Proverbs 20:6-12

Hey, hey, hey, hey, welcome to Coffee and Devotions. Thanks so much for joining me this morning. It's so good to see you. 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'll make it through all of the wisdom literature, Lord willing. Well, today we're at Proverbs chapter 20, verses 6 through 12. Why don't we go ahead and 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, the day that you have made, and the day you've given us. Now, the time you've given us to study your word, we pray that it would be a blessing to us, that you would teach us, instruct us, and let us walk in the fear and wisdom that you give. In Jesus' name, amen. Here we go. Let's go ahead and turn over to the screen and look at the text for today.
Most men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful man? Everybody's good at boasting about themselves, but who is able to find a loyal person? Everybody's really good at building up their own resumes, but where's that company man? Where's that man who will stand through thick and thin? Where's that woman who will stick by and do everything necessary rather than just boasting about themselves?
Verse 7. The righteous man walks in his integrity. His children are blessed after him. It's one thing to put on a show for everyone else to see, but do you know what integrity is? Integrity is who you are when no one else is watching. You can be patient when you're on the phone. You know what this is like, right? As you've seen this happen, maybe it's in your own home, but you've seen people fighting and screaming and yelling and all the tension and everything and then the phone rings and bling, bling, bling, hi. Oh, hi, it's so good to talk to you. Well, hold on. Are you that kind and that patient with your family behind closed doors? Are you that truthful when nobody else is watching? If we're people who will walk in integrity, not just when everybody else is watching, but even behind closed doors. The Lord then blesses even our family with it because they know our character behind us. Our children are blessed because they see an example put before them that is not a two-faced hypocriticalness, but a real faithfulness.
Verse eight, a king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters all evil with his eyes. When the king sits down, on his throne in the ancient near east this is the time of judgment the king was the final judge he was the supreme court chief justice no other else around him he might have advisors and stuff but when he pronounced judgment that was it and when his eyes scanned he was meant to push away everything else push away all the evil and the lies and be able to find out what the truth was. This is Solomon speaking to his son here and he's saying, you need to have eyes that are discerning to be able to push away the evil, the falsehoods and be able to know what the truth is.
Verse nine, who can say I have made my heart clean? I am pure from my sin. The heart is deceitfully wicked above all else. I can't stand in our American culture how we say all the time, you know, oh, just trust your heart. Oh, just follow your heart. Oh, whatever feels right to you. That's a lie from the pit of hell. I have a hard time just knowing what's in my own heart. And every time I wake up each morning, each afternoon, each evening, you know what? I'm just going to say this. You want to know what I have to do each night? My old pastor taught me to do this.
Every night before Olivia and I go to bed, I ask her, How did I hurt your feelings today? And I am ashamed. I am ashamed at how often she says things that I have said in a tone that hurt her or just my absent-mindedness not doing something intentionally to hurt her but yet I hurt her feelings because I might have prioritized someone else over her or I didn't think about her and the children how she wished I had. How can you possibly ever say, I've cleansed myself enough.
I have a pure heart in this. One of the things I often have to tell people is we are a people who have mixed motives. We rarely do one thing for only one reason. There's often a number of reasons why people do things and often even the good things that we do are marred by selfishness, pride, arrogance.
Who can say I have made my heart clean? I am pure from my sins. So what do you do about it? If we confess our sins, He, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all of our unrighteousness. How do we get a pure heart? We get it by going to the one who can cleanse our hearts. We can't do it. We need God to do this. It's only in Jesus Christ that we find forgiveness and cleansing for our sins. Verse 10.
Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike an abomination to the Lord. This is weights and balances, scales and measures. This is saying that a gallon is a gallon and you're not going to try to pull it over by someone on having two different weights. For the people you like, for your buddies, you can shave off just a little bit so they pay just a little bit less than everyone else. No, no, don't be a cheater. Don't steal. Those things are a perversion to the Lord. Don't cook the books. Don't have two different standards for people.
Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right." Again, this is King Solomon talking to his son here and he's saying, you know how easy it is sometimes to look at a kid and you're able to see he did right and he did wrong. Sometimes when we get to be adults, we just kind of muck it up. We think there's these huge gray areas. And as a king, Solomon had to be able to tell his son, you got to figure out which one's right and which one's wrong. You're able to do it with kids, you can do it in life.
Verse 12, our last verse. The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both. Every part of your body, every part of your mind, your soul, from the hair on your head to your eyes to the toenails on your big toe, God made every one of them. He knows what you see, He knows what you hear, He knows what you say because He made your eyes, your ears, and your mouth. You can't hide anything from him. He's your master and your maker. So will you confess your sin to him? And will you use your words, your sight, your body, your mind for his glory or for your own purposes?
Let's pray. And Father, we thank you so much that you can make us pure. And that in Jesus Christ, the one who did have a clean heart and clean hands, we have forgiveness for sins. And Father, as we look to your word, we can also see what is right and what is wrong and be a people who walk in integrity. Make us these types of people in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. And I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
And thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.