The Bryce Crawford Podcast - Proverbs Series Chapter 11 (EP 111)

Episode Date: July 11, 2025

Proverbs 11

We're going on tour. This fall, we're bringing the live podcast show to four new cities. We're coming to Nashville, San Diego, Chicago, and Birmingham, Alabama. If you've ever wanted to see the live podcast in person, go to Jesus in the street. dot org slash tour and get your tickets. It's going to be a powerful night of worship. And the word that God is storing in my heart is going to be different and unique to each city we go to. So come out, Jesus in the street.org slash tour. Get your tickets and we'll see you in Nashville, San Diego, Chicago, and Birmingham.

fall. What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Cover podcast. I'm Bryce, and today we are on Proverbs 11 out of 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs. We were breaking down the whole book of Proverbs this month. If you guys want to track your progress, follow along, have a sheet. Go to Jesus in the street.org slash Proverbs. Download the free PDF today. Check along. Now, I want to give you guys, I think, a good, fair warning right now. The next, basically the rest of this Proverbs series, up until we get to the Proverbs chapter 30. All the Proverbs now, they're not grouped into titles or sections. There's not an overarching theme, if that makes sense.

The book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom and nuggets of wisdom. And so from Proverbs 1 about Proverbs 10, you guys know you guys have been following along. Each chapter was kind of tied in. There's a call to wisdom here. Stay away from the adulterous here. But now when you get to Proverbs 11, it's just collections of wisdom. So this Proverbs 11, we're going to be breaking down.

verses throughout the thing. And as the rest of the series goes on until we get to Proverbs 30, we're really going to be focusing on key verses of wisdom in the next books of Proverbs. And it's going to be awesome. So let's dive into Proverbs 11 and read it together. A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just wait is his delight. The term abomination that we see used in scripture is reserved for terrible, horrible things. So in the same way, that God condemns those who defraud, that is abomination. The same degree, God has delight in just and fair business practices. So throughout Proverbs, you see things about wealth and riches and sexual immorality and things like that.

We have to understand what he's saying here. When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble wisdom, but with the humble is wisdom. The proud man or woman fear shame, right? Those with pride, men and women that have pride fear shame, but they're cultivating shame and disgrace for themselves because they actually fear shame and guilt and condemnation. First three, the integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but the righteousness delivers from death. Now look at that. Riches do not profit in the day of wrath. Solomon is recognizing

the benefits of riches in this lifetime, but also the limitations, meaning that your monetary wealth can't buy your salvation. We can and should be using our wealth this earth presently to store up treasures in heaven. So I think our heart posture is, hey, we can't use physical money in this lifetime to buy salvation, but how can we use our money in this lifetime to glorify God and store treasures in heaven? Isn't that a crazy, cool, unique perspective we should have? Verse five, the righteousness of the blameless, keep his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are taken captive by their lust. When the wicked dies,

his hope will perish and the expectation of wealth perishes too. The wicked man or woman oftentimes expect blessing because of their actions, right? And they expect blessing and goodness the wicked man and woman often do, but it will disappear when they die and face judgment. Because we're held accountable for actions and thoughts on the day of judgment. They testify against ourselves. The righteousness is delivered from trouble and the wicked walks into it instead. With his mouth, the godless man would destroy his name.

neighbor, but by knowledge the righteous are delivered. I want to focus on verse 9, verse second. A marking, one way to identify a hypocrite is that they destroy people with their words. They tear people down because sincere love looks to build each other up instead of destroy them. And that's something as the body of Christ. I think we often do. We fall to gossip a lot. We do all these things. We're about read about gossip here later on and a few verses down. But we have to understand that as followers of Christ, we need to use our speech. The Bible tells us that there is life or death in the tongue. We need to use our speech to glorify God, encourage each other and build each other up. But oftentimes a hypocrite, a sign of a hypocrite is someone that destroys people with their words.

When it goes well with the righteous, first 10, the city rejoices. And when the wicked perish, there are shouts of gladness. By the blessing of the upright, a city is exalted. But by the mouth of the wicked, it is overthrown. What does that mean? When you honor God and trust in the wisdom and the word of God, it not only benefits yourself, but benefits the community around you. Your sin affects other people outside of yourself, but your obedience to God,

the blessings you receive from that will benefit your community around you as well. Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent. Whoever goes about slandering or reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy and spirit keeps a thing covered. That verse 13, we're talking about gossip here. The uncontrolled talker,

loves the power and intrigue of revealing secrets. The uncontrolled talk of the one that can't tame the tongue. They care so much about themselves and what people think of them and be in the talk of the town that they're willing to reveal secrets of other people. Whereas as followers of Christ, the wisdom of God actually gives men and women the appropriate time to conceal matters and to bring things up.

Because those that gossip, they use gossip as a power and a tool for their own glory. And we have to recognize that's not who we are. Verse 14, where there is no guidance of people falls, but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer harm, but he who ate striking hand, pledges secure. I want to read verse 14 again. Where there is no guidance of people falls,

but in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. One reason why pastors and leaders fall today is because they surround themselves with people that are impressed by them rather than people to challenge and sharpen them. If you surround yourself with people that are impressed by you, then no one will have the courage to call you out when you're doing something in total opposite character of the character of God. Maybe when you're falling into sin

or you have some questionable habits, if you surround yourself with people that are impressed by you, they don't actually care about you. Another concern I have is like, my pastor has a pastor. My mentor has a mentor. mentors and brothers and sisters are a good thing because they don't just have a view of your life, they have a voice in your life because they know what you're doing behind closed doors,

they know how you live your life off camera, they know how you live your life majority of the day. And so it is nice to have voices in our life also too that we can bring wisdom to. So we can ask for help in navigating decisions. Verse 16, a gracious woman gets honor and violent men get riches. The mark of a truly gracious woman is that she carries with her. a sense of honor. But see, the result, ruthless people only care about riches because wealth is their God. And now Jesus. And so one sign for a gracious woman is that she carries herself with honor. A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself to the one who is merciful,

he will be shown mercy. The wicked earns deceptive wages, but the one who sews righteousness gets a sure reward what you reap, what you reap what you sow. Whoever is steadfast in righteousness will live, but he who pursues evil will die. Those of crooked heart are an abomination to the Lord, but those of blameless ways are his delight. Be assured an evil person will not go and punish, but the offspring of the righteous will be delivered. That is just an echo of the beginning of Proverbs 11. Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. Whoa.

The desire of the righteous ends only in good, the expectation of the wicked in wrath. Now, how do we know if as righteous people we have a righteous desire? because our righteous desires are going to align with the will of God for our life and with the character of God. So someone to have a righteous desire would say, hey, listen, God, I just want whatever your will to be done. Sure, I want this thing, but if it's in your will, let it be, but more so I care about you and your intimacy and what you want in my life.

And so if that means I don't get this thing or have this opportunity or do this certain thing, then that's fine with me because I want what you want, what's best for me. One gives freely, yet grows all the richer, another withholds what he should give and only suffers want. That correlates back earlier in Proverbs when he says, hey, if you have the power to do good, do so. Don't hesitate. Do it.

Don't wait to do good, do it. Whoever brings blessing will be enriched and one who waters will himself be watered. Now, I think that's interesting verse right there. And the one who waters himself will be watered. Oftentimes we minister and preach to people when we're on our own empty cup. How are you going to be able to serve other people

and share with people the love of Christ? if you yourself aren't filled filled up in his presence. So when we read this parable of the ten virgins in the gospel of Matthew, there's this emphasis of keeping oil in your lamp. What is oil? Intimacy with the Lord. We have to have intimacy with God in order for us to be able to pour out a minister to other people. Whoever diligently seeks, sorry, excuse me, verse 26,

the people who curse him who holds back grain, but a blessing is on the head of him who sells it. That's talking about dishonest money handlers. honest salesman. Okay. Whoever diligently seeks good, seeks favor, but evil comes to him who searches for. Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf. Man, money doesn't go with you in the grave.

Money fluctuates. We have recessions. We have inflation. We have all these things. It's such a weak foundation to found your life on. And he's saying, if you trust in riches, you will fall. if you're not even content with the amount of money you have right now and glorifying God at the same time,

you'll never be content with double your bank account and trying to glorify God. Charles Spurgeon shares a quote similar to that. It's like, how are we going to be able to glorify God and be content with what we have and we're so focused on an idolization of money? Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, but the fool will be servant to the wise of heart. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life

and whoever captures souls is wise. If the righteous is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sin of the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. It's crazy how an obedient life to God when it feels uncomfortable to our flesh actually is the good life.

Guys, I pray Proverbs 11. It was a blessing to you and I'll see you guys tomorrow for Proverbs chapter 12. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode. If you guys like it, subscribe to us on YouTube, follow us on Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.

Bless you guys and see you guys. next week for the next episode.