PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“The ransom of a man's life are his riches: but the poor heareth not rebuke. The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out” (Proverbs 13:8-9).

A ‘ransom” is the redeeming or buying back of a captive by meeting the demands for his release. That is salvation. Christ met the demands of the Law, He paid the entire price for your sins. You were ransomed, or redeemed, or bought back and He paid the price—the full price.

“The ransom of a man's life are his riches,” you may not have much in this life but your salvation is a great treasure. If you have the payment for heaven, and a reservation in the heavenlies, you’ve got it all! This is also true in the physical sense, what good is a dead man with great riches?

“. . . but the poor heareth not rebuke,” they simply don’t want those kind of riches. They want riches they can hold in their hands, not in their heart. They won’t listen to the kind of preaching that brings salvation. They are not interested in how to get that redemption, or to get their soul redeemed from the devil’s kingdom. They are content being a child of the Devil. Jesus tells them exactly what they are: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). They want nothing to do with anything that will change their circumstances now and for eternity: “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12-14).

There end will be justified: “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).

“The light of the righteous rejoiceth,” Who is our light? Christ. Because we have received Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour, we get the oil for our lamp. It is the oil that keeps the light burning brightly. The oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. In Isaiah 61, He is the “oil of joy.”

“. . . but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.” Now, an unsaved man has a measure of light. John 1 says that Jesus Christ is the light of the world “which lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (vs. 9). Temporarily all unsaved men get light—but what happens when he rejects it? He doesn’t get the oil. A lamp doesn’t stay lit very long without the oil.

A saved man has the oil, so he has a continual light—the light of the lost (wicked) shall be put out.

“The light of the righteous rejoiceth,” Where do we get joy from? It is one of the fruits of the Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

The lost man rejects the light, he gets no oil, his lamp goes out and he has no true joy in his life. Satan has his counterfeits of joy. The lost man calls lust, love—he doesn’t really know the difference. He walks in darkness, and Jesus says that he prefers the darkness to the light. Why? Because of his evil deeds.

Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let's read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let's keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.

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