OK, Proverbs chapter 22 and part 2, we're going to look from verse 15 today, we did
one to 14 last week.
Like I said, if you need a pen, raise your hand, but I think everyone should have one
by now.
Make some notes if you could.
There's a few less subjects this time, so we've got a few verses that are joined together,
four in a row in the middle, a couple towards the end as well, but still a lot of topics
that we're going to go through.
We're going to start with verse 15, so it's Proverbs chapter 22 and verse 15, which is,
foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far
from him.
I'd like to pray and then we're going to get started.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the second half of this book, this chapter, sorry, of chapter 22 here with
some great truths there, Lord, and some things that you take a few verses to go into as well
there.
And just help us to just take in what your word is saying today, Lord, and to get wiser
from it.
Help me to preach it.
I'm full of your spirit and in a clear and accurate way, Lord, in a way that it's going
to really benefit your people listening.
Jesus, amen.
Okay, so he said, foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction
shall drive it far from him.
So what does it mean that foolishness is bound in the heart of a child?
In a general sense, okay, it's just that a child has a propensity to do foolish things,
okay?
That's just the way it is.
If you left your children to their own devices, if you told them, for example, you said to
your children, there's going to be no repercussions, okay, whatever you want to do, I'll be back
in a year, okay?
And you just left your kids in the house and said, whatever age, okay, and you said, I'll
be back in a year.
You come back in a year, and let's be honest, there's going to have been a lot of foolish
things going on in that year, okay?
Now, you know, just kids, in case you start hating me for this, if any of us in a year
is going to have done some foolish things, just the truth of it is, the reality of it
is with a kid, it's going to be a lot more, okay?
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.
If there were multiple children—so imagine those of you who have a family, and those
of you that don't, just, you know, maybe, you know, you just think about some kids,
you know, if you left multiple children in a house on their own for a year, could you
imagine what might go on in that house?
I mean, could you imagine some of the bullying, some of the nastiness, some of the like—that's
just because kids do that stuff.
There's a lot of foolishness that would happen, okay?
That's just the reality of life.
That's the way it is, okay?
The sweet, perfect children utopia doesn't exist.
It's a fake.
It's a fraud, okay?
Foolishness is bound in their heart.
They need training.
And that is an ongoing work, isn't it, okay?
So the heart, though, he said, it's bound in the heart of a child, and it's the seat
of our emotions.
So it's where our emotions come from.
And that is often the problem with children, isn't it?
It's the emotion.
It's being able to control the emotions.
They don't have that control.
Kids don't have the control of their emotions that adults learn to—they learn to have,
usually, okay?
Think about temper tantrums, you know?
And sometimes they're over some pretty bizarre things, aren't they?
Think about them bursting into tears because they've been told no.
They're not allowed something, told no to something, and sadly, it can—older kids
can be like this as well.
And it can be a big deal, can't it?
The envy and covetousness is just opening kids that you see so often.
Think about, you know, especially with younger children, how they can be when they see something
they want, and the way they covet things, the way that they get so envious of what other
people have, to the point of acting upon it.
They don't control the emotions.
The foolishness is bound in that heart.
And you could also say that they're bound to make foolish emotional decisions, okay,
based on that.
So they'll do things and act upon those emotions and make decisions that are emotionally
led, they haven't been thought out, and everything else.
And that needs training out of a child.
It needs training out.
And you say, well, won't they just automatically stop doing that?
Well, that's what a lot of dysfunctional adults are.
So a lot of dysfunctional adults in the world are adults that were never trained out of
their temper tantrums.
I've seen grown adults have temper tantrums, you know, borderline stamping their feet,
you know, because they're not getting what they want.
I mean, you're talking about with soul-winning the other days, you know, they're doing
what a child would try and do and just try and threaten you and shout at you.
And then when they don't get what they want, they're like suddenly they're stamping
their feet and stuff, because it's never got trained out of them.
It never got trained out of them.
Often they were trained to have them.
And that's a big problem with parenting, isn't it, is there are parents out there
that when the child has a temper tantrum, because they haven't got what they want,
they give them the thing that they're having a tantrum about.
That's training someone to have a temper tantrum.
That's training someone to be an adult who gets what they want by kicking off, by shouting,
by screaming, by crying, by grabbing, by stealing, by taking.
That stuff has to be trained out, doesn't it?
Reward for crying and sobbing, you see, sadly, amongst a lot of parenting.
The child cries and sobs so they get what they want.
And that's bad news, isn't it?
You're teaching that as a way.
And there are adults that get what they want by crying and sobbing.
You see it, they kind of, they're not getting what they want, so on comes the crying and
sobbing because they've never had it trained out of them.
Same with reward for envy and covetousness, where they get what they want by envying,
by coveting things, by trying to take it, and they get it.
And there are people out there, probably a lot of thieves, just never got it trained
out of them.
How do you train them?
Well, it says here in verse 15, foolishness is banned the heart of a child, but the rod
of correction shall drive it far from him.
Now, the rod of correction is a form of physical chastisement because there are some that try
to argue, well, it probably just means just correcting them.
And they try and find these ways out of it.
Now, God says that this form of physical chastisement will drive foolishness far from him.
What's he talking about?
You could turn to these if you want or just listen if you know the verses or, you know,
or you just want to listen in.
I'm going to go through a couple of these, but Proverbs 10, 13, Proverbs 10, 13 says,
In the lips of him that hath understanding, wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back
of him that is void of understanding.
So there's an area of the back that is made for the rod of correction.
And we call it in England the backside.
OK, that's what it's made for.
It's made for the rod.
It's made for correction.
And basically we're talking about good old fashioned spanking.
That's what we're talking about, which is something that parents have been training
their children with for thousands of years.
OK, a good old fashioned spanking when they do wrong.
It's a good way of correcting a child.
It's a good way to make them understand that that's not a good thing to do because it results
in a stinging backside.
OK, it was something.
And just to remind you of this, because the world has gone completely opposite with this.
It was something that the schools in this nation and others were doing until very recently.
Schools were doing it, just to make it clear, because people are like, I mean, what sort
of draconian?
The government schools were doing this until very, very recently, not just here and many
other places.
Well, the cane was a regular feature of all schools in the UK until in 1986.
OK, that's less than 40 years ago.
It was banned in state schools in England and Wales, introduced by the Labour Party.
Apparently it was won by one vote, one vote.
So it wasn't some landslide.
Oh, they're just hanging on to this.
And finally, those politicians got together.
One vote won it in 1986.
Then after that, the private schools followed in 1998.
It took another 12 years for the private schools because they were like, I don't care what
the state schools are doing.
People are paying for us to school and people were paying for their kids to get caned.
Because they wanted there to be some repercussions because they knew that if they didn't cane
them, if there wasn't a proper punishment, these kids would be running wild and they're
not paying for them to go to a school and run wild.
And it was followed in 2000, by the way, by Scotland, who have now banned spanking, and
in Northern Ireland in 2003.
So they were the latest.
But now Scotland, at least in Wales, have now banned smacking kids' bottoms.
Now some would look at it and go, thank God they stopped, you know, that cane in those
schools, you know, horrendous, wasn't it?
And things have improved with all of those kids' behaviour in schools now.
Hold on.
Is that really the case?
Because it hasn't, has it?
It hasn't improved.
It's gone so much.
Now, of course, people go too far with this stuff.
They choose the thing they want to argue about and go, well, look at the state of things.
It must be because of this.
But you know what?
It's a part of it, isn't it?
Because they're so out to lunch now in the UK, in schools in the UK that, I mean, they
can hardly even kick a child out.
It's so hard now just to remove a child who's causing mayhem from a school.
And it's got pretty bad, isn't it?
And a big part of that is not having repercussions, because they're just like, what can I even
do now?
Kids, so a child can get, like, you go, well, what's wrong with detentions?
Well, what if the child just says, no, I'm not going, not going to detention, don't even
turn up?
Oh, well, well, what about exclusion?
They're rubbing their hands with glee and then they turn up back there again, carrying
with the same stuff.
There has to be repercussions in life, don't there?
Well, the smacking of a kid's bottom also decreased in households, though, from this
time until now as well.
But Proverbs 13, 24, Proverbs 13, 24 says, he that spareth his rod hateth his son, but
he that loveth him chasteth him betimes, which is early, OK?
See, the Bible flies in the face of the very new and recent reasoning out there, and it
is very new and recent reasoning.
People really want to push this stuff and make out like, I just can't believe someone
would smack a child's bottom, it's, what's wrong with you?
This has been, this has just been normal throughout history, a smacked bottom.
And now it's like, I just, it's horrendous and everything else.
Well, Proverbs 29, 15 says, a rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth
his mother to shame it.
And there's a key point here, OK?
And just to make this clear, and I think most people here, I'm sure, understand this.
It includes reproof, with the goal being wisdom.
So foolishness is bound the heart of a child, but the rod of, what's it called, correction.
The rod is of correction shall drive it far from him.
The purpose is to correct behavior.
The purpose is to correct foolishness.
It's for a child to understand that there are repercussions for sin.
So that's the whole point, is that they should understand, there's no point just spanking
a kid, no point giving a child a spanking and not even telling them why and not even
instructing them and helping them to understand.
And for me, that's why, like, in the middle of tantrums and when the rage and the emotions
are flying around, ideally that's not a good time, because are they really going to listen
to what you're telling them?
Are they going to really listen to the correction?
It's a loving thing to do if done correctly.
And I think a calmer time, ideally, is the best time, right?
Look, it should be done calm, it shouldn't be done excessively.
It should be with the goal to correct behavior.
So that's the point of it.
It's not like, right, I'm just so wound up with this kid, they need a spanking.
That's not the idea, is it?
It's a rod of correction.
So you're giving a child a spanking with a goal of improving the behavior, talking through
what needs doing, and obviously with a very young child.
But again, because really, they need to understand what the smack bottom's for, don't they?
So there is obviously a cut-off there.
It's not to vent, it's not to get revenge.
And some people get that wrong as well, don't they?
And parents can be carnal and think, right, I've got to get this child, I can't believe
they did this and said that.
Well, what's the goal?
The goal's correction.
And just in case anyone's confused about this, it is entirely legal in this nation still,
as long as it's reasonable punishment.
OK, if it's reasonable punishment, and that's our goal, is it?
It's reasonable punishment.
So last on this, OK, giving a child a smack bottom is a lot more loving than some of the
many alternatives that many parents choose.
OK, again, if you've had your head turned by this, you've had people trying to, like,
you know, act like it's just, it's horrendous.
The emotional blackmail, that ain't loving, it's horrendous.
The way that parents try and emotionally blackmail their kids and make out like they've made
them so upset and they've made you so sad and they've made you so stressed, it's your
fault that I feel like this and everything else.
That's emotional blackmail.
And you know what?
That can really mess with a child's head, can't it?
The cold shoulder.
The cold shoulder is a lot less loving than giving a child a calm spanking with an explanation
as to why and how, you know, and to avoid that in the future.
The cold shoulder is, you know, there are parents that will just refuse to talk to their
kids of certain ages for however long.
Not talking to them, not, you know, turn the other cheek and everything else.
It's a lot more cruel.
The berating that sadly many parents will get into where it's just cussing and shouting
and everything else and just an earful and earful, telling that child how wicked they
are, how they're this, how they're that and everything else.
That's a lot worse being told, you know, all these horrible things by a parent who's angry
with you than a calm, reasonable spanking, OK?
So where it says that foolishness has banned the heart of a child but the rod of correction
shall drive it far from him.
The proverb is a reminder that children are predisposed to foolishness, don't be shocked,
but they do need correcting and it's the old fashioned way, OK?
And that's the way that people have throughout history.
It's the rod of correction.
Verse 16.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches and he that giveth to the rich shall
surely come to want.
So we looked last week at how the rich ruleth over the poor in verse seven.
But sadly, alongside ruling, there is a lot of oppressing of the poor as well.
So to oppress is to load or burden with unreasonable, sorry, impositions, to treat with unjust severity,
rigour or hardship.
So the children of Israel, for example, were oppressed by Pharaoh in Egypt, which I suppose
was really increasing his riches as well, was it?
It's basically slave labour.
He started increasing the burden.
They had to do more and more and more work.
And it was ultimately for his own sort of riches, building treasure houses, et cetera,
for him.
Wicked governments and rulers have done this sort of thing throughout history.
They've oppressed the poor people in various, various places, various times.
But it also happens in more subtle ways.
So it's not just governments and we see that it's not just rulers, it's not just nations.
For example, something that I think about when I think about the poor being oppressed
by certain people, the gambling industry, just targets the poor.
They target the poor, the betting shops and arcade like fruit machine type shops, whatever
they call them, are found in ridiculous quantities in poor areas.
And it's a form of oppression because it's just a rip off, it's a con.
Bright lights and trying to make out that they're going to earn all this money and they
could get this and strike it rich and all that sort of stuff.
And it's just a con.
And then next thing you know, they're suddenly just getting into debt, you know, spending
the money they don't have, et cetera.
I think that's a form of oppression, acting like you have a chance to win.
Whereas the reality of it is, is the bookies going to always win, aren't they?
Payday loans, high interest loans, scammy credit cards, they're all – where are they
all advertising everything else, usually in poor places, poorer areas, around those sort
of places, you know, in a poorer high street, in a place on maybe not even a high street,
a poorer sort of, you know, shopping road with some shops here, you have the payday
loan place and stuff like that.
It's just a way of the rich people getting more out of the poor.
I mean, what a load of nonsense they're like, have you seen some of the interest rates
on some of that stuff?
This is horrendous.
He said, he that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich
shall surely come to want.
So all of these oppressors shall surely come to want, which could be in various ways, OK?
Perhaps the money will disappear for them.
Perhaps those that increase their riches, perhaps that money will go.
But perhaps it won't.
But instead, they'll be wanting in their relationships.
We looked at that last week.
Proverbs 22, 1 said, a good name is rather to be chosen.
Great riches are a loving favour rather than silver and gold.
So there are those that, you know, they have the riches, but they don't have the loving
favour.
They're oppressors.
And people see that and people start – and with that you're just going to end up being
a pretty horrible person if your goal is just to oppress others, to increase your riches.
So maybe you're going to lack in that way, because he said here, he said they shall surely
come to want.
And however it may happen, however you might come to want, maybe in your relationships,
maybe in your life in certain ways, the reality is that 1 Timothy 6, 9 says, but they that
will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which
drown men in destruction and perdition.
So the likelihood is that these oppressors will come to want in hell.
Because when you're loving money, when you're just chasing money, the chances of salvation
are just a lot slimmer, aren't they really?
Because it just becomes a snare, it becomes a trap, it's a distraction and you don't
think about the things of God often.
But when it comes to lacking in life, okay, when it comes to lacking in life, it's not
just the oppressors.
He said, he that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich
shall surely come to want.
Because it's a two-way street.
So the poor person, for example, playing the lottery is one of them.
You go, oh well, what's the problem with a pound on a lottery?
Well, it's them don't just spend a pound on it.
I've been behind people in petrol stations and it's like 20 quid on lottery tickets
and stuff.
And for poor people, that's a lot of money, that's a big outgoing.
Gambling at the bookies.
Like I said, you know, something that I was thinking about was the gambling stuff.
At the casino, what's it all doing?
It's just giving to the rich.
Giving money to the rich?
You're giving money to the rich.
The poor guy living out of his means and getting that extortionate loan is giving to the rich.
That's really all he's doing.
When you're paying that sort of usury, you're just ultimately just giving your money to
the rich.
The poor person drowning in sorrows is just giving away money to rich breweries.
Really, isn't he?
The poor person, and again, a lot of the time they target, and it's not just the poor
people across the nation, people drink, but certain things, they'll target poor people
with it.
Like I said, betting, gambling, high interest loans, all that stuff targets the poor and
it just makes people rich.
And he shall surely come to want it because ultimately he still has that choice.
We all have a choice, don't we?
You can choose to give your money to the rich or not.
He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches and he that giveth to the rich shall
surely come to want.
So the proverb should help us to understand that the poor are targeted, okay, and not
to fall into the trap of being on either side of it.
Don't target the poor in whatever area, don't be part of those sort of job, those sort of
industries and everything else.
But also, you don't want to just give money to the rich either, because either way you're
just going to come to want.
Verse 17, bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and apply thine heart unto
my knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou wilt keep them within thee so they shall withal be fitted
in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord I have made known to thee this day even
to thee.
Have not I written to thee excellent things and counsels and knowledge, that I might make
thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth
to them that send unto thee.
So there's a bit of one pack here, I think, in these verses, okay.
The instruction in verse 17 is to bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise and
apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
Now bowing down thine ear is making an active effort to hear, and it gives the impression
of not just making an effort to hear, it gives the impression of a humility with it,
doesn't it?
When you're bowing your ear to hear, there's a humility there, there's a desire and a want
to hear and not be puffed up and prideful with it.
He said bow down thine ear and hear the words of the wise.
Where are the words of the wise?
Here in the word of God.
There are the words of the wise, it's in this Bible, Proverbs 2 says, for the Lord giveth
wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
It comes from God ultimately, right?
But it's not just bowing down your ear and hearing it and then that's it.
It includes applying, he said in verse 17, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge.
That's applying your heart to his knowledge.
James 1 22, for example, says, but be ye doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving
your own selves.
So it's applying it to your decisions, it's applying it to your responses, it's applying
it to your life, which is something that is avoided because what happens often, we
think it's a chore.
Sadly many people, the flesh thinks that God's instructions, that the words of the wise,
his knowledge is some sort of hardship, it's restrictive.
Many people think it's going to restrict their fun, their enjoyment, things like that.
However, it's said in verse 18, for it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within
thee, they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.
So it's a pleasant thing.
It's pleasant when you're applying your heart to the things of God, when those words are
fitted in your lips, when what God would want is on the tip of your tongue.
That's a pleasant thing.
When it's there, you're already thinking that, you're already ready to say that will of God,
that truth of God, that wisdom, that knowledge of God, when what God would want you to do,
when those words of wisdom and knowledge are easy to recall when needed.
That's a pleasant thing, isn't it?
I'm sure many here can think of times when you've got a decision to make or there's something
maybe about to do something wrong or maybe there's a snare you're about to step into
or whatever it is, and then those words, a verse comes into your mind, maybe even into
your mouth, and you just think, yeah, actually, that's not what God would want me to do.
Maybe this is what God would want me to do, and if you're in the word, if you're bowing
down your ear, you're hearing the words of wise, you're applying the heart unto knowledge,
then that's a pleasant thing.
That's a pleasant result of that.
And then it's, you know, when that happens, it's easier to make that choice and then trust
God.
Look at verse 19.
When you know what it is that he wants, when it's on the tip of your tongue, verse 19 says
that thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
So he wants us to trust him, but how can you do that if you don't know what he's telling
you to trust?
So how can you trust God if you don't know what it is he's telling you to trust?
So so many people say trust God, don't they?
You might, whether they've saved or not, you know, pseudo-Christians as well, they'll say
things like, just got to trust the Lord.
Just trust God.
Why aren't you trusting God?
Are you trusting God?
You know, but they actually have no clue what he's actually saying.
They just mean God will work things out for you no matter what.
It's kind of what they're saying, you know, they just mean just don't do anything and
God will sort it out.
But is that what the Bible is telling us to do?
That's not what it's telling us.
It's like if my wife came to me and said, what do you think I should do in this situation?
What should I do with this decision?
I've got a hard decision, mate.
I just said, just trust me.
What do you mean?
Just trust me.
You know, what are you telling me to do?
Tell me what is it you want me to just trust me.
That's basically what people are saying.
Just trust him.
But you don't actually know what you're saying to do.
How do you trust God?
You're trusting what he's telling you.
You're trusting the action.
You're trusting the course of action.
My wife wants to know what to trust.
You know, a Christian should want to know what it is to trust, yeah?
First you need to know what it is he's telling you to do.
What is he telling you to do?
That's how you trust him when you do what he's telling you to do.
And there's a lot in here that he's telling you to do, isn't there?
There's a load of stuff he's telling you to do in the Word of God in various situations,
in various times.
Some is just outright clear scripture.
You know, thou shalt not steal.
That's a really obvious one, isn't it?
Yet, people will go, well, if I just kind of refigured this little number on my tax
return, I do.
He just said thou shalt not steal.
That's pretty obvious.
You know, there's so much which is just clear scripture, and then there's stuff which is
sort of you just get the principle, don't you, from the Word of God.
But you need to read it.
You need to know it.
Then you need to actually do those things.
So it's one thing to go, well, I trust God because I read his Bible, but you've got to
do it.
You only trust him if you're doing the things he tells you to do, and you're not doing the
things he tells you not to do.
Then you're trusting God.
That's how you're ultimately trusting him.
He said that thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee this day, even to
thee.
So he's made it all known.
It's all here.
He said, Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, that I might
make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words
of truth to them that send unto thee?
So when you read it, when you learn it, you know the certainty of the words of truth,
don't you?
When you really, when you read it, when you're learning it, when you're applying it ultimately
as well, he's written these excellent things in counsels and knowledge that he might make
us know the certainty of these words.
And then we can answer words of truth to them that send us.
So the more you study it, the more certain you become of every word, don't you?
I mean, that is a reality with the Word of God.
The more you read it, the more you study it, the more you're really focusing in on
it.
The more you know, yeah, this, every single word of this is true.
Every word of God is pure, isn't it?
It's a buckler to them that put their trust in him.
It is like, you're just, you're reading it, you're reading and it's just, it's just amazing.
But then if you don't read it, you kind of lose that faith in it a bit as well, don't
you?
And you're not sure of it.
But the more you read it, the more you're studying it, the more you just, this, this
can only be of God.
And all of that goes together to create the end result, which is what?
Saving souls.
That's what he says.
I believe that's what he's talking about in verse 21, where it says, that I might make
thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth
to them that send unto thee.
To those that want to know the truth, I think is what he's saying.
You'll be, you'll be able to answer the words of truth.
So the more you bow down your ear in here, apply your heart, keep them within you, fit
it in your lips.
The more you trust in the Lord, with that, the more you read those excellent things and
councils and knowledge we saw, the more you know the certainty of those words, the more
likely you are to be saving souls in the long term.
That's the end result.
Because the more you, you got your faith in, your trust in, the more you're learning it,
the more you're growing, the more eventually you're going to be trying to get people saved
with it.
First Peter 3.15 says, but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to
give an answer to every man who asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness
and fear.
But it starts with sanctifying the Lord God in your hearts.
And where does it all start and finish?
Where does that all come from?
Where, where ultimately are you going to be if, if that's what you're doing?
You're sanctifying the Lord God in your hearts, your trust is in the Lord, you're, you're
learning those excellent things, those councils and knowledge.
Or Psalm 92 says, those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the
courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they should be fat and flourishing.
So that's the goal.
And that's why the enemy wants to pull you out any which way he can.
Because if you're planted, if you're in the things of God, if that involves being
in the house of God, and everything that goes with that, being in the word of God,
studying the word, listening to the word, bang down your ear to it, trusting in God,
doing all those things, you'll still bring forth fruit in old age.
He said in verse 17, bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply
thine heart unto my knowledge.
For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee.
They shall withal be fitted in thy lips, that thy trust may be in the Lord.
I've made known to thee this day even to thee.
Have not I written to thee excellent things in councils and knowledge, that I might make
thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou mightest answer the words of truth
to them that send unto thee.
So I think the lesson from that passage is to learn, apply and trust in the word of God,
to then always be ready to preach the gospel.
When you do all of that, because you go, well, yeah, but I mean, how much do I need to know
to preach the gospel?
You need to have your faith in the whole lot, because as soon as your faith is weakened,
you're less likely to make that effort to preach the gospel.
You're less likely to be ready to give an answer.
You're more likely to be dragged down by the sins.
You're more likely to be pulled out by all the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of
this world, and all that stuff will pull you out if you're not grounded in the word of
God.
And when you're grounded in the word of God, then the ultimate, the ultimate end result
is that you'll answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee.
That's people that want to hear it, basically.
People that want to hear the word of truth, you should be ready to give that to them.
Okay, verse 22.
Rob not the poor because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted in the gate, for the
Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
So why would you rob the poor?
Why not the rich?
You know, wouldn't it be more worthwhile robbing the rich?
I'll tell you why, because the poor are just an easier target.
That's why people throughout history have robbed the poor, they're an easy target.
We just read earlier in verse 16 that people oppress the poor to increase their riches.
And here he said not to oppress the afflicted in the gate.
Now the afflicted being those such as, and when we see the afflicted, we see in other
verses, they give me a list such as the fatherless, the widows, the strangers, the poor, they're
people afflicted in life.
The gate was the entry point of a city, it was where people met, judgments were made,
people traded.
Okay, that's the gate.
So when you have a city, don't think of it like sort of London, London City or something
like that.
It's like a smaller area which would have been fortified.
The gate is the way in and out and, you know, somewhere which can be safe at night, especially
and a safe place when there's invasion and things like that, at least safer.
Well there would be a gate, an entry point, an entry and exit and it's where a lot went
on because that's where you meet people, where you see people.
Now he's saying basically, another way we could say this is he's saying not to rip off,
not to bully, not to take advantage of people just because you can.
That's another way we could apply that, just because you can.
Because the poor throughout history have just, it's just easier to do that to poor people
because they don't have the ability, the wherewithal to stop you necessarily.
The reality of it is in life is that the world is just full of bullies.
There are so many bullies in the world, so many people that just want to find someone
they can bully, find someone to intimidate, find people to scare, find people they can
just get what they can from.
People who treat people in a way that depends on what they think they can get away with.
And there's a lot of people like that, aren't there?
Now there's one way, like there's one thing that obviously we treat each other differently
depending on your relationship, depending on, you know, if someone would be more offended
by something I'm going to try not to offend them, right?
And someone else, you know, might be sort of, you know, easier going with certain things
you're going to maybe talk to them on a different level.
There is that.
But then there are people that just try and take advantage of people.
They try and take what they can from people that they think they can get away with it.
And they're constantly often probing to see what they can get from people, what they can
get out of them.
And aside from just out and out taking something off someone, and of course kids can do this
a lot, so you can apply this to kids as well, kids who just literally will just take things
off.
I mean, when I grew up and people who, I'm sure in many nations, you know, growing up
there was sometimes you just get like some, whether it was in a school or outside of school
or in a town centre or whatever, there's sometimes just scummy groups of slightly older, bigger
kids at the time who just robbed other kids.
They would just stand you up, you know, try and just basically surround you and start,
you know, trying to nick things off.
You take things, you know, the old classic when I was young would be lend me a pound.
And you're like, oh, we've got to fight now because he's asked me, he doesn't mean he
wants to borrow a pound to give it back to you, he means start turning out your pocket
so you're going to get a beating.
And it's like, right, what are we going to do now?
And you're kind of trying to line it up thinking, can I get away with this or am I going to
get my head kicked?
And that's kind of, I mean, is that not, wasn't that, I don't know, I don't know if it still
is now, but when I was, does that still happen now?
Anyone know, you know, any, any English kind of growing up in England?
No.
Yeah.
Did it used to happen?
Anyone?
Yeah.
We got a few there.
Yeah.
Okay.
We don't know if it happened now.
We've got a few homeschool kids.
But that, that was, that was how it was.
Right.
And that's just robbing people because you can.
It was just pure bullying.
We've got more numbers than you.
So we're going to rob you.
We, we, you know, we're bigger, we're older, we're tougher.
So we think we can rob you.
But it's not just kids that do it, not just teenagers and adults do this sort of stuff
as well, but, but people take advantage of employees a lot, don't they?
The employee that you think you can get away with it.
So they take advantage of people that maybe find it hard to say no.
So there'll be an employer that kind of gauges that employee, I'm just going to get him working
longer hours.
I'm going to get him doing more stuff.
I'm going to get him doing, doing, you know, the jobs that he's not meant to do on his
contract because he isn't the type to say no.
But the one who looks like they're more likely to say, well, actually, you know, I'm not
meant to do that, or I need to go home at this time, I'll leave that one to it.
People just take advantage, don't they?
Dominate people to get what they want from them.
And you get that a lot with just in social settings as well.
You get people that they, they, they look out the person that they think is a bit weaker,
that they can then dominate, they can get what they want from them, borrow lots of stuff
from them, get, take things from them.
And people do that a lot.
There are people that go door to door to rip people off who are just easily coerced in
this nation.
They're all over the place.
Knock on the door, claim there's something wrong with the roof, with the driveway, with
something like that.
And then if they think that that person's a pushover, suddenly they just start ripping
off, ripping them off for more and more and more.
They agreed to do a job and then suddenly they found snags in you owe me an extra thousand
pounds too.
And these people are everywhere.
And the world's full of people like this.
But if you're a bully, if you are someone like this, so you've got a tendency to be
like that.
You are an oppressor.
You take what you can for people.
Someone's looking out for them.
Said in verse 22, Rob, not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress he afflicted in
the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
So the Lord will defend them.
He'll spoil the spoilers, which is something that some people maybe need to think about
where when and I'm not mean like, right, one of you needs, I just mean in general, people
need to think about this when they see an easy way of gain at someone's expense.
And you know, we've got to make sure we don't do that.
We don't just think, oh, that's an easy, that one's a bit of a push over.
I'll get what I can from them.
They're a bit of a soft touch.
You know, I'll get what I can.
No, because God will plead their cause.
He will spoil the soul of those that spoiled them.
So God will punish you for that.
And for the unsaved, okay, that's going to be for eternity.
There's going to be an eternity of punishment.
But where he said in verse 22, Rob, not the poor, because he is poor, neither oppress
he afflicted in the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause and spoil the soul of those
that spoil them.
The lesson ultimately is to not take advantage of people, because you will get your comeuppance
one way or another.
And that would apply to save people as well, just not for eternity, but you will get your
comeuppance.
Verse 24, make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man thou shalt not
go, lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul.
So just to make it clear, okay, there is a time for anger, because again, people go too
far with this.
Ephesians 4 26 says, be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
So he said and sin not, because what often happens with anger, there's a bigger chance
of sin alongside it, isn't there?
When you're angry, you're more likely to sin, okay?
He said not to take that anger to bed with you as well.
And that's a good principle as well, because when you take the anger to bed, then it's
going to brew more, it's going to start to affect you more, affect your next day, affect
them in the morning, you're going to wake up, think about what you may be thinking about
the night before, and there's more chance of then the sin coming with that as well.
But he did acknowledge that there's a time to be angry, didn't he?
There in Ephesians 4 26, where he said, be ye angry and sin not, let not the sun go down
upon your wrath.
And in fact, in 1 Samuel 11, so you can tell me if you want, maybe go to 1 Samuel 11, just
quickly.
1 Samuel chapter 11, where Nahashti the Ammonite, okay, he's threatening to thrust out the right
eyes of all the men of Jabesh Gilead, okay?
So this guy, he's a bit rough, he's a bit rowdy, he said, I'm going to basically pluck
out all your eyes, yeah?
And you need to make a decision what you're going to do, or I'm going to come and pluck
out your eyes.
1 Samuel 11 6, okay, Saul hears about this, and he's like the new king.
1 Samuel 11 6 says, and the Spirit of God came upon Saul, so the Spirit of God is the
Holy Spirit, comes upon Saul, when he heard those tidings and his anger was kindled greatly.
So what was the result of the Holy Spirit coming upon Saul in this situation?
His anger was kindled greatly.
Yeah, God gets angry, God the Holy Spirit gets angry sometimes, and men of God, women
of God, children of God, when the Spirit of God comes upon you, it could result in some
holy righteous anger.
So the result of that was his anger being kindled greatly, and I say that because don't
get conned by the softly softly brigade.
Now again, there's a balance with this, of course, if, you know, does the Holy Spirit
come upon you with righteous anger all day, every day?
I don't know, okay, but there are times, and that's kind of part of the thing with preaching
as well.
I think some people look at it and think either, just all these angry men preaching, or alternatively
they think it's an act, it's a show.
That pulpit banging and that, you know, shouting at, but believe me, I don't like, I don't
have on my notes, like, be angry, pulpit thump time, you know?
I usually just do it like a little diagram with a fit, no I don't.
The reality of it is, is that sometimes you're preaching something and you feel like you're
in the Spirit and you're getting, you're getting wound up about maybe a sin, or wound up about
something, some sort of, you know, some unrighteousness out there in the world or something else.
Sometimes you are going to get angry with that.
If you're in the Spirit, a result of the Spirit of God coming upon you can be that your anger's
not only kindled, but kindled greatly, raging.
So if I ever just start smashing up the pulpit, kicking down the thing, I must be Spirit-filled,
right?
I don't know, okay, but point being that it can be a result, okay?
And there is a softly softly brigade that want to pretend like it's very unholy to ever
get angry.
Well, how do you, how do you work that out?
How do you work out be ye angry?
How do you work out 1 Samuel 11 6?
But there is a difference between preaching, for example, angrily on sin, or maybe getting
some righteous anger from time to time, and being an angry man, okay?
So someone that's just known as angry, okay?
And I'll talk about known as angry, not by their, you know, their social media followers
or something, you know?
Because they don't know them.
But someone who's known by people that know them, they're like, these guys, it's always
them.
Because I know, like people have said before, when they've met like preachers in the past
stuff, they're like, you know, I was just expecting him to be like smashing and crashing
and shouting, and it's like these people are just regular people.
But if you're known as an angry man, away from the pulpit, away from that, and just
people in general, anyone here is just known as an angry man by those that know them, that's
a bit different, isn't it?
Okay?
Known as known as furious.
He said a furious man here.
That's a day to day.
And it doesn't have to be every single day, but that's a regular occurrence, regular anger,
regular fury.
He said, make no friendship with someone like that, with a furious man now shall not go.
And you could just add just quickly to this, okay?
You could add to this, that if you if you're not to make friendship with someone like that,
would you not say men and women, boys and girls and whoever, like, when you get to the
point of choosing someone to marry, you want to make sure you're not marrying someone who's
an angry, who would be known by people that know them as an angry man or a furious man
or an angry woman or furious woman, because that's not going to be a good place to be.
And he told you not to make friendship with people like that, because it's going to be
a rough life.
Now don't get me wrong, like men and women can get angry, you can have hard times in
your life.
You can have hard times in things and be angry, be upset, there can be rough times in marriages
and things like that, but somebody's just known, aside from all that, just known by
people as that person is always angry.
They're always furious.
That's not a good idea.
You go, how do you know?
Well, that's why it's probably a good idea to get to know someone before you vest too
much into like a potential marriage or something else.
You want to get to know them first, right?
It doesn't have to be by like being basically married, just without saying you're married.
It's just by getting to know someone and getting to know people around them, you know,
as well, and just getting an idea for what sort of person that is.
It's a big deal.
We're told not to make friendship, let alone marriage or something like that.
But he said, let's all learn his ways and get a snare to my soul.
That's probably the main reason, because I don't know about you, OK, but if you've ever
been around these types of people, it's contagious, isn't it?
You're around like angry people, people that are just constantly angry, constantly furious.
It kind of makes you a bit angry as well.
Next thing you know, you're pretty angry, you're pretty furious, and it's about something
that you didn't ever care about before.
It's like, argh, people like that, right, suddenly you're angry about everything that
they're angry about.
You're just so angry about the weather suddenly.
It's like, argh, weather modification, argh.
England's always had weird weather, OK?
That history has had weird weather, argh, chemtrails.
That's why it's raining.
We're in England.
It rains, you know.
It's like that, right?
Suddenly you're just like, I just can't believe there's traffic, argh, traffic.
It's like, yeah, it's an island, you know?
We live near London.
It's like, the Jews, the Jews, argh, get them.
Because there are people like that.
Yeah, I mean, that feels all right.
But there are people like that, and they're just so angry, so furious, and then you start
doing the same, don't you?
You get pulled into it a bit, right?
But next thing you know, everyone's winding you up as well, OK?
The outrage at everything.
The anger just directs towards anything.
It's easy to join in with, isn't it?
It's easy.
I think in a way as well, when you're just with people like that, maybe you feel a bit
uncomfortable if they're just fuming about something.
I don't know, maybe it is a genius.
So you're with someone, yeah, and they're just like, oh, true, you know what they're
doing now, you know, and everything else.
And it feels a bit almost confrontational to just go like, oh, I don't care.
It's not really bothering my life, I'm just getting on with things, yeah.
Wicked bunch, but who cares?
It kind of almost feels like you're going to end up getting it on you now.
So a lot of the time, when someone's angry and furious, you're kind of almost like,
the predisposition, especially, you know, if you're trying to just get on and trying
to be diplomatic, is to almost join in with them.
Because otherwise, suddenly you're contradicting them.
You're kind of the opposite.
So that's one of the ways it's contagious, isn't it?
However, the thing is with this is it's a snare, okay, it's a trap.
Because when you're angry, what happens at the end of that, like we saw earlier,
you're more likely to sin.
That's why Ephesians 4 26 said, be angry and sin not.
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
So it's not like, oh, well, never mind, I'm just going to start moaning about people
as well.
No, because with that comes more sin.
You're more likely to be unkind, say unkind things, to think the worst of people,
to offend others.
That all comes on the back of that, doesn't it?
That's why it's not a good idea to be friends with people like that.
Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man now shalt not go,
lest thou learn his ways and get a snare to thy soul.
So the proverb, I think it's pretty self-explanatory, but it's not to put them away from you.
He didn't say that.
Just not to spend too much time.
The friendship is spending excess time, okay?
So it's not like, oh, right, I don't know, so-and-so lost his temper the other day.
He didn't seem very righteous.
That's it, never talk to them, never going to be around them again.
No, but it's just, if there's someone that clearly you would describe as an angry man,
then you want to hope not to be, you know, you don't want to spend too much time with that person,
be a friend of that person.
And if you are then that angry person, you're thinking, oh, well, this could be a problem for me.
Well, best to do some self-searching, right?
Best to assess yourself, think, what is it that I'm angry about?
Maybe, like I preached earlier, start getting used to, like, thanking God for it.
I'm used to, like, thanking God for all the things you do have in life.
Because you might be a little bit less pent up and angry about things when you appreciate what you do have.
Verse 26 said this, verse 26 now, so he says,
Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts?
If thou has nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
So we saw these terms initially in Proverbs 6, if you remember, about striking hands, sureties for debts.
He said in Proverbs 6, 1, My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,
thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
So it's being what we would call a guarantor.
That's what it's talking about.
Okay, that's what we use the word guarantor maybe now, shaking hands as security for someone's debt.
And it's something that God doesn't want us doing.
We've seen this as we've been going through the book of Proverbs.
Proverbs 11, 15 said, He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it,
and he that hateth surety-ship is sure.
Okay, so he said you're going to smart for it.
You're going to end up, if you start to become surety, you're going to end up basically losing out.
Okay, he said hate the surety-ship, then you're sure.
Proverbs 17, 18 said, A man void of understanding strikeeth hands and become a surety in the presence of his friend.
So again, he's saying if you're void of understanding, you're going to basically,
the way we would say is shake hands on a deal for someone else.
You would become that surety in the presence of your friend.
And here he said to not be one of those people that does that.
And why? Because it's not your debt.
He said if thou has nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Because it's not your debt. That's what he's saying.
Okay, why should you lose out when it's not your debt? That's what he's saying.
If thou has nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?
Basically is the way you can emphasize those words to make that make sense to you, right?
And we've looked at reasons why it's foolish before, okay?
Often it's people that have bad credit for a reason, for example.
Okay, look, often when someone needs a guarantor, needs surety and everything else, often it's for a reason.
Not always, okay? So sometimes, you know, there's things that happen.
Sometimes you might, nowadays I know it does get harder, right?
Without that kind of, you know, at the beginning as well,
when you maybe haven't got credit or done things like that, whatever it is,
you know, you're trying to, you know, get some sort of trust from someone with something,
maybe it's renting a house, buying a house, whatever it is.
Okay, I get that, but ultimately a lot of the time it is for that reason, okay?
And often it's people that are living out of their means, borrowing what they can't afford as well.
And if they can't really afford it, and if they need surety-ship,
they need someone else to come and be a guarantee for them,
then often it's because they can't really afford that.
So it's not a wise decision to go in and do that.
God keeps warning us about this throughout the Book of Quo Vels, the Book of Wisdom.
Be wise about this.
But I think that alongside reinforcing that principle,
I think we're being reminded of personal responsibility
and just ultimately, just not vouching for others.
Take responsibility for yourself, you don't have to vouch for other people.
I think sometimes, I think it comes from a good place sometimes as well, doesn't it?
And I think when I preached through this before,
I was showing you that you could apply it to other things.
It's like, you know, putting in a word for someone with a job.
In a relationship, or a potential relationship, whatever it is.
You know, with a church or something else.
You've got to be careful doing that.
Because do you really know that person?
Is it really sensible?
Because then it comes back on you.
And really, we should just, you know, take personal responsibility.
So be not one of them that strike hands, or of them that are suretys for debts.
If thou has nothing to pay, why should ye take away thy bed from under thee?
So why should you be punished for someone else's debt?
And I think, you know, be careful, take responsibility for someone else's problems in general.
The proverb reminds us not to put our head on the block for someone else.
Okay?
Again, look, there's one thing to like, for example, with your wife, to love your wife as your own body.
You know, as Christ loved the church, okay?
But it's different when it's just people out there just being like, putting yourself on the block for someone.
You know, I don't think you have to do that, okay?
It's a warning about that sort of thing.
Verse 28 says, Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set.
Now, the landmark was the boundaries of someone's land, okay?
Such as, and it could be something like a tree which set the boundaries, a stone, some sort of feature.
Nowadays, obviously, it would be a fence, maybe.
Or, you know, there's like hedgerows and things like that, and bigger land and things like that, okay?
Deuteronomy 19.14 says, Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance,
which thou shalt inherit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.
So, the first obvious application is not to do the old classic of trying to steal next door's land, okay?
So, in case anyone's sitting there, you know, they own some property or something like that.
And you might think, who does that?
People do.
I used to build people's garden fences many years ago, and believe me, people have big fights aroused over six inches.
Over one inch.
I mean, I've had people try and, you know, want a fence ripped down because they weren't consulted,
and it looks like it's gone, like, an inch over onto their side or something.
People go weird about that stuff, okay?
And people end up in, like, big, big tear-ups about this sort of stuff and do a lot of weird stuff,
and trying to encroach a little bit of land, take a little bit here, take a little bit there.
It's super weird, okay?
But, you know, you can understand someone being a bit upset, you know, thinking you've just stolen my land.
You've just removed my landmark. It's my landmark.
Sometimes, you know, I've had people that have tried to ask me to do a covert fence when the neighbour's not there.
Do you reckon you could come in and do it in a day?
Because then, once it's up, they won't be able to do anything.
It's like, well, it sounds a little bit dodgy.
Honestly, you'd be amazed, if I can think of some stories over the years, okay?
But you can also apply it to just generally encroaching on other people's lives, okay?
Proverbs 25, 17 says,
Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee and so hate thee.
So, this is something, you know, that pastors have to be aware of, too, okay?
So, not overstepping the boundaries into people's lives.
And look, we're going to preach to anyone who gets behind the pulpit.
You're going to preach the Bible, preach the Word of God, preach God's standards,
preach how God wants you to do things,
but you don't have to then overstep the mark and start trying to pry and get personal information.
Look, there is a difference when people come to you for counselling and want help.
You need some information to give counselling, right?
But people can go overboard with this, right?
And some people want you to go overboard.
They're like, well, did you know that so-and-so, you know, they did this?
And if it's not like church disqualifying stuff, it's like, it's no business of mine, you know?
You don't need to know that stuff.
So, it's something that we have to be aware of.
So, another application, though.
So, like I said, you could say, you know, just generally encroaching into other people's lives
and other people, and it doesn't just have to be some preach upon a pulpit.
You do this in many areas, right?
And watch out with your unsaved family and friends and things like that.
Well, saved or unsaved.
We start trying to dictate how.
They haven't asked you.
You know, we're not all called to go.
If they want to hear the Word of God preacher come to somewhere to hear the Word of God,
you don't have to go around your family and friends and ringing them up
and start telling them how they should and should live.
You don't have to, like, out and about start telling people off for their sin, okay?
You're not called to do that.
We're not told to do that.
So, like, people can go too far with this.
It's a bit of a holier than thou attitude, isn't it?
When they start condemning their family for this and that.
It's like, unless they ask you.
If someone comes and says to me, look, you know, I've got this situation.
What do you think the problem is?
Then sure, I'm going to say.
I usually start with something like, well, look, all I would really say to you is what the Word of God says,
and if you want to hear it, I'll tell you.
But some people can go really far with this, and they're just like, you know,
ringing up old family and friends and going, you're living in sin, you're doing this.
It's like, come on, you know, that's not the answer, okay?
So, and even do it when they're out and about,
and just try and find things to be offended with people about anything else.
We're not called to do that, okay?
You're encroaching in other people's business.
But another application, though, is to respect the boundaries that other people set as well.
So, some people, for example, these are some things I think about off the top of my head.
Some people don't like touchy feely, yeah?
You know, there are some people that can be a bit overly touched.
You know, they're kind of, you know, just a bit too close for comfort.
They're kind of, you know, leaning over you.
They're kind of in your face a bit.
They're just a bit too touchy feely.
Some people just don't like that, you know,
and that's something then don't overstep that boundary, yeah?
Some people don't like you, for example, just turning up at their home.
And before telephones, that was probably quite a common thing, wasn't it, you know?
But some people don't like that.
They don't like you just knocking around.
Some people are okay with that, some people don't, you know?
Some people don't like you just turning up
because they want to know when they've got a visitor.
They don't like that sort of thing.
And sometimes you get people that will just turn up, for example.
Some people have boundaries with speech.
Now, you go, oh, I should be able to say what I want, you know?
You know, if it's biblical or not.
Or, you know, who cares?
You know, the Bible doesn't say which words are.
Well, some people have boundaries with that.
Some people get offended by it.
They feel disrespected.
They feel like it's offensive.
Lots of people have boundaries in life in various areas.
Some people have boundaries with how familiar people are with their kids, don't they?
So some people, it's like, you even say hi to my kid.
And they're like, oh, wait a second, you know.
And some people, it's, you know, they don't want you to ever touch their kid.
So you might like give them a friendly pat on the back or something.
They're just like, must be a weirdo, you know, or something else.
So you pat them on the head or something.
You know, and it's kind of, and here's the thing,
because you might be sitting here thinking, well, how do I know?
Who's got these?
Because some people do have some boundaries.
Everyone's got boundaries.
Where are people's boundaries?
How do you know?
How do you know where that landmark is?
How do you know where that original landmark is?
You look for it, don't you?
So you look for the landmark.
When you look for the tree, you look for the hedge, you look for the fence,
you look for whatever that landmark is.
You care enough about your neighbour to be diligent in not offending them.
So you look for their boundaries.
Some people, you can just ask them, oh, is that okay?
Sorry, I don't, you know, I've had people do that.
I've had people who are respectful with this, with many things said,
oh, do you mind if I give your kid this or do this or do that?
And that's respecting a boundary.
That's looking for the boundary, isn't it?
Other people are just like, you know, why shouldn't their child be able to have this,
whatever, you know, whatever it is they've decided to give them.
It's like horrendous snack or something, just here you go, kids.
And it's like, whoa, whoa, wait a second, now you've overstepped the boundary
because they were just about to have dinner.
You've just given them a massive cheesecake or something, you know.
Whatever, do you know what I mean?
So what you do is you're trying to gauge it.
Sometimes you just ask outright.
Other times you're just looking and observing
and you're being diligent to know where the boundary is in people's lives,
you know, and you start to get to know people.
You know, okay, well, brother so-and-so, you know, he's like, yeah,
he kind of, he just likes a kind of quick hello, goodbye.
You know, that's him done.
You know, so-and-so, you know, he wants to chat and everything else
and he likes to kind of have a good laugh.
This guy, you know, he likes to laugh at himself.
He's good with that.
This other person, you make a joke that he doesn't get,
he looks like he wants to punch you, you know.
And you're trying to gauge it, aren't you?
Trying to get to know people,
get to know where their boundaries are in various areas.
It sometimes takes a bit of trial and error, okay.
And obviously we shouldn't be like overly easily offended, okay,
and you might like, okay, I think I overstepped the mark with that one
or, you know, whatever it was,
I probably messed up with that person now,
probably offended them, upset them,
overstood that boundary there or whatever else.
And then you just adjust, right.
So, I think like ultimately you just do your best with it, don't you?
And you do your best to respect, to look for the boundary,
respect the boundary, remove not the ancient landmark,
which my fathers have said.
So, I think the lesson is just respect boundaries in all areas of life, yeah.
Respect them.
Okay, verse 29.
Seest thou a man diligent in his business?
He shall stand before kings.
He shall not stand before mean men.
So, it's another encouragement to be diligent in your work life, okay.
Diligent being putting effort, care, attention, applying yourself, okay.
Being diligent in whatever your work life is,
whether you're self-employed, whether you're employed,
whether you're unemployed, be diligent in your work life anyway.
Diligent in maybe training, learning, trying to find a job,
just be diligent in your business, yeah.
And let me tell you the truth in most workplaces.
In most professions, it's not really the ability which is the problem.
That's not usually the problem.
It's the work ethic.
That's the main problem in life.
In most workplaces, you talk to, you know, hundreds of employers
and you'll get the majority.
The problem is, is the work ethic.
It's the diligence in the work, in the business,
as opposed to the ability to do the work, okay.
It's the attitude to the job,
to just actually having a respect for the job they're doing,
having the right attitude when they go to work,
when they're meant to be doing what they're meant to be doing,
having that right attitude to just, yeah, I'm just going to get on and work.
I'm going to do my best.
It's the care with it as well, the care about the job,
the care about the consequences of the job.
I mean, one of the reasons, if you think about it,
one of the reasons, for example, so many people,
and they go there because of brand recognition,
but so many people will go, no, I don't like going to those places.
A lot of tradesmen will not want to go to places like B&Q, for example.
Okay, this announcement was sponsored by Wix, okay.
It was sponsored by the local builder shop,
because don't go to Wix either,
because the reality of it is when you go to these places, it's impersonal.
They don't really care.
The B&Q employee doesn't care.
He'll be like, oh, probably down in aisle 59.
You're like, oh, man.
You get down to aisle 59, it's not even there.
There isn't an aisle 59.
He blamed you.
But it's like that, isn't it?
Sometimes you're kind of, you know, you're in these big places,
and they just don't care.
They don't, because it's not their business, it's not their job.
They're not diligent in it.
They're just, you know, they're just doing the bare minimum
they have to do and get their paycheck and go home.
And it's better, isn't it, to go somewhere where people actually
have an interest in how successful the business is,
where it's a family business, their own business, you know,
or they're working for someone that they know it's their business,
they can see the difference, and they want to work hard,
and they'll employ someone that actually is diligent,
rather than just, well, you know, they want a job,
and they tick the quota for whatever the quota is that they've got to reach,
so we'll just shove them in there, okay.
Well, show me someone diligent in their line of work,
and they will eventually progress as well, okay.
They, with or without an amazing talent in the job.
So you might think, well, I'm just so good at this.
Why am I not getting anywhere in my field of work or in this?
Be diligent. Just work hard.
Work hard. Have a good work ethic.
And that's what he's saying here.
He said, see us our man diligent in his business.
He shall stand before kings.
He shall not stand before mean men.
So if you're diligent in business, you will end up before kings
as opposed to mean or low-ranking, low-value men, is what he's saying.
Basically, you'll be promoted.
You'll command the better jobs, the better companies.
If you put effort in, you'll get reward.
That's basically what he's saying.
Proverbs 14, 23 says, in all labour there is profit.
All labour there is profit,
but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury, which is poverty.
So if you put the labour in, and with that diligence in the labour,
in the business, there will be profit, and you will achieve in the end.
That's basically what he's saying.
See us our man diligent in his business.
You can apply that to anything, right?
He shall stand before kings.
He shall not stand before mean men.
So the lesson, put effort, care and attention into whatever you're doing,
and you will prosper on the back of it.
That was Proverbs 22, part 2.
And we're going to finish in prayer.
Father, thank you for your word, Lord.
Thank you for the truths that we've learnt there, Lord,
those Proverbs there.
And, Lord, if there are other ways people need to apply them,
for them to kind of be able to put them into their lives
and make them active in their lives, that wisdom, that knowledge,
then please help people to do that, Lord,
to think about different ways those Proverbs could apply to them.
But, Lord, we just pray that we'll just all be a wiser church,
that we'll just keep growing in wisdom.
We pray that, you know, that we'll be an effective church,
and with that wisdom, to be able to avoid pitfalls
and to keep serving you, to keep getting people saved.
Help us, help The Soul Winning Times go great this week.
Help people to be able to get here on Wednesday night, Lord,
for the prayer and Bible study, to pray for each other,
to, you know, to listen to the Book of Isaiah studied out as well.
And help us to also be here next Sunday as well.
In Jesus' name, pray with us. Amen.