WWUTT 1509 The Path of Life Leads Upward (Proverbs 15:21-33)

Believe it or not, the Bible does not have a word -for -word answer to every decision that you need to make, but it will counsel you on how to find wisdom so that you may make the wisest decision when we understand the text.

This is when we understand the text studying God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. Well, in our Old Testament study, we've been in the book of Proverbs, and I hope you've been enjoying this study thus far.

You can go back to previous Thursday episodes if you've missed any of our study in Proverbs.

Picking up where we left off last week, I'm in Proverbs chapter 15, starting in verse 21, and we'll go to the end of the chapter.

I'm reading here out of the Legacy Standard Bible. Folly is gladness to him who lacks a heart of wisdom, but a man of discernment walks straight.

Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed.

A man has gladness in an apt answer, and how good is a timely word?

The path of life leads upward for the one who has insight that he may turn away from Sheol below.

Yahweh will tear down the house of the proud, but he will cause the boundary of the widow to stand.

Evil thoughts are an abomination to Yahweh, but pleasant words are pure.

He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates gifts of bribery will live.

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things.

Yahweh is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Bright eyes gladden the heart. A good report puts fat on the bones.

He whose ear listens to the life -giving reproof will lodge among the wise.

He who neglects discipline despises his soul, but he who listens to reproof acquires a heart of wisdom.

The fear of Yahweh is the discipline leading to wisdom, and before glory comes humility.

Coming back to verse 21 here, it says, Folly is gladness to him who lacks a heart of wisdom.

That's almost the Proverbs way of saying ignorance is bliss. The fool is happy with his way.

He is not even aware that the road that he's on is the way to destruction. A man of discernment walks straight because he discerns what is the right way and what is the wrong way.

The foolish man is going to go whatever way seems right to him. It's a subjective choice.

He's following his feelings. He's following his own heart instead of turning to something objective, turning to facts, turning to the truth, turning to the way, the truth, and the life who is

Jesus Christ. He said in John 14, 6, No one comes to the Father but by me.

And that's something to keep in mind, that particular verse, as we go through these Proverbs here today, because that will come up again.

We go on to verse 22. Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed.

This goes right with the discerning man. He walks straight, and he also seeks the counsel of others who are wise.

See there are decisions that we need to make in life that the Bible does not make for us. Contrary to what many have said about Scripture, the

Bible does not have all the answers. In other words, it's not going to answer every single question that you ever have in life.

It's not going to teach you how to repair a car. It's not going to tell you what career you should have or how to do certain daily tasks and things like that.

For big decisions that we need to make, and the Bible doesn't give us a word -for -word answer on that decision, we need to seek wisdom.

We have the wisdom of God, general wisdom that is given to us here in the Proverbs. And especially when it comes to making a major decision, it's good that you seek the counsel of others.

Without consultation, those plans that you have may not work out if you don't have the help of someone else to help you plan accordingly or to help you make a wise decision.

But with many counselors, those plans will succeed. There's many times somebody has come to me as a pastor, and they have asked me,

Pastor, what is God's will for my life? And they're amazed when I repeat to them a passage in 1

Thessalonians 5, which says, Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

It wasn't quite the answer that they were looking for. They wanted me to tell them what their fortune was going to be, basically.

Here's where you're going to live. Here's who you're going to marry. Here's the kind of job or the career that you are going to have. Those are some big life decisions, and to make those decisions in a responsible way, it's good to get the counsel of others.

I don't think you should even jump into a marriage without getting the counsel of others. You should ask for advice.

You should seek the guidance of a pastor who can even give you wisdom from the Word and what the

Bible has to say about marriage. I once had a very trusted friend of mine came to me and said,

I've been given a job offer, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I should take it. Now, selfishly,

I wanted to tell him that he shouldn't take it, because I knew it meant that he would be moving, and he would be going to another state.

What he provided for me as far as wisdom and counsel as a pastor, as a man in my church,

I greatly valued that, and so I didn't want to lose that in my own congregation. But he and I sat down, and we went through a list of pros and cons.

What would you gain by moving? What would be the benefit of staying here? After we went through all of that, we basically came to the decision that I think it would be wiser if you were to take the job.

We prayed about it, and he sought counsel from some others as well, but ultimately, that was the decision that he made, and he did so to the glory of God.

So you can make those decisions, big life decisions that you have to make, do it unto the Lord, and certainly don't make a decision that would be sin.

That definitely goes against something that Scripture says, but in all things that we do, whatever decisions that we make, the

Holy Spirit's not going to speak to your mind, and he's not going to tell you, you absolutely should do this decision.

But whatever decision you make, do it unto the glory of God. God has spoken to us in his

Word, he doesn't speak to us through subjective thoughts, though our thoughts can be trained by the

Holy Spirit of God through what we read in the Word, so that when we make especially moral decisions, our conscience has been shaped and formed by the

Word of God that we have written on our hearts and minds when we study it. We continue on to Proverbs 15, 23.

I was going to say Proverbs 23, but it's not Proverbs 23. Verse 23 of chapter 15, and this flows right from the proverb we just read.

A man has gladness in an apt answer. So he's sought the counsel of others, he's given some advice, and he has gladness in an apt answer, and how good is a timely word.

The answer is apt, and it is timely. Apt meaning that it is suitable to the situation.

It is the kind of advice that he needed to hear. The kind of counsel that he was seeking.

And the answer is also direct. It's clear. It's not ambiguous. It's not something like, oh, you know, like a fortune cookie gives, right?

It was the last time you went to a Chinese restaurant and opened up a fortune cookie. Those fortunes are so generic.

Something great's going to happen for you today, you know, and that's like Joel Osteen's teaching as well.

I swear he's been opening up fortune cookies before he goes out on stage and does his sermon. Quote, unquote sermon.

But anyway, so a man has gladness when he receives a clear and direct and rightly applied answer, which he was seeking, which he was looking for, because this is a wise man we're talking about here.

So he sought the counsel of others, and he sought the way that he should go. And how good is a timely word?

It's given in love. It's given in friendliness, that such a person may follow this timely advice and succeed.

With the plans that they are going forward with doing all things to the glory of God. Once again, verse 24, we're still talking about walking this particular direction.

The path of life leads upward for the one who has insight that he may turn away from Sheol below.

Now, the interesting thing about this, the verse doesn't say this directly, but in Jewish culture, in Jewish tradition, going up was to ascend

Mount Moriah to the place of God where the temple was. And God dwelled there in the temple with his people to go down to descend was to go into the valley.

Right. But it was also to go into a place where flesh was burned, dead bodies, carcasses, trash refuse.

And this place was called Gehenna. And that is a word that is synonymous with hell.

That's to go down. That was what was down in the low places outside of Jerusalem.

So to go down was to go to the grave. It was to go to Sheol. That's why going down is synonymous with going to the grave.

You're descending. But to go up was to go up to the place of God, even literally on the landscape, the topography there where Jerusalem sat.

And you had the temple there on Mount Moriah as well, which was even the highest spot in Jerusalem. So to ascend was to go up to the place of God and the path of life leads upward to God fellowship with God for the one who has insight.

And how do we gain insight through God's word that he may turn away from Sheol below?

If he's going toward God, he's going away from the grave, right? He's going away from Gehenna and hell.

James says in James chapter four, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Flee from the devil.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Verse 25, Yahweh will tear down the house of the proud, but he will cause the boundary of the widow to stand the boundary of the widow, meaning her habitation where she lives.

He is her protector. As it says in Psalm 72, father to the fatherless and protector of widows is

Yahweh in his holy habitation. So he looks out for those who are the most needy, who are the who have nothing they cannot provide for themselves.

And spiritually, for us, even we have been told to be beggars, to come to God as meek and poor in spirit.

And we will receive, as Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of God.

And to be poor, to be destitute spiritually in this way is to recognize we have nothing without God, that we may extend our hand and receive nothing but love and kindness from the

Lord who tears down the house of the proud, who thinks he doesn't need anything from God, but he will cause the the boundary of the needy to stand of the widow to stand.

Verse 26, evil thoughts are an abomination to Yahweh, but pleasant words are pure.

Now, this goes back to, you know, lessons we were looking at earlier this week when we've been in first Corinthians chapter six.

I took you also to Colossians chapter three, demonstrating that even the desire for sin is sin.

Sin is not just something you do. And once you've committed the act, then you've done it. It comes from a heart that's sinful.

You wanted to do the act. And that's why you went out and did the sin. And there are some that permit this, this kind of sinful thinking like, oh, you can be same sex attracted.

That's fine. As long as you don't do it, then you're not actually sinning. No, you're desiring something that is wicked.

That is an abomination before God. And as it says strictly here in Proverbs 15, 26, evil thoughts are an abomination to Yahweh.

We must be pure even in our thinking, but that cannot be accomplished without Christ.

It is daily submitting yourself unto the Lord. It says going on here in verse 26, pleasant words are pure, but pleasant words are pure.

And remember, we've made the connection before between thoughts and the words.

This is in multiple Proverbs where this is done, where what comes from the mouth is what comes out of the heart.

Jesus said so in Matthew chapter 12 out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

So we have this connection between thoughts and words here as well. Evil thoughts are an abomination, but pleasant words are pure.

Why pleasant words? Where do those pleasant words come from? A pure heart, a heart that has been washed clean by God and made righteous by faith in Christ.

We go on to verse 27. He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates gifts of bribery will live.

We're talking about corrupting justice here. So a person who takes a bribe would corrupt justice to make whatever decision that the person who's bribing them would be willing to make.

This is a person whose mind is made up by money. So who is greedy for gain brings trouble on his own house because he's just following the money.

He will go after wherever he can get the bills, not after what is right. But what after?

But what he goes after, what makes him rich? Verse 28, the heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things.

This is like James saying, be slow to speak and quick to listen, right?

You know, we need to do this even online. Oftentimes we think of like fast answers is something that you only do in person, but you're more thoughtful when you're responding on Facebook or Twitter or writing a blog or writing an article or something like that.

No, even with the things that we type with our fingers, we must put this into practice.

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer so that the words that we say would be pleasing unto the

Lord. And as it says in Ephesians 4, 29 would give grace to those who hear the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil things.

Notice the difference there that you have the heart of the righteous ponders the mouth of the wicked pours.

So it's just constantly overflowing with wickedness. It's like this guy cannot even shut his mouth, control the flow of the evil things that will come from his heart and through his lips.

Verse 29, Yahweh is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Remember the verse I quoted to you earlier, John 14, six, Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the father, but by me. God does not even listen to our prayers if it is not through Jesus Christ that we address the father.

And Jesus has called for us to become children of God and call upon our benevolent heavenly father.

He taught us to pray this way in Matthew chapter six to say, our father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Holy is your name. Yahweh is far from those who are not seeking

God through the faith that they have in Christ, but he hears the prayer of the righteous because we've been adopted into the family of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

We've been made righteous by faith in Christ. Verse 30, bright eyes, glad in the heart, a good report puts fat on the bones.

Joy is even healthy to an individual. That's not to say that we won't mourn in this world because even going back to the

Beatitudes again, Jesus said, blessed are they who mourn for they will be comforted.

And he said to his disciples in this world, you will have tribulation, but he says to take heart for I have overcome the world right now.

I'm working on a study for our Sunday school classes at church, and we're going through First Thessalonians. And one of the themes that we see that comes up regularly in First Thessalonians is how often

Paul tells the church in Thessalonica to rejoice in suffering.

You are suffering. You are being persecuted. He says to the church in Thessalonica, I even warned you that you would go through persecution for your faith, but take heart because God reigns.

Christ is returning, and we know that by his resurrection, we also will be raised with him and live with him forever in glory.

And it's knowing that the good news of the gospel, that we're forgiven our sins by Christ's death on the cross and given new life by his resurrection.

It's in knowing the gospel message that our heart becomes glad. We have hope and we look forward with joy to that day.

We will be with God forever. This world is not our home. My friends, we're just a passing through as the old spiritual goes.

This is transient, Paul said with the Corinthians. These things are transient. We put our hope in those things which are eternal with God above and glory.

Verse 31. Oh, and by the way, that's a good report. So let that put fat on your bones.

You're comforted. You're warmed by that prepared for a difficult season. That's what putting fat on the bones means.

So you've gained fat in a season of harvest so that when you go through the winter, you've got some warmth on your bones.

So let the good news of the gospel comfort you in difficult seasons. OK, now going on to verse 31.

He whose ear listens to the life giving reproof will lodge among the wise.

Jesus said to the church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter three, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.

So be zealous and repent. And if we listen to that discipline and correct our behavior because of the instruction, the correction that we received, we will lodge among the wise.

Verse 32. He who neglects discipline despises his soul.

But he who listens to reproof acquires a heart of wisdom that goes right along with verse 31.

And we read something similar. Well, it comes up a lot in Proverbs, but just thinking particular of Proverbs 12 one, whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge.

But he who hates reproof is senseless. That's out of the legacy standard Bible. I have to say,

I like the ESV there. He who who hates reproof is stupid. One of the acceptable occasions where you can use the word stupid as it appears in the

Bible. So, again, he who neglects discipline despises his own soul because he's not willing to listen to correction and choose the path of life, that which leads upward to Yahweh.

Remember, but he who listens to reproof acquires a heart of wisdom, the wisdom of God.

And we conclude here, finishing up chapter 15 and our lesson today with verse 33.

The fear of Yahweh is the discipline that leads to wisdom and before glory comes humility, as is said in James and in first Peter, chapter five, humble yourselves before the

Lord and he will exalt you. Heavenly Father, Yahweh, our

God, we thank you for these words today. These are pure words. These are right words that have come to us from God that we read here in the pages of scripture.

And I pray that that we will shape our lives by them, that you will conform our thinking and our hearts to your mind, to your words, to the very mind of Christ.

May we have the fear of Yahweh that leads to wisdom. May we be humble in these days, looking unto your glory and anxiously awaiting that day when

Christ returns, the arrival of our savior, Jesus Christ. We live every day for that day.

Today, we live for the day of the Lord because it's that day we will be with you forever in glory.

Oh, how we want it and oh, how we need it. Maranatha, come quickly,