Proverbs 21:20-31

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions.
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 literature. Well, this morning we are at Proverbs chapter 20, let's see, verses 20 through 31. So we'll finish Proverbs 21 this morning together. Let's 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. Lord we pray that you would not just let us be wise in our own eyes but Father we pray that we would truly be wise. That we would revere you and out of a reverence for you we would sit humbly before you at your feet learning from you. Father we pray that you would be our teacher in Jesus' name. Amen. Here we go, Proverbs chapter 21 verses 20 through the end of the chapter. Let's go ahead and jump on the screen here.
There is desirable treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man squanders it. Desirable treasure, oil, these are good things, great things, things of this world that are meant to be both medicinal as well as, you know, not just ointments, but also make you smell good and be versatile in your home. And they should be abundant in the house of the person who fears the Lord. But a foolish man squanders it, uses it for foolish ends and selfish means rather than for building people and things up. And so it should be found in the house of the wise and not the house of the fools. Now again, these are proverbs or principles, not promises. And so often we do find excess in the house of fools, but it's far better when we find it in the house of the wise.
Verse 21, he who follows righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor. I mean, let's just kind of work ourselves through that, right? If you follow righteousness and you follow mercy, what do you find? Righteousness and honor. When you follow the ways of the Lord, when you uphold what is right, when you show mercy to those around you, what do you find? You're going to find honor for yourself and you're going to find righteousness.
Isn't this most true of Jesus Christ? When we look at verse 22 and we think of who is the one who totally followed righteousness and mercy, and what followed him was righteousness and honor, but it's Jesus Christ. who loved mercy and kindness and humbled himself into the likeness of a man and has now been exalted and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and wears a crown above every crown and has a name above every name and at his name every knee will bow. Verse 22, a wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the trusted stronghold This is again Solomon writing to his son and he's telling him a wise man knows how to go to war. A wise man knows how to scale the walls and pull down a city. A wise man is going to be like Solomon's dad David who knew how and when to attack and where were the vulnerabilities and where was the right way to be able to overcome his enemies. in verse 23, whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble. Oh, is that not true?
We did just a poll on our Facebook page, I don't know how long ago, Facebook and Instagram, I don't know how long ago that poll was, probably a couple of years ago now, and we asked people, you know, what would you take back? Would you take back Actions you had done, what you take back, thoughts you had or different things. The most popular thing that people said they would take back is words. Things that they had said to others.
Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from trouble. Let every man be slow to speak, slow to wrath, but swift to hear. Guard your mouth, guard your tongue. It's an unruly evil. We must tame it, we must master it. Verse 24, a proud and haughty man, Scoffer is his name, he acts with arrogant pride. The proud man, the haughty man, is a scoffer. He laughs at other people's wisdom. He derides the understanding of the Lord. And what happens? He acts with arrogant pride. I know what I'm doing. I can do best.
And at the end of the day, as he scoffs at everyone else, he doesn't take counsel. He doesn't get understanding. He doesn't follow the way otherwise, and most likely is going to follow a road that leads to destruction. Verse 25, the desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. You know, sin is irrational. Sin is irrational.
I was listening to an old preacher a couple weeks ago when we were in Atlanta, and he said, you know, Grandma always told us you don't have to stay stupid. There's this guy from down in Arkansas, he was really, he was a hoot. And anyways, his grandma, you don't always have to stay stupid.
You don't always have to stay lazy. You know what laziness brings? More laziness. You know what laziness brings? Famine. You know what laziness brings? A bad life. You don't always have to be lazy. You can't get up, you can't work. Verse 26, he covets greedily all day long, but the righteous gives and does not spare. Notice the contrast between these. I'm going to highlight this here. I really love this verse when it comes to the lazy man versus the righteous. The lazy man sits on his couch watches TV, and is covetous, wanting what everybody else has, and just wanting to have a better life.
But the righteous person goes out and works, goes out and labors, goes out and puts in a good days of work. Whatever you find your hands to do, work with all your might as unto the Lord. And he does his work as unto the Lord, and he gives. Let him who steals still no longer labor with his hands that he might have to give. to those in need. The righteous person works not just to fill themselves up with all the things of this life, but that they might turn around and show mercy, that they might show hospitality, they might give to the poor, that they might love others.
Verse 27, the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. How much more so when he brings it with wicked intent? This is, I'm going to say this is similar to what Jesus talks about in Matthew chapter 15 with the sin of Corbin. When people would come and they would give an offering, a sacrifice to the temple, a big donation to the temple, and they did it not out of a righteous desire, but because they didn't want to support their parents in their old age.
The Lord abhors a sacrifice done in wickedness. This is one of the beautiful things about when Jesus Christ offered up himself. on that cross when Jesus Christ gave of himself. God raised him up from the dead. This was the approval that Jesus Christ's sacrifice was not in vain. It was not mixed or mingled with sin or pride or any other thing, but it was a perfect sacrifice that Jesus Christ rose again from the dead for our justification.
A false witness shall perish, but the man who hears him will speak endlessly. Lies are hard to kill. Tall tales are hard to put out. It's difficult to go back on the things that we've said that were untrue as we bore false testimony. And so those lies will outlive the person. There is slander and things, especially in some communities and things that happen in people's reputations that will last for generations and generations.
Verse 29, a wicked man hardens his face but as for the upright he establishes his way. The wicked man hardens his face. When he should rejoice with those who rejoice he clenches his jaw and just remains obstinate. When he should weep with those who weep, he hardens his face. He will not sympathize, he will not empathize, he will not relate with that person and their need and their time but rather hardens their faith. A wicked man is not willing to feel and love and care but wants their own. But as for the upright, he establishes his way.
Verse 30, there is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord. Listen up, you can't get something over on God. Listen up, you cannot get one over on God. There's no wisdom, there's no understanding, there is no counsel in which you are possibly going to overthrow the king of the universe. You can't get one over on the Lord.
Verse three, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord. Do you know why in Deuteronomy chapter 17, the kings of Israel were forbidden from multiplying their horses and their chariots? Because if they trusted, if they had these great big armies full of chariots and horses, they would be tempted to trust that somehow their own strength saved them. Somehow the horses in their army saved them. Somehow if they had the biggest army that they would be saved.
But the horse was made for battle, but the battle belongs to the Lord. It is God who determines the outcome. It is God who determines at the end of the day who wins. The Lord is sovereign. And even in this life, as it seems like everything's going to pot in American culture, you can't get one over on the Lord. And though all the forces of hell might be bent against trying to defeat our King, the battle's been determined. Jesus Christ reigns.
Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we pray that we would follow after you and love you. We thank you that the battle does belong to you, and the battle has been won. We thank you for Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. May the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of 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.