The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him. Sermons
I. TEACHINGS OF COMMON SENSE. 1. To avoid danger and death. (Ver. 24.) This is obvious enough, but, unguided by religion, prudence may easily make mistakes. 2. To avoid unjust gains. (Ver. 27.) Every advantage must be paid for, in some coin or other. Then, "is the game worth the candle?" Will a dishonest speculation, looked at on mere commercial principles, pay? 3. To be cautious in speech. (Ver. 28.) Speech is the one thing that many think they have a right to squander. There is no more common profligacy than that of the tongue. Yet, is there anything of which experience teaches us to be more economical than the expense of the tongue? 4. To be generous of kind looks and words. (Ver. 30.) What can cost less, or be worth, in many cases, more? "Good words," says George Herbert, "are worth much, and cost little." 5. To be a good listener. (Ver. 31.) And this implies willingness to receive rebuke. All superior conversation in some way or other brings to light our ignorance and checks our narrowness. And just as he is not fit to govern who has not learned to serve, so only he who has long sat at the feet of the wise will be entitled himself to take his place among the wise. One of Socrates' disciples exclaimed that life indeed was to be found in listening to discourses like his. May we all feel the like in sitting at the feet of our Master, who commends those who have thus chosen the good part which shall never be taken away from them! 6. To avoid conceit and cultivate humility. (Ver. 32.) It is the overestimate of self which makes us contemptuous in any sense towards others. But to look down as from a superior height on others is the most mischievous hindrance to progress in sense and knowledge. A mastermind of our times says that he hates to be praised in the newspapers, and begins to have some hope for himself when people find fault with him. 7. To found humility upon religion. (Ver. 33.) Its only genuine and deep foundation. What are we in relation to the God whose perfection is revealed to us in nature, in the ideals of the soul, in the fulfilment of the living Person of Christ? From this depth only can we rise; for honour springs from a lowly root; and he that exalteth himself shall be abased. II. TEACHINGS OF RELIGION. We have already seen how they blend with those of common sense. But let us bring them into their proper distinctiveness and force. 1. To choose the upward path and shun the downward. (Ver. 24.) To cleave to God; to love him with mind, and heart, and soul, and strength; to be ever seeking the Divine meaning in the earthly objects, the Divine goal through the course of common events, the true, the beautiful, and the good, in their ineffable blending and unity in God; - this is the upward way. To be striving after emancipation from self, in all the coarser and grosser, in all the more refined and subtle forms of lust and greed, - this is the avoidance of hell and of the downward way. "Seeking those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God," implies and demands "the mortification of the members which are upon the earth." 2. To consider the judgments of God. (Vers. 25, 27.) There was a period in the ancient world when men thought of Divine power as blind caprice, fortune, fate, destiny, setting down and raising up whomsoever it would by no fixed moral law. It was a great revelation and a magnificent discovery when men saw that there was a law in the events of life, and this law none other than the holy will of Jehovah. One of the principles of his judgment is here set forth. Godless pride is obnoxious to his disapproval, and incurs extinction at his hands. But he is Compassion, and the poor and friendless, especially the widow, are certain of his protection. It is as if a charmed circle were drawn around her humble dwelling, and a Divine hand kept the fire glowing on her hearth. 3. To consider the religious aspect of thoughts and words. (Ver. 26.) Words and thoughts are one, as the body and the soul. A great thinker, indeed, defined thought as talking to one's self - as all our words to others should, indeed, be as thought overheard. Thus we are thrown back on the heart, and the elementary maxims for its guidance in purity. Keep it with all diligence! But perhaps not less important is the reflex influence; for if bad words be scrupulously kept from the tongue, evil images will less readily arise in the heart. 4. To consider the conditions of access to God. (Ver. 29.) He is a moral Being, and must be approached in a moral character and a moral mood. To suppose that he can be flattered with empty compliments or gifts, as if he were a barbarous Monarch and not a just God, is essentially superstitious. He is the Hearer of prayer, but only of the just man's prayer. To the aspiration of the pious soul never fails the inspiration of the holy God. But of the bad heart it must ever be true, "The words fly up, the thoughts remain below." Thus to view all life's relations in God is both "the beginning of wisdom" and "the conclusion of the whole matter." - J.
The way of life is above to the wise I. RELIGION IS ELEVATED IN PRINCIPLE. The motive or ground of action with the sincere but truly pious is far more elevated than that which prompts the conduct of the irreligious and the merely nominal Christian.1. It is elevated above the maxims of worldly prudence. Such prudence is really nothing more than a selfish and time-serving policy. 2. It is elevated above the standard of worldly morality. The defect of that scheme of morality which is current in the world is its utter disregard of the character of motives. II. THE WISE ARE ELEVATED IN TASTE. There is, in Scriptural religion, everything to purify and chasten, to elevate and refine the faculties of the mind. It gives a quickness to discern and a sensibility to feel the beauties and deformities of objects, especially those of a moral character. The dim glitter of earthly splendour has no attraction for them. They are elevated above the craving desire of human applause. III. THE WISE ARE ELEVATED IN THEIR PURSUITS. The worldly occupation of good men is much the same as that of other men. The way of life is above to the wise, with respect to religion itself. He seeks more after holiness than happiness. The pursuit of heaven is not any actual dereliction of the best good which this world has to afford. Its richest blessings are poured upon those who keep the world beneath their feet. Learn — 1. That pure religion is vastly more elevated and holy than is generally supposed. 2. The religion of Scripture is above the conception of worldly minds. Its sublime principles are too lofty for their comprehension. (Charles Jenkins.) II. THE COURSE THAT THEY TAKE. "Depart from hell beneath." God's Word says hell is a place, just as heaven is a place. Then they are wise who fear that dreadful place, and seek to depart from it, and avoid all peril of it. But the wise also take the "way of life." By this we understand the place to which they go, the way by which they go to it, and their mode of walking in it. III. A DESCRIPTIVE CHARACTER GIVEN OF THAT COURSE. "Above." This is applicable as well to the end of the way, which is life; and the way to it, which is Christ; and their mode of walking in it, which is by faith. (J. H. Evans, M.A.) People Abaddon, SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Abomination, Clean-hearted, Designs, Detests, Devices, Disgusting, Evil, Plans, Pleasant, Pleasantness, Pleasing, Pure, Sayings, Thoughts, Wicked, WickednessOutline 1. A gentle answer turns away wrathDictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 15:26Library God, the All-Seeing OneA sermon (No. 177) delivered on Sabbath morning, February 14, 1858 At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens by C. H. Spurgeon. "Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?" -- Proverbs 15:11. You have often smiled at the ignorance of heathens who bow themselves before gods of wood and stone. You have quoted the words of Scripture and you have said, "Eyes have they, but they see not; ears have they, but they hear not." You have therefore argued that … C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way God, the All-Seeing One How the Humble and the Haughty are to be Admonished. And He had Also this Favour Granted Him. ... Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths . Contention Over the Man Born Blind. "And the Life. " How Christ is the Life. "Now the End of the Commandment," &C. "Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. " The Authority and Utility of the Scriptures An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also- How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. " Proverbs Links Proverbs 15:26 NIVProverbs 15:26 NLT Proverbs 15:26 ESV Proverbs 15:26 NASB Proverbs 15:26 KJV Proverbs 15:26 Bible Apps Proverbs 15:26 Parallel Proverbs 15:26 Biblia Paralela Proverbs 15:26 Chinese Bible Proverbs 15:26 French Bible Proverbs 15:26 German Bible Proverbs 15:26 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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