[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles. Let's go to Proverbs 11. And I'm going to get you involved. I want you to talk.
[0:11] It's a fellowship. You've got to talk loud so that everybody can hear. There's no PA system and there's no verses. And this is a collection of Proverbs. You know, a proverb is a saying, a short, pithy saying with a lot of truth in it.
[0:27] And so we've got a whole collection of Proverbs. Now, I have attempted to join them together in some sort of outline. But I will tell you up front that it is a sorry attempt.
[0:40] But I would challenge you to get... It's not like preaching the book of Acts where you can just tell the whole story. It's not like going to Ephesians where there's a paragraph that says something. This is like saying after saying.
[0:52] We've got all kind of Proverbs. There are all sorts of American Proverbs. Can somebody tell me an American proverb? One of your Proverbs. Anybody ever heard a proverb? A saying, sir?
[1:03] A penny saved is a penny earned. That's a proverb. All right, somebody else give me another one. What? Waste not, won't not. All right, let's get another one. Give me one more. What?
[1:15] When you reap what you sow. That's a no. Give me another one. Early to bed. Early to rise. All right. Now then, let's put those together and make a sermon. That's hard.
[1:26] So, you know, you could take forever and take one pithy saying at a time. Tonight, I'd like to speak to you about early to bed, early to rise. And I could try to tell you that. The Proverbs aren't promises.
[1:39] They're Proverbs. And there's funny stuff in the Proverbs. And it blew my mind when I learned it. For example, the Bible says, turn up a child in the way she'd go. When he's old, he'll not depart from it. I took that as a promise until I read the verse that said, if you have a fool for a son, I'm sorry.
[1:56] So I'm like, how can you turn up a fool and not be sorry? You can't. You're just stuck. Go read the book of Proverbs. It says, you know, don't rebuke a fool.
[2:06] Next verse says, rebuke a fool. One of them is, if you twist his nose, it'll bleed. That's a good proverb, amen? Can I try that? Oh, and so I just want you to know I'm putting them together as best I can.
[2:19] I'm in no hurry to get through them. But they're truth. They got truth. God put it in there. So it's good stuff. And you need it. But you can't expect me to cover chapter 11 like I really should.
[2:29] We probably need a long time. So I'm going to have you read a verse. And then I'm going to kind of talk to you about what I think. And maybe you can tell me what you see in that proverb, as long as you don't get long-winded and everything else.
[2:41] Because I'm going to cover a whole chapter in one night. So in Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 1, I'll go ahead and tell you what I'm counting this as. I'm putting together several different verses.
[2:52] And the first point is, God hates dishonesty in business. God hates dishonesty in business. And I put, as a sub-point here, live out your faith, even in your business.
[3:05] God hates dishonesty. Live out your faith. I think that's pretty much what you're going to see as we read these. So who will read Proverbs chapter 11 and verse 1? Proverbs 11.1.
[3:15] Go ahead, sir. What's your name, Solomon? In order to your name? Jonathan. You come here all the time? Okay. Because I'm old and I'm forgetful. But I know you.
[3:26] Jonathan what? Stillmo? Can you spell that? Oh, he don't know how to spell it either. All right, Jonathan. I'm glad you're here. Where are you from? With Stuart.
[3:38] Okay. I'm glad you're here, Jonathan. Go ahead and read that. Proverbs 11.1. Okay. What do we got? Somebody talk to me. Anybody talk to me.
[3:48] What's going on in the chapter? In the verse? In the Proverbs? Jose, you're raising your hand. It's your turn to explain it. All right. Who's got it? What's it saying?
[3:59] In your plain English, what's it saying? Nobody's going to judge you. Don't worry about it. Yep. Make sure that you give a fair product for a fair price.
[4:15] And basically, you know, you probably, you can charge about what you want to charge for a pound of beans. Just make sure a pound is 16 ounces, not 10. You know, you ever gone to the steakhouse and you buy a steak and they tell you it's a 12-ounce steak and when it comes, it don't look like but about eight?
[4:33] I kind of wonder if I had a Proverbs 11.1 problem. But I never do say that to them. I'm sure it wasn't when they started. It shrunk on the grill. Amen. Or how about those McDonald's hamburgers?
[4:44] You see the pictures that they advertise and then you see what you get when you buy one and somebody can take good pictures. I wish they would take my picture. But look, a false balance is something that God hates.
[4:56] Don't cheat. Don't cheat. God hates that. God wants us to do what's right. A just weight is his delight. I want to read you some more verses or give you some more verses.
[5:07] But just let me, you know, the Proverbs weren't meant. What are the Proverbs? It's a man talking to his son. These aren't really salvation things. These are a man talking to his son.
[5:21] But as he talks to his son, he tells him good, wise things to do. And every one of them would drive me to the Lord. It's my nature to want to cheat people. Now, I don't want to cheat, cheat, cheat.
[5:31] I do not want to cheat, cheat, cheat. I don't want to cheat. A little bit. I mean, I want one sliver off that pound. Just one. But if you take enough slivers off, you'll get you a pound out of there somewhere.
[5:44] By the way, we do that quite often. If you're honest, I'm just going to make you mad. Like we arrived three minutes late to work, so you didn't give a full hour for an hour. That's a false weight, isn't it?
[5:56] A break's 15 minutes and you took 30. That's like 15 minutes. You'll say, they paid me for a 15-minute break. I'll just take 30 because everybody does. So, in other words, the Bible's really getting where I live.
[6:08] A false balance is an abomination. God likes it when you do what you're supposed to do. Live out your Christian life. Live out your Christian life. I'll just read this since we don't have a screen.
[6:20] But Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 35, the Bible says, You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in metyard, in weight, in measure, just balances, just weights, a just ephah, a just hen shall I have.
[6:35] I am the Lord your God. And which brought you out of the land of Egypt. So, God hates cheating and taking advantage. Somebody read verse 26.
[6:46] I just put these together. You may say to me later, I don't really think that verse belonged there. Go ahead, Greg. What's Proverbs 11, 26 say? Now, I know he quit reading because his lips quit moving.
[7:04] I am too deaf. Did you all hear that? Look at the verse. Proverbs 11, 26. What's going on in that verse? Somebody tell me in your own words what's happening in Proverbs 11, 26. It's just business.
[7:16] What's happening? Yeah. Yeah. But basically, you know what he's basically doing? He's kind of working the market. Like, if I don't sell my beans and I hold the beans out, people want it.
[7:30] What is it? Demand? Supply and demand. I'll make sure to control a little. And so the guy gets hated. That's what he says to him. He said, he that withholds the corn, people curse him. But bless it on the guy that sells it.
[7:42] I got the corn. I ain't going to sell it to you. Unless you're going to pay me a better price, I'll wait until tomorrow. So don't manipulate the market. Maybe that's what you can take from that. Maybe someone else has a better answer.
[7:53] That's what I put down. Look at verse 3. I think it could go under this business part. Under this business part. Somebody read me Proverbs 11, 3. Who will read it? Go ahead. What's your name, please?
[8:05] Jacob. I got a grandson named Jacob. I like that name. That's a beautiful verse.
[8:16] What is integrity? Can somebody tell me what integrity is? What's integrity? Okay, to do right when no one's around. That's good. What else?
[8:27] What would you say about what's integrity? Character? Okay. What's integrity? Come on. Can I tell you what? The idea of integrity, it comes from the word integer.
[8:39] Is that how you say that? Whole. Complete. Complete. You're all you're supposed to be. You're all you're supposed to be. You're a whole. You're not 1.1.
[8:50] You're one. You're two. You're whatever it is you're supposed to be. And he says the integrity, the right. You know, how did I get to be whole? I wasn't whole. I certainly wasn't born whole.
[9:01] And I certainly wasn't whole before I met somebody who turned my brokenness into wholeness. That was the Lord Jesus. Amen. And when he made me whole, he made me fully complete. He made me a person of integrity.
[9:14] That guides me. That guides me. And by the way, you, we're going to get down in this chapter where he's going to talk about wicked people. And when he gets down to these wicked people, he's going to even say, y'all can hold hands all you want and try to fight together to pull about what you want.
[9:26] But it won't work. You're going to fall. But in this one, he said, hey, if you're a complete person, you're going to be all right. If you got it right with God, you're serving God, you're putting God first, you're going to be all right. The integrity of the upright shall guide them.
[9:39] But what is the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them. What goes on there? What's happening? What's happening? What's perverseness? I couldn't hear you.
[9:53] Deceitfulness? Crookedness. Deceitfulness. Not being who you're supposed to be. It's kind of like the word perverted. You're like not normal. You ain't right. You're not. There's no integrity.
[10:05] There's the opposite of integrity. What happens when there's no integrity? Look at the verse. It says it will destroy you. What is a transgressor? Transgressor. What's the word transgressor mean?
[10:17] I can't hear. I'm deaf. Thank you. That is exactly what it means. Transgressor means lawbreaker. So God's told us what's right. God's told us what to do. And a transgressor says, I really don't care what the law says.
[10:30] I don't care what God says. I'll do what I want to say. Because I go my own way. That's what all sinners do, by the way. By the way, you can go your own way being good or you can go your own way being bad. But there's only one way to go to heaven.
[10:41] That's his way. That's trusting him. So the perverse that speaks of crookedness that will destroy him. If you decide to walk in truth, then the Holy Spirit will guide you and direct you.
[10:52] Work at being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. I'd like to say just one word about this integrity verse. It's going to guide you. It says, the integrity of the upright shall guide them. How did you get to be upright?
[11:03] You are not upright. None of us were upright. We were downright bad people. We were sinners.
[11:13] We were down. We were broken. And if I'm upright today, he stood me up. He saved me. He changed me. He made me a new creature. And so it's the integrity of the upright.
[11:25] So can I just tell you how you, this week, this week and how this works in life. This is an old man talking to his son. Here it is. I walk with Jesus. But how do I walk with Jesus?
[11:35] That's what integrity is. It's walking with Jesus. How do I walk with Jesus? There's two real simple little things that everybody knows. And you're going to say, well, everybody knew that. You didn't need to say it. But what are two little secrets that are part of integrity?
[11:47] What are they? Bible and prayer. If I can fill me up with a Bible, I'll get enough Bible in me. I mean, what is right? What is full? What is whole?
[11:58] By the way, you're worried about what you're going to do in your business. And you're worried about how you're going to handle things. And you kind of need direction. You kind of need guiding. But you never get any help with your integrity. Can I just suggest that we, because of who, not out of guilt, not out of being bad people, not out of trying to manipulate you into it, but if you've never spent a little bit of time alone with God before you ever started your business, say, you'd probably do better in business.
[12:22] How's that? You say, well, I can't get up and spend time. Well, then go to sleep. Before you go to sleep, spend some time. It's not like you've got to do it in the morning. But you need some time when you say, I need direction and guidance.
[12:35] And the way God directs me is his word and his spirit. By the way, how does his spirit guide me? Sir? Through his word. Oh, thank you. You know what? You know what? You know what the language, the spirit speaks?
[12:47] Bible-ese. He speaks Bible-ese. So when he comes to you, that doesn't mean these and thous, but it means this is what the Bible says. That's what it means. So get in the book.
[12:57] Somebody go to verse 24. And I know this one doesn't really go here that good, but I just stuck it here. 24 and 25. Who will read those two verses loudly? Go ahead. There is the scatter of the many creatures.
[13:10] There is the voice for the sea, but it is the poverty. The liberal voice of the eights, that he that waters itself is watered also itself. Now I would like to ask you why you think I put that verse there.
[13:20] I'm not asking about God. We're asking about the dumb preacher. Why did I put that in the verse about don't be corrupt in business? Why would I put that verse there? Why are we corrupt in business?
[13:39] We're taking care of us. Greed. Me. But what's this last verse about? It's really about not me, but about him. Not me, but about his work.
[13:51] And so it's kind of like the opposite. This is kind of like the antithesis. The first one is, hey, don't be cheating when you sell stuff. And so it's like he said in Ephesians.
[14:01] He said, let him that stole, steal no more. But rather let him work with his hands and give. Huh? So in other words, I put that there for that reason.
[14:12] I don't know that it really goes there. I told you. It took me a long time to figure out where to put stuff. I checked all the commentators and none of them knew where to put them either. So I just put them where I wanted to. All right. So look at this. There is that scatters and yet increases.
[14:24] What's that mean? Giving. Now, there's this one guy. There's this first guy in the story. And his whole thing is, I've got to stick it in my pocket.
[14:36] And he's like, I think I can get an extra pound off of you. And I'll stick it in my pocket. There's this other guy who got saved who walks in his integrity. And he's walking around like, let me throw something that way.
[14:47] Let me throw something that way. Let me throw something that way. And he's scattering. He's like, man, I didn't get this money for me. I got it for God. I got it for others. I work for others. And what happens to him?
[14:57] Look at your verse. What happens to him? He increases. Now, that does not make sense. That is not good. A son. The son looks at the dad and says, what do you mean?
[15:08] You mean he scatters it and he gets more. How does that work? But look what the Bible says. One guy scatters it and he increases. Look at what else it says in the verse. And there is that withholdeth more than is meat, but it tendeth to poverty.
[15:22] What does it mean to withhold more than is meat? Let's get that in real hillbilly English. Hold back more than you need. In other words, God never meant for me to get to be this big fat guy sitting on all my riches and having everything for me and living my life for me.
[15:41] He never meant for that. He said, I'm going to give you wisdom. I'm going to help you make money. I'm going to help you prosper. But you're going to be a giver and you're not going to hold back more than what you need. That's what he said.
[15:52] I didn't say it. That's what he said. Read the next verse. Verse 25. What's it say? Somebody tell me what it says. Just in your own words. We ought to read it. What's it say? What's it mean?
[16:05] Liberal souls shall be made fat. What's liberal mean there? Generous. The generous soul shall be made fat. Basically, it means if you're a giver, you'll get fat. I notice some of y'all are awful skinny.
[16:18] It's a different kind of fat. What's it mean fat there? I mean, I'd like it to talk about my belly. What's it talking about? Prospering. God's going to bless us. My wallet's going to get fatter.
[16:29] Because God's wanting to bless people that will use their funds for his honor, for his glory, for his kingdom, and to work in people's lives. Look at what it says. This is a wild study. These are Proverbs.
[16:40] Every tub sits on its own bottom. Look at this one. He that watereth shall be watered. When you water, you're not supposed to get watered. But what happens when you become a giver?
[16:53] God says, you be a giver, and I'm going to give it. If I could take you to Peru, and I'm not doing good. It says 740 there, and I'm not doing good. So we may have this again next month. But watch this. If you were to go to Peru, you're in the driest desert you can imagine.
[17:06] I'm telling you, everything is as brown as that chair. Those that have been there know it's like it's a desert. If you don't water it, nothing grows there. But all through the country, all through the country, there are these ditches that carry the water.
[17:20] And they're always green. No water stays where they are. Water doesn't even run there all the time. They open the water for a certain amount of time. It runs down this ditch, and then they close it. But no matter how much they close it and water that go down, then guess what?
[17:34] It stays green. Because it keeps getting, every time it waters, it gets watered. And what's God saying about you? Give. Be a giver.
[17:44] God will bless you. Are you involved in the faith promise? Are you involved in giving to the church? Are you involved in giving to others? Are you a giver? But see, there's a lot of teaching in the Bible about being a giver and about giving to the work of God.
[17:57] Well, number two. We're down to chapter 11 and verse 2. And I'm saying here that knowing who you are will make you much happier. Somebody read me verse 2 if you would. All right, what's going on?
[18:15] What's going on? Anybody? Everybody. Yep. Yep. Because I'm running late, I'm going to read you my points, and then we'll move on.
[18:31] I put here, pride is boiling up inside thinking of your importance. I didn't think that up. I read that. It's hubris. Overstepping your bounds. It's becoming insubordinate.
[18:43] I'm not going to listen. I'm going to have a smart-like attitude because I'm a proud and cocky guy. It's like naming yourself God. Pride will cause you to be disgraced and embarrassed.
[18:54] Pride actually leads to deflated egos. Not inflated. They might be inflated for the minute you're showing your pride, but you can mark it down. It's going to get poked.
[19:05] And you're a deflated ego. The lowly are the humble. And humility is to know your place. Humility is to know your place. Humility will lead you to wisdom.
[19:16] Humility will help you to continue to be a learner. Humility will allow you to listen. Humility will allow you to listen. The Bible story that goes here, in my opinion, is Nebuchadnezzar.
[19:29] Can anybody tell me old Neb's story? Who remembers old Nebuchadnezzar's story? Go ahead, sir. But you've got to talk loud, please. Use that marine voice. Go ahead. What? Yeah.
[19:44] What did he say before he got banished? Do you remember? He said, just checking all my stuff. I can't believe how good I am.
[19:55] Check me out. And God said, okay. You're going down. In like seven years, his fingernails turn into claws before it's over. And I just lost my document.
[20:05] But it says here, in Daniel 4, 30, he said, he said, is this not great Babylon that I have built? The might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?
[20:18] And the Bible says, and a voice came from heaven and said, okay, buddy. And he threw him out. And this is what God said when he threw him out. Until you know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of man and gives it to whomsoever he will.
[20:30] You ain't the big shot. I can put you down just as quick as you got lifted up. And then he says in verse 34, it says here, his hair was grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird claws.
[20:42] In verse 34, it says, and he lifted up my eyes to heaven and my understanding returned. And I blessed the Most High. I praised and honored him that lives forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion.
[20:54] His kingdom is from generation to generation. The inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. That's what he ends up saying. None can stay his hand, he said, or stay unto him. What are you doing?
[21:05] My reason came back to me. Those that walk in pride, he is able to abase. I just skipped around to the passage. But that's the story. So you and I don't want to be prideful people.
[21:16] I need to know who I am. You know who I am? Please don't ever forget who you are. I mean, you're some of the sweetest, kindest, godliest people on the planet. But don't you ever forget you were nothing but a dirty, rotten, stinking sinner that deserved to go to hell and God saved you.
[21:30] So you don't ever walk around proud. All the time, just remember, if you like my new clothes, he gave them to me. If you like the way I walk now, he fixed the way I walk. If you think I'm upright now, he made me upright. And so any time anything happens, you go around and say, hey, I don't get any glory.
[21:43] Don't you dare say, look what I've done. Look and say, look what he did. That's the moral of the story in Proverbs chapter 11, I think. Proverbs 11, 4. Proverbs 11, 4.
[21:56] Who will read that for me? All right, I call this, wisdom is more important than wealth.
[22:07] Wisdom is more important than wealth. Get something straight. Money won't help you when you need it most. Now, ain't nothing wrong with money.
[22:18] We're not against money. We're not against money. We're not against having a nice car. This is not preaching. You shouldn't have a nice car. But don't you ever put your trust in money? Money cannot be trusted. Money, the Bible calls it uncertain riches.
[22:32] I'm going to have to skip verses. The Bible calls it uncertain riches. There was a guy, somebody tell me this story. There was a guy who had a great harvest. And when he had a great harvest, what did he say? I'm going to build big barns.
[22:44] By the way, was there anything wrong with having a big harvest? Was there anything wrong with building big barns? No, there really wasn't anything wrong with that. God didn't mind. Hey, God gave him the harvest.
[22:54] Nothing wrong with you having money. But what did he say after that? It's all for me. It's all for me. Take care of number one. And God in heaven said, okay, well, let's see whose money it is now. You're dead.
[23:05] Boom. And he falls dead. So you could make a gazee. You could win the $900 billion lottery tomorrow. And the lightning strike you dead.
[23:15] And you could be going, I've got a lot of money. And it's gone. You can't trust money. That's what he's saying to his son. By the way, how rich is dad in this story? He's extremely, is it wrong to be rich?
[23:28] Is it wrong to have money? No. But it's wrong to trust money. So he says in the verse, in the day of wrath, when it comes dying time, what do you think you're going to tell them about with your money?
[23:40] You're laying there, you know, and you're about to die. Look, I'll give you $100 if you'll save my life. I'll give you $1,000. God, I'll give you $1,000,000 if you'll save my life. And the Lord's going to be like, hey, your money don't count nothing now, buddy.
[23:53] Don't trust money. I think I told y'all, did I tell y'all about Sam Jones in Cartersville? There was a member of his church. I remember one of his circuit riding churches. His wife was, and he was about to die.
[24:05] And he sent for the preacher to come pray for him. Did I tell y'all that one yet? And the preacher goes over to pray for him, and the guy says, brother, Pastor Jones, please pray for me. I don't want to die. And he said, I pray you're going to die.
[24:16] I pray you die. He said, you ain't got no reason to live. You're stingy. You don't go to church. You don't serve Jesus. You live a wicked life. I'm going to pray God will kill you. And the guy said, Pastor, don't do that.
[24:26] This is written in his own story. And he said, Pastor, please don't do that. He said, tell me you're going to be worth something if I pray for you to live. And he said, I'll do something with my life.
[24:37] And Sam Jones prayed for him to live, and he lived, and he was a faithful servant of God. And I've never tried that. I don't think I'm that good of prayer, because I'm afraid he might live and kill me because he lived.
[24:48] But anyway, wisdom is more important than wealth. If we had time, we could look at chapter 11, verse 16. A gracious woman retains honor. And a strong man retains wealth.
[25:02] Your muscles might keep your money, but this kind and gentle lady keeps her honor. Reminds you of the story of Abigail. I don't have time to tell you much about the story of Abigail. Who knows that story? Give me a one-minute or two-minute version of Abigail.
[25:14] Abigail. That's right.
[25:29] She was kind, gracious, humble, and it saved her and gave her life. By the way, if you don't want to, this is for ladies, so since none of y'all are, I'll just throw this out real quick.
[25:42] But in verse 22, if you don't have discretion and you don't use discernment, it's like putting a gold earring in a pig's nose. He's going to rub it in the dirt.
[25:54] So use your head and don't be stupid. Verse 17. Somebody read me chapter 11 and verse 17. I told you we was flying through this. Now, I put this under wisdom is better than wealth.
[26:10] I want you to notice verse 17. That's a wild proverb to me. Who does the merciful man do good to? Now, what does it mean to be merciful?
[26:24] You're being good to somebody else, but who's it doing? If I'm good to you and I'm kind to you and I don't judge you and I help you when you're hurting, who am I really helping? According to what the Bible says. That's pretty good stuff. Amen.
[26:34] That's pretty good stuff. You can leave here knowing it seems like I always give. It seems like people always want my money. It seems like people always need me. Give me, give me, give me. I used to think in Peru, I'd wake up in the morning and I'd lay out in my chair and they'd hook up these IVs to both arms and suck thousands of dollars out every day.
[26:50] And everybody needed my help. All this week, this has been one of those weeks that you would not understand I live through where there's tons of junk going on all over the world right now. And I've been helping all these people. And I feel like, take it, take it, take it.
[27:02] But the more merciful and kind you are, guess who you're helping the most? I'm helping me. So when you're a nice guy, you're selfish. But a good selfish. Amen. All right, look at this.
[27:13] Look at the verse. But he that is cruel, who does he hurt? By the way, when you're a bully, who do you think you hurt? There you go. There you go. We're still in that story.
[27:26] Look at 1128, somebody. I told you these are joined the way I wanted to join them. Don't think this is Bible. The way I joined them is not Bible. The verses are. 1128, who will read that?
[27:45] Which is more important, my money or my righteousness? By righteousness. He that trusts us in his riches shall fall. But the righteous guy will flourish.
[27:56] By the way, flourish means he'll do well financially. Flourish means he'll do well physically. Flourish means he'll do well emotionally. God's not against you prospering. Fact is, can I just tell you, when you've got good stuff and you're enjoying a good life, the God of heaven is like, that's my boy, I like that.
[28:13] Have a good time. He giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Our God's not a stingy God. He's not up in heaven saying, I want y'all to starve to death and have a miserable life. Not at all.
[28:24] He gave Jesus on the cross. He's glad you get anything. But here's what he says. Don't you dare trust that junk. Don't you like the gift better than you like me? I'm the giver. Don't you trust the piece of plastic I gave you?
[28:37] You trust the guy who gave you the plastic. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying. And that's what he's saying in the verse. Riches are uncertain at best. First Corinthians, first Timothy chapter six. I'll just read this to you.
[28:48] Verse 17 says, charge them that are rich in there in this world, that they be not high minded. Don't you be proud because you got money. Don't you trust in uncertain riches? But in the living God, and this is part who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
[29:02] So is God up in heaven saying, I don't like you having nice shoes. I need you to walk around barefoot. He's not asking us to go join a Catholic monastery. That's not it at all. He wants us to enjoy it.
[29:14] He just don't want us to trust it. He just doesn't want us to trust it. He doesn't want us to think, I got my money and I'll do what I want. I don't need God. Chapter 11, verse five.
[29:27] I am not doing very good. I'm a page eight out of 12. We're not going to make it. Salvation, his righteousness makes a difference in our lives. Salvation, his righteousness makes a difference in our lives.
[29:40] And I just put together these righteous verses. And I'm going to do them fairly quickly. So if you'll just take one verse and you give me one sentence that explains that verse, we'll move on.
[29:51] Who will take verse five? 11, five. Read. Read. What's that mean?
[30:12] What's that mean? What's the righteousness of the perfect? Let me just, yeah, it is. But let me show you this. Who are the perfect guys in this room?
[30:23] All of us. You know how we're perfect? How does the father see you? How does the father see this man right here? Brother Jeff, my sins are in front of God. You know what he says? I see the righteousness of Christ in you.
[30:35] The righteousness of the perfect in you. Because he's a born again man. Because his sins have been washed away. And guess what that does for him? It directs his path. I'm God's. He wants to direct me.
[30:47] If you look through this chapter, I almost did this. You could have put all the directing verses together. I mean, there's so many ways you could have joined these verses. All kind of directing going on in here.
[30:58] So this man loving Jesus. We're mature. We're complete. That's what perfect means. It's another word for integrity. But how did we get all that? Jesus.
[31:10] Ain't none of that true about any of us. Except Jesus. Jesus. Somebody read verse 6. Oh, the wicked falls by his own wickedness. You know, the wicked guy's thinking. The righteous guy's thinking this.
[31:21] I ain't nothing. He's everything. I'm going to trust him. And he makes it. The other guy's like, I don't care what God thinks. I'm going to do my own thing. And he thinks he's smarter than God. And he can get away with it. But in the long run, he's the one that's going to get burnt.
[31:33] That's what that's going on in that verse. Verse 6. We'll read it. Several of you guys are real Bible scholars. You can help me. Go ahead. Their own naughtiness.
[31:49] How do you like that word? And their own naughtiness. All right. Tell me what's going on in that verse, somebody. Oh, that's good.
[32:00] Who you are will come out. That's good. What else? What is the righteous? Who are the upright? For a long time, I used to read the Old Testament. I'd be like, well, he ain't talking about me. I ain't that upright.
[32:10] Because I always thought it was depending on how I was doing. Am I upright? Yes, I am. In Christ. But that's who I am. I am in Christ. I'm a new creature.
[32:22] Old things have passed away. Behold, all are made new. I am the upright guy. I am the perfect guy. I am the righteous guy. You say, don't be talking like it. I'm not talking about me doing it to me. He did it to me.
[32:33] I'm looking at a bunch of upright guys. But you're not upright because you're upright. You're upright because he made you upright. So we never forget that. So look, righteous upright delivers it. But transgressors, the guys who break the rules, they get caught in their own mess.
[32:47] Number seven. This is a horrible verse. Used it all the time in Spanish America. Can anybody read it? Real loud. Got four minutes. And four pages.
[32:58] When you die, what do you have? When you die, you got hope.
[33:11] Fact is, hope in the Bible doesn't mean what you think hope means. Hope in the Bible is like a certain waiting. Hope in the Bible is like, I don't know exactly when it's happening, but I got this hope.
[33:23] I know it's happening. We got the blessed hope. I don't know exactly when Jesus is coming back, but I do know he's coming back. I got a hope in Jesus. What happens when a lost man dies? What happens when a guy who didn't trust Jesus dies?
[33:36] By the way, that wicked ain't you. That wicked's the guy that won't trust Jesus. Why is he wicked? You say, well, he might be the best nicest guy on the planet. But you can be the best nicest guy on the planet. You don't trust Jesus. You're still wicked.
[33:47] The Pope's wicked. Excuse me, but the Pope's wicked. You say, why is he wicked? Because he's trusted in the works that he does in his church. And wickedness doesn't come from what you do. It comes from what he did.
[33:59] Okay, verse 8. Okay, I don't have time to finish. It is two minutes till. But let me just tell you, because I doubt I'll come back to this next month.
[34:11] It says, let me tell you. The next one, it talks about the mouth. And I put here wisdom for our words. So let me read you just a few of them so I can real quick skim over it. The hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor.
[34:23] Not in us. Because we're not false. Say amen. We're straight. We're upright. We're perfect. We're mature. We don't go around slandered and destroying our neighbor with our mouth.
[34:37] Verse 11. By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted. We all want good people leading our government, leading our cities. It's the blessings of God. I really believe this.
[34:49] I really believe that a lot of what happened to make America so great wasn't all the industry. It was God blessing some good godly people. And I really believe that. I could take you to Peru, take you to Hunter. And I used to tell them when it was a poverty-stricken zone you'd ever seen, I said, don't worry.
[35:03] God will bless the upright. That's us. It's coming. And today, that area of town is blessed. Today, that area of town is blessed. The overthrow of the mouth is the wicked. In verse 12, if you run your mouth and talk bad about your neighbor, you ain't smart.
[35:17] In verse 13, if you're a gossiper or a tailbearer, you share secrets and you hurt people. And wise people go get good counsel in verse 14. In verse 15, if you co-sign a note, you're going to get burnt.
[35:33] Anybody here ever co-signed a note and got burnt? Boy, you could even get a credit card for your kid and your kid will burn you. You know, so he said don't be co-signing unless you want to pay the bill.
[35:44] He said, they'll come get your bed, take it out Monday. Verse 30 is, use your words to help others. I'm going to stop. That's a great chapter.
[35:55] Now, what are they? They're Proverbs. It wouldn't hurt you to read them. So I'm going to end with this. If there's something good in this chapter, if there's something good in this chapter that's going on, I would tell you that it is, I mean, if I could have picked a thread and I was preaching a sermon sermon instead of just chewing the fat about Proverbs, I think I'd have picked direction.
[36:17] Because there's several verses that use the word, the integrity of his heart directs him. And I would have just preached on how do you get direction. And can I tell you how we get direction? We're born again.
[36:28] That gives us direction. In Spanish, they talk about having your true north. Knowing your direction. Knowing who you're supposed to be. Knowing where you're supposed to go. It's like, I know where my true north is, and I'm headed that way.
[36:42] When you're saved, you know what your true north is. But the second thing is, he's in you, and he made you righteous, but you need desperately to get the word of God in you.
[36:53] Now, listen to me. God's not going to direct you by any spooky things. And if you pray, God, close the door so I don't do something stupid. He will let you do something stupid and say, I never gave you that promise.
[37:05] That's the dumbest thing you could ever pray. Don't ever. Here's a guy going to go buy a car that's going to make him go bankrupt. And he says, God, if you don't have this car, don't let me get the loan. Well, the devil's sitting there saying, give him the loan.
[37:18] Let's just be honest. That's the dumb thing to pray. You say, you can't prove that in the Bible. Oh, you ever hear the children of Israel? And they were tired of manna, weren't they? And he said, he gave them what they wanted, but he sent leanness to their souls.
[37:32] You can ask for things that God doesn't want you to have, and God will give them to you. So you'll get sick of it. By the way, they had so much meat that it was coming out their nose before they got to eating it.
[37:43] Don't play that game with God. Get in the book. Get in the book. Get the book in you. Get in the book and get the book in you. By the way, don't pray to find God's will for your life.
[37:54] That's another one you ought to understand. You don't pray to find God's will for your life. Because if you don't know any Bible, he can't even talk to you. Basically, if you don't know what the Word of God says, he's mute.
[38:06] God is not going to reach out from heaven and say, you don't read your Bible, Ty. So here it is. Here's your sign. That's just not what's going to happen. That's not what's going to happen. If you say, God, direct me.
[38:18] If you say, God, direct me. He's going to say, I will. Read your Bible. I'll show you through the Word of God. I'll teach you principles. By the way, in the chapter, guess what you'll do? Go find some wise people and ask them.
[38:29] Find some old gray head that's been serving Jesus and knows his Bible pretty good. Or maybe he's a bald head. Or maybe he's an old man. He could be a young guy. But he knows Jesus. Go ask him. And let him show you from the Bible.
[38:40] The Bible ain't going to say to you, buy that car. But the Bible would say, don't get a cosigner in this chapter. Huh? The Bible would say, you could foresee the evil coming and use your brain.
[38:52] Get off the road before you get run over by the truck. So, just to be honest, there's two things I hear people say all the time. It just really bugs me because they don't know their Bible much.
[39:04] I'm praying that God will show me his will, but they never spend any time in the Bible. You can't do that. That doesn't work. You know, God leads preachers to preach all the time and messages that just really burn your rear.
[39:19] Because he can't say he's mad. The reason he's got a message is that it just makes you mad. He didn't study his Bible and he was praying. And on the way to church, he hit a skunk and it stunk. And now he's going to preach and stink you. I mean, that's how it is.
[39:30] I mean, it's just a dump. They'll stand up and say, I saw a little birdie. I'm going to preach on the little birdies that are watching you. The Bible's got verses about birdies. And today, that's how we do preaching.
[39:40] I see you women wearing your britches and today I'm preaching on them britches. Because I just prayed about it and God gave me the message. No, he didn't. You idiot. You didn't study. Okay?
[39:51] That's one. The second thing. The second thing is you pray, God, don't let me do what I shouldn't do. What? What? Where in the Bible does it tell you that God won't let you do what you shouldn't do?
[40:03] If that were the case, you could just pray, God, don't let me sin ever again. I'm asking you, God, don't let me mess up. You wake up every morning, you should just say, God, I don't want to do nothing wrong. I just want to do everything right.
[40:14] By the way, you know what's going to happen. By the time your car gets up to 65 and the speed limit is 65, your car's going to go, you're already headed to 75. You know you are. But at 65, your car's going to go, you're going to be like, what's wrong with my car?
[40:29] Well, you said God don't let you do nothing wrong. It doesn't work that way, guys. You've got to use a little spiritual brain power.
[40:40] Find what the Bible says. Put it in practice. How many of you are mad at me now? Don't pray. God, don't let me punch him. Don't pray that.
[40:52] Just don't punch him. You don't even have to ask God to help you not punch him. Just don't do it. You know you're not supposed to. Amen. Now that you're mad. Let's have a word of prayer. Are you a business? Ah, we don't need no money.
[41:03] He's trying. The Holy Spirit's leading me to take up an offer. Do you all want to take up an offer? Who's going to give if we take it up and say amen? Okay, we're taking it up. Somebody's going to give? All right, pass that plate. You better put something in. I'm watching.
[41:14] All right, pass that plate. Some deacons. All right, let's pass the plate. All right, you can just run it around the room, and I'll keep talking in a second. We ain't going to sing or nothing. Just running around the room. I'm praying.
[41:24] I think God's telling me several of y'all are supposed to put in $1,000 extra tonight for Nehemiah. Wait a minute. Let me pray. God, if you don't want me to say for them to give $1,000, stop me from saying it. Give $1,000.
[41:36] Doesn't work, does it? Don't pray that prayer. Don't pray that prayer. Don't pray that prayer. Let me give you my example of that prayer, and I'll dismiss you.
[41:51] When I was getting married, I was a dumb young Tennessee hillbilly, and I knew that if I married the wrong woman, I could ruin my ministry. And so when I'm standing at the front of Fellowship Baptist Church in Rome, Georgia, and Betty and her daddy came in the back door, and I realized in just a matter of seconds she was going to be at the front, and I was going to get married.
[42:09] I said, God, if she's the wrong woman, it's going to ruin my life. God, if you don't want me to marry her, kill her right here. I prayed that. I really did. So she didn't die, and we've been married 40 years.
[42:21] Thank you. Go ahead, Brother Trent. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com, where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.