Good morning everyone. This morning we are in Proverbs chapter 14. You may recall that Proverbs are wise saints from Solomon. Solomon asked for wisdom and God gave it to him. And when Solomon was operating at his best and when he was operating in unity with God,
He had lots of wisdom and he wrote these sayings down and their, their sayings, their short sayings, sometimes connected, sometimes disconnected that make brief statements about wisdom. They're not
automatic guarantees or promises of God, but they are really good guidance that if you follow God's ways and you follow the way of wisdom, most of the time things are going to work out so much better. And if you follow the way of a fool, if you follow the ways of sin and evil, that's not going to work out well in the end.
And essentially, that's what Proverbs is, is wise sayings. Now, you know, Solomon, he did a lot wrong. I mean, he ended up getting caught up in wealth. He got caught up in women, concubines, you know, inherited some sexual sin from his father, so to speak. And, you know, what's interesting is that
Isn't it great that God uses people who have sin, but still can, when they're at their best with God, operate with wisdom and have good things to say? Because in a sense, you could say that for all of mankind, right?
I mean, like, I'm not Jesus, I'm not perfect. Pastor Jay here, you know, preaching this word. But praise God even in my imperfection, and even though all have sinned, including me in fall short of the glory of God, that I can still do things to serve God, and I can still say wise.
things that can benefit others. And the same thing is said for Solomon is that he has done a lot of good things despite his waywardness and his own sin. So with that, let's get into Proverbs 14. The wise woman builds her house.
but the woman of Folly tears it down with her own hands and Folly is foolishness and you know a wise woman will work hard and be diligent and provide in a ways of a woman to for her family but you know someone who's a fool they just wreck their own house because of their foolish behavior. He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh
And you know what, that is such, this is going to come up again in this proverb, but such a great word. I really think the foundation of life is to have a proper reverence for God. That's why, you know, this podcast is called Revereign the Word. Do you revere God? Do you have reverence and awe and fear and respect for God?
and you have a reverence, respect for the Word of God and wanting to follow it because that's what's going to make you walk upright is that you have a source that you is high and lifted up that you believe in and that you go by and that's going to direct your life. But if you rebuke that, if you turn away from that, if you try to go on your own ways or the world's ways, if you don't follow the ways of God but just think your own opinion is wise,
It's going to lead to destruction either now or in the life to come. He who is devious in his ways, despises him. If you just deny the Word of God and make up your own opinion and do your own thing and call that wise, you despise God. You don't believe in God. You're an atheist. You're anti-God. If you don't believe in the Word of God and wanting to honor it and him.
in the mouth of the ignorant fool is a rod of lofty pride. And you know, that is the pride of people today. People today think they're smart in mastering their own opinion in its ignorance and its pride. You know, listen.
I don't have my own opinion. I don't care about my own opinion. My own opinion matters nil. What matters is the opinion of God. That's what matters. And if you don't care about the opinion of God and if you put your opinion over God's opinion, it's going to lead to destruction now or in the end. You know, it'll catch up with you. And you know what, if you're your own God who makes up your own rules, you're going to end up not with God in the end.
But the lips of the wise will keep them. Where no oxen are, the manger is clean, but much revenue comes by the strength of an ox. You know, that's great that, you know, listen, working hard and having an oxen, having land and tilling your land and planting your crops and bringing in the food and revenue that those crops produce.
There's a lot of wisdom in the Bible. Listen, you can have greedy wealth or you can be wise and work hard. And you may find yourself blessed because you work hard and honor the things that God has given you. A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies. You know, and where you see lies and deception and deceit,
run. A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge is easy to one who has understanding. The key to understanding is to have God's understanding and seek His wisdom. I love this saying, leave the presence of a fool as you have not known lips of knowledge there. You're not going to find knowledge and wisdom from fools. And take a look at who you're hanging out with. Do they revere God? Do they honor His word?
Or are they mastering in their own opinion? If you're hanging out with a bunch of fools, you're going to be a fool. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. And that's what leads people astray is that they don't have a foundation, they don't have a biblical foundation, and they don't have a foundation in God, and they follow their own way, and it's a deceitful way, and it leads to ruin.
ignorant fool scoff at guilt. And that's what people will do instead of feeling conviction about what's right or wrong. A scoffer will just scoff at and say, ah, nah, that's not true. That's just what those Christians say or what that Bible says. And they just try to ignore it and scoff at it, but deep down they know they're wrong.
But among the upright there is favor, and there is favor for doing things God's way. Trust me, honor God, do it His way, and there will be blessing on earth and in heaven, Hallelujah. The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its gladness.
You know, bitterness is a root of evils. And, you know, listen, don't be upset with me about what I believe because what I'm sharing is the Word of God. Then take it up with God because I'm not giving you my own opinion.
The house of the wicked will be destroyed. Well, there you have it. If you live wickedness, if you live in your own opinion, if you live in sin, it's going to lead to destruction. But the tent of the upright will flourish. And you know what? I'll trust my ways to the ways of God. I'll follow His ways and we'll see where that ends up. And I trust that. And I've seen that that is a blessing to man when man follows God.
There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Isn't that something? People will think, well, this is what's right to me. You have your truth. I have my truth. I go by my own truth. Well, that seems right to you, but it leads to death. You know what? And we're trying to warn people. We're trying to tell people like,
Listen, follow God's way. Do not master in your own opinion because it's going to lead to death. It's going to lead to death. It's going to lead to separation. It's going to lead to hell following your own way. That's the truth. And you know what? If that doesn't seem kind, it's because you don't believe in the truth.
Like if someone was in my house and the house was on fire or I knew it was on fire and they didn't know when they were sleeping and I let them sleep in the house and get caught up in the fire, that would be evil. But if you know something's on fire and here's what's on fire, doing life your own way according to your own rules and not following God, your house is on fire.
And if I don't tell you that, that's not love. That's that you're letting people die in the fire. You've got to speak the truth with love. I'm so tired of, you know, this world of just soft people who won't speak up and it just allows and leads people into more and more sin because everyone's so they care more about what people think of them than what they think of God.
And because they care about what people think of them, they allow people to just go and sin because they're too afraid to speak up. They're more concerned about themselves in the ways of God. That's just the way it is. Even in laughter, the heart may be in pain and the end of joy may be grief. Hmm.
Yeah, sometimes, you know, people are disguising their pain, you know? And you know what? What I want to say is that no matter what you've done, I don't care what you've done. It doesn't matter. It could be the worst thing ever, no matter what you've done. Come home to Jesus. Repent of your sin. Agree with God.
And he in faith in Jesus will forgive you of everything you've done wrong. The grace of God can give you a fresh start and you can start over in Him, Hallelujah. And he can use you for his glory. And that is what's so great about the cross and about Jesus is no matter what you've done, you can have forgiveness of sins. In the end of joy may be grief. The one who's, the one who turns
back in his heart will be satisfied with his ways but a good man will be satisfied with his let me read that again the one who turns back in his heart will be satisfied with his ways but a good man will be satisfied with his
You know, in the end, we really need to know what God says and then have peace with following that. Regardless of what other people say, you should have a peace about what's true. Now, some people try to have a false peace and they try to be at peace with what their own version of truth is, but ultimately that will not lead to peace because it's not true.
But when you know what God says, then you can be at peace with that no matter what anyone else says. You know, you can stand with God in his truth and not worry about what people say, because what matters is what God says. Verse 15, the simple believes everything, but the prudent one discerns his steps. We've got to slow down, seek God's will and have wisdom. A wise man fears and turns away from evil. Listen to that.
You know, any one of these saints is transformative. A wise man fears and turns away from evil. We should listen. What the Bible calls, evil is evil. And we need to agree with God in that and then we can turn away with it. And that's wise. That's wise.
But a fool gets angry and feels secure. A fool will just say no and won't listen to wisdom and will just be angry that anyone even confronts them with God and try to have a false sense of security in their own lies when there's no security there and in the end it's destruction. A quintupered man acts in folly but a man of evil schemes is hated.
And we have to be careful and Lord help me not to be quick-tempered because that will lead to foolishness and a man of eel schemes is hated. Yeah, who wants to be around people who are scheming evil? The simple inherent folly but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. And you know what?
Seek God in his wisdom, you know, like I'm telling you what God's word says, you know But you got to seek it out yourself and when you find God's truth on your own Then you can believe in it not because I'm telling you to but because you have come to believe in what God says But a lot of people you know what they don't they don't turn to God They don't turn to his word because they don't know why they don't want to know what it says because then they know that they'd be convicted and they'd have to change and
So what they do is they hide and run and ignore God in his word because they don't really want to know basically what they want to do is they want to master in their own opinion and they want to have their own truth. So they're not going to come to the word because they don't want to, they don't want to have to be confronted. It's sad though because it leads to destruction. The evil will bow down before the good.
in the wicked at the gates of the righteous. That's what's going to happen in the end. In the end, those who are doing their own opinion following their own way, they're going to bow down before God in the wicked at the gates of the righteous. One day they're going to wish they would have been confronted with the truth and that they would have revered God, that they would have turned to their word. But for many, it's going to be too late. You can't wait till you're dead. You got to get it right before you die. The poor is hated even by his neighbor.
Well, that's a sad thing, but those who love the rich are many, isn't that something? And that's not necessarily, you know, Solomon's not sharing something good that's about us, that we tend to favor the rich and not favor the poor, but that, as we'll see, God's gonna elevate the poor and how we should react to the poor in this chapter. He who despises his neighbor sins, but how blessed is he who is gracious to the poor?
We're supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves, so we shouldn't despise our neighbor. And that's a sin to despise your neighbor. And then it says how blessed is he who is gracious to the poor. So that's really we should have a kind heart and generosity and spirit towards the poor.
Will they not wander in air who devise evil? Yes, that's what happens with people who do evil. They wander in air. But loving kindness and truth will be to those who devise good. We should be seeking to do good and look at loving kindness and truth. They go together by the way. You can't just have one or the other. If you focus on your own opinion of love, you will be without truth. And if you focus on truth with no love,
That too will not work well. What you need to do is put together love and truth and that you need God to do that well. In all painful labor, there is profit, but mere words from the lips lead only to want. And that's getting back to hard work again. You know, you can, it really, we shouldn't be talking about what we're gonna do. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, we should talk about what we've done.
We should really not need to talk about it. Just do what's right and and because mere words don't do anything
The crown of the wise is their riches. Isn't that interesting? The crown of the wise is their riches. God doesn't always speak ill. Sometimes he speaks ill of people who are out to have riches as the focus of their life. But those who honor God and work hard and as a result have wealth, that's not looked at as bad as long as they're honoring God and that their wealth comes from hard work and not
taking advantage of anybody else. It's actually a crown. I mean, it can be a beautiful thing that you've worked hard and as a result, God has blessed you. But the folly of fools is folly. Isn't that interesting? It's basically fools, fools, fools, the folly of fools is folly. And people who are fools, they'll just live in folliness all the time.
A truthful witness delivers souls. Listen to that. You know, speaking the truth, that's what wins souls and delivers souls. But he who breathes out lies is deceitful. And unfortunately, you know, people don't even recognize their own lies because they don't know God's word.
and they master in their own opinion. So really, there's so many people in the world that are filled with deceit and lies, and they don't even know it because they're mastering in their own opinion. And listen to what it says here. In the fear of Yahweh, there are strong security. Hallelujah. I'll tell you what, fear God, fear His word, and you will be secure. You will be built on a foundation on earth, and you will be on the Lord Jesus' foundation for the entrance into the eternal kingdom of heaven.
And his children will have refuge. You know what? May our children trust in the Lord. May our children build their foundation on God and His Word. And you know, that's something that we should model. And Lord willing, most will, but you know what? People have to make their own decision as to whether they're going to trust in God on their own. And if they don't, they're going to receive what's coming to them for their own folly.
The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life. Hallelujah. There you have it again. I'm telling you, life comes down. Do you revere God and revere His Word? And if you do, there's going to be blessing in this life and the life to come. The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life. To turn aside from the snares of death, it'll help you to turn aside from what's evil and what will lead to death.
In a multitude of people is a king's splendor, but in the dearth of people is a prince's ruin. Wow. You know,
When a king in a country is doing well and there's a multitude of people living in righteousness, what a beautiful thing that is. But in the dearth of people is a princess ruin. You know, when people are acting dysfunctionally and when there's chaos, it leads to the ruin of a country as well.
He who is slow to anger has great discernment. It's a great word, but he who is quick tempered raises up folly. A tranquil heart is life to the body, but jealousy is rottenness to the bones. Here is again regarding the poor. He who oppresses the poor reproaches his maker, capital M. So we really do need to have a heart towards the poor and to be generous towards the poor.
But he was gracious to the needy, honors him, honors capital Hham, it honors God when we're gracious to the needy. The wicked is thrust down by his own evil, but the righteous takes refuge even in his death. Look at that. Even in death, the righteous, they have a foundation, they have a trust. Hallelujah.
Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding but in the midst of fools it is merely made known or is Scarcially known you could say Don't don't hang out with fools. Who are you hanging out with? Who are you spending time with? Are you hanging out with the people of God? Are you hanging out with people that revere God in his word? Or are you hanging out with a bunch of atheists who? Have master in their own opinion if you do that you yourself are gonna be a fool
Righteousness exaltination. What does that say? Man may, our country turn to God into his word. But sin is the disgrace to any people. And you know what? Our nation is very much disgraced by the things that we endorse and promote. And the fact that we have so many people that are not building their life on the foundation of God and his word, it's a very sad thing today. The king's favor is toward a servant who acts insightfully
But his fury is toward him who acts shamefully. You know what? And leadership or government or king or president, you know what? When you act in a way that is honorable and good and right towards God, people are going to notice. But when you act in a way that is shameful,
You know what? You're not gonna get the favor of man. You're not gonna get the blessing of God and It's it's it's a sad state of affairs when our lives are built on
Our own opinion and shamefulness versus living uprightness and living for God. I hope that this has motivated you today to fear God, to revere his word, to honor him and trust him both for his favor in this life and in the life to come. Anything else is just folly and leads to destruction.