[0:00] The main statement for the night is this, the eyes of the Lord are upon our lives. The eyes of the Lord are upon our lives. We're going to look at all the verses in Proverbs chapter number 20, and you say, how are you going to do that?
[0:12] Quickly and maybe awkwardly, all right? Looking at all of them, because as we've been through different Proverbs, oftentimes there's a theme that develops in the Proverbs. But tonight, we're going to hit many different practical applications.
[0:26] And I like being in Proverbs on Sunday night when the kids are in here. There's not a kids program. Proverbs is very practical. So Hamilton, if I'm not speaking in a way that you understand, that is my fault.
[0:37] It is definitely not Proverbs' fault, okay? I'm going to try to get some stuff right on the shelf for you. You with me, Hamilton? All right, good. If he wasn't listening before, he sure is now, all right? No, he was.
[0:48] It's Hamilton. You know, we all know he's listening. And if he isn't preaching, he's listening, right? And Proverbs chapter number 20, verse 8. I'm not going to read the whole chapter because, as I said, we're going to walk through these together.
[0:59] The verse I'd like to start us out on, verse 8. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
[1:14] I am grateful that we have a good and gracious king. We also have an all-seeing king that sits upon the throne of judgment. Here in this proverb, it says that if there is a king, that his rights, the way that he lives, the way that he judges, ought to prevent inside of his kingdom evil from happening.
[1:38] Because people know they are under the watch care of the king. What a great word picture. That knowing that the Lord is upon our lives, it ought to scatter away evil.
[1:49] In a society, knowing that the king is watching ought to prevent evil inside of it. This takes a great word picture for us tonight. You're all familiar with 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9.
[2:01] That would tell us that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, but show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him. The idea that God's eyes run to and fro and that he sees us at all times shouldn't be new to us, but we often need to be reminded of it.
[2:19] Many times it's convicting, other times that it's comforting, but it's always true. This passage that the eyes of the king would scatter evil, there would be a lot of application, certainly, that the principle stands that a just government roots out the evils of society.
[2:34] And so why don't we speak about that matter more often? Why don't I speak more about the matters of that? If our country, if our government was to follow biblical commands and live out the character of Christ, then we would have less evil in America.
[2:51] And it's just simply this. They're not listening, but you are. They're not listening, but we live under another governance. It means that even I can do things that are legal, but they're still not Christian or moral.
[3:03] And there's things that could happen. So we live under a greater kingdom, and that is the one of our God. But it is certainly true that a just government would scatter evil. It should reward good, and it should punish evil.
[3:15] And when you vote, that's what we're voting for, is the people that would give us a fair and balanced government. And so let's talk a little bit more about this king. God knows my heart better than any king could know those in his kingdom.
[3:28] Proverbs 20, 27, the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly. You may be disappointed to hear this, but there has been times that I have sped to the church, and I did not get a ticket, all right?
[3:45] I don't try to make a habit of it. There's no reason. I live four minutes away. Speeding doesn't do much to get me here, all right? It's the red lights that are the problem. But in the times that I have, nobody said anything about it.
[3:59] Nobody came afterwards and saw me. But the eyes of my king, nothing is hidden from him. He searches all the inward parts. The sins that I've committed, the thoughts that I've had, nothing is hidden from my king.
[4:14] And that's why the eyes of the Lord are upon my life. It should be such a strong motivator for all of us. So I'm going to give you out of this Proverbs some of the things that I do not want the king to see out of my life.
[4:28] And as I said, they're not connected as their Proverbs, but they're all true. And then young people, which seems like most of them are over here, and Brother John's over there. And so I'm just kidding. The young people, when I used to work at, I used to go Christian camps in the summer, and it's something I love that maybe you wouldn't, and I know this because I've worked at a camp that you guys came to, and you didn't love this, all right?
[4:48] I love the control and the order. I love that somebody gave me a booklet and said, this is what you do. Brother John says amen to that, all right? He does his Bible devotions in Excel.
[4:59] Don't ask me how he can do it, but he does, all right? Some people like control and order. And I love that about going to the camp. I love the order and the structure to it. Well, this proverb is your heavenly Father saying, I'm going to give you some wisdom that's very practical.
[5:14] And as believers, we ought to be grateful for it. Like, thank you, Lord. Thank you for just laying it out there for us and telling us what it is that we ought to live our lives.
[5:26] King, thank you for telling us how we should live our lives, what is evil, what should be scattered, and what should be ran to. So the first thing that I would say is, I do not want our king to see me drunk, and I do this by not drinking nor needing to drink.
[5:42] Verse 1, Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. There is a real possibility to be deceived by wine and strong drink, and if you are deceived by them, you're not wise.
[6:01] Alcohol is made a fool out of many men. I've seen it. Others in here, you may have seen it as well. Alcohol, outside of the scriptures, which does dictate, I want it to dictate my life.
[6:14] If I did not have the scriptures, I personally would still avoid alcohol. I've shared this story before when I was a 12-year-old kid in the back of a car that was going way too fast with a drunk father driving.
[6:24] I knelt down and I said, God, if I get out of this car, I will not participate. I will never be involved in that. And I made that commitment to him. So this is what I know. I know that the Bible teaches that drunkenness is sin.
[6:38] I know that for sure. And I will take the scriptures and I will show you that the Bible says that. But many people won't, very few people would ever argue that. This is what I also believe to be true.
[6:49] Almost all forms of common alcohol today would be considered strong drink. That almost anything that you would get at the store today, the Bible would call it strong drink and say that it was to be avoided.
[7:01] And then also, I would say what I plan to do is I plan to live out and encourage others to live it out. Simply, you won't be drunk if you don't drink. And that's always worked for me. And so that's going to continue to be my plan.
[7:14] And I don't think you should play with it. Stephanie and I went to a fundraiser that was for families. And we came home. We looked into our gift bag and there was a little thing of vodka, a little bottle there.
[7:26] And you would have thought we would have burned our house down to get away from it. It scared me to death. I did not want it in my home. And we got it out immediately because we don't play with it. We don't play with fire in our home. We don't play with alcohol.
[7:37] And I believe that. And another thing I would say that I believe or I know to be true is unlike other areas of life where you must be involved with something, but you're told to have it in moderation, alcohol isn't anything that I need.
[7:50] I could have an unhealthy relationship with food. I could have an unhealthy relationship with many things in my life that God gave me. But I don't have to have any relationship at all with alcohol.
[8:01] I don't need it. I don't live into a time that when if I was even on my deathbed that I would need it. I have other medical treatment that's needed. So the thing that I can tell you that I know is the Bible teaches against drunkenness, but I can tell you that I believe is that all forms of common alcohol today are strong drink.
[8:18] And what I would encourage you to do is don't drink and you won't get drunk and you'll be available for people when they need you. Man, you have too much going on in your life for your kids to call you and you say, I'm going to need two or three hours to sober up.
[8:30] No, you not only need to be able to say, I'll be there for you. You need to be able to hit your knees and pray to the God of heaven. What a situation to be in. I very much could take the next 15 minutes and say some Bible things and some non-Bible things that convince you of that.
[8:45] But I'm going to move on from that. I do not want our King to see me drunk and I do this by not drinking nor needing to drink. I don't need to drink. I have Jesus.
[8:55] I can find my comfort where it belongs in Him. I don't need any idols in my life to meet the needs that Jesus has had that I want the gospel to meet my every need.
[9:06] Number two, I do not want our King to see me being easily provoked because I know my anger can be destructive. Just as easy as number one has seemed to be for me, number two has been equally as hard for me.
[9:18] Proverbs 20 verse 2, The fear of a king is as a roaring of a lion. Whoso provoketh him, the anger sinneth against his own soul. The king in a kingdom has the ability in his wrath to cause great destruction upon somebody's life and upon their soul.
[9:35] Because of the power of a king over his people, it is unwise to anger them. He has a real power. I have influence upon my kids and other people and I should respond in a loving manner to them, not as a roaring lion because my response can hurt people.
[9:53] And so I don't want the Lord, my King, to see me responding to people in a way that is hurting them because I have that ability. Every one of you have the ability in here.
[10:03] Every teenager has that ability in here. We all have somebody that your response has the ability to hurt them and that one is so much harder. Number three, I do not want our King to see me meddling where I should not meddle.
[10:15] That's how the Bible says it. The Bible says it. Proverbs 20 verse 3, It is an honor for a man to cease from strife, but every fool will be meddling.
[10:26] But every fool will be meddling. All right? And it couldn't be any more plain than that. Foolish people meddle. The busybody, it says in 1 Peter 4 verse 15, But let none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evildoer or as a busybody and other men's matters.
[10:45] The busybody, the fool who meddles in things that he should not meddle in, is put in the same category as a murderer and as a thief. I'm like, calm down.
[10:57] All right? Like, really? Is that true? But if you think about it, the murderer takes life away from people. The thief takes something away from people. The busybody takes things away from people.
[11:08] The busybody can take life away from people just as well. Wars are fought with pens and words just as much as they're fought with guns and anything else, right? And so, I do not want the king to see me meddling in things that I should not meddle.
[11:22] He's given me enough to do, right? He's given you enough to do. I mean, the Great Commission is often neglected because we have found lesser commissions in our lives such as this. Our words should add value to conversations in life.
[11:35] Proverbs 20 verse 15, There is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. Human teachers, we are given commission to take God's word and His revelation and to teach it to other people.
[11:49] People ought to say that His lips and His words are valuable. They're precious. That when He speaks, it adds value to my life. Nehemiah 8.8 So they read in the books and the law of God distinctly and gave the sense and caused them to understand the reading.
[12:03] That there's a work to be done. Like when we say that we only need the Bible, it's true that we only need it as our source of authority, but it's arrogant to say that I don't need the Bible taught from other people.
[12:17] It's arrogant if I was to say it, be arrogant if you would need to say it. I need the words of God taught to me from other people. I read it for myself, but the Bible tells us, Romans 15 and 14, And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you're also full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
[12:37] That I need to be listening to people who have lips that are of knowledge, that are as precious jewels. And so when the king looks down here, I don't want him to see me meddling in other people's lives, but I pray that he would see me adding value to people's lives by the way that I'm speaking to them.
[12:58] Another one here, verse number four. I do not want the king to hear me making lame excuses for the responsibilities he has given me. Here's a lame excuse, Proverbs 20, verse four. The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold.
[13:11] Therefore, shall he beg and harvest and have nothing. Harvest normally happen after the first rain in the springtime. The ground had been frozen. Everybody has to do it at the same time.
[13:23] But there was somebody who said, I just can't do it because it's so cold. I can't understand that. I hate being cold, you know. But the excuse that a God-given responsibility and says the lazy person is eventually going to have to work.
[13:37] They're either going to have to work on the day they were supposed to work and provide or they're going to have to go out and beg. And it says that going out and beg will not pay as well as it would to do the job that you've been given because when you beg, you will have nothing for it.
[13:50] So when it's time to plant, we should be planning. When it's time to study, we should be studying. When it's time to have that conversation, we should be having that conversation. When it's time to not work and it's time to play, then that's what should be happening as well.
[14:03] But to everything, there is a season and I don't want to be making lame excuses for the responsibilities God has given me. Teenagers, young people in here, can I tell you the problem with getting good at making excuses is that it is a skill that will not serve you well the rest of your life.
[14:22] Don't get in the habit of it. Just own stuff, you know. Parents say, hey, have you done your homework? Did you take out the trash? No, sir, I did not, but I'm going to now. When you get good at making excuses, it's the only thing you're ever good at, right?
[14:35] The person that's good at making excuses is usually the only thing that they're good for. Don't make lame excuses for that. I know that's not how the Bible words to use lame, but that's what I'm using it for here tonight, all right?
[14:46] Don't use lame excuses or responsibilities that are given to you. Another one here, verse 6. Most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness, but a faithful man, who can find it?
[14:58] I don't want this king who looks down upon my life seeing me cover my lack of integrity by writing my own press releases. That every one of us profess their own goodness.
[15:10] You ask anybody if they're good and they're going to tell you that they are. The Bible says that but a faithful man, who can find it? Everybody says that they're living a good and virtuous life, but that is not the case for most people.
[15:23] Who I am should come out in my conversation. Proverbs 20, verse 5. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Like how Adrian Rogers puts it, he says, what's down in the well comes up in the bucket.
[15:38] What's really who you are is going to come out in the bucket and a wise person, a man of understanding will draw it out from you. That, um, you ever had a conversation with somebody and they just seemed to really know how to have that conversation and they knew they asked good questions.
[15:50] That's a man of understanding. They're a person that gets to really know who people are in a short amount of time talking to them. And that's who we, that's what we should be worried about. Not worried about what we appear to be, but be working on that B level of our lives.
[16:05] Um, my, verse 7 says, the just man walk with an integrity and his children are blessed after him. My children should be blessed by my walk with the Lord. That, um, the things that I could make the outside world believe about me don't help my kids at all.
[16:23] My kids aren't on social media. My kids really don't think a whole, care a whole lot about what you think about me, um, for good. And, you know, they just don't. I mean, I don't, any of you received the survey lately where they ask you if they thought I was doing a good job?
[16:38] No, they don't. They don't. They have enough information for themselves. And it ain't always pretty. But the Bible says that they should be blessed by my integrity. Meaning that who I am should first be a blessing to my kids and if it's not a blessing to them then it's of real no, it's of no use.
[16:55] I mean, if it's only of, if the only use of it is to make outside world think something of me, it's of no practical use. It's of no real value. And so, my children should be blessed by my walk with the Lord.
[17:07] There is no hiding who we really are. Even a child, verse 11, is known by his doings, whether his work be pure and whether it be right. I mean, at a young age we've already formed opinions about kids, right? If you know, if you see, if we hear a noise right now we might guess.
[17:21] We'd see if certain people are in the room, alright? We'd see if they're on the front row or if they're in a different place, alright? I'm talking about you, Paul. Alright? I'm making sure you know I'm talking about you. Alright? And you would say is that, you know, if you hear something crash you form an opinion at a young age which means in a short amount of time there's enough information about the way a person has lived their lives to come to an opinion so how much more for all of us in here that are older that people begin to know who we are because even as a child people get to know you by your doings.
[17:51] And if people aren't just listening to us they are watching us. Proverbs 20 verse 12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye the Lord hath made even both of them. God gave the people and your kids around you not only ears to hear but they also gave you eyes to see.
[18:08] And that's a shame, isn't it? It's a lot easier. This is the easy part of life in ministry. This is the easiest place for me to be a dad right here is I can say these things but they also see those things in my life.
[18:24] And knowing that they're watching me isn't enough to motivate me. The kids are watching it doesn't motivate me enough. God is watching. That's what I need to be mindful of.
[18:35] The king is watching at all times. I do not want the king to see me using unfair business practices. Verse 10 Divers' weights and divers' measures both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.
[18:48] It talks about a false balance that you're not using the right type of way to measure something. It is to say that Subway was selling us a foot long but it was only ten and a half inches.
[18:58] Alright? Come on people. Alright? Do you all know this about Subway? Don't get me going now. Alright? They said it was a foot long. Then they said it's not really a measurement it's an expression. Alright? I'm like well here's ten dollars and they're like well that's two dollars it's really an expression.
[19:12] Alright? Just take my money. Take my monopoly money. Alright? That's not a foot long this ain't real money we're all pretending it's just the game people and man it fires me up I'll tell you right now.
[19:23] And so using a false measurement is an un it's not good practice in business but the king is watching. Do not be deceptive with our dealings with others. Verse 14 It is not it is not saith the buyer but when he's gone away then he boasts this meaning that he told you something the guy at the used car lot says no man that engine light don't pay attention to that that doesn't mean anything that's just to give you some you know some color on the dash there it's not it's not and then when you drive away like got another one I tricked them don't be like that because that person may never know you put sawdust in the transmission but when you but God sees it God sees your dealings with people which means that you may do something that's honest and it's costly and nobody knows that you did it the right way but the king knows and that's enough for you and I.
[20:16] We should be careful of smooth talkers Verse 17 bread of the seat to a man but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel probably the best dessert I ever had before was my English teacher made monkey bread do y'all know what monkey bread is it's cinnamon and it pulls apart well my English teacher made some monkey bread and it was in this kitchen at the school and me and my buddy Justin we decided we were going to get into the monkey bread and we ate we ate some well she comes in the English class and she takes the monkey bread and she's holding it up and she says somebody got into the monkey bread and because of that none of you are going to get it and she just dropped it in the trash can well me and Justin we just couldn't stop laughing and they're like why are you laughing and we're like we already had our monkey bread and it was awesome you know she's like go to the office you know and we thought it was funny until about halfway to the office and we're like man that monkey bread is not worth what's about to happen thankfully we had a young principal and he thought it was quite funny as well that we got our monkey bread and so if there's a time where the laughter will turn to misery the bread of the seat is sweet to a man but afterwards his mouth will be filled with gravel you know you talk to somebody you talk about things that you shouldn't and in the moment it feels enjoyable but then afterwards like that didn't feel good that's not what
[21:41] I'm supposed to be about let's see I got like five more let me pick one here I'm going to skip a couple verse 13 I do not want our king to see me sleeping when I should be awake nor do I want him to find me awake when I should be sleeping I'm going to end on this one young people then we're all going to go home and go to sleep early it is God's will alright after the afterglow here I'm going to say it one more time for those in the back row that weren't listening alright I do not want our king to see me sleeping when I should be awake nor do I want him to find me awake when I should be sleeping verse 13 love not sleep lest thou come to poverty open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread and so I want to live a life where I receive wise counsel from the Lord and I recognize my limitations recognizing my limitations in life says that I ought to go to bed when I'm supposed to go to bed recognizing that if I love sleep then I don't deserve the blessings and the things that God has in my life so I don't want him to see me sleeping when I'm supposed to be awake verse 18 says every purpose is established by counsel and with good advice make war that we ought to recognize that we need wise counsel in our lives and that we have our own limitations
[23:00] I'm not omnicompetent I don't know everything about everything that's Chris Fisover he knows a little bit about everything I promise you test them after the service okay I don't know much about a lot of things but the Bible tells me that I need to live within the limitations that I have which means there's things I don't know about and I need to get help from other people there's also things that I can't do and I just need to go to sleep but when I go to sleep I don't need to love it I don't need to just hide from my life from there and I don't know if you've ever experienced that before but I have when you feel depressed and you feel discouraged that sometimes sleeping is the only way that you can get away from it and that's a loving of a sleep that you shouldn't be doing and we kind of avoid that and the Bible tells us that we should not be be involved in those things I'll get to the others on another night that's the nice thing about this being a regular gig as I'll get back here next Sunday night right let me end with this verse for you it says in verse number 9 who can say that I have made my heart clean
[24:09] I am pure from my sin you know you can live according to these few proverbs that I gave you and then all the rest of them and you would still not be a person that measures up to the standard in which God gave who is it that can say that my heart is clean and I am pure from my sin nobody with real humility and integrity 1 John 1 8 if you say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us who can say that I have made my heart clean no man but thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness and he is pure from a sin who is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus there's proverbs that we don't live up to and when I get to Jesus I'm never going to tell him hey king I know that you were watching the whole time did you see how wonderful I did that's not my story my story is say God I did not make myself clean I cannot come to you pure in myself I have to ask for the blood of Jesus maybe you're in here the night and you would say
[25:11] I know that I know you named like six or seven of God's standards and I know that I didn't live up to those if I was to talk about the ten commandments you'd say I know I didn't live up to those as well and so who in here can say that they are pure and they've made themselves clean nobody that's only something that Jesus can do and so if you're in here the night and never put your faith and trust in him don't go to the proverbs looking for a list of things that you can follow those don't belong to you what you need is the blood of Jesus supplied to your account what you need is to ask him for forgiveness but those of us that have now recognized that we're part of a kingdom and that the eyes of the Lord are upon us we say Father would you tell me how I should look at alcohol Father should you tell me how I should look at sleep Father would you tell me how to run my business Father will you tell me how to use my words we're constantly looking to him to tell us and those commandments aren't grievous to us they're wonderful and we're grateful for it so the eyes of the Lord are upon us and we say thank you Lord thank you for watching after us thank you for giving us such clear commands of how to live out our lives let's pray together and then let's sing that song that they sung earlier where we speak about how good he is as a king let's bow our heads with every head bow and every eye closed and before I pray
[26:27] I don't know if there's somebody in here tonight and you just don't know where you're at in regards to salvation do you know that you have broken God's commands and you need him as a savior somebody you need to find somebody tonight you need to talk to them you need to know that you can't you can't make yourself clean but I pray for us in here as brothers and sisters in Christ that we will recognize that he has given us some clear commands and to not obey them or just to simply to act like he does not exist let's not be like that Heavenly Father Lord we know your eyes are upon us and you have seen us and you know if we're living according to your commands and if we're happy about the fact that the eyes of the Lord are upon us or if this is something that we begrudge I pray that my brothers and sisters in here tonight would be rejoicing in the fact Lord I thank you for such clear and practical teaching about very relevant things in our lives I pray that all my brothers and sisters in here would want to live according to your word
[27:29] Lord we don't meet that standard so many times Lord there's proverbs that I know that I don't live according to Lord I don't want that to be the case but I'm grateful Lord that you do not see my righteousness based on my ability to perform but you see it based upon the death of your son in my place because of that Lord I know that you're good and you're a very gracious king in Jesus name I pray Amen