Straightforward

Greetings everyone. Let’s turn to Proverbs 24:17. Notice an important principle here; one that God judges us by, one that He looks for as He oversees our lives. It says here in Proverbs 24:17:

17 Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles:

18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turns away his wrath from him.

You’ve seen people who kick other people when they’re down. You’ve seen people who are so happy and so thrilled when others suffer pain and adversity. Even on television sometimes you will see crowds in the street firing rifles off and screaming and yelling and dancing and singing and being happy because they hear of their enemy in another nation suffering calamity—maybe an earthquake, terrible slaughter, maybe a bomb went off and blew up buildings and men, women, and children—and they’re going to rejoice about that because they consider them their enemy.

So it happens in that way, but it also happens one on one when somebody doesn’t like somebody else and the one they don’t like falls into rough times. They’re so happy about it, they’re so thrilled. They’ll say, “Well, he got his, good for him. I’m glad. I hope he suffers and suffers and suffers.” Well, that is an abomination in God’s sight. That is not the attitude Jesus Christ has, and it’s not the attitude that Christians should have. And that’s why He says here in verse 17, “Listen, if you do that, then this is what’s going to happen.”

17 Rejoice not when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles:

We ought to feel sorry for people who are in pain and who are suffering and who are in dire straits. Even if they’ve done something bad to us and even if they’re enemies, we ought to feel sorry that they’re going through such things. And if we don’t, but rather we’re happy about it, He warns us in verse 18:

18 Lest the Lord see it,—

And He will.

18 —and it displeases him,—

Or be evil in His eyes.

18 —and he turns away his wrath from him.

You see, He was going to take care of your enemy. He tells us, “You don’t need to take care of your enemy. I’ll take care of your enemy.” But if our enemy falls and we’re happy and rejoice over the calamity that he is in, God will see that and He’ll say, “Oh I see, you’re going to be happy over someone who is suffering terribly. Even if it’s your enemy—and you’re happy over that person or that nation suffering terribly—since you’re rejoicing about it, I was going to take care of them and I was going to square things up, I was going to mete out justice. But since you’re so happy about the misery they’re in, I’m simply going to draw back and change my plans and withdraw taking care of them.” And so what you’d hope would happen to them doesn’t happen because of the rotten attitude of rejoicing over their problems.

Once again, Christianity means we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. We return good for evil, not evil for evil.

19 Fret not yourself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked;

20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle—

or lamp

20 —of the wicked shall be put out.

As we’ve said before, don’t be worried about people who are evil and seemingly successful.

1. They’re not successful.
2. They will not be permanently successful.
3. They’ll pay dearly for their evil deeds.

And so we don’t need to worry about that. We just leave that in God’s hands and go ahead and take care of our responsibilities and take care of our business, and God will take care of them.

21 My son, fear thou the Eternal and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:

22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knows the ruin of them both?

Now, of course, a Christian will change and overcome and grow from bad to good through God’s help. A Christian will develop and walk in newness of life and bury the old man. That involves changing from the wrong way to the right way. But that’s not the kind of change that’s being talked about here in verse 21.

This is talking about people who do not have stability, people who are not grounded, people who are not steady and dependable and consistent. They’re always tinkering and tweaking and modifying and changing and wanting to come up with something new. Instead of learning more thoroughly the trunk of the tree doctrines and learning more thoroughly the right way of life, they get bored with that quickly and they want to shoot off over here, and experiment in this, and try out that, and meddle in this situation over there.

And so we are warned that we must fear God and respect the king. And don’t associate with those that have no stability, but rather they’re always shifting like the sand on the seashore.

22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly;—

The results of their unstable actions will suddenly come crashing down on them.

22 —and who knows the ruin of them both?

Someone who is shifty and shifting and changing all the time, and the calamity that brings will lead to ruin. Both of those things will lead to ruin, and you don’t want to be there when that ruin hits because the ruin will hit you as well. Stay clear of that, is what He’s saying.

23 These things also belong to the wise.—

The following things.

23 —It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

Or to show partiality. That’s in any situation. Racism is sin in God’s sight and it can come from all races toward all other races. God is fair, and He loves all of us equally. He is not a respecter of persons. He does not show partiality. He is not a Father who has children and some of them are His favorites.

It’s wrong when parents have favorites among their children. Every one of your children should be your favorites, and no partiality should be shown toward one over the other. Bosses should not show partiality toward workers. All of us should practice fairness and justice because that’s the way God is.

24 He that says unto the wicked, You are righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him:

In other words, we should not show partiality to anyone, and we should not call good evil and evil good.

24 He that says unto the wicked, You are righteous;—

That’s a lie, and that’s unjust, and that’s upside down—and that’s usually done to get something. People are going to see that and they’re not going to like it, and nations will see it and not like it, and God will see it and not like it. But notice this:

25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight,—

Or who straighten out a wicked situation and who deal with wicked people in the right way.

25 —and a good blessing shall come upon them.

Verses 24 and 25 are talking about truth and justice and equity, and that’s the way God is and that’s the way He wants us to be.

I want to turn real quickly to Isaiah 5, a cross reference here. Cross referencing the book of Proverbs is really a wonderful thing, and I’d like to do more of it but we have to keep moving along so I haven’t taken very much time to do that. I hope you’ll do it because with virtually every Proverb, you could cross reference at least one and probably 3 or 4 other verses in the Old and New Testament.

But notice here in Isaiah 5:20, and this will go with Proverbs 24:24–25. It says here in Isaiah 5:20:

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;—

And people do that, they blur the lines between right and wrong, and between good and evil, and it ends up being altogether wrong. God wants us to call evil, evil and good, good, and not to budge on that, but have a clear demarcation line—a delineation line between right and wrong, and good and evil that we don’t budge or bend on.

God will never budge or bend on what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is evil. He will call it what it is 100% of the time, and that’s what He wants us to do.

20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

And notice verse 23:

23 Which justify the wicked for a reward,—

Or for a bribe.

23 —and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

Woe unto them. They’re going to be in big trouble. Well, that’s what Proverbs 24:24–25 is actually talking about. So Isaiah 5:20 and 23 will help interpret that verse and will help clarify it.

26 Every man shall kiss his lips that give a right answer.

This is talking about a principle of when we do give a right answer, we will have favor in the eyes of man and favor in the eyes of God. It’s like a proper kiss from an appropriate person. It’s a pleasant thing, and it’s only done when a person likes you and loves you and cares for you and is close to you and approves of you. Well, that’s the kind of result that comes from giving a right answer. That kind of appreciation and that kind of affection and that kind of love will come because we took time to think it through and to arrive at the right answer. We didn’t pull a political shenanigan. We didn’t come up with some kind of expedient answer or judgment. But rather we did the right thing and we gave the right answer, and let the chips fall where they may.

And if we do that it’ll always come out right in the long run, and the consequences will always be great, even though it might not look that way for a little while. In other situations, it’ll look that way right away because it is that way right away. Doing the right thing is what works every time, and that’s what God wants us to do, and that includes giving the right answer.

Verse 27, a tremendous principle here in Proverbs 24:27:

27 Prepare your work without, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house.

In other words, first things first. If you find some land and you want a homestead, and you have a wife and kids, and this is virgin land, and it’s never been planted—you don’t build your house and then plant your crop. Because your house is not going to be what produces cash and profit, your crop will be. So what you do first of all is you find a decent dwelling place for your family and then you plant all your crops and you get your field ready and you get your crop in and then once that’s done, you start building your house. And then when your crop is ready to harvest, you’re going to be able to take it to the market and come back with some money, and if your house is not completed, you can complete your house.

But you see, if you neglect the field—if you neglect preparing for your future, is the principle—but you just want to be quick and build your house, you don’t know how you’re going to pay for it, you don’t have a job to pay for it, you don’t have a plan to pay for it, you just want to start building your house, you might get halfway done and run out of money and can’t complete it.

So this is talking about priorities. This is talking about planning. This principle is talking about doing what counts, doing first things first and then do what comes next and then do what comes next, and that way it’ll work. But if you skip down the line and you just want to do the quick thing right now and don’t do what is necessary in terms of preparing or working, or in terms of saving the money or planting the crop, or in terms of taking care of the outside, then you’re not going to have anything in the way of income, you’re not going to have anything in the way of a crop, you’re not going to have anything in the way of outside production, and you’re not going to be able to finish the home. You’re not going to be able to finish the next thing on the list. What a wonderful principle to think about.

27 Prepare your work without, and make it fit for yourself in the field; and afterwards build your house.

Be patient. You know, when you first get married you might not be able to buy a house. You might not be able to fill your house with furniture. Oh, if you go in debt and run up a debt of $20,000 or $30,000, or $40, 000, or $50,000—here you are a newlywed couple and sitting in a house with nice furniture, but you owe $50,000 or $30,000 or $40,000, or $10,000.

The best thing to do is operate within your budget and within your means. Maybe rent an apartment and then start saving your money. And as the money continues to come in and you’re blessed and you keep saving, then you can buy a starter home. And then you keep saving your money and maybe a few years down the road, you can sell that starter home and take that money and put it on a down payment for the home that you’ve been wanting—the home of your dreams—in which you can raise your family.

You do it in a proper way. You do it in a way that involves preparation. You operate within the means that God has given you. You exercise patience. You exercise temperance. You exercise wisdom and that works out so much better than just bypassing all of the steps that are required for success and grabbing what you want right now and then looking around and saying, “Oh no, we don’t have the money for this and we didn’t plan for this and we didn’t practice wisdom and temperance and self–control, and now we’re going to lose it all. We’re going to lose this house that we were too quick in buying. And we’re going to lose this furniture that we got on credit. And we’re going to have nothing because we didn’t prepare, we weren’t patient, we didn’t put first things first, and we didn’t take care of the business of preparing and planning and practicing restraint—keeping our appetites and emotions under control when we should have. So now, instead of enjoying the fruit of our labor, we’re going to have to start all over again and build back and it’s going to take years to do that.”

So if we will listen to what we read in the book of Proverbs, if we’ll put it in practice, it will save so much grief and bring about so much happiness. Notice here now in Proverbs 24:28.

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause; and deceive not with your lips.

And your neighbor is anyone. It’s not just who lives next door to you, it’s anyone else. So God says that we are to be truthful in all of our dealings. And when we speak, we’re to speak the truth. And we better not gossip against our neighbor. We better not lie against our neighbor. We better not falsify information and facts about our fellow man, no matter what the circumstance. We might say, “Well, I had the reason to.” Well, there’s never an acceptable reason to lie or to falsify the facts. Now, it says here:

28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause;—

There might come a time when, in order to clarify a situation, in order to make sure that justice is done, you do have to be a witness and you have to tell the truth and it might involve someone else. And that would be a cause to do that. But be careful because you might be being used, you might be being manipulated. So be careful and make sure that you don’t do that unless there is a just cause to do it. And if you do it, make sure you tell the truth. Don’t deceive or lie or use deception with what you say. That’s what verse 28 is telling us.

29 Say not, I will do so to him as he has done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

We’ve already mentioned how the Bible talks about the Christian principle of doing unto others as we would have them do unto us. And there are many verses in the Bible that say we are not to seek vengeance. Remember that God says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And so a Christian will not try to vindicate himself by seeking vengeance and by getting even and by paying back those who have done him wrong. That’s just carnal human nature. That’s the world’s way. That’s Satan’s way.

God’s way, and we see this in the life of Jesus Christ repeatedly, is to return good for evil, to forgive and to help those that need help whether they hate us or whether they are our enemy or not. Now, it has to be done in the right way and the right amount. There’s no point in just being crushed and being a throw rug. That’s not the point. But, where we can help, we should help—even though we’re helping somebody who didn’t help us when we needed it, even though we’re helping somebody who might have done a bad thing or said a bad thing toward us or about us. The godly way is not to pay back what they did to us.

See, in the Old Testament, it talks about eye for an eye and so on. That was in ancient Israel when they were a civil government and they were living under the statutes and judgment and the administration of death and the letter of the law. Now, upon repentance, we are to forgive and we’re not to take matters into our own hands and punish those who did evil to us or give them what they gave us. We put that in God’s hands and He takes care of it, and we go ahead and do the right thing.

Another scripture that helps to clarify this is over here in Romans 12:19—and this whole chapter of Romans is an extremely powerful chapter in Christian living. Let’s just notice here in Romans 12:19:

19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Eternal.

20 Therefore if your enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing you shall heap coals of fire on his head.

Now, that’s not why you do it—to heap coals of fire on his head. You do it because you’re showing love to your enemy. But it will convict him, or it will hopefully make him think. And notice what Romans 12:21 says:

21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

That’s Christianity in action, and that’s what God wants us to do and how He wants us to live our lives. So tie that in now with Proverbs 24:29 and it’ll make it even clearer.

29 Say not, I will do so to him as he has done to me: I will render to the man according to his work.

Don’t do that, but rather return good for evil as a Christian who lives life the way Christ lived it and wants us to live it.

30 I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

31 And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.

This is the habitation of a lazy person. You can see it today. You’ll drive by homes and the grass is not mowed, the trees are not trimmed, there’s junk in the yard—maybe an old car, old tires, old refrigerator and stove—the porch is dilapidated, there are no hinges on the door or screens on the windows. It’s just a big, ugly eyesore, a junk heap.

Quite often inside, there’ll be a big, color television set and lots of beer in the fridge and cigarettes on the table because the slothful will find a way to satiate their appetites. But they won’t find a way to clean up their yard and clean up their house and maintain and dress and keep their possessions and clean up their lives. And that’s the point that God is inspiring Solomon to tell us about here. Look at the results of being lazy, and it says here:

31 —the stone wall thereof was broken down.

You know, when they built stone walls in the time of Solomon, they didn’t cement them together. They’d just stack stones on top of stones and the movement of the earth and different things, eventually some of those stones would begin to slip and slide and fall down. And so you had to maintain that stone wall in order to keep it looking good and in order to keep it carrying out the purpose for which it was built.

But the slothful person didn’t maintain it and didn’t plow his fields and didn’t take care of his property. And therefore when you drove by you could see, well, that didn’t all happen by accident. A lazy, slothful, indolent, useless individual lives there. And why? Why did this all happen and why did this laziness produce that kind of results?

32 Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction.

You know, fools won’t learn from righteous people. But righteous people can learn from fools. They can learn what not to do and what not to be like, and that’s what he’s saying here. Here’s what I learned from this hideous–looking, rundown, old junk heap of a place. I learned that a slothful person lives there, and I learned that he was slothful in many ways, and I learned that he did too much of this:

33 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

“Oh, I just need a little more rest, a little more sleep. I need to watch a little more television, need to drink another beer, need to eat a little bit more. I won’t go to work today, I’ll go to work tomorrow. Well, I won’t go to work tomorrow, I’ll go to work next week. A little more sleep, a little more rest, little more laziness, little more snoozing, little more napping, little more eating, little more drinking, and here’s what happens:

34 So shall your poverty—

And it’s true spiritually as well as physically. If we put off praying, put off studying, put off keeping the commandments, put off being involved in God’s church and work, then spiritual poverty will come as well as physical poverty.

34 So shall your poverty come as one that travels;

Or as a prowler, or as one that just little by little, step by step it descends upon you and picks up speed and finally turns into this:

34 —and your want as an armed man.

A marauding, well–armed warrior will absolutely destroy everything you have. That’s the way poverty will affect your life if we are slothful, if we are lazy, and if our attitude is, “I just want a little more sleep, I want a little more time off, want to eat a little more, want to drink a little more, sure don’t want to go to work, sure don’t want to clean the house, sure don’t want to clean the yard. I sure do not want to take care of business.”

Let’s make sure we learn lessons from fools so we don’t become like them. We can’t count on them learning lessons from us who are trying to do the right thing, but we can sure learn lessons from others who are trying to do the right thing, and we can learn lessons from those who are not doing the right thing by making sure we’re not going to be like them and do what they do and end up the way they do.

Okay, we’ll stop there and pick it up next time in Proverbs chapter 25. This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.