In his sermon titled 'The Path of Life,' Peter Allison explores Proverbs 15:24, which describes the upward path of life for the wise, contrasting it with Sheol below. He explains that Sheol is distinct from the doctrine of Hell and signifies the grave. Allison highlights how the path of life represents fellowship with God, with the wise turning away from Sheol and towards righteousness. The sermon also examines the significance of humility, the destruction of the proud, and God's protection of the weak, such as widows. The sermon emphasizes the rejection of greed and the worship of money, advocating for a life of holiness and beauty, both in character and in the world around us. The righteous seek to give thoughtful answers, create beauty, and live in fellowship with God. The sermon ends with a call to celebrate the beauty of holiness and the Good News of Jesus Christ, recognizing its eternal significance.

Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Proverbs 15. I'd like to read beginning of verse 24. Hear God's word. The way of life winds upward for the wise, that he may turn away from hell below. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, that he will establish the boundary of the widow.

The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant. He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live. The heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil. The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy.

The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility." That's part of the reading of God's Word. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God endures forever. Almighty Heavenly Father, we ask that you would give us understanding hearts.

We ask that you would sanctify these sinful lips to proclaim your word. We ask that you would speak to us this morning. May we hear your voice with the ears of faith. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, Amen.

We've been looking at the last few weeks, at Proverbs 15, and have seen it speak about joy, the joy of the Lord. What is the source of that joy? What is the effect of that joy? What is counterfeit joy? And then last week, looking at the fullness of joy, and all the different aspects of the fullness of joy, the joy of peacemaking, diligent labor, wise children, of discernment, the joy of established plans, and the joy of an apt and timely answer.

And then we come to a pivot verse in verse 15. And the focus shifts from this temporal life and the joys, the joy of the Lord that we have, and it shifts to a broader look at the path of life itself. What is it? Where is it going? And what is the God of those on the path of life?

And what are the idols that beckon to them? And what is the conversation of those on the path of life, and what is the key to persevering on the path of life? Verse 24 gives us this broad introduction to this next theme that carries us through the end of this chapter and the end of this section. And we're right in the middle, to put this in context of the bigger outline of the book, we are right in the middle of the first section of the Proverbs of Solomon. Remember there was a lengthy introduction of nine chapters that dealt with larger themes, broad themes.

And then beginning in verse 10 and going through most of chapter 22 are the Proverbs of Psalm. The Bible says that he spoke some 3, 000 Proverbs. We have in this section, begins in chapter 10, if we are about right in the middle of, we have 375 of those Proverbs. A number that one might say coincidentally, I think providentially, is just one more example of the many literary figures and aspects to the Book of Proverbs. One, a number that matches exactly the number of Solomon's name, because you know this, like, Roman letters, Latin letters, Greek letters, Hebrew letters, all are used in the number system.

They didn't have Arabic numbers, and the concept is zero, so they used the letters of their alphabet to represent numbers. And the number that's represented in Solomon's name happens to be the number of Proverbs in this section of Solomon's Proverbs. One more fingerprint of God upon the text. So this verse then moves to this broader discussion about the path of light. And it says in verse 24, that the way of light winds upward for the wise that he may turn away from the hell below." This is a, you remember, a synthetic proverb.

It builds upon, with the second line, builds upon the first line. The way of life winds upward for the wise that he may turn away from sheol, is the word there. And I say that because The Hebrew word for sheol is different than what we understand as the doctrine of hell, the doctrine of everlasting judgment, where God's wrath is poured out for all eternity on the reprobate. That's the doctrine of hell. When the Bible uses the word sheol, it's not necessarily talking about that doctrine of hell.

So if your Bible has the word hell in it, it's the same use of the word hell as is in the Apostles Creed, where it says that Jesus descended into hell. He descended into the grave, but the grave could not hold him. So this is the way of life winds upward for the wise that he may turn away from the hell below. So there's some contrasts here. There's an implied contrast and explicit contrast.

The way of life is upward and shield is below. Those are two explicit contrasts. The way of life goes up for the wise, and that He can turn away from the path to Sheol below. Now there is a connection here in that Heaven is above, it's implied, doesn't say it, but It's implied by the use of the word, sheol, below. Heaven above and sheol below.

It's talking about a pathway, a turn away from the pathway from hell below. So all people go to the grave. Jesus went to the grave. Everybody that dies goes to the grave. But at the last trumpet, the dead in Christ are raised from the grave.

They break out of the grave, even as Christ breaks out of the grave. Because the grave could not hold Him. He had committed no sin. So the grave can either hold those who are in Christ, but those who are not in Christ stay, are not removed from the grave. The grave does hold them.

And Revelation tells us that Sheol and Hades are themselves cast into the lake of fire. And so there is rightfully then this connection between Sheol and the lake of fire. Those who are not in Christ are held in Sheol and never escaped and are then cast in with the shield and Hades to the lake of fire. But the way of life is upward for the wise. Now this is referring to the way of life.

This is, the proverb is referring to something beyond our temporal life. It's not simply saying here that the wise are spared an untimely death or have a good life. I don't think that's what it's saying here. And I think there are a couple of reasons for that. If this is simply a reference to this life, the wise are not spared, sheol.

Those who die, believer and unbeliever, fool and wise, Ecclesiastes tells us, alike go to the grave. So if this is simply a reference to this earthly life here, speaking of this way of life, winding upward for the wise, to turn away from the hell below. And it wouldn't be true, really, because the wise aren't spared, she-o. The righteous and the fool alike die. And secondly, then the way of life would be swallowed by death.

This expression, the way of life, refers to fellowship with God. The Bible says, Adam died. God promised him that he would die in the day that he ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God commanded him not to eat of it. In the day that he did, he would surely die.

Now we know that Adam had children after he ate of that tree and sinned against God. And so some people think, well, he didn't die, the Bible isn't true, but we understand that exactly what God said came to pass. Adam lost fellowship with God. He lost communion with God. He became afraid.

He became aware that he was naked and he was ashamed of his nakedness before God. And because he lost fellowship with God, the Bible says he died. He died. And so the way of life then refers to the way of fellowship with God, to those who are walking with God. Jesus told Nicodemus that except a man is born from above, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.

We have here the path of life, the way of life, winds upward for those who are wise, for those who are in Christ, because none of us are wise unless we are in Christ. So that is the path of life that is being referenced or referred to in this section of Proverbs. So what can we say about this path of life? What is the destiny of those on the path of life? Well, Proverbs gives that to us.

The destiny of those on the path of life. Well, Proverbs gives that to us. The destiny of those on the path of life. God establishes the righteous, especially when they are weak. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the boundary of the widow.

The house of the proud is plucked from the land, as one comes in and snatched them out. Just like you would come to your garden and pluck a weed and cast it aside. That's what that word means. Plucked. Picked up.

The Lord plucks up the house of the proud. Now, This is infrequent language in the Bible. It's only used a couple of times, or four times. And one of those places where it's used, besides this passage here, is In Deuteronomy 28, the end of that chapter, it lists the covenant blessings and curses, the sanctions of the covenant. What would happen to those who kept God's covenant, and what would happen to those who did not keep God's covenant.

One of the curses on those who did not keep God's covenant, remember the land was given to Israel as a sign of the covenant, the promise of the fifth commandment to them was that if they obeyed their father and mother, it would be well with them in the land which God was giving to them. God promised that land to Abraham. But the curse given to Deuteronomy 28 is exactly this, that they would be, if they didn't keep God's covenant, they would be plucked up out of the land. So, the house of the proud, that is those who set themselves up against God, Those who think that they don't need God. Those are the kind of people that think that they are Lord of their own lips.

Like Psalm 12 says, It says, may the Lord cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boast. This is a proud tongue making great boast. And the tongue that makes great boast says, those who say, with our tongue we will prevail, our lips are ours, whose Lord over us? That's the words of the proud. We are our own man.

We are our own woman. We are our own person. We don't need the Lord. Our lips belong to us. We can say whatever we want with them.

Who's going to tell us otherwise? In other words, we've made ourselves our own Lords. Wicked mothers often say this about their womb. Who is Lord over my womb to tell me what I can and can't do with it? We can We can say that about any part of our body.

These wicked who proudly do not need God, who believe that they are the captain of their own destiny, and their own Lord and Master. God says, you will cut them out of the land. On the other hand, he establishes the boundary of the widow. So if we, this is back to the antithetical proverb, but again, If we keep in mind this view that what's referred to in the first line of the couplet should be also carried over into the second line of the couplet and vice versa. The Lord destroying the house of the proud but establishing the boundary of the widow, there is in view here exploitation of the widow.

The widow is someone who has lost every means of protection, all strength in her life to defend her husband, her sons. Nobody left. Remember the widow that was to be taken into the church and provided by the church was a widow who is a widow indeed, somebody who had no family even to care for her, as well as their husband to look after her, to protect her. She is therefore easily exploited. Exodus 22 says that the anger of God is very hot against those who would dare to exploit a widow or an orphan.

Verse 22, You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child if you do mistreat them. And they cry out to me, God says, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows, and your children fatherless." That's how the Lord views those who would dare to exploit somebody who is weak and helpless, to exploit a widow. Now, we have to keep in mind, this is antithetical. God is destroying the house of the proud, this is the wicked, and He is establishing the boundary of the righteous widow. That's to be understood as well.

God is therefore saying He will establish the boundary of the weak, the righteous who are weak, even when they are weak, especially when they are weak. One form of theft to which a widow is particularly vulnerable is moving property boundaries. Now I thought that would be pretty rare. I never heard of a case of moving property boundaries and therefore stealing property. I've heard of it historically.

There's some, Ralph Moody talks about it happening in Maine where somebody successfully moved a property boundary and stole a field and got away with it, sort of. But I actually came across a case right in our own neighborhood where it seems, it would seem that somebody was trying to steal a field by playing with the property boundaries. That is specifically forbidden in Deuteronomy. It's forbidden twice in Proverbs 22 and 23. Don't move the ancient landmark or the boundary, or enter the field of the fatherless.

It's specifically listed, or specifically connected with orphans and widows, because this is a form of theft that they are particularly vulnerable to. It takes some, in some work to see it happening, and it takes some means to be able to fight it. And that can be very difficult for a widow, to have the means to be able to resist or to fight somebody who is moving a boundary or a landmark. But God specifically curses those who would move the property boundaries. God the Father is the protector of widows, establishing their boundaries, establishing their homes, recovering, restoring their property that has been stolen by exploitation.

There weren't many here last week when we read the letter of a Middle East missionary that we support. He told the story of God protecting the boundary of a widow, a refugee family who had fled their homeland because they had become Christians, and the church that met in their home had been discovered. They fled, and they were living as refugees in Europe, seeking asylum because they fled for their lives. They lived there a number of years when the Hunspen was suddenly arrested and deported despite their prayers and cries to the Lord and pleas and fasting and going down to the jail and keeping vigilant prayer, he was deported. He was deported back to his country where, and as a asylum seeker and a Christian at that, somebody who had fled for his life, so it was almost certain death for him.

But the four guards that took him back, who were then going to go on to a vacation in Dubai after they dropped their hapless victim off, met an immigration officer who asked them why they were bringing this man. When they told him, he then turned to the man and said, Do you have anything to say for yourself, sir? And the man simply said, I was torn from my wife, who is going to be left the widow in the country we were living. And I was drugged here against my will. I don't have the full story, don't have time to go into all the details.

But to cut to the heart of that story, the immigration officer looked at him, looked at those guards and said, you're going to have to take him back. What did you do? Drag him here through the mud? I can't take him. I can't sign for him.

You didn't even give him a passport. He's here illegally. You get him on the next plane and send him back immediately." Well, they immediately started calling their cell phones and getting some other guards over. This wasn't going according to plan. And two immigration officers came over and stood in front of the immigration officer that was handling it and said, can we help you, sir?

And he said, no, you go back to your post, I have this one. And they said, well, we can't take him back. The flight is full. And then the immigration officer said, well, then I will just have to arrest you and you can spend your vacation in our jail. Well, then they scrambled a little more.

Then he called the airline manager over and said, you brought this man over here without a passport. You need to take him back on this flight. He said, well, that flight's full. Immigration officer said, well, then I'll write your airline up for a violation of the law. Well, the manager found him a first class seat on that flight back.

And all the other guards that came with him. They missed their vacation in Dubai. But before he put him on that flight, he took him through the airport and said, Would you like to buy some presents for your wife? He said, I have no money. The man said, Well, I have plenty of money here.

Here's my wallet, it's got lots of cash. Buy some gifts for your wife. So he did. Came back, they left him in the middle of the airport in a humiliating condition. But his wife was there and received him home.

Now here's the heart of the story. When they went to find this immigration officer and did some inspection, they discovered that there never had been any immigration officer by that name at that airport. God had sent his angel to deliver that man and to preserve the boundary of this God-fearing woman. This is one of the reasons why property taxes are so wrong, because it especially harms widows. The value of their property goes up and up and up each year, and their income doesn't.

Those that are working can have an increase. They can keep up with it. They may be high and outrageous, but they can afford it. But a widow is often in a very difficult position, and often can end up losing her own property because of property taxes. That's just one of many.

That's one that falls out of this text. God cuts off the houses of the wicked. We see that throughout the scriptures. Even in the Second Commandment, God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate them. Exodus 34, verse 6 and 7, says the same thing, that God cuts off the wicked.

He visits the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. Jeremiah acknowledges that in his prayer for understanding, he says, You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them. O great and mighty God, whose name is the Lord of hosts. Moses understood that as well. His prayer of intercession for the children of Israel, Numbers 14, he said, You are slow to anger, Lord, the Lord is slow to anger, abounding instead, past love, forgiving, iniquity, and transgression.

But he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation." then he went on to say later on in that passage, but as for you, God said, your dead bodies, to the speaking to the children of Israel, will fall in the wilderness, and your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness 40 years and suffer for your faithlessness. There wasn't the little children that had rejected the Lord, but they suffered because of their father's sin. Now I just have to add, lest there's any misunderstanding, God does not bring judgment on the innocent descendants of the wicked. This is not saying that God punishes the innocent. It is saying that God punishes the wicked.

And that through example, the children become like the fathers. They learn from his example, and they, Because of that example come under the wrath of God the punishment of God Now who then is the God of those on the path of light Well, those on the path of life have to reject, do reject, the temptation to serve money, to make money their God. He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live." We can't desire the riches of this world, and that's what greedy for money is, greedy for gain. We can't desire the riches of this world, and that's what greedy for money is, greedy for gain. We can't desire the riches of this world and the riches of the next world at the same time.

No man can serve two masters. He will hate the one and love the other Jesus says or love the one and hate the other We can't have two purposes in our life If we are greedy for game greedy for money, we are serving money. Money is our God. Proverbs chapter 1 gives a description of those who are greedy for gain. If you have your Bibles, you might take a look at it.

It says in verse 10, Proverbs 1, my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood. That's commit murder. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them alive like sheol and whole like those who go down to the pit.

We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. My son, don't walk in the way with them.

Keep your foot from their path. That is the path that goes to Sheol. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, but they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives.

And what's the summary of those people? So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. Greedy for gain. Takes away the life of its owners. That's a description.

People that lie in wait to shed innocent blood. People that lurk to steal the precious possessions of others, who do harm and bring trouble without a cause. That is, Proverbs says, is the way of those who are greedy for money. Because those who are greedy for money are serving an idol, serving money. Giving bribes is an act of the worship of money and the power it buys.

Bribes are gifts that are given to influence the judgment of a ruler, to make them favorably inclined to the giver, to enable the giver to obtain an unfair or unjust advantage. In that sense, it's really not a gift, is it? Because it's given with the expectation of getting something back. Something you give with the expectation of getting something back, it's not a gift. Something to remember this time of year.

What would happen if nobody gave you any gifts? Would you feel cheated because you gave them gifts? If you might, then you weren't giving gifts. You were making payments, hoping to receive something in return. Those who are on the way of life resist the temptation to serve money.

Those who hate bribes, those who turn away from that, they will live in fellowship with Jehovah the Creator. They will remain on the path of life. They will live a life that is worth living. David asks in Psalm 51, Who will dwell on your tabernacle? The answer is that in the rest of the psalm.

In the last verse, verse 5, his answer is, He who does not put out his money at interest, and does not take a bride against the innocent. Doesn't take a bride. That is the person who dwells with the Lord. Most of us, I certainly haven't ever been forced to choose in a very vivid way between serving the God, Creator God, Jehovah God, and the god of money. But the Marquis of Ico did have to make that choice.

He was born into a wealthy, well-to-do, and well-connected family in Italy at the time of the Reformation. His sister was the, I'm sorry, his mother was the sister of the Pope. Now How's that for connections? Back in 15, he was Pope from 1555 to 1559, so this is right in the heart of Calvin and Geneva. The emperor, Charles V, conferred on him the office of gentleman-sower.

So you can get paid a lot of money for doing no work. But he already had a lot of money. At 20 years of age, he married the daughter of a very wealthy duke, and she brought a substantial sum of money to him as well, as well as bearing him six children. And they had a wonderful family. They were deeply in love with each other.

They cared for each other. He was, in the words of Thomas Macri in his History of the Spanish Reformation, he says of the Marquis of Vico, his affability and The talents which he discovered for public business led all who knew him to anticipate his certain advancement in worldly honors. In other words, this was a man who was up and coming. He was well connected. He had lots of money, And he was a nice guy.

He had it all. A wonderful wife, six beautiful children, all the money he could ever hope for, ever need. And somebody who could even give him remission of his sins if he ever needed it. Well, this guy was traveling on business, and he went into Germany. And guess what?

He heard the Gospel. He heard the word of God from those reformers. And he was saved. He was converted. And he wanted to go home and he was excited and he was going to set up Bible studies and meetings with his friends who played like he did.

But then the Pope is cranking up the Inquisition and his friends didn't want to have anything to do with confessing Christ publicly. They all backed away. And he was left wondering, what should I do? Do I live my life being a secret Christian, not confessing Christ, going to the mass, pretending to partake of that idolatry? Or do I confess Christ?

He realized that to confess Christ, he would have to give everything up. Because, and here's the sad part of this story, his wife, also coming from a wealthy family, with her children, was not willing to live anywhere outside of Italy where the Roman Catholic Church wasn't the professed religion of the land. And he describes that scene of his departure. He initially had to flee, but then he came back without his wife even knowing. But then he came back and he had a meeting with his family where he pled with his wife to come with him.

And they describe a time as he came down, as he's about ready to go, they're in the courtyard, his wife is there in tears, begging him to stay. His 13 year old daughter has grabbed the hold of his legs and is pleading with him and she will not let go for him to stay. His father is cursing him for leaving. But he left. He said, he's told friends many times, that that image and that scene was indelibly burned upon his memory of his wife in tears, his daughter grabbing hold of his legs and not letting go.

But what he knew was what Jesus said, "'Him that confesses me not before men, I will not confess before my Father and his angels.'" And He felt it was his duty to leave father and mother, wife, children, houses, and lands for Christ's sake and for the sake of the gospel. Jesus said in Matthew 19, 29, And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lambs, for my name's sake will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first." You know, this is what Moses had to do. Moses was a daughter of Pharaoh. He grew up for 40 years in the wealth of Pharaoh.

Hebrews 11 says that by faith Moses when he was grown refused to be called the daughter of Pharaoh's son, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking for the reward. He renounced his position as a son of Pharaoh, a life of ease, a life of wealth, a life of power, because he was serving Jehovah and you can't serve to gods. Paul told Timothy that those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. They destroy their own house.

Those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation. It's a snare, because it's an idol. Senseless and harmful desires plunge people into destruction and ruin. Those who are on the path of life have Jehovah to be their God and not money. Now what about the conversation of people on the path of life?

Conversation of those on the path of life. Well our text says that they have a genuine and selfless desire and ability to help others. Verse 28 says, In the heart of the righteous studies how to answer. Studies how to answer. It's not simply having an answer, that's sometimes the simple part.

It's studying how to give the answer in the appropriate way in the appropriate time. To give the answer in a way that it will be best received. And that's hard. That's hard. But see, giving an answer, that's about helping someone else, right?

When you give somebody an answer, you're not helping yourself. You already have the answer, obviously, or you couldn't give it. So, giving an answer is helping somebody else. Whatever that answer might be. It might be a question on health, it might be a question on food, it might be a question on finances, it might be a question on relationships, it might be a question on how to fix your car, how to re-roof your house.

Whatever it might be, it might be on some theological or doctrinal topic, but whatever it is, giving an answer is an act in itself of helping somebody. It's taking of our own ability, our knowledge that God has given us, and studying how we can use that knowledge to help somebody else, somebody who's asking us. And Proverbs gives us a number of things to consider when rendering an answer. I'll just briefly touch on a couple of them. One is to make sure that we understand, we hear the matter fully before we try and answer it, before we try and render a answer, a judgment.

Answering Proverbs 18 says that he that answers a matter before he hears it, before he understands what he's answering, He's a fool. Another thing that we need to do if we're going to study how to give an answer is that we don't give an answer or render a judgment before we hear both sides if it's a question, if it's a debate, if it's an issue, a division. Because Proverbs 17 says, teaches us that something we all know is very true, that the first person to bring their argument often seems right. They seem right. They're most convincing.

It's very easy to be convinced by the first side that brings their case, but then the other side comes along and we see something different. So there's a principle there for how the truth is discovered, and that is there must be process of cross-examination. It's a very critical part of how the truth is discovered. And without cross-examination, you do not have a biblical means of discovering the truth. And so that means that we might not be able to give an answer.

Because if we don't have the authority to establish cross-examination under oath, then we don't have the authority to hear both sides of the matter, and we don't then have authority to even give an answer on the question before us. The third thing, another thing that those who are studying to give an answer need to remember is to study how to render a soft answer. Our passage opened up with a soft answer turns right way around. And that's not always easy. A soft answer isn't just a cookies and cream bunny rabbit, bumpy bunny rabbit kind of an answer.

A soft answer is one that doesn't stir up further offense. And that's very easy to do. And it takes some time to think about how will this be received? Is it going to, it may be true. It may need to be said, But how is it going to be received at this point in time?

And is it going to be received as offensive? An offended brother is harder to be one than a strong city, so we have to consider that. And It takes time to think about things like this, as to how they are received. It often helps to have somebody else read the answer to see if they can think of ways that it might be taken wrongly. That's another way to study, to give an answer.

The fourth thing is to not remember to attack the person when we give an answer, an ad hominem response. That's very easy if we are somewhat excited. We can also ask, is it relevant or helpful? Is our answer relevant or helpful? This is very useful in doctrinal debates, because there might be a lot of wonderful true things that you could say, but you realize that's not going to be helpful to where this person is and how they're understanding things.

And it's better to be silent and be thought of a fool, that you don't have that answer to their question, than to give an answer that you know is not going to be helpful to them. Those who are on the path of life are those who are ready to give an answer to the hope that lies within them, ready to testify to God and His glory. Those who are on the path of life are also those who are near to God. Verse 29 says, The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. God doesn't hear, now, prayers that are never prayed or a petition that is never formed.

So when it says that God hears the prayer of the righteous, that means the righteous are those who have drawn near to God. Those who have prayed, are praying, have brought their petitions. These that are people who are near to God, God is far from the wicked. Their thoughts are an abomination to Him. But those who are on the path of life are also creators of beauty.

Creators of beauty. Verse 30 says that, the light of the eye rejoices the heart and a good report makes the bones healthy. Now what is the light of the eye? Well, that might be a little bit difficult to know, but I think we can understand it if we look down at the second couplet and we see that a good report makes the bones healthy. A good report is something that the ears hear, has a solitary effect on the body.

The light of the eyes also has a solitary effect. So it must be, I think, what it's saying is it's the images that the eyes see, just like a good report is a sound that the ears hear. The light of the eyes are images that the eyes see. And so beauty, the images and scenes that our eyes take in, can bring great pleasure. It's pleasant for the eyes to see a beautiful sunset.

It's pleasant for them to see majestic mountains or the ocean. Beauty like that in God's creation brings joy and it causes our heart to rejoice. People fill their homes with beautiful images. They build houses in places that have magnificent scenes. They travel just to be able to see a magnificent sight.

The ocean or the Grand Canyon. People go there to see these things just because of the joy that comes from that image of beauty. Light of the eye rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy, or literally, it's fat. I don't know why the modern translators have decided that wasn't a good term to put there, but that's the term that's there. Today, skinny is extolled as beautiful and healthy, but in the Bible, a sign of beauty and health is fatness.

Not obesity, not morbid obesity, but fatness. Fat is good. Now James Herriot, the veterinarian, that's his pen name from England, talks about a time when he went to a house and he often went to farmers that were very poor and couldn't pay him money, so they would pay him in things. And one time they served him a roast, but it was all fat. It was a roast of fat.

And he was sitting there wanting to eat it because he thought that would give him a coronary, but he didn't want to be impolite and reject their gift. So he ate it, worrying about his heart. But our medical knowledge today is catching up to the Bible, what the Bible has said all along and what was commonly known in other times, and that is that fat is good. Fat is good for your body. Proverbs 11 25 says, The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that waters shall be watered himself.

Also, the speaking of the righteous, Psalm 92 says, They shall still bring forth fruit in old age, they shall be fat and flourishing. Nehemiah said in giving an overview of Israel's history, he described and their blessing in Nehemiah 9.25, he says, They took strong cities and a fat land, and they possessed houses full of goods, they dug wells and vineyards and olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance, so they did eat and were filled and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness." That's how he described a blessed people. They were a fat people. And so a good report makes the bones healthy. Fat.

Now really to understand that you need to understand skinny and you need to see some of the poor people in other parts of the world, that's skinny. This is not talking about obesity, not talking about being overweight. That's something else. But God's works are beautiful. God is the master creator of beauty.

Genesis 2.9 says that, Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. It wasn't just functional. It wasn't just, oh that's good for food. Don't care how it looks. What God did was beautiful.

It was pleasing to the eye. And it was good for food. And God called Adam to imitate him. God expects us to be creators of beauty. In Genesis 2, 19, a little later, it says, now out of the ground, the Lord had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens, and he brought them to man to see what he would call them.

Did you catch that? God brought the animals to Adam and he was waiting to see. He wanted to find out what Adam would call the animals. And then did he say, Adam, no, that's not, no, like that one. I don't know.

It says that, and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. God accepted Adam's creativity. Now Adam was just creating with what God had already made. God creates out of nothing. But see, Adam is beginning to follow in God's footsteps.

He is called to create things of beauty. And if we look in the Old Testament, we see that the clothes were designed for glory and beauty. The clothes that the priests wore, glory and beauty, that was their purpose. And so to walk in the wisdom of God, to walk in this path of life means that we will also create beauty. Beauty in words, beauty in sounds, in music, in images, whether that's on an oil painting, a watercolor, or an image made out of wood, which we sometimes call furniture, although sometimes our furniture isn't so beautiful anymore.

It might be flowers, a garden. God planted a garden, and he made it beautiful. And we can do the same when we transplant plants into our yard to make our yard beautiful. Solomon made the temple beautiful. Specifically, Solomon made the temple beautiful.

There are things in the temple that had nothing to do directly with sacrificial system. They had to do with simply making the temple as a building beautiful. He overlaid everything with pure gold. He decorated the house. He carved palm trees and chain work into the temple.

Exquisite detail and beauty. He paneled rooms with cypress wood. He decorated the house with precious stones for beauty. They were there to make the temple look beautiful. Its walls, its beams and door posts, he overlaid with gold, he carved cherubim in the walls and so on.

Solomon did a lot in that temple just for the sake of beauty. Now not all images with outward beauty are pleasing to the Lord. There is no beauty in the images of the wicked that have not been made to the glory of God. Because verse 26 says that the very thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. Certainly their works of art, no matter how outward, no matter how well they conform to the outward standards of beauty, The Lord knows the heart and the purpose for which they were drawn.

And the very thoughts of the wicked, their thoughts about creating that work of beauty, that whatever it is, is an abomination to the Lord. But the words of the pure are pleasant. So images and reports that do not glorify God should not cause us to rejoice either. Now I should add that we don't all have the same ability and so beauty is also a question of ability. God looks at that servant that made five talents, didn't receive any more praise than the servant that only made two talents because the servant with five had more, was given more.

And so, God to whom much is given, much is expected. To whom less ability is given, less is expected. So don't worry if you're not an artist. I'm a terrible artist. I couldn't probably draw a picture that anyone would recognize of even myself.

So don't worry if you aren't an artist in some particular area. If you don't have an ability there, I'm not saying that you have to worry and get it. The question of beauty is a question of ability. And it's to those who have been given that ability, or to use that ability. Good news and beauty bring joy and good health.

What are often the most viewed or shared videos on the internet? Are they not reports of great kindness, great mercy, integrity, bravery, strength, endurance? These good reports? Why? Why are they the ones everybody shares and views?

They have 50 million views because they bring joy. They bring joy. They bring health. But apart from Christ's work, Physical health, fatness of our bones, is replaced by death. Physical beauty turns to ashes.

Material blessings are lost. We can't take them with us. The only lasting light of the eyes is Jesus Christ. The only lasting good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ has come into the world to perfectly obey the law of God in every detail, to live without sin, to be tempted in every point even as we are, and yet not sin, to perfectly obey his father and his mother, to perfectly answer the attacks of the Pharisees, to be angry at their wickedness and deviousness and yet without sin, to be falsely accused to die as the perfect sacrifice and bear our sin.

That is truly good news. That is cause for everlasting rejoicing and eternal good health. That's why Romans 10-15 says, And how are those people to preach unless they are sent, as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News. We are to be creators of beauty, and that includes being the bearer of this good news of Jesus Christ.

We celebrate this time of year his coming, his incarnation, his taking upon himself a human flesh. And the Bible doesn't give us the date on which he was born, But it gives us a lot of other clues. It does give us a lot of clues, and it's very probable, it's very likely, that he was born on December 25th in 5 BC. But we don't know for sure. The Bible doesn't command us to keep that day.

It commands us to keep another day, which is the Lord's Day, the day that we celebrate His resurrection, because that was the defeat of Satan, the crushing of Satan's head. And so that's the day God has called us to remember his great work, and not just once a year, but every week. And so there's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas, but it's not a holy day of obligation. The Lord's Day is. That is the day we celebrate Christ's advent.

Holiness is beautiful. Holiness is a life that is set apart, dedicated to the Lord, that's not serving false gods but serving the true God, that's walking in the conversation of those who are on the path of life. Holiness is beautiful and we are to worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you might make us beautiful, that you might make us holy, enable us to walk in your ways, to walk in the path of light, to know we thank you for teaching us and giving to us the beauty of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We pray that you would enable us to be creators after you. Our beauty. Beauty in the things around us but also beauty in a life of holiness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.