TOPIC: A DISTORTED VIEW OF SELF
KEY VERSE: Proverbs 20:6
Most men will proclaim
every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?.
TEXT: Proverbs 20:1-15
1. Wine is a mocker, strong drink is
raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
2. The fear of a king is as the roaring
of a lion; whoso provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own soul.
3. It is an honour for a man to cease
from strife; but every fool will be meddling.
4. The sluggard will not plow by reason
of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing.
5. Counsel in the heart of man is like
deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.
6. Most men will proclaim every one his
own goodness; but a faithful man who can find?
7. The just man walketh in his
integrity; his children are blessed after him.
8. A king that sitteth in the throne of
judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes.
9. Who can say, I have made my heart
clean, I am pure from my sin?
10. Divers weights, and divers measures,
both of them are alike abomination to the LORD.
11. Even a child is known by his doings,
whether his work be pure, and whether it be right.
12. The hearing ear, and the seeing eye,
the LORD hath made even both of them.
13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to
poverty; open thine eyes, and thou shalt be satisfied with bread.
14. It is naught, it is naught, saith
the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth.
15. There is gold, and a multitude of
rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.
MESSAGE:
Adolf
Hitler, with solemnity, paraphrased the Bible when encouraging his generals. He
said, “A nation in which there is…one righteous man will not perish”. No doubt,
he regarded himself as this one righteous man in spite of death of thousands of
people recorded daily during the Second World War, which was to a greater
extent, by his own making.
The passage
today provides us with warnings for our learning and instruction. It condemns
wine and strong drinks, and corrects heaven-bound Christians on sundry issues
of life that centre on godly living. The text equally cautions against the
practice of proclaiming our own goodness, and highlights the delusion and
destruction that come to those who are deceived thereby.
There is an
incredible famine of perfectness in these last days, even in the assembly of
Christians. Too many people are rejecting, rewriting and reconstructing the
word of God to suit their unbelief. Commonly accompanied with unbelief is
self-righteousness. For some odd reasons, the majority of people today believe
they are good people, not according to God’s righteousness but to the good of
“self”. A self-righteous individual is a hypocrite.
Doing good
does not make a man good. No one in the world can claim that he is good because
every man has sinned. Some may seem good in their own eyes but before God they
are filthy rags. Our goodness and righteousness are only weighed through the
sacrifice of Christ at Calvary. A sinner can only be good when he repents and
believes on the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: We have a
perfect image only in Christ.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 14-15
Daily
Manna is the daily devotional of the Deeper Christian Life Bible Ministry
(DCLM) by Pastor W.F. Kumuyi
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