WWUTT 1524 Whoever Covers Transgression Seeks Love (Proverbs 17:1-14)

A person who loves lies goes after lies. Someone who loves strife goes after strife. We need to be a people who loves the truth and grows one another in peace when we understand the text.

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Proverbs 17:1-2 — Peace in the House and Faithful Service

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Proverbs, Chapter 17. If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there, we're going to read through the first 16 verses here. Out of the Legacy Standard Bible, this is the word of the Lord.

Better is a dry morsel and tranquility with it than a house full of feasting with strife. A slave who acts insightfully will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share in the inheritance among brothers.

The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts. An evildoer gives heed to lips of wickedness, a liar gives ear to a destructive tongue. He who mocks the poor reproaches his Maker.

He who is glad at disaster will not go unpunished. Grandchildren are the crown of old men, and the beauty of sons is their father's. Excellent lips are not fitting for a wicked fool, even less are lying lips for a noble man.

A bribe is a charm in the eyes of its owner. Wherever he turns, he prospers. He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close companions. A rebuke goes deeper into one who understands than a hundred blows into a fool.

A rebellious man seeks only evil, so a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly. He who returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.

The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so abandon the dispute before it breaks out. He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.

Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to acquire wisdom when he has no heart of wisdom? So we come back here to verse 1. Better is a dry morsel and tranquility with it than a house full of feasting with strife.

So it's better to have a meager meal, something small and something simple, and experience peace and quietness than to have a house full of feasting that is also full of strife. You might have full bellies, but your spirits are troubled with all of the division and the conflict and things like that that are going on.

Now there are some translations of this passage that says that a house full of sacrifices with strife, but feasting is still an appropriate translation because it's talking about the feasting that would accompany those sacrifices.

There were times when after a sacrifice there would be a great feast. But how meaningful, how genuine are those sacrifices and how enjoyable can that feast be when there is anger and bitterness in the household where that feast is held or those sacrifices are meant to cover?

We go on in verse 2 to read that a slave who acts insightfully will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share in the inheritance among brothers. You know, there were some households where slaves were considered family.

We hate that word slave. We try to avoid it. In fact, many translations of the Bible try to avoid the word slave. I'm reading out of the Legacy Standard Bible, which has brought that word slave back into prominence in the translation because that's actually what the word means, the word that it's translated from.

And also Yahweh, the covenant name for God, we see throughout the Old Testament and I've even read it here. We're going to come upon it as we continue to go through these Psalms. So here you have slave used where it might previously say bond servant or just servant, but a slave who acts insightfully will rule over a son who acts shamefully as these slaves were considered to be members of the family as they worked and labored.

They could even buy their own freedom or be considered recipients of the inheritance of the master of the house. And so here a slave who serves a master with a good heart will receive what belongs to the master over the son who acts shamefully.

He'll be cut off from this inheritance. So the slave will share in the inheritance among the brothers. And there's an inheritance we receive if we are good slaves of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew, chapter eight, verse 11, Jesus said, I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

While the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The Jews were to be recipients of those promises, but they acted shamefully and God will cut them off.

Whereas those who are good slaves of the Lord Jesus will receive the kingdom, Jesus said later on in Matthew 24, 45, who then is the faithful and wise slave whom his master has set over his household to give him their food at the proper time.

Blessed is that slave whom his master will find so doing when he returns. May we be good and faithful slaves of the Lord Christ until the day of his coming. Let's go on here to verse three. The refining pot is also translated.

The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold. But Yahweh tests the hearts. So there is fire that is used to purify silver and gold. And in the same way, there is a fire that purifies our hearts.

We read in first Peter chapter one that we have been promised an inheritance, just like we talked about in the previous proverb. That is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you who, by God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And we have also read as we've been going through first Corinthians three about a testing of fire. Each one's work will become manifest for the day will disclose it because it will be revealed by fire and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

So may we be found working faithfully unto the Lord until the day of Christ. We go on in verse four, Proverbs 17, verse four, an evildoer gives heed to lips of wickedness. A liar gives ear to a destructive tongue.

A person who is evil, they listen to those who speak evil. A man who is a liar, he listens to lies. Why is it that there are people who go after false teachers? Because they like the things that the false teachers promise them.

That's why they listen to false teachers. So in this way, false teachers are a judgment. When we read from Paul telling Timothy that in the last days, people will not listen to sound doctrine, but they will have itching ears and they will go after those teachers that will scratch their itching ears for them because they don't want sound doctrine.

They like the lies, so they go after the one who speaks lies. A liar listens to lies. An evildoer listens to wickedness. We go on here to verse five. He who mocks the poor, reproaches his maker. He who is glad at disaster will not go unpunished.

Whoever mocks the poor, reproaches his maker. Remember that we are supposed to be poor in spirit. That's how Jesus describes his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, in the Beatitudes, in Matthew chapter five, blessed are the poor in spirit.

If we mock those who are poor in spirit, if you contend with those who are supposed to be your brothers and sisters in the Lord, then you reveal that you actually don't belong to the Lord. Let me go back to Matthew 24, section that I read to you there was verses 45 and 46.

Jesus says of that faithful slave, truly I say to you, the master will set that faithful slave over all his possessions. Verse 48, but if the wicked slave says to himself, my master is delayed and he begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So the one who mocks the poor, reproaches his maker. He who is glad at disaster will not go unpunished. We should mourn when there is disaster. We're not happy over it, but we mourn because we know that this world has been subjected to corruption.

It's been subjected to futility. Disaster that we witness in this world reminds us of the cost of sin. It was because a man sinned against God that all things have been subject to corruption. And so we long instead for that day when even all of creation will be delivered from this corruption into purity, into perfection.

When Christ comes, who is making all things new, we long for those days of perfection that will come in Christ's imperishable, perfect kingdom. We go on here in verse six to read, grandchildren are the crown of old men and the beauty of sons is their fathers.

We have this beautiful generational circle that's going on here. We have grandchildren are a beauty for old men and fathers are a beauty for their sons. So you see how that goes? Grandfather, father and son, grandchildren, the crown of old men.

We read in Psalms 126 and 127 that children are a blessing from God and a son who is a good son has been made a good son because he has a good father who's been teaching him good wisdom, just like we've had here in the book of Proverbs.

Remember, we started Proverbs with a father giving wisdom to his son, raising up a good son who fears God and knows his word and desires to live according to it because he's received that wisdom from his father.

The blessings of God extend generations in this way. You have a father that teaches his son who teaches his son and on and on it goes and all glory given unto the Lord. Consider this word from John MacArthur writing on this particular verse.

He says, Godly influence generates mutual love and respect in a family which extends from generation to generation. We see this also in Psalm 90 and even in the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20, where it says, honor your father and your mother, one who does that, who keeps that command.

It will go well with him and they will live long in the land that God is giving to them. Now think about this in terms of heavenly things. We're not promised an earthly land necessarily, a new heavens and a new earth, certainly.

But this promise, this inheritance that we receive, if we take what we have learned from God and his word, we take the gospel, we extend it to the next generation. They believe it and pass it on to the next generation.

All of these generations that join us together in glory, don't you want to see your children there someday? Then teach them the gospel, teach them the good things of God that we have according to his word, a crown for old men and the beauty of sons is their fathers.

We go on to verse seven, excellent lips are not fitting for a wicked fool. In other words, wicked men don't have lips that speak honest and good things. Even less are lying lips for a noble man. Do you want to be noble?

Do you want to be good? Do you want to be like, like those old men who wear crowns of glory that we just read about previously in verse six, then desire those things that are good and speak with lips that are honoring of the Lord.

Verse eight, a bribe is a charm in the eyes of its owner. We kind of continue this theme of lying lips here. So a bribe is a charm in the eyes of its owner. Wherever he turns, he prospers. But as that's being spoken about here in Proverbs 17, eight, that's a bad thing.

He prospers. Indeed, he prospers in dishonesty, a bribe, a charm in the eyes of its owner. The one who makes the bribe and wherever he turns, he prospers. He is prospering with bribery, and that will bring him to destruction.

We continue to verse nine. He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close companions. So if a person has done a wrong and he desires to, he desires reconciliation after that wrong, he's going to seek after love.

He wants to make amends. He wants relationships to be repaired. But the person who repeats a matter, so he's done a wrong, he may have even sought forgiveness for that wrong, but he continues to do the wrong.

Well, there's not going to be reconciliation. There's not going to be a restoration that will happen. Though he has sought forgiveness, he doesn't truly desire that forgiveness because he continues to repeat the wrong.

So he's going to separate close companions. There will not be reconciliation among those who have been wronged. It's just further division. My friends, we need to think about this also when we come to God and ask for his forgiveness.

If we're truly repentant over the wrongs that we have done, the sins that we have committed, then we won't walk in those sins anymore. We will try to stay far away from them and instead walk in the righteousness of Christ that we have been given.

If we're truly repentant before God, but if a person asks God's forgiveness and then continues to repeat the wrong over and over again, living in that sin as though I can just continue to do this and God is going to forgive me for it, well, there's still strife between him and God.

There is not a close companion, a relationship between you and God, a good relationship. In fact, it's a broken relationship. And so do not love the sin. Do not continue to entertain those passions of the flesh and think that you are still on good ground with God.

Flee from the immorality and cling to Jesus Christ. Verse 10, a rebuke goes deeper into one who understands than a hundred blows into a fool. In other words, one who has understanding is going to receive that rebuke.

But the one who is a fool and will not listen to rebuke, you could strike him a hundred times and he will not change his ways. This is something we've seen over and over again in the in the Proverbs. But I think of Proverbs 12, one, whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Going on to verse 11, a rebellious man seeks only evil. So a cruel messenger will be sent against him. This goes back to something we were talking about before. The person who loves lies listens to lies.

So the person who loves evil, he's only going to seek after evil. A cruel messenger is going to be sent to him, one who has a message that the rebellious man enjoys, and he will follow after that message to his own destruction.

Consider Second Thessalonians 2, 11 and 12. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Verse 12, let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly. Angry animals are capable of more reason. It would be easier to to reason with a mad bear than it would be to reason with a fool.

That's essentially what the what the proverb is saying here. So we go on to verse 13. He who returns evil for good, evil will not depart from his house. If he returns evil for good, he doesn't love good, but he loves evil.

Then he brings evil even over to his own house. Isaiah 3, 9, they have brought evil on themselves. Isaiah 5, 20. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

We continue on to verse 14. The beginning of strife is like letting out water. So abandon the dispute before it breaks out. We're not just talking about some kind of leaky vessel here. We might be talking about a leak in a dam where there's water coming out of the dam.

You have a little bit of time to get that leak patched up to patch up the cracks or that dam is going to break. And you've got a full fledged disaster on your hands. I was reading recently about the St. Francis Dam disaster that happened in California back in 1928.

This is the second greatest loss of life after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. There was a dam that was constructed north of Los Angeles to help meet the growing water demands of the of the growing populace of Los Angeles.

But the dam was constructed poorly. It did not have a good foundation. It was built larger than the plans had planned for. There was this leak in the dam. It was leaking muddy water. And this guy saw it and knew that meant that the foundation of the dam was breaking down.

But the people in charge of the dam did not heed the warning. The dam broke and killed hundreds of people as a 50 foot high wall of water swept all the way out to the Pacific Ocean, which was about 55 miles away.

I've even driven through a part of California just north of Santa Clarita that would have been impacted by that particular flood as a result of that dam break. And there are possibly hundreds more people that died later on as a result of the disaster.

So they weren't killed immediately in the disaster. But later on, as a result of the disaster, there were many others who died. All of that could have been prevented or at least well, it could have been prevented if it was constructed right in the first place.

But they at least could have warned people well in advance had they heeded the warning of the of the leak. The leak was a sign that the dam was coming apart, but they did not pay attention to the warning signs.

And so what's being said here in this particular proverb is that when strife breaks out, when a quarrel begins, well, that's like a leak. You can stop it right there. But if you don't stop it, if you don't abandon the dispute, well, it could turn into something much bigger and and not not only affect the two people who are quarreling with one another, but there are many others who could be affected by that as well.

So if you have wisdom to recognize that there is a quarrel breaking out between two people, stop it early before it develops into something that creates strife between brothers so that we may demonstrate the love of God with one another, being gracious to each other as God has been gracious to us.

Let us not go looking for quarrels. We're looking for ways to make peace with one another, for God made peace with us by giving his son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. May we who are in Christ Jesus live in peace all of our days so that when the master returns, he finds good and faithful slaves and will say to us, well done, good and faithful slave.

Now, great is your reward in heaven and we will we will reign forever with Christ in glory. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for this good wisdom that you have given to us today. And may we exercise it with one another, growing each other in the truth and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is in his precious name that we pray. Amen.

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