Category Archives: Proverbs

Good Fathers Teach The Word Of God

Proverbs 4:1-4 HEAR, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. 2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. 3 For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. 4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

Let’s break this down.

Proverbs 4:1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.

The father as the head of the family teaches his children to love God’s Word. In a section of scripture the Jews call “The Shema” or “The Hearing”, God tells His people:… Continue reading

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Prospecting For Wisdom In God’s Word

Proverbs 3:13-18 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. 16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

Opening: In Sri Lanka a man had hired a well dug in his back yard. While workmen were digging – looking for water – they found a star sapphire cluster. Since it was on his property, it belonged to him. He had it appraised through a gem trader and found out the 2.5 million carat sapphire is worth up to $100 million. The owner named it the “Serendipity Sapphire”. If you found it in your back yard, it wouldn’t look like anything at all to you. You might have rolled it out to the trash pickup. You’d have been wrong!

Gold is much like this sapphire. The inexperienced may find gold, but never know it’s gold, because it looks like dirty quartz until its refined. What looks like gold when you find it is Iron Pyrite, Chalcopyrite or Fool’s Gold. Gold, which isn’t golden until it’s processed, is worth $2336.30 an ounce as of April 23, 2024. Fool’s Gold is worth .55 cents per ounce.

The miner is a person who has studied gold and it’s value. The miner knows how to prospect for gold, and how to ignore the false. Had the man who discovered the Serendipity Sapphire not been acquainted with gemstones, he would have tossed out this Guinness Book of World Records (largest star sapphire cluster ever found) stone.

As valuable as the Serendipity Sapphire is, there is something much greater in value. It is WISDOM…. Continue reading

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Your Best Life Is In God

There is an easy way to determine if something is false and not from God, or if it is true and from God. Ask yourself, “Does it elevate GOD, or elevate MYSELF, my FLESH?” If the “truth” elevates God, it is from God. If it elevates US, it is from Satan.

Follow Your HEART?

For instance, people say “Follow your HEART. Your HEART will always be right?” Is that true? Let’s put that on the Scripture Scales and weigh it:

Proverbs 3:1-2 My son, forget not My law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

God does not say “Follow your Heart”. In fact, this is what brought sin into the world in the first place. God gave Adam a very clear set of instructions, and a warning against doing what his heart told him to do. Instead of listening to God, Adam listened to his heart. He let his flesh control him, instead of the Word of God. What happened? Paradise was lost.

God said:

“let thine heart keep my commandments”.

Word Study: The word “let” or allow is not in the original text. The word “keep” is the Hebrew nāṣar (pronounced naw-tsar’) which means “to OBSERVE, to PRESERVE as presented, to GUARD from evil, to WATCH CAREFULLY, to DRAW CLOSE TO so as to obey”. We are not to revel or elevate the flesh, our own desires, but are to glorify God our Creator by heeding at doing what He said. We are not to “let” our hearts do God’s Word – that is a poor translation. We are to “KEEP” our hearts focused on God’s Word. We are to put a leash on our hearts, and say to ourselves “What has GOD said and GOD ordered. We will follow GOD regardless as to where our hearts want us to go”. … Continue reading

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God Delivers From Evil

Proverbs 2:6-15 For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. 8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. 9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. 10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; 11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee: 12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things; 13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; 15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths …

There is a reason that salvation is based on a relationship with the Lord, and not on your human works. Human works are flawed, suspect. We err. A summary of Romans 3:9-26 makes our position and God’s Grace very clear…. Continue reading

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Knowing God Should Be Our Primary Desire

Proverbs 2:1-5 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

What Value Do We Place On God’s Word?

Why are there so many who profess to be saved who seem to have no more knowledge of God than the lost or the damned atheist? Our text today explains this.

When you are saved, you are saved because you “received” the Gospel of salvation as true. The Gospel is a SEED that is sown on various ground. Jesus said:

Some SEED is RECEIVED by the way side (Matthew 13:19)
Other SEED is RECEIVED in stoney places (Matthew 13:20)
Yet other SEED is RECEIVED among thorns (Matthew 13:22)
But the SEED RECEIVED on GOOD GROUND (Matthew 13:23),

this is the SEED that brings forth the fruit of salvation. Some people harden their hearts to the Gospel of salvation. When Jesus came, the Bible says:

John 1:11-12 … He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

To RECEIVE Christ is to RECEIVE Him as He is – both Lord and Savior. When this occurs, the Holy Spirit of God comes into… Continue reading

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Wisdom Our Helpmeet

Let’s put this into a Biblical perspective. You can KNOW what is true, but not put it into action. Wisdom is the act of putting God’s Truth into ACTION. Jesus preached His “Sermon on the Mount”, and it was recorded in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. In this Sermon Jesus told us what God expects us to DO if we are His followers. As Jesus closed the Sermon we read:

Matthew 7:28-29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

The SCRIBES had knowledge. They knew all about the Bible, and were astounding in how much Scripture they memorized. But Jesus was different. He told His audience just before closing the Sermon:

Matthew 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Who is the “wise man”? The person who HEARS what Jesus said, but DOES what He said. The Scribe will HEAR the Word, but not DO it. He is not wise. The wise person both heeds and does what God said, regardless as to temptation to do otherwise…. Continue reading

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Do Not Join With Sinners: Proverbs 1:8-19

Proverbs 1:8-9 My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: 9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Parents are supposed to teach their children righteousness. Righteousness defined is, Biblically, “To adhere to the standard that God has set”. The Bible says in:

Isaiah 33:22 For the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us.

God created the Laws of Gravity, Motion, Energy Conservation – the Laws that make life on Planet Earth possible. This same God “loves righteousness and justice” (Psalm 33:5, ESV). His righteousness is like the mighty mountains, and His justice like the ocean depths (Psalm 36:6, NLT). Christ paid the penalty for the believer on the Cross of Calvary. Everyone who believes in Christ has been given imputed righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Through the indwelling Holy Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) we who are saved by the Grace of God are drawn to live practical righteousness: Continue reading

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The Fear Of The Lord: Proverbs 1:1-7

Proverbs 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Introduction To Proverbs

We’re starting our study through the Book of Proverbs. The Book starts with:

Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel …… Continue reading

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The Abomination Of Poor Judgment

Since the 9-11 terrorist attacks, our government established the TSA. With the body searches and bag inspections you need to get to the airport about 3 hours before your flight. A woman was at the airport, and had gone through all the checkpoints. As she was early for check in she decided to get a little something to eat. Then she saw the Cookie Stand. Five freshly baked cookies for about $5.00. She couldn’t resist. Paying her $5.00, she put her brown bag of cookies in her carry on. At her gate she sat next to a nice looking, well dressed man.

Rummaging through her purse for her phone, she looked up and saw that the nice young man had her bag of cookies in his hand. Unfolding the top of the bag, he opened it, and fished out a cookie as she glared at him. He notice she was watching him, so he put the bag between them and said, “Help yourself”! … Continue reading

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Life Verse From The King

Many Christians today choose our focal verse as their “Life Verse”. Please turn with me in your Bibles to the Book of Proverbs, to:

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

It is no wonder that this is the “Life Verse” of many Christians. But this was also the “Life Verse” that an ancient parent shared with his child. We know this because of our context:

Proverbs 3:1-4 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: 2 for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. 3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: 4 so shalt thou find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

This ancient father was telling his son of a Law that he was to follow. He told his son, “If you heed this law – this Life Verse… Continue reading

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