Introduction: Another marked emphasis in the book of Proverbs is the contrast made repeatedly between truth and lies. As Christians, we know that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6), and we also know that the devil is the father of lies (John 8:44). Whenever he lies, he is speaking his …
Themes in Proverbs: Work and Laziness
Introduction: One of the things we must recognize is that work does not exist in the world because of the Fall. Work got a lot more difficult because of our sin, and it labors under a curse, but God gave the cultural mandate to mankind, a mandate which involved an enormous amount of work, before …
Themes in Proverbs: Self-Control
Introduction: When we think of the phrase self-control, the first thing that comes to mind is control of the bodily appetites. We think of resisting temptations to lust or to gluttony. But that is not the only concern of Proverbs when it comes to learning how to control oneself. Many of the passages dealing with …
The Role of Biblical Women
We live in a fallen world in which God works redemptively. This means that nothing can be simply assumed to be in submission to God. It can only be assumed to be in submission to Him, or not. Consequently, we must consider all things as a blessing, or a curse, depending upon its relationship to …
The Law and the Prince
We come now to see what Proverbs teaches about the civil magistrate. Throughout this short post, I will be using the terms king and prince, but this is merely a reflection of the language of Proverbs. The principles contained here certainly apply to magistrates in all civil orders, including governors, members of parliaments, congressmen, and …
Valuable Beyond Rubies
The sanctification of the checkbook is extraordinarily difficult for many. We like to tell ourselves that obedience to God’s way is “impractical,“ as though we knew more about it than He does. Always, always, always we must turn to the Word. And on this subject, we have a treasury of doctrine. First, wealth is a …
The Fool Is a Thoroughbred
A people are known by their proverbs — what they value and what they do not, where they profess to find wisdom and where they do not. Our modern culture hates objectivity — countless propaganda pieces tell us that we must find the truth within ourselves, we must be true to ourselves, we must always …
The Liberty of God
There is certainly no biblical problem with preaching the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. At the same time, there are other situations where it is wise to present the facts of the case as dispassionately as we are able to. God’s saints must see this issue as it really is — the clear, objective teaching of …
Parents in Proverbs
As we consider the teaching of Proverbs on various issues, we find that one central emphasis of the book is the importance of right family relationships. Proverbs sets before us the biblical and the unbliblical family. “There is a generation that curses its father, and does not bless its mother” (Prov. 30:11). Unfortunately, ours is …
Bad Whiskey
The book of Proverbs contains any number of great themes, and one of the first is the teaching of the book on tongue — the words we speak. There are many aspects to this because we sin more with our mouths than any other way. “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from …