THE SURE REWARD

RETURN TO SYLLABUS

PROVERBS 11:16-31
Lesson #17
THE SURE REWARD

• Memory verse: Pro 11:18
• In the first half of Proverbs 11 we discussed integrity of character. Unfortunately moral integrity of character is not taught today, and for that young people grow into adulthood without the strength of character to resist the temptations of the enemy.
  • We can see the lack of moral integrity of character in these last days.
  • Read 2Tim 3:1-8
• In the last half of Proverbs 11 we can see that moral integrity of character has a sure reward as does a lack of moral integrity of character. However, the quality of reward is vastly different between those with integrity and those without it.
• Read Pro 11:16-31
  • The sowing and reaping principle in action:
    • In all of these proverbs we can see the principle of sowing and reaping to one degree or another.
    • Sometimes the reaping is in eternity and sometimes it is here in this life on earth.
      • In reading these proverbs with the sowing and reaping principle in mind, we should keep the following truths before us:
        • =1= Good always results in good and evil always results in evil.
        • =2= The fruit of a life is multiplied beyond the quantity of seed planted.
        • =3= The reaping is not always immediate but instead is delayed until it is ripe.
        • =4= Good and evil are both watered and fertilized by small personal decisions on a daily basis.
      • While the book of Proverbs give us “probabilities”, the rest of the Bible in regards to this principle affirms its validity as true in this life and the next.
  • “A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches.” (16)
    • The gracious woman is a woman with interior beauty.
      • She honors God and others. In turn other people give her honor. That will be her reward.
      • The gracious woman is like Ruth in the book of Ruth. (Rut 3:11)
    • The strong man is a man with integrity of character. God gives him wealth and he uses it wisely for the kingdom of God.
      • His reward is a continuation of wealth.
      • Boaz in the book of Ruth is the example of a man strong in the Spirit.
  • “The merciful man doeth good to his own soul: but he that is cruel troubleth his own flesh.” (17)
    • The person that has the strength of character to extend God’s mercy to others through him, will benefit his own soul. How?
      • When you mercifully forgive others, God says He will forgive you.
        • Read Mat 6:14
        • The ability to extend mercy is a character quality of love. The person that demonstrates mercy and love in his relationships can feel good about himself.
      • Only the believer in Jesus Christ can extend this kind of love because he has experienced the mercy of God that has forgiven him of his sins.
    • Cruelty is a lack of love in a person’s character. He has no sympathy or empathy for others that are hurting.
      • This proverb is the same as the principle of sowing and reaping that goes through the whole Bible.
      • The cruel person will reap cruelty in this life. People will treat him the way he treats them.
  • ^“ The wicked worketh a deceitful work: but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward.” (18)
    • Key words: wicked (lawless evil); righteousness (pure life).
    • The person living a lawless, evil life does works that promote the evil in his heart. He has his own self-interests in mind.
      • Deceitful works are those that deceive others to do evil.
      • Deceitful works will probably never yield the wealth and power that the lawless person expects. Why?
        • One’s evil expectations never satisfy the soul of man.
        • He always has to try to do more and more seeking satisfaction and never achieving it.
    • The believer in Christ that is living a pure life in the will of God has a sure reward. What is that sure reward?
      • The believer will stand before Christ as the judgment seat and receive rewards for the things he has done since receiving Christ in his heart. (Rom 14:10 2Cor 5:10)
      • His reward is “sure” because God has promised to reward the faithful believer and God never breaks His promise. (Mat 6:4)
  • “As righteousness tendeth to life: so he that pursueth evil pursueth it to his own death.” (19)
    • Key words: righteousness (pure life).
    • The reason righteousness tendeth to life is because a person can only live a morally pure righteous life following Jesus Christ who said “I am the resurrection and the life…” (Joh 11:25)
      • The believer in Christ has exchanged his righteousness which is like filthy ragas for the perfect righteousness of Christ at the moment he received Christ in his heart. (Isa 64:6 Rom 6:22)
      • It is that exchange that makes it possible for the believer to have eternal life.
    • The person whose lifestyle is evil follows that path to eternal death.
      • Eternal death is separation from God for eternity.
      • The implied idea in this proverb is that he thinks his righteousness is good enough to gain eternal life. (Phil 3:9)
  • “They that are of a froward heart are abomination to the Lord: but such as are upright in their way are his delight.” (20)
    • Key words: froward (disobedient); abomination (hated); upright (just).
    • God hates disobedience because it leads to a lifestyle of rebellion against God. The Israelites of the Old Testament are the example.
    • When a person is obedient to God, his heart is teachable. The end result is a believer in Jesus Christ that walks with integrity of character before God.
      • His position with God is justified through the blood of Jesus Christ.
      • God sees that person through the righteousness of Christ and is delighted in what He sees.
  • “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered.” (21)
    • Key words: wicked (lawless evil); righteous (pure life).
    • Even if evil people join hands together in their evil doing, and they are a majority among us, they will not have enough combined power to free them from the punishment that will come upon them in the final great white throne judgment.
      • The lie of the enemy, Satan, is that if he gains a majority, he will rule.
      • If he rules, he will not punish those that promote him.
      • However, his power can never rival the almighty power of God.
    • The seed of the righteous are the children of the believers that live a pure life.
      • They are the physical children of believers in Christ.
        • They will probably be delivered from the hand of Satan because they live in a household of faith.
        • God gives grace to a family where a believer is present. (Act 16:31 1Pet 5:5 1Cor 7:14)
      • They are the spiritual children of believers in Christ that received Christ through the believer’s testimony for Christ. Of course, those that receive Christ are delivered from spending eternity in Satan’s kingdom.
  • “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.” (22)
    • Key words: discretion (judge what is proper).
    • Background note: In Middle Eastern culture, a nose ring was an ornament intended to make a woman more beautiful. The nose ring does not make a pig beautiful. Therefore the nose ring is as out of place on a pig as a lack of discretion is out of place in the life of a Christian woman.
    • This is one of those very picturesque proverbs that make one smile.
    • True beauty of character comes from within. A woman can have tremendous physical beauty, but if she exhibits improper conduct her beauty fades.
      • A good example is a beautiful woman that drinks too much alcohol loses her inhibitions and openly does all kinds of improper things.
      • You no longer see her beauty but her actions now get your attention.
  • ^“ The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.” (23)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life); wicked (lawless evil).
    • The believer in Jesus Christ should desire only good in his life and in the lives of others around him.
    • Rom 8:28 says that all things work together for good to those that love the Lord.
    • The wrath or anger of God is against all evil wickedness. Therefore, those that live the lifestyle of wickedness without moral law will suffer the wrath of God in the final judgment.
    • The words “desire” and “expectation” speak about the sure reward that will come in the final judgment.
  • ^“ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.” (24) “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.” (25) “He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.” (26)
    • Key words: meet (proper); liberal (freely).
    • The New Testament way of restating these two proverbs is found in Luke 6:38.
    • Read Luk 6:38.
    • Again we see the sure reward, this time the reward is for giving to others.
  • “He that diligently seeketh good procureth favour: but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.” (27)
    • Key words: diligently (constant care); procureth (get).
    • Seeking good speaks about the believer in Christ that looks diligently for ways to help others and meet their needs.
    • The person that seeks mischief is like the school bully that is always picking fights and causing trouble. Some people never grow out of this stage.
  • “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall; but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.” (28)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life).
    • Read 1Tim 6:17-19
      • In this passage in 1Timothy riches are called “uncertain riches” because they are temporary as opposed to the things of God that are eternal.
      • The person with an eternal perspective will understand the true value of possessing eternal things like having Jesus Christ in your heart.
    • This proverb is like David running from King Saul. He and his men needed food and asked Nabal for food, but wealthy Nabal refused to help a man of God’s anointing.
      • Not only does Nabal’s name mean “fool”, which has the meaning “no God for me.”, but Nabal died that same night.
      • David was a righteous believer anointed by God to be a king.
        • God provided for David’s needs and he became a successful king.
        • The phrase “flourish as a branch” is an interesting allusion to Jesus Christ who came through King David, and Christ is called a branch or root out of the dry ground. (Isa 11:1 Isa 4:2 Isa 53:2)
  • “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.” (29)
    • Key words: fool (no God for me); wise (live like an expert); heart (soul/inner man).
    • This proverb reminds us that as humans we often bring problems upon ourselves by the choices we make between good and evil.
      • The person that does not permit anything of God in his heart and life will make errors of judgment in his decisions. These errors will bring added problems to his life and family.
      • In the long run, the wise believer in Christ will avoid many of these pitfalls and live with greater spiritual authority than the fool who wants nothing of God in his life.
  • “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (30)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life).
    • The believer that spends his time and money to bring others to the knowledge of Jesus Christ is like a fruit tree that bears fruit.
      • The souls saved for eternity are the fruit of a righteous life.
      • A person’s words and his lifestyle are his testimony to the unbeliever.
      • In turn, you cannot live like an expert without winning souls for Christ.
    • Remember that the tree of life is first seen in scripture in Genesis when God created Adam.
      • Man’s destiny is to live forever.
      • When Adam sinned he was removed from the Garden of Eden and from direct access to the tree of life.
      • When Christ died on the cross, he restored man’s access to the tree of life through the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
      • The believer in Christ partakes of the tree of life when he is born again having received Jesus into his heart and life.
      • The tree of life is physically restored to man in Rev 22:14.
  • “Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner.” (31)
    • Key words: righteous (pure life); wicked (lawless evil).
    • We have already seen that the sure reward of the righteous believer living a pure life will have a reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
      • This proverb tells us that this same believer will have a reward on earth.
      • What is the reward on earth? Answer to prayer, God’s provision, God, protection, and presence.
    • We have also seen that the non-believer will reap the results of his evil life when he stands before God in the great white throne judgment.
      • Equally the non-believer will reap the results of his evil choices here on earth.
      • We may not always see this, but the non-believer is living alone in his own strength without the benefit of an almighty God that helps those that belong to Him.

Homework
Proverbs 12:1-14

• Application of Pro 11:16-31
  • Extending mercy to someone produces good for whom? (17)
    He does good for his own soul.
  • A beautiful woman that does not know how to act properly (with discretion) is like what? (22)
    She is like a jewel of gold in a pigs nose.
  • What do you inherit if you cause trouble in your own house? (29)
    A whirlwind.
  • Besides being rewarded with eternal life, what does the righteous Christian have to look forward to on this earth? (31)
    A reward.
  • Which of the proverbs in this section best fits your life? Why?
  • Which proverb do you find the most memorable? Why?
• Preparation for Pro 12:1-14
  • Read Pro 12:1-14
    • What is meant by “the root of the righteous”? (3) (Psa 1)
    • What do you think “rottenness in his bones” means in this proverb? (4)
    • If a person is kind to animals, what does that tell you about him? (10)
    • What is the “transgression of lips”? (13)
• Memory verse: Pro 12:3