That the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, contrasting worldly wisdom with divine wisdom found in Christ. It expounds on Proverbs 11, illustrating that integrity, righteousness, and honesty in daily life lead to blessings, while deceit, pride, and wickedness result in destruction and wrath. The message highlights the principle of sowing and reaping, showing that generosity and seeking good procure favor, whereas withholding and pursuing evil lead to negative consequences. Ultimately, it concludes that winning souls is the mark of wisdom and that the righteous will be recompensed, both in this life and eternally.
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The Lord will continue to bless you. This evening I'd like to sing and play for you a tremendous gospel hymn that's been used world around entitled Jesus is the sweetest name I know. And I'm sure each of us who know the Lord Jesus as our own, his personal Savior, can bear testimony to the fact that there is no other name as sweet and precious to us. is the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this evening I'd like to sing and play for you Jesus is the sweetest name I know. There have been names that I have loved to hear But never had there been a name so dear to this heart of mine, then that name divine, that precious, precious
name of Jesus. Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he's just the same as his lovely name. And that's the reason why I love him so. For Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
Thank you Thank you Thank you.
Thank you. and someday I shall see him face to face to thank and praise him for his matchless grace which he gave to me when he made me free the blessed son of God called Jesus.
Jesus is the sweetest name I know, and he's just the same as his lovely name. And that's the reason why I love him so. For Jesus is the sweetest name I know.
Thank you, Mr. Fields. We're so glad to have you with us and to enjoy your seeing and playing. We thank Mrs. Woodhouse too for helping us. Try and get to know Mr. and Mrs. Fields after the meeting, please. Thank you. Let's turn over. I've just lost my place here. The last that could make his glory, Jesus I know. Now, shall we open our Bibles, please, to the eleventh chapter of the book of Proverbs?
Proverbs chapter eleven. And some months ago, I started giving a series of talks from the book of Proverbs. And the deeper I go into it, the more I wish I had decided to talk about Zacchaeus or Nicodemus or something like that, because it's difficult. But we'll read this eleventh chapter. A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. When pride cometh, then cometh shame, but with the lonely is wisdom.
The integrity of the upright should guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors should destroy them. Rich is profit in a day of wrath. Pardon. Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but transgressors shall be taken in their own naughtiness. When a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish. and a hope of unjust men perishes.
The righteous is delivered out of trouble, and the wicked cometh in his stead. An hypocrite with his mouth destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge shall the just be delivered. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there is shouting. By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted. but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. A tale-bearer reveals secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.
Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. And he that hateeth surety ship is sure. A gracious woman retaineth honor, and strong men retain riches. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul, but he that is cruel troublet his own soul. The wicked worketh a deceitful work, but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward. as righteousness tendeth to life, so he that pursues evil pursues it to his own death.
They that are of a froward or perverse heart are abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in their way are his delight. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. As a jewel of gold, or of gold ring, shall we say, in a swine snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. The desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. There is that scattereth and yet increases, and there is that withholdeth more than is meat, but it tendeth to poverty.
The liberal soul should be made fat, and he that watereth should be watered also himself. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but blessing should be upon the head of him that selleth it. He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor, but he that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him. He that trusteth in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch. He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that wineth souls is wise.
Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked than the sinner. May God bless that reading from his precious word. Shall we seek his face again for a moment? I bless you, God, we thank thee, that this book of thine, this Bible, which we have in our hands, is inspired from beginning to end. And although there are some passages and some books that we don't understand very well and they seem a little obscure to our human understanding. We thank thee, Lord, that thou hast a meaning and a purpose in them all, and we thank thee the Holy Spirit has been sent to take the things of Christ and reveal them to us.
So we pray that tonight we might learn some lessons, lessons from thy wisdom expressed by thy servant Solomon so long ago. We seek thy blessing in our Savior's precious name. Amen. Now, of course, the first few chapters of Proverbs, the first nine chapters, that's from a preacher's point of view, fairly easy going. There are a lot of lovely verses there and lovely thoughts and some kind of consecutive teaching. Personally, I've said from this platform many times, especially since I've been talking, but whilst I've been talking Sunday nights the last few times that I have spoken, and this makes the eleventh time.
on Proverbs, I've said that personally I prefer consecutive teaching. There's two kinds of teaching of the Word of God, topical and expositional. Topical is when you take a subject all on its own and you talk about that one subject. Now there are many subjects and there are many characters and and wonderful themes in the Bible about which great men have spoken all down through the ages. But... expositional teaching is taking a book and expounding it verse by verse, verse after verse, verse after verse.
And we are rather, I would say, I won't say famous, but we are probably known at Park of the Farms for the expositional teaching we get all through our winter conference. Most of our preachers, most of our preachers come in with a theme. Come in with a book. Remember our brother Harold McKay spoke two weeks on the book of Daniel, two weeks on the book of Revelation. Two weeks, twenty-two talks Harold McKay gave on the first chapter in the Bible, the first chapter of Genesis. Wonderful teaching. Remember all the teaching we've had by T. Ernest Wilson and the late Robert Little. All consecutive expositional teachings.
And very few men have come in with just topical subjects, although God has blessed it all. But when you get into the book of Proverbs, it's hard to find the thread of the story. There's no consecutive teaching in Proverbs. Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings. Now, in the early nine chapters, yes, there is some sort of theme, and we've said that. But when you get to chapter ten from then on, for the next, I think about thirteen chapters, it's very difficult. It's a collection of wise things. We read, in all of our meetings, we've read about Solomon, what God said about him, and I won't go over that again except to read just what it says about his collection of...
In First Kings chapter four, verse twenty-nine, God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East Country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezraite. and Haman and Calchol and Dada, the sons of Mahal, and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand Proverbs, and his Psalms were a thousand and five, and he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall.
He spake also of beasts and of fowl and of creeping things and of fishes. And they came, of all people, to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. And that's a man that wrote the Book of Proverbs. This man who had such great wisdom. When God gave him the throne, God said, Now ask what you like, and I give it to him. And Solomon said, Give me wisdom that I might rule thy so great a people. And God says, because you have not asked for riches, and you have not asked for honor, and you have not asked for greatness, I'll give you all these things as well, but I'll make you the wisest man in the world.
And so Solomon, this wise man, wrote these Proverbs. And we have noticed in our studies here week by week, or whenever we've been speaking here, that the key verse to Proverbs is chapter one, verse seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. Now today, and we've said this several times from this platform, today, if you speak to the men of the world and the great educators of the world today, and you say, where is the beginning of wisdom?
Well, they say in the university, of course. That's where we learn it all in the university. But that's not what the Bible says. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the fear of the Lord. And without that, we don't know much. How Paul put it, how wonderfully Paul put it in First Corinthians chapter one, speaking of the wisdom of this world, he says, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved, it's the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Verse thirty, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. God's wisdom is in a person, and that person is his beloved Son, and he's made unto us wisdom.
And God has put all the wisdom we need in this book. Now we thank God for our universities and for our wonderful culture and all the knowledge and progress that's been made in the world today. But all that without Christ, it's nothing. He says it's a fool. It's foolish. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. That's to say, with all their knowledge, some of these people, wonderfully clever people, they despise the real knowledge. They despise the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the wonderful, simple gospel story.
To them it's foolishness. Paul says, the preaching of the cross is to them that perish. Foolishness. But Solomon says here, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And he keeps on saying this. In several chapters he mentions the fear of the Lord as being the very secret of wisdom and knowledge. But when we come to this eleventh chapter we're reading tonight, I've tried to seek to put a title to the talk tonight. I was going to call it the fear of the Lord in our daily lives, but I think I better call the talk tonight this, sowing and reaping, sowing and reaping in our daily lives.
Now let's look at it very briefly, and of course we can't preach a sermon on this, we'll just take verse by verse and say a few words about it. The thing that made me start talking about taking up the Proverbs of the study here was when Brother... McDonald brought out his book, Listen My Son. That's about what, year ago, just over a year ago. Listen, my son. And Bill McDonald just took the thirty-one chapters of Proverbs and he kind of rewrites them and put his own little explanation of verse by verse. It's not a long book or hard to read. You read it day by day.
You look to the calendar and if you get up this morning, it was the seventeenth day of the month and you read the seventeenth chapter of Proverbs. And then you'll read it in his book, the seventeenth chapter. Then the next day, the eighteenth, you'll read the eighteenth chapter of Proverbs and then read his book through the eighteenth chapter. And it's a very simple way of learning the book of Proverbs. For a period of many years I sought to do this. Thirty-one Proverbs, that's one for each day of the month, and thirty-one chapters, one for each day of the month. For many years of my lifelong period, I did read the book of Proverbs that day, one chapter a day, one chapter a day, according to the verse, according to the date and the day.
And it's a very wise thing to do. And I think I told you before, I came to the conclusion after reading it for years that what it was telling me was to keep a mouth shut. Even a fool, if he can keep his mouth shut, We call him a wise man, he says. There's too much talk in the world. That's what Solomon's saying. Forget it presently as it comes. So, chapter eleven, verse one, he talks about a false balance and a just weight. Now some of these old merchants in those old days, you know, of course they had their scales. And they had two sets of weights, one for buying, one for selling.
When they were buying, they used a heavy one, so they'd get more They'd get more than they should have got. But when they were selling, they used the light ones, so they sell less. And so they would cheat people. That's called a false balance. Buy at one price, sell at another. Cheat people. Tell them they're getting a pound of stuff and they're only getting fifteen ounces, not sixteen ounces. A false balance. And God is looking down from heaven. It's an amazing thing. The fear of the Lord. I've tried to describe what I think is the fear of the Lord. It isn't that I'm afraid of God.
That's not the fear of the Lord. We're not afraid of God. God is our Father. Through the Lord Jesus Christ, He's become our Father. We're not afraid of God. But I believe the fear of the Lord means living daily in the conscious realization that God is, that God exists, that God looks down. and that God is watching us in every detail of our lives. Whether we're weighing out corn as a merchant or whether we're talking about our neighbor, whatever it is, we'll get that as we go further down. Or whether we're seeking the wind of soul to Christ. God is looking down from heaven. The fear of the Lord, God is there. And I have to live day by day in the conscious realization that God is there and God is watching.
and that I belong to him. So God looks down and he sees these people that are using false business practices. It's not just weighing out corn or something in an eastern market, it's more than that. It comes into the great combines and the great business affairs of our world today. False practices. How many people are getting found out, aren't they? Nearly every day we hear of some other senator or big man or businessman. He's found out he's not been acting honestly and God's looking down.
And they have not been walking in the fear of the Lord. And so Solomon brings this before us. A false balance. Deceitfulness in business. That's what he's talking about. Deceitfulness in business. It's an abomination to God. Now, we are all Christians here. I take it we're all believers, and I think I know everybody in the chapel practically. How much do we practice this in our daily lives? We are out of business. We are all finished with business. Quite a blessing, I think, sometimes.
But how much do we practice this? The fear of the Lord in business. In all our dealings with men, it would be perfectly honest and perfectly straight and perfectly upright. When the government makes the rule that you travel fifty-five miles an hour, that means fifty-five miles an hour. And as soon as you get to fifty-six miles an hour, you're breaking the rule. This is what God's talking about. God's saying, I'm looking down and I'm watching you now in all you're doing, whether it's in the market or in the home or in the school. How many people there are in school today in the colleges, and we don't have young people here tonight, scarcely just a few, but how many there are that cheat, that copy from somebody else's papers?
God can't stand this. God won't have this. It cannot be. The Christian must be absolutely, perfectly straight because God's looking down and he's living day by day in the fear of the Lord. And God says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. But a just wait is his delight. How God delights in honesty and integrity, whether it's in business, in the school, in the home, in our private lives, whatever it is. Then he talks a little bit about pride. That's another thing that God hates, pride. When pride cometh, then cometh shame.
That's how Solomon puts it. But with the lowly is wisdom. He talks about The integrity of the upright, verse three, shall guide them, but perverseness of transgressions should destroy them. Verse four, riches profit not in a day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. Now here you've got two things contrasted here. Riches and profit, and some men will make a profit anyway, anyhow, as long as they can make a profit. And some Christian men do that.
and righteousness. And God's contrasting these two people. Riches profit not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death. Verse five, the righteousness of the perfect should direct his way, but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way. Now, we who are in Christ, of course, we have been made righteous. We have the righteousness of Christ. And we can be counted. We are, in God's eyes, counted righteous.
So he's talking about that. And of the perfect. None of us can assume or say that we're perfect, but we're going on to be perfect. And in the New Testament, the word perfect doesn't mean sinless perfection. It means a completeness in Christ. A growing up to become a full-grown man. A full-grown man. That's what perfection means in Christ, in the New Testament. And he says his way will be directed. And you've heard me say this so many times. I believe God directs the way of his saints. I don't think we need make mistakes. Oh, so many do make mistakes. Marry the wrong person, get into the wrong business.
But I don't think they would if they were seeking God's face day by day. The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, and it gets brighter and brighter every day. as we go along in the pathway that God has planned for us. The path of the justice as the shining light that shinedeth more and more under the perfect day. In verse six, you see that righteousness is paying off. The righteousness of the upright should deliver him, but the transgressors should be taken in their own naughtiness. Verse seven, and I put a note against this verse, the coffin ends it all.
The coughing ends it all. Verse seven, when a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perish. All the riches they gain by their false dealings and their greed and their ambition for power and riches and wealth, what happens to it when they die? ends just like the last verse of, do you know the last words of the book of Genesis? How it ends? A coffin in Egypt. That's the last words of Genesis. A coffin in Egypt. I should never forget the first day we landed in Egypt and we went down the road and I saw a funeral coming along and I said to my wife, and it was a beautiful funeral, eight horses and a beautiful coach and wonderful, some rich man.
I said to her, that's the last verse of Genesis. A coffin in Egypt. And that's where it all ends. And these rich men, they try to get it all by false dealing in false ways. But he says, and when a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish. And they can't take any of it with them. And they have to leave it. And the hope of the unjust men perishes. Thank God for the next verse. The righteous is delivered out of trouble and the wicked cometh in his stead. The righteous is delivered out of trouble. Now, this...
walking in the fear of God day by day, dis-sewing and reaping day by day. It not only affects individual people, it affects cities, it affects countries, it affects peoples. Verse ten, when it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoices. When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoices. I believe that God does honor righteousness in government. I believe there are some cities that are blessed because they have righteous rule and righteous statesmen and righteous governors. And he says, when it goes well with the city, the city rejoices, rejoices.
And when the wicked perish, there is shouting, why when you've got a proper mayor that can rule a city and a proper police force that can rule a city, you can get rid of the wicked. and there's rejoicing and there's peace in the city and there's joy. Thank God for those who rule honestly and justly, but how awful it is when they take bribes and they do anything, they're worse than the criminals themselves. Many of these rulers of our states and cities and so on, anything to make money. And God is looking down from heaven. Believe me, there is a great day of judgment coming, sowing and reaping.
Verse twelve. He that is void of wisdom despises his neighbor, for the man of understanding holdeth his peace. You know, this is kind of... talking about your neighbor, talking badly about your neighbor. He says a man that talks about his neighbor and ridicules his neighbor and backbites his neighbor. He says he's a man void of wisdom, void of wisdom. He that is void of wisdom despises his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. How we Christians should hold our tongue. I told you, I found in Proverbs the best thing the lesson I learned is, keep your mouth shut.
It's better not to talk at all than to say things about people that are wrong and things that are not going to help people at all. Verse thirteen keeps the same theme, a tail-bearer. reveal its secrets, but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter. I wonder how many things there are here tonight that you and I know and nobody else knows. Not many of us can do that. When we know something, we've got to tell somebody else and they tell somebody else and they tell somebody else. I had a great friend years ago when I was a youngster and he took a great interest in me and he was a clever man.
And he said to me one day, he said, Bob, if you know something, how many people know it? I said, well, if I know it, I said one. Well, he said, write it down. So I wrote down one. He said, now you tell it to somebody else. How many of you told it to? I said, one person. He said, write it down. He said, what do you got there now? I said, I got eleven. I put one by one, it's eleven. He said, you tell one more and it's a hundred and eleven. That's about what happens. That's about what happens. You tell one person, and they tell ten more. You tell one more, and they tell a hundred more. I thought, how clever. He's gone to people of the Lord many years ago, but I'd never forgotten the lesson.
So he says, A tail-bearer reveals its secrets. But he that is of a faithful spirit conceited the matter. You know something that's about somebody that's not going to do them good if it gets all known and everybody knows them. Keep your mouth shut and don't talk about it. Don't go telling everybody else. Keep it to yourself and just tell the Lord about it. And don't be talking about it. And don't forget that God is looking down and we're walking day by day in the field of the Lord. And there's a sowing and reaping going on all the time. Verse fourteen. Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
What a wise verse. We don't know it all ourselves, and it's so good to get somebody to help us sometimes, to take someone into our confidence, to get them to help us in counseling. They call it counseling today, and how wise and useful it is. Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. Now look at verse fifteen. Oh, my father used to quote this to me so many, many times. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. He that is surety for a stranger. Somebody comes along and he wants you to sign your name on the dotted line that you will be responsible for some business transaction he's doing.
and he fails in business and you're going to smart for it because you've got to pay. My experience is, usually, usually I've found in life, whenever people come along and they want you to do something like that, they're very poor business people. Very poor business people. I used to meet them when I lived in Greece. There's a lot of that sort of thing going along and they say, help me, can you do this? I've learned from this verse, it's best to say no. He that is surety for a stranger is so smart for it. But he that hates his surety ship, he's sure. He hasn't got himself into the mess.
He's sure. Because he didn't put his name on the dotted line. Let's think about this. All we do, we try to do it to help people. But God says we've got to be honest and straight and just and remember that we're living in the field of God day by day. He talks about our health. The merciful man doeth good to his own soul. This is true, you know. If a man lives in the fear of the Lord, happily in the joy of the Lord, why his whole being and his whole body shows him, his health shows him.
People who can't trust the Lord and are always complaining about the Lord and always grumbling and always disappointed, well, that comes out. and some of them get ulcers and I don't know what they don't get but it's best to trust the Lord and walk day by day in the fear of the Lord and it does a man good in his own soul but he that is cruel troubles his own flesh now there are two ways here in verse twenty verse nineteen as righteousness tendeth to life So he that pursues evil pursues it to his own death.
Now this is sowing and reaping. Righteousness tendeth to life, but evil pursues it to death. And the world split up that way today. There are men and women trusting in the Lord Jesus, seeking to live a life that's honoring to him. Now, I'm not trying to say here tonight that anybody is going to get to heaven by doing good works. I'm not saying that. You know I wouldn't say that. We can only get to heaven by what the Lord Jesus has done for us, by trusting him and believing in him, and the value and the efficacy of his precious blood, which he shed at Calvary, and we're saved by faith. That's true. But it does say in Ephesians two that we were saved unto good works, unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should live in them.
And God is looking down from heaven, and he's watching you and me who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we should be living good lives. we should be doing good works. Doing good work. Ah, so much good work going on in pocket bombs. It rejoices my heart to see one waiting on this one and one waiting on that one. Some going to the hospital, some taking people to the hospital, some doing this, some doing that. Good works. And God delights to see that. God likes to see it. As righteousness tendeth to life. Now, verse twenty. They that be perverse, They that are a perverse heart and abomination to the Lord, but such as are upright in their way, they are his delight.
God looks down and he divides the human race up, and he sees, and he divides the church up and his people up, and he knows those that are seeking to follow in the path where he's planned and those that are just going their own way. Look at verse twenty one. Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished. How many covenants there are, how many contracts there are, and you sign here and I'll sign there and get the Notary public to stamp it, and they make contracts that a lot of people make them, you know. I'm talking about the ungodly people. Hand join in hand, and they form a contract to do some evil thing.
The wicked shall not be unpunished, he said, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. We ought to thank God, I think, that he does deliver us day by day from evil men, because it would be easy. In a business like Parker the Palms, how easy would it be to be swept into some financial concern that would ruin us? Thank God he's preserved us so far. Despite all our problems, he's brought us through. God's looking down and he's watching this. Now verse twenty-three, the desire of the righteous is only good, but the expectation of the wicked is wrath. You get what you go in for.
The desire of the righteous is good, and God will see you get what you go in for, but the expectation of the wicked, he says, is wrath. And this word wrath keeps coming. We'll talk about it a bit more in a moment. Now he begins to sum up in the last few verses, and we can kind of put this together now. Sowing and reaping. Verse twenty-three, you get what you go after. Verse twenty-four, look at it. There is that scattereth and yet increases. There is that withholdeth more than his meat, but it tendeth to poverty. What does he mean? I think he means that the liberal soul should be blessed.
That's what it is. I believe that if we hold back the Lord's money, he tends to poverty. I have proved in my life it pays to give to God. It pays to give to God. Now I'm not talking about ten percent tithing. I'm talking about giving to God. Ten percent was only an obligation of the Jewish people. I'm talking about giving far beyond the ten percent. It pays to give to God. I've proved it. I've proved it. The liberal soul should be made fat. and he that waters shall be watered also himself. I have proved over and over again, I never give to God, but God gives back to me.
We don't give to get, but God always does it. That's God. He that the liberal soul should be made fat. Jim Elliott said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. That's wonderful. That was with wise words from young Jim Elliot. And I knew him personally. I still have a letter. He wrote me some years ago. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep. Now, whether he's referring to giving his life as he did, or whether he's referring to giving to anything we have like money and so on, you can't keep it.
He's going anyhow. He is no fool. who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And by doing this we gain an eternal reward in the glory of heaven. So Solomon long, long ago said, There is that scattereth and yet increases, and there is that withholdeth more than his meat, and it tends to poverty. I have my own thoughts about financial things and so on. But I find that Christians that are always kind of talking poor, well my opinion is they don't give to God because when you give to God you're never poor.
You're never poor. God fills you with joy and delight and he gives back far more you can ever give to him. There is that scattereth and yet increases and there is that withholdeth more than his meat. It tendeth to poverty, but the liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that waters should be watered also himself. Then he now comes one of these businessmen, wants to make money in a hurry. So he's got a beautiful harvest, and he's going to hold back on it. The corn has increased, and it says, He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him. Instead of letting the people have it when they needed it, he held it back, thinking there's going to be a high rise.
The price is going to go up, and there's going to be an inflation, and he's going to make a lot of money in a hurry. And what's happened to people? Curse him. But blessings will be upon the head of him that selleth it. Him that selleth it. If you've got something for God, sell it. Give it to God. Don't wait to make a profit on it. Give it back to God. And God's going to bless that. Sewing and reaping, I said, was our subject. The profiteer, he says, hold it back and sell it when I can make more money. But God says, you sell it now. Blessings should be upon the head of him that selleth it.
Oh, this is done with real estate, isn't it? How it's done with real estate. Let's hold back. We make a lot of money one day. God's still up there. Verse twenty-seven. I wrote against this verse, Be careful what you want. He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor. but he that seeketh mischief it shall come unto him. God says you go in for the good thing and set your mind on what you want and God see that you get it if it's according to his will. He that trusteth in his riches verse twenty eight shall fall but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
The idea here is to trust in God and not in riches. God can make provision for us. Oh how some of us have proved over and over again that he makes provision if we give to him and we trust him. Now look at verse thirty, and this is the verse for all of us, verse thirty so well known, I suppose we all know Proverbs eleven thirty. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win its souls is wise. He that win its souls is wise. I wonder now if we bow our heads and think a moment tonight. When was the last time you won a soul to Christ?
It's one of the things that grieves me at Parker the Palms. I don't seem to get the context. I used to go and preach the gospel and win souls to Christ, but here we preach to Christians all the time. And he says, He that wineth souls is wise, and time is fleeting away. And we haven't got long to go. Oh, may God help us in some way or the other, by writing a letter or sending a tract or talking to somebody. He that wins souls is wise. And God is looking down, and I'm sure He gives us opportunities if our eyes were opened. May we ask Him to open our eyes day by day.
Now, finally in the last verse, verse thirty-one, and this is really sowing and reaping. Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth. Now, I know the righteous shall be recompensed in heaven. I know we've got eternal life. I know we're going to have an eternal inheritance. But the righteous shall be recompensed. in the earth and you can see some happy Christians about today. God has recompensed them. I think of some of you people and the lovely homes you've got here and how God has blessed you and given you beautiful homes and beautiful surroundings and God has blessed every one of us here in our surroundings. The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth.
We get it by in heaven, but he gives it to us in the earth. Thank God for all the lovely homes that have been built down in Keystone Christian Colony and all the happy fellowship we can enjoy here and all the wonderful meetings we had. The righteous shall be recompensed in the earth. Much more the wicked and the sinner. If God is going to recompense the righteous in the earth, He's also recompensing the sinner in the earth. Be not deceived, for God is not mocked. For whatsoever a man showeth, that shall he also weep. That's what God says in the New Testament. And that's what God says in this chapter.
We've been rambling through the night, sowing and reaping. So we pray. Blessed God, our Father, we thank thee thou out there in the heavens. And we've been reading tonight the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And we want, Lord, that day by day we might walk in the fear of God. That when we get up in the morning and when we come in at night and what we do all day long and what we say, It might be done in the fear of God, knowing that thou had just God, knowing that thine eyes upon thy people, and thou taking count of what we're saying and doing. We thank thee, Lord, for this wonderful chapter. It's like a crossword puzzle, but we thank thee, Lord, that in it there's wonderful, wonderful truth, and we pray, Lord, that thou apply it to our hearts tonight.
and help us to walk day by day in the conscious realization that there is a sowing and a reaping. And there is such a thing as walking day by day in the conscious moment by moment fear of God. Help us to do this for thy glory. And Lord, write that verse upon our hearts. He that when its souls is wise and help us in our testimony and our witness for thee, that we might be more useful to thee. We ask these things and seek thy parting blessing and commit to thee at this time the sick ones. We pray especially for our brother Heiss in the hospital and for our sister Ivy Chase.
Now notice, Lord, the discomfort of lying there day after day. We pray thou give patience. Lord, Ivy needs a lot of patience. We pray thou bless her. Bless our brother Heis and raise him up and bring him back. Bless his wife whilst he's away. We commit him to thee. And then we think of those that are traveling tonight. Our brother Majani, his son going back to Chicago, with our blessings, he traveled through the air and keep him. And his young lady friend, who's gone back to North Carolina. We think of Evan coming in tonight. We pray thou dress and keep her safe, too. And others, Lord, that are on the way.
Some have come today. We thank thee for them. And we pray that thou bless. Bless our brother Jack Gawley in the ministry of thy word up there at Warrenville in Illinois, and bless our brother Ernest Woodhouse in Ontario tonight. Use him for thy glory. So we commit us to thee as we separate. Thank you for another wonderful Lord's day. We thank you for being with us, Lord. And we ask, Lord, that we might go out taking thee with us. to walk in the conscious realization without watching us day by day. We ask it in our Savior's precious name. Amen.