THE ETERNAL HOPE OF THE WORD AND THE TREE OF LIFE

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 13:1-13
Lesson #20
THE ETERNAL HOPE OF THE WORD AND THE TREE OF LIFE

• Memory Verse: Pro 13:13
• In the beginning of the book of Proverbs we examined the lessons the Father wanted His sons to learn. As children of God, if we listened and obeyed God’s commands, we would have developed the wisdom that God has in mind for every believer.
  • “A wise son heareth his father’s instruction: but a scorner heareth not rebuke.” (1)
    • Key words: wise (believer in Christ); instruction (moral discipline for discernment); scorner (arrogant hater); rebuke (remove evil).
    • The believer in Christ will listen to God’s moral discipline and make the appropriate changes through obedience so as to live a moral life.
    • A human father wants only the best kind of life for his son. He wants his son to have a better life than he had.
      • This is the love of a father.
      • How much more is the love of God for His children.
    • The arrogant hater of the things of God will pay no attention to God’s attempt to guide him into moral truth.
    • Read Jam 1:22-25
  • ^“ A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.”o (2)
    • Key words: soul (emotions, will, reasoning); transgressors (lawbreaker).
    • As we have already learned in Proverbs, from the heart the mouth speaks. Therefore, the fruit of the mouth comes directly from the attitude and inner character of man.
    • The soul of the person that breaks God’s laws has an internal rebellion that will be reproduced in his lifestyle as violence.
      • Rebellion is common among young people today. Instead of gaining wisdom from their father, they break every law the parent puts before him.
      • In the Old Testament Law of Moses, a rebellious son was put to death by stoning. This shows us how serious God views rebellion. (Deu 21:18-21)
      • The rod of correction is supposed to drive rebellion from the heart of a child. Therefore the parent is encouraged to discipline his son beginning at a young age. (Pro 22:15)
  • ^“ He that keepeth his mouth keepeth his life: but he that openeth wide his lips shall have destruction.” (3)
    • If you guard your words, you guard your life. What does that mean?
      • There are some people that tell you everything they know and obviously it isn’t much that they know.
      • They are proud that they can tell you exactly what they think about any theme or anyone.
      • However, without some sort of guard placed upon the mouth, you will find yourself hurting other people’s feelings, creating enemies, and destroying lives and reputations.
    • The person that is not careful how he speaks causes destruction in his life and in the life of others because he will easily make enemies that may seek revenge.
  • “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (4)
    • Key words: sluggard (lazy); diligent (constant care).
    • The lazy person has great desires but never has anything because he is not willing to work for what he desires.
    • On the other hand, the person that is responsible will give constant care to the responsibilities that God has placed in his hands. Because of his constant care, nothing falls through the cracks and is left unattended.
    • The result of his diligence is the possession of the desires of his heart.
  • “A righteous man hateth lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and cometh to shame.” (5)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life); wicked (lawless evil).
    • The true believer in Jesus Christ will come to hate the things God hates.
      • We learned in Proverbs that lying is an abomination to God. In other words, God hates it. (Pro 6:16-19)
      • As the maturing believer becomes more and more like Christ, he will discover that he will value the things God values and hate the things God hates.
    • The character qualities of the person that lives in lawless evil are qualities that no one values. As his lack of integrity becomes obvious to others, he will find people avoiding him.
      • He can’t be trusted with information.
      • He can’t be trusted to be honest.
      • Usually a person who is a habitual liar will also easily find himself involved in cheating, stealing, and dealing falsely with others.
  • “Righteousness keepeth him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthroweth the sinner” (6).
    • Key words: righteousness (pure life); upright (just); wickedness (lawless evil).
    • The believer in Jesus Christ walking in a pure life in Christ has God’s protection knowing that everything that comes into his life has a purpose for his good. (Rom 8:28)
    • The sinner who does not have Christ in his life, but is walking in his own evil, self-centered desires will discover that his lawless lifestyle will eventually draw him into a depth of sin that leaves him with no escape except by receiving Jesus Christ in his life.
      • This is the person that must hit bottom before he wakes up to his lack of control over his life.
      • This is the person that falls into the depths of alcohol and drugs.
    • Read 1Joh 3:6
      • The believer in Jesus Christ will not sin.
      • John means he will not have a lifestyle of habitual sin.
      • The believer walking in the Spirit of God will receive the conviction of sin so that he repents of his sin and gains the forgiveness of God.
      • However, if he does not repent, but continues to sin, that sin becomes a lifestyle of habitual sin. In this case, John says he probably is not a believer in Christ.
  • “There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” (7)
    • The rich man that thinks he is totally responsible for his wealth will discover in the final judgment that he has no true spiritual wealth that lasts for an eternity. He has spent his life accumulating worldly wealth which is temporary.
    • The poor man is the person that knows spiritual wealth is by far the more valuable in eternity. What physical wealth he does have he will use for the kingdom of God, making himself poor in worldly riches for the sake of Christ.
  • “The ransom of a man’s life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke” (8)
    • Key words: rebuke (remove evil).
    • A person makes constant decisions in his life either for the things of God or against the things of God. He trades the years of his life for either spiritual wealth or worldly wealth.
    • Jesus said to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. (Mat 6:20)
      • May you be found with great spiritual riches at the end of your life!
      • The person that does not listen to the Holy Spirit calling him to give his life to Christ will come to the end of his life in spiritual poverty.
        • God wants all people to repent of their sin and receive Jesus Christ into the heart.
        • The person that does not hear the call to repentance will be poor spiritually.
  • “The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.” (9)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life); wicked (lawless evil).
    • Notice the parallels:
      • Light/lamp
      • Righteous/wicked
      • Rejoiceth/put out
    • What does it mean by the word “light” and “lamp”?
      • When a person invites Jesus Christ into his heart, he has the Light of Christ in him. Therefore, he will rejoice with God in eternity because of his salvation.
      • The person that never invites Christ into his heart lives only for himself without any spiritual light.
        • He will not live with God in eternity where there is the light of God’s truth.
        • He will live in eternal darkness in the lake of fire. (Rev 20:15)
    • This proverb comes to life in the Bible with the story of the kings of Israel after King Solomon.
      • The Northern Kingdom of Israel had a series of evil kings one after another.
      • The Bible comments on each of these kings in this way, “And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord…” (2Kin 13:2, 11; 14:24; 15:9, 18, 24, 28; 17:2; 21:20; 23:32, 37; 24:19)
      • They all came to a bad ending.
  • “Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.” (10)
    • Key words: pride (conceit); contention (strife); wisdom (skillful living).
    • Man’s ego-centered conceit causes strife in his relationships because he thinks he is always right, always in control of everything. However, with an attitude of conceit he does not learn how to live skillfully because he never listens to other people’s viewpoints and opinions.
    • A person with a prideful heart of conceit is not teachable. God would want us to have a teachable spirit so that we are open to His guidance.
    • The believer in Christ that is living skillfully gains perspective when he listens to other people’s opinions and views.
  • “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase.” (11)
    • Key words: vanity (empty).
    • The desire to gain something by vanity is an empty pursuit. It is to lust after something and perhaps to get it illegally. Once you have it, it does not satisfy you. It is empty and so you desire more and more.
    • The person that plans ahead to work hard for something and then to save his money for it, produces in man a great satisfaction.
  • “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.” (12)
    • Key words: heart (inner man).
    • The word “hope” in the Bible has a different meaning than what we normally think. It is an assured certainty. It is not maybe it will occur and maybe it won’t occur.
      • The word has the highest certainty of expectation in the Bible because it is based on the character of God.
      • Worldly hope makes you feel discouraged because you are unsure if the thing you hope for will occur. It is worldly hope that is deferred in this proverb that will make the heart sink. However, it is Biblical hope that produces the desire for eternal life. And that eternity with God with certainty will come to pass.
      • Man’s hope in God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.
        • When God created Adam and Eve, He created them to live forever. But when they fell in sin, God removed the tree of life from them by taking them out of the Garden of Eden where the tree of life grew.
        • Man did not have access to the tree of life until Jesus Christ died on the cross (a tree) for man’s sins. Then, the believer in Christ is promised eternal life with God.
        • However, man will not have physical access to the tree until eternity begins in Rev 22:2, 14.
  • “Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.” (13)
    • Key words: commandment (command of moral law).
    • “The word” in this proverb can be interpreted in two ways and both are Biblically correct.
      • The word can be thought of as the spoken Word of God or the written Word of God (the Bible).
      • However, the Word is also the eternal name of Jesus Christ.
        • Read Joh 1:1, 14
        • Read Rev 19:13
        • Just as Wisdom is personified in Jesus Christ in the book of Proverbs, the Word is personified in Jesus Christ in the book of John.
    • Therefore, the person that “despiseth” the wisdom that is in the Bible will not live a productive life.
      • And even more, the person that “despiseth” Jesus Christ shall suffer in the lake of fire for eternity and all the things he accumulated in life will be destroyed.
      • What does it mean destroyed?
        • His hope of an eternity with God is destroyed. Destroyed does not mean annihilation.
      • Remember that man was created to live forever. The non-believer will live forever in the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11-16)
    • The obedient believer in Christ that has a fear of the Lord (awesome respect and reverence) will obey the commands of Christ that he finds in the New Testament. He will enter into eternity with God as a reward of his faith. (Mat 25:21)

Homework
Proverbs 13:14-25

• Application of Pro 13:1-13
  • What does it mean that a scorner does not hear rebuke? (1)
    • The arrogant hater will think that he knows better than God when he makes his decisions. Therefore he will not listen to God’s moral lessons of what is right and what is wrong.
  • What is verse seven trying to teach us?
    • We must learn what true wealth really is. Spiritual riches are more valuable and eternal in comparison to the wealth of the world.
  • What is wealth gotten by vanity? (11)
    • Wealth gotten by vanity is wealth consumed upon our own lust and possibly gotten illegally. It does not satisfy but leaves you empty.
  • In verse 13 it talks about the Word which can be viewed in several ways. Explain the Word.
    • The Bible is the Word of God, His teaching and instruction for our lives.
    • Jesus Christ is the Word. The Word is his eternal name.
• Preparation for Pro 13:14-25
  • Read Pro 13:14-25
    • Why is the law of the wise a fountain of life? (14)
    • Why do you think the way of the transgressor is a hard way to live? (15)
    • Why is it important to leave an inheritance to your grandchildren? (22)
    • In this modern day we are told not to spank our children because it damages their psyche. Why do you think the Bible tells us to spank our children with a rod? (24)
• Memory verse: Pro 13:14