Shall we turn now to Proverbs 16, the
16th chapter and begin our study this evening.
The preparations of the heart in man and
the answer of the tongue is from the
Lord.
God works in our lives even when we're
not aware of it.
If we're a child of God, God is
continually working in our lives.
It's amazing how many times we say things
that we don't realize that at the time
we are saying it, but actually it's a
word from the Lord.
It just comes out.
God prepares your heart.
The preparations of the heart, they're from God.
In Philippians, we work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God
that is working in you both to will
and to do.
You see, God is planting now his law
in the fleshly tablets of our hearts, even
as he promised to Jeremiah, the day will
come when I will no longer write my
law on the tables of stone, but in
the fleshly tables of their heart.
So God plants his word.
God plants his desires right in your heart.
So the preparations of the heart are from
the Lord.
How great it is to be a child
of God and to have your life submitted
to the Lord so that the Lord is
directing from that just inner kind of desires
and all that he plants within your own
heart.
Second proverb, all the ways of a man
are clean in his own eyes, but the
Lord weighs the spirits.
Now, no matter what a guy does, it's
right.
All the ways of a man are clean
in his own eyes.
You can justify everything you've done.
We're so full of excuses.
Well, I did it because, even if it
was wrong, we've got a good reason or
at least a good excuse.
Of course, Benjamin Franklin said, the man who
is good with excuses is seldom good for
anything else.
The ways of a man are clean in
his own eyes, but God weighs the spirits.
Now God knows the motives.
God knows why I did it, the motive
behind it.
That's what's important.
Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy
thoughts shall be established.
So many times we're worried that we haven't
done enough and it's probably correct.
However, when we look at our service to
God, we so often say, oh, but you
know, I should have done such a better
job.
And you know, I, well, could you have
done a better job?
No, I did the best I could.
Well, that's all God expects.
God doesn't expect more from you than what
you can actually produce.
So you've got to commit your works unto
the Lord.
Do your best and then just commit the
rest and your thoughts will be established.
Well, you know, Lord, that's the best I
can do.
You know, I'm sorry you have to use
this kind of instrument to do your work,
Lord, but that's the way it is.
And that's all I can do.
And I don't go home and worry.
Oh, could I have done this?
Could I have done that?
Oh, I should have done this.
I should have done that.
You just do your best and then you
just place the rest in his hands.
Your thoughts are then established.
You rest.
Well, Lord, here it is, such as it
is the best I can do.
And you just commit your work to the
Lord and your thoughts then are established, just
are resting.
Well, best I could do.
God, you know, use it if you can.
It's my best.
This is an interesting and yet a difficult
proverb to understand.
The Lord has made all things for himself.
Yea, even the wicked for the day of
evil.
Now, the word evil, of course, is a
reference to the judgment that is coming.
There is a scripture in Isaiah that has
brought a lot of problems to people where
God has declared that he has created evil.
And they say, oh, how could God create
evil?
The word actually is judgments.
God has created the judgments that come upon
the evil.
So the Lord has made all things for
himself.
Thou has created all things and for thy
good pleasure they are and were created.
And God has even created the evil or
the wicked.
Now, God didn't create them wicked, but he
created wicked people.
Can you catch the difference?
God created people, some of them are wicked.
They don't have to be, but they are.
God created them.
It doesn't, you can't deny the fact that
God created them.
So in a sense, you can say God
created the wicked.
He didn't create them wicked, but he created
the wicked.
They became wicked, God created them.
And he has actually created also the judgments
that shall come upon those wicked persons.
Everyone that is proud in heart is an
abomination to the Lord.
One of those, another one of those, which
God has a lot of things that are
an abomination to him.
Again, you need to take your concordance and
go through the book of Proverbs and go
through this word abomination and find out how
many things are an abomination unto God.
I don't know exactly what an abomination is,
but it sounds bad.
And I know I don't want to be
one.
Now, the proud in heart are an abomination
to the Lord.
Oh, that pride, what a destroyer it is.
We'll get to that in a minute.
And though hand join in hand, he shall
not be unpunished.
Now this hand in hand, again, the striking
of the hand, making a deal, it's usually
a, you know, in this case, joining hand
in hand for strength.
Yet you can't escape the punishment.
By mercy and truth, iniquity is cleansed.
God's mercy and God's truth.
You remember, um, John in the opening remarks
concerning Jesus Christ said for the law came
by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus
Christ.
Of course, grace and mercy are sister kind
of words, mercy and truth, grace and truth
by mercy and truth, iniquity is cleansed.
And by the fear or the reverence of
the Lord, men depart from evil.
Now the fear of the Lord is to
hate evil.
And so here by the fear of the
Lord, men depart from evil.
There is a tremendous inconsistency.
John points it out in his first epistle.
He said, he that saith he hath fellowship
with God and walketh in darkness is lying.
He isn't telling the truth.
You cannot walk in fellowship with God and
have a desire and a love for evil.
The fear of the Lord, men depart from
evil.
When a man's ways please the Lord, he
makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him.
Thus, really the goal of each of our
lives is and should be to be pleasing
to God.
God, what pleases you?
Now, usually we use as our standard, is
it right or is it wrong?
And trying to measure, and this was of
course the mistake that the, uh, that the
religious leaders in Judaism made concerning the law.
Now, what constitutes bearing a burden on the
Sabbath day?
What if you have false teeth?
If you put your false teeth on, on
the Sabbath day, that means you're bearing a
burden, doesn't it?
You're carrying something that isn't natural to you.
What about if you have a wooden leg?
Well, sure, that's a burden.
So you can't put it on, on the
Sabbath day.
And, and all of these little fine points,
you know, they're trying to tune the fine
points of, of right and wrong.
You can throw all of that out the
window.
The real question is, is it pleasing to
God?
Is God pleased with it?
Because you may sit down and rationalize that
a, that, you know, a particular action, a
particular thing that you want to do, you
may rationalize and say, well, sure, look, it's
all right.
And give all of your rationale for why
it's right, but it may not be pleasing
to God.
So really the rightness or the wrongness of
a particular action isn't what really matters.
What really matters is, does it really please
the Lord?
My life, I desire that my life be
pleasing.
Jesus said, I do always those things that
please the Father.
Now, if you use that as your standard,
you won't have to worry about right or
wrong.
You won't have to sit and examine a
thing to see if it's really right or
really wrong.
Hey, does it please God?
That's where it's at.
When a man's ways please the Lord, then
the Lord makes even his enemies to be
at peace with him.
Better is a little with righteousness than great
revenues without right.
A little that a righteous man hath is
greater riches than many wicked.
Same concept.
A man's heart deviseth his way, but the
Lord directeth his steps.
How many times our plans have been changed
by the Lord?
We've decided we're going to do something and
God throws the monkey wrench in and stops
us.
I'm always sensitive to interruptions.
Maybe God is trying to stop me.
You know, the man who is expecting to
be disturbed is the man who is never
disturbed when disturbances come.
If you are open to God and you
think, well, Lord, anytime, you know, I'm heading
down a path you don't want, you just
stop me.
Therefore, I'm expecting to be disturbed.
Therefore, when the disturbance comes, it doesn't disturb
me because my life and my steps are
committed to the Lord.
So we devise something in our heart, but
God directs our steps.
And I want it that way.
I don't want to do my own will.
I don't want to fulfill my own purposes.
I want God to stop me whenever I
am getting out of line and doing something
that isn't from Him and directed by Him.
I want the Lord to interrupt me.
I want God to disturb me.
I want God to direct my steps.
A divine sentence is in the lips of
the king.
His mouth transgresseth not in judgment.
Now, herein, of course, is a beautiful situation
when the king is a godly king.
Then God will direct his mouth, his lips,
and place actually God's sentences within his lips.
And his mouth will not transgress, will be
faithful in judgment.
A just weight and balance are the Lord's.
All the weights of the bag are His
work.
Now again, we'll get another proverb that deals
with this pretty soon.
All of their merchandising was done with the
balanced scales.
And so they would have little bags of
weights.
And the crooked merchant would have two bags
of weights, diverse weights.
One that they would sell with and one
that they would buy with.
So butchers have had their thumbs on the
scales for years.
Goes back to the time of Proverbs, where
in the balancing, they would use one set
of weights to buy and they would use
another bag of weights to sell.
It's an abomination unto the Lord.
False balance is an abomination unto God.
But the true, honest in business, a just
weight and balance are the Lord's.
And all the weights of the bag are
His work.
It is an abomination to kings to commit
wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness.
So those who are in leadership actually have
a greater responsibility before God.
Righteous lips are the delight of kings and
they love him that speaks right.
The wrath of the king is as messengers
of death, but a wise man will pacify
it.
In the light of the king's countenance his
life and his favor is as a cloud
of the latter rain.
So here we have four Proverbs that are
related to each other because they all deal
with kings.
And then as much as none of you
are kings, I don't know, maybe you are.
You're the king's kids.
Now Solomon declares how much better it is
to get wisdom than gold.
And to get understanding rather to be chosen
than silver.
You remember when he started out, God said
to Solomon, ask of me whatever you desire.
And Solomon prayed for wisdom.
And God said, in that you have asked
for wisdom, you've asked for a good thing.
And I will grant unto you wisdom, but
I will also grant unto you that which
you did not ask, riches and so forth.
And so wisdom, understanding, these are more valuable
than gold, treasure, silver.
The highway of the upright is to depart
from evil.
And he that keeps his way preserveth his
soul.
Then one that is very familiar, but so
often misquoted.
How many times you've heard people say, pride
goeth before a fall.
That's not a scripture.
This is the scripture from which that quotation
is taken, but it is misquoted.
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a fall.
So pride goes before destruction.
That haughty spirit is going to be brought
down.
Humble thyself in the sight of the Lord.
He shall lift thee up.
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
He that exalted himself shall be abased.
Better it is to be of a humble
spirit with the lowly than to divide the
spoil with the proud.
So a couple of them that deal with
pride and humility.
He that handleth the matter wisely shall find
good.
And whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is
he.
How neat it is to just have your
trust in the Lord.
Happy man.
You know, you're not really disturbed by the
circumstances of life.
My trust is in God.
Happy is he.
The wise in heart shall be called prudent
and the sweetness of the lips increaseth learning.
Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him
that hath it, but the instruction of fools
is folly.
So understanding with all of thy getting, get
understanding, David said to Solomon.
It's a wellspring of life to him who
has it.
Oh God grant to us a better understanding.
I think to have understanding is
so important because I think it is the
key to compassion.
There are many people in many circumstances in
which we find it difficult to be compassionate.
In operating summer camps, which I did for
years and years, you get those kids that
are just behavioral problems.
I've had the counselors come in and say,
you better get that kid out of my
group or I'm going to kill him.
He's horrible.
You know, he's just screaming at night and
always creating problems.
I can't stand that kid.
Get him out of there before you have
to carry him out.
He's going to do something rash.
And so I'll bring the little kid in
and I'll sit him down.
And of course, you know, he has to
go to Chuck and he comes in all
trembling and, you know, here he is, you
know, like I'm going to be a monster.
And I'll go over and buy him an
ice cream bar and sit him down and
start talking, asking him, you know, about his
home, about his background.
The little kid will start unfolding the story.
How his dad, he never sees him.
Doesn't know where he is.
Comes home, his mom's usually drunk.
Different men in the house who yell at
him and tell him to get out of
there and all this kind of stuff.
And man, you get the background stories of
some of these little guys and you can't
believe it.
It's horrible.
And then I'll call the counselor back in
and I said, do you realize that, you
know, this is what happens when this little
kid goes home and this is what the
situation is?
Oh, wow.
You know, we have a whole changed attitude
towards it.
Now you understand why he's fighting everybody.
Man, this little kid has to fight for
survival.
And as you understand now the background, now
you can have compassion and now you can
deal with him and now you can minister
to him.
Understanding is such an important thing.
Ezekiel said, I sat where they sat.
And you really need to sit in another
man's place for a while to really understand
that other person.
I think one of the keys to relationship
is to put yourself in the other person's
position.
We have so many labor problems.
Well, if you could reverse roles, if management
could sit where labor is, and if labor
could sit where management is, you could remove
so many of these labor problems.
The management would understand that this guy has
to have a decent wage to live.
But also this guy would understand that management
has to have a profit to survive.
If a wife could sit where her husband
sits, and if a husband could sit where
his wife sits, how many problems this would
solve.
When he comes home at night, just all
frazzled from the pressures and the hassles that
he's had all day, and sits down and
just wants to turn on TV and just,
you know, tune out for a while.
And he's uncommunicative to his wife.
Well, if she could just understand the pressures,
the hassles he's had.
On the same token, if he could just
be with those kids all day long, and
be communicating to them, he'd understand the wife's
need to communicate on a different level when
he gets home.
And I sat where they sat.
Understanding, understanding the other person's position is so
important, really, to compassion, to love.
It's a wellspring of life to him who
has it.
Oh, God grant that we might have better
understanding.
The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth,
and addeth learning to his lips.
So, the heart is the issue of life.
Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to
the soul, health to the bones.
Now, I don't know if the scientists have
ever made any relationship between honey and the
bones, but it's sweet to the soul.
Honey and health to the bones.
What are they?
Pleasant words.
Oh, just, just cheerful words, pleasant words.
How, how good they are.
There is a way that seemeth right unto
man, but the end thereof are the ways
of death.
I think of so many people today who
are deceived by false prophets, who are deceived
by false religious systems.
They're convinced that they are right.
There is a way that seems right unto
man, but the end of it, and there's
another scripture, every man's way is right in
his own eyes.
But here, there is a way that seems
right, the way of life, you know, the
philosophy of life that a man has chosen.
It seems to be right.
Eat, drink, and be merry.
Tomorrow we die, you know, and you talk
to that guy, and he's convinced his philosophy
is correct.
But the end thereof, the way of death.
He that laboreth, laboreth for himself, for the
mouth craves it of him.
It's, it's a thing that your labor goes
to feed yourself.
An ungodly man digs up evil, and in
his lips there is a burning fire.
Actually, James says, behold, what a great fire,
such a little matter kindleth, and the tongue
is, is like a fire, the things that
it can inflame.
A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer
can separate the best of friends.
A violent man entices his neighbor, and leads
him into the way that is not good.
He shuts his eyes to devise perverse things.
Moving his lips, he brings evil to pass.
Now, the hoary head, which is the gray,
the hoary frost, the white hair, is a
crown of glory, if it be found in
the way of righteousness.
I think that one of the worst things
in the world is a dirty old man.
You know, when people get old and gray
-headed, they're supposed to all be sweet and
kind and loving.
After all, they're, you know, getting towards the
end, and, and so you ought to be
mellow.
And to see a little old gray-haired
lady using four-letter words and all that,
it's just, it's just wrong, it's out of
place.
My daughter used to work for a medical
supply firm, and she had to deliver some
things to this little old lady in the
hospital.
And she walked in and saw her and
thought, oh, what a sweet-looking little old
lady, you know.
And then this lady, you know, says, who
in the hell are you, and what are
you doing here?
You know, and just started all this filthy
language.
And it's just, it's just somehow incongruous, it's
just out of place.
The gray hair is a crown of glory,
if it be found in the way of
righteousness.
The man of his nut.
He that is slow to anger is better
than the mighty.
And he that ruleth his spirit is better
than he that takes a city.
How important it is.
Slow to anger, ruling our own spirits.
Important.
The lot is cast into the lap.
Now, it's a, the lot is a thing
whereby they would oftentimes determine, you know, it's
like drawing a straw.
They would cast lots into their lap, but
the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord,
trying to get guidance or direction or to
determine, they cast lots.
But the real direction and the disposing of
the thing comes from God.
Better is a dry morsel with quietness than
a house full of sacrifices with strife.
Now, the house full of sacrifices refer to
the sacrifices.
If in that economy of the Judaism, if
you decided that tonight you wanted to have
roast leg of lamb, to butcher your lamb,
you'd take it down to the temple and
you bring it to the priest.
And you'd say, I want to offer this
as a peace offering unto God, a sacrifice.
So, you would butcher the lamb and the
priest would take the fat and put it
on the fire and burn it.
And the smoke and all, of course, smells
real good.
And that's your portion, God, you know.
And I take, and the priest gets his
portion out, puts his hook in, gets his
portion.
But then the rest of it, I roast
and I gather together my family and friends.
We have a big, you know, barbecue.
So, the house full of sacrifices actually refers
to a house full of meat, which in
those days and is becoming more so now
a real delicacy.
But a dry morsel in quietness, in peace,
is better than a whole house full of
sacrifices with strife.
A wise servant shall have rule over a
son that causeth shame and shall have a
part of the inheritance among the brethren.
The finding pot is for silver, the furnace
for gold, but the Lord trieth the hearts.
Now, the Bible speaks about God testing our
works by fire, God trying our hearts.
The testing of our works really, when it
comes down to it, is not so much
what we have done, but the motive that
was behind what was done.
Bible says that all of our works are
to be tested to see what sort they
are, tested by fire.
And those works that can remain after the
testing of fire, you'll be rewarded for.
But many of the works that we do
are as wood, hay, and stubble.
They're going to go up in the flame.
I really didn't do them with a pure
motive, though the work may be a very
commendable thing.
Oh, look what he did, you know, and
a very commendable thing, yet it was done
with a motive of bringing glory or honor
to myself.
I was doing it to be a big
show.
I was doing it so people would know
what a great, neat guy I am, you
know, and to bring attention or honor to
myself.
Well, those kind of works are going to
be tried by God, for God tries the
hearts, and he knows what is in my
heart when I am doing something.
All of our works tested by fire.
Jesus said, take heed to yourself that you
do not your righteousness before men to be
seen of man.
Don't let that be the motive, the approval,
the praise, the recognition of man.
For he said, I say unto you, you
have your reward.
So even as the fining pot is for
silver and the furnace is to burn out
the dross and the gold, so it is
the Lord who, through the fire, will try
our hearts, our works, the manner of sorts
they are.
A wicked doer gives heed to false lips,
and a liar giveth ear to the naughty
tongue.
Whoso mocketh the poor reproaches his maker.
Now God takes up the cause for the
poor.
So if you're poor, take heart.
God takes up your cause, and anyone who
mocks the poor is reproaching his maker.
Has not God chosen the poor of this
earth, yet rich in faith?
He that is glad at calamity shall not
be unpunished.
One of the characteristics of this agape love
in 1 Corinthians 13 is that it rejoices
not in iniquity.
It rejoices not in the calamity.
You know, there are some people we just
hope something bad happens to them.
They deserve it.
And when it happens, you say, oh right,
I knew it, you know, they had it
coming and all, and yet he that is
glad at calamities shall not go unpunished.
So be careful of that.
It's the wrong attitude.
Children's children, or your grandchildren, are the crown
of old men.
Amen.
They are glory.
And the glory of children, their fathers.
Excellent speech becomes not a fool, much less
lying lips of prince.
Quite a contrast.
A gift is as a precious stone in
the eyes of him that has it.
Wherever he turns it, he prospers.
In other words, it's like a precious stone,
wherever you turn it, you see the different
colors and facets.
So is a gift, like a precious stone
to the man who receives it.
He that covers a transgression seeks love.
Now the Bible says love covers a multitude
of sins.
If you cover it, you're seeking love.
But he that repeats a matter can separate
friends.
A reproof enters more into a wise man
than a hundred stripes into a fool.
It's interesting how that in raising children, you
find the diversities of personalities, even of your
own children.
And you learn that there are some kinds
of punishment that work for one child, but
don't work for another.
With some, just a word of reproof, and
they're devastated.
Others, you can wail on them and it
doesn't touch them.
My little grandson Bradley, we were down in
Phoenix and we were having Thanksgiving dinner with
the family there.
And I think it was during prayer that
he had been naughty.
So I said, Bradley, Grandpa's ashamed of you.
Well, the kid, you was like, I had
beaten him.
He wailed and cried.
He was broke tears.
Grandpa never said anything before to him of
a cross or angry nature.
And it just devastated the poor little guy
to have grandpa disappointed with him.
It just almost destroyed him.
Reproof enters more into a wise man's heart
and all than a hundred strikes enters into
a fool.
An evil man seeks only rebellion.
Therefore, a cruel messenger shall be sent against
him.
Let a bear robbed of her cubs meet
a man rather than a fool in his
folly.
That one I thought was quite interesting.
I wouldn't want to meet a bear robbed
of her cubs, but I wouldn't want to
meet a fool in his folly either.
Whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not
depart from his house.
That's quite a problem and it's quite a
warning.
Whoso rewards evil for good, evil will never
depart from his house.
The beginning of strife is as when one
lets out water.
Therefore, leave off contention before it be meddled
with.
Once you start letting the water out, it's
awfully hard to stop.
Therefore, stay away from contention, the beginning of
strife.
He that justifies the wicked and he who
condemns the just, even they both are an
abomination unto God.
Woe unto them who say, who call evil
good and good evil.
Why?
Because it's abomination to the Lord.
Wherefore, is there a price in the hand
of the fool to get wisdom seeing he
hath no heart to it?
I love this one.
A friend loves at all times and a
brother is born for adversity.
A friend, they love at all times.
A brother, he has been born for this
time of adversity.
A man who is void of understanding strikes
hands and becomes a surety in the presence
of his friends.
Now, he really warns about this business of
striking hands and being a surety for someone
else.
Evidently, he got burned many times on this.
He that loves transgression, that loves strife, and
he that exalts his gate seek destruction.
He that hath a perverse heart finds no
good and he that has a perverse tongue
falls into mischief.
He that begets a fool doeth it to
his sorrow and the father of a fool
has no joy.
Wouldn't it be tragic to have a child
that's a fool?
He who begets a fool does it to
his own sorrow.
The father of a fool has no joy.
A merry heart does good like a medicine.
You know, more and more they are learning
what a healthy thing it is to be
happy.
The merry heart, when you eat, laughter just
gets the right juices going that really help
you to digest your food well.
A merry heart is just as good for
you as medicine.
The relationship between our attitudes and our physical
well-being, how that these glands that are
excreting the various chemicals into our systems, the
good chemicals that come in joy and in
happiness, and the other chemicals that are produced
in fear or in anger and bitterness or
whatever, those chemicals which destroy you.
So, without knowing all of the capacities and
work of the pituitary and hypothalamus and everything
else, Solomon just made an observation that a
merry heart is good like a medicine, but
a broken spirit can dry up the bones.
A wicked man takes a gift out of
the bosom to pervert the ways of judgment.
Wisdom is before him that has understanding, but
the eyes of the fool roam to the
ends of the earth.
The one is before you, the other is
always looking out to the ends of the
earth.
A foolish son is a grief to his
father and bitterness to her that bear him.
Also to punish the just is not good,
nor to strike princes for equity.
He that hath knowledge spareth his words, and
a man of understanding is of an excellent
spirit.
He that hath knowledge spareth his words, how's
it go?
There was an old owl who lived in
the oak.
The more he saw, the less he spoke.
The less he spoke, the more he heard.
Why can't you be like that old bird?
And of course, in the same line as
the proverb there in verse 28, even a
fool, when he holds his tongue, is counted
wise.
And he that keeps his lips shut is
esteemed a man of understanding.
You know, just sit back and say, hmm,
well, you know, feeling, man, he's smart.
Through desire, a man having separated himself, seeks
and inter-metalleth with all wisdom.
A fool has no delight in understanding, but
that his heart may discover itself.
When the wicked comes, then comes also contempt
and with ignominy reproach.
The words of a man's mouth are as
deep waters and the wellspring of wisdom as
a flowing brook.
It is not good to accept the person
of the wicked, to overthrow the righteous in
judgment.
A fool's lips enter into contention and his
mouth calleth for strokes.
That is, a fool's lips enters into contention
and by his mouth, the strokes is really
his blows.
A fool's mouth is his destruction.
His lips are a snare of his soul.
The words of a tail bearer are as
wounds and they go down into the innermost
parts of the belly.
He also that is slothful in his work
is a brother to him that is a
great waster.
Now, Solomon has quite a bit to say
about the slothful or the lazy person.
The man who is lazy, slothful in his
work, he's a brother to him that is
a great waster.
The name of the Lord is a strong
tower.
The righteous runneth into it and is safe.
What a strong tower the name Jehovah is.
How many times we have run into it
to find safety.
The rich man's wealth is his strong city
and as a high wall in his own
conceit.
Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty.
That's again pride goes before destruction or haughty
spirit before the fall.
Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty
and before honor is humility.
Humble thyself, he shall exalt thee.
Exalt thyself, he'll abase you.
So, the same concept, another proverb.
He that answers a matter before he hears
it, it's a folly and a shame.
So many times we answer a person before
we really understand completely what they're asking for.
They're starting to explain their situation and we
assume that, oh yes, this is what they
want to know and we start giving out
all this worthless information.
Like the little child who came into her
mother one day and said, mother, where did
I come from?
And the mother thought, oh, oh, this is
it, you know, time for the story of
the birds and the bees and all.
So, she said, well, honey, you go outside
and play for a little while and then
come on in and mother will tell you.
So, she sent the little girl out and
she got into the psych books on how
to explain the facts of life to your
child and all and boned them all up
and then called her little girl in and
sat her down and started through and explained
to her the whole process of life and
procreation, everything else.
And she said, well now, honey, do you
think you understand?
She said, oh yes, mommy.
She said the little girl next door said
she came from Missouri and I just wondered
where I came from.
So, it's possible to answer a matter before
you really know what the matter is.
And he that answers a matter before he
hears it, it's folly and a shame to
him.
The spirit of a man will sustain his
weakness, but a wounded spirit who can bear,
oh, how hard it is when your spirit
has been wounded.
And yet, if you have a strong spirit,
how it can bear the infirmities, the weaknesses,
the sicknesses.
The heart of a prudent gets knowledge and
the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
A man's gift makes room for him and
brings him before great men.
Actually, he's saying that by giving gifts, you
can open a lot of doors.
It gives a place for you.
It'll bring you before great men.
Actually, brought me before Begin last week.
I've never been able to see Begin.
We didn't have a gift for him or
Israel, so.
He that is first in his own cause
seems just, but his neighbor comes and searches
him.
The lot causeth contentions to cease, and parts
between the mighty.
So, the castle lot, you're arguing over saying,
well, let's cast lots for it.
It stops the argument.
It's the idea of a flipping a coin,
you know.
Same idea, let's flip a coin.
Can't agree on something, we'll flip a coin.
Heads we will, tails we won't, you know.
And so, it stops the contentions.
A brother who is offended is harder to
be one than a strong city.
So, the idea is don't offend your brother.
And their contentions are like the bars of
a castle.
You can't get through them.
A man's belly shall be satisfied with the
fruit of his mouth, and with the increase
of his lips shall he be filled.
This is, I think, quite an important part
of the next one.
Death and life are in the power of
the tongue, and they that love it shall
eat the fruit thereof.
Whoso findeth a wife finds a good thing,
and obtains favor of the Lord.
So, Solomon found a thousand of them.
He surely learned an awful lot about women.
The poor useth entreaties, but the rich answereth
roughly.
The poor man has to entreat.
Sort of big.
A man that hath friends must show himself
friendly.
That's basic now.
If you want to have friends, you've just
got to show yourself friendly.
A lot of people complain, we don't have
any friends.
Well, you're not showing yourself friendly.
If you're going to have friends, you've got
to just be friendly.
And there is a friend.
There is a special friend who will stick
closer than a brother.
That, of course, is Jesus Christ.
That's an important proverb to me.
A man to have friends has to show
himself friendly.
But there is one friend who will stick
closer than a brother.
Better is the poor that walks in his
integrity or in honesty than he that is
perverse in his lips and is a fool.
Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it
is not good.
And he that hasteth with his feet sinneth.
The foolishness of man perverteth his way, and
his heart fretteth against the Lord.
Wealth maketh many friends, but the poor is
even separated from his neighbor.
If you're rich, you have a lot of
people coming around, but you really don't know.
It would be hard to be rich and
have all of the, you know, the people
hanging around because you don't know if they're
really your friends or not.
What will happen in adversity?
So, you have all of this crazy problem
of accepting people because, I don't know, what
do you really want?
You know, because I'm rich that you're coming
around.
Do you really love me?
And so, they have a hard time.
A false witness shall not be unpunished, and
he that speaks lies shall not escape.
Many will entreat the favor of the prince,
and every man is a friend to him
who gives gifts.
All of the brethren of the poor do
hate him.
How much more do his friends go far
from him?
He pursues them with words, and yet they
are wanting to him, the poor man.
He that gets wisdom loves his own soul.
He that keeps understanding shall find good.
A false witness shall not be unpunished.
We had that one just a little bit
ago, verse 5, but then the latter part
is just a little different.
He that speaketh lies shall perish.
Verse 5 says shall not escape.
Very similar, though, Proverbs.
Delight is not seemly for a fool, much
less for a servant to have rule over
princes.
Oh man, the worst thing in the world
is to give a little power to some
people.
They don't know how to handle it.
The discretion of a man deferth his anger,
and it is his glory to pass over
a transgression.
Much better just to say, oh let it
go.
Just to pass over the transgressions.
The king's wrath is as a roaring of
a lion, but his favor is as the
dew on the grass.
A foolish son is the calamity of his
father, and the contentions of a wife are
a continual dropping.
That's like the Chinese torture trick, you know.
Or you ever have a leaky faucet, and
you're trying to sleep at night, and you
hear the boop, boop, boop.
House and riches are the inheritance of fathers,
and a prudent wife is from the Lord.
Oh, isn't that neat?
He that finds a wife finds a good
thing.
A prudent wife is from the Lord.
God is good to us.
Slothfulness, the laziness again, casteth into a deep
sleep, and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
He that keeps the commandment keeps his own
soul, but he that despises his ways shall
die.
Then he that has pity upon the poor
is lending to the Lord, and that which
he hath given will he pay him again.
Now, here's an interesting thing.
As I told you, God takes up the
cause of the poor.
And if you have pity on the poor
and give to them, then God will repay
you.
In other words, it's like loaning to God
to give to the poor.
That's how much God takes up the cause.
And God says, I'll repay you.
So it's a neat thing to give to
the poor.
You're lending to the Lord.
I like to lend to the Lord.
I think it's, I think it's grand to
be able to lend to God.
How can I do that?
By giving to the poor.
You're lending to the Lord, and the Lord
will repay you.
The Lord will pay you back.
Try it.
Chasten your son while there is hope, and
let not your soul spare for his crying.
Now, kids learn very quickly to start wailing
the minute you look at them, you know,
so that you won't hit them so hard,
or you won't spank them so long, or
whatever.
And so, they really, they catch on quick,
you know, really wail and scream, even when
you missed them, you know, because there's a
condition for that.
So, go ahead and spank your son, really,
while there's hope.
Don't, don't spare for his crying.
Now, of course, let me say, there is
reason.
And surely, the Bible does not advocate child
abuse.
And there, in these days in which we
live, is so much child abuse.
It's terrible.
To abuse a child has to be one
of the worst things that a person could
do.
A little child that is so helpless, can't
defend himself.
I think that we need to be extremely
careful in, in our punishment of a child.
And I think that when we get to
these kind of scriptures, surely, we do not
understand them to mean beating a child.
Spanking a child, yes, but not beating a
child.
There's, there's no value in that ever.
A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment.
For if you deliver him, you're just going
to have to do it again.
A guy with a hot temper, you know,
you may get in and help him out.
But man, you're just going to have to
do it again.
Hear counsel and receive instruction that you may
be wise in the latter end.
There are many devices in man's heart.
Nevertheless, the counsels of the Lord, they shall
stand.
In other words, you can't really fight against
God or against God's word.
Now you may have all kinds of devices.
You may be figuring out all kinds of
schemes, but ultimately, you know, God's word is
going to stand.
There's an old Greek saying, the dice of
the gods are loaded.
It means you just can't go against God's
word and win.
God has said certain things and you may
scheme and devise all you want, but the
word of the Lord is going to stand.
And anytime you try to go against the
word of God, you're going to lose.
The desire of a man is his kindness,
and a poor man is better than a
liar.
The fear of the Lord tends to life,
and he that hath it shall abide satisfied.
He will not be visited with evil.
So the fear of the Lord, how important
it is reverencing God, it just tends towards
life.
You'll be satisfied, not visited with evil.
The slothful man, again the lazy man, he
hides his hand in his bosom.
And this is really lazy.
He won't even so much as bring it
to his mouth.
Man, that's really lazy.
When you get so lazy, you're not going
to feed yourself.
You've had it.
Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware.
And reprove one that hath understanding, and he
will understand knowledge.
He that wasteth his father and chases away
his mother is a rat.
He's a son that causes shame and brings
reproach.
Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that
causes to err from the words of knowledge.
An ungodly witness scorns judgment, and the mouth
of the wicked devours iniquity.
And judgments are prepared for the scorners and
stripes for the backs of fools.
In the chapter 20, wine is a mocker.
Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise.
He will have more to say about wine
as we move along in our study next
week.
Chapter 23.
Who has woe?
Who has sorrow?
Who has contention?
Who has babblings?
Who has wounds without cause?
Who has red eyes?
They that tarry long at wine and those
that go to seek mixed wine.
And so forth.
He talks about them in chapter 23.
Wine is a mocker.
Strong drink is raging.
Whoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
In the New Testament, we are told that
in choosing those as overseers in the church,
they are not to be given to wine.
In the Old Testament, there were two sons
of Aaron who when they had built the
altar and were ready to offer sacrifices, the
fire of God came down and kindled the
altar.
And Aaron's two sons grabbed their little incense
burners and put coals in them and started
in to offer incense before the Lord.
And the fire of God came from the
altar and consumed the two sons of Aaron.
And when this happened, the Lord said unto
Moses, speak unto Aaron and his sons and
tell them that they are not to be
drinking wine when they come in to offer
sacrifices before me.
For God does not want service from any
kind of a false stimulation.
So, there are people today that feel a
freedom and a liberty to drink wine.
And again, it's a thing where, you know,
you say, well, Jesus turned the water and
all this kind of stuff.
And you can rationalize and all.
But yet, wine is a mocker.
Better that you didn't.
The thing is, again, not is it right?
Is it wrong?
Is it pleasing?
Is this what God wants?
Strong drink is raging.
Whoever is deceived by them is not wise.
Paul said, all things are lawful for me.
So, you can prove that it's lawful.
But he said, I will not be brought
under the power of any.
Does it affect my judgment at all?
Does it affect my attitudes?
Then I'm being brought under its power.
The fear of the king is as a
roaring of a lion.
Whoso provokes him to anger sins against his
own soul.
You provoke a king, provoke a lion, you're
in trouble.
It is an honor for a man to
cease from strife.
But every fool will just keep on meddling.
You know, there's sometimes you just don't
want to get into trouble.
You don't want to get in a brawl.
But the guy just keeps kneeling, just keeps
going and going and going.
The fool will just keep on meddling.
We used to have a great big old
English setter, Duke.
And he's the kind of dog every boy
should have to grow up with, you know.
Of course, we didn't have leash laws in
those days.
And everywhere I went, Duke was with me.
Ride my bike, he'd, you know, be alongside.
Go to school, create worse havoc in school.
Through the hallways looking for me and all.
And he was big.
He could jump up and his feet would
be on my shoulders.
He could lick my face.
And he was just a boy's dog, great
dog.
Those English setters are very independent dogs, and
they're sort of a one-owner type of
dog.
In other words, you call them, you try
and pet them, and they're very independent.
They have nothing to do with you.
But their master, you know, they're just devoted.
And Duke was just devoted to me.
I was his master.
And just, you know, I could whistle anything
else, and man, he would come charging.
He was just my dog.
And we went up to Bass Lake one
summer and took Duke with us.
And he created quite a bit of havoc
there at Bass Lake.
One evening, we were sitting down to eat
dinner.
Of course, the campfire and so forth, cooked
the food and fixing dinner.
And he looked sort of longingly at our
food.
And then he went over and began to
dig in the dirt and pulled up a
whole string of sausages that he had ripped
off from some camp somewhere.
And there was this little terrier dog that
was in a camp next to us.
And here Duke, big old thing, and this
little terrier was always yipping.
And whenever Duke would go running along the
lake, this little dog would be nipping at
him and yipping.
And he just ignored him.
You know, just like a little mouse.
And you just, you know, go away, you
little runt, you know.
And just leave me alone.
But this little dog kept persisting.
And one day, Duke was running along the
lake, and this little dog was along yipping
and nipping and evidently clipped him and made
him mad.
And he turned around and picked up this
little dog in his mouth and just flung
him on out into the lake.
But it reminded me of this proverb.
It is an honor for a man to
cease from strife, but the fool will just
keep on meddling until he's into trouble, you
know.
Now we deal with the sluggard or the
slothful, the lazy man again.
The sluggard will not plow by reason of
the cold.
Oh, it's too cold to go out and
plow today.
Therefore, he'll be begging in the time of
harvest and have nothing.
Counsel in the heart of a man is
like deep water.
This is beautiful.
But a man of understanding will draw it
out.
Now, a really good counselor will be able
to draw you out.
Deep within, you know the answer, you know
what's right, you know what you should be
doing.
And a counselor really isn't there to tell
you what to do.
He's there to help you understand yourself.
Now, it's like a well of deep water.
It's down inside.
You know basically what you should be doing.
And a man of understanding, a good counselor,
can draw it out of you.
And that's what wise counseling really is.
It's drawing out the answers within the person.
I'm not a good counselor.
Don't come to me.
But I just know what they should be
doing.
Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness.
Isn't that the truth?
But a faithful man who can find.
The just man walks in his integrity and
his children are blessed after him.
The king that sits in the throne of
judgment scatters away all of the evil with
his eyes.
He looks around.
Who can say I have made my heart
clean?
I am pure from my sin.
Any of you say that?
I've made my, I'm pure.
Who can say it?
Now, here's the thing again on the balance
is the weights.
Diverse weights and diverse measures.
This is, you know, as I said, one
to buy and one to sell.
Both of them alike are an abomination to
the Lord.
If you have different sizes of cups, different
weights, they're an abomination to God.
Even a child is known by his doings
whether his work be pure and whether it
be right.
You begin to see that even in a
child.
The hearing ear, the seeing eye, the Lord
hath made both of them.
Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty.
Open your eyes and thou shalt be satisfied
with bread.
Get up.
Now, this one is so typical.
It is nothing, it is nothing, says the
buyer.
But when he has gone his way, he
boasts, man, what a deal I got, you
know.
Yet when you're, you know, you're looking at
it, oh, it's, you know, it's an old
dog, that's not worth anything.
It's nothing.
There is gold and a multitude of rubies,
but the lips of knowledge are like a
precious jewel.
Take his garment that is a surety for
a stranger and take a pledge of him
for a strange woman.
The bread of deceit is sweet to a
man, but afterwards his mouth will be filled
with gravel.
Deceitfulness, you may think it's smart, but man,
you're going to grind.
Every purpose is established by counsel and with
good advice make war.
He that goes about as a talebearer reveals
secret and therefore meddle not with him that
is flattering with his lips.
Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his
lamp will be put out in obscure darkness.
An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the
beginning, but the end thereof shall not be
blessed.
And say not thou, I will recompense evil,
but wait on the Lord and he shall
save thee.
Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the
Lord.
And so don't you go around saying, well,
I'm going to get even.
I'll repense him or get even for his
evil.
Just give it to the Lord.
Now diverse weights are an abomination unto the
Lord and a false balance is not good.
Man's goings are of the Lord.
How can a man then understand his own
way?
Isn't that interesting?
Man's goings are the Lord.
God guides my path.
How then can I understand my own way?
It is a snare to a man who
devours that which is holy and after vows
to make an inquiry.
In other words, if you make a vow
to God, then don't modify it, just keep
it.
A wise king scatters the wicked and brings
the wheel over them.
The spirit of a man is the candle
of the Lord, searching all of the inward
parts of his life.
The spirit of man, God's candle searching within.
Mercy and truth preserve the king and his
throne is upheld by mercy.
And the glory of young men is their
strength and the beauty of old men is
their gray head.
I don't know where that leaves me.
The blueness of a wound cleanses away evil.
So do stripes, the inward parts of the
life.
Proverbs, interesting little bits of instruction and wisdom.
A wise man will take heed to them
and will gain in knowledge.
Father, we thank you for the instructions in
the way of righteousness and truth, that which
is good, that which is wholesome, that which
is honest.
Help us, Lord, to take to heart these
words of instruction.
Help us, Lord, to walk in righteousness before
thee.
Help us to seek peace and to pursue
it.
O God, keep us from the wicked way,
from the false lips, from the tail bearing.
May we in love relate to each other.
Committing, Lord, ourselves, the issues of our lives
unto thee.
Knowing, Lord, that you are the judge who
will make the final disposition of all things.
And thus may we rest in thy justice
and in thy truth.
In Jesus' name, amen.