Proverbs 19 - Wise Words

The Lord said to Solomon, in the book of 1 Kings, chapter 3, “Ask, and I will give you.” Because his desire was for what would most glorify God, and allow him to best serve God, his request was granted, and he was given wealth and power as well. Although we are not guaranteed wealth or power based on our obedience to God, praying that He will give us wisdom, that we may know Him in truth and be more faithful to His will, should be something we do regularly. And since the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10 and Proverbs 9:10), an understanding of the truth of God’s holiness, glory, majesty and justice will go a long way in encouraging us toward a proper and wise fear of God.

It can be difficult to find a long enough passage in Proverbs for an open-air reading, so I have chosen to focus on a handful of verses in Proverbs 19 to focus on this week. We will be reading the entire passage, but jumping to specific verses for our gospel presentation. I’m praying we can encourage listeners to focus on true knowledge, rather than only following personal desires to a convenient conclusion, and to count the cost. Will they strive to succeed at things that don’t matter in the end, or will they strive toward the wisdom of God and His glory? I hope this outline will be a blessing.

For the praise of His glory,

Dan

READ Proverbs 19

The Bible is a book containing many types of literature.

It contains history, prophecy, poetry, and wisdom literature, all of it the truth of God

The wisdom statements in Proverbs were written by Solomon, one of the greatest kings of ancient Israel. Solomon asked God to make him wise, so he could rule God’s people well, and God answered his prayer.

This is the kind of wisdom we should be striving for, the kind you should be striving for.

In our day we have a glut of available information, but very little of it is truly useful, and even less seems to lead us toward real truth or wisdom.

But, as the Bible says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

While new information and new theories are coming to light every day, real truth never changes. It is that kind of unchanging truth that the Bible claims to contain. Proverbs says:
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord
that will stand

Only the truth of God will stand for all time, without a Biblical, Godly understanding of who you are, where you come from, and why you are here, all other information is meaningless.

I would encourage you to ponder these Proverbs, and my words, with a discerning mind, to see whether they are true. Proverbs 19 tells us:
Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of
knowledge.

Listen to advise and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future

Though all the sayings of this chapter are valuable, I would encourage you to focus on these:
Whoever gets sense loves his soul; he who keeps understanding will discover
good.

Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet
misses his way

Do you love your soul? Do you care about what happens when you die? Of course you do. Any sane person would. All of us want to go someplace better when we die.

But if we decide what to believe only based on our desires rather than on the truth of reality, we will lose our way.

God’s word says that our destination in eternity is dependent on our standing before God. We are destined to die once, and after that to face Judgment (Hebrews 9:27)
Whoever keeps the commandments keeps his life; he who despises his ways will die

Have you kept God’s commandments? Jesus said if you love Him, you will keep them.

GO THROUGH THE LAW TO BRING CONVICTION OF SIN

This is bad news. We preach this because you must understand the bad news for the good news of the Gospel to make sense.

The good news is this. 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, and completely without sin, came to earth, lived a perfect life, and then died a perfect death as payment for sins.

God is a God of justice, and justice was satisfied when the judge himself allowed Himself to be nailed to a Roman cross so that the legal demands of the law could be satisfied.

Colossians 2:13-14 - And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

You may say that you have already done that, and that you are right with God. I pray that you are. But beware of false faith.

God has told us in His word that not everyone who claims His name is bound for heaven, and those who claim to follow him but refuse to keep His commandments are liars (1 John).

You can’t get into heaven by doing good works. But what you believe and how you behave is evidence for or against genuine faith.

If you made a profession of faith but nothing has changed, I challenge you to do as
God’s word says. Examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. See if you have a holy fear of God’s law, and holy love of Him and desire to obey Him.
The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied

For those of you who reject God and His word, why do you reject Him? Is it from a desire to suppress the truth so you can live life your own way?
A king’s wrath is like the growling of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the
grass

God is your Lord and king whether you acknowledge Him as such or not, and you mock Him at your own peril.
A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours
iniquity

When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against he Lord

Don’t rage against the Lord. He says that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they turn and live.

God has been gracious to you, and allowed you this opportunity to repent of your sins and turn to Him. So turn to Him! Throw yourself on God’s mercy, repenting of your sin and trusting in Christ alone to save you. Now is the day of salvation!