Proverbs 16:12-17

Dan Dan, tea for you. Am I getting tea or coffee? What do you want, tea or coffee? Tea. All right, well good morning, good morning. It's so good to have you here with us this morning. This is where every day we get together, we get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we will make it through all the wisdom. That's right. We'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Let's go ahead and shut that off over there.
Well, today we are at Proverbs chapter 16 verses 12 through 17. Why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to get to sit together and to get into your word. We pray that it would be a blessing for us this morning. We pray that we would sit at your feet and love you in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, here we go. Proverbs 16, beginning at verse 12.
It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness. So, a king should love wrongdoing or should hate it? Hate it, because the main point of wrongdoing is for him to just That's right. Do we want a president who likes to do wicked things or who wants to do good things?
Good things. That's right. That's good. Alright. Nathan, do you want to read verse thirteen? Thirteen. Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him who speaks what is right. Okay. So, not only do we want a king who loves righteousness, but we want a king who loves to hear righteousness. Do we want a king who loves people who lie and scheme? No way, Jose. Verse 14, Deborah, you want to read this? This is all about kings. You want to read verse 14? As messengers of the death is the king's wrath, but a wise man will appease it.
So what happens in the ancient times when Solomon was king and David was king, what was a king allowed to do? What might a king do if he got like the Hulk? He might make some bad decisions. He can make a decision to me. He can go to jail. Yeah, right, so a messenger of death is the king's wrath, but a wise man will appease it, right?
You want to have the leader of your country surrounded with people who know how to appease the king's anger, so he doesn't do rash things. Like David? Exactly, exactly. Verse 15, in the light of the king's face is life, and his favor is like a cloud, like a spring rain. When the king smiles, when a king smiles, there's life.
Do you guys remember the book of Esther? What was she so worried about? She was worried that if she went into the king's presence without him calling her, what could he do? Yeah, you could put her to death. But if he did what? Yeah, if he held out his scepter, it means that she would have life. And when she went into his presence, what did he do? He held out a scepter.
Yeah, and it was like, oh, it's going to be OK. It's going to be OK. Hey, who do you think is a king who always loves righteousness and always keeps his anger in check and always walks in wisdom? God. God. That's right. Yahweh. Yeah, Yahweh, you're right. The King of kings, the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. We have a King, Jesus, who does all these things perfectly. And when we know that Jesus smiles on us, is there hope for life for us? That's right. Nathan, do you want to read verse 16?
How much better to get wisdom than gold and get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver. What do you think that's talking about? Y's like If you get gold, what are you going to do with the gold if you're not wise? Are you just going to spend it on gambling money? Oh, you could use that without even making anything. Yeah, right, so you want to get wisdom instead of just getting money because what you're saying is even if you get money but you don't have wisdom, you're not going to use it wisely. Right, so what about, so does that mean maybe, oh I know what this means, you should spend all your money, everything you have to go get a college degree. Maybe not, because would that necessarily be wise? Do some people get college degrees that are not very wise? Yeah, some people confuse understanding or just getting head knowledge with actually getting true knowledge. But we want to get wisdom.
Go chase after... So maybe here, let me give you a scenario, okay? You have a choice, okay? You can work so hard in so many long hours that you don't have any time to read the Bible or go to church, but I will give you a job that will pay you $500,000 a year. That's a lot. Yeah. What do you think? Do you think that you should take the job? No. No? That's a lot of money, though. What was that, Daniel?
You should read the Bible. Yeah, you should read your Bible. You should fear the Lord, for that's the beginning of wisdom. Good. All right, what about verse 17? Deborah, can you read that one? The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul. That's right. We want to shun evil, right? The righteous path steers clear of wickedness. It's like there's a bus in the middle of the road and you go, we're going to go around that thing. The path of the righteous, the highway of the upright, is to depart from evil.
We want to keep on the path of Christ. Is it easy or is it hard to do the things that please God? It's hard? But it says here it's a highway. I thought highways were like asphalt and they're really easy to drive on. Why is it hard? Well, if you go into the ditch, it's not that easy. You're right. If you go into the ditch, it's not that easy. You're right. But why do you think it's so hard for us to follow on these paths? Because it's like... Hold on. Daniel was talking. Because... It's like so hard. You can do it, but it's so hard. Yeah, it's hard.
Do you think it's kind of against our sinful nature? Yeah, right? The Lord's ways we have to learn. He has to teach us because we're sinful. Right? But does that mean that we don't have any ability to do it? No. We control our actions. Well, how? How do we have that self-control?
Because our minds our mind can control our body and we can choose not to sin. We can choose not to sin? But you were born with a sinful heart. But with God's help we can turn away from sin. That's right. What is one of the fruits of the Spirit? Self? Control. So did God save us to just stay in our sin? Nope. Or did he save us that we might do good deeds? That's right. Is it hard though? Yeah, that's really hard. Let's go ahead and pray.
Father, we thank you so much that you gave us a righteous King, Jesus Christ. We thank you that you've given us your spirit. We pray that we would walk on the highway that leads to life, that we would stay in Christ, that you would keep us in you. Lord, we thank You that You promised that nothing can ever snatch us from Your hands. So Lord, we pray that You would keep us there. Let us remain in Jesus and let His Spirit... Father, please do not take Your Spirit from us, but let us love You with all of our hearts for all of our lives. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, may God bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. And we'll see you tomorrow. You guys want to say bye? Bye, we'll see you tomorrow.