Proverbs 14

Q: What does the Bible say about the fear of the Lord?

The Bible teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and provides strong confidence and refuge for His children. The fear of the Lord is a significant biblical theme that encapsulates reverence, awe, and respect towards God. Proverbs 14:26 states, 'In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, and His children shall have a place of refuge.' This fear is not terrified but is a deep recognition of God's holiness and majesty, leading to a faithful obedience to His commands. It is a grace gift that enables believers to live in a way that glorifies God and leads to a flourishing life among the righteous. Furthermore, the fear of the Lord serves as a protective barrier that helps Christians to depart from moral snares and leads them towards life.

Q: How do we know that Christ is our righteousness?

Scripture asserts that the only righteousness we possess comes through faith in Jesus Christ, our faithful witness. The concept of Christ being our righteousness is grounded deeply in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament, where it states that believers are justified by faith in Christ alone (Romans 3:22). Jesus embodies perfect righteousness, as seen in Revelation 19 where He is described as 'Faithful and True.' This designation assures us that His character and actions are wholly righteous, and through union with Him, we are clothed in His righteousness. This theological truth emphasizes that our standing before God is not based on our merit but on Christ's finished work and righteousness imputed to us, fulfilling the requirement for us to be accepted by God.

Q: Why is wisdom important for Christians?

Wisdom is crucial for Christians as it guides them in living a life that glorifies God and is consistent with His will. Wisdom in biblical terms transcends mere knowledge; it encompasses the practical application of that knowledge in a way that aligns with God's purposes. Proverbs 14 speaks of wisdom being integral to the life of the believer, stating that 'the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way.' This understanding directs believers to make choices that reflect God's character and lead to spiritual growth. Furthermore, wisdom helps Christians to navigate the complexities of life and recognize the ways that appear right but lead to destruction. Thus, wisdom is vital as it leads us closer to Christ and enables us to fulfill our calling as faithful witnesses in the world.

I'd like to go back and have a look at it in a minute, but I wanted to do as with, I'm hoping we might be able to do for a while, but anyway, I wanted you to turn with me in your scriptures to Proverbs chapter 14. It's the 14th day of the month and I've been suggesting for some considerable time that it's a really good thing if you read one chapter of Proverbs and then multiply the number of Proverbs by five and then go to the Psalms and then you can read those five Psalms. I have found it just a blessing for many, many years, but I just thought it would be good for us to read Proverbs 14. I want to look at Proverbs 14. There's a particular verse that we quote very often in Proverbs 14, verse 12, which I'd like to look at in light of Romans 5. and the atonement that's received. And these are spiritual pictures, but this chapter 14 has a lot to do with the way that people walk.

And if we are led by the Holy Spirit, we'll see that these are glorious pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ and his bride, even the beginning, every wise woman buildeth her house. And who's the wise woman? The bride of the one who is the wise one. Who's wisdom? The Lord Jesus Christ is wisdom.

And so at the beginning, we must say that certainly wise women build their houses, but the true wise woman builds the house of God and lives in the house of God and rests in the house of God. And in the house of God, the good man of the house, the husband of the house is revealed in his house in ways that he's not revealed in the rest of the world. Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. He that walketh in his uprightness...

What's the uprightness of any child of God? The Lord Jesus Christ is the only righteousness. There is just one righteousness. There is no such thing as anything other than his righteousness. But he that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that really reverence God almighty fully and completely. and all of his children did it in him. But to walk in uprightness is to fear the Lord. And three or four times in this passage of scripture, it talks about the fear of the Lord.

But he that is perverse in his ways, devious, one that turns aside, one that lies, he that is perverse in his way despises him. It's extraordinary, isn't it? We think false teachers are just a little bit out of line and they just need to be brought back in line. God says they despise him. What a shocking thing. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride. That's the perverse man that despises the Lord Jesus Christ and has no fear of him. But the lips of the wise shall preserve him. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but much increase is by the strength of the ox.

"'A faithful witness will not lie.'" Who's the faithful witness? The Lord Jesus Christ and all who are made faithful in Him. He's the faithful witness. He rides, if you really want to know how glorious the Lord Jesus Christ is, Revelation 19 tells you how glorious He is. You listen to this. "'I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, "'and he that sat,' Revelation 19, 11, "'he that sat on him was called, Faithful and true. He's faithful and he will not lie.

And in righteousness does he both judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. He cannot lie. God cannot lie.

This Word in your hands is the truth of God Almighty. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon the white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, his word. And with it that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

What a glorious saviour. He's a faithful witness. He will not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. A scorner seeketh wisdom and findeth it not, but knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth. Go from the presence of a foolish man. What does God say to the liars and the false witnesses? He just has one word. One word he has about all of them and all of his people associated, go, flee. Flee is his one word. He doesn't say debate with them and argue with them, he says flee from them. Go from the presence of a foolish man when there are perceivers not in him the lips of knowledge. Who is knowledge? The Lord Jesus Christ is our knowledge. In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.

Fools make a mock at sin. They make a mock at sin and they make a mock at the remedy for sin in the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. But among the righteous there is favour. there is delight. Among the righteous there is delight, there is satisfaction. Among the righteous is satisfaction. The righteous are satisfied with the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The heart knoweth his own bitterness. And a stranger does not intermeddle with his joy. We know I can't see into your hearts and you can't see into mine, but a heart knows the trials that it has.

The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle, the house, the dwelling place of the upright, the righteous, shall flourish. the tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish. And then this is the proverb that is repeated in Proverbs 16. If you want to have a look at that in future, you can read Proverbs 16 and you'll be shocked and amazed and left in awe and wonder at the God of Proverbs 16, who is this God here.

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Notice that there is a way and it seems right unto a man. There's a way to get to heaven. There's a way to be righteous. There's a way to be in the love and favour of God, and it seems right to a man.

It seems right to billions of people. You go to the churches, wherever you can possibly think of them, and all of them around here, and ask the people coming out of those churches this morning, are they right with God? Are they right with God? That word seemeth, it means is what you see on the surface. It means the face of. And all of them will say they're right with God. And the overwhelming majority of them will say, well, I'm right with God because God loves me.

John 3.16 says that he loves me.

And John 3.16 says that Christ died for me.

And I've got a bunch of other verses. And I've been told, I've been told in that place, in that way, I've been told in that way that everything's right with me. There is a way that seemeth right, that seems straight unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways of death. So there are many, many ways. There are many, many ways. Let's read on. Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness. The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways. There is a way that seems right.

And a good man shall be satisfied from himself. The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going. The prudent man looks well to where he's going. The wise man, a wise man, feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rages and is confident. There is a way that seems right to a man, and he'll rage if you challenge him about that way, and he has confidence in that way. He that is soon angry dealeth foolishly, and a man of wicked devices is hated. The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

And what's the crown? There's just one crown, isn't there? Christ is the crown. Christ is the crown. The evil bow before the good and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. The poor is hated even of his neighbor, but the rich have many friends. He that despises, and the rich there are the rich in Christ, aren't they? The rich in righteousness. How many friends do we have? How many friends do we have? We've got a multitude, there's a multitude beyond number who are our friends and they're going to be our eternal friends in heaven forever and ever. And we're rich in the Lord Jesus Christ.

He that despises his neighbour's sinners, but he that has mercy on the poor, happy is he. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They shall be filled. Do they not err that devise evil? But mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good. You know that wonderful Psalm 85, mercy and truth have met together. It's one of the most glorious declarations of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, he says in verse, I'll read a couple of verses for you in Psalm 85 verse nine. Surely his salvation is nigh, is near them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Where did they meet together? Where did they kiss? On the cross of Calvary, on the cross of Calvary they kissed and they met.

Truth shall spring up out of the earth, that's the resurrection, and righteousness shall look down from heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ, our righteousness, shall look down from heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him, and listen to it, and shall set us in the way of his steps. There is a way, isn't it? There is a way that seems right to a man. And there is a way that is the way, and it's only one way, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way.

In all labour there is profit, but the talk of lips tendeth only to penury. You know the people who talk and talk and talk and talk, and nothing is achieved. A crown of the wise, the crown of the wise is their riches. The crown is the Lord Jesus Christ and he's all of our riches. God's children are incredibly rich. We're about to inherit a universe, brothers and sisters. You'll be walking on the gold up there. That which men are coveting and collecting here will be underneath our feet up there. But the foolishness of fools is folly. A true witness delivereth souls. The faithful witness will not lie. The true witness, the Lord Jesus Christ, delivereth souls. But a deceitful witness speaketh lies. He speaks lies and he keeps on speaking lies and he keeps on speaking lies.

In the fear of the Lord, is the fountain, in the fear of the Lord is strong confidence, verse 26. And his children shall have a place of refuge. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? We run to that refuge which is him. In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence. God is worthy and God is to be held in awe. The fear of the Lord is a treasure. The fear of the Lord is strong confidence. The fear of the Lord is the grace gift of God to his children.

The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. What was one of the problems with the way that seemed as right to a man? There's no fear of God before their eyes. That's the summary, isn't it? God's summary of the sinful people. the lost people.

In the multitude of people is the king's honour, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding, and he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly. A sound heart is the life of the flesh, but envy the rottenness of the bones. He that oppresses the poor reproaches his maker, but he that honoureth him has mercy on the poor. The wicked is driven away in his wickedness, but the righteous has hope in his death. Wisdom rests, resteth, keeps on resting in the heart of him that has understanding.

Where does that come from? Who is our wisdom? Who is our understanding? You remember from last week in Proverbs 7, we are to say to wisdom, you're my sister, and to call understanding my kinswoman. They're members of my family. Wisdom rests in the heart of him that has understanding, but that which is in the midst of fools is made known. Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. The king's favour is toward a wise servant, but his wrath is against him that causes shame.

I'm hoping we might be able to return to all of that a little bit later on and pray that the Blessed Holy Spirit might write those words on our heart and we might be granted the great gift of being a wise man that feareth, a true witness that delivers souls in the fear of the Lord in strong confidence in his children shall have a place of refuge.

Proverbs 14

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the fear of the Lord?

How do we know that Christ is our righteousness?

Why is wisdom important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Angus Fisher

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Proverbs 14

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about the fear of the Lord?

How do we know that Christ is our righteousness?

Why is wisdom important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Angus Fisher

Comments

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