(Proverbs) ch.20:6 - 21:8 — Zac Poonen

Proverbs 20:6 and the Rarity of Trustworthiness

Chapter 20, we look at verse 6, Proverbs chapter 20 verse 6, it says, Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man? And that is not something that we necessarily do to others, in the sense that it would be very crude if we went around telling other people what faithful brothers we were.

I don't think anyone is so stupid as to lose his reputation for humility by saying such things, but it's mostly to ourselves. It's to ourselves that we proclaim that we are faithful brothers or we are faithful sisters.

We are true and really faithful. And it's generally speaking true that most believers have a higher opinion about their own faithfulness than is actually the case. And this is, I believe, one of the biggest hindrances to spiritual growth when we don't have a sober estimate about our own spiritual condition.

Most men will proclaim their own faithfulness, but who can find a trustworthy man who is really honest before God and who is faithful in secret and who seeks to judge himself and see himself clearly in God's light?

It says, Who can find one? That is rare. And the very fact that the Holy Spirit through the word of God says, Who can find a trustworthy man, shows that it's not easy to find someone who has really got a sober and sensible estimate of his own spiritual condition.

And that should be our desire, brothers and sisters, to be among those few who are really, whom God can say, are really trustworthy, who have got a sober, sensible opinion about their own spiritual condition.

The same opinion as God's. That should be our longing, to see ourselves as God sees us. And verse 7, I want to read this from the Good News Bible. Children are fortunate if they have a father who is honest and does what is right.

Honesty as the Foundation of Spirituality

The Book of Proverbs and a lot of the New Testament places a great value on being honest. And it's really the first step towards spirituality, to be honest about our true condition. And of course, honest in all areas of life.

Righteousness blesses our children. And the word of God says that your children are really blessed if you are an honest father. Not if you're a clever one, or a rich one, or one who's got a big job, or can give them many things.

But if you're honest and you do what is right, and that your children can see in you as they grow up, that you always do what is right according to your conscience. Our blessed children are who have such a father.

Verse 8, the king, let me read that in the Living Bible, chapter 20 and verse 8. A king sitting as judge, weighs all the evidence carefully, distinguishing the true from the false. We can see that as a responsibility that we have wherever we have, in any area that we have responsibility.

We can begin as parents in the home, and it speaks here of the necessity of having discernment. A father is a king in his home. And often he has to sit as a judge in situations, and the great necessity of being able to discern the true from the false.

And that applies even in our work situations too. Wherever God gives us responsibility, and in a church too, the great need is to be able to discern as to what is true, and what is false. A king sitting as judge, weighs all the evidence carefully, and distinguishes the true from the false.

Cleansing the Heart in the New Covenant

Verse 9, who can say, I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin. In the Old Testament, where the book of Proverbs is found, no one could say that. No one could say, I have cleansed my heart. In the Old Testament, you don't see the distinction between the heart, and the flesh.

The Holy Spirit had not come, and they did not have light in this area at all. But it's quite foolish, for someone who is living in the New Covenant age, to go back to Proverbs chapter 20 verse 9, and to say, who can say, I have cleansed my heart.

Because it is the will of God today, that we have a clean heart. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. And that we have a heart which is sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, as it says in Hebrews chapter 10, cleansed by the blood of Christ, so that there is nothing that defiles our heart.

That's important, that we see that distinction, even though in our flesh, there dwells no good thing, that we can keep our heart clean, and our heart pure from all sin. Verse 10, differing weights, and differing measures, both of them are abominable to the Lord.

Honest Business and Fair Pay

That refers to any type of cheating, in buying and selling. It's interesting to see how many times in the book of Proverbs, it speaks about being unrighteous in buying and selling. And there's a lot of it in the world.

And we have to be very careful, that as believers, we never are involved in any type of unrighteousness in this area, of differing weights and differing measures. We don't do business like that, but what it means is that we are to give a person, if you're a businessman, selling something in a shop, that if someone is buying one kilo, you give him one kilo.

Now we are not selling things in a shop, but it speaks in James chapter 5 about giving what is due to those who have worked for us. It says in verse 4 of James 5, the pay of those who have mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you.

And the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabeon. And that teaches us that it's possible for even believers not to be righteous in paying what is due to those who have worked for them.

Because that's a very common thing in the world, where people try to get work out of people, and pay the minimum possible. But God is a righteous judge, who sees whether we take advantage of the poor, who work for us.

And if we do that, it says in James 5 verse 4, their cry of our unrighteousness against them reaches the ears of the Lord with whom there is no partiality. So we have to be very careful, like the businessman has to give one kilo to that person who is buying one kilo, we have to be careful that we give what is due to those who work for us.

And it's better to err on the side of giving a little more rather than a little less, when we think of the seriousness of our accountability in the day of judgment in this matter. Verse 11, the character, this is from the Living Bible, of even a child can be known by the way he acts, whether what he does is pure and right.

And that's basically what Jesus said in Matthew 7, 16, that by their fruits you shall know them. That even of a child's character is known by the way he behaves. By their fruits you shall know them, right from childhood onwards.

Using Our Senses for God's Glory

Verse 12, the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made both of them. Or as the Living Bible says, if you have good eyesight and good hearing, thank God who gave them to you. Because there are many people in the world who do not have good eyesight and who do not have good hearing, that which we can take for granted.

It says thank God who gave them to you and of course the implication is, use that eyesight which God gives you for his glory and use that hearing ability which God gives you for his glory. When we are tempted with our eyes particularly, it's good to ask ourselves, supposing God had struck me blind, like there are many blind people in the world, how would it be?

But he hasn't done that. He has given me eyesight, not for me to lust, but for me to use for his glory. If God has given you good eyesight, remember it's God's gift. He's given you good hearing. Thank God who gave them to you.

Don't take that for granted. Thank God for it and remember that he gave it to you that you might use it. Use them both for his glory alone, for no other purpose. Verse 13 reads like this in the living Bible, if you love sleep, you will end in poverty.

Diligence in Work and Spiritual Growth

Stay awake, work hard and there will be plenty to eat. This is one of the many exhortations in the book of Proverbs towards diligence and hard work, emphasized so many times in the book of Proverbs. It teaches that God has no place for lazy people in his kingdom, either in earthly matters or in spiritual things.

There is no place for laziness. Spirituality does not come if a man is not willing to work at it. Just like in the earthly realm, a farmer cannot have a crop if he does not work hard, even so spiritually.

You remember what Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy chapter 2, he says 2nd Timothy chapter 2 and verse 6, the hard-working farmer has to be the first to receive his share of the crops. Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

That is only righteous, that a hard-working farmer gets the first share of the crops. And spiritually too, there is a spiritual lesson, he is not telling Timothy how to farm a field, he is talking about spiritually, if we work hard in this matter of sowing, then that person will receive the first share of the crops.

The one who is really serious about ploughing up his fallow ground and sowing righteousness. So this exhortation in Proverbs is one of the many about diligence and shows the great importance of this in our spiritual life.

Truthfulness in Bargaining and Everyday Speech

Verse 14 is a verse that speaks about the deceit that there can be in our speech. It's a very common technique employed by people when they want to make a bargain with people, with shopkeepers or vendors.

The buyer says, it's bad, it's bad, it's useless, it's good for nothing. And thereby he beats the person down to a lower price. And then when he's got it for that low price, he goes back home and says, see what a bargain I got for this wonderful thing.

There was a deception there. Now that's alright for worldly people to engage in that type of deception. It's not teaching us there that we shouldn't bargain. It's not teaching there that we should give any price that people ask.

By all means, get the price down. But all it's saying there is, don't tell a lie in order to do that. Don't tell a lie saying it's useless, when you know very well it's not useless. And just because you want him to bring the price down, you say it's bad, or you can get a better thing somewhere else, when you know very well you can't.

It's not worth it. And there we can find how believers can be so careless in their speech, in little things. Their motive may be good in trying to get a person to come to a reasonable price for an article, but the method they adopt is sinful in saying something which is not really true.

And when the Bible says that we are to love the truth, it means that we are to love the truth in all areas, particularly in our speech, to cleanse ourselves from all lying, even in this area of buying and selling.

The Value of Wisdom and Meekness

Verse 15, there is gold and an abundance of jewels, but the lips of knowledge are more precious thing. Now that's very similar to what we read in 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 3 and 4 about the woman who is not to adorn herself with gold or ornaments or fancy clothes, but with a meek and a quiet spirit, which is of great value in God's eyes.

And that meek and quiet spirit is far more valuable than gold. Or as the Good News Bible says, if you know what you're talking about, you have something more valuable than gold or jewels. In other words, when we speak, if we are speaking from that which we have lived and experienced, then that is far more precious than gold or jewels.

It's really referring to wisdom. Verse 16, let me read that in the Good News Bible, anyone who is stupid enough to promise to be responsible for a stranger's debts, ought to have his own property held to guarantee payments.

And that's again one of the many exhortations found in the book of Proverbs against standing as a guarantee for someone who is unknown. It speaks there about a stranger, someone with whom you haven't yet come into a relationship.

I believe it is right to stand for those with whom we have come to a committed relationship in the body of Christ. And when I say that, I don't mean everybody who sits in the same assembly, because many can sit in an assembly and yet you may not have come into a relationship of committal to one another.

It's one thing to have confidence in a person, and it's another thing to have fellowship with a person. We have fellowship with all brothers, but we don't necessarily have confidence in all brothers, because some of them are not yet very stable.

We've got nothing against them, but they're not very steady. And so, we're to be careful that we don't, in the guise of a false love, stand guarantee for someone with whom we have not yet come to the place of confidence.

And that's basically how we are to apply it in our day, that it's a stupid thing to promise to pay somebody else's debts, when the Word of God tells us ourselves that we are not to be in debt. Oh no man, anything.

Here's somebody else who wants to borrow something, and he comes to you to stand as a guarantee for him, and out of a false understanding of love you do that. Word of God says, if you're so stupid, you deserve to have your property taken away from you.

The Consequences of Dishonest Gain

Verse 17, in the Good News Bible, it reads like this, what you get by dishonesty, you may enjoy like the finest food, but sooner or later, it'll be like a mouthful of sand. You know how it is to have a mouthful of sand.

It's not at all a good feeling to have. And yet, that is the result, it says here, of that which we acquire by dishonesty. In the beginning, what you gain by cheating, or dishonesty, or cheating the government, or any other thing, you can enjoy like the finest food for a while, but afterwards, it becomes like gravel in your mouth.

Verse 18, prepare plans by consultation, and make war by wise guidance. Or as the Good News Bible says, get good advice and you will succeed, and don't go charging into battle without a plan. What it basically means is that we should seek for advice in our life from those who have more experience, and maturity, and wisdom, and that will protect us from many follies.

If only those who are younger in age and experience would take some of these exhortations seriously, it would save them from a tremendous amount of folly. There are many young people who make absolute fools of themselves in many things that they do, because they do not seek for correction or advice from those who have a little more maturity and wisdom than themselves.

And then of course, the sad thing is that they can do so many foolish things that people gradually begin to lose confidence in them altogether, when they need not have become like that. If only they had been a little humble and sought for advice.

Prepare plans by consultation. It's good to consult and take advice before we take a step forward, particularly in marriage matters and things like this. There is such a lot of folly in boy-girl relationships.

Perhaps I've seen the maximum amount of folly among young people more than in any other area, just because they won't take advice. Because they think they know everything, and then they make fools of themselves, and everybody loses confidence in them.

And we could speak of many other areas, even in the church. So it's good to seek for advice. It's good to humble ourselves and acknowledge that we lack wisdom in so many areas. And then we can look at verse 19.

Guarding Confidentiality and Avoiding Gossip

It says in the Good News Bible, a gossip can never keep a secret. So stay away from people who talk too much. That's a very good exhortation. If you find a person who is always talking and who talks too much, it's good not to keep company with such a person.

Because he will only defile you. He can never be a help to you, he or she. No, it says stay away from people who talk too much. Because when they talk so much, they also sin. In the multitude of words, it's impossible to avoid sin.

Seek fellowship with those who don't talk so much. Those are the people who have more wisdom. A fool's voice is known by his much speaking. And in the Living Bible, it reads like this. Verse 19. Don't tell your secrets to a gossip unless you want them broadcast to the world.

See, this is an area we have to be very careful about. Because I have found through the years that in spite of all the exhortations we have about gossiping and backbiting, there are very few who take it so seriously as to eliminate it completely from their lives.

Most people don't take it seriously enough that they have to give an account to God in the final day about every idle word they speak. And therefore we have to be particularly careful when we find someone is not taking this matter too seriously, that we don't share things with such people.

Because many, many people do not know how to keep a secret, how to keep something confidential. There are very few people, I believe, even in the church, who know how to keep something entirely to themselves.

Very, very few. And so we are not to be foolish in sharing our problems or difficulties or anything with people who do not know how to keep things to themselves. Don't share something that's in your heart to anybody and everybody, not even in the church.

Honoring Parents and Covering Their Weaknesses

Because most of them don't have a sense of understanding in this area. Verse 20, it says, He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp will go out in time of darkness. In time of darkness means in his time of need, there will not be a light to light his way if he curses his father or his mother.

Now that can be even behind their back, like Ham, the son of Noah, we read in Genesis 9, he went and spoke something bad about his father to his brothers. And there was a curse that came not only on him, but on his children.

Because God took that very seriously. That was a part of the spirit of rebellion. And that teaches us that it's a very dangerous thing, even if you see some weakness in your father or mother, to speak about it behind their back.

We always need to have the sheet to cover it. If we have seen it, cover it. Never mind. And we can say equally, do not speak about the faults that you see in your father-in-law or your mother-in-law, because that is your wife's parents or your husband's parents.

And there people can be less careful, who are very careful when it comes to their own parents. And there, we can see that God tests each person's faithfulness. It's in so many, many, many little things that God sees whether a man is faithful.

Like we read in verse 6, everybody is ready to think that he's very faithful. But when God examines according to little, little, little, little, little things listed in the book of Proverbs, he finds that a very few who are really trustworthy, who are really faithful before his face in secret in all these things.

But the world's full of believers who think that they are very faithful brothers and sisters, who are very wholehearted and zealous and all that, deceiving themselves. No, we are to take all these little things carefully and live before God's face, because we have to go out finally give an answer to him.

And like it says here, if we do that, in our time of need, we'll find that there is no light along our path. His lamp will go out in time of darkness, like the foolish virgins who found that when the darkness came, their lamps went out.

Verse 21, it says in the Good News Bible, the more easily you get your wealth, the less good it will do you. Don't envy a man who has earned a fantastic inheritance. That's not necessarily the best way to get money.

But the Word of God places much more emphasis on working and earning it oneself. And it says, another possible translation of this can be like this, as in the Living Bible, you can perhaps make a fortune from cheating, but there is a curse that goes along with it.

This is another one of those subjects that comes again and again in the Book of Proverbs. Don't make a fortune through dishonesty or through cheating. It's not worth it. You'll find there's a curse that comes along with it, a curse that can come down to your family that inherits that cheated, dishonest money.

Verse 22, don't say, I will repay evil. Wait for the Lord, and He will save you. In other words, we're not to take vengeance on anyone. Let the Lord handle the matter. As it says in the Living Bible, don't repay evil for evil, but let the Lord handle the matter.

One of the clearest examples of this in the Old Testament is David. King Saul was after his life, and yet he would never try to take Saul's life in return, even when Saul was at his mercy. And God handled the matter.

God took care of Saul and dealt with him in his own time and put David on the throne. We need to see, dear brothers and sisters, that there is a great lust in our flesh to take revenge. And if you say it is not in you, it only shows you haven't yet seen what dwells in your flesh.

But there is a fantastic lust, and we think it is to take revenge only on those we hate. No, very often we can take revenge on loved ones. A husband can take revenge on his wife, not by killing her, not in crude ways like that, but in very subtle ways in the home.

A father or mother can take revenge on the children for inconveniencing them in some way. There are many ways where we can try to repay evil with evil. And we need to cleanse out all this vengeful nature that dwells in the flesh and that's constantly seeking to come into our heart.

A little delight when something bad happens to someone who has not treated you well. What is that? That is the manifestation of that same vengeful spirit. When David heard that Saul had died, that was something bad that had happened to Saul, he had died.

And David didn't even inwardly rejoice at it. You see that in 2 Samuel 1, there was such a clean spirit in him, that old covenant man who never knew anything about judging himself for the new and living way.

I say what a fantastically clean spirit he had there in relation to Saul, that he never coveted the throne and he wasn't happy when something bad happened to one who had treated him so badly all through his life.

And I say, I'm not surprised that God called David a man after my own heart. It's easy brothers and sisters to think we are in the new covenant and greater. We need to see how much more God is going to require from us in this area to cleanse ourselves from anything in this area at all.

Measuring Others by the Same Standard

Don't take it on yourself ever to repay a wrong. Trust in the Lord and he will make it alright. Verse 23, differing weights are an abomination to the Lord and a false scale is not good. We considered this before.

Again one of those things repeated again and again in the book of Proverbs. I want to apply this also in a spiritual way. Jesus said that in the same measure that you measure to others, you will be judged yourself.

And you know how it is with us. We, all of us by nature, have a tendency to judge others more severely than we judge ourselves. When we do something wrong, we can tend to take it lightly. But when someone else has done that same mistake, we can be so severe in our judgment on that other person for that which we would treat ourselves quite leniently on.

What is that? That is a different measure, like it says in this verse. A different measure by which I judge that person and a different measure by which I judge myself. That's an abomination to the Lord.

If at all we make a mistake here, it should be that we judge ourselves more severely and others more lightly. That will help us in the day of judgment because it says in the same measure that we have judged others, God will determine how to judge us in the final day.

God's Guidance and the Good He Works Through Trials

Verse 24. Man's steps are ordained by the Lord. How then can a man understand his way? Or as the Living Bible says, since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?

We can't understand everything that happens along the way like it says in Romans 8 26. We do not know what to pray for or how to pray as we should. But we do know, verse 28, that God works everything for good to those who love him.

There are many things of God's dealings with us which we cannot understand. We cannot understand, so we don't have to understand. All we have to do is humble ourselves under God's mighty hand. Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything that happens along the way?

It's enough to know that God is working it all out for good. Verse 25. The Living Bible reads like this. It's foolish and rash to make a promise to the Lord before counting the cost. That's another tendency man has in some moment of trial or pressure or crisis to say, God, I'll do this.

I'll do this for you or I'll give this to you. And then when that crisis is over, we take it lightly what we have said. No, it says it's foolish and rash to make a promise like that before counting the cost.

Jesus said, sit down. That's a good word he used. Don't make a decision while you're standing. Sit down. Relax. Think about it. Count the cost and then decide whether you want to do that, whether you want to commit yourself, whether you want to give all of that to the Lord.

And those who take their decisions in this way, you find that there's much more steadiness and stability in their spiritual life and growth and progress because they have really thought through what does it mean to be a disciple.

And I think of all those things and I say, Lord, I have sat down, I've counted the cost and I want to be a disciple. But there are many who don't sit down and count the cost. They just get excited in the meeting and say, oh yes, I am decided to follow the Lord.

And you find they're always taking decisions, always. And then year after year after year, you never see much progress in their spiritual life because they haven't really sat down before God and counted the cost of what does it mean to be a disciple.

I want to encourage every one of us to take that command of Jesus seriously. Sit down. Think before the Lord of all that it means to be a disciple and then decide whether you want to be one or not. All this light foolish saying, yes, I want to do this and I want to do that, can be mere empty words, which doesn't impress the Lord and actually is harmful for our life.

Punishment, Conscience, and Spiritual Sensitivity

West 26, the Living Bible says, a wise king stamps out crime by severe punishment. That of course refers to God, who is the wise king, who is going to stamp out all sin in the world by that lake of fire that he has prepared for the wicked.

And that is perfectly righteous of God. It's part of his wisdom, it says here. A wise king, it's part of his wisdom, that he eradicates crime by severe punishment. You know, there is a movement spreading all over the world gradually to eradicate capital punishment.

That means we shouldn't hang murderers anymore. Many countries, they don't do that anymore. Someone can murder someone, kill someone and they don't hang them anymore. And the result is because there is not severe punishment, you know, this human idea of love and goodness, crime increases.

But in those countries where punishment is very severe and strict, you find crime is less. So don't, we shouldn't have any false ideas of love, even with our own children. Strict punishment is the way by which we can eliminate a lot of evil from their lives.

Verse 27, the spirit of man or the man's conscience, it says in the Living Bible, is the Lord's searchlight exposing his hidden motives. God has given each of us a conscience and that conscience is like a searchlight.

And you know, you shine the searchlight into the corner under the bed and you see something there which you didn't see when you looked in the corner without the searchlight. And so it says here that man's conscience is like a searchlight, God's searchlight that exposes our hidden motives.

And it's good for us to be very, to keep that searchlight burning, to keep that battery charged, to keep that searchlight always alive and alert so that it can help us to cleanse ourselves. It is the Lord's searchlight exposing our hidden motives.

And this is why because we have a conscience, it is very easy for us to judge ourselves if we want to, because that conscience tells us about our entire conscious area. You don't have to worry about the unconscious area, God doesn't ask us that.

But this conscious area, our conscience will tell us clearly, that is wrong. Never mind if you see some other brother do it, that is wrong for you, or you are doing that with a wrong motive. And if I can listen to that voice of conscience every time, then I can cleanse myself and I can keep the Lord's searchlight in me burning brightly.

I believe this is one of the great secrets of spiritual progress in our lives, to keep that searchlight always bright, brightly burning. Don't let it dim. When you find, for example, that you are no longer convicted today about things that you were disturbed about for five years ago, that means the power of this searchlight has become dimmer.

That means once upon a time that bothered you, but it doesn't bother you now. That's an indication something's wrong. The power has become dim, that you can do something today which didn't bother you, which bothered you once upon a time.

That can happen if we, it's the beginning of backsliding, when we lose that sensitivity in our conscience. Now we can turn to verse 28, loyalty and truth preserve the king and he upholds his throne by righteousness.

Righteous Leadership in the Home

We can think again of our position as kings in our home and in other places where God gives us responsibility. It says that we uphold our throne by righteousness and by truth. And I can think of one aspect of this, there could be many others, and that is keeping our promises to our children.

That's a very important thing I find that we have to be careful to cleanse ourselves in. That if we have promised something to our children, that we keep our word. We uphold our throne in our home as fathers, as king of the home, by righteousness.

If you have promised to do something for your child, then to do it. If of course the conditions are fulfilled. If you have promised to punish your child, if the child does something, then you have to keep that promise and punish the child when the child does that thing, not just ignore it.

To keep our word, to uphold our throne by righteousness as fathers. Verse 29, it says the glory of young men is their strength or their zeal and the honor of old men is their gray hair or wisdom. Gray hair refers to wisdom and the intention is that as we grow older, we should become wiser.

Of course it's easy to get gray hair on the head, you just grow old and the gray hair comes automatically even if you're wise or not. But the intention is that as the gray hairs come, that wisdom also is found in our life and that we know cannot come overnight.

And that is why it is important to work on our salvation right from youth, so that we don't end up as fools even when we have got gray hair. What are the examples of folly? So many in the book of Proverbs.

A man who is old and still doesn't know how to control his tongue, still speaks much like he did when he was young. A fool's voice is known in the multitude of his words. Or a person who still loses his temper Anger dwells in the bosom of fools.

He's got gray hairs on his head, but he still gets upset and irritated and loses his temper. There is a man who has not become wise yet. No, these are things that we are to grow out of, so that by the time gray hairs begin to be found on our head, that the marks of wisdom are also there.

And that's why it's important right from the time we are young to really pursue after wisdom, because it takes a lifetime to acquire it. And we have to take it seriously, otherwise we'll never make progress in it.

And of course, with young men it is their zeal. And sometimes young men can think in their strength, that strength is the great thing, and can despise those who are perhaps not so strong, but who are wise.

The word of God says wisdom is better than strength. But both are needed, both young men and old people are needed in the church. You read in 1 John chapter 2 verse 13 and 14, John writes to the children, to the young men who are strong, and to the fathers who know God and His ways.

So there is a need for all in the church, for young men with their zeal, even if they don't have much wisdom, and for older people in the church who have wisdom. And by older people, I don't mean old in age.