Amen. So we're into Proverbs chapter 16 now and it's the last chapter before we take a break and
I'm just going to keep reminding you if you don't please have a pen, be ready to make notes. There's
a lot of subjects we're going to get through in just these 17 verses alone. It's a different
sort of sermon going through especially from chapter 10 in the book of Proverbs
because just so many just quick fire, one topic, one topic, one topic, one topic. So if you're
going to remember things from it, it might be useful to make notes in your Bibles or on the
back of your bulletins. So if you need a pen, the ushers do have one. Put your hand up if you do need
a pen and one of the ushers will happily bring you one. Okay, so like I said, it's the last chapter
and then we're going to have a break from the book of Proverbs. And as you know, the book of Proverbs
is written so that we can be wiser basically. So when it comes to wisdom, I don't think
there's a book in the Bible really which will, you know, kind of can compare to the book of Proverbs
with just so much wisdom in so many areas of life. It's such a practical book to learn from
and that's why we've been going through it as a church here and we're up to chapter 16.
We're going through verse by verse. We're going to do verses 1 to 17 here, try and explain and
obviously just apply these verses and help us all get something from them. So we're in
Proverbs 16 and verse 1 reads, the preparations of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue
is from the Lord. I'm going to pray and then we're going to get started with this sermon.
Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for this great book of the Bible and this
chapter, particularly this first half of this chapter, I'm going to preach from now and
some of the many truths we can get from it, Lord, and help me to just preach those clearly and
accurately, Lord, and in a way that everyone will just really remember them and apply them to their
lives, especially those ones that are really important to people at this point in their
lives, Lord. Help them to just grow from your word. Help everyone to have attentive ears.
From with your spirit, please, in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Okay, so what's this talking about here
where it says the preparations of the heart in man, the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Is it talking about a Calvinist style lack of free will because you might get those types that
try and go to verses like this. Of course not. The next two verses among thousands of verses
or even more so would contradict that, wouldn't they? The next couple of verses, obviously in
Proverbs 16, talking about, you know, people thinking things are clean in their own eyes,
about committing your works to the Lord, then your thoughts should be established. So this
isn't talking about a lack of free will. No, I believe that we're seeing a truth about salvation
here. That's what I think this verse is about. The preparations of the heart in man, the answer
of the tongue is from the Lord. Verse one says, sorry, where verse one says that, it's talking
about it's God that prepares a heart and enables that answer of our tongue. Now turn to Romans 10
and again this isn't a Calvinist style preparation of our heart. Romans 10, if you turn to Romans
chapter 10, so in the New Testament, obviously, and just before the book of Corinthians, after
the book of Acts, we've got the book of Romans. Romans 10 and verse 8, Romans 10 says, but what
sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is the word of faith
which we preach. We've just read the preparations of the heart in man, the answer of the tongue is
from the Lord. It says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the
scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference between
the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's belief in our heart and the answer
of the tongue that saves us. It's calling on the name of the Lord in faith. That's what saves us.
It's that calling on the name of the Lord with that faith in our heart. It's the same thing.
Believing the Lord Jesus Christ is calling on the name of the Lord in faith. He's putting your trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ as salvation. Now how is it from the Lord? Because it all comes from
his word. It all comes from his word. Verse 14 says, how then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things,
but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For as I saith, Lord who has believed I report,
so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. The preparations of the heart in man,
the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. It comes from the word of God. It comes from
God's word being preached to someone. And it always comes back to the word of God, doesn't it?
It's preaching the word of God. When you're out preaching the gospel, it's about preaching the
word of God. It's not preaching your testimony. We're not knocking on doors to tell everyone about
what a great life we've had since we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, what we were like
before. Look at this. That's not what gets people saved. It's preaching the word of God, which gets
people saved. It's preaching the word of God, explaining the word of God, preaching it from
a spirit-filled man of God or woman of God or child of God, preaching the gospel to someone.
It's not some clever apologetics that gets people saved. I talked about that briefly this morning
because all these people that get just caught up in debates with Muslims, debates with all sorts of
heretics and unsaved people and all these long-winded debates. That doesn't get people
saved. You ain't getting saved watching a debate. You're getting saved by someone preaching you the
gospel. And it's vain janglings. It's a waste of time. It's a waste of energy. We need to make sure
when we're going out and knocking on doors that we're not getting into debates with people.
Complete waste of time. And I'll be talking about that when we go through our soul-winning series
as well. No, it's from the Lord. It's from his word that the heart is prepared and the tongue
answers. 1 Peter 1 23 says, being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible
by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. And then from that, the preparations
of the heart in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. It's from that incorruptible
seed, the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So what's the lesson from that proverb?
Preach the word of God to get people saved. Preach the word of God. You don't have to be this,
you know, I just don't have the gift of evangelism. Do you have the word of God?
Can you open your mouth and talk? Then you do have an ability to get people saved
because ultimately you're preaching the verses and you explain the verses and if you're saved,
you know what those verses are saying, don't you? Or at least find the ones that you do know and you
understand and you can preach your gospel. It's as simple as that. The preparations of the heart in
man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. Don't ever get to the point where you get your head
turned to trying to spend an hour trying to debate with people and prove evolution is
nonsense or whatever else. That's not what gets people saved. What gets people saved is the word of God.
Verse two, all the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes but the Lord
wayeth the spirits. And I believe rather than specific individual actions, okay, this is more
referring to the paths we choose, the routes we go down. All the ways of man are clean in his own
eyes because we often try to justify our decisions, don't we? We often try and justify our choices.
We often think that our roots, our choices, our goals and everything else is clean.
And some will say things like, well, I had to choose that place to live even though it was
hundreds and hundreds of miles from a decent church. But I had to choose that because,
well, and then the story will slightly change in their mind to justify themselves. That's just what
people do. And I'm talking about saved people as well here, just people, God's children, even living
by the word of God and everything else will just often self-justify decisions. Well, God
wouldn't have wanted me in that kind of workplace, that's why I quit my job.
But the reality of it is they probably quit their job because they just got lazy and because they
got annoyed because the flesh got in the way. I don't want my kids around the ungodly so I
don't take them anywhere, I just stay in my pajamas all day. You know, there are mums out there that
will do that. So to justify whatever it is, you know, whatever decision it is, we make excuses
for it. I'm too tired to make it to church today, to make it soul-winning, to read my Bible. Well,
I just need a rest and everything else. You need to just do as God tells you to do, right?
And we often make those ways, make those paths, make those choices clean in our own eyes.
We constantly justify decisions. But the Lord wayeth the spirits. Now this isn't talking about
evil spirits, okay? We're not a Pentecostal church, it's not that the laziness demon got
into you, okay? Oh man, if only I didn't let that laziness demon get in me or, you know,
or the greedy demon. Oh man, I just can't, you know, I'm gaining weight because the greedy demon,
it's a great... No, that's all a load of Pentecostal nonsense. It's talking about the
motivations here, the state of mind. You know, when you talk about the spirit of doing... I did
that in the spirit of kindness, for example, okay? And I'm not talking about myself, I'm just saying,
okay? You know, there are ways that we use that word there, the spirit. It's talking about the
state of mind that you're doing, your motivations for doing it, all the ways of a man to clean his
own eyes. But the Lord wayeth the spirits. The Lord knows really what the motivation is, what
your state of mind is with it. The answer, what's the answer? It's to seek His will. Seek God's will
to ask Him to show you the right way. Now, how do you do that if your ways are clean in your own
eyes? Well, back to the word of God again. It always comes back to the word of God, doesn't it?
You'd have to turn to Hebrews 4-12 says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit of the joints of man
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The word will help you discern your
thoughts and intents. As you read the word of God, mind, you read the word of God, it will help you
reflect, won't it, and understand what really your motivation is. It will help you weigh your spirits.
All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the Lord way of the spirits. And we can have
access to that weighing of the spirits through the word of the Lord. The answer is to seek God's way
and you do that with His word along. And then alongside, you could say now the next verse.
The next verse, Proverbs 16 and verse 3 says, commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts
shall be established. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established.
That's the answer to so much in life, isn't it? Where do I live? Where do I work? Who do I marry?
All these like big choices, big decisions in life. Well, commit thy works unto the Lord and thy
thoughts should be established. Commit it to God and your thoughts should be established.
Get your priorities straight. Put God first and your thoughts will follow. So if you make God first
in your life, then your thoughts will be established and for good as well. Work as unto the Lord.
If you're saying right, I'm committing my way unto the Lord. I'm going to work as unto the Lord in the
workplace and you'll think like the best employer you can be. If you're working and as
we're told in the word of God to work as you're working as unto God, your thoughts will be
established to be the best employer you can be. Because you're treating it like you're
working for God as you should be. Commit to serving God and you'll make a way of being in
church, won't you? If you just commit, you're like, I'm committing my way, I'm committing my works
unto the Lord, your thoughts are going to be established to find a way to be in church.
Find a way to get there. Find a way to make sure you're there. Same with soul winning. I'm committing
my works unto the Lord. Well, is there any greater work really or any more important work
than soul winning? Getting people saved. I'm committing my works unto the Lord
and I'm going to make sure I'm making soul winning. I'm going to make sure if I can't be in church,
I'm going to be at least part of a future church in my area. Because I know we do have people that
travel from afar and maybe are watching online right now and they're like, well, what am I meant
to do? Because I live in another country, I live in another nation. Well, put some work in for
God. Get soul winning, get meeting, get doing stuff, get visiting proper churches and at least,
look, if there's a chance for a church, you're going to be part of that church. Commit your life
to God and those foolish thoughts are going to listen to as well, aren't they? If your life is
centred, if you're reading the Word of God, you're soul winning, you're in church, you have a proper
prayer life, you're doing the things that God wants you to do, you're trying to get sin out
of your life, then a lot of those foolish thoughts will lessen as well. Your thoughts will be
established. Commit thy works unto the Lord and thy thoughts shall be established. It's a simple
lesson. The lesson is make a decision to serve God properly and everything else will eventually
fall into place. Get your heart right on serving God and the other things will eventually fall in.
No, it's not going to be, right, snap fingers, why isn't this happening, why isn't this working out?
But eventually things will fall into place and your thoughts shall be established. And things
have just become more obvious, don't they? Like I said, some of those bigger decisions just become
more obvious. Do I marry that hell raising harlot or do I try and wait and find someone who's
like a God-fearing woman or etc. You know, there's just so many decisions that if you're doing things
in God's will, if you commit your works to God unto the Lord, then they get established. Verse 4,
the Lord has made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. Now ultimately God
has created everything, okay. John 1-3 says all things are made by him without and was not anything
made that was made. And that includes wicked people, okay, that includes wicked people as well. It's God
that eventually gives them over to a reprobate mind. So it's God that eventually makes that choice
to give them over to a seared conscience to a reprobate mind. Now obviously after they reject it,
so they've still chosen to reject God, God gives them over. Why do wicked people exist,
you might wonder. And I've had these questions, I remember when you were newly saved and you wonder about
this sort of thing, you know, why aren't they just dead? Because there are some wicked vile
people around aren't there? There are people that are absolutely just despicable and you think why
are they even alive? Why are there days of evil, days when bad happens? And I suppose that the main
reason is that these people just present a choice. They present a choice in life, they give us an
example as well, they give us an example of what not to do, don't reject God, don't end up like
these despicable, vile, disgusting people, but also they present a choice because life is full of choices.
Wicked people present choices between good and evil, don't they? They do, they give you
that choice to make often. God wants us to freely choose him, doesn't he? To freely worship him and
those various flavours of false prophet create a choice. And I say various flavours, we talked about
the Islamic false prophets and at the top of that you've got Muhammad, the just
open known paedophile, and they present a choice, but underneath him the imam presents a choice.
The Catholic priest presents a choice, the Anglican vicar presents a choice, the Pentecostal
pastor presents a choice, and you can pick your flavour of false religion, your flavour of
work salvation, or you can pick the Lord Jesus Christ. You have the choice and that's what these
people do is they present different versions of choices for you and God wants us to freely
choose him. There's the choice between the most attractive style of work salvation or the truth,
and many people have their different style of work salvation. For those that want to seem very
biblical and like they believe the Bible, it would just be a little bit of turning away from sin to
get saved, a little bit of following Jesus for the rest of your life to stay saved or whatever else it
is. You know, they add some element of works and that's attractive to some. For others it's completely,
you know, it's the complete opposite, isn't it? For others their works are the five pillars of
Islam and Ramadan and the rest of it, but whatever it is, it's a choice being given to us. A choice
between the church divider, the church slanderer, or the God-ordained leadership. Those people
present that choice, don't they? Do you choose the slanderer? Do you choose the person that's just making
up lies? Or do you choose God's leadership? And it's your choice. You're constantly being given a choice
in life. There's constantly a crossroads. Which way do you choose? Which way do you choose?
A choice between the various wicked paths being presented in our life in various ways or the
moral option. A choice between lying to achieve this. A choice between maybe just compromising a
little bit in this area or saying, no, I'm standing on the word of God. And we're constantly being
presented those choices and wicked people give us those choices, don't they? In various areas.
And when we make the wrong choice, a day of evil is there to help us make the right choice the next
time. The day of evil, a lot of the time, is just a day where you just get worked. A day where things
go wrong. A day where the punishment comes in. A day where the chastisement comes in. And it helps us
to make the right choice. You're like, yeah, okay, that didn't go well that time because I made the
wrong choice. And the devil and his children can and are used to chastise God's children sometimes
as well. Okay, so when you look at that and you go, why has God made all things, even the wicked, for
the day of evil? Because they are used to chastise us. We get chastised by God and sometimes it's
through the devil and his children. You don't have to turn a bit. In 1 Corinthians 5-5 Paul said to
kick out the fornicator to deliver such and one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that
the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. It was to deliver him to Satan to be worked.
Now, God's not willing that any should perish, okay? The twice dead can and do still serve a purpose
so, okay? So, it's not that God wants his people to become reprobates, but once they do,
they're used for good reason. The Lord has made all things for himself, yeah, even a wicked, for the
day of evil. The lesson is not to fear them but to fear God because really he's in charge. Some
people get confused by this stuff, like there's this battle between God and the devil. No, there
isn't. God allows the devil to exist because he presents a choice. He presents a choice. He presents
options for people throughout life. He presents all the different versions of false religion
or you can choose the truth. Don't fear them, fear God. Verse 5, everyone that is proud in heart is an
abomination to the Lord. Though hand joined in hand, he shall not be unpunished. Now, the proud
in heart here is talking about these wicked people again. We just keep seeing different descriptions
of them. It's another reminder of the pride. I know we've seen this already before. You know,
why do we have to keep seeing that they're prideful? I tell you why, because it's one of the
giveaways. It's something that we're being warned about so we can spot them but also because it's
something that we want to make sure that we're not enough. We don't behave anything like these
types of people. Get the pride out of your life and it's not just a superficial or temporary pride
that comes and goes, okay, because all of us can have that from time to time. It's a pride that's
deep-rooted in the heart. People who are given over to a rep might have a deep-rooted pride.
It's everyone that is proud in heart. They're an abomination to God. That means he hates them.
They disgust him. He hates these people, not just their proud hearts. It said everyone,
everyone that is proud of heart. That's every person. That's every reprobate. Every flavor of
wicked is an abomination to the Lord. In case you're unsure about this sort of thing, what the
Bible teaches is that the majority of people really are just unsaved people. That we want
to reach with the Gospel and we get them saved. We're all sinners. Every single person is a sinner.
But there are the children of God who get saved and there are the children of God that go on to
try and live for God and live right to see and everything else, which is what we're aspiring to
do. Then on the other side, you've got the children of the devil. They're people that
have rejected God, rejected God, rejected God, but also at the same time have ended up hating
God and ended up basically either changing the truth of God into a lie, worship to serve the
creature more than the Creator has blessed forever our men. Whatever it is that we see this changing
in there where eventually they're given over to a reprobate mind, what the world would call a
psychopath. And these people are everywhere. You know the study of psychopathy is quite interesting
because it just marries up with the Bible's description of a reprobate. And these people,
these people that are reprobates as the Bible calls them, or the wicked as we've seen here,
the proud, the prideful, etc. These people are an abomination to the Lord.
Now it then said, though hand join in hand, what does that mean? Well back in Proverbs 11 21,
if you remember, we saw this same phrase. It said, though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be
unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. Now I believe it's talking about
their being mingled amongst us. And for those who are kind of new to faith a lot of the time,
they're mingled amongst Christianity as a whole. So you kind of look out there and even amongst,
even when you're new to faith, you're seeing Bible believing Christians in inverted commas,
churches which seem to believe the Bible, and they're mingled amongst all of those, aren't they?
Because all of those, all of those fake basically pastors, leaders, whatever they want to, bishops
in some of these funny churches, whatever they are, they're proud in heart. They're abominations
to the Lord and hand joins in hand because it's hard to distinguish, isn't it? Then as you start
to grow and learn and you start to realize, wow, it's, man, that way is broad, that leads to
destruction. Man, there are many false prophets that are amongst us. Wow, they're everywhere.
Then you start to realize, wow, okay, they don't just join hand in hand in those areas,
they join hand in hand in our circles of people that are trying to teach and preach every single
verse of the Bible. And then you start to get it even closer and you see, sadly, these people even
walk amongst us. Now, I think that's what it's talking about here, them being mingled amongst us.
We're given many analogies by the Lord of this, okay. Just, just, and again, it's not a nice truth,
it just is the truth. Wheat and tares, sheep and goats, wolves in sheep's clothing, wheat and chaff.
It's just the fact of the Christian life, isn't it? That it's not always easy to spot.
It's not to then suspect and hate everyone, let God deal with it, but don't be surprised or shaken
when he does deal with it, basically. When he does, when he decides, right, it's time to deal with this
person in whatever area, whether you're newer to the faith, he says, I just can't believe that
he called himself a pastor or, or it's, I just can't believe that person was a brother in Christ or
sister in Christ. It's just the way it is. Don't be surprised, don't be shaken. Verse five says,
everyone that is proud in heart is an abomination of the Lord. That's one of the ways of spotting
these types of people, though hand join in hand. So they, they, they are linked together, they're
grouped together with us and that he shall not be unpunished. The lesson is to watch out for the
prideful, but to trust God to deal with it. Verse six, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged and by
the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. Where is mercy and truth found? If you're wondering, what
does it mean by mercy and truth? Well, Proverbs 3, 3 says, let not mercy and truth forsake thee,
bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. It's the word of God and it's
writing it upon the table of thine heart that purges iniquity. It's reading over and over,
reading, reading, reading, memorizing the word of God, memorizing it, hearing it preached,
that gets the iniquity out of our lives, doesn't it? Yeah, it's not always nice, you know, this guy's
shouting about this sin, I know that I'm a bit guilty of, man, I can't, you know, who does he
think he is? You know, shouting, shouting, give up this, quit that, you know, this is what you're
probably doing in your spare time and everything else, but that's what purges it out of our
lives, that's how iniquity is purged, it's by mercy and truth, which is the word of God in its
various ways, reading it, memorizing it, hearing it preached, but that goes hand in hand with the
fear of the Lord. You can read it, you can memorize it, you can listen to preaching, you can do all of
that stuff, but without a healthy fear of God, you will keep going back to the old sins,
without, and you'll find new sins, you'll find new wickedness to get into without a healthy fear,
so it's all well and good going, well yeah, I've got the word of God, I keep reading my Bible, I
just, just keep doing bad things. Well how about get some fear of God? No, no, it's not just about
heaven and hell, how about the chastisement of God in life, because it's a scary thing,
he's a scary dad, I was explaining to John and Vicky earlier, just that the chastisement of God
is scary, in life, he can whoop you and he does whoop you, because he scourges every son whom he
receiveth, every child of God will get punished by God, fear him and you might start to get right
with God and live a happier life and get some of the sin out of your life, but without it,
you're just, you're just going to keep, you're just going to keep going back, keep doing more,
that's why you have to recognize the chastisement, you have to take notice of it,
and it's not for other people to do that, it's not for us to work out who's being chastised and who
isn't, you don't know, okay, you don't know whether it's a trial or tribulation, where it's just a part
of life, or whether they're being chastised, but yourself, you should know, work it out,
what am I doing, what am I doing this, where am I sitting here, what area of my life do I need
to work on, and even if it isn't chastisement, it's a good way to get yourself right, treat everything
like it is, sort yourself out, constantly reassess, constantly assess yourself and see where you're
falling short, where you're going wrong, and if it hasn't come to chastisement, well thank him and
then get right quickly anyway, you know, if you're like, well, you know, I seem to be going wrong here,
but I'm not being chastised, well, get right, by mercy and truth, the nick to his purge, and by the
fear of the Lord, men depart from evil, that's how you depart from evil, by the fear of the Lord, fear
him and learn his commandments, which are ultimate truth, and will then provide you with his mercy in
life, in your day-to-day life, which is where we want God's mercy as well, don't we, it's not just
about eternal security, it's about just getting that day-to-day life sorted as well, if you want
to live a good life, well, you're here, when a man's, verse seven, when a man's ways please the Lord,
he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him, right, how do we marry this verse up with
verses like 2 Timothy 3 12, yeah, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution, how do we marry this verse up which says, when a man's ways please the Lord, he may
give even his enemies to be at peace with him, where Matthew 5 11 says, blessed are ye when men
shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake,
well, the key here is that it's your own enemies, that's the key here in this verse,
it's personal enemies and not God's enemies, when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even
his enemies to be at peace with him, look, the God haters will hate you if you're serving God,
you're not going to be at peace with the God haters, you're doing things right for God,
you're serving God, they're going to hate you, they hate our church, all the different flavors
of false prophets out there, all the different works, they hate us because we preach the Gospel,
all the different different types of reprobates hate us really because we stand the Word of God
and we believe every word of this of this Bible, they'll always hate us, they'll convince themselves
how justified they are, of course, so they'll convince themselves that they're justified in
hatred, it's because of this, because of that, because of something that they'll claim and
embellish a bit and change and everything else, that's just standard, they'll convince themselves
how it's okay to slander you, to say all manner of evil against you falsely, they'll convince
themselves that that's all right and if you're never suffering some form of persecution you may
need to live more godly, okay, so because my Bible says yeah and all that will live godly in Christ
Jesus shall suffer persecution, you don't have to fear it because through persecution a long time
we just get stronger, we get bolder, we grow, our faith becomes stronger, we get closer to God,
a lot of time persecution is a good thing isn't it, but there are personal enemies,
people that don't like you for reasons aside from God, did you know that? Yeah, we're not all that
likeable sometimes, you know, people that don't like things about you, personality clashes with
acquaintances, past friends maybe, past relationships of some sort, people that just don't like you
because of things from the past maybe, colleagues etc as well, people at work that just don't like
no, it's not always persecution for God, so they just don't like you because we're not all that
likeable, okay, we've not all got these great personalities, everyone's just waiting to hang
around with us and when your ways please the Lord and whether the first he here is the Lord or you
due to your ways says when when a man's ways please the Lord he either way maketh even his
enemies to be at peace with him even your enemies will be at peace with you and if you're already
dealing with God's enemies it's nice to at least have your enemies at peace with you isn't it,
you know, sometimes you're dealing with a few enemies, a few God haters and you're like
I don't need more enemies, it'd be nice to have your own enemies at least at peace,
how do our ways please the Lord? Well it's when we put in first, when we like verse three,
commit our ways unto the Lord and in a natural progression type of way, just on its own,
that contention that comes from being irritated with what they think is your fad Christianity,
because a lot of people when you're first, whether or not it's whether you're first saved
but when you're living for God, when you're starting to attend a proper church, you're soul
winning, you're doing the things of God, a lot of people like I said on Wednesday, they want to kind
of put it down to a fad, oh it's a little phase that they'll get over or something else and then
they'll come back to, you know, the boozing party lifestyle or whatever it is, you know,
well eventually it has to give way when they see that it's permanent and that you're strong in your
faith and I think that a lot of the time that's the point where they just make peace with you,
because a lot of the time it's not necessarily like reprobate God haters, it's just family,
friends, other people that just want to, they're just irritated and annoyed by your change of life
but when your ways are pleasing the Lord, you're just doing the right things, eventually they just
have to accept it, don't they? A lot of the time, and we've seen this happen in our lives before,
we're kind of past family and past friends who seem to have just been just so outrageously
disgusted that we wanted to live for God, it's kind of like, it's just kind of, it's okay now,
you know, the peace is there now, it's kind of, it's just, there's no longer these weekly
debates about it and stuff like that, things just start to work out. When a man's ways please the
Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. What's the lesson? If you want at least
some peace, please God, just please God, try your best to please God in your ways, okay?
Verse eight, better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. Better is a
little with righteousness and great revenues without right. Now this is similar to chapter 15
and verse 16, better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.
But rather than focusing on the resulting trouble in this verse we're in now, in chapter 16 and
verse 8, it's just a simple difference between an honest and a dishonest or immoral life. Better is
a little with righteousness and great revenues without right. It's better to not have much in life
than your righteousness, to earn a simple wage, live a simple life and be right with God,
than to compromise on those things for even great revenues or earnings, even great,
didn't just say just some okay revenue, great revenues. And although this sort of teaches
common amongst Bible believers, most, okay, aside from we were talking about, what's that clown,
with a C, he's a false prophet with the private jets, Kenneth Copeland. Okay, you got those types
and that sort of false teaching, but aside from those, I think most Bible believers,
if you read your Bible you're going to see this teaching in various ways. But the thing is,
although we see that, how many really believe it though? How many really believe it? How many
would forgo the things of God for a better career? Truth is, many of God's children would do that,
especially a great paying one, especially one with great revenues. A lot of people
will just put aside the things of God for more money. How many would live too far from their
church to make all the services because it meant maybe owning property or cheaper rent or maybe
some just, how many would maybe not move close because it meant changing jobs and they quite
like the money they're getting and the security and everything from their job,
yet they can't really serve God properly because of where they are and what they're doing?
How many would compromise on morals, on integrity, to earn more money in various ways? How many would
just be that little bit more dishonest, would maybe just be a bit dishonest on their tax return,
maybe just whatever it is, whatever area it is, maybe take a job which really, you know,
I don't know, this doesn't sit right with me, but it's more money. Better is a little with
righteousness than great revenues without right. Why is it better? Because the great revenues won't
make you happy. They don't make you happy. It's a snare, it's a trap. The righteousness will make
you happy. Living right, being able to sleep at night and know, no I did all right today,
I'm not having this kind of burning feeling that that was dishonest, that was wrong, I shouldn't
have been doing that, I shouldn't have been behaving like that, I've got this hanging over me,
I know that I haven't squared up with maybe the taxman or maybe there's some other area
that I'm just not quite right, I'm not doing things honestly here, you're not happy with it.
However much money you have, it doesn't matter, it doesn't make you happy. Knowing that you're
in God's will, that you're on the front lines for the Lord, that you're serving him to the max,
there's nothing as fulfilling. There really isn't. And many people here, I'm not just talking about
being a pastor, many of us here could just say, yeah look, when you're doing things right and
you're trying to live right and you're not in presumptuous sin, you're in church doing the
things God wants you to do, you're serving God, you're on the front lines with God, there's a
feeling that you won't get in other areas of life, that you won't have got from whatever money you
may have earned in your previous days. Nothing compares. It's more fulfilling, it's more
satisfying than all the money in the world. I know rich people, I've known rich people from my past,
I've worked for rich people before, and they're never happy. However much money they've got,
they're never happy. They're not satisfied, they're not fulfilled.
And it always results in an eternity of problems as opposed to, for us, it's an eternity of more
rewards, isn't it? Those people that are just rich, it's money, money. Most of the time they're not saved,
most of the time it's a snare, it's a trap, it leads away from the things of God, and they end up
burning in hell for eternity and they can't take their money with them. And even if you're saved
and you start getting pulled, yeah, you're not going to lose your salvation, but you just waste
what little time you could have had here, doing so many things for God, living righteously, doing the
right things, and you could have had an eternity of more rewards with that. Better is a little with
righteousness and great revenues without right. The lesson is to focus on righteousness instead
of money. Okay, verse nine, a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps. So this
is the contrast between our hearts and the Lord, by the way. Okay, so our hearts will devise,
we would say maybe consider, plot, plan, scheme, and not necessarily in a bad way, not always,
but it's open to change, it's not fixed. We're devising, we're trying to work it out, trying to
scheme, trying to find a way of making things work out in our heads, whereas the Lord doesn't devise
our general way, he directs each step. The Lord will direct your steps, not just devise your general
way. For example, okay, a man's heart will devise all sorts of ways, for example, out of loving his
wife. Well, yeah, but she did this. Well, I don't know, you know, do I really need to love her when
she behaves like this, or when this happened, or this, you know, this thing that I'm still holding
on to. A woman's heart will devise all sorts of ways out of loving and submitting to her husband,
and just, well, you know, you know, I don't need to, I don't need to respect him because of this.
He hasn't earned my respect, or whatever else. We just find ways, don't we, devise our ways,
but the Lord directs your steps. When you just, when you look at the Word of God, the steps are
directed, every step. He said in Ephesians 5 25, husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved
the church and gave himself for it. That's a giving love, isn't it? He said just love your wives.
In fact, he said elsewhere, husbands love your wives and be not bitter against them.
Just say love your wives. There is no ifs and buts. But he said in Ephesians 5 22,
wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord.
And if you're submitting unto the Lord, that's a proper submission, isn't it? They're just clear,
that's the Lord directing your steps, not your heart devising your way. A man's heart devises
all sorts of ways. For example, back to the earlier topic of working hard for their employer.
Oh, well, you know, I don't have to work that. Well, my employer's here. I've got a froward boss,
so they might not use that word because then they'll know that the Bible tells either for
the froward, right? Oh, but my boss, you know, they take liberties with me. My boss, you know,
they make me do this, they make me do that. They're not the fairest boss. You know, I think
they're probably a bit dishonest in the background or whatever, but the Lord directs your steps. He
says in Colossians 3 23 and whatsoever you do, do it heartily as the Lord and not unto men. Simple.
It's clear. Just work hard as unto the Lord. And this applies in all sorts of areas of life,
because Psalm 119 105 says, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.
Which is why wicked people are always trying to get us to doubt his direction. To doubt that light,
to doubt that lamp. That's why they're constantly trying to attack the King James Bible. That's why
they're constantly trying to make you the final authority. Well, I'll go with this version today.
I'll pick and choose and add a bit of this version, a bit of that version, a bit of this version,
and now I'll decide which one I want to go with. Whereas, no, he directs every step when you put
your trust in the light and in the lamp. Unless they had it wrong for hundreds of years and just,
thank God that Westcott and Hawke came along with their perversions. Ridiculous.
And what they want us to do is rely on our hearts instead, don't they?
That's what that's what people want you to do. Start trusting the word of God. Find any which
way you can to slander the word of God. To put doubt in in the word of God and rely on your
hearts. But then Jeremiah 17 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Do we want our heart to devise our way or do we want the Lord to direct our steps?
A man's heart diviseth his way but the Lord directs his steps. The lesson is to get the
direction from the Lord. We get that from our King James Bibles. Verse 10, a divine sentence
is in the lips of the king. His mouth transgresseth not in judgment. Now, okay, this and some of the
following proverbs, they're not applying to kings of all nations like they're all just these great
people. That's not what it's talking about. He's not, for example, prophesying of King Charles the
Third. Okay, and just going, you know, King Charles's mouth transgresses not in judgment.
He's just so perfect, you know. Best buddies with Jimmy Saville. Oh, they just didn't know
anything about him. You know, that's not what it's talking about here. Okay, remember that this is
Solomon, the king of Israel, writing this to his son and future kings of both Israel and Judah.
Okay, for starters, but the proverbs are about how a true king should behave. That's what we're seeing
here. Being given that honour, albeit, by the way, it was requested by the people to have a king,
but that honour to rule God's nation. Okay, in verse 10 it says this, the first of these,
because we've got a few of these now, says, a divine sentence is in the lips of the king.
His mouth transgresseth not in judgment. So this is about the importance of the king's judgment.
How he's relaying the judgment of God. It's a divine sentence. He's given power over the land
underneath God, obviously, and his judgment is final. There's no questioning it. It's not wrong
because he's the king, basically, and that's a big responsibility to have, isn't it? So it's
definitely a responsibility there, but it doesn't just stop at kings. This continues in other areas
of leadership. So you men with wives and families, okay, you're the leaders of your families,
you're the king of your home, and as far as everyone else is concerned in the home, unless
it's contravening God, unless it's clearly going against God, you transgress not in judgment,
because you're the leader of your home. What you say ultimately is the final authority in your home
before God, God being the final authority. That judgment is final. That's how we have to see it
when we're underneath someone in whatever area. That's the way it is, okay, again, unless it goes
against what God says. So which means, therefore, if you're a leader of a home, for example,
if you lead a wife, if you lead children, you better do your best to make sound judgment,
because it's a big responsibility you have in life. So you need to make sound judgment in those areas.
But with that, it's not for kids, it's not for the kids to go, well, I don't agree with it.
It's like, no, he transgresses not in judgment, because he's a boss, because God just ordains
leadership in all areas of life. There's always an authority. He doesn't work with partnerships
and all of this. There's always an authority. Now, don't get me wrong, in a marriage you're
to love your wife, as Christ loved the church, but ultimately you are still the head of the household.
That's how the Bible teaches it. You are that authority. When it comes, if you disagree on
something, what you say as a man should be what goes. Now, you don't have to be an idiot about it.
You can explain your reasons and everything else, but you need to understand that God gives you that
authority in the household. You're to lead a wife. You're the head, the Bible says, of your wife.
Doesn't mean you're unequal in God's eyes. It just means that there always has to be
a hierarchy in all areas of life. It just doesn't work, does it? Well, it's the same in the workplace,
isn't it? If you're in the workplace, you have a responsibility over people. No one has a
problem with that. There's someone who has the final say. Okay, but with that, you better make sure,
therefore, that you take that responsibility seriously. Now, it's the same in a church house,
in that there's a responsibility with making judgment over God's people.
It's a big responsibility that's not to be taken lightly, which is why, for example, and again,
just to make it clear, because people will want to misquote me on this, I ain't no king. I'm a pastor.
Okay, but there is still, there's a responsibility there. There is a leadership position there,
which this can apply to, which is why I don't just kick people out because they're a bit weird,
because we'll get weird people that come in here, and we have had and we'll continue to,
and it's just the way it is, and we can't just kick them out because they're weird.
Now, I'll kick them out if I think they're a problem. If I have some evidence, at least,
that they're a weirdo, then I will kick them out, okay, because this is a biblical church,
and a biblical church kicks people out as well, and we don't just go, oh yeah, family integrated
church, bring in all the perverts, bring in all the weirdos, what could go wrong? That's madness,
okay. Sadly, that's a lot of churches around, but, and by the way, this is contrary to claims
of those that have been kicked out of this church, okay, who want to act like I'm just sort of hair
triggered to just kick out anyone, but that's not the reality, okay. There has to be, everyone,
everyone, by the way, that's been kicked out of this church has been kicked out for biblical
reasons. Every single person, and our church people know that, but it's a big responsibility
to get right, okay, because if we do it our way, we'll get it wrong, won't we? So if we just try
and, oh well, you know, I don't, that person seems a bit weird, let's kick them out, you know, and,
oh well, that one's all right, let's, oh, it doesn't matter if they've said this, and, you know,
and acted like that, let's keep them in, because I like that one, that's not how it works, okay.
But in Matthew 18 18, Jesus said to Peter about church discipline, he said, verily I say unto you,
whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you shall loose on earth
shall be loosed in heaven. No, a pastor isn't a king, but the same principle applies applies to all
areas of leadership as well, that a divine sentence is in the lips of the king, his mouth
transgresseth not in judgment. The lesson is to respect the responsibility of leadership in all
areas of our lives. Respect that responsibility, because it's not always a nice responsibility to have.
It's not, ah, just so great, you know, I can kind of make a decision on whether or not I think this,
I'm scattering one of God's sheep, or I'm protecting the rest of his sheep by booting him out.
It's not a pleasant thing to have to do, but it's the same in all areas. It's not always a pleasant
thing for a man to have that final say on things, to make that decision that's going to upset his
wife sometimes, going to upset his kids and everything else. It's not always, it's not always
something that that should be envied, okay, but it's just a fact of life. We need to take that
responsibility seriously when you have it in different areas of life as a leader. A divine
sentence is in the lips of the king, his mouth transgresseth not in judgment. Verse 11, a just
weight and balance are the Lord's, all the weights of the bag are his work. So this is
remind us of the importance of fairness, and really it's in the context of these five other
proverbs about kings, okay. The weights and balances were used for trading, weighing money,
weighing produce, whatever the trade is, okay, and it just applies to all areas of life, okay. God
wants fairness, and that applies to all areas of leadership too. God wants to see fairness. It's
only the just, the fair balance that's the Lord's. That's what it's saying here. When it's his,
it's always fair. All the weights of the bag are, okay. There aren't any clever little fake
weights to cheat people with, and you can imagine how much of that must have gone on, right, right,
when people especially weigh, and in fact goes on now still, I'm sure, with all sorts of places
where they're weighing out things for you, whether it's vegetables, fruit and stuff, I'm sure there's
a little bit of, a little bit of, well, house advantage, right. There aren't, there's no coin
clipping when it comes to God. He's not a coin clipper, and there's a lot of coin clippers around,
okay. The point is that in all areas of life, okay, we should do things fairly, and the context I
believe here is leadership. That's why it's sandwiched within these, these, these proverbs
about kings. Now whether that's mums with the kids, okay, there's a leadership position there,
you need to, you need to raise them fairly, don't you? Not take the side of the kid that kind of
seems to be, you know, well they've, they've maybe done a bit better on pleasing you that day, or
something else. Everything should be done fairly, as fairly as possible. Dad's with the family,
the workplace, people in the workplace, the, the church and, and ultimately the king of a nation,
should be done fairly, shouldn't it? God's way is fairness, okay. Not treating people unfairly,
not ripping people off, not conning people in one way or another. A just weight and balance of the
Lord's, all the weights of the bag are his work. The lesson is to be fair in all areas of life,
but especially in leadership, as we continue with the leadership, it is an abomination to kings
to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness. So again,
applying firstly to kings and nations, they have even more reason to live right, okay,
to avoid all forms of wickedness. They're leading a nation, okay, that was God's way with his nation
eventually, at least again, as, as a result of being petitioned to have a king. He said, okay,
we're going to have a king, and that king, it should be an abomination to commit wickedness.
They're leading. It's a massive job. They're responsible for countless people, millions of
people, millions of people they're responsible for. How important is it not to commit wickedness?
How important is it to establish your throne by righteousness? But, but also, I think here,
it's how their leadership is actually cemented by their uprightness, their being righteous.
The good kings of Judah often had long reigns due to their righteousness, didn't they? Sometimes you
see these long reigns of the righteous kings because of that, and then sometimes you'd see
some of the wicked kings not lasting long at all before there's some sort of assassination or
something else. The good kings of, the good kings of Judah, we see it clearly explain their
righteousness, don't we? They're doing good things like kicking all the sodomites out of the land,
for example, and other things like that. And again, this, this applies to all areas of
leadership in life. You could read all of the leadership books, people that got different books
on how to be a leader, try to copy great leaders of the past, you know, whoever, whoever it is that
you think's a great example, but your leadership will be most established by righteousness.
Again, in all areas of life. In the family, being right with God is more important than anything
else, isn't it? And, and that same, like I said, in all areas as a Christian, when you're in
leadership, you're automatically being observed more, aren't you? How you do things is being
observed because people are, a lot of the time they'll follow a lead, won't they? People often
want to find fault as well to justify themselves by. So people do that when they kind of want some
fault of a leader in whatever area it is, because then it justifies themselves. Now, we don't have
to pretend to be perfect in our spheres of leadership, but you definitely want to be keeping
away from wickedness. Because not only will people follow you into wickedness, but also it's just
going to ruin your leadership then. How will your kids take you seriously, mums and dads, if you're
indulging in wickedness? You're telling them not to do stuff, but you're a hypocrite. And they see
that, and kids pick up on stuff pretty quickly, and then it all goes wrong. And that obviously
applies all the way up to being a king in all these areas, okay? You won't be able to lead properly if
you're in open wickedness. And if you enclose wickedness, it's going to become open at some point
anyway, because things get manifest. Okay, so it is an abomination of kings to commit wickedness, for
the throne is established by righteousness. The lesson is that in all leadership, get righteous if
you want to succeed. Verse 13, righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him that speak
eth right. So this is the other angle now, but it's about those that a true king should want around
them, okay? Because when it came to royalty, you can imagine how many bad people tried to gain
influence. It said righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him that speaketh right.
This is talking about in their circles. Can you imagine with a king? I mean, you get it in
smaller areas of life, but can you imagine the king of a nation? How many just wicked hangers on,
and all sorts would be flocking around to try and destroy them, to try and get what they can out of
them, to try and gain influence in one way or another? But as a king, instead of the rich and
wealthy companions, instead of the flattering fakes, they should want righteous people around them.
That's what they should want, yeah? They should be the delight of kings. They should love them that
speaketh right. And this is whether it's a king or not, really. Proverbs 13 20 applies where it says,
he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
So if you're hanging around with wicked people, you're hanging around with fools, it's just going
to destroy you as well. But especially if you're the king of a nation, they're going to be flocking
to you in all different angles and areas. And you can imagine how appreciated that must have been to
have someone that speaketh right around him, especially as like the king of Israel, later Judah,
to just have someone who's just honest and right around is a nice thing to have around you.
Because that constant guile that you'll get from people, the constant deceit, the ulterior motives,
would have got so tiresome as a king, right? In all areas it's tiresome, isn't it? When you have that
sort of thing, people just sneaky and passive aggressive and all that weirdness and all that,
trying to like get things out of you and trying to manipulate, it just gets tiring, doesn't it?
And again, it should apply to all areas of life, but especially leadership. We should appreciate
those that speak honestly and are righteous. Appreciate that. Yeah, you know, they might not be,
you know, your perfect cup of tea in other areas. Maybe you're in leadership in a
workplace and maybe, well, we don't have much in common, me and that person, but they're pretty
honest and they're pretty righteous. Well, great. Great, because you know what, that's a good thing
to have around you, in all areas, really. They're not just trying to one-up on you, trying to get
something from you. People that are just genuine. It's nice to just have genuine people around,
isn't it? It's refreshing to be around genuine people, whether you're in leadership or not,
especially if you were the king of a nation, though. Can you imagine? Especially, it would
be nice to just go, this person's actually honest and they're just a genuine person.
Righteous lips are the delight of kings and they love him that speaketh, right? The lesson is,
in all areas, I would say all areas of life, appreciate genuine people, yeah? Appreciate
honest people, because they are, really, they are few and far between. Verse 14,
the wrath of a king is as messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it. So, kings had a lot of
power, the power of life and death over many, it was wise to pacify their wrath, yeah? You wouldn't
want the king to be angry with you, be wise to understand why and what you can do to appease him,
and this is just a simple teaching if you want to be wise, really. Whoever your authority in life is,
you don't want them angry with you. Again, life is just made, you just have authority in life.
If you're in the workplace, someone's your boss. Oh, well I'm self-employed, okay, well then your
customer's your boss. Everyone's got authority figures in their life in various areas,
that, you know, the law of the land, there are people who, basically, who carry out the laws
of the land and they're in authority when it comes to legal things, that's just life.
There are people that are above you in life, just deal with it. If you can't deal with that,
you need to question why you've got pride issues with that. There are people that are above us in
life and we don't want them angry with us. We shouldn't want them angry with us. Our job is
to pacify them. Learn what causes their wrath and avoid it. So, for example, children, your lives
would be so much happier if you avoided the wrath of your mums. Your life would just be happy. If you
learn and understand what makes my mum angry, what does it she like me doing, well, just learn it and
you'll have a much happier life. It's simple. Wives, your marriages would be so much happier
if you pacified the wrath of your husband. Instead of going, well, how dare he, I'm not putting up with
this, just go, I'm not going to have a happy life with an angry husband, so let me work out a way
of not having an angry husband. I mean, it's not really, usually, it's not really rocket science
either, is it? We're pretty simple as men. Nice meal. Smile when we get home. What more do we need,
right? Okay, but it's part of a wife's job, isn't it? Okay, just pacify her husband.
Make her husband happier. She'll be happier. That's the beauty of it. You'll be happier as well.
Those in the workplace would be so much happier with a happy boss. It's like, I just hate my boss.
I'm going to find a way. He can see on my face. I don't like him. Well, why? Just pacify him. Make him
happy. Yeah, you don't have to flatter him, but just, you just want, wherever it is, whatever areas of
life, whoever's above you, make them happy. You'll have a happier life yourself. Our job isn't to try
our best to upset the authorities in our life, okay? And of course, the ultimate authority is God.
Acts 5 29 says, and Peter and the other apostles' answer said, we ought to obey God rather than men.
So the ultimate authority is God. The wrath of a king is as messages of death, but a wise man will
pacify. That's the most important person to pacify in life, isn't it, is God. The lesson is that a wise
man will pacify all authorities in their life, okay? And that would just be a sensible thing to do,
which leads on to the next verse. Verse 15, and the light of the king's countenance is life,
and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. So where possible, we want to not just avoid angering,
but please our authorities. Okay, well, as long as I can just make them not angry with me. No, make them
pleased, you know. Please your boss. Please whatever authority figures in your life.
The light of their countenance is talking really about a happy face. It's nice when you see a happy
face on someone, isn't it, yeah? Makes you feel happier as well. My job in the workplace, when I'm
in the workplace, my job would be to please my boss. Please my boss. Find a way of pleasing my boss.
Do things that should make my boss happy, within reason, obviously, unless it's sinning against God,
your job at home, kids, is to please your parents. Quite a simple job in life, isn't it? Just
please your parents. Please your parents, you'll be happier. Your parents will be happier. Your job
wives, like I said before, is to please your husbands. Focus on that, you'll have a much happier life.
Pretty simple. Please your husbands. Find ways of pleasing your husband, and you'll be surprised,
because the world will tell you, oh, they're going to walk all over you. You know, girlfriend, you're
going to be a doormat now. It's the opposite. It's the opposite. If you please your husbands,
they're more likely to give you all the love that they should be giving you. They should be giving
you anyway, right? But that's just the way it is, and our job as believers is to please our Heavenly
Father. It's pretty simple, really, isn't it? How do we know how to please Him? It's in the Word of God,
and you don't have to guess, go on, did He really mean that? I better look at 20 other translations.
What does the Word of God say? The Word of God says some pretty clear ways of pleasing Him.
Now, when it talks about the latter rain, by the way, this isn't a country like England, in case
you look at that, you're like, what's so good about the clouds of latter rain? Because we're
always looking, or usually looking at the clouds of rain and thinking, oh, not more rain. But it's
rain in a place where rain is a blessing, because there are places in the world where they're pretty
hot and pretty dry, where rain is a blessing. The latter rain is needed for a successful harvest,
so you've got maybe an earlier rain, and then before that harvest comes, you need that latter
rain as well, right? And you can imagine the appreciation when you saw those clouds forming,
knowing that they would maximise your harvest, okay? Knowing that, and even if not, you're like,
well, you know, I don't even grow anything. Well, at the end of the day, it's going to maximise a
harvest of those around you, and your nation, and everything else, which is a good thing, okay?
So the favour of our authorities in life is a blessing, is what it's saying. In the light of
the king's countenance is life. His favour is as a cloud of the latter rain. The lesson is to humble
ourselves and please those that are in authority in our lives. Verse 16, how much better is it to
get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver? Last two verses
here in case anyone didn't notice me saying we're only doing the first 17 in case you start getting
worried. Okay, how much better is it to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather to be
chosen than silver? So we've seen this principle a few times already in Proverbs as well, okay?
So nothing to see move on. Is that how we're going to treat this? Well, we've already seen this,
you know, yeah, wisdom is better than riches. No, it's repeated because it's so important to get
this right. That's why it's repeated because we need constant reminding. Constant reminding that
the wisdom from the word is more important than gold, than silver, than jewels, than money,
than stuff. Stop focusing on money, basically. Stop focusing on gain, on stuff, on things,
and focus on getting wise from the word of God. That's what God wants us to do. Getting the
knowledge of the holy, the understanding that will really affect your life, that will really
affect your happiness in life, that will really affect not only your life but the eternity of
rewards you could be earning in your life. And it's not just a little better. How much better
is it? How much better? This is, I mean, they're not even comparable. How much better is it to get
wisdom than gold? And I don't know, I mean, I don't think, I think most of the gold is stockpiled
somewhere, isn't it? It's quite rare to get proper gold, to get any amount of proper gold. Well, how
much better is it to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding rather than to be chosen
than silver? But God's people so often choose the money, choose a high paying job, like I said earlier,
choose the extra shifts at work, than the wisdom they could have got from the word of God, than the
wisdom they could have got from serving God. So many times people would choose the riches,
because the true wisdom, the true understanding comes from serving God in the New Testament Church.
That's what it comes from, from soul winning, from doing the things of God, from reading the word,
from having a proper prayer life, from getting sin out of your life. And we've been talking about
this recently, okay, just how much we've learned. I've been talking about it a bit, people have been
just talking, coming up to me and saying like the difference between making do at some pretty lame
churches over the years, over, you know, the last several years, and actually serving in a proper
soul-winning New Testament Church, in how much wiser we've got to all the attacks of the enemy,
to so many things. It's just, I mean, you just can't compare it, can you? Because the wisdom comes
from really living for God. And again, you know, this isn't like, this isn't a plug for our church,
because it's a plug for any soul-winning church out there, who's actually doing things, standing on
the word of God, preaching the word of God, and going out there and getting people saved.
Suddenly the wisdom of doing that and being part of that, suddenly goes up here, doesn't it?
Compared with going to kind of lame Baptist or, you know, backslap Baptist or whatever else,
non-denom, you know, non-denom joke church, and going there and hoping that there might be a
couple of saved people there, and that maybe they won't preach damnable heresy if I'm lucky.
And it's a different, it's a different world, isn't it? And suddenly you're just seeing it all,
how things work out black, especially as you're getting to know each other and seeing things
happening in people's lives and stuff. And then the wisdom that comes with that, when you start
to apply the word of God to that, it can't be compared, because you can sit at home, read your
Bible, listening to sermons, but it's nothing like it, is it? It really isn't. You get these people
sometimes trying to comment on things, criticise, and you know what, most of the time they are, and
the ones who I'm saying aren't just trolls, just maybe saved people that just have a bin, a bonnet
about this or that. Most of the time they're just people that ain't in church, who just show that
the lacking of wisdom, the lack of understanding, that they really have all these kind of people
that are trying to justify and find fault in, because they're just trying to find excuse,
aren't they? A lot of the time to just not serve God. How much better is it to get wisdom than
gold and to get understanding around to be chosen? So how do you get that? Commit thy ways unto the
Lord. And verse 17, the highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way
preserveth his soul. So if you're upright or trying to be upright, your path, whatever you do,
your choices, your decisions, are based on departing from evil, okay? The highway of the
upright is to depart from evil. So for example, fleeing fornication, fleeing idolatry, fleeing the
love of money, not being amongst wine bibbers, amongst riotous eaters of flesh, not knowing a
wicked person, all those ways that we depart from evil, you depart from all the snares and traps,
the obvious evil, if you're trying to live upright. You're going to see those snares,
those traps, those different angles, those different areas, and try and flee from them.
You keep to it and you'll preserve your life, and not just in terms of avoiding an early physical
death, but you will keep yourself from trouble. And I'm talking about you're just your person
in life, from danger, from pain, all the different things that can affect us
when we're not departing from evil. Preservation isn't just about existing, by the way, okay?
It's about keeping it in good nick too. So you preserve something, it's not just, oh well,
I managed to preserve this food and it's like mangled and falling apart. The preservation
process is to keep it in good condition as well. And he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul,
and it's not talking about salvation here, it's just talking about our day to day,
our person. Soul can often just apply to a body or a person as well.
And so many problems, so much trouble is avoided if we depart from evil, isn't it?
So much is. The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He that keepeth his way
preserveth his soul. Be wise, avoid the obvious evil, and you'll preserve your soul,
your life whilst here basically in this life. That was verses 1 to 17 of Proverbs 16. I hope
you got something out of that. Hopefully you had some Proverbs there that maybe you can apply,
you can think about going into this week and onwards. On that we're going to finish in a
word of prayer. Father thank you for your word, thank you for the many lessons we've got out of
there. And specifically I suppose, you know, a big section on leadership there, Lord, help us to be
wise leaders in the areas of our life where we are to lead, Lord. All of us have positions of
our life where we need to take a lead and even if it's just to lead our own lives, Lord, and help us
to make the right decisions, help us to be good leaders, help us to also, Lord, just apply some
of those other teachings to our lives as well. To think about them as we go into our week, to not
just be hearers of the word but to be doers too. Lord, help us to get home tonight and to return
for the midweek service on Wednesday. In Jesus' name we pray with this. Amen.