I'd like to look this morning
at verses 9 through 12. Proverbs 21 verses 9 to 12. It is better to dwell in a corner
of a housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. The soul of the wicked desireth
evil. His neighbor findeth no favor
in his eyes. When the scorner is punished,
the simple is made wise, and when the wise is instructed,
he receiveth knowledge. The righteous man wisely considereth
the house of the wicked, but God overthroweth the wicked for
their wickedness. The scripture declares in that
first verse, it's better to live on a rooftop, it's better to
dwell in the corner of a house, actually that word corner there
means a tower. a corner part, like a bulwark,
a tower, a guard. It's better to deal in a tower.
It's better to deal in a corner of a housetop than with a brawling
woman. Now, humanly speaking, it'd be
better, and I always like to just tell exactly, humanly speaking,
what this Scripture is saying, and this goes both ways. It'd
be better to deal separated, at least in your heart, separated
from existing or associating with a nagging, quarrelsome,
and fault-finding woman or man. I mean, I tell you, if you've
ever witnessed or lived in a relationship, like this, I'd venture to say
it's got to be the most unpleasant thing to behold or to exist. If you've ever watched and seen
two people that just couldn't get along. I mean it was just
a constant fight, a constant bickering, constant nagging and
quarreling and contention. You know, you just think to yourself,
look, get me out of here. I've had about all of this that
I can stomach. Now, humanly speaking, that's
what it's saying. That's exactly what it means.
Nobody wants to live in a place or dwell or associate
yourself with somebody that just all they want to do is fight
and argue. Well, sadly to say, I'm sure
that there's many marriages that fit that description and it would
truly be sad to behold or to experience a marriage like that
But as the Proverbs always declare, it's more. That's a bad situation. But the Proverbs is not dealing
with that situation as I just set forth. What this scripture
is setting forth is actually looking and considering the situation
of someone that has been made to see themselves in a place
where a brawling and contentious and angry woman is a picture
or a character of all false religion. Now this brawling woman that's
being spoken of right here. Hold your place right there. She's set forth first in Proverbs
chapter 7. Turn back to Proverbs chapter
7. This is a picture. of false religion. This is who
this brawling woman actually is. Look at Proverbs chapter
7. The scripture declares, starting in verse 6, at the window of
my house I looked through my casement and I beheld among the
simple ones I discerned among the youths a young man void of
understanding passing through the street near her corner and
he went the way to her house in the twilight, in the evening,
in the black and dark night, when there's no light, exactly
what he's saying, no spiritual light, it's just dark. And behold,
there met him a woman with the attire of a harlot, subtle of
heart, and she's loud and stubborn, her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without, now in the
streets, and lieth in wait at every corner. She's a woman that's
said to be in great commotion and tumult, rebellious, withdrawn,
never at rest, never at rest with herself, never at rest with
God. She's always agitated, always
clamorous, always making loud and confusing noise because of
the message. that she preaches. It's always
confusing. It's always stubborn. Stubborn
against God. Obstinate. Self-willed. And rebellious
before the God of heaven. And the scripture declares also
in Proverbs chapter 7 that she's nothing but unfaithful. That's
all she is. She's unfaithful to God. Look
at verses 18 to 20. She says to this simple one that
she's luring, she says, come, let us take our fill of love
until the morning. Let us solace ourselves with
love. For the good man is not at home.
He's gone a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with
him and will come home at the day appointed. She is a spiritual
adulteress. And yielding to her advances
is nothing more than actually the destruction of the soul.
The scripture continues to set forth Proverbs chapter 7 verses
21 to 23. With her much fair speech she
caused him to yield. With the flattering of her lips
she forced him. He goeth after her straightway
as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to correction of
the stocks, till a dart strike through his liver, as a bird
hasteneth to the snare, and knoweth not that it was for his life."
This is a picture of false religion as described in the Word of God.
Hold your place in Proverbs 21, turn over to Revelation chapter
17. Continuing to describe this brawling woman of false religion. Revelation chapter 17. verses
1 and 2. And there came one of the seven
angels, which had the seven vows, and talked with me, saying unto
me, Come hither. I will show unto thee the judgment
of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the
kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants
of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Here is this harlot, this brawling
In verse 19, Lord willing, the next message, she's called a
contentious and angry woman. Angry. Mad. Mad at God. Mad at
God's gospel. Mad at God's people. She's angry.
And the scripture sets forth that the kings of the earth have
been made spiritually intoxicated, drunk with the wine of her false,
free-will, God-despising, man-exalting doctrine. She's got one purpose. She's got one purpose. This is
it. The destruction of the kingdom
of God. The destruction of the church,
the bride. Revelation chapter 17. Verse
6 says, concerning this great whore, this great spiritual whore,
I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered
with great admiration. So this woman, this brawling
woman, the Scripture says forth that it is better, it's better
to dwell, the Scripture says forth, on the corner of a housetop,
separated out of the house of that woman than to dwell with
a brawling woman in a wide house. Now, what's her message? Well,
it's the message that every man born in Adam loves. It's that doctrine, that message
that tells a man that he can cover his sins by his own works,
by his own effort. That's exactly what happened
in the garden. What did Adam and Eve do? They
rebelled against God and they got them some fig leaves. That was their attempt. And this
is what this brawling woman does, this great harlot, this loud,
angry, contentious woman that it's better to dwell in a tower,
a corner of a housetop, than in a wide house. That wide house,
that means to share companionship with or to associate with. It's
better. It's better. Get away from her,
is what it's saying. But the amazing thing is that
man by nature doesn't know that. Until the Spirit of God comes
to him in irresistible and saving grace. Here's the amazing thing. Man by nature is content to stay
with that brawling woman. That brawling woman, that harlot
of false religion. He's satisfied. to drink the
wine of her rebellion against God. He loves it. The reason
that he doesn't know that he's his own worst enemy and the reason
that he embraces her is because he's got her heart. She has his
heart. She's got his heart. He's part
of her. But when the Spirit of God comes
and shows a man what is actually going on. Now I'll tell you, many of you I know have sat under
the glorious message of God's free and sovereign grace all
your life. But there's something that is
amazingly eye-opening and revealing. When you have sat, as I have,
in false religion, And you know what's being taught. Even if you've been here, you
know what's being taught because you've been taught what's being
taught. But I mean to actually have experienced it and seen. And at one time loved. There
was a time in my life you couldn't have convinced me. There is no
way you'd ever convince me. that the truth of man having
his own free will, a man having his own ability to be able to
reconcile himself back to God. You couldn't have changed my
mind if your life depended on it. It was going to take a new
heart. It's going to take being born
from above. When a person, when a sinner,
by the grace of God has been made to see that. And he sees
the vileness of his ways. He sees, he realizes his rebellion
against God. And he flees. He gets out. He says, I can't stay here anymore. I can't stand to hear that message
anymore. I cannot, I can't. You hear in
your heart, come out from among them and be you separate, saith
the Lord, and touch not the unclean things and I will receive you. And by God's grace, you come
out. You leave where you would have
never left before. You'd have never separated yourself
from that brawling woman. And now you see that brawling
woman, that angry, contentious, hateful, self-centered woman
for who she really is. And you see now that her anger
is truly against God. Because you've learned something
about that brawling woman. Look now at Proverbs 21. Here's
what you've learned. Verse 10. You've learned this. The soul of the wicked desireth
evil. The soul of that brawling, contentious,
angry woman of false religion. Here's the only thing she desires.
Evil. You'd have thought at one time,
no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. I don't desire evil
against God. But now, now I did. I didn't want God to get all
the glory. I wanted some of it. I wanted
to believe. I did believe. I am the source,
I'm the foundation of my destiny. I made my decision. I made a covenant with death
and with hell. I'm in agreement. I've exercised
my free will. Don't tell me I was... The scripture
says it's evil. The soul of the wicked desireth
evil. His neighbor findeth no favor
in his eyes. What do you mean your neighbor? Well, here's what the word neighbor
means. Your companion, your lover, or
in the definition, any person of the human race. Here's what
the wicked, here's the soul of the wicked that desires evil.
His neighbor. Everybody else, those he associates,
all human race, they find no favor in his eyes. That means
the wicked, false woman, brawling woman of false religion, here's
what she tells her neighbor. I love you. I love you. I love everybody. Everybody's
my friend. I want everybody to know the
Jesus that I know. That's exactly what she wants.
That's exactly what she wants. I want everybody to know the
little J, Jesus. The little G, God. I want everybody
to know the God that I serve. The God that wants to save everybody
if they'll let Him. The God that's up in heaven wringing
His hands, trying His best to save everybody, because you see,
He sent His Son to die for everybody, they say. And if you'll just
exercise your free will, He'll save you too, just like He saved
me. But His neighbor truly finds
no favor. That brawling woman longs and
covets and lusts after evil, evil against God, evil against
everybody else. His neighbor is not favored in
his eyes. There's no love. There's no sympathy
in that contentious woman. Her heart is earnestly set to
do evil, to work wickedness, and so strongly that she desires
to do evil, she will not even spare her own companion, those
that are with her. They're lying. They're lying
to everybody that sits there. I'll tell you this, someone that
truly loves somebody, you will not lie to them. Now it may hurt
if someone, if your wife or your husband asks you something, it
may hurt to tell them the truth. But if you love them, you'll
tell them the truth. I mean, you're not going to try
to deceive them. You don't try to deceive someone that you truly
love. You don't. You'd rather tell
them the truth and just bear the consequences, you know, than
to lie to them. Because as soon as you lie to
them, and they walk away convinced that you told them the truth,
it'll tear you all to pieces. Why didn't I just go ahead and
say it? Why don't you just go ahead and be straight up, be
a man, be a woman about it. Just go ahead. You're not going
to lie to them. One that truly loves you, the
scripture says concerning the soul of this wicked, his neighbors
find no favor in his eyes. They're lying. So the believer,
what does he do? He's learned that. He separates
himself from her. He realizes there's no love here.
There's no love. There's no love of God. There's
no love of me. There's no love. There's no love
for God's honor. There's no love for God's grace.
There's no love for God's purpose. There's no love for God's choosing. It's all about her, me. So he
separates. Because he's been taught the
error of his ways. been delivered from the bondage
of sin and Satan's lies. And so now he sees something
by faith. Look at verse 11 and 12. He learns
that when the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise. And
when the wise is instruction, he receiveth knowledge. And the
righteous man wisely considereth the house of the wicked. But
God overthroweth the wicked for their wickedness. He sees something
by faith. It's been revealed to him. The same thing that's taught
in Proverbs 19 verse 25. Proverbs 19 verse 25. Smite a
scorner and the simple will beware. and reprove one that hath understanding,
and he will understand knowledge." Now, smite a scorner. What is
a scorner? Again, you know, we kind of know
what that is. What is the definition of that
word? Here it is, a scorner. One who
despises scoffingly the most sacred precepts of piety and
holiness. That's a scorner. One that scoffingly
despises the truth, the truth of God. That's a scorner. Smite a scorner. When the scorner is punished, And I know this, we know by faith
that there's coming a time when God Almighty is going to punish
in the day of judgment. Now we know that. I believe with
all of my heart there's coming a day when we're all going to
stand before God and the sheep are going to be separated from
the goats and the sheep are going to be in His right hand and the
goats on His left. And the reason I believe that
is because that's what God says. And therefore that's the way
it's going to be. And so I believe that there's going to be a time
when he's going to speak to those on his right hand. He said, enter
in to all that's been prepared for you before the foundation
of the world. I believe that. He's going to
turn to the goats and he's going to say, depart from me. I never
knew you. I believe that. I know that when the scorners
are punished, I know that's going to happen. There's another punishment
that a believer beholds, if not every day, very often. What is it? Every time one leaves
this world that did not know God. How many times, believer, does
anybody that you know, that you know of, that made no No confession,
no free and open confession of believing God, believing the
God of this Bible. I believe the gospel of God's
grace. Let's say somebody died, died
in your family. I had a cousin that just died
two days ago, three days ago. I grew up with him. There in
central Louisiana, a couple of years older than I was. And died
of bladder cancer. It hit home to me. And I thought,
I know, I know, as far as I know, let me say this, he never, never
heard, never believed the gospel. I don't know. I don't know. But
if he left this world without God, I know, I know, I know what
happened. I know what happened. when the scorner is punished. Would that happen? Well, look
at Romans chapter 1, verse 28. I'll read it for you. You can turn there, Romans 1,
28. Listen to this. And even as they did not like
to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate
mind, a mind void of judgment to do those things which are
not convenient. Whenever someone leaves this
world that obviously knew not God, they made no confession,
didn't believe the gospel, never associated with God's people,
said unto the truth of the gospel of God's grace and confessed,
put all their hope and peace and comfort in a brawling woman. You behold, you behold the smiting
of a scorner. You behold the judgment. You behold one being punished.
God left them. When the scorner is punished,
the simple, the silly and easily persuaded, who is that? That's
all of us. That's a picture of all of us
by nature. When one is punished, the simple is made wise. They're made wise. They're made
wise by the regenerating power of God and wise to their own
former state of unbelief, wise unto salvation by Christ alone
having been separated from that brawling woman of false religion.
They're wise to the fact that they are what they are by the
grace of God. They know that. Their only hope
is being kept by the power of God. When the scorner is punished,
the simple is made wise afresh. Oh, but for the grace of God.
That'd be me, Mark. That'd be me. But for the grace
of God, if God would have left me to myself, left me to be content
to live with that brawling woman that hadn't called me by His
grace, called me out of darkness, I'd be right there. The simple
is made wise and when the wise is instructed, when he's given
understanding, he's made sensible. who God is, who He is, He receives
it, knowledge. He receives it. Why? He takes
it, accepts it, and seizes God's instruction and knowledge. Why?
By a new heart, not by Himself. God left me in my old heart,
I wouldn't have received it, I wouldn't have taken it, I wouldn't
have accepted it, but made willing in the day of God's power. Haven't
been born again. And lastly, for this first message,
verse 12. The righteous man wisely considereth
the house of the wicked. The righteous wisely considers
the family. When it says the house, it's
not talking about the structure. It's talking about the family
of the wicked. Wisely considers. temporal state
of the wicked's fleeting and present earthly glory of false
hope in that family of false religion. That's a family. They're
like we are. We're a family. Here's the family
of God built on the foundation of Christ. That's the house of
the Lord. That's the house of God. But
the righteous wisely considers the house of the family of the
wicked. That house that's been built
on the sand, shifting sand of sure destruction. When the winds
and the rain comes, you know how the scripture says. A foolish
man built his house on the sand of himself, of his own ability. And when the scourge of God comes,
what's going to happen to it? So he wisely considers the house. That house, it dazzles the eye
of the unregenerate. And he thinks, boy, this is wonderful.
I'm happy. I'm happy. I've made my peace
with God. But the righteous man wisely
considers because he knows something. What does he know? Well, the
latter part says, God overthroweth the wicked. for their wickedness. That's why he wisely considers
it. That believer, wisely instructed,
he knows now the joy, the importance, and the blessing of being able
to know God. And instead of when he considers
the house, the family of the wicked, this verse of scripture
becomes a joy to him. He said, I was glad when they
said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. I don't want to
go back to the house of the wicked no more. I don't want to go back
there. I don't want to go back there
where God's not honored. I want to go where the Lord,
I want to go to the house of safety, the house of sanctuary. I want to go where there's true
worship of God, the house of His building, the house where
He dwells. We're truly the foundation of
Christ. It's better, verse 9, to dwell
in a corner of a housetop and with a brawling woman in
a wide house. It's better to dwell in that
corner I told you when I started this, that word corner means
tower. That's what it means. What tower? I'm going to read this and then
I'll stop for right now. Psalm 61. Psalm 61 verse 1 to
3. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto Thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for thou has been a shelter
for me and a strong tower from the enemy. It's better, it's
better to dwell in a corner, it's better to dwell in a tower,
separate, than to dwell in the house of a brawling woman. I
pray God bless these words to our heart. Let's take a let's
take about a 10 minute break and Lord willing, we'll come
back and pick up right there and go through 19.