He
layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous (Prov 2:7)
Sources Of Ruin For Our Lives: Love Of Worldly
Pleasures: Proverbs 23:4-8
4) Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5) Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6) Eat thou not the bread of [him
that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7) For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not with thee.
8) The morsel [which] thou
hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
Solomon
now shares with us teachings on many different sins that can ruin our lives…
EXPOSITION:
Solomon
addresses the love of worldly riches
4) Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
1. Do not exhaust yourself to accumulate worldly
riches
2. Put off the worldly wisdom that encourages the
hoarding of wealth
Putting
the accumulation of wealth as our chief priority of life is to live a wasted
life. This type of lifestyle is
motivated by the worldly wisdom that says we must rely upon our worldly
possessions for our future security, exalted social standing and fame. Little does the world understand that, in
reality, wealth can only bring to us a temporal type of exaltation and security
while, with faithfulness to the Lord, we can find eternal exaltation and peace…
“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty
hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1
Peter 5:6-7)
5) Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for [riches] certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
1. Will we turn our attention upon that which
does not permanently exist?
2. These temporal things of the world will disappear,
much like an eagle who spreads it wings and flies away.
Why
should we place our attention and diligently seek for those things that give us
no lasting benefit? Only those who do
not understand the temporal nature of the things of this world, in comparison
to the eternal nature of the things of God, would be silly enough to live for that
which is temporary and fleeting.
“But this I say, brethren,
the time [is] short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though
they had none; And they that weep, as
though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and
they that buy, as though they possessed not; And they that use this world, as not abusing [it]: for the fashion of
this world passeth away.” (1 Corinthians 7:29-31)
6) Eat thou not the bread of [him
that hath] an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
1. Do not partake of the bread offered by those
who possess lawless view
2. Do not place our affections on the delicacies
that he possesses
When
we allow our fleshly desires to control us, we will be placing ourselves in a
position to be manipulated and used by the wicked. When our flesh is uncontrolled, the wicked man
can use worldly riches to entice us to ruin our lives pursuing those riches.
“And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that
defileth the man. For from within, out of
the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye,
blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come
from within, and defile the man.
(Mark 7:20-23)
7) For as he thinketh in his heart, so [is] he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart [is] not
with thee.
1. What a man’s desires concentrate on, that reveals
the man’s true nature.
2. The wicked offers for you to partake of his
delicacies, but his actions are based upon other motives than being generous
and kind. His desires are in opposition to your good.
The
true nature of an individual is shown by what he desires, not what he says with
his lips. A wicked man will offer us his
enticements, saying that all he desires is to help us to satisfy us, but really
he knows they will only harm us and our testimony for the Lord.
“They speak vanity every
one with his neighbour: [with] flattering lips [and] with a double heart do
they speak.”
(Psalms 12:2)
“God shall hear, and
afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes,
therefore they fear not God. He hath put
forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he hath broken his
covenant. [The words] of his mouth were
smoother than butter, but war [was] in his heart: his words were softer than
oil, yet [were] they drawn swords.” (Psalms 55:19-21)
8) The morsel [which] thou
hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
1. When we partake of these small pieces of meat,
they will be vomited back up
2. Then, we will no longer think highly of the
wicked, nor the delicacies that he offers.
After
we are enticed by the gifts of the wicked, we will understand the harm that we
have partaken of. We will attempt to rid
ourselves of them and learn a very difficult lesson. Many times, these things can actually destroy
our testimony for Christ. It will only
be by God’s grace, if these things do not permanently ruin our testimony and render
us ineffective in our service to the Lord.
As
a result, we will not speak well of the wicked, not of his enticements. It will be a lesson that was learned the hard
way. However, if we listen to the Lord’s
teachings found in His Word, we will not have to go down this path of learning
through experience that following our fleshly lusts is dangerous for the
Christian and his testimony for Christ.
“HE. Teach me, O LORD, the
way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it [unto] the end. Give me understanding, and
I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with [my] whole heart. Make me to go in the path
of thy commandments; for therein do I delight. Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity; [and] quicken thou me in thy way. Stablish thy word unto thy
servant, who [is devoted] to thy fear.” (Psalms 119:33-38)
SUMMARY:
Our fleshly desires can
be a very weak point for a Christian.
Many times, in pursuit of their fulfillment our service to the Lord can
become greatly compromised, our testimony destroyed, and many future
opportunities for service to the Lord lost.
By
God’s grace, let us all study these proverbs diligently, giving them the value
that they deserve.
May the
Lord bless us as we receive this sound wisdom and then “Think On These Things”.
SIH Homepage: http://www.settledinheaven.org
SIH
Text Blog: http://settledinheaven.wordpress.com/all-about-salvation/
SIH
Video Blog: http://youtube.com/settledinheaven/
SIH
Email: settledinheaven@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment