Episode Transcript
All right, so we'll be in Proverbs chapter 14 verse 22.
Proverbs 14 verse 22.
I don't think I missed any spoken prayer requests, did I?
Did I miss any else?
I don't think so either.
Good.
The title of the message tonight is What We Devise.
What We Devise.
So in our text tonight, Solomon begins speaking about people who err.
E-R-R.
He says, do they not err?
And the Hebrew word translated err here, it literally means to vacillate.
That has the idea of going back and forth.
You've seen people that say, well, I think this.
Well, no, no, no, I think this over here.
That's vacillating.
They just go back and forth. between different opinions, different viewpoints.
If you're rocking in a rock and chair, it's good to go back and forth If your hand's waving hello to somebody, it's good to go back and forth with your hand.
But if we're talking about morality.
On the other hand, if we're talking about our stand on a particular position, then it's not good for a man to go back and forth.
To do so is to vacillate.
And that makes us unreliable people who hold no true moral stand.
In the year 2000 Al Gore was running for president.
And if you'll remember, he chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate.
Joe Lieberman was a moderate Democrat Jew.
And as a moderate Democrat Jew, he held a pro-life position.
And uh Al Gore was not pro-life.
He's pro-choice, or I'd rather call it pro-death, pro-killing babies.
And uh he wanted Joe Lieberman as his running mate, but not as a pro-life candidate.
So Joe Lieberman was faced with a choice.
He could either stay pro-life or he could change and become pro-choice.
And then he could be the vice presidential candidate.
And uh and Joe Lieberman. changed his stand on abortion just so he could have a chance to become the vice president.
I remember watching that take place.
I remember thinking back then, what a cheap sellout you are.
What a fake person you are.
If you're willing to change your stand for personal gain, then you never stood for anything to begin with. other than yourself.
Whatever you said your stand was for, that was just for convenience sake to keep you in office then.
If you're willing to change your stand for convenience sake, then you never stood for anything before.
If you hold a particular moral conviction and you condemn a certain sin today And a lot of Christians are guilty of this.
You hold a certain moral conviction, you say, this is wrong.
And a lot of preachers will get up and they'll preach against that sin and they'll say, this is wrong.
Or maybe it's not a sin.
They'll preach against what they claim is a sin, and they'll say, this is wrong.
But then One of their family members get caught up in that same thing they preached against all those years.
And then suddenly they change.
And then suddenly they're in support of that.
Or their family member's right in this situation.
But everyone else is wrong.
And either way, they're wrong.
They never stood for anything to begin with.
Abortion, getting back to our example with Joe Lieberman, is not something you can flip-flop on.
It's not something you can vacillate on.
Abortion's a big deal.
Because the life of a child is at stake.
It's not like saying, well, I didn't like chocolate ice cream before, but now that I've tried it, I do.
It's nothing as simple as that To move back and forth between opinions about a matter is to vacillate.
And when it comes to God's word, we should never vacillate If we know God's word and we believe God's word, we should always stand on God's word.
And if the circumstances change And our child or our family members involved, then guess who's wrong?
Our child or our family member is wrong.
And God's word's still right.
If it becomes inconvenient for me, God's word is still right.
We should never depart from it.
And to vacillate in this text means to depart. from God's word rather than standing on it.
When you vacillate between human opinion, that's being wishy-washy.
But when you vacillate between God's word and man's conflicting ideas, that is to err. is to stray from the Word of God.
That's what Solomon's addressing tonight.
And that's why this word is translated as air in our text, even though it means to vacillate.
And that's the same reason if you think about God's word here and you're here and you're standing on God's word, and then suddenly you move to the other side, the other opinion, that's that flip-flopping back and forth.
That's that vacillating.
And so if you picture you here and God's word here And now you vacillate and you move over here.
That's why this word sometimes translated as stray, because you're straying away from the Word of God.
And if if there is one group of people that err, One group of people that strays, Solomon says, it's those, look back in your text, that devise evil.
Devise evil.
Now the Hebrew word translated devise here, it literally means has the idea of scratching something out in writing.
So it has the idea of of writing something out.
And this week, we we have uh y'all remember Beverly Hill Billlies?
You all one of my favorite characters on there was Jethro Bodine.
You know, he had a sixth grade education.
He's quite a quite a mind, quite a brilliant mind.
And have y'all ever y'all remember when he used to cipher?
Boy Jed Clamp was so proud of him ciphering.
They say two of go into two one time, two of going to four two times, and Jed go, well doggy.
Well we at work we have a a stack of scrap paper left over from the court dockets.
We just keep that stack up there.
We call that our ciphering paper.
And when it's slow at the courthouse One of us will be thinking about something.
Hey, hand me the ciphering paper over there and we'll start to cipher.
And we'll be figuring up maybe our retirement or whatever.
Well this this week one of my co-workers He got out some cipher and paper.
He started d drawing lines on it.
The most meticulous lines.
And had all these different boxes and he started putting in uh uh financial figures and he was he was planning out a strategy on paying his house off And that's what that word devise in our text means tonight.
It has the idea of to plot, to chart. to scheme, to plan on doing something.
And you're writing it all out.
You're writing your plan down.
And in this case. .
Solomon is talking about plotting, charting, scheming to do evil.
And the Hebrew word translated evil here.
It's based on a root word that means to spoil.
It's two different two different concepts, but they're both the same.
The Hebrew root word it's based on means to spoil or to break into pieces, which really is the same thing.
Because if something spoils, it's getting broken down, isn't it?
It's decaying.
Or if you spoil like in the spoils of war, you're still breaking that nation or that city down that you've attacked.
Breaking it to pieces.
So when the Bible says something is evil, it doesn't simply mean that it's wrong.
It doesn't simply mean that it's bad.
But when you see the word evil in the Bible, you think of the word evil as something that essentially means it destroys. the good that God created.
Now I think you would all agree, in fact we were having a discussion at supper tonight. on things that could be done to make the world a better place.
And to have that discussion means that we all have to understand The world has some really good potential, but it's got some bad in it.
And God created everything good.
But evil breaks down what's good.
I get so frustrated, and I know y'all do too, when you see a leader Or or a person, maybe they're leading the nation, maybe they're leading a uh a cause, uh, maybe like Charlie Kirk or some someone else, they're they're leading a cause, maybe they're leading a family.
And you can tell they've got some really good plans.
Maybe they're leading a business.
They've got some really good plans.
And then someone comes along with some other plans.
And if those plans are carried out, it will destroy the good that someone's trying to accomplish.
Absolutely destroy it.
We were talking about a business and that uh the today a particular business And that I know about that at one time was thriving.
And all they did was change the leadership at the top And that person just ran that business down into the ground.
You had something, you had something that was working, something that was good, and someone comes along with an idea.
That's a really bad idea.
And then they implement it and they just drive that thing into the ground That's destroying the good that was created.
Well, when it comes to God's creation, evil is that which destroys the good that God created.
In John chapter 10, verse 10 and 11.
Gospel of John chapter 10 verse 10 and 11.
Jesus said, the thief cometh not, and we're talking about Satan here.
He's the thief.
The thief cometh not, but for to steal and to kill. and to destroy.
Now stealing spoils the substance That God has blessed us with.
Killing spoils the life that God has given us.
Destroying spoils the design that God has made That's evil.
It destroys the good that God has given us.
The thief, therefore, is evil for he spoils that which is good, and that's why Jesus went on to say I am come that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the what?
Good.
I am the good shepherd.
The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
There's a lot in that statement.
There are a lot of doctrine in that statement.
Being the good shepherd, that means the shepherd is going to make sure and guard over God's original creation and thus God's original intent.
In God's original creation, God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.
In Hebrew, Tob.
We've looked at that word before.
And then you had Adam choose from the tree of the knowledge of good, Tob, and our word tonight, evil.
And when he chose to know evil, Then in Genesis chapter 6, the thought of every man's heart was only evil continually, and what's happening?
The good design that God made starts breaking down.
And we're dealing with it today.
So Jesus says, I am the good shepherd, and as the good shepherd, he is going to guard God's original intent. that everything in this world, all of God's creation, is going to be very good.
How's he going to do that?
The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Someone wrote me today and asked me about the book of Matthew.
And they said, concerning the book of Matthew, they said, it's the hardest gospel that I have ever tried to study.
And they said, uh when Jesus is talking about the gospel of the kingdom, has he given them a chance to re uh the Jews, a chance to repent and accept him as their Messiah?
Was he talking about Just the kingdom of God?
What was he talking about?
My answer was yes.
But I had to explain to him.
That the gospel, we make a mistake when we limit the gospel to being God redeeming mankind from his sin.
You can't limit the gospel to the redemption of man from his sin.
That would put the gospel in a very narrow, minded, very limited purpose.
And it's not.
The gospel has a a scope of total recuperation.
And so I explained to him that the gospel message has a complete recuperation of everything that was lost on account of sin.
And the kingdom was one of the things that was lost.
That's how come the book of the Revelation we see the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
What is that?
That's the gospel of the kingdom.
So when you're reading about that in the book of Matthew, because the book of Matthew, when you look at the four Gospels, the four Gospels are four vantage points that you look at the Gospel at.
From this vantage point, you see the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as restoring the kingdom, God's authority back over his creation.
From this vantage point over here, you see God restoring everything to the human race And then from this vantage point over here, you see Jesus as the servant, and you see servant uh servitude uh being restored.
And uh in the in the the uh the uh um The perfect line of God serving through his creatures, God giving his love through his fellow man, uh through our fellow men.
God loving us through one another.
And you see all these different vantage points when you look at the different gospels.
That's why you don't just have the gospel according to John, then you move on.
Well we got the gospel covered now.
And the Gospel of John would be the vantage point of what?
The redemption of man from his sin.
That's why John 3. 16 in John, right?
And so when Jesus said he is the good shepherd, he is the good shepherd in contrast with the evil thief.
What does the evil thief do?
He devises evil to break down that which is good.
He plots it out.
The Good Shepherd came to save us from the evil that Satan devised and to secure for us. the good that God intended.
The Bible says in Genesis 6. 5, which uh I I referred to just a moment ago, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth.
And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
And that word imagination, it means to form And it's another way of planning, of scheming and plotting, but but it's it's just a different word.
Scheme plan, plot, three different words mean the same thing.
Well this word imagination has the same idea of devising And so they were devising evil continually.
Everything that uh that man purposed on doing would have destroyed the good that God had intended for humanity, and that's why God destroyed the earth with a flood.
The people in Genesis 6. 5 were devising evil, just like our proverb is speaking about tonight.
So those people erred, they vacillated, they strayed from the good that God created them to do.
To err, therefore, is not necessarily human, even though humans err.
But that's not the definition of erring.
To err is to stray from God's good and perfect will for our lives.
And that was something that humanity could not do until it had the knowledge of evil.
From the tree that Adam ate from.
God devised good for this world.
Now you think about it.
There's so much to be said when God looked at his creation in Genesis and saw that it was good.
God devised good in his creation plan.
But there are some who foolishly devise evil.
They stray from the good that God devised, so they can work contrary to God's plan.
We see it every day in this world.
So to them that devise evil they err.
Look back in your text, but mercy and truth Now in contrast, but mercy and truth.
And this is said in contrast to error that man gains when he devises evil.
Someone who devises good will obtain mercy and truth.
And for Solomon said, mercy and truth, look at that back in your text, shall be to them that devise good.
So we can either devise evil, that is to work a scheme contrary to God's plan, or we can devise good. that is to work and plot and scheme to accomplish God's plan.
And remember, God made everything good.
So for us to devise good is for us to plan to live in accordance with God's expressed will and purpose for our lives in His Word.
When my coworker got that piece of paper out He had purpose in his heart to pay his house off, and he was planning a strategy to carry that purpose out.
He was devising, and to devise good is to sit down, so to speak. and strategize how we can carry out God's purpose for our lives.
Have you ever put any thought to it?
You know, you won't obey the will of God by stumbling through life.
You won't obey the will of God on accident You will obey the will of God by devising a plan to accomplish his will in your life, by sitting down and saying, now what can I do in my life?
How can I use my life to further the will of God?
It's to take thought in our heart that we might set a course for accomplishing His will.
And those who take that thought, Solomon said, shall receive two things, mercy and truth.
Now, in the Hebrew, the word mercy means kindness And truth in the Hebrew means stability.
Stability.
God's stability.
So God designed everyone to enjoy first his kindness His kindness.
You think about the Garden of Eden.
It had every tree that was good for food.
It was a wonderful environment for Adam to live in.
There was no bad, no evil, it was all good.
And that was God's kindness.
That's why we have the gospel so that when Christ comes back and he makes a new heaven and a new earth and we are finally able to experience creation the way God originally designed it to be, we will enjoy for all eternity the kindness of God.
God's grace.
The world wasn't meant to be such a miserable place.
We were supposed to live a life filled with the kindness of God.
And not only did God design us to enjoy living a life of his kindness, but he designed every person to enjoy his stability.
Now, what good is it to enjoy God's kindness if you don't have God's stability?
You say, well, I have God's kindness today, but will I have it tomorrow?
Uh Nick and I enjoy um watching the stock market during the day.
Now I promise you there's no stability there.
None It's up.
It's down.
It's a lot like people.
A lot like nations.
Up.
Down, good mood, bad mood, very, very unstable.
We live in a very unstable world Nations are unstable.
People are unstable.
Health is unstable.
Just when you think you've got your health under control, just look out.
It's not debatable.
Any casual observer of the world can see that it is in need of kindness.
And it's a need of stability.
I watched a video this morning.
Really bothered me.
It was a Jewish man.
It was in a big city, and I cannot remember where the city was, but it was a big city out on the street, and you know how Out in front of storefronts, they'll have like tables where they eat with the little umbrellas and stuff.
And uh there were it was a very crowded area.
And it was a Jewish man sitting at a table by himself and three Muslim men came up and started beating him.
Had him on the ground.
Did you see that, brother?
Yeah.
That bother you too?
Yeah, it bothered me.
You know what bothered me maybe worse than watching them beat him?
Were all the big grown men watching and doing nothing to help?
That really, really bothered me.
Just staring and watching.
Well, it's not hurting me.
I personally don't approve of this, but I'm not going to get involved.
And any casual observer of the world can see that it's in need of kindness and stability.
If you ever become unstable.
You'll appreciate stability.
It's not debatable.
Now the Bible says when we devise good, That is, when we strategize to work according to his word, when God's plan for life becomes our plan.
Then God's kindness, that is his mercy, and God's truth, that is his stability, come upon us.
Why is the word truth What does it mean in Hebrew stability?
Because truth doesn't change Reality is what reality is.
And there are some fundamental truths that just do not change.
And as people, we crave stability.
We crave it, we need it.
Now the Bible says when we devise good that kindness and truth come upon us And since God made everything good, that means God's original design, God's original creation for man was engineered, it was devised to supply us with mercy and truth.
His kindness and stability were engineered to be in our lives In what causes stress?
The absence of those two things, instability and the absence of God's grace.
Due to the presence of man's sin.
And God's subsequent commandments that He gave us in His Word since the fall of man They were given to teach us to do good.
They were all given to us to supply us with that mercy and that truth that we need.
To err is to depart from God's goodness, which causes us to be void of God's kindness and truth.
And some, having denied Christ as their Savior, will be void of that kindness and truth for all eternity.
The best thing we can do, therefore.
To enjoy the goodness and stability of God in our lives is to set an intentional course for our feet to walk according to his word.
And that course begins at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Where we look there and we see in the cross the good shepherd giving his life for his sheep We see God's mercy.
We see God's truth.
Jesus, I am the way, the truth, the life.
No man comes in the Father but by me.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Oh Lord, the ways of man are so contrary to the word of God.
In millennium after millennium, we have proven time and time again.
That man left to himself is completely incapable of healing this world resolving human conflict in curing Father the worldwide disease of death that comes upon every one of us at some time.
We are in definite need. of your great kindness.
We're in definite need, Lord, of your truth and your mercy.
And Father, I pray, Lord God that any who do not know Christ will come to know him before it's too late.
So that they through him through the gospel message, will one day inherit it forever.
In Jesus' precious name, amen
