GOD’S AUTHORITY AND MAN’S FAILURES

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 21:1-16
Lesson #35
GOD’S AUTHORITY AND MAN’S FAILURES

• Memory Verse: From Pro 21:1-16 The verse of your choice.
• “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” ^“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.” (1-2)
  • Key words: heart (soul/inner man).
  • Rom 13:1 tells us that it is God that puts people in leadership over us. Therefore, we can see the sovereignty of God in this world by the types of persons He puts as leaders over us and by the course of rivers. God gives us what is best for us. (Col 1;16-17)
    • Then how do we explain the evil leaders in the world that seem to do the work of Satan instead of the work of God? Evil leaders like Adolph Hitler, Stalin, and many more come to mind.
    • We can see the answer to this question in the history of Israel.
      • Artaxerxes (Ez. 7:21-23); Tiglath-pileser (Isa. 10:5-7); Cyrus (Isa. 45:1-4), and Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 4:34).
      • Israel had some good kings but many bad kings, why?
      • Because of their disobedience and sin, God gave them over to what they wanted so as to suffer the consequences of their disobedience.
        • For example, Israel wanted a king like all other nations when God was their king. (1Sam 8:4-7)
        • In God’s permissive will He gave them King Saul. Saul was not a good king and disobeyed God. (1Sam 13:13-14)
        • Then God gave them King David. David was a good king in God’s perfect will. (Act 13:22)
        • By this contrast between Saul and David, the people were to learn the difference between God’s perfect will and God’s permissive will. Did they learn the lesson? No.

The result was a series of bad kings in both the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Israel.

The national consequence of national disobedience is a bad ruler and its consequences. The consequence for Israel was the Babylonian captivity for 70 years.

• • Verse 1 tells us that God is sovereign and in control of the heart of the leader. Therefore we should pray for our leaders.
    • The heart of man is either wicked or pure.
    • There are no other choices. Of course, the only way man’s heart can be pure is if Jesus Christ is ruling there.
  • Verse 2 tells us that all people, including leaders, think they are always right. Because we are human, we are not always right. In reality we often are not right but easily deceived like Eve.
    • The word “right” means correct in thought, motive, and action.
    • As we have learned in Proverbs, the reality of God’s wisdom (living skillfully) is something that only God can give by means of the Holy Spirit.
    • If you have the Holy Spirit living in you, your probability of being “right” is greater than the person without God in his life, but that is based on whether or not we listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
    • Why is man so easily deceived?
      • Read Jer 17:9
      • Man gives into deception to justify his sin.
      • Man gives into deception to feed the sinful flesh nature.
• ^“To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (3)
  • Key words: justice (right behavior); judgment (discernment).
  • Justice (right behavior) and judgment (discernment) work together.
    • For example, in the previous verse we learned that everyone thinks he is always right.
    • However, in this verse, we see that the person that has right behavior is the person that discerns correctly.
      • What must a person discern correctly according to all of Proverbs?
        • We must discern the difference between good and evil. (Understanding)
        • We must discern moral truth from error. (Judgment) (Knowledge)
        • We must discern the will of God. (Truth)
        • We must discern God’s hand of discipline. (Instruction) (Reproof)
      • (The words in parenthesis are words defined in your Proverb’s dictionary.)
    • Justice and judgment are in fact obedience which God says is better than sacrifice.
  • God expected believers to continue animal sacrifice from the time of Adam until the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Why doesn’t God expect us to do animal sacrifice today?
    • Animal sacrifice was initiated by God in Gen 3:21 to make man aware of sin that separates man from a holy God. Animal sacrifice was supposed to point a person to Christ.
    • The blood of animals covered over sin until Christ died on the cross to give us forgiveness through His shed blood. (Heb 10:4)
    • Jesus Christ was the final sacrifice sufficient to remove sin from every person that comes to Christ for forgiveness, and sufficient to satisfy the justice of a holy God. (Heb 9:12-14)
  • Sacrifice was an external form of worship through the Old Testament. In this New Testament age of grace we are to worship God in Spirit and Truth. (Joh 4:23-24)
• ^“An high look, and a proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked, is sin.(4)
  • Key words: proud (conceit); heart (soul/ inner man); wicked (lawless evil).
  • There are three things that are equal in this verse: the high look, the proud heart, and the plowing of the wicked.
    • The high look is looking past someone and not acknowledging his presence.
    • The proud heart is an inner conceit as though he is better than anyone else.
  • What is the “plowing of the wicked”?
    • To plow means to make a ridge in the soil so you can see where to plant the seed.
    • The idea in this verse is to be able to see where you are going.
    • The wicked that live in lawless evil should be able to see where their path leads. It leads to sin and destruction.
• ^“The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.”
• ^“The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death.”
• ^“The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.” (5-7)
  • Key words: diligent (constant care); vanity (empty); wicked (lawless evil); judgment (discernment).
  • The person that takes constant care of all his responsibilities in his life will gain an abundance.
    • Constant care includes having a well, thought-out plan.
    • We see this contrast with the last half of verse 5 where what is obtained is acquired with haste.
  • The person that does not plan ahead, will make a lot of wrong decisions, and he hastily acquires what he wants. This verse represents things acquired by haste, by impulsive shopping.
  • The person that lies to get what he wants ends up with emptiness and the judgment of eternal death. This verse represents things acquired by deceit where the sin of deceit is compounded with the sin of lying.
  • The person that robs to obtain what he wants does not discern what is right and what is wrong. This verse represents things acquired by violence, where a person thinks the world owes him something.
• ^“The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.” (8)
  • Key words: froward (disobedient); strange (prostitute/false religion).
  • The way of man refers to man’s worldly ways which are:
    • …disobedient to the ways of God.
    • …end up going in the opposite way from God into false religion. False religion is idolatry because it puts something or someone else on the throne of the heart instead of God.
  • The “pure” refers to righteousness (pure life). Therefore, the person that is the pure in heart is the believer in Jesus Christ that trusts in the righteousness of Christ for the basis of his life.
    • The believer in Christ will trust in the righteousness of Christ to forgive him of his sins.
    • God has a plan for the life of each believer to do certain works that God designed just for him to do. (Eph 2:10)
• ^“It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.” (9)
  • “The corner of the housetop” refers to an open patio located on the flat roof of a Middle Eastern home.
  • The idea in this verse refers to the atmosphere in the home. We have already determined from the book of Proverbs that the wife is responsible before God for the atmosphere in the home. The home should be a refuge of peace from the stress and turmoil of the world.
    • Therefore, the family members living in a home where the environment is constant contention will seek peace in the smallest corner of the home.
    • Sometimes children raised in a contentious home find peace outside of the home with friends.
    • Sometimes children raised in a contentious home find peace through a love of reading books to create an artificial environment of peace.
• ^“The soul of the wicked desireth evil: his neighbour findeth no favour in his eyes.” (10)
  • Key words: wicked (lawless evil).
  • The person living in lawless evil has no kind thought for his neighbor.
  • The wicked person is only concerned about his own agenda, his own needs, and his own desires.
• “When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge.” (11)
• ^“The righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked: but God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness.” (12)
  • Key words: scorner (arrogant hater); simple (the unwise); wise (the believer in Crist); instructed (See Instruction = moral discipline for discernment); knowledge (power to know truth); righteous (pure life); wicked/wickedness (lawless evil).
  • This verse gives us the comparison between the arrogant hater, the unwise, and the believer in Christ.
    • When an unwise person sees how God disciplines the arrogant hater, if he is smart, he will receive wisdom for skillful living. In other words, he will know that he needs Jesus Christ in his heart.
    • In that same way, the believer that receives God’s moral discernment will, in turn, receive the power to know the truth.
  • Therefore, God’s discipline produces the following:
    • Scoffers are rebuked for learning nothing.
    • The naïve, unwise person should be warned by the end result of the wicked, lawless person that ends in the lake of fire separated from God for eternity. This is the person that has the potential for becoming a believer in Jesus Christ.
    • The wise believer in Christ will gain the power to know the truth of God.
• ^“Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” (13)
• ^“A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.” (14)
  • A person should always keep in mind that he is one breath away from being in the same situation as a poor person that has nothing. With a disaster in nature, a person can lose everything.
    • With that in mind, the believer in Christ should always be willing to help someone in need. (Luk 6:38)
    • Give and you shall receive, or have mercy and you will receive mercy.
    • We learned in Pro 14:31 that it is an offense to God to ignore helping the poor because they are part of God’s creation.
  • When you give to help someone, it should be done in secret. Then it will make peace with anger.
  • The “reward in the bosom” is the gift given with love from the heart.
• ^“It is joy to the just to do judgment: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.” (15)
  • Key words: just (righteous believer); judgment (discernment); iniquity (sin).
  • The word judgment in this verse is the word for discernment. Remember we are not to judge one another, (Rom 2:1 Rom 14:10) but we are to discern between good and evil, to discern God’s will, to discern truth from error, and to discern God’s correction in our lives.
    • The righteous believer in Jesus Christ will have joy in obedience to God and doing the right thing.
    • He will discern between good and evil in his walk with the Lord which will result in obedience.
  • The final judgment for the non-believer is the great white throne judgment where he will be judged according to his works. (Rev 20:12)
    • Obviously the works of wickedness done by the non-believer merit nothing with God.
    • Even the so-called “good works” of the non-believer are not sufficient to pay for man’s sin.
    • For that reason man needs a Savior, Jesus Christ to pay the wages of sin which is death. (Rom 6:23)
• ^“The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead.” (16)
  • Key words: understanding (discernment of good from evil).
  • Every person is presented with the truth of God at some point in his life. (Rom 1:20)
  • Everyone is given that choice to walk in the way of God or out of the way of God.
  • There are only two congregations in this life:
    • The congregation of the living:
      • The congregation of the living is the body of believers in Jesus Christ that have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Rev 21:1-2, 27)
      • A person’s name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life when he receives Jesus Christ as his Savior and Forgiver of his sin.
    • The congregation of the dead:
      • The congregation of the dead contains the non-believers that have failed to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ during their lifetime.
      • They will suffer the second death in the Lake of Fire for an eternal separation away from the presence of God. (Rev 20:6, 14)

Homework
Proverbs 21:17-31

• Application of Pro 21:1-16
  • Find a proverb that tells you about a sin. Here are a few:
    • Verse 4 = a high look, a proud heart, marking your way in wickedness.
    • Verse 6 = lying deceit
    • Verse 7 = robbery
    • Verse 8 = disobedience
    • Verse 9 = brawling
    • Verse 10 = desire evil
    • Verse 13 = not to help the poor
  • Find the proverb that tells you what is more valuable to God than sacrifice.
    • Verse 3 tells us that justice and judgment (discernment) are better than sacrifice. These two together give us obedience which is better than sacrifice because it deals with the inner man and not just external keeping of rules.
  • Find a proverb that describes the sovereignty of God.
    • Verse 1 tells us that God has the heart of kings in his hands.
  • Find the proverb that tells you what a wise person receives when God instructs him.
    • Verse 11 tells us that he receives knowledge (power to know truth).
• Preparation for Pro 21:17-31
  • Read Pro 21:17-31
    • What can cause a person to be poor? (17) What things today fall into this category?
    • How does 2Tim 3:1-2 fulfill the proverb in verse 17?
    • In verse 20, oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. What is the treasure to be desired?
    • In verse 20, How do you think the non-believer wastes it?
    • How do the offerings of Cain and Abel fulfill verse 27?
• Memory verse: Pro 21:20