Revering the Word
Proverbs 11 The contrast of the wicked and the righteouss.
Good morning everyone this morning we are in Proverbs chapter 11 and we you know go from the area we have been studying which is Joshua to the book of Proverbs. We go into a totally different style of writing and Solomon very likely the author of if not all very much most of the Psalms and in Proverbs we have saints we have wise saints we have a man who did seek wisdom and did receive it although you know a human like us who wasn't perfect but yet did seek and receive a lot of wisdom and he has a lot of great saints they're not to be looked at as promises of God that are going to be true every single time but yet good wisdom good advice good things to put into practice and they're healthy for us to take in so let's take it in they're not always interconnected meaning the topic will not always remain the same within a specific chapter of Proverbs so it'll move around a little bit in this variety of saints alright a false balance is an abomination to the Lord but a just weight is his delight now back then you would weigh money and in order to find out equality of the money you would have a scale and it would it would show the weight of what was being given well you know you could have perhaps coins that would be deceitfully weighed and way heavier but really not supposed to be worth more so people could be fraudulent and essentially what we're seeing here is that God God very much hates falseness he does not like lies and in some cases exaggerations are lies and you know I think about this it this is so prevalent in our world today whether it be you know just just say that presidential election and the commercials that you see on TV I mean I wish there actually was somewhat a court of justice where it's like you couldn't just spew out whatever you want to say whether it be true or not because the kind of things that are sad the kind of commercials that are made there's no accountability it's just say whatever you want to frame or make someone look as bad as you can make them look from a totally biased perspective by the way right like someone who's attacking another a politician they're they're not trying to be fair or reasonable they're trying to make that person look as bad as they can and that's the way an enemy is that's why an enemy will treat you an enemy will not be fair they will not be balanced they will simply just spew out exaggeration to try to make somebody look bad and that's what we have here in Proverbs 11 God doesn't like falseness he doesn't like exaggeration and it's we just need to be careful to not get into that you know as much as I am conservative and tend to lean towards the Republican party because of it I'll call out my own party and I'm not afraid to do that because the most important thing that we should be seeking is the truth we should be operating in the truth and not from a place of bias when pride comes then comes dishonor but with the humble is wisdom and that's a wise word there you know there's another passage in Proverbs where it says pride comes before the fall but with the humble there's wisdom Lord help me Lord help us to honor your instruction the integrity of the upright will guide them but the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them and that's ultimately our hope is that you know what if you handle yourself with integrity that you will be guided by the Lord and that ultimately the crooked the line the deceitful that it will boomerang back on them or people will become known for for what they really are riches do not profit in the date of wrath but righteousness delivers from death isn't that a word you know no matter how much wealth or success that you've had on earth in the end that can't save you and right now in this day and age now this of course is written before the days of Jesus but now we've been made righteous through the blood of Jesus through faith in him and that's what delivers us from death or from how and promises us heaven is that we've received the righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ and no amount of money is gonna be able to save us on that day but the one who can is Jesus and those who have faith in him will indeed be saved the righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way and we should seek to live honorably do honorably but the wicked will fall by his own wickedness and you know that that that sometimes as we've seen in the book of Joshua and throughout the Bible sometimes the righteous even have pleasure and the fact that when the wicked stumbles over their own wickedness and gets what they've got coming there's some satisfaction in that and living righteously will smooth your way the righteous of the upright will deliver them but the treacherous will be caught by their own greed and very similar there you know very similar state statements I mean the righteous are going to be delivered but eventually evil is gonna get caught up with when a wicked man dies his expectation will perish in the hope of strong men perishes the righteous is delivered from trouble but the wicked takes this place and what a great hope that you know ultimately righteousness will shine forth and the wicked will get what's due and hopefully it happens in this life but at times the fullness of this is gonna happen when the righteous are saved in the wicked you know are not saved and receive the punishment do them for not believing in Jesus Christ with his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor but through knowledge the righteous will be delivered well that is a great hope you know people can blaspheme and make up things and say whatever they're gonna say but ultimately the truth will be known and the righteous will be delivered by the truth when it goes well with the righteous the city rejoices and when the wicked perish there is joyful shouting there there we see it again you know there is some pleasure even by the righteous when the wicked get what they deserve by the blessing of the upright a city is exalted by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down you know the mouth is dangerous it's a dangerous thing the mouth he who despises his neighbor lacks sense but a man of understanding keeps silent and I believe that's true and you know however for how long you know at what point does the righteous need to speak up I think there are times when the tongue needs to be tied and wherein silence prevails and then there's times where the righteous needs to shine forth and I guess the wisdom of God the discernment of the Holy Spirit is what's needed when that time comes he who goes about as a tail bear reveals secrets but he was trustworthy conceals a matter yeah well that's what happens is is in the world today people will gossip slander talk behind your back not talk to you directly that is the nature of what mankind does but he was trustworthy will deal directly with the people involved and not be out there talking to everyone else where there is no guidance the people fall but in the abundance of counselors there's victory and hallelujah for good counselors and may the Lord be with anyone that we seek counsel from so that the right counsel is given and so that godliness prevails he who is a guarantor for a stranger will surely suffer for it but he who hates being a guarantor is secure the Bible's up pretty clear that we need to not be backing up someone else's loans now that can be different for family but definitely want to be careful to not take getting in bed with the public you have to be very careful regarding partnerships and things like that even in business to be responsible for what someone else might do you're putting yourself in an insecure situation a gracious woman attains honor and ruthless men attain riches that's kind of interesting that it said that way I don't think that is the encouraging men to be ruthless but it just happens sometimes that there will be men that you know at least in this life we're going to experience something even from their bad behavior but ultimately there will be a cost the merciful man does himself good but the cruel man does himself harm you know honor the Lord in our behavior the wicked earns deceptive wages but he who souls righteousness gets a true reward and I believe that the righteous there is reward now and in heaven and sometimes for living righteously and godly and being a man of God a woman of God there'll be blessing here on this earth but there's definitely blessing in heaven he was steadfast in righteousness will attain to life hallelujah and you know perhaps he's referring to a blessedness in heaven in eternal life and we should be steadfast in righteousness we should be living looking to live rightly and he who pursues evil will bring about his own death be careful to be partnered with or get entangled in evil the perverse and hard-earned abomination to the Lord wow what a strong word but the blameless in their walk are his delight and may you help us Lord to live blamelessly and to be your delight and not to be perverse in heart which is an abomination to you but rather walk in your delight god and live honorably and righteously assuredly the evil man will not go punished but the descendants of the righteous will be delivered sometimes the blessing upon you know your family before you or you now can be a blessing upon your family ahead of you sometimes you leave not only maybe a righteous standing righteous behavior good counsel to your family you might leave you know an inheritance to your family but you know those who have gone before or those who might come behind someone who's wicked a lot of times they're left with nothing but just difficulty and challenges so you know know that our behavior the way that we live the way that we honor the Lord can not only be a blessing to us but our kids and even our grandkids as a ring of gold and a swine snout so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion wow you know sometimes we value so much success here beauty here but really what we should want is godliness and honor him in our behavior whether man or woman and woman be a woman of god in the beauty of your your character and in who you are as a woman of god rather than you know having your focus be all on outward appearance that's not the direction the Christian woman should go the Christian woman should be trying to grow inner inner beauty now we can all we can all take care of ourselves we can all honor our bodies physically because they are a temple of the Lord but that doesn't mean in the beauty of what's exhibited in today's world but rather the inner beauty of a woman who loves the Lord the desire of righteousness is only good but the wick the expectation of the wicked is wrath that's really a good word like what are you trying to accomplish are you trying to accomplish good or you trying to accomplish wrath what is the the goal there is one who scatters and yet increases all the more and there is one who withholds what is justly do and yet it results in only want and we should not withhold what is justly do we should do what is just and what is right the generous man will be prosperous and he who waters will himself be watered I believe either that passage or one similar to it in the Proverbs talks about he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed I do believe it is that passage and what a great word that is you know he who waters others will himself be watered I mean we should be a refreshment to those around us and as a result may they then you know experience the refreshing of being around men and women of God the blessing of being in the family of God where we're encouraging being generous with and refreshing and watering one another so that we can be better saints of the most high and live a more refreshing life to those around us he who withholds grain the people will will curse him but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it so that's interesting right I guess if people were hoarding you know we saw that during COVID right where people you know are desperate to get everything they can get and kind of hoard it and then some people are left without and you know the the Bible's pretty clear that sharing with our brothers and sisters especially in the church but also to show the love to fellow people of the world is something that we should consider versus our own just hoarding for me and my he who diligently seeks good seeks favor and may that be true may we all diligently seek good but he who seeks evil evil will come upon him and here we see it again we see it a lot in the Bible the boomerang of of ultimately evil and wickedness catches up to you he who trusts in his riches will fall but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf and again very clear even though Solomon had great wealth ultimately what's more important than wealth is living righteously being now in faith in Jesus and having him alter our our behavior so that we steadfastly live an honorable life he who troubles his own house won here it wind he who troubles his own house won here it wind and the foolish will be the servant to the wise-hearted listen to that he who troubles his own house you know and that can happen in our families and that can happen in our churches and you know people who create division and challenges in churches we have to be careful they're going to inherit the wind but the foolish will be servant to the wise hearted and ultimately fools will you know be lesser than and people who live wisely will be you know the fools will end up serving the one who lives wisely the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life but he who is wise wins souls what a great word especially in our day and age and in the you know church age here he who is wise wins souls we should be seeking to win people to Jesus Christ and letting him know that you know what you can be forgiven of your sin I just wish the good news was was told more you know that whatever you've done no matter what you've done the Lord Jesus Christ can forgive you of all of it through faith in him isn't that incredible hallelujah that through faith in Jesus the old is gone the new is come you can embrace a new life in his name you can have the forgiveness of sins the promise of eternal life and you can have the Holy Spirit be summoned to your side to aid you to counsel you in this journey of life and it is wise for us to try to win people to that good news hallelujah the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and you know may may our trees have healthy fruit upon it if the righteous will be if the righteous will be rewarded in the earth how much more the wicked in the center and there it is again we see it so often it's not always how I think we think in the church age because of the love of God and the fruit of the Spirit but yet it is biblical that at times the wicked deserves to get what they you know what they deserve for their wickedness and that the righteous will be rewarded on the earth and and that reveals you know that reveals the true behavior of mankind so you know what I don't want I don't want to wish poor things on the wicked you know what I wish I wish the wicked would come to Jesus and I wish they would do what's right and what's honorable and honor him and then receive the blessing of faith in him but if you're going to if a person's going to live wickedly you know sometimes what they need is justice in order to be able to discern and realize the their wicked behavior so that they can turn from it so sometimes the consequences of wicked behavior can be used by God to finally wake people up like the prodigal who left and then he came to his senses because everything turned out poorly he came to his senses and returned home and you know what if if you have or are or in the future experience hardship because of your own sinfulness you know may God use that for good to just turn us from our wicked ways and turn us towards our Lord and Savior who can forgive us restore us and make us new again hallelujah may these wise saints bless us in our journey of life God bless you all