"15 The
rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to
shame. 16 When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but
the righteous shall see their fall. 17 Correct thy son, and he shall give
thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul. 18 Where there is no
vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. 19 A
servant will not be corrected by words: for though he understand he will not
answer. 20 Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope
of a fool than of him. 21 He that delicately bringeth up his servant from
a child shall have him become his son at the length. 22 An angry man
stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression. 23 A
man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.
24 Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth cursing,
and bewrayeth it not. 25 The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso
putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe. 26 Many seek the ruler's
favour; but every man's judgment cometh from the LORD. 27 An unjust man is
an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to
the wicked." (Proverbs 29:15-27)
Dr. Spock and humanist philosophy have left a track of utter ruin in our youth
and society itself. If we cannot hear the counsel of Scripture on the
importance of parental guidance for a child, we should at least resort to
common sense. Those mustangs of the west, descended from domesticated horses of
the Spaniards, are not wild by nature, but have become feral horses due to
being left to forage for themselves. Any creature will take on a wild nature
when not informed and trained to be in a social environment. When children are
raised by one parent, oftentimes who does not care about the child's welfare
except for government subsidy, it is only natural that they will become wild
and full of contempt for all others. 15 "The rod and
reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."
I have heard the government propaganda that "we must help the poor "-
that "even Jesus says so." They are perfectly willing to fall back on
the Name of Jesus when it suits their socialist agenda, but in all other ways,
do not mix government policy and religion! There is no such thing as government
charity. Charity comes from the heart and cannot be forced through tax policies
else it is extortion. So we have more than one generation of young people who have
never known love or responsibility. Should we be shocked that our streets are
full of violence? Corporal punishment would solve most the social problems of
modern youth.
The next verse logically falls on the heels of the first: "16 When
the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth: but the righteous shall
see their fall." Satan aims to destroy man that God created
and placed upon the earth. If he can eradicate every moral restraint in youth,
he will soon have generations of the wicked. In that way, they are multiplied.
Do we not see sin and crime increasing phenomenally over the past three
decades? We have turned our former institutions of learning into training
grounds for delinquency and havoc. Why is the Bible disallowed in public school
while it is permitted in prisons?
17 "Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he
shall give delight unto thy soul." If the sapling tree is bent
after planting, it will remain so throughout its lifespan. The child is like an
arrow in the hand of his father. But the arrow must be kept straight, polished,
and sharp. Once placed to the bow-string, it must be released with a steady and
able hand for, once released to the world, the father has no more control on
its flight. The father must aim his instruction of his child to hit the proper
mark in life. The child watches his parents with attentive eye and perceives
his first beginning impressions of right and wrong. My grandsons who, by the
way, are perfect in every respect in my opinion, came this past weekend to
visit. Eli, the youngest of 2 years age, tried to wear my shoes home. He could
have made his own canoe of one of them. But children want to wear the shoes of
their fathers in every respect. They wish to go where their fathers have trod,
and they want to be like them in every other way; so, be careful, fathers, of
the tracks you make for your children. May those footprints of the fathers lead
to the Straight and Narrow Way and not to the Broad way that leads down to
destruction.
Where do visions come from? From whence came the vision of Bach, or Mendelsohn,
of Beethoven? Where did daVinci gain his vision, or Raphael, or Michelangelo?
Do we not call such men inspired and, if so, has their inspiration to beauty
not come from God? Such men had a vision to create - not something new, but
something that would imitate the already created beauty that God had instilled
in nature. 18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish:
but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." Look at our America
today - does she not reel to and fro as a drunken man? Do you believe our
leadership in America is inspired, or do you believe it has reached a rapidly
falling state of decadence at all levels? Were we not once a very happy nation?
Did we need drugs to create a false high? Were we dwelling in peace and
prosperity? What happened? Where is the vision for America? Have we not
abandoned the "Old paths wherein our fathers walked?"
What do you believe the Founding Fathers would think of our current state of
decadence and lawlessness? There is a cardinal principle that has long governed
the matter of the laws of a nation: "The greater the numbers of laws,
regulations, and regimentation, the more common are the transgressions against
the law of the nation.
19 "A servant will not be corrected by words: for though he
understand he will not answer." More than words have always
been necessary to insure the gainful production of laborers at hire. Money is
one incentive, and fear of retribution is another. But a servant is servant
because he has fallen into the state by misfortune or poor wisdom. He will be
reluctant to take commands from his superior simply based on verbal expressions
only. But the servant of God (and all who believe are servants) will conduct
themselves according to the Word of God because they know that God's Word has
more than verbal consequences.
20 "Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is
more hope of a fool than of him." A person who does not chew his
food well before swallowing will not digest that food very efficiently. His
health will lack the full benefit of the nutrients. A man who is hasty to speak
will not have chewed over his words very well prior to expressing them To such
a man, words are as cheap as the effort required in speaking them. Such a man
who speaks before he thinks is a fitting role model for fools. "The
thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is
hasty only to want. " (Prov 21:5)
21 "He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child
shall have him become his son at the length." My church is
comprised of many young people of high school and college age - especially in
the past ten years. I have come to consider each of the dear young people as my
own personal sons and daughters. I love them as such, and they have been a
great blessing of God to me as such. Love always responds to love. One of the
problems facing the modern church is a lack of love for souls, and an abundance
of love for money and prestige.
22 "An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man
aboundeth in transgression." Two points up front: anger itself
is not sinful and neither is a furiousness borne out of righteous indignation.
In fact, it is also a characteristic of God. "God is jealous,
and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take
vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies."
(Nahum 1:2) So a constant and cringing acceptance of every evil due to
reluctance to anger is no sanctuary for the limp-wristed ministers and
Christians of our day. Jesus was no happy-faced coddler of the wicked.
Remember the money-changers in the Temple: "And when he had
made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the
sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the
tables; And said unto them that sold doves, Take
these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise."
(John 2:15-16) But there is an anger that is a contrast to that Holy anger that
is aroused on behalf of the honor of God. It is a selfish and self-satisfying
anger that is born out of pride and haste. It becomes the normal manner of many
wicked men. They have discovered that an angry disposition may intimidate and
give them advantage in dealing with others. When our anger is based on self and
not the honor of God, we are unreasonable and demanding of others. If our anger
is not satisfied, it grows into blind fury that destroys even those its owner
may love.
Just how low can pride bring a man? How low did it bring the father of pride,
Lucifer? Though our stations may be elevated to the gates of Heaven, pride can
bring us to the lowest pits of Hell. "23 A man's pride shall
bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit."
There is a huge difference made between pride and honor. Honor is humble and
needs not boast of itself. Pride will drive a man to lie, cheat, and steal in
order to gain prestige and public acclaim (witness our endless numbers of
politicians in Washington). The premier sin of eternity past arose from
PRIDE: "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy
viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the
ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the
most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit.” (Isaiah 14:11-15)
The great 'I WILL' (man's will) is always trying to usurp the "GREAT
I AM" of God. God has already owned all of the glory and honor to
be had - He is the Great I Am! Man who stands in His stead will never gain the
prominence. The great English poet, William Wordsworth has written: "The
Babel-Tower of sin is a tower which a man builds in pride, and when it reaches
to Heaven, then it is suddenly thrown down." How often have we seen men
and women struggle all of their lives to build a larger mansion than their
neighbor, drive a Mercedes Benz and at last realize what a miserable and paltry
life they have led. They built their ivory towers, but soon found that it was
dwarfed by God's own majestic mountains. Pride is a false construction material
that will collapse of its own weight at last.
24 “Whoso is partner with a thief hateth his own soul: he heareth
cursing, and bewrayeth it not.” Since the wages of sin is death,
to go into partnership with sinners is to become party to their reward in Hell.
“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate
me love death.” (Proverbs 8:36) There was a time, dimly lit in my own
memory, that cursing and profanity were causes for arrest in America. Now, one
will hear the most vulgar and filthy of expressions everywhere he goes in
public places. God’s ancient law forbade cursing and swearing. It was, as well,
an arrest offense in the early days of Israel. “And if a soul sin, and
hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of
it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity.” (Lev 5:1)
What has happened to a nation that has ceased to observe the laws of morality
and righteousness? Prepare for the battle, for the day shall surely come when
our proud towers shall fall, and our walls breeched on every side. In fact, the
process has already begun, America!
25 “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust
in the LORD shall be safe.” Fear of our enemies results in
appeasement and eventual capitulation. If we lived up to our motto in America,
IN GOD WE TRUST, we should be very safe and free. But it is only a slogan that
has now gathered the dust of bad faith and worse trust. It has become very much
like the Lord’s Prayer being prayed by those who do not even consider the words
they speak – a mere formality at church!
26 “Many seek the ruler's favour; but every man's judgment cometh
from the LORD.” Seek the ruler’s favor with flatteries and wealth,
but the earthly ruler is subject, lock, stock, and barrel, to the Ruler of the
Universe. The ruler to whom you ingratiate yourself today will be dead and
buried when your final judgment comes. You will then pass before the Ruler who
has always and forever held your soul in the very Palm of His Hand.
27 “An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is
upright in the way is abomination to the wicked." Our
righteous characters are defined by as much those things that we disdain as
those which give us pleasure. The true Christian is an abomination to the man
of wickedness, and the wicked man is an abomination to the true Christian man
of principle. The project manager of Bell Textron in Iran once told me, when
there was a labor dispute, that he would prefer an unprincipled labor
representative to negotiate terms rather than a principled man. When I asked
him why, he responded, “A principled man will not compromise, whereas an
unprincipled man will compromise away the interest of those he represents.” I
made the point in response that an agreement with an unprincipled man is no
better than the scrap of paper it is written upon. Please read these final
verses of Romans 1 and see if the Christian can righteously declare neutrality
in the battle the government is waging to promote the most egregious of
abominations, homosexuality: “And likewise also the men, leaving the
natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men
working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of
their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God
in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without
understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable,
unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such
things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them
that do them.” (Romans 1:27-32) Please observe the final
sentence of verse 32. What does that mean? It means that such vulgar and
atrocious sins as God has condemned so forcefully cannot be ‘tolerated’ in a
righteous nation, period, end of comment! Do you harbor a cowardly view toward
such sins as bring nations down and destroy souls? Time wanes – get right with
God.
