(Proverbs) ch.11:12 - 12:21 — Zac Poonen

Proverbs 11:12 and the Folly of Scornful Speech

Chapter 11, where we stopped last time, Proverbs 11, and we were considering, if you will remember, verse 12. He who despises his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding keeps silent. We have seen that the book of Proverbs gives us the marks of foolish and wise people.

A person who despises or belittles others to speak scornfully of other people is the mark of a fool. It says in the Good News Bible, it is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are sensible, you will keep quiet, which means that when we speak in a scornful, despising way of somebody else, what it tells us is not something about that person, but it tells us something about our own self, that we are fools.

That is, when you see somebody speaking scornfully about someone else, you know something about that person himself, that he is a fool. And yet, there may be situations where there are things which are wrong in others.

A wise person keeps quiet. He commits it to God. Very important to keep that in mind. I believe the only time we need to perhaps give a bad report about someone is when either someone has asked our opinion concerning that person for a business relationship, or a marriage, or something like that.

Then, of course, we have to give an honest opinion. That's true. But most of the time, when people air their opinions about other people, it has got no purpose behind it at all. And that only reveals that they are fools themselves.

If we are wise, we will keep quiet. Now, let's look at verse 13. Verse 13, it says, He who goes about as a tail-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals the matter. Or, as the Good News Bible reads it, no one who gossips can be trusted with a secret.

The vast majority of people in the world can't be trusted with a secret because they gossip so much. But you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy. And one mark of maturity is that when someone shares something with us, we know how to keep it to ourselves.

Here is another mark of a fool, that he hears something and he can't keep it to himself. Have you ever felt like that? I must tell someone about this. It's an itch to tell someone this exciting thing I've heard.

And yet, someone may have told it to us in confidence. And brothers and sisters, we are to grow up to maturity where we learn to keep secret the things that other people tell us or that we know. A man who is faithful conceals a matter.

It's a mark of a faithful man. Verse 14. Where there is no guidance, the people fall. But in abundance of counsellors, there is victory. And that just means that when we are considering a course of action, it's good for us to have small thoughts about ourselves.

And one mark of having small thoughts about ourselves is that we seek advice from others who have more wisdom and more maturity. And not necessarily just from one, but from many. It says in the abundance of counsellors, there is victory.

Of course, we can only go for counsel to those who have some maturity and wisdom themselves, not to a bunch of fools. That would bring confusion. But what it means here in the abundance of wise counsellors, there is safety that we can be protected from a wrong path.

And that is why it is a privilege to be able to have fellowship, to have in the fellowship others with whom we can consult and share that keeps us in safety. But where there is no guidance, it is easy to fall.

It's very easy, brothers and sisters, for us to take the fellowship and the word of God that we have in the church for granted. There are many who live in situations even in our country who do not have the opportunities for fellowship and guidance that we have.

So there is something that we need to always be thankful for. Because it says where there is no guidance, the people fall into various types of folly. Verse 15, if you promise to pay a stranger's debt, you will regret it.

Wisdom About Financial Surety and Christian Fellowship

You are better off if you don't get involved. Now that means that we must never think that love means going to the extent of being a surety for someone in whom we have no confidence. I believe that we can come into a relationship in the brotherhood where a brother becomes a part of you, like a member of your own body.

But that takes time. It doesn't mean sitting in the same congregation. There are a lot of people who sit in the same congregation who are not integrated with one another as members of a body. And then I for one would not become a surety for such a person even if he sits in the same church.

It's a question of being integrated with someone in the body of Christ. Now that was not possible in the Old Testament. So where such a relationship has come between two brothers, that is alright to commit oneself to one another even for large amounts of money.

But otherwise, in most cases, it is wisest not to get into financial relationships with strangers where you promise to pay their debt or stand surety for them. That's something that the Book of Proverbs speaks so often about.

And somebody can come and ask you to be a surety or a guarantee for him. He says, I come to the same church as you. Yeah, but I still don't have that relationship in the body with you, even though you come and sit in the same congregation.

I'm sorry, I cannot stand as a guarantee for you. And he may go around saying that brother so-and-so doesn't have any love. Well, we couldn't care less what he thinks about us. But we're going to obey the word of God.

We're not going to be bothered about his opinion about us. So that's something which the Book of Proverbs speaks again and again about. And if we are wise, we will be careful in this area so that we don't suffer for it later on.

But if we hate going to surety, then we will be saved. It says here, honour goes to kind and gracious women, but mere money to cruel men. Cruel men, violent men make money, thieves, robbers, etc. But those who are kind and gracious, the contrast is drawn here between a woman and a man.

But the same thing applies to a man as well. But the honour that God gives goes to those who are kind and gracious. There it speaks about a woman, that in God's eyes a woman, a sister, young or old, is honourable if she has become kind and gracious.

Kindness, Grace, and the Character God Honors

Like in the New Testament it speaks about a meek and a quiet spirit. Here it says, this is the Living Bible, honour goes to kind and gracious women. Take that seriously. Say, Lord, help me to be a sister like that.

Kind in all my words and actions, gracious in all my words and actions. And then the honour of God will certainly come down upon you. Verse 17, reading from the Good News, You do yourself a favour when you are kind.

If you are cruel, this is following on from the previous verse, You do yourself a favour when you are kind, and if you are cruel, you only hurt yourself. In other words, God's laws are all for our good.

And when we are kind, we are not really doing the other person a favour as much as we are doing ourselves a favour, it says. It's we. Kind people are more at rest and more peace in their heart and their digestive system works better and their health is better.

Everything is better for a person who is free from bitterness and cruelty and anger. But when you are cruel and evil, you are not really hurting that other person. You need to see that you are hurting yourself much more.

In New Testament terms, it means that if you hate someone or you are bitter towards someone, you are not really harming him, you are harming yourself. And when you love someone, you are not really blessing him as much as you are blessing yourself.

So that's a wonderful verse. You do yourself a favour when you are kind, but if you are cruel, you only hurt yourself. That's where we see the folly of all the people in the world. They don't realize that.

That they are harming themselves when they are cruel towards other people. Verse 18, the wicked earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward. And that's exactly what we read in Galatians 6 .9, that we reap what we sow.

That if we sow righteousness, well, we reap eternal life. But the wicked earns deceptive wages. What do we earn? Money. And here money is called a deceptive wage. That means you think that's very valuable, but there's a deception in it.

Jesus spoke in Mark chapter 4 about the deceitfulness of riches. Now, we all know that we need money to live on this earth. And for most of us, it is a struggle to try and make ends meet each month. There is a discipline in it, which is good.

But whether we get much or little, we must always remember that there is a deceitfulness in riches that Jesus spoke of. There's something in it which can deceive me. And when I get it, I must say, Lord, I need to use this because I live in the world.

But let me never forget, there's something deceptive about this money that can deceive me. It can make me happy when I get much, and it's a hollow happiness. It will make me so sad when I've lost something, and there's a deception in it.

And it's a wonderful thing if our eyes are open to see it now. We will see it clearly in eternity, but then it will be too late. It's good for us to realize it now. Verse 19. He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life.

What that means is that you don't just start the race. Steadfast means you're righteous today, and you're righteous tomorrow, and next week, next month, the whole year, the next year. Steadfast, the one who endures until the end will attain to life.

There are people who can be stirred up to righteousness just by hearing a sermon. But here it speaks about those who are steadfast in righteousness. And he who pursues evil will bring about his own death.

Or as Romans 8, verse 13 says, if we live according to the flesh, we shall die. That's exactly what it says here too. Then verse 20. The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord. Now notice, those who are an abomination to the Lord.

Not those who are necessarily perverse on the outside. There are people who can be clean on the outside. But who are perverse in heart means their motives and their intentions in life are different from what they appear to be on the outside.

They are an abomination to the Lord. It is the attitude of our heart, the goal and aim for which I live, determines God's opinion about me. I'll tell you something that's encouraged my heart much and will encourage you too.

That the little mistakes that we make in our external life don't disturb God so much, you know. It's like a little, you think of your own child trying to help you in some way. And in trying to help you makes a few mistakes.

If you're a good father or mother, you won't get upset with that child at all, even if they mess up something. Because basically that child was trying to help you. We have to think that God is much more understanding than any earthly father and mother.

That when we are seeking to live for Him and seeking to serve Him, we slip up here and there. It doesn't disturb Him. It is the one who is perverse in heart. That means who's got ulterior motives. He appears religious on the outside and trying to do so many spiritual things.

But deep down his ambitions and goals are not the glory of God, but something for himself. Yeah, if I'm seeking my own, I'm perverse in heart. If I appear to be religious on the outside, but deep down I'm seeking my own.

I'm an abomination to the Lord. But if I'm not seeking my own, I say, Lord, I want to live for your glory. I want to seek your kingdom, your will. And then I do stumble and make a few mistakes. God just ignores it.

It doesn't disturb Him. Think of that. That's why it's so important that in our heart we are not perverse and crooked. That we are honest and sincere and say, Lord, my only ambition and goal in life is to glorify you, to seek your kingdom, to be pure and holy before you.

Yeah, the perverse in heart and abomination to the Lord. But the blameless in their walk are His delight. That means the wholehearted. Those who are blameless are those, the perverse of heart, the opposite of perverse of heart is wholehearted.

That means according to the light they have, that is the meaning of blameless. It's not that we don't make any mistakes. Your small child can write you a letter on your birthday, perhaps. Say, a five-year-old child writes a letter to you on your birthday and there'll be so many spelling mistakes in it.

It doesn't disturb you because the letter is a blameless letter. It's not a perfect letter because a lot of spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes that can be perfected. But it's a blameless letter because it comes with such a good heart.

And we have to see that in the same way with God. There is a difference between being blameless and being perfect. We may not be perfect but we can be blameless in the sense that my intention was good.

See, sometimes we try to help one another and we're not wise, we do some things foolishly. It doesn't disturb God if our intention was really to seek the good of that other person. The other person may not understand.

Well, we also have to humble ourselves and say, Lord, give me more wisdom. But always make sure that the intention of our heart is for the glory of God and the good of others. And then, many of our external mistakes don't really matter too much.

We are blameless and it says here, such people are God's delight. When it says, the Lord your God will rejoice over you with shouts of joy, whom does He rejoice over? He doesn't rejoice over religious hypocrites who come and sit in the church to get a reputation for holiness and deep down they're seeking their own, seeking money, seeking honor, seeking gain for themselves in the world and all the time want to have a religious whitewash on top of that.

God's certainly not rejoicing over such people, I'll tell you that. They are an abomination to Him and the sad thing is most of them don't even realize it. Most people who are seeking their own think themselves to be quite spiritual because they've got this religious whitewash on the outside.

What we need to see is those whose hearts are seeking God's glory, who are sincere in their heart, blameless in their way, they are His delight. Even if they've got a few spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes in their life, they're blameless in their intention and motive.

Verse 21, assuredly the evil man will not go unpunished. There's a wonderful verse, I don't know whether you know it, in the book of Numbers, which says, be sure that your sin will find you out. And that's the verse that we need to remember.

Be sure that your sin will find you out. Numbers 32 and verse 23. Be sure your sin will find you out. In other words, you may think that that sin was committed there, nobody has seen it. There's a verse that needs to come to our mind.

Be sure that one day that sin will catch up with us and it will expose us and bring us the fruit. That's what it says here in verse 21. Assuredly, hand to hand it says, or like the modern slang says, you can bet on it.

You can be absolutely sure that the one who is evil, one day he will be found out. But, in contrast, not only the righteous will be delivered, but the descendants of the righteous will be delivered. It's amazing how righteousness blesses not only one generation, but blesses the next generation.

That's something the Bible speaks about, that even the seed of the righteous will never beg for bread. Because the father was a righteous man, something of that blessing overflows on the children, so that at least as far as earthly things goes, God provides for the need of the seed of the righteous.

It's amazing. To seek righteousness, to seek godliness, it says in 1 Timothy 4, has God promised, not only in the life that is to come, but also in this life. You see, in the days when there is inflation and value of things goes up, the best thing to seek is righteousness.

And the kingdom of God. Because there are pension benefits, family benefits, children benefits, everything in those who seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's the best thing in the world.

Proverbs 11:22 and Modesty in Marriage

All things will be added unto you. The descendants of the righteous will be delivered and will be blessed. In other words, God will rescue the children of the godly. Verse 22, this is a good verse for all young people when they consider marriage.

And also for young women to have a proper opinion about themselves. As a ring of gold in a pig's nose, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion. In other words, if a woman does not have a certain modesty about her, the basic meaning of discretion means a certain modesty, which women should have, which men need not have.

But women need to have it, because that's necessary for women. And a person who doesn't have that, and who is so good looking in the face, is really actually a pig. In other words, a woman who doesn't have modesty is a pig.

It's modesty that changes a woman from being a pig into someone attractive to God. And the beautiful face is just like this golden ring hanging on the nose of the pig. And it's very good for young men when they look at the opposite sex and consider marriage, and everybody in the world sees just this golden ring, the beautiful face.

They get so taken up when they see this golden ring that they go and marry the pig. You see the folly of it, that's the point here. You've got to be a real fool to marry a pig just because you want to get the golden ring hanging on his nose.

He's going to live with that pig for the rest of his life. That's what the word of God, think of the strong language the word of God uses for a woman who's like that. The book of Proverbs, its opinion about physical beauty.

What is physical beauty without spiritual character? It is only a golden ring. It is golden, it has some value on earth. But the person is a pig, spiritually dirty. And that's good for young sisters also to remember that even if you look into the mirror and you find that the mirror on the wall tells you that you're the fairest girl in Bangalore or whatever it is, you've got to say that's just a golden ring.

Don't think too much of yourself because there's a golden ring on that mirror. It's your character that determines whether you're a pig or whether you're a child of God. In God's eyes, a meek and a quiet spirit, a certain modesty and reserve, discretion.

And the word here on the margin used is taste. You know in the world they speak about taste. People have got taste in the saris they choose and taste in the way they decorate their houses and taste in their colors and all that.

Here it speaks about a spiritual taste that people need to have, particularly women. How should a spiritual God-fearing sister be to have a taste for that? Yeah, if she doesn't have that, it's like a golden ring in a pig's nose.

Very important verse for young brothers and sisters particularly. Verse 23, it says, The desire of the righteous is only good. I read it like this, that one mark of a righteous man is, if you open up his heart, you find that his desire for every other person is only good.

He desires good for everybody he knows. He may not be able to do so much for them, that's another thing, but his desire is only that something good might come for them. He's not happy when something bad comes to someone else.

That's not a righteous man. A man who's happy when something bad happens to someone, well, we don't want to say he's a wicked person, but there's some wickedness there that needs to be cleansed out. And it can come to us sometimes that we discover in certain situations when we hear some news about other brothers or sisters, whether the news is good or bad, our reaction often shows us whether we really desire the very best for others.

The very best. That's the mark of a righteous man. The desire of the righteous is only good. Only good for others. What do you desire for that brother? Only good. What do you desire for that sister? Only good.

That's the mark of a righteous man. He desires only good for others. But the expectation of the wicked is wrong. That means what the wicked can look forward to is judgment. We can read that verse in another way, that the good man can look forward to blessing and happiness himself, but the wicked man can only look forward to judgment.

Generosity, Sowing, and God’s Provision

And here's a wonderful verse, verses 24 and 25 together. They really teach the same thing. One of those important verses in Proverbs that we all need to know. There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more.

He's speaking about one who's generous. You'll see that in the next verse. And there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters others will himself be watered.

Now, what that basically means is that it is possible to give away and still become richer, it says in the Living Bible. It's also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. The liberal man will become rich, by watering others, he waters himself.

In other words, one who is concerned about the needs of others and is not stingy, but generous to God and to his children, he will never lack in his life. And when it says about scattering, the picture here is about a sower, who's got a whole bag of seed, and the seed is like all the material resources, money and other things that we have, God gives us, and I can just store up all that for myself, and at harvest time, what do I have?

Just some of the seed, some of it has become rotten, some of it the insects have eaten, and it's much less than what I started out with one year ago, that bag has become quite small. But another person who had the same size of bag, he didn't just all store it up in his house, he scattered it.

And at harvest time he collects, and he's got a hundred bags there. That's the picture here. He who scatters, increases all the more. And that's the picture used in 2 Corinthians 9, where it says that if we are liberal and open-handed with what God gives us, God will be open-handed with us.

And even though you think you're giving, you're actually going to end up having more. But, if you are stingy, you end up only in want. It says in verse 24, He who withholds what is righteously due, that means one who does not pay his debts, one who does not pay his taxes.

I heard something about brother Haslakson, he spoke about rejoicing in doing righteousness, and he said, I rejoice to fill up an income tax form. It's a great delight for me to fill it all up, exactly and correctly, and forward it, and pay the taxes.

I mean, it's not a thing I grumble about. No, it's joy for me to do it. That's rejoicing in doing righteousness. Very happy to do it. Justly due, something that is justly, righteously due to someone else.

Something that's righteously due, I borrowed something from someone, and it righteously belongs to him, and I just sit on it lazily. Or it can be that God demands that I should share something of what I have with someone that is also due to that person, and I don't do it.

I can be in want myself. Here is one reason why some believers are in want. But the generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters others will be watered also himself. That means if we take care to bless others, and even if it's not necessarily only money, sometimes our mind can just think in terms of money, just think of being a blessing, with words and goodness, and God will water us.

It's a tremendous thing. Brothers and sisters, just go around encouraging others, and see how much God encourages you. If you feel condemned so much, just ask yourself whether you're going around condemning others yourself.

Just stop all that condemning of others, and just encourage others, and see how much God encourages you. You water others, the same water will fall on your head back from God one day. That's a law. You can't escape it.

So it's good to water others. Water means you find a tree that's dry, and you pour some water there. It's encouragement. You see a brother or sister depressed, gloomy, just a word of encouragement, and God waters you.

He who withholds grain, the people will curse him. That's selfishness. But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it. In other words, when there's a time or shortage of something, and you've got plenty of that, and you're holding on to it.

Of course, we're not involved in that type of thing, but in those days people were. They were in business, and they would keep the grain till the prices are going up. Oh, there's a shortage of grain. Wonderful.

Says this man who's got grain in the house. I'll wait till it gets a little more short, and the prices will go up, and then I'll make my money. Such a man can never be a believer. It's impossible for such a man to be a child of God, who has that attitude that people are in such terrific need, and he's hanging on to something which is necessary for their living just because he wants to make more money.

And that was very true in the days in which for us in different situations, we are not selling grain. We may not face ourselves in that situation, but we need to take that verse and apply it to our own profession and to our own situation and see whether such selfishness is our attitude.

We have something, we're not using it, and someone else needs it, and we just sit on it. And the person's probably desperately in need of it, and I hang on to it. I can be so selfish. And when people know it, they'll curse such a man.

But blessing... Now, that's something which we can look carefully. You know, we can see that God is righteous in what He says. Verse 26. It is a time of shortage, but He says there, the blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

He doesn't have to give it away free. He may not be rich enough to say, alright, here you are, take it all. He sells it, but he sells it at a reasonable price. He doesn't sell it in order to make a lot of money himself.

No. There'll be a blessing on him if he sells it. Verse 27. He who diligently seeks good seeks favor. That means if I'm always seeking to do good. Let me read that in the Living Bible. If you search for good, you will find God's favor.

That means if you're always seeking, how can I do the good in my own life and towards other people? God's blessing will be on your life. But if you search for evil, you will find His curse. Yeah, that's clear.

And then verse 28. In the Good News Bible it says, those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer. Or as the Living Bible says, in verse 28, trust in your money and down you go.

Trust in God and you flourish like a tree. See, it's the two masters that Jesus spoke of. Money and God. You trust in money and you're bound to go down. Money was never given to be trusted in or to be loved or to be hoarded.

Money was given to be used, never to be loved or depended upon. And that's the mistake of a lot of people in the world. The opposite to that is to trust in God. You know, in Proverbs 3 we saw, don't trust on your own understanding, but trust in the Lord.

Here it says, don't trust in money, but trust in the Lord. The two things we should not trust in is our own cleverness and on money. We depend on God. He who troubles his own house, the next verse 29, I'll read it in the Living Bible, the fool who provokes his family to anger and resentment will finally have nothing worthwhile left.

That means a man who acts like a big dictator in his house, always provoking his wife and children to anger and resentment and always making demands on them and shouting at them and yelling at them, finally he won't have a home left.

He'll have nothing worthwhile left. He will be the servant of a wiser man. A wise man is one who knows how to bless his house. Verse 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. This is amazing that we read of the tree of life a number of times in Proverbs, the same tree of life that we read in Genesis.

It says here that one righteous man, the fruit that comes forth from his life can be like a tree of life for other people. Think of the challenge of that, that we can be like a tree of life to other people.

And he who is wise wins souls, wins people. One who is wise wins souls. He's a blessing to other people. And then verse 31, if the righteous are rewarded on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner.

Now, it's a question of what this means. I believe this is the verse that is quoted in 1 Peter chapter 4 and if you look at that you'll understand this verse a little better. This is the verse that Peter quotes in 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 18 where it says, if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless and the sinner?

And that's this verse in Proverbs 11, 31. The meaning is this, that even a righteous person when he does something wrong is disciplined by God. A righteous man and he does something wrong and he's disciplined by God.

Then it says, you can imagine what's going to be the fate of the wicked and the sinner, finally. Think of Moses. He was such a righteous man and yet once he smote the rock instead of speaking to the rock and God punished him so severely.

You're not to enter the land of Canaan. And there we get examples in the scripture of how strictly God dealt with righteous people. And there he says, you can get a picture of how severe will be the judgment on the ungodly and the sinner in the final day.

It doesn't appear on this earth now. They seem to be having a cushy time but even the righteous get a reward on this earth. How much more the wicked and the sinner. Chapter 12 and verse 1. Maybe I can show you another verse before we move on to that and that's 1 Timothy 5.

1 Timothy 5 verse 24 and 25 it says, the sins of some men are quite evident going before them to judgment for others their sins follow after. Likewise also deeds that are good are quite evident and those which are otherwise cannot be conceived.

What that means is there are some people who are such obvious sinners that you know that they are just going into judgment. There are other people who appear to be so religious their sins are all concealed inside but one day it will get exposed.

That's verse 24. Verse 25 it says, in the same way there are some people who are so obviously good that you know that God has got such a fantastic reward for them lined up for them. Equally there are some people whose goodness you cannot see because most of the things they do in secret and we are going to get a surprise when we see how God rewards them too.

So it says here there are people whose goodness and evil can be hidden and God will reward each person according to the deeds done in his body. Now chapter 12 verse 1 is one of the things we have looked at before that in order to become wise God has to discipline us.

Loving Correction and the Growth of Wisdom

There is no way to get wisdom apart from discipline. Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge. When God disciplines you and you love it not just submit to it but you love it and say thank you Lord I accept that you are really loving wisdom.

But he who hates reproof. Reproof means correction. Now I just want to say this brothers and sisters it's a number of times in the book of Proverbs it speaks about loving correction. And if I hate correction in the King James Version it says he is brutish.

Brutish means like a brute. Like an animal. And that's something you know children you find so often they get offended when they are corrected. That animal nature is there. And that's something we have to grow out of quickly.

We know that I mean those of us who are parents when we correct our children we know that it is for their good. But they don't often understand it. Very often it's exactly the same with us who are grown up that when we hear a word of correction it may be from God directly through his spirit it may be from some brother in the meeting or it may be directly from someone older than us.

And then I can think about it and I don't like it too much and I'm a little offended and a little hurt inside. What does it show? It shows that I'm not really interested in wisdom. If I were interested in wisdom I would say thank you for that.

Lord, thank you for what you spoke to me through that brother or sister. Really, that's something I need to take heed of. Take heed to. I was hearing about one brother in Norway who spoke in a conference and said he said my wife told me one day that you seek your own right up to your ears.

That means you're sunk in seeking your own. And he says that is quite a strong thing to hear from your wife. Of course she knows you better than anybody else so he thought she must be right. I must be seeking my own in a lot of things.