TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Date: Jan. 29, 2026. Lesson 19-2026. Title: Risky Pledges and Sound Counsel

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

Proverbs 20:16–18 offers sobering wisdom about responsibility, discernment, and decision-making. Taking security from someone who guarantees a stranger’s debt warns against careless financial entanglements. Plans are established through counsel, and success is not found in impulse but in wise guidance and deliberate action. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart explore why wisdom avoids unnecessary risk, how godly counsel stabilizes decisions, and why careful planning is essential before entering conflict or commitment. Lesson 19-2026 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 Manor. Welcome to morning. Your teacher, Norrisement. Your teachers, Rick Wiles and Dr. Burckhardt. Get your body before. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning Manor. My name is Rick Wiles.

And my co-partner in teaching the Word of God is Dr. Raymond Burckhard. We meet every Monday through Friday at 8 a.m. Eastern time at manna nation. And we're delighted that if you can participate with us in the live Bible study, it's a worldwide global, virtual Bible study class. And every Friday, we also have Holy Communion, so we invite you to participate in the Friday sessions where we go to the Lord's table. Now, our verses today are from Proverbs 20, chapter 20, and we're looking at verses 16, 17, and 18. I'm going to pray, invite the Holy Spirit, then Dr. Bork, Christ is going to read the Word. Almighty God, Father in heaven. Father, we praise you and worship you.

We love you, Father. And we are here as your sons and daughters to be fed with your word. So, Father, we invite your precious Holy Spirit to take charge of this morning manna Bible study and teach all of us the riches that are in your word in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. And welcome to Morning Manna today. We're so privileged that you've taken time out of your day to join us as we study the Word of God together. We're studying the book of Proverbs right now. We're in chapter 20. We generally have usually a couple dozen nations that join us each day with students from all over the world. And we're so privileged that people have tuned in. And you can watch us, of course, on manna nation.com and on YouTube at Rick Wals. today. And to those of you who are watching us on faith, on the various faith networks, whether it's Faith Europe or Faith Africa or Faith USA, we welcome you as well. And we want to encourage you. Our lessons here on television are a little bit shorter than we take on our main

channel on manna nation.com. So if you'd like to see the rest of this lesson, all you have to do is look up lesson number 19-2026. That's 19-2026, and you can watch the full lesson. We are reading Proverbs chapter 20, verses 16 through 18 today. I'm reading from the King James. I encourage you to read along with me. Verse 16, take his garment that is surety for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman.

Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel. And then verse 18, every purpose is established by counsel and with good advice make war. God bless the reading of his word today. Amen. We'll start with verse 16. The world English Bible translation puts it this way.

Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman. This is going to be an interesting study. This proverb is unique because Solomon is addressing it to the lender, not the borrower. Solomon advises, if a man is foolish enough to co-sign a loan for a total stranger, do not trust his judgment. Secure your loan money immediately. He's talking to the lender, to the banker. Now, in those days, they didn't have banks, they had private individuals, private lenders. So he's talking to men and women who had money to lend.

Now, collateral is another word for surety. The King James uses the word surety. It means collateral. Surety implies taking on the obligations of another person to do this for anybody other than yourself is very risky. You know, it's risky to do it for a friend or relative, but to do it for a stranger is total madness.

It's just absolutely bonkers that you would sign a note for a stranger. It reveals a lack of boundaries and I think a need for approval Now, in ancient Israel, in those days, the garment was a man's blanket. It was his form of protection from foul weather, cold temperatures. But the law of Moses forbade keeping a poor man's garment overnight. You can read that in Exodus 22, verse 26.

Yes. However, Solomon makes an exception here. He argues that this man who is borrowing money for a stranger, he's not poor. He's reckless. Right. And he has forfeited his protection that's in the law of Moses. His stupidity has nullified the protection.

Now, notice that the lender does not seize the garment of the person who borrowed the money. Right. Instead, the lender seizes the garment of the person who co-signed the loan, who put himself up as collateral for a loan. So why take his garment? Here's why. because if this person is reckless enough to guarantee the debt of someone he doesn't know or barely knows a stranger,

then that means he is a high-risk individual. He has no respect for his own property. So the lender is looking at this and says, I've got to protect myself. If this guy is, if he is so irresponsible, he'll co-sign for a stranger, I can't trust this person. So, Doc, you know, in business and in the world of finance,

there's different degrees of money that's available. There's low interest loans and there's moderate interest loans. And then there's high interest loans. That's what they call hard money. You know, it's money is loaned out to businesses are people who have a high risk. And you're going to pay a high interest rate for that hard money.

That's right. That's what we're looking at here. Yes. So, Rick, you're right. Solomon's talking to people who have money to loan, and he's giving them some very hard, practical advice. And as you mentioned, a man's outer garment, that robe or cloak was his most basic and essential possession.

You really couldn't live without it. So this image here depicts a creditor stripping the garment from a fool, not from the poor man, but from a fool who signed for someone he barely knows, leaving the fool exposed and vulnerable for somebody else's debt. Now, it mentioned a stranger here, so who's a stranger? Well, a stranger can mean one who's unknown, one that's outside, one's immediate family, or close-circled friends. and therefore their character and reliability are not proven. They haven't been fully vetted, as we would say in modern parlance. And notice here that the lender doesn't ask for the garment, does he? He takes it.

He aggressively seizes it, seizes it, holds it as collateral for a loan. That was an extreme measure. So that imperative here, the word take is often understood as a proverbial way of saying, person is not to be trusted just on their words. You understand what we're saying here? I can't take your word for it. I need security. He's already shown lack of judgment in risking his own stability for a stranger and no party. Theologian John Gill was the pastor of a church in England that many years later, a Charles Spurgeon pastor, Pastor Gil believed that a person who pledged himself has acted imprudently. and has taken the ready way to beggary.

That was his words. Therefore, if he must be trusted at all, his garment should be taken as a pledge. So that imperative take is very essential here. This is putting oneself in financial bondage for someone has no obligation of relationship to repay. And so Solomon here is advising money lenders that if you're willing to lend money

to a high-risk borrower who foolishly co-signs a loan for a stranger, you better protect yourself if the loan goes sour. And so this is a command, and it's a strong command, a practical command. If you foolishly stand as security for a stranger, the creditor has every right to seize your garment as collateral. You've put yourself in that position. Yes. So, you know, you could reasonably,

conclude that the seizing of a co-signer's garment went on his credit record. Now, obviously, in ancient times, there were no credit reporting agencies. People didn't have credit scores. However, they had reputations. Right. And I'm sure money lenders talked to one another, too. That's what I'm thinking, Doc. Money lenders were a tight click of business. There weren't that many in each city and town. And you can be sure that the private lenders privately shared information among themselves about who in the city was foolish and who was trustworthy. I think the lenders watched out for each other and said, hey, this guy, he's good.

And he says he's going to pay the loan, he's going to do it. Now this other guy, you better watch out. And that was the credit, that was your credit rate rate rate. credit rating? What did the lenders verbally say about you to other lenders? So if one lender said at lunch, hey, I see Amos has been walking around the city lately without his outer garment in cold weather. And the other lenders said, yeah, that's right. I seized his garment. Well, why did you seize his garment? Because he co-signed for a loan. All right? That's a lot. That's a lot. That's kind of conversation that probably took place.

Right. So this kind of of a private disclosure damaged the co-signer's reputation and warned other lenders not to trust the person, the person's judgment in financial matters. Now, throughout the book of Proverbs, Solomon repeatedly warns against surety ship because it makes you the collateral for someone else's debt. Solomon sees co-signing loans as a form of folly that enslaves good people who exercise poor judgment and a lack of discernment.

The proverb teaches that wisdom demands caution in financial commitments never risk what you cannot afford to lose for unknown people. That's right. Proverse 20, verse 17, could be seen as, or is this verse 16, could be seen as more than a warning. It also could be a prediction. Any person will eventually be stripped of his or her material goods and money because they foolishly co-signed a loan for another person's debt. Just remember this. kind intentions do not cancel foolish commitments.

Amen. All right. Now, let's go to the second part of verse 16. In the second half of this proverb, Solomon ratchets up his advice, another notch or two. And he tightens his grip on people who are foolish in financial affairs. The King James Version reads, strange woman. That's a euphonism for a prostitute, an adulterist, a harlot. Other translations use the word foreigners, and it's plural. Both, whether it's a harlot, a prostitute, or just a foreigner

from outside your community, both of them imply getting into a financial entanglement with those outside the covenant. Now, at that time, we're talking about the Jewish people, the covenant that God had with Israel. But for us as Christians, we're in the new covenant. And we should not be entangled with people outside of the covenant. You're asking for trouble to go into business with somebody who is not a Christian. You're asking for a lifetime of trouble.

to get married to somebody who is not a Christian. And I could go on with a lot of examples. You have to stay within the covenant. So what we're being taught here is that lust comes with a price tag. Just as the man lost his garment for a stranger, this person loses his pledge for a strange woman. So you've got financial rashness and moral rashness.

The path of the adulteress, the harlot, the prostitute, always leads to the loss of your substance. Amen. Proverbs 6, verse 26, oh my, that was a long time ago that we studied. That was sometime in early 2025 that we were in Proverbs chapter 6.

And Solomon said, for by means of a hoarish woman, a man is brought to a piece of bread. How many times have we seen successful men lose everything? Their marriage, their family, their homes, their jobs, their business, because they got entangled with an immoral woman. So this is talking about financial entanglement.

So Solomon is saying, if this foolish man can be so rash as to pledge himself for a foreigner or a harlot, he shows himself to be utterly imprudent. Therefore, it's wise to take him in pledge, to hold him fast, lest one be injured by his foolishness. The man has thrown himself into danger by joining his credit to one who's, life and ways are what the Bible says, strange. That means outside the covenant. It's strange. It's not God's way. Anything that's not God's way is strange. That might be really strong for people.

Anything, any thought, any habit, any philosophy, anything that is not God's way is strange. Yes. So the proverb is counseling others to be very careful about dealing with somebody who entangles himself with, quote, strange people, strange ways. So when a... It says take a pledge of him. It means hold him to it.

Don't be lenient. It's meaning that the surveillance, of the consequence is the only thing that might wake him up. If he is entangled with this strange woman, he has already sold himself into slavery, and you better be careful doing business with him. So when a man becomes a gallerter for the wicked, he's no longer a free agent.

His assets are tied to their failures. He's handed the key of his life. life to a stranger, a stranger to the kingdom of God. Yes. And this phrase, the strange woman, you see it again and again and again throughout Proverbs. Now, is Solomon just talking about prostitutes or harlots here? I believe the strange woman could be any kind of temptation, any kind of immoral person, any kind of enticement or any kind of seduction that, entices you into sin and eventual ruin with them too. So this strange woman can represent temptation, can represent folly, can represent destruction,

and the allure that she gives guarantees moral and spiritual bankruptcy at some point. And it's interesting that Solomon parallels financial recklessness with moral recklessness. And isn't that often the case? A man entangled in immoral relationships often makes ruinous decisions, especially in finances. Rick, you've observed this, and I've observed it too throughout my life. Sexual folly and financial folly often travel together. And so Solomon emphatically advises lenders to take a pledge from him. Take a pledge.

Take a pledge of him who is entangled with the strange woman. As far as Solomon was concerned, there was nothing to think about it in this matter. The man's foolish. You can't trust him. So pledging for a strange woman or any temptation out there, any foolish decision, reveals a heart that's already drawn away to fall in temptation. And so the picture here, if you will, is of a man that's been stripped of his pledge. For what? For an immoral woman. He loses everything to satisfy her demands or to satisfy his own lust.

Take a pledge of him. Don't ask, demand it. Demand collateral or security from the foolish man. Don't trust his word alone. So wisdom is telling us here that you need to demand security in every risky environment. Do you hear me, brother or sister in Christ? You need to demand security in every. risky commitment, whether it's in money or morals, do not open yourself up to potential ruin

in this matter. Doug, it's interesting, right? Solomon is talking to the lender. He's not talking to the general public. He's talking to lenders. Obviously, he has, he had a lot of money. He was worth hundreds of billions of dollars. It, you know, in comparison to today's money, he was worth $100.

hundreds of billions of dollars. His circle friends had money. He's talking to the people who had money. What's interesting to me is that he did not tell them never loan money to a co-signer. Never loaned money to a high-risk borrower. He didn't say that. What he's saying to the lenders is,

you better protect yourself. So again, I'll go back to this, this is hard money. You're going to pay a price. In today's modern business world, there is soft money and there's hard money. And in hard money, the lender will lock you down, and if you miss a payment, they'll strip you naked. Why? Because you've got a track record of messing up. Yes.

That's why. And they're taking a chance giving you money, and they know they're taking a chance. But if they can't secure it with hard collateral, they will not give you the money. So Solomon is, he's telling his rich friends, I know you're going to loan the money out. I know you're going to charge high interest, but you better get collateral. You better lock them down. Because those rascals, if they're hanging out with prostitutes, if they're running the streets at night with Harlets, you know, I mean, if they're co-signing loans for strangers, these people are loose.

Yes. You'll be lucky to lose their money. They'll lose yours, too. There it is. That's it right there. If they're willing to lose their money, they'll lose you. And if they're willing to lose their reputation, they'll lose your reputation too. Amen.

All right. So, Doug, I see a double warning in this proverb. the first warning is against surety ship in general. The second one is against intimate financial entanglements with those whose character is suspect or whose path through life is plainly sinful over many years. I also see the principle of personal responsibility. The man has freely chosen to,

bind himself to irresponsible ungodly people and he will taste the consequences in painful losses. Right. Generosity is a virtue. This is not about being generous. Generosity is a virtue, but recklessness is a vice. If a man throws away his security on a stranger, he will eventually have no coat to keep himself warm. Wisdom guards the garment so that it can be given to the truly needy, not to the truly foolish. How many times do we, we see somebody that is in great financial need because they made

incredibly foolish decisions that were contrary to the Bible, contrary to the Word of God. So what's the lesson in this verse? Never pledge your integrity, your reputation, or your future for anyone who leads you into sin. Yes. That's it, bottom line. Hey, we get some quotations from the great old preachers yesterday year. Yeah, I'll start with Alexander McLaren here. He says about this verse, the connection between the two halves of the verse is the

common idea of rash surety ship. He who guarantees a stranger or he who entangles himself with a strange woman is entering a bond that will strip and bear. G. Campbell Morgan, the warning against the warning is against the peril of association with those who are alien to the life of wisdom. To accept their obligations is to imperil one's own resources. Okay, next verse. Proverbs 20, verse 17. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouths shall be filled with gravel. Okay, let's start with the first part. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man.

What is the bread of deceit? It's another way of saying it is food gained by fraud. in the broadest sense it means any gain pleasure advantage that you achieve by lying cheating any unrighteous means all of it is considered bread of deceit you know that can include money that you make business success central pleasures any ill-gotten benefit that is outside of God's plan is bread of deceit

Solomon admit a very dangerous truth because you know what at first sin tastes good now talk we know that Solomon knows this from experience because he wasn't wise all the time in his life

he went off the rails himself yes yes so Solomon is admitting you know I gotta I gotta admit at first sin tastes good it's sweet

bread of deceit is sweet now if sin were instantly bitter no one would do it the thief feels a rush of adrenaline the adulterer

feels the excitement of the stolen moment. There's the sweetness in the sin. The cheat. The cheater feels smarter than the victim. He thinks he's bypassed the curse of Adam. After Adam and Eve said, God told, after they were evicted from the garden, God told Adam, in the sweat of thy face, shut thy, eat bread. Yeah, that's a good point, Rick. Hey, bread was free in the garden. Out of the garden? There was hard times at getting that bread.

So the senator thinks he's found a shortcut to satisfaction. The sweetness is bait on the hook. It's not the hook. The sweetness is the bait

on the hook. Satan's got to get you to bite down on that hook. So he makes that hook Sweet. Satan doesn't, he doesn't sell poison that's labeled poison. He puts the label on it that says candy. Sweet candy.

He markets the pleasures of sin, but he hides the price tag. Go ahead. Taste it. Try it. Pay for it later. That's his way. Eat now, pay later. So this proverb,

okay, we're at 20, Proverbs 20, verse 17, and it parallels Proverbs 9, verse 17, where folly, foolishness says, stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The secrecy and the wrist add a spice to the meal. I mean, the sinner is saying,

that godly bread is bland it's got to have some spice added to it and Satan is there to add the spice but you're going to pay a price for it though yeah and Solomon here Rick is speaking with a deliberate realism here

he's not denying the pleasure of sin but he's exposing the fraud of sin okay there's no doubt that sin does have pleasure but that it's a false pleasure. Now something to keep in mind here for our students that are watching us on TV or online or listening to us as a podcast. You need to understand when we talk about bread, we take bread you know for granted here in our day

in culture. You know, we can just go down and get a loaf of bread and we'll go to the store. There'll be a thousand varieties of bread, right? But for the individual that was living in Solomon's time, you know, the ordinary guy, the average Joe, bread was basic for life. It was the sustenance of life. And so that bread here is signifying sustenance and success. So if you think about it, this individual that we're talking about in this verse lives on this bread of deceit. He lives on it. It's his sustenance. And so this bread of deceit means food gained by fraud, whatever that fraud might be. It refers to any kind of gain, whether it's or pleasure or advantage that's obtained by lying,

by covering up, cheating. Any unrighteous means it may be money, it could be success, it could be sensual pleasure, it could be any ill-gotten benefit. Now, the verse does acknowledge that such deceitful gain can be sweet at first. sin often has a real, though brief, delight that appeals to our fallen desires. Now, that sweetenews lies not only in the gain of it, but listen to this part, in the illusion of safety. What do you mean by that?

Well, the sinner believes he has escaped consequence. That's the key there. So the sweetness is rooted in the deceitfulness of sin and the human heart. hey, I got away with it. It caused evil good and good evil, and so is easily charmed by that unlawful game. Now, the sweetness is temporary, of course, because it's unnatural. It does not come from God's order,

talk about divine order again, but from violating it. And so the individual chooses that sweetness. The sinner willingly taste this bread of deceit, ignores the warning of God, because he prefers that immediate gratification over long-term obedience. You know what, Rick, sin is not bitter at first. If it were, it would be tempting, would it? That's right.

So we go to the second part. But afterward, his mouth shall be filled with gravel. Doc, have you ever bit into stone? Oh, man, yeah, I've done that. When eating something? It's horrible. Oh, yes. Absolutely horrible.

Just getting sand in your mouth. Yes. So Solomon now, he shifts from sensation, the sweetness. He now moves to judgment. He goes from appetite to consequences. Afterward, that's how it starts. But afterward, his mouth shall be filled with gravel. afterward is the wisdom word of proverb

the word fools never calculate they would encounter every sin has an afterward amen okay get that in your head every sin has an afterward God allows the sweetness only long enough to make the bitterness undeniable

right God will allow that He'll allow you to taste that sweetness. But when he gives you the bitterness, you're going to know why. And you're going to lose the taste for that sweetness again. Yes. What does gravel do when it's in your mouth? It causes pain. It damages your teeth.

It's useless. It can't be eaten. It can't be swallowed. can't be digested. Gravel ruins the mouth. It impairs your speed. It just takes away all enjoyment of eating. How can you enjoy eating anything if you've got little rocks grinding around inside your mouth? Yes. Notice the violence of the image. Sin does not only, it does more than disappoint. It wounds. Yes. That's what we're being taught here.

There's a wounding that comes after the sin. Deceit punishes the very faculties that it once gratified. What was once sweet food now become an injurious gravel, what sustain now destroys. The man's mouth, his taste buds, his tongue, his lips, enjoyed the sweetness of the sin. But now afterward, he's got to endure the painfulness, the consequences of his sin. This is the lesson.

The sinner is not merely deprived. He is afflicted. Yes. Charles Spurgeon said, deceit first deceives the conscience and then breaks your teeth. This is not an arbitrary judgment, but this is a. moral calls and effect. God's justice is built into his divine order. Yes.

It's written. It's written into the divine order. Yes. First sweetness, then gravel. Right. You know, Rick, I really think you said something profound there. Every sin has an afterwards. Every sin has an afterwards.

And that sharp but afterwards captures your attention, pulls you away from that momentary thrill to the consequence of sin, correct? So sin's story is always two parts, okay? You got that first taste of sweetness there, then you got the bitterness that you have to deal with. And that picture of the mouth filled with gravel, that's a really vivid picture there. Imagine taking a bite of wonder bread, right? You know, you're eating a nice sandwich and everything. You bite down on that sandwich, and in the bread, there's a sort of, stone, you know, maybe a whole bunch of stones, little bitty stones, and you're chewing that bread, you're eating that tuna salad sandwich, it's going to break your teeth. It's going to injure

your gums. You're going to choke on it. They don't give any nourishment, for sure. So picture that kind of pain, picture the kind of disappointment and the emptiness that follows, deceit. It's the same thing. So gravel generally is composed of small, jagged stone. You know, they got the sharp edges and everything. And so that symbolizes torment, brokenness, the inability to swallow or to actually enjoy anything else after that. So what is this gravel in our lives today? How can we relate to this?

Deceit frequently backfires, that bread of deceit. In its aftermath, there's public exposure. you lose your reputation, there could be legal consequences. Financial loss, usually accompanies deceit. You also have that issue, a broken trust. Not to mention the inner emptiness. Those are all the things that are the gravel in the mouth. What was swede in the mouth before proves to be gravel, not in the mouth but in the belly.

The sinner, when his conscience is awakened or judgment comes, finds nothing but fixation. and torment from his unlawful gain. And this can be attributed to a guilty conscience. After taking his fill of sin, a man's mouth is filled with remorse, self-reproach, dread of divine wrath, fearful apprehension of destruction and damnation, unless their conscience is seared. So we see here the principle of sowing and reaping. We talk about this a lot.

The seed of deceit, you know, it may lie dormant for a long time, but I promise you, in due season, in due time, a harvest is going to appear. The deceiver is forced to eat the hard fruit of his own works. And so this proverb also has an application to our eternal lives too. If sin remains and it's not repented of and if it's not forgiven, you're going to experience the afterwards. Okay. The after words of those pointed pieces of gravel injuring your mouth and your throat and your belly and the miseries of judgment and separation from God eventually. You eat enough gravel, it'll kill you. Doc, medical doctors and pharmaceutical companies are required to tell patients

the possible side effects of drugs. What if Satan were required to tell sinners, the possible side effects of sin. Full disclosure. Yeah. What if he had to tell people, now this sin could result in you losing your wife, losing your home, losing your job, losing your children,

losing your house, this could result in you getting a disease. I mean, what if that was on the package of sin? Or you mentioned, you know, about eating a sandwich. So what if you, the sandwich was in a wrapper, and the wrapper had a warning. And it says, possible side effects, broken teeth and bleeding gums, inability to digest food may be forced to throw up what you've eaten. I mean, would you eat the sandwich? Of course not.

And sustained gravel ingestion could lead to death. Yes. Okay, one more before I go on to the next verse. What does to look at the contrast between Satan and Jesus? Satan offers the bread of deceit. Right. It tastes sweet going down, but it turns into gravel in your belly. It brings loss and ruin and death.

but Jesus is the bread of life he doesn't just offer the bread of life he is the bread of life and his supper the Lord's supper it may taste bitter to your flesh think of the contrast Doc

with the Lord's supper it tastes bitter to your flesh because it requires repentance before you eat it Amen. Our sinful flesh must die before we eat the Lord's supper. However, when we eat his sinless flesh and drink his holy blood, we shall have eternal life.

Yes. It's a different meal. Let's see what Alexander McLaren said about a duck. Yeah, you eat the bread of deceit, you're going to die. You eat the bread of life, you're going to live. So Alexander McLaren had this, and said that this, This metaphor is tremendously energetic. He said the bread is sweet as long as its only rolled over the tone.

But when the band tries to crunch it, he breaks his teeth. The afterwards is the hell of it. William Arnott of the Free Church of Scotland said, The gravel is the memory of the sin. The grit remains in the mind and grates upon the conscience. You cannot get rid of it. You know, Rick, I have read this verse. I don't know how many times over the course of my life.

And I understand it now better than I ever have. I always wondered about this gravel verse. And there's just so much insight into this one particular verse here. It is really incredible what the Lord reveals through his word, Rick. I'm very honored that people email us. and say, I have been a Christian for decades, and I've been going to church for decades, but I have never heard the word of God taught like this. And I'll be honest with you.

Doc and I also have never heard the word God taught like this. The Holy Spirit is working through us. Yeah. He's working through us. He's bringing revelation to us that we are now bringing to you. Yes. It's got to go through us first, folks. Yeah.

It's nothing. Hey, we're not teaching anything new. No. I'll tell you why it sounds new to you. Because it hasn't been told for a couple hundred years. That's right. You got it. Alexander McLaren's been dead since 1905.

Virgin's been dead since the late 1800s. We haven't been teaching the word like those men talk. The only thing Doc and I are doing is going back. and reading the commentaries of these great old preachers. And it's changing us. And then we pass it on to you. One more verse. Verse 18.

Every purpose is established by counsel and with good advice make war. We begin with the first half. Every purpose is established by counsel. Solomon is teaching us that intention alone does not produce stability and success. Wisdom requires external correction and confirmation. Every good design is unstable unless it is well advised and well weighed. Yes. Every purpose.

When Salmas says, every purpose is established. Every purpose includes righteous plans, good plans. leadership decisions, family governance, the direction of ministries, even national policy of governments. Human judgment is inherently limited. And so wise counsel compensates for our blind spots. It acts as a stabilizing force. It prevents rationales and pride and deception. Self-willed plans without.

counsel often collapse, not because they're evil, not because they're wrong, but because they were isolated. The man or woman who came up with the plans remained isolated and did not submit the plans to other people for their inspection, though they were self-willed plans, and they died in isolation. So wisdom recognizes that God often speaks through a plurality of voices. We live in a spiritual age, doc, where a lot of people think that they're prophets. Boy, yeah. I mean, you go on YouTube and it's God said, God told me to say this to you. God told me to tell you to invest.

I'm saying now videos, God told me where you should. invest. I don't see these people submitting their prophecies to other people for inspection. They're just self-annoyant prophets. So

wise counsel does not weaken you. It anchors you. Just understand the plans are established by counsel. They're not just approved by others. They are fortified by others.

Your plans become stronger when you get advice for other people. That word that's being used there for every purpose there is the Hebrew word Mecca Shaba. And what it's referring to is thoughts, inventions,

plans that you might have. Solomon uses this phrase several times. He uses it once here in Proverbs, but uses it three times in Ecclesiastes, every purpose. An Ecclesiastes was written after a lifetime, of wandered away from God,

and finally come into a point in his life where he is evaluating things. And those other three references point back to this verse in chapter 20 of Proverbs here. The way you can explain, it's like a building without a foundation. It needs counsel to become established, okay? and that word established there is the Hebrew word to con. So we naturally fall in love with our own ideas. Man, we have great ideas, right?

We see the potential, but are blind to the pitfalls. So planning and isolation is the breeding ground for failure. And the wise man subjects his baby, if you will, his plans to the scrutiny of others. And so that counsel, Godling counsel acts as a stress test. It pulls holes in the logic, right? It checks the budget. It foresees the obstacles. Only after surviving the critique of wise men as a plan ready to be executed. And so, if you recall back in Provert chapter 15 verse 22, it said there that without

counsel purposes are disappointing. God has distributed wisdom of among the body. He rarely gives all insight to just one individual. Isn't that true? To reject counsel is to reject the resources God is placed around you. God wants you to be in community with others, especially when it comes to counsel. Seek out that wise counsel.

Amen. Hey, Doug, you know, I think everybody recognizes the name Kevin O'Leary from Shark Tank. Oh, sure. extremely successful businessman. Doug, if you had a business concept, would you submit it to Kevin O'Leary for his inspection?

I better be prepared to defend it if I did. Why? Because he is going to pick it apart. And duly so, he should. You're not doing anyone a favor by allowing them to proceed with a plan that's going to fail, are you? Yes. So he doesn't pick it. it apart to destroy your plan. No. But he's saying, if you're asking me to put my money into your

plan, then I need answers to these questions. Right. And those questions are going to be things you never thought about. I had this happen recently with one of my grandsons. And he came up with a very innovative idea for a new website. Oh, okay. I was impressed, Doc. I was very, I was very impressed and he showed it to me and I told him that you know I thought it was a great idea but then I started asking him some question have you done this have you thought about this have you looked into this and his answers were no no no I haven't thought about this I said you got to do all these things really I have to do it yes you have to do these things before you launch this website okay I wasn't trying to take poison his idea down

I was trying to strengthen his idea. Because I knew if he didn't do those things before he launched it, it would fall. Right. So the wise of counsel is actually building up the foundation under the plan. Yes. So that when it is launched, it survives. Doc, I think you mentioned Proverbs. Did you mention Proverbs 15, 22?

Yes. Without why. counsel purposes are disappointed. Yeah, without counsel purposes are disappointed. Okay. Another verse is Proverbs 1114. Where there is no wise guidance, the nation falls. But in the multitude of counselors, there is victory.

All three Proverbs, Proverbs 1522, Proverbs 11, 14, and Proverbs 2017, 18. All three of these Proverbs, reveal a repeated principle in the Holy Bible. Plans fail without wise counsel. Let's succeed with many wise advisors. I'll give you a word of caution. You don't submit your plans to just anybody. Right.

That's key. There are some people who have no business hearing about your plans. And it could be your mama. It could be somebody as sweet as your mama. There are people who don't have a reason to give you advice about your plan. Know who you're seeking advice from. First of all, make sure they're godly. Right.

Make sure they have faith. Right. And make sure they have something to say about the plan. Yes. That's great. Not just anybody, not your best buddy, you know, from the bowling league, you know. Just make sure it's wise. Don't take your dream to a dream abortionist.

Wow. Negative thinking, critical, narrow-minded people will abort your dream and never allowed to be born. Right. And they'll do it for free. Yes. So just keep that in your mind. make sure you submit your plans to

wise people who are godly, full of faith. I've got one more thing I want to say about this first. We have the other half of what we have to do here. I've got to hurry up here. I see reference to Jesus. When Isaiah prophesied about the coming Messiah, the prophet Isaiah revealed the Messiah's titles. He said, for a child is born to us.

A son is given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Your supreme counselor is Jesus. If you don't take your plans to the most wonderful counselor, you're foolish. Absolutely. It's one of his titles. He's not just a counselor, Doc.

He is the most wonderful counselor. Yes. And he will give you insight into your plan. And he'll strengthen it. And he'll build it up. He'll give you the things that you need for that project to be successful. Well, let's go to second half. And with good advice, make war.

So now Solomon raises the stakes from general planning, which is purpose. He's now a life and death struggle making war. Life is not merely a project. It's a battlefield. Yes. And this refers to both literal warfare and spiritual warfare. To make war assumes that you're going to have opposition. There's going to be resistance.

The conflict is inevitable. We live in a fallen world. And there are a lot of people in this world who are against God's plans. Yes. And they work for Satan and they will come at you to destroy your plans. So the scripture consistently portrays Almighty God as the Lord of Host. He's the Supreme Military Command. commander. Yes. Divine order. Yes. Yes. He's at the top of all of the angelic armies. So the Lord knows that we

will face battles in his life. And so Solomon is telling us in this proverb that we continuously need godly counsel to navigate life's minefields. Yes. Satan has laid minds in path and you need godly wisdom to walk around them so you don't get your legs blown off victory depends more on strategy than strength ask any general a superior strategy will beat a big a superior army in size yes war without counsel leads to ruin even when the cause is just good advice implies tested, experience, God-furing counsel. Not popular opinion. Not your buddy's ideas.

Yes. So the fool rushes into battle, but the wise prepares before the trumpet ever sounds. And, Doc, I recall Jesus said something about preparing for war. You know, he did. Get to that here just a moment. It's found in Luke 1431. But there was something that excited me about this particular verse today,

and that's that phrase, good advice there. Okay, and you just gloss over at reading it, and with good advice make war. Okay, but that word good advice is actually in the Hebrew, it's Takbalah. And it's actually a nautical term derived from ropes. Roops, yes, ropes, or steering. Today, when we think of steering a ship or a boat, we think of a big wheel. But in ancient times, the way that they steered boats were with long ropes, and you had a bar in front. Much like if a carriage had horses in front of it, the way they guided the rudder on the ship is with this beam, and on that beam was tied ropes,

and those ropes would remove the rudder. And so the idea here is that you're steering your vessel through difficult currents. And so the idea here is that war isn't won just by brute force, by skilled steering. What do we mean by that? What I mean tactics and strategy. And so a plan without counsel is just a wish. A war without strategy is a suicide mission. And the man, the wise man, stabilizes his private thoughts.

with public counsel before he commits to the battle. As you mentioned, where Jesus talked about this in Luke chapter 14, verse 31. He said directly, he had to be thinking about this verse in Proverbs 2018. What king going to make war siteth not down first and consulteth whether he is able? Great question, right?

Only a fool rushes into a conflict, whether it's a legal conflict, relational conflict, spiritual conflict, without counting the cost. Brothers and sisters, the Christian life is warfare. We are in a war. We're in a battle royale. And this is all spelled out in the New Testament in Ephesians chapter 6. But we are not to fight with carnal weapons or just impulsive zeal.

We need, first of all, we need the good advice of scripture. I know people that will go to counsel, talk to everybody else except the Word of God. We need the good advice of Scripture, and we need that steering, that Takbalah of the Holy Spirit, to navigate Satan's strategies and traps. The good news is believers should be encouraged to see, Rick, that when they face battles, whether it's temptations, maybe it's relational conflicts, maybe it's some major life choice you have to make. The Lord has appointed the means.

Wise mentors, wise elders, wise brethren, whose guidance is part of his protective care. Alexander McLaren spoke to this by saying, war is a serious business. It needs steering. That is the meaning of the word rendered good advice. Brute force is not enough. There must be brainwork behind the blows.

I learned something today, Doug. What's that? The steering, what this scripture is talking about, the advice is a nautical term. Right. It's connected to ropes. Yes. That's new information to me. I learned this for the first time.

Like the ship has rains like you have with horses. You said. Yes, that's exactly the same way. Yes. And the other thing that I, I appreciate. received out of this is that our wonderful, loving, good Heavenly Father has already provided the counselors. Doc, he's provided you and me the counselors.

Everybody watching us, God has provided the wise counselors because you need them. You have to seek them. You have to ask him, Lord, who should I go to? I have this problem, I have this challenge, I have this plan. It could be a plan to build something or it could be a problem we have to fix. But you can go to the Lord and say, your word says, I need wise counsel, wise advice. Who should I go to? What I've learned in this, Doc, is he's already appointed the counselors for you.

Yes. He appointed the counselors before he made the world. It's part of a father's love for you. So if we don't take advantage of it, we wasted a resource the father has provided for us. And of course, the number one counselor is Jesus, the wonderful counselor. Yes. Gee Campbell Morgan said,

guidance is the supreme necessity and conflict. The man who fights without a plan is beaten before he strikes the first blow. Yes. You know, Rick, I know we're kind of running out of time here, but I'm reminded in the scripture, you know, Solomon is teaching, who's he teaching throughout all of Proverbs? Directly he's teaching, he says, his son, right? A prince in the kingdom. And we don't know which one of his sons he was teaching, but one of his sons was a man by the name of Rehoboam.

Okay? And so Rehoboam became king after Solomon became king, right? But there's a verse of scripture that stands out about Rehoboam. And it really kind of gives a prophecy of the way that his reign was going to unfold. It says in 1st King's chapter 12, verse 8, he forsook the counsel of the old men and answered the people according to the council of the young men. He ignored his father's direct instruction in this verse, Rick. Instead of seeking wise counsel, he sought wicked counsel.

And wickedness came into the kingdom of Israel after Solomon. What I hear there is that he turned away from the older people who knew things. Yes. And he said, I don't want their advice. Yeah. I want people my age. Yeah. And it wasn't that the people his age were evil.

They were just inexperienced. Right. And so they gave him inexperienced advice. Right. Which resulted in evil. And that resulted in evil. So it's not enough, you know, so when we say get counsel, get counsel, get bring in other advice, that's why it's so essential to find that wise counsel. And we have the word of God that can provide us counsel.

We have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the wonderful counselor. If you're in a community of believers, you have friends that you can connect with that can provide some insight on your particular situation. You don't have to do it alone. You don't have to do this all by yourself. I always like to say even the Lone Ranger wasn't alone for those who know who the Lone Ranger is. He had Tonto, too, right? And so you can't operate alone as a believer.

believer. You need the Holy Spirit in your life. You need the Word of God in your life. You need godly men and women in your life to correct you, to provide encouragement to you, to provide that wise counsel that we're talking about. That's right. Hey, it's it for today. It's been a very good lesson. I'm going to remind you that tomorrow's Faith Friday, and that means we will be participating in the Lord's Supper. Please have bread and your choice of grape juice or red wine available. Since the beginning of the year, we have changed the order of the service on Fridays and the communion services at the beginning of Morning Manna every Friday.

So be ready early tomorrow for Morning Manor and the Lord's Supper. Thank you so much. Appreciate you being here today. God bless. See you tomorrow. Love you. Bye-bye. Thank you for watching Morning Manor.

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