◄ Proverbs 11:25 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Narrow And The Large Heart
Proverbs 11:24-26
E. Johnson

I. THRIFTY SPENDING. All wise outlay of money is a form of thrift, The increase of capital depends upon the observance of certain laws and rules of prudence; and the prudence which enables to amass enables also to spend. Spending in works of benevolence is seldom known to impoverish a man, for it is seldom disjoined from calculation and economy in personal habits. But whether we can trace out the manner of the connection in every instance or not, it is real and profound. Wise distribution is the condition of steady increase. In the highest point of view benevolence is a "lending to the Lord."

II. UNTHRIFTY SAVING. stinginess tends to poverty, because it stints the energies. It springs from a false view of the value of money, or an exaggerated view. The true source of happiness, as of wealth, lies at last in the will, its energy, its industry. He who has so little faith in this as to put all his reliance on the mere means of living, may well become poor outwardly, as he certainly is inwardly.

III. THE SATISFACTION OF DOING GOOD. Here, again, we must look to the reflex effect of actions, The indirect results are the wider and the more important. From every free forth-going of the heart in acts of love and kindness there is a certain return into the heart. It is not sufficiently considered that whatever gives expansion to the mind - large views, broad sympathies - is so much gain in actual power. And again, that we cannot directly do much towards the removal of our own troubles, but obliquely may quell or diminish them by aiming at removing the troubles of others. Fulness of interests in the heart will not give room for grief to gnaw.

IV. SELFISHNESS AND GENEROSITY IN COMMERCE. (Ver. 26.) In time of dearth the avaricious proprietor, keeping back his corn to secure a higher price, brings down upon himself curses; while he who thinks of humanity more than of personal profit earns the blessings of the poor. The maxim that "business is business" is true, but may be pushed too far. If a trader profits by a war or scarcity, that is an accident; but it is not an accident, it is a crime, if he votes for war or interferes with the natural action of the market with a view to personal gain. If the same conditions of trade make the man rich which impoverish the many, he will feel it to be his duty to give the more out of his abundance. - J.

Biblical Illustrator
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
Proverbs 11:25
The waterer watered
The general principle is, that in living for the good of others, we shall be profited also ourselves. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of creation, but there is a mutual action and reaction of all upon all. God has so constituted this universe, that selfishness is the greatest possible offence against His law, and living for others, and ministering to others, is the strictest obedience to His will. Our surest road to our own happiness is to seek the good of our fellows. We store up in God's own bank what we generously expend on the behalf of our race. To get we must give; to accumulate we must scatter; to make ourselves happy, to get good and become spiritually vigorous, we must do good, and seek the spiritual good of others.

I. APPLY THIS PRINCIPLE, IN ITS NARROW SENSE, AS BELONGING TO OURSELVES PERSONALLY. There are some works in which we cannot all engage. Peculiar men have special work; but watering is work for persons of all grades and all sorts.

1. All God's plants, more or less, want watering.

2. The Lord's people usually get this watering through instrumentality. The Holy Spirit waters us by the admonitions of parents, by the kind suggestions of friends, by the teaching of His ministers, by the example of all His saints.

3. Some plants need special watering, and should be the objects of unusual care — partly because of temperament or of ignorance, and partly because of circumstances, maybe of trial, maybe of soul-withering.

4. All believers have some power to water others. In so watering others we shall be watered ourselves. This is the main point.

(1)You will waken up your own powers.

(2)You will yourself gain instruction.

(3)You will get comfort in your work.

(4)Watering others will make you humble.

(5)You will win many prayers.

(6)You will even get honour to yourselves, that will stimulate you to new exertions.

(7)While watering others you will be manifesting and showing your love to Christ, and that will make you more like Him.

II. THE PRINCIPLE, IN A WIDER SENSE, AS IT MAY REFER TO US AS A CHURCH. We, as a Church, have enjoyed singular prosperity; but we have endeavoured to water others. We have undertaken a good many enterprises for Christ, and we hope to undertake a great many more. We must keep our watering work up.

III. THE PRINCIPLE, IN THE WIDEST SENSE, AS IT MAY BE REFERRED TO THE ENTIRE BODY OF CHRIST. Our missionary operations are an infinite blessing to the Churches at home. Relinquishing them, giving them up, staying them, would bring such a curse that we had need to go down on our knees and pray, "God send the missionary work back again."

( C. H. Spurgeon.}

Scriptural liberality illustrated and enforced
John Clayton, jun.
All the appearances of virtue and piety do not partake of their real nature. See the case of the Pharisees. None of our good works can be viewed with approbation by God unless they spring from a right principle, are guided by a right rule, and are directed to a right end. God looks at the motive in which they originate.

I. THE CHARACTER OF TRUE RELIGIOUS OR CHRISTIAN LIBERALITY.

1. Its principle. The spirit which is in man must be the seat of this virtue, or the liberal hand, so far as it respects God, is of no worth. There is much beneficence apart from religion. But it is the grateful heart God requires.

2. Its objects. First our kindred according to the flesh. Then the poor and distressed in society.

3. The modes in which this liberality should express itself. It should be honest in its administration. It should be proportionate in degree. It should be affectionate in its communication. It should be expansive in its embrace. It should be habitual in its exercise.

II. THE RECOMPENSE TO ENCOURAGE US TO ITS EXERCISE AND DISPLAY.

1. As respects the life that now is. Inward pleasure, pleasure in looking at the good effected; enlarged powers of usefulness.

2. As respects the life to come. Apply to those who give nothing to the cause of the poor. To those who give little. To those who are in the habit of giving much.

(John Clayton, jun.)

The blessedness of blessing
W. Dodsworth, M.A.
It must be admitted that the natural tendency of things in this present fallen world is by no means such as to secure a prosperous result to rectitude of conduct, and failure to that of a contrary character. We often witness the inversion of this order. It is necessary to consider the character of the dispensation under which the book was written. The Jews were ostensibly, as well as really, under the immediate government of God; a government sanctioned by temporal rewards and punishments. This gave to the government of God over them what we may term a visible character. There was an ostensible Moral Governor. The Jew, apart from all consideration of a future state, was entitled to look, even in this life, for a providential sanction to his conduct, when his ways were such as pleased the Lord. In God's dealings with that people He affords an emblem, a visible emblem, of His dealings with others. The great distinction between the Jewish and the Christian dispensations is, that the one was addressed to sense, the other to faith; the one deals with visible things, the other with spiritual. It is but consistent with this distinction, that while God's providential government over His people is not less real under the Christian dispensation, it should be less manifest. Those things which would be perplexing to us if we attempt to judge the ways of God by sense, become reconcilable with His character and with His promises when regarded in the judgment of faith. Objection might be raised on the ground that the assertion of the text is contradicted by absolute matter of fact. The words, translated out of their figurative language, obviously assert, that he who liberally dispenses to others of those bounties, whether in grace or in providence, which God has conferred upon him, shall be himself more abundantly enriched. To the eye of sense this assertion is far from being universally verified among us as a matter of fact. In a worldly point of view it is not always the most virtuous who are the most prosperous, nor the most liberal who are the most successful. But faith will see every promise to us fulfilled in a higher and better sense. The highest exemplification of this passage is found in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He spent His life in blessing; therefore it was He was so greatly blessed. The recompense of the reward is a motive sanctioned by the highest example, that of Christ Himself. Some think it savours too much of legality, to hold out a future recompense as a stimulus to the active employment of all our talents in the service of God. Yet surely this is to confound things that are perfectly distinct in themselves. It is not inconsistent with the doctrines of grace to propose a proportionable increase of future joy as a motive to present sacrifice, and to hold it up before Christians as a matter of certainty, that every sacrifice which they make for the Lord's sake shall be repaid from the hand of the Lord. The liberal distribution of our worldly substance is attended with a blessing from the Lord, at least to the man himself. But the text is the exposition of an established law in the universal government of God's providence. Our progress depends on our readiness to communicate of the stores already conferred upon us. The Christian's rule of spiritual advancement is not so much in proportion to the acquisitions which he makes of knowledge, as to the use that he makes of it. As we feed others our own souls are fed by God. It is in the nature of things, or rather, I should say, it is in the appointment of God, that it should be so.

(W. Dodsworth, M.A.)

He that watereth shalt be watered
R. F. Horton.
"If we give so much we shall exhaust our resources," is a common remark. Don't be afraid of that, my friend. See that little fountain yonder — away yonder in the distant mountain, shining like a thread of silver through the thick copse, and sparkling like a diamond in its healthful activity. It is hurrying on with tinkling feet to bear its tribute to the river. See, it passes a stagnant pool, and the pool hails it. "Whither away, master streamlet?" "I am going to the river to bear this cup of water God has given me." "Ah! you are very foolish for that; you'll need it before the summer is over. It has been a backward spring, and we shall have a hot summer to pay for it — you will dry up then." "Well," says the streamlet, "if I am to die so soon, I had better work while the day lasts. If I am likely to lose this treasure from the heat, I had better do good with it while I have it." So on it went, blessing and rejoicing in its course. The pool smiled complacently at its own superior foresight, and husbanded all its resources, letting not a drop steal away. Soon the midsummer heat came down, and it fell upon the little stream. But the trees crowded to its brink, and threw out their sheltering branches over it in the day of adversity, for it brought refreshment and life to them; and the sun peeped through the branches, and smiled complacently upon its dimpled face, and seemed to say, "It is not in my heart to harm you"; and the birds sipped its silver tide, and sang its praises; the flowers breathed their perfume upon its bosom; the beasts of the field loved to linger by its banks; the husbandman's eye sparkled with joy as he looked upon the line of verdant beauty that marked its course through his fields and meadows — and so on it went, blessing and blessed of all. God saw that the little stream never exhausted itself. It emptied its full cup into the river, and the river bore it on to the sea, and the sea welcomed it, and the sun smiled upon the sea, and the sea sent up its incense to greet the sun, and the clouds caught, in their capacious bosoms, the incense from the sea, and the winds, like waiting steeds, caught the chariots of the clouds and bore them away — away to the very mountain that gave the little fountain birth; and there they tipped the brimming cup, and poured the grateful baptism down. And so God saw to it, that the little fountain, though it gave so fully and so freely, never ran dry. And where was the prudent pool? Alas! in its inglorious inactivity it grew sickly and pestilential. The beasts of the field put their lips to it, but turned away without drinking. The breeze stooped and kissed it by mistake, but caught the malaria in the contact, and carried the ague through the region.

(R. F. Horton.)

Soul fatness
If I desire to flourish in soul, I must not hoard up my stores, but must distribute to the poor. To be close and stingy is the world's way to prosperity, but not God's (see ver. 24). Faith's way of gaining is giving. I must try this again and again; and I may expect that as much of prosperity as will be good for me will come to me as a gracious reward for a liberal course of action. Of course, I may not be sure of growing rich. I shall be fat, but not too fat. Too great riches might make me as unwieldy as corpulent persons usually are, and cause me the dyspepsia of worldliness, and perhaps bring on a fatty degeneration of the heart. No, if I am fat enough to be healthy, I may well be satisfied; and if the Lord grants me a competence, I may be thoroughly content. But there is a mental and spiritual fatness which I would greatly covet; and these come as the result of generous thoughts towards my God, His Church, and my fellow-men. Let me not stint, lest I starve my heart. Let me be bountiful and liberal; for so shall I be like my Lord. He gave Himself for me: shall I grudge Him anything?

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

God's law of recompense
If I carefully consider others, God will consider me; and in some way or other He will recompense me. Let me consider the poor, and the Lord will consider me. Let me look after little children, and the Lord will treat me as His child. Let me feed His flock, and He will feed me. Let me water His garden, and He will make a watered garden of my soul. This is the Lord's own promise; be it mine to fulfil the condition, and then to expect its fulfilment. I may care about myself till I grow morbid; I may watch over my own feelings till I feel nothing; and I may lament my own weakness till I grow almost too weak to lament. It will be far more profitable for me to become unselfish, and out of love to my Lord Jesus begin to care for the souls of those around me. My tank is getting very low; no fresh rain comes to fill it; what shall I do? I will pull up the plug, and let its contents run out to water the withering plants around me. What do I see? My cistern seems to fill as it flows. A secret spring is at work. While all was stagnant, the fresh spring was sealed; but as my stock flows out to water others, the Lord thinketh upon me. Hallelujah!

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

People
Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Abundantly, Beneficent, Blessing, Cursed, Curser, Enriched, Fat, Generous, Gives, Liberal, Prosper, Prosperous, Refreshed, Refreshes, Rich, Satisfied, Satisfieth, Soul, Watered, Watereth, Watering, Waters
Outline
1. On Deception

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 11:25

     8436   giving, of possessions

Proverbs 11:24-25

     8262   generosity, human

Proverbs 11:25-27

     6672   grace, in relationships

Library
The Present Recompense
Chester Cathedral, Nave Service, Evening. May 1872. Proverbs xi. 31. "Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner." This is the key-note of the Book of Proverbs--that men are punished or rewarded according to their deeds in this life; nay, it is the key-note of the whole Old Testament. "The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers; the countenance of the Lord is against them that do evil, to root out …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons

The Waterer Watered
A sermon (No. 626) delivered on Sunday Morning, April 23, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that watereth shall be watered also himself."--Proverbs 11:25. The general principle is that in living for the good of others, we shall be profited also ourselves. We must not isolate our own interests, but feel that we live for others. This teaching is sustained by the analogy of nature, for in nature there is a law that no one thing can be independent of the rest of …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Withholding Corn
A sermon (No. 642) delivered on Sunday morning, July 30, 1865, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him: but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it."--Proverbs 11:26. If I dared, I should always preach upon the comfortable promises and gracious doctrines of God's Word. I find it most delightful and easy work to expatiate upon those themes of revelation which abound in sweetness, and are full of savor and preciousness …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Soul Winner
A sermon (No. 1292) delivered on Thursday evening, January 20th, 1876, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. I had very great joy last night--many of you know why but some do not. We held our annual meeting of the church, and it was a very pleasant sight to see so many brethren and sisters knit together in the heartiest love, welded together as one mass by common sympathies, …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

Soul Winning
A sermon (No. 850) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "He that winneth souls is wise."--Proverbs 11:30. The text does not say "he that winneth sovereigns is wise," though no doubt he thinks himself wise, and perhaps in a certain grovelling sense in these days of competition he must be so; but such wisdom is of the earth and ends with the earth; and there is another world where the currencies of Europe will not be accepted, nor their past possession be any sign …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

To Win Souls Requires Wisdom.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. THE most common definition of wisdom is, that it is the choice of the best end and the selection of the most appropriate means for the accomplishment of that end--the best adaptation of means to secure a desired end. "He that winneth souls," God says, "is wise." The object of this evening's lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means for accomplishing their infinitely desirable end, the salvation of souls. To-night I shall confine my …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

A Wise Minister Will be Successful.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. I PREACHED last Friday evening from the same text, on the method of dealing with sinners by private Christians. My object at this time is to take up the more public means of grace, with particular reference to the DUTIES OF MINISTERS. As I observed in my last lecture, wisdom is the choice and pursuit of the best end by the most appropriate means. The great end for which the Christian Ministry was appointed, is to glorify God in the salvation …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

How to Preach the Gospel.
Text.--He that winneth souls is wise.--Proverbs xi. 30. ONE of the last remarks in my last lecture, was this, that the text ascribes conversion to men. Winning souls is converting men. This evening I design to show, I. That several passages of Scripture ascribe conversion to men. II. That this is consistent with other passages which ascribe conversion to God. III. I purpose to discuss several further particulars which are deemed important, in regard to the preaching of the Gospel, and which show …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

The Desire of the Righteous Granted;
OR, A DISCOURSE OF THE RIGHTEOUS MAN'S DESIRES. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR As the tree is known by its fruit, so is the state of a man's heart known by his desires. The desires of the righteous are the touchstone or standard of Christian sincerity--the evidence of the new birth--the spiritual barometer of faith and grace--and the springs of obedience. Christ and him crucified is the ground of all our hopes--the foundation upon which all our desires after God and holiness are built--and the root …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How those are to be Admonished who Decline the Office of Preaching Out of Too Great Humility, and those who Seize on it with Precipitate Haste.
(Admonition 26.) Differently to be admonished are those who, though able to preach worthily, are afraid by reason of excessive humility, and those whom imperfection or age forbids to preach, and yet precipitancy impells. For those who, though able to preach with profit, still shrink back through excessive humility are to be admonished to gather from consideration of a lesser matter how faulty they are in a greater one. For, if they were to hide from their indigent neighbours money which they possessed …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Sanctions of Moral Law, Natural and Governmental.
In the discussion of this subject, I shall show-- I. What constitute the sanctions of law. 1. The sanctions of law are the motives to obedience, the natural and the governmental consequences or results of obedience and of disobedience. 2. They are remuneratory, that is, they promise reward to obedience. 3. They are vindicatory, that is, they threaten the disobedient with punishment. 4. They are natural, that is, happiness is to some extent naturally connected with, and the necessary consequence of, …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Jesus, My Rock.
When the storm and the tempest are raging around me, Oh! where shall I flee to be safe from their shock? There are walls which no mortal hands built to surround me, A Refuge Eternal,--'Tis JESUS MY ROCK! When my heart is all sorrow, and trials aggrieve me, To whom can I safely my secrets unlock? No bosom (save one) has the power to relieve me, The bosom which bled for me, JESUS MY ROCK! When Life's gloomy curtain, at last, shall close o'er me, And the chill hand of death unexpectedly knock, I will …
John Ross Macduff—The Cities of Refuge: or, The Name of Jesus

George Muller, and the Secret of His
POWER IN PRAYER WHEN God wishes anew to teach His Church a truth that is not being understood or practised, He mostly does so by raising some man to be in word and deed a living witness to its blessedness. And so God has raised up in this nineteenth century, among others, George Muller to be His witness that He is indeed the Hearer of prayer. I know of no way in which the principal truths of God's word in regard to prayer can be more effectually illustrated and established than a short review …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer

The Publication of the Gospel
The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it [or of the preachers] P erhaps no one Psalm has given greater exercise to the skill and patience of commentators and critics, than the sixty-eighth. I suppose the difficulties do not properly belong to the Psalm, but arise from our ignorance of various circumstances to which the Psalmist alludes; which probably were, at that time, generally known and understood. The first verse is the same with the stated form of benediction …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

We Shall not be Curious in the Ranking of the Duties in which Christian Love...
We shall not be curious in the ranking of the duties in which Christian love should exercise itself. All the commandments of the second table are but branches of it: they might be reduced all to the works of righteousness and of mercy. But truly these are interwoven through other. Though mercy uses to be restricted to the showing of compassion upon men in misery, yet there is a righteousness in that mercy, and there is mercy in the most part of the acts of righteousness, as in not judging rashly, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Thoughts Upon Worldly-Riches. Sect. Ii.
TIMOTHY after his Conversion to the Christian Faith, being found to be a Man of great Parts, Learning, and Piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the Ministry, St. Paul who had planted a Church at Ephesus the Metropolis or chief City of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it, after his departure from it, giving him Power to ordain Elders or Priests, and to visit and exercise Jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false Doctrines, 1 Tim. i. 3. That they be unblameable in …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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