Proverbs 4:5 I. Solomon himself received wisdom from Divine inspiration. Now no supernatural supply of wisdom can be vouchsafed to us. There is no limit to the moral improvement which God's Spirit may work in our hearts; there is no saying how much kinder, gentler, purer, truer, humbler, better, He... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:7 I. There must be reality in our knowledge. It must be the real knowledge of real things. We must be sure that we, in the first instance, take it in as accurately as possible. We must not bridge over to ourselves difficulties, whether little or great, or take a leap over them, leaving a... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:13 We come into the real school-life when we have left school. Duty is twofold: duty to do, duty to endure. We have the tasks of the school to do, and the discipline of the school to bear. And the more honest we are in the first, the braver shall we be for the second. I. We have duties... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:14 One chief cause of the wickedness which is everywhere seen in the world and in which, alas! each of us has more or less his share is our curiosity to have some fellowship with darkness, some experience of sin, to know what the pleasures of sin are like. I. This delusion arises from S... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:18 To understand somewhat the force of this divinely beautiful sentence, we must call to mind that our condition in this world in the sight of Almighty God is very frequently spoken of as that of travellers on their journey; and our life altogether is represented as a way a path a progre... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:23 I. The meaning which a reader of the English only would affix to these words, amounts to this that on the state of the heart depends the character of the man. The issues of life, the various ends at which a man is landed, the total of what he is in principle or feeling, the value at w... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:24 First the fountain, then the streams; first the heart and then the life-course. The issues of life are manifold: three of their main channels are mapped out here the "lips," the "eyes," and the "feet." I. A froward mouth. The form of the precept, "put it away," reveals the secret of... [ Continue Reading ]
Proverbs 4:25 The rule of life, the comfort of life, the strength of life, the life of life, is, first to have an object, and then to live up to that object steadily and unquestioningly. A distinct, sufficient purpose, and a determined pursuit, give reality to life and make the man. I. The primary... [ Continue Reading ]