Proverbs 28 Select Verses
1 The wicked flee when no one pursues,
but the righteous are bold as a lion.
2 When a land transgresses, it has many rulers,
but with a man of understanding and knowledge,
its stability will long continue.
3 A poor man who oppresses the poor
is a beating rain that leaves no food.
4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
but those who keep the law strive against them.
5 Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the Lord understand it completely.
6 Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity
than a rich man who is crooked in his ways.
7 The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding,
but a companion of gluttons shames his father.
9 If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,
even his prayer is an abomination.
10 Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way
will fall into his own pit,
but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper,
but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord always,
but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.
18 Whoever walks in integrity will be delivered,
but he who is crooked in his ways will suddenly fall.
*This is Old Testament teaching, but much of it is relevant to our lives today. Yet I will replace the word “law” with “God’s commandments” (commands) for us under the New Covenant, for we are not under the Old Covenant.*
So, who are the wicked? They are not just those who make no professions of Christ as Lord and Savior, but they are all who live wickedly, who make sin their practice, and for whom obedience to our Lord and to his commands are not their practice. And what do they flee? They flee righteousness, godliness, moral purity, uprightness, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord. And so they also flee genuine relationships with Jesus Christ and genuine walks of faith in him and obedience to his commands, in favor of the flesh.
Sadly, we live in a day and age where so many of our leaders, both in our governments and in the church, have gone spiritually AWOL (absent). They have deserted the true faith of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have deserted the people spiritually, ethically, and morally. Many of them are charlatans and “wolves in sheep’s clothing” whose words cannot be trusted, and who are willfully deceiving the people, convincing them to ignore and to reject the truth and to believe the lies of the enemy. TEST THEM ALL!
For they are the self-indulgent, the addicted to sin, the immoral and the wicked who think only of themselves and what they will gain, regardless of the consequences, and regardless of who gets hurt in the process. And they are those who feed the flesh and who deny the Holy Spirit, and who teach what is of the flesh of man and not what is of God and of his Spirit. And so they alter the character of God/Christ and of his church and of his gospel message to make them more acceptable and appealing to human flesh.
They are liars and deceivers and manipulators and tricksters who change course without telling the people what they are doing, while just expecting the people to catch up. They are magicians who do “slight of hand” tricks so that you think you are seeing one thing while they are doing another. They are very skilled at mind manipulation and at misimpressions (indirect lies) for the full purpose to deceive the people and to lead them to believing the lies and to rejecting the truth. And so they condemn the innocent.
On a spiritual level, what all this has resulted in, at least here in America, is that we have so many people professing faith in Jesus Christ but few who have literally died with Christ to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer as slaves to sin, but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. Few seem to be taking God and his Word seriously and who, by the Spirit, are daily putting sin to death and who are daily walking in obedience to the Lord in holy living. Many reject this.
So many are making false professions of faith in Jesus Christ based up the BIG LIE which has spread across America and the world which is telling them that all they have to do is make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ and now all their sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them, and it can’t be taken away from them, but regardless of how they live. For they are listening to people who teach the Scriptures OUT OF CONTEXT in order to distort them and in order to teach half-truths to deceive the people.
And, even if some do teach holy living and walks of obedience to the Lord and the forsaking of sin, many are not teaching these as required of God, but more as something that we should be doing, but while suggesting that many are not doing, and while giving the impression that if you do not do these things that it will not impact your salvation from sin and eternal life with God. And so they make righteousness and holy living and walks of obedience to our Lord and death to sin as optional, not as required.
But not everyone has caved to the pressure of the majority and to the ways of the world and of the flesh. There are still those who are walking the narrow way, which is the way of death to sin and walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands. Not everyone has deserted the Lord and his standards for moral living, although it appears that the majority have who are taking the broad road which leads to destruction. There is still a remnant who are standing strong on the Word of God and who are as “bold as a lion.”
So, those of us who are still standing strong on the truths of the Scriptures and on the gospel message that Jesus and his NT apostles taught, must not only be those who are spreading the truth of the gospel for others to hear, but who are refuting the lies of the enemy which are deceiving the masses. For so many liars exist among us in the government, the media, and in the church, and so many people are being led astray by them and by their lies, and so we need to be calling out these lies for the salvation of human souls.
So, please pray and ask the Lord to show you the lies which are being spread in the name of truth, and then to show you the truth which is opposed to the lies. For the lies say you can profess faith in Jesus and heaven is guaranteed you despite how you live. The truth says you must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow Jesus in obedience, but if sin is what you obey, and not obedience to our Lord’s commands, then you don’t have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. So know and believe the truth.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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