WWUTT 1494 The Wicked Struck Down, the Righteous Take Refuge (Proverbs 14:27-35)

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There is so much peace of God to be found in His Word. It is good for us that we take solace in the

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Word of God. But he who rejects God's Word is to his own destruction when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in the book of Proverbs today, and I have chapter 14 to finish up.

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So I'm going to read through verses 27 to 35 in the Legacy Standard Bible.

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The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death.

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In a multitude of people is a king's splendor, but in the dearth of a people is a prince's ruin.

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He who is slow to anger has great discernment, but he who is quick -tempered raises up folly.

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A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

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He who oppresses the poor reproaches his maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors him.

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The wicked is thrust down by his own evil, but the righteous takes refuge even in his death.

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Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding, but in the midst of fools it is merely made known.

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Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

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The king's favor is toward a servant who acts insightfully, but his fury is toward him who acts shamefully.

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In the section that we read last week, we finished with the name of Yahweh, and here in the section we're looking at this week, we begin with the name of Yahweh.

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Of course, I'm reading out of the Legacy Standard Bible, so anywhere the tetragrammaton appears in Hebrew, it is translated

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Yahweh in English. Last week it was in verse 26, in the fear of Yahweh there is strong security and his children will have refuge.

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And we read here this week in verse 27, the fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death.

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This has really been the theme of the book of Proverbs, which began in the first chapter by saying that the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

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Proverbs 1 .7, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. Ignorant fools despise wisdom and discipline.

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So our reverent fear of the Lord brings life.

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It is a fountain of life. It wells up to eternal life. Is this not exactly what

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Jesus said to the woman at the well in John chapter four? He said to her, if you knew who was asking of you, give me a drink, you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water, welling up to a spring of eternal life.

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That's what we have when we fear God, when we revere God, when we worship the Lord, knowing that he is worthy of our worship.

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The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life. It is not something to dread.

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It is not something to be ashamed of. There are many things that we may fear that people would call us cowards for fearing, but it is the man who is a fool who will not fear

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Yahweh. The Lord says in Isaiah 66 to this is the one to whom

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I will look. He who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word, knowing that what we read here in the

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Bible is the word of God and it gives us a fountain of life.

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We end the Bible reading about this spring of eternal life. Whoever is thirsty, come to the spring and he will receive as it says in Revelation chapter 22.

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So the fear of Yahweh, a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death.

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We don't even need to fear death if we fear God. Verse 28 in a multitude of people is a king's splendor, but in the dearth of a people is a prince's ruin without a people, a prince is ruined.

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If he if he doesn't have anybody, then who is he a prince over? How can he call himself a prince?

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Do you remember the book series The Little Prince? Did you ever read that when you were a kid? I remember it when

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I was young. In fact, there was even a cartoon on TV that adapted that book series into a show for kids.

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The Little Prince, he was a prince of nothing. He didn't have anything to be a prince over. There were no people on his little planet.

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So he was just a prince of what I think there was a flower and some volcanoes, this little tiny asteroid of a planet that he lived on and he used to ride comets around.

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I remember as a kid even saying, how can he be a prince when there's no people? So it's when there is a multitude of people that you may call a man a king.

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He who rules over these people that he has been given by God and his position as a king has been appointed by God.

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As it says in Daniel chapter 2, that God is the one who sets up kings and tears down kings.

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So a people is given a king by God and it is because of the multitude that this man is able to be called a king.

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If there are no people, well, how can a prince be a prince? Now understand this in view of Christ, who is king of kings and Lord of lords.

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There is no king with a greater number of people than Christ. And the apostle

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John in revelation saw a multitude of people so great that they could not even be counted.

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And for all eternity, rejoicing in and celebrating Christ as king of kings.

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And in fact, in Philippians chapter 2, it says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth.

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And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the father.

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So all people will recognize him as Yahweh, even though not all people will be worshiping him for all eternity.

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There are many who will perish under his judgment. And even in this Christ, the king will be glorified.

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Verse 29, he who is slow to anger has great discernment, but he who is quick tempered raises up folly.

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Boy, there is a verse for today's discernment bloggers and websites online, right?

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There's always like this plethora of Christians on the internet that want to break the story and they want to be the first one to jump on this.

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They seem to be a little bit too hasty with their discerning sometimes and have worked themselves into a little bit of trouble.

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So he who is slow to anger actually has great discernment. The one who is in a rush to try to break the story, that's not really discernment.

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In fact, I think the discernment bloggers have not been appropriately named. They're more interested in gossip than they are interested in holding

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Christians accountable and proclaiming the truth. So we need to be slow to speak and quick to listen, as it says in James.

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So the man who is slow to anger, who is slow to react, he's the one who has discernment, but the one who is quick tempered, who reacts, his feelings are not under control.

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He does not have any self -control, but he's a quick reactor to things. He raises up folly, stirs up trouble for himself and for other people as well.

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Verse 30, a tranquil heart is life to the body. So we see the comparison here between a person who is quick tempered or the contrast.

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Rather, we got a quick tempered person. And now we talk about the tranquil person. A tranquil heart is life to the body.

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A person that doesn't get easily worked up or the emotion stirred up by things that happen isn't filled with anxiety, isn't quick to get angry.

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They have a tranquil heart. But jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

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Now, a jealous person is also somebody that gets stirred up by other things. They see what somebody else has, and they wish that they had that.

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They see the giftings somebody else has. They see the opportunities somebody else has. They see the wealth, the talent, the popularity, the followers on Twitter.

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And they're going, man, I want more followers. Why can't I have as many followers as that person?

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Why are all these people following that person? That guy's ridiculous. They should be following me. It's a silly thing to be jealous over.

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But nevertheless, that's very common in social media. I can't say that I'm immune from that either.

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I've felt that way before. I have an online ministry, after all.

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So there's been times I've looked at other ministries. I've thought, ah, why do they have so many followers? They're leading people astray.

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I wish I had more followers. But that cannot be my focus, cannot be my aim.

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In fact, you've heard me say before just how terrible I am at self -promotion anyway. I'm going to continue to proclaim the gospel and read verse by verse through the word of Christ, no matter how many people

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I have listening. I do this to honor the Lord. So a man who is jealous, it's unhealthy even to be jealous.

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It's rottenness to the bones. I was recently doing a study of the word envy.

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Have you ever studied that word before or thought about envy? I think we tend to think of envy as just being another form of greed or coveting.

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You just want what somebody else has. There's a little bit more to it than that. A person who is envious has spite toward another person and actually wants to bring him down.

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He would be glad, his gladness would be to see someone else's misfortune or pain.

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So to envy somebody else is not just to want what they have. It's also to tear that person down and destroy them.

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So I feel better because now they're lower. This is what Cain had toward Abel.

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He had envy toward Abel because God favored Abel's sacrifice and not

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Cain's. So Cain thought out of his envy, if I tear down my brother, if I destroy him and kill him, then my sacrifice will be greater.

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So that's a good picture of envy. And of course, that just destroys the person. It destroys your mental well -being.

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It even has an effect on the health in your body.

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So a man who is jealous brings rottenness to his bones. It even festers in his very health.

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But when we are filled with thanksgiving toward God, as Paul talks about in Philippians 4, then we have the peace that surpasses all understanding, guarding our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

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And that's much healthier, not just for the spirit, but even for the body. We go on here to, where did

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I stop? Verse 31. He who oppresses the poor reproaches his maker, but he who is gracious to the needy honors him.

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What's the second greatest command? Love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment in the law?

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And he said, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. A second is like it, that you love your neighbor as yourself.

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And Jesus said in the Gospel of Matthew, that on these two laws, on these two commands, hinge all the law and the prophets.

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All of the laws, in some way, shape, or form, come back to love God and love one another.

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So if you hate the poor, if you don't care for the poor, if you don't care for your brother who is in need, it is a reproach to your maker.

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We who are made in the image of God need to care for other image bearers of God.

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And this is how we show love for God. For as the proverb goes on to say, he who is gracious to the needy honors him.

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We honor God when we care for one another. Love is the fulfilling of the law, as Paul said to the

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Romans and to the Galatians. We go on here to verse 32. The wicked is thrust down by his own evil, but the righteous takes refuge even in his death.

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Of course, we've seen this over and over again in the Book of Proverbs. He who does wickedly, he who does evil, the things that he does, right,

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I was going to say the things that he do, the things that he does will eventually come back on his own head.

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He is thrust down by his own evil, but the righteous takes refuge even after his own death.

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So what the wicked does will eventually lead to his death, but the righteous who does right things, who does that which is acceptable in the eyes of God, because he does what

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God has said is right. That's what righteousness is, what is approved of by God.

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So the righteous takes refuge. He will not be destroyed by the righteousness that he does.

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On the contrary, he will not only conquer death, but live forever.

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The wicked dies in his wickedness. The righteous lives forever in the righteousness of Christ.

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He takes refuge in Christ, even in his death. Verse 33, wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding.

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So we're kind of seeing this theme here of a resting of a peace on the person who has wisdom, on the person who trusts in God and rests in him.

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So wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding. But then consider the next half of verse 33, in the midst of fools, it is merely made known.

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Now if you have the New American Standard or the Legacy Standard Bible, that word merely is italicized.

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Why are words italicized in the NASB? Because that word does not appear in the original language.

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It has been inserted, because otherwise meaning or inference would be lost by the passage when it goes from Hebrew into English, or from Greek into English.

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In this case, we're reading the book of Proverbs, so this would have originally been written in Hebrew. And so there isn't a

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Hebrew word for merely, but based on the way the phrase would be read in Hebrew, merely is implied.

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It gets lost in translation. So when translated into English, the word merely is inserted, though there's not a direct

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Hebrew word for merely in the verse. So in the midst of fools, it is merely made known.

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Here should be our understanding then. Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding.

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So eventually a circumstance is going to arise in which you're going to know which person has wisdom because he acts wisely in the midst of that understanding.

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But a fool is going to make his foolishness known, regardless of the circumstance.

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A fool is going to announce, in some way, by some word or action, that he is a fool.

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And you will know that he is a fool. So wisdom is merely, like there's not any there in his heart.

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And you will know the lack of wisdom in his heart. He will make it known to you.

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You will see that. In the life and actions of a fool, in some way, he will reveal his foolishness.

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Verse 34, Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

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How great this nation would be, or your nation, wherever it is that you are listening, whatever country you live in, how great it would be to your nation if they pursued righteousness.

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If a nation understood what God said was right, and they did that.

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If a nation of people did what God says is right, how great that nation would be.

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But that is not the nation that I live in, nor is it the nation that you live in. When we're talking about nations here on earth, but in 1

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Peter 2, it says that we who are in Christ, we are a holy nation.

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We are a chosen people for his own possession, a people purified by Christ and zealous for his good works, that which

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God says is righteous. So in this way, we who are a spiritual nation in Christ Jesus, the church that is not, you know, given to a certain territory, we're all over.

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We're in every nation on earth, every tribe, tongue, and nation that knows the gospel of Christ and follows him.

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We are part of a holy nation indwelt by the Holy Spirit, called by Christ out of the world to be his people for his own possession.

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We are a nation that is exalted by righteousness. We have the righteousness of Christ.

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Sin is a disgrace to any people. So let us put off the old ways, the sin that so easily entangles and look to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, our king, who sits enthroned on high, victorious over all.

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Verse 35, we read about a king again. The king's favor is toward a servant who acts insightfully, but his fury is toward him who acts shamefully.

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So let us understand it this way. As we have been talking about our king Christ and the righteousness of Christ that we have, that we do in his favor and in his honor, his favor is toward us who act in that righteousness.

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So let us honor Yahweh in all our words and deeds. Amen. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this passage and I pray that it reminds us of the greatness of who you are.

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Yahweh, the great I am, the sovereign Lord who reigns over all, all things belong to you, even the victory belongs to you.

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So whatever trial and tribulation we experience in this life, we do not lose heart for we know that Christ has the victory and we will reign forever with you.

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As we've read here in Proverbs today, the wicked are thrust down by his own evil judgment will come upon the wicked but the righteous takes refuge even in his death.

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Come quickly, Lord Jesus. In your name we pray. Amen. This has been

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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