TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: Jan. 28, 2026. Lesson 18-2026. Title: Wide Awake and Working

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Proverbs 20:13–15 contrasts diligence with desire and appearance with reality. Loving sleep leads to poverty, but staying alert and industrious brings provision. Fine words about gold and jewels are common, yet lips guided by knowledge are rarer and far more valuable. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart explore how discipline produces blessing, why spiritual alertness matters, and how true worth is found not in possessions or polished speech, but in wisdom grounded in knowledge and truth. Lesson 18-2026 Teachers: Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart You can partner with us by visiting MannaNation.com, calling 1-888-519-4935, or by mail at PO Box 399 Vero Beach, FL 32961. MEGA FIRE reveals the ancient recurring cycles of war and economic collapse that have shaped history for 600 years. These patterns predict America is now entering its most dangerous period since World War II. Get your copy today! www.megafire.world Get high-quality emergency preparedness food today from American Reserves! www.AmericanReserves.com It’s the Final Day! The day Jesus Christ bursts into our dimension of time, space, and matter. Now available in eBook and audio formats! Order Final Day from Amazon today! www.Amazon.com/Final-Day Apple users, you can download the audio version on Apple Books! www.books.apple.com/final-day Purchase the 4-part DVD set or start streaming Sacrificing Liberty today. www.Sacrificingliberty.com

Welcome to morning, man, Welcome to morning nurture nourishment. Your teachers, Rick Wiles and Dr. Burckhardt, get your body before. Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manor,

Humrick Wiles, and my partner in teaching the Word of God is Dr. Raymond Burckhard, wherever you are in the world, and whatever time of day it is, we're glad that you are here to study the Word of God. If you're watching us on Facebook,

TV. We're only on 30 minutes, 28 minutes and 30 seconds to be precise, every Monday through Friday. However, the lesson continues, and you can go to manna nation.com and find today's lesson. Today's lesson is 18-26. 18-20206. We're going to be studying Proverbs chapter 20, verses 13, 14, and 15. Let's pray, invite the Holy Spirit. Then Doc's going to read the Word of God. Almighty God, our Father, we give you glory and honor and praise and Thanksgiving for this beautiful day that we are alive and healthy and blessed and saved. And our names are in your book of life. We are sons and daughters in your kingdom. Father, your sons and daughters have gathered for breakfast. And so we ask the Holy Spirit to begin serving the divine meal and fill our hearts and minds with your precious word.

In the name of our king, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. Amen. And what a privilege to be able to read the Word of God here today. Don't take the Word of God for granted, folks. There was a time where if you sought out the Word of God, you'd be persecuted some. men who produce Bibles like Tendale and others were burned at the stake for the Word of God. This word is precious, and don't take it lightly, folks. It's very, very rare and very precious. We are reading Proverbs chapter 20 verses 13 through 15 today. Would you read along with me, please?

I'm reading from the King James this morning, and this is going to be an interesting lesson today. Verse 13, chapter 20, love not sleep lest thou come to poverty. Open thine eyes and thou shalt be satisfied with bread. It is not, it is not, say it the buyer, but he has gone his way, then he boasteth. And then verse 15, there is gold in a multitude of rubies,

but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. God bless the reading of his word today. This will be a great lesson today. We've got a lot to discuss. You're going to be blessed. I was blessed preparing the lesson, and I am certain you're going to be blessed hearing this lesson. We're going to start with verse 13.

The King James says, love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Open thine eyes, and thou shall be satisfied with bread. We're going to break this into two parts. The first part, love not sleep, let's now come to poverty. Solomon does not say, do not sleep. Sleep is a biological necessity. It's a gift from God. God gives sleep.

He gives rest to his beloved children. As Psalm 127 verse 2, he giveth his beloved sleep. The prohibition is against the love of sleep. It targets people who prefer the dream world to the real world. Just like money is not evil. love of money is evil, the root of all evil. You're right. And so Solomon is now saying, he says, sleep's not bad, but loving sleep is what's going to get you in serious trouble financially. Love not sleep, let's out come to

poverty. His advice is a warning of a slippery slope to sleep lovers. Say that four times very fast off. Slippery slope to sleep lovers. The warning is specific, lest you come to poverty. The Hebrew word means to be dispossessed, to lose your inheritance. There you go. Laisiness is like a thief. It does not just prevent gain. It strips away what you already have.

You understand this? Laisiness, not only does it provids you from gaining things in the future, it takes away what you had from the past. It's a thief. So the proverb is teaching that loving sleep is synonymous with loving poverty. It's a choice to trade future provisions for present comfort. I think this is talking to somebody right now, Somebody's watching television, and this is talking to you right now,

and you're getting a revelation of why you have financial trouble. You have financial troubles because you sleep too much. Now, that doesn't cover every single person that has financial troubles. There are certain people. You have financial lack in your life for one reason. You sleep too much, and you sleep too late. You sleep too late. It's not just the amount of time of sleep, but it's the time you get up.

Get up in the morning. Get up early in the morning. Okay? So we have to be aware of the time thief. Next to your soul, time is the second most valuable gift from God. Time is the primary capital of every human. being. God gives every human the same amount of time. He does not give 28 hours per day to some humans and 15 hours per day to others. Everybody receives 24 hours each day. What will you do with those 24

hours? How do you spend those hours each day? Some people are more successful in life than others because they are more productive with their daily time allotment. So to love sleep is to squander your capital that God has given you. Everybody gets 24 hours. Some people burn up more hours and sleep than others. Others are up early working. And then you wonder, well, why are they always prosperous? Why are they always getting ahead?

And I'm not. Because they're up early working. Amen. It's not that complicated. The hours spent in unnecessary slumber are hours stolen from potential industry, your potential work, your learning, your service. Why do people love sleep?

Often it's to escape the pressures of reality. It's a form of cowardliness. The sluggard retreats to his bed to avoid the battles of the day. Mental depression also contributes to people oversleeping. They sleep away their day instead of dealing with the issues that are making them depressed. Like I recall many decades ago when I was a young Christian, the Holy Spirit was dealing with me about getting up much earlier. in the morning.

Now, I went to work every day. I wasn't like I was laying in bed all day. I got up, went to work. I had a job, you know. Right. But the Holy Spirit was dealing with me about getting hours earlier. You know why?

He wanted to speak to me. He wanted to import wisdom to me. And, again, this goes back to, like, my late 20s. And I had such difficult time with that. And I always, felt convicted. Lord, I slept in again. I told you I was going to get up at 4 a.m.

And I didn't get up, you know, to 6 a.m. And I had this guilt on me, you know, felt terrible about it. Why can't I do it? Yeah. Who was accusing you, Rick? Me. But you know what, finally, you know what the Lord, you know how the Lord, he showed me what it was? I consumed vast amounts of sweet iced tea and soda drinks at night, at night before going to bed. I had so much sugar in me, I couldn't wake up. How is there a sugar coma? He revealed that to me. Cut out the tea and the sugar drinks at night.

You'll wake up in the morning. Yeah, you will. So somebody right now, you may be struggling with this and your problem is you're drinking too much sugar, you're consuming too much sugar. So, theologically, we are warned against spiritual lethargy. Apostle Paul advised saints in Thessalonica

not to spiritually sleep like the world. To love spiritual ease. To refuse to watch and pray is to invite spiritual poverty. His admonition also applies to physical sleep. This is first Thessalonians, chapter 5, verses 5 and 6. You are all children of light and children of the day.

We don't belong to the night nor to the darkness. So then let's not sleep as the rest do, but let's watch and be sober. Yes. So that's a great admonition to us. Don't try to spiritualize it there and just say, well, he's only talking about you know, being spiritual watchmen.

No, it's about physical capacity too. And I'm with Rick here. This admonition here is not against sleep. Okay? God gives sleep. He gives rest. God even sent aside a whole day for rest. God didn't need to rest, but he said the example for us.

And so there's nothing wrong with rest, righteous rest. There's nothing wrong with rest. righteously, but against loving sleep, like Rick said. Now, Proverbs 2013 is connected to a previous passage that we studied now several months ago back in Proverbs chapter 6, verses 9 through 11, and it reads, how long will you sleep, Sluggerd? Will will you arise out of your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, so your poverty will come as a robber and your scarcity is an armed man. So we're revisiting that concept here in this passage today.

The sleep that we're talking about is that sleep that represents over-indulgence, avoidance in life, refusal to take responsibility. It means you are preferring comfort over the calling that God has put in your life. that love of sleep dulls urgency and erodes your discipline and this love of sleep becomes a pattern, not an exception.

So there's a danger of unchecked ease here. What begins is rest becomes a retreat from your vocation and calling. So it's not rest that ruins the man, but the affection for it that replaces responsibility. And so Solomon here is teaching a cause and effect type of situation here.

That affection is going to affect your destiny. Now, as Rick said, poverty has a lot of different ways of arriving. But one way you can guarantee poverty is to love sleep. And so poverty is a consequence, not a random misfortune in this case. So the sluggard's poverty is gradual, silent, and self-inflicted. Those who indulge themselves should expect to experience want of necessaries. Nature requires sleep, but grace and wisdom forbid making a lifestyle. And so there's a link between diligence and God's provision for daily living.

Now, we can broaden this principle sleep. And connected to our study earlier this week, several passages, talked about sloth, laziness, carelessness, in our lifestyle with prayer and scripture and obedience, which leads to spiritual poverty and barrenness. I thank God that the Lord wakes me up just about every day between 4.30 and 5 o'clock. I don't even need an alarm anymore.

And that time period between when I get up and when the day gets started is a great time. No one is around. No one's talking. The TV isn't on. You know, not watching things online, but reading, looking at the word, and getting that into your life and everything. And Rick's right. The habits that you do the day before impact your sleep the next day.

I can't have any caffeine. I don't have sugar at all. But I can't have any caffeine after 6 o'clock in the evening. It's a no-no. If I do, I guarantee you it's going to impact how I sleep that night. And now on those days where I sleep later than that, I don't get upset about it, I don't feel guilty about it. I know the Lord's given me additional rest. That particular morning, I needed the additional rest.

And so that guilt was gone too. So I just thank the Lord for it. And thank the Lord for rest, thank the Lord for sleep. But don't love it. That's the message here today. What are the consequences of loving sleep, Rick, that we can watch out for? Or what's the antidote, actually? Well, the second part of this verse,

open your eyes and you will be satisfied with bread. You can see Solomon just standing there going, Hey, lazy man, wake up, open your eyes. If you just open up your eyes and get out of bed, you'll have food in your house. So opening your eyes implies alertness, readiness, engagement. This is more than just waking from sleep. It is awakening to duty. You have a duty, you have a responsibility to be productive,

to be engaged in the affairs of life for the kingdom of God. So Solomon connects this awareness, this awakening every day, this alertness. He connects it with your daily supply of food and your provisions for life. So bread, obviously, it represents provision, sufficiency, stability. I mean, every part of the world, people eat bread. because people have been eating bread for thousands of years. It's part of life. So he's telling us here is that satisfaction follows diligence, not dreams.

Yes. You will not become prosperous because you had dreams during the night. Unless the Lord gives you a divinely inspired dream and you wake up and you build it, you do it. but it requires effort. So God's order is clear. Attention to duty precedes reception of abundance. Before you can receive abundance, you have to have attention to duty.

You have to work. Work comes before abundance. Right. So opening the eyes every day means recognizing opportunity while it is present. while it is present. I've said this many times the moment I wake up. Whatever hour it is in the morning,

the very first thing I say is good morning, Father. I love you. Thank you for allowing me to wake up. And it's time to get up. You know, I've slept enough. It's time to get out. Don't lay there and snooze off again. Get up and get me.

The Holy Spirit desires to get up. talk to you. And I don't know, Doc, for you, but that very, that's window. There's a window there when my eyes open. It could be maybe the first hour of the day. But there's a window where I am more likely to hear the Holy Spirit than any other hour of the day. Yes. I agree with you on that. As you said, don't turn on the television. Don't turn on the radio. Don't look at your phone. Don't do anything, wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Be still in the morning, but get up, get up, and let him talk to you. He has solved my problems in that first hour of the day. Things that I was wrestling with, he's told me the solution. He's, he's revealed to me, and Doc has seen this happen

many times, he's revealed to me problems I didn't even know I had. Yeah. Yep. And just say, hey, you've got a problem. Here's how to fix it. And then Rick, calls me early in the morning and says, you won't believe what I heard from the Lord. Yeah. And I see, yeah, because that's when he talks to you. And sometimes the Lord has given Doc dreams during the night. And when he and I arrive at work to church in the morning, the physical reality of that dream is appearing. Yes.

And we know the Lord spoke. Okay. So, Doc, what's the cure for poverty? The cure for poverty is, as the philosopher King Solomon says, open your eyes. Open your eyes. Open your eyes. You know, you could just preach that. That's just it.

Just open your eyes. So this means two things. First of all, it means literal wakefulness. You should make an effort get out of bed early. Now, I realize people have. different body clocks and stuff like that, but you can train your body. You can train yourself to be an early riser, and I would encourage you to do so. Get alone. Get by yourself. Jesus did. It was Jesus's habit to get by himself alone early in the day. And if you want examples,

all through history, the early risers have been the champions of wisdom. But it's more than just literal wakefulness. It means a mental alertness, too. You know, open your eyes. And that's something I've really learned over the past couple years is to keep my eyes open. I'm talking about during the day. You know, most people sleepwalk through life rare. They really, really do. So when he says, open your eyes, it's not just talking about waking up out of your bed, but when you're out about, keep your eyes open for opportunities, for something God is up to. The successful man keeps his eyes open to the needs of the market, let's say. What's gold doing today? What's silver doing today? He's considering the state of his flocks. What shepherd is going to sleep in

when his sheep are in danger. And also the changes in seasons, too. Not every season is the same. Some seasons are seasons of prosperity. Some seasons are seasons of lack. So you need understand that. Understand cycles. Understand times.

Be a student of that. Open your eyes, people. Open your eyes. What will happen? thou shalt be satisfied with bread. Now, that could be literal bread, you know, just by being observant and alert at work, you're working harder, you're showing up work on time, you're staying the full day,

you're putting in a productive day, you're going to have more bread, both literal bread and bread in your pocket too. So God doesn't promise luxury to the diligent, but he promises sufficiency. He promises supply, that bread. So the wide awake man will always find a way to eat. Right?

The alert man will always find a way to eat. Now, how does this apply to, let's say, vision? We say open your eyes. You know, you can't plow a straight furrow with your eyes closed. You can't do it. If you're plowing a field, you can't just be walking around with your eyes closed, not looking around, taking a nap while the mule does all the work.

You won't be plowing a straight line. You can't reap a harvest while you're dreaming. So you've got to have open eyes as a prerequisite for a working hand. You know, Psalm 11918 says, Open my eyes. This is the psalmist crying out. Open my eyes that I might see wondrous things out of your law. And so just as the physical eye gathers like the body, the spiritual eye gathers truth for the soul.

So the man or woman who wakes up to God will be satisfied with that bread. And this is a principle of wisdom here, the principle of engagement. Life responds to those who interact with it and engage it. If you're just sailing along and floating by and everything, if you withdraw, go into that sleep, life withdraws its rewards. If you engage, you open your eyes, life yields its fruit. I learned this principle a number of years ago to keep my eyes open when I'm walking through parking lots.

Rick, people throw money away. And what do I mean by that? I mean people throw money away. I find money on the ground constantly. I don't think I don't think I'm being some sort of money detector. I have some sort of special gift, but I'm watching. It's miracle money. It's miracle money.

I agree. It's miracle money, but it wouldn't be a miracle if I didn't have my eyes open for. I'll give you an example. We were at a store a week and half ago. Mia was going, I think it was, you know, one of these home furnishing department stores and everything. And, of course, I don't want to look at, uh, furniture. and home decor and all that. So I just decided, well, I'll just walk around

the parking lot here. Rick, and this happens a lot in my life. I'm walking along the sidewalk, and there's literally a $20 bill laying on the sidewalk. Just laying there. I don't know how many people walked by it. I don't know how long you'd been

laying there. It could have been weeks or days. I don't know. But that 20 was there. And so keep your eyes open. There's opportunities and there's blessings all around, but you won't see them if you're asleep. That's right.

That's right. There are blessings around you everywhere, but you've got to see it. Yeah. You know, as you were telling that story, and by the way, for those, if you're watching on Faith TV, we're going to be going off in just a few minutes,

and today's lesson is 18-2026. You can find the rest of today's lesson at manna nation.com. Manna Nation.com. Look for a lesson 18-2026. You're talking about that, Doc. I had a flashback as you were talking. I was thinking about in our early days as a family.

My children are, you know, they're in their mid to late 40s now. So at this time, they were, they were, I think my son was maybe, three or four years old, okay, at that time. And we were at the beach. We had taken a vacation to Ocean City, Maryland. And as a young father, I didn't have a lot of money for this vacation and in on it.

And I'm thinking, how am I going to do this? I've got to pay the hotel room every day. I've got to buy food. The kids want to go to amusement parks. We were stretched. And I was, my wife says, I were we were laying there on the beach getting some sun

and my little, my boy Jeremy, he was like he said, three or four years old. He runs up, Doc, he had a fistful of money. I mean, he actually had two handful of money. And I'm talking 20s and 50s and hundreds.

Yeah. I said, where did you get this? He goes, it's in the water. I go, what? He says, it's everywhere. It's floating in the water. He'll come back home on every wave. Hallelujah.

Man, I got out of that lawn chair so fast. And, Doc, sure enough, there was money floating on the ocean waves. Praise God. And we gathered it up. We had a great vacation. So I don't know where that money came from. But here's the point. Had you not been awake, have you not paying attention, you would have missed the blessing.

It was there. So Solomon says, open your eyes. Wake up. Wake up. Be alert. Arise from your slumber. Not just your physical slumber, your emotional slumber. Your spiritual slumber.

Snap out of it. Wake up. If you don't wake up, you're not going to prosper. It's a call to action. It's a call to diligence. It's an awareness of responsibility. I'll just say something right now. wherever you are in the world,

if you're paying attention to what's going on in the world, and a complete reworking of the world financial system is underway right now. Open your eyes. 2026 will be the year that the elite

bring out a new financial system. You need to learn about this now. You need to get ahead of the curve. You need to be riding this wave. It's under. way right now. Don't be called off guard. See, you've got to be awake. Pay attention to what's going on. In your eyes. Don't sleep through this. You have to open your eyes. And there are people who are going to become wealthy in the next 12 to 24 months because they were awake and they saw the changes

that were taking place and they made proactive decisions to get ahead of it before the general public finds out what's happened. Okay. I don't have time to teach on this right now. Ask the Lord for insight. Yes. But you have to wake up. And you shall be satisfied with bread. It's the reward of diligence. It's the reward of being awake.

Honest labor brings provision and satisfaction. David said, I've been young and I've been old. I have never, I have never seen the righteous begging for bread. You know why? The righteous are awake. Yes. They're awake. Guess well?

They're not begging for bread. they're awake and God's feeding them. He's blessing them. That's why David said, I've never seen a righteous man or woman begging for bread. This is God's divine order. Work leads to bread. Idleness leads to hunger. Yes.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand this principle. Work leads to prosperity. Lasiness leads to poverty. It's just as something. compose that. Satisfaction comes through physical effort, not through wishing, not through waiting. There's work. You have to be involved. God honors work. Bread here is both physical and it's symbolic of spiritual nourishment. Even in spiritual nourishment, you have to apply effort. You have to pursue wisdom. You have to pursue knowledge.

God promises to bless the diligent. It's in Proverbs 10, verse 4. Again in Proverbs 13, verse 4. Opening your eyes is the first step. You can't be diligent with your eyes closed. You can't do it. You said you can't plow a straight line. You can't build something with your eyes closed.

We take the first step and God responds to that step. He sees our faith and our obedience. So awake to diligence, and then God will supply. Charles Spurgeon said that a wide-awake man will find a full table of food. Amen. I agree with Brother Spurgeon there. Open eyes, Rick, lead to active hands and active feet, too. Active hands lead to a table filled with food.

Active feet means we're going places. We're on the go. So the divine purpose of our eyes, we talked about this yesterday. Why did God give us eyes to see and ears to hear, right? He gave his eyes to see, to open, to look. We sleep so we can get proper rest. But to keep your eyes shut in a state of idleness for prolonged periods of time perverts the purpose of the eye. Think about that.

It invites lack into your home. Your eyes are inviting lack into your home by keeping your eyes shut. So there's a promise in here, and it's a promise for every believer here right now. And it says, thou shalt be satisfied with bread. It doesn't guarantee luxury, but enough, daily bread. God's ordinary reward for honest, watchful effort. A hardworking person, and I observed this, all through my life. I know you have too, Rick,

will be satisfied with enough food, not necessarily achieve billionaire status or riches, but God promises riches to those who pursue wisdom and understanding and keep his ways. And later on in our lesson today, we're going to be talking about that very thing.

Those who rouse themselves from bed and work diligently have the assurance. In fact, they can claim the promise that under God's providence, every one of their needs are going to be met. Every one of them. Alexander McClaren said,

the wide open eye is the condition of the full hand. Vigilance is the price and prosperity. The man who is asleep, when he should be awake, will find himself a beggar. Gee Campbell Morgan said the logic is irresistible. Sleep is cessation of, activity. Bread is the result of activity. Therefore, if you love sleep, you lose bread. Yes. And then it's simple. Yeah. And then Brother William R. Knot said, the open eye of the body is the symbol of an

active, intelligent mind. I like that. The world is a field. He who keeps his eyes open is going to find something to do. I agree with that sentiment completely. One of a percent. I like doing. I keep my eyes open. I know you do. I like doing. I know you do. Let me tell you something. Doug Workhard has worked with me for over 11 years now. And I wish I could clone him. I wish I had a dozen more Doc Burkart's because he loves to work. I do. I'd never had, I've never had to tell Doc Burkhart, you got to get up and do something. There have been times where you told me to stop He's working. I have.

I have. You said, not go home. Yes. And, but he's diligent and he's faithful. I've been called a lot of names, Doc, over my lifetime, but I've never been called lazy. I've had people say, I work too much, but they've never said you don't work enough. And if I can say. If I can say something about you, Rick has a unique ability of seeing things that other people don't.

seeing opportunities that other people don't. And looking at a situation or circumstance and not look at the negative of it, but look at the positive of what the opportunity is in the midst of it. I've learned so much from that in that every situation and circumstance, there's highs, there's lows, there's cycles, there's seasons,

but in every season there's an opportunity. In the winter, you shovel snow and make some money. In the summer, you cut grass and make some money. I mean, every season has an opportunity. You can't cut grass in winter, but you can sure shovel snow. And so there's opportunities around us all the time for those that have their eyes open. That's right.

Doc, I want to say one more thing about this first. And this is not criticism of any particular ministry or make this very clear. I just want to stage something. something. There are a lot of ministries that are classified as prosperity ministries. I'm not criticizing them. I believe in prosperity. I desire prosperity. I'm here teaching you prosperity right now. So I'm not anti-prosperity. The Bible is for prosperity. God is for prosperity. But my one, again, I don't want to call to criticism. I'll just say my one desire. I don't hear ministers, teachers that are connected to the prosperity message, I hear them teaching about faith.

Right. I hear them teaching about giving. Right. But, Doug, I don't know if I've ever heard anybody teach about working. What's up with that? Okay, yes, you have to have faith. Yes, you have to speak words of faith. Yes, you need to be generous in plant seeds.

but you got to work okay you can't be prosperous just by speaking the right words and having faith yeah that's if that's the case that's witchcraft there yes and being generous

you have to work faith without works is dead I didn't come up with that line James came with that's his line faith okay so do I believe in faith of course I believe in faith Do I believe in the word of faith?

Yes, I believe in the word of faith. But James said, faith without works is dead. Yes. And open eyes represents faith. Yes. And when I go back to what I said at the beginning, some of you have financial problems because you don't work. Or you don't work enough.

You're not up early enough. You're sleeping too late. You can solve your financial problems by changing your sleep habits. Right. Should I move on? So, verse 14. Oh, I like this one. Now, the King James says, it is not, it is not, sayeth the buyer.

But when he has gone his way, then he boasteth. I love it. The Aramaic Pashita translation says, it is bad, it is bad, says the buyer, but when he goes his way, he boasts. What is this about? Okay, so we'll start with this first segment. It is not, it is not, say if the buyer, or as I said, the King James says not, the Aramaic Pashita says bad, okay? So Solomon exposes a familiar human strategy,

verbal devaluation for personal gain. Yes. The buyer, the potential buyer, the prospect, intentionally, disbarges the product he desires to buy for the purpose of lowering the price. He says, it's bad, it's bad. This thing is junk. Look at it. That's not worth what you're asking.

That's a piece of junk. All right. We're going to show you here. This is sinful. Yes. If you are using this technique, you need to repent. You need to repent. if you're using this technique to get lower prices,

because God is not impressed with your negotiating skill. Right. Okay. The buyer repeats his displeasure. It's bad. Oh, it's bad. That's a joke. This is a calculated manipulation in the purchasing process.

Doc, people today say, look at the scratches. Look at the dent. I'm not paying that. price and things got scratches. Look at the shape. They come up with anything to force the price down.

This speech is not an honest evaluation, but it is strategic dishonesty. The image is a buyer standing in the marketplace, browning with his face, shaking his head.

Bad, that's bad. Chunk. But inwardly, he knows. It's excellent and he desires it. Yes. But he wants to get it at the cheapest price possible. So what's he do?

He badmoused the product. He starts trashing the product or the service. This is, this reveals how words can be used as tools of exportation. It's a classic haggling that goes sinful. It's not honest negotiation. It's dishonest manipulation and falsehood and trade. I'm going to tell you right now, Doc. I just have this feeling.

This is convicting a lot of Christians right now. Yes, amen. You're coming under the realization for the first time in your life that you've been using sinful speech to get lower prices. And God is not happy. Doc, I had to, I had to, during the lesson, I had to start, I had to start. I had to start evaluating, have I ever done this in the past? Have I ever used these techniques?

Because we do a lot of negotiations. Right. We buy a lot of products and services. And we all have to check ourselves to make sure that we're not using these type of techniques. Why is it dishonest? I'm going to tell you, because the prospect, the potential buyer, inwardly desires to buy the product or the service. but he pretends that he or she doesn't like it because, oh, it's poor quality.

There's poor workmanship. There are defects. There's no way I could pay that price the entire time. However, the prospect is salivating over the opportunity to buy the product at a marked-down price, even though he or she knows the asking price is failed. So a mouth that says it is bad when the thing is good reveals a heart that love gain more than truth. When truth is sacrificed for financial advantage, the profit already carries a law. Yes. And when you do this, you're actually violating two commandments, the one about bearing false witness and the one about covetousness because that's what it is.

those two things together. It is not. It is not. It's bad. It's worthless. Poor quality. Almost jumping at inside. You want that. You want it. You want to take advantage of your neighbor. You want to get it at a cheaper price. Now, Solomon uses that phrase, say it the buyer.

It is not. It is not say it the buyer. Why does he say that? It's a verbal tactic. It's a calculated lie. It's an exaggeration. and the whole purpose of it is to deceive and to gain advantage. The buyer pretends dissatisfaction to exploit the sellers, maybe an experience, maybe their gullibility, maybe they unsecurity or financial need.

You know, they should have been smarter, Rick. Should have been smarter. So by aggressively criticizing an item's quality, the buyer hopes to undermine the seller's confidence and lower the price. So he attacks the value to save his own money, What's going on here? It's a psychological game of dominance here. The unfortunate thing is that deceitful business practices are common, you know, around the world.

We've encountered it everywhere, Rick, every, you know, a dozen different countries that we've been to, and that many different cultures. People will say anything you get a better deal. Even when they know the item is good. Even when they want it. So wisdom treats deceptive speech as a moral failure, not a business skill. Listen to that again. Wisdom treats deceptive speech as a moral failure, not a business skill.

You see, what's going on here is the buyer's words aren't reflecting truth, but a desire to take advantage of someone else, to pay less by deliberately devaluing the product. And this behavior assumes that success justifies deception. And so Solomon is unmasking this lie. So you, you know, I mention that actually this violates three commandments. So you get right down to it, it violates thou shall not bear false witness, thou shall not steal, thou shall not covet. It's all these things. Man, you're just messing up all the way down. You broke three, We have the big 10 there in that. Just as God, and we talked about this in earlier lessons this week,

just as God requires honest weights and measures and business transactions, he also requires honest speech. Rick, does that mean that we can never point out a flaw or a problem with a product or anything like that? Of course not. But it's the motive of the heart. That's what God is getting down to. If there's a genuine issue with a product,

it's appropriate to bring that out. But check your heart to see why you're doing that. What's the purpose of it? Is it to take advantage of someone else? And you might be saying, well, they're trying to take advantage of me. The rules, even if they operate in that realm, those rules don't apply to you. You are a citizen of the kingdom.

You have a different set of rules to live by. I agree, Doug. And you said it violates two commandments. I think it actually violates three. Yeah. Because there's false witness, there is coveting, and they're stealing. Yes. Okay, so, Doc, how does this apply to a situation where you come upon something for sale?

let's say I'm just coming up with a hypothetical situation let's say an elderly grandmother is having a yard sale okay and

well we'll put it like no let's turn around like this let's say a young couple a young family couple it's having an estate sale their their grandfather died

and they're selling all granddad's stuff. And you see something that you desire in it as of high value. But they have it marked down really cheap, meaning they have no idea what they're selling. What's the ethics in this? Do you buy it at the price they're selling it, or do you say to them,

young man, young woman, let me tell you something here. You're asking $10 for, this, this is worth $5,000. Yeah. What do you do? I'm on the kingdom side on this. You go out of your way. Now, it's possible that you don't know the real value of it until later.

But if you know the value of it and you take advantage of someone else with it, that's wrong. It's your heart. If you know the value and you're like, they have no idea. idea what they're selling. Maybe it's a painting, it's a piece of art, it's jewelry. And you recognize it's worth thousands of dollars, but they have a $10 price tag on it.

And it's a young couple with little children, and they need money. That's why you know it's a lot, right? Yes. And you know that that item is worth a lot of money. My personal view is, if you don't disclose that to them and say, hey, I'd like to this, but you're giving it away. worth thousands of hours. I think if you don't do that, you've sinned.

And you know, it goes with the second part of this verse here. When he has gone his way, he boasted me. Because you know that guy, that individual got that kind of deal, he's going to go, you won't believe this. But I was at a guard sale today, and those gullible kids had this item for sale for $10. Look, this is worth $5 grand. That's that boasting. Yeah, so we'll go to our second part of this verse.

But when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. So once the transaction is closed, the buyer walks away. His demeanor changes instantly. This gal that was on his face now becomes a smirky grin. He does not throw away the worthless item he bought. He takes it to his friends and brags about what he bought at a cheap price. Yes. Why?

The buyer has left the seller's presence. The seller can no longer hear the buyer's words. There's no need to continue pretending that the product is worthless or defective. So it says, Solomon says, then he boast. Doc, I am convinced that King Solomon personally observed these things in his kingdom. I think he stood in the marketplace in Jerusalem and watched the transactions. and observed people and said, ah, it's crooked over there.

What you just did, that's crooked. I'm going to write a, I'm going to write a proverb about that. So the man boasts. I do, I do, I believe, Solomon had a scribe. He said, hey, write this down. Yes. I'm going to put, I'm going to write a word today.

I'm going to write a book about things that I see. That's how I think proverbs came about, the book of proverbs. So this man, he boasts. He doesn't throw away this worthless item. He brags about it. He glows about it. He shows it all. When the seller is gone, the deceptive buyer praises the item's true quality and its true value.

And he says to his friends, look what I got for pennies on the dollar. Right. I outsmarted him. That guy had no idea. what that thing was worth. I told him it was junk, and, you know, that guy was so desperate for money.

I looked at his car, and I saw it was rusted. I saw his kids. They were, their clothing was tattered. I knew that man needed money. He'd take whatever I offered it. See, God says, yeah,

and I'm watching and I'm listening to everything you're doing. You're taking advantage of those people. Yes. Because you're greedy and you're deceptive. You're a liar. See, the boast proves that his earlier criticisms of the product were lies. He knew it was a valuable thing all along.

He just wanted to steal the value from the seller after telling him his product was worthless. So the buyer, this deceptive buyer's heart is explain. the buyer's true opinion comes out when the pretense of lying is no longer profitable. There's no reason to continue lying. You can now tell the truth. But there's a, this tragedy is a double sin. This buyer sins in the buying process by his lying and he sins in his departure by boasting. So there's lying and boasting.

lying in pride. The problem is not just the lie, but the pride in the lie. Right. Oh, that's what makes this thing really stink in heaven. Not only did you lie, but you bragged about your lie. You were proud of your lying.

Okay, that's a double sin now. He considers his deception to be a skill, a skill, a business skill. shrewd business. Hey, you know, like my old buddy used to say, Rick, Rick, that's just business. What you just did is crooked, and he'd say, well, it's just business. He would have explained it away like that. He invites his friends to admire his ability to manipulate sellers.

He robs the seller of profit and then robs God of the glory by boasting in his own cleverness. Right. What should the Christian do? The Christian needs to seek the fair price and pay it. Don't try to get away with a steel. Think about your words. Hey, man, I got a steel in that thing. What are you confessing to, theft?

Doc, if you say I got away with a steel on that product, you just confessed to theft. That's right. Why did you use the word steel? You knew it was worth more. you even beat them down in price. We should be willing to pay what a product is worth

and what a laborer's work is worth. To grind the face of the poor seller and then brag about it is an abomination to God. And I can tell you right now, God is my witness when I hire a laborer, when I say a handyman, somebody that I need something,

done at my house. I always say to them, what is your fair price? What is your labor worth? I'm going to pay a fair price. I'm not going to pay an outrageous price. If the guy quotes a price that completely out of line, no, I'm not going to do that. What's a fair price? But once he gives me his fair price, I'm not going to say, well, I can't pay that. I'll give you half of that. Now, see, now you're starting to do with this kind of. guy is doing. Right. You know the man needs money. You know his family has needs. You know he's looking for work and now you're going to take advantage of him. You're a cheat and a liar, a crook. And don't go to church on Sunday and brag about how righteous you are. Or did you do those kind of

things? You're a crook. Yes. Pay a person what they're worth. And you know what? God will give you the money for it. Right. the Lord will give you the resources to pay what's fair. Yes. You know, that deceitful speech that it's talking about that boasting here, it's rooted in both pride and greed. So the buyer is lying to gain in those boasting about to feed his own ego. It's all about pride.

This double-faced behavior is hypocrisy. Same one thing to the face. to gain an advantage, another behind the back. So the hypocrisy is pretty stark here. The same article, the same thing he was called worthless, now he praises his excellent, right? And he glories in the very deceit he used to acquire it. So once the transaction is over and the buyer has gone his way to his friends,

now his tune changes. He boasts and brags about how good the commodity really is and how his negotiating skills were too much for the seller. He or she boast about the advantage that God laughs at the seller, you know, as a fool, glories in that, which is their shame. He glories in his sin of deceitfulness. He's glorying it, he's boasting in it. Sadly, people are apt to boast of their frauds

rather than be ashamed of them, aren't they? So what is the sin? What's happening is the deceitful buyer is calling good and evil. He devalued the product, even though he knew it was good. What the buyer counts is cleverness and true negotiating skills, God calls lies and robbery. And really, when you get down to it, Rick, this boasting behavior as a result of all this shows that your conscience is seared.

Instead of confessing wrong, this guy is glorying in it. Basically what he's doing, though, and may not realize it, but he's storing up guilt for judgment. He's going to be judged for this. Rick, believers are held to a higher standard than everyone else. We cannot even have the appearance of evil, and this is evil. Yes. In my decades of doing business,

I've got to tell you, I've come to the place where I will not engage in negotiation with somebody that I perceive is a shark who can only do a business deal if he crushes you. Right. And walks away with a pocketful of money. In other words, a fair business deal is not in his interest. His ego is so big he's got to crush you. He's got to humiliate you. He's got to beat you down that he's laughing at you when he walks away.

Yes. There are many business people with that attitude and not going to name one and I'm not going to name him, okay? There are people that just have this attitude. I have to win and you have to lose. Right. That's what we're talking about here. There's nothing wrong with getting bargains. We all like bargains.

And there is nothing sinful about boasting about good bargains, honest bargains. Just make sure you didn't use deceptive tactics and lying and pressure against a seller into giving you a price he really couldn't afford to sell it. It will not be a bargain on judgment day. Okay, that's all I can say. So let's look at some of the quotations here, Doc. you've got one here from William or not. Yes, he said that the practice of depreciating what you wish to buy

is a species of deception. It's a mask worn to hide the truth. He's right. Alexander McLaren said, The trick of trade is as old as trade itself. The man who cries down the wear and then goes away and chuckles over his bargain is a thief in spirit. Now we got one more verse.

We're already at our one hour mark here, so I've got to feed it up here a little bit. Verse 15, there is gold and a multitude of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. We'll start with this first part. There is gold and a multitude of rubies. Before we discuss this proverb, let's consider King Solomon's qualifications to talk about wealth. There are no true, accurate estimates of Solomon's wealth in modern U.S. dollars or whatever currency you're in your country. Most of what we know about Solomon's wealth comes from scriptures in First Kings and Second Chronicles.

Biblical scholars estimate that Solomon amassed immense stockpiles of gold from annual taxation, tribute, trade, and gift. It's estimated that he received 25 tons of gold each year. Doc, gold has set $5,000 an ounce. 25 tons of gold every year. He was king for 40 years. Yes. Multiply 25 tons of gold times 4.4.

he also received gold from from visitors like the Queen of Sheba and the various Arabian kings. Merchantships arrived every three years with gold and silver and luxuries. So several analysis have attempted to quantify Solomon's net worth by focusing on details of his annual intake of gold, which he said was around 25 tons. Just gold. Just gold. Every year.

So if we use, and it depends when you're watching, this gold is fluctuating so much here, $4,900, $5,000. Who knows by the time this class is seen by others on television. Let's just say that Solomon was receiving somewhere around $3.6 billion in gold per year, $3.6 billion dollars every year. Over a 40-year reign as king, it means he would have accumulated somewhere close to $145 billion. dollars. That's just in gold. He had so much silver. They just piled it up outside the city.

That's right. They didn't know what to do with the silver. As common as stones. They didn't know what to do with it. They just, hey, take the silver out there and pile it up. Okay. All right. So now that we've established that Solomon knew something about gold and precious stones and wealth, now let's look at the proverb he wrote. He begins by acknowledging the reality. of material wealth. He says, there is gold. In other words, it does exist.

Solomon's saying, I assure you it exists. I got lots of it. It's attainable. It's visible. You can touch it. You can hold it. He's not denying the value of it,

but he's setting it up as the baseline for comparison. Then he says, there's a multitude of rubies. In this phrase, the word for rubies, includes things like pearls and precious stones. Right.

He suggests that these things, while they are expensive, are capable of being piled up. He said he had a multitude of rubies. What's a multitude to a king? He had baskets full. He had barrels full of rubies. He had pearls. He had so many things.

He said, I got multitudes of rubies. Look, you can have buckets of rubies and pearls, but that does not mean you have true riches. Right. He's saying there's something beyond gold and rubies and pearls. So this verse, once again, it's not condemning wealth. Okay, that's certainly, Solomon's not doing that. But what he's doing is, he has said, you know, there's this,

physical earthly wealth here, and yet there's something even more valuable than that. So he acknowledges the reality and the attractiveness that comes with material wealth. There's gold, there's a multitude of rubies. You know, he's suggesting here, he had an abundance of it, right? But he's also saying that the earth is full of all this. I mean, they had a lot of gold then, Rick. we're still finding gold today. We're still finding rubies.

There's still new opportunities if you open your eyes, once again. His use of that there is, and a multitude suggests that the earth is full of all this. So God has filled the world with precious metals and jewels, and men seek after those things. So once again, we see this principle today. Rick mentioned the price of gold, price of silver nowadays. is going up, up, up, as we record this today. But they can't satisfy the soul or secure eternal salvation.

Many possess wealth. A lot of people have wealth, but very few people possess wisdom, Rick. So riches can be accumulated without a changed heart, without a moral transformation in your heart. And so Solomon's setting up a deliberate comparison here. You know what? There's a lot of earthly treasures, and they're impressive, but they're not the highest good. So God gives riches as blessings, but they're inferior to spiritual and moral riches.

Imagine a treasure chest overflowing with gold coins and rubies. And yet, Solomon's saying there's something. something missing in there. And what's missing is wisdom. So this verse here is preparing the heart for the superior value that follows. Solomon's about to elevate something infinitely greater than gold or rubies.

Yes, he says in the second part of verse 15, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. But, he starts with but. It's a sharp, decisive contrast. He's saying earthly treasures are many, but true treasure is rare, and if you find it, it is superior. In God's viewpoint, the lips of knowledge

means wise, truthful speed that is formed in and bathed in God's word, Amen. And Solomon saying, this is a treasure more precious than gold and rubies. This is a man that was getting 25 tons per year of gold. Right. What's he sitting, Doc?

If I had to choose between 25 tons of gold and lips of knowledge, I'll choose the lips of knowledge. That's what you say. Amen. Because he knew that the lips of knowledge would produce the gold. the gold doesn't produce the lips of knowledge the lips of knowledge produces the gold see people get this backwards well if i could just get rich if i could just i'd be smart no you need to be wise and and god will make it rich you got to have the right order in this and when i say rich i'm not talking about you know billionaire status i'm just talking about

having abundant resources yes more than enough to do what you need to do and and to do God's will on earth more than enough. So lints of knowledge describe speech that flows from a well-taught, upright heart, words that impart wisdom, truth, understanding, sound doctrine, godly counsel, words flowing from a heart that's filled with the knowledge of God and the fear of the Lord and godly wisdom. So it's not information, it's wisdom. It's wisdom that comes from the Holy Spirit. And this is, these godly lips are a precious jewel.

They're far more valuable than gold and rubies. They're rare. They're priceless. They are precious because they reflect God's character. And God is the source of all true wisdom and truth. So the phrase is teaching us that wise words are the great as well. They comfort, they guide, they correct, they bring encouragement, they bring hope, and they move people closer to the Lord.

Right. So Solomon is pivoting here a bit. He's speaking about the abundance of gold and precious stones here. He doesn't use the word precious stones, rubies. And it's almost like he's implying, you know, there's a lot of gold out there. And there's a lot of rubies out there. But then he says there's something that's not just a jewel, but it's a precious jewel, a precious one, a prized one,

prized more than the abundance of gold, prized more than the abundance of ordinary rubies, right? So the Hebrew here is suggesting that it means a vessel of honor or an instrument of value. And so the Hebrew here is suggesting that lips themselves, the lips are the container or the vessel of this precious jewel. So when a person speaks with knowledge, their mouth becomes a vessel dispensing the water of life to a thirsty world.

Solomon's also noticing here While gold and rubies are abundant Wise lips are pretty rare Right It's a rare jewel Few percent of doctors And both chase gold and rubies instead of Cultivating their lips

In godly speech Do you notice that when Solomon mentioned Gold and rubies it's in a plural tense But when he spoke of the lips it goes to singular

A precious jewel Like he's saying I've got lots of gold coins I've got barrels of rubies and pearls But a precious jewel You know

This is the same man who said You know A faithful man is hard to find Yes This is the same king That said hey I'm looking around. I see a lot of people here, but I'm trying to find a faithful man. This is the same man who's saying, I've got barrels of gold coins and barrels of rubies, but I'm looking for one precious jewel.

Right. And he considers that one precious jewel more valuable than the barrels of gold coins and rubies. Right. Okay. You know, I'm reminded of Jesus' parable of the, you know, pearl great price. The values that was put on the pearl of great price. Was Jesus thinking about, you know, Solomon and this passage here when he was taught, teaching on the pearl of great price, that there is something that's very precious.

That's worth more than the field that it can be found in. That's right. Well, let's take a look at what the Bible commentators and scholars theologians said hundreds of years ago and we'll conclude our listen for today. So I'll start with Alexander McLaren here today. He had this to say, the lips of knowledge are the true wealth because they act as the means of communication for the wisdom that's within. Better to have a wise heart and a tongue that can speak it than all the gold of over. Gee Campbell Morgan said the comparison is striking on the one side gold and a

multitude of rubies, material wealth, in its most concentrated forms, on the other, the lips of knowledge, the true values of life were spiritual and intellectual, not material. Yes, and Charles Spurgeon had this to say, to speak a word and season to him that is weary is a richer gift than a diamond. A truth spoken by the spirit of God is a jewel from the king's own crown. Praise God. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you, everybody. for watching. Yes. Morning Manna is available

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those of you are saying man this is having an amazing impact on my life it's the word it's having the impact yes i pray that talking i pray this lesson today from the start to we just finished here really let your heart be examined by these words today i mean seriously you know the the the things we say to people the interaction that we have we start off by the guy saying, you know, something's worthless. And yet Solomon ends this passage by saying the words of your mouth can be a precious jewel. Oh, precious. Yes.

There's wealth in your mouth. You know, so this is a great passage today. There's so much that we can take away from this today, Rick. Thank you for your prayers and your financial gifts for this. this ministry. We deeply appreciate your support. God bless you. See you tomorrow. God bless you. Thank you for watching Morning Manor. We hope your soul has been nourished today. We welcome and appreciate your prayers and financial support for our international Bible teaching ministry. Visit manoration.com and kindly send a gift of appreciation and encouragement for our work for Christ and his kingdom.

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