Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for his Word and ask him to teach, care for, and comfort us as we read.
Read
Scripture Passage
9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law,
Even his prayer is an abomination.
10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way,
He himself will fall into his own pit;
But the blameless will inherit good.
11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes,
But the poor who has understanding searches him out.
12 When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory;
But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.
13 He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.
14 Happy is the man who is always reverent,
But he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
15 Like a roaring lion and a charging bear
Is a wicked ruler over poor people.
16 A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor,
But he who hates covetousness will prolong his days.
17 A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit;
Let no one help him.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 28:9-17
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
These proverbs warn against rejecting God's law, concealing sin, hardening the heart, oppressive rule, and bloodshed, while commending confession, reverence, blamelessness, mercy, and righteousness.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Proverbs 28:13
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
he who covers his own sin will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy
No explicit Best Verse selection appears. Verse 13 is distilled because Bryan directly presses its promise of mercy through honest confession and forsaking of sin.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Hear God's Word, confess and forsake sin, refuse a hard heart, love righteousness, and rest in Christ as the merciful King and only hope for guilty people.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
make sure everybody's online over here we're not quite ready yet but we're getting there there we go all right we are just about there okay well good evening good evening good evening 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'll make it through all the wisdom literature when we go ahead and have some tea or coffee or whatever you might happen to have around you we'll have that we'll pray and we'll get into god's word let's pray well father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for your word and god i pray that as we read your word tonight that you might teach us please care for us please comfort our hearts in jesus name amen all right proverbs chapter 28 just to make sure i got my verses right oh glad i checked verses 9 through 17. here we go one who turns away his ear from hearing the law even his prayer is an abomination that's quite a statement to make isn't it but yet this is what the lord is trying to tell us is that if you turn your ear away from god's law god's not going to hear from you if you're not willing to listen to god's word it says if god will shut up his ears toward you this is one of these very difficult things this is not saying that we earn god's favor by keeping his law but yet lawless ones show that they have no place in god those who are walking continually in sin unrepentant no desire for change someone who when they hear god's word says i don't care i don't want to hear it they don't have the spirit of the lord in them and without the spirit of the lord in us and without jesus christ mediating for us praying for us to the father he's not going to hear us and so unless we're looking to jesus christ seeking to conform to him that's how the father hears us by his grace let's go ahead and go to verse 10. whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way he himself will fall into his own pit but the blameless will inherit good it's shameful for people to purposely try to trip up and trap those who love the lord and are seeking to follow after their after god's own ways and the lord is saying here it's going to come back to them don't worry about it it's going to come back on them verse 11 the rich man is wise in his own eyes but the poor who has understanding searches him out it's better to be poor and to have understanding than to be rich and bull-headed just thinking you know the best you know everything to do who knows how you got your wealth god might have just given it to you as a snare for your soul but the poor man has to be careful has to walk circumspectly he has to know how to walk and and it has a certain amount of street wise that should be respected verse 12 when the righteous rejoice there is great glory but when the wicked arise men hide themselves it's reality that when the righteous are in power when we have those who are in who are upright in heart those who are following after the lord people rejoice but when there's wicked people in power the opposite happens people are afraid let's go ahead and go to verse 13. he who covers his own sin will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy let me ask you are you quick to confess your sin are you are you one who is has a hard heart and is filled with pride and thinks that you can never do anything wrong i'm telling you there's a man that i don't know why but he's mad at me right now and i hope i can figure out why i'd like to repent of sin if i if i need to repent of sin are you quick to truly embrace what first john chapter 1 says that if we confess our sins he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of our trespasses are you quick to confess your sins or do you act like you don't have any sin like there's no skeleton in your closet like you always treat everyone right all the time and you measure up the god standard of righteousness if that's you you deceive yourself and you make god a liar for none of us are without sin but we find mercy when we confess our sins verse 14 happy is the man who is always reverent but he who hardens his heart will fall into calamity again do not harden your heart maybe it's tonight maybe it is this moment right now that the holy spirit is breaking your heart of stone and he wants you to be blessed he wants you to be happy are you are you fighting against him and i'm saying this humanly speaking but will you bow before him will you say god you truly are holy holy holy the righteous one my only hope or will you harden your heart and only find punishment verse 15 like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over poor people a roaring lion or a charging bear someone who strikes fear who ruled by loud domination and by massive size like a roaring lion and a charging bear that's how the wicked are to rule over the poor people they have to use fear they have to use intimidation rather than love verse 16 a ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor but he who hates covetousness will prolong his days none of us like a politician that lines their pockets none of us like the people in the government who like to make themselves rich but we want wise rulers rulers that care for the people well thank the lord that we have jesus christ the king of kings and the lord of lords who does rule well who he is the lion of the tribe of judah but he is also the lamb who is slain he is the one who roars at the wicked and cares for his sheep lastly verse 17 a man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit let no one help him we're just gonna in there tonight uh it's a difficult passage to end on um the murder the murderer runs falls into his own pit that pit might not be in this life he might escape judgment today but let no one help him the reality is if if we know that a person is a murderer one who has purposely slain with his hands has purposely killed someone not out of self-defense not out of any righteous reason not no just with anger and hatred in his heart this passage is saying don't help him there's there is a judgment to be meted out but jesus drives this proverb home and he says if you've ever hated someone in your heart if you've ever hated someone you've already committed murder in your heart and yet god showed mercy to you and to me he is the one who cares for us he's the only hope we have let's pray oh father we do confess our sins to you lord please cleanse us of our guilt lord let us walk not in lawlessness but father we pray that we would walk before you we pray that you would teach us to love righteousness and we pray that knowing that we who are poor and needy and hungering and thirsting for righteousness you will fill god please watch over us tonight give us a good night sleep in jesus name amen well may the lord bless you tonight may you walk in the peace that only comes from resting in jesus christ may have a great night's sleep i'll see you tomorrow morning bye