Episode Transcript
Tonight we're in Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 22.
Proverbs chapter 13, verse 22.
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
In this chapter, chapter 13 of Proverbs, we've studied the word good several times.
And we've studied that the good that a man eats in verse 2, the good understanding that gives a man favor.
In verse 15, and last week in verse 21, the good that is repaid to the righteous.
So tonight, we're going to look at the inheritance that a good man leaves.
The inheritance that a good man leaves.
And if you're looking for a title, you can put that down.
A good man is our first three words.
And the Hebrew word Tob is again translated as the word good here.
But I wonder if you knew that in other places in the Bible, in the Old Testament, The word Tob is translated as words besides the word good.
They're translated as the words prosperity, wealth.
Beautiful and glad.
And there are some other words as well.
And I'm afraid I'd need several days to teach all about the word Tob.
But our time is limited.
So let's learn just a little bit about this word tonight.
So we can understand more completely about this good man who's talked about in this proverb.
Now let's be reminded of a foundational truth that's plainly stated in Romans chapter 3 verses 10 through 12.
Romans 3 verses 10 through 12.
As it is written, There is none righteous, know not one.
There is none that understandeth.
There is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good.
No, not one.
And even the psalmist wrote of this using the Hebrew word Tob in Psalm chapter 14, verse 3.
Psalm 14, verse 3.
They are all gone aside.
They are altogether become filthy.
There is none that doeth good, no, not one.
So you might think, well, we're reading about a good man, but we've just read two verses, two passages, that say there's none good.
How can that be?
Well, another foundational truth we learn is this, that everything God made was good.
And if you read the first couple of chapters of Genesis, you'll see that after his creations, he said, and God saw that it was good.
Now I heard a preacher one time say, That after God created man, God didn't say, and God saw that it was good.
And his implication was that it wasn't good.
Well, that's not true because everything God makes is good.
And if you read further down in that passage, you'll see that it was very good.
Everything that the Lord made was very good.
Through sin, this good man God made caused the good things to be cursed.
And they were cursed not because God didn't make them good, but because man is not good.
Man sinned.
So, how can the proverb proclaim anything about a good man?
Well, here's another, a third foundational truth.
That should be very familiar to us who are saved.
And that is that we who are in Jesus Christ by faith are good.
Because he is good.
We who are in Jesus Christ by faith are good because he is good.
Our goodness is really His goodness in us.
He does His good works through us so that When he says, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify whom?
My Father, which is in heaven, not glorify you because of your good works, but my Father which is in heaven.
So that's very clear that God does His good works through us.
So, something we can deduct here, and I believe it is a forceful deduction, and that is that our good man in tonight's proverb Must be one who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He must be.
Remember the other words that I read?
That were translated from the Hebrew word Tob, starting with the words wealth and prosperity.
Those were two words that are the same Hebrew word as Tob.
And starting with those two words, we have to refute a position that many in this so-called word of faith movement believe.
They believe that your lack of financial wealth and prosperity is tied to your lack of faith.
And their prosperity has to do with worldly wealth and riches.
The kind Kenneth Copeland and Benny Hinn and Mike Murdoch have amassed on the backs of their followers, their deceived followers.
But if we understand the real meaning, the Bible meaning of the word Tob, then we'll understand the Bible meaning of the word prosperity.
We'll understand that a good man is a prosperous man.
A good man is a wealthy man.
That doesn't mean he has a large bank account. or jet airplanes, or a large mansion.
So don't go out looking for someone with all of those things so you can find a good man.
What it means is that his prosperity and his wealth are found in his goodness.
And his goodness is found in the one who is good and who dwells within him.
Believer, write this down if you're taking notes.
I am wealthy and prosperous because God is good.
I am wealthy and prosperous because God is good.
You may say, Well, Brother Andy, I live on a fixed income.
I am wealthy and prosperous because God is good.
It has nothing to do with your financial condition.
Another word into which the Hebrew word tob is translated is the word beautiful.
And this is a good lesson for us here as we try to understand this good man, what this means.
Because this world puts a lot of stock in how beautiful someone is, or how beautiful something is.
If you wanted to enter your car in a contest and you drove that car down to one of these big parking lots where everybody Brings their cars and lifts their hoods on a Saturday night and shows off what they have.
And you drove your vehicle in there and it had mud dripping off of it and the inside hadn't been vacuumed out.
Nobody would look at that and say, well, that's a beautiful car.
It's not.
That's how the world would see that.
And the problem is the definition and standard of beauty has changed dramatically throughout the ages.
In our time, beauty has been determined by the media, Hollywood, or the music industry, or any other business where the flesh is glorified.
Many women have brought great suffering upon themselves through eating disorders.
Unnecessary cosmetic surgeries in order to try to meet the standards of beauty that are forced upon them by society.
And men have done the same thing, they just don't talk about it.
Don't think that a man doesn't know where the plastic surgeon's office is.
But God's word teaches us that beauty comes from God.
That's right.
If God is good and goodness comes from God, then God is beautiful and beauty comes from God because it's the same word.
It's the same Hebrew word, so the truth about it is the same.
Listen, mankind.
Is ugly and filthy in the eyes of God.
Our best righteousness is as filthy rags in the sight of God.
That's what the Bible says.
God hates sin.
Thank God He doesn't hate the sinner.
But he doesn't look upon sinners as beautiful in their flesh.
But just as we who believe on Jesus are good because of God's goodness, not our own, Then we who believe on Jesus are also beautiful, not because of our beauty, but because of God's.
Write this down if you're a believer.
I am beautiful because God is good.
I am beautiful because God is good.
And then one more word we'll look at, translated from the Hebrew word tob is the word glad.
It's translated as the word glad.
After King Solomon began to reign over Israel when it was a unified nation.
He held a feast, a large feast, bigger than the one we have over here, by the way, in honor of all God had done for Israel.
And I'll read First Kings chapter 8, verse 66.
First Kings 8, verse 66.
On the eighth day he sent the people away, and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad, same Hebrew word tob, of heart.
For all the goodness that the Lord had done for David his servant and for Israel his people.
Why were the people glad?
They were glad for all the goodness the Lord had done.
Now you hear people say today.
Boy, I'm glad I got home before it started raining.
Or I'm glad my team won their football game today.
But their gladness is tied to earthly circumstances.
And because of this, People's happiness or gladness changes when their circumstances change.
Listen, most people don't like getting caught out in the rain.
Football fans don't like when their team loses.
But for a Christian, Our gladness is not tied to earthly circumstances.
And if it is, you need to untie that knot.
If the Cowboys can lose on a Sunday and you go to school or work on Monday and you're in a foul mood because they lost, you need to get over yourself.
That is not worth it.
Our gladness is tied to God's goodness.
So write this down.
I am glad because God is good.
I am glad because God is good.
I am good because God is good.
I am beautiful because God is good, and I am glad because God is good.
Did you know that is all the same thing?
It's the same word.
Now, in our text, we have a good man.
This man is a wealthy and prosperous man because of what we know about the word Taupe.
He's a beautiful man and he's a glad man.
Not in the way the world sees it, but in the way God sees it.
And what does this good, this prosperous, wealthy, beautiful, glad man do?
Look in the next part of the verse.
It says, He leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.
That means he passes down the possessions he has to his children's children.
And to do that, those possessions go through his children.
So it's understood that he passes them to his children, but also to his children's children.
When a man has great financial wealth, there should be enough to not only benefit his children, but also his grandchildren.
However, if the man has great financial wealth, but his children are good-for-nothing lazy bums, Then they will spend their inheritance on riotous living and leave nothing but debt to their children.
However, this good man in our text Has something to leave with his children's children that is far more precious than earthly wealth.
My maternal grandfather Was a pastor, and he didn't have much money.
And what he passed down to me, though, made me a prosperous, beautiful, glad man.
He preached the gospel of Christ over and over and over when I was at his church visiting him in the summers.
And at Christmas.
And he was the same man at home as he was at church.
He wasn't a put-on.
He was the same man at Gibson's.
Y'all remember that old hardware store?
He was the same man there when he saw his neighbor as he was on Sunday morning.
And he passed down To me, something more precious than money.
He walked in the Spirit of God and he was the most consistent Christian I've ever known.
And the good man in our text. has something to pass down that cannot be wasted by disobedient children.
You could be a millionaire and pass that down to your children, and if they waste that, then your grandchildren will have none of it.
But this goodness, what this good man has, this inheritance, this possession.
Is nothing less than the goodness of God in him through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He's taught his children about that goodness, and his grandchildren benefit from it as well.
What an inheritance And then looking further down in the text, it says, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
This is so good.
The word wealth here does not come from the Hebrew word tob.
Remember earlier I told you that the Hebrew word Tob was also translated as the word wealthy.
Well, it's not here.
This word for wealth comes from a word that is normally translated army.
And the sinner here in this part of the verse is the one who has missed the mark.
Has rejected Jesus as his Savior.
The one who has done as these disobedient priests and their followers did in our study of the kings.
They've missed the mark.
They've burned incense at the wrong altar.
They've worshipped images rather than the one true God.
And so that's who this sinner is.
In our text, he's the opposite of the good man in our text.
But did you know the sinner also leaves something?
He also leaves an inheritance.
He leaves his wealth.
He leaves the fruits of his earthly labor.
That word army has the idea of strength.
He leaves his strength.
And oh yes, another sinner, perhaps his own children, may inherit that earthly wealth, but they're going to eventually die as well.
And who will eventually receive that wealth?
To whom will the sinner leave the wealth that's being talked about in our text here?
Will he leave it to the just?
Luke chapter twelve verses sixteen through twenty-one Luke chapter twelve Verses 16 through 21.
Speaking of Jesus, and he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, This will I do I will pull down my barns and build greater and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods and I will say to my soul, Soul, Thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, Thou fool This night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
What's the difference between the good man in our text and the sinner?
The good man in our text is rich toward God.
The sinner lays up treasure for himself.
But what he doesn't realize is he doesn't get to keep that treasure.
It's fleeting, it's earthly.
This fool laid up treasures for himself and was not rich toward God.
That's what Jesus taught us.
And because of that, he had nothing valuable for his children to inherit, even though he was financially wealthy.
He had goods, but he was not good.
Jesus said he was a fool.
He was selfish.
And rather than saying, I am wealthy because God is good.
His attitude was, I am wealthy because I am good.
He left corrupt riches. on a corrupt earth.
And this corrupt earth and everything in it is that which God will redeem unto himself when he puts down all earthly governments.
When he makes an end of all sin.
Psalm chapter 37 and verse 9.
Psalm chapter 37 and verse 9 says.
For evildoers shall be cut off.
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
Where is this man's inheritance going?
To those who wait upon the Lord.
Jesus said, Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
1 Timothy chapter 6.
Verses 17 through 18.
1 Timothy 6, 17 through 18.
Paul wrote, Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God.
So the living God is a certain rich, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy.
They that do good They that be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.
So, did you see what Paul said was good?
Those who do good are those who are rich in good works.
Those who are ready to share.
That's what the word communicate means, is to share.
That's what I'm doing with you tonight.
I'm sharing God's word with you, it's communication.
The sinner has no true riches to share.
He doesn't have anything of value, of real value, to leave his children's children.
So he will leave it ultimately to the just.
And the word just in our text means righteous, and that's actually how it's normally translated.
When Jesus redeems his creation unto himself, the barns of the selfish will be no more.
The wealth of the sinner will be taken from him, and we who are in Jesus will inherit all things because the kingdoms of this earth Will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
And because those kingdoms are his, they are ours.
And because he reigns forever and ever, we shall reign with him.
A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children.
And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
And I hope you've profited from our study tonight.
And I apologize for the hot Temperature in here, but I didn't have the key to this, and so you endured well.
And Leslie, I hope that fan helped you some.
Let's pray.
Father, it's been good to be in your house with your people, both here and the ones who've tuned in, the ones who will watch later.
It's good to study your word and thank you for your spirit who teaches us truth, implants it in our heart, and helps us to live by it.
And we pray that it would edify us.
We know it will if we'll believe it and apply it as we go forth from this place until we meet again on the Lord's Day.
In Jesus' name, amen.
