We have before us three verses that begin the next section. And if you're able, I invite you to stand. I'll read the last two verses of the previous portion. I want to touch on a couple of things there before we move into this new section. And so I'll read from verses, from verse 21 through verse 25 of Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19 at verse 21, there are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand. What is desired in a man is kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil. A lazy man buries his hand in the bowl and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. Strike a scoffer and the simple will become wary. Rebuke one who has understanding and he will discern knowledge. that sends the reading of God's word, let us ask his blessing on the preaching of it. Holy Father, please feed us upon the truth of wisdom revealed here in your scriptures. We pray that we may grow in grace, that we may love your ways, that we may have that light which will light our paths and please our Savior. We ask these things in his name. Amen. You may be seated. As we closed the portion from last week, Uh, that section was focused particularly upon training in godly character in the home. Uh, there was guidance to parents, there was guidance to the recipients of that training and the hoped for outcome in the closing verses. And as mentioned, I want to touch on a couple of things from those closing verses before we move into the next section. And this next section touches on several failures of that training. Fools, those who have a failure of character. You do not have the hoped for outcome that was mentioned in the previous portion. And it describes for us responses to those of failed character and guidance as a result of what we see in them. An examination, if you will, of certain exhibits of folly and responses to them. in this new section. It starts as these sections have been with a familiar educational proverb, a wisdom statement. We have that in verse 23, starting the new section. And then as we'll move through these exhibits of failed character, we have just two that we'll touch on this week. First, the sluggard and then the scoffer. Looking then at those closing verses, I just wanted to add a few things to what we mentioned last week. At verse 21, there are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless, the Lord's counsel that will stand. Here, the ultimate end is made more explicit, as the training was put before the parent and the child, the hoped-for outcome is made more express here as the parent and the child consider that relationship of discipline, positive and negative, in what is hoped for in the home, we are reminded of a couple of things. On one hand, we are to be moved to a humility. The training should teach us that ultimately what we plan does not actually determine our lives. If we are simply thinking that we are the masters of our faith, we are the ones who control by our planning, by our counsels in our own hearts, what will happen in our lives, we're missing the mark. Our training should move us away from a prideful disposition where We're reminded of what James says in chapter four of James at verse 13 and following. Remember where he reproves the one making plans, saying, oh, you know what? Here's what I'm gonna do with my life. Here's where I'm gonna go, and here's how I'm going to make successful business decisions. And James reproves that and says, you're not sovereign. Every plan you make should have in view God's plan. You're not the one who determines the end from the beginning. God is. And so when you make plans, do so with humility. As James is thought of as sort of a section of a kind of New Testament Proverbs, he's echoing a principle that's revealed here. Many are the plans in a man's heart. But if he thinks he's sovereign, that man has missed the mark. Part of our training should have in view that kind of humility. And so, we're reminded, both as those trained in a household, as the son or daughter, and as those doing that training, that there should be an overflow in the parent's exhibit of life, that there is a yieldedness, a sweet yieldedness to the sovereignty of God. So that the result is a natural way of living under the plan of God. There's a looseness in our grip. We do not feel robbed when our plans fail because we don't make our plans as though we're sovereign. This proverb reminds us that that's a key component of proper Christian training in the home. It must be freely falling from the lips of the parents and absorbed by the children so that we don't walk with arrogance. We don't walk as pragmatic, practical atheists. No, it's something that should saturate the training of the home, that we walk gladly under the sovereignty of God. That means that we will learn through a practical exhibit not to bristle when that sovereign plan of God seems to contradict what we were trying to do. There will be a sweet softness, a readiness to submit to the one whose plans cannot be thwarted. So a positive training, an encouragement to have that kind of sweet disposition submissive to the sovereign plans of God as we make plans. But there's then also laid out there that reproving of living in that prideful way, right? So both sides of that need to be learned in the home and carried forward into our lives. But finally, in that proverb, there is also a hoped-for encouragement. When we live with that sweet submission to the sovereignty of God, there is a promise folded into this proverb that as the Lord's sovereign purposes cannot fail, those are sweetened to us because there's a promise of redemption. In the end, as we heard this morning, there is a certainty no matter what burden, trial, tribulation comes that afflicts me in thwarting all my hoped-for plans temporarily, there's a sweet promise that God is doing something glorious in that course and my end is secured because God cannot be thwarted. Don't we need that promise of His sovereignty? That's packed into this beautiful portion, this proverb. And so we're reminded to make our plans with humility and to take heart, not in our plans, but in God's plan, which cannot be stopped. Much packed into verse 21, and then, Verse 22 reminds us of the desired outcome of character in one who has been trained in the home, in the way that was described earlier. Here, the disposition of kindness is in view, and we touched briefly last week on what that word means. Verse 22, what is desired in a man is kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar. That ultimate shape of character brought into view in this training is fixed upon that word kindness. Remember, we highlighted last week just briefly, that word is the word for covenant faithfulness, chesed. And it is variously translated by what comes from that kind of grip of the heart in the covenant of grace. It is often translated as mercy. And here, that's, being brought into view, there's a sweetening of the heart, a merciful disposition, a kindness in our disposition that is part of the point of that training, that upbringing. This has to be in view as we train up, as we consider our character in training our children, and as we live that out before them and hope for them to live it out. there is to be a love of neighbor that flows from the love of God in the covenant. Remember, we heard that in the reading of the law in Leviticus this morning. This is not just a New Testament principle, that sweet relationship of redemption working in us, the love of God that is exhibited in a kind of charitable disposition towards all those around us. This sweetness of character will be utterly lacking in us if it is not a part of our daily living in the covenant. Remember, we started that earlier section with the poor in view. Here, the poor comes back into view again, but note, not only with the disposition of kindness that would be quick to be charitable to one that's poor. Here, notice that verse 22, This charitableness points us to the right frame in our training. We're not to train with an eye towards temporal ends only. This has been emphasized before here. It's brought into view again in the training. If we're training with only temporal ends in view, that is just success in this life, we will misjudge our purpose in life and our success in life. Here, the measure is again, a surprising turn. Earlier in chapters one through nine, we were reminded of how poverty can be a judgment on the fool. But over and again, in these Proverbs, we've been reminded, you can't stop there. You have to recognize that the real aim in training is such a character that if in God's providence you are poor, better to be poor with this disposition of covenant faithfulness wrought in the heart than to be one who lacks integrity, the one with that lack of integrity described as a liar. And so what's in view in this training when it's successful is a heart disposition that's given the exclamation point, again, at the close of this section. Do we train in that way? Do we live in that way? It's easy to forget our call to be content. Remember what we heard in an earlier portion read this afternoon. We do not find our all in Christ as we read in Hebrews. If we are living with only temporal ends in view. Here, if we are appointed a time of want, If we are appointed a position of poverty, when we are satisfied that we have not brought this on ourselves, and we'll hear of this as we move into the next section, then what we're after is a sweetness of character even in that hardship. That's certainly got to be the aim of the parent, a diligence that is cultivating a covenant faithfulness that is demonstrated in the sweetness of kindness, of mercy, of chesed, of covenant faithfulness, even where hardships bring about poverty. We must not sacrifice integrity. He has said this over and again. We must never sacrifice integrity. for a temporal gain, integrity first. And if the Lord will add success in it, well then all praise to Him. Do we train like that? Do we walk in that training now that we're adults with that in view? This must be an uncompromising principle for us. Then looking at the next section, we begin again with that educational proverb, verse 23, the fear of the Lord leads to life. And he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil. Now we're reminded as we've been reminded before, as the Proverbs have been unpacking to us, these principles of wisdom. that this is not a temporal promise of a life of ease, right? We've learned that. There are those who suggest Proverbs is kind of stuck in an Old Testament context where it really has in view lots of temporal things and it's hard work to spiritualize it. No, no, that's not true. The Proverbs are saturated with the spiritual truth and we're to carry that forward when we hear this, this is not a promise of material ease. Rather, this promise for full provision with no evil is only realized in the life of faith, in the spiritual cultivation of a life of wisdom. Here, that full provision, as we've learned before, is a security which we have by way of faith in our Redeemer. There we will lack No good thing. The Proverbs speak with that spiritual emphasis, and that's what's held out to us here. We know that in that life, we can suffer physical want. The principle of the Proverbs is that in the life of wisdom, you will lack no good thing. That's because you will have your full provision in Christ. And you will suffer no evil. Again, it doesn't mean no bad things will happen to you. You will not suffer those bad things as judgments upon falling. If you have the fear of the Lord as your foundation, the right reverence, which by faith clings to God and walks in submission to him, then every hardship that you may suffer will not be an evil to you, but as James said, a joy. How will we have that? I confess that feels so impossible, but it is a solid principle of wisdom by which we must live. And it is put before us at the head of this section. The fear of the Lord is what will provide this. Hardships will not be evil. There will be joys because they are the trials, the tribulations that work in us, that character, which is our every provision in Christ. It is hard to live that way. But that is our calling, and we need that reminder. Hardships, deprivations, in this sense, are not ultimately evil for us, because as those who are trusting in Christ, they are working in us His character. The Hebrew here even highlights the fact that that every provision is in the potential time of want. We only have that security, that provision, when we are humbled before him by faith, walking in submission to him with right reverence. This is worthy of its repetition. Now, as we move into this next section, we have a catalog of several of those who have failed in character and the two before us this week, the sluggard and the scoffer or mocker. Verse 24, a lazy man buries his hand in the bowl and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. So first here, considering the lazy man, the sluggard, it's pressed in this proverb that a man's wants, his deprivations in this regard as a sluggard are through lack of his diligence and not because of a failed providential provision. Understand the importance of that. and we see it in multiple places, obviously we've heard it in the training of youth, right? There needs to be a training and diligence so that we find we do not lack, but too often, and in the case exhibited to us here, the one who's lazy, the sluggard, the failed character, is not actually wanting in provision. Do we not see that round about us? We live in a land of abundance with every provision for those who have want. It is exceedingly difficult to find somebody who is actually suffering deprivation's want because of a genuine lack. Now there are some who've suffered mental break and you know, are not able to maintain themselves. We understand there are exceptions. But in our land, we have such abundance and such provision for those who fall into times of need that it is a grave reproof to have those who come begging with manipulative stories when they're not really lacking. They are described here. in their want of character. The colorful description is important. This sluggard, this one who is lazy, is described as having his arm extended into the provisions, food for him, all the way up his arm. And it's fully there. He just won't exert the effort to bring any of it to his mouth. I've got to say, We need to be sensitive, as we mentioned before, working through these Proverbs, to those who suffer genuine need. We're going to run into them. It's going to happen, and we need to have a charitable spirit. We don't need to be hard-nosed and incapable of recognizing genuine want when we see it. But that's balanced with this. Somebody who is lazy, will fall into want and it will not be because there's nothing there to meet his need. It'll be because he lacks the diligence to pursue it. He's too lazy to lay hold of it. This has to shape our own diligence as a warning. We're starting here to examine these failed characters. But notice too, this is a critical principle not only for how we'll measure charity. We want to meet those needs that are genuine needs and not cultivate those who have in themselves cultivated laziness, right? But also consider the importance of having this in mind in terms of public policy. So not only in our own discipline, remembering the encouragements that were given, say, at the end of Hebrews, right? We must live a life of diligence. That's not only a temporal need, that's a spiritual need. The writer of Hebrews goes out of his way to say, look, here are a bunch of examples to enliven you, to encourage you, to press on diligently, to exercise faith so that you can lay hold of the goods that you see these heroes have laid hold of, right? So not only a temporal need for diligence, a spiritual need. And there's a warning, one can also become lazy spiritually and so fall into deprivations. It will not be, as we saw in Hebrews, because we lack the provisions set before us. We have all that we need in Christ. We have abundant examples to follow. There's a pressing upon us for genuine diligence that we not fall into this kind of laziness. But as we say, when we consider public charity, our own land has neglected this principle. We're to have an eye towards avoiding the cultivation of laziness when we meet needs. Now, I would argue that means we're pursuing folly if we are undiscerning in how we do personal private charity and we're magnifying the problem if we create public policy that doesn't have in view avoiding the cultivation of laziness. We've gone through waves up and down in public policy. I don't think that it's ideal that our country removes all those layers of cultivating responsibility that should be there with family, with church, with social connections in a society, by centralizing charity at the top and distributing it, I think we're exceptionally prone to missing this principle when we do it the way we've done it in our land. Every once in a while, we get somebody who says, hey, wait, You know, we should make sure that people aren't being helped out to be lazy when we're giving them welfare. And so then it gets reined in for a while, and then we fall right back into it again. I think there's a lot broken about that, but this principle speaks into that situation. We should have an eye towards recognizing genuine need and avoiding meeting pretended want in one who will not help himself at all. There's a diligence that is to be exercised. Too often, we've ignored that, especially in public policy, and cultivated a culture of welfare, where those have dipped their arm in and say, no, you're gonna need to put it in my mouth. God forbid, we're destroying souls when we do that. This is a failed character, a lazy man. We should not help him destroy his soul and body. This principle needs to be in view. Those should be helped who are being diligent to pursue that help, not those who, like this lazy man, will not even raise his hand to put the food in his mouth. So may we be warned in every way with regard to this failed character. And then verse 25, we move from the sluggard to the scoffer, from the lazy man to the mocker. And let us remember, this is a serious, I don't know that we, we recognize this, we easily forget this, we must avoid the cultivation of the scoffer's spirit in us. In the Proverbs, the mocker, the scoffer, is one who is incapable of help. We don't want that kind of spirit. We want to avoid that kind of spirit. He's considered one with his jaundiced eye, who will not receive any reproof for his betterment. He will mock. It's his disposition. He will not hear wisdom. He will not hear reproof. He will scoff and mock to his own destruction. Again, this is a failed character. And so, with that reminder of the nature of the scoffer, the nature of the mocker, why is the instruction here that he be stricken? The word is flogged, publicly punished. It's not because there's hope ordinarily for the mocker to be corrected. In the Proverbs, he's seen as one typically incorrigible, incapable of being corrected. Well, we're told that doesn't mean you stop the public justice. It doesn't mean that you stop the penalties that are due to his ill-doing, because those who can be helped will see and be warned. The scoffer, the mocker, is going to get the flogging if we do this right. But it won't be because he'll benefit. It'll be because it benefits those who watch, who are simple. Remember, the simple in the Proverbs is one who lacks the instruction he needs. He's not built up prideful mocking walls against it. He's foolishly ignorant. Well, ignorance can be remedied if it's not fortified with mockery. The simple are helped when they see, wow, that guy, I don't want that. He's getting a miserable penalty for his stupidity, his foolishness, his wickedness, and he's doubling down on it. That looks bad to me. I shouldn't probably do that. The simple can be instructed. So strike the scoffer, flog the mocker, give him the penalties, not because you're going to see him improved, but because the simple, others, will observe and be made careful, wary. Too often we can narrow our scope with regard to penalties, right? And think that it has to be strictly and only in view of actually helping that one. Well, it may not be. That's not the only reason for penalties. Penalties are also instructive. Even if they will not do any good to the one immediately receiving it, we must not fail where it's our duty to mete out those penalties in society or in church discipline. We mustn't fail just because we think, well, I don't think that person's learning anything. If it's our duty to mete out a discipline, a penalty, and so on, we must not fail to do it. It is instructive even if it fails in the heart of one hardened with mockery. It's instructive and it will provide a good to the one who sees it, who can actually learn. And that gets doubled down in the case of one who's not hardened in mockery, we're reminded. of all the good that is done, especially if one is not a mocker, not a simpleton, but one who's learning. That rebuke will do him good, and given the proverb pair, it'll also do good to the simple, to the one who's ignorant, needs training, he too will receive good. And so there's no time when we should neglect that duty. Parents, we must be diligent for the good of our children, we remember from the previous section, to mete out appropriate discipline with an eye towards the child's improvement. We hope there's not a mocker's spirit, but rather ignorance that can be remedied. But there are others who are being benefited when we are consistent and disciplined the way we learned in the previous section. Disciplining in love. building up with an eye towards character. Even where we feel like, you know, that didn't stick this time with my child. If I have others in view, and if I'm being disciplined in my own heart to pursue the good of my child, much surrounding good is taking place. This proverb reminds us of that. We should not be pragmatists, in other words, with regard to those duties. it's critical that we be consistent in meeting out what is called for in response. If it's a public penalty, if it's church discipline, if it's discipline in the home, there are goods that surround it that require we not be pragmatists. So let us ask ourselves, how have we done in that? How have we had an eye towards those things we've learned with regard to charity, with regard to discipline? These are highly instructive proverbs, things that we can see an immediate need in our own lives, but note how there are circles of application that go out into society. Let us be well-trained in this kind of divinely informed wisdom Not only for the good of our own souls and those in our immediate circle, but if we are saturated with this way of thinking, we actually do a benefit to society. Oh, may God grant that our society be rescued from its headlong plunge towards all sorts of destruction. by letting this get traction in the lives of those who are gripped with a gospel faith, who grow in wisdom, who are warned by those of failed character, not just as a warning and say, oh yeah, watch out for them, but actually learn the principles of how we respond to those failed characters. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this solid and meaty instruction. There's much for us here that reminds us of our duties, And we acknowledge that we too often neglect those duties. We easily fail through that neglect. And we do pray that we may repair our ways, that we would avoid the things that lead to the failed character we've seen in the verses we examined at the close this afternoon. And that seeing the way of wisdom we may do our duty with an eye towards the wisdom you have manifest here before us to shape our lives. And we pray that we will shine brightly walking by faith in the way of wisdom. You've taught us here that there are circles of outcome that encourage us to our duty. Help us not to be pragmatists. Help us to walk in principle. as those well-trained in the way of wisdom. We thank you for this enriching training and we pray that you would bless it in our lives in every way. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen.