Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Proverbs Chapter 11:12 to Chapter 12:21 – Zac Poonen

Here is the full transcript of Bible teacher Zac Poonen’s Verse By Verse Study on Proverbs Chapter 11:12 to Chapter 12:21….

The Fool Who Despises His Neighbor

ZAC POONEN: Where we stopped last time, Proverbs chapter 11, and we were considering, if you will remember, verse 12: “He who despises his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding keeps silent.”

We have seen that the Book of Proverbs gives us the marks of foolish and wise people. A person who despises or belittles others, who speaks scornfully of other people, is marked as a fool. It says in the Good News Bible, “It is foolish to speak scornfully of others. If you are sensible, you will keep quiet.”

This means that when we speak in a scornful, despising way of somebody else, it tells us not something about that person, but something about our own self—that we are fools.

When you see somebody speaking scornfully about someone else, you know something about that person himself: that he is a fool. And yet, there may be situations where there are things that are wrong in others; a wise person keeps quiet. He commits it to God. It is very important to keep that in mind.

I believe the only time we need to perhaps give a bad report about someone is when either someone has asked our opinion concerning that person for a business relationship or for marriage or something like that. Then, of course, we have to give an honest opinion; that’s true.

But most of the time, when people air their opinions about other people, it has no purpose behind it at all. That only reveals that they are fools themselves. If we are wise, we will keep quiet.

The Tale-Bearer and the Trustworthy

Now let’s look at verse 13. Verse 13 says, “He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals the matter.” Or, as the Good News Bible reads it, “No one who gossips can be trusted with a secret.”

The vast majority of people in the world can’t be trusted with a secret because they gossip so much.

But you can put confidence in someone who is trustworthy.

One mark of maturity is that when someone shares something with us, we know how to keep it to ourselves. Here is another mark of a fool: he hears something and he can’t keep it to himself. Have you ever felt like that? “I must tell someone about this.” It’s an itch to tell someone this exciting thing I heard, and yet someone may have told it to us in confidence.

Brothers and sisters, we are to grow up to maturity where we learn to keep secret the things that other people tell us or that we know. A man who is faithful conceals a matter. It’s a mark of a faithful man.

The Safety of Wise Counsel

Verse 14: “Where there is no guidance, the people fall, but in abundance of counselors, there is victory.” This just means that when we are considering a course of action, it’s good for us to have small thoughts about ourselves. One mark of our having small thoughts about ourselves is that we seek advice from others who have more wisdom and more maturity—not necessarily just from one, but from many.

It says, “In the abundance of counselors, there is victory.” Of course, we can only go for counsel to those who have some maturity and wisdom themselves, not to a bunch of fools. That would bring confusion. But what it means here is that in the abundance of wise counselors, there is safety; we can be protected from a wrong path.

That is why it is a privilege to be able to have fellowship, to have in the fellowship others with whom we can consult and share that keeps us in safety. But where there is no guidance, it is easy to fall.

It’s very easy, brothers and sisters, for us to take the fellowship and the word of God that we have in the Church for granted. There are many who live in situations, even in our country, who do not have the opportunities for fellowship and guidance that we have.

So there is something that we need to always be thankful for because it says, “Where there is no guidance, the people fall into various types of folly.”

Wisdom About Standing Surety

Verse 15: “If you promise to pay a stranger’s debt, you will regret it. You are better off if you don’t get involved.” This means that we must never think that love means going to the extent of being a surety for someone in whom we have no confidence.

I believe that we can come into a relationship in the brotherhood where a brother becomes a part of you, like a member of your own body. But that takes time. It doesn’t mean sitting in the same congregation. There are a lot of people who sit in the same congregation who are not integrated with one another as members of a body.

For one, I would not become a surety for such a person, even if he sits in the same church. It’s a question of being integrated with someone in the body of Christ. That was not possible in the Old Testament. So where such a relationship has come between two brothers, it is all right to commit oneself to one another, even for large amounts of money.

But otherwise, in most cases, it is wisest not to get into financial relationships with strangers where you promise to pay their debt or stand surety for them. That’s something that the Book of Proverbs speaks so often about.

Somebody can come and ask you to be a surety or a guarantee for him, saying, “I come to the same church as you.” Yes, but I still don’t have that relationship in the body with you, even though you come and sit in the same congregation. I’m sorry, I cannot stand as a guarantee for you.

He may go around saying that brother so-and-so doesn’t have any love. Well, we couldn’t care less what he thinks about us. But we’re going to obey the word of God. We’re not going to be bothered about his opinion about us.

That’s something which the Book of Proverbs speaks again and again about. If we are wise, we will be careful in this area so that we don’t suffer for it later on. But if we hate going to surety, then we will be safe.

Honor to the Kind and Gracious

Verse 16: “Honor goes to kind and gracious women, but mere money to cruel men.” Cruel men—violent men, thieves, robbers, etc.—make money. But those who are kind and gracious, the contrast is drawn here between a woman and a man, but the same thing applies to a man as well.

The honor that God gives goes to those who are kind and gracious. Here it speaks about a woman; that in God’s eyes, a woman, a sister, young or old, is honorable if she has become kind and gracious. Like in the New Testament, it speaks about a meek and a quiet spirit.

Here it says, in the Living Bible, “Honor goes to kind and gracious women.” Take that seriously. Say, “Lord, help me to be a sister like that—kind in all my words and actions, gracious in all my words and actions.” Then the honor of God will certainly come down upon you.

Kindness Benefits Yourself

Verse 17, reading from the Good News: “You do yourself a favor when you are kind. If you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.” In other words, God’s laws are all for our good. When we are kind, we are not really doing the other person a favor as much as we are doing ourselves a favor, it says.

Kind people are more at rest and have more peace in their heart, and their digestive system works better, and their health is better. Everything is better for a person who is free from bitterness, cruelty, and anger. But when you are cruel and evil, you are not really hurting that other person.

You need to see that you are hurting yourself much more. In New Testament terms, it means that if you hate someone or you are bitter towards someone, you are not really harming him; you are harming yourself. When you love someone, you are not really blessing him as much as you are blessing yourself.

So that’s a wonderful verse: “You do yourself a favor when you are kind, but if you are cruel, you only hurt yourself.” That’s why we see the folly of all the people in the world—they don’t realize that they are harming themselves when they are cruel towards other people.

The Deceitfulness of Riches

Verse 18: “The wicked earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness gets a true reward.” This is exactly what we read in Galatians 6:9—that we reap what we sow. If we sow righteousness, we reap eternal life.

But the wicked earns deceptive wages. What do we earn? Money. Here, money is called a deceptive wage. That means you think that’s very valuable, but there’s a deception in it. Jesus spoke in Mark chapter 4 about the deceitfulness of riches.

Now, we all know that we need money to live on this earth, and for most of us, it is a struggle to try and make ends meet each month. There is a discipline in it which is good. But whether we get much or little, we must always remember that there is a deceitfulness in riches that Jesus spoke of.

There’s something in it which can deceive me. When I get it, I must say, “Lord, I need to use this because I live in the world, but let me never forget there’s something deceptive about this money that can deceive me. It can make me happy when I get much, and it’s a hollow happiness. It will make me so sad when I’ve lost something, and there’s a deception in it.”

It’s a wonderful thing if our eyes are open to see it now. We will see it clearly in eternity, but then it will be too late. It’s good for us to realize it now.

Steadfast in Righteousness

Verse 19: “He who is steadfast in righteousness will attain to life.” What that means is that you don’t just start the race. Steadfast means you’re righteous today, and you’re righteous tomorrow, and next week, next month, the whole year, the next year.

Steadfast—the one who endures until the end will attain to life. There are people who can be stirred up to righteousness just by hearing a sermon, but here it speaks about those who are steadfast in righteousness.

“He who pursues evil will bring about his own death.” Or, as Romans 8:13 says, “If we live according to the flesh, we shall die.” That’s exactly what it says here too.

The Perverse in Heart

Then verse 20: “The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord.” Now notice, those who are an abomination to the Lord—not those who are necessarily perverse on the outside. There are people who can be clean on the outside, but who are perverse in heart—meaning their motives and their intentions in life are different from what they appear to be on the outside.

They are an abomination to the Lord. It is the attitude of our heart, the goal and aim for which I live, that determines God’s opinion about me.

I’ll tell you something that’s encouraged my heart much and will encourage you too: the little mistakes that we make in our external life don’t disturb God so much. It’s like you think of your own child trying to help you in some way, and in trying to help you, makes a few mistakes. If you are a good father or mother, you won’t get upset with that child at all, even if they mess up something, because basically that child was trying to help you.

We have to think that God is much more understanding than any earthly father and mother. When we are seeking to live for Him and seeking to serve Him, we slip up here and there; it doesn’t disturb Him.

It is the one who is perverse in heart—who has got ulterior motives. He appears religious on the outside, trying to do so many spiritual things, but deep down, his ambitions and goals are not for the glory of God, but something for himself.

If I am seeking my own, I am perverse in heart. If I appear to be religious on the outside, but deep down, I am seeking my own, I am an abomination to the Lord. But if I am not seeking my own, I say, “Lord, I want to live for Your glory. I want to seek Your kingdom, Your will.”

Then, if I stumble and make a few mistakes, God just ignores it; it doesn’t disturb Him. Think of that. That’s why it is so important that in our heart we are not perverse and crooked, that we are honest and sincere and say, “Lord, my only ambition and goal in life is to glorify You, to seek Your kingdom, to be pure and holy before You.”

Blameless in Their Walk

We are perverse in heart and an abomination to the Lord, but the blameless in their walk are His delight. That means the wholehearted. Those who are blameless are those—the opposite of perverse in heart is wholehearted.

ALSO READ: Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Proverbs Chapter 10:12 to Chapter 11:12 – Zac Poonen

That means according to the light they have—that is the meaning of blameless. It’s not that we don’t make any mistakes. Your small child can write you a letter on your birthday, perhaps. Say a five-year-old child writes a letter to you on your birthday, and there will be so many spelling mistakes in it. It doesn’t disturb you because the letter is a blameless letter.

It’s not a perfect letter because of a lot of spelling mistakes, grammar mistakes that can be perfected, but it’s a blameless letter because it’s come with such a good heart. We have to see that in the same way with God.

There is a difference between being blameless and being perfect. We may not be perfect, but we can be blameless in the sense that my intention was good. Sometimes we try to help one another, and we are not wise; we do some things foolishly.

It doesn’t disturb God if our intention was really to seek the good of that other person. The other person may not understand. Well, we also have to humble ourselves and say, “Lord, give me more wisdom.” But always make sure that the intention of our heart is for the glory of God and the good of others.

Then many of our external mistakes don’t really matter too much. We are blameless. It says here that such people are God’s delight. When it says, “The Lord your God will rejoice over you with shouts of joy,” whom does He rejoice over?

The Righteous and the Wicked

He doesn’t rejoice over religious hypocrites who come and sit in the church to get a reputation for holiness, and deep down, they are seeking their own, seeking money, seeking honor, seeking gain for themselves in the world, and all the time want to have a religious whitewash on top of that.

God is certainly not rejoicing over such people, and I’ll tell you that. They are an abomination to Him, and the sad thing is most of them don’t even realize it. Most people who are seeking their own think themselves to be quite spiritual because they’ve got this religious whitewash on the outside.

What we need to see is those whose hearts are seeking God’s glory, who are sincere in their heart, blameless in their way—they are His delight. Even if they’ve got a few spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes in their life, they are blameless in their intention and motive.

Sin Will Find You Out

Verse 21: “Assuredly, the evil man will not go unpunished.” There’s a wonderful verse, I don’t know whether you know it, in the book of Numbers, which says, “Be sure that your sin will find you out.” That’s the verse that we need to remember: “Be sure that your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23.

In other words, you may think that that sin was committed there; nobody has seen it. There’s the verse that needs to come to our mind: “Be sure that one day that sin will catch up with us, and it will expose us and bring us the fruit.” That’s what it says here in verse 21.

“Assuredly, hand to hand,” it says, or like the modern slang says, “You can bet on it.” You can be absolutely sure that the one who is evil, one day he will be found out. But, in contrast, not only the righteous will be delivered, but the descendants of the righteous will be delivered.

Blessings for Future Generations

It’s amazing how righteousness blesses not only one generation but blesses the next generation. That’s something the Bible speaks about—that even the seed of the righteous will never beg for bread. Because the father was a righteous man, something of that blessing overflows on the children so that, at least as far as earthly things go, God provides for the need of the seed of the righteous.

It’s amazing. To seek righteousness, to seek godliness, it says in 1 Timothy 4, has God promised, not only in the life that is to come but also in this life. You see, in the days when there is inflation and the value of things goes up, the best thing to seek is righteousness and the kingdom of God.

Because there are pension benefits, family benefits, children benefits—everything in those who seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It’s the best thing in the world. All things will be added unto you. The descendants of the righteous will be delivered and will be blessed.

In other words, God will rescue the children of the godly.

Beauty Without Discretion

Verse 22: This is a good verse for all young people when they consider marriage, and also for young women to have a proper opinion about themselves. “As a ring of gold in a pig’s nose, so is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.”

In other words, if a woman does not have a certain modesty about her—the basic meaning of discretion means a certain modesty which women should have, which men need not have. But women need to have it because that’s necessary for women.

A person who doesn’t have that and who is so good-looking, and who in the face is really, actually a pig. In other words, a woman who doesn’t have modesty is a pig. It’s modesty that changes a woman from being a pig into someone attractive to God.

The beautiful face is just like this golden ring, you know, hanging on the nose of the pig. It’s very good for young men when they look at the opposite sex and consider marriage. Everybody in the world sees just this golden ring, you know, the beautiful face.

They get so taken up when they see this golden ring that they go and marry the pig. You see the folly of it—that’s the point here. You’ve got to be a real fool to marry a pig just because you want to get the golden ring hanging on his nose.

He’s going to live with that pig for the rest of his life. That’s what the word of God—think of the strong language the word of God uses for a woman who’s like that.

Character Over Beauty

The Book of Proverbs has its opinion about physical beauty. What is physical beauty without spiritual character? It is only a golden ring. It is golden; it has some value on earth. But the person is a pig—spiritually dirty.

That’s good for young sisters also to remember that even if you look into the mirror and you find that the mirror on the wall tells you that you’re the fairest girl in Bangalore or whatever it is, you’ve got to say that’s just a golden ring.

Don’t think too much of yourself because there’s a golden ring on that mirror. It’s your character that determines whether you’re a pig or whether you’re a child of God. In the Book of Proverbs, God’s eye is a meek and a quiet spirit, a certain modesty and reserve, discretion.

The word here in the margin used is taste. In the world, they speak about taste. People have got taste in the saris they choose and taste in the way they decorate their houses and taste in their colors and all that. Here it speaks about a spiritual taste that people need to have, particularly women.

How should a spiritual God-fearing sister be? To have a taste for that. If she doesn’t have that, it’s like a golden ring in a pig’s nose. A very important verse for young brothers and sisters, particularly.

Desiring Good for Others

Verse 23: “The desire of the righteous is only good.” I read it like this: that one mark of a righteous man is, if you open up his heart, you find that his desire for every other person is only good. He desires good for everybody he knows.

He may not be able to do so much for them; that’s another thing. But his desire is only that something good might come for them. He’s not happy when something bad comes to someone else. That’s not a righteous man.

A man who’s happy when something bad happens to someone—well, we don’t want to say he’s a wicked person, but there’s some wickedness there that needs to be cleansed out. It can come to us sometimes. We discover in certain situations when we hear some news about other brothers or sisters, whether the news is good or bad, our reaction often shows us whether we really desire the very best for others.

The very best—that’s the mark of a righteous man. The desire of the righteous is only good. Only good for others. What do you desire for that brother? Only good. What do you desire for that sister? Only good. That’s the mark of a righteous man. He desires only good for others.

But the expectation of the wicked is wrong. That means what the wicked can look forward to is judgment. We can read that verse in another way: that the good man can look forward to blessing and happiness himself, but the wicked man can only look forward to judgment.

The Principle of Generosity

Here is a wonderful verse, verses 24 and 25 together. They really teach the same thing. It’s one of those important verses in Proverbs that we all need to know. “There is one who scatters and yet increases all the more.” He’s speaking about one who’s generous. You’ll see that in the next verse.

“And there is one who withholds what is justly due, but it results only in want.” The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters others will himself be watered.

Now, what that basically means is that it is possible to give away and still become richer, it says in the Living Bible. It’s also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. The liberal man will become rich, and by watering others, he waters himself.

In other words, one who is concerned about the needs of others and is not stingy but generous to God and to His children, he will never lack in his life. When it says about scattering, the picture here is about a sower who’s got a whole bag of seed, and the seed is like all the material resources—money and other things that we have—that God gives us.

I can just store up all that for myself, and at harvest time, what do I have? Just some of the seed; some of it has become rotten, some of it the insects have eaten, and it’s much less than what I started out with one year ago. That bag has become quite small.

But another person who had the same size of bag, he didn’t just store it up in his house; he scattered it. At harvest time, he collects, and he’s got a hundred bags there. That’s the picture here: “He who scatters increases all the more.”

That’s the picture used in 2 Corinthians 9, where it says that if we are liberal and open-handed with what God gives us, God will be open-handed with us. Even though you think you’re giving, you’re actually going to end up having more.

But if you are stingy, you end up only in want. It says in verse 24, “He who withholds grain, the people will curse him.” That’s selfishness. But blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.

Selfishness and Greed

In other words, when there’s a time of shortage of something and you’ve got plenty of that, and you’re holding on to it—of course, we’re not involved in that type of thing, but in those days, people were. They were in business, and they would keep the grain till the prices go up.

“Oh, there’s a shortage of grain. Wonderful,” says this man who’s got grain in the house. “I’ll wait till it gets a little more short, and the prices will go up, and then I’ll make my money.” Such a man can never be a believer.

It’s impossible for such a man to be a child of God who has that attitude—that people are in such terrific need, and he’s hanging on to something which is necessary for their living just because he wants to make more money.

That was very true in the days in which, for us in different situations, we are not selling grain. We may not face ourselves in that situation, but we need to take that verse and apply it to our own profession and to our own situation and see whether such selfishness is our attitude.

We have something; we’re not using it, and someone else needs it, and we just sit on it. The person is probably desperately in need of it, and I hang on to it. I can be so selfish. When people know it, they’ll curse such a man.

Now, that’s something which we can look at carefully. We can see that God is righteous in what He says. Verse 26: “It is a time of shortage,” but He says there, “The blessing will be on the head of him who sells it.”

ALSO READ: TRANSCRIPT: Verse By Verse Study (Genesis 1:3 to 1:31 ): Zac Poonen

He doesn’t have to give it away free. He may not be rich enough to say, “Alright, here you are, take it all.” He sells it, but he sells it at a reasonable price. He doesn’t sell it in order to make a lot of money himself. No. There’ll be a blessing on him if he sells it.

Seeking Good and Finding Favor

Verse 27: “He who diligently seeks good seeks favor.” That means if I’m always seeking to do good—let me read that in the Living Bible: “If you search for good, you will find God’s favor.”

That means if you’re always seeking, “How can I do the good in my own life and towards other people?” God’s blessing will be on your life. But if you search for evil, you will find His curse. Yeah, that’s clear.

Then verse 28: In the Good News Bible, it says, “Those who depend on their wealth will fall like the leaves of autumn, but the righteous will prosper like the leaves of summer.” Or, as the Living Bible says in verse 28, “Trust in your money, and down you go. Trust in God, and you flourish like a tree.”

Trust in God, Not Money

See, it’s the two masters that Jesus spoke of—money and God. You trust in money, and you’re bound to go down. Money was never given to be trusted in or to be loved or to be hoarded. Money was given to be used.

Never to be loved or depended upon. That’s the mistake of a lot of people in the world. The opposite to that is to trust in God. You know, in Proverbs 3, we saw, “Don’t trust in your own understanding, but trust in the Lord.”

Here it says, “Don’t trust in money, but trust in the Lord.” The two things we should not trust in are our own cleverness and money. We depend on God.

He who troubles his own house—the next verse, 29—I’ll read it in the Living Bible: “The fool who provokes his family to anger and resentment will finally have nothing worthwhile left.”

That means a man who acts like a big dictator in his house, always provoking his wife and children to anger and resentment, and always making demands on them, shouting at them, and yelling at them—finally, he won’t have a home left. He’ll have nothing worthwhile left.

He will be the servant of a wiser man. A wise man is one who knows how to bless his house.

The Tree of Life

Verse 30: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life.” This is amazing that we read of the tree of life a number of times in Proverbs—the same tree of life that we read in Genesis. It says here that one righteous man, the fruit that comes forth from his life, can be like a tree of life for other people.

Think of the challenge of that—that we can be like a tree of life to other people. “He who is wise wins souls.” Wins people. One who is wise wins souls; he’s a blessing to other people.

Then verse 31: “If the righteous are rewarded on the earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner?” Now, it’s a question of what this means. I believe this is the verse that is quoted in 1 Peter chapter 4.

# Proverbs 11:12 – 12:21: Verse by Verse Study

If you look at that, you’ll understand this verse a little better. This is the verse that Peter quotes in 1 Peter chapter 4:18, where it says, “If it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless and the sinner?”

The meaning is this: that even a righteous person, when he does something wrong, is disciplined by God—a righteous man. He does something wrong, and He’s disciplined by God.

Then it says, “You can imagine what’s going to be the fate of the wicked and the sinner finally.” Think of Moses. He was such a righteous man, and yet once he smote the rock instead of speaking to the rock, and God punished him so severely: “You are not to enter the land of Canaan.”

There we get examples in the scripture of how strictly God dealt with righteous people. And there He says, “You can get a picture of how severe will be the judgment on the ungodly and the sinner in the final day.”

It doesn’t appear on this earth now; they seem to be having a cushy time. But even the righteous get a reward on this earth. How much more the wicked and the sinner.

The Value of Discipline and Correction

Chapter 12:1. It’s one of the things we have looked at before—that in order to become wise, God has to discipline us. There is no way to get wisdom apart from discipline.

“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge.” When God disciplines you and you love it—not just submit to it, but you love it and say, “Thank you, Lord, I accept that You are really loving wisdom.”

“But he who hates reproof”—reproof means correction. I just want to say this, brothers and sisters. It’s a number of times in the Book of Proverbs it speaks about loving correction.

If I hate correction—in the King James Version, it says he is brutish. Brutish means like a brute, like an animal. That’s something, you know, children you find so often—they get offended when they are corrected. That animal nature is there.

That’s something we have to grow out of quickly. We know that, I mean, those of us who are parents, when we correct our children, we know that it is for their good. But they don’t often understand it.

Very often, it’s exactly the same with us who are grown up—that when we hear a word of correction, it may be from God directly through His Spirit, it may be from some brother in the meeting, or it may be directly from someone older than us.

Then I can think about it, and I don’t like it too much, and I’m a little offended and a little hurt inside. What does it show? It shows that I’m not really interested in wisdom.

If I were interested in wisdom, I would say, “Thank you for that. Lord, thank You for what You spoke to me through that brother or sister. Really, that’s something I need to take heed of.”

I was hearing about one brother in Norway who spoke in a conference and said, “My wife told me one day that you seek your own right up to your ears.” That means you’re sunk in seeking your own.

He says, “That is quite a strong thing to hear from your wife.” Of course, she knows you better than anybody else, so he thought she must be right—that I must be seeking my own in a lot of things.

He took it to heart and began to judge himself and cleanse himself from it. That’s really something. Sometimes our wives tell us the truth. Don’t think that, “Oh, she’s very angry with me.” Usually, it’s when she’s angry that she tells you the truth.

When she’s not angry, she may just say nice things to you. So, hear it. There’s a word that perhaps you need there, which will lead you to wisdom.

The Righteous and Their Foundation

Verse 2: “A good man will obtain favor from the Lord, but He will condemn a man who devises evil.” This is something that we considered earlier—that it’s the intention of the heart that God sees.

That basic intention of your heart is good, and such a man will obtain favor from the Lord.

Verse 3: “A man will not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will not be moved.” Now there again it speaks about the root. This is something that we see much in the New Testament—the heart, the root.

When you get into the Old Testament, it’s only in the Book of Proverbs you find that emphasis coming out. That’s why I said the Book of Proverbs has got something of a New Testament, New Covenant taste and spirit in it.

The root of the righteous—check your roots because your security and your steadfastness are dependent on righteousness in the roots. The root of the righteous will be unshaken.

The Virtuous Wife

Then verse 4: “An excellent wife, or a virtuous wife,” and that virtuous wife is described later on in Proverbs 31. A virtuous wife is the crown of her husband.

We can define a virtuous woman as one who has the virtues of Christ, or is increasingly having them. Nobody has it in full, but is seeking it, realizing her own lack and poverty of spirit and seeking more and more of the virtues of Christ.

Such a virtuous woman, do you know what she is really? She becomes the crown for her husband. That means it’s a woman who ultimately makes a man a king in his home. That’s a tremendous challenge to all wives.

You can make your husband a king if you’re a virtuous woman. If your husband is like a slave and not a king, it’s because you’re not a virtuous woman. You can be a crown to your husband.

The word used for husband in the original Hebrew is the word for master. A virtuous woman is the crown of her master-husband. I wonder if you wives realize that God’s word calls you to recognize your husband as your master.

And there’s no disgrace there. Jesus was a servant, and that’s the example all wives have to follow. Your husband is your master, but she who shames him—in the Good News Bible, it says here that a wife who brings shame on her husband by something you do—maybe your husband is a God-fearing, upright, righteous man, and the way you behave and the way you conduct yourself, you bring shame on your husband.

It says here, “A wife who brings shame on her husband is like a cancer in his bones.” Cancer inside the bones of your husband. Think of that.

The opposite of that is to be marrow inside the bones of your husband. To be marrow inside the bones of your husband. Now I want to tell you something about marrow. If we don’t have marrow inside the bones, do you know that we can’t live?

Do you know that the blood cells are produced in the marrow in the bones? That’s where the blood cells are produced that keep us living. When a person gets cancer inside his bones, you can write him off. He can’t defend himself against germs.

A woman can be like that to her husband, it says—like cancer inside his bones by the way she treats him, by the way she speaks of him in the presence of the children or some other situation. Like a cancer.

The poor man’s resistance to spiritual disease is weakening. Think instead of that—that you can be a wife who is like marrow, strengthening your husband and ultimately strengthening the whole home, including yourself.

There are many exhortations to wives in the Book of Proverbs. It’s good to take these seriously.

Thoughts, Words, and Their Results

Verse 5: “The thoughts”—the Living Bible says, “A good man’s mind is filled with honest thoughts.” There again you find the emphasis on that inner life—the thoughts we think.

That determines whether we are good or bad. “An evil man’s mind is crammed with lies.” You find that particularly when you are in a difficult situation, and you wonder whether what the senior officer in the office or factory is going to ask, and you are thinking, “What shall I say? Shall I say it like this or shall I say it like that?”

There you see the possibility of lies coming in. Whereas a good man says, “Well, I just got to speak the truth. That’s all.” There is no question of, “Shall I say this or shall I say that?”

Yet you know that our natural tendency in our flesh is to think and scheme and say a lot of white lies in order to escape some difficult situation. An evil man’s mind is crammed with lies.

Verses 5, 6, and 7: It’s very interesting. Verse 5 speaks about thoughts, and verse 6 speaks about words. After thoughts come words, and verse 7 speaks of the result of the two types of thoughts and words.

First, we considered thoughts in verse 5. Now verse 6 speaks about words: “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright will deliver them.”

What does it mean to lie in wait for blood? We know this verse from Luke chapter 20. Let me read this: Luke chapter 20:20-21. It says here about the scribes and the priests: “They watched Jesus, and they sent spies who pretended to be righteous in order that they might catch Him in some statement.”

That’s it. One who is lying—the words of the wicked are lying in wait for blood to catch Him in some statement so as to deliver Him up to the rule and the authority of the governor. They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You speak and teach correctly, and You are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth.”

ALSO READ: Transcript: Verse by Verse Study – Genesis Chapter 21:1 to Chapter 22:10 – Zac Poonen

That happened to me some years ago when the local leader of Operation Mobilization brought one of the OM people to my house pretending to want to know about the new and living way and all that. All the time, he was taking notes, and later on it became evident that his only intention was to warn everybody in OM against this doctrine.

Well, he could have been honest about it. I don’t believe that the blessing of God can ever be on such a person who is deceptive. I mean, even if he disagrees, if he disagrees, someone be honest. Not with all this type of deception.

That deception itself shows that you are an agent of the devil, not an agent of God. An agent of God will never be deceptive. He may not agree with some doctrine; that’s fine, but there will be no deception there.

You know, pretending to be righteous and wanting to know the truth, and actually, you are a spy trying to find out something with some other motive. Well, that’s a serious thing.

“The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright will deliver him.” That means the words of the upright will justify him. Jesus said that: “By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned in the final day.”

Here is the result of it finally in verse 7: “The wicked are overthrown.” That’s the foolish man who built his house on the sand. His words were foolish; his thoughts were foolish, and his house is finally overthrown.

But the house of the righteous—that’s the house of the wise man built on the rock—in the hidden life, the foundation, the thoughts and the words, it will stand.

So we are never to become this scheming type of people, speaking words in order to get some information out of people or to put them in some trap. No. We are to be upright. No crookedness in our words, no scheming and deception.

Gaining Confidence Through Wisdom

Verse 8: “A man will be praised according to his insight.” A man will be praised according to his insight. What that means is—that’s a good exhortation, brothers and sisters.

Let me put it like this: Gain the confidence of other people. Live in such a way, speak in such a way, conduct yourself in such a way that people will begin to have confidence in you because of your wisdom and your insight.

“A man will be praised, but one of perverse mind will be despised.” If you find that brothers and sisters don’t have confidence in you, well, it’s not a good thing. It’s usually an indication of something in your own character.

Because I believe that if you are really godly, you may be despised out there by carnal Christianity, but the brothers and sisters in the church will be able to recognize one who is wise. They are able to discern one who is humble, one who has insight.

So it’s good to, particularly young people, to really conduct ourselves in such a way that over a period of years, people can have confidence in us. This is a great goal that you should have in mind so that you can help them.

It’s not that we want honor, but so that we can help them.

Humility Over Pride

Verse 9: I want to read this to you. It’s a little different in some other translations, but let me read it to you in the Living Bible: “It’s better to get your hands dirty and eat than to be too proud to work and starve.”

In other words, don’t stand on all your dignity and then you don’t have anything to eat. You might as well do some dirty job and earn a living and support yourself than stand on all this false dignity and prestige.

“It’s better to be an ordinary man working for a living,” the Good News Bible says, “than to play the part of a great man and go hungry.” You find a lot of that in the world—people who try to pretend to be very great, and really, there’s lack in their lives.

But it’s better to be an ordinary man willing to do dirty jobs in order to earn a living than to stand on prestige.

Compassion for All Creation

Verse 10: “A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast, but the compassions of the wicked are cruel.” What does it mean to have regard for your animals?

You see, we don’t have animals in our houses nowadays, but in those days, every home had animals. They had sheep, they had cows, they had donkeys to carry the load, and they had various things that every house needed.

The Righteous Man’s Care for Animals and Servants

There, you know, the donkey would know whether his master was righteous or not righteous by just one thing: that does he have any concern for me? You can keep on loading all the luggage on top of the poor donkey, and it says a righteous man has concern even for his animals.

No, that’s something we may think that animals, they got no souls; we can throw stones at them and kick them. I mean, particularly if they are weaker than us, that’s not good.

It’s alright to defend yourself from some dog coming to bite you or something, but otherwise to be cruel—you can see cruelty even in the way a man treats animals. That’s the point of this verse.

He has regard for the safety and the needs of his animals. Now we can say we don’t have animals today. What do we have? We got servants who work in our homes.

A righteous man has a concern for the needs and the safety of the one who serves him. So we can apply that to our own salvation. But the compassion of the wicked is cruel.

But a wicked person, even when he shows a little compassion, there’s a cruelty even in that compassion. That’s what it says here.

Hard Work and Diligence

Verse 11: “A hard-working farmer has got plenty to eat, but it is stupid to waste time on useless projects.” There’s a lot that the Word of God speaks about hard work and diligence.

We can apply that to the Christian life—that the one who is a hard-working farmer, as Paul tells Timothy, he gets a harvest quickly and a good harvest, and that’s righteous of God to do it.

The Desires of the Wicked Versus the Righteous

Verse 12: “Crooks are jealous of each other’s loot, while good men long to help each other.” In other words, wicked people—you know how crooks are—two bunches of thieves, they are jealous that that person has got more loot than me.

But righteous people are not like that. We can say, put it like this: that a wicked man, a robber, what does he desire? He desires other people’s things.

But you know, we may not be robbers, but we can desire other people’s things too. We can go into somebody’s house and desire his things. We’re not so bad that we’ll rob it.

We’re just one step short of that. But we’re basically facing in the same direction as the robber; only thing, we don’t take the next step of robbing it. But it’s really the same thing.

A wicked man desires other people’s things. But a righteous person, he longs—a good man longs to help the other. And that’s the opposite.

He doesn’t think in terms of what he can get that belongs to another, but what he can give to help that person.

The Power of Honesty and Truth

Verse 13: “Lies will get any man into trouble, but honesty is its own defense.” That’s also a good verse for us to bear in mind—that once you tell a lie, you get yourself into so many difficulties that then you have to tell another lie to cover up the first one, and then something else that goes on and on.

This is all practical advice for daily life, whereas if you’re honest, even if you get into a little difficulty, that is its own defense. Finally, the truth will protect you.

Verse 14 relates to the same thing: “Telling the truth gives a man great satisfaction.” Or, as the Good News Bible puts it, “Your reward depends on what you say and what you do. You will get what you deserve.”

Notice the emphasis again on words and our actions. What you say and what you do will determine your reward. You will get what you deserve.

Wisdom and Humility

Then verse 15: “Stupid people always think that they are right. Wise people listen to advice.” It’s a mark of stupidity to think that we are always right.

One mark of a wise man is—we can put it like this—that he knows that he has got certain blind spots. One mark of wisdom will be that I realize that there are certain areas in my life where I’m not doing it right, but I don’t see it. That’s a mark of wisdom.

Whereas a stupid person says, “No, I’m alright in every area.” There, a wise man is humble. He realizes that even when his intentions are right and to the best of his knowledge he’s doing right, there are still a whole lot of areas in his life where he may not be doing it rightly, and that’s why he’s glad to receive correction from somebody else.

Breathing Truth

Then verse 17: “He who speaks truth tells what is right.” A good man is known by his truthfulness. In the NASB here, it’s very interesting—the margin says, “He who breathes truth.”

In other words, truth has become so much a part of his life that he’s breathing it. It’s wonderful. Once upon a time, we breathed lies. Our whole life was lies.

Think that we can so cleanse ourselves; it’s not only our words, but that our breathing is truth. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, Revelation 14—the 144,000.

No guile was found in their mouth because they cleansed themselves. It’s a tremendous lot that the Word of God speaks about being truthful. Truthfulness is the mark of a good man, and a false man can be known by his lies.

Words That Heal or Wound

Verse 18: In the Living Bible, it says, “Some people like to make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise soothe and heal.” Here’s another mark of a foolish man: he likes to say something that’s cutting.

Some people like to make cutting remarks—something that will wound. You know that it’s going to wound, and you say it in order to wound. You say it in a sharp way. There may be truth in it, but it’s sharp, and it’s said with the intention of hurting.

It shows you’re a fool. But the words of the wise, they soothe and they heal. They don’t keep quiet; they speak, but they speak so that they’ll be soothing and healing.

There’s another contrast. It’s very interesting to see in the Book of Proverbs the tremendous contrast between the wise and the wicked being brought out in words. Words determine whether we are wise or whether we are foolish.

Truth Versus Lies

Verse 19: “Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed.” It’s always best to speak the truth because finally, it will be proven. If not here, finally.

It stands the test of time, but lies are soon exposed.

Hearts That Plan Good

Verse 20: “Deceit fills hearts that are plotting for evil, but joy fills hearts that are planning for good.” Like God told Cain, “If your intention is evil, then it’s going to be bad with you. But if you intend good, then your face won’t be cast down.”

That’s a good verse—that if our hearts are planning for good, then there’ll be joy in our faces. Our faces will be lifted up. But if our hearts are planning something which is not good, then we are deceptive.

No Real Harm Comes to the Righteous

Here’s a wonderful verse: “No real harm comes to the righteous.” Never. This is Romans 8:28. No real harm befalls the good, but there is constant trouble for the wicked.

It’s good for us to remember that. Maybe we can stop with that verse: “No real harm can ever come to a righteous person.” Even that which appears to be harm is not really harm. God makes it work for good to those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.