with being a copy of the Word of God to the book of Proverbs in chapter 10. We'll read together from verse 17 through to verse 32. You notice that this practical section of Proverbs in chapter 10 verse 1 begins with the effects of our behavior On others, we're never wise or foolish by ourselves or for ourselves, but our behavior affects others. And just like charity, those effects begin at home, either making our father glad or our mother sorrowful. And Bruce Waltke sees a similar division here in verse 17, where again, the focus falls on the effect of our behavior on others. Let's read together the word of God. Whoever heeds instruction is on the path of life, or the path to life. But he who rejects reproof leads others astray. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever utters slander is a fool. When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, the heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. What the wicked dread will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who send him. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. The righteous will never be moved, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse." Well, again, as I said, there is no, in a sense, privacy to our living. We are communal beings, just like God, in whose image we are made Father, Son, Holy Spirit. You cannot image the plurality of God's personality by yourself. Our deeds affect others just like in snooker when the red triangle of the balls are together and one ball strikes and the other scatter. Or in Poole, similar illustration of a misspent youth. But nonetheless, back to the sermon. So, one's life direction has an effect upon others. The one, here there is a contrast in verse 7, whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life. The word instruction there in Hebrew carries the idea of corrective discipline. the kind of discipline a father brings upon his son that is often painful and always aimed at the son's moral and spiritual development and maturity. There's a contrast between the one who heeds instruction and the one who ignores it. Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. So there's the posture, right at the beginning, just like an identikit photograph, a bolo beyond the lookout for in the police force, there's a man's done a crime and his image is put out here, there and everywhere, and when maybe a suicide bomber coming to bomb some sporting event, and the police have his picture, and everyone that walks by, they look at him, he's got black hair, and he's got blonde hair, and they look from the picture to the people, the picture to the people, the picture to the people, to see if they can find the nefarious individual. And likewise here, there's a picture of two men, one on his way to life, and one heading in completely the opposite trajectory. And the identikit picture describes them both. The one on the way to life heeds instruction. When people rebuke him, when people slap him up around the back of the head with a two by four, he listens. He's not too full of himself and empty of wisdom to learn from other people, especially his superiors. For the Christian, this corrective discipline comes, of course, through God appointed leaders, the father in the home, the mother, and elders in the church, and so forth, and in the community. But it begins, doesn't it, in the spirit of the Christian, as the Holy Spirit interacts with us, as Paul says in Romans 8, as many as are led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God. The Spirit comes, that still, small voice. Don't go that way, go this way. Don't say that, say this. You know, you were a jerk at lunchtime today, go and apologize. And the Christian soul, born again of the Spirit, finds himself pulled, tugged, borne along by the Spirit's leading. You should pray now. Why don't you get down on your knees and pray? And you find, yes Lord, you find yourself drawn to certain things and drawn away from other things. At times it can be extremely painful, but the Christian soul listens. to God's Spirit. It's part of the marks of God's family as the Spirit leads us away from things that would kill us toward things that would revive us. And sometimes he has to tug very hard, doesn't he? Do you listen to the Spirit? Do you keep in step with the Spirit? What are the areas of your life tonight that are out of step with the Spirit? as many as are led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God. But the one who's too proud to heed such instruction goes astray. He who rejects reproof leads others astray. Notice, he doesn't go astray by himself. He brings many other men and women along with him and down with him to destruction. The contrast there is unspoken. The one on his way to life, the other is going astray and we know where that ends up. No man is an island. Aikens and the camp hurt everybody. So here's the question then. Whoever heeds instruction will. I wonder does Solomon have a particular instruction for us toward the end of the chapter? I can be difficult finding a structure in these chapters of Proverbs, but I think there's one here this evening and I'm indebted to Bruce Waltke for showing it to me. You'll notice that these verses from verse 18 to verse 32 contain much instruction on speech. In fact, they begin and end like bookmarks or book holders on a shelf with exhortations about Speech, verse 18 through 21, all about speech. You scan down and you see that it's all about the speech and the tongue and so forth. And then the end, verse 31 and 32, all about the speech as well. See that? So it begins with speech, ends with speech. Interesting. Something to note. And then, in the middle, you have a repeating triplet, if you like, of Lord, joy, and security. Lord, joy and security. Look there, Lord, verse 22. The blessing of the Lord makes rich and he has no sorrow with it. This Yahweh saying, the Lord. And then there's a word of joy, verse 23. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool, but wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. And then security. But the wicked dread will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. So you've got the Lord, verse 22, you've got joy and pleasure, 23 and 24, and you've got security, verse 25. Then the pattern repeats from verse 27 onwards. Another Yahweh saying, the fear of the Lord prolongs life. But the years of the wicked will be short. There's the Lord. Next verse is about joy. The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. Then you have security. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. You've got two bits in speech, beginning and end, and in the middle you've got Lord, joy, security, Lord, joy, security. Interesting. The only problem with that is verse 26, and I have no idea what to do with it. Just full disclosure. Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the slugger to those who sent him. It'd be nice if it was some kind of pivotal point that the whole path is revolved around, but I can't see that. But it's there nonetheless. Be careful who you send on your errands, or you might have a face full of irritation. That's kind of the idea. But we're going to go with that structure because I think there's definitely something to it. You can see it there in the passage. Is there any point or significance to it? Speech, beginning and end, as two bookends, and then this thing of Lord, joy, and security. And I wonder if you think of it in terms of this repeating triplet of Lord, joy, and security at the heart of this passage. and the speech on the kind of outer crust of it, which is a very proverbial kind of thing, the heart drives the speech. I wonder, is Solomon making a couple of points, that your speech of course reflects your character and the character of a man whose speech is good begins with his relationship to the Lord. and where he finds joy in life and what things bring him security, his relationship to the Lord. If you want your speech to be godly, your heart must be godly. And if your heart is to be godly, it's got to be connected in the Lord, receiving blessings from him and fearing him. And so there's no point in trying to improve your words if you're estranged from God. It is pointless a sticking fruit on a dead tree, which we do at Christmas time quite often. Now, in the absence of any better suggestions, that's the structure we're going to run with in this passage. Our relationship with God is what really drives our speech. Let's look then at the words, the beginning and the end of the passage, the words, which is dropped down. Verse 18, the hater's dilemma. The one who conceals hatred has lying lips and whoever utters slander is a fool. You've got hatred there revealed and concealed. Whoever conceals hatred, whoever utters hatred. You see, hatred in your heart is never good. It's the poison you drink hoping others will die. And it's a bit like a grenade with a pin pulled out. Holding on to it is a bad thing and chucking it at people is a bad thing as well. And hatred is like that. If you hold on to it, you pretty much have to be a hypocrite because you go about all day with your heart full of hatred but your mouth full of smiles. And that's bad. But then letting the hatred out is one time when it's not good to say it's better out than in because it just destroys people. Whoever utters slander is a fool, so you're basically stuck in the horn of a dilemma. Either be a hypocrite or a fool if you have hatred in your heart. This is the default posture of the unconverted. If you turn quick, keep your finger in Proverbs 10, but turn forward to Titus 3, the hater's dilemma. Titus has been reminding them to be submissive and respectful to unreasonable authorities and unreasonable people. And that's pretty difficult to do, so Paul reminds the Cretans of what they once used to be themselves. Verse 3, For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. What a wretched stream of hatred. Hatred coming in, being hated by others and hatred coming out, hating one another. That's the hatred dilemma. And the problem we all find, if you're honest, is that we are much better at hating than loving. And the answer begins with the goodness of God, verse 4. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. So all haters be fairly warned. Our only hope is that the God of heaven is not a hater. At least not in that way. He's a lover and sends his son to rescue us from our hatred and to bring us back to himself. The haters dilemma, back to Proverbs 10. And then, not just the hater has a dilemma, the speaker also has a dilemma. Verse 19, when words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. Many words, much sin. It takes great wisdom to see that. It takes even more wisdom to practice it. If you like to speak, brace yourself because you're going to commit a lot of sin. The Puritans would say God has put two natural barriers to the tongue. That slippery member that's in a wet place and prone to slip. The teeth and the lips. And we should make more use of both of them. He who restrains his lips is prudent. Your tongue is like a young puppy on a leash. It doesn't like it when you walk it. It must prefer walking you and it needs to be restrained. Do you restrain your tongue much? Do you find yourself biting your tongue? Holding your mouth? The hater's dilemma. The speaker's dilemma. Next principle. Words and hearts go together. Verse 20 and 21. Sorry. Yes. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. Dirk Kidner says, your words are worth what you are worth. Your words are worth what you are worth. He's so pithy, that man. Bless his memory. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth. Your words are worth what you are worth. Value your words and you will show the true value of your soul. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good, Jesus says. And the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. So again, if you want to know who you really are. Listen to yourself speak. What effect do your words have on others? The lips of the righteous feed many. Do your words feed people in their souls? Do your words lead people to God or away from God? Do your words heal people or are you better at hurting people? My wife is buying me a straight razor for Christmas. Can't cut my throat. She'll get rid of me one way or another. But you've got to use the strop every day to keep it sharp. But the sharp tongue is the one, the only instrument in all the world that grows sharper with frequent use and not duller. Your words will give life to others or they'll take life from you. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. And that lack of sense is revealed, of course, in their words. And those words are lethal. especially to themselves. And then look at the end of the passage, words again. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse. So there's the word perverse, it repeats twice. Hebrew word perverse, it carries the idea of a twisted, corrupt, evil, It's used in Proverbs to describe a state of mind and a state of heart and a state of mouth, if you like. It doesn't make sense, but mind, the mind that utters perverse things, Solomon says. The heart, in Proverbs 6, 14, a perverse heart continually devises evil or discord. Always looking for ways to cause trouble, to fight with brother or sister, mother or father, husband or wife. Perverse mind, perverse heart and a perverse mouth. Always fighting and squabbling. That's if you remember, the mouth is but the pressure release valve for the heart. A heart that's bubbling and overflowing with perversity. It comes out. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. There's that sense in that those whose hearts have been changed by God and are being sanctified by God, the Holy Spirit, and are in union with Christ. There's that sensitization of conscience, isn't there? That we know when we've spoken what is good and what is evil, and there's a desire, a yearning to have our words measure up to God's law. It's interesting, again and again, in Messiah is described as one in whose hands there is no violence, no hamas. and in whose mouth there's no deceit. Unless we think these principles are just stuck in the Old Testament, if you turn quickly forward in your Bibles to Ephesians 5, we find these principles very much alive, don't we? Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma, but immorality or any, any, any, any impurity or greed must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. Oh come on Paul, you're taking this a bit serious? You mean you can't tell any silly off-color jokes? Why? Paul says, let me tell you, verse 5, For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man who is an idolater has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedient. Verse 11, Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them, for it is disgraceful even to speak, even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. See, the man full of the Spirit, the man imitating God, he knows what's proper in his speech. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable. So, what do your words say about you this evening? What are my words say about me? So, that's the skin of the apple, if you like, in the passage. The juicy core, the flesh is found here in this triplet of holy wisdom, Lord, joy, and security. Let's look through them together. Verse 22, the blessing of Yahweh, the Lord, makes rich and He adds no sorrow with it. Here is a rare thing, a rich man with no sorrow. And it's not the money that makes him happy. It's the blessing of God. The only way to enjoy wealth with happiness, and I mean deep soul happiness. is the smiling face of God upon you, the blessing of the Lord. It's not the money that'll never make you happy. Without this blessing, there will always be the addition of much sorrow and the hollow sound of a soul full of stuff and empty of substance. When you hear that hollow sound, Look in the eyes of the rich and famous in the magazines. Look at Angelina Jolie. She's getting married soon apparently. I was standing in the grocery store line the other day and I saw a picture. No, it was on one of the Fox News or somewhere. She's getting married and she looks old. And she does look old. The picture was very unflattering of the poor girl. And she's going to go out and spend dear knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars injecting cellulose here, sucking out fat from there and pulling up and tightening up Her lips are probably up round the back of her head somewhere, I don't know. But this pathetic effort to try and spruce up the outside of a dying body housing a dead soul. Poor girl. I don't mean to laugh at her at all. Except to persuade some of her young people not to try and follow that as a pathway to happiness. But you look at them, you look at these movie stars, and there's the hollow sound of a soul full of stuff and empty of substance. That's why they kill themselves. Because everybody in the world is saying, Oh, you're so beautiful. Oh, you're so wonderful. We think you're wonderful. We want to be just like you. And all that adulation just hollows, just kind of resounds and echoes in their own empty soul and makes their turmoil all the worse. So the bottle or a bullet is the only way to silence the clanging sound of their own inner emptiness. The Lord, blessing of the Lord. That blessing only comes to us in Christ, doesn't it? Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. All of the blessings of God come to us through Jesus. The one who was rich but for our sakes became poor. And God the Father now looks at us and blesses us through eyes covered by Christ-colored spectacles. The Lord. Joy. Doing wrong. The sound of a freshly slaughtered child. Doing wrong is like a joke to a fool. But wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. Our source of pleasure is telling. The wise man takes great delight in wisdom. And the fool takes similar delight in creating and carrying out mischief, doing wrong. It's like a joke to a fool. But wisdom is pleasure to a man of understanding. Our source of pleasure is telling. Where do you find joy? Do you find joy in mischief? Or do you find joy in wisdom, God's wisdom? It tells you a lot more about you than it does about God if you don't find joy in the wisdom of God, revealed in the Word of God. Lower joy and then security. Sorry, it goes on to the next verse as well, sorry. What the wicked dread will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. The key idea here is fulfillment. What's fulfilled? The dread of the wicked and the desire of the righteous. Both are fulfilled by the providence of God. But the wicked dread will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. Why is the desire of the righteous granted? Because the righteous man's desires are for the right things that God wants to give. desires God himself, and the things of God, and the word of God, and the promises of God, and the kingdom of God. Those are things God loves to give. Then verse 27, sorry, the security. 25, when the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever. Interesting. Both the wicked and the righteous experience the same tempest. The one ends in instability and the other in security. I wonder did Christ read this proverb when he was thinking about his sermon in Matthew 7? The two men who both listened to his words but one didn't do them and one did them. He who hears my words, these sayings of mine and does not do them shall be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it did fall because it was founded upon the sand. And when it fell, great was its fall. But the wise man, he who hears my words, these sayings of mine and does them, shall be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The floods came and the winds blew and the rain fell and beat upon that house and it did not fall because it was established on the rock. Security. Lord, joy, security, and the pattern repeats again in verse 27. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short. Fearing God, the lifestyle of one on whom the reality of God weighs heavily. Our posture toward God affects our life expectancy. That's just not an Old Testament thing. That's a New Testament thing. Paul says, children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. This is the first commandment with a promise, Paul says. We must be aware of dogmatically saying everyone who dies early is bad. Everyone who dies late is good. That's often not true. And so this proverb is often true in this life, but not always. But remember, you judge the truth of the proverb not by time, but by eternity. And in eternity, this principle is true all of the time for all of the people. It's true forever and for all the righteous. When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more. But the righteous is established. forever. Justice is coming. A great storm of wrath will soon burst upon this generation and it will be righteous. A day of wrath and revelation and the righteous judgment of God who will render to everyone, Paul says, according to his deeds, eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality. But to those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does what is evil. Jimmy Savile, that pervert from Britain who's now having been lauded as one of the great charitable men of British broadcasting for years, now being found out to be a child abuser and a pervert. And he said in one of his final interviews late in his life that he said, and I can't remember the exact quote, but he made some comment that he thought in years to come his reputation might be tarnished. He said, but I'll be dead then and it'll all be over. Not true. You'll be dead then, Jimmy. And it's only just beginning. Your interview with before and your experience of infinite justice. The Lord, joy, the hope of the righteous brings joy to the expectation of the wicked. will perish. That's something to be encouraged this evening. If you're a Christian here this morning, your hope is always beyond this life and therefore can never be affected by the rising and the falling of fortunes in this life. It's secure, an anchor within the veil. I don't know what's going to happen in the years ahead. America continues to deteriorate, perhaps without the grace of God. But this world is passing away, and death will bring you to your treasure. For the wicked, it's the exact opposite. Their treasure's here and now, in the passing away world. Like a rich man on the Titanic, embracing all of his gold and saying, my precious, As the icy waters rise to meet him. The Lord and joy. And then security. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the blameless, but destruction to evildoers. Notice no one can escape God. The way of the Lord meets both the righteous and the wicked. When they meet God, the blameless get a security they cannot lose. and the wicked receive a slaughter they cannot escape. That's the great tragedy if any of you here this evening outside of Christ, you can't avoid God forever. How foolish to avoid him tonight when he comes to you dressed only in the robes of gospel mercy with his arms laden more than any Santa Claus figure with presents to give you, a new heart, a new soul, a new record, a new hope, The riches of heaven. The righteousness of Christ. God's riches at Christ's expense. His grace. All of these laden. And He says, do you buy without money? How foolish to reject Him when He's clothed only in His robes of gospel mercy. And then to embrace Him. Because you can't escape Him. To embrace Him when He's dressed up in His robes of judgment. His own son met Him closed in judgment. And the thought of it almost killed Jesus. My soul is extremely sorrowful, even unto death. And will you reject the one willing to receive the judgment you deserve? You might receive the life Christ promises. The righteous will never be removed. But the wicked will not dwell in the land. There's a proverb, for Naboth to die believing and for Ahab to live dreading. Remember Naboth, his vineyard near the palace and Ahab just wanted it so badly and Jezebel said, no problem we can whack Naboth. And Naboth could die believing that promise. The righteous will never be removed, they'll never ultimately lose their inheritance, but the wicked will not dwell in the land. The Lord, joy and security. This trilogy of wisdom and the issue is clear, isn't it? Whether you're righteous or wicked, whether your words are good or bad, it all hangs upon your relationship with God. Are you fearing Him? Does His reality weigh heavily upon you enough to change the way you think and speak and act? Has His Son's regenerating blessing broken into your heart? If you have, you find yourself wanting the right things. The expulsive power of new affections and new desires drive out the old race. We are longing for things above this world and beyond this world, in God, and those desires are met slowly by slowly as we turn away from this world, as we remember Lot's wife and don't look back and press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. As our priority is right with the Lord and our desires and our joy is fulfilled in Him and we find this security blossoming up, as Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And I give them everlasting life, and they follow me. I give them everlasting life, and they shall never perish, and none shall snatch them out of my hand. For the Father has given them to me as greater than all, and none is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. If your faith is in me, Jesus says, if your joy is in me, then your security is in me. And I hold you with this double-handed grasp, and I'll not let you go. And my Father will not let you go. And you're secure forever. And the fruit of this trust in the Lord and the fruit of this joy and the fruit of this security will be found in our word, won't they? So if you want to speak a way you've never spoken before, you want to speak a way you've never spoken before, you must become a person you've never been before, rooted and grounded in God by faith, filled with his spirit. Things that make God happy should make you happy. And the security, I lift my eyes to the hills. Where will our help come from? Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. The one who keeps Israel will keep you from all evil. The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord never slumbers, never sleeps. He watches over your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever. Let's pray together.