Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 13. Proverbs 13. I'd like for us to consider a
couple of verses of Scripture this morning, verses 10 and 11. Let's read verses 10 and 11,
Proverbs 13. and ask our Lord's blessing.
The scriptures say, Only by pride cometh contention, but with the
well advised is wisdom. Wealth gotten by vanity shall
be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor shall increase. Let's pray it again. Our Father, this morning we ask
Your blessing upon Your Word by Your Spirit to our hearts. Our Father, we ask comfort us
by Your blessed Holy Scriptures. Lord, I pray You'd call Your
people out of darkness. Bless the services we ask for
Christ's sake. Amen. There is a characteristic that
is bound in man as man is fallen in Adam. And that characteristic
epitomizes man's arrogance and rebellion before God. Here it
is. This is it. Pride. Pride. The Scriptures say, only by pride cometh contention. One thing, one thing causes an
argument. Pride. Thinking more of ourselves than
we ought to think. An overestimation of our own
worth. That results in pride, argument,
strife. Galatians 6.3 says, For if a
man think himself to be something, When he's nothing, he deceives
himself. But the ultimate consequences
of this pride is set forth in the Holy Scriptures. You know, I heard Brother Henry say one
time, heard that he had said, I didn't hear him say it. He
said, for those that truly want to know, They want to be instructed. They want to be taught. He said,
get under the Gospel. Stay under the Gospel. And in
time, all your questions will be answered. I thought that's
good. Stay where God Almighty has set
forth the truth of His blessed Gospel. Only by pride cometh
contention. I looked in the scriptures to
find out where this word pride was first mentioned. It's always
good. If you want to know what a word
means, go back to where it's first mentioned, and you're going
to have a good idea of what that word truly sets forth. First time, take your Bibles
and turn with me to Deuteronomy 17. Deuteronomy 17. This is. Good, good understanding, Deuteronomy
17, 12. Here's here's what I'm going
to I'm going to read this verse to show you where it's found
first, and then we're going to look at a few verses. So just
hold your hand after we read this verse, stay right there
in Deuteronomy 17. Here's the first time. The first time that
the word pride is used, it's actually interpreted presumptuously. That's the word. That same word,
pride, presumptuously. Here it is, verse 12. And the
man that will do presumptuously and will not hearken unto the
priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God
or unto the judge, even that man shall die. and thou shalt
put away the evil from Israel." Here is what was happening. The
Lord had directed Moses to set up some courts of judgment. And they were to be ordered and
established in every city according to the people of Israel. had raised up. You sit and there
will be some courts. Deuteronomy 16, 18 says this,
Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates which
the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout the tribes, thy tribes.
They shall judge the people with just judgment. Now, what they would do is They
would have these courts, and they were all set up in all of
the cities, and they'd hear. And they would
make a judgment. They would establish a verdict
in most of the cases. But sometimes they would have
a case that would arise in a higher court was needed to hear that
case. They would take that court, and
that court would hear if there was a problem, there was some
discrepancies. And that court that we're going
to read about, I'll read it in just a second, that court's verdict
was final. The Lord had raised up, told
Paul, He said, you raise them up, and Almighty God set forth. With this knowledge, God said,
I'm going to be the one that will work in and through. God's
will. God's Word. He was going to keep
order in Israel. And whatever that court set forth,
that was going to be the absolute and failure to abide or to submit
to that higher court's verdict was punishable by death. And
let me show you that. In Deuteronomy 17, look in verse
8. Let's just read that. And he
says, If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment,
between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke
and stroke, what he's saying is this. You might have a problem
between some family members, Maybe there was a he said, she
said. Well, he did to me. No, he did
to me. He said, being matters of controversy
within thy gates, then shalt thou rise and get thee up into
the place which the Lord thy God shall choose. And thou shalt
come unto the priests and the Levites and to the judge that
shall be in those days and inquire. They shall show thee the sentence.
the judgment, and thou shalt do according to the sentence
which they of that place which the Lord shall choose to show
thee. And thou shalt observe to do
according to all that they inform thee, according to the sentence
of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment
which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do, thou shalt not decline
from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right
hand, nor to the left, and the man that will do presumptuously,
and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister
there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that
man shall die, and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel,
and all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously."
That's what he said. I'll have some courts and they'll
make the verdicts. But if there arises a situation
that it just doesn't seem to be able to, we can come to the
bottom line of this. There's a Supreme Court and you'll
go and you'll take the matter before those of that court and
whatever decision they make. That's going to be it. The judge
there will absolutely set forth his ruling. And if a man will
act presumptuously and not abide, pride, arrogance,
that man is going to be killed. I'm going to put away the evil
out of the city. Now I want you to turn to Hebrews
10.28. Hebrews 10.28. Hebrews 10.28. Here's what the Scripture says. It was to this law that we just
read that the Apostle referred in this Scripture right here.
Hebrews 10.28. He that despised Moses' law died
without mercy unto two or three witnesses. Of how much sore punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the
Lord, and again the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Now back
in Proverbs chapter 13, we know concerning our Lord's ruling,
there is a There is an ultimate judge. There is an ultimate truth. There is a truth that Almighty
God has set forth. Back in the Old Testament, they
had a squabble. They were going to argue. I've
got a problem. Well, I think this way. I think
this way. This is the way it is. The Scripture sets forth
that all have sinned and come short. of the glory of God. Now
that ends it. That ends it right there. Pride,
presumption, arrogance that is born in a man that raises its
head of rebellion and says, I am not as other men are. I am able to secure my salvation
by my own free will and my self-righteous works. You are saying in your heart,
I count God's record and the blood of God's Son to be an unholy
thing, and I trod underfoot the Son of God. I reject the gospel
of God's grace. Here's what God has to say. It's
a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God. Only
by pride, pride, pride, presumption, thinking that you know better
than God, only by pride cometh contention. But the Scripture says, But with
the well-advised, back in the latter part of verse 10, is wisdom. With the well-advised. Oh, the
wonder of being well-advised. The wonder of God's grace that
Almighty God would teach a man or teach a woman something of
who He is and who God Almighty is. who the Lord Jesus Christ
is, how God shows mercy to sinners. James 3.17 says, But the wisdom
that is from above is first pure, peaceable, gentle, easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality,
without hypocrisy. The well-advised. Oh, the miracle
of God's grace that God Almighty would advise anybody. Men talked and said, Well, I'll
tell you what I think. Oh, tell me what God thinks.
Tell me what God Almighty has to say. That's what Moses said. You know that. Moses said, Lord,
show me Your glory. That word glory means the opinion. That's what it means. Your thoughts. Lord, tell me what you think.
Give me a heart to bow to that. Give me a heart, Lord, that would
just bow to what you have to say. Lord, keep me. Don't let me. Lord, well-advise
me. Mercifully, Christ has by His
Holy Spirit taught and counseled His people concerning themselves
and their need of Him. You that know Him, well advised,
well taught, graciously were advised of our sin that's been
put away by the blood of His cross. Oh, I'm so thankful that
He'd advised me of that. I'm so thankful that He'd advised
me of what I am being born in Adam. I know. I know by the grace
of God somewhat of what I am in myself. And I agree with what God has
to say. But Paul said, O wretched man
that I am. Well advised. That's a miracle
of God's grace. God can teach a man anything
about his depravity. Well advised. of how God justifies
a sinner. Number one, He chose to justify. When we say justify, remember
what that means? Justified. The law of God looks
at you. And the law of God says, no record
of guilt. No record of it. Nothing. Nothing here. justified before
God Almighty, justified before His law, well advised that God
would be pleased to justify me totally by grace. Not that He looked at me and
saw that I deserved to be justified before God's law. He chose to
show mercy to me, justified by the blood of His cross. is the evidence of being justified. When it says justified by faith,
it's not justified because you believe. Faith is the evidence
that God has justified you freely by grace. Faith. Faith justified
by works, James says. Works doesn't justify anybody.
Faithfulness in following after Christ, believing in Christ,
trusting in Christ, hoping in Christ, There's the good works. A labor of love. Those good works that believers
don't put any confidence whatsoever in. The evidence of God justifying
you freely by grace is that you follow after Him. He keeps you
by His power, mercifully keeps you. Boy, isn't that some good
advice. well advised. But with the well
advised is wisdom. It's Christ. Christ who is our
wisdom. Oh, how compassionately the Spirit
of God brings back to our memory all these things that Almighty
God has taught us. Arguments. Arguments before God. Do you know why that comes? Pride. Pride. But Christ is with those who
by the grace of God have been advised. Verse 11. Wealth gotten by vanity shall
be diminished. But he that gathers by labor
shall increase. No doubt. that men would naturally
admit. Now just naturally speaking,
I've said this so many times, the Proverbs are written and
you can read these Proverbs and pretty well find a natural, I
mean just naturally speaking. I would say that the average
person that can read and has sense enough to just think anything,
could probably read these Scriptures, these Proverbs, and just naturally
come to a conclusion that there's a natural answer to that. Wealth gotten by vanity shall
be diminished. Men might say, well, you know,
people that obtain wealth by fraud or deceit That's not going to work. They're
always having to try to launder that money, or they're trying
to hide it, or they're lying about it. How did you get that?
Oh, this is how I got it. They're lying. Wealth gotten
by vanity shall be diminished. But we must consider this passage
in light of the perfections of the glory of our blessed Lord.
and the salvation of His people. If we don't see Christ in that
passage right there, it doesn't matter what we've come up with. Well, gotten by vanity shall
be diminished. Never forget what our Lord told
the two on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and all
the prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures those things concerning Himself. If I don't see Christ
in that passage right there, I haven't seen the gospel. If
I don't preach the gospel, then I have not set forth the power
of God, what God has chosen to be the means by which He'll call
out His people and comfort His people. I can tell you all day
long, wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished. You ought
to be honest now when you go out and work. Eight hours of
work, eight hours of pay. That's good advice. That is good
advice. Man, don't work, don't eat. That's
scriptural. I ain't come up from Eden. I heard old Milton Howard say
one time, he said, you know, if a man is Sitting down on the
side of the road, and there's a big old rock right there, and
he's wanting that rock to go up that hill right there. He's
just sitting there and wants me to push it up. He said, I'm
probably not going to do it. But he said, if I see him struggling,
you know, he said, I'll do all I can to help him. I'll do that.
I'll help him. But just sitting back and just
doing nothing, just think, I'm going to. No. No. No. I mean, all you're doing is just
contributing to his delinquency. But if that's all this says right
here, what eternal profit has that got to do with you? What
is that? Wealth. Here's what. Wealth, God and humanity. That
which men consider wealth. That which men consider to be
their eternal wealth. You've got to look at these Scriptures
in light of the glory of God. You've got to look at these scriptures
in light of the gospel. You've got to look at these scriptures
in light of what God says about men, what God says about himself. Wealth gotten, eternal wealth,
what men consider wealth, gotten by empty and unsubstantial means. That's what it means. Wealth
gotten by vanity. Spiritual wealth. that men think
that they have obtained by emptiness and vanity, by the vanity of
their own works, is going to come to nothing. Look at the
Scriptures spiritually. Wealth gotten by emptiness, vanity,
man's so-called spiritual treasure that he's thinking that he's
obtained by his own works of emptiness and pride and arrogance
and free will. This is what the prophet Haggai
had to say in description of that. Haggai 1.6, you've sown
much, but you bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, you're not filled
with drink. You clothe you, but there's none
warm. It's wrapped in filthy rags.
He that earneth wages, spiritually, earneth wages to put it into
a bag of holes. There's no profit in that so-called
wealth, that spiritual wealth obtained by vanity. Men go through
and they're in places that they call Places of worshiping God
where God is not honored. Where the Lord Jesus Christ is
not honored. Where God's Spirit is not honored.
And they're telling people things that don't matter. And people,
they show up. I came to church today. I brought
my Bible. We used to have little old thing
on the wall here. Y'all might have to. We had one.
You know, this is how many we came. This is how many daily
Bible readings we did and how many bought the Bible. You know,
well, I say, I brought my Bible. I read my Scriptures. I prayed through. And in that
day, men are going to stand before God Almighty. And they'll say,
Lord, Lord, haven't we prophesied in Your name? And we cast out
devils in your name. And we've done many mighty works
in your name. He said, Then will I say unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity. There's no profit. Wealth, gotten
by vanity, shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor
shall increase." He that gathereth by labor, with
the hand, is what that word labor, with the hand. Now, obviously,
if we stay in context with our thoughts concerning salvation,
we are going to have to admit that no sinner is able to gather
salvation by His labor or by His hand. Now you know that. Titus 3.5, how many times have
we read this? Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. But
the wording of this verse is truly wonderful when we understand
the meaning of these words. I want you to turn to Hebrews
4.11. I thought about this Scripture this morning, and I put it in
my notes. Hebrews 4.11. Now, the Scripture says, while
you're in Hebrews 4.11, let me just read back in verse 11 of
Proverbs 13. Here's what it says. He that
gathers by labor shall increase. He that gathers by labor shall
increase. Listen to what Hebrews 4.11 says. Let us labor, therefore. to enter into that rest, lest
any man fall under the same example of unbelief. Let us, therefore, labor to enter
into that rest." What do you mean, Paul? Let us
labor. that not by works of righteousness
that I've done, but by His mercy, He say, when
you say, let us labor, what do you mean? Here's the bottom line. Paul
is saying, labor or strive to stop laboring. strive to stop laboring. Why would you say that, Paul?
Because we struggle. We struggle right now in ourselves. There is an old man in every
one of us that absolutely, naturally wants to be saved by something
we do. There is a nature in me that
absolutely wants some honor. As an old man in me, that which
is flesh is flesh. That which is spirit is spirit.
And they're contrary one to other. They strive against one another. There is a nature in me that
wants some honor. Why? Because I'm proud. And I'm presumptuous in myself. To bow to God Almighty is absolutely
the most contrary thing to my flesh. And the new man struggles
against the old self-righteousness of his old man. And you that
know him know it so. struggle, and you that know Him
do too. Paul says, let us therefore labor
therefore to enter into that rest. I believe the gospel. They don't. God has chosen me. Some He didn't. And my new man
hears that, the very thoughts that come out of old wretched
man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death. How could I think such things
as that? How can I think? Well, I'm here
most of the time. Labor, therefore, to enter into
that rest. Struggle, strive. Oh, I could
go in where Paul talked about, you know, he keeps his body under
subjection. Struggles. You that know Him,
you know something about those struggles. You know being taught,
being well advised, God Almighty has taught you, you're saved
by the grace of God. without any works of righteousness
on your part, and your old man struggles against that. Scripture says, he that gathers by labor shall
increase. I know this. I know that there
is a sense in which Paul says labor to enter into that rest. But let me tell you the heart
of that Scripture right there. I wanted to bring out that first
part and just tell you that we do labor. We do struggle against
ourselves. He that gathereth, he that grasps,
he that collects, he that assembles, he that brings together, he that
surely takes up, he that gathereth by labor with the hand of power. shall increase, shall multiply. The final verse of that Scripture
right there, it is a verse of Scripture that speaks of absoluteness. Listen to it. The Scripture says,
He that gathereth by labor shall increase. There's no ifs, no
buts about it. It's absolutely so. There's no
doubt. that Almighty God has eternally
known His people, or that He has purpose to save, He shall
save. He's gathering them out of this
world by the hand of His power in regenerating grace, increasing,
multiplying openly His church. All that He's ever chosen, they're
His. They're all His. But there are
times in which the Lord is pleased to manifest some more of them. And every once in a while you
see one. And you see it being made manifest. For unto us a
child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government
shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. And of the increase of His government,
I look at that word, increased, and it's talking about in time
the increase of His government and peace. There shall be no end. It will never diminish. Upon the
throne of David, upon His kingdom to order it. to establish it
with judgment and justice from henceforth even forever. The scripture says, Only by pride
cometh contention, but with the well-advised is wisdom. Wealth
gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labor,
by power, with his hand that which God Almighty does. Oh, I agree. Paul told us to
labor, to enter into that rest. We struggle, but I'm telling
you, we struggle. He doesn't. He doesn't. He that gathereth
by labor shall increase. May the Lord add His blessing
upon the truth of His glorious gospel of free grace the surety
of it, for the honor of His blessed Son and for the comfort of His
people. Amen.