The Issues of Life Images

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The Issues of Life 

Proverbs 4.20–27

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • August 31, In the year of our Lord, 2014

Song Leader and Song Suggestions: Larry Amberg – No suggestions

Prelude: 

  1. What or who determines your life? 
    1. If you have lived long enough, and
      1. if you have not been persuaded either
        1. by the government or
        2. by psychology
          1. that the bad in your life is someone else’s fault,
          2. you will readily recognize
            1. that your life has become what it is because
            2. of the way you have lived your life.
    2. That does not mean there is no God who rules in our lives, but
      1. we can choose
        1. to serve Him or
        2. to reject Him.
      2. Much of life happens because we chose for it to happen.
        1. Am I going to be happy or miserable today, etc?
        2. Who shall be my friends?
        3. How shall I live?
        4. What kind of person am I?
      3. It comes down to the choices that I make.
  2. Therefore, the Holy Spirit used Solomon 
    1. to show us how we can control the issues of life.
    2. How can we get everyone in the world to hear what this passage says?
      1. As I read it and comment upon it,
      2. see whether you think Solomon hit the target.

Persuasion: 

  1. Proverbs 4.20–22 Pay Attention to the Word

    20 My son, give attention to my words;
    Incline your ear to my sayings.
    21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
    Keep them in the midst of your heart;
    22 For they are life to those who find them,
    And health to all their flesh.
    (Pro 4.20–22)

    1. Solomon addressed his son,
      1. Rehoboam at least, and
      2. his other sons, but
        1. it could be any young person.
        2. As I read over verses 20–27 this past week,
          1. I thought to myself,
          2. I wish that I could get everyone under the age of 40
            1. to hear what Solomon said, because
            2. it is all true.
              1. Life truly plays out just as he said.
              2. You determine who and what you are.
    2. 4.20 – Listen attentively

      20 My son, give attention to my words;
      Incline your ear to my sayings.
      (Pro 4.20)

      1. The problem is, we think we know better than Scripture.
        1. That it is outdated and irrelevant.
        2. Society will never so advance that the Scripture becomes irrelevant.
      2. We think we know better than past godly men and women.
        1. We tend to seek our own way.
        2. We tend not to believe that the word of God truly means what it says.
          1. Listen to older saints.
          2. They have lived life by the word of God.
      3. Therefore, incline your ear to hear
        1. what this man of experience,
        2. who was also moved by the Creator,
          1. had to say.
          2. Dan and I have been dealing with someone recently,
            1. who will not listen to what we have to say.
            2. He will take other things from us, but
              1. not advice.
              2. As a result the issues of his life do not come out well.
                1. I, we, do not want that for anyone here.
                2. Open your heart to the teachings of Scripture.
    3. 4.21 – Read and meditate

      21 Do not let them depart from your eyes;
      Keep them in the midst of your heart;
      (Pro 4.21)

      1. Some people do not like to read.
        1. Fine, have someone read it to you.
          1. Buy CDs of Bible reading.
          2. Download Bibles and have it read by your device.
        2. Do something to hear the word of God,
          1. especially the Book of Proverbs,
          2. daily.
      2. Reading engages the deepest part of a human: the soul.
        1. Reading Scripture prompts meditation.
          1. You might question what a passage means.
          2. You might disagree with what it says, until you learn more.
          3. It might rebuke you.
          4. The Holy Spirit may do a thousand things to you as you read, but
            1. you will be thinking about what the Spirit said
            2. in the written word of God.
        2. Be a man, be a woman and think,
          1. instead of letting the world do it for you, and
          2. instead of letting the church do it for you.
      3. We have to put the word before our eyes or ears constantly.
        1. Psalm 1 shows
          1. that it should be night and day, or daily,
          2. more than once daily,

            2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
            And in His law he meditates day and night.
            (Psa 1.2)
        2. Then it will be in the center of our hearts, because
          1. whatever we see or hear repeatedly
          2. fills our hearts, and
            1. what fills the heart
            2. guides the outcome of our lives.
    4. 4.22 – The word gives life

      22 For they are life to those who find them,
      And health to all their flesh.
      (Pro 4.22)

      1. The word gives health to the body.
        1. Even as what we take into our mouths affects our bodies,
        2. so what we take in through our eyes and ears affects our bodies.
      2. The word gives health to the soul.

        7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
        The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
        8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
        The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
        9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
        The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
        (Psa 19.7–9)
      3. Our bodies can affect our souls, and our souls can affect our bodies.

        13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance,
        But by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.
        (Pro 15.13)

        22 A merry heart does good, like medicine,
        But a broken spirit dries the bones.
        (Pro 17.22)

        14 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness,
        But who can bear a broken spirit?
        (Pro 18.14)

    5. Therefore, watch what you put into your heart, soul, mind, and spirit.
  2. Proverbs 4.23 – The Issues of Life

    23 Keep your heart with all diligence,
    For out of it spring the issues of life.
    (Pro 4.23)

    1. Keep your heart with all diligence.
      1. With all the strength, ingenuity, and creativity that is within you,
        1. keep that heart of yours,
        2. keep it in check,
        3. keep it in balance,
        4. keep it in holiness,
        5. keep it focused.
      2. Solomon said to do this with all diligence. Why?

        9 “The heart is deceitful above all things,
        And desperately wicked;
        Who can know it?”
        (Jer 17.9)

        18 So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, 19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” 20 And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a man” (Mark 7.18–23).

        1. Do you need me to tell you
        2. the ease with which evil thoughts enter your thinking?
    2. From out of the heart spring the issues of life,
      1. whether good or bad,
      2. just as we saw in Mark 7, concerning evil.
  3. Proverbs 4.24–27 – Controlling the Issues of Life

    24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
    And put perverse lips far from you.
    25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
    And your eyelids look right before you.
    26 Ponder the path of your feet,
    And let all your ways be established.
    27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
    Remove your foot from evil.
    (Pro 4.24–27)

    1. 4.24 – The tongue

      24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
      And put perverse lips far from you.
      (Pro 4.24)

      1. Do not let deceit and perverseness be heard from you.
        1. People should know us for our honesty,
        2. not our deceitfulness,

          29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers (Eph 4.29).
      2. However, the way to keep
        1. a deceitful mouth and
        2. perverse lips
          1. far from you,
          2. is to make sure that deceitfulness and perverseness
            1. do not enter your heart in the first place,
            2. as Jesus taught,

              34 “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things” (Matt 12.34–35).
    2. 4.25 – Concentrate

      25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
      And your eyelids look right before you.
      (Pro 4.25)

      1. Be single-minded,

        34 “The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35 Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. 36 If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light” (Luke 11.34–36).

        1. “Oh consistency, thou art a jewel!”
        2. Do not look back,

          62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9.62).

          1. Look behind you as you walk and see what happens.
          2. Have you looked behind you as you drove, and
            1. perhaps looked back for too long?
            2. What happened, or almost happened?
              1. Distracted driving presents a major danger on the road.
              2. Many Christians live distracted lives.
      2. Double-mindedness is unstable,

        8 a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (Jam 1.8).
    3. 4.26 – Think

      26 Ponder the path of your feet,
      And let all your ways be established.
      (Pro 4.26)

      1. How many people truly examine the way they live
      2. as opposed to examining the way everyone else lives?
        1. Ponder the way you live,
        2. asking yourself questions:
          1. Is it right?
          2. What is the fruit?
          3. Is it childish or mature?
          4. Is it an effective use of time?
          5. What really matters in life and what will matter in eternity?
    4. 4.27 – Avoid distractions

      27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
      Remove your foot from evil.
      (Pro 4.27)

      1. Watch out for the detours of life.
      2. Radicals on both sides of any issue will seek your conversion.
      3. Just be true to the Lord.
      4. Anything that seeks to lead your heart astray must be forsaken.

Exhortation: 

  1. Do not just let things happen.