Proverbs 13:13 Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed: but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded.
14 The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.
15 Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.
It is never wise to ignore God’s warnings. We have talked often of the perversions. I have been told in the past that that is quite a harsh word to use for the different versions of the Bible. I have also talked before about the many adults who still need a soother. They cannot handle Truth.
Jesus never beat around the bush. He was also straight with the people. He spoke in parables at times to hide the truth from those who had already decided they did not want the truth. In His time on earth the main group that fit that category were the Pharisees. They had their friends like the Sadducees and the Scribes and the lawyers and the chief priests. They were already under God’s condemnation and Jesus loved them and so He was not going to make it worse for them.
The New Evangelical crowd would be friends of the Pharisees and their friends. The Pharisees would corrupt the Word of God for their own purposes. That is exactly what the New Evangelical crowd does.
It is accurate to call the ESV and the NIV and the ASV and the hundred+ other “bibles” perversions because they pervert the Truth. The perversions and those who use them are of the opinion that we do not have an absolute truth from God today and we need to choose the best from the faulty ones out there.
What those who use the perversions are actually saying is that God is a liar. God declared:
Psalm 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
Those verses and others are very clear. Even a child can understand them. The problem is that the devil wants to pervert the simplicity of God’s Word and he wants to complicate things so that children will grow up to doubt God’s authority and His greatness.
God warns us in verse 13 that He will look after those who despise His Word. That word “despiseth” means to “disrespect, or hold in contempt”. That is what the perverters do. That is what those who use the perversions also do. They disrespect God and His Word.
God gives us this warning to help us to stop despising Him and His Word. The contrast in our verse is that he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded. Those who take God at His Word are rewarded because they do not have to wonder about what is true. Those who settle for the perversions can never be settled on what God said. They may want to have confidence, but there is always that nagging in their soul because they cannot have confidence. Thus they take offence to anyone who speaks with absolute confidence. They may even think that such a person is quite arrogant. What they miss is that those who have confidence in God’s Word are actually submissive to Him. They are not arrogant. They are willing to put their trust in the God Who cannot lie.
In verse 14 we read that the law of the wise is a fountain of life. Often God calls His Word “law”. A Biblical law is unchanging. It is firmer than the law of the Medes and the Persians. It is also always a just law. Man’s laws are often faulty and they often change.
Canada has many laws on the books that have been changed over the years. When I was a young person sodomy was wrong. Those who wanted to practice that had to do so in secret. I remember as a young person there was a middle aged man who was known to be a pedophile. He would invite boys to his house and he had liquor and treats there to get boys to trust him. Somehow he managed to stay under the radar of authorities. Possibly they were turning a blind eye toward him. He is most likely dead now and he is likely in torment in hell. I never heard that he repented toward God and trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation. It is too late for him.
When we listen to the law of the wise we depart from the snares of death. I was 20 years old when I finally departed from the snares of death. There were things I did not participate in prior to that, but I certainly was still trapped by my wicked choices. God was very gracious to me and He spared me and saved me. Others that I spent time with were not spared. They all had the opportunity to be saved, but they chose to continue to defy God and some of them are dead and in torment today.
In verse 15 we see that good understanding gives favour. Good understanding is to accept God at His Word. You cannot accept God at His Word if you choose a perversion. Thus the way of transgressors is hard. It is a tough road for those who reject the truth. The broken marriages and the many who sit in prisons, etc. is proof that God knows what He is talking about.
God has given us His Word. He knows what is right. His Word is perfect.
Psalm 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
If you will settle for that fact, your life will be blessed of the Lord.
Pastor Bartel