TRUNEWS with Rick Wiles - Morning Manna - Jan 13, 2026 - Proverbs 19:16-18 - Guard the Soul, Shape the Future 07-2026

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

Proverbs 19:16–18 highlights the life-preserving power of obedience, the danger of careless living, and the responsibility of loving correction. Keeping God’s commandment guards the soul, while disregard for His ways leads toward death. Loving discipline—especially in the formative years—is presented as an act of hope, not cruelty, aimed at shaping character before it is too late. In today’s Morning Manna, Rick Wiles and Doc Burkhart examine how obedience sustains life, why accountability matters, and how righteous discipline serves God’s redemptive purpose rather than human anger. Lesson 07-2026 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

Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Morning, Manna. We are so happy that you have chosen to spend this time with us to study the Word of God. We gather every Monday through Friday at our home place online, which is manna Nation.com. There's a real live Bible study taking place at 8 a.m. Eastern Time in the USA at manna nation.com. And so people from all over the world join us every morning, Monday through Friday, for that live class. And so if you're watching online or watching on television, we invite you to actually come inside the live class every Monday through Friday and participate with us. We are working our way through the Book of Proverbs. We're in the 19th chapter. Today we're studying verses 16, 17, and 18.

I'm going to pray, invite the Holy Spirit, and Dr. Raymond Burkhart's going to read these verses. And then he and I are going to jump in, and we're going to do a deep dive into the word to extract all of the rich minerals and nutrients that we can find to make ourselves stronger disciples for Christ. Let's pray.

Almighty God, our Father in heaven, Father, we thank you for this wonderful day, and we thank you for your wonderful son, Jesus Christ, and we thank you for your wonderful Holy Spirit. Father, we submit to your sovereign will, and we recognize your son as our king. And, Father, we ask the Holy Spirit to take charge of this Bible study and teach us your word and strengthen us. Make us stronger disciples, brighter lights for our lives.

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In his name we pray. Amen. Amen. And we are so glad to have you will hear with us as we study the Word of God together. As Rick mentioned, we are continuing our study here in Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 19, and we'll be reading verses 16 to 18 today. I always encourage you, just don't listen to the word, but read the word, get your Bible, bring it out as you're studying, read the Word of God out loud if you can't. I encourage you, not just when we're together, but throughout the day, read the Word of God out loud. It'll make a difference in your life, I promise you. Starting in verse 16 here today, I'm reading from the King James. He that keepeth the commandment keepeth his own soul, but he that despises his ways shall die. He that hath pity upon the

poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him again. and then verse 18 Chastened thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul spare for his crying. God bless the reading of his word today, Rick. Yes, sir. All right, if you're new,

the way that we teach the word is that we take a verse and we break it into two or three parts and we drill down into each segment to get all of the meaning that we can find in those words. and then we put it all together to get the full context of that verse. So we'll start with verse 16. The King James Version says,

He that keepeth the commandment, keepeth his own soul, but he that despiseth his ways shall die. The Septuagint, the English translation of the Greek Septuagin says, He that keeps the commandment keeps his own soul, but he that despises his ways shall perish. Solomon presents obedience, not as self-denial, but as the highest form of self-preservation. Yes. We're aligning yourself with God's commandment guards the life of your soul.

To keep the commandment means to guard it carefully, to watch over it and to order your life by it with deliberate attentiveness. The commandment is not portrayed as a burden, but as a safeguard placed by God to protect human life from paths that destroy. So by keeping God's word, a person actively keeps his own soul from Satan's traps of sin, from moral erosion, from eventual ruin at the end of your life. So, Doc, keeping the word of God is the smartest thing you can do for yourself. There's a great benefit to it. That word keepeth here, Rick, is an important one because the English, it really doesn't convey the full meaning. In the Hebrew, the word is Shomer. And it's actually a military term, meaning to guard or to watch over or to protect like a sentry would.

Solomon is teaching that this man, this individual who guards God's commandment, is actually guarding himself. He's putting up a sentry for himself. So the law, in this case, is not a cage, it's a fortress to protect us. Now, you know, a man only guards what he really values, Rick. So that phrase keepeth his own soul. It implies that this obedient man that we're talking about here recognizes that his soul is a jewel infinite price. The commandment is the iron safe that protects this treasure

from the thieves of the world. And so even at its basics, really keeping the word of God, the commandment of God, is the ultimate act of self-preservation. To obey God is really, I can get right down to the highest form of self-love. Sin is inherently suicidal and self-destructive. Every time man breaks a commandant or breaks the word of God,

he's chipping away at his own soul defense mechanism. And there's also the problem hear of covenant from God. And this is actually reflective of the mosaic covenant found in Deuteronomy chapter 30 where God sets life and death before the people. And to choose the commandment, therefore, is to choose life. It is not legalism in any sort of imagination here. It's the pathway to survive. Now, as believers, we understand that no, man keeps the, quote, law perfectly for salvation. But the believer keeps the commandment, if you will, the word of God as a rule of gratitude. So in doing so, he keeps himself

and the love of God. And that's reflective of Jude verse 21. And it maintains that assurance of his faith, Rick. Amen. Doctor, this, the principle that's being taught. in this verse, speaks of God's covenant with mankind. It echoes God's repeated promise that obedience leads to life, to peace, to blessings. That theme is throughout the Bible. Often, you know, we talk about choose one or two ways, two-way message. throughout the Bible. Choose ye today who you will serve. Choose life or death. And so this verse is telling you, when you choose obedience, you're activating the covenant with God. Yes. He's going to protect you.

He's going to keep you. You keep his word and he's going to keep you. So obedience is an act of supreme wisdom because it aligns your soul with the divine moral order that God has designed in this universe for humans to flourish as they were supposed to flourish in the Garden of Eden.

So Solomon he frames God's law as using the military term as you were talking about in keeping. He's framing God's law as a fortress. It's not a fence. People think of God's law as a fence. I can't go over that fence.

I can't do that. I can't go there. I can't do this. The right way is to see God's law as a fortress to protect you. so that your enemies can't get to you. You're protected by this fortress, and this fortress is established by your obedience to God's laws, right? The boundaries that God has established,

the reason that they exist is to preserve our lives, not to restrict our fun and our joy, but to protect us, to preserve. So a person who keeps the commandment of God is demonstrating that he or she values their soul as something worth guarding. They know that their soul is the most valuable thing that they possess. Now, people should not say, well, are you promoting salvation by works? This is not by work. right

the general walking in God's ways protects the soul from destruction Jesus Christ is the only one who kept all the law

right so we're in when we are in Christ we are in a state of keeping the law keeping the commandments and so Jesus Christ

he's the only one who perfectly kept the commandment And by doing so, the Bible says he kept his soul from corruption. That's in Psalm 16, verse 10. And he, Doc, became the guardian of our souls. Right. And so, Rick, this isn't some sort of passive state that we're talking about here. We're actively securing the fortress, if you will.

It requires vigilance of the soul. And just like a watchman must stay, wake to guard a city, the believer, the Christian must be sober and vigilant to guard the commandment in a lawless age. And when we say the commandment, we mean more than the ten commandments. We mean the word of God itself. And so obedience acts as that preventive measure in our lives. So by keeping the word God, by keeping the commandment, according to this verse, the wise man avoids what? the snares of death. So the guilt of conscience and the wreckage of sin that follows from avoiding the commandments. And this provides us a diagnosis of our spiritual health. A soul that is feeling

lost or empty or vulnerable can often trace its condition back to a neglected commandment or a neglected revelation from the Word of God that is not being obeyed. oftentimes real spiritual insecurity is the fruit of some sort of spiritual disobedience, more often than not. So what we're talking about here is relationship and not just rules. So keeping the commandment, keeping the word of God, keeps the soul near to God. Just like an obedient child, an obedient child will stay close to the father. And in that closeness lies that safety.

So there is safety, there's a fortress here implied in this verse, and we find our true security in Christ. We have some commentators, Rick, that are weighing in on this as well. Yeah, we'll go back to the grand old fathers of the church at times gone by. Somebody like Matthew Henry, he said, he, they said, he, they, that keepeth the commandment, secures his own peace and safety. Religion is the best friend to self-preservation. Amen.

And John Gill said, He that keepeth the commandment, observes it as a rule of walk and conversation, keeps his soul from much trouble and grief and from temporal death in this life. Amen. Adam Clark said, He who obeys the law of God provides

for his own safety and happiness. Yes, and Charles Spurgeon said, He that keep the commandment, keepeth his own soul. He is his own best friend, according to Charles Spurgeon. That's right. Now we're going to go to the second part of this verse. But he that despiseth his ways shall die. Septuagin says shall perish.

Solomon contrast obedience with contempt. He's showing that the opposite of keeping God's commandment. is not ignorance, but willful disregard. To despise his way means to treat one's conduct lightly, to walk without moral reflection, to walk without correction, to walk without the fear of God. And this is contempt.

You have to see it as contempt. It is quiet. It's gradual. And it's expressed through carelessness, not outright open rebellion, but quiet carelessness. This phrase, his ways, it highlights a settled pattern of life.

Not a single failure, not a mistake, but a habitual neglect of moral boundaries. See, you can be a godly person and make a mistake. That does not mean you have contempt for God's laws. But if you have a lifetime, if you have years and decades of disregarding the commandments, then yes, you know, you're showing contempt. You're saying God's ways are not important to me. I'll live as I plan to leave. So Solomon says this kind of disregard inevitably leads to death.

And that can be moral decay. It doesn't mean just physical death, but it can mean moral decay, spiritual separation from God, but eventually divine judgment in this life and in the life to come. Right. Taking a look at that word despise there, Rick, in the Septuagin, it's translated as Mosei. It means to hold and contempt, to undervalue or simply to be careless. us. So what it's doing is it's describing a person who lives really an unexamined life,

just drifting through existence, checking their moral compass at all. And that drift there, you know, just being casual about life, is defined despises his ways. It refers to a man who doesn't watch where he's walking. He assumes that his actions have absolutely no consequences and he treats his own conduct as trivial. It doesn't matter how I live. Boy, if that doesn't sum up today's world and today's generation. But there's going to be a payday Sunday. The warning is stark.

Shall die. Say it right there. He makes it clear. It's not maybe we'll die or perhaps will die, but shall die. It's not a possibility. It's a certain. So in the Old Testament context, it often meant premature physical death, like an execution or judgment. But in the spiritual sense, it's pointing to that second death. Understand this. Carelessness is fatal. The careless man thinks he is free because he ignores the rules.

The rules don't apply to me, the ways, that he's merely a ship without a rudder, destined to crash on the rocks. but his freedom though is actually a chaotic slide toward destruction despising god's ways is ultimately a form of self-hatred so the sinner chooses a path that he knows he knows leads to death proving that he hates his own life so it's like a man spitting on the road out of a burning building okay it's just not going to make any difference. So there's a lot in this. The ultimate form of self-hate is to despise God's ways, Rick. Yes.

So, Doctor, does this apply to professing Christians who attend church and participate in religious activities and they want everybody to know that they're a Christian? but they never study God's word. Right. They've got an opinion about everything and everybody. They'll be quick to tell somebody else how wrong they are. Their fault. Their failings.

They'll pronounce judgments on them. But they themselves never read the Word of God. They never study the Word of God. Right. Does this apply to those kind of people in the church today, in the modern church? Well, it should at least give the believer pause. One of the biggest problems that we have in the church is lack of knowledge of the Word of God. People have a sense of the things that they believe, but they don't even know why they believe it.

Most of the information that they, you know, put out there is received a second hand to them. instead of getting it firsthand from the Word of God. There's a famine of the Word of God in the land, Rick. And that is a certainty here. Yes. You know, Doc, you've seen it working with me. We'll get emails from people very upset about something I said or you said. And they'll actually use profanity in the emails to tell us how wrong we are.

And they're claiming to be Christians. Yes. And they're using vulgar words to attack us. I just look at it and go, I don't know where these people are coming from. Obviously, they're not spending any time in the Word of God. And they're not submitting to the Holy Spirit. So the Septuagint translation, the Greek translation, it emphasizes that this man or woman despises his own way.

Okay, that's the way it says, despises his own ways. It means that their tragedy is personal. This man or woman, they ruin themselves by their own neglect. They are the architect of their own downfall, their own failure. It's tragic. And this is why he says they despise their own ways. They literally, it's self-hate, Doc. Yes. By not loving God's laws and not submitting to God's ways and going with your ways, it's actually self-hate. And so the Bible says they despise their own ways. It says, surely they shall perish. The death can be progressive, not a sudden physical death. but it could be a slow progressive death over many years where the person drifts away

gets farther and farther and farther away from the Lord. I think you and I, I would say, everybody watching this program right now, you can think of at least one person in your life that many years ago, that man or woman was on fire for God. And today, they're a shell.

Right. They're a cold, empty shell. They don't want to talk about God anymore. They don't want to talk about the ways of the world. There's no excitement. And yet they'll continue to tell people that they're saved, they're Christians. But the fire went out.

Something happened along the way. It's a progressive death. They're slowly dying. And so, Solomon says that this is a certain death, they shall perish. Albert Barnes, who was a Presbyterian pastor in Philadelphia back in the 1800s, he noted that this, he called it an insensate carelessness. He called it a spiritual anesthesia.

that the man dies because he refuses to even feel the danger that he's in. Right. And so the self-applied spiritual anesthesia that puts them to sleep, they don't even feel the death that's taking place in them. Yes. And that use of the word perish and the Septuagint really underscores the finality. of this path. There is an irreversible loss that will take place rather than just temporary harm. So Solomon is exposing this illusion that exists, that freedom lies in ignoring God and his ways,

showing instead that this attitude and this self-direction, this autonomy leads to ruin. So despising one ways, once again, we kind of touched on this, is for, of self-hatred because it chooses a path that dismantle your own life, your own soul. And most destruction, you know, most destruction in life and people's lives doesn't come through some sort of dramatic rebellion, but through drifting that we talked about before, that negligence, that refusal to examine one's life. So this verse is standing both as a warning and on the other side, a mercy, because turning back to God's commandments restores the soul to safety.

The antidote to despising one's ways is the prayer of David in Psalm 139. He said, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me. Matthew Henry had this to add to this particular verse here in Proverbs said that he that despises his ways that is never careless of what he does but walks that all adventures shall die he who rejects the way of life shall perish eternally that's right John Gill said

he that despises his ways does not care in what ways he walks, or who is so foolhardy as to walk in the ways of his own heart shall die. Yes, William R. Not said, and just imagine this picture here. Disobedience carries death in its bosom, Rick.

Another one by Albert Barnes. He that is contemptuous, who lives as if he thought it matters not how he lives, is on the road to death. Yes, and Charles Spurgett, to be careless is to be Christless. He who takes no heed in his walk will soon fall into the ditch. Doc, as you know, you mentioned King David and David saying to God, search me, oh God, see if there's any wicked way in me.

How often do people today point at somebody else and say, search him? him, oh Lord, search her and see if there's any wicked way in them. Or we'll search on God's behalf. Or yes, you don't have to bother, Lord. I'll search for you. All right. I'll dig up the dirt for you. But they don't, they don't point their finger at themselves and say, as David said,

God, search my heart and see if there's any wicked ways inside me. People don't want to go there. because you know why? God will turn on the spotlight. He'll shine his spotlight inside your heart and say, oh, look what I see over there in that dark corner. It's a wicked way.

What are we going to do with it? And then you have to make a decision when God brings it to light. You have to repent. And if you don't repent, then that's open rebellion. Right. Right?

I mean, once God reveals a sin in your heart, If you don't repent of it and walk away from it, then it's open rebellion because you've said, I know it's there, but I'm going to keep it. That's right. So those of you who are watching us on Faith TV, if we run out of time, which we will, because we continue every day for about at least 60, 70, sometimes 90 minutes on these lessons, you can pick up the rest of the lessons. you can pick up the rest of the lesson at manna nation.com. Today's lesson is 07-20206, 07-2020. And just look for that at manna nation.com,

and you can get the rest of the lesson and keep up with them, everybody else who is staying with us online. We'll go to verse 17. He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he have given, will he pay him again? I love this verse. Yes. Septuagin says, He that has mercy on the poor, lends to the Lord, and he will recompense him

according to his gift. Solomon is teaching that mercy towards the poor is not just kindness, but it's a sacred act that's carried out under God's own. name and with God's attention and notice that you cannot bless the poor without God seeing it. It uses the word pity. Pity is not a sentimental, a sentimental emotion. I go, oh, I pity that person. This is active grace.

Yes. compassion that bends down and does something tangible for a needy person or a family. The poor are people who are burdened, vulnerable, and they're unable to repay you. That's important. They don't have the resources to repay you. So the giver must give. without expectation of human return. You're not saying, hey, I'm going to loan this to you.

You're giving it to them. Right. But the psalmist says, but when you give to the poor, you've made a loan to the Lord. Right. So you're not just dealing with the poor. You're actually writing a note. There's a, and I,

Doc, I'll just say that it's a legal contract here. You know why it's illegal? God put it in his word. He put it in writing. Amen. All right. And the Lord is saying, I'm good for it. If you give that person $100, I'm going to give it back to you, maybe more.

Okay? I'll pay with interest. You give someone 500. You give them food, whatever it is. The Lord himself is going to repay you with interest. And so it shows. it shows us God's identification with those who are afflicted,

those who are suffering. He acts as though he receives the gift personally. He counts it as that you did this for him. You gave the gift to him. So this verse here, Rick, is presenting one of the most staggering concepts in the scripture

and social ethics itself. God so identifies so closely with the poor that he actually accepts their debts as his own. Think about that. So to help the needy is to do business directly with the crater himself. And that phrase they're having pity is not just feeling sorry for somebody

or feeling guilty about their condition. this implies active grace. It means bending down in kindness to offer real support, tangible support, not, well, I'll pray for you. It's a deposit into the hand of God. So Solomon is reframing generosity as an act of faith rather than a loss because alone isn't thrown away. It's entrusted with the expectation of return. So if you give to the poor, you're lending to the Lord, you can expect a return on that. It's that simple.

So the world views giving to the poor as a loss or a drain on resources or maybe a tax credit sometimes, in the best of circumstances. But scripture here is reframing it as a loan. A loan implies an asset that is not lost. words, there's real value to it. But it's transferred for a time with the expectation of a return. So when you give to a poor man, he can't repay you, according to Luke 1414. However, by stepping into help, you transfer the obligation from the penniless man to God himself. You've made the owner of the universe, you're debtor. Now, you have to really rewire your brain

on this to think in those terms. So the poor become in God's providence his appointed receivers, if you will. So the giver's hands, your hands, are serving heaven's purposes even when giving to earth's needs. That's what makes

Christianity so unique among all belief systems out there because what this does is it elevates the status of the poor. They're no longer beggars to be despised, but authorized agents, receiving agents of the kingdom. They're receivers of the divine treasury. They're a part of how God makes manifest his will in the world through us in our lending to the Lord. Amen. Now, if there's a lot of teaching in modern churches about

prosperity, we all believe in prosperity, but you don't hear a lot of teaching about giving to the poor. Yes. Now, I'll just be honest with you. The emphasis is always on giving to the ministry or to the church or the evangelist, but seldom do people teach that if you desire to be prosperous, you should give to the poor. So, as we were saying in the other verse,

keeping God's commandment is the smartest thing you can do for, your soul. In the same way, this verse is teaching us that giving to the poor is one of the smartest things you can do for your bank account. Right. That you actually enter into a legal financial agreement with God that he says, I am going to personally repay you with interest. Okay, so let's say you see a family. that is really struggling. Maybe both the husband and wife were working low-paying jobs.

They're getting farther and further behind. Rents going up, fuels going up, energy calls going up, everything's going up. Inflation is whipping them. And you know that their pantry is empty. And they've got four or five children. You know their pantry is empty.

In your heart, you feel compassionate. fashion. And let's say you go, okay, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to buy them $50 worth of groceries. Okay, well, that's nice because you say, well, I can afford $50. Okay. I'll give them $50 for the, but you know this. A family of four or five children, how's their wife, they're not going to eat very much. They're not going to eat very long on $50 worth of food. Yeah. Not today. Not today, Doc. It's shocking what food costs today. And so if you said to yourself,

this family needs $1,000 worth of food to fill up their pantry, that mom hasn't seen her coverage full in a year or two. The children haven't opened up cupboards and gone in the pantry for a long time and seen food. They have, that hasn't opened up the freezer and seen it stocked with steaks and hamburgers. If you said, I'm going to take a thousand dollars and buy food for this family, you're thinking, can I afford a thousand dollars, even though you have it? Do I want to let go of a thousand dollars? What the word of God is telling you is, you're not letting go of anything.

you're simply lending that thousand dollars to almighty God and he will repay you. You're going to get your thousand dollars back and you're going to get it back with interest because God does not let anybody get one up on him. He's saying right here in this scripture that when you give to the poor, you are lending to the Lord. This is not a new idea. This is throughout the scripture. God's covenant character. He's the defender of the fatherless,

of the orphan, of the widows. To align yourself with the poor is to align yourself with God's heart. And we see it in Matthew 25. Doc, when Jesus was asked by the disciples, at the beginning of Matthew 24, about this when will these things happen what's the sign of your coming he's asked three questions about the last days right all of matthew 24 and all of matthew 25 is one long answer about

his second coming in the the end of days but in chapter 25 of the book of matthew he talks about some questions he's going to ask when he comes back Did you feed those hungry people? Did you cloth those naked people? Did you visit those sick people in the hospital? Did you visit those people in prison? And he said, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these brethren, you have done it unto me.

I'm going to tell you, this is one of the most sobering scriptures in the Bible, Doc, because when Jesus Christ comes back, every single human is going to be asked these questions. Did you take care of the poor? Right. Did you visit?

Did you visit the sick in the hospital? All right? These are questions that he's going to ask everybody. So we better get the right attitude here before God, how God sees helping the poor, all right? Let's take a look at what some of the old theologians said in times gone by. I'll start with John Gill here today. He said that he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord.

He puts it into his hands and he accounts it as lent to him. And it's a safe way of lending. I like that. You're guaranteed to get paid back on that investment. Safe way of lending. Adam Clark said he who gives to the poor lends to the Lord, the poor man's promissory note is endorsed by the creator of the universe. You're right.

And Charles Bridges said this. We kind of touched on this a couple times. The poor are God's receivers. If we were content to be lenders to the Lord, we should not be so afraid of the security. And Free Church of Scotland, Pastor William are not, said, He that gives to the poor puts his money into God's hand. He is banking with God.

Amen. I like that. All right. So now we're going to go to the second part of this verse that says, And that which he hath given will he pay him again? So we've got a certainty of a payday. you can take this promissory note to the window and collect. You can go to the bank of heaven with this promissory note and collect.

He will he pay him again. It's a promise. A promise doc that's as certain as the sunrise. God is no man's debtor. He will never be found in default or bankruptcy. safe. And when he says, when you give to the poor, you lend to me and I will repay, you can take that to the bank. It's good. That check's going to be cashed. God will do it. You have no reason to fear or question. If you let go of some of your money to help a poor person, that you're going to have a

loss. You're not going to have a loss. You're going to have a gain. You're going to have a blessing. So the repayment is not always money for money, but it's always in value. God repays in currency that matters, good health, peace of mind, protection from evil, the salvation of your children and grandchildren. spiritual joy. There's a lot of ways that God can repay you. He doesn't pay back

merely what he borrows. He pays with interest. Luke chapter 6, verse 38 says, Good measure, press down and shaken together and running over. It's the interest rate of heaven that far exceeds

any of the financial markets on earth today. And the repayment, it may be immediate, meaning you may see an immediate blessing in your life in the coming days or weeks or months, but it can also be delayed. An eternal reward on judgment day. So the wise investor is willing to wait, knowing that God, God's books are always balanced in the end. Yes. And it's interesting that the Greek text here in the Septuagint is saying he'll recompense according to his gift, according to his gift.

And so what this implies here is the proportionality that's taking place. In other words, this goes along with the principle in the New Testament of 2 Corinthians 6.9. He that sowed sparingly, reads sparingly, and he who sowed bansansans bared sparily, and he who sowed bans reaps bountifully. So if you only lend a little, you'll only receive a little. If you lend a lot, you'll receive a lot. And it also is saying here that that which he hath given means that every act of mercy, no matter how small it is, is being noticed. Think about this. It's being noticed. It's being recorded. And it's being treated as a sum that God himself, is taking responsibility for.

In other words, God looks at his books and says, you know, I owe Rick for that. I owe Dr. Burkart for that. Will he pay him again? That's an unqualified promise. You can, pardon the pun, you can take that to the bank. God will repay. He will not remain in anybody's dead.

So the question is, why forward wealth were mothed and rust corrupt and destroy? when you can transfer it to an account that's perishable. So generosity is the only way to keep true wealth forever, and the greatest repayment God ever made. And he's already paid it for you in advance, was giving his son for our spiritual poverty. Amen. Talk, we want to get ourselves in a position, a mindset,

where we are continuously generous in blessing others. and we're not keeping track of the gifts. Your faith says, my father is recording it. He's got accurate books in heaven. He's recording. See, we, if you're trying to remember, well, I gave $50 over here and $10 over here

and I did this and I did that, you're trying to keep all this in your head. For what purpose? Let your father do it in heaven. just be free, just be generous. Just go about your life every day, being a blessing to people. And let the angels be the bookkeepers in heaven. They'll keep accurate books.

You don't have to worry about it. Matthew, well, Doc, I'll let you go here with Matthew Henry. We're going to look at some of the commentators from the past. Matthew Henry said about this portion of the verse, he said, God will pay him again. with interest and compound interest, he shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the just. I believe also in this life,

but ultimately at the resurrection as well. Amen. Baptist John Gill said the Lord will certainly recompense him, sometimes with temporal, always with spiritual blessings, for God will not suffer himself to be any man's debtor. Amen. Charles Spurgeon's, God never lets a kindness,

unrewarded. He repays with usury. It is the only wealth that he ever really keeps. And Joseph Benson said he will not fail to make a full compensation. He will return the benefit done to others with large interests and increase of blessing. Now we're going to move on to verse 18. The king James says, chastened thy son while there is hope and let not thy soul. spare for his crying. Septuagen says, chasten thy son,

for so he shall be hopeful, but be not exalted in thy soul to haltiness. So we'll start with the first part, chasten thy son while there is hope. The aim here is instruction. Not a whipping,

the chastening is not to inflict pain. The main purpose of the chastening is to impart instruction, to shape character. It's not punishment for punishment's sake. There is a season in every child's life when the heart is still teachable, when it's pliable, when it's reachable,

when it's reachable. And wisdom says, use that season. Yes. Don't let that season go to waste. Discipline, chasing the child while their heart is still tender. Neglint.

Neglect doesn't freeze the problem. It feeds it. Until patterns of beings of being. behavior hardened into the identity that the child adopts of himself or herself. Yes. You correct a child because you believe God can redirect the child, can heal the child, can establish wisdom. This hope that's here is this is not optimism.

It's opportunity. We're being told here. to chastened to discipline a child while you still can make some difference in that child's life. Right. That word chasten there really is from the Hebrew word you sar, which means to correct, to instruct, to admonish, or to discipline. We're not talking about abuse here, folks. We're not talking about venting anger.

Rather, chastening is the loving application of pressure to form. character. It's a tool, a formative tool, not just a punitive. So if you think of it these terms, think of it like wet cement. Solomon is introducing here that there is a critical time constraint when chase of a son or daughter is critical, where beyond that window, it just doesn't pay off while there is hope. That's the idea there. So the child's characters like wet cement or like a tender twig on a tree. It can be molded. It can be straightened.

But once that cement sets or the tree grows older into adulthood, the character ardens and change becomes nearly impossible at that point. So that while there is hope is really a telling thing there. This phrase is implying there is a time coming. where there will be no hope. Childhood is that fleeting window of opportunity. To delay discipline is to gamble with a child's future when the odds are best. And when you're disciplining in the hope state, that is a preventive discipline.

It shapes the future. The discipline after the hope stage is really just punishment. You're punishing the past at that point. So the wise parent is going to act before the hope. the habits of sin are calcified. Every day of neglect strengthens the child's sin nature. I'll say it again. Every day of neglect strengthens the child's sin nature.

To wait for the child to, quote, outgrow rebellion like a lot of parents try to do, it's really a dangerous error. Usually rebellion grows with the child. So this is not an option. for a parent. It's a mandate for a parent. God commands parents to intervene in the spiritual trajectory of their children. When you withhold correction, it's simply a neglect. It's a neglect that's leaving a child vulnerable to the world, leaving a child vulnerable to the world, the flesh, and the devil. It's so critical, Rick, while there is hope.

The wet cement analogy that you gave concerning that those formative years of a child's life, like when cement is still wet, you can still move it around. You can still shape it, form it. But once it hardens, it's over, it's done. Right. And, you know, the first four years of a child's life is developed. their personality. The first four years.

And you think of all these little children and horrible lifestyles that are living in, the broken homes, what the damage has been done to these children. And I think all of us, you know, can think of at least one example of a child where, you know, it could be in an extended family, cousin, nephew, niece, or neighbors, children, or friends.

And you're like, hey, if they don't get that child under control, that child's already a brat. If they don't get that child under control, he or she's going to grow up to be a, you know, a monster. And we've all seen this happen. That the parents missed that opportunity when that child's, life was like wet cement. They just let the child do whatever they wanted to do.

And the child grew up without any moral formation. And then becomes an adult. And people wonder, how do they get so messed up? Because back to the childhood. Let's look at the comments from the, we'll look at the comments from the old-time Bible scholars and theologians. Presbyterian Matthew Henry, he said, "'Chasten thy son while there is hope while he is young

"'and capable of being impressed "'before he has grown up in a habit of sin.'" Charles Bridges said the twig must be bent "'before it is grown into a crooked tree. "'And the father does not break the child's will? "'The child will break the father's heart. Wow. "'A Baptist pastor John Gill said,

"'chasten thy son while there is hope For when he has grown up and has got a habit of sinning, there is no hope of his reformation. Amen. And William R. not had this to add. There is a season when the character may be molded. If that season is allowed to pass, the hope is gone. There is a time for correction.

In that time, there's a specific season, folks. I hope you realize that. Doc, you've been a pastor of many churches. over years. You've been in ministry for decades. In your experience, percentage-wise, how many people did you see get saved, let's say, after the age of 25 versus day before 25? Yeah. Of course, it drops off, you know, immediately after high school. You know, it's just hard after those teenage years to get people to listen to the gospel or to respond to the gospel. When it does happen, it's usually a dramatic, very dramatic conversion from one point to another.

But more often than not, unless you can get a child to the altar when they're young or at the latest in their teenage years. By the time they start off to college, college, the indoctrination institution of our nation, and now with social media and all the different devices that are available to everybody, iPads, phones, everything else, all these distractions, it's virtually impossible to get anyone to the altar

after they turn 18. and the older they get, Rick, the more difficult it is in life. It is a very, it's a very hard row to hoe. What you just said proves the validity of this proverb. Because if you do not reach a child while there's still ho, that young boy or girl is going to grow up to be a hardened center. Yes. and there's

as who was it John Gill said there is no hope of his reformation you can preach all day to them they're not going to receive it the cement has hardened yes

and nothing's going to penetrate it and then the second part of this verse says and let not thy soul spare for his crying there's a lot packed in that right there. What is saying is don't

be manipulated by your child's tears. All right. The literal Hebrew translation says do not lift up your soul to his death. Tears can be painful, of course. But sometimes tears

can be resistance. wisdom has to discern the difference is are the tears coming from the child's pain, the child's remorse, or are the tears coming from the child's resistance and determination to keep doing it? Yes. You know?

You know the old story about the boy in school, you know, told to stand in the corner and he said to the teacher, I will, but in my mind I'm still sitting down. Right. That's a stubborn resistance that's there. You can punish me, but I'm not going to change. let not thy soul spare. It's talking about the inner weakness that all parents experience, the parent that says,

I can't bear this discomfort. And then they call that weakness love. There are a lot of parents that never discipline their children because they just can't handle it. They can't handle the discomfort of disciplining a child. And then they give it all kinds of modern psychology terms of why they didn't discipline, you know, they got all these new ways to discipline their child. That doesn't involve any

discipline, okay? But here's the message. This is what Solomon's trying to get us to understand. As a parent, it's much better to endure some temporary crying. then for you to spend the rest of your life crying. Okay, so as a child, when they're young, you discipline them. Yes, they're going to cry. But if you don't discipline those children, when they grow up, you're going to cry.

Yes. You're going to spend the rest of your life crying. Okay. Absolutely. So it's better to accept a smaller pain to avert a lifetime tragedy in your child's life. So you don't want to cooperate with your child's self-destruction. And that's what it is, Doc.

Weak parents that don't discipline their child, their children. They are participating with their child's self-destruction. They sure are. So. Because they're, go ahead. No, I was just going to add the reason why they don't like to discipline their children is because they don't like discipline in their own lives, Rick. So we take that literal reading here. This is how serious this is.

You know, we think, oh, that's that big of a deal. But if we take the literal reading here, do not set your fart on his death like the Septuagint says. The logic is really terrifying to withhold discipline from a child. is to sign your child's death warrant. So the parent becomes an accessory to the child's death and destruction. If we follow the King James, spare for his crime, the lesson is equally vital here. Tears can be a child's weapon against correction. A parent must possess the emotional fortitude to do what's right even when a child protest.

Oftentimes, a doctor, a surgeon, has to ignore the patient's fear to cut out a cancer. So the pair who cannot bear to see their child cry today will likely see them bleed tomorrow, Rick, under the sword, either justice in this world or the judgment of God at the end of time. And what looks like mercy, sparing the rod. Those spare the rods is actually cruelty in disguise. we were an aunt said that tenderness that shrinks from discipline is cruelty. You're, listen, this is the best way to put it. You're going to love your child straight to hell. That's what you're going to do.

You're loving your child into hell. Parenting requires mastery of yourself. The peer has to govern their own emotions. Whether it be pity, sometimes fatigue sits in. As a parent, you just say, I'm just tired of disciplining now. I don't want to deal with him. Or frustration, thinking that chastening, that discipline is not paying off. But you've got to overcome that.

That's a shortcoming in your life, not the child's life. The child is depending on you for the correction that they need in their life. And Matthew Henry offered a chilling comparison here. He says, it's better that the child cry under the parent's rod than under the executioner's sword. Now think about that. The rod drives out that folly that leads to death. So crying in this context represents that resistance to divine order. Once again, dealing with divine order, this time between children and parents.

And so crying here represents that resistance to that. It's not genuine repentance. They're crock andile tears. The wise parent discerns between tears of brokenness. and tears of rebellion. Think about this. We compare this to Jesus. God the Father did not spare his own son the suffering of the cross.

Think about this. God the Father did not spare his own son the suffering of the cross because he looked to the hope of redemption. So true love does what is necessary even when it's agonizingly painful, and it certainly was for the Father. The idea here isn't to break the child's spirit. That's not what we're talking about here. But what we are talking about is you've got to break that child's willfulness,

saving them from the ways of death, like we talked about back in Proverbs 1412. We want to save our children. And if we apply this to our own life, how many times have we resisted God's discipline in our life? And we've shed those tears, but have those tears? but have those tears been genuine, tears of repentance in our own life, or are they just the tears of uncomfortability or tears of inconvenience in our life? I want to be saved from the ways of death myself, so we can apply this to our own lives as well, Rick.

Absolutely. William R. not said tenderness that shrinks from discipline in his cruelty in disguise, he that spares the rod hates the child. Yes. Hates a child, all right? Charles Spurgeon said, let not thy soul spare for his crying. Do not let his tear stop the rod.

Better he cry now than perish forever. Yes. Adam Clark has said this. He said, let not thy soul spare. The salvation of the child's soul may depend. depend on this. Do not accessory to his destruction. And

Albert Barnes, Presbyterian pastor, said do not under a mistaken tenderness shrink from chastening. Such false clemency is in truth cruelty, making thee a party to his death.

And Joseph Benson had this warning to parents. To forbear correction is in effect. to give him to ruin. What that means is that by the fact that you refuse to correct a child,

you're sending them to hell. You are. I wish there was a nicer way to put it. Sometimes the straight ways, the nicest way, Rick. I think, well, for me, the thought of anybody in

the lake of fire for eternity is a it's unthinkable to me. I can't I can't fathom it just if you stop and think about what it's like to be

in the lake of fire forever. I wouldn't want to be in the lake of fire for one minute. But as tragic as that is, how tragic it is that there will be people

in the lake of fire who didn't need to be there. Yes. Most of them and you know what's going to be I was just thinking how heartbreaking entire families

together in the Lake of Far mother and father sons and daughters tragic they went there holding hands in rebellion

in disobedience I can't imagine as a father seeing my children and grandchildren in the Lake of Far and knowing I'm responsible for it yes

you know you're responsible for yourself being there but the pain of knowing that you're responsible for somebody else being there your own flesh and blood what a terrible thought well that's it for today's

morning manna lesson we are very glad you spent this time with us and you're learning and we're learning together teachers. I encourage you to tell people about morning manna. We have a new website, manna Nation.com, and we also are putting the lessons on YouTube at a new channel that I have, which is Rick Wows today. Rick Wows today at YouTube. And so you can find the Morning Mata lessons at either site,

manana Nation.com or the YouTube channel, Rick Wows today. today. So send people to the lessons and you know, some of them may may start watching. You know, some may not and some may. Let's focus on the ones that decide to watch and they get, they get hooked on the Word of God and it starts affecting them and they just keep coming back and getting some more. And before you know it, they've got their entire family being trained in the Word of God. That's why we're here. This is what we're doing to change lives. We love you so much.

Thank you for being with us. We'll see you tomorrow. God bless you.