WWUTT 1454 The Stupid Man Hates Correction (Proverbs 12:1-14)

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The righteous man does in service unto God. All that he does is to the praise and honor and glory of his

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King. But the wicked man goes after his flesh and will face judgment for it 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 and A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's

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Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study in the book of Proverbs, starting chapter 12 today.

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If you wanna open up your Bible and join with me there, I am in the English Standard Version today.

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I had not been able to find my Legacy Standard Bible all week. I finally found it today. It was buried on my desk, of course.

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But as I said, when I started reading from it, I wasn't sure this was gonna be an official switch.

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I just wanted to see how it felt and really enjoyed it. I hope you've enjoyed it too. Looking forward to the full version of the

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LSB, which is supposed to be releasing later this year. We're back to the ESV today.

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This is Proverbs 12, reading verses one through nine. "'Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, "'but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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"'A good man obtains favor from the Lord, "'but a man of evil devices he condemns.

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"'No one is established by wickedness, "'but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

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"'An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, "'but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

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"'The thoughts of the righteous are just, "'the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

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"'The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, "'but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

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"'The wicked are overthrown and are no more, "'but the house of the righteous will stand.

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"'A man is condemned according to his good sense, "'but one of twisted mind is despised.

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"'Better to be lowly and have a servant "'than to play the great man and lack bread. "'Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, "'but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

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"'Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, "'but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

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"'Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, "'but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

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"'An evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, "'but the righteous escapes from trouble.

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"'From the fruit of his mouth, a man is satisfied with good, "'and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

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"'That was through verse 14, not through verse nine.'" It's 28 verses in this chapter, so we'll cut it in half right there.

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You know, it's by the providence of God we come into this verse today. Proverbs 12, one, "'Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge, "'but he who hates reproof is stupid.'"

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I believe that was the first verse that I mentioned this week in my interview with the Babylon Bee. I don't know if you subscribe to the

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Babylon Bee podcast, but if you're curious, I was in an interview with those guys, with Kyle and Ethan, who hosts the podcast, just asking me questions about some of the what videos that I've done, and some of the things that I've tweeted online as well.

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One of the first videos they asked me about was a YouTube video entitled, "'Are You Stupid?'

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And it was about having a biblical understanding of that word stupid.

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And this happens to be one of my favorite and most used verses in Proverbs, because it has the word stupid in it.

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"'Whoever loves discipline, loves knowledge. "'Whoever loves to be corrected "'so that they may know the right way to go.

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"'They love knowledge, "'knowing what is true and what is right. "'But he who hates reproof, "'the one who hates to be corrected, is stupid.

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"'They continue in their own foolishness. "'They go their own way. "'They direct their own paths.

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"'To the person who hates correction, "'north is whatever way he wants it to be.

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"'To the person who loves discipline, "'north is exactly where it is. "'Which way is north?

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"'That way. "'Great, then that's the direction I'm going to go. "'Whereas the, again, the person who hates correction "'is just going to go wherever he wants to go.

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"'Verse two, a good man obtains favor from the Lord, "'but a man of evil devices he condemns.'"

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And we've read verses similar to this over the course of our study in the book of Proverbs. The good man is the one who does good that God calls good.

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And he receives the favor of God. He is blessed by God. When we read in the

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Beatitudes, blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see

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God. The word blessed in those eight Beatitudes means to be approved by God.

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It is to have God's approval. So oftentimes it is said that blessed means happy.

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Happy is the man, happy are the pure in heart, or happy are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied.

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And it is true, but why is that man happy? Because he has the approval of God. So a good man, he who does what the

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Lord calls righteous, obtains favor from the Lord. He has God's approval, but a man of evil devices is condemned by God.

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The Lord is not with him and will fall into condemnation on the day of judgment.

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Verse three, no one is established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be moved.

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This goes back to the analogy that I started with. The man who loves correction, loves to know the truth.

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Which way is North? That way is North. North is the same for everybody. So therefore knowing the direction of North, he goes the right way and he's able to direct a person in the right way.

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His way is fixed on a fixed point on something objective that is outside himself.

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But the person who is wicked, who hates correction, who goes any way he wants to go, he's not established by any fixed point.

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So he's easily tossed to and fro. The root of the righteous will never be moved. A person who is righteous is rooted in something.

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They are fixed in something greater than themselves. As we read back in Psalm one, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers.

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His delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law, he meditates day and night.

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He is like a tree planted by streams of water, but the wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away.

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That's in verse four there of Psalm one. So we see that same kind of a thing said here about the righteous and the wicked in Proverbs 12, three.

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Going on to verse four, an excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

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We're going through first Corinthians on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Eventually we're gonna get to chapter 11 where we read about head coverings.

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And it's there in verse seven, where Paul says that a woman is the glory of man because woman was taken out of man.

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That is why she's called woman, which means out of man. So a good wife is a glory to her husband.

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She is like a crown to her husband. Surely you've heard it said, or maybe you've even done this before.

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You look at a guy who's got a really good wife and you say to him, man, that is a really nice wife that you have there.

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You've got a good woman there. And he's really proud of that. When people are complimenting him because of how wonderful his wife is, that is a glory to her husband.

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But you have the contrast there. She who brings shame is like rottenness to his bones.

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That's described as being like an incurable disease right down to the very core of the person.

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It hurts to even get up. She is a woman who brings shame to this man. She brings this man down.

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And we read in other places in Proverbs. Proverbs 21 .9, it is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

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Verse 19, it is better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and fretful woman.

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So the Bible has some pretty sharp things to say about a woman who brings shame to her husband.

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Wives, be in obedience to the Lord first of all, submit to your husband, honor him, and you likewise will be honored.

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We go on to verse five. The thoughts of the righteous are just the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

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The righteous consider right ways. That word righteous is oftentimes synonymous with justice.

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They're interchangeable in many places in scripture. To do what is righteous is to do what is right.

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To do justice is to do what is just is what God says is right and just.

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So the thoughts of the righteous are just. They are on those ways that are right according to what

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God has said in his word. The counsels of the wicked are not just. They are not right. They do not go in the right way.

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They are wicked and deceitful. Verse six, the words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.

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The words of the wicked, a wicked man, when he gives counsel, there may not be immediate consequence for listening to the words of a wicked man, but eventually that's what's gonna come about.

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If you go in the way that the wicked go, there will be consequences for those actions somewhere down that road.

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You will either face those consequences in this life or you will face those consequences when you stand before God in judgment and ultimately they bring death.

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The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood. Eventually they have a horrible outcome.

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Whereas the house of the righteous, oh, I'm sorry, that's verse seven. The mouth of the upright delivers them.

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If we follow in the ways of the upright, the one who does what is right, this still, again, goes right along with righteousness and justice, that which

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God calls right, then we will be delivered by the word of God, which is what the upright follows.

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We will be delivered. Not only will there not be any consequences for wrong actions, but when judgment comes upon the wicked, we will be delivered because we followed in the way of God.

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Verse seven explains exactly that. The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.

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Consider the analogy that Jesus gave at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7. Whoever hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who builds his house upon the rock.

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The storms come and beat against that house, but it stands because it's built upon the rock.

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But the foolish man builds his house upon the sand. And when the storms come and beat against the house, that house will fall and great is the fall of it.

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And so we must build our lives on Christ Jesus and we will stand. The wicked will be overthrown and cast down.

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Verse eight, a man is commended according to his good sense, but one of twisted mind is despised.

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And you know a man of good sense, right? Somebody who has sound counsel and gives good advice, who is wise beyond his years.

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He is commended for the wisdom that he has, but the one of twisted mind who gives bad advice that leads to terrible consequences.

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If you follow his advice, he comes to be despised. I have been the recipient of both.

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I have received good advice and I have received bad advice. And yeah, that bad advice,

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I don't think too fond of that person that gave me such unsound counsel, but we learn from those situations too, do we not?

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Going on now into verse nine, better to be lowly and have a servant than to play the great man and lack bread.

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Now it almost seems like the roles are reversed here. Wouldn't it be the great man who would have the servant and the lowly man, you know, maybe he has bread or something.

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Well, we're not really talking about a person who is poor when we talk about the lowly man and someone who is rich when we talk about the great man.

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The lowly man is the rich one in this particular proverb, but he's humble about it. He doesn't boast in his wealth or in his greatness or in his achievements or any of these things.

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He's lowly, he's appreciative unto God for all that he has. And he has a servant who helps him gather food, provides, cares for his household.

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Then you've got the great man, and this is a person who is boasting as if he is something great, that he has a lot, that he possesses much, when the reality is he doesn't have anything at all.

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He's boasting in utterly nothing. So it's better to have a lot and be humble about it than to have nothing and to boast about it and you don't even have bread.

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And then who will even come to your aid because you're boasting in yourself. Apparently you don't even need help. So why would anybody bring you food if you acted like you didn't need it?

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Verse 10, whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

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It's interesting to consider this. We don't think about it often, but the Bible even gives instruction on caring for our animals well.

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There were laws regarding this, even in the law, even in Leviticus, instructions that are given about right care for animals.

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Oftentimes we think of this as, that's a tree hugger thing, right? That's an environmentalist deal to be mindful of animals, but we need to care for animals too.

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Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast. He is so appreciative of everything that God has made and what

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God has given that he regards even the lives of animals. But compare this with the wicked man in the second part of verse 10, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.

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And that's in regards to people. The wicked man doesn't treat people well, but the righteous man has such regard for that which

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God has made, he even treats animals well. This understanding that the mercy of the wicked is cruel, we see this in critical race theory and intersectionality, where you have this constant shame and blame game that is going on.

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And even Christian ministers that are caught up in this will say things like, we cannot be reconciled without reparations.

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Charlie Dates, who's the pastor of Progressive Church in Chicago, he has said exactly that. You can't be my brother unless you pay me money.

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The price that Christ paid on the cross for our sins, that wasn't enough. If you and I are gonna be reconciled, you better reach into your wallet and start giving.

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Well, how much do I have to give? I don't know, but you better start giving because you need to start now if you're ever gonna come to the end of this.

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There is no end game to critical race theory and intersectionality. It's all about how you owe me.

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You are my oppressor and so therefore you must give. There's no mercy in this, no forgiveness.

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And what makes me tremble about these men and women who push this particular worldly ideology is that Jesus said in Matthew chapter six, if you will not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father forgive you of your trespasses.

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And in this particular case, there's not even a trespass that's been committed in what we're talking about regarding critical race theory and intersectionality.

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It's grabbing sins of the past and saying, you're at fault because of these sins that have been committed against me long ago or committed against my ancestors long ago.

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And pulling that into the present and saying, now this entire skin color of people owes this entire skin color of people because of past transgressions.

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There's no forgiveness, no mercy. Friends tremble before God. We must be merciful and forgiving of one another, especially, especially in the body of Christ.

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For we had sinned against God and he has forgiven us by faith in Christ our

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Lord. We go on to verse 11. Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who suffers worthless, or sorry, he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.

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You know what? This proverb comes to mind whenever I hit those moments in a day where I'm just clicking stupid stuff on the internet.

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You ever had that, ever had those moments? Those are worthless pursuits. When you're watching dumb

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YouTube videos or following foolish threads on Twitter or Facebook or any of those things, nothing productive comes out of that at all.

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But whoever works will have something to show for the work that he has done.

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Whoever just sits on the internet and clicks through dumb stuff is not gonna have anything to show for that.

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It is, again, it's just unproductive. I've wasted so many hours. I could have spent writing or accomplishing something else, making phone calls, writing cards, whatever.

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I've spent so many hours clicking dumb stuff instead of getting something done. Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.

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Now it has some similarities with the previous verse, but not exactly, because what is it that the wicked covets?

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He's not coveting what a person who works has. He's coveting what evildoers have.

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So if you've ever found yourself looking at people who sin and think to yourself, man, I wish I could go after that.

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I wish I could enjoy what those sinners are enjoying for a little while. Just give up this righteousness and indulge in a little bit of sin, a little bit of fleshly pleasure.

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What would be wrong with that? My friend, repent of that attitude because that's wicked. The wicked covet the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous is not sitting around thinking about, boy,

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I wish I could indulge the passions of my flesh for a little while. The righteous is continuing to do what is right in service unto

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God and bears fruit. Remember the words that Christ said in Matthew chapter seven, you will know them by their fruit.

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The wicked has no fruit to show because they're coveting what the evil do, whereas the righteous man works in service to God and has fruit to show for it.

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Verse 13, an evil man is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous escapes from trouble.

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Evil man speaks evil things and he will fall into his own evil words, but the righteous speaks what is good and what is right and does not cause trouble for himself.

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So you think of what the evil man is ensnared by, things like gossip, slander, spreading rumors, being a busy body.

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The righteous loves what is right and pure. And finally, verse 14, from the fruit of his mouth, a man is satisfied with good and the work of a man's hand comes back to him.

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The words that we speak, may the words we speak and the things we do be done in the sight of God to his pleasure, to his glory.

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And when we do that, we are satisfied with good and there are good blessings that will come back to us.

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Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for these Proverbs, very practical wisdom that can be so readily applied to our every day.

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And I pray we walk in the light of these things according to the goodness that you have shown to us through Jesus Christ, our

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Lord, the greatest wisdom, which comes from Christ. And it's in his name that we pray, amen.

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This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.