Audio Download

“The first man is of the earth, earthy:
the second man is the Lord from heaven” Part 1

(Pro 20:1-10)

[Study Aired October 2, 2025]

Pro 20:1  Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise.
Pro 20:2  The wrath of a king is like the loud cry of a lion: he who makes him angry does wrong against himself.
Pro 20:3  It is an honour for a man to keep from fighting, but the foolish are ever at war.
Pro 20:4  The hater of work will not do his ploughing because of the winter; so at the time of grain-cutting he will be requesting food and will get nothing.
Pro 20:5  The purpose in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of good sense will get it out.
Pro 20:6  Most men make no secret of their kind acts: but where is a man of good faith to be seen?
Pro 20:7  An upright man goes on in his righteousness: happy are his children after him!
Pro 20:8  A king on the seat of judging puts to flight all evil with his eyes.
Pro 20:9  Who is able to say, I have made my heart clean, I am free from my sin?
Pro 20:10  Unequal weights and unequal measures, they are all disgusting to the Lord.

These first ten verses of Proverbs chapter twenty that we will look at today highlight the value of wisdom, integrity, hard work, honesty, and humility, while warning against deception, laziness, and injustice which victory over these powers and principalities is all being accomplished through the faith of Christ (Rom 4:2-6).

Rom 4:2  If he became acceptable to God because of what he did, then he would have something to brag about. But he would never be able to brag about it to God.
Rom 4:3  The Scriptures say, “God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith in him.”
Rom 4:4  Money paid to workers isn’t a gift. It is something they earn by working.
Rom 4:5  But you cannot make God accept you because of something you do. God accepts sinners only because they have faith in him. [Jas 2:18]
Rom 4:6  In the Scriptures David talks about the blessings that come to people who are acceptable to God, even though they don’t do anything to deserve these blessings. David says, [CEV]

We know that our wisdom comes from Christ (1Co 1:30), as does our righteousness which will manifest in a spirit of integrity, producing a desire to labour in the word, as we present all things honestly before all men (Rom 12:17), with a humble and contrite spirit that is also a gift from God (Isa 66:2).

The natural lessons for our flesh are important [listed below] and always precede the deeper spiritual lesson (1Co 15:46) that each of these proverbs point to and instruct those who have God’s spirit abiding within them (Rom 8:9, Luk 8:10).

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Luk 8:10  And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.

Natural concepts [generated by AI] that precede the spiritual (1Co 15:46)

Verse 1 – Alcohol can deceive and destroy; those who are misled by it lack wisdom.
Verse 2 – Angering a powerful ruler is dangerous; it puts one’s life at risk.
Verse 3 – Avoiding conflict shows honor; fools are always stirring up trouble.
Verse 4 – Laziness leads to poverty; the lazy miss opportunities and suffer the consequences.
Verse 5 – Wise people are able to uncover deep and thoughtful advice in others.
Verse 6 – Many boast about themselves, but truly faithful people are rare.
Verse 7 – Those who live with integrity bless their children after them.
Verse 8 – A just ruler quickly identifies and removes evil.
Verse 9 – No one can truthfully claim to be completely pure and sinless.
Verse 10 – Dishonest business practices are detestable to God.

And afterward that which is spiritual (1Co 15:46)

Pro 20:1 Wine is a mocker^H3887, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. (KJV)

Pro 20:1  Wine makes men foolish, and strong drink makes men come to blows; and whoever comes into error through these is not wise. (BBE)

The wine of Babylon is the cup that we all become intoxicated on at first (Rev 18:3), and the spiritual outcome of our drunkenness on false doctrines has us being described in this proverb as mockersH3887 who rage and are not wise, as we walk through this earth as negative ambassadors, and false teachers, blaspheming God’s name amongst the gentiles (Rom 2:24).

Rev 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

H3887 mocker  lûts  loots
A primitive root; properly to make mouths at, that is, to scoff; hence (from the effort to pronounce a foreign language) to interpret, or (generally) intercede: – ambassador, have in derision, interpreter, make a mock, mocker, scorn (-er, -ful), teacher.

Obviously we don’t (normally) see people in the churches coming to fisticuffs with one another, but what we do see is a divided body of Christ (1Co 3:4) which does great violence to the word of God, as we all do at first in our former conversation (Mat 11:12, Eph 2:1-5).

1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.

Eph 2:1  And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Eph 2:3  Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;[Heb 12:6]).

The ‘whoever’ of “whoever comes into error through these is not wise” is all men because we all must go into Babylon to come out of her, and God’s elect are the first to experience coming out of spiritual captivity to be received of our Father via the chastening and scourging process we are called unto (2Co 6:17, Heb 12:6-7).

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

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 20:2  The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul. (KJV)

Pro 20:2  The wrath of a king is like the loud cry of a lion: he who makes him angry does wrong against himself. (BBE)

The ‘lion’, or ‘king’ spoken of in this verse is Christ, and His wrath against our old man of sin is as the “roaring of a lion” (Hos 11:10, Joe 3:16).

Hos 11:10  They shall walk after the LORD: he shall roar like a lion: when he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.

Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion (Oba 1:21, 1Jn 4:17 we are as Christ roaring like lions against the prey (Isa 58:1)), and utter his voice from Jerusalem (The church, the body of Christ); and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel (The Israel of God, His elect Gal 6:16).

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, [“like the loud cry of a lion”] and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

We all start off making God angry and doing wrong against ourselves as we abide in the west (Hos 11:10) which symbolizes living by our carnal reasoning, until the man of perdition is destroyed by the brightness of Christ coming to us from the east (Psa 95:10, 2Th 2:8, Mat 24:27).

Psa 95:10  Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: [40 years means tribulation is coming against our old man if we are God’s elect (1Co 10:11)]
Psa 95:11  Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. [our first man Adam, flesh and fleshly thinking is not going to inherit the kingdom of God]

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:

Mat 24:27  For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Pro 20:3  It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. (KJV)

Pro 20:3  It is an honour for a man to keep from fighting, but the foolish are ever at war. (BBE)

We are all Peter at first not able to cease from strife as we meddle in others’ business, even Christ’s with an unsavory spirit of self-righteousness, telling even our Lord what He ought to do for us, and how he ought to conduct his affairs (Mat 16:22-24, Jas 4:2-3).

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. [the other Jesus is the one who is controlled by the traditions of men that worship him in vain not savouring the things that be of God, and want dominion over the laity as Peter did over Christ (Mar 7:7)]
Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. [and not the traditions of men]

Jas 4:2  Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Jas 4:3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. [Peter and all of us at first]

Thanks be to God, Christ died for the ungodly and in due time makes a way for us to overcome and turn the other cheek which we could not do at first (Rom 5:6, Rom 7:24-25). Peter did in time “cease from strife” which was his honour that was given to him, as it will be for all of us by the only one who can cause us to cease from sinning (Joh 8:36-37).

Rom 5:6  For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

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.

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Joh 8:37  I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Pro 20:4  The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. (KJV)

Pro 20:4  The hater of work will not do his ploughing because of the winter; so at the time of grain-cutting he will be requesting food and will get nothing. (BBE)

The lesson for us in this proverb is to be about our Father’s business as Christ was (Luk 2:49, 1Jn 4:17), no matter what the season in our lives. Pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath when nothing is happening, pray that God will keep us all zealous and holding fast to our crowns until the return of our King (Mat 24:20-22, Rev 3:11).

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.

Mat 24:20  But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21  For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened [God’s elect are the salt of the earth that God will use to save the earth physically, and then save the world spiritually].

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

These following verses remind us of the stability that can be ours if we continue to seek the kingdom of God first and his righteousness (Mat 6:33), laying up treasure in heaven “against the time to come” (Tit 3:8,  Joh 6:27, 1Co 15:58, 1Ti 6:19, Psa 37:25, Psa 104:15, Luk 21:26-27).

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

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.

1Ti 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Pro 20:5  Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Pro 20:5  The purpose in the heart of a man is like deep water, but a man of good sense will get it out.

We draw the deep counsel out by being dragged to the One who gives us the strength to do so (Joh 6:44, Gen 29:10, Joh 4:10-11).

Joh 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Gen 29:10  And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob [symbolizing Christ] went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
Joh 4:11  The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?

With His strength working within us both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure (Php 2:12-13) we will not neglect so great a salvation and will be able to overcome, quenching all the fiery darts of the adversary with that water, and becoming more than conquerors through Christ (Rom 8:37). Great is that faithfulness which we can depend upon (Lam 3:23) to provide for our every spiritual need until the very last breath of our life (Heb 13:5, Php 1:6).

Lam 3:23  They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Heb 13:5  Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Pro 20:6  Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? (KJV)

Pro 20:6  Most men make no secret of their kind acts: but where is a man of good faith to be seen? (BBE)

These verses bring the question to mind, will there be any faith on earth when Christ returns? ‘Men proclaiming their own goodness’ is the same spirit found in this verse (Mat 7:22).

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, and no faith to be found]

As in the days of Noah, and Lot, there will be very few on the earth who will be of an understanding heart, as we read in the book of Malachi (Mal 3:16-18), “a faithful man who can find?”. Noah and Lot typify the few elect who will be alive and remain at that time with the mind of Christ (1Th 4:17).

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.
Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.
Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Pro 20:7  The just man walketh in his integrity^H8537: his children are blessed after him. (KJV)

Pro 20:7  An upright man goes on in his righteousness: happy are his children after him! (BBE)

Our children symbolize our doctrines and they will be blessed in the earth because the spiritual seed will go forth from the elect and will not return void (Isa 55:11). Those doctrine will bring great joy to all the earth in time “happy are his children after him!”

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

H8537 integrity  tô  tome
From H8552; completeness; figuratively prosperity; usually (morally) innocence: – full, integrity, perfect (-ion), simplicity, upright (-ly, -ness), at a venture. See H8550.

Pro 20:8  A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.(KJV)

Pro 20:8  A king on the seat of judging puts to flight all evil with his eyes. (BBE)

Inwardly when the eye is single, it represents having the mind of Christ whose judgment is in our lives, as he sits on the throne of our hearts and “scattereth away all evil with his eyes”(Rev 19:12).

Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

Pro 20:9  Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? (KJV)

Pro 20:9  Who is able to say, I have made my heart clean, I am free from my sin? (BBE)

The first thing to consider is this verse (1Jn 1:8).

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

This verse reveals that we will never, in this physical flesh as the body of Christ, ever be able to say we have perfectly “made my heart clean”. We will sin less and less, Lord willing, and gain dominion over sin in this life (Rom 6:14) if this is written in our books to happen (Joh 3:30). This increasing comes from God as does the ability to decrease, both are predestined by Him. It all comes down to whether we will heed or not heed the admonitions of His word, keeping His works to the very end, which words and works are being accomplished by believing in God’s power, as we’re granted the faith of Christ to do so. Christ is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1-2, 1Pe 5:7-8, 1Pe 1:7).

Pro 20:10  Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD. (KJV)

Pro 20:10  Unequal weights and unequal measures, they are all disgusting to the Lord. (BBE)

The statement ‘the punishment should fit the crime’ is a biblical principal, as well as ‘the reward should fit the sacrifice’ (Php 2:9, 2Ti 2:12-13). Peter asked Christ about how things were going to play out for himself and all the others who forsook all to follow him, and Peter was speaking for all of us who are losing our lives to gain them (Mat 10:39). Christ’s perfectly balanced answer to Peter was not what Babylon teaches (Mat 19:27-30). Babylon teaches eternal torment, an evil divers weight and measure that comes from the mind of Satan.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.