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Reading Proverbs 15:11-20 and gaining joy, understanding, and contentment through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
God has numbered a man's days that he cannot pass. The scriptures say, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom, seeking after Christ and through faith in Jesus, we will live when we understand the text.
This is when we understand the text, teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here's Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Proverbs 15, and picking up where we left off last week, I'm gonna start reading here in verses 11 through 20 out of the Legacy Standard Bible.
This is Proverbs 15. Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Yahweh. How much more the hearts of the sons of men? A scoffer does not love one who reproves him. He will not go to the wise. A glad heart makes a face look good, but when the heart is pained, the spirit is broken.
The heart of the one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but a good heart has a continual feast. Better is a little with the fear of Yahweh than great treasure and turmoil with it.
Better is a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox and hatred in it. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger quiets a dispute. The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother. So we come back to this first one here, verse 11. Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Yahweh. How much more the hearts of the sons of men.
What are Sheol and Abaddon? Well, we've talked about Sheol before. That is simply the word for the grave. So the grave is open before the Lord. In fact, God holds every life in his hand. As it says in Job 14, five, God has determined a man's days that he cannot pass.
You live for exactly as long as God means for you to. You cannot add one day to your life. You cannot take away a day. So as it says in the Psalms, teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
So the grave is open before God. He determines when a man enters it. And Abaddon, that's the other word here. Now, this is the only place in the Old Testament that this Hebrew word appears, the Hebrew word that we have translated here for Abaddon.
It is the place of destruction. And in some English translations, you probably see this translated hell. So it might say Sheol and hell lie open, or it might say the grave and hell lie open before Yahweh.
So not only has God determined a man's days, not only is a man's life in God's hands, but even his judgment. So God determines where a man goes when he dies. Hell is symbolic here of the judgment of God, the wrath of God.
So God holds a man's life in his hand, and he determines where the soul of that man goes. Now, why would only hell be mentioned here and not heaven? Why doesn't it say Sheol and Abaddon and heaven lie open before God, or Abaddon and heaven, putting hell and heaven side by side?
Well, because heaven doesn't lie open. So you have the picture here of something below, something underneath. And it's also a picture here of judgment, that a man may fear the judgment of God. And if we have the promise of heaven given here, well, there is not a fear of the judgment of God.
So it's that a man would know God holds his life in his hand, and even the judgment, the destination of that person is in the hand of God so that we would fear the Lord. For as it says in Proverbs 1, 7, as we started in the very beginning of Proverbs, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
So we would fear Yahweh and his judgments. No one in the Bible talked about hell more than Jesus did. Why did he talk about hell so much? So we would not go there. So we would fear God and repent of our sin and turn to Jesus Christ and live.
So there are times when talking about hell, when we refer to judgment, is what is needed for man to fear his ways, to recognize that the way that he goes does stand in judgment before God. God will judge us for our works.
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Yahweh. He knows why a man goes down to the grave. It's because of his sin. He knows why a man ends up in hell. It's because of his sin. So how much more do the hearts of the sons of men lie open before God, all of us who have sinned before God?
May we examine our ways. We number our days, we examine our ways that we may gain a heart of wisdom, brothers and sisters, amen? So we go on to verse 12. A scoffer does not love one who reproves him. He will not go to the wise.
So we go from a verse here where we're talking about the judgment of God, so now we're going on here to talk about one who has no fear of judgment. A scoffer does not love the one who reproves him. Jesus said in Revelation chapter three, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
But the scoffer does not love the one who reproves, and he does not go to the wise. He doesn't want the heart of wisdom. He doesn't want to know the right way to go. He just wants his own way. So he's going to ignore wisdom.
He's going to ignore reproof that he may continue to have what he wants to have in his flesh. And as Peter talks about in 2 Peter chapter two, they will continue in unrighteousness. They're fooled by their own unrighteousness so that they will perish in their unrighteousness.
Verse 13, a glad heart makes a face look good, but when the heart is pained, the spirit is broken. You know, it's interesting here, this proverb seems to be indicating that the way that we feel within our heart will be seen on the outside as well.
I wouldn't say that's 100 true all the time, but generally so. The way that we feel in our very spirits is going to be reflected in our very posture. A glad heart makes a face look good. You know when a person's happy, right?
You can see it on their face. But when the heart is pained, the spirit is broken. A person is brought low. Now, I don't think that this verse is necessarily talking about a person who's sinned. When a person sins, then you can see it on the outside, right?
You can see them kind of mopey or angry and they're bitter and all this other kind of thing. I don't think that's what's being talked about here, but that when a person experiences sorrow, it breaks the spirit.
That we may recognize when a person may need that little extra dose of sympathy, may need somebody to come alongside them and say, hey, I just kind of noticed that you seem a little down. Is there something that I can do for you?
Can I pray with you? Is there something you want to share and I can help encourage you in that? So that maybe, and just maybe this proverb is given to us so that we might recognize this in other people.
A glad heart makes the face look good. And it doesn't mean you look at a person, you see them happy and you go, oh, that person's happy. I don't need to ask if there's anything that I can do. For as it says in Romans 12, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.
Oftentimes we just focus on that weep with those who weep part. You're just supposed to be sympathetic. But missing the part that, hey, we're supposed to be happy with those who are happy. So rejoice with the one who is full of joy, but also pay attention to those who are sorrowful.
That when that heart is pained, we know that the spirit is broken. And what is the encouragement that they need? More than anything else, the thing that is most encouraging to a person is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
That's where your therapy begins, by the way. Your counseling starts with Jesus. Hear the good news that he died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the grave, so that by faith in him, you are forgiven.
You have peace with God, a peace that surpasses all understanding. As it says in Philippians 4, you have fellowship with God forever. You are called a friend of God. You are a son or a daughter of God.
That's the best pick-me-up that we can get. The good news that we find in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Remind a friend about the goodness of God, whether in joy or in sadness. Remind them that our greatest joy is in Christ.
So we go on to verse 14 here. The heart of the one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. So we talked before, I mentioned this last week too, where Jesus says that out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
We've seen that exemplified in the Proverbs in many places. And it could be that when Jesus said that, he had the Proverbs in mind. So here you have that same sort of parallel again in Proverbs 15, 14.
The heart of the one who has knowledge or the heart of the one who has understanding, he seeks knowledge. He wants to know more. He wants to be filled with more of Christ. He wants to know more of God's word.
And as we are told in Ephesians chapter five, we are not to be foolish, but we are to understand what the will of the Lord is and to make the best use of the time because the days are evil. So being foolish is to not seek the word of God.
To know God's will is to know God's word. Be filled up with God's word in your heart and you will have understanding. But the mouth of fools, so now we go from the heart of the wise to the mouth of the fool.
And the mouth of the fool is going to show what is in his heart. The mouth of the fool feeds on folly. So what he eats fills up his heart. The one who has understanding, what does he fill himself with?
The knowledge of God, according to his word. The fool, what does he feed himself with? Foolishness, anything but God's word. Again, the guy that goes after the passions of his flesh, he doesn't even want the truth.
He doesn't want wisdom. He wants to go after what he wants. Verse 15, all the days of the afflicted are evil. And we just talked about how the days are evil. So desire to know what the will of the Lord is.
So all the days of the afflicted are evil, but a good heart has a continual feast. This proverb and the previous two all have to do with what comes from the heart. So going back to verse 13, a glad heart makes the face look good.
But when the heart is pained, the spirit is broken. If we fill ourselves up with the good things of God, then it will be shown on the outside. We'll even demonstrate by our works, by the things that we do, that we hope and trust in God and that we are disciples of Jesus Christ.
For as Jesus said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. So the joy of the Lord should be seen on the outside, not necessarily in your facial expression, although maybe so.
I remember a friend of mine one time saying, some of you need to send missionaries to your face. You say that you love Jesus, but your face doesn't show it. So maybe we do need to show a little more joy in Christ on the outside, if that is truly what we say we have in our hearts.
So we go on to verse 14, and you have the reference to the heart again. The heart of the one who has understanding seeks knowledge. And here we are in verse 15, all the days of the afflicted are evil, but a good heart has a continual feast.
It's almost like it combines 13 and 14 together. When the heart is pain, the spirit is broken. A glad heart makes the face look good. The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge. The mouth of fools feeds on folly.
So the days of the afflicted are evil. The one who is wicked, who feeds on folly, he just experiences evil days. That's what he wants. And it's not good for him either. He'll face the consequences for his sin in this life and even greater consequences when he stands in judgment.
But a good heart has a continual feast. If what we are feeding on is Christ, that's the greatest thing that we could fill ourselves up with. As Jesus said in John six, it is the one who feeds on Christ who will receive the kingdom of God.
And no one who doesn't fill themselves up with Christ will receive God's kingdom. So we're filling ourselves up with good things when we seek Christ, we have a continual feast and we're even promised the wedding feast of the lamb forever in glory as it talks about in the book of Revelation.
So we're experiencing good things now in Christ and even greater in the life that is to come. Going on to verse 16, better is a little with the fear of Yahweh than great treasure and turmoil with it. So it's better to have a little and be fully content with Yahweh.
Think of the way that Psalm 23 begins, Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want. So it's better to have a little and have the fear of God than to have great treasure and have turmoil that comes with that treasure.
So this is a verse that is speaking about contentment and verse 17 goes along with that, which I'll get here in just a moment. It's being content with Christ. As the apostle Paul said in Philippians 4 .13, I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Now you've probably heard that verse a lot of times in connection with athletics or achieving something great, right? But Paul wasn't talking there about winning an NBA championship or a marathon. He was saying that he has great contentment in Christ.
Let me go back to verse 12. Paul says, I know how to get along with humble means and I also know how to live in abundance. In any and all things, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having an abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So this is about contentment. Paul says, I am content in all things because I am strengthened by Christ and we likewise are to be content in Christ, not clamoring after the things of this world, but knowing that we have everything we could ever need by faith in the Lord Jesus.
And we read more about this contentment in the next verse. Verse 17, better is a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox and hatred in it. So this goes right along with verse 16 about being content.
It's better to just have a little and have the fear of Yahweh and be completely content in Christ than to have everything, a fattened ox. But hatred comes with that. Now you can apply this to friends, right?
Better is a dish of vegetables where there is love. It's better to sit around a table where there's a little bit of food and you got good friends and family than to have a whole lot of food, but you don't have anybody, just everybody hates you.
But think of this in terms of the fellowship that we have with God. It's better to eat at a table where you have very little and have the fellowship of the Lord, be a friend of God, a son or a daughter of God through faith in Jesus Christ than to have everything, a whole feast in front of you.
And you might even be popular and have all kinds of friends, but you're an enemy of God. God's hatred, his wrath is still upon you as it says in John 3 .36. So it's better to have a little and be in fellowship with the Lord than have a lot and be at enmity with God.
We go on to verse 18, a hot tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow of anger quiets a dispute. This sounds pretty similar to a verse that we considered last week. Proverbs 15 .1, a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
And so here it's kind of in the reverse. A hot tempered man stirs up strife, but the slow to anger quiets a dispute. And as I said last week, that may not be all of the time. Like you can speak a quiet answer to somebody and they still respond with anger, but more often than not, the one who is slow to anger is able to quiet a dispute.
Even if the other person is angry, the one who is calm doesn't escalate that dispute, but is able to bring calmness and wisdom to the exchange. Tempers are not flaring, it's not being driven by emotions, but you're able to reason with one another.
I read to you a moment ago from Philippians chapter four. It says also in that chapter, let your reasonableness be known to everyone. We go on into verse 19. The way of the sluggard is a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
A hedge of thorns. So the way of the sluggard is a hedge of thorns. It's a wall that you cannot get past. The guy who is lazy, who is not accomplishing anything, he is a burden to a lot of people. It's like we can't get anywhere because that guy's holding us back.
But the path of the upright is a highway. It's wide open, we're progressing. We're making progress here, we're growing together. And this is how it needs to be in the church. In Ephesians chapter four, we are encouraged to build each other up in love.
But where there is a person who is in sin, he's afflicting the entire church. The whole body of Christ is slow to progress in the sanctification that we should be growing in, becoming more like Christ, growing in love and growing in holiness.
We're not accomplishing that when there are members of the body who are in sin. And even more so when there are members of the body in sin and that sin is not being confronted. It's a person that's being allowed to sin.
It's being tolerated. Church discipline isn't practiced. And then you have a little leaven, leavens the whole lump, just like we've been talking about in 1 Corinthians chapters five and six in our New Testament study.
And so we need to deal with that man, rebuke him so that he would repent and walk in a way of righteousness or remove him from the body if it comes to that, so that he does not become a hedge of thorns to the progress that the church should be making, growing in the knowledge of God, in love for him and for one another.
It's the path of the upright, those who are obedient to God and following in the way of Christ. Their path is a highway. Verse 20, a wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.
A wise son makes a father glad. And all the way through Proverbs, we've been hearing the wisdom of a father to his son. If you follow the advice that the father has given to you, well, then you make your father glad.
This has not been all for nothing. I can see the fruit of my labor. But a foolish man despises his own mother, will not listen to the advice of his father and even hates his own life that was given to him by his mom.
So a man who loves life will listen to the advice that comes from the father, especially our heavenly father. But a man who does not listen to the father despises even his own life because where is that life gonna end up?
We go right back to what we read in verse 11. Sheol and Abaddon lie open before Yahweh. So how much more the hearts of the sons of men, where will the man go who will not listen to the wisdom of God? He will go to Sheol and Abaddon.
So may we have hearts that fear God and turn from our sin to Jesus Christ and live, amen. Heavenly father, thanks for this wisdom that we have read today. And I pray that we know how to take it and apply it to our lives and live according to these things.
May we have the fear of God because better is a little with the fear of Yahweh than to have the whole world and lose our souls. Keep us in your righteousness for your name's sake. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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 .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.
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