Posted on 06/16/2022 11:46:16 PM PDT by Pilgrim's Progress
“A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool. An evil man seeketh only rebellion: therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him” (Proverbs 17:10-11).
Some people you can tell them over and over and over and over again until you tongue grows numb, and it doesn’t do them any good. You are flat out just wasting your breath. Just telling a wise man what he did wrong once will do more good than getting a rod out and beating a fool a hundred times with it. The wise man appreciates reproof, while the fool rejects it. Now, we can’t beat the fool as the illustration suggests, but sometimes we sure want to. A fool just never learns.
There are two ways for God to deal with a man.
The first is to reprove him, which is generally the best way to deal with a wise man, a man that is sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in his life. I mean, none of us are perfect even after we are saved, for we are only sinners saved by grace. We are still sinners, just forgiven. We still mess up, and we still need occasional correction.
The second method is chastisement, which God will sometimes do. It is one of the proofs that we are God’s children when He occasionally takes us out to the spiritual woodshed and gives us a scourging.
“An evil man seeketh only rebellion,” well, we are all evil by nature, so what do we seek? This was Jesus’ words to his followers: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Matthew 7:11).
Paul said, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Romans 3:10-11). A man left to himself would never seek God, and the only reason he does at all is the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God which he hears. I am not a Calvinist; I do not believe in irresistible grace where a man is powerless to say no to God once God begins to deal with him. Man can, and does, say no to God. God will redeem no man against that man’s will.
However, man is so depraved that apart from the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he never would seek God and get saved. He never would “will” to get saved without that conviction and revelation from the Scriptures.
“An evil man seeketh only rebellion,” like a Marx, a Mao, or a Hitler and people like that, “therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him.” God did that to Ahab in First Kings 22. He sent a lying spirit in the mouth of his prophets. Why? Ahab was a wicked man that rebelled against God and refused to do what He wanted.
Evil men are always rebelling against God by mixing truth with error. They promote equal rights for women by destroying them. They promote pro-choice when it comes to abortion, even though the infant has no choice at all in the matter. They call for moratoriums on the death penalty even though it means that even more innocent people will die because the murderers no longer fear what the state can do to them. So forth, and so on.
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:
Perfect proverb,Thank you Pilgrim for Gods word.
Very true.
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.