We'll open your Bibles, if you would, to Proverbs chapter 23. Proverbs 23. We're about halfway through the 30 sayings of the wise. Tonight we're going to be looking at the sin of envy and the virtue of hope that destroys that sin. Proverbs 23. We'll start at verse 15. My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice, even mine. Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things. Do not let your heart envy sinners, but in the fear of the Lord, continue all day long. For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise, guide your heart in the way. Do not mix with winebibbers or with gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. Listen to your father who begot you and do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth and do not sell it, wisdom and instruction and understanding. The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice and he who begets a wise child will delight in him. Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, forgive us for the sin of envy tonight, and give our hearts rest in hope. Teach us to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. To look for the fulfillment of all your promises. Free our hearts from distraction and help us to focus on what Your Word says, what the Spirit says to the churches. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. Well, sermons against particular sins, such as this sin of envy, can be dangerous. It's easy for me to believe and for you to believe that as long as I give you a good set of reasons why envy is a bad sin, that you'll go home and say, okay, I'm going to stop being envious. But as we all know, it doesn't work that way. You can hear all kinds of moral disquisitions on why particular sins are evil, and then go do them again. Because if you don't get rid of the sin and replace it with something better, then it's easy to fall right back into it. The law doesn't give the power to change. But this is a gospel text, as we've seen throughout Proverbs. It gives us that something better that we need to replace the sin of envy, and that something better is hope in Christ. Don't let your heart envy sinners. Why not? Because you have hope. You live with a future orientation. Christ promises to you are such that you don't have to be envious. A God-fearing hope will kill envy dead. So we start by looking at the problem of envy. What is envy? Don't let your heart envy the wise tell us. Envy is a sin that fundamentally consists of being mad that somebody else has something good. My favorite example of it is I come back and I say well I got a 75 on that test and my roommate says I got a 95 and I say I hate you. That is the definition of envy. You have something better than what I have. Therefore, I dislike you. I wish you didn't have that. And at first, envy might just take the form of wanting good things that other people have. We tend to think of it in that form. I'm driving Hondas. My parents are driving Cadillacs. I wish I were driving Cadillacs. It's, you know, I'm sad that they have a good, but I'm only sad because I want that good. But envy does not stop there. Envy gets worse and worse. It progresses from hating those who have more than you all the way to hating those who have anything at all. Because envy means you're upset, you're mad, you're sad that somebody else has something good. So ultimately, envy would hog all the good in the world for itself and say, I don't want anyone else to have anything good ever. I hate anyone who has anything. So when we're told that the rich 1% are bad, we should envy what they have, we should be mad that they have it. It doesn't stop there. It can't stop there. If you're sorrowful about somebody else having something good, the nature of that sin is to hate all good everywhere because it's not your good. Don't let your heart envy. Now where does this come up? We might think, wow, this sounds like a really bad sin, and it is a bad sin. It's the sin that led the Pharisees and chief priests to deliver up Jesus. The Gospels tell us that it was because of envy that they delivered him up. They were mad that he attracted crowds and they didn't, that people listened to him and not to them. But how can we be envious? Well, all around us, any good you lack is generally where it starts. Right? I'm single and I envy the married. I have little kids, and I envy those who don't. I have grown kids, and I envy those who have little kids. I have this, and I envy those who have that. I have a house in town. I envy those who live in the country. I have a house in the country. I envy those who live in town. On and on it goes. Because if your heart is sorrowful about the good things other people have, everybody has some good, because that's our generous father. He's given at least some good things to everybody, and if you dislike that, you'll never run out of things to be upset about. As I was coming in, I saw that parked across the street, a suburban with a vanity plate, K-O-A-L, coal. Well, now I'm mad I don't have that vanity plate. I hate the person who took that from me. is where this sin leads. Any little tiny piece of good or any humongous chunk of good that you see peeves you to no end because it's not yours. If you're mad your older brother went to a better school than you did, if you're mad that your coworker got the raise and promotion and you didn't, that is envy. But the wise don't just stop there. Sorrow at another's good is bad enough, but the worst kind of envy is this, envying sinners. Do not let your heart envy sinners. Now what is it about sinners that we might envy? Well, the wise are speaking about sinners as such. What makes somebody a sinner? Well, it's that they sin. If you let your heart envy a sinner, Then at the end of the day, you're mad that somebody has the good of being able to sin and get away with it. And he can look at dirty pictures all day long and he doesn't care. He has that good that he doesn't have to repent and say, oh, that was bad, I shouldn't have done that. or any other kind of sin it might be. Wow, I wish I could just walk away from my family like so-and-so I know did and find freedom. Well, that's envying a sinner for their sin. And on and on it goes. That, my friends, is the worst kind of envy where you see wicked people doing wicked things and you think, wow, I wish I could be like those wicked people and do those wicked things and not be bothered by it and get away with it. Don't let your heart envy sinners. All of us have seen somebody doing something bad and been repulsed by it, but also, unfortunately, there's the flip side of that. We've seen somebody doing something bad and thought, I would like to do that. Look, he's doing it. I could get away with it too. He's getting away with it. All right, the day when you're so late and somebody flies past you at 95 miles an hour and you think, ooh, I wish that could be me. If I weren't so timid and cautious, that would be me. It doesn't stop with speeding. That is the problem of envy. I want the good somebody else has. It starts with wanting actual goods. And then it moves to being upset about actual goods. And it moves to being upset about perceived goods. And at the end, you're mad about evils. You're mad that somebody has the good of being evil. Because you wish you could be as evil as they are. Right? That sounds totally messed up. I envy Satan his title. I wish I could be the devil. That's where this sin will take you. That's what we call a very dark place. That's where envy ends up. Don't let your heart envy sinners. So what's the solution to this sin? Did the sages tell us don't let your heart envy sinners? Count your many blessings. Name them one by one. Don't look around at your neighbor's good. Instead, count up your own good. No, they don't say that. I mean, they do tell us to look at the good we have, but not at the good we have now. They tell us to look at the good we will have. Look to the future. And the thing that kills envy is this virtue of hope. which is the ability to look into the future and anticipate the fulfillment of God's promises. This doesn't mean hope in general. I've talked about this. It doesn't mean I hope I get orange juice for breakfast tomorrow. And certainly it's not a hope for something bad. I hope that I can have as many girlfriends as Hugh Hefner. No. It is a hope founded on God's promises. Someday, God will do what he said. Someday, God will take me into heaven to live with him in everlasting bliss. Someday, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That is the hope that the sages are talking about. Surely there is a fear. Hereafter, there is a future. We have to live with a future orientation. To live with a present orientation is to suffer envy or to indulge in envy. Why? Because a present orientation, all I can see are the things that I'm missing out on right now. Oh, I hear that it's great to have grandkids. Well, my oldest kids are only three years old. I envy those who have grandkids, because I'm not experiencing that right now. And if you have this present-oriented mindset, then that makes sense. If you have to get every good thing you're ever going to enjoy in the next five minutes, then of course you're going to be upset at people who have goods you don't have. But the sages tell us, no, surely there is a hereafter, there's a future, God will give you enough good for a lifetime, but He's not going to give it to you all in five minutes. He's going to spread it over your lifetime. And beyond that, there's the fuller hope of salvation in Christ. But the first part of this solution to envy is that it's a hope founded on the fear of God. Let your heart remain in the fear of the Lord all day long. And what is the fear of God? We go over this all the time in Proverbs. The fear of God is respect and awe directed toward God and His dynamic, rushing energy that will blow you away if you get in front of it. It's the recognition that God is pure act and that he is so powerful that he can literally kick you to kingdom come, squash you like a bug, do anything to you, and that you have absolutely no way to stop it, no protection against it. That is the fear of God. And that is what hope and fear share in common. And the fear of the Lord continue all day long. Hope means looking to the thing promised. Faith looks to the one promising. Hope looks to the thing promised. So if I have faith in my parents giving me that Christmas present, I believe, I trust that they are generous and that they will give me something. If I have hope, I have my thoughts fixed on the present itself. Ooh, ooh, this year I'm getting a cruise to Grand Bahama. And that's all I can think about is this cruise. That's hope. I'm looking to the thing that's been promised to me. Now, how do you strengthen a hope? There's two ways. You have to first remind yourself of who you're hoping in. Who's more reliable? Let's say that there's somebody you've known for 30 years, who's a faithful believer, who's always come through for you. Never heard him utter a false word. And then there's an addict that you met recently, who you've never heard utter a true word, who's missed every appointment, who's lied about everything. One of them says to you, I would like to take you out to dinner next week. In fact, let's plan on it. How strong is your hope that the addict actually means that? How much do you let your stomach juices get flowing as you think about that tasty dinner? Well, you've already learned in just a few weeks of dealing with this addict that if he says it's going to happen, it's probably not going to happen. Whereas if your good friend who's always proven reliable says to you, I want to take you out for dinner next week, what do you think? Ooh, what am I going to get? What's my favorite item on the menu today? Wow, this is going to be good. What are we going to talk about? You strengthen your hope in two ways, by thinking about the reliability of the one making the promise and by thinking about how good the content of the promise is. And that's what's going on here. How do you establish this hope? Well, the same way that you establish the fear of God. You think about the reliability of the one making the promise. And that is the same thing as fearing God. Because to fear God is to recognize his power, his transcendence, and his hatred of sin, which leads him to react strongly against it. And so the same ability, the same qualities of trustworthiness and reliability that make God somebody you can trust, somebody you can hope Him, also makes Him somebody you have to fear. Because you recognize that He doesn't bend the rules, He doesn't play favorites. He won't say, oh, you sinned, but it's okay because the rules don't apply to you. The rules apply to everybody. That's why God is reliable. That's how we know we can trust Him. So instead of looking around at the good that others have, continuing the fear of the Lord all day long. That means remembering Him and His power and His trustworthiness at the beginning of the day, at the middle of the day, at the end of the day. Continue in the fear of God all day long. Don't start the day with a nice dose of the fear of God and then forget about it for the rest of the day. Now, how do you do this? Well, I know some people who set a reminder on their phone. It'll buzz once an hour. And if you look at the screen, it says, time to pray. You can do little things like that. You can build times of family worship into your day. Certainly most of us have the habit of praying before meals. That's a good one, to help you remember, before I ever touch food, before I eat food, I should praise God and train my heart to fear him just a little bit. Remember his reliability in giving me this food. And remember who he is. continuing the fear of the Lord all day long. If you're thinking about God and who He is and how powerful He is, do you have time to look at what good things your neighbor has and say, I want that. Boy, I would really like that. Or else, I'm mad he has that. I don't want it. But it makes me very upset that he's got it. You don't have time to envy or do any other sin if you're continuing in the fear of the Lord. You don't want to sin because you understand that God hates sin and you fear God and you don't want to get in the way of His wrath. To fear God, I've talked about fearing the semi-truck that hurls by. Think about fearing the train. You should understand that sinning is something like walking out on this long single track trestle bridge. You don't know when the next train is coming. But if the bridge is long enough that it's going to take you longer to get halfway across it than it takes the train to get halfway across it, you will be on that bridge when the train comes. And so it is with fear in God. If I head out on this bridge toward the destination of sin, God's wrath is going to come along at some point. And it's going to squish me. And I'm afraid to go out towards that sin because I know what God's attitude about it is going to be. Continue in the fear of God all day long. And think about it. Based on what I know about God and His trustworthiness, how certain are you that God will return and keep His promises? Are you more certain of your plans for next week than you are that Christ is coming back? Which one is more certain in your mind? The more certainty you have, the greater your hope. The greater your ability to look into the future and say, God will keep that promise. Sometime. When the time is right. So the sages say, live in the fear of God all day long. Surely there is an afterwards. Surely there is a future. Don't live as if the present is all you have. If the present is all you have, you'll overeat at every meal. Because you won't believe that, oh, in about four hours I'm going to eat another meal. I don't need to eat all the good food for the rest of my life right now. There's a future coming right up. Some total of your life doesn't have to fit in the next five minutes. You can afford to wait. That's wisdom. That's being in the fear of the Lord all day long. To have this future orientation. I don't demand everything now. I don't live in envy now. Because my hope is set on the future and what God will do for me later on. So we could even say Don't let your heart envy sinners. What is the text telling us to do? Envy God-fearers. Not in the sense of being sorry that they fear God, but in the sense of wanting what they have. Wow. I wish I could be as future-oriented as that saint. I wish I could have such strong confidence in Christ returning and keeping His promises as that dear sister does. Have a hope that envies saints, wants to be like them, that wants the good that they have. Not that they would lose that good, but that you could enjoy it as well. I wish my faith was as strong as his. I wish my hope was as powerful as hers. That's what the sages are telling us to have. If you have a hope that counts on enjoying Christ at the end, then you have a hope of enjoying what God-fearers enjoy today. The final opposite of envy is a hope that wishes good, even to sinners. Envy wishes evil on people. I'm upset that they have this good. I wish I could take that good from them. Envy is truly dead. when you wish good, even to sinners." Wow, I'm glad that reprobate made that wonderful cathedral, filmed that wonderful movie, wrote that song. I'm not glad he's a reprobate, but I'm glad for the gifts that God has given him. When your heart wants good for sinners, you'll be excited about the good things that they have. Wow, my neighbor has a Mercedes. That makes me happy. Not because I want one, but because that's just good that there are such good things in this world. And ultimately, if your heart wants good for sinners, then what do you want to do? Tell them about Jesus. This is the best good I can give you. Knowledge of my Savior. You will be glad for all the good your neighbor has, and your dearest wish will be for your neighbor to have even more good, including the good of knowing Christ. So don't let your heart envy sinners. Instead, continue in the fear of the Lord all day long. If you do, you have a future of many good things, and your hope won't be cut off. Your hope will get what it hopes for. You'll see. Just wait. Jesus always keeps His promises. The wise say so, and they know Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask that You would forgive us for letting our hearts envy sinners. We thank You for the hope that we have in Christ. We thank You for the good news of what He's done for us. We thank You for His promise to be with us as our God, to guide us even beyond death. Father, teach us to hope in God, knowing that we will yet praise You, that You are the lifter up of our face and our God. We pray for hope this week. Help us to continue in Your fear all day long. Help us to live with a future orientation. We pray that the sin of envy would never again rear its head in our hearts. That we would be glad for the goods you've given our neighbors. Make us loving people, not envious people. Glad people, not envious people. We pray these things in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus, who lived in hope. Amen.