"How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 1:22
If they only knew . . . this is the way that a lot of statements begin about those who reject Biblical truth and the Biblical world view. But this statement assumes that the only problem that is present is a lack of information - a lack of education. Yet today's proverb seems to present a different picture. There are those who even if educated would persist in their worldview and ignorance. Could it actually be that there is a deeper problem in the human race than a lack of education? Three descriptions are given here about how people view their world. The first is the person who is naive. According to what is written in this proverb, the naive ones actually love their naivete. They enjoy their simple-mindedness. The word used here is "pethi" which means to be naive. The picture that this paints for us though is of someone who is very open minded. In fact to them the greatest character trait that you can have is to be as open-minded as possible. The root for this word means to be wide open and spacious. It refers to someone whose mind is as wide open as can be - to everything - to every view that is out there. The only thing this person cannot tolerate is a view that is considered narrow in its focus. The naive person thinks that everyone would be able to get along - if we would all just accept each others views as equally valid. This is the case even when the views in question are diametrically opposed to each other. This is the post-modernist whose most valued idea is tolerance. They love their open-mindedness so much that they will pretty much gut the real truth of any position so that everyone can have their opinion, be right for themselves, and never a threat to each other. The writer asks, "How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?" The fact is that all views can't get along with each other. There has to eventually be a right and a wrong. There are some worldviews that are just flat out wrong. Look at Mao in China. To say that his view of communism, which was responsible for the murder of over 50 million people is ludicris! To say that Hitler's position is equally valid with that of Mother Theresa is insane. Yet the naive want everyone's view to be equally valid. They love their naivete so much that they will frontal lobotomize themselves when it comes to thinking to have every view just as valid. Europe took this view as Hitler rose to power - and each and every step along the way, Hitler took advantage of it to Blitzkrieg his way accross most of northern Europe. He wouldn't have been stopped except that at some point the naive ones realized that their open-mindedness could not fit him and his views of the world. The second group are the scoffers. These are the ones who scoff and mock at the things of God. They belittle them as subpar thinking and subpar reasoning. They don't know how to build up - just tear down. They love their own scoffing, delighting in it every step of the way. They see it as a great thing when someone denigrates Christ, the Bible, or the church in some way. But their scoffing becomes such a lifestyle that they can offer nothing positive in reply. They only become bitter, self-centered critics who have nothing to offer anyone - except a constant cry to destroy and level anything related to God. The third group are the fools. These are the spiritual dullards and dupes who don't want to be bothered by the facts. According to this passage they hate knowledge. This word speaks of knowledge, knwoing, learning, discernment, and insight. They do not want God's wisdom in their lives and will reject it when it is offered. Now here is the amazing thing about this passage. None of these three types can have their lack of wisdom repaired by education alone. Their problem is not a lack of information. It is that they don't want the information. They enjoy their simple-mindedness, their scoffing, and their foolish worldview. They need something more than just information and knowledge. They need a change in their heart as a result of a work of God's Spirit in their minds. How do I know this? Because of the very next verse in chapter 1. These three groups are encouraged to "turn to God's reproof. They will have to see their views as wrong, and be willing to turn from them to God's correction. They need the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon them where they will then be able to receive the words that are spoken to them. Their problem is a heart level problem - not just an education level one. They delight in their views - and reject anything that would threaten them. Until there is a heart change - there will be no embracing of any kind of educational outreach to them. This is actually the view of classic Christianity. The problem with mankind is not just one of proper education. We can educate someone for decades and unless there is a heart change wrought by the grace of God, they will continue to reject the truth. As Romans chapter one puts it, God's wrath is revealed against the unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. They want their sin. They want their foolishness. They want their unrighteous ways. No amount of education that leaves their hearts unregenerated will do them any good whatsoever. There must be repentance and a change initiated and completed by the work of God's Holy Spirit. If that does not happen - they will simply continue to reject the truth and embrace their unrighteousness - whether it is dressed up as naivete, scoffing, or foolishness. What we see here is that only the grace of God can take a man and change him from a fool into a wise man. Oh, that we would pray that God's grace would touch the hearts of men to convert them from darkness to light - and from the foolishness of this world to the wisdom of God.
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"Bad, bad," says the buyer, But when he goes his way, then he boasts.
Proverbs 20:14 There are proverbs which present the heart of man to us - so that we can know how to deal with men in a fallen world. This is one of those proverbs. The truth of this proverb needs to be grasped especially by those who are in the business world - and those who go forth to buy and sell in the marketplace. If we know this truth, we will be better armed to know the hearts of men - and to know how to bargain with them, as well as why they can be so stubborn and insistent on getting a price as low as possible. We have here what seems to be a contradiction in the one who is the buyer. At one point he is saying, "Bad, bad," about the merchandise that he is seeking to buy. Yet in the next moment, after making the purchase, he boasts about what he has received. This is deceit on the part of the buyer - yet he is engaging in the deceit to make sure that he can get the lowest price possible. Not that this is ethical at all - but it is far too often how men think they need to negotiate. A story is told by St. Augustine of a certain banker in his time who told an entire theater of men that he would show every man what was in his heart the next time they met. When the time came, the theater was full and all awaited with a breathless silence for his words. He stood up, and in a single sentence said, "You all wich to buy cheap, and sell dear." The crowd waited for an instant - then broke into applause for his statement, but everyone one of themt agreed that the same was in every one of their hearts. This reveals to us the very same thing that this proverb says today. We all wish to buy as cheap as possible, and then sell the same at the highest price we can get. Some might say that this is why the captialist system needs to be destroyed and replaced with another system that is based on equality. Yet there is a fundamental problem with any other system - especially socialism or communism. Who is going to guarantee this so-called equality? Is there one among us who is NOT tainted by sin? Is there anyone who can say that selfishness does not enter the equation? And can anyone deny that when systems are put into place where the government is supposed to provide true equity, that the very government that promises this fairness, eventually turns to be the greatest oppressor of the people in the end? Though this proverb may cause some to chafe at the thought of its inherent selfishness, we need to see that in a fallen world, no one is able to truly do business without an inherent self-interest. But when a system is put into place that allows the greatest freedom of choice by the people, then this inherent self-interest actually acts as a guard against any one person taking control of everything and acting in their own self-interest to the detriment of all. The wise man knows the heart of God - and in this case, he also knows the heart of men. John 3 says that Jesus knew what was in the heart of a man. That is why He did not gauge His success or failure on the momentary accolades of the crowds that surrounded Him. They cheered Him when He multiplied bread and fish, but then left Him in John 6 when He spoke hard truth to them. A wise man knows the hearts of men - and that is why in the arena of men governing men, he sets up safeguards. Our forefathers were wise in setting up a system of government where all three branches had checks and balances to ensure that none would become dominant over all. In the same way, it is wise for man to function under an economic system where his own selfishness is a check and balance on him in the marketplace. Men of bloodshed hate the blameless, But the upright are concerned for his life. Proverbs 29:10
In a sinful and fallen world there is something that provokes the wicked when they see a man of true integrity. Today's proverb tells us about "men of bloodshed," and how they hate men of integrity. Men of bloodshed are those who have shed the blood of humans - they are either very violent men - or most often men who have murdered. When we think of murderers though, we need to see them in two ways. There are those who have crossed the line of literally taking someone's life by murdering them. But there is a second type of which the Scriptures speak that encompasses far more people than one would think. In Matthew 5 Jesus said these words, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. (Matthew 5:21-22) This statement of Jesus shows us that pretty much everyone in the world is guilty of murder. If we've been angry with a brother or sister - called someone a derogatory name - we are guilty of murder before God. We are guilty enough to go into the fiery hell itself. This is where murder begins, in the mind. It is what God told Cain before he murdered Abel. God said to him, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7) Cain's murder of his brother Abel began as a thought - an angry, evil thought - which soon hatched into a heinous, murderous action. Sin always begins in the mind - and if we do not master it there - it will yield its wicked fruit in our actions. Murderous men hate men of character and godliness. The word hate here is the Hebrew word "sane" which means to hate, to consider another an enemy - to dislike, be hostile to, or to loathe another. It is the direct antonym of the Hebrew word "anab" which means to love. John wrote of this very incident between Cain and Abel. He said, "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:11-12) This passage in 1 John tells us exactly what our proverb today is trying to tell us. The murderer hates the godly man. It should be noted that the word "blameless" does not mean without sin. It speaks of a person of integrity who desires to live a godly, moral life according to God's Word and God's precepts. This world does not love such a man - and the more ungodly they are - the more they hate him. We see this growing every day in our society. Just look at how Christians are portrayed in our world today - especially in the media. The hatred of the media elite and the ungodly in positions of power there drips off our television and movie screens. It is difficult, unless you are watching a movie produced by a Christian, to find positive Christian characters. This is because when a man's deeds are evil - he hates the people who pursue righteousness. Just an aside . . . we see this proverb lived out daily in the moral and cultural battle that is raging in our own nation today. This is especially true when we see the actions and words of the radical homosexual movement. The more the homosexual movement gains ascendency in our laws and in the movie and television industry - the more you will see this hatred grow. The radical homosexual movement absolutely despises biblical Christianity because the Bible is clear that homosexuality is sin. That will pit them against us - if we choose to remain true to the Word of God and preach the true gospel. But, our place is not to hate the homosexual - or for that matter anyone who hates us because we hold to biblical truth and morality. Our place is to love them even if they hate us and do violence to us in their cause to legitimatize what God calls sin. Remember what this world system did to our Lord - the ultimate blameless man of absolute integrity. He Himself told us if they hated Him, they would hate us as well. But we are NEVER to turn to violence to defend ourselves from such attacks. We must remain true to the gospel and win them by the love of God - and by the grace of His eternal gospel. The remainder of our proverb today states that the upright are concerned for the lives of the moral and those who walk in integrity. The literal translation of this would say, "But the upright seek his soul." We stand with the godly man of integrity - because we see that life is more than just the 70 or so years we spend on this planet. There is an eternal soul in each man - and that is what we should be most concerned with in life. There will come a day when the wicked will be loosed in a way that we have not seen before in our nation. Regardless of our most recent elections, there is not a moral, godly ascendency going on in our nation. If there was, such moral issues such as abortion, homosexual and heterosexual immorality, decency, and the moral debauchery of our nation would be put on the front burner as the real problems we face as a nation. As it is - we continue to worship the dollar - and when it finally crashes to the ground, which it will, we will face a country that will rip itself apart because we lack basic morality. In that day it will be difficult to stand with the "blameless man" in our nation. In some ways it already is. Franklin Graham has taken several biblical stands for righteousness and he is more and more being ripped apart in the public square. We should stand with him and with other men who stand for biblical righteousness. Even if it becomes increasingly difficult to do so - we need to be concerned with the souls and lives of such men. For according to this proverb . . . that is wisdom. When a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, The foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. Proverbs 29:9
This proverb I've affectionately named the "Bill Maher proverb." That is because he, along with many other social liberals invite one Christian to sit on a panel with him and 2-3 other liberals. As the program unfolds, this proverb is lived out over and over again. If the Christian is wise at all, he will begin to present biblical truth, and at that point the controversy, the rage, and the mockery begin. The poor Christian is usually shouted down in the midst of making any points - and the end of the matter is that he or she looks like the fool - which was the purpose of the whole exercise anyway. After watching this three or four different times, I came to the conclusion that any Bible-believing Christian who went on this, or other programs like it, was as much of a fool as the other fools sitting on the panel. The nature of a foolish man is to mock the things of God. Therefore when a wise man begins to have a controversy or argument with a foolish man - he needs to know that reason or fair-minded debate will most likely not be involved in what is about to take place. This passage tells us that what will happen is that the foolish man will "rage" against the wise man. The word used for rage here is "ragaz" and it means to shake, tremble, be agitated, be disturbed, or be provoked. As soon as a fool hears the Word of God, he will come to the place where he will blow like a stick of dynamite. The fool recognizes no authority but his own. We read elsewhere in Proverbs that the fool only delights in airing his own opinions - and only respects his own thoughts. The idea of a God Who reveals to us absolute truth is an utter outrage to the fool. He is enraged at the thought of anyone claiming to have a truth that can stand in judgment over his ideas - as accurate and marvelous as they are. So when he hears a wise man (who is wise because he has learned to submit himself to what is revealed in Scripture) start to quote the Bible as an authority - BOOM! - he explodes in a rage against the wise man (yet actually he is enraged at God more than anyone else). The other response from the fool is to laugh at God's principles and God's Word. This is basically done by mocking God. Bill Maher did it by doing the movie, "Religuous." Others have done it a myriad of different ways over the years. Interestingly enough, most of them are dead and have the horrendous problem of explaining to God why they felt such liberty to mock Him and His Word - which is what Mr. Maher will face also if he does not come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Regardless of how they go about mocking God, they do, and in the end there is no peace. There isn't any because the fool is not about to have the wise man come away from the encounter or controversy looking good at all. A wise man recognizes when he is in a controversy with a fool. He recognizes it usually because the fool will not argue reasonably, but will quickly resort to mocking, name calling, and specious arguments. At that point the best thing a wise man can do is step away from the situation as quickly and as gracefully as he can. The encounter will not result in a peaceful resolution. Rage and mocking laughter will happen - but not peace. The best thing you can do for the foolish man is pray for him, love him, and not offer him the public platform to mock God. That is why the wise man will turn down the offer to appear on such programs - saving himself the breath, the time, and the humiliation that will come if he chooses unwisely to attend. He who leads the upright astray in an evil way Will himself fall into his own pit, But the blameless will inherit good. Proverbs 28:10
It is one thing when the wicked are evil in their own ways and in their own thoughts, but that is not the case with some. They are not content unless they lead others astray into a similar lifestyle. This trait is at its worst when the one who has an ungodly lifestyle desires to lead the upright into that same wicked lifestyle. Yet God makes it plain that such choices - such attitudes will have to pay in the end. The upright are thsoe who are desiring to walk straight - and this refers to someone who desires to do what is morally pure and right. Of course, since this is a biblical reference, we can assume that the moral course that is sought is that of the Scriptures. The wicked man spoken of here wants to lead this morally upstanding person astray. The word used here implies that someone has been deceived into their error. Thus they are now wandering and straying like lost sheep. They used to know the way of the Lord, but now they are straying like lost sheep having somehow been deceived to where they no longer look to the Scriptures for their moral rudder in life. The path they are trying to lead them in is the "evil way." Evil here is "ra" which is the term used for active evil - and it carries with it the idea of distress, misery, injury, and calamity. I find it fascinating, living in a city with a major university, how often godly students are turned by professors who hate Christianity. What I find amazing is that the attacks that are made are almost always made at their trust and belief in God's Word. I think of the passage in Hosea that warns that if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? A very good question this is for us today. This is the reason why I take the time to teach high school and junior high students classes on worldviews and philosophy. During those classes I play devil's advocate and let them see what they will face in college. I challenge their statements as one of the professors at the university would - and do so mercilessly for 5 or 10 minutes. Then I back up and help them grasp what the philosophical backdrop was to that attack. We work on understanding the false reasoning that was in the attack and also how to raise up the shield of faith by holding fast to a biblical worldview. It is not easy for these students, because the barrage of questions, as well as the ignorance of other students is hard to stand in the midst of in class. Too often they are ganged up on in the midst of the discussion - and the teachers will use their authority to make the students stop talking before they can make their point. That is why we cover these things as well in class. They need to know that Christianity is credible as a worldview - but also that Paul said that the cross was as stumbling block to Jews - and considered foolishness by the Greeks (the philosophical eggheads of that age). Our passage, though, has a warning to the wicked ones who try to lead the upright astray. They will fall into the pit that they are trying to dig for the upright. They think they will make the upright fall into a pit - that they will destroy their faith - but the one who will ultimately fall into the pit is the ungodly person who is trying to deceive. He thinks that the believer is deceived - but he is the one who is deceived. In the end, the very foolishness and philosophical ignorance of this man will damn him to the ultimate pit. I know that this sounds pretty harsh - but it is what the Scriptures say is the end of those who mock the things of God - who oppose God and His Word. Just a note at the end for our instruction is given. The blameless will inherit good. Blameless here is the Hebrew word "tamim" and it means something or someone who is complete and tested. The word was used of the sacrificial animals that had been examined and found to be without flaw. What a marvelous word this is for this context. Here is the truth we need to see here. The wicked will seek to lead the upright astray into an immoral path - but we need to hold fast to the truth - to the Word of God. We need to stand through every trial - and oppose every falsehood that we face. Every time they try to deceive and undermine the foundation of our faith - we need to lift high the banner of Christ - hold fast to the Word of our God - and watch every argument fall infinitely short of the truth upon which we stand. When we do this we will be the blameless, tested, tried one who will inherit good. Be ready, precious saints, for what you will face in the world. Christianity is not just a religious practice - something we can tack on to our lives like we would put up a poster in our rooms. It is a way of life - a philosophy - a worldview that is superior to all other worldviews. It is a relationship with the living God that we are granted through Jesus Christ. We need to view it as that - a life-changing way of viewing the world. We need to therefore make understanding and knowing God our first and most important priority. The reason so many supposedly lose their faith in college is because they never had one. They had their religion - they had their denominational status - they had their childhood habit of going to church with mommy and daddy. But . . . they never took Christ to themselves, repented of their sin - and entered into a life-altering relationship with God. They never received a love of the truth so as to be saved. As a result all they had was the trappings of Christianity - without a mind honed by the Word. Therefore when tried and tested - when faced with someone who forced them to defend their faith with truth - they had nothing with which to fight back. Assuming that Christianity had failed them - when all that had failed them was their false faith - they turned and fell into the pit of the wicked. Oh saints, know your God! Know your Bible! Know that the faith once and for all handed to the saints in the Scriptures has withstood every attack of man for some 2000 years. Stand fast upon it - and stand strong with Him. When you do you will be tested, tried, and approved - and according to this passage - due to inherit good. Scorners set a city aflame, But wise men turn away anger. Proverbs 29:8
As I sit here are write this day's "Little Bit of Wisdom," I am in a local bookstore in front of the political section. No place is really a better example of our proverb today that this section. Scorners in America are setting our nation aflame. Hopefully before our nation bursts into a conflagration of mutually hated political groups - racial groups - and economic groups, we will have wise men rise up who will turn away our anger and propose solutions for our nation - without all the incindiary rhetoric. The scorner is the one who is causing so much harm in this proverb. The Hebrew word used here is "lason" and it means a scoffer, a mocker and refers to someone who is foolish, arrogant, and who believes their own bragging talk. Elsewhere in the Scriptures this one is referred to as a babbler. Their lack of wisdom from God makes them think that they themselves are god. Thus they begin to consider themselves infallible on certain matters. Their lack of any Biblical wisdom also means that they have a worldview that is based out of a fallen, selfish, God-despising heart. They laugh and scoff at the 10 commandments - and think that life is far better without the Word of God clouding their minds and thinking. These men come up with philosophies that reject God, exalt man - and that in the end encourage sin and wickedness. Their scorning talk about God and how life should be - sets the city on fire. What is meant here is that they inflame the minds of the people against God and His ways. As history progresses we watch God rejected - and the world set on fire again and again with philosophies that bring destruction to mankind. Darwin's theory of orgins that rejects God seems innocent enough - but the philosophies that degenerated out of it have caused great destruction. Adolph Hitler took Darwin's theory seriously and came to believe that the Germanic people were the super-race. The logical conclusion of Darwinian origins was that survival of the fittest required the destruction of the weaker and less desirable elements of the world so that the next step of evolution could come unhindered. That kind of "inflamed thinking" led him and the leadership in Germany to systematically murder over 6 million people. In the African continent we've watched in horror as philosophies and the inflamed rhetoric of national and racist pride have led one tribe and ethnic group to practice an ethnic cleansing of another group which they hate. The ensuing slaughter that took place in the name of ethnic pride was nothing short of a nightmare. When men reject God and His Word - bad things happen. When the hiss of their viper-like philosophies begins to catch the world around them on fire - the end game makes for destruction on a scale that is hard to comprehend. Wise men know that such passions are rottenness in men's bones. Their desire is to be the sons of God who are peacemakers. They seek to turn away wrath - knowing that these passions when loosed are like pandora's box. They are difficult, if not impossible to recapture. All of Europe was set on fire by the twin philosophies of Nazism and Facism. The world has yet to see the full damage that has resulted from the godless political philosophy of Communism. Wise men will do all that they can to expose these false philosophies for what they are - the dangerous fires of scoffers who desire to set an entire city - if not an entire country aflame. There is an ultimate end to the scorner's tale. Their will be an eternal fire that will burn the adversaries of God. The ultimate scorner, Satan himself, has be behind the carnage that is produced by rejecting God and His Word. He started it all with the question, "Has God said?" in the garden - and has been asking that question to the sons of Adam ever since. All their wicked philosophies are simply the lie he uttered to Eve when he said, "You will not die!" He has sought to inflame minds to think that God is withholding something from them when He forbids sin. Countless billions have listened to his lies - and unfortunately they will be ultimately set afire for eternity in the lake of fire for their rebellion. But . . . a wise man will turn away wrath. Mankind deserves the wrath of God that will come for their rebellion. But the Lord God has provided a way of salvation in Jesus Christ. He has poured out wrath on His only begotten Son - having Him bear the wrath and punishment on the cross. He died, was buried, and resurrected on the third day - all according to God's wise plan to turn away wrath. Now, truly wise man take the good news of that truth - of that infinite mercy - and proclaim a provision of grace to rebels. These wise men - as they watch the Spirit of God convict men of their sin - show them Jesus Christ - and grant them repentance and faith - turn away wrath one person at a time. May God increase their number among mankind - and may the flames of the scorners be put out in the minds of those who are granted that His glorious grace that comes through Jesus Christ His Son. Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is good will. Proverbs 14:9
How a person views and deals with sin determines whether they are wise or they are foolish. Here we have Solomon teaching us the important lesson that how a man views the whole concept and reality of sin is vitally important. If we miss this - and decide how a person sees sin is not really important to us - we will find ourselves in the company of those who are fools. We will find ourselves allowing those who think sin does not even exist - be those who counsel us as to how we should have a sound mind. The fact that we are bypassing this issue - especially when it comes to our worldview - is wreaking havoc on the church. Let me explain for a moment, because this issue is absolutely vital to us today. How a man views sin will ultimately either bless or corrupt everything he does. Most philosophies actually reject the idea of sin. They see our problem as a lack of education - or a lack of opportunity for people. Some even see the problem as believing that there is truth upon which we define and state whether actions and choices are sinful or not. They reject the very idea of sin - and consider guilt as a root problem for all people. The way they deal with this is to make truth an issue of individuality. Your truth is your truth - and you are free to live however you want based on what you consider to be true. Thus, if your truth states that there is no sin - that guilt is a bad thing - then that is true for you. This denial of sin goes further because it asserts that no one has the right to call your truth falsehood. You can imagine the problems this makes for a society in which everyone is a free agent, determining what is right or wrong for themselves. Actually it is not much different from the book of Judges where there was no God and every man did what was right in his own eyes. In this kind of society rules are constantly shifting like blowing sand. The end of this is a state in which a growing ungodliness and lawlessness begins to take root. By the way - this eventually leads to a culture of corruption and violence that is out of control. The people begin calling for someone to rise up and restore order - which in turn gives rise to a dictator who then re-establishes "order" according to "his rules." If you would like to know when this has happened in history, take a look at the Weimar Republic - which gave rise to Hitler's Germany. It has also happened in numerous examples of dictatorships of every stripe. Mankind is best ruled by God's law established in their hearts by the work of His grace. But until men come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ - it is so necessary for a Law to be established because of the wickedness of man's fallen heart. Here we see why it is so important to define sin - and define it according to God's Word. If God has revealed Himself in the Bible, then we know how to define righteousness - truth - and what is and what is not sin. This becomes the bedrock of laws that are established in a nation. But the best thing - which our founders realized - is that men's hearts be ruled according to God's law. Our founders knew this - and thus were pinning their hopes on a heart initially ruled by God's 10 commandments. This set of God's laws would restrain so much sin and ungodly behavior - that then a society could be ruled by fewer laws. But where there is no law - there is no sin. Since our nation has rejected the 10 commandments as an illegal document by which to rule our nation, then we are left to the shifting sands of public opinion and man's evil heart to govern us. Is it any wonder that our laws continue to degrade - allowing just about any conduct to be considered legal - but not just legal - acceptable. In the end the Bible tells us where this will go - as men call good evil and evil good. Watch closely, dear saints, as more and more Biblical positions will be considered illegal by those who mock at sin. But there is even a greater evil that is foisted upon us by mocking at sin. When sin is mocked - when the whole idea of guilt is abandoned - then there is no real reason for a Savior. The second half of this proverb states that among the upright there is "good will." The word used here for "good will" means "the favor of God." When the concept of sin is rejected by the philosophies of this present world - then there is no need for any kind of redemption from it. If we are not guilty of anything before God, then it seems pretty arrogant of God to call for the death of His only Son to pay for . . . "nothing." Follow where your philosophy ultimately leads you. If you mock at and deny guilt and sin - and this is where it leads. That is why we have modern day preachers in the church calling the death of Christ, "divine child abuse." Without sin and guilt - there is actually no wrong behavior. But a corollary to this doctrine is that without wrong behavior - neither is there any real "upright" behavior either. All things become neutral - and the matter of individual hearts. You have no business in that society stating your view on anything. To do so is to risk the danger of being called "judgmental." The problem is that there IS WRONG BEHAVIOR! We all know it in our conscience. The only way to rid ourselves of this is to sear our conscience as with a hot iron. The fact is that there is sin - whether men mock it or not. There is a guilt that comes with breaking God's Law. That guilt and that offense is real - and it poses a serious problem. According to God's Word, sin and guilt require accountability and punishment. There is an earthly punishment meted out by men in the governmental sphere (Romans 13) - but the real problem is the divine retribution for rebellion and sin. The good will - i.e. grace - that the upright know is one given not by works, but by grace through faith. God has provided the way through Jesus Christ - His death, burial, and resurrection. That is given as a gift to those who respond when God grants knowledge and conviction of sin, repentance, and faith to the sinner through the gospel. When we look at the amazing thing God has done for us - and His infinite mercy in granting it to us - we have to come to the same conclusion that our proverb states to us today. Only a fool would disdain this grace . . . only a fool would disregard the wonderful work of God's conviction by the Spirit . . . and mock sin. By doing so, he also mocks the grace that is freely given to those made upright by it. He mocks the gospel. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth, and by understanding established the heavens. Proverbs 3:19.
Those who ascribe the establishment of the heavens and the earth by random processes as prescibed by the theory of evolution really do have a problem when it comes to the shear volume of evidence that says to us that there is an intelligent design in all of creation. Wisdom itself tells us that there has to be a great intelligence behind all that we see and know in creation. Anyone who has studied the human body would go beyond saying it was just intelligence to say that what we have in creation is nothing less than divine genius. Those of us who ascribe to the Lord God the foundation of the earth and the establishment of the heavens have no such problem. Solomon tells us in Proverbs 3 that it was God who by His wisdom founded the earth. The glorious intricate design of our world is no miraculous accident. God's wisdom is inscribed on every aspect of what he has made. There is such a wondrous design in what we see on the earth that it should amaze and astound us. Just looking at the human eye should adequately blow our minds. Let me share with you some of the astonishing information concerning the human eye. Oue eyes contain a self-adjusting aperture, an auto-focus system, and inner surfaces surrounded by a dark pigment so that there is a minimal amount of light that scatters. The sensitivity of these aspects of the eye allows it to adjust to 10 billion-fold changed in brightness that come to it every day - while its circuitry of nerves enables it to automatically adjust and enhance contrast in what is detects. The ability of the eye to analyze color is breathtaking. The eye can distinguish millions of shades of color while also allowing it to adjust to lighting conditions such as incandescent, fluorescent, as well as natural light that would require a photographer to change filters, films, and housings on his camera. The eye does this instantaneously. All this works together to produce a depth perception that is beyond the range of anything we can imagine designing. In spite of all the technology that we currently have, engineers are still unable to design a system that can calculate the exact force necessary for an athlete to shoot and make a basket, on the run, from 25 feet away, in a split second. Take a moment to consider the array of nerves, sensory cells, lens, muscles, and tissue in the eye. Light passes through our cornea to deal with issues of focus. The cornea is a living, one-cell thick tissue that requires food and oxygen. This is gets through tears that are produced by our tear glands. These tear glands not only feed and lubricate our eyes, but they also inject enzymes into our tears that kill bacteria in our eyes. As light passes through the iris - a lens further focuses the light, fine-tuning it as it passes through until it strikes the pigmented retina. This God-given aperture is so intricate that we can make a biometric scanner that can serve for identification purposes. Whereas our fingerprints only have 35 measurable characteristics, the iris has 266 of them. This makes the chance of any two people having matching irises statistically impossible. It is a one in 10 to the 78th power that this could happen. Then we come to the retina itself. It has 127 million photovoltaic receptors. Only 7 million of these are used to provide color awareness and fine detail. The information gained from these 127 million receptors is then converted from light to electricity and then transmitted to our brain's cortex along one million nerve fibers in our optic nerve. How sensitive is this retina? As little as one photon can trigger these cells. Since a flashlight can fire 10 to the 18th power photons per second, this means that the eye can see a solitary candle flame from as much as 30 miles away. A scientist, trying to describe what happens in our eyes used this illustration to help us understand the incredible things that are happening in our eyes every second of every day. If you were to thnk in terms of a camera that could shoot incredible amounts of pictures, it would require a camera to take 100 photos per second for every one of the one million fibers of the optic nerve. Each of these individual 100,000,000 photos would be represented mathmatically by 50,000 nonlinear differential equations that would have to be solved simultaneously. Taking into consideration two eyes and only allowing five synaptic connections to other nerves from the retina to the cortex of the brain - it would require a 1983 Cray supercomputer a hundred years to process the information that our eyes can transmit every one hundredth of a second. What is even more amazing that all this is the fact that men posing as serious scientists expect us to believe that chance alone produced such a precision instrument with its interdependent parts. Remember in saying this that a retina would be useless without a lens and a lens without a retina. Even Charles Darwin himself said this about the human eye when he considered the possibility of it evolving from a single cell. "To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, culd have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree." Mr. Darwin, we agree with you 100% that when looking at just the human eye we also find your theory absurd as well. What is even more mind-blowing to me while writing this is that we've only examined the human eye. It declares the glory of God - just as the Bible tells us the heavens do. It was by understanding that God established them - and when trying to consider both their vastness and intricacy we would once again ourselves lost in wonder, amazement, and awe. But then again - that is exactly what wisdom desires for us to do. Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. Proverbs 2:9
How do you know when you are doing the right thing or going in the right direction in life? Here is a question that everyone would love to be able to answer. The fact is that God says that we can know this. The way that we know it though is definitely outside of the mainstream of ideas that exist today. Let's take a look today at how we can know whether we are on course or not. Solomon tells us here that there is a time when we will be able to discern some very important things. The first in his fourfold list is righteousness. Before we jump into those four things, we should see that discernment is involved. The word discern means that we are able to look at things and distinguish between them. We see differences between two or more things - and use that knowledge to understand them from God's vantage point. Here is our first very important lesson - things differ - and you can tell the difference. Most would agree with you on this truth - until you begin stating what you can distinguish between. The last thing we should address before we go into our list is that Solomon is stating what he does in verse 9 as a conclusion to all he has said before. What is it that allows us to have this discernment? It is the Word of God. All through this chapter he is calling for us to receive the Word, store up the Word in our hearts, cry out for God's work in teaching it to us, and to seek for the Word as one would buried treasure. The discernment of which we speak here is a discernment that comes only because of the way the Word works in our hearts. As I said earlier, the first in his fourold list if righteousness. We will be able to discern when something is right or not. Now is the moment when the postmodern among us throw up their red flags. They assert someone might know right and wrong for themselves - but consider it the height of arrogance to think or state that anyone might be able to discern right and wrong for everyone. But that is exactly what Proverbs asserts here - and more by the time we finish with the four things Solomon says can be discerned. The second in our list of four is justice. Our society cries out for justice - but unfortunately the justice they want ignores the Word of God. It ignores what God calls just in many cases - and completely ignores the problem of how we can be just before Him. Whereas the world cries for social justice - God offers absolute justice. These are not always opposed to one another - but - God ultimately wants us to be able to stand before Him just and righteous - and that requires the person and the work of Jesus Christ to happen. The third thing we will be able to discern is equity. Here, my friends is a loaded word. "Meysar" is the word the Hebrews used to describe equity. It means rightness, correctness, and fairness. The word meant something smooth and level. Communism is man's way of trying to make everything equitable. Pure communism takes from everyone and then redistributes it so everyone gets an equal share. It does not take into account work ethic or whether someone has truly earned their share with hard work. And since pure communism would require pure hearts to work - we see that in practical communism - the ruling class takes and redistributes so everyone is equally as poor - while they live in the lap of luxury and take care of those who most honor and support their rule. When God speaks of equity He is speaking of how a state should judge fairly and honorably. He is speaking of how His promises are available to all. To "discern" equity we need to see things as God does - for fairness and correctness begins with what is fair and right in God's eyes. When we bring God into this equation - we have serious trouble for mankind. Man is sinful and rebellious - and what is fair for him is God's wrath and judgment. What we should find amazing about God's equity is that He chose to pay the price of equity for us - and instead of giving us what is fair, He gave us grace instead. Finally, through the Word, we can discern every good course. We will know the right ways to walk - and God will indicate to us wrongs ones as well. This right and wrong will correspond to what He says in His Word. Thus we have the ultimate aggravation to the modernist. We assert that through God's Word we have an "absolute standard" upon which all things in life is to be measured. If actions and choices and lifestyles do not measure up to what God calls good, right, just, and equitable - they are wrong. And thus begins the clash of worldviews. True Judaism and Christianity will always find themselves at odds with the rest of the worldviews that come from men. They end up at odds because they have the audacity of claiming that God's Word is a revelation of THE truth. For those who reject this claim - the world is a mish-mash of conflicting morals and ideas. We all get along by ultimately stating that both everything is right, as well as everything is wrong. It might be right for us while at the same time being wrong for others. The resulting public moral quicksand creates a world in which all things are to be tolerated except the arrogance of Judaism and Christianity who assert that their worldview is absolute. That view - that view that states that there is absolute truth and it is found in God's Word - is the one that absolutely cannot be tolerated. Too bad though - because it is the only worldview that creates the stability of actually knowing whether the path you are taking will ultimately lead to blessing or destruction. Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know! Proverbs 30:4
Wisdom has as its core quest God Himself. A wise man will look at the glory of the heavens and the earth and realize that such order and such majesty is not just the work of random forces. Thus he will see the order - see the creation and immediately realize that there is a Creator. We will try to look at each of these questions and see the wisdom in asking these things. (Due to the sheer grandeur of the questions themselves - we will only answer one each post on this verse - therefore there will be multiple posts on verse 4 in this blog). Question #1 - "Who has ascended into heaven and descended?" What is fascinating is that God asked questions very similar to this to Job when Job decided that God was unjust - and that Job needed for God to explain Himself in Job's suffering. The Word of God answers this first question - which assumes that there is a God. There is also an assumption that the one who has ascended into heaven itself and descended would be an authority on these matters. Humans are a horrible choice when it comes to the matter of the origin of the earth and all its processes (like wind, clouds and rain, creation, and the identity of God Himself who made all these things). Here we have our first problem with philosophers in our world. They want to know why and how we can just assume that there is a God. They make no such assumption - demanding proof that there is a God or gods before they continue. The argument here is honestly pretty simple. For there to be a creation - for there to be something - there has to be a creator - there has to be someone who made it. When we see a painting we do not doubt there was a painter. When we see a building we do not doubt there was a builder. When we see a book we do not doubt there was an author. Why then when we see creation do we doubt a creator? To argue that there is no God - and that creation was never created - it just happened - is to argue that nothing plus no one equals everything. It is also to argue that if random processes just happened to bring about everything around us - that there is absolutely no reason to exist - and that it is the height of foolishness to even ask if there is meaning in anything around us. The worldview that demands that God prove Himself beyond the fact that there is a creation of His making, is to descend into Nihlism. That is the only "honest" conclusion that can be reached if there was no intelligent being behind the design in our universe. If everything came about by chance - it still exists by chance - and since there is no reason to random chance - there is no reason to our lives and no reason for which we exist. The wise man, as said earlier, knows to ask these questions. His assumption is that God is able to ascend and descend the heavens at will. If God is able to make all that we see - and even beyond that - going up into heaven and coming down from there is not difficult. If there is such care and such glorious design in all that there is - He must be a God of detail and beauty. No one has seen God at any time. The Word itself tells us that if a man were to see God he would not live. Thus, the question also asked here is who has the revelation of God. Who has ascended before Him - and who hase descended to earth again. Here we have the answer - it was Jesus Christ - He is the One who has given us the perfect revelation of God through His life, death, burial, and rsurrection. There is only one who has done this - and it is the Lord Jesus Christ. He has ascended and descended! He has brought us revelation of God - but has also brought us far more! He has brought us salvation and a payment for our sins. Wisdom drives us to know Who God is. And true wisdom is in knowing that God has revealed Himself and shown us Who He is. We find in Scripture that this is answered on our behalf. Jesus Christ is the One who has ascended into heaven - and descended from it. Know Him and we will know wisdom. Know Him and we will know all that we truly need to know in this life and in this world. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
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