Proverbs 24
McGeeCHAPTER 24This is the last chapter of the proverbs of Solomon which he wrote and arranged. After this we come to proverbs of Solomon that were arranged by the men of Hezekiah. Evidently Solomon wrote a great many proverbs. We have only a very small percentage of the total number. These are tremendous truths that have ben placed in a very small compass. They can grip and direct our lives.
Proverbs 24:1
This has been presented to us before. We find a repetition of the things which are important. For example, a great deal has been said about the use of the tongue and about pride and about being a fool. They are things that are constantly emphasized, because they are translated into life. We find these folk, not only on the sidewalks of New York, but in your town and my town. That is the reason I said you will find a proverb to fit every person you know. We have already found a great number which fit different characters in the Bible. Psalms 73, a psalm of Asaph, deals with the same subject as our verse here in Proverbs. Asaph writes, “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men …. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth” (Psa_73:3-9). Asaph was disturbed about that. I am of the opinion that you have been disturbed by it also.
I certainly have had these feelings. I remember as a poor boy that I couldn’t understand why I had to be poor and drop out of school to work when I was only fourteen years of age. I looked about me and saw other boys who were well able to go to school but were dropping out because they hated it. I had a real question about it, because I had such a desire for an education. Now Solomon deals with this matter: “Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.” Why? A day of reckoning is coming. Asaph said he didn’t understand why the wicked prospered"Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end" (Psa_73:17, italics mine). God will deal with them. As we look out upon the world, we see a great deal of injustice, and there is very little that you and I can do about it. We have been in a generation that has protested about everything. They have attempted to equalize a great many things in this world. I don’t think all of the protesting has solved any problem because the problem is in the heart of man. It is the heart of man that must be changed. God is the One who is going to level this thing off someday. We can trust Him to do that. You and I need to recognize our place in life. It is going to make us happier people if we realize that God has put each of us in our own particular place to fulfill a purpose here on earth. I look at wicked men who are prosperous, and I don’t understand it. I have told God a dozen times that I don’t understand it. Don’t you be afraid to tell it to God just as Asaph did. The important thing is for you to go on with God, trusting Him to work it all out. We need to learn to look at things from God’s point of view. The Bible is full of instances of wicked men who came to a bad end. It starts with Cain in the Book of Genesis. Even a man like Lot, although he was a saved man, chose to live in the city of Sodom and prospered there, but there came a day when he wished he had not moved to Sodom. It was a sad mistake for him to do that. So if you will go through the Word of God, you will find people who prospered for a time and then see how judgment has come time and time again. This is very important for us to understand.
Proverbs 24:3
This is a wonderful picture of what we are to do. A man builds a house, and then he fills that house with furniture, with lovely pictures and tapestries, with beautiful personal items and valuable things. It is a pleasure to see a home like that, a beautiful home that is tastefully furnished. You and I ought to be building us a house down here, a house of wisdom, a house of knowledge. We should begin to store our minds and our hearts with all kinds of wonderful furniture, vases, pictures and lovely things. This was the thing that Paul admonished Timothy: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2Ti_2:15). And you and I should be filling our hearts and lives with the Word of God. Oh, my friend, let’s be working toward a beautiful mansion; let’s not be satisfied with a hovel. When I was down in South America visiting with a missionary, he took me to some of the homes in his area. Many of them were what we would call a “lean-to” made out of old boards. Many of them were decaying, dilapidated places. Inside there was no place to sit, not even a chair. There would be a blanket or a sheepskin in a corner where the family would sleep; there was no bed. The cooking was done on the outside.
I thought how tragic it was. Frankly, it made me sick just thinking of the poverty of those people down in South America. But, my friend, up here in North America I know many Christians who should have spent their lives building a lovely homea spiritual homeand filling it with all kinds of wonderful treasures out of the Word of God. Instead, all they have is a little hovel. And when I look insideoh, the ignorance! There is nothing there; it is absolutely bare. In talking to a group of preachers just the other day, they agreed with me on this: the greatest tragedy in our churches today is the ignorance of the church members. Oh, the poor little empty houses they have! “Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.”
Proverbs 24:5
There are many resources for us to use today. Not only do we have people to whom we can turn for counsel, but we also have the Word of God. I don’t believe in this method of opening the Bible to look at some verse at the time of making a decision. That is not good. The Word of God is not a roulette wheel for us to turn and hope it stops at the right place. We need to know what the whole Bible says. We need to read Moses and Joshua and Samuel and David and Micah and Zechariah and Matthew and Paul and John. They are all our counselors. We can appeal to all of them at any time of decision.
Proverbs 24:10
He is saying something here that is rather important: It takes a man to do a man’s job. We use the old bromide, “Never send a boy to do a man’s work.” God uses these times of real stress and strain and testing to develop our spiritual character. That is the way He enables us to grow. It is in the hour of trial that you and I manifest the spiritual strength that we have. It is a great comfort for us to know that many of God’s men turned and ran when their test came. Elijah had been so brave on the top of Mount Carmel, but when he heard that Jezebel was after him with the intention of killing him, he took off and ran for the wilderness until he got down to Beer-sheba. He left his servant there and continued on in the desert, climbed under a juniper tree, and said, “…LORD, let me die” (cf. 1Ki_19:4). When David was hunted by King Saul, he didn’t have a moment of peace. David said that he was hunted like a partridge in the mountains and that one of these days they would catch him and put him to death. He became very discouraged. But both David and Elijah learned in that hour that the Lord would and did strengthen them.
Proverbs 24:11
Now there is somebody you could help, and you know you could. There is somebody to whom you could witness for Christ, and you may be the only one to whom he would listen. Recently I talked with a man who feels that he has been responsible for the suicide of a loved one. He says that he knew he should have done something. I’m of the opinion that he should have, but he didn’t do it. A man can be under great conviction because he neglected to do something at a time when he should have done it. The Lord God is the One who ponders the heart. In such an instance when we know we have failed to do something that we should have done, there is nothing left but to turn to the Lord and say, “Lord, forgive me. I failed. I come to You now asking You to strengthen me and help me.” The Lord will hear that kind of prayer. He will deliver a man from being overwhelmed by the grief and guilt of his failure. We do well to mark the importance of this proverb and reach out to people who are in need of our help.
Proverbs 24:16
“A just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.” Seven is the number of completeness. It means man just keeps on falling. But the just man will get up again. Do you know a man like that? Simon Peter was one. But then notice that “the wicked shall fall into mischief.” That is Judas.
This proverb perfectly illustrates those two disciples of our Lord. Peter was a man who was constantly falling. We may say that he failed when he tried to walk on the water. I don’t really think that he failed, because he did walk on the water. He walked on the water to come to Jesus, but when he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at those rolling waves, he began to go under; he began to sink. But remember that the Lord rescued him and he walked back to the boat with Jesus.
But Peter certainly fell the night the Lord Jesus was arrested. He denied his Lord three times. Again and again and again Peter failed the Lord. But he always got up and went on with the Lord. A man came to me when I was a pastor in Pasadena. He said, “I have failed so many times and I am ashamed to go back to the Lord and tell Him again that I have failed and want to start over.” I told him, “You may be ashamed, but the Lord is not. He is ready to start you out again.” Then he asked, “How many times do you suppose you can fail and still come back?” I told him, “I don’t know, but I am working up in the hundreds myself, and I still go to Him.” It is so important for us to understand that we can go back to our Heavenly Father and tell Him that we stumbled and got dirty again. He will put us right back into His service. How wonderful it is to have a Heavenly Father like that!
Proverbs 24:17
When you hear that something bad has happened to someone you haven’t really liked very much, don’t you say, “I’m glad that happened to him?” Now, don’t tell me you have never said that, because human nature is like that. If you haven’t said it, you’ve thought it. God says, “Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth.” That is not the way to solve the problem. Why?
Proverbs 24:18
If you rejoice when your enemy falls, the Lord may turn around and start prospering that man. Then you really will be miserable. So there is a very practical reason for not rejoicing when your enemy falls.
Proverbs 24:19
You may think, We have just read that. Yes, it is the same thought as verse Pro_24:1 of this chapter. Then why is it repeated? Again, it is to show us how important this is. The Lord wants us to learn this. Have you noticed that some of the parables and certain of the miracles of our Lord are repeated? For example, the feeding of the five thousand is recorded in all four Gospels. Each of the Gospel writers adds details which are peculiar to his Gospel. The miracle was of such importance that it is recorded for us four times. And the teaching of this proverb needs to be repeated because of its importance. From verse Pro_24:23 to the end of the chapter there is sort of an appendix which is introduced by, “These things also belong to the wise.”
Proverbs 24:23
Here is something else the young man should learn before he graduates: “It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment"that is, it is not good to show partiality in judgment. This is an important matter in daily living and something which is needed today. Men in public office need to know this. Employers need to know this. Anyone in any position of authority needs to know this. There should not be a system of favorites, but justice should be equal to all.
Proverbs 24:24
There is a great deal of that today. Wicked men are commended. Often the wicked man is called a righteous man. That is one of the worst things that could take place.
Proverbs 24:29
This repeats what we have been hearing over and over again. It is the same message which Paul wrote to the Romans: “…Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord” (Rom_12:19).
Proverbs 24:33
This young man is going to graduate from college. He may know a lot and he may have other good qualities, but if he is lazy, he will find that to be the greatest handicap he could have in life.