Let's turn today to the book of Proverbs.
Psalms and Proverbs go together.
And generally speaking, we could say that if
the Psalms refer to our worship of God,
our expression of dependence upon God, asking for
His help, our devotional life with God, Proverbs
deals with the other half of our life,
our daily walk in this world.
The two must go together.
We must not be so heavenly-minded that
we are of no earthly use or so
earthly-minded that we are of no use
to God.
A devotional life with God, a walk with
God, a life of praise and worship and
prayer and faith must lead to a practical
life that manifests the character and the nature
of Christ here on this earth.
And the book of Proverbs is primarily dealing
with that.
And there's a lot of instruction here for
young people and for our daily working life,
for home situations.
Let me share with you what I discovered
many years ago when I studied this book.
I found there were a number of subjects
that the book of Proverbs dealt with.
And I just want to give you a
brief overview of the type of subjects that
the book of Proverbs deals with.
It deals with the subjects of wise and
foolish children, laziness and hard work, the use
of the tongue, wealth and poverty, telling lies
and speaking the truth, being talkative and being
subdued in our speech, slandering, justice and injustice,
pride and humility, good women and bad women,
covetousness and contentment, anger and self-control, gloominess
and cheerfulness, good company and bad company, the
education and discipline of children, the fear of
the Lord, men's good opinion that they have
about themselves, warnings against temptations, how to treat
servants, bribery, reproof and correction, friendships,
sensual pleasures, drunkenness, flattery, money not acquired in
righteous ways, revenge, and many more subjects like
that.
But if you were paying attention, as I
was saying, as you were listening, you'd see
that all these have got to do with
daily life on this earth.
And that's what the book of Proverbs deals
with.
And that's why it's very good for us
when we are young to be taken up
with this book.
It says here in Proverbs chapter 1, we
could say the first nine chapters are primarily
directed to young people.
It says, verse 4, to give wisdom to
the simple, to the young man, knowledge and
discretion and discernment.
A wise person can also listen to this
and he will increase, verse 5, in wisdom.
And the first thing he has to say
is, verse 7, the fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge.
And as someone has said, there are two
types of fear that we can have of
God.
One is a wrong type of fear and
the other is a right type of fear.
One is the fear that God may hurt
me.
The other is the fear that I may
hurt God.
And these are completely different.
False religions major on this first type of
fear, the fear that God may hurt me
in some way.
And so we have to appease Him, make
Him happy.
But the type of fear the Bible speaks
about is the fear that I may hurt
God by the way I live.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, it
says.
It's a reverence for God that is spoken
of here, a reverence for His Word.
And the book of Proverbs begins with that.
All wisdom, all knowledge begins there.
True wisdom is to have a reverence for
God, not to play the fool.
I find even believers sometimes crack jokes about
God and spiritual things in an irreverent way.
I believe humor is a gift of God,
but we must never make God and divine
serious things the subject of jokes.
We must never make hell the subject of
jokes because it's too awesome a reality to
joke about for a person to burn eternally
in hell.
A person who's got a reverence for God
will never joke about these things which are
so serious, just like you would not joke
about a man dying of cancer.
And this is worse.
Reverence for God is something which is lacking
in the world today.
And if you want to become spiritual, begin
here.
The knowledge, the understanding that the Proverbs speaks
about is the knowledge of God, not the
knowledge of the Bible, but the knowledge of
God.
There's a lot of difference between knowing the
Bible and knowing God.
Wisdom comes from reverence for God and knowing
Him.
The more we know Him, the more we
reverence Him, the more we reverence Him, the
more we get to know Him.
Speaking here to a young man, My son,
verse 8, hear the instruction of your father
and forsake not the law of your mother.
And one of the first things he says
in verse 10 is be careful about the
type of company you keep.
Very, very important.
Young people, if sinners entice you, don't listen
to them.
Don't allow other people to drag you along
their worldly ways.
Stand alone for the Lord if necessary.
I believe that's one of the first things
that young people need to learn, to say
no.
I'm sorry, I'm not coming with you.
If you can learn that lesson, you may
offend some of your friends.
It may not be for such terrible things
as spoken of in those verses, but the
principle is the same.
And in verse 23 of chapter 1, he
says, I will pour out my spirit on
you and I will make known my words
unto you.
When we studied Genesis chapter 1, we saw
there the combination of the Holy Spirit and
the word of God.
And here we see the same combination that
produces wisdom.
If you merely study the word, you don't
get wisdom.
God has to pour out his spirit upon
us so that these words become living.
We are enlightened.
I've often thought that a person who studies
the Bible without the enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit is like a man trying to read
a book in a room where there's no
light and it's all dark.
How much can you read?
How much will you understand?
To study the Bible without the enlightenment of
the Holy Spirit is like reading a book
in the dark.
You strain your eyes and you may get
something.
But as soon as the lights are switched
on, you can see everything.
And that's what happens when the spirit is
poured out, I will make known or I
will reveal my words to you.
This is how wisdom comes.
And he says if you neglect it, there's
a warning, verse 24 to 33 of chapter
1, that if you neglect it, one day
you will get into trouble and then you
will call to me and ask me for
help and you may not find it.
That means it's wisdom speaking, that you won't
find wisdom late in life if you have
neglected it in your earlier years.
And so, he says in verse 2, seek
for wisdom, seek it, chapter 2, verse 4,
as you seek for silver and as for
hidden treasures.
If you really want to understand what the
fear of the Lord is and the knowledge
of God, these are the two things that
keep coming up.
The reverence for God and knowing God personally.
If you want to know that, you must
seek it with all your heart, like you
would seek for gold somewhere.
Supposing you knew there was some gold buried
in your compound, how you would dig for
it till you find it?
It's there.
It says seek for God like that and
the Lord will give you wisdom.
And that wisdom will preserve you.
Verse 12, it will deliver you from the
way of the evil man.
And verse 16, it will deliver you from
the strange woman.
It will deliver you from men who try
to deceive you and from women who try
to attract you and lead you astray.
We need protection from both these.
In chapter 3, we find these verses.
Verse 5 and 6.
The book of Proverbs has got many, many
proverbs and it's impossible to go through all
of them.
I want to highlight some of the important
ones.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not to your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He
will direct your paths.
Here is a promise for guidance.
God will direct your paths.
That's a promise.
But attached to that promise is a condition.
If you fulfill these conditions, God says I
will fulfill my promise.
Now you cannot expect God to fulfill His
promise if you don't fulfill the conditions.
And if you fulfill the conditions, you can
be absolutely certain that God will fulfill His
promise.
What are the conditions?
First of all, trust in the Lord with
all your heart.
There is a great importance placed on faith
in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Confidence in God.
Put your trust in God.
He will not let you down.
Secondly, don't lean on your own cleverness.
Your cleverness, your intelligence will lead you astray.
This is a contrast.
What is the biggest enemy of faith?
According to verse 5.
Do you know what it is?
The biggest enemy of faith according to Proverbs
3, 5 is your own reason.
You can live by your reason or you
can live by faith.
If you live by faith, He will direct
your paths.
If you live by reason, He will go
astray.
There is nothing wrong with reason.
But reason has to be like a wife
in a home.
A wife is a very useful person in
a home.
But if she takes over the headship of
the home, then there is chaos.
Like in the case of Adam and Eve,
when Eve took over.
Or in the case of Jezebel, in the
case of the home of the elder in
Thyatira, Revelation chapter 2.
So, the Holy Spirit and our reason are
both needed.
But reason must be like the wife, subject
to the Holy Spirit.
When you live by reason, the wife has
taken over the home.
There is going to be chaos in your
life.
That is the meaning here.
We don't have to get rid of our
reason.
I use my reason all the time to
study the Word, but I depend on the
Holy Spirit to enlighten my reason.
So, trust in the Lord with all your
heart and don't lean upon your own understanding,
because your understanding can lead you astray.
In all your ways, acknowledge Him.
And He will direct your paths.
It is very important when you study the
Scriptures that you use your reason, but don't
lean on it.
Keep it in its proper place.
It is a servant.
And depend on the enlightenment of the Holy
Spirit.
Otherwise, your entire Bible study, no matter how
many years you spend studying the Bible, will
be academic, dry, because it is only the
Holy Spirit that can make it living.
In all your ways, acknowledge Him.
That means that what God reveals to you,
do it in your life.
In every area of your life that you
have light on, obey the Lord.
And what is the promise?
In all your paths, He will direct you.
You can listen to me as someone who
is a little older than almost everyone here.
You know, it is a wonderful thing to
come to the age I am right now
and to look back over life, over 41
years of being a believer, and to see
how God, step by step, I never knew
what was going to be the next step,
step by step, has directed my paths.
And I wish you would have the joy,
many years from now, of looking back over
your life with joy that God directed your
footsteps.
You can have that.
At the end of your life, you can
look back over a life in which God
directed your footsteps, step by step.
And if you want that, follow these principles.
Decide that in everything in your life, you
are going to acknowledge Him.
You are not going to do anything that
displeases Him.
Honor the Lord with your substance, verse 9.
Don't despise, verse 11, His correction.
When the Lord disciplines you, accept it.
Don't despise it.
Correction is very necessary for spiritual growth.
Seek for wisdom because, verse 15, she is
more precious than rubies.
Chapter 4.
Chapter 4, verse 12, is a very beautiful
verse.
I want to paraphrase that verse, which is
the literal meaning of how it is in
the Hebrew.
When you go, your steps will not be
made narrow.
That means your steps will open up.
The opposite of being made narrow is made
broad.
And the literal meaning of that verse is,
as you go, step by step, the way
will open up before you.
It won't be narrow.
It's a beautiful promise.
For many, many years, I have rejoiced in
that translation.
As you go, step by step, the way
will open up before you.
You don't need to know.
You don't need to see 10 steps ahead.
It's like these automatic doors that we don't
see so many of these in India.
They're very common in western countries, in airports
and supermarkets.
As you come near it, automatically the door
opens.
But it won't open till you come near
it.
As you go, step by step, the way
will open up before you.
And then you go a little further, there's
another automatic door.
It opens only when you reach there.
God leads us like that.
So it doesn't matter if a door is
closed way up there, when you get there,
if that is God's will for you, it
will open.
I have set before you an open door,
says the Lord, and no man can shut
it.
Another verse, wonderful verse, is verse 18.
The path of the righteous is like the
shining light, like the light of dawn when
the sun rises that shines more and more
and more and more until that perfect noon
day position.
If you are walking along the path of
a righteous man, your life will become brighter
and brighter and brighter.
You'll get more and more light on God's
word, more and more light on your own
self and the sin that dwells in your
flesh.
More and more light on God's nature, more
and more light and wisdom in how to
live in practical situations on earth.
More and more light of the life of
Jesus transforming your character.
This is God's perfect will.
And if you determine that you are going
to walk the path of the righteous, your
life will not be up and down just
like the sun does not go up and
down in the sky.
It starts at sunrise and goes steadily up
to noon day position.
Your life will also, from the time you
are born again, will proceed steadily up to
the time when Christ comes again, when you
will be like Him.
That is God's will for you.
But it's very rare to find people who
live like this.
Even though that's God's will for every one
of His children.
That teaches that most of Christendom lives at
a substandard level.
And that is why I often say don't
let your life sink to the level of
the Christians and the believers around you.
Keep your eyes fixed on the Lord.
See how Jesus walked.
See how the apostles walked.
Make them your example.
And not many you see today, even many
Christian leaders today, are not good examples.
Look at the scriptures.
Look at Jesus, the ideal example.
Look at Paul who said, follow me as
I follow Christ.
These are some of the good examples to
follow.
And if you keep your eyes on them,
your path can be like this.
Verse 23 Keep your heart with all diligence
for out of it are the issues of
life.
Everything that comes out of your life flows
from your heart.
Keep that very very very carefully.
It's the most important part of your life.
And verse 25, let your eyes look straight
in front of you.
This is talking about temptation with your eyes.
There are so many things along the streets
that tempt us.
And here is a warning to young people.
Be careful where your eyes look.
You see something and you're tempted.
Look back.
The first look was only temptation.
The second look is sin.
We can't avoid being tempted.
But when you are tempted, keep your eyes
straight in front.
And you won't have the regrets that so
many believers have in life because they have
messed up their life, messed up God's plan
for them because they did not control their
eyes.
In chapter 5, it says to married people
to be satisfied with your wife.
Don't long for other people's wives.
It says drink waters, verse 15, out of
your own well.
Not from somebody else's well.
There's nothing wrong in a husband and wife
being satisfied with each other.
God gives a man a wife to enjoy
fellowship with as a companion and together they
can walk hand in hand serving God.
Treat it like your own well.
Don't go drawing waters from other people's wells.
Chapter 6 is speaking about God's word.
Verse 21, if you bind God's word upon
your heart, listen to this wonderful promise.
Verse 22, when you go it will lead
you.
When you sleep it will keep you.
And when you wake up it will talk
with you.
Wonderful.
It takes care of every part of my
life.
As I go through the day, it leads
me.
When I go to bed at night, it
keeps me.
If you're not able to sleep properly at
night, if you're restless, could be something wrong
in your conscience.
And when you wake up, let God's word
talk to you.
That's the way we're supposed to live.
One verse prior to that, in verses 6
to 10 of chapter 6, it comes more
than once.
Go to the ant, you lazy man.
Consider her ways and be wise.
Because that ant provides its food in the
summer, gathers its food in the harvest.
In other words, the ant has got forethought
for the future.
It says in the winter, there won't be
enough food available.
That small little ant.
How big do you think is the size
of a brain in an ant?
And it's got enough sense in that wee
tiny brain to think, I must lay up
for the future.
And here is where scripture says, we must
learn to be prepared for the future.
It's speaking about being wise and handling money
so that we don't waste all our money,
so that we have nothing in a time
of emergency in the future.
I've seen many believers like that, who say,
I trust God.
And then later on, when some emergency comes,
they don't have any money, then they have
to go borrowing and begging from other believers
who have been wise.
Don't be like that.
Be wise, be disciplined to save.
Be disciplined in you know, remember that, for
example, when you get married and have children,
you won't have enough time to study the
word.
Study it now, store it up now so
that later on you have enough to live
on.
Chapter 7 deals with a very foolish man
who goes into to a prostitute or to
a very loose type of woman.
And it's a warning there for young people
to be careful in friendships and associations with
the opposite sex.
One step will lead to another.
You've got to be very careful when you've
got to sense whether a woman is flirtatious
and if she is, pull back because you
can ruin your whole life and the ministry
God has for you.
Read it sometime.
Proverbs chapter 7, especially young men.
Chapter 8 is speaking about wisdom calling out
to people, saying come and listen to me.
Verse 34 chapter 8.
Blessed is the man who hears me watching
daily at my gates.
This is wisdom speaking.
Watch daily and listen.
Listen to what God has to say to
you every morning.
It can protect you during the day.
Wisdom is pictured like a lady.
Verse chapter 9, verse 1 who builds a
house and the house has got seven pillars.
I don't have time to show you.
If you go down to James chapter 3,
verse 17, it speaks about those seven pillars.
The wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable and easy to be untreated
and without partiality and without hypocrisy.
All those seven pillars are listed there in
James 3, 17.
The characteristics of divine wisdom.
It's not just a question of knowledge, it's
character.
So those are the first nine chapters with
a lot of warning to young men to
seek for wisdom, to obey their parents, to
avoid bad company, to be kind.
Watch your heart, be sexually pure, be financially
wise and work hard.
Now we come to chapter 10.
From chapter 10 to verse 22, there's a
lot of one sentence instructions designed to make
us godly and there's a contrast here between
foolish people and godly people and of course
it's impossible to take time to read all
of them but every single one of them
is very very good.
There's a lot of repetition because repetition is
necessary but I'll just take a few verses
from here.
Take verse 12 for example in chapter 10.
Love covers all sins.
It's what Peter quotes in his epistle.
If you really love a person, you will
cover his weaknesses and not expose them.
Whenever you expose somebody's weakness, you can be
absolutely sure that you don't have love for
that person.
You're not godly then.
If you want to be wise, let me
give you one bit of advice, my dear
brothers and sisters.
One bit of advice in your youth.
If you know some bad story about somebody
else, let it die with you.
Don't go around speaking about it.
God will honor you for it.
Especially if it's a bad story about one
of God's children.
He will really love you for it.
You know, think of a father whose child
has done something wrong and I know something
about it and I never tell anybody about
what his son did.
Don't you think that father will love me
so much?
It's like that.
God sees one of his children did something
stupid.
You know about it and you don't tell
anyone.
His father, God, will love you for it.
Cover the sins of people.
Verse 22.
The blessing of the Lord makes rich and
there is no sorrow with it.
Or some translations say toiling does not increase
it.
It's the blessing of the Lord that makes
rich.
That means it will give us enough for
our daily needs on earth.
The blessing of the Lord.
Seek for the blessing of the Lord upon
your life.
The mouth verse 31.
The mouth of the righteous person brings forth
wisdom.
You know whether you are righteous or not
by the way you speak.
Your mouth will bring forth wisdom.
Chapter 11 Verse 3 is a wonderful verse
which says the integrity of the upright man
will guide him.
If you are a person of integrity and
honesty that will guide you all through life.
God first of all looks for integrity.
Honesty.
Verse 30 Verse 24 There is a person
who gives and yet he increases.
And there is another one who is stingy
and he becomes poor.
A miser when he gets converted becomes generous.
If you are still a miser and you
are stingy you probably have not allowed God
to work in your heart.
The liberal soul verse 25 will be made
fat and he who waters others will be
watered also himself.
If you want God to water you and
keep you fresh.
You know what watering means?
If you don't water a plant it dries
up.
What is the great problem we find with
so many Christians?
They are not fresh.
Why are they not fresh?
Because God is not watering them.
Why is God not watering them?
Because they are not watering other people.
Do you want to be fresh?
Do you want God to water you every
day?
Water other people.
Let your mind begin to think about the
needs of other people.
See how you can bless them and you
will find God blesses you.
Chapter 12 verse 23 A wise man conceals
knowledge or is reluctant to display his knowledge.
A wise man is not always trying to
show off how much knowledge he has.
He may have a tremendous amount of knowledge
but he is very reluctant to display it.
He is modest about the tremendous knowledge he
has.
A foolish man just goes around displaying his
knowledge all the time.
Chapter 13 verse 7 is very similar to
what we saw in chapter 11 verse 24.
There are people who make themselves rich but
actually they have nothing.
And there are others who make themselves poor
by giving out to others and they have
great riches.
Jesus said to his disciples freely you have
received.
Freely give.
It's a wonderful verse for us to keep
before us always.
Freely God has given me so many things.
Let me give to others freely.
Not in a calculating miserly stingy type of
way.
Now you don't have to have much.
The widow had only two mites.
So don't say well it's only for rich
people.
No, even that widow with two mites she
got something from God and she gave and
God honored her for it.
All strife verse 10 comes by pride.
Chapter 14 verse 12 There is a way
that seems right to a man but the
end thereof are the ways of death.
Now that is repeated again exactly like that
in chapter 16 verse 25.
That means just in case you missed it
in the first reading God catches you in
the second one.
In chapter 16 it's important.
There is a way that seems right to
man but the end thereof are the ways
of death.
Don't think that what appears right to you
is necessarily God's way.
Don't lean upon your own understanding.
You see that emphasis.
You know why is it many believers do
not actively earnestly pray and seek God's guidance
concerning the steps they take in life.
Why don't they pray earnestly about what is
God's plan for their life.
How God wants them to spend their earthly
lives.
It's because they feel well I can plan
my life, I consider all the factors and
I take decisions.
There is a way that seems right to
a man but the end is death.
And years later you discover that you wasted
your life.
So wait on the Lord.
Seek his wisdom.
Blessed is the man who waits at his
gates daily and say Lord I don't know.
Please teach me.
Even today after 40 years of studying the
scriptures this is how I come to the
scriptures.
I say Lord I'm stupid when it comes
to this book.
I've got a very clever brain when it
comes to earthly things.
But when it comes to divine things I
don't know.
I'm stupid I'm foolish.
I'll go completely wrong unless you guide me
by your spirit.
Please give me the revelation of your spirit.
Come to God's word like that.
There is an understanding you can get from
scripture which just comes out of your brain.
It will lead you to death.
There is a way that seems right to
man.
God says my ways are not your ways.
In chapter 15 we see the importance of
having a joyful heart.
Verse 13.
A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.
It's joy in the heart that brings brightness
upon our face.
And verse 15 the last part.
He who is of a merry heart has
a continual feast.
There is a great emphasis in Proverbs on
having joy in our life.
We're not to be gloomy.
It says a merry heart does good like
a medicine.
It can make us healthy in our life
too.
Don't despise joy as something unimportant.
The kingdom of God is not only righteousness
but also peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.
In the Old Testament they had righteousness without
joy.
Now we have righteousness with joy.
There's a spring in our step, a song
in our heart and a twinkle in our
eye and that's how we live the Christian
life.
Chapter 16.
We read in verse 18 pride goes before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
There's a proverb in the world as well
that pride goes before a fall.
It's basically the same thing that when a
man falls the reason is pride.
Always pride goes before that fall.
Have you fallen somewhere?
Have you done something stupid?
You can be one hundred percent sure the
reason was pride.
John Bunyan used to say, he who is
down needs fear no fall.
You know I used to think of that
verse.
He's able to keep us from falling.
And I thought, how does he keep me
from falling?
You know, even if I'm standing at this
height, I can fall.
Even if I come down to that ground
level, I can still fall.
I sit down, I can still fall.
But if I'm flat on the ground with
my mouth in the dust, I can never
fall.
He's able to keep you from falling.
Keep your mouth in the dust always.
No matter how much God uses you, no
matter how much revelation you have on the
word, take time to think of your littleness
before God.
That is worship.
Put your mouth in the dust frequently until
it becomes a habit with you to live
there and worship God.
You'll never fall.
Chapter 17, verse 9, again it is mentioned.
He who covers a transgression seeks for love.
Somebody did something wrong.
Ignore an insult.
Did somebody insult you?
Did somebody hurt you?
Ignore it.
That's the mark of love.
And verse 28.
You know, this is a wonderful verse when
you don't yet have wisdom.
When you don't have wisdom and you want
people to think you're wise, what should you
do?
Keep your mouth shut.
Because it says here, even a fool, when
he keeps his mouth shut, everybody will think
he's a man of deep wisdom.
And that's why he's keeping quiet.
You can open your mouth and immediately everybody
knows you're a fool.
So what a tremendous advantage it is if
you're a little restrained in your speech.
Be quick to hear and slow to speak,
especially when you're young.
Especially when you're young.
You don't have much wisdom.
Don't open your mouth and say something stupid.
And at least people will think you're wise.
Chapter 18, verse 12.
Before honor is humility.
Are you seeking for honor before God?
We don't seek for honor for men.
But before honor comes humility.
Don't forget that.
Verse 16, a man's gift makes room for
him and brings him before great men.
That's why I believe that we need to
seek for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I don't know how many of you earnestly
seek for the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 14, 1 says, pursue after spiritual
gifts especially that you may prophesy.
To prophesy is to speak the word of
God with conviction.
God is my witness that for I would
say perhaps more than 35 years regularly and
even now I have earnestly desired for the
gift of prophecy.
I have obeyed the word of God which
has told me to earnestly desire for spiritual
gifts and God has given it.
He doesn't give if you don't value his
gifts.
Your own abilities are not enough to serve
God.
You need a touch from heaven.
You need a supernatural gift and that gift
will make room for you.
You don't have to make room for yourself.
A lot of people are fighting to make
room for themselves for a ministry.
Don't do it brother.
God will make room for you.
You first get the gift.
The gift will make room for you in
many many places.
People will travel hundreds of miles to listen
to a man who has got something to
say from God.
Be a man like that.
John the Baptist was out there in the
wilderness.
The whole of Judea went out to hear
him.
He did not come to a hall or
anything.
They went out to hear him because he
was a man who had something to say
from heaven.
Verse 19 A brother offended is harder to
be one than a strong city.
That's why we need to be careful in
our relationships.
Verse 21 Death and life are in the
power of the tongue.
With your tongue you can bring death.
With the same tongue you can bring life.
It's very very important that you recognize that.
Especially in this new covenant age.
Let your tongue.
The Bible speaks about a tongue which is
on fire from heaven in Acts chapter 2.
The fire of heaven, tongues of fire.
And in James chapter 3 it says about
a tongue which is on fire from hell.
Two types of fires on the tongue.
Be careful that you have the right one.
Chapter 19 verse 17 When you have pity
on a poor person and you give him
money the Bible says you are actually lending
money to the Lord.
When you help a poor brother you are
lending something to the Lord and the Lord
will repay you.
That's the meaning.
Verse 18 Discipline your son while there is
hope and don't let your soul spare for
his crying.
Very very important.
There are many verses in Proverbs about disciplining
children and not to spare them even if
they cry.
Discipline them.
Otherwise they will go astray.
Chapter 20 Here is some practical thing to
correct us.
It says in verse 14 Oh it's bad,
it's bad says the buyer.
And then when he goes his way he
boasts about the bargain he has made.
Do you try those type of techniques when
you go to a shop?
You want to get that thing cheap.
You know it's good but you say no
this is bad it's cheaper, I can get
it cheaper somewhere else.
And all these lies because you want to
get it at a low price and you
beat him down and you beat him down
and you beat him down and you get
a low price and then you go around
seeing what a price I got this for.
I've seen believers sometimes argue with poor people.
Some poor person who is selling vegetables, some
poor person who is selling fruit.
To argue with him and beat him down
to some cheap price.
Okay maybe you saved one rupee but was
it worth it?
That poor man has got to look after
his children.
What have you gained by beating him down
the price by one rupee?
A godly man is generous.
What's the use of that extra money when
Jesus comes?
Let's learn to be good to people around
us.
Especially to the poor.
Chapter 21 verse 2 Every man's ways appear
to be right in his own eyes but
the Lord examines the motives.
He looks at the heart.
Remember that.
What you are doing may appear to be
right but ask God to show you if
there is something wrong in your motive.
Verse 13 If you shut your eyes when
the poor person needs help one day you
will also cry and God will not listen
to you.
Verse 19 This is about an angry woman
who is a wife.
It's better to dwell in the wilderness than
with an argumentative angry woman.
Solomon had 700 wives and he ought to
know.
Okay.
Chapter 22 There is a wonderful verse in
verse 4 By humility and the fear of
the Lord are riches and honor and life.
Spiritual riches spiritual honor and spiritual life from
God come on the basis of two things.
Humility and the fear of the Lord.
In my work in the churches that God
has given me responsibility for over the last
25 years whenever seeking to appoint people as
elders or giving them responsibility I have looked
for two things primarily.
Humility and the fear of the Lord.
These are the main things I have discovered
through many years that make a man a
good leader.
Spiritual riches spiritual honor and spiritual life.
Verse 15 foolishness is bound in the heart
of a child but the rod of correction
will drive it far from him.
Where is the foolishness?
In the heart.
But the way to reach the heart is
by hitting him in the bottom.
There is a connection between that bottom and
the heart that if you use a rod
at the bottom the foolishness goes out of
the heart.
So children must be disciplined.
Verse 29.
Do you see a hard working man in
his business?
One who works hard?
He will stand one day before kings.
Be diligent in your study of the word.
Be diligent in your service for the Lord.
God will open up many doors of ministry
for you.
Chapter 23.
Hearken to your father who began to you.
Verse 22.
And don't despise your mother when she is
old.
Learn to respect your parents when they are
old.
Maybe they are not as educated as you
are.
Respect them.
Honor them.
Many many children do not value and respect
their parents when they are old.
If you don't respect your parents it will
not go well with you.
Verse 31.
Don't look upon the wine when it stirs
itself in the cup when it moves aright.
That's the verse on which I believe that
this type of highly fermented wine was not
the wine that Jesus drank.
Because Jesus must have known what it says
in Proverbs.
That you must not even look on the
wine when it is red.
When it is moving in the cup and
stirred.
This highly fermented type of wine, alcohol.
That's not the type of wine he made
in Cana and that's not the type of
wine he drank.
Chapter 24.
It's a verse concerning evangelism.
Verse 11.
If you don't deliver those who are drawn
to death and who are ready to be
killed.
If you say well, we didn't know that.
Don't you think that the one who examines
everybody's heart considers it?
And he who keeps your soul, doesn't he
know it?
And don't you think he will render to
every man according to his works?
What should we do?
I think I missed out this verse in
Proverbs 11.30 He who wins souls is
wise.
When people are in need of hearing the
gospel, we need to give it to them.
Chapter 24.
Verse 17.
Don't rejoice when your enemy falls.
Don't let your heart be glad because your
enemy has fallen.
It teaches us to love our enemies.
Verse 27.
It's for people who are getting married.
First of all, build up your business.
Then build your house.
First get a job.
Then get married.
Very practical advice.
First, have enough money to support a family.
And then build your home.
A warning against laziness in verse 30-34
he says, I saw a man who was
lazy who didn't take care of his fields
and it was covered with thorns.
And he says if he continues to sleep
like that, verse 33 that's how his poverty
comes.
There was an English poet who wrote a
poem which said it's a secular poem but
there's a truth in it.
The heights by great men reached and kept
were not attained by sudden flight but they,
while their companions slept were toiling upwards in
the night.
What he says there is that if you
see a man has reached a great height
of anything he didn't reach there suddenly but
while other people were sleeping he was working
upwards.
That's how he reached there.
So it's a diligent man who's got a
good garden in his life and in his
ministry.
The lazy man his life will be barren.
Be diligent.
Chapter 25 verse 14, whoever boasts of false
gifts is like clouds and wind without rain.
There's a lot of that today.
Lot of people claiming to have a gift
of healing who are not, who do not
have it.
Who are just fooling people.
It's like clouds coming and you think it's
going to rain and nothing, no rain comes.
Maybe one drop.
Don't deceive people.
Don't claim to have a gift that you
don't have.
Never.
If you have a gift, it'll be evident.
If God has given you a gift of
evangelism, you'll be able to bring people to
the Lord.
If God's given you the gift of teaching,
when you teach people's eyes will be enlightened
in the word.
If God's given you a gift of healing,
you'll pray for the sick and they'll be
healed.
If they're not healed, recognize you don't have
that gift.
Okay.
In chapter 26, verse 27, whoever digs a
pit for somebody else will fall into it
himself.
And whoever rolls a stone upon another, that
stone will one day come rolling back.
Verse 4, don't answer a fool according to
his folly.
Verse 5, answer a fool according to his
folly.
Which is right?
Both are right.
There's fool number one and fool number two.
And you got to discern which type of
fool this fellow is who's standing in front
of me.
They ask some stupid question, should I answer
it or not?
You see, this is a verse which teaches
us that there's no standard answer.
You need to have the discernment of the
Holy Spirit where sometimes you answer.
Sometimes Jesus answered.
Sometimes he kept quiet.
We need to be led by the Spirit.
Chapter 27, verse 1, don't boast about tomorrow
because you do not know what will come
forth in a day.
Let another man, verse 2, praise you.
Don't praise yourself.
And chapter 27, verse 23, a good word
for those who are shepherds of God's flock.
Be diligent to know the state of your
flocks and look well to your herds.
A true shepherd must know the condition of
every one of the believers in his church.
Chapter 28, verse 13, he who covers his
sins will never prosper.
But he who confesses, not only confesses, confesses
and forsakes will find mercy.
Chapter 29 and verse 1, he who is
often corrected and hardens his neck will be
destroyed.
Don't take advantage of God's goodness.
Verse 18, where there is no vision, the
people perish.
The great need in Christendom today is for
men of vision.
Vision.
God should be able to give them a
vision of what he wants to accomplish in
our land at this time.
Be a man of vision.
Be a woman of vision.
Ask God to show you his burden for
our land at this time.
Verse 20, do you see a man who
is hasty in his words or hasty in
his matters?
There's more hope for a fool than him.
See, right up to chapter 29, there are
many many places where Solomon says, this was
a fool, this was a fool, this is
a fool, this is a fool.
Finally he says, shall I tell you the
biggest fool of the lot?
That's the man who is quick to speak.
He's the biggest fool of the lot.
He gets the cake.
He gets the prize.
A man who's hasty in his matters, who
takes a decision quickly, without waiting on the
Lord.
There's more hope for a fool than for
him.
Chapter 30, two things, verse 7, I ask
the Lord for.
Don't deny me.
First of all, don't let me tell lies.
Second, don't give me poverty or riches.
Now in the Old Testament they prayed that
prayer, and if money can ruin you, that's
a good prayer to pray.
But in the New Testament, Paul said, it
doesn't matter to me whether I'm poor or
rich.
Philippians 4, I can handle both.
But 99% of believers don't know how
to handle money, so they better pray this
prayer.
But men like Paul could handle.
I mean, even if they had much, they
said riches won't destroy me, and poverty won't
make me drift away from the Lord.
I just mentioned that in passing.
And there are a number of little things
mentioned in chapter 30, which are very interesting.
But we come to chapter 31, and especially
that last section, verse 10 to 31 is
very important for all young men and all
young women.
It tells us what a godly wife is
like in God's eyes.
And notice the number of things mentioned about
her.
Briefly, I will say, she's a very hardworking
person.
She works with her hands.
She gets up early, verse 15.
She cooks the food.
She's enterprising.
She buys a field, verse 16, and plants
a vineyard there with her own hands.
She girds her loins, verse 17, to work.
And she lays her hands, verse 19, to
the spindle and works and gives money, gives
help, verse 20, to the poor.
She protects her children with warm clothing that
she's made herself.
She supports her husband, verse 11, the heart
of her husband trusts her.
She makes fine linen, verse 24, strength and
honor her clothing.
And when she opens her mouth, verse 26,
she opens it with wisdom.
The tongue, her tongue, in her tongue is
the law of kindness.
Just two things I want to say.
Her hands are hard because she's working.
Her tongue is soft.
With a lot of young girls today, it's
exactly the opposite.
Their hands are soft because they've never worked
hard.
And that tongue is hard.
Be different.
Young brothers, this is the type of wife
you must look for.
Sisters, this is the type of woman you
must be.
Charm, verse 30, is deceitful.
Beauty is empty.
But a woman who fears the Lord, she
shall be praised.
One day when she's married, her children and
her husband will rise up and say, you
are blessed.
Be a woman like that.
Marry a woman like that.
Read Proverbs frequently and may God guide us
to raise up in this land many young
men and women who are godly and wise.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, give us wisdom for our daily
walk on earth.
Give us the spirit of wisdom and remind
us of the things that we have heard.
We humbly ask in Jesus' name.