WWUTT 1619 Do Not Boast About Tomorrow (Proverbs 27:1-27)

Over the course of the Proverbs that we're looking at today, we will see over and over again this call to be satisfied in what it is that God has given to us and to not be filled with jealousy for those things that we do not have when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Proverbs 27 as a Call to Contentment and Humility

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Proverbs and up to chapter 27 this week. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, this is the Word of the Lord in the book of Proverbs.

I'm going to go ahead and read through all 27 verses in the Legacy Standard Bible. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let a stranger praise you, and not your own mouth, a foreigner, and not your own lips.

A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them. Wrath is cruelty, and anger is a flood, but who can stand before jealousy? Better is reproof that is revealed than love that is hidden.

Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. A satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul any bitter thing is sweet. Like a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his place.

Oil and incense makes the heart glad, so counsel from the soul is sweet to his friend. Do not forsake your friend or your father's friend, and do not come to your brother's house in the day of your disaster.

Better is one who dwells near than a brother far away. Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad, that I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me. A prudent man sees evil and hides, the simple pass on and are punished.

Take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger, and for a foreign woman seize it as a pledge. He who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse to him.

A constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a contentious woman are alike. He who would restrain her restrains the wind and grasps oil with his right hand. Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

He who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who keeps watch for his master will be honored. As in water, face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects man. Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, so the eyes of man are never satisfied.

The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and each is tested by the mouth that praises him. Though you pound an ignorant fool and mortar with a pestle, in the midst of crushed grain his folly will not turn aside from him.

Know well the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds, for wealth is not forever, neither is a crown from generation to generation. When the grass disappears and the vegetation appears, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will be for your clothing and the goats will bring the price of a field.

And there will be enough goat's milk for your food, for the food of your household and sustenance for your maidens. We come back to a very familiar proverb here at the start of chapter 27. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth.

James references that one. In fact, the book of James is sometimes called the Proverbs of the New Testament because of how often you will see sayings like that. So we don't boast in tomorrow, but as he says to the foolish man there in the book of James, your life is a midst.

You do not know what tomorrow will bring. Instead, you should say, if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. And so we should not be so sure that we will have tomorrow or even our next breath, for it is by the grace of God that you are alive.

It's by the grace of God you even woke up from your sleep last night. So praise him with everything that you are and live for him with every moment you have been given. Verse two, let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth, a foreigner and not your own lips.

Makes sense, right? Do not boast in yourself. Kind of goes right along with what we had in verse one. But let somebody else praise you and then others will take notice. Of course, it's kind of inclined in all of us that we would sing our own praises.

So don't do that. Be humble. Go about your business. Do your work. Know that God is watching and you serve the Lord Christ. And if anybody is going to praise you for what it is that you do, let it be to them to do so.

Verse three, a stone is heavy and the sand weighty. But the provocation of an ignorant fool is heavier than both of them. What is provocation? Or when a fool provokes you. And then what do you feel from that?

I got to respond to this guy. Have you ever felt this way about arguing online? I can't go to bed yet because I have to point out to this person that they're wrong, right? It's the provocation of a fool.

It's that weight that is upon you. I have to show this person why they're wrong and it becomes heavier than carrying a stone or even great big bags of sand. But really what this proverb is saying is don't be provoked by those fools.

Again, serve the Lord Christ. Know that God is approving of you. If you are seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all that you need will be added to you as well. As it says in Matthew six going on to verse four, wrath is cruelty and anger is a flood.

But who can stand before jealousy? Now, those things are, you know, you got cruelty or wrath, destruction. You've got anger that comes in like a flood. Those things are certainly devastating, but they storm for a while and then they subside, then they're gone.

But jealousy, how do you overcome jealousy? How do you get rid of your jealousy? Oftentimes, it's not until you receive what it is that you want and then you're never even really satisfied. So find satisfaction in Christ.

Don't be jealous for those things that do not belong to you, that you have not been given, because otherwise it is to say to God, what you have given me is not enough. I need this other thing. It's even to have envy or hatred toward a brother or a sister in the Lord because they have something that you do not have.

If only that person was out of the way or they received this and they don't deserve it, it should belong to me. Again, you're saying unto God that what you have is not enough. What he has blessed you with is not good enough.

But be satisfied and rest in Jesus Christ. Do not be stirred to jealousy. Verse five, better is reproof that is revealed than love that is hidden. Better is better is it to be rebuked, to be called to righteousness, to be told that you're in sin and you need to repent of that.

It's better for somebody to say that to you than to love you, but not even show it. Right. Because it's really loving to rebuke a person and do so in a right way to call them to righteousness, call them to repentance.

That's a very loving thing to do, if all done rightly. But the person who says that he loves you and yet never shows it, never calls you to repentance or never even shows affection or affirmation for you.

There's no good in that. What good is that love? You don't even know that it's there. Verse six, faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. This goes right along with that.

So a a friend who wounds you, somebody who who might hurt your feelings, but does so for a good reason. This is what we called admonishing. It's to correct somebody with good intentions, with goodwill.

It's not to lord yourself over them or to show yourself as being more right than they are. But you truly want them to repent because, you know, hey, there's consequences for your actions. So you must turn from this back to the way that God has said for us to go.

And the friend that does that for you, even if it hurts to have to hear that, even if your feelings are hurt, your pride is wounded or whatever it might be, it's better for you. It's faithful. It is good.

But then an enemy comes along, kisses you, flatters you, tells you all the things that you want to hear, never corrects anything and lets you go your way to destruction. That person's not a friend, they are an enemy.

Let me read that again, because it's just such a good reminder. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Are you are you a friend to your friends who are doing wrong, or are you rather an enemy to them because you won't tell them that they're doing anything wrong?

Verse seven, a satisfied soul tramples the honeycomb, but to a hungry soul, any bitter thing is sweet. Remember, we talked a moment ago about being fully satisfied in Christ and all of this kind of keeping in that same context.

So a soul that is satisfied doesn't even need to eat honey. I am completely nourished. I have everything that I need. So honeycomb, leave it on the ground, step on it with your foot. But to a hungry soul, somebody who is not satisfied, somebody who is still clamoring for things because they just don't think what they have is enough.

God is not giving me enough yet. That hungry soul will eat even things that are bitter, that are not good for them, that are distasteful. They will go toward those things because they cannot be satisfied.

Verse eight, like a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his place. This is again talking about discontentment. A man knows his place. He knows his responsibilities. He knows the job that he has been called to do, but he doesn't want to do that anymore.

He's not satisfied with it. So he wanders off to do something else. Maybe he shirks his responsibilities. Maybe he even turns his back on his family in the process, like a bird that wanders from her nest and is not safe.

It's not a it's not a safe thing for a bird to wander too far from the nest because then that bird becomes subject to predators. So it would be the person who is wandering off on his own way instead of being satisfied in Christ.

Verse nine, oil and incense make the heart glad. So counsel from the soul is sweet to the friend. Again, this talking about just good wisdom, good counsel. See this continued thread that is carrying the same theme of being satisfied in Christ for all good things that he has given to us and being willing to receive counsel and rebuke.

We're satisfied with that because if it's good counsel, it comes from God. So we're thankful that it has been given to us, that we may walk in a way that is pleasing unto the Lord. Verse 10, do not forsake your friend or your father's friend and do not come to your brother's house in the day of your disaster.

Better is one who dwells near than a brother who is far away. And this is something that I can truly relate to because my closest family are the brothers and sisters in the Lord that I go to church with on a regular basis, even closer to me than my blood brothers and sisters.

So it's better to have a friend who is near than even a family member who is far away. Now, the statement there about do not come to your brother's house in the day of your disaster, that means you've never really been close to your family.

But then when things get tough, somehow you see the value of family now. So, hey, I'm going to go draw close to those that I know will help me out. Well, then you become a burden. Then they only know you as the person that comes around whenever you need help and not a person who truly cares or has affection for his family.

So draw near to those who are near, grow those relationships that you have in the Lord Christ for those family members, the brothers and sisters that you have in the Lord are always going to be far closer than a flesh and blood brother and sister, especially those who are unbelievers.

Verse eleven, be wise, my son, and make my heart glad that I may respond with a word to him who reproaches me. So here we have that reference to family being near, being close again. And a faithful son is close to his father who does what his father has taught him to do.

So when a person reproaches the father, he has no reason to feel to feel bad about the ridicule and the criticism that he receives from other people. He knows he's raised a good son who is carrying on a good name.

Verse twelve, a prudent man sees evil and hides the simple pass on and are punished. Now, remember, the prudent man is the guy who gives consideration for the future. So when he sees evil coming, he knows it's evil and he knows what the consequences of that evil is going to be.

So he runs and hides from it. He doesn't even go near to it. How do you avoid evil? Well, don't even go near it. But the simple pass on, they continue in the way of evil and they will suffer the consequences for that.

Verse 13, take his garment when he becomes a guarantor for a stranger and for a foreign woman, sees it as a pledge. In other words, if if somebody is going to make a deal with you, make sure that you have some sort of sign of commitment to that deal, not just a word of mouth sort of a thing, because that person could turn out to be a liar and then you've got nothing to show for it.

Now, when it comes to the relationship that we have with God, our sins being forgiven, the sign that that God has forgiven us of our sins is his son. The blood of his son, Jesus Christ, is being raised from the dead.

The faith that we have in Jesus Christ, all of these being signs that this transaction is solid. And so you'll find these references throughout the scriptures of being sealed in the Holy Spirit. Right.

Ephesians, chapter one, Romans, chapter eight. We have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, guaranteed for that day so that we have nothing to fear. Verse 14, he who blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it will be counted as a curse to him.

My dad did a morning radio show for over two decades. I want to say it was about 30 years or something like that. I think it was before I was born. And then he retired from that when I was in my 20s. But anyway, so this was his life verse.

This was his theme verse that he used as a morning radio show DJ, whoever blesses his friend with a loud voice early in the morning, it'll be counted as a curse to him. In other words, let your blessings be timely.

Don't let it be, you know, the most inopportune time, but let the blessing fit the occasion. Verse 15, a constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a contentious woman are alike. We've seen this about the nagging woman, the the arguing woman over the course of the book of Proverbs.

But just like a blessing needs to be timely and not disturbing somebody. So does a disagreement need to be within a marriage? If you're constantly disagreeable, ladies, if you're constantly nagging or constantly criticizing your husband, then even when you're right, it will not be taken well.

So those disagreements need to be timely and handled in a right way. Verse 16, he who would restrain her. Well, this goes with verse 15, but he who would restrain her restrains the wind and grasps oil with his right hand.

In other words, that woman who is headstrong and determined to be contentious. What can you do to stop her? Verse 17, iron sharpens iron. So one man sharpens another. We've just seen this continued theme through this particular chapter, giving good counsel and loving rebuke to those who need it.

Faithful Work, Watchfulness, and the Heart Revealed

Verse 18, he who guards the fig tree will eat its fruit and he who keeps watch for his master will be honored. He guards the fig tree from predators or animals coming and eating all the fruit off of the tree.

Then you're going to enjoy some of its fruit as well. He who keeps watch for his master will be honored. And and indeed, Jesus says multiple times throughout the Gospels, Matthew 24 being one of those places, keep watch.

And when the master of the house returns and finds you working as a faithful slave, you will be honored in the house of God. Verse 19, as in water face reflects face. So the heart of man reflects man.

And what have we seen in the book of Proverbs is the revealing of a person's heart. It's the words that come out of their mouth. So that which a person speaks comes from the heart. And what comes from the heart is a reflection of who the person is.

Verse 20, Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied. This is the grave and hell. So the eyes of man are never satisfied because man is wicked. He is wicked from the core of himself. You go back to the previous proverb.

The heart of man reflects man. The eyes of man are never satisfied. He looks with eyes that are being compelled by his heart. If that man is wicked, then what he is looking for will be wicked desires and he will never be satisfied.

He's always looking for more because he's not satisfied in Christ, as we've been reminded of over the course of this chapter. So verse 21, the refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and each is tested by the mouth that praises him.

You know, this really goes back to what we read in verse two. Let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth, a foreigner and not your own lips. So you will know the character of a man by what comes out of his mouth.

Does he praise others or does he praise himself? That's really the imagery that's being used there. The refining pot is for silver and the furnace is for gold and each tested by the mouth that praises him.

So does that man praise himself or is he praising others? Verse 22, though you pound an ignorant fool in a mortar with a pestle in the midst of crushed grain, his folly will not turn aside from him. A fool is always going to be a fool.

Try as you may even to grind him down and bring out of that person somebody new. The only way that fool can be changed is by the power of God. Call him to repentance, share the gospel with him. May God grant him repentance and lead him to a knowledge of the truth.

Daily Labor, Providence, and Spiritual Readiness

And now we conclude with this final section that all runs together, verses 23 through 27. Know well the condition of your flocks and pay attention to your herds, for wealth is not forever, neither is a crown from generation to generation.

So the attention here is work on the day to day. See the job that you have to do today. If you find yourself with a lot of wealth, don't think, well, now I don't have to work anymore. I can just rest in this wealth.

Well, wealth doesn't last forever. So consider the job that you have to do today and do that. Verse 25, when the grass disappears and the vegetation appears and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in, the lambs will be for your clothing and the goats will bring the price of a field.

So as the seasons change, you have been laboring day after day with the herds and what you're going to get from those flocks will be able to provide for you in those days of the changing seasons. You will not have to worry about what's going to happen to you in winter.

You had been working when the season was good on these flocks that have turned out abundant. Verse 27, and there will be enough goat's milk for your food, for the food of your household and sustenance for your maidens.

So now apply this spiritually day after day. My friends, my brothers and sisters, be for Christ, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, as Paul says in Philippians 2, 12, continue in these things, labor in them day after day, never let go of the good news of the gospel that has been given to you, but continue to grow in godliness and Christ likeness, put to death in you earthly things every single day.

Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Let your eyes be for Christ and his kingdom and be working for that being found worthy, a worthy son or daughter of God and everything that you do day after day.

And then when the season comes, either when trials come your way or the day comes that you die and go be with the Lord, you are ready and you are richly provided for because every day you have been growing in the spirit of Christ.

And as the scriptures tell us, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the words that we have been given today. And may we labor in this day after day. We desire to know Christ more today.

We desire to be more godly today than we were yesterday, being shaped in the image of him who has saved us and called us to a holy calling. So guide our steps in holiness today. Let us not be discouraged no matter what the world might say to us.

For we know that if we are laboring as faithful sons and daughters of God in Christ, then we are already hearing from our father. Well done, good and faithful servant. Until that day that we hear him say, now great is your reward.

We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

This has been when we understand the text of Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

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