Turn with me to the book of Proverbs
chapter 19. Proverbs 19. The blessing in
reading scripture, the blessing in it, is that we understand
it and the Spirit blesses the understanding that He gave to
our hearts. That's the blessing. We read some of the most precious
verses of scripture that you think should just ignite our
hearts in total ecstasy and we read them with such a cool attitude so
often. Isn't that a shame? But to have
the Spirit of God bless them to us. That's what we want this
morning. Bless this to me. Bless it to
my heart. Proverbs 19 verses 1 to 3. Now listen to this. Better is
the poor that walketh in his integrity than he that is perverse
in his lips and is a fool." Now this is what I need. This
is what I want. This is what I need. I need the
Lord to teach me what he just said. I know it's so because the Lord
said it. I know it's so But what did he say? Better. I'll just give you the
meanings of the word. Best. Best. Better is the poor. And again, now that word right
there, it's an amazing word. You know, when we think of poor,
we think of those that were born poor. They don't have a lot.
They struggle. They don't have much in the way
of material poor. But they were born that way.
through providence. But this word right here is an
amazing word. It means to make himself poor,
to make himself poor, or to impoverish himself. Now that's an amazing
word. Who, naturally speaking, wants
to impoverish himself? Who wants to just make himself
poor? I'd rather be poor. That's just
not the way we think. We just we want to get more and
have more. Better is the poor that walketh
or has his manner of life in his integrity or his completeness
or his perfection, his integrity, his perfection. Now let me tell
you what the first half of that verse just said. Here's the literal. The one who ever walked, the
one who walketh, the one who ever walked in perfection or
in innocence, who impoverished himself, making himself poor,
is best. Now that's what it means. Now
you know when you read it like that, and your mind goes to the
Lord Jesus Christ, you think, now that's a blessing. You think of him, listen to this,
the one who ever walked in perfection, in innocence, who impoverished
himself, made himself poor, is best. He's best. Bypassing anything
that can be said about the integrity of any creature born in Adam,
because there's nothing. What are we going to say about
them? Let's talk about Him. Let's talk about the Lord. Let's
fly to Him and behold Him, who the scripture says, though He
was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through
His poverty might be rich. about three or four things I
know out of that first part that I'll not labor this long. Number
one, he's rich. He's rich. He's eternally rich. Where do you start? In the richness
of the Lord, the perfection of his nature. In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. There is a man in glory seated
on the throne of God. There is a man in glory seated
on the throne of God who is God. He's rich. He made all things. By him all
things consist. The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof." So I know this, I know he's rich, but I
know this, he impoverished himself. For
the sake of his people, he became poor, made himself poor. The Word was made flesh
with all of its weaknesses, its frailties, yet without sin. The Lord of glory, the scripture
says, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Let me tell you, How poor. And I'll say this, I tried to
read over what I wrote here and I thought, I know that's so,
but I can't enter into the depth of it. Let me tell you how poor
he made himself to be. One, it's just so deeply in debt. There's just no possible way
of getting out of it. He just owes. It doesn't matter
what he says or what he thinks, he owes everything. He's just
poor. But here the Lord made himself
answerable. Made sin. He who knew no sin. That we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. He was made to bear the debt. He took upon himself the debt
of all of his people for all of time. Made himself answerable
for all of it. I owe that. That's what he said. Mine iniquities taken hold. So I know this. He was rich,
made himself poor. And he who made himself poor,
thirdly, walked this earth better is the poor that walketh in his
integrity. He walked on this earth in absolute
obedience, in integrity, in innocence, perfection. He walked before
his father perfectly. And the father who knew everything
about him, all of his thoughts, his words, his deeds, he said,
this is my beloved son whom I'm well pleased. He walked in his
integrity, his own integrity. And that integrity, now you listen
to this, that obedience that he earned as a man is the righteousness
in which believers are robed. His righteousness imputed to
his people. Now, you talk about comfort. But I'm telling you, he earned
it. I didn't. And you didn't. He
didn't. And here's the fourth thing. He's better. He's better. Better. Best. Best. Whatever can be said or
thought concerning a standing before God. Anything that can be stated that
a man might trust in. He's better. He's better. Better
than the angels. Scripture says, Hebrews 7.19,
the law made nothing perfect. Let me tell you what that means.
Nothing that you did made you perfect. Well, I gave my heart
to the Lord. Be careful how much bragging
you start doing. Be careful how much bragging
you start doing. Because the moment you open your mouth and
start claiming to have a righteousness before God because of what you
did. Well, the Lord offered it and I accepted it. Then what
you're saying is your work is what made it perfect. Be careful.
Not by works of righteousness that we've done. Well, I was
baptized. Water didn't make you perfect.
Be careful. Be careful. I'm going to tell
you something. Believers are baptized and believers
do call upon the Lord, but that is the evidence, that's the result
of regeneration, a new heart. You're saved by grace. You're
saved by grace. He's best, not me and you. The law made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did, by the which we draw nigh unto God." Let me tell you
who that better hope is. You know. You know. He was made
a surety of a better testament. He is the mediator of a better
covenant, which was established upon better promises. He is better. Better is the poor that walketh
in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and is
a fool. I can understand that one. Just
seemed like I can understand that one. This perverse one and he that
is perverse. Let me tell you who the perverse
one is. Anybody or anything that's not
him. anybody or anything that is not him. He's better. Better is the poor that walketh
in his integrity than he that is perverse in his lips and a
fool. A man that speaks thinking he
can reconcile himself back to God. One whose speech scatters
is the ruin of men's souls. Verse 2, also, that the soul
be without knowledge is not good. And he that hasteth with his
feet sinneth. That the soul be without knowledge. What kind of knowledge? Any kind
of knowledge? There's a lot of things we know.
We know some things. We've got some understanding.
But the soul that is without knowledge of Him, a knowledge
of Christ, a knowledge of the Father, as they are revealed
in these scriptures. This is life eternal. That they
might know Thee. That they might know Thee. I
said, devils know who they are. The demons know that there's
a God. The devils know that there's a Jesus Christ. They know that. I mean that's just, that's a
historical fact. But to know them with a heart
of love and understanding, commitment, commitment. And that the soul be without
knowledge is not good. It's not good for that soul,
I can tell you that. What did the Lord say concerning the one
that would betray Him? It would have been better if
He had never been born. That soul is in danger of eternal
damnation and ruin and separation from God. I was recently Had a big fire
going and burned a lot of brush and stuff like that. Threw some
chunks of wood and stuff on that. I'm telling you, that fire was
hot. It was hot. It burned down, you
know, and burned down. I'd go over and stoke it and
throw some more. I mean, just trying to get it. And the wind shifted just a little
bit and blew the heat toward me. I mean, I was far enough
away, I wasn't in it, but I was close. And I'm telling you, for
a second, I looked down at my pants just to see if they were
on fire. It was so hot. And at that moment, I thought
to myself, Speaking of that rich man that died and went to hell,
Lazarus died, went to the bosom of Abraham, and just for a second
it went through my mind. That would be a drop in the bucket.
It didn't last. The heat, if it lasted a second,
two seconds maybe, but it went through my mind. What if, what
if I had some understanding of What the scripture says, that
rich man that called to Father Abraham said, could you have
Lazarus just come dip his fingers in some water, touch my tongue,
just a second, just one second. I'll be here eternally. If I
could just have, just touch my tongue. Because I am being tormented
in these flames. And he knew it. that the soul be without knowledge.
It's not good. It's not good. And he that hasteth
with his feet sinneth. Proverbs 1, 15, 16 says they
make haste, those that hasteth with their feet. They make haste
to shed blood. They lay wait for their own blood. They lurk privily for their own
lives. They just play with it. Just play with their soul. Playing
with their soul. The bottom line concerning, he
that hasteth with his feet, with his steps, walks continually
missing the marks, what he's talking about. He that hasteth with his feet.
That's what he's doing. He's sinning. He's sinning. While he thinks he's walking
in his integrity, walking in his own liberty, in his own obedience. That's what he's doing. He's
sinning against God. He's sinning and sinning. Sinning. He that hath the Son hath life.
He that hath not the Son. What does that mean? Trusting
Him only. If I could just somehow, talking
about me, let me hear it. Let me hear it. Let me understand.
Get this out of my mind. Get it out of my mind. I have
nothing to glory in save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I've
never done anything to merit salvation. Therefore, the scripture
says, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. In verse
3, in closing, the foolishness of man perverteth his way, and
his heart fretteth against the Lord. The foolishness of man
perverteth his way. The sinfulness of a man and a
woman born in Adam. The sinfulness of that heart,
of that nature, causes him to continually go astray. He's just
going astray, he's just continually. I've said this so many times,
you that know him, doesn't it grieve you when you
see yourself in your mind, I'm talking about in your mind now,
going astray? going astray. It's forgetting. I hear these words, casting all
your care upon Him. Why? For He careth for you. And I'll be dark if I won't find
myself taking the bull by the horns. Let me tell you how I'm
going to work this out. This is what I'm going to do.
Instead of casting all of my care upon the Lord, Why? Because he careth for his people. The foolishness of man perverteth
his ways, causes him to go astray. Foolishness turns him aside. And the thing is, and his heart
fretteth against the Lord. Now let me tell you what that
means. It blames him. Rages against God. Let me show
you that. It's Genesis chapter 3 verse
12. Remember when Adam and Eve sinned
against the Lord? They sinned against God. Eve
took that fruit and gave it to Adam. They ate it. Their eyes
were opened. They knew they were naked. The
Lord came walking in the cool of the day. Genesis chapter 3
And look here, when it came right down to it, the Lord asked him,
have you eaten, verse 11, have you eaten of the tree whereof
I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? And listen to this,
this is what it is to fret against the Lord, to rage against the
Lord. And the man said, the woman whom thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me of the tree and I did eat. Now, I'll just run it down
real fast for you. Here's what he said. It's your
fault. Your fault. It's your fault. Does he work
all things after the counsel of his own will? Does the Lord
order all things? He worketh all things. He rules
in heaven and earth, right? Well, if something crosses my
path that in my mind doesn't seem to go the way I wanted it
to go. I wanted it to be different.
Let me tell you what my old man's going to say. Well, who orders
all things? Who worketh all things? Now you
think about that. What's the natural man going
to think? It's God's fault. You say, I'd never say that.
Oh, don't give yourself so much, you know, Pat on the back. Believe
me, he would. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine a vain thing? Why? Because I'll tell you this,
there's an old man in us that does not love him, that does
not trust him. Thanks be unto God. As I said
before, there's a new man that does in the believer. That old man will rage against
God. But you let a man by grace see
Him by faith who is best. Going back to verse 1 in closing.
He who made himself poor and walked continually walketh before
God in His own perfection, His own innocence. He who has made
sin for us who knew no sin that He might robe us in His righteousness,
justly paid our debt, made us holy in Him. He who answered every demand
of the law for justice, who satisfied every demand of God Almighty
by His obedience, shed His blood eternally having justified us
but in time accomplished it, gave us faith to believe it.
He who humbled himself as God's servant, he's the best. You let a man see him, trust
him, and by the grace of God come to him, that man's got a
good hope. The most comforting, the most secure place
to be found sitting by the grace of God, because I know this is
not something I can do. But if He grants me a heart to
just settle down, settle down, and trust Him, all is well. Lord bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.