Make Your Works Count

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Friday, June 03, 2022
Chapters: PROVERBS 1-3
Study: Make Your Works Count

Hello My Friend,

I do not know what brought it on, but when I woke up this morning I had this weird dread over me that I only have about thirty years left on this earth, God willing. Then I was reminded by God what He told Hezekiah when he was sick unto death, [2 Kings 20:6  And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.]

Do you see why God has so much mercy on us? It is definitely not for our own sake that we are given what little time we do have on this earth, it is actually for Christ’s sake. Thirty years seems like a long time, but it will be here in the blink of an eye, and let me tell you, the closer you get to realizing that you are one day closer to being with Jesus face to face, the more you value life and want to make sure that each day counts.

[2 Peter 3:8-10  But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.  9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.]

The Book of Proverbs, contains thirty-one chapters, most of the book is penned by King Solomon, in the early days of his reign, the timeline is about 990 to 995 BC. The book was first written to the Jews, but these truths are addressed to all believers. The purpose of the book is to teach wisdom, instruction, and correction to all who fear God. What we are to learn from it is that, God teaches us wisdom, instruction, and correction so that we learn to lean on His understanding and not our own, [Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.]

As we begin the reading of Proverbs, they seem like a bunch of random thoughts thrown together, but as you study them you find that they actually fit in right where they need to be. Many Christians, especially when first starting out, read a chapter of Proverbs for the day of the month, and it does not matter how many times you read them, there is always something new to discover from them. We read in 1 Kings, that Solomon spoke three thousand proverbs, [1 Kings 4:32  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. I will tell you this, they were all under the inspiration of God.

Proverbs, well, I should say, God’s Proverbs because there are different kind, work the same way as parables do, they are small tidbits of truth that only those whom have a relationship with Jesus will understand. Why do I say, Jesus? We must first come to Christ before we can understand what God wants to say to us. Why? When we accept Christ as our Saviour, the Holy Spirit comes into our soul, and He is the one who teaches us what God is saying to us, [Romans 8:10-11,15  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.]

How Proverbs differ from parables is that parables are not addressed to a specific person, but Proverbs are addressed to Solomon’s son, [Proverbs 1:1-7  The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;  2  To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;  3  To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;  4  To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.  5  A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:  6  To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.  7  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.]

[The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge:] True wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity comes with the knowledge that we receive first by accepting Christ as our Saviour, then by loving and respecting Him. I see my relationship with Jesus as my most valuable asset, and the thought of not having Him in my life does fear me, but I know that I have nothing to fear because of the promise that He made to me, [John 10:27-29  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.  29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.]

There is nothing that we could ever do, apart from not truly believing in Christ, that will ever cause Christ to release us from His hand. Praise God! Well, shortly after you start reading into Proverbs you realize something, although Solomon did write these for his son, this is not Solomon speaking, this is actually Jesus, and He has a message to all people. Watch as He addresses those who reject Him.

[Proverbs 1:24-31  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;  25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:  26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;  27  When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.  28  Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:  29  For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:  30  They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.  31  Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.]

[I will mock when your fear cometh;] Jesus, has so much mercy that He truly is long suffering in that He does not want to see one soul in hell, but He will not be mocked, and those who mock His good mercies will not be saved. Every knee will bow to Jesus, and mercy will only go so far for the unsaved before He tells them that there will be no mercy, [Luke 13:25  When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:]

There are two types of fear, there is the fear as having respect for God, acknowledging His ways, and walking in them out of reverence to who He is. Then there is the fear of being so terrified of God that the thought of death overtakes them to the point that they refuse to accept Him. There is something truly uplifting when you discover that Jesus wants a relationship with you, not only to save your soul, but to walk and talk with you as an equal to Him. We cannot blame God for the evils of the world, man has brought that upon themselves by not only not acknowledging God, but loving the sin that they commit. We cannot expect God to do great things in our lives if there is constant sin in our lives, we can expect that He wants us to keep His commands.

[Proverbs 2:1-6,9-11  My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;  2  So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;  3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;  4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;  5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.  6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. 9  Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.  10  When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;  11  Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:]

[if thou wilt receive my words,] It is God who gives us every bit of the knowledge we have through His Word, and it is the Holy Spirit in us that helps understand what that knowledge is, [James 1:5-7  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.  6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  7  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.]

[Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD,] I will be the first to tell you that I do not always understand God’s ways even though I respect them in every way. I do understand that there is a good reason why God does not give us knowledge of certain things. And I tell you what, the more I do come to know the more I understand that some things are just too wonderful for me to know, and wish I had never knew them, [Job 42:1-3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,  2  I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.  3  Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.]

God’s wisdom far exceeds that of mans, and the sooner we figure that out, the longer we will live in this life. True wisdom does comes when we understand that our salvation is not justification to live a sinful life, but to live a virtuous life that is directed by Jesus Himself.

[Proverbs 3:1-8  My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:  2  For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.  3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:  4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.  5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.  8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.]

[bind them about thy neck;] I wear a necklace around my neck that I rarely take off, it is a cross, and has an actual diamond at the top that was given to me when the original stone fell out. It is not a reminder for me that I have trusted Christ as my Saviour, it is a conversation piece that when others see it, I tell them of what Jesus did for me and that He is not on the cross anymore, or in the grave for that matter. Even though the necklace is a symbol of my faith, it is not what shows my faith, my actions do that. Faith means nothing if we do not have the works to back up our faith, [James 2:18-20  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.  19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?]

[and lean not unto thine own understanding.] Leaning on our own understanding is what gets us in trouble to begin with. Do you know how many times thoughts of my past come flooding back when I pray? Almost daily. No, I do not dwell on them, they are reminders of where leaning on my own understanding took me, and what Jesus did to turn it around, [1 Corinthians 6:9-12  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,  10  Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.  11  And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.  12  All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.]

Our goal in reading God’s Word, and I mean as a natural part of our walk with Jesus, has nothing to do with understanding His existence, it has everything to do with understanding Him personally and how He wants us to live with Him. We first have to believe that His Word is true, and if we believe that His Word is true, then we understand the need for Jesus in order for us to attain the knowledge we need to get saved. The wisest decision we will ever make is receiving Christ as our Saviour, but once we do that, and with a willing heart, start reading His Word, we will begin to hear what He is saying and come to understand that even chastening is a blessing.

[Proverbs 3:11-13,19-23,25-26  My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:  12  For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.  13  Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. 19  The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.  20  By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.  21  My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:  22  So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.  23  Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. 25  Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.  26  For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.]

[Be not afraid of sudden fear,] It is actually that sudden fear that keeps us fearing God, and not for the sake of our salvation, but for the sake of our wellbeing. While I did have this quick dread of fear for a few minutes that I only have a short time left on this earth, it did not last long because I know that as soon as I leave, I will be in the presence of my Saviour, my King, and my God, [2 Corinthians 5:6-10  Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:  7  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)  8  We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.  9  Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.  10  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.]

Today’s Prayer: God, When our minds are constantly bombarded with all sorts of doubts, guilt, frustrations, or anger, we can lose sight of the fact that You are in control and know the path that we take. Thankfully You are full of mercy and grace to help us when we lean on our own understanding, and guide us back to Yours. Thank You, for Your wisdom and showing us how to take the knowledge You gave us and use it for Your glory. We may not always understand it, but when we take the time to study Your Word, receive it, and obey it, then You will give us riches, honor, and long life, all the way up to eternal life with Him. Lord, Lead us and guide us, fill us with Your wisdom so that we do not lean on our own understanding. Give us Your mercy, and grace, direct our paths, and show Yourself mighty in our lives for all to see. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus, Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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