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Reading Proverbs 19:15-29 with a series of wise sayings discouraging laziness, encouraging discipline, and standing on the counsel of God. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
The wisdom of man leads to a lot of different places. Laziness, destruction, more sin, more wickedness, and there are consequences for these actions. But if we follow in the way of Christ, we have everlasting life 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. Thank you, Becky.
We come back to our study of the book of Proverbs. Chapter 19, still have to finish up this chapter. So I'm gonna start in verse 15. We'll read through verse 29 out of the Legacy Standard Bible. This is the word of the Lord in the book of Proverbs.
Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and a slack-handed soul will suffer hunger. He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who despises his way will die. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to Yahweh, and he will repay him for his bountiful deed.
Discipline your son while there is hope, and do not direct your soul to put him to death. A man of great wrath will bear the penalty, but if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to counsel and receive discipline, that you may be wise in the end of your days.
Many thoughts are in a man's heart, but it is the counsel of Yahweh that will stand. What is desirable in a man is his loving kindness, and better is a poor man than a man of falsehood. The fear of Yahweh leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, not visited by evil.
The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, but will not even bring it back to his mouth. Strike a scoffer, and the simple may become prudent, but reprove one who has understanding, and he will understand knowledge.
He who assaults his father and causes his mother to flee is a son who brings shame and humiliation. Cease listening, my son, to discipline, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. A vile witness scoffs at justice, and the mouth of the wicked swallows up iniquity.
Judgments are established for scoffers, and beatings for the back of fools. We see over and over in this particular section of Proverbs, a calling back to the wisdom of Yahweh. It is the knowledge of God that leads to life, but foolishness leads to laziness, leads to consequences, and ultimately even death.
We read in verse 15, laziness cast into a deep sleep, and a slack-handed soul will suffer hunger. There's a few Proverbs in here that make references to laziness. Being cast into a deep sleep just basically means you got a guy who's so lazy, he sleeps for a really long time and it's really hard, really difficult to get him out of bed.
I just read something recently on why it's so easy to go to bed, but so hard to wake up. This has absolutely nothing to do with this proverb. I just, I just remember reading that article recently and going, oh, okay, so it's not my problem.
It really is easier to lay down and go to sleep and a lot more difficult to get up out of bed in the morning. It's science, folks. It doesn't mean you're lazy, but yeah. So a lazy man just sleeps for a long time, will sleep most of the day away.
A slack-handed soul will suffer hunger. He doesn't do his work. It is the work that produces food or earns a wage so that you may buy your food. But if the man is lazy with his hands, then he just goes hungry.
Now, the practical application in that sense may be pretty clear. You got to work to eat. If you don't work, well, you don't have any money to eat anything and you're going to starve. But there's a spiritual application to this as well.
When it comes to growing in holiness and righteousness and pursuing godliness and Christ-likeness, that takes work. It takes effort. Sanctification does not just happen on its own. You've got to put some effort into it.
And so if you become lazy, even in your spiritual growth, whether that's reading the Bible, loving one another, attending church, learning about God, prayer, some of these kinds of things, if you're lazy in that, you won't grow in it.
And what's the result? Well, it casts you into a deep sleep. Paul says to the Thessalonians not to slumber but to be awake and be sober. He says the same to the Ephesians as well. So equating sleep with a spiritual laziness and even becoming worldly at that point because you don't grow in Christ-likeness, so you begin to look like the rest of the world.
A slack-handed soul suffers hunger. We starve to death spiritually even because we don't feed ourselves with the word of Christ. Jesus said in John 6 to feed on his flesh and on his blood. And whoever does not eat of his flesh and drink of his blood will not enter the kingdom of God.
He wasn't encouraging us to become cannibals, nor was this some kind of doctrine regarding transubstantiation, which is what the Catholics teach, that the bread literally becomes the body of Christ and the cup literally becomes his blood.
But rather we need to be filled with Christ, with everything that he is, we should devote ourselves fully unto. And if we do not, if we become lazy in our spiritual growth, we suffer hunger and we'll starve to death, even unto judgment.
Verse 16, he who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who despises his way will die. Keeping the commandment is something we must do as Christians. Jesus said to his own disciples in John 14, 15, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments.
And John would later say in his first epistle that we show we are of God when we keep his commandments. Whoever keeps the commands of God keeps his soul. He who despises his way. Now, the way that I have that written in the legacy standard Bible here, both of those pronouns are under case H, but he who despises his way will die.
It doesn't seem to mean he who despises God's way will die, but he who despises his own way. He doesn't pay mind to his own steps or the direction that he is going. So if he's not even considerate of his own direction, then he's going to perish.
That will be the direction that he ends up is in death. Verse 17, he who is gracious to a poor man lends to Yahweh and he will repay him for his bountiful deed. Now here, the first he in that second part of verse 17 is a capital H.
So it is saying God will repay him for his bountiful deed. The person who is gracious to a poor man lends to Yahweh. You know, this probably brings to your attention the words of Jesus in Matthew 25. Whatever you do to the least of these brothers of mine, you do also unto me.
So as we care for one another, even caring for the poor in God's house, it is as if we have served Christ himself. And the one who does not love his brother or shows affection to the body of Christ will perish.
But if we show love to Jesus' own disciples as we are a disciple and we love one another, then what do we receive for that? God will repay him for his bountiful deed. Indeed, we have an eternal inheritance in heaven for those who are obedient to the Lord Christ.
Verse 18, discipline your son while there is hope and do not direct your soul to put him to death. Discipline your son while there is hope. So there is a good time in a son's life for you to discipline him.
And whenever, especially in Proverbs, we read about discipline, it's more often than not talking about the rod. When it's talking about a father disciplining his son, spanking is the order that's mentioned here.
Corporal punishment. So you spank using a paddle or a rod or switch or something like that on the backside. You afflict pain to your child that they may know there are consequences for their actions. Now, it's easier to guide them in this way when they are younger, but eventually a son, a daughter gets to a certain age where that kind of punishment will not have that kind of effect anymore, right?
I actually remember the last time my mother spanked me. I was in middle school. It's gonna be kind of funny, but it was on my way out the door for school in the morning and I was teasing my younger siblings.
My mom was getting fed up with my behavior and she actually grabbed the paddle, which was hanging in the door jam by the back door. She grabbed it and spanked me and I looked at her and I went, really?
That was the last time my mom spanked me, but I got it good from my dad later that day. And then it still wasn't too much longer after that. My dad couldn't spank me anymore either. So you've got some certain years that you can train your children in this way before the discipline doesn't take anymore or before they actually come of an age where they think there really isn't that big of a deal between right and wrong.
There really aren't that many consequences for doing bad actions because I never got consequences when I was younger. So you discipline your son while there is hope for him to go the right way instead of the wrong way.
Do not direct your soul to put him to death. What would that mean? Well, this actually ties into kind of the motif of laziness we've seen in a few of these proverbs. Directing your soul to put him to death means that you become lazy in your discipline.
You don't actually discipline your son when there is the opportunity for you to do that. And so because you have not disciplined your child, he continues in his rebellious way unto judgment. Your soul has put him to death.
Now, as I read about these things, if you're hearing this and you're thinking to yourself, I have failed my child and I have not disciplined him or her in a proper way. Well, as long as they are living under your roof, you can still be disciplining your child and leading them in a direction of right and wrong.
You may need to apologize to your child if they're of a certain age, if they're old enough, and you've not been disciplining them in a right way. Maybe apologize to your son or daughter and say, I should have been disciplining you and I have not been.
And I'm sorry that I have not been diligent to teach you that there are consequences for your actions. And now use this day to begin that disciplinary process. Maybe spanking isn't the way to go, but you can certainly teach them that there are consequences for wrong choices.
Maybe you have children that have grown up and are out of the home and you see them making poor decisions because you did not discipline them in a right way. Call them and tell them, I should have disciplined you.
I should have shown my love for you in this way and I did not. And appeal to them that they may repent and come to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. For as we read in the scriptures in Hebrews 12, borrowing from Proverbs, in fact, it says that the Lord disciplines those he loves.
So even though we may not have been disciplined by a parent when we were younger, God will discipline us to show us the right way that we are to go, to grow us in righteousness, that we may be more like Christ until the day of his coming.
We continue on here to verse 17. He who is gracious to a poor man lends to Yahweh. Your thoughts may go to Matthew 25, right? Where Jesus says, that which you have done to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done also unto me.
And John even says in 1 John, that if anyone has the world's goods and does not help his brother who is in need, then how can God's love abide in him? Let us not love in word only, but also in deed and in truth.
So if God's love is in us, then we will show love and affection, especially for his own, to our brothers and sisters who are in the Lord, whom Jesus says are his brothers and sisters also. And then what will be the result of this?
What will be the consequence? For doing these things unto Yahweh, he, God, will repay him for his bountiful deed. If we have been generous here in this life and especially loving brothers and sisters in the faith, God will reward us in the end.
Great is your reward in heaven. We go on to verse 20, listen to counsel and receive discipline. All right, we go back to a call to discipline again, that you may be wise in the end of your days. So as we receive discipline and we respond to that discipline turning from the wrong way and going the right way, the more we do this, as we go through life, we gain knowledge and wisdom through this experience.
It's knowledge and wisdom that disciplines us and grows us all the more in knowledge and wisdom. And what do we receive at the end of our days? You may be wise in the end of your days. Now, the end of your days is gonna be as you're passing from this life into the next.
So what is the wisdom that you have as your body dies and your soul is going to be with the Lord? It is the wisdom that you have of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose again from the grave so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.
And so you are wise to this when you die, that you may be in glory forever with God at the end of your days. Verse 21, many thoughts are in a man's heart, but it is the counsel of Yahweh that will stand.
We can think many, many things. We can decide to go many ways. We have many choices that are in front of us. Sometimes it's as easy as picking this way or that way, like a coin flip, heads or tails, but then there are other decisions that will be a lot more complex and a lot more complicated.
There are many thoughts that are in a man's heart. There are many philosophical directions that we could go. There are many political decisions that we could choose. There are many courses that we could direct ourselves in, in life, but it is the counsel of Yahweh that stands.
As we've read previously in Proverbs, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Here, there are many thoughts in a man's heart, but it's the counsel of Yahweh that stands.
All other pursuits will perish, will lead nowhere, will lead to nothing, but it's God's counsel that continues true and has been ever since it has been written down for us in the pages of scripture. And so follow this and you will stand in the day of judgment.
Verse 22, what is desirable in a man is his loving kindness. You want a man to be a loving, kind person, right? You don't like mean people. Mean people aren't fun to hang out with. So what is desirable in a man to be loving and to be kind?
And better is a poor man than a man of falsehood. Well, that's an interesting turn. So we went from a loving and kind man is desirable and better is a poor man than a man of falsehood. What exactly is the comparison there supposed to be?
Well, if a man is rich, what do you want him to be? You want him to be generous, right? Loving and kind with what he possesses, especially toward those who do not have as much. But if that man has a lot of wealth and he is dishonest, like maybe he tells you that he will help you, but then he never does, then what good is he?
What have you benefited from that rich man? Nothing at all. So it's better to have a poor man, to keep company with someone who is poor, who can't give you anything, but you have honesty, loving kindness, and good character, than to have a man who is wealthy and full of falsehood.
He promises you good, but gives you nothing. So there's the purpose of that proverb, that we may desire company that is of good character, more than the company of fools who benefit us in no way. Verse 23, the fear of Yahweh leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, not visited by evil.
Previously, we've read that a lazy person just sleeps deeply. He sleeps a long time. He doesn't do his work at all. But here, it's the fear of Yahweh that allows one to sleep satisfied, not visited by evil.
If a person commits themselves to doing evil deeds, well, that tends to weigh on your mind and on your conscience. It vexes your heart. There are indeed consequences to bad behavior. There are mental health consequences to bad behavior.
If one follows in the way of Yahweh, the direction that God gives us according to his word, will sleep peacefully and not be restless with the guilty conscience that we have incurred by our sinful actions.
Verse 24, the sluggard buries his hand in the dish. We come back to a mention of laziness again, but will not even bring it back to his mouth. He is so lazy. He puts his hand in a deep bowl of peanut M &Ms, right?
Takes a fistful of candy and he's so lazy, he won't even bother to bring it back to his mouth. That's the kind of sluggard that we're talking about there. Verse 25, strike a scoffer and the simple may become prudent but reprove one who has understanding and he will understand knowledge.
This goes back to statements that we've read previously like in Proverbs 12, one. A fool despises discipline, but if you reprove a man who loves discipline, then he gains knowledge. So reprove the one who has understanding and he gains even more understanding.
Verse 26, he who assaults his father and causes his mother to flee, is a son who brings shame and humiliation. This goes back to discipline your son while there is hope and do not direct your soul to put him to death.
If you have not disciplined your son, well, then he's gonna be one that will bring shame back upon his mother and his father, even attacking his parents because he's not been raised to respect them. Verse 27, cease listening my son to discipline and you will stray from the words of knowledge.
Calling again, the son to listen to discipline and grow in knowledge and maturity and the good word of God. Verse 28, a vile witness scoffs at justice and the mouth of the wicked swallows up iniquity.
So a vile witness doesn't help to bring justice to a situation. The mouth of the wicked swallows up iniquity, meaning that he eats it, he consumes it, like it's food, fills himself up with it and he becomes what he eats.
He swallows sin and he produces sin. He's a sinful person. Verse 29, judgments are established for scoffers. So here you have in the previous verse, the scoffer was the one who scoffs at justice and therefore justice is not done, but justice will even be done against the scoffer.
Judgments are established for scoffers and beatings for the back of fools. There are consequences for your actions. How do you avoid those consequences? Walk in the way of the Lord. Seek the counsel of Yahweh, which stands firm to the end.
And if we have listened to God's word and kept it and obeyed it and walked in the way of Christ, then he will keep us to the end. And when justice and judgment are poured out on the unrighteous, we will not be among those who will perish because Christ is atoned for our sins by his death on the cross.
We will live forever with God by faith in Jesus Christ. True justice was done at the cross of Christ. That's the justice we need to avoid the judgment of God in the last day. Heavenly father, we thank you that you have given us the gospel and even shown us gospel truths through these wisdom Proverbs.
May we not despise discipline or correction, but we long for it, that we may be made more like Christ and walk in the way of righteousness until we are forever with God in glory. 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.
Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word, when we understand the text.