Posted on 03/10/2020 6:00:58 AM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“The labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin” (Proverbs 10:16 KJV).
“The labour of the righteous tendeth to life,” that is the tendency of the labor of the righteous. You labor to win souls and that brings forth eternal life to the new Christians. God’s commentary for the Christian on this issue is found in Galatians: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Galatians 6:7-9 KJV).
“. . . he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,” You put money into missions and you will see people getting saved, you put money into tracts and you will see people get saved, you put money in the church and you will see people get saved, you put time in visitation and you will see people get saved. Same thing if you put time and effort into prayer. Producing life and rewards not only for himself and his family but for others around him. Labor! What did our Lord Jesus Christ ask? “Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38 KJV).
“. . . the fruit of the wicked to sin,” the best they can do always comes out the same—it is bad. Why? Because they are wicked. That is why God said this about an unsaved man: “So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8 KJV). Why? Because they are born wicked, they have a wicked constitution, a wicked character, a wicked creature and the best that they can do tends to sin.
Man gets religious. What does that do? It tends to sin. It deifies man, it does away with any need for God. It tramples underfoot the Blood of Christ, it creates a religion of works for salvation, and replaces it with humanistic values and philosophies. Even the best fall short of God’s standard for righteousness, which is absolute perfection. The only way a wicked man can bare godly fruit is to change his character or add the new nature, and then he can bear fruit acceptable to God. Christ said that a tree is what it is. A tree bears its own fruit. If the tree is bad, the fruit is bad.
Proverbs is hard on us, isn’t it? It doesn’t pull any punches.
If anyone would like to be added to the ping list, please let me know either by post or by p.m.
For more books on all topics of the Bible, visit my web site at:
Yes Proverbs is hard on us for sure.... very convicting. Necessary but it is God’s power that works IN US to perfect His will.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.