Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. Every time I read one of the
Proverbs, I'm reminded of the way in which our Lord preached. Scripture says without Proverbs,
parables. The Lord didn't preach. He always preached in parables,
proverbs. And as we read these proverbs,
I want you to do something with me. Ask the Lord, God's Spirit. Ask God's Holy Spirit. Lord, make these words real to
me. You know, the Scripture says
that my sheep, concerning our Lord, He said, my sheep, hear
my voice. And I want to read these words
as they are spoken by the very mouth of our precious Savior. I know that when we read these
Scriptures, these Proverbs, very often, The difference between
the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ and the unbeliever is
set forth. That's just so many times when
we read those Scriptures. And I know this, in that day,
in that day of God's judgment, and I do know that the day of
the Lord is coming. I know it is. I know that soon,
very soon, in light of eternity, we're all going to stand before
God. The Scripture sets forth that
all men will be there, and I know this, no one's going to be able
to claim ignorance. You know, every man's got a conscience.
Every person has a conscience. There's a knowledge of right
and wrong. It doesn't matter where you go
in this world, what tribe, the most remote tribe in the most
remote place, there's a knowledge of right and wrong. God put that
knowledge. There's a conscience. It's there. So nobody is going to be able
to stand before God and claim ignorance. The Scripture says
that the books are going to be opened. And every man's work
is going to be declared. Those that are dead in trespasses
and sins will be judged according to the Scriptures out of those
things which were written in the books. Their hearts are going
to be exposed. But then there's going to be
some that will be found written in the book. The book Himself. God Himself who is the Word. The eternal surety of God's elect. And everything that will be said
concerning them is this. No charge. Justified. Holy. Perfect. Now let me tell you how you'll
know those that are written in the book of life Himself. Here's
how you know. Before they leave this world,
they're going to have the Spirit of God cross their path with
the gospel of God's free grace, salvation, that is all of grace,
salvation that is all of God, salvation that has no man's hand
put to it. And the Spirit of God will cross
their path with this book, with this gospel, with this message,
and the Lord Himself will give a new heart, a heart that they
didn't have before. He will rebirth them. He will give them a new mind,
a new understanding, a new will. And He will impart life, faith,
and they'll believe Him. And they will not trust in one
thing that they ever did. Previously they did. They trusted
in their work. They trusted in their will. They
trusted in their ability. They trusted in something. But
when a believer is brought into the existence, when God Almighty
gives him life, that man, that woman believes God and rests
in God and trusts in God. Now today, I want us to look,
Proverbs 15, verses 12 to 15, I want us to consider, from the
mouth of our Lord, and this is God speaking. This is God's Word. God is speaking, and blessed
be His holy name. He has given us the privilege
to be here. I found an article by Brother
Henry, it's on the back side of the bulletin, down toward
the bottom there. He said, I was glad when they
said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. He said, I'm just
so glad that I want to go. I'm glad that I have the strength
to go. I'm glad that God's given me an understanding to hear and
to believe what I hear. I pray the Lord bless our hearts
today. Let's look at two groups of people. that's going to be found in this
world, a scorner, and the other one is said to be a man of a
merry heart. Now, the scorner, that is a mocker. That's one that makes, actually
it says, to make a mouth at, a one that scoffs. A man that
scoffs God's Word, mocks God's Word, he makes a jest at Almighty
God. And the way he does it is he
defies God's means of grace. How does God show mercy? Well, that's what I've been talking
about. We're here hearing The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's meaning. This is
how Almighty God has ordained that He's going to make Himself
known. He said, I'm going to send you
a pastor. I'm going to send a pastor after
my own heart, and he'll teach you. The pastor's got to be taught. And then he teaches. He says
what God has to say. That's the only thing that a
pastor has to say. What does the Lord say? But this
scoffer, this scorner, he hates the power of God unto salvation. Now that's just, here's the Lord's
revelation, and we see it. We see the manifestation of it.
He hates the preaching of free grace. Sovereign grace. Tell a man that he can do something. Tell a man this is all you've
got to do. If you'll A-B-C, then God will D-E-F. Man by nature
makes a jest at that. He scoffs at that. He scorns
that. He says this, here is the Word
of God, here is God speaking. This is what the Lord has to
say. He says, a scorner loveth not one that reproveth him, neither
will he go unto the wise. I want you to turn, or just let
me read this to you. Chapter 5. I want to just read
Amos 5. I want to read verses 1 to 10. Here's what the Lord says. Hear
ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation,
O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen. She shall no more rise. She is
forsaken upon her land. There is none to raise her up.
For thus saith the Lord God, The city that went out by a thousand
shall leave a hundred. And that which went forth by
a hundred shall leave ten to the house of Israel. For thus
saith the Lord unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye
shall live. But seek not Bethel, nor enter
into Gilgal, or pass not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into
captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. Seek the Lord. And
ye shall live, lest ye break out like fire in the house of
Joseph, and devour it. There is none to quench it in
Bethel. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness
in the earth, seek him that maketh the seven stars, and Orion, and
turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day
dark with night, that calleth for the waters of the sea, and
poureth them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord is his
name that strengtheneth the spoiled, against the strong, so that the
spoiled shall come against the fortress. They hate him that
rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly."
Let me tell you what the whole Scripture just said. Seek God. Seek God Almighty who is sovereign. Seek God who is mighty. Don't
trust in anything else. Don't put your trust in anything
that's going to fail you. And here's the sad part. They
hate Him that constructs. Man by nature hates the truth. Now, who said that? The Lord. God Almighty. Oh, how excellent. How wonderful, how blessed is
a new heart that longs to be corrected. Listen to Psalm 141.5. Let the righteous smite me. It shall be a kindness. Let him
reprove me. It shall be an excellent oil
which shall not break my head. I'm telling you only a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ. considers it a privilege, a joy
to be corrected. I want to be told. Lord help
me. But a scorner is not necessarily
one that is without religion, but it is one that is without
Christ. I've heard Brother Henry say
it's anti-Christ. He talks about the spirit of
anti-Christ. He said they're not anti-religion,
they're not anti-morality, but they're anti-Christ. They're
without a knowledge of the Lord, sovereign in salvation, sovereign
in creation, sovereign in providence. God's people love to be corrected
in the wrong way that they think. A scorner? They don't. They don't want to have their
conscience dealt with. Don't tell me that I'm wrong.
A believer wants to hear plainly, tell me the truth. Tell me exactly
what God has to say and don't mix the words. Tell me just exactly. A scorner loveth not one that
reproveth him, neither will he go unto the wise. He won't. He won't go to where wisdom himself,
the Lord Jesus Christ is preached. He won't come to the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the wisdom being preached. He will not. You that know Christ, don't you
desire to know the truth? I want to be corrected. Lord, I'm just so prone to think
in a wrong way. The old nature that's with me, If there is something that I'm
doing contrary to God's Word, God's way, God's revelation,
don't you want to be reproved? Don't you want to be corrected?
Don't you want to be right? I do. I do. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. I want to do that. Wait on the
Lord. Oh, I want to do that. Cast all your care upon Him for
He careth for you. Oh, how many cares do I have? How
many cares? The weight of this old world. The weight. The burden. Cast
yourself upon Him. I want to do that. But not a
scorner. He hears the truth of God's sovereign
grace, and he just flies in the face of everything that he's
ever heard. He wants to believe by nature
that man has the last word in salvation. He will not go unto
the wise. The latter part of the 14th verse
here, it says that the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness. Now you know you think about
this, how would we know that? How would we know? Except God
Almighty tell us the way that things are. How would we? The mouth of the fool feedeth
on silliness. That's what it says, that foolishness,
silliness. A fool. That is, one that despises
wisdom. That's what a fool is. What is
a fool? When it says, the mouth of a fool, it's one that despises,
mocks when he's guilty. He mocks when he's guilty. Quarrelsome. When a believer, when that new
man hears the truth, he feeds on it. He rests in it. He hungers after righteousness.
He hungers to hear the glorious message of free grace, sovereign
grace. A scorner, he speaks as a fool
and he feeds on, he grazes on. That's what it means. The mouth
of a fool feedeth. He grazes and wanders in foolishness. Foolish doctrine. Foolish lust. Temporal cares of this world
that just flatters the flesh. His carnal mind feasts on the
things of this world. Things that are perishing. And
he feasts on religious foolishness that has no scriptural basis
to it. No promise of peace with God. He finds no peace. He finds no
comfort. But the man, verse 13, that has
a merry heart. Now here's the other man. He's
got a scorner. He feeds on foolishness. He makes
a mockery of God's Word, God's truth. Here's Almighty God setting
forth the truth. The truth. And we're all going
to stand before God. And the books are all going to
be open. And a man left for himself, he just mocks it, mocks it, mocks
it, ignores it. I'm not going to hear that. I'm
not going to listen to that mess. Oh, but first thing, a merry
heart maketh a cheerful countenance. A merry heart. I wanted to make
sure, because here's the problem that I have, and I think you're
just like me. We read these words and we don't
know what they mean until we look them up. We want to know,
what does this mean? It says, a merry heart. A merry heart is interpreted
this way. A rejoicing will. A rejoicing mind. A merry heart. And I know that
a heart and a will, a mind that rejoices in the truth, is one
that's been made new. I wasn't born with that mind.
I wasn't born with that will. I was born just like every man,
every woman, with a heart and a will that would not, that would
scorn, that would resist, wouldn't come. But a man of a rejoicing
will, made willing in the day of God's power. I'm going to
give you a new mind, a new heart. A man of a merry heart maketh
a cheerful, a glad countenance, face or presence. A man that
has a heart that rejoices in God Almighty, rejoices in salvation
by grace. A man that has been set free
by the Spirit of God teaching him. You don't work anymore. Christ
is your Sabbath. Christ is your day of rest. God
Almighty has saved you totally, totally by grace and taught you
that and gave you faith to believe that. A man of a rejoicing will. You mean to tell me that my salvation
is not based on anything that I do? That's exactly what I'm
telling you. You mean to tell me that Almighty God before the
foundation of the world chose to show mercy to me and gave
me a new heart in time and taught me that? That's right. And that
the Lord Himself keeps me by power and grace, keeps me believing,
keeps me coming, keeps me ever looking toward Him. That's right.
That's right. You mean that I'm here today
thankful and joyful in the Lord Totally by His goodness and His
grace. That's right. That's right. That's good news. Good news. One that's made to realize the
joy of the Lord. One that's been made to realize
that peace has been established by the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Mediator between this sinful creature and holy God. Peace. Peace through His blood. That man who is of a merry heart,
that has a glad presence, a cheerful countenance, knows that Almighty
God works all things after the counsel of His own will for those
that He has everlastingly loved. Why do we go through what we're
going through? Because He's bringing us to Himself. Bringing us to Himself. He said,
my sheep, they're going to hear my voice. I know them. They follow me. I look around
and I can be discouraged about everything else. But I'll tell
you this, a man with a merry heart, He's got a cheerful countenance. He's glad. Verse 14 says, "...the heart
of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge." A man, a
woman that God has given an understanding of Christ. And this is good news. This is good news. Everything
else is bad news. But this is good news. A man who has a heart of understanding,
he seeks knowledge. One made wise unto salvation
is not satisfied with what he knows of Christ. He's not satisfied. A believer knows him. Paul the
Apostle, speaking, I know of himself. He said, I knew a man
a few years ago. In the Spirit, out of the Spirit.
He said, I don't know. But he was caught up to the third
heaven. He was caught up to paradise. And I think every time I read
that Scripture, I think of when the Lord told that thief, and
that thief said, Lord, here was a man getting ready to die. Now
these are words to die for, to die with. Lord, when You enter
into Your kingdom, would You remember me? Lord, would You
think on me? And the Lord said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, today, today you're going to be with me in
paradise. And I know, based upon the words of our Lord, that thief,
that rotten, no-good scoundrel just like me, is with the Lord
right now, ever rejoicing, ever thankful that God would show
mercy unto him. But I tell you, I know that Paul,
saying, he said, I was caught up to that place. By the power
and grace of God, I was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable
things. Things that I don't even know
how to say them. I can't say them. If I said them,
you couldn't understand them. But Paul the Apostle, caught
up, said this in Philippians 3.10, that I may know Him, and
the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death. Paul said, the one that
I know, that I know by faith, and soon by sight, when the Lord
was pleased to take him out of this world. that I may know Him
and the power of His resurrection." This is what a believer rests
in. The Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead. Oh, they nailed Him to a cross
by the determinate counsel of Almighty God. And there Christ
Himself put away the guilt, bore the guilt of all of His elect. Died for the sheep. Lay down
my life, He said, for the sheep. Dying for my people. Dying for
those that the Father had given Him in electing grace. And there,
God Himself did business with God. And He put away the guilt. He paid the debt. No penalty. No debt. No charge. And they put Him in the grave. Almighty God, three days later,
God Himself, God Himself, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit
raised Him. Christ said, I have power to
lay down my life. I have power to take it again. And three days
later, He came out of that ground. Resurrected glory. And when He
came out of that ground, That evidence right there. God accepted
what He did. In the putting away of the charge,
the guilt, the penalty against God's law of all His elect. Paul said, oh, that I might know
that. The power of His resurrection.
A believer. One that knows Him. The heart
of Him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge. I know that
the Scripture says, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Savior, the knowledge of Christ. We assemble ourselves together.
Marvelous, marvelous privilege. And here we are. And here the
Lord is. And I know this. I know that
it's not my ability to preach. I'll leave this pulpit. Oh, if
you only knew how I just walk out of here and I'll think to
myself, think back on what I said. I wish I'd have said it. I wish
I could do that again, Mitch. I wish I'd have said this. And
I just go crawl somewhere in a corner. I know it's not my
ability. Thanks be unto God for that.
But I know this. He said my word is not going
to return void. It's going to accomplish the
purpose for which it was sent. Lord, bless Your Word today.
A man of a merry heart hath, verse 15 says, a continual feast. All the days of the afflicted
are evil, displeasing, and believers are afflicted too. Yeah, believers are afflicted
too. The Scripture says, Genesis 47-9, remember we looked at this
verse a few weeks ago when Jacob came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh
asked him, he said, how old are you? How old are you? He told him. He said, I'll tell you this,
he said, concerning my age, Few and evil have been the days of
the years of my life. These have been difficult years. In this life, we're going to
have tribulation. But he that is of a merry heart
has a continual feast." I'm going to say this in closing. Verse 13, it talked about it.
It said, "...a merry heart maketh a..." And I looked it up. I told you that means it's a
rejoicing will or mind. A rejoicing will or mind. But
I noticed in this 15th verse, All the days of the afflicted
are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."
It was a different word. It was two different words. It
wasn't the same. That word there, merry, where
merry in verse 13 means a rejoicing will or mind, merry right here
means a good and agreeable and right in action heart. One that is agreeable with Almighty
God, right in their action, believing Him, hath a continual, a constant
feast banquet on the bread of Heaven Himself. Whatever a believer
is called upon whatever their lot is in this world. I used to tell my kids, I've
told you this before, but I always tell the kids, I say, look, the
situation never changes, only the way you look at it. It doesn't change. The lot is
the lot. It doesn't change. But the way
you look at it, It's by the grace of God if you look at it as being
a continual feast. Man, I've read of believers that
have been called upon in this world. Read of them in Hebrews. We haven't got to it yet, but
it's talking about believers that were sawn in two. They were
treated and beaten and stuff. And the Scripture says this world
wasn't even worthy of them. And they left this world rejoicing. I think about Stephen. He was
a group of religious, arrogant men. Stephen preached the truth
to them. And they hated what he was saying.
And they started picking up rocks and started throwing them at
him. And Stephen was getting ready to leave this world. But
I'll tell you what he did. He left this world with a continual
feast. He said, I see God standing. I see God standing. What a way to leave this world.
Believe in Him. Resting in Him. Trusting in Him. Lord, bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.