Calvary Chapel of Jonesboro
 
I was due to offer peace offerings; Today I have paid my vows. Therefore I have come out to meet you, To seek your presence earnestly, and I have found you. Proverbs 7:14-15

We are continuing in this verse with the entiement and thinking of the harlot, the adulteress, as she seeks to lure a young man into her trap of sexual immorality.  This verse is fascinating because it reveals that the adulteress has a religious side to her as well.  Her comment to her prey is truly interesting because it speaks of someone who has gone and done their religious duty.  Let's take a look at it today and seek to gain wisdom and reject stupidity as a result.

Her statement is that her peace offerings are with her.  The idea here is not that she has yet to offer them, but rather that her spiritual condition is one who is at peace with God - someone who has already offered this sacrifice to the Lord - and who, as a result, has some kind of stored up religious earnings.  She thinks that she has religious credit on deposit - and therefore she can withdraw it in her current actions.  This is the mindset of penance rather than repentance.  Penance assumes that we can pay for our sins with some kind of religious ritual - and too often is seen as a payment up to date - with the result being that we can sin some more later.  Repentance is a change of mind granted by God - with the result that by grace alone our sin is forgiven.  Along with repentance is both restortation and regeneration so that we are truly changed.  The one who has engaged in repentance IS changed by God - whereas the one doing penance is engaged in a works mentality where they have earned something from God.

The adulteress here is stating that she is paid up - and has somehow earned the right to now engage in further sin.  Having done her religious work - her religious duty - she is now free to live as she pleases.  This is the danger of works-minded religion - it deceives the one practicing it into thinking that after they have sinned, they can just work some more - work a little harder - and all will be well.  There is no transformation involved - just another IOU paid in full to God as they continue in their self-made menagerie of religous ritual.

Today she has paid her vows . . . what vows?  Evidently there is a supposed promise of reformation - but there is no action toward it coming any time soon.  The next verse is so telling because in it she says, "Therefore I have come out to meet you, to seek your presence earnestly."  Her comment is that having done her religious duty, having made worthless and empty vows, now she is free to engage in her sexual escapades.  Her religion is merely a facade to further deceive whatever willing dupe is in her sites.  She's ready to roll - now that she has played her religious game for the week - or the day - or however she works to maintain the illusion of being right with God.  What a convenient religion this is. 

The danger here is that we will be drawn into an illicit relationship thinking that we are having adultery with a good person - a religious person.  The reality is that we are walking over the pit that has been covered with leaves by the one hunting us.  If we buy the lie and step over the hole, we will quickly find that what we've actually stepped upon is a trap.  The lie was there to lure us into a false sense of safety.  The reality is that we are now caught - and in grave danger.

Just one last parting comment though - because this particular practice is even among those of us who are evangelicals.  We need to be extremely careful that we are engaging in repentance before God and not just a protestant form of penance.  When we come to confess our sins - we don't need to stop there.  Too many (myself included unfortunately) just confess their sins - but do not go into the second part of 1 John 1:9.  We are all about confessing a sin that makes us feel bad, feel guilty, feel caught - but are we truly interested in God's change in our hearts?  The second half of that verse says that we also ask to be "cleansed from all unrighteousness."  Here is the forgotten part.  We need God to not only forgive - but cleanse us of the mindset and choices that led to that sin in the first place.  We need to say to God, "Get rid of every 'unright' behavior, choice, thought, reasoning, and activity."  There is where we can camp out for a while and have the Lord do a thorough heart searching in us.  There is where we can be protected from the very sin these two verses reveal to us.  We can move from penance to repentance - and in so doing - from merely salving our conscience for a few moments to true change. 
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Who can say, "I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin"? Proverbs 20:9

Wisdom manifests itself by realizing that man is sinful.  That premise is rejected in most of today's society - especially among the elites who rule over the educational establishment and the world of counselling and psychiatry.  The fact that they reject that man is by nature a sinner and is selfish and self-centered - dooms much of their efforts to educate and to help people deal with problems in their lives.  Now there is a very bold statement - but also very true.  One of the problems with modern Christianity is that we no longer feel the need in our postmodern society to have our worldview based upon the clear teaching of the Scriptures.  One of the places that this is seen the clearest is in the area of the sinfulness of man and the ramifications of it in government, in education, in counselling, and in how we deal with people in our world.

The proverb here asks the simple question, "Who can say, 'I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin?'"  There are several assertions that are made here.  First is that of the ability to cleanse ourselves from our sin.  "I have cleansed my heart."  This is the belief that by our own works we can change our own hearts.  Unless we begin with the sinful, selfish natural tendencies of mankind, we will think that by our education and by our laws and codes, we can change a man's heart.  Such an assertion is the height of foolishness.  We cannot cleanse our own hearts from our sinfulness.  But an educational system based upon humanistic assertions will think that we can change our hearts by being better educated.  But honestly, that only provides for smarter sinners.  The issues of the human heart will only be solved by the gospel of Jesus Christ whereby a heart can be redeemed and men can be regenerated. 

The second question is whether a man can say he is pure from his sin.  Religious around the globe seek to do this through a myriad of different plans.  Some want to try to mortify their own evil desires - while others try to abolish the concept of evil and sin altogether.  Purifying ourselves assumes impurity though - and thus religious efforts to do this may involve confession and absolution of some kind.  Roman Catholicism tries to answer this question through their system of confession and penance which involves admitting your sin to a confessor/priest - who after offering forgiveness - then commands penance in the form of some kind of religious activity like saying a religious phrase like the Hail Mary or Rosary - or doing a good work of some kind to earn that forgiveness.  In the end, whether it is through this system - or through a Hindu or Islamic system of obtaining forgiveness - it all boils down to a works mentality.  We can earn our forgiveness through doing something for God. 

Christianity paints a much different picture of the process of forgiveness.  Any kind of law is given to restrict sin - but more importantly to show us how impossible it is to obey it - because we are rebellious sinners.  The very fact that we cannot be made righteous or pure by the law - sends us running into the arms of Christ.  We learn that it is only through what He did in his death, burial, and resurrection that we can be made pure in God's sight.  He paid the price for our sin - and now offers to us His own righteousness - so that we can stand before God.  The answer to these two questions is given by the gospel.  First of all - none of us can say that we have cleansed our own hearts.  The only cleansing that will matter is the one given when we receive it by faith.  That cleansing comes when we look to Jesus Christ - and admit that only He can purify our hearts and change them to be godly.  The second question is answered as well by the gospel.  No one can say, "I am pure from my sin," without that purity coming as a gift from God as He makes us righteous with the righteousness and purity of His Son. 

Wisdom rejects a man-centered, works-centered salvation.  Only a fool would think that man can solve his own problems with God - without a direct interventioin by God Himself.  Any education or counselling or governmental system that is based upon that wrong assertion will fail and be crushed under the weight of man's sinfulness.  Without checks and balances designed to expose and correct the selfish and self-centered tendencies of the human heart, sin will run rampant in a society that hides its eyes and pretendes it does not exist.  In such a world sin will be redefined again and again to cover-up the real problem - which is a wicked and sinful heart in men.  In answer to the question posed by the writer of Proverbs, "No one can say that he has cleansed his own heart, or say that he is pure from his sin."  That only happens by the grace and mercy of God as He works in us by the gospel of Jesus Christ.  As Jesus said Himself, "No one comes to the Father, except through Me."
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A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding Than a hundred blows into a fool. Proverbs 17:10

God gave me a wonderful man who has a heart after Him to be my mentor.  His name is John Dale Rector.  John Dale spent 3 years of his life teaching and training me in the things of the Lord.  He taught by precept and by example.  He also had his hands full as I was a proverbial bull in a china shop with my zeal that lacked wisdom.  Thus John Dale had to spend more than his fair share of time rebuking me for my excesses.  Thus he taught me a very important verse of Scripture and had me memorize it early in my walk with the Lord.  The verse says, "Let a righteous man strike me, it is a kindness."  That particular verse has a lot to do with what today's proverb has to teach us.

I am an advocate for both verbal and corporal punishment.  There is a time for rendering blows to fools.  One of those times in during childhood where the responsibility of the parent is to train up a child in the way he should go.  It is a time where through loving discipline (which includes spanking) a parent seeks to teach a child what he should and should not do.  The parent is not trying to dominate the child or to crush his spirit.  The parent IS seeking to help a child grasp what is acceptable and unacceptable to God and to society.  But the end of that corporal punishment is to train a child to be a young man or woman who knows two things.  First he or she knows how to accept rebuke from the Spirit of God.  This happens as he or she is walking through life and about to make un ungodly or unwise decision.  The Spirit of God then rises up within to remind of Scripture, to offer correction and guidance with the Word.  Some times the Spirit just activates our conscience and we are smitten with a bad sense or feeling - or we just know that what we are about to do, or have done, is wrong.  What we desire to do with our children (and in training disciples in the church) is to have them be responsive to that rebuke - to that warning from within.

The second way that a parent and discipler wants to train up their charge is to have them be responsive to people who come to them with a word of rebuke.  It would be wonderful if everyone who offered such rebuke were being constructive with it - but we all know that is a perfect world and not the real one.  The truth is that even non-constructive criticism can be beneficial to us.  Therefore we want to be open to all rebuke.  The wise thing is to receive the rebuke and be thankful for it.  Then take it to the Lord and ask Him to confirm what is in agreement with what He is doing through the Word of God.  Then take what God affirms and use it to grow into all the fullness of Jesus Christ in our character and actions.  This is how to allow rebuke to go deep within us - rather than just bounce off of us as we reject it outright. 

The Scripture tells us that in order for this to happen, we have to be one who has "understanding."  This is the ability to discern and perceive truth from error - right from wrong - God from the flesh and the world - the work of the Holy Spirit from the work of the devil.  We discern an pay attention to what God saying to us.  Because of this we truly understand the will of God - and grow wiser because we have learned to see things from His perspective. 

The proverb tells us that this ability to receive rebuke and understanding from goes deeper into us than a hundred blows into a fool.  An interesting thing is that God instructed not to give corporal punishment beyond 39 blows at any time.  There is the penalty of imprisonment and even the death penalty that is applied by the state to crimes against society.  But God knows that a hundred blows as opposed to 39 would not bring wisdom and understanding into a fool.  There is a point where no amount of corporal punishment is effective.  The fool rejects all of it - verbal rebuke as well as any kind of physical punishment.  Thus we know that all that is left to us is intercessory prayer that God will ultimately break the fool and open his heart to begin to understand. 

When I read this proverb, I am thankful to those whom God uses to offer rebuke into my life.  Let me be perfectly honest that often it is hard to receive the rebuke - and yes, it hurts.  But those who wound us can be healers.  Remember that when a surgeon does his work he has to injure us before he can take out the cancer that will kill us.  We consider the incision made by his knife a good thing - because it is ultimately working healing into our lives.  Remember that the next time you receive some verbal surgery through a brother or sister in Christ who loves you.  Those words will bring blessing into your life if you receive them and allow God to work through them.  If it is hard to remember that - just remember this instead.  I'd rather have some verbal surgery - than a hundred blows on my back!
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The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way, But the foolishness of fools is deceit. Proverbs 14:8

Are you more concerned about your own actions or the actions of others?  Today's proverb offers us some pretty heady stuff about the way a wise man thinks about things in life.  There is great wisdom for us today if we will open ourselves to what God has to say to us.

Here we read that the sensible man has wisdom.  To be sensible is to be shrewd and prudent.   So a prudent man has wisdom to offer to us today.  That wisdom is this, to understand one's own way.  It is wise to be able to understand ourselves.  This word, "understand" means to discern and perceive.  The one who understands himself pays attention to what he himself does.  He watches himself far more than he does others.  This is not a selfish thing - but rather a desire to grasp why one does the things they do.  This man takes a close look at where his actions and attitudes lead him.  He looks at his own way - but only so that he can understand where he has gotten himself.  He then uses this information for the purpose of change and growth.  He studies himself to gain wisdom on how an attitude change - a change in actions - a change in how he speaks - can help him to be a better person.  In the context of the Bible - he also does this so he can walk with God more closely and honor Him better in all that he does.  He examines himself, considers himself, and after doing this he considers what is right - what is his duty and his responsibility - and then he goes about doing it regardless of what others say or do.

This wise man wants to know his own way because he fully grasps that he is the only one he can change.  He is not quick to blame others and fault others for his problems.  He takes responsibility for himself.  This is one of the best ways to improve your mental health.  If you are forever blaming everyone else for your problems, you will rarely change - and - you will be filled with bitterness and unforgiveness.  You will view yourself as a perennial victim of others.  The sum total of who you are will only be what others have done to you.  You will think that your own actions don't matter - or have real consequences because you see all your problems as someone else's fault.  Oh, and by the way, you will also be a fool who lacks any real wisdom.

The foolishness of fools is deceit.  This is the second half of this proverb.  The fool is focused on deceit.  Simply put, the fool lies.  He lies to others.  He does not want to understand his own way - because he is too busy making up what he would like his own way to be.  He seeks to manipulate others - not himself.  He uses lies and deceit to dupe others into believing he really is not responsible for his own actions.  When caught in a lie - he will use another lie to get out of his difficult circumstances.  Most of all, he lies to himself.  Every bad thing that happens is someone else's fault.  Every problem is due to someone else.  His shortcomings are the fault of others who did not do enough to equip and train him properly.  He will never change because he honestly does not see the need for it in his own conduct.  If others had only done their part, his actions or words or laziness or inactivity would not have mattered.  In the end, though, people grow tired of his blame game.  Figuring he is either not worth dealing with - or - incapable of being honest with himself - they turn away from him. 

Two men are pictured here.  One sees no fault in himself and turns to deceit to deal with his problems.  The other man is prudent - he turns to look closely at himself.  As he looks he seeks to understand how his own actions, attitudes, and words affect what happens to him.  One man will fail while the other succeeds.  One man will forever be blaming others while the other will receive encouragement to change.  One will walk the way of fools while the other will live a life of godly wisdom.
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21 My son, fear the Lord and the king; Do not associate with those who are given to change, 22 For their calamity will rise suddenly, And who knows the ruin that comes from both of them? Proverbs 24:21-22

Change!  We need change!  There is the byword of our society lately.  Yet, there are some things that do not change, and should not be subject to quick changes.  What is fascinating to me is the two areas where this is mentioned. 

Fear the Lord - that I can understand.  At least in the context of change.  Those who think that they can do better with God - who think that they know better than His Word are not wise people.  An example are those who think that God should change His views on morals to parallel those of a changing society.  They are given to change, and do so every time the society decides to loosen their morals beyond what is written in the Word.  As it says in verse 22 - their calamity is going to come - it will rise suddenly.  And the ruin that comes from such "change" is massive.  With God's Word that is easy to see.  But that is not where this passage stops. 

Fear the king . . . that is the second part of this statement made by the wise man.  Government?  We should fear the government?  That is what God's Word tells us.  But we need to remember what kind of government they had.  Their king was to spend time writing out a personal copy of God's Word so that he would be careful not to overstep what it said.  But before we make this statement only apply to a biblical theocracy, we need to remember that Paul urged first century Christians to submit to the government of Rome - or to any under which they lived.  We are to pray for those in authority so that we can live peaceful lives in all godliness. 

Stability in government is actually a good thing.  As long as we can live within it for Christ - we should be grateful for whatever form of government we have.  The people describes as the ones given to change are those who are desirous of changing the government - which in that day meant an overthrow or a revolution.  Hang around with these people long enough - and both you and they will find yourselves at odds with the king. 

An interesting historical parallel to this is the French Revolution.  There were those who were given to change - and who decided to overthrow the monarchy.  These revolutionaries soon decided to overthrow one another.  Before long - blood ran in the streets as one faction turned on another.  The end of all this was the dictatorship of Napoleon and the wars that ensued.  France was in shambles due to it all.  Associating with those "given to change" led to many being beheaded . . . yep, sounds like calamity to me. 

The best thing is to fear God - and fear the ones in government to whom He has placed the sword of its power.  Romans tells us as much.  Historically, being a Christian has rarely meant working for government change.  I know in the United States such statements are foreign to us, but biblically the focus of God's people has been building a kingdom that cannot be seen - one that will last forever.  So, follow the counsel of Scripture . . . fear God and the king.  Work in your life to live under both - but ultimately with a view to standing before the Lord, Who ultimately is the One Who governs our lives. 

 
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