Study Audio Download

“Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge” Part II
(“the just shall come out of trouble”)

(Pro 12:8-13)

Pro 12:8 A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.
Pro 12:9 [He that is] despised, and hath a servant, [is] better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.
Pro 12:10 A righteous [man] regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked [are] cruel.
Pro 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain [persons is] void of understanding.
Pro 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth fruit.
Pro 12:13 The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.

In this next section of proverbs we’re introduced to the immediate and long term benefit of staying in the word of God (Joh 8:31-32) that will equip us to deal with the dying daily process within ourselves, that we’ve been called unto (1Co 15:31).

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.

1Co 15:31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Godly confidence, as opposed to having confidence in our own flesh, is something that can only be miraculously achieved by His judgements in our lives (1Pe 4:17). God’s elect are therefore likened unto the generation who have no confidence in the flesh. The flesh and the law for the lawless (1Ti 1:9) that governs that flesh are discussed in these scriptures, and the blessing that becomes ours when we go from being of the concision to become spiritually circumcised by God’s spirit, the new governor on our hearts by which we are led (Rom 8:14, Php 3:1-11).

Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Php 3:1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you [it is] safe.
Php 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Php 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Php 3:4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:
Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe [of] Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Php 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Php 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things [but] loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them [but] dung, that I may win Christ,
Php 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: (Gal 2:20, Php 2:12-13)
Php 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Rom 5:10)
Php 3:11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

By God’s grace (Eph 2:8) we can be brought to see the comparative language in these proverbs as a mirror that we are looking into, which God commands us to use to help us cleanse the inside of the cup of our own lives (Jas 1:23-27, Mat 23:26).

It is those who are of the generation that have no confidence in their flesh who come to see that they are the chief of sinners, as typified by the publican who couldn’t so much as lift his head to heaven because he truly saw his own wretchedness as oppose to the Pharisee, which represents our first man Adam with his own righteousnesses and many wonderful works that blind us to how God sees all flesh (Luk 18:10-14, Rom 7:22-25, Rev 3:17).

Luk 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Joh 8:36). So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

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:

God reveals to His people first that they are the generation who are guilty of the blood of the prophets from Abel to Zacharias, and these proverbs like all of God’s word point to that reality of how God alone can bring us to cry out to him (Heb 5:7-8, Luk 12:5), as we recognize our daily need for His deliverance from our own self-righteousness that constantly wants to establish itself on the throne of our hearts (Eph 1:5-12).

Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh (Eph 5:30), 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;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Luk 12:5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Pro 12:8 A man shall be commended according to his wisdom: but he that is of a perverse heart shall be despised.

Christ is our wisdom (1Co 1:30), and so in this opening verse we’re looking at we are being told straight out of the gate that if we don’t acknowledge Christ as our wisdom and the reason we know anything about God, then our hearts are going to reflect a perverse spirit that will be rejected of Him. That self-righteous spirit is within us and can only be overcome and ruled over by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives to destroy that man of perdition who holds fast to the mystery of iniquity (self-righteousness)(2Th 2:5-8).

1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Pro 12:9 [He that is] despised, and hath a servant, [is] better than he that honoureth himself, and lacketh bread.

We are striving through Christ to give our flesh no quarter in this life with the rest of the saints so we can find life (Gal 2:20, Mat 10:39). Christ is our hope of glory (Col 1:27), the “servant” within me who makes me better than the self-righteous old man in me that “honoureth himself” and in doing so “lacketh bread” and is starving. These verses in Romans sum up for us what this proverb is telling us about this inward struggle against the powers and principalities that we all wrestle against (Rom 7:22-25, Eph 6:12)

Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: [the spirit of Christ who is a servant in me is who I delight in]
Rom 7:23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. [my flesh wanting to honour itself and not give all glory and honour to God for all things including the sin in my life (Rom 8:28)]
Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Pro 12:10 A righteous [man] regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked [are] cruel.

With Christ in us we are mindful of the beast that we are, and take care to take care of ourselves and others (Gal 6:10).

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all [men], especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

No man ever hated his own flesh in other words and we are Christ’s flesh and bones (Eph 5:30) that we nurture and take care of. We have a comparative in this proverb of our old man within us that does not have our best interest at hand, not being able to remain unspotted from this world and visit the fatherless and widow with the tender mercies of God’s word (Psa 146:9, Jas 1:27). The cruel-deceived-first-man Adam cruelly proclaims that God’s punishment on our life should be forever, twistedly thinking this is somehow God’s mercy on those who won’t have to burn in hell forever. We all at first paint God out to be a monster in one way or another, revealing what is actually in our own hearts.

Psa 146:9 The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.

Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Pro 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain [persons is] void of understanding.

The admonition in this proverb is telling us that our labours are not in vain in the Lord, and tilling the land is analogous of fighting a good fight of faith so that we can be satisfied with the word of God. If we follow the traditions of man we will be void of understanding (Isa 3:1) and doing so in vain (Mat 15:9).

Isa 3:1 For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching [for] doctrines the commandments of men.

“Vain” H2638 châsêr khaw-sare’: From H2637; lacking; hence without: – destitute, fail, lack, have need, void, want.
“Vain” G3155 matēn mat’-ane: Accusative case of a derivative of the base of G3145 (through the idea of tentative manipulation, that is, unsuccessful search, or else of punishment); folly, that is, (adverbially) to no purpose: – in vain.

Pro 12:12 The wicked desireth the net of evil [men]: but the root of the righteous yieldeth [fruit].

Pro 12:12 Whoever is wicked covets the spoil of evildoers, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.[ESV]
Pro 12:12 He that is delighted in passing his time over wine, leaveth a reproach in his strong holds. The desire of the wicked is the fortification of evil men: but the root of the just shall prosper.[DRB]

God is burning up all the wicked desires of the elect, turning us into a new creation that is connected to the vine, Jesus Christ, through whom we can bear much fruit. It is God’s favour in our lives that brings about this growth that would otherwise never happen (Tit 2:11-12). We must expect that in God’s vineyard we are going to be pruned so that more fruit can be borne (Joh 15:2-3, Heb 12:5-7).

Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching^G3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Heb 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

Pro 12:13 The wicked is snared by the transgression of [his] lips: but the just shall come out of trouble.

We’ve all done it and said something that we don’t want to say, and in doing that, “The wicked is snared by the transgression of [his] lips” . When Christ’s words and ways become our ways and words and works, we stumble less and less as He increases [the word, his righteousness] and we decrease [our own righteousnesses and the way that seems right unto us]. Christ was never snared by His words and with His life within us, our goal will remain, of bringing every thought into subjection (2Co 10:3-5) unto our faithful high priest who knows how to deliver us from our conscience (1Jn 2:1-3) when we do stumble in this life. It is through Him alone that “the just shall come out of trouble” (Jas 3:5-12).

2Co 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare [are] not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
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; (Eph 6:12)

1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue [is] a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.
Jas 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:
Jas 3:8 But the tongue can no man tame; (Rev 13:4-5, Rev 5:4) [it is] an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.
Jas 3:9 Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Jas 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Jas 3:11 Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet [water] and bitter?
Jas 3:12 Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so [can] no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.

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?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty [and] two months.

Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.