"Goodness" without Jesus does not exist!: Proverbs 19 | A Proverb A Day

Proverbs 19:17 tells us when we lend to the needy, we really give to God. What does that mean for all our good deeds? Can goodness even exist without Jesus?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, you guys, welcome back to the Amani Talks podcast.
You're here with your hosts Amani and Lilian for today.
If you guys can see her, we're back on the
podcast where we discuss our Christian based topics and deepening
our relationship with the Lord. And today is July nineteenth
and we are reading Proverbs nineteen, continuing on in our
Proverb a Day series where we read through a chapter

(00:22):
of Proverbs every day to start our morning off on
some godly wisdom, you know, just get a little word
to start the morning. I am pre recording episodes. By now,
I should be in Bali living it up on my
Christian Girls trip. If you guys missed out on this time,
there would definitely be more trips upcoming. I love to travel,
that's definitely my thing, and I want to do it
with other women who are like minded in you know,

(00:45):
fellowship and the whole shebang. So I am pre recording episodes.
Lillian is with me, and yeah, let's get into it.
Let's read Proverbs nineteen. Better is the poor who walks
in his integrity than one who is perverse in his
lips and is a fool. Also, it is not good
for a soul to be without knowledge, and he sins
who hastens with his feet. The foolishness of a man

(01:07):
twists his way, and his heart frets against the lord.
Wealth makes many friends, but the poor is separated from
his friend. A false witness will not go unpunished, and
he who speaks lies will not escape. Many entreat the
favor of the nobility, and every man is a friend
to one who gives gifts. All the brothers of the
poor hate him. How much more do his friends go

(01:28):
far from him. He may pursue them with words, yet
they abandon him. He who gets wisdom loves his own soul.
He who keeps understanding will find good. A false witness
will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies shall perish.
Luxury is not fitting for a fool, much less for
a servant to rule over princes. The discretion of a

(01:49):
man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is
to overlook a transgression. The king's wrath is like the
roaring of a lion, but his favor is like dew
on the grass. A foolish son is the ruin of
his father, and the contentions of a wife are a
continual dripping. Houses and riches are an inheritance from fathers,
but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Laziness casts

(02:10):
one into a deep sleep, and an idle person will
suffer hunger. He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul,
but he who is careless of his ways will die.
He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will pay back what he has given. Chasten
your son while there is hope, and do not set
your heart on his destruction. A man of great wrath
will suffer punishment, for if you rescue him, you will

(02:33):
have to do it again. Listen to counsel and receive
instruction that you may be wise in your latter days.
There are many plans in a man's heart. Nevertheless, the
lord's counsel that will stand. What is desired in a
man is kindness, and a poor man is better than
a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life,
and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He

(02:54):
will not be visited with evil. A lazy man buries
his hand in the bowl and will not so much
as bring it to his mouth again. Strike a scoffer
and the simple will become weary. Rebuke one who has understanding,
and he will discern knowledge. He who mistreats his father
and chases away his mother is a son who causes
shame and brings reproach. Cease listening to instruction, my son,

(03:15):
and you will stray from the words of knowledge. A
disreputable witness scorns justice. In the mouth of the wicked
devours iniquity. Judgments are prepared for scoffers and beatings for
the backs of fools. All right, so what are we
feeling about Proverbs nineteen. I know this is way past
the halfway mark for us in the month doing Proverbs,

(03:37):
but I definitely want to get you guys, as you know,
how are you feeling reading Proverbs? Are you feeling like
you're actually gaining some understanding, you're getting some practical life tips,
or are you just feeling like, Okay, I've heard this
all before, you know, I think that we all can
feel like that would Proverbs being a little sorry, repetitive.

(03:57):
And that's while we're tackling this day by day, because
I'm sure that by now you probably forgot what we
talked about two days ago. Our memories are short that's
why a lot of these things are repeated. Therefore our benefit.
You know, Solomon isn't saying this over and over again
for his health. He's saying it because we are a
hard headed people. So let me know in the comments
how you guys are feeling about Proverbs a day. If

(04:18):
this is actually helping you get through Proverbs, if you
are learning something, if you're enjoying it, put it in
the comments. But let's get into the verse that really
stuck out to me, which is definitely verse seventeen. So
let's read seventeen again. He who has pity on the
poor lends to the Lord, and he will pay back
what he has given. I love that verse. I love

(04:41):
that verse because the principle of it is so central
to Christianity, and it reminds me of another verse. Let
me look it up. I know it's in Matthew Matthew
twenty five thirty seven. Let's read there. This is Jesus speaking.
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did
we see you hungry and feed you you, or thirsty
and give you drink? When did we see you a

(05:03):
stranger and take you in or naked in clothe you
or when did we see you sick or in prison
and come to you? And the King will answer and
say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as
you did it to one of the least of these,
my brethren, you did it to me. So that just
really reminds me. These verses together reminds me that first

(05:24):
of all, the only good that we do is produced
through the Lord living through us. And when we do
these good things, that really prove our faith. You know,
James talks about faith without works is dead. When Christ
empowers us to do these good deeds and we are
thereby proving our faith and living out our faith, we're
not just physically giving to the person in front of us,

(05:45):
like it says in verse seventeen, he who has pity
on the poor lends to the Lord. So, yeah, we're
giving money to the poor, we're giving assistance to the poor,
we're giving whatever you know, to God's creation, to God's children.
But we're really doing it through Him and for him.
It's just a good reminder also that when we are

(06:07):
without Christ and we think that we are doing good
in the world, when we go out and we feed
the homeless and we run a five K to raise
money and we donate to charities. We think that we're
doing good, and a lot of people think that these
good deeds will get them into heaven. They think that
they can do good without Christ. And this to me
is a good reminder that there is no good without Jesus.

(06:28):
And verses like this just remind me that when I
think I'm doing good and therefore I deserve, I don't
deserve anything. And it's not me doing good when I'm
living in Christ. It's Christ living through me the salvation
that He give to me. I have the privilege to
live out my faith by doing the good works that

(06:49):
He empowers me to do. If it's just me, I
don't care about giving my money away. And this is
just a good reminder about the multiple effects that happen
when we as Christians are working out our faith and
living out our faith. Not only are people getting physically
served in some way that is an area of need
for them, but by doing that, we're showing the love

(07:10):
of Christ. We are very possibly bringing people into the
fold by doing these good deeds. And that's why I say,
without Christ, your good deeds mean nothing, because truly, what
are you doing it? For for real, because yeah, you
can feed someone, you can give them a little bit
of money, you can clothe someone, but if they die
and go to hell, what did you really do for them.
The reason that we are working out our faith on

(07:32):
earth is to be more christ Like, to draw people
into Christ. That's the whole point. We don't do good
works to make us feel good. We don't do good
works to check off some charity box. We don't do
good work so we can post it on social media
so that everybody in the comments can say, oh my gosh,
look at what you're doing. You're so good. You know,
the Lord says, when you're doing good, don't even let

(07:53):
your right hand know what your left hand is doing,
or left hand know what your right hand is doing.
We are not supposed to be doing good things out
in public and posting out on social media. When I
see people do stuff like that, it really makes me
cringe because it says to me, you're more worried about
getting praised from men than obeying God. And God tells
us to do our good deeds in secrets. And that's
because at the end of the day, these good deeds

(08:14):
are not for you. They're not for your image. They're
to bring people into Christ, the kingdom that we don't
even see yet. And that's why good deeds without Christ
really mean nothing, because what is a prophet a man
to gain the world and lose his soul. What is
a prophet a person who is unsaved to have some
food for the night, but they could pass away and
they're in hell for eternity. And that's why the world

(08:36):
really has it confused, because they think that good deeds
are going to get them into heaven. They see heaven
as a good place. Heaven is good, but heaven is
also righteous. Heaven is where the righteous go, and there
is no righteousness without faith in God. So no, your
good deeds or what you consider good deeds, will not
get you that golden ticket into heaven. There is no

(08:59):
such thing. And the devil has done a great job
into tricking people into thinking that they're good, that they
are capable of goodness on their own, and that good
deeds gain them entrance into heaven. And there are a
lot of good people that have done a lot of
good on earth in hell right now because they've never

(09:20):
really heard, actually, no, you're not good. They've never accepted
the fact that you thought you were doing something, But
if Christ is not living through you, you're not doing anything.
And the devil works in such subtle ways. I see
a lot of videos on you know, social media about
Christians just saying different things that they have been convicted about,
and all of a sudden, here come the flood of

(09:40):
comments religious psychosis. Oh Christians always doing too much. Oh brother,
here we go. And the whole time that person is
absolutely right. The devil is very subtle. You know. The
whole concept of being good and getting into heaven, that's
the devil. When we see cartoons about a cartoon character
getting bunked on the head and then they die and

(10:02):
then they have the halo around their head and they're
ascending into heaven, and you know, they get to heaven
because they're good. They are literally from the times that
we are children, we are being taught that good gets
you into heaven. We have to undo that brainwashing. We
have to undo thinking that we are so good, and
it starts from when we are a little kid with
our cartoons, going all the way up into adulthood. The

(10:25):
subtleties of the devil are very effective because he slips
in beneath the level of your consciousness. If he just
pops out and tells you exactly what his plan is.
Most of the time people want aren't going for it.
But he slips into their childhood, he slips into their trauma,
he slips into our media. He makes things look fun.
He makes us look good. And that's why there are

(10:48):
a lot of good people in hell. Unfortunately, so versus,
like Proverbs nineteen seventeen, just really puts things into a
perspective for me. The Word tells that we don't battle
against flesh and blood, and that just also by logic,
we don't do things for flesh and blood. We all

(11:08):
do it for the advancement of the kingdom. And if
kingdom is not on your mind, if gospel sharing is
not on your mind, if getting people not getting people
into heaven, but if spreading the gospel so that every
person has heard, if that is not the main objective
for everything that you do, really and all of us
fall short of that. All of us do. But if

(11:32):
that's not the main objective in our lives, we truly
are failing. Then you're not doing anything good. So I
will challenge us by what we have just read in
Proverbs nineteen to really seek first the Kingdom of God
and everything that we do. Submit your waste to him
and he'll lead us, you know. Let him renew your

(11:53):
mind on what you have been taught your entire life,
and what is the promise that the Lord has given
us when we do this, and he will pay back
what he has given. The Lord is watching you. He
is seeing when you're doing good in private. He is
seeing when you are living through him, and he will
reward you and give you back what you have given
out into the world. All right. So that is Proverbs nineteen.

(12:16):
Thank you guys for watching and listening, and we will
get together tomorrow for Proverbs twenty. All right, bye,