Proverbs 17 - Call It What It Is

Well, welcome back to Strength for the Day.

And great to be back with you. Pastor's in a meeting this morning, and so asked me to take over, and we are continuing to be in Proverbs 17. We are going to take up a decent chunk of the last half of Chapter 17 today.

So if you have your Bibles and want to turn over to the latter half of Proverbs 17, you can do that. Good to see Molly this morning, and I'm sure others that will be on. I hope you are staying cool during this current portion of weather time.

Pastor Carlos and I were out doing some canvassing with our church invitations and tracks yesterday, and it wasn't too hot out when we were out, but I know it's supposed to get very, very warm all throughout the rest of this week, so make sure you

stay cool, stay hydrated, and it's always a good thing. Good to see Krista. Good to see, I think this is Danny Carpenter. It might just be Tom Carpenter, so hey, Tom and Fountain Senior, Mr.

Laura, it's great to see you. We're going to hop right into this last half of Proverbs 17. And really kind of a focus that we're going to be looking at is many of these verses, I've entitled, call it what it is, call it like it is.

And you'll kind of see why as we start going through some of these verses. Verse number 12 is where we're going to start off for this morning. Let a bear robbed of her whelps or her cubs meet a man rather than a fool in his folly.

We kind of ended when we were going through yesterday on the verse that says, a reproof enters more into a wise man than 100 stripes into a fool. And kind of that thought of man, even just a simple word will help wise people.

They'll take that word and then they'll improve as a result of it. But you could beat someone to death. You could beat the foolish person to death two and a half times and they still wouldn't get it.

It wouldn't click for. This is kind of a similar thought. It's better that a person would be mauled by a bear rather than a foolish person to continue in their folly.

Obviously, we would know if you get attacked by a bear. It's an incredibly bad thing. I've never been mauled by a bear.

I've seen bears several times out camping and things like that. And I've always been scared of bears. We would have a natural fear of bears because they're such an intimidating creature, very powerful, and they can do a lot of damage to you.

In just the same way, man, we should seek to not have foolishness, a stupidity, a disregard for God's laws and God's ways be the defining characteristic of our life.

Because when that happens, it's more destructive to us, Solomon says here, than even life-threatening mama bears separated from their cubs.

Foolishness in our hearts and lives, when we allow it to rule us and to define us, man, it's way more damaging than even that. Verse number 16, wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

Here you have a person that's kind of just giving lip service to, oh yeah, I want to learn more about God, I want to learn more about his word. But the verse says he has no heart to it. His heart's not in it.

God cares about your heart and where it truly is.

If you come to God and you go, Lord, I know that I should want these things, I know that I should want to implement these things, but right now my heart is flawed and I'm not desiring it, but I want to have the desire.

That's one thing, if we come to God and we're honest and we're up front with him and we're like, okay, I am flawed and I need you to help me through this, is very different than in verse 16, a fool that's trying to get wisdom, but it's really all for

a show that he doesn't have a heart for wanting to follow God at all. Be honest with God with where you're at and God will bless that so much more than if you're just going through a bunch of outward motions with no heart and no intent and no honesty

with the Lord. Verse number 21, he that begets a fool or fathers or something like that, he that fathers a fool does it to his sorrow and the father of a fool hath no joy.

Man, I can think of several families right now that have just been heartbroken because of the truth of this exact verse.

That man, when we habitually make terrible life decisions, decisions that go against God in this word, there are huge repercussions. I think even of in Proverbs, obviously Proverbs is in everything that God has ever laid out for us.

It's not intended to be that. There's so many other things that you could read in other books of the Bible that would supplement. Okay, not only is a person all of these things, but they're also this.

But even just in Proverbs, a person that is violent, a person that ignores God's law, a person that's dishonest in business, all of these things that a person would do brings shame to their family. That's when we say, man, yeah, their kid is in jail.

Their kid is this. Their kid is this. And it brings shame to a family.

And especially in this kind of Middle Eastern culture, there would be a lot of that shame and honor kind of societal things of you wanted to be honored, you did not want to be shamed.

Nowadays, you might think of it more as kind of in the realm of cancel culture, of there is a lasting shame that goes on an actor's name because of things that they did to other people. It's kind of in that same realm almost.

There's this shame that comes, this lasting, enduring scorn that comes to those that are foolish. And man, we should seek to not have that be said of us, of our families.

Instead, we should seek to follow the Lord, and there's joy that comes from that. Verse number 24, wisdom is before him that hath understanding, but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

So when here it says wisdom is before him that has understanding, it's literally right here. That for the person that has understanding, wisdom is right there.

This isn't what the verse is saying in particular, but I could also think of the fact that, oh, I left my Bible, I left my physical Bible downstairs. But if I have my Bible, wisdom is near to those that have understanding.

When we understand, hey, wisdom is found in the word of God, and in following and obeying its precepts, then it's right there for us. But it says here in the latter half of the verse, the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth.

A foolish person is always looking somewhere else for wisdom. They're always looking somewhere else for how they should live their life. And many people try tons of different ways.

I think here, even when it says the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth, I think of some of those who have tried kind of tribalism and animism and Hinduism and things, these religions from far, far away.

I used to be in college down in Southern California. And oftentimes when we would go out canvassing and telling people about Jesus door to door and things like that, we would come across these houses of these fabulously rich people.

And there would be, for some of them, things of Judaism, some of them things of Hinduism, some of them things of Buddhism. They're like, okay, I don't know where truth is found. And so I'm going to search far and wide for all of these things.

Whereas we would know, hey, wisdom is right there for the person that gets it, that it clicks for. And obviously, as I mentioned earlier for us, wisdom comes from the word of God by living and obeying it.

Foolish son, verse number 25, is a grief to his father and bitterness to her that bear him. Kind of the same thought as verse number 21.

Man, when your family members have completely gone off the rails, when they're not following God, not obeying God, and they are living in sin and foolishness, and you can recall throughout Proverbs as to what foolishness entails, man, it does bring

shame. And it is a grief and a hurt to those people. And let's seek to be those that would bring joy to our family members, to our friends, and not be those that would bring grief or bitterness.

Then verse number 28, even a fool, when he holds his pieces counted wise, and he that shuts his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. Here you have a great verse that I think my siblings might have thrown at each other every once in a while.

Just this truth that when we shut our mouths, when we don't just continue talking and talking and talking and conversation, man, it's counted as wisdom just that we're shutting our mouths.

It is absolutely in our human nature to want to talk about how great we are, to continually crack jokes, to any number of things with running our mouths, to tell the latest news or gossips. But wisdom would say, hey, shut your mouth, shut up.

And I know that I need that. I know I need this proverb often, that even a fool, when he shuts his mouth, is considered wise. And I want that to be said of me, that I'm wise even if I'm relatively stupid.

Here in verses 13, 15, and 26 is gonna be kind of where we'll stop or end for the day. All of these other verses have had to do with a fool and that they don't see what's in front of them. They don't see the danger of their actions.

They don't see what they're doing to their family. They don't see the wisdom that's right there in front of them that they could have because they have no heart for it. And in all of these things, they don't see the world for what it is.

They're not calling life what it is. Here in 13, 15 and 26 are some verses that kind of compliment that of calling it what it is. 13 says, whoso rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.

Hey, when someone's done good to you, when they've been kind to you, when they've maybe done an act of service for you, when they have said kind words to you, the Bible says there is a punishment from the Lord for rewarding evil for that.

Maybe if someone has spoken kind words to you and then you talk badly about them behind their back, man, that is not a good thing. We should reward good for good.

And from the New Testament, we would know, we should even return good for evil that people do to us. Think of even the Sermon on the Mount that we went through several months ago now with pastor.

And yeah, there is a distinct punishment that's mentioned here that comes when we don't repay good to others. And let's seek to do that.

Verse number 15, he that justifies the wicked and he that condemns the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord.

I think even of, man, so many people in restricted access countries that things that are evil are maybe celebrated, are lauded, and even here in the US., obviously, we would know during the month of June has often been termed, especially these days,

Pride Month. And you can go to pretty much any store, any big website or anything, and people will have things, graphics, dedicated to the lauding of this.

And Proverbs says here, hey, when we justify the wicked, it's an abomination to the Lord, that we shouldn't be those that would encourage evil. Instead, we should encourage and lift up what is good.

And here you have in the next part of the verse, he that condemns the just.

Think of many, many Christians that in restricted access countries, even in first world countries like Britain and like Canada, many of those that would stand up for some of their religious liberties or say, hey, my conscience dictates that I have to

do this according to the word of God and governments that have punished them as a result of it. And man, it says that it's an abomination to the Lord. And so let's be those that would continue to lift up what is good and not encourage what is wrong.

Verse number 26, also to punish the just is not good, nor to strike princes for equity. Equity there being, oh, here, I'm gonna look it up real quick. Justice, justice, that you wouldn't hit princes for justice.

Punishing the just here is not saying, okay, if there's a person that has been doing good and then they do a crime, and then you punish the person for the crime, that, oh, you're punishing the just and that's not good.

That's not what it's talking about whatsoever. It's saying here kind of the same thought as verse 15 and verse 13 of, when there's a person that's doing good, don't pretend like they are doing what's wrong.

I think of Naboth in the story of Ahab and Jezebel, that they brought false accusations against him because he wouldn't sell his land to them because he was following God's law, and so they brought false witnesses, and Naboth died because of the lie

that Ahab and Jezebel told him. And that's the kind of thought that's going on here, is that we should not punish those that are living righteously.

I think even in this past week, there was a Canadian pastor that was arrested for meeting as a church in, I believe, Alberta.

And so be in prayer for many of those, especially in Canada, I think even of some of our missionaries that have had such a hard time over this past year with COVID and a lot of the restrictions and things that have been put on them by their

government, that have really made it hard for them as a church. So let us pray for them. And then as Pastor mentioned, we'll end today with verse number 17. A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity.

Pastor mentioned his little bit of confusion with this verse when he was little that he was like, oh, a friend loves at all times, that a friend's always there for ya.

He says, but a brother is born for adversity and he was thinking adversity between himself and his sisters. And that's not quite what the verse is saying. Here it says, a friend loved at all times.

And man, aren't you thankful for those true friends that are always there for ya? That if you need some help, you can always call them, you can always text them. When you need some encouragement, you know that they're there for you.

When you need that honest truth that they're right there by your side. A friend loves at all times. It says a brother is born for adversity.

That when we go through the hard times of life, particularly times of deep struggle, your family does really know you better than anyone else. And I can think of my siblings, and my siblings, because we both, because we all grew up in the same home.

We had the same parents, the same rules, the same training in most things. Man, they know what I'm feeling, maybe even better than most people. So be a friend that loves at all times, that you would be there for other people.

But also with this verse of A Brother is Born for Adversity, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ, as we've accepted Christ as our Savior.

And be that one that would be right beside others who are hurting, right beside others that are in the trenches. And that'd be a great thing to do for others. Be that friend that's going to be there for others.

And be that brother or sister in Christ that's going to go through the hard times with others. I hope this would be an encouragement for you today that we would be challenged to do what's right and to call life like it is.

Realize when we have faults that we need to change. I think of the verse that we went over last time that reproof enters into a wise man. That reproof is something that says, hey, you didn't quite measure up here.

Like you messed up here. And a wise person will have times where they need reproof. And so be willing to accept that.

But then also be the one that would be a friend and a brother that others need. Thanks so much for tuning in. And I look forward to being with you tonight at 7 p.m.

for our service here at MOBC. And I look forward to being with you then. Goodbye.