WWUTT 1449 The Righteous Delivered, the Wicked Punished (Proverbs 11:22-31)

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Throughout the book of Proverbs, we read all about reward. The righteous receive a reward, eternal life and glory with God.

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The wicked also receive a reward, eternal punishment in hell below. When we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Yes, we are back in our study of Proverbs today. Chapter 11, if you want to open up your

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Bible and join with me there. You know, I wish I had noticed this earlier, but the way that Proverbs is kind of sectioned out for me in this

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Bible. Chapter, so last week we went through, what was it, verses 14 through 21.

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That's an entire column. Today, I'm going to look at verses 22 through 31. That's a whole other column.

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And then next week we start chapter 12, and verses one through nine is a column. I wish I had noticed this earlier, because then

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I could just focus on, let's see if I can get through a column every day. Column in my Bible. So starting in verse 22,

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I'll read through verse 31. This is out of Proverbs 11 in the Legacy Standard Bible.

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As a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a beautiful woman who turns away from discretion.

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The desire of the righteous is only good, but the hope of the wicked is wrath.

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There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more. And there is one who holds back what is rightly due and yet results only in want.

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The soul that blesses will be enriched and he who waters will himself be watered.

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He who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

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He who earnestly seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches for evil, evil will come to him.

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He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.

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He who troubles his own house will inherit wind and the ignorant fool will be a slave to the wise of heart.

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The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who is wise wins souls.

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If the righteous will be repaid in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.

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So we have quite a picture given to us here in the first verse of this section, verse 22, as a ring of gold in a swine's snout, so is a beautiful woman who turns away from discretion.

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Used to be a pretty common thing for a woman to put a ring in her nose as something she would do to beautify herself.

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Well, I say it used to be a common thing. That's pretty common now, right? That's a pretty standard form of jewelry.

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You'll see women with a nose ring or something like that as kind of a symbol of beauty on her face.

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We read about it even in scripture. So ladies, if people are ever giving you a hard time about having a nose piercing or a nose ring, you just say, well, it's in the

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Bible. In Genesis chapter 24, when Abraham sends his servant back to the land that he came from, back to his kin to find a bride for his son,

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Isaac, his servant goes and finds Rebecca. And when Rebecca says who she belongs to and says that she's willing to go back with the servant to meet

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Isaac and marry him, he puts a ring of gold in her nose to show that,

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I mean, basically this woman's now taken, she's been claimed. And so that's what the jewelry in her nose symbolized.

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So there you have a nose piercing as a symbol of beauty. And we see this also in Ezekiel 16, where God personifies

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Jerusalem as a woman and says that he took Jerusalem to himself and put a gold ring in her nose, beautifying

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Jerusalem and calling Jerusalem his own. So that was the symbol of a nose ring back in those times.

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Now, where it says here, a beautiful woman who turns away from discretion is like putting that gold ring in a swine's snout.

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So it really doesn't beautify anything. She can be adorned in all kinds of beautiful materials, but if she doesn't have discretion, she is not considered a beautiful woman.

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You consider what is said in 1 Timothy chapter two, verse nine, women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self -control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.

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Doesn't mean that women can't wear those things or can't beautify themselves, but that is not how they show their beauty.

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Verse 10, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works.

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So a woman who is not doing godly things, not living in a godly way, doesn't matter how lovely people may think that she looks on the outside, she's as good as a ring of gold in a swine's snout.

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We go on to verse 23. The desire of the righteous is only good, but the hope of the wicked is wrath.

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So what the righteous desires is that which is good. And as we've said about this time and time again, it's specifically what

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God says is good. When we talk about righteousness, we're talking about doing what is right.

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Very first five letters of that word righteous. Doing what is right, but what

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God says is right. And the desire of the righteous is to do what God has said is good.

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But the hope of the wicked is wrath. That's somewhat tongue in cheek, the way that that's being said.

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The wicked have no hope, in other words. The only hope that they have to look forward to is the wrath of God, the punishment and the judgment that will come upon them.

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They desire wrath, they do wicked things. Wrath is what they are gonna receive at the final judgment.

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What the righteous desires, yeah, what the righteous desire is good, and that's what they'll receive at the final judgment, all by the mercy of God.

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Jesus said in Matthew 7, whoever it is that does the will of my father, to him belongs the kingdom of God.

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Verse 24, there is one who scatters and yet increases all the more.

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And there is one who holds back what is rightly due and yet results only in want. So as we're talking about scattering, we're talking about a person who isn't stingy, doesn't hold back, but they give freely.

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And they're willing to bless others, one who scatters their blessings to others. And what do they get in return?

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They increase all the more. It doesn't necessarily mean, if we put this in earthly material means, it doesn't mean that, you know, a person who gives a lot is gonna receive a lot.

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I give a lot of money, therefore I'm gonna get a lot of money. That may not necessarily be the return. But if we give unto the

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Lord with a cheerful heart, what we are storing up is an eternal reward in glory.

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And we will receive much on that day when we hear from our master. Well done, good and faithful servant.

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But the one who holds back, the one who does not give freely, but tries to hold for himself is not generous.

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That person will result in only want. They think they're holding back to meet their needs or to satisfy their wants.

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What they come to find is they really just want more. They're never really satisfied. But the person who doesn't hold on to the things that God has blessed us with, but is rather generous with them, they're gonna feel completely satisfied.

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They're even gonna demonstrate by their own actions that they already have everything they need by what

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God has provided and promised according to his son. Verse 25, the soul that blesses will be enriched and he who waters will himself be watered.

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That goes right along with the previous proverb. The soul that blesses will be enriched, a person who's generous, a person who gives, a person who shares.

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And not just the material things that we have, but we share the good news of the gospel. We know the greatest reward that we could be given is

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Christ himself. As the apostle Paul says in Colossians 2, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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So when we bless others with the good news of the gospel, for it is only by faith in the gospel that a person is forgiven their sins and receives eternal life, eternal reward in heaven above.

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When we bless others with that blessed message, we will be enriched.

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We will share in the inheritance of light. He who waters will himself be watered.

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You read in Psalm 1 about being planted like a tree by streams of water.

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We read in Revelation about the river that flows from the throne of God of refreshing water.

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Jesus speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, saying, if you knew who it was who asked you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink and he would give you living water, which we receive from Christ.

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The Holy Spirit who has been poured into our hearts, who washes us, cleanses us and makes us new.

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If we share the message of God with others, we water others with this message that comes from the spirit of God, we ourselves will be watered by his spirit.

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Verse 26, he who withholds grain, the people will curse him, but blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

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Here we come again to the person who is generous, who gives of what he has to others.

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Now this person says, who takes his grain and he sells it. Well, there's nothing wrong with selling what it is that you have put hard work into and if therefore produced a harvest, you can sell it so that way you can live and buy more grain that you may grow more crops and harvest them and sell them and give it away.

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But the person here who it says withholds grain and the people will curse him, this is a person who really has harvested a crop and has let it go to waste.

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So not only does nobody benefit from this, but he doesn't benefit from it either. This is a lazy man who really doesn't do his work.

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He did some work for a season, but doesn't work to sell it, doesn't work to store up so that he may use it to grow more grain and he becomes a curse on the people, a curse upon himself and a curse upon others.

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But blessing is on him who has an abundance and gives away to others.

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Verse 27, he who earnestly seeks good, seeks favor.

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We go right back into the desire of the righteous again, right? The desire of the righteous is only good.

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So he who earnestly seeks good, seeks favor, seeks approval. Another way of saying this, seeks blessing.

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For when we read in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, blessed are they, another way of understanding that is approved of they.

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They are approved by God. And because they're approved by God, they are truly blessed, right?

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It's the greatest approval that we can have if we have the approval of God. And if you have faith in Jesus Christ, he does indeed approve of you,

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Christian. He who earnestly seeks good, seeks favor. Who earnestly seeks good, receives the favor of God.

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But he who searches for evil, evil will come to him.

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That's a scary promise. A person who goes after evil things, that's what they're gonna get.

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They will get evil and that's all they get. They do not receive the favor of God and they do not get the blessing of eternal reward in heaven above.

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But instead, as we read earlier, their only hope now, the hope of the wicked is wrath.

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They will receive the judgment of God who judges them for their evil. Verse 28, he who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like the green leaf.

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Again, you have a person who is putting trust in himself. He trusts in his own gain.

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He trusts in material things. He trusts in the stuff of the world. The more that I have, the better off I will be.

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I think I've shared with you before how there was at one time in my life, I thought very foolishly that if I just had enough riches, if I could just get enough fame, if I could just make enough of a name of myself, then

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I could somehow get over this threat of persecution that will come upon all who are followers of Jesus Christ.

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Jesus doesn't say, blessed are you if you are persecuted. He says, blessed are you when you are persecuted.

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We will be persecuted. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 .12,

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indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted while evil people and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.

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Peter said, 1 Peter 4, that the worldly people are going to malign you when you won't join them in their flood of debauchery.

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So we are gonna be persecuted just because we desire the right thing, just because we desire to do the will of God.

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We will be persecuted for this. But I, in my immaturity, I thought, maybe I can get over that.

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Maybe I can ascend above this persecution if I can just be popular enough.

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Wouldn't that be good for God though? I could have this popular name in the world and then I can use it to share

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Jesus with others. At least that's what I foolishly thought in my own mind. But you just look at what's going on in the culture right now.

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It does not matter how famous, how rich, how powerful you are if you do not go along with the ways of this culture, they will spite you.

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They will cancel you. You will receive the wrath of the hatred of this adulterous and wicked generation in which we live.

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I mentioned yesterday, we're coming into June and that's just, what is that? Next week, we're just a few days away from June, which ever since gay marriage became legal in America, June has been designated as Pride Month.

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And we're going to see it all over the place. LGBTQ stuff, the decorations of Sodom all over everything, major corporations in America showing their solidarity with the

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LGBTQ movement. In some sense, they're showing their fear of the LGBTQ movement.

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We're going to show our support for them so that way their wrath won't come against us. That's part of it.

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But it's also just, they're just straight up wicked. They're celebrating in the ways of Sodom and the judgment of God will come upon them if they do not repent.

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So it doesn't matter how powerful and influential you are in this culture, if you don't go along with the culture's new moralism, then you will receive the wrath of this culture.

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It will come upon you. There are places in America that you can walk and declare Christ and you will be killed for it.

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In America, do not think that persecution is not here. It is indeed. You go to the right places and you will certainly experience that just because we desire to do the will of God.

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You talk to people who go do evangelism outside abortion clinics, and they will tell you about the persecution that they've received outside those abortion clinics.

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Oh yeah. I remember there being a story of one group that was outside an abortion clinic and somebody drove by, or I think, no, they didn't drive by, they walked up.

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They had a can of Comet in their hands. You know what Comet is? The bathroom cleaner, right? It's bleach.

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It's powdered bleach. They came up with that can of Comet and they threw it all over everybody.

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If that got in people's eyes, that could have caused some serious damage. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But someone from that group went over to a police officer who was just down the block and told the officer about it.

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And the officer did not arrest the man who threw the Comet at them.

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This persecution that they will endure just for wanting to save the lives of children from being dismembered in those abortion clinics and save the souls of those women who are gonna do this wicked thing, sharing the gospel with them so that they will repent and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

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We wanna do what is right in this world, saving lives and saving souls, but the world will hate us for it.

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You cannot put your trust in riches, in fame, or fortune to save you from the wrath of the culture.

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You put your faith and trust in the stuff of this world, you will fall, Proverbs 11, 28.

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But the righteous will flourish like the green leaf. Now, from the perspective of the world, they're gonna say that you're wasting away, you're wasting your life, you're on the wrong side of history.

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That's not what scripture says. We will endure forever, not just like the green leaf, but the evergreen, and then some.

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He who desires righteousness will flourish, will receive the blessing of God.

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We will grow like that tree planted by streams of water, amen, as talked about in Psalm 1, who doesn't delight in the way of fools, but delights in the way of God.

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Verse 29, he who troubles his own house will inherit wind, and the ignorant fool will be a slave to the wise of heart.

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He who troubles his own house, so who doesn't take care of his own household. He's gonna see everything that he has, everything that he possesses, is gonna vanish with the wind.

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You know, in 1 Timothy 5, 8, it tells us, if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

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Because even unbelievers know you should take care of your family, right? You don't have to be a Christian to know that you should take care of your family.

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And so if we are believers in Christ and of the family of God who takes care of us, then how much more should we care for one another, especially within our own household?

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The ignorant fool will become a slave to the wise of heart. He won't have his own household, he's gonna be a slave in somebody else's household.

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Verse 30, this goes back to what we were just talking about regarding winning souls.

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The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. And he who is wise wins souls.

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It's not just about making somebody else's situation or their circumstance better.

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It's not even modifying their behavior so that they behave like a better person. We should be about the business of winning souls, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with others.

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For those who put their faith in Jesus will be one to eternal life.

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This is the fruit that the righteous have. They must offer to the world the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ for that is the tree of life.

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He who wins souls is wise. Verse 31 now, if the righteous will be repaid in the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner?

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The righteous are repaid. They're repaid for their righteousness and great is their reward in heaven.

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The righteousness that we have is not from us, but is given to us by God. How much more will the wicked be repaid?

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Will the righteous are repaid with the goodness of God forevermore in glory? The wicked will be repaid for his wickedness with eternal judgment and eternal punishment in hell forever.

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Repent of your sin. Turn from your wicked ways. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

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And then my friends, if you have received the righteousness of God, share the good news of that gospel with others.

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It will be a tree of life to them. Amen. This is when we understand the text, teaching through a

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New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday.