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Proverbs 5:11 and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed,

The Beginning Of Life Is Jesus

The End Of Sin Is Death

/ Daniel Castor

Sins goal is not to briefly distract us from God, but to own us, enslave us and then consume us! Our life is what sin wants and it won't be happy until it has us. “Be killing Sin, or sin will be killing you.” That's right, these are our options. And it gets even worse than this. We can't run from sin. It lives within us; and in our natural state we choose to indulge in it. Because of this truth there is no way for us to conquer our sin. We are in a hopeless situation. Fight with all that we have and we still loose. How then can we kill sin? What hope is there for us? We must call upon the name of Jesus! At the name of Jesus sin shutters, it can do nothing, sin knows that it has no power over Christ. Oh there was once a time when sin tried with all its might to defeat Christ. Every sin committed from the beginning of time to the end was put on his shoulders. On the cross Jesus the sinless Son of God was covered in worlds filth, becoming SIN. The father poured out his wrath on Jesus and through his death, was satisfied. It would seem as if sin had victory over Christ. But the story is not over! Jesus burst forth from the grave three days later. Completely righteous, completely victorious, having completely defeated sin and death. All the worlds sin as gruesome as it may be can not touch the righteousness of Jesus. And this righteousness is extended to us through our faith in Christ. We may only defeat sin by giving it to Christ and by being clothed with his righteousness.

1 Corinthians 15:57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 11:27 Whoever diligently seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for it.

Not Of Works... Yet Grace To Seek Ye First...

Brad Chase

What is good that we should seek it?

James 1:17 says

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

And what does it mean to search for good diligently?

Matthew 6:33 says: But seek FIRST the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

In other words set your eyes on the kingdom of God before any and all other things.

I have 4 children all under the age of 10. They have this down whether they know it or not. See, they know, that if they want something from dad in the evening, then they need to seek to please him during the day. They will work together and seek good behavior and helpfulness and obedience hoping for the favor of dad when he gets home. They will police each other all day to keep the machine that is our home running smoothly and at all cost avoiding hiccups or bumps.

Unfortunately, they seem to not grasp the second section nearly as well. All of my children are in fact children and will act as such at any given moment. However! I do have one child that ( from about 6 months old ) will push the boundaries and often break them. He gives into his flesh multiple times a day on a pretty regular bases and gets correction and discipline throughout the day. Now, don’t misunderstand me, he is after all 4. His brain doesn’t register on it’s own that it is sin. He is not actively looking for wicked things to do. He is a curious little guy who has the attention span of a gold fish. He is easily distracted and sees nothing wrong with his disobedience when it occurs. Not until mom gets ahold of him and then I come home and have to be the disciplinarian. By the time I come home, he has made the wrong choice too many times and has unknowingly sought punishment.

The proverb today actually phrases it “evil will come to those who seek it.“ When evil is sought, punishment is to follow. You don’t clean your room, you get a spanking. You speed, you get a ticket. You rob a bank, you go to jail.

Here’s the deal. Our spiritual life is no different. If your goal is to please the Father, then he will pour out abundant gifts and favor on you. But, if you reject him. If you treat your spiritual life like my 4 year old treats his every day life and get distracted from God and do what you want to do, you are sinning. You are seeking evil and the evil will find you and if left unrepeated and not dealt with, the punishment will be closer than you think.

I urge you today to deal with your sin. Run to the cross where it’s already been dealt with and give it to Jesus. While you are at the cross, fix your eyes on it and let Him change your heart to desire good and favor.

Proverbs 15:12 A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

Scoff, Scoff / Robin Aylor

See if you notice any similarities in these examples with todays text. Some people get fighting mad when others play jokes on them… and yet one of their biggest thrills is to play jokes on others. That’s somewhat ironic I think. Some others like to give to people in need but would be humiliated to receive something from others and be thought of as the ones in need themselves. I’m pretty sure most criminals who enjoy shooting others definitely do not want to be shot themselves. I think it still works.

Our text today is quite similar I think. It talks about a scoffer. A scoffer is proud.. he ridicules, mocks or scorns others… so scoffing can include reproving others in this kind of prideful way. Those who reprove others like this do not want to be reproved themselves.That’s why they won’t go to the wise for counsel. They don’t want the sinfulness of their own heart to be exposed.

Proverbs 5:11-13 looks back on the life of one who did not listen to reproof or discipline. Here’s what it says: 11 and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, 12 and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof! 13 I did not listen to the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to my instructors.

It may seem strange but a wise man actually loves discipline. Proverbs 12:1 says it clearly: Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Seek out Christians who in joy of Christ’s love admit they are sinners. They are the wise ones whose accountability and reproof I love and relish in the Lord.

Today I want to talk about a story… a man from the Old Testament… Joseph. But first I want to ask you a question:

Have you ever been done wrong or hurt or taken advantage of by others? Of course you have.

Some of you may have been abused by a family member or maybe you were used or stolen from by a so called friend. Maybe you were lied to by someone you love. Everyone has been done wrong by someone; and everyone has done someone else wrong.

Today I want us to look at Joseph… Remember Joseph in the Old Testament? Who can tell me how many brothers Joseph had? Who was his mother and father? Right. He had 11 brothers and Jacob or Israel was his father and Rachael was his mother.

When Joseph was young his father made something for him… Do you remember?

Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Then Joseph had a dream which seemed to indicate that he would reign and rule over his brothers. He shared it with them and they hated him even more.

Then he dreamed another dream where the sun, moon and 11 stars would bow down to Joseph which they took to mean Josephs mother, father and all his brothers.

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So today we’re talking about how we should respond when people do us wrong. How were Joseph’s brothers about to do him wrong?

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31 Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.

Josephs brothers presented the bloody robe to Jacob and let him believe a wild animal devoured him.

As a slave in Potiphar’s house… someone did more wrong to Joseph. Does anyone recall what happened? Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to lay with him… when he would not she falsely accused him of attempted rape and Joseph was put in prison.

After a bit Joseph interprets two dreams of other prisoners that came true. One was reinstated to serve to Pharaoh and the other was killed. After two more years in prison Joseph interpreted a dream for Pharaoh and was released from prison.

To make a long story short Joseph took them in and moved his father Jacob and all his brothers to Egypt and took care of them all their days.

Genesis 50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

How do you act towards those who have done you wrong? Do you dwell on how bad you have it? Does it fill you will bitterness and anger?

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Matthew 26:67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,

Matthew 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. 28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. 31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

But it was not only those at the Cross who did Jesus wrong. You and I… we have chosen our own way over and over.

Jesus was done wrong by those he created… and yet he offers forgiveness… Jesus paid the wages of our sin with his death so we could have new life. And he defeated death so we could be raised with him in justification.

Proverbs 14:24 The crown of the wise is their wealth, but the folly of fools brings folly.

Normally we might only think of a king wearing a crown, but a person who is wise in things… say financial things… as a king rules over his empire they rule over their finances. And they wear another kind of crown. Their financial wealth is a crown that shows wisdom and expertise in that area. Also consider that the meaning of wealth is not restricted to money but can indicate abundance in other areas of life. It might be wealth in things or you may be rich in friends or a person may be said to have a wealth of knowledge. God calls us to be wise not only financially but with our time, eyes, mind and heart. And if we are there will be something to show for it… a crown if you will show who we are in all those areas.


And how will you know know the fool in his folly when you see him? What will be the unforgettable eye catching crown he wears that tells of his expertise in the area of foolishness? It will be the folly fairies that circle his head and the folly fruit that comes from his mouth. It will be the trail of folly that follows him wherever he goes. The adorning jewels of folly in his crown are the precious stones of clay, dirt and coal. They may include foolhardiness, recklessness, indiscretion, thoughtlessness, stupidity, irresponsibility, rashness, or your basic informal craziness. 

There is another crown which tells another story. Paul mentions it in relation to himself and us in

2 Timothy 4:8: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Thank You Lord for our crown of righteousness given to us by You, not according to our works or goodness in any way but by Gods grace through faith in your Son Jesus who died for our sins and then defeated death that we might have his righteousness positionally and that in life we might practically grow in righteousness with victory over sin until the day of Jesus Christ.

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Proverbs 14:23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.

I used to own a restaurant in Prague Oklahoma. We had an extra large round table where coffee drinkers would congregate every morning. The round table became notorious as a place we would look forward to setting together in fellowship. We did what most people do over a cup of coffee; we talked. We talked about how people in our culture try to get the most for themselves by doing the least they can for others. We talked about how politicians buy votes by promising more to those who work less. Yes, and as we talked we solved many of the Worlds problems. We fixed Congress, straightened out the office of the President, we fixed the Nation, straightened out our State and our Town… Ironically, we said all the government did was talk, talk, talk and how they never got anything profitable done… and so we discussed how wrong everyone else was and how we would do things different if we ruled the world… and things would be oh so much better. 

Some would drink a cup or two of coffee and leave for work. Others whether retired or with no job would continue to get free refills until the worlds problems were solved for that day, they got bored or the lunch crowd came in. I assume many left for the day to retire to their couches.

Though I’m sure many of these men made great impacts for good in life, the fact is that we are all prone to talk the talk instead of walking the walk. A person who does no more than talk not only makes no money but also is not productive in his deeds. A person who is motivated and self disciplined is prone to action and increase. If we are quickened and propelled by God through Jesus we will actually love others in deed instead of merely talking about it. 

You know, to profit spiritually is the best kind of profit a person can obtain.

You might say “Yes I know work brings profit. But what about in Salvation? Didn’t Jesus do all the work for us?” You might even quote Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

You are correct but the work still had to be done… it’s just that Jesus did the work for you. Where you sinned he never sinned even once so he could impute his righteousness to all who believe… and its his righteousness in us that works righteousness as we are led by the Spirit.

In relation to our own salvation, work and righteous Spiritual profit are tethered having being connected to deeds through Jesus by the Holy Spirit. Notice how Paul didn’t have the option to stay home on the couch if he wanted to see people come to Christ but rather Christ motivated and quickened him to work hard.

1st Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

So the truth stands that only those who get up off the couch or out of the chair or up from the table and are motivated to move for righteousness will be profitable to our World, our Nation and our Families for the glory of the Lord.

Proverbs 14:22 Do they not go astray who devise evil? Those who devise good meet steadfast love and faithfulness.

The #1 definition of the word “devise” on my dictionary says: “plan or invent (a complex procedure, system, or mechanism) by careful thought”.

So it seems that for one to devise evil… or good for that matter it takes intentional thought… and work.

This may not be that important but I like double negatives. And though there’s not one in the verse answering the question requires one for it to be answered correctly. Notice this passage doesn’t ask whether people go astray who devise evil. If it did the answer would be oh yes they surly do go astray; but instead it ask: Do they not go astray who devise evil? So we must answer No… so… they do not, not go astray… or to put it anther way they do go astray. Double negatives are interesting. For example:

* The two negatives in “I can’t get no satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones actually indicate they do get satisfaction since “can’t and “no” cancel one another out.

* The same goes for Pink Floyd’s “We don’t need no education”. They are saying we definitely do need education!

Back to the text; consider the irony of going astray. Those who devise evil for others stray off the path of good themselves into a life of evil. Thats where going astray leads.

On the other hand those who thoughtfully plan good get steady love and faithfulness and guess what… those are the very things they devised for others.

But the thing is we are all sinners… and for one to devise good… for godly goodness to come out of a person it has to be placed in their heart first.

2nd Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

And for one to give steadfast love they must have received it.

1st John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Proverbs 14:20 The poor is disliked even by his neighbor, but the rich has many friends.

Well, let’s see… I think we all know the truth in this. There are certain kinds of people in the world who are friendly with people they think they can profit from. True? These people dislike and ignore those who they cannot gain from which much of the time tends to be the poor.

It is common for people who have won lots of money or have received a large inheritance to be swarmed with folk who want to be their friends. Maybe you’ve seen the movie 2nd Hand Lions which is a great example of people claiming to be friends with the two best friends that came into lots of money. These greedy fair weather friends can be shallow leeches that attach themselves to people with money and live by sucking off of others life blood the way parasites do. They will stick close to them like a fly on a million dollar race horse. Shoot, partner, they might even be satisfied for a while just to swarm around the trail of poo they leave behind. That's what those annoying friendly flies do… So from this perspective the rich do have many of those kinds of friends. We human beings… we’re so easily swayed by money and greed that we all have to guard against it’s pull.

Well, you know people can be rich in a lot of other areas besides money. Some are rich in knowledge… and so people friend these people for their own benefit and take advantage of their wealth in this area. You might be rich in influence. Maybe your uncle is a record producer or your niece is a country music star. If so, wannabe songwriters and singers from all around will come to you wanting to be your friend so they can take advantage of your riches in influence.

If you would be rich, be rich in your relationship to God. His word has promised an unlimited supply of the best treasures.

Ephesians 3:8 says: To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

The riches of Christ are unsearchable in that we can never exhaust them. That is a lot of riches.

Being rich in Christ brings us real friends… true friends… not fair-weather friends that are seeking their own gain. Being rich in Christ brings us brothers and sisters who love one another with godly love. We are a family and we are friends who together share in the riches of Christ for eternity.

Proverbs 14:19 The evil bow down before the good, the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

In the world even today, wickedness cannot stand tall, confident and true in their heart in the presence of godly people walking in Christ. They run from Christ, remove themselves from the exaltation of Jesus or from the hearing of Gods word. Or if they stay, they are flooded with the Light of the Lord and who can stand firm in their own self righteousness before him?

And so in our daily life we see this verse play out in some context… Those who reject Jesus will seek to remove themselves from the presence of believers who exalt Christ or they will begin seeking God and as they see his glory submit themselves to the Lord. In this context they do bow down to God before those who are righteous in Christ.

1st Corinthians 6:2 seems to indicate something related in some fashion. It says: Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?...

So Believers will judge people like Adolf Hitler, Nero and even our neighbors who rejected Christ… So, here we find that the wicked will at least come before the righteous and abase themselves in the presence of those who have received the righteousness of Christ through faith.

Although that is quite amazing, there is something even much more profound and which seems perfectly synced with our text.

Let me read it again: Proverbs 14:19 says: The evil bow down before the good, the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

There is only one who is good; correct?

Philippians 2:10 says: so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The fact is that we will all bow at the name of the only true, righteous one; Jesus. If not now, then along with all at his return. For all who worship Him; bowing before him will be our greatest joy and delight.