Verse by verse teaching - Proverbs 12:12 "Give and Take"

All right, if you'll look here now with me in Proverbs 12 12 The title the message tonight is give and take Give and take now last week we studied in Proverbs 12 11, which is we will start off tonight Which says he that tilleth his land Shall be satisfied with bread But he that follow the vain persons is void of understanding and in that study last week, we learned that God packed all the potential of the earth into the land and He ordained that man work that land to bring the potential out of it for the betterment of mankind and Working out the potential that God has given us brings great Disaffection to us and someone who follows the example of worthless people however they fail to develop the potential that God has given them and that means they're void of understanding as the scripture says and A lot of those people they suffer as we looked at they suffer from depression they suffer from the physical hunger from lack of Having things that they need because they don't understand the way that God ordained His creation to operate Now building on that truth tonight the Bible continues saying if you'll look now with me in verse 12 it says the wicked the wicked Now the wicked here remember wicked doesn't just mean someone who's you know got a pitchfork in their hand and going around just trying to be mean to people But it's talking about people who refuse to follow the way that God ordained for this life to function for the earth the creation to operate And when God created the world he made everything good everything told we looked at that before and he established a good and a perfect order for mankind and how he should function in the earth and God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it we looked at as well and God created Eden and then God put Adam in Eden to work the ground and After Adam sinned God sent him outside the Garden of Eden to do the same thing work the ground and Cain worked the ground he was a tiller of the ground Abel also worked the ground because he raised sheep up out of it He used that you you can't have sheep without earth. You can't have anything without earth and he used the land and worked that land and Cain's descendants they also worked the ground and They got metal out of the ground. They they got they harvested building materials out of the ground and built cities and they they got God put all kinds of Potential in this world into that ground and he put it in he made us to work it out By the way While we're on that you can't work out what God hasn't first put in and That's one of the problems that that leads to depression in this world that people who don't understand the ways of God They're trying to work out something from this earth That God hasn't put in it. They're trying to gain satisfaction from some means that God hasn't provided and They they keep trying to get satisfied By the world and the world's not going to satisfy them that way the world is there for our good But satisfaction is only going to come from our God and that's the difference and so the wicked they don't follow the way that God has ordained for them to walk and Wickedness exhibits itself in all kinds of wrong behavior Cain was right to till the ground. That was a good thing that Cain did Cain was wrong or wicked to practice a false religion. You see in our case tonight The wicked person tonight is someone who if you look back in your text desires the net A wicked person is someone who desires the net Now that may not stand out to us at first desires the net What does that mean? But when we compare this verse to the previous verse that we just read back in verse 11 And we think about what we studied last week We're going to see a stark difference tonight Between the man who works the ground and the man who desires the net there's a big difference The man who works the ground is working something out of the ground The man who desires the net is entrapping what somebody else has worked for you see the difference One is working it out The other is entrapping what he worked for that's the difference The Bible is not talking about a net that's used to fish in the sea That's a good net This here tonight's an evil net When you when you cast a net to catch fish in the sea, do you know what you're doing? You're actually working the ground You're you're harvesting fish from the earth Just as you would harvest vegetables from the soil just as you would harvest metal out of it You're you're harvesting and in using a net for that purpose. That's work You're putting work in you're taking the potential out remember Jesus also Instructed the disciples to toss the net into the sea and he helped them catch fish So that's not the kind of net we're talking about that is a good net And so a net is not necessarily bad But the net spoken of here tonight is bad because he says they they desire the net look back your text of evil men The net of evil men So the net in our text tonight is not used to harvest it's used to steal In the word men here is not in our original Hebrew language as you see it's italicized and So it's literally saying that the wicked desire the net of evil Or can we just make it a little more plain the wicked desire the evil net how about that? The wicked people desire the evil net In other words, they desire to catch in their net what does not rightfully belong to them They want to do that. That's how they want To make their gain That's how they want to prosper in life is to prosper by taking what you've worked for And there's a lot of people like that. They work hard at Taking what you work for and by working hard at taking what you work for They produce nothing They just take what you've produced It's wasted effort. It's it's Very selfish effort. It's very wicked effort, but they enjoy doing that It's what they like to do. I mean a burglar they put in a good night's work - you think about it They got a case the house They got a figure where the potential is they got a break and they're taking a lot of risks They're taking more risks than a businessman taking more risk than at aprons by Abigail. I guarantee you that and They go in they take their business risk. They take their stuff No, well now once they've taken they got to find a market for they got to sell it and cash that stuff in see And so they work hard for a living But they're not contributing anything They're just they just desire for some reason to work hard at taking what somebody worked for It's a very wicked way of thinking but there are people like that all over this world Some people have Aspirations to do great things Some people have aspirations for the net in the building I work in the The that building they administer tests to people who? Are seeking some type of license or some type of certification for employment if you want to become a counselor a surveyor and insurance salesperson a nurse a teacher and engineer some type of Board certification as a medical doctor or a number of many other things you come to my building to take that test it's the floor above me and They take that test and when I entered to my building to go to work often in the morning I'll see these nervous young people come in they'll walk in like this Have that deer in the headlight look they're kind of looking around and it looks like their whole life is depending on that day And I'll say man they're nervous I'll say you taking a test this morning yes, I said come on I'll show you where to go and I'll show them where to go and it's not my job They're just I can tell they don't know what to do and they're scared to death But you know what? They worked hard getting the education they have they worked hard crannying for that test and they're nervous and In all the money they spent for the training and all the time and the effort they spent studying it hinges upon that day and And but they desire to do something meaningful with their life But the wicked desire to take what these people work for it's wrong the wicked desire the net of evil men look back in your text but the root of the righteous is Much different than that of the wicked the root of the righteous is the Lord Jesus Christ from whom the righteous bring forth and live And since Jesus descended from David who descended from David's father Jesse the Bible calls Jesus the root of Jesse Since Jesse came from Jesus before Jesus came from him Isaiah 11 10 says and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse Which shall stand for an ensign of the people to which shall the Gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious Jesus is the root of Righteousness he is like the root of an olive tree that we've been grafted into by the gospel Romans 11 16 a verse 18 and if the root be holy So are the branches now that's us and if some of the branches be broken off That's the unbelievers and thou being a wild olive tree. That's the the Gentiles were grafted in among them and with them partake us of the root and Fatness of the olive tree that's us boasts not against the branches, but if thou boast then he's basically saying remember this thou bears not the root, but the root thee and Without explaining all that tonight. The main thing is this the root The Lord Jesus Christ he bears us we spring out of that root through the gospel The root grows us the root bears us the root bears fruit through us and our root Is the Lord Jesus Christ the root of righteousness and that root look back your text? yields fruit yield of fruit Literally in the Hebrew it gives fruit So in this verse we have people who are nets and people who are branches The branch yields fruit from the root Jesus said in John 15 5 I am the vine Ye are the branches he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit For without me ye can do nothing roots yield fruit They manufacture and yield fruit to be a blessing to people. So here's what you need to know tonight a root produces fruit a net produces nothing You lay a net out there water it Pray over it all day long. It's not going to produce anything. All it can do is catch something Remember the Hebrew word translated yield here means gives a root gives a net takes you see the difference In this verse we have givers and we have takers in this life We have givers and we have takers when scammers are sending you Texts and emails and phone calls all day They are simply casting out their nets hoping to ensnare someone and take what they've worked for They're not going to give them anything in return they simply want to take from them The reason God calls these people wicked in this verse is because this is not how God designed the world to operate The wicked operate on the basis of giving and taking you're hearing this the wicked Operate on the basis of giving and taking but God designed the world to operate on the basis of giving and giving Last Saturday, I took my wife to a coffee shop to get her some really nice coffee And that coffee shop base is based on the on the principle that God has given us on the basis of giving and giving They gave us coffee that they produced through their labor and we gave them currency that we produced through our labor At one point the man gave us Coffee mugs and I gave him a book I wrote but in each case it was giving and giving When we give and give both people win when we give and take one person wins the other person loses a Person with a root gives fruit a person with a net can only take That fruit I read the news this week where a Tyler doctor billed the government over five Million dollars for medical care that he didn't perform You'll see that article five million dollars a doctor and Tyler you can make money being a doctor But no the wicked desire the net They'd rather take and so what happened in this case the taxpayer gave But all the wicked doctor did was take all of that money given in no service performed five million dollars, you know how much treatment that could give people Who needed it? Many people have cultivated a life that's just based on taking they take from the welfare system They take from the school system. They give absolutely nothing in return They have a net not a root and that's the way they like it. They desired the net of evil Michelle Obama infamously said the truth is in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped Education system then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie So that someone else can have more and when you hear words like that, that's a taker casting their net a taker wants to get a piece of someone's pie a giver wants to make more pies and That's the difference instead of having the outlook of how can I take a piece of that? person's pie and they had to give up a piece of their pie so I can have some a Producer they say how can I go out and make pies? The truth is if all the takers Suddenly vanished from the earth the world would function function better without them All the people who desire the net if they left the world would actually be better off But if all the producers Vanished from the earth the world couldn't function at all I'll close with this today this morning received a phone call at work and You know that they ring the church it rings my phone and so I stepped away and from my post and Took the call and it was a young woman's almost always young people. I Don't I don't know if I ever get any call from an older person here at church wanting something. It's always young people real young healthy looking people and This this young lady on the other line says and I get these calls all the time by the way all the time this young lady says Yes, who's speaking please I Said this Central Baptist Church. How can I help you? I just want to know do y'all help pay electric bills. No, ma'am. We don't Okay. Thank you. You're welcome Few hours later a few hours later Get another call Central Baptist Church Who's speaking please? Central Baptist Church, how can I help you? I'm not gonna start giving out now. I don't know who these people are I need to tell me who they are, but takers don't care takers. Just do that and I and they said yes, I Was calling around trying to get someone to help me pay my electric bill and Basically make a long story short. They finally found a church after all the browsing through the phone books Calling church to church to church to church to church to church. She finally found a pastor That said they'd pay their her electric bill You Know why she was calling me back She couldn't remember which church she called Now she had to find the church So she could get her money to get her electric bill paid or take the bill to them or however Whatever arrangement they had now. She doesn't know where to go Hours of work To try to get an electric bill paid She says yes is this Anthony I said no ma'am. It's not well, who is this is it ma'am? It's not Anthony That I you know one from our church is paying your electric bill. You got the wrong church she was Well, I'm trying to find I called all these church. I finally found one and I'm trying and I said ma'am I'm sorry. It's this is not it. I don't know an Anthony. I'm sorry a Few minutes later Get another phone call Who's speaking please I? Said ma'am the same man you were speaking to a couple of minutes ago still call and trying to find that church And you know what I was thinking She'd been doing it. I was getting ready to leave go to go home from work when she called back the last time She called when I go to work She's still calling when I'm leaving work, and I'm thinking she's been at this all day. She could have been at work But the wicked desire than it I don't know what that woman's situation is but I know one thing we got a man sitting right there That works from home on the phone Makes his living and pays his bills talking on the phone And that woman could have done the same thing But instead all of that labor, and that's a lot of work that woman did there's a lot of talking a lot of calling a lot of You know poor management, but a lot of work And you know what at the end of the day She's going to take And give so one party's going to give she's gonna give nothing in return nothing And That's a sad way of looking at things our lives need to mean something We need to be beneficial to our fellow man beneficial to society And with that we'll go ahead and close tonight but always remember work on the principle of giving and giving And you know what? Sometimes when we get old and we get sick And we can't get out and work anymore. God willing hopefully we've saved for that day But you know what? Sometimes if you have to receive and have no way to pay back You can still give You can still give You can still be a blessing to people I Tell you what there was a man that did something for me one time and I Was willing to pay for it and he knew as a pastor and you know what he said he said just pray for me You know what before I left I got my vehicle closed my door and I prayed for that man Lord I pray for him again. You know who he is. I pray for him and We can always give but have them heart have the mindset of Giving and giving but that will go ahead and close tonight father. We thank you so much That the root of the righteous bears fruit Doesn't mean we always produce money But the Lord Jesus Christ Lord he works in us To work out the potential you've given us in this earth to Pray father for others To be a blessing to others to speak words of encouragement to others There's so many things dear Lord God that people who can't work for monetary gain can still father God bear the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ on their branches and Father I pray that all of us will have that mindset of being producers givers Abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ If we can work Then we can work father so that we can give to others If we can't work Then we can pray and encourage Father we can do those things dear Lord God that are still the fruits of righteousness that you bear through your people But Lord I pray That as long as we're here on this earth you will bear your precious fruit through us in Jesus wonderful name Amen