Proverbs 14 verses 1 through 7, these are God's words. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. He who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it. But knowledge is easy to him who understands. Go from the presence of a foolish man when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge. Amen. So far the reading of God's inspired and errant word. You may have heard the word pietism sometime in the last several years. Sadly, as a result of those who are impious liking to label those who hold to a biblical piety as if they are pietists. But there is such a thing as pietism. Piety, of course, is knowing the Lord and worshiping him, maintaining that life of the mind and the heart before him and those habits of worship that he has instituted in our lives. It is in large measure what we were created for. But pietism acts as if we have only the creator to act upon. and ignores the creation and our purpose in it and our responsibilities, our duties. Proverbs is a very strongly pious book. The fear of Yahweh. is the beginning of wisdom. So much of the book emphasizes submitting our hearts to him and hearing his word and seeking the knowledge of him himself above all things. But it is certainly not a pietistic book. Because the one who fears Yahweh who has that wisdom and that understanding that is the knowledge of the Holy One. It's expressed in all of these practical ways. And especially since we entered into the second big section of the Book of Proverbs since the beginning of Chapter 10, we've had emphasis in three areas, which are the three areas, again, that are treated in our portion this evening. Three areas in practical life where genuinely fearing the Lord and knowing the Lord will be expressed, will bear fruit. One is in the area of family and friends, companions and the effect that we have upon them and the companions we choose and the effect that they will have upon us, the inheritance that we leave to our children, the identifying of a godly wife And so we'll see that in verses one and two and verses six and seven. Another one of the three areas that have been the main themes in this larger section of the book of Proverbs is the use of our words, the use of our words. And we see that in verse three and verse five. And then the third area, especially if you have been paying attention to the titles and try to find a different title every week, even though it's hitting the same themes every week, words and work, diligence in our work and stewardship, work and money-related issues. But here, particularly work and diligence, we see that in verse 4. And if you've been paying attention as I've been giving you the themes and their verse numbers, you've noticed that we started out at the edges. Verse 1 and 2 and verse 6 and 7, family and companions. And then verse 3 and 5 on words. And then verse four in the middle on work. This is actually a common way of organizing Hebrew poetry. We've noted before when passages are bookended. We've used that word inclusio. Maybe you remember it and can use it now. where you say the same thing at the beginning and the end of the passage. This is a little bit more detailed, and it certainly includes an inclusio, and it's called a chiasm. If you ever hear someone say chiasm, or maybe they're like one of those homeschooled kids who who learn words by looking at them and have never heard them spoken, and they might be like I was for the first many, many times that I said the word, I said, chiasm. Must have sounded super American. But if you hear the word chiasm or chiastic structure, that just means that The beginning and the end are similar. And then if you go one step in and one step in, you may have many, many levels in the chiasm. And when you do have a large number of points that are being repeated in that way, it helps memorization and organization, which is perhaps some of the reason that the Lord gives that to us. But once again, we have family, words, and work. Now, I want you to think back all the way to the beginning of the Bible and see if you can identify why these would be three big areas where fearing the Lord and knowing him would show up in our lives. First in the area of family. Family is one of the first things that God ordained for man, isn't it? That it wasn't good for man to be alone. He should have companions. And most of all, he should have that companion that is his wife. Or if you're talking about the woman, that she should have that companion that is her husband. Marriage is essential. It's at the core of how God designed us to be. And a little bit more broadly, companionship, the effect that we have on one another in fellowship with one another, is also at the core of how God designed us to be. And that's not surprising at all, is it? Because we are made in his image. And God is one God existing eternally in three persons. He has fellowship within himself, among the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And so it is an essential part of our imaging him that we have fellowship with one another, that we have companions. And he's especially created marriage as the greatest companionship of all. In fact, it was in the area of marriage and attacking the wife and Adam failing to fulfill his duty as a husband, even though he was there with her, and not exercising his headship and teaching and defending her, as in the area of marriage that the fall occurred, the first sin occurred, and in the area of marriage that the first effects of the curse were seen. where the woman desired to control her husband now. The husband, rather than being a head unto her, desired to trample her. Using the exact same language that a few verses later would be addressed to Cain, sin's desire is for you, but you must rule over it. And suddenly the relationship between a man and his wife was more like the relationship that a man should have with his sin, destroying it, crushing it. The second thing are words. This also, isn't it, something that we see right from the beginning of the Bible is a big part of being created in God's image. How did God decide to create? How did he choose to create? He could have willed everything into existence, couldn't he? In fact, man didn't even exist until late on day six. But all that time before he created man, God was creating by speaking. So that when he comes and he creates man, And man alone of all the creatures is a speaking creature of all the creatures in the earth. You say, oh, all parrots can talk and they can imitate sounds. And lots of animals make different kinds of sounds that mean different things. But only man communicates himself with words, various meaning. Man is made in the image of God, and therefore, we are not surprised at all that in the priorities of applying the knowledge of God, the fear of the Lord in our lives, first area, verse 1 and 2, and verse 6 and 7, companionship, and especially companionship of marriage. Second area, verse 3 and verse 5, coming in from those bookends and that chiastic structure. how we use our words, and then a third area, and this too we find right from the beginning of the Bible, don't we? That we were created to work. God was a working God. He, of course, is not a working God from all eternity. But when he creates things, he does it in a way of working. In fact, he refers to it sometimes as the work of creation, because he's going to make man a working creature. Indeed, when the Lord Jesus is challenged about his working, you remember what he said, my father is working until now, and I am working. And so there are these three areas that come right from our creation that are such important parts of what and whom you were created to be. You were created to have friendships. And you are created ordinarily, it doesn't come to everyone in God's providence, but it is the ordinary condition and the scriptures teach us that it is a desirable condition. You are created as a human who gets married, looking forward to being that husband or being that wife that the scripture designs and teaches you to be. Looking forward to having that helper or that head that the Lord teaches you in his word. He's assigned your wife to be. He's assigned your husband to be. So first, family and companions. Verse one and two and verses six and seven. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her own hands. The foolish pulls it down with her hands. Now, This is a book that is primarily addressed to a son, although as we spend roughly 30 chapters on the kind of man this son should be, we're preparing him to be ready to be the husband that he should be, to the kind of wife that he should be looking for. And the last chapter of this book describes that wife. But he doesn't wait until the last chapter to start describing that wife. We have one here. The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. You see, a husband desires to be a good and wise, productive, generous head of his household. But if his wife is to be a helper exactly corresponding to him, or a helper suitable for him, as many of your English translations will say, the original meaning exactly corresponding to him, he will want a wife who helps build the house. She is a co-house builder, although only one of them can be the ultimate head. If he is the king in the house, she is the queen, and he is unable to build it well without her. And in this, we hear something that sounds familiar. Because if you remember back in chapter nine, when wisdom was being described to us as if wisdom is a woman, the very first thing that was said was, wisdom has built her house. And so a woman who fears Yahweh, verse two, he who walks in his uprightness fears Yahweh, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. A woman who fears the Lord. that sort of woman who is to be praised. Many of you remember probably verse 30 of chapter 31. And charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears Yahweh. She is to be praised. Well, this woman will be like Lady Wisdom. She will build her house. It's very important then that a young man, a Christian young man, be desiring above all in his future wife that she would be one who fears the Lord. For either she will be a help to him in building a household, in fearing God with him, and knowing the Lord with him, in speaking these words of wisdom that we hear about in this passage, of being diligent in her labors and having properly biblically ordered priorities like we hear about in this passage. Either she will be a help to him in all those ways. Or she will either reinforce his sin with her sin and they will join together in tearing down the house. Or even if she isn't able to have that sort of negative influence upon him, as fast and faster than he can build it up, she will tear it down for it is much easier and much faster to destroy. than it is to build. And so it's not like you have all of these characteristics that you might look for in a future wife, and among them, it would be really nice if it could be included that she fears Yahweh. No. If she doesn't fear the Lord, if she is not, according to the Proverbs definition, a wise woman, than whatever else she does, whatever other benefits she might have in the marriage, she will be a destroyer of the Christian household. The knowledge of the Lord will be torn down in that home if the wife does not fear the Lord and know the Lord and walk in uprightness. If she is perverse in her ways, just like anyone who is perverse in his ways, she will despise the Lord. You say, well, I know lots of unconverted people. They don't seem to despise the Lord. Well, if you think that, then you are forgetting the place that the Lord ought to have. Even if they don't speak ugly, like we like to say in the South sometimes, they are not giving him the place of his greatness and his glory and his priority in every part of life. And to do that, to give him any less than that, truly is to despise him. Anything less than living in wonder at him, as an act of worship unto him, anything less than genuinely fearing him, is indeed to despise him. Therefore, the most important thing about your future wife, dear boys, and the most important thing about yourself as a future wife, dear girls, the most important thing about your current wife, husbands, or yourself as a wife now, dear wives, is that you would be genuinely converted. Because what you see in verse two are two different types of people. The one whom grace has made a fearer of the Lord, and because they have been changed, they are upright and they walk in their uprightness. And the one who is a despiser of the Lord, and because they are a despiser of the Lord, they are crooked or twisted or perverse in their ways. Your future wife must be someone for whom the Lord Jesus is everything, because she has fled from her sin and her guilt and the wrath of God upon her to Jesus Christ, for safety in his righteousness, and for the atonement, for the payment of all her sin, to bring her into right standing with God, that she would know God as the one who has loved her, and given his son for her, and proclaimed to her the good news of his son given for sinners. And this would be everything to her. And her God would be everything to her. And her Redeemer would be everything to her. This is the most needful thing. Only the genuinely converted Christian fears the Lord. Therefore, if you must go from the presence of the foolish man, if you must have only genuine believers as the ones with whom you share your life, not those to whom you are civil and those with whom you have acquaintance, but those who are your companions in life, you want to have only believers for them. Verse seven, go from the presence of a foolish man. Do you remember back, I think it was just the last passage two weeks ago, verse 20 of chapter 13, he who walks with the wise will be wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm, will be destroyed. Now, if that's true in all of your friendships, in all of your companionships, if you will, How much more in that nearest friendship, in that nearest companionship of marriage? So go from the presence of the foolish man, verse seven, and you can identify him. You can identify him by what comes out of his lips. If he has that scoffing heart, that is unable to get true and right knowledge, verse six, you will be able to tell, end of verse seven, go from the presence of the foolish man when you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge. It's important to have. good theological and spiritual conversation in order to not just build one another up, but it's one of the ways that we can detect that we will be good friends for one another. And when it comes time to court a young lady or young man and to evaluate whether or not they would be a good match in marriage, theological and spiritual conversation in which you discover whether God is everything to them, whether Christ is everything to them, whether the scriptures are shaping their life, not just because they have figured out that this is the best way to live, but God's word shapes their life because it's his. Christ's word shapes their life because it's his. You have that companionship. You find in their lips, you perceive in them the lips of knowledge. Then you know that's not one that you have to flee the presence of. That's one you want to walk with. And perhaps in the right circumstances and all other scriptural wisdom being applied well, that's one you might want to marry. So first area where genuine biblical piety shows itself practically in family and companions, sharing our life especially with those who fear the Lord and therefore are building and not tearing down, who are walking in uprightness, who speak according to the knowledge that is from the Lord and from his word. And that brings us to the second, as we come in, you remember verse three and verse five were on how we use our words. And so there's a connection there, isn't there? Because we just heard that one of the ways you recognize whom you want to have as your companions, and especially whom you might choose as that nearest companion for the rest of your earthly life, your spouse, one of the primary ways you recognize is how they speak. And that's because the heart is expressed through the lips. If you don't perceive in him the lips of knowledge, verse 7b, then it will turn out that he's the scoffer in verse 6. Indeed, the one whose character, the words of a person is determined by their character. Look at verse 5. A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. The reason what comes out of the two people's mouths in verse five is different is because the two people's character in verse five is different. It's the faithfulness of the man that produces the faithfulness of his words. And it's the falseness of the man that produces the falseness of his words. Which is one of the reasons why when you have that temptation to speak untruthfully or to withhold truth from someone that has a right to it from you, you don't owe everyone all of the information that you know. But often we are tempted when we know that we owe someone the information not to tell them the truth or to tell them something that will divert them from the truth because it's in our selfish and fleshly interest. Whenever it occurs to you to think that way and you think, well, I'm generally a truthful person or a faithful person, but I really just need to lie this time about this thing. You should have ringing in your ears. Proverbs 14 verse 5, a faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness will utter lies. The reason I'm tempted right now in this moment to be false with my words is because there's falseness left in my heart. And if I am in Christ, and if I am being led by the Spirit of God, then I will not live according to the flesh, but I will kill my sin by God's Spirit. I will put to death the deeds of the body as a son of God. And that falseness that remains in me, I will not indulge it. I will not listen to it. I must speak the truth. Lie no longer, speak the truth to one another. The heart is expressed through the lips. This is important because one of the ways then that the foolish woman tears down her house with her hands, one of the ways that a foolish man is destructive as well is especially with his mouth. In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise will preserve them. Very interesting, the tongue is described as a rod. Now, I won't do it from the pulpit. Most of you probably would not be able to see it, but there is a trick that your preacher can do with his tongue to make it look a bit like a rod. And it's a little bit embarrassing as an adult, but children, especially his own children, like to see it every once in a while. But in God's good providence to us, it helps us recognize what he's saying in verse three, that in your mouth is a rod, one of the strongest muscles in terms of like strength per volume or strength per mass in your whole body is your tongue. And it can do some of the most damage as the book of James teaches us. Indeed, the person who thinks that he's going to use his tongue to build himself up, to exalt himself before others, his tongue becomes a weapon with which he actually beats himself. I hope this has never happened in any of your families, but there was something that was an almost, it was almost like a, you know, how your sin is like a law within your members. There was almost this law in society, at least where I grew up, that older siblings at some point in their life with their younger siblings, in their fleshly wickedness, would at some point grab the younger sibling's own hand and use it to slap his face. It's very evil. And they would say, why are you hitting yourself? Now, that is very, very wicked. But when you use your tongue to try to advance yourself, it is a rod of pride. And my dear congregation, why are you hitting yourself? This is why the lips of the wise preserve them. It's not just because they're speaking wise words. It's because your lips are doors that can keep that rod enclosed. Your lips help you often, not by what they say, but by staying shut so that you don't say anything. Because you know how dangerous that rod is that is inside your mouth. And so your lips can be a blessing from God in the fear of the Lord, only wanting to speak those words that exalt Him, only wanting to speak those words that do good to others. And so you keep the garage door closed. unless there's a moment in which you may use the tongue for the glory of God or you may use your tongue for the blessing of your brother or your sister. Indeed, isn't it going to say also about the wise woman, the Proverbs 31 wife in verse 26, the law of kindness is on her tongue. When her tongue is used, it is only ever used in kindness. It's not a rod of pride. The heart is expressed through the lips. The heart is expressed through the mouth. And either our tongue will be harming us or our lips will be preserving us. You have the unique privilege of being a speaking creature. When we curse one another, when we speak words that don't edify, not only are we breaking the second greatest commandment and not loving one another, loving our neighbor as ourself, but we're breaking the first great commandment by profaning, desecrating that instrument that God has created for his praise. You remember how James talks about that as well. With the mouth, we praise our God and Father, and with the same mouth or the same tongue, we curse our brother? Out of the same mouth comes blessing and curse? And then you think about all that scripture teaches us about the necessity of maintaining moral purity as those who are going to be worshiping God. and how much of our worship of God is with our mouths. Oh, let us keep our mouths holy in their use at all times so that when we come to the time of holy use of our mouths in worship, they have not been profaned, they have not been desecrated. You have the unique privilege of being a speaking creature. What are you doing with that privilege? What are you doing with your words? And if you haven't thought or been thinking about how you use your words, why haven't you? Do you think that you will just kind of naturally drift to God exalting, brother and sister edifying and blessing speech? And so first area of priority in imaging God as wise creatures, family, and companions. Second, words. And then in the middle here, which is sometimes the place of greatest emphasis, and sometimes in a chiastic structure, it's just a pivot. But the middle here in verse four is where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of an ox. Now we've heard in the last couple of chapters especially much about diligence and work and planning. But diligence is not only a matter of effort or standards. You know, it's a good thing to keep a clean feed box. If you do not clean that thing out regularly, if you allow it to become full of filth and disease, you will harm your beast and your beast will not be that productive. It's a good thing to keep a clean house and not to have it dirty and full of dust and lots of places for mold and bacteria and other little monsters that since the fall have been trying to kill us and not give them many places to exist. But a clean feed box or a clean house is not an end in itself. You don't say, you know, honey, We sure could have a cleaner house if we got rid of all these children. And you certainly wouldn't say, man, that ox that we have, he keeps getting this feed box full of his snot and his spit, and he drags that dirt in here. You know how clean the feed box would be if we got rid of the ox? It sounds crazy, doesn't it? because the feed box is there for the ox. And the clean feed box is not producing all of this labor and plowing the fields and pulling things for you. Diligence is not only a matter of effort or standards, it's also a matter of priorities. It's a matter of knowing the why and the what's more important and ordering those things, recognizing that you're finite. You are not able to do all things at all times. And with the ability that God has given you, and the time that God has given you, and whatever measure of health God has given you, you should order your priorities according to things like what we see even in this larger passage. that since family and companionship, and especially marriage, and since speaking and using our words in a wise and godly way, and since being diligence, since all of these things are directly tied to how God created us, how we were made to be in His image, those should be priority concerns in our lives. And it's a matter of diligence to be able to recognize what the priority concerns are. and what the secondary concerns are. Our priorities must be informed by the Lord himself, our creator and our redeemer in his word. So you have been created and redeemed to be a worshiper, to fear the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. and to know the Holy One, which is understanding. But you have been created and redeemed, not only to fear Him and to know Him, but in that fear of Him and in that knowledge of Him, to live according to His design for you, as made in His image, as made for relationships and fellowship, as made to have these Christ and his church imaging marriages. as designed for words, words that exalt God and edify your brother and bless your neighbor, especially with evangelism, of course, as made for work. True piety, truly fearing the Lord, will show up in practical ways in those areas of our lives that he has prioritized for us. So may the Lord give us deep and true piety towards him. And may he make our lives bear the fruit, the practical fruit of genuinely knowing him and living according to his priorities as taught to us in his word. Amen.