- Proverbs 14:11-15
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- Prov 14:11 (KJB)
- The house of the wicked shall be overthrown: but the
tabernacle of the upright shall flourish.
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- Overthrown - Destroyed
- Tabernacle - Tent
- Flourish - Blossom, bud, or breakout
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- This verse is very interesting in that it speaks of the house of the
wicked will be destroyed. Now a house is a permanent dwelling where a family
is raised. The house is normally built with foundations and those
foundations are placed in the earth. This is where the unbeliever has his
roots, in this earth. He places all kinds of security in the belief that his
house will go on forever. However, the earth is going to come to an end and
then a new world will be created by God which will house only the righteous.
The wicked will lose everything they had because they placed their trust in
the belief that the earth was secure. The unbeliever will be destroyed in
hell after he faces judgment.
- Now on the other hand, the tabernacle of the upright, that is, the saved
shall flourish. If you remember the wilderness wandering of Israel was
centered around the Tabernacle. Now once the Israelites came into the
promised land, they built the temple where the Ark of God was placed. Now
here is the great parallel. The Bible speaks of the physical bodies of the
believers as tabernacles.
(2 Pet 1:13
KJV) Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you
up by putting you in remembrance; The
reason that we are likened to the tabernacle is because we too are traveling
in this wilderness of sin. On the last day, we will trade our tabernacles of
wandering for our permanent glorified spiritual bodies. This is how the
tabernacle of the upright will flourish as it looks forward to the final
bodies we will receive on the last day.
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- Prov 14:12 (KJB)
- There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof
are the ways of death.
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- This verse teaches us plainly that man wants to believe that his ways
are right but he never weighs any possible consequences. He believes that he
can do business dishonestly and may gain more wealth not realizing he could
go to jail. He may believe that he could take another’s place simply if he
gets rid of that person but does not realize he is putting himself in the
same position, where others can get rid of him. Man does not want to believe
that his actions will create a response and that he is impervious to
negative responses. The greatest deception that man faces on this earth is
the deception of religion. He creates religion and within that religion he
creates a system of works which he then becomes so steeped in that he starts
to believe his own system. He teaches that if a person does the works that
are required under his system, then God will accept them and take them to
Heaven. Religion is deception! It does not bring a person closer to God, in
fact, it separates a person farther from Him because religion attempts to
usurp the salvation plan which God created and accepts. So the ways of man
turns into the ways of death and that is eternal death in hell. The ways of
man may seem right in his own eyes but the consequences of self-deception
are eternal.
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- Prov 14:13 (KJB)
- Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that
mirth is heaviness.
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- Is sorrowful - Suffers pain
- Heaviness - Grief
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- Entertainment is one of the world’s ways of escaping this life for a
while. It is true that God gave us laughter but real laughter is connected
to real joy which is a fruit of the Spirit. The world may look at all kinds
of comedy and laugh but even while they are laughing, their hearts are in
pain. This also means that you cannot really tell a person’s true emotions
by their outward projection of laughter. A person could be laughing and
inside they could be dying. The world’s form of entertainment does not
alleviate any of the heaviness a person may be experiencing, in fact, the
end of that rejoicing is grief. In other words, right after they climb the
mountain of merriment, they are returned to the valley of reality. All the
laughing man may do will not lead to their redemption, in fact, it is only a
mask, covering their emptiness of heart. If a person seeks entertainment as
their escape, they will find that in the end, the grief of eternal damnation
will greet them. They must seek the Lord while He may be found, one minute
after Judgment Day is too late.
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- Prov 14:14 (KJB)
- The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a
good man shall be satisfied from himself.
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- Backslider - Turn back or deviate
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- Here is the back slider who deviates from the truth. The heart of the
true believer is filled with the things of God because they are indwelled by
the Holy Spirit. Notice this verse states that the backsliding person will
be filled with their own ways.
(Prov
1:31 KJV) Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be
filled with their own devices. In other words,
the unbeliever will be filled with the fruit of lies and deceit. The
unbeliever builds his life on many false teachings and philosophies to the
point they start to live in them because they believe them and after a while
they begin to embellish them and these embellishments normally lead to a
false religion or system of beliefs such as evolution. This verse is telling
us that this backslider is steeped in false beliefs since a deviation from
the truth has taken place. The true believer can never deviate from the true
teachings of God and still remain saved. The back slider in this verse
speaks of one who is unsaved. Then the verse states that the good man will
be satisfied from himself. He is satisfied because he has become saved and
his actions are pleasing to God. (Prov
16:7 KJV) When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to
be at peace with him. One of the greatest enemies
the Christian has is his own flesh. It always seems to be at enmity with
their regenerated spirit. (Rom 8:9 KJV)
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none
of his. Once a person becomes saved, the
regenerated spirit now rules over the flesh and instead of the flesh
directing a Christian’s life, the spirit directs the flesh to be in line
with the Spirit. This means that only a saved man’s ways please the Lord
because his actions are in line with the will of God.
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- Prov 14:15 (KJB)
- The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man
looketh well to his going.
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- Simple - Young or naïve associated with inexperience
- Prudent - Clever
- Looketh well - Understand or perceive
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- There are two types of simple people in this world. There are the saved
and the unsaved. First, the saved simple people are those who are new in the
faith and the reason they must be counseled and discipled immediately is so
they will not believe every word of everyone who preaches the Bible. Now
there are those who preach the Bible and teach its principles in truth. Then
there are those who teach what they think the Bible says, and these are
normally the false teachers. The young Christian must be taught how to
discern between the two or else they can be lured into a false system of
beliefs. When I was a young Christian back in 1981, I was not yet trained
properly in discernment so every month I sent $10 to Salesian Missions which
was Roman Catholic. At that time, I lacked discernment in that area. It was
shortly after, that I found out the truth and they have never received one
Roman Sestertius from me again.
(Prov
22:6 KJV) Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he
will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6 does not
only refer to physical children but also to spiritual children, so they will
be trained in the faith properly.
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- The second type of simple person is one who is unsaved. They have no
concept as to the difference between religion and real Christianity. They
will believe every word of the false religion because false religions are
man centered and designed to build up and puff up man. So men like dead
religion because it exalts the pride of man. Since the unsaved simple are
not regenerated, they may tend to believe anything. The unsaved simple will
also fall prey to the worldly schemes of man and believe that they will help
him achieve greatness. Unfortunately, man made schemes always lead to
trouble.
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- Then there is the prudent or saved man who understand his ways. He knows
that as a saved person he has a lot more at stake than just a few dollars.
He knows that he is an ambassador for Christ in this world and that he must
act in accordance with biblical principles to show the separation from
worldly ways. He understands that he prays and asks God for guidance and
accepts the way that God leads him. He seeks to be as obedient as he can to
the ways of the Lord
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