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Reading Proverbs 21:13-31 with a series of wisdom that calls for considering others, and ends with a declaration that no wisdom is greater than God's. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
There is no wisdom, there is no discernment, and there is no counsel against Yahweh. The horse is set for the day of battle, but salvation belongs to Yahweh when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand the Text, a daily study of God's Word that we may be filled with the knowledge of His will. For questions and comments, send us an email to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. Well, being Thursday, we come back to our study in the Old Testament, and we've been in the book of Proverbs. Last time, chapter 21, we made it as far as verse 12, so I'm going to pick up in verse 13 and go to verse 31 in the Legacy Standard Bible.
This is the word of the Lord in the book of Proverbs. He who shuts his ear to the outcry of the poor will himself also call and not be answered. A gift in secret subdues anger and a bribe in the bosom strong wrath.
To do justice is pleasure for the righteous, but is ruin to the workers of iniquity. A man who wanders from the way of insight will rest in the assembly of the dead. He who loves pleasure will become a poor man.
He who loves wine and oil will not become rich. The wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous is in the place of the upright. It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and vexing woman.
There is a desirable treasure and oil in the abode of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up. He who pursues righteousness and lovingkindness finds life, righteousness, and glory. A wise man goes up to the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.
He who keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles. Arrogant, haughty, scoffer are his names, who acts with arrogant fury. The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, for his hands refuse to work.
All day long he is insatiably craving, while the righteous gives and does not hold back. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. How much more when he brings it with a wicked scheme? A false witness will perish, but the man who listens will speak forever.
A wicked man displays a brazen face, but as for the upright, he establishes his way. There is no wisdom, there is no discernment, and there is no counsel against Yahweh. The horse is set for the day of battle, but salvation belongs to Yahweh.
Some good proverbs in here, right? Hey, there always are. We come back to verse 13. He who shuts his ear to the outcry of the poor will himself also call and not be answered. Pretty straightforward. He does not show mercy to others, he will not have mercy shown to him.
Remember the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6, 14. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Now that's really at the heart of this particular proverb. It's showing mercy to others, though it puts it in the picture of a person who has much and a person who has little. Yet we should also be mindful in that respect, that we should show kindness especially to those who lack.
For as it says in 1 John 3, 17, Whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth.
Now when it comes to caring for the poor, when it comes to providing for those who don't have much, there's no possible way that we could care for everybody. You can't just go out and find everyone who's poor and give to all of them, for you will have nothing left.
But in whatever opportunities we have to show charity to others, we should take those opportunities, especially when it comes to caring for brothers and sisters in the Lord, our fellow Christians within the body, within your own church that you attend.
If you're looking for who must be cared for, who do I need to be providing for? Look to members of your own household of faith. We go on into verse 14 here. A gift in secret subdues anger and a bribe in the bosom strong wrath.
So a gift in secret subdues anger. It's favorable. It's not I'm giving you something so that others can see what I've done or to obligate you to have to pay me back. So therefore, that secret gift is a kindness.
It's just between you and me. It subdues anger, but a bribe in the bosom strong wrath. So a bribe is something that's done privately, too, right? You don't boast your bribe. And when you when you're not showing kindness to someone in secret, but rather you are obligating them to have to pay you for something.
Well, that's that's just going to stir the anger of the other person. It's going to stir up resentment. Let love be genuine. As Paul said in Romans chapter 12, we look for ways to show kindness to one another, not holding one another for ransom.
Verse 15, to do justice is pleasure for the righteous, but is ruin to the workers of iniquity. That's pretty straightforward. We do what is just. What God has said is good. We desire justice to be done.
But the one who loves iniquity, who loves sin, justice becomes the ruin of them because they're doing things that that are unjust. And when the judge comes and he judges the living and the dead, those who have done wickedly will perish under the righteous judgment of God.
Let us do what is good in the eyes of God, according to his word. And we encourage the world in the same, pointing out to them, pointing out to the world that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
Everybody has broken God's law and everybody deserves judgment. How do we receive justice for this and not perish at the same time? Well, because Christ, in his death on the cross, took the wrath of God upon himself.
And by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will be forgiven our sins. And as it says in 1 John 1, 9, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. How is God just to forgive us our sins?
Because Christ has paid the price for all those who believe in him. So turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and you will escape the day of ruin that comes upon those who did iniquity. Verse 16, a man who wanders from the way of insight will rest in the assembly of the dead.
What is the way of insight? Well, it's the way of the Lord. It is God's ways as revealed to us in his word, in the scriptures, in your Bible. If you wander from that way, you go the way of death. We've read previously in the book of Proverbs, there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.
We go the way of God's direction, not the way that we want to go. Verse 17, he who loves pleasure will become a poor man. He who loves wine and oil will not become rich. So the picture here of the one who loves pleasure, it seems like he's spending his money on those things.
He's looking for things that gratify his flesh, that give him entertainment or thrill for a time, and he spends money on that. It offers no return. There's nothing you get back for that. And so therefore, when you spend money on just yourself, on getting your kicks, you're going to become poor.
He who loves wine and oil will not become rich. Two more things that don't return anything back to you. And the way it's phrased in this particular proverb, he who loves wine, it's a person who overindulges on these things.
They get drunk on wine. They fill themselves up with oil. They will not become rich. They'll actually become lazy drunkards. Verse 18, the wicked is a ransom for the righteous, and the treacherous is in the place of the upright.
What does that mean? What does it mean that the wicked is a ransom for the righteous? Well, the wicked devise evil schemes, and they want to take advantage of those who do right, who do good, so that they could benefit off of the righteous.
But the righteous are not going to fall into the consequences of the wicked's schemes. The wicked's schemes will come back upon them. Think about Mordecai and Haman in the book of Esther. Haman hated Mordecai because Mordecai wouldn't bow down, right?
Haman was the guy that was appointed to the position that he had by the king, by Xerxes or Ahasuerus, whichever translation you read of the story of Esther. And Mordecai wouldn't bow. So Haman was incredibly angry over Mordecai and just whined over the fact that Mordecai wouldn't bow.
He had this gallows constructed from which he was going to hang Mordecai. Well, when Haman schemed to destroy the Jews and even kill Mordecai when all of that fell apart, Mordecai was never hanged from those gallows.
Haman was. And so the very thing that Haman had devised for Mordecai's death became his death instead. Now, we may not see that play out before our very eyes in the justice, in the consequences that the wicked face here in this present life.
But when it comes to the judgment at the very end, those things that the wicked intended against the righteous will come back upon them. God will enact justice. He will deliver the righteous and he will punish the wicked.
To be sure that you will not fall on that day is to hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness and we will be delivered up into his eternal kingdom. Whereas the wicked, those who did against God and against God's people, they will perish on that day.
We continue on to verse 19. It is better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and vexing woman. It kind of goes back to the proverb that I had read a couple of weeks ago that it's better for a man to sit on his house.
This was still chapter 21, verse 9. It is better to live in a corner of a roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman. And here it is. It's better to live in a desert land than with a contentious and vexing woman.
It's better to live in a land where there's no nourishment, where I'm not receiving anything because such a husband who lives with a contentious, nagging woman is not getting anything nourishing from his bride.
And when I say nourishing, I'm not talking about she's not cooking for him, although she might need to do that. I mean that she is not encouraging toward him in any way. Feels to him like he's living in a desert land at home.
So why not just live in a desert land? There was a great comment that was made by Owen Strand the other day. Dr. Owen Strand at Grace Bible Theological Seminary. He said, in a world of conflict and anger, do something radical today as a Christian husband or wife.
Speak lovingly and appreciatively of your spouse in public. I think that's good advice for any of us. For a husband to do for his wife, but in the context of this proverb, most especially for a wife to do for her husband.
Women do not be that nagging and contentious woman. Be supportive and encouraging of your husband. Build him up and see how it builds your entire family up. We go on into let's see verse 20 here. There is desirable treasure and oil in the abode of the wise, but a foolish man swallows it up.
Another way of considering this is that a wise man saves, so he stores up his treasure. He saves it for a day that he needs it or when he's going to sell it and be able to make money. And it mentions also oil in the abode of the wise.
Oil was a very precious commodity at that particular time. It was good for cooking, for food, and it was something that was also considered to be for delight and for refreshment. The foolish man does not store these things up.
He does not save. He swallows them up. He spends them or consumes them as soon as he is able. Not for the day when they are needed. And so therefore, when that day comes around, you don't have what it is that you need.
Now you apply this in a very spiritual sense and we need to be regularly storing up in the storehouses of our hearts the good treasure of God's Word. His promises, memorizing Scriptures, praying what it is that we read in the Scripture.
So that on a day when we truly need it, now we need it every day, but those days that come in particular where you are really needing a word from the Lord. You are really needing a reminder that He is with you.
You have that storehouse of God's promises that you can access and you will remember these things and they will be a comfort and a refreshment to your spirit. But if your religion is only for, you know, Sunday and Wednesday, or just whenever you need a feel good you just flip another verse on your happy verse calendar and boom I got my fix for the day.
If that's the depth of your religious practice then when hard times come you are going to find nothing in your storehouse that will comfort you and uplift your spirits and remind you that God is with you.
So even take from this practical advice here and find spiritual wisdom for us to continue to meditate regularly upon God and His promises that we have right here in His Word. We go on to verse 21. He who pursues righteousness and loving kindness finds life, righteousness, and glory.
So we need to be after these things. We can't just expect others to show us righteousness and loving kindness. That's generally the way we think, right? You owe me these things but who do I need to show these things to?
We actually look for ways that we can practice righteousness, doing what is right in the eyes of God and show loving kindness to one another. As Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6, seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the things you need will be added to you.
You will find life, righteousness, and glory. Verse 22. A wise man goes up to the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust. I'm going to jump right away to spiritual application here.
So the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 3, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but divinely powerful for the tearing down of strongholds.
As we tear down speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ and are ready to punish all disobedience. So anything that anyone raises up against the knowledge of God, we are equipped and we are ready to tear it down.
With what? With the sword of the Spirit. As Paul describes it in Ephesians 6, that is the word of God. So we use God's word to tear down lies and these strongholds, these philosophical and sociological strongholds that are built up by worldly people and we reveal the truth according to God's word.
So knowing the Bible well enough that you're able to respond to worldly wisdom and instead show them the truth as we have it in Christ Jesus who said, I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.
The wise man tears down the stronghold of the mighty. Those wonderful lofty ideas that they have built up and exalted themselves with and he brings down that stronghold in which they trust so that they may see that power lies not in man's ideas power is in Christ.
Verse 23. He who keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles. Pretty straight forward. Don't have loose lips. Don't speak before thinking. Be quick to listen and slow to speak as James says.
On to verse 24. Arrogant, haughty, scoffer are his names who acts with arrogant fury. A man once again who's very hasty with his words. Hasty in his actions. He isn't prudent. He isn't patient or thoughtful.
He is arrogant and he is haughty and he is a scoffer. Verse 25. The desire of the sluggard puts him to death for his hands refuse to work. The lazy man who doesn't do anything. What's he gonna receive?
Nothing. Because he didn't work for it. And so he goes to his own death. Because his hands refuse to work or do anything that he might make money from and be able to provide for himself give something to others we have been called to work and not just work with our own hands not just do physical labor but we even must work for those things that are spiritual.
The Christian walk is not a lazy man's pleasure. It's a walk. It is a labor that we continue in. That we may grow in Christ and help build one another up in this faith as well. Verse 26 is actually a continuation of verse 25.
All day long he is insatiably craving while the righteous gives and does not hold back. So again this is one continuous thought here. The desire of the sluggard puts him to death for his hands refuse to work.
All day long he is insatiably craving. He craves but he doesn't work to gain anything. The righteous gives and does not hold back. What he earns he is even generous with and provides to others and does not consider that what he has is his own but has been gifted to him that he may bless others with it.
So you see the interesting contrast there. The lazy man cares not for himself or for other people whereas the righteous man receives and gives because he cares for other people. Working hard is not just for your benefit it is also for the benefit of others.
Verse 27. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. How much more when he brings it with a wicked scheme. So a wicked man does what he does and claims that he does it in the name of God. Nope. That is an abomination to the Lord.
How much more when he brings it with a wicked scheme. So we must from the heart desire to obey God and worship him the way that God has said he is to be worshipped. Not by what makes us feel good in worship.
We go on to verse 28. A false witness will perish but the man who listens will speak forever. So consider that the false witness doesn't speak the truth because he doesn't listen to the truth but the man who listens to truth speaks forever.
He doesn't perish but he goes on to everlasting life. Verse 29. A wicked man displays a brazen face. In other words he is completely unmoving. If you rebuke him he does not show any kind of remorse or regret for his actions at all.
But as for the upright he establishes his way. We've read previously in the proverbs that a wise man loves rebuke. Loves counsel and he establishes his way according to the righteous path that God directs us on.
You can't correct a wicked man he displays a brazen face refuses to be corrected or acknowledge that he is wrong. Whereas the upright will go the way of God. Verses 30 and 31 here. What a conclusion to this chapter.
There is no wisdom. There is no discernment. And there is no counsel against Yahweh. I have nothing else to say to that but amen. There is nothing outside of the Bible that is greater than the word of God.
And God's word is sufficient for our every need. So it's not that the Bible is incomplete. Now we have to go piddle around in philosophy and sociology and the world's theology and anthropology in order to find the answers that the Bible lacked.
We have everything that we could need in the word of the Lord that has been given to us. There is no counsel against Yahweh. There is no counsel greater than Yahweh's. And then consider this one verse 31 the horse is set for the day of battle.
But salvation belongs to Yahweh. Again we can put our trust in nothing else but God to deliver us. And he has promised he will. In Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Heavenly Father thank you for these good words of wisdom and may we know how to apply them to our lives and live according to these things.
To the praise of your glorious grace. In Jesus name. Amen.
This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web and we thank you for selecting ours. But this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.
Find a good gospel teaching Christ-centered church to worship with this weekend and join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study when we Understand the Text.