17 Let
not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day
long. 18 For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be
cut off. 19 Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the
way. 20 Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: 21 For
the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe
a man with rags. 22 Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise
not thy mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also
wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of the righteous
shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of
him. 25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee
shall rejoice. 26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe
my ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow
pit. 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the
transgressors among men. 29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath
contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness
of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed
wine. 31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his
colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last it biteth
like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. 33 Thine eyes shall behold
strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou
shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth
upon the top of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I
was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I
will seek it yet again. (Proverbs 23:17-35)
The principles and proverbs of life set forth in these verses are greatly
rejected by modern America and the world at large. Immoderation in all things
leads to depravity and gloom. Too much meat, too much wine, too much leisure –
all have brought our country to a staggering incapacity to be the noble free of
decades past. Satisfying our lusts always before our responsibilities has led
to a backwater of human oysters instead of a nation of eagles. We have come to
believe that we can no longer care for our own needs and have sought out the
help of Caesar. But every penny Caesar doles out comes with a tiny, but
binding, string attached. We are so tightly wrapped in these many twines that
we are no longer free, but vassals on our own land. God has warned us against
such servitude in Goshen, and that is why Caesar hates God so intensely. A
nation whose God is the Lord cannot be brought under servitude in the way that
our nation has presently been brought to endure. When God is no longer welcome
in our public forums, He dismisses Himself and will not intrude to save us in
time of want and famine – why should He?
17 “Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of
the LORD all the day long. 18 For surely there is an end; and thine
expectation shall not be cut off. 19 Hear thou, my son, and be
wise, and guide thine heart in the way.” During the hours of
darkness, when good men and women are sleeping, why do we arouse to covet the
false lights of the cocktail lounges and glittering lights of gambling halls.
How many have been doomed to ruin by these false lights? How many mothers and
children have gone wanting in rags because of the sins of the fathers? Surely,
the darkness of night is a blessing to the sleep of the honest; and the sunrise
ALWAYS approaches to spread its brilliance across the land. We observe the
excesses and deceitful ways of the ungodly and envy their ill-gotten wealth.
Why, we ask, are these so prosperous and yet so full of wicked thoughts? Their
ill-gotten wealth will be the means of their own great sorrows and ruin – in
God’s time. Wisdom ALWAYS calls out for us to hear its voice! The sly and
deceitful whispers of the devil are so easily heard in the noisy thoroughfare,
but the voice of wisdom must cry out to be heard. If we hear that voice, and
respond, the compass of the Holy Spirit shall guide our hearts aright.
Need I remind the reader that these proverbs are directed to children – and we
are ALL children? 20 “Be not among winebibbers; among riotous
eaters of flesh: 21 For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to
poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.” It seems
quite probably that Solomon paid much attention to the teachings of his father,
David, for his proverbs so closely parallel the wisdom of David in the Psalms.
Wine is a mind-altering drug. It may relax a tired and weary body if taken in
moderation, but if taken habitually and excessively, it lowers the minds
inhibitions against sin. It is impossible to be a consort with winebibbers and
the gluttonous without adopting their unseemly ways. This is true, especially,
of youth. The young man or lady will emulate the ways of the company they keep.
I heard an country preacher in Louisiana once describe old Joe, the sinner. Old
Joe loved alcohol and was a daily attendant at the local bar. He loved fancy
cigars and frequented the tobacco shop regularly. No weekend passed without Joe
appearing in the casino. He was, as well, a philanderer and was a familiar face
to the women of ill-repute of the French Quarter. But old Joe, so wrapped up in
his depravity and sin, had no time for God. His form never darkened the door of
the many churches of New Orleans.
In the process of time, old Joe’s name came up on the roster kept by the Angel
of Death. He was summoned, perfunctorily, to go to his ‘reward.’ Must I tell
you that every reward is not necessarily pleasant? As the funeral ambulance
carried old Joe to the cemetery, it passed through the French Quarter. Many women
of the night walked along the morning streets after a night of carousing, but
old Joe took no notice of them. The ambulance passed by the local bar and cigar
shop, but old Joe took no note of them. It passed the familiar casinos, but old
Joe was mindless of their glittering neon lights. Why? Because old Joe was a
dead as a door nail. He had been dead all the days of his life, and now he was
condemned to an eternity of death and darkness in the torments of Hell. It was
too late for old Joe to make a conscious decision for Christ. We were all dead
in trespasses and sin, just as dead as old Joe, before we came to the
life-giving Fountain of Living Waters. We may have our temporary reward in this
life and serve a living Hell in eternity, or we may enjoy the fruits and
blessings of God in this life, and in the life to come. It is up to us.
22 “Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy
mother when she is old. 23 Buy the truth, and sell it not; also
wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. 24 The father of the
righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have
joy of him. 25 Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she
that bare thee shall rejoice.” Solomon gives us some stark
principles by which we shall be profited in our earthly walk: 1) Take the
counsel of the father who bore you seriously. We all had earthly fathers who,
hopefully, taught us moral lessons of life; but we should, as well, have a Heavenly
Father by whom every Christian is begotten by adoption. We will all love our
mothers when we are young and helpless, but the love of many turn to a burning
contempt of them when she grows old and becomes a like burden to us. What
wretched hearts could ever hate their mother is beyond my understanding, but
clearly, it is a problem of our day. 2) We should go to any length to grasp the
truth. If necessary, we should purchase truth with the last penny in our
pocket; however, the good news is that truth is free for the4 asking. “Ask
and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” We should
never SELL the truth! How many fancy-dressed clergy stand in the pulpits with
only one thought in mind: “How shall I fleece these lambs?” Modern Bible versions,
copyrighted to aggrandize profit, are yet another cheap means of selling a
corrupted truth. Then we are told that wisdom draws our attention to the
need for truth. We seek the understanding upon which that truth will become
understanding to us. 3) A father will always rejoice at the righteousness of
his son or daughter. A happy father will also be a GENEROUS father in imparting
blessings to such children. Do you believe our merciful Father in Heaven is any
different? 4) If our father is rejoiced at a wise son, how much more the loving
mother whose love is unconditional, but enormously rewarded by the wisdom of
her children. We must forever honor our fathers and mothers!
26 “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my
ways. 27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a
narrow pit. 28 She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth
the transgressors among men.” What wisdom is distilled in the
counsel of Solomon here! If a son or daughter gives their heart to their
father, then all that the father does and knows shall be studied by them. How
much greater the son or daughter who gives their heart to the Heavenly Father.
They will diligently studied His ways and His works to be like Him. Though a
carnal whore is the example, the object is greater than this. In the eyes of
God, adultery and idolatry are the same. A Christian belongs to the Bride of
Christ (the Church). If we whore after other gods of sex, money, or drugs, we
have made those inclinations an idol and have not been faithful to the
Bridegroom of our Church. Just as a prostitute makes her bed in Hell, she
entices the young boy to the gossamer curtains of her bedroom to steal him away
from every thought of virtue and goodness. But so do the idols and false gods
of this world steal a man away from the true and Living God.
A favorite adage of the drunk may be heard from the bar: “It just don’t get any
better than this!” Truly, it does not, for the drunk kills another handful of
brain cells with every additional drink. 29 “Who hath woe? who
hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without
cause? who hath redness of eyes? 30 They that tarry long at the
wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.” The drunk tortures his body
with drink which offers no redeeming benefit. Feeling himself to be
bullet-proof after five drinks, he is inclined to boast and fight men of much
greater stature. He loses control of his tongue and is a laughing stock to the
sober. Who on earth have the greater woe? Those drunks by whom woe is
self-inflicted. So many innocent lives, too, are lost to the irresponsibility
of the drunk. After a few sups of quality wine, the drunk forgets the quality
and goes for quantity. Wherever he can find a substance with alcohol as its
base, there he goes to drink.
31 “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth
his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32 At the last
it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” The abused
substance is not inherently wicked, it is the abuser that is wicked and made a
slave to the substance. The redness of the wine in the cup denotes the growing
strength of the wine. The wine sparkles in the cup and is enticing to the
drinker. It moves in the cup by foaming to overflow. It enters the mouth and is
sweet and pleasant to the tongue. After it is consumed, and too late to avoid,
it is as deadly as a serpent – as deadly as the fiery serpents of the
Wilderness. It will eventually destroy the strong pillars of the temple of the
body.
Here we see the most dreadful and damaging effects of either spiritual, or
physical intoxication. 33 “Thine eyes shall behold strange women,
and thine heart shall utter perverse things. 34 Yea, thou shalt be
as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top
of a mast. 35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not
sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek
it yet again.” When we are under the compelling influence of
alcohol, or of diverse gods, our values change and our perceptions are
corrupted. Our tongues utter words that are characteristic of a perverse heart.
Error and deception flood over the soul of those drunk with wine of the vine, or
the wine of apostasy, and drown the soul beyond hope. We are taken off balance
and find it difficult to appear respectable. Every excuse of the drunk is to
the external factor and never the internal weakness. Those who are under the
spell of false religion are of like characteristic. They may make horrendous
errors and are found out. They seem to repent, but after recovery, seek the
very same that drove them to despair.
Please read the dire warning of the great, false church of the end times:
“I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy,
having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and
scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a
golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And
upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF
HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And 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.” (Rev
17:3-6)
(The knowing heart will
understand.)
