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“Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things” Part 2

(Pro 23:17-35)

[Study Aired January 1, 2026]

The last verse of last week’s study with Proverbs 23 (Pro 23:16) is the title for this 2-part study, which reads, “Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things”. The preceding verses (Pro 23:1-15) explain the only way we can come to be a people who bring God’s reins to rejoice as a result of our speaking right things.

God’s deliverance from the drunken stupor that Babylon has the whole world under spoken of in (Rev 18:3) can only come about by drinking “the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” spoken of in (Rev 16:19). I was grateful to be reading these studies from Mike that helped me see the deeper meaning behind many of the verses in this 23rd chapter of proverbs.

The links are here:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-181-4-babylon-the-great-is-fallen/

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/rev-185-9-god-has-remembered-her-iniquities-part-1/

It is because of God’s deliverance, his mercy toward his children via His judgments [seals, trumpets, and vials], that these things can be so, and that mercy is expressed with those verses we looked at last week (especially Pro 23:13-16), reminding us that the sword shall not depart from the house (2Sa 12:10) of those who are being redeemed in this life (Psa 107:2, Isa 51:11).

This second part of Proverbs 23 has a very similar message and warning to not partake of the delicacies (Rev 18:3) or deceitful meat of Babylon (Pro 20:17). In the first study, the focus was more so on the food which represents the false doctrines of Babylon, and now in this section there is a warning about becoming drunken on the wine of Babylon. Whatever physical effects of gluttony, either food or drink, in both cases we are being warned to put a knife to our throat (Pro 23:2-3), meaning the word of God, and beseech God that we die to these lusts which separate us from the will of God being fulfilled in our lives (Gal 2:20, Tit 2:12-13).

Tit 2:12  TeachingG3811 (Heb 12:6) us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;(Mat 19:27-28)

Pro 23:17  Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Pro 23:18  For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.

This is our hope and prayer for each other that we have no envy of this dying world (Rom 13:11-14, Eph 5:29-30) and that we continually move forward as Christ did, moving with fear (Noah a type of Christ and His Christ Heb 11:7) and who was heard in that he feared God (Heb 5:7).

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14  But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Christ’s example and Christ in us is what motivates us and gives us the vision we need to believe that “surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off”. When our sights are set on the author and finisher of our faith, we will be given vision so that we do not perish and our “expectation” will remain bright, with our eyes set on the joy set before us (Heb 12:1-4, Rom 12:1, Pro 29:18, Act 7:56, Joh 17:3, Joh 20:21, Joh 3:17).

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Heb 10:36, Luk 21:19, Mat 5:37)
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Heb 12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Rom 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Pro 23:19  Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
Pro 23:20  Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Pro 23:21  For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.

If God will grant us to be dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44), it will take us away from the spiritual “winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh”. If God is working with us in this age, He will bring us to see that we are ‘the man’ who initially is a spiritual “drunkard and the glutton” who has “come to poverty”, which is all symbolized with the prodigal son (Luk 15:13-16) whose spiritual condition is like that of a drunkard and glutton, spending all that he has on riotous living, but does comes to see that he has no righteousness of himself and defines himself for what we all truly are without Christ in our lives: “drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags” (Luk 15:17). Such a realization does not come without the plagues of God being poured out upon us, which is what the story of the prodigal son reminds us (Rev 15:8).

Luk 15:13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country [Babylonian captivity], and there wasted his substance with riotous living. [“For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty”]
Luk 15:14  And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. [Isa 3:1]
Luk 15:15  And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Luk 15:16  And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.[Isa 3:1]

Pro 23:22  Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise^H936 not thy mother when she is old^H2204.

The previous verses (Pro 23:19-21) spoke of what we become with the poverty that comes with not hearkening to our Father (“Hear thou, my son”), and this verse 22 speaks of the means we have been given to not stray from that righteous path (Psa 37:23-27).

Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psa 37:24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.
Psa 37:25  I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psa 37:26  He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.
Psa 37:27  Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.

God’s elect are begotten of our Father in heaven (Joh 3:3) and we are told to not despise our mother when she is old, “Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old”, which is speaking of the one true church, that we have been grafted into, by the grace of God (Eph 2:8, Rom 11:17-20). Abraham’s wife Sarah, and Elisabeth, John the baptist’s mother, are a witness we have been given to understanding a little more fully what this verse is telling us (Gen 18:11-14, Luk 1:7-25).

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Eph 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:[We are born again for this purpose of dying daily so we can see the kingdom of God within by God’s grace (Luk 17:10, Php 2:12-13)]

Gen 18:11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
Gen 18:12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
Gen 18:13  And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
Gen 18:14  Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.

Luk 1:5  There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
Luk 1:6  And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
Luk 1:7  And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
…Luk 1:13  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
Luk 1:14  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
Luk 1:15  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
Luk 1:16  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
…Luk 1:24  And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,
Luk 1:25  Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among men.

despise H936 bûz booz  A primitive root; to disrespect: – contemn, despise, X utterly.

old H2204 zâqên  zaw-kane’  A primitive root; to be old: – aged man, be (wax) old (man).

Sarah and Elisabeth, as a type of the elect, are promised “a son”, and that God will “take away [our] reproach”. In other words, those who endure to the end to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection, will be the wife of Christ and mother of the nations (Gen 17:16, Rev 11:15). Our reproach in this age will be taken away (1Ti 4:10).

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Pro 23:23  Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.

The investment, “buy the truth” is our whole life, as a living sacrifice in Christ (Rom 12:1, Col 1:27) that holds fast to the words of life, and “sells it not” for its immeasurable value (1Th 5:21, Pro 7:1-5).

1Th 5:21  Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.

Pro 7:1  My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
Pro 7:2  Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
Pro 7:3  Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
Pro 7:4  Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
Pro 7:5  That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

Christ is our wisdom (1Co 1:30-31), and the one who instructs us and gives us understanding so that we can overcome and endure to the end, not leaning unto our own understanding (Pro 3:5-7).

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:
1Co 1:31  That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Pro 23:24  The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
Pro 23:25  Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.

Our Father in heaven “shall greatly rejoice” in the sons and daughters that he has begotten through Christ and it is His good pleasure to give us the kingdom of God in this age (Luk 12:32). Our “father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice” is also speaking of our mother Jerusalem above, the church of the living God, the mother of us all (Gal 4:26). We rejoice in knowing that we are called to bear each other’s burdens (Col 1:24) as disciples of Christ (Gal 6:2).

Pro 23:26  My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
Pro 23:27  For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
Pro 23:28  She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
Pro 23:29  Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
Pro 23:30  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
Pro 23:31  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Pro 23:32  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.

The only way we can avoid all that is written here in (Pro 23:27-32) is to be blessed in this life to be dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44) and given a broken and contrite heart from God (Isa 66:2) that will be able to fulfill this command, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways”. This is the narrow way God’s elect are called unto and able to obtain through Christ who is our hope of glory within (Col 1:27).

The serpent does initially bite us, and we are stung by the adder, but if we are His children we will overcome the wicked one (1Co 15:55-57, Rom 7:24-25, Num 21:8, Joh 3:14, 1Jn 2:13).

1Co 15:55  O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
1Co 15:56  The sting of death is sin; and the power of sin is the law:
1Co 15:57  but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Rom 7:24  Wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

1Jn 2:13  I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

The chastening which every son must receive in this life if we are going to overcome (Php 1:29) is what makes it possible for us to cease from sinning (Heb 12:6, 1Pe 4:1-2), and in so doing we are no longer seduced by Babylon, the world, and all that is in it, typified by “a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit”. Sin and the lies of Babylon are at the door of our hearts that want to rule over us. Here again Babylon is likened unto a harlot, “She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men”(Mat 24:12).

Mat 24:11  And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12  And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.

The signs, or the corrupt fruit of the tree of one who is a servant to sin (Joh 8:34), or the lying doctrines of Babylon, is expressed in this manner, “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?”. The wine of Babylon in other words, does not cheer the heart, but rather brings woe or distress, with the condemning myriad of lies that initially darken the sun in our heavens (Rev 9:2, Rev 9:12)

Rev 9:2  And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

Rev 9:12  One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

It brings sorrow, contention [striving, controversy, debate] because of the lies that do not bring healing but leave us with gaping “wounds” and “redness of eyes” that have not been anointed with the true ointment of God’s words (Rev 3:18).

Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.

God’s word on the other hand brings liberty and reveals that there is no condemnation in Christ, because it is the true bread and the true wine (Rom 8:1, Rom 8:33, Joh 6:55, Joh 6:32)

Joh 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

Joh 6:32  Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.
Joh 6:33  For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.

It is “They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine” who think by their labouring long at the wine, at the word of God that we initially can only wrap around the idols of our heart, that we will obtain the righteousness of Christ.

Mixed wine is wine that is watered down with no faith (Heb 4:2), and that’s what we do when we apply our carnal interpretation of what God’s word is saying by wrapping his word around the idol of our hearts (Eze 14:4, 2Pe 2:19). Unbeknownst to ourselves we are joined unto a harlot at that point (1Co 6:16), and in agreement with her false proclamations of liberty.

2Pe 2:19  promising them liberty, while they themselves are bondservants of corruption; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he also brought into bondage.

1Co 6:15  Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
1Co 6:16  What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

Pro 23:33  Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.

Our ability to discern matters correctly when we partake of too much wine or mixed wine, is being directly correlated with what will happen to us spiritually if our attention is drawn away from the body of Christ and onto one of the harlot churches of this deceived and spiritually drunk world, “Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things”. Christ therefore admonishes us in these verses (Mat 24:42-51):

Mat 24:42  Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh.
Mat 24:43  But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through.
Mat 24:44  Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not the Son of man cometh.
Mat 24:45  Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season?
Mat 24:46  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Mat 24:47  Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he hath.
Mat 24:48  But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord tarrieth; (Heb 10:36, Luk 21:19)
Mat 24:49  and shall begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; (Heb 12:15-16)
Mat 24:50  the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, [our expectation (Pro 23:17-18) should be to know that “he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb 10:37)]
Mat 24:51  and shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

The likelihood of maturing in the Lord by going back into the world, or back into Babylon, which is what Demas, Crescens, Titus, Phygellus and Hermogenes did (2Ti 4:10, 2Ti 1:15) is impossible (Isa 3:1). All of these heretical actions of Demas, Crescens, Titus, Phygellus and Hermogenes reveal that they were not of us (1Jn 2:19, 2Pe 2:21, Heb 10:28-29), and they were sacrificed to admonish us to remain vigilant and sober against our adversary who we can overcome through the faith of Christ (1Pe 5:8-9, Luk 22:31-32).

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
1Pe 5:9  Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
Luk 22:32  But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not:(1Jn 5:4) and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. [Christ was telling Simon trials are coming that would have destroyed him spiritually, the main trial being his denial of Christ, but as God’s elect he would be preserved through that denial and on Pentecost receive the holy spirit, “when thou art converted”, that would then make it possible for him to “strengthen thy brethren”]

Pro 23:34  Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
Pro 23:35  They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

These verses show us the problem is a hardened heart that manifests because of the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13-14), which causes us to lie “down in the midst of the sea” or “upon the top of a mast”, the sea being the world we are to come out of, and the mast representing the puffed up and elevated carnal mind (that is still in the sea) that cannot inherit the kingdom of God. With such a perverse spirit within us, we can be judged all day, “They have stricken me”, and still not see that we are blind, and wretched and miserable and poor, “I was not sick” (Rev 3:18). We can be beaten with many stripes in this life and not grow spiritually from that experience, “they have beaten me, and I felt it not”, and then we awake in the second resurrection, “I will seek it yet again”, by telling the Lord ‘haven’t I done many wonderful works’, not knowing that I am yet deceived and being found with my own righteousnesses right in front of Christ (Mat 7:22, Php 3:9).

Heb 3:13  but exhort one another day by day, (Heb 10:25) so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin:
Heb 3:14  for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: (Php 3:3)

Proverb 23 ends off with the sorry state we will find ourselves in if God does not convict us in this age to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts as He leads us unto repentance, via the chastening and scourging that must be fully accomplished in this age if we are to be received as sons of God (Tit 2:12-13, Rom 2:4, Heb 12:6).

All the verses we’ve looked at today are written to admonish us to be sober and diligent (1Co 10:11, 1Pe 5:6-8) with our life in Christ, and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, as if it depended on us, knowing that it is Christ who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:12-13).

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

Php 2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Php 2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

If that is in fact what God is doing in our lives, then we are very special to Him because of the life Christ in us (Mat 22:14, 1Pe 2:9, Luk 12:32, Rom 11:5, Mat 10:31, Psa 27:4), who is our hope of glory who makes it possible for us to be received in this age, and able to speak right things, therefore God “shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things”(Pro 23:16, Heb 6:9).

Heb 6:9  But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Luk 12:32  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Rom 11:4  But what saith the answer of God unto him [Elias]? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.
Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Mat 10:31  Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Psa 27:4  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

AMEN!