00:00 Are You Joining Me Today at Compass?

00:25 Pastors Love When You Nod!

01:49 Introduction to Proverbs 30 and 31

02:05 Exploring Proverbs 30: The Wisdom of Agur

07:56 Proverbs 31: Wisdom from King Lemuel's Mother

13:24 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

14:01 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Find out more about Compass Bible Church.

Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.

Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org

Happy Sunday, and I hope you're getting ready for another Lord's Day.

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And joining us this morning at

Compass Bible Church in Prosper.

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We're really excited to be in our new

home and we're thankful for Founder's

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Classical Academy for hosting us.

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We'd love to see you there this morning.

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I know a lot of you guys are out and

about vacationing and doing all sorts

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of fun things, much like Pastor pj who's

still in California getting his suntan.

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But for the rest of us who are

holding down the fort, we would

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love to see you at church.

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In fact, I have the distinct privilege

of preaching this morning, and I would

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love to have your smiling face there.

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I always love when there's support.

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In fact, pastor PG and I were recently

talking about the experience of preaching

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to different audiences, and one of the

things that we both agreed is such a

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helpful person to have in the audience or

the congregation is the person who nods.

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It's funny 'cause we can see you

and we know that, that we could

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see you and it's, that goes without

saying, but sometimes it feels like

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we're not getting anything from you.

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And so we talked about one of the

best noters we know is Mark Kogan.

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He, in fact, when I was preaching in

California, he's the guy that I would

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always look to say, am I making sense?

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And if he was nodding,

I knew I was on track.

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If he wasn't nodding, I knew, okay,

I need to work on what I'm saying.

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'cause clearly it's not

coming across So nodding.

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It's one of those small things

that you may or may not do.

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I don't really know who does it

or doesn't do it 'cause I don't

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preach enough in the main pulpit.

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It, but it does help.

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If you're a nodder, I will take it.

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In fact, if you're a vocal person, if

you're an Amen or and a come on preacher

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kind of person, hey, I'll take that.

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I love interaction,

especially when it's verbal.

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I know that can get outta hand,

and I'm not saying please stand up

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and start talking or anything, but

it would be great to have a little

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bit of interaction this morning.

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So if you're planning on coming

with us to church, I invite you.

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Gimme a Kamal and preacher or an

amen or a, or gimme a head nod.

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That would also be helpful.

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A head nod and a smile, if you don't mind.

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Alright, a couple of chapters

to look at this morning.

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In fact, we're looking at the final

two proverbs in the book of Proverbs.

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This is God's wisdom

on the details of life.

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And so we're looking at the

final two, Proverbs 30 and 31.

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Both of these have the distinct privilege

of being by authors that we don't know.

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In fact, let's start with chapter 30.

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These are the words of

Agar, the son of Jaka.

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Who is this?

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Why are they writing Proverbs?

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And the short answer is, we

don't know, but it's here.

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So God clearly wanted this.

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I wonder if Hezeki men added these

and these guys were contemporaries.

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There's questions about that.

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We don't know who they

are, where they come from.

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But regardless, it's here in our Bible.

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And clearly this is what

God preserved for us.

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This is what we should

enjoy and endure and read.

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So here we go.

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We have it.

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Chapter 30.

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I love the words of agro though,

because I think he's one of those guys.

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Who I resonate with him, resonate

with his sense of wonder, and I

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think he showcases something that

maybe we need more of in our lives.

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The wisdom of wonder.

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After his introduction in the

first four verses, he's basically

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saying, then we, I need wisdom.

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I'm too stupid to have enough wisdom.

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What I do have I give to you though.

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And so he starts off in verse five

saying, every word of God proves true.

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He is a shield to those

who take refuge in him.

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It's one thing to know

that God's word is true.

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It's another to put it into practice

and to trust that it's gonna be.

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True and reliable, and that's

the difference between the unwise

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person and the wise person.

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A wise person and an unwise person

may both know the same thing.

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They both may have a common sense

understanding of life, but only the

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wise person puts it into practice.

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The wise person knows, for instance, that

it's good to save money for a rainy day.

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The unwise person I bet, would

know the same thing, but the

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wise person takes pains to do it.

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The wise person will.

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Act upon the wisdom

that God has given them.

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So in this case, he's saying

every word of God proof's true.

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It's reliable, but the wise

person is the one who actually

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finds themselves shielded by it.

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They're putting it to work.

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Verse six, don't add to his words, lest

he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

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Be careful when you

elaborate on God's word.

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And this is something I take especially

to heart as a teacher of God's word.

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I don't want to add to his word

or be found supplementing it

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with things that are untrue.

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And therefore we gotta be

careful when we say, God said or

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Here's what God wants you to do.

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That would be wise of us in verses

seven through, I don't know, let's see.

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Verses seven through nine.

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He says something I

think is helpful for us.

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In fact, verse eight, remove far

from me falsehood and lying and

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give me neither poverty nor riches.

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Feed me with the food that is needful

for me, lest I be full and deny you and

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say, who is the Lord, or lest I be poor

and steal and profane the name of my God.

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This is such an incredible prayer.

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Have you ever prayed

something like this before?

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I think a lot of us would be reticent

to pray something like this because

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truth of the matter is that we'd

love to have a big bank account.

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We want the security, and we'd

like to be able to hand our

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kids off of an inheritance.

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We'd like to be able to set it the next

generation of our family to protect

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them and pro provide for them, and

that's not inherently a bad thing.

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Scripture has things to

say about that as well.

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But Agro knew himself.

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He knew himself well enough to

say, Lord, don't give me too much.

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You know how much I need, you

know how much I can handle.

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Please don't gimme more than what

is necessary for my life to be

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fruitful because if I have too much,

I might be tempted to deny you.

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And it takes a great deal of

self-awareness to know that there is

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a number that is too much for you.

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And Jesus says this, whoever is

faithful and little is faithful.

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And much you've heard this one before

and that's why it's so important for

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us to enjoy the little that we do have.

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And to steward it wisely.

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If you can't be trusted with a little

that is your own, how can you be

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trusted with eternal things that

are far greater and more lasting?

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So Agar understands something that

we probably need to take stock of.

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He understands himself.

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He understands his limits.

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Don't gimme too much.

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Please don't gimme too little.

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I need just the right amount.

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Maybe that's something

you should pray today.

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Lord, don't gimme too much.

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Don't gimme too little.

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In fact, what I do want a lot of is truth,

which is what he says here in verse eight.

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Remove far from me falsehood in lying.

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I want nothing about that.

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Nothing to do with that.

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I want to be bankrupt in falsity.

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I want truth.

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I want a storehouse of truth.

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Give me truth.

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That's what I need.

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I don't need false.

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I don't need money.

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I don't need poverty.

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I want truth.

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Gimme all of that and more.

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That's something that would

be wise of us to pray.

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Several of these proverbs here in the

second part of chapter 30 are again,

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proverbs about the wisdom of wonder and

some of these things, I'm not sure I.

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In fact, people guess what he

means by some of these things.

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I would encourage you to spend time

meditating upon them and seeing if you

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can draw some conclusions, but there's

a few takes on some of these things.

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My best take for you is to let some

of these proverbs drive you to wonder.

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Not wonder as in, I wonder how

this works, but wonder as in awe,

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the sense of recognizing that God

does things that are inscrutable.

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This goes back to our

study of Ecclesiastes.

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In fact, verses 15 and 16

sound a lot like Ecclesiastes.

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And I wonder if that's his point,

that there is a certain level of

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vanity in the world around us.

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Certain things that never have enough.

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And this goes back to what

we studied in Ecclesiastes.

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Remember, vanity in a fallen

world life under the sun.

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It's fleeting, it's futile,

and it's full of mystery.

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So as you read through the rest of

chapter 30 try to understand with

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him the kind of things that he's

trying to draw your attention to.

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Things.

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For instance, he says in verse 18,

three things are too wonderful for me.

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Four, I do not understand the way of an

eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent

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on a rock, the way of a ship on the high

seas and the way of a man with aversion.

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Notice the commonality between them.

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He's talking about the way the way

in which they do a thing, and there's

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ideas about what he means by that.

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And perhaps.

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Maybe it's just as simple as him saying,

look, there are things that are far too

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wonderful things that cause me to have

awe, and these are some of those things.

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Another commentator noted that

verse 20 might give us a clue as to

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what verses 18 and 19 mean because

he says, look, notice in verse 20,

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this is the way of an adulterous.

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What the connection is there.

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It's loose at best in my perspective,

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chapter 31, these are

the words of King Lemuel.

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This is another challenging one

because there's no king Lemuel that

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we know of in the Old Testament.

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Some have suggested that maybe King Lemu

is a name for Solomon, which is I guess

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possible, but it doesn't seem likely given

the fact that his name is well Lemuel.

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So whoever this guy is, maybe

he's not an Israelites king or a

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Judean king, whatever it is.

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We have some of the wisdom that

his mom gave him that I think

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is great wisdom for you to have.

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It breaks down nicely into two parts.

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Part one is how to rule justly.

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She's giving him wisdom about how to lead.

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Part two is the kind of woman

that she wants to marry.

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The kind of woman who is excellent,

the woman that he should pursue.

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And couple quick thoughts

from the first half.

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Chapter 31 here.

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How to rule justly.

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Here's what she says in verse four.

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It is not for Kings, OMUL.

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It is not for kings who drink wine or

for rulers to take strong drink less.

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They forget what has been decreed and they

pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

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So there is a prudence

and being sober minded.

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She doesn't want him to be intoxicated

because it will dull his senses

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and he may forget the word of God.

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He may forget what has been decreed.

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He may forget what is right

and good, and that can never be

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allowed to take place on his watch.

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And when is the king on watch?

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Always.

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He's responsible for others and

therefore, out of responsibility

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and love for his people.

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He's wise not to take drink.

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Now, of course, we've

talked about this before.

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At least in men's ministry, wine

is permissive as permittable

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rather to the Christian.

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Alcohol is permissible.

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But drunkenness is not, and some

people draw the line of drunkenness

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at different places, and I think the

safest and most wise place to draw

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the line is when you feel buzzed.

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I think a Christian can partake

insofar as there not their mind

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is not inebriated or dulled.

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Scripture goes out of the way so

often and give us encouragement

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and exhortation to be sober minded.

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That I think even the slight

hindrance in this is potentially.

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Sinful potentially.

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And I'm gonna say it that way 'cause

I can't pound the fist on the table.

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There's not a scripture verse

that says, if you're buzzed,

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it just says drunkenness.

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And again, how people

define that is variable.

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But I think it's safer, more

conservative to define it at the

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level of any type of buzzed feeling

is not a good feeling for you.

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It's not appropriate, it's not wise.

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And King Le Muell, his mother

says, this is not for you.

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And I want you to forget

what's been decreed.

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It's good for you to protect those people.

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She does say though in verse six, give

strong drink to the one who is perishing.

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And to those who isn't, to those in

bitter distress, which shows us that

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palliative care pain meds for people

that are perishing is a good thing.

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We can endorse that and support

that because God is merciful God.

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He gives us these things to help.

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And if we can provide help for someone who

is perishing, this is a good opportunity

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for us to utilize those resources.

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The second half of chapter 31 is a

familiar passage, I'm sure it's a familiar

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section of scripture where the king

LE's mom is writing about or encouraging

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him to look for this kind of woman.

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This is who he should be looking for.

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And so she says he says in verse

10, an excellent wife who can find,

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she's far more precious than Jules.

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And I know for many of us, we would

stop right there and say, I found her.

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And if you got an excellent wife, oh

boy, you better Thank the Lord for her

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and you ought to say something to her.

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In fact, let me just quickly say

this, everything that you see here

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if someone, somebody not too long

ago I know tried to say, okay,

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let's just put this woman on paper.

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And they tried to jot out her

schedule for the day, and effectively

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she was up 24 hours of the day.

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I think at the end of the

day, it was actually 36 hours.

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She was up 36 hours of every 24 hours day.

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This person doesn't exist.

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That was their point.

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You can't actually do all these

things that she does, and I don't

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think that's the point that.

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He's trying to make here.

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I think the point is you find a woman

who's industrious, a woman who's at it.

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She's all about it.

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She's not just talking about

it, she's all about it.

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She's doing the things and all

these things here are descriptors.

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It's describing in

totality what she's like.

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I.

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It doesn't mean that she's doing all these

things every day and that she doesn't

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sleep because she's up in the night.

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She's up in the morning, all these things.

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It's describing the fact that this

woman is a high caliber, quality woman.

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Her character is what is most

beautiful about her, and in fact,

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that's what is highlighted here

at the very end in verse 30.

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Charm is deceitful.

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Beauty is vain.

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That is, you can pretend to

be charming for a few minutes.

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You can even be beautiful for

several years of your life.

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But what will endure?

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What does have lasting impact

is a woman who fears the Lord,

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that woman is to be praised.

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Don't get caught up in the trap of

just looking at the superficial things.

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Those are fine.

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It's insofar as they go.

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Nothing wrong with being attracted to

your wife or your husband for that matter.

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Nothing wrong with appreciating beauty.

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Nothing wrong with appreciating charm.

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Someone that doesn't put their elbows

on the table and walks with the right

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walk, whatever that's supposed to be.

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But a Gandhi man should look

for a woman that fears the Lord.

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That is qualifier number one.

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And it's the most important one.

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There's nothing else that even

comes close to the second.

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So this is the woman that you should

praise if you have this woman.

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Make sure she knows that you

think she's the Proverbs 31 woman.

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Make sure she knows that you

think she's a gift of God.

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Make sure your kids know that.

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In fact, this is what verse 28

says, her children rise up and

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call our bless her husband.

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Also, this is a call for us to

verbalize our love and affection for

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the excellent women in their lives.

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And so men.

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Even though it's not Mother's Day, I'd

love for you to do, go talk to your

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wife, tell your kids to talk to your

their mother and encourage her and let

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her know that she's doing a great job.

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'cause if she's a woman who fears

the Lord, she is to be praised.

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Give her the fruit of her

hands and let her works.

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Praise her in the gates.

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Alright, that's the end

of the book of Proverbs.

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I know there's so much more we could talk

about here, but I hope you had enough

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here just to think it through some of

the application for your life today.

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I hope you'll join me at church today.

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I look forward to seeing you there.

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I get to preach for the next two weeks

in the main pulpit, which is a bit.

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Nerve wracking.

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I still get nervous before I preach, even

though I've done it several times now.

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I love doing it, and it's one of my

favorite things but boy, because I feel

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the heaviness of it, the weightiness

of it, I have much trepidation

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before I step into that pulpit.

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So I, I'd love to see you there.

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Your smiling face would be

a great encouragement to me.

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Thank you so much for joining me.

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I am honored that you decided to

spend time with me, and I look

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forward to seeing you at church today

and hopefully tomorrow for another

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edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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Oh.

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Let me pray for us and

then I'll dismiss us.

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God, thank you for the

wisdom of the proverbs.

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Thank you for your wisdom in our lives

that helps us to love and appreciate the

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things that we should love and appreciate.

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Help us not to forget to love the people

that you put in our lives, especially

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our excellent wives who are from you.

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Help us to treasure them and to appreciate

them the wives of our families, but also

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the mothers that are and the grandmothers.

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That are represented by these verses

help us to really appreciate these

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women who work so hard to love you and

serve not only our families, but our

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communities, and serve our churches.

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We are tremendously thankful

for the women at Compass who

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fit the bill of Proverbs 31.

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We ask, Lord that you would help

us to be a blessing to them, and

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that we'd appreciate them with

our words and with their actions.

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We ask.

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All that's in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Alrighty, goodbye for real.

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I'll see you tomorrow.

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PJ: thanks for listening to another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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This is a ministry of Compass

Bible Church in north Texas.

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You can find out more information

about ourChurch@compassntx.org.

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We would love for you to leave a

review to rate to share this podcast

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on whatever platform you happen to

be listening on, and we will catch

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you against tomorrow for another

edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.