The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools deceives them. Sermons
I. THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE. (Ver. 8.) To note, to observe, to take heed to one's way, is the characteristic of the man who is prudent for time and wise for eternity. And, on the contrary, the very principle of folly is self-deception - to be followed in turn by a terrible awakening to sobriety and recognition of the truth (comp. Psalm 7:15; Job 4:8). The right way is illustrated both positively and negatively. II. SOME PARTICULAR ILLUSTRATIONS. (Ver. 9, sqq.) 1. The vanity of mere ritualism. (Ver. 9.) According to the probably correct translation, "the guilt offering scorns the fools;" in other words, his worship is useless, missing its aim, failing of God's favour, while the righteous who has washed and made himself clean, and put away iniquity (see Isaiah 1), comes with acceptance before Jehovah. 2. Respect for others sorrows. (Ver. 10.) Acute distress isolates a man; he cannot communicate what he feels. And it is an unkind thing to force counsel on others at a time when they know they cannot be understood, when the sympathy of silence is best. To sit by our friend, to clasp his hand with loving pressure, to mingle our tears with his, will be far more delicate and soothing than to attempt to "charm ache with airs, and agony with words." 3. Consideration of the end. (Vers. 11-13.) The old reminder recurs, Respice finem. Perhaps a contrast is intended between the "house of the wicked" as seeming firmer, nevertheless doomed to overthrow, and the "tent of the righteous," seeming more frail, yet destined to "sprout," to flourish, and extend. Again, resuming the image of the way, the seeming right way is not ever the right nor the safe way. It may be broad at first and well travelled, but may narrow by and by, and end in the pathless forest, or the desert waste, or the fatal precipice, To be safe we must still consider the end; and the beginning, which predicts and virtually contains the end. Various are the illusions to which we are subject. One example of this is that the smiling face may hide the aching heart, and the opposite (Ecclesiastes 7:4) may also obtain. Boisterous and immoderate mirth is no good symptom; it foretells a sad reaction, or conceals a deep-seated gloom. Human faces and appearances are masks, which hide the real countenance of things from us. 4. Consideration of the sources of enjoyment. (Ver. 14.) First the vicious source. The man who has fallen away from God seeks satisfaction out of God, in something practically atheistic, in the fruit of godless, sinful deeds (Proverbs 12:14; Proverbs 13:2; Proverbs 28:19). But in the matters of the spirit that which is out of God is nothing, emptiness and vanity. He is feasting upon wind. The genuine source of enjoyment is in the spirit itself, in the consciousness, where God is known and realized and loved; in the sense of union and reconciliation of thought and affection with the Divine Object thought of and believed. The kingdom of God is within us, and is "righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." 5. Credulity and caution. (Ver. 15.) Credulity is a weakness, and certainly, like every weakness, may become a sin. It is the opposite of genuine faith: it is confidence placed where we have no right to place it. God, who has set up and kindled a light in each breast, requires us to use it, each for himself. To forsake it for any other is a desertion of our trust. Would that we might ever take heed to the light that is within us, and so steer our way! There is no true faith possible which does not begin with this. Again (ver. 16), wisdom is seen in a certain self-distrust in presence of evil. To use an expressive phrase, we should know when to "fight shy" of certain persons or associations, So powerful a passion as fear was not given us for nothing, nor should we be ashamed of a timidity which leads us to give a wide berth to danger, to keep out of the lion's path. Over-confidence springs from the want of a true estimate of our proper strength and weakness, and the security it begets is false. 6. Passionateness and trickiness. (Ver. 17.) The former precipitates men into all follies. Seneca saith well that "anger is like rain, which breaks itself upon that whereon it falls." Anger is certainly a kind of baseness; as it appears well in the weakness of those subjects in whom it reigns - children, women, old folks, sick folks. Bitter, unforgivable words, the revelation of secrets, the breaking off of business, - such are among the follies which anger constantly perpetrates. But the tricky intriguing man is both foolish and odious. Listen to one of the greatest of Englishmen, when he bears testimony that "the ablest men that ever were born all had an openness and frankness of dealing, and a name of certainty and veracity." There is a fine line between the wisdom of reserve and the vicious cunning of concealment; nothing but the loving and true purpose of the heart can redeem any habit of secrecy from odium. 7. Life a progress in folly or wisdom. (Ver. 18.) We are ever gaining, according to the image of the text. The mind has its accretions like those of the tree, A man becomes a greater fool the older he grows, or becomes of deeper sagacity, richer and wider views. All depends on how we start. Admit an error into thought, keep it there after it is proved an error, close the mind in any quarter to the light and keep it closed, and ensure a bigoted and foolish age. Let God into the mind from the first, open daily every window of the soul to the light, and grow old "learning something fresh every day." 8. The ascendancy of goodness. (Ver. 19.) The picture is presented of the envoy of a conquered people who kneels at the palace gate of the conqueror and waits on his commands (compare on the thought, Proverbs 13:9, 22; Psalm 37:25). There is a might in goodness; may we not say the only true might is that of goodness, for it has omnipotence at its back? It is victorious, irresistible, in the end. It is content to be acknowledged in the end by all, the evil as well as the good. Hypocrisy is the homage paid by vice to goodness. - J. Go from the presence of a foolish man. Man is a social being. The text holds up the society which we should avoid — the society of the foolish. I. IT IS UNPROFITABLE. What you want in society is knowledge. True knowledge shall — 1. Rightly guide. 2. Truly comfort. 3. Religiously inspire the soul.But such knowledge is not to be got from the foolish man. He has no power to help you, and therefore time spent in his society is waste. II. IT IS MISLEADING. "The folly of fools is deceit." 1. They cheat themselves. They fancy they have the true ideas, and the true pleasures, but it is a miserable delusion. 2. They cheat others. They mislead by the falsehood of their speech and the craftiness of their policy. 3. It is wicked. They "make a mock at sin." "Go," then, "from the presence of a foolish man." Seek the society of the wise. () It is the intention of their Maker that some creatures should seek safety, not in fighting, but in fleeing. In the moral conflict of human life it is of great importance to judge rightly when we should fight and when we should flee. The weak might escape if they knew their own weakness, and kept out of harm's way. That courage is not a virtue which carries the feeble into the lion's jaws. To go in among the foolish for the rescue of the sinking may be necessary, but it is dangerous work, and demands robust workmen. Your first duty is your own safety. But on some persons at some times there lies the obligation to encounter danger for the safety of a neighbour. () People SolomonPlaces JerusalemTopics Behaviour, Clear, Deceit, Deceiving, Deception, Discern, Folly, Foolish, Foolishness, Fools, Makes, Prudent, Sense, Sensible, Understand, Unwise, WisdomOutline 1. A wise woman builds her house
Dictionary of Bible Themes Proverbs 14:8 5191 thought
5481 proverb
5922 prudence
8365 wisdom, human
8367 wisdom, importance of
8757 folly, effects of Library A Startling Statement
TEXT: "The wicked shall not be unpunished."--Prov. 11:21. There are very many passages of Scripture which ought to be read in connection with this text; as for example, "Fools make a mock at sin" (Proverbs 14:9), for only a fool would. Better trifle with the pestilence and expose one's self to the plague than to discount the blighting effects of sin. And, again, "The soul that sinneth it shall die" (Ezekiel 18:4). From this clear statement of the word of God there is no escape. Or, again, "Our …
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas IscariotHollow Laughter, Solid Joy
'Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful; and the end of that mirth is heaviness.'--PROVERBS xiv. 13. 'These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled.'--JOHN xv. 11 (R.V.). A poet, who used to be more fashionable than he is now, pronounces 'happiness' to be our being's end and aim. That is not true, except under great limitations and with many explanations. It may be regarded as God's end, but it is ruinous to make it man's aim. It is by no means …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Satisfied from Self
'... A good man shall be satisfied from himself.'--PROVERBS xiv. 14. At first sight this saying strikes one as somewhat unlike the ordinary Scripture tone, and savouring rather of a Stoical self-complacency; but we recall parallel sayings, such as Christ's words, 'The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water'; and the Apostle's, 'Then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone.' We further note that the text has an antithetic parallel in the preceding clause, where the picture is …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Sin the Mocker
'Fools make a mock at sin; but among the righteous there is favour.'--Proverbs xiv, 9. The wisdom of this Book of Proverbs is not simply intellectual, but it has its roots in reverence and obedience to God, and for its accompaniment, righteousness. The wise man is the good man, and the good man is the godly man. And as is wisdom, so its opposite, folly, is not only intellectual feebleness--the bad man is a fool, and the godless is a bad man. The greatest amount of brain-power cultivated to the highest …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture How a Man's Conduct Comes Home to Him
A sermon (No. 1235) delivered on Lord's Day Morning, May 16th, 1875, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself."--Proverbs 14:14. A common principle is here laid down and declared to be equally true in reference to two characters, who in other respects are a contrast. Men are affected by the course which they pursue; for good or bad, their own conduct comes home to them. …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs Godly Fear and Its Goodly Consequence
A sermon (No. 1290) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge."--Proverbs 14:26. In the Book of Proverbs you meet with sentences of pithy wisdom, which to all appearance belong entirely to this world, and pertain to the economy of the life that now is. I do not know whether it is true, but it was said that years ago our friends in Scotland had a little book widely circulated …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs "Boast not Thyself of to Morrow, for Thou Knowest not what a Day May Bring Forth. "
Prov. xxvii. 1.--"Boast not thyself of to morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." As man is naturally given to boasting and gloriation in something (for the heart cannot want some object to rest upon and take complacency in, it is framed with such a capacity of employing other things), so there is a strong inclination in man towards the time to come, he hath an immortal appetite, and an appetite of immortality; and therefore his desires usually stretch farther than the present …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Work
(Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.) Proverbs xiv. 23. In all labour there is profit. I fear there are more lessons in the Book of Proverbs than most of us care to learn. There is a lesson in every verse of it, and a shrewd one. Certain I am, that for a practical, business man, who has to do his duty and to make his way in this world, there is no guide so safe as these same Proverbs of Solomon. In this world, I say; for they say little about the world to come. Their doctrine is, that what …
Charles Kingsley—Town and Country Sermons The Backslider in Heart.
Text.--The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.--Prov. xiv. 14. I CANNOT conclude this course of lectures, without warning converts against backsliding. In discussing this subject, I will state, I. What backsliding in heart is not. II. What backsliding in heart is. III. What are evidences of backsliding in heart. IV. Show what are consequences of backsliding in heart. V. How to recover from this state. I. What backsliding in heart is not. 1. It does not consist in the subsidence …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion Have Read the Letter which You in Your Wisdom have Written Me. You Inveigh against Me
I have read the letter which you in your wisdom have written me. You inveigh against me, and, though you once praised me and called me true partner and brother, you now write books to summon me to reply to the charges with which you terrify me. I see that in you are fulfilled the words of Solomon: "In the mouth of the foolish is the rod of contumely," and "A fool receives not the words of prudence, unless you say what is passing in his heart;" and the words of Isaiah: "The fool will speak folly, …
Various—Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. Epistle Lxix. To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks.
To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. Gregory to Brunichild, &c. Since it is written, Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin maketh peoples miserable (Prov. xiv. 34), a kingdom is then believed to be stable when a fault that is known of is quickly amended. Now it has come to our ears by the report of many, what we cannot mention without exceeding affliction of heart, that certain priests in those parts live so immodestly and wickedly that it is a shame for us to hear of it and lamentable to tell …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great Epistle xxx. To Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. Our common son, the bearer of these presents, when he brought the letters of your Holiness found me sick, and has left me sick; whence it has ensued that the scanty water of my brief epistle has been hardly able to exude to the large fountain of your Blessedness. But it was a heavenly boon that, while in a state of bodily pain, I received the letter of your Holiness to lift me up with joy for the instruction of the heretics of the city …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great The Intercession of Christ
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us! T he Redemption of the soul is precious. Fools make mock of sin (Proverbs 14:9) . But they will not think lightly of it, who duly consider the majesty, authority, and goodness of Him, against whom it is committed; and who are taught, by what God actually has done, what sin rendered necessary to be done, before a sinner could have a well-grounded …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Some Helps to Mourning
Having removed the obstructions, let me in the last place propound some helps to holy mourning. 1 Set David's prospect continually before you. My sin is ever before me' (Psalm 51:3). David, that he might be a mourner, kept his eye full upon sin. See what sin is, and then tell me if there be not enough in it to draw forth tears. I know not what name to give it bad enough. One calls it the devil's excrement. Sin is a complication of all evils. It is the spirits of mischief distilled. Sin dishonours …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 Epistle Xlii. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. We return great thanks to Almighty God, that in the mouth of the heart a sweet savour of charity is experienced, when that which is written is fulfilled, As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). For I had previously been greatly disturbed by a letter from Boniface the Chartularius, my responsalis, who dwells in the royal city, saying that your to me most sweet and pleasant Holiness had suffered …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great How the Kindly-Disposed and the Envious are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 11.) Differently to be admonished are the kindly-disposed and the envious. For the kindly-disposed are to be admonished so to rejoice in what is good in others as to desire to have the like as their own; so to praise with affection the deeds of their neighbours as also to multiply them by imitation, lest in this stadium of the present life they assist at the contest of others as eager backers, but inert spectators, and remain without a prize after the contest, in that they toiled not …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great A Believer's Privilege at Death
'For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' Phil 1:1I. Hope is a Christian's anchor, which he casts within the veil. Rejoicing in hope.' Rom 12:12. A Christian's hope is not in this life, but he hash hope in his death.' Prov 14:42. The best of a saint's comfort begins when his life ends; but the wicked have all their heaven here. Woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.' Luke 6:64. You may make your acquittance, and write Received in full payment.' Son, remember that …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity "And These Things Write we unto You, that Your Joy May be Full. "
1 John i. 4.--"And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." All motions tend to rest and quietness. We see it daily in the motions below, and we believe it also of the circular revolutions of the heavens above, that there is a day coming in which they shall cease, as having performed all they were appointed for. And as it is in things natural, so it is in things rational in a more eminent way. Their desires, affections, and actions, which are the motions and stretches of the soul …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Spiritual Hunger Shall be Satisfied
They shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 I proceed now to the second part of the text. A promise annexed. They shall be filled'. A Christian fighting with sin is not like one that beats the air' (1 Corinthians 9:26), and his hungering after righteousness is not like one that sucks in only air, Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled.' Those that hunger after righteousness shall be filled. God never bids us seek him in vain' (Isaiah 45:19). Here is an honeycomb dropping into the mouths of …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12 The Royal Marriage Feast.
PART I.--THE WEDDING GUESTS. "And Jesus answered, and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of …
William Arnot—The Parables of Our Lord "Now the God of Hope Fill You with all Joy and Peace in Believing," &C.
Rom. xv. 13.--"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing," &c. It is usual for the Lord in his word to turn his precepts unto promises, which shows us, that the commandments of God do not so much import an ability in us, or suppose strength to fulfil them, as declare that obligation which lies upon us, and his purpose and intention to accomplish in some, what he requires of all: and therefore we should accordingly convert all his precepts unto prayers, seeing he hath made …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life Links Proverbs 14:8 NIV
Proverbs 14:8 NLT
Proverbs 14:8 ESV
Proverbs 14:8 NASB
Proverbs 14:8 KJV
Proverbs 14:8 Bible Apps
Proverbs 14:8 Parallel
Proverbs 14:8 Biblia Paralela
Proverbs 14:8 Chinese Bible
Proverbs 14:8 French Bible
Proverbs 14:8 German Bible
Proverbs 14:8 Commentaries
Bible Hub
|
