Proverbs 28 - The Unknown Episode Name

Gonna be very brief today, but going through Proverbs 28, and this is just a great chapter.

We won't go into all of the different things that take place. There's a lot about the poor and their dealings with each other and what our interactions should be with those that are not as well off. There's a lot of things about a faithful man.

We're going to be kind of centering around verse 13, but we're going to start off in verse number 18 of the chapter, and kind of going through the end and then looping back around down to verse 13.

So verse 18 of Proverbs 28 is where we're going to start off today. Whoso walketh up rightly shall be saved, but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.

Let's talk about this before with the righteous man that falls seven times and gets back up again, but the wicked fall into mischief.

This is along these same lines of when we are twisted in our ways, we're not seeking God, we're not looking for him, we're not waiting on his salvation for us, either salvation in general or specifically, salvation from different circumstances of

life here. And when we are not looking for God and when we're not seeking him wholeheartedly, there is a destruction that comes, that can come into our life.

So the goal of this verse is not, okay, man, if I'm ever wrong, God's just going to destroy me. That's not the point of the verse.

The point of the verse is that he that is perverse in his ways falls at once, that we should make it our goal that we're not gonna be those that are perverse or twisted in our ways and our dealings in life. Instead, we're going to follow God.

And when we fail, and we will fail because we're human and flawed and sinful, when we do fail, we're going to turn to God. We're not going to rely on ourselves.

Verse number 19, He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread, but he that falleth after vain persons shall have poverty enough. Here you kind of have a verse that makes me think of a lot of the get rich gurus that are out there today.

I think of even some of the people that might head up different cults and things like that. And here you have Solomon giving this contrast between when you put work into your fields and into what God has given you.

When you are working diligently, you will have bread to eat. You'll have plenty of bread, but it says if you follow after vain or empty persons, you will have poverty enough. So work a lot and you'll have plenty of bread.

Follow after vain persons and you'll have plenty of poverty is kind of the contrast there. So make sure that you spend your time doing what we know God wants us to do. And don't spend all of our time following after riches or vanity.

Along these same lines, verse number 20, a faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

When our main goal in life is, man, I want to get as much money as I can as fast as I can, that'll take us down a route oftentimes from the testimony of Proverbs that we don't want to go down.

And a lot of times the easiest way to get rich fast is to take advantage of other people, whether that, you know, I think back to the first chapter of Proverbs, whether it's robbing people, whether it's having, as has been mentioned, often unjust

balances, you know, shady business dealings and all of these things. If you work diligently, you will reap the benefits of it.

If you're trying to just get ahead as fast as you can, that is not a good thing to do, at least from the testimony of Proverbs. And Solomon's wisdom was, hey, this oftentimes will lead us down a path we do not want to go down.

Verse number 21 is such an important verse for us. To have respect of persons is not good, for for a piece of bread, that man will transgress.

Here when it says respect of persons, it doesn't mean, hey, if I respect Christa or Maggie or some of the other people that are on here, if I respect you, I'm in the wrong. No, that's not what it's saying.

When it's saying respect of person, it's an impartiality or it is a partiality, kind of like we talked about in James 2, where a rich person would come in and the church members there would go, oh man, I want that rich person to sit by me.

I want to put him in the best place in the church so that he will stick around. And I'm going to tell the poor person to go sit in the back where no one can see him.

It's that kind of thought of when you have this partiality for some people and when you say this person is really important and I want to be around them and I don't think this person is important and I don't want to be around them, Proverbs says, for

a piece of bread that man will transgress. For the tiniest thing, for maybe just a meal, that person will transgress that has respect of persons.

Verse number 22, he that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him.

Proverbs talks a lot about our eyes, it talks about an evil eye, different ways throughout Proverbs that all talk about stinginess, that talk about in some cases dishonesty and even thievery.

This is the thought that's going here, again, with some of the earlier verses of when you put your focus on, I'm going to get as much money as I can. There are oftentimes spiritual consequences that come as a result of our lust and desire for money.

As we know from 1st Timothy chapter 6, the love of money is the root of all evil or of all kinds of evil that emerge in our hearts when we have that love and lust and desire for money. Here we are in verse number 23. And this one's a great verse.

We talked a little bit about the same thought yesterday. He that rebuke a man afterwards shall find more favor than he that flattereth with the tongue.

Some people just want to get on your good side, not because they're your friend, but because they want to take advantage of you. And those people will often engage in flattery where a true friend will correct you when you need it.

And then that is such an important thing to have. We're gonna go down to verse number 25. He that is of a proud heart stirth up strife, but he that putteth his trust in the Lord shall be made fat.

Now, by made fat here, he's not talking about you're gonna gain a few pounds. That's not what he's saying. What he's saying here is you will be made satisfied.

Back in these times when food wasn't as easy as, okay, I'm gonna go to the grocery store and pick up my food for the week, you had to grow all of it. It was a sign of diligence. It was a sign of God's blessing.

If you were fat, it meant that you had plenty in your life. And so God is saying, hey, when you have a proud heart, you're going to make others fight.

If you notice whenever you're around that people start fighting because of things that you say, man, that's not the Christian way to do things. That's not God's way of doing things.

But he says, if you put your trust in the Lord, you will be made fat. You will have plenty. So what is, I'm not asking, do people fight whenever you're around or are you fat?

That's not the question. The question is, hey, do people fight whenever you're around because of things that you say, or are you one that is walking with the Lord and there is plenty, you have no want.

I think of Psalm 23 will probably be mentioned or read today. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

I will not be in want. I will not lack. That's a beautiful thought.

We're going to go now to verse number 28 and then circle back to verse number 13. Verse number 28 says, when the wicked rise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.

Man, when wicked people aren't in power, there is fear that erupts as a result of it.

I think maybe of some of the countries like a Cuba, a Russia, a China, places like that where even believers have to be underground, so to speak, where they have to worship in secret. And man, that is a, it's a tough thing. It's a wrong thing.

And Solomon says here, when the wicked rise, that's what happens.

I think even in the Book of First Kings, when you think about the prophet Elijah and how Elijah had to hide for many years from Ahab and Jezebel and how there were several hundred prophets that were hidden in caves by Ahab's steward who feared the

Lord. But it says, when the wicked perish, the righteous increase. And man, this would be a great reason for us to vote for those that would help to uplift righteousness in our nation and uplift God's ways.

Because it says, when the wicked perish, the righteous increase. That in times when there are good people ruling and in power, that it helps a nation. And it really does help the gospel to be able to go out more freely.

I can think over the past 250 years, the freedom of religion that we've had in our nation has helped us to be able to send out missionaries all across the globe, to Africa, to places like Burma and China and so many other places that really were a

result of the freedom of religion that we were able to have here, that we were able to have established churches and then be able to send out missionaries to the different parts of the globe. We're going to circle back now to verse number 13.

He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. He that covers his sins will not prosper.

Man, this thought is very convicting because just like Adam and Eve, when we sin, our first impulse, our first instinct is, man, I've got to hide. I can't let God know that I've sinned. I can't let other people know that I've sinned.

But Solomon says, hey, when you try and cover your sins, you're not going to succeed. You're not going to succeed in covering your sins. I think of the verse that says, be sure your sin will find you out.

You're not going to succeed in covering your sin up, but you're also not going to succeed in the other areas of life that you do. I can think of Joshua 1,8.

It says, this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then shalt thou make their way prosperous, and then thou shalt

have good success. When we are ignoring what God has said about confessing and forsaking our sin and when we try and cover it up, we're not going to be successful in covering up our sin and we're not going to be successful in our other areas of life

for long because we have this sin that is going to be eating at us, eating at our spirit and it's going to affect the other areas of our life. But I'm so thankful for the second part of this verse.

It says, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. And man, we need both parts of this second half of the verse. We need to confess our sins.

Why? First John one night, if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, which leads right into the second part of this verse, that when we confess and forsake, we'll have mercy.

If we're just confessing and have no intention of leaving the sin behind, we're not really confessing our sin. We are just giving lip service and saying, oh, yes, God, I know that's wrong. Well, immediately living like what we just said was a lie.

So here you have confessing and forsaking and having mercy that we would say, God, I know that I'm not strong enough on myself to leave this sin behind, but I trust in your power.

Like we read in First John one nine, we believe that you are faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse and relying on the Lord for our cleansing from sin.

Don't think that it's up to us and our own greatness and our own righteousness to get rid of our sin. No, it's all through leaning on Christ, just as we did for salvation, that we would say, God, I am unable to save myself.

I know I'm unable to cleanse myself and I need you. I need to rely on you. Hope that would be an encouragement today and look forward to being with you guys again tomorrow on Strength of the Day.

If you are in the Moses Lake area and able to come to Mel's Celebration of Life Service, we would love to have you here at 1030. Thanks so much for tuning in and see you tomorrow night. If you are in the Moses Lake area as well for our small groups.