THE EYES OF THE LORD IN EVERY PLACE

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 15:1-17
LESSON #24
THE EYES OF THE LORD IN EVERY PLACE

• Memory Verse: Pro 15:8
• The proverbs in this section of scripture deal with many allusions to parts of the body like the tongue, the mouth, the lips, the eyes, and the heart.
  • This is not a new concept.
  • We have already seen many proverbs that use parts of the body to give us God’s truth.
• “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.  The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness.” (1-2)
  • Key words: wise (the believer in Christ); knowledge (the power to know truth); fools (no God for me).
  • Often it is not what you say but how you say it that causes problems. It is better to ask for God’s help before we answer in an argument because angry words bring a response of angry words..
    • This proverb reminds us of Abigail and Nabal. In David’s anger against Nabal who refused to give him food, Abigail humbled herself before David and gave him the food he needed. Nabal, whose name means “fool” died that same night as God judged him.
    • Over time we learn what prompts a negative response from someone with whom we have an on-going relationship
    • Therefore, the believer in Christ will be careful how he speaks.
      • The believer will use the power of the Holy Spirit to know the right way to speak truth without offending another person.
      • The believer relies on the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help him with his personal relationships.
    • The person that does not acknowledge God’s presence in his life has no advantage of access to truth because only God has the truth. Notice that his foolishness automatically pours out of his mouth.
• “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. (3) A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.” (3-4)
  • Key words: perverseness (corrupt/disobedient).
  • Does God have eyes? Of course, God does not have physical eyes.
  • Read Joh 4:24
    • God is a Spirit.
    • Then what does it mean when Proverbs speaks about the eyes of the Lord?
    • One of the basic characteristics of God is His omniscience. In other words, God is all knowing. He knows everything everywhere all at the same time.
    • J. Vernon McGee put it brilliantly when he said that secret sins on earth are an open scandal in heaven.
  • Notice that in God’s wisdom and knowledge of ultimate truth, He knows what is good and what is evil.
    • The knowledge between good and evil is the advantage that God passes to the believer in Christ because the believer has the indwelling Holy Spirit.
    • Remember that the knowledge between good and evil was what Satan offered Eve in the first temptation in the book of Genesis to make her wise like a god. (Gen 3:5)
      • What Eve did not realize was that only the real truth is from God who desires to share that truth with man.
      • But Eve turned to Satan for truth which is no truth at all.
  • Speaking of the Garden of Eden, a wholesome tongue is a tree of life.
    • The tree of life was the gift of eternal life that God gave man when He created man in Gen 1.
    • What is the relationship between the tree of eternal life and the tongue?
      • A tree has many branches. The same is true of your speech.
      • You can’t keep track of every word and every conversation that you have had.
      • Your words and conversations branch out to touch many different people that cross your path.
        • If your speech reflects the word of God and the gospel of Christ, it will bring life to those that hear it.
        • If speech is filled with pride and evil, it will bring death to those that hear it.
    • The believer’s conversation and words should edify and encourage other people and produce life in their lives.
      • For example, a parent that breaks the spirit of a child produces corruption and disobedience in the life of that child.
      • To destroy or break a person’s spirit is creating a tree of death in his soul instead of a tree of life.
        • Breaking a person’s spirit promotes discouragement.
        • Breaking a person’s spirit promotes the death of a person’s vision.
• “A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.” (5-6)
  • Key words: fool (no God for me); despiseth (contempt for); instruction (moral discipline for discernment); reproof (correction); prudent (caution); righteous (pure life); wicked (lawless evil).
  • The physical father and the spiritual father.
    • The person that says there is no God for him will not consider as important anything that God, the heavenly father, wants to do in his life.
    • On the other hand, the believer in Christ will pay attention to God’s correction in his life that has the person’s spiritual welfare at heart.
    • In the same way, an earthly father will correct his children because he loves his children. (Heb 12:8)
  • The house of the believer living in God’s will and living a pure life, will experience the spiritual riches of God in his life. However, the non-believer that lives in lawless evil will gain his worldly riches by his own hand whether he obtains it legally or not is unimportant. Wealth gained illegally or immorally will bring the consequence of judgment by God in the end.
• “The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so. The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.” (7-8)
  • Key words: wise (believer); knowledge (power to know truth); heart (soul/inner man); foolish (no God for me); wicked (lawless evil); abomination (hated); upright (just).
  • The New Testament believer living in the will of God will exhibit by his speech that he knows by experience the power of truth in life. However in the soul of the unbeliever there is no spiritual truth of God for the person says there is no God for me. Therefore, he will not be able to speak anything about the truth of life.
  • Read Luk 6:45
  • The worship of a non-believer that does not know Jesus Christ in a personal way will not be able to offer any kind of worship that is acceptable to God. Why?
    • God established the way man should come to God from the beginning of the book of Genesis.
    • Man must come through the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. (Heb 9:22)
    • But even with that, God sees the heart and not the exterior practice of tradition.
      • Therefore Abel’s offering to God was accepted because it was a slain animal.
      • Cain’s offering was rejected because there was no shedding of blood.
      • Today, in this New Testament age of grace, we come to God through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice.
  • The prayer of the believer in Christ is God’s delight. (Jam 5:16 1Pet 3:12)
    • It is not the words of our prayers that please God but the obedience of our hearts that God can see behind our prayers.
    • James tells us that the prayers of a righteous man availeth much. (Jam 5:16)
• “The way of the wicked is an abomination unto the Lord: but he loveth him that followeth after righteousness. Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.” (9-10)
  • Key words: wicked (lawless evil); abomination (hated); righteousness (pure life); reproof (correction).
  • The life of an unbeliever living in lawless evil is hated by God. It is not the unbeliever that is hated by God but his actions and lifestyle of sin.
  • However, God loves the believer that lives his life following the pure life of obedience to Christ and does not “forsake the way”.
    • Christians in the early church were called the people that were in “the way”.
    • (Act 9:2 Act 18:25)
  • The unbeliever will not accept God’s correction because a pure life spoils his lifestyle.
  • However, eventually at the final judgment the unbeliever will suffer the “second death” which is the eternal spiritual separation from God.
    • He will think he merits eternal life, but his lifestyle does not pass the test of God’s righteousness.
    • God’s righteousness can only be gained by the believer that puts on the righteousness of Christ when he receives Christ into his heart and life. Because Jesus Christ is our righteousness, we must follow after Him to fulfill verse 9.
•  Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? A scorner loveth not one that reproveth him: neither will he go unto the wise.” (11-12)
  • Key words: hearts (soul/inner man); scorner (arrogant hater); reproveth (correction); wise (the believer living skillfully).
  • The all powerful God, Jehovah, has power and authority over everything including hell and destruction because He sees it all. Remember that the eyes of the Lord are in every place. (3)
    • Some people do not believe there is a hell because they do not see it.
    • But God sees it. Jesus spoke more about hell in the Gospels than He did about heaven.
  • Therefore, it is better to live the way God desires that we live by having that Fear of the Lord in us.
  • That means that the person with a Fear of the Lord will accept God’s correction in his life.
  • However, the arrogant person that hates everyone, even God, will never receive God’s correction in his life. He will be too arrogant to request counsel or wisdom from a believer that is living skillfully.
• ^“ A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.” (13-14)
  • Key words: heart (soul/ inner man); understanding (discernment of good from evil); knowledge (power to know truth); fools/foolishness (no God for me).
  • The joy that the Bible speaks about is not the happiness that depends on external circumstances but a deep joy that God puts into the inner soul of a believer that is living with a close relationship to God through Jesus Christ.
    • That joy means the believer is walking in obedience to Christ.
    • That joy means he has a personal relationship with God with the Holy Spirit inside of him.
    • That joy means that no exterior circumstance can affect that close relationship.
  • The broken spirit refers to man’s spirit that is easily broken by external circumstances, by persecution from others, including by words of discouragement and depreciation.
    • The person that walks with a broken spirit does not have the joy of the Lord.
    • Jesus Christ came to minister to the broken hearted.
  • The maturing believer in Christ receives the knowledge between good and evil gradually by experience as he walks with Christ. This believer will seek to experience the power of truth in his life as God guides him into spiritual truth.
  • While the believer is walking in truth, the person that says, “no God for me”, will walk in all ways devoid of anything that relates to God.
• “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” (15)
  • Key words: heart (soul/inner man).
  • The life of the unbeliever is plagued by evil on all sides because he is a walking dead man with no eternal future with God.
    • He has no one to take away his sin.
    • He has no one to help him in times of trouble.
    • He is without an eternal hope.
    • He does not have the joy of the Lord in his heart like the believer in Christ.
  • The believer in Christ eats a continual feast in that he will have an eternity with God partaking of eternal blessings.
• “ Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” (16-17)
  • Key words: fear of the Lord (awesome reverence).
  • The personal relationship that man can have with God, the Father, through Jesus Christ, the Son is the greatest treasure in the world and in this life.
  • When a person has the fear of the Lord, he lives his life with awesome reverence for God’s will and God’s instruction. Obedience marks his life for eternity.
  • Worldly treasures bring a multitude of trouble with them.
    • Worldly treasures can keep a person from submitting his life to Christ. In that case, it is better to be poor and have that personal relationship with God through Christ.
    • In regards to worldly goods, you have to maintain them, clean them, repair them, replace them, insure them, protect them, and watch over them.
    • What a lot of trouble for something that is temporary!
  • A simple dinner is better when served with love than a lavish, expensive meal served with hatred.
    • The stalled ox acts out with violence and anger.
    • This proverb tells us that the environment in the home at mealtime is more important than the nature of the food that is served.
• Summary:
• Because the eyes of the Lord are in every place, He knows everything and everyone.
  • God sees the life of the wise believer and the fool that chooses not to acknowledge God.
  • God sees the heart of the wise and the heart of the fool.
  • God knows the speech of the wise that reveal a person’s heart and the speech of the fool whose heart is empty of the things of God.

Homework
Proverbs 15:18-33

• Application of Pro 15:1-17
  • How should a person prevent the escalation of an argument? (1)
    • Speak softly to diffuse an argument.
  • What does verse 3 tell you about God that should promote your fear of the Lord?
    • God sees and knows everything. There are no secrets withheld from Him.
  • How does God view an offering from a non-believer? (8)
    • It is an abomination (hated) because God looks on the heart not the exterior deeds.
  • In contrast, why do you think God delights in your prayers? (8)
    • The believer comes to God with humility and love knowing that a loving Father will meet his needs. Heb 11:6 says that we cannot please God without faith. When the believer prays he is trusting God by faith for an answer.
  • What do you think verse 17 means?
    • The atmosphere of the home especially at mealtime should be an atmosphere of love.
    • Love is more important than the quantity or quality of the food that is served.
• Preparation for Pro 15:18-33
  • Read Pro 15:18-33
    • How does a man of understanding walk? Explain what that means. (21)
    • Why are the thoughts of the wicked an abomination to the Lord? (26) (Luk 6:45)
    • Why is the Lord far from the wicked? (29)
    • Does God hear the prayers of the wicked? What do you think?
  • Memory Verse: Joh 9:31