Audio Download

“A house divided against itself cannot stand” Part III (Pro 14:21-26)

(Aired on June 12, 2025)

Pro 14:21  He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.
Pro 14:22  Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.
Pro 14:23  In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.
Pro 14:24  The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.
Pro 14:25  A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.
Pro 14:26  In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

In this third part of chapter fourteen we will look at how we can protect that which God has given the elect to preserve in this life. The only way we can become a stronger undivided house is by keeping the commandments of God, doing what he tells us to do (Mat 7:22-27).

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? [strong delusion = prophesying in God’s name, casting out devils, casting out false doctrines, and yet still not converted (Heb 6:1-3)]
Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Mat 7:24  Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: (Rev 1:3)
Mat 7:25  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. (Mat 16:18)

What is always at the heart of our dying daily struggles is self-righteousness described as “ye that work iniquity” (Eze 33:18, Php 3:9, Eze 18:24) that wants to rule over our heavens and declare to God, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?”(Rom 3:27, Luk 14:27, Gal 2:20, 1Jn 5:4).

Rom 3:27  Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness “ye that work iniquity”, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross (Gal 2:20), and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

Paul told the body of Christ that he did not consider himself to have obtained (Php 3:12), and cautioned the church to always remember that our dying daily victory must be understood as something that is granted to us by God through Christ, and therefore we must always examine our hearts and not be high-minded thinking we are anything of ourselves, when our sufficiency is solely in Christ whose faith we are given in order to be saved (Php 3:12-15, 2Co 3:5, Joh 3:27, Gal 6:3-5, 1Co 8:2).

Php 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. [overcoming self-righteousness by looking to the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1-2)]
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

1Co 8:2  And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. [“but our sufficiency is of God”]

We are blessed when we are brought into remembrance how poor we are spiritually unless the Lord gives us eyes to see and ears to hear (Rev 3:17-18). It is because of the promises of God’s mercy in our lives that we will be apprehended of the Lord and given great hope by which we will be saved (Rom 8:24-25).

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: [Rom 7:24]
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? (Heb 11:1)
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not [hoping that we will be as Christ praying for each other to have the faith of Christ so that we are not sifted by Satan (1Jn 4:17, Luk 22:32)], then do we with patience wait for it.

Despite our marred-in-the hand-of-the Potter condition, despite our wretched state in sinful flesh, despite ourselves, we can become more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loves us, and hold each other up through the storms of this life, as we commit our lives unto God for each other in prayer and fasting often. We are familiar with these following verses but as a reminder of our need for continual prayer I’ll read them before we begin the main part of our study (2Pe 1:12).

1Ti 2:1  I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;

1Ti 5:5  Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

2Ti 1:3  I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

Phm 1:4  I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;(Eph 5:30)

1Pe 3:7  Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Pro 14:21  He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Who is poor? We are all poor spiritually as scripture declares, even Christ was poor in that sense because He was in a marred vessel of clay and told his disciples ‘don’t call any man good, there is one who is good, and that is God’ (Mar 10:18).

Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

When we despise the poor we are showing God by those actions that we think we’re better than them. When we show mercy to the poor we will be blessed with the joy that comes to those who give and expect nothing back (Gal 6:10, Joh 12:3-7), demonstrating what it is to be a true neighbour (Luk 10:36, Act 20:35, Luk 6:35, Mat 10:42).

When we see that we are guilty of all, represented by the beam in our own eye, then we can only ever want to have mercy and compassion upon all of mankind as Christ declared from the cross. The cross is most effective when it is seen as the beam in our own eyes, the potential for all the sin of the world within us, which Christ understood was true of His own flesh, and yet never sinned as our spotless saviour (Mat 7:5, Luk 22:34).

Pro 14:22  Do they not err that devise evil? but mercy and truth shall be to them that devise good.

If we are not about our Father’s business as Christ who was always devising good (Luk 2:49, 1Jn 4:17), then that void of service will be filled with evil devices. ‘An idle mind is the workshop of the devil’ is not a bad adage.

Luk 2:49  And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. [not idle but about our Father’s business]

It does take a miracle of faith (Rom 3:27) in our lives to remain stedfast in our service toward Him (Joh 6:44). We are striving toward that goal of being stedfast, and if in any way we come short of this, our Lord has promised to cleanse us of our sins and bring us to a point where we can more readily and continually bringing every thought into subjection unto God as we are led by God’s spirit. God’s spirit bears witness that we are His sons and daughters who are in this dragging process (Joh 6:44), which has us apprehended of the Lord (Php 3:14-16, 2Co 10:5, Rom 8:14-16).

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Php 3:16  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Pro 14:23  In all labour there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.

We will find God if we are granted to search for Him with a diligent heart, and so our labour will not be in vain, but profitable “In all labour there is profit” (1Co 15:57-58, Heb 11:6, Pro 8:17).

1Co 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Co 15:58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.[“In all labour there is profit”]

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Pro 8:17  I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.

On the other hand if we are not doers of the word and only hearers, we will deceive our own selves and end up being spiritually poor, lacking and impoverished, “but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penuryH4270” (Jas 1:22-25).

Jas 1:23  For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24  For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25  But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

H4270 Penury machsôr  machsôr  makh-sore’, makh-sore’
From H2637; deficiency; hence impoverishment: – lack, need, penury, poor, poverty, want.

Pro 14:24  The crown of the wise is their riches: but the foolishness of fools is folly.

Christ is our wisdom, and He is the one who holds all the “riches”, the words of eternal life. Christ’s righteousness in us is likened unto a crown, and it is the elect who are given a crown of life that is cast back to Christ (Rev 4:10-11) who took the once foolish souls we were in our folly thinking we were rich as the rich young ruler, in our own righteousness (Eph 2:2-3), and makes us wise in Him (1Co 1:27, Psa 19:7).

Rev 4:10  The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11  Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things [including these crowns], and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

1Co 1:27  But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

Psa 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

Pro 14:25  A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.

Christ is the true witness, and if His life is in us we will be discerning the words of eternal life and God willing continuing in them so that we can be set free or delivered by them (Joh 8:31-32, 1Ti 4:16).

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

1Ti 4:14  Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
1Ti 4:15  Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
1Ti 4:16  Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them (Joh 8:31-32): for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.

It is through that deliverance, that the mercy shown to us in this age will prepare us to be “A true witness [that] delivereth souls” (Rom 11:30-31)

Rom 11:30  For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31  Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

The deceitful heart of mankind within and without, “a deceitful witness speaketh lies”, has to be conquered through Christ in order to overcome the lies of the devil, and only Christ can make war with that beast that gets his power from the dragon (Rev 13:4).

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

Pro 14:26  In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

When we fear God our prayers are heard (Heb 5:7, 1Jn 4:17), and it is when our prayers our heard that we gain strong confidence in the one in whom we are committing our lives unto through those prayers (1Pe 4:19). Our refuge and strong tower is in the Lord and found in fervent prayer that avails much, and reassures us in our time of need (Pro 18:10).

1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

Pro 18:10  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

We are to pray always and not lose heart (Luk 18:1), as this is our time of need in these earthen vessels that are in constant need of our Lord’s protection and leading. He is our refuge and stronghold in this life who keeps us from being a house divided (Psa 91:2).

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Psa 91:2  I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.