Proverbs 22:11-15
 
Prov 22:11 (KJB)
He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
 
Pureness - Clean
 
This verse is speaking about those who have truly become saved. Those who are unsaved will love to sin because they heart is darkened. (John 3:19 KJV) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. Prov. 22:11 is speaking about those who love pureness or a clean heart, that is, they no longer desire to sin and desire to please God. (Psa 73:1 KJV) A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart. Asaph knew that God is good to Israel but especially to those who have a clean heart, that is, those who are saved. (John 15:3 KJV) Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. When the Elect of God hears the Word and become saved, they have become clean because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second half of this verse speaks about the grace of the lips of the saved and it shall make the King his friend. As we continue to bring the Gospel to others, the King of Kings calls us His friends. (John 15:14-15 KJV) Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. {15} Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. So the true believer is not only a servant of the King but is a friend of the King and that can only happen when one becomes saved. The grace of the lips is an outpouring of the regenerated heart of the believer.
 
Prov 22:12 (KJB)
The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.
 
Here we have a verse which speaks about the omniscience of God. The figure of the eyes of the Lord preserving knowledge means that He is able to see all that is going on, both the evil and the good. Two examples are below. Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and Omri did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.
 
(1 Ki 15:11 KJV) And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.
 
(1 Ki 16:25 KJV) But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that were before him.
 
Whether one commits evil or good, the Lord is fully aware of what is going on in the lives of everyone. In the second part of the verse, those who speak words of falsehood will suffer the overthrow of God. Their words will not stand because falsehood will fail. The greatest weapon against falsehood is truth. The transgressor may be wise in his own eyes, but his wisdom is foolishness cloaked with false respectability.
 
Prov 22:13 (KJB)
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.
 
The lazy man lives on excuses of why he cannot do this or that. In reality he is just too lazy to do anything and cares not if he is needed by someone else. It is not that he cannot do something, he will not. It is like the person who says they cannot get up for Sunday School, they are just too lazy. This also has a spiritual lesson for the believer. Many Christians will not go out and bring the gospel, whether it is to the streets or anywhere, simply because they fear that Satan might do something to them or attack them. So the lazy Christian uses the excuse that Satan, here represented by the lion, is going to do something evil to them. This type of anticipation has been used by Satan successfully to stultify any efforts by the believer to propagate the Gospel. (1 Pet 5:8 KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: If you notice in 1 Peter 5:8, it says the lion is roaring, it does not say he is devouring. If you were to stand face to face with a roaring lion, and that is all he did, was just roar, you would not so much as even have a scratch. If Satan can get Christians to fear his roar, then stopping them completely is the next step and it would come very easy. This is why Christians should never fear the roar of the lion simply because our Lion is more ferocious, that is, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. (Rev 5:5 KJV) And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Our Lion prevails while theirs only roars. He who has ears to hear!
 
Prov 22:14 (KJB)
The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.
 
Abhorred - To curse or inveigh against
 
This verse has a dual meaning. First, it speaks about an earlier theme concerning the strange woman. Those who visit prostitutes or even engage in unmarried sex are showing they are under the judgment of God. (Rom 1:24 KJV) Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Because of the declension in the unbelief in man’s heart, God gives them up. This is one of the saddest sayings in the Scriptures. Secondly, this verse speaks about those who were never saved. The strange women can represent the false gospels. The true believer is the bride of Christ and those who teach false gospel are the strange women. Those who go after these false gospels, have a curse upon them. That curse, is that they will never come to a truth of salvation from false gospels. As long as they remain in the false gospels, it give evidence that they are unsaved and the unsaved do not possess any of the spiritual blessings of the Lord.
 
Prov 22:15 (KJB)
Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
 
Here is another verse which emphasizes that correcting a child is necessary. A child normally does not know the difference between foolishness and behaving. The mind of a child needs to be developed by proper teaching and that is why we read in 22:6 that the parents need to train up a child in the proper way. If a child is trained properly, it will cause him to grow in wisdom and will probably avoid much of the correction with the rod. If a child acts foolishness, it is not wrong to bring a rod of correction to them. This verse does not advocate any type of cruelty to children, instead what is cruelty to children is not training them correctly which could lead to more serious problems as they get older. If a child is corrected properly, they will remember it the next time they are tempted to act foolishly.

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