Proverbs 29:1,3 ESV
1He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
3He who loves wisdom makes his father glad,
but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
There are people in this world, both those professing faith
in Jesus Christ and those who make no profession of faith in Christ, who are
doing evil on a consistent basis. But even though they have been reproved,
perhaps multiple and/or many times, they stiffen their necks and they refuse to
be corrected. And so they, in their pride and stubborn wills, go on doing the
evil that they have been reproved over, and they do not change. But what goes
around comes around, meaning that what they dish out will be done to them
eventually, for their behaviors will have consequences.
Some of these who are stiffed necked and who continue in
their evil despite being reproved multiple times are those who are engaged
regularly in sexual immorality, for that appears to be the predominant sin that
is permeating the church in America these days. And being a companion of
prostitutes doesn’t have to mean that they physically engage with prostitutes
but it can be done via the viewing of pornographic (inappropriate and lewd)
material or in one’s own mind. Or it can mean to be a companion of others who
are also sexually promiscuous, and/or to keep company with the adulterous.
Proverbs 29:6,16 ESV
6 An evil man is ensnared in his transgression,
but a righteous man sings and rejoices.
16 When the wicked increase, transgression increases,
but the righteous will look upon their downfall.
Those who make a practice of doing evil are evil. Those who
practice wickedness are wicked. So, an evil person is a person who practices
doing evil (sinning). Thus, this person can be someone who professes faith in
Jesus Christ or not. For many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are those who
make a practice of sinning, of doing what is evil and wicked. And they do so
deliberately and habitually, which is what it means to be ensnared in their
transgression. And with regard to sexual immorality, statistics are high for
those who profess faith in Jesus but who are practicing immorality.
And the righteous are not those who merely profess faith in
Jesus Christ. The righteous are those who make righteousness their practice (1
John 3:4-10). We are righteous who walk in righteousness in obedience to our
Lord and who do not walk in sin. So we are not among those who are ensnared in
sin for we have been delivered out of our slavery to sin by the grace of God.
And so we sing and rejoice in what the Lord Jesus has done in delivering us
from sin and in empowering us to live righteously, in his power and strength.
But it deeply saddens the righteous to see so many people ensnared by sin.
Proverbs 29:19,23 ESV
19 By mere words a servant is not disciplined,
for though he understands, he will not respond.
23 One's pride will bring him low,
but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
This is so true! You can talk and talk to people about their
sins and about what the Scriptures teach on the subject of sin and
righteousness, but if they are not ready to change, they will not change. And
so they aren’t really disciplined because no one who has the authority to do so
is willing to discipline them. And many of these needing correction and discipline
are those who know what the Scriptures teach, and they profess to believe the
Scriptures, but their actions speak louder than words. For though they
understand what you are saying, they will not respond to correction.
And the reason they will not respond to the truth of their
condition is because of pride. They do not want to let go of control over their
own lives. They do not want to yield control to another, not even to God. They
want to remain in the driver’s seat, because they love their sin more than
anything else. They love their sin more than God and more than their spouses
and children and anyone over whom they might have any amount of influence. And
so their pride does bring them low, and it will lead them to hell and not to
heaven, because they would not surrender to Jesus Christ.
But those who are lowly in spirit will obtain honor. Those
who have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, and who in humility have
repented of their sins, and who are denying self and daily dying to sin, by the
Spirit, and who are following the Lord in obedience, they will have the hope of
eternal life with God provided that they continue steadfast in that faith until
the very end and that they do not turn away from the Lord to go back to living
in sin and for self. For if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and
obedience to our Lord are not our practice, we do not have eternal life.
Full
Release
An
Original Work / April 15, 2012
Walking daily with my Savior
brings me joy.
Loving Father; precious Jesus;
He’s my Savior and my Lord.
Gently leads me; follow Him.
I’ve invited Him within.
Now abiding in His presence,
oh, what peace.
From my self-life
He has brought me,
By His mercy, full release.
Hope and comfort,
peace and safety Jesus brings
When I daily bow before Him;
Obey freely; do His will.
Follow Him where’er He leads.
Listen to Him; His words heed.
Now obeying his words fully,
oh, what love
That He gives me
through salvation,
By His Spirit, from above.
Loving Father; precious Jesus,
He’s my friend.
With my Savior, by His Spirit,
I will endure to the end.
Share the gospel, tell what’s true.
Witness daily; His will do.
Tell the world of how their Savior
bled and died.
On a cruel cross He suffered
So that we might be alive.
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