until that moment.

[27:24] Sin was deceitful. Sin doesn't appear to be sin. But when the word of God shed light on it, he's like, oh, it's exceeding sinful. And that's what the commandment does.

[27:35] The commandment, the word of God tells you, no, it's wrong, and it's going to end wrong. But sin on its own is super deceitful. There's pleasures of sin. Sometimes it's just, it's just so fun, so relieving, so exciting just to allow your flesh to have its way.

[27:53] To just let go and just let it go wild and feast on behavior that is detrimental and destructive and just feels so good. It feels so good not to fight it.

[28:06] It feels so good to just enjoy the pleasure of sin. It feels so good for a season. For a season, it feels good. And then comes the reaping.

[28:20] And you can't get away from the reaping. And then comes the corruption. And then comes the guilt. And then comes the lies. And the cover up.

[28:33] And then the pain. And then the tears. And the hurt. But never the peace. Never the peace.

[28:44] The pleasures of sin, they're for a season. They never bring rest. They never bring stability. But wicked man won't go to God for peace to get things right with him.

[28:56] No, he'll enjoy the pleasures. The pleasures of sin. There's another kind of pleasures. Come back to Luke chapter 8. And let me show you this one. There's another kind of pleasures.

[29:08] And they're not called the pleasures of sin. And this is the one that folks, you and I, we need to be reminded of this probably more than the pleasures of sin.

[29:29] Luke 8 and verse 14. This is the parable of the sower. And where the seed fell on certain kinds of ground. And some fell.

[29:39] Verse 14. That which fell among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection.

[29:53] Pleasures of this life. These are called pleasures of sin. It doesn't say there's anything necessarily wrong. You might even say it's good clean fun. And that's great. It's great.

[30:05] It's great to get together and enjoy fun. It's great to enjoy life. And there's so much in this world that you can and should enjoy and take pleasure in. But be careful because the word of God says the pleasures of this life can choke the word of God and the result is you don't bring any fruit forth to the Lord Jesus Christ because you're so consumed with having fun with your God.

[30:33] Pleasure. It didn't say sin. It didn't say going out and getting drunk and shooting up and didn't describe any of the adulterous things and chasing wickedness.

[30:44] It's just pleasures of life. There's plenty of things in life that's fun. But too much pleasure chokes the word. It's excessive. It's out of balance. And the pleasures of this life can be a stronghold in your heart.

[31:00] It can be a stumbling block to your walk with Jesus Christ. That's why we need to hit this in this church. That's why you need to worry about it and focus on wait a minute. That's right.

[31:10] There's nothing wrong with camping and fishing and surfing and skiing and just all of the fun things that exist within your grasp here.

[31:21] There's nothing wrong with them. They're fun. But there's something wrong with them when they choke the word of God. when you don't have control of them they begin to get control of you.

[31:37] And they can be they can turn into be something that is a stumbling block to your walk with Jesus Christ and Christ may just say you know what? I don't want you to do that anymore. I don't want you to do that on Sunday.

[31:50] I want you to be in church to worship me but there's nothing wrong with it. Christ might say I didn't say there was anything wrong with it. I said I want you to give it up. Because I want you to make sure that I have your heart instead of the pleasures of this life.

[32:07] Christ may say no there's nothing wrong with that but there's something wrong with you because you love that more than me. But there's nothing wrong with it.

[32:21] And so we justify that we need it. We should have it. We can have it. We can do it. Because it's not sinful. And you need to be careful. Because pleasures can keep a man from his walk with God.

[32:36] You can have all these things but be careful that they don't have you. Look at Ecclesiastes. Come back to Ecclesiastes chapter 2. And notice what a man says that had everything.

[32:53] Absolutely everything. Ecclesiastes chapter 2. Matter of fact let me back up just a little bit. I'll come back to verse...

[33:05] Oh, I don't want to read the whole passage. Solomon's so frustrated. Everything he looks to, everything he chases after just ends with vexation of spirit.

[33:19] And in verse 18 he said, For in much wisdom is much grief. No peace. And he that increaseth knowledge no peace.

[33:32] Increaseth sorrow. So verse chapter 2, I said in my heart go to not I will prove thee with mirth. So I've already chased wisdom and knowledge and it's just it's not giving me any peace.

[33:43] So I'm going to go after pleasure. I will prove thee with mirth therefore enjoy pleasure. And behold this also is vanity. He goes through this book saying I'd love to read it all.

[33:59] Verse 4 I made me great works. I built me houses. Nothing wrong with that. I planted me vineyards gardens, orchards, trees, fruits, pools of water to water the wood. I mean I'd do that. He's an excavator there.

[34:10] Digging up the dirt sending water down through watering a whole area and just growing and growing. What beauty and what fun and enjoyment and in the end I even got I got me silver and gold in verse 8.

[34:25] Great possessions and cattle in verse 7 and I was great and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem. But there's no joy. There's no peace. It's all vanity.

[34:36] The end of verse 11 vanity and vexation of spirit. The pleasures of this life. You know the only time Solomon writes the word peace in this book.

[34:47] This book that he describes all that he chased in this world. It's only one time in chapter 3 in verse 8 where he says time of war time of peace. You know why? Because he couldn't find peace in anything in this world material wise pleasure wise just it's not attainable.

[35:04] It's not there. There is no peace. I'm going to take you to one more verse and we'll be done. Come to 2 Timothy and we'll have to stop here for this week.

[35:17] 2 Timothy chapter number 3. I hit this verse on Wednesday night a little bit ago and it's worth repeating in this context. There's pleasures of sin and there's pleasures of this life.

[35:37] And I need to caution us let's look at verse well it's in verse number 4.

[35:50] Traitors heavy high minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. I said it at the beginning of this point that pleasure has become a God in the United States of America.

[36:02] It's taken the place of God and there's the text because men have become lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. They're supposed to love the Lord thy God with all their heart, soul and might.

[36:13] Instead they're loving pleasure. And you think yeah men are wicked yeah that world they're sure wicked. Do you think Paul's writing to the world? Look at verse 1 this know also that in the last days perilous times shall come men shall be lovers of their own selves.

[36:30] When in the world when was the world lovers of God more than lovers of themselves or pleasures? pleasures. He's warning the church about themselves in the last days are going to turn from God and love pleasure.

[36:45] The world's always been like that. It's not a warning about the last days. It's a warning about the last days of the church. You know who's in that? Me. You.

[36:58] Paul looked into the future and God gave him that vision and said look at them. Look how faithful they are. Look at what they really love. They love their money.

[37:10] They love their cars. They love their homes. They love their things. They love to do this and go there and do that and look at them. Look what they're not doing. Look who they're not loving.

[37:21] Look where their heart's not. And so Paul writes to Timothy and he warned them that it's going to get totally out of whack in the last days. This church is going to be chasing pleasure.

[37:32] They're going to love pleasure more than they love God. What a description. He's talking about the church. He's talking about people sitting in these pews right here today.

[37:44] In your heart you'd love to do those things because there's nothing wrong with them but they've got your heart. And to give your time to the word of God to give your feet to the service of God well that's asking a little bit too much because I've got this to do and we're going to go there on Monday and we're going to go do this on the weekend.

[38:09] Isaiah said there's no peace saith my God to the wicked. The wicked have prosperity but remember it's not permanent it's temporary and they can't keep it and they can't take it with them and there's no security and that prosperity is just a distraction perhaps from the devil himself to keep him from turning to God and seeking the peace that's found in Jesus Christ.

[38:35] He's got prosperity but there's no peace to be found and Isaiah also warns us that there's no peace to the wicked there's no peace because they've got pleasures there's good and evil pleasures pleasures of sin pleasures of this life but not one of them can fill the void in your heart and life they say it's a God sized void pleasures can't fill that void there's no peace in those things next week I want to look at two more things and show you that the wicked not only have prosperity and pleasure but they also have preachers they got preachers that are telling them something that's not from God and they're happy to believe that when there's no peace they're proclaiming peace they're proclaiming good things and I'll show you that from the Bible how that's just as true today as it was in Jeremiah's day and others and also show you that there's another reason why they won't come to God for peace it's because they have pride and that'll be pretty easy one to show you so let's close today and bow our heads together we'll be dismissed in a moment

[39:43] I hope that your heart's open to this thought that that there are things in this life there's nothing wrong with but if you looked at them closely and if you if you got with God and said Lord is this thing is this taking time from you is this a bigger is this a God to me am I loving pleasure more than I love you with your heads bowed and eyes closed open your heart to the Lord quick God is there see if there be any wicked way in me you know when I came out here with my family before we ever got here just getting introduced to you folks many of you said things like this everything's out here anything you want to do you can do you want to ski you can ski you want to surf you can surf they started you just name a list of a hundred things and it's out here and I thought yeah that's great that's neat we're not going to lack anything moving out here we'll be able to find everything that we used to do or could do but it worried me in the back of my heart why is everybody so excited about all the things that you can do out here everybody wants to offer a place to go do this and eat here but nobody says hey let's go pass out tracks over here this is a great place there's a lot of souls there we can do something for God there

[41:11] I don't hear that kind of talk I'm not attacking you on this believe me I'm not but search your heart could it be that the pleasures have gotten down in there that Paul's writing about you that you're more consumed with the pleasures of this life you're not a lover of God like you used to be there may be some things in your heart that God's saying hey I didn't say it's wrong but it's wrong for you because you've got too much a hold of it it's a stumbling block are you willing to give it up to him let me ask you this is he worth it I'm not going to tell you what's wrong in your life because I don't know but your God knows the spirit of God does and he can speak to your heart if you'll let him Father please use the words today I pray Lord that some will drop the pleasures or the prosperity that they feel that they need and quit acting like the wicked and seek peace and seek peace in their heart and rest in their soul and restore the right fellowship with you that you offer you said I'll heal them

[42:35] I pray you'd heal God convict us where we're too worldly minded turn our hearts Father please turn our hearts through the word of God to a commitment to you help us to see that no distractions of this life is going to get through the judgment the fun the pleasure the money the toys it's going to burn God help us to see that help us to care about the things you care about to honestly and openly seek your will and let it burn Lord I pray that you'd get our hearts Father if anybody needs help I pray they'd get help they'd know that your hands not shortened that it can't pick them up that your ears not heavy so Lord draw us to talk to you to get it right to clean up may Jesus

[43:45] Christ be glorified we pray it in his name amen we're going to stand together and sing number 288 in the