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Alright, Proverbs chapter 12. Let's dig right in here verse number one Bell reads who so loveth instruction loveth knowledge but he that hateth reproof is brutish now I was just Last week. I was interviewed by by a reporter from the from the Sacramento beat in Sacramento about the red-hot preaching conference that's coming up this week and You know a lot of people Who aren't very familiar with with church, especially with like Baptist churches and independent fundamental Baptist churches You know the the the red-hot preaching conference, right? The hard preaching is something that seems very foreign to people these days It's something that they don't even get so I was trying to explain it was a decent conversation But I know the way journalism works, you know They want to they'll talk to you all real nice and stuff because they want to get you to say everything and you know Get whatever it is that they want out of you to throw up as a big headline and and something so shocking and and misrepresent The things that you say now, I'm not saying this person did that but in general, that's what happens, right? so you may feel like you're having some great meaningful conversation with the person and then they're gonna turn around and Completely misrepresent your cause but when I was regardless of that aspect When I was speaking to this person, I was trying to explain, you know The purpose Behind the hard preview. It's called hard preaching. Why is it called hard preaching? It's hard because it's hard so for a lot of people it could be you know hard to accept or hard to face It's just preaching hard on Sins you on sins in your life that that you know, we want to hate sin. We want to get it out We want to get rid of it. So it needs to be dealt with harshly, right and That's the point and it lines up perfectly here with verse number one it says who so loveth instruction Loveth knowledge and what is instruction? It's being told what to do it to you know being said this is right. You follow these steps you do ABCD And and that is your instructions See God has given us Instructions on how we ought to live our life This is what you need to do If you want to live a godly life you wanna live a righteous life do this do this do this do this that's instructions Right, and if you if you love those instructions as opposed to people who say I don't want to hear anything God, I want you tell me what to do. I do my own thing, you know Well, if you hate reproof the Bible says you're brutish and reproof means when you're being told you're wrong When someone tries to correct you when you are when you are given reproof You're being shown that you're an error and if you hate that The Bible says you're brutish and brutish is just an older word. That means stupid Okay, you're dumb if you if you don't accept being corrected being reproved being explained and told That you're wrong You're not wise that's not a smart thing If you love instruction then you love knowledge you love knowing more and understanding more and doing what's wrong And you know, that's why I believe the people that are here tonight and on Sunday are here because they love knowledge They love the instruction. We want to know and this is why I tried to explain to the to the reporters that you know People look at this they think oh you're so mean and oh, how can you preach like that? How do you say though, but that's not it at all Actually, you know when I am wrong with God when I'm wrong about something I want to know about it if I'm living away That's not pleasing in God's eyes I don't want to ignorantly just continue down that path and continue to make God upset and make God angry with me and have to Be punished and chastised for doing things that are wrong that God doesn't want me to do I'd rather find out about it right up front. Just let me know about it because I want to do what's right I have a desire and a heart to serve God to do what's right in the eyes of the Lord and the only way we're Gonna get that it's from instruction from his word So when I say, you know instruction and being told what to do It's not that you have to be told what Pastor Burzins tells you to do if it's my own opinion It doesn't really matter and that's not I try to completely avoid just giving you my own rules or what? What I think as much as just here's what the Bible says, you know, here's God's instructions for us My instructions be nothing what God's instructions what matters and when we see things in the scripture in the Bible telling us how to live And what to do if you're wise if you love knowledge, you're gonna you're gonna adhere to that and you know That's just a little bit of an explanation This verse encapsulates it perfectly on why I preach the way that I do inside in this church because oftentimes You know Oftentimes when we have a tendency we're talking about this when we're going out soul winning you could hear some preaching and If it's not very specific if it's real general if it's just kind of this real generic Concept like we were talking about before I was talking about, you know preaching on hypocrisy Well, everyone's got hypocrisy to some degree to some level, you know, you could say well hypocrisy is bad. You shouldn't be a hypocrite. Okay But how does that really apply? You know, everyone could just say yeah, that's right You should be a hypocrite but unless you start getting real specific, you know People might not realize areas where they are being a hypocrite areas where they where it does apply to them You know these real broad yo terms. Well, you shouldn't sin Okay. Yeah, we all know that I want to be pointed out where I am in sin where I am in error And that needs to be just get very specific oftentimes from the pulpit bill where the the preacher one of the jobs of the pastors is to teach and To preach God's Word and to give the Understanding of God's Word, you know, we all can read we all have the Bible yet God still is ordained a minister or a pastor an elder in order to Help the people get some more understanding of the words Otherwise, why would he have someone in that office, right? There's obviously a lot of jobs involved But one of them was is teaching God's Word and to give the instruction and the meaning thereof We ought to love receiving that instruction not bristle when when something You know comes our way that that applies to us because your first reaction usually when someone tells you you're wrong No, I'm not Right. I mean that that is just like an instinct and you're gonna dig your feet to say like I know way Am I wrong about this? I'm you know, I feel like I'm getting attacked. So I'm gonna go on the defense But if you're being reproved from God's Word if you're being rebuked You gotta understand it's not an attack It's instruction Okay, it's not that you know, it's not that I hate you Let's say I preach on something and you're just guilty of it. It's not that I hate you It's not that I'm trying to attack you I'm actually trying to help and in many cases I might not even know that You know This is an area that you're struggling with you have a hard time with So the worst attitude to have is to just to close up get defensive and say no I'm right and you know, that's the attitude we saw from King Saul No, I did I did what God wanted me to do. I did everything right after Samuel already said look you didn't obey God What is this bleeding? I hear in my ears, you know, why do I hear the sheep? What's up with King Agag? Why didn't you do what what God told you to do and he's like no I did do it I did do what was right and he just had that stubborn heart He didn't love instruction and he didn't love knowledge and let's not be like this all but let's so as we go through this Keep that in mind. It's a great verse Let's keep that in mind as we continue on through here because there's there's plenty more more specific areas Now we're going to get into and we're kind of getting this in verse number one Hey, look if you love instruction, you're gonna love knowledge But you basically you're stupid if you're not if you're gonna hate being corrected if you're gonna hate the reproof Look at verse number two a good man obtain a favor of the Lord But a man of wicked devices will he condemn Now who doesn't want to be in good favor with the Lord, right? I mean, I want to be on God's good side all the time for one We know that God has blessings and I say hey God's able of doing anything. I want to be the good son I want God to look down on me be like, wow. I'm really happy with what you're doing, right? I mean, of course who doesn't no one wants to be on his bad side And being just you know inches away from just getting the getting the belt so to speak Now even though it may seem hard sometimes to do what is right, right making the right choices being the good man Right the good man that's going to obtain the favor of the Lord when you when you make the right choices It's not always the easy choice Usually the wrong choice is the easy choice the quick easy choice to in any situation is usually going to be the wrong choice But you can take comfort even though you may be doing something that feels hard that that's causing extra stress Take comfort and have joy knowing that you're in good standing with God Knowing that you're maintaining the integrity to God in the difficult times And and this is this is a great encouragement to just say a good man obtains favor of the Lord God will be happy with me and that means more to me than the people that I might make upset by making the right choice Is God being happy with me and you got to ask yourself that question many many times is Do I care more about how these people might think about me or do I care more about how God thinks about me? A lot of other people they might be really happy with you If you were to in one way or another deny Jesus or reject God's Word or say, oh, I don't really believe that Well, what do you think about that? What about when the Bible says this? Yeah, I don't really believe you know You might make them happy But you're not making God happy when you're when you're denying his word when you're saying I don't you know I don't believe God's Word and you're calling him a liar You're actually making him very angry and we need to keep that in mind when you when you may get Pressured you may get stressed you may get you know, these outside influences being attacked being persecuted. However, it may come, you know To just do what's right and know that you're obtaining favor of the Lord Let's keep reading your verse number three a man shall not be established by wickedness But the root of the righteous shall not be moved doing what's right? I mean that you'll be rooted down is the Bible saying you will not be moved That is a great foundation to be settled on look at verse number four a virtuous woman is a crown To her husband, but she that maketh ashamed is as rottenness in his bones now I just preached on husbands loving their wives on Sunday morning Now we're gonna I'm gonna actually spend a little bit of time here focusing in on this verse That's that's aimed more towards the wives We spent a lot of time on how the husband ought to love his wife, you know Not be bitter against them and and that was the entire sermon on Sunday morning But in order to have a good marriage You know you you both have to be doing what you're supposed to be doing So yes the husband they need to be making sure that they're loving their wives that are doing everything that God told them to do They're providing for them, you know giving honor unto them as unto the weaker vessel. I preached all that on Sunday morning But if you want your marriage to work you need to take up your own role if your husband you take up the husband's role if you're a wife you take up the wife's role and What the Bible saying here? Is that a virtuous woman a woman who's doing well a great wife someone who's a virtuous woman and doing what's right doing? What's virtuous is a crown to her husband, right? And what's it? What's a crown? It's it's it's it's something that your husband can rejoice in and say wow I have this great wife and and she's you know, it's it's so attractive. It's so great I like going around in public letting everybody know that this is my wife, right? That's what a crown is You're kind of able to show off. Hey, this is you know, not Proudly, but you know what? I mean, just just this is a great wife a virtuous woman is a crown to her husband It's a good aspect. It's a you know, it's a very good thing, but she that maketh ashamed Think about this is as rottenness in his bones Think about I mean that is a very graphic description and and let that sink in Ladies, I mean, I'm sure you don't want to be a wife that to your husband He feels like his bones are just rotting Because of how you are as a wife Because you are ashamed because you are not being a virtuous woman You are not being a virtuous wife The husband now has to you know, hey and does that make it right then for the husband not to love his wife? Absolutely not. He has his job and his role from God He needs to love his wife no matter what and if that happens to be the case if she is ashamed and it's like rottenness to his bones, he still needs a lover but Ladies you want your what your husband to love you make it easier on him, right? Don't be rottenness to his bones You want to be the help and be that glory and be that crown for him not to make him You know that rottenness and make it hard for your husband to love you now There's many ways for a wife to make a husband ashamed the first thing that comes to mind just when I see the word ashamed all throughout the Bible shame is associated with nakedness and You know for a woman a wife that's dressing immodestly That can cause a husband to be ashamed Right you come to church and the wife's dressed immodestly Well, that's a shame and that's going to be like man, you know I wish you wouldn't do that, you know and your husband if it's that bad You need to take charge and say you know what you're gonna wear something different Okay, as far as the modesty go and being the leader and being a ruler in your house saying this is gonna stop But some some people these days they glory in their shame, you know The even the husband's that that they have these, you know trophy wives and they get these women just to show them off Show off their body for other men to look at which I don't understand. I've never understood that Why would you want other men, you know lusting after your wife? It's wickedness It's disgusting. And I I mean, I never want men looking at my I'm very protective. I'm very jealous over my wife With a godly jealousy and just so you know that word is used incorrectly many times today But the Bible says that God is jealous and there's nothing wrong with with not wanting your spouse To look at anyone else or for anyone else looking at them You know The reason why God is jealous is because it was explained with not having any other gods before him because your God's a jealous God see God doesn't want you looking to these idols and looking at these false gods in giving them the honor and the respect that only Belongs unto God. He says that makes me angry that makes me jealous The same way with my wife, I don't want her looking at any other man as if the way that she ought to be looking at me and You know what way I'm talking about and in that type of a loving way or whatever it is That it should only be between a man and wife where she's looking at someone else. That's gonna make me angry That's gonna make me jealous. And yes, that is not a bad trait to have at all but that would also be something that would make me ashamed how much of a shame would that be if My wife and I go out somewhere maybe we go to a party a birthday party or some other gathering and she's like gawking over another man and Talking or even just talking about some celebrity right women do that these days they say oh Have you seen this such-and-such show and this actor and isn't he so hot and everything else. That's a shame You know that'd be like Rottenness in my bones if my wife were to go out and just start talking about some other men that she thinks are so attractive And so good-looking and and oh to spend one night with it, you know, it's it's wicked It's disgusting and that's a shame and that's something that women can do that be rottenness and you know for in her husband's bones Or being a toddler being a busybody the Bible talks a lot about that You know you want to be able to you don't want to be as a husband husbands don't want to be looked on is oh Yeah, he's bringing his wife. Yeah, she just goes around and gets involved in everybody's business Because being a toddler and being a busybody is something that's usually well-known among people because you can't keep your mouth shut and you're going around and just spreading gossip and rumors about everybody else and It just becomes known that that's who you are and that brings a reproach upon your husband being loud being stubborn right the exact opposite of what the Bible describes in many areas about how a Feminine woman ought to be a virtuous woman When you're just just just real loud and obnoxious and stubborn and nobody can tell you anything That is also something that can cause Your husband to be ashamed or how about this one being? disrespectful and Disobedient to your husband the Bible says in Ephesians 5 that you know, the husband is to That you're to obey your husband in all things Even as Christ as even as the church is subject unto Christ So shall the wives be unto their husbands in everything in all things That's this level of subjection and obedience that a wife is called to according to the Bible So when a wife completely disregards that disregards her husband's God-given authority in the house and just starts becoming very disobedient and speaking Disrespectfully and talking to you like maybe as you as a as a you know wives that talk to their children and Scold and rebuke their children when you start talking to your husband as a child that is extremely disrespectful And that ought to be not to be tolerated and I'll tell you what ladies when you talk like that to your husband It's like rottenness in his bones It's a shame And especially in public you go out and you you know You start talking bad look I don't think any spouse should ever be talking bad about their spouse husband or wife you never ought to be Taught bad-mouthing your spouse it is it is toxic for your relationship You need to be looking at your husband, even if you have problems You don't need to be talking bad about your spouse ever You're on the same team. You're on the same You know, you're one place you may have issues that you need to get resolved with each other But you ought never to be talking bad about your spouse and that is an extent is a total shame To be doing that in public and to be letting other people known and to be going going on and make they're making fun of Your husband look you are there for each other. If you don't have your spouse, who do you have? You know I mean that you are there till death do you part for each other and to provide strength for each other and to be there? You know, even if everyone else is against you ought to have your wife or your husband with you One last way that I have written down here my notes we got a lot of other topics to go into For a wife to make a husband ashamed will be a wife. That's not raising the children properly a Wife, that's you know, raising children. Maybe they're uneducated She's not doing a very good job of teaching them or they're unruly and they're they're just complete You know terrors because they're not receiving the proper discipline maybe you know a lot of times a woman doesn't want to you know, and Doesn't want to meet out the the proper discipline Because they don't want to hear a child cry or whatever, you know We're gonna get into all of that when we you know further in the book of Proverbs with the with the discipline But the Bible says not to spare for their crying, you know, not to spare the rod not to not to Forgo the the proper biblical punishment of the spanking because they cry because you know And I've had we've had different children. Obviously, they're all different all their own personalities, but we have one one of our children man They scream their head off like it's the worst thing You you'd think you're like sawing off an arm or something when they get just a swat on the behind It's like oh the worst thing in the world others haven't dealt the same way, you know, they cry but it's not not as bad But like if your first is just like screaming just bloody murder That might I mean I could shock you at first you might think like what in the world y'all like I know it doesn't hurt that bad. I know it's not that bad, but you can't spare for that You can't just think because they're throwing some huge fit that you don't do. What's right, but I'm not gonna get off into the whole child rearing thing, but if you're not raising your children properly That is a shame when you then when you go out when you bring out your family in public and your kids are just just all over the place and It's it's shameful to not have that and it's it's unfortunately It's kind of the way things are going these days when we go out oftentimes. I'm shocked at the the comments oh, wow, your children are so well behaved and It's not that we're you know, like we're just some awesome parents. It's just nobody seems to be discipline their children anymore and There's so many of them it's become in terrors and nightmares, I mean Even not really growing up and you know, I was definitely wasn't saved. My parents weren't saved It wasn't that abnormal for even you know for a lot of kids in my in my age group to still be relatively well-behaved You know what? It was only the really problem families that seemed among my friends and peers that Were just really unruly But these days it seems to be so much more than that. There's just just it's almost commonplace to have children just being Extremely unruly but and that's a shame That's a shame. And and when the wife is is a shame Makes her husband ashamed. It's like rottenness in his bones And if you want your marriage last ladies You need to look on your own selves to be the virtuous woman read Proverbs 31 Proverbs 31 goes all about all the attributes of a hard-working virtuous woman and Many of the other places read Ephesians 5 read a Colossians 3 read 1st Peter chapter 3 read these read these these areas that talk about the about You know woman's role and a lot in many cases It's completely contrary to what the world's teaching and what is popular today and and what is accepted in our culture but it's God's instruction and we ought to love the The instruction and not be hating reproof Well, let's continue on here Now the way that I'm gonna deal with kind of the rest of this chapter is slightly different than what I've been doing with through the book of Proverbs Normally, we just kind of keep reading verse by verse and it'll preach through it I've categorized these though because there's a lot there's there's certain topics that come up but They're mixed in throughout the chapter So what I've done is I've grouped them So we're gonna deal with more of like a topical within the chapter and hit all the verses but hit them kind of out of order So the first one I've noticed is there's a lot of references to the wicked person and we've gone over a wicked person in the past so there's some different attributes in this chapter than we've seen in the past and Again, it's my it's my strongly-held belief that the wicked person You know in general for the vast majority these verses is talking about someone who really is wicked like in their heart Someone who is like the wolf in sheep's clothing someone who's out to do harm to people Right, not just your average, you know unsaved person, but someone who is actually wicked in their heart That's what this Bible is describing here. We're gonna see some attributes and in the contrast between the righteous and the wicked So look at verse number five here The Bible reads the thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked are deceit in Verse number six the words of the wicked are to lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them the wicked are overthrown and are not but the house of the righteous shall stand so These three verses here are obviously all in line but you're talking about the wicked person It says their counsels their advice that they give is lies You definitely don't want to be getting advice from from a wicked from a wicked person and it doesn't matter what their position is You might say oh I need to go to a counselor I need to go to a psychiatrist or psychologist or whatever if they're a wicked person like they're just you know It's gonna be lies. It's not gonna be the truth That's not someone you want to be going to to get your counsel from to get advice from even I mean It may be a family member. Maybe you you know someone that's close to your family But they're wicked and you know that they're wicked, you know that they're not a good person Don't go to that person for advice the verse number six the words of the wicked Are to lie in wait for blood and I think this is real interesting the way that this is phrased It says the words of the wicked Are to lie in wait for blood not their actions We've already seen their actions that the wicked person does lie in wait for blood that they are You know setting traps and trying to trying to trap people but here it's just referring to their words that even using their words they lie in wait for blood and What what came to my mind about studying this chapter out is what happened with Naboth? Do you remember with Naboth and his vineyard King Ahab? Naboth's vineyard was right next to Ahab's property that properties right next to each other and Of course in the Old Testament according to law the children of Israel they had inheritance that was given to them They had landmarks and they had their property outlined and this is what's given to them and each family all had their own Property and it was theirs and it's something that that that you know, even if they were to sell it Goes back to them at the year of Jubilee God was real specific on families retaining their inheritance and it was a big deal to him to have that now Ahab saw this vineyard. He's like, oh man, I want that he coveted this vineyard and he really wanted So he goes to Naboth and he tries to do it the right way He says hey, will you sell me your inheritance and he's like no they didn't want to get rid of it He's like he's like I'll give you I'll give you a better one I'll give you something earlier, but I want that one right there Naboth said no Well, what happened was, you know Ahab gets all sad and he's depressed because he really wanted this yet his heart's on his vineyard and he couldn't get it because Naboth said no. Well Jezebel his wife finds out he says she's like well, you're the king, you know Why should anything be withholding from you? She's like don't worry about it. I'll get it for you So the plan that she devised was she said, you know proclaim Naboth put him up on high, you know, you know Run him through the town and everyone will praise him and she set certain men of Belial to bring forth a false witness against him And what they did was they lied against him saying that you know, he was blaspheming the Lord He's real and totally unrighteously wickedly lying and bearing a false witness against him so that he would be put to death and that's what happened is that these these men conspired together with Jezebel they lied about him and Naboth ended up being executed as a result and then Jezebel go see here we go Here's that vineyard go ahead and take it and what they did was the wicked They used their words by bearing false witness to lie and wait for blood They didn't have to actually Physically go and and kill him, right? They didn't have to go and use their own hands and use their own, you know weapons to take Naboth life They did it with their words They're crafty. They're they're they're using guile to lie and wait for blood and that's what the wicked do And you got to be aware of that Because the wicked aren't always going to be coming at you with with weapons now They very well may they very well may be set in traps But they're going to be set in traps in multiple ways. Even their words can be used to cause destruction Says but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them so you ought to be one that has An upright mouth to be delivered from that now verse number seven says the wicked are overthrown and are not But the house of the righteous shall stand just a real good general overall Statement they're saying you know what stay away from the ways of the wicked because they're going to be overthrown Their ways do not stand they do not last They're here today gone tomorrow They're going to be taken in their own traps and in their own nets it says but the house of the righteous shall stand you Do what's right God will be God is your strength God is your foundation, and you cannot be moved in that case jump down to verse number 12 in Proverbs About reads the wicked desireth the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit now there again another interesting verse of wicked desireth the net of evil men and The way I take this Verse to be understood is that they want the you know the evil evil men have this net and the net again kind of a reference to a trap to a snare and The wicked desire to have that net to use that net Because they're wicked men and it says but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit So and then verse 13 says the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips But the just shall come out of trouble No matter how Appealing the way of the wicked might appear just outwardly You know if they might have some riches they might have some things Oh, you know it may sound fun because they try to entice the wicked try to entice people by their It'll be a lot of fun. Oh, it's it's thrilling right It's exciting to go out and get involved in stealing get involved and and taking things from people You know proverbs one talks about you know casting your lot among us. You all have one purse We're gonna. We're gonna get all this spoil We're gonna get all these goods, and we'll all share it We don't even have to work for it all we got to do is just go take it from people Right cast in your lot among us, and they try to entice people into their wicked ways And about saying the wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips see when they're out there Continually trying to cast traps for people and lay wait for blood with their mouth. It's going to come back upon their own head They end up reaping what they sow and get caught up in their own Transgressions out of their own mouth this is but the just shall come out of trouble look Don't be the one causing trouble be the one that God is going to deliver out of trouble And then in verse 21 a Little more wisdom about the about the evil and wicked person there shall no evil happen to the just but the wicked shall be filled With mischief see not only do they do they plan mischief against other people But it's going to come back their way to the life of the wicked is not a desirable life to live They're always looking over the time you think about like The gangsters right people who are out and literally murdering people Whether it be the street gangs like the Crips and the Bloods or the you know the Al Capone those gangsters Whatever whatever gangster you wanna you want to think about your mind That is not the lifestyle. You know it may look glamorous for a snapshot in a second, right? but Think about all those guys die young I mean almost every single one of them because why because they're they're they're Committing violence against others, and then they're always having someone else out for them the mischief is is always you know They're filled with it whether it's them causing it or coming back upon them It is not you know the the the what appears to be glamorous for a moment. Oh, man. We got all this money Yeah, but you're gonna be dead in a couple years You know it's your ways are gonna come back on your own head You will reap what you sow and you go out violently and take things from people and take lives It's coming back to you And then look at verse number 26 of Proverbs 12 the Bible reads the righteous is more excellent than his neighbor but the way of the wicked seduces them and That's why I've been talking about they try to seduce you with with With different ways to to attract you to do what get involved with what they're doing to try to swell their own ranks But ultimately the wicked doesn't care about you They're looking to use you for an advantage now They'll try to seduce you and that's what you know the gangster try to do they try to see oh I'll give you that you know easy money real quick money But that's a way that they could try to distance themselves from having a harm come back upon them And they use these other people and they don't care if you go down. They don't care if you get killed They're looking out for themselves. That's all they care about that's all the wicked ever cares about is themselves So The wicked attributes that we got from this chapter they give lying counsel They have words that bring death. They set evil traps their sinful speech is a snare unto themselves Mischief and trouble come to them and they are not Merciful either and we're gonna see that here look at verse number 10 This is the last verse that's kind of grouped into this category of the wicked The Bible reads a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel Now this is one and I think the only clear verse that teaches you that you know you ought not to be abusive to animals now Unfortunately These days people have gone way Overboard in their treatment of animals, and how they ought to be treated an animal But see we need to keep the right balance and to keep biblical balance on on what an animal is you know God has given us animals for food for one Also for for you know help with working you know oxen and stuff can help us to you know you could utilize Animals to help you to get job done. There's nothing wrong with that It's not like oh, you're like a slave owner with these oxen, and how dare you put them to work for you? No God has given that given us Dominion over the earth and over the beasts of the earth over the animals to do with as we see fit And if we know if you need to eat there's nothing wrong with killing an animal and in eating it you know and I remember I've got some some family members that Like I said I've mentioned before I grew up in this in the Chicago suburbs, and you know they're Hunting and doing you know there's a lot of things that are foreign to people there I remember even just having guns the only people had guns were you know gang bangers and the cops? Like that's it like like nobody. I knew had guns at least that I knew of you know No, I it wasn't normal. You know like like none of my friends or their parents or you know like there's like no guns around And when I moved out here it was like this is awesome You know at first it was a little scary because it's like whoa you know I went to the grocery store You see a guy just open carrying, and I was just like man. That's weird It's weird because I wasn't used to it because it's not anything I've been exposed to When in fact I mean there's really nothing weird about it doesn't abnormal except It's you know norm is determined by by what you're around right as whatever is normal is is what you're used to so But there's nothing wrong with it obviously I mean I carry pistol all the time. There's nothing wrong with that but So the first time I went hunting and I and I and I shot an elk you know there's We took pictures with you know I was gutting it and and you know hanging up and skinning it and stuff and it's graphic Right it's graphic it's you see blood you see guts you see everything like that But there's nothing wrong with that, but see we live in a society where people are like I can't believe you would do that. How could you do that? It's like Where do you think your meat comes from? Right and a lot of times. It's it's it's kind of brainwashing going on and people have been so much Just just honest you know PETA has just pushed so hard To treat Beasts and animals as if they're human beings and they're not Now look I'm not against having pets and loving your pets and treating your pets well Have at it. I have pets of my own and We love our pets we take care of them. You know we do nice things for them or whatever. It's great It's fine, but you got to be able to draw the line at the right place You know we live in a world where you have people that you know for example with the with the cop dogs right the canines the canine units I Have seen in comments were like you know the canine unit is used and You know some guys getting his leg bit off by this and and he ends up like like beating it or stabbing it or something because the animals just viciously attacking him, and he's defending himself right and People see all like like sometimes these dogs will die in the line of duty or whatever and they'll be calling like that person needs To be put to death and I'll see what that is insane To say that someone ought to be put to death because the dog died Or they'll say the same thing you know if someone leaves their dog in the car, and it dies From real from the heat or whatever now look. I'm not saying people should do that No, I'm not saying it's right. You know you ought to be taking care of your beast your animal But it's not justice for you to lose your life over the life of the animal. Let's face it. There's a difference in value of The value of an animal versus the animal or the life of a human being and this is evident and clear in scripture when you see Jesus Christ himself when the two men met him that were possessed with Devils out of the tombs and You know remember the story and the guy says you know like he said what's your name? He says my name is Legion for we are many And the guy had many Devils in him, and he besought him that he that he wouldn't you know cast him out And he says well look can't you know suffer us that we be that we go in the swine so Jesus suffered him and when? He casts out the Devils he casts them into the animals to the swine to the pigs That all ran down the hill violently and killed themselves into the ocean. They kill themselves in the water right they they all died And and it was I don't remember how many it was a lot right because the value of them was was real high But that shows you how much the value of that one person meant to Jesus Christ Way more than the value of all the lives of those swine who they didn't hurt anybody Why should they have the devil's ego going on well because the value of that man was way more important than the value of those beasts Which is why we eat? Beasts we eat pig we eat cow we you know we eat these animals because God has ultimately given them to us it's not the same it's not the same as anything wrong with having a pet and loving your pet, but Let's let's have the proper view and stop treating You know animals as human beings because they're not human beings But the Bible clearly teaches here You know a righteous man regard at the life of his beast and we ought to regard the life of a beast you ought not to just be real cruel and and and and doing weird things to them and and and You know torturing them But it says the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel the wicked person is cruel in their heart And that's you know it's interesting too if you know anything about like psychopaths and serial killers Oftentimes in their past they they have a history of being extremely cruel to animals before they start turning that on to humans Of doing really bizarre sick twisted things. You know it's just kind of like whoa like what in the world Are you do you know you see that happening as a child or even as a young adult or whatever they do these things? before they they turn to People and that's in any own evidence of the heart of a wicked person because they're tender mercies It says are cruel. You know being merciful is supposed to be Providing mercy like you're you're letting up you're not you're not being hard or harsh on them But the the mercies of the wicked are cruel So that's the that's the last on the Verses on the wicked that are those are all of them in the chapter. They're kind of geared towards that subject Let's move on here look at verse number eight And these verses kind of stand on their own they're not grouped together verse eight not excuse me the Bible reads a man shall be commended according to his wisdom But he that is of a perverse heart Shall be despised he that is despised and hath a servant is better than he that on earth himself and lacketh bread so The Bible show us here, you know, man, you're commended Or get it, you know receive accolades or whatever according to your wisdom being wise but if you have a perverse heart you should be despised and And rightfully so by the way a perverted heart He that is of a perverse heart shall be despised. It's all about people hating someone with a perverted heart and then verse 9 he that is despised and at the servant is Better than he that honoreth himself and lacketh bread so they say it's better for you just to be hated But if you've got a servant, you know, you're obviously a person who has a servant is doing well financially Then it is for you to honor yourself and to be lifted up with pride and be lacking bread Right who cares if you if you're if you're bringing honor unto yourself if you don't if you can't even eat but Let's let's move on our next verse look at verse number 11 now these next verses we're going to read are all Under the subject of working hard and in the Bible teaching us to be hard workers Proverbs 12 verse 11 reads he that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread But he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding verse 14 a man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth and the Recompense of a man's hands shall be rendered unto him now recompense means your reward It's what you receive of your hands a man's hands You will become to you so the work that you do with your hands you will receive a reward for that Just like in verse 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread You're not gonna go hungry when you're when you're willing to get up go out and do the work It doesn't just happen on its own And when we have a garden in our in our backyard those plants don't just get there on their own They need to be maintained. We need to be watching We need to be you know feeding them and watering them and and pulling off the the the big old nasty Caterpillars that are trying to destroy all of them and you know all the different things the weeds that are popping up It involves work you need to go out there and and take care of that stuff if you want to get anything in return and It says if you do that you till your land you're gonna be satisfied with bread. You know you you make things work and Look at verse number 24 the hand of the diligent shall bear rule But the slothful shall be under tribute you're saying you don't want to be under tribute and be taxed and you know and and and be under bondage essentially Then don't be slothful. Don't be lazy Hey be diligent get up early stay up late work hard and it says you're gonna be the one bearing rule then you're gonna be in charge of your life and not being a servant to Poverty to you know being a debtor and everything else getting up and working hard and in verse number 27 The slothful man rosteth not that which he took in hunting why because he didn't even go out hunting How is he gonna cook anything that he's that he took in hunting because he's slothful He's lazy and even go out says but the substance of a diligent man is Precious and this one speaks to my heart personally because you know when you go out hunting It does require a lot of work when I when I go out you get up early you get up before dawn You know when I go out hunt elk. It's you get up really early you go hike You're what you know you're you're you're putting forth work, and if you're gonna get something I know you a lot of guys go around they drive on their little quads and stuff They don't take game very often because they only get what kind of you know they're already scaring them away And they're driving around if you I've noticed the people who are the most successful hunters are the ones that are going out and they're hiking and they're hunting and they're stalking and they're you know and they're they're going up and down mountains, and they're climbing all over the place and and They find and will will receive the substance, and you know what when you get that game when you get that that Whatever you're hunting. It's precious and all the the meat that I've gotten has been very precious because it feeds my family for about a year and That's awesome, but the slothful man the lazy man. It says he rose. That's not what he took in hunting and What is all this this teaching us? It's teaching you to work hard It's teaching you look if you're willing to get up if you're willing to till the land if you're willing to Receive the recompense of your own hands and be diligent then You will be satisfied with bread. You will be taken care of and that's what's Wrong with with the welfare mentality of the state and the government just taking care of people because it teaches them to be lazy It says hey if you don't have a job Don't worry about it. We'll pay you you know we'll help you out and continue to pay you and What it does is incentivizes people to to not work because why would you not work when you're collecting this paycheck? Why should I go out and actually work hard when I could not work hard and still get paid? It's it's a completely false incentive the Bible doesn't teach at all Bible says look if you you know if you want to be Yes, if you want to be slothful, then you're gonna be under tribute you want to be lazy You're not going to take you know roast that what you took in hunting you're not going to be eating You know and the Bible clearly says in the New Testament says you know if any man shall not work neither shall he eat That's the the creed that the Apostles lived by saying look everyone needs to stay busy and do their own work Work with their own hands feed themselves and if you're not willing to go out and work then guess what you're not going to eat because we're not going to take care of Him and obviously that was the use they were talking to able-bodied men when you have someone who is crippled or is Unable and incapable of working for some reason. That's a different story They could receive alms and that's righteous and there's nothing wrong with that with taking care of the people who truly are in need But if you're a grown man, or if you're if you're capable of doing work There is no reason for you not to be out there and working and get off your rear end and and do something and And you will and you have to worry about being in need or in one Let's go to verse number 15 now, we're going to move into the last section here and there's kind of a few things here the primary Topic is going to be our speech and the things that we say and this was covered already in the previous chapter We're going to look again slight differences here and what's being taught And we're also going to see some some fool, you know Teachings on fools and counsel here in verse 15 the Bible reads the way of a fool is right in his own eyes But he that harkeneth unto counsel is wise getting getting good advice is wise but the fool they don't need advice, right? The fool says oh everything I do is right. I don't need anyone to tell me what's right. I don't need instruction I don't need reproof. I don't need correction. I don't need anyone to tell me what's right I could think for myself and I don't need any counsel from anyone. Well, that's foolish Verse 16 a fool's wrath is Presently known but a prudent man Coverth shame now. We want to make sure that we're prudent in the way that we Deal with ourselves in the way that we present ourselves just in daily life You know, you ought not to be quick to wrath and just make your wrath just evident all the time Do what this talk about is a fool's wrath. It's presently known It's just right away as soon as the fool gets angry. Everyone knows about it Everyone always is full of wrath and kind of flies off the handle. It isn't temperate isn't in control of his emotions and of The way he deals with himself a prudent man is able to cover shame is able to yeah Maybe you get angry, but you can you can let it slide you can let things pass because you're in control of yourself You don't have to just be flying off the handle all the time and being some hothead that that everybody just sees That you're a fool and that you know, and oftentimes I've seen this we've all seen this a bunch I'm sure where people just kind of get all upset and crazy and extremely angry over something That's real little and what do they do? They end up looking like a fool when you see someone just flipping out and getting real upset, you know, like You took my parking spot man Beat you up because you don't my partner. It's a parking spot relax like Really? It's not a big deal. And you know what that person just looks like an idiot They look like a fool when you go flying off the handle over something so stupid and there's many at many things you I'm sure You could think of that are just really dumb and someone gets super upset over nothing and and their wrath is just presently known That's foolish the prune man covers shame It's loud say look at verse number 17 he that speaketh truth showeth forth righteousness, but a false witness deceit There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword but the tongue of the wise is health and again this kind of ties in with the verse that we saw earlier about the Wicked that with their words they lie in wait for blood. It's saying here that they're you know, there's people that speak You know, the words are like the piercings of a sword It's like you're you're stabbing someone with a sword with the damage that you're doing with your words There's people that speak like that where they're literally Attacking and and using their words like a sword it says and that's in contrast to the tongue of the wise is health Health is doing good for people, you know being edifying to other people that basically, you know If you got nothing nice to say don't say it at all. Right? I mean when you just go and and In just rail on people for no reason and just go and use your words to Pierce like a sword. That's not that's not good. It's not righteous We ought to be able to to help each other out and use our speech to do so verse number 19 the lip of truth Shall be established forever But a lying tongue is but for a moment again the wickedness just just comes and goes a lies they last for a moment and But the the truth is established forever verse 20 deceit is in the hearts of them that imagine evil But to the counselors of peace is joy jump down to verse number 22 lying lips are Abomination to the Lord but they that deal truly are his delight and we saw this in Where the Proverbs chapter 6, you know There's six things the Lord does hate a seven our abomination unto them and in lying lips and in a false witness We're in listening that twice God really really hates lying and we really need to make sure that we are speaking with the lips of truth that we're Speaking our tongue is is speaking health that we're we're speaking truth and showing forth righteousness and Not speaking lies not being a false witness and not having lying lips verse 23 says a prudent man concealeth knowledge, but the heart of fools Proclaimeth foolishness the the foolish person has no problems letting everybody know that they're a fool we ought to be wise in the things that we say and temperate and in control and being able to Filter the things that come out of our mouth so that you don't look like a fool so we don't look like fools But you can say things rationally and with thought giving to it instead of just speaking off the cusp And it says a prudent man concealeth knowledge. There are times to conceal that means a hide knowledge There's a good time for that. The Bible says, you know, Jesus Christ said, you know cast not your pearls before swine Lest they turn and rend you and trample you, you know, there's times that there's people it's not even a wise thing To give them knowledge there are certain people a certain wicked people that all they're gonna do is just get mad at you and attack you and And you're not gonna do any good to them and you're just gonna bring damage upon yourself There are times when it's wise to conceal your knowledge. I Mean even Jesus Christ concealed knowledge when it when when he was asked Why do you speak in parables unto them? Why do you do it his answer? Was because he says well unto you to his disciples. It's given to know these things you you know You are meant to receive this knowledge why because they were saved but these unsaved masses he says to them. It's not given He spoke to them in parables that seeing they might not see in hearing they might not hear Like on purpose so that they couldn't understand because many of them were Reprobate and he's and all they would have to do to be saved is to believe you say, you know I'm telling them this stuff so that they don't believe Because it's not given for them to believe But that's a whole that's an entire sermon in and of itself, but there is definitely a prune man There's a time to conceal knowledge verse number 25 here. We're almost done We got two verses left verse 25 heaviness in the heart of man maketh its stoop But a good word Maketh it glad so this is talking about someone who has a heavy heart, right? They're going through hard times and it says it makes their heaviness in the heart of man maketh its stoop, but a good word Someone that could bring you a good word. Just the words out of your mouth can make their heart glad right and and that shows you some of the power of our words and And and and how much of an impact they could have you could either use it as a piercing sword or it could use it as health and bringing a good word to Lift somebody's heart and to lift their spirits when they're going through a really hard time and then verse number 28 the Bible reads in the way Of righteousness is life and in the pathway thereof there is no Death so obviously we want to strive to be in the way of righteousness to know the instruction to follow that path To live a righteous life because in that pathway, there's no death right sin brings forth death The path of righteousness does not there is no death in the path of righteousness That's my words have a word of prayer dear Heavenly Father Lord. We thank you so much for these great words of wisdom Well, I prayed you please help us to always be receptive to receiving instruction to receiving correction dear Lord increase our knowledge Increase our wisdom help us to to know more about the things that we ought to do in our life Lord I pray that you would please just help the the wives here to not be rottenness in the bones of their husbands and that The husbands would love their wives and not be bitter against them dear Lord I pray that you would please just help us all to to grow closer to you in Jesus name. We pray amen