 All right, here we are Proverbs You know, I haven't taught the book of Proverbs since 1999 Yeah, I was 20 years old don't laugh so hard So We'll look at this together. I'm gonna give you an introduction I'm gonna first I'm gonna read verses one through one through five actually one through six. I'll read one through six I'm gonna give you an introduction to give you some background and information that is important for the understanding of the book And then we're gonna go into chapter one. So we're gonna look at chapter one today so beginning at Proverbs chapter one verse one reading to verse six The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of Understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice judgment and equity to give prudence to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear and increase learning and A man of understanding will attain wise counsel to understand a proverb and an enigma the words of the wise and their riddles Okay, let's give you an introduction So we have a backdrop and then we'll move into the verse by verse approach to to the book of Proverbs So notice how it begins by simply saying the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel so we see that this book was written primarily by Solomon and Solomon was the son of king David and a woman We all know in scripture by the name of Bathsheba Solomon is the main contributor, which is why it's referred to as the Proverbs of Solomon Now when you look in the history of Israel, you see that King Solomon reigned from 971 BC to 931 BC and when you read the Bible you'll discover that three books are attributed to him You have the song of Solomon the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes it's been said though. I don't know how Scholastic this really is But it's been said that the song of Solomon was written when he was a younger man because when you read the song of Solomon It's a song that's filled with passion So it's been said that the song of Solomon was written when he was a younger man that Proverbs was written when he was in his middle age and That Ecclesiastes the third book that he wrote was written in his older age Well, no man was better qualified to write this book because he's regarded as the wisest man You see remember how that? God had spoken to Solomon and said ask anything of me as high as the heavens make your request and Solomon made his request he asked for wisdom and It says in 1st Kings 4 29 and 30 that God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding and Largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt In 1st Kings 4 34 it says and men of all nations from all the kings of the earth Who had heard of his wisdom came to hear the wisdom of Solomon? Now he was quite a prolific writer He was a a man who spoke according to 1st Kings 432 3000 Proverbs and he wrote a thousand and five songs Only around eight of them 800 of his Proverbs are recorded in the book of Proverbs now Just to give you some more background Chapters 25 through 29 were assembled during the reign of another king by the name of Hezekiah Hezekiah ruled from 715 to 686 BC and They collected it in order that Hezekiah could benefit the people with God's word There are other contributors that are mentioned Proverbs 22 17 all the way to 24 34 Consists of the words of the wise These are the sages they had sayings that Solomon may have collected and edited in chapter 30 Chapter 30 is written by an unknown writer by the name of Agar and chapter 31. We'll see was by King Lemuel There's no biblical information on either of these two men But as you look at Proverbs the question has to be asked Why would we study it and the reason we study the book of Proverbs is it imparts wisdom The word wisdom when you speak of wisdom speaks very basically of the ability to live life skillfully So this is one of the few biblical books that it declares its own purpose. It's in order to impart wisdom So Solomon declares in the first chapter that he intends to impart wisdom instruction understanding prudence knowledge and discretion to the one who will hear and So that's what we're going to be looking at as we go through the book of Proverbs This is a book that is written that's intended to impart wisdom But the caveat is that you want to hear that you want wisdom We're going to look at that in some detail as we go through our introduction in just a moment But let's begin again in verse one the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David the king of Israel The word proverb is the same It's a saying of ethical wisdom It's a lesson that uses comparisons to reveal truth a Proverb has a purpose to keep somebody from choosing the wrong course of action And so a proverb is intended to give proper information so that we can make right choices And so it's spoken of as the Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel And then he goes on in verse two to say to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding To receive the instruction of wisdom justice judgment and equity To give prudence to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion And then he says a wise man will hear and increase learning a man of understanding will attain wise counsel and so he says to know wisdom instruction into peace perceive words of understanding to receive Instruction Solomon desires us to know the word know speaks of attaining He wants us to attain wisdom and again. He wants us to grow intellectually and experientially He speaks of wisdom and again I mentioned that wisdom is the art of skillful living in verse two He speaks of instruction because that's what he wants to receive for us to to know wisdom and instruction in verse three to receive Instruction of wisdom the word instruction speaks of mental and spiritual discipline. It's the training of the moral nature Which accompanies the gaining of wisdom It's gaining that which is worth having because a lot of people have a lot of information. That's not worth having a Lot of us have things in our heads that we don't even need to know anymore And I still have something I just it comes to mind see I'm telling you kind of rabbling around and I'll say hey Why don't you tell him this? Stanley Stanley Stanley Chevrolet two blocks off the Santana freeway One one nine eight always Firestone Stanley Chevrolet. Why do I know that? I don't know, but I've known it for 50 or 60 years and I can't get it out of my head There's stuff that we know that we don't need to know That's an example. I could give you more. You don't want any more but so wisdom and instruction and and Understanding it. This is all something that speaks of value And he wants to impart to us those things that matter to teach us to live skillfully To have a mental and spiritual discipline to gain discernment that we're understanding in verse two to gain discernment by comparing Two things and then choosing what is better That's what he wants us to have in verse four. He speaks of prudence. We don't use that word prudence Very much have had all anymore. It speaks of that which is circumspect and what is circumspect? Speaks of walking with an awareness of your surroundings being aware of where you're at is prudence It's it speaks of shrewdness actually and the word discretion Speaks of being on the alert in order to escape evil in order that you might find good So I want to give you wisdom. He says I want to give you instruction. I want you to have understanding I want you to have prudence and I want you to have discretion And that's the reason why he's writing the Proverbs of Solomon You see in pursuing the wisdom of the Lord Your life will be skillfully lived spiritually and mentally disciplined You will be able to compare things Make the best decisions And live in such a way That you are pleasing to those you live amongst Do you want that? I do And how do you gain that? We'll be studying the book of Proverbs And that's how you gain it Notice how he says in verse five a wise man will hear an increased learning and a man of understanding Will attain wise counsel The evidence of a man being wise Is revealed by his desire to increase his learning You see anybody can have godly wisdom But they need to diligently Apply themselves to the gaining of it And wisdom is something very often that is gained over a lifetime We know that God gives wisdom Because as mentioned earlier God gave wisdom to Solomon And according to Proverbs two verse six The Lord gives wisdom From his mouth comes knowledge and understanding So we know that God gives wisdom But we also know that it comes in other ways It comes for example by being taught to us Our parents as we grew up Those of influence have given to us the ability to gain wisdom In Proverbs four verse 11 It reads I have taught you in the way of wisdom I have led you in right paths So God gives wisdom And he imparts it very often through teachers Who teach us the proper way to live and to gain this wisdom We're going to see as we study Proverbs How to gain wisdom We know that wisdom is something that is to be valued. It's something that we're supposed to be pursuing Because according to Proverbs 16 verse 16 How much better to get wisdom than gold? Think about that for a minute How much better to get wisdom than gold? And get understanding to get understanding is to be chosen Rather than silver Now the average person today maybe even amongst believers would say I haven't paid my bills with wisdom lately Nice I could use some gold to pay my bills And wisdom would reply well if you had me you wouldn't be paying that much now would you? And so How much better to get wisdom than gold and to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver It is to be pursued Proverbs two verse two Incline your ear to wisdom apply your heart to understanding Proverbs four verse seven wisdom is the principal thing therefore get wisdom And in all your getting Get understanding Wisdom is something you purply seek James one verse 15 if any of you lacks wisdom Let him ask of god who gives to all liberally and without reproach it will be given to him And wisdom is something that can actually increase with age when the person is living for the lord I had spoken to my pastor chuck on one occasion and I asked him pastor When does the minister retire out of ministry? And he said to me when I stop enjoying what I'm doing. It's time for me to get out As long as I love what I'm doing He says I should remain and then he said this he said, you know one of the things about ministry is this he said Dave he said The longer you live and the longer you walk with the lord the more you have to give to somebody else He says it's the one thing that you actually gain through life Over time more experience with god more knowledge of his word more experience with his his spirit and all And so a long life that is lived for the lord very often is a life that is filled with with wisdom in job 12 verse 12 It says wisdom is with age admin and with length of days understanding Wisdom has a fruit that it produces James 3 17 says the wisdom that is from above is first pure Then peaceable gentle Willing to yield full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy Wisdom results from the fear of the lord you see then in verse 7 where it says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge Fools despise wisdom and instruction And in job 28 verse 28 it says to man he said behold the fear of the lord that is wisdom And to depart from evil is understanding And the new testament makes it clear and you'll see this later on as we study through proverbs that this wisdom is bound up in jesus christ Colossians 2 verse 3 says concerning jesus in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and so Solomon's desire is for us to know the lord to understand his ways To perceive the words of understanding he says to receive the instruction of wisdom justice judgment and equity He goes on in verse 6 to say to understand a proverb and an enigma the words of the wise and their riddles To understand a proverb proverb and an enigma in other words you need to apply yourself to understand mysteries And perplexing questions the word enigma is a word that is used that speaks of a mystery when it speaks of riddles that talks about Difficult or perplexing questions So to understand a proverb it means that you apply yourself to understand Some things take mental discipline. They just don't come naturally You don't go to bed dumb and wake up wise. We'll just put it that way Yeah, you go to bed Next morning you wake up and oh, you're so profound. It doesn't work that way at all You act actually apply yourself You apply yourself to the gaining of wisdom. We'll see that in chapter 2 next week when we gather And we see especially in the first six verses how that works But you apply yourself to the gaining of wisdom It's like what paul said as we've been studying through first timothy out paul said in first timothy 4 15 and 16 Meditate on these things give yourselves entirely to them That your progress may be evident to all Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine Continue in them for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you So there's a pursuit if you want to grow in your understanding if you want to grow into wisdom It's got to be the chief desire of your heart. It's got to be more valuable than gold It's got to be more valuable than silver. It has to be Something that just causes you to be willing to to No longer do some things in order to pursue that which matters It doesn't happen overnight. It happens over time. It comes through prayer It comes to seek in the lord It it comes to spending time in the word of god it comes through a variety of means But it's all distributed to you through the lord and by his holy spirit But he's going to satisfy your your hungry heart for this if that's what you desire Whereas it begin verse seven the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction This is the principal part of knowledge A reverential submission to god Interestingly enough This is unique the fear of the lord. This is unique in all wisdom literature You see for unbelievers Wisdom doesn't believe begin with god It does not begin with god When you read the writings of some of those who are are spoken up as profound writers the greek thinkers of An earlier day in all Even modern writers that are perceived as being Very deep The overwhelming majority have no fear of god at all Many of them that are looked at today as being profound are atheists They have absolutely no foundation of the fear of the lord at all So when when Solomon begins by saying that all of this actually begins with the fear of the lord Which is the beginning he says of knowledge and wisdom and instruction. That's unique Because the other writers through the ages would not have pointed you to the fear of the lord But he says that's where it actually begins You see an unbeliever doesn't have the fear of the lord Psalm 36 verses 1 through 4 says there is no fear of god before his eyes For in his own eyes. He flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful. He has ceased to be wise and to do good Even on his bed. He plots evil He commits himself to a sinful course And does not reject what is wrong and that's true All you need to do is watch the news and watch some of the debates that you're going on right now Concerning a variety of things and you're going to see that there are always There's always been sinners and intellectuals who defend the sin always And they will come up with the most interesting interesting things to to justify evil And a lot of it to me it reminds me of children on playgrounds You know what i'm saying when I say one says you did this and the other says, uh, you did too That's kind of how they debate today You know, you did evil. You did evil. You did worse evil. No, you did your mama did evil I mean that's kind of where it's at today It's crazy But it's true So with the proverbs you'll see this listen wisdom begins in the fear of god That's where it begins It is the root of all wisdom To know and understand his ways and to realize the power That he has his majesty how awesome he is And when you have this right sense of reverential awe of god, it drives your life To do that which is pleasing to him But when you don't have that Then you will be driven to do what pleases yourself. That's what you'll do You will please yourself To the hurt of others And so solomon begins the man who is the wisest man Says this is where it begins It's the principal part of knowledge And that's something that he never ceased recognizing Even in his darkest days when you read the book of ecclesiastes It's one of those books that You go through 12 chapters And he tells you all the things that he did He in his kingdom when you read concerning the life of king solomon in in his day Gold was like dust. I mean it was like the dirt I mean he lived in an opulence He lived in a lifestyle That even the richest people who've ever lived have never compared to how solomon lived There his his lifestyle was beyond He had his spill of every desire that man could have Every entertainment He experienced it He even went to the folly of alcohol. He drank He had as many women as he wanted He had everything and he read ecclesiastes, you know, tell you and then he'll he'll he'll say what he had done And then he'll say and I discovered everything under the sun is vanity And I did this and I did that and I did this and then I discovered it was vain And then I did this and I did and he does that for 12 chapters And you see this man speaking of all that he did read ecclesiastes See what I mean All that he did all that he had All the fame that he had people would travel, you know, the very famous queen of sheba She came to see him. She said I've heard wonderful things of you, but I didn't hear half of the truth of it She said and she blew her mind when she visited him. This is a man that had Everything that an individual could want Everything that a man could want and he said at the end ecclesiastes 12 13 and 14 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear god Keep his commandments For this is man's all For god will bring every work into judgment Including every secret thing Whether good or evil One of the things that's interesting scripture Reveals to us is there's no secret thing god knows it all He says it all We don't think that sometimes we think we can hide things from him. We even try to hide our thoughts from him But he tells us in psalm 139 he said I already know your thoughts before they're formed I already know the words before they're on your tongue I know it all you can't hide a thing from me And uh Solomon said no He said we need to realize that this is the conclusion of all things fear the lord So Solomon knew fearing god had benefits Both in this life and in the life to come and It is revealed in a righteous life And it adds years of life into blessing In proverbs 19 23 it says the fear of the lord leads to life And he who has it will abide in satisfaction He will not be visited with evil When you have the fear of the lord it keeps you from doing an awful lot of things that would end up with you paying a price later on So he speaks concerning how the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge But he says fools despise wisdom and instruction verse eight my son Hear the instruction of your father Do not forsake the law of your mother For they will be graceful be a graceful ornament on your head And chains about your neck So a practical outworking of the fear of the lord Will be the teaching of god's word To your children He says the fear of the lord Is the beginning of knowledge and then he commands in verse eight hear the instruction of your father When you give the word of god To your family if you're a parent here today When you give the word of god to your children The word of god produces the moral foundation by which choices will be made in the future They're given to them a moral grid When you pour into your children When you instruct them in the ways of the lord They will have A backdrop by which they're going to be able to judge what is right and what is wrong That doesn't mean they will always do what is right Because if they have their mother's nature, they'll be bad No, if of course i'm teasing we received the adamic nature came from adam But i love to tease that way No, they're gonna do with what sinners do But one of the things that i learned over time raising up My children who are all adults now, but Marie and i learned this if we poured into them The word of god When they sinned as they did They sinned against the light They knew right from wrong They knew right from wrong I could actually speak to them and I could say you know that's wrong You know that's wrong And you could get that they could get this little attitude, you know this little stiff back thing that they do And I just would stay there. I just say no, you know, it's wrong Yeah, that's wrong. Yeah It's wrong There are times when we were talking as a father to a child and I they would want to argue And I would say I think you've made mistake What do you mean? I think you think we're having a conversation We're not I'm telling you And it comes from this direction This is what i'm telling you. We're not conversing this It's not your opinion versus mine and one of them's right when i'm wrong. You're wrong And the reason you're wrong is because this is what god's word says and this is how we line up See, so that's how I would speak to my children from the time they were old enough to want to argue When they're younger, they would just kind of smile when they got older. They thought they had brains And they did But they also needed their thoughts to be brought in line with god's word And that's what he's saying here the instruction of your father Do not forsake the law of your mother The instruction law We have imparted to you Hold fast to these things These are the things that are creating within you that foundation Because choices will be built on the foundation of your early days And again, that's the single responsibility of the child to the family by the way When you read scripture obedience is that one requirement to the family See god's word is simple to the children and The fact is the bible teaches them To obey and to honor god in exodus 20 verse 12 It reads honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land Which the lord your god has given you Ephesians repeats that in chapter six verses one and two children obey your parents and the lord This is right honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise So the bible teaches us as parents to raise their children and their responsibility is to obey The father and mother as they give the word of god and the result verse nine They will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck In other words obedience to the parents results in children developing an attractive life Speaks of graceful ornaments When it speaks of these graceful ornaments, those are beautiful charming qualities qualities that develop It's a result of practicing what they're being taught He said this is what it's going to be like. It'll be a beautiful character Then he goes on to warn verse 10 my son if sinners entice you Do not consent If they say come with us. Let us lie and wait to shed blood Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them alive like shield and hole 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 Do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path For their feet run to evil They make haste to shed blood Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight Of any bird, but they wait they lie and wait for their own blood They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain It takes away the life of its owners And so if sinners entice you do not consent even if they say come with us What is this? This is an exhortation and notice it begins in the first chapter. It's an exhortation To stay away from bad company interestingly enough If you look at this and i want you to see this you may think i'm teasing you and i'm really not Notice what it says in verse 10 11 if sinners entice you do not consent If they say come with us let us lie and wait to shed blood Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause goes on You know what you're saying here? Stay away from gangs Isn't that interesting? That's what he's saying Stay away from gangs. That's what was just described to you. You may not even noticed it as I was reading it to you But that's what he's saying son. Stay away from bad guys Stay away from bad company and in this way He's describing the gang style the gang lifestyle of his day. Isn't that interesting? But that's what he's describing right now He says he says if gangsters are persuading you if they allure or seduce you to join their gang Don't do it In verses 11 and 12, you notice he says they lie and wait to ambush They're waiting to to assault To seduce maybe even to kill and they boast that they're so tough That they can take even the most powerful person as surely and as swiftly as death swallows its victims It gives promises in verse 13 and 14 They're saying we'll find all kinds of precious possessions We're going to fill our houses with all of this stuff In other words after robbing people our houses are going to be filled with their possessions And then they entice in verse 14 and they say cast in your lot among us. We'll have one purse In other words, we're going to have easy and quick wealth and we're going to give to you a share of whatever it is We get so they're enticing you and what is his command verse 15? My son do not walk in the way with them Keep your foot from their path Don't do it Stay away from them Don't get involved with them Why verse 16? For their feet run to evil And they make haste to shed blood They live for evil They hurry to perform it And they're willing to injure the innocent To get what they want I'm watching the news just yesterday Some guy Is running away from the police. Perhaps you saw it on the news Drives into an underground parking structure Smashes into a car Gets up tries to run They'll they'll injure innocent people A mother and a child will be driving and And somebody's trying to evade the police after robbing Somebody smashes into the car kills the child They they don't think and that's what Solomon's saying They're going to do anything they can to get away And they're going to do anything they can to the innocent if it gets them what they want So he's saying son don't do it Their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood In verse 17 surely in vain the net is spread in the side of any bird Even birds are wiser than these evil people A bird will avoid a trap, but they don't At least be as wise as a bird that avoids a trap that ultimately ends up killing them So he's saying you know a bird knows to stay away from that which is dangerous son. You ought to know the same He goes on and he says in verse 18, but they lie and wait for their own blood They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who's greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners So the blind folly of greedy people results in their own destruction. It takes away the life of its owner In other words, they're not going to get away with it. Sometimes it appears that they are But they don't you don't get away with it. You end up paying the price He says and they're gonna it's gonna they will reap what they have been sowing He goes on in verse 20 wisdom calls aloud outside She raises her voice in the open square. She cries out in the chief concourse is at the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words How long you simple ones will you love simplicity for scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn at my rebuke Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you Because I've called you I've called and you have refused. I have stretched out my hand no one regarded Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your terror comes When your terror comes like a storm And your destruction comes like a whirlwind When distress and anguish Come upon you That's pretty heavy Wisdom verse 20 calls aloud outside and raises her voice Wisdom is pictured as standing in an open square and she's crying To anybody who will take a moment just to listen to her But no one stops to listen And no one cares It's like sometimes and we could discuss This I guess at length really But it's like sometimes and when people are standing on street corners doing street preaching And the people just either they just ignore them Or they mock them They're not interested even when that preacher is given a solid Warning and a solid cry for people People just walk by and ignore them. Well, that's the picture of wisdom wisdom standing in in like a mall or a plaza At a thoroughfare at a place where a lot of people are gathering and he's picturing wisdom standing there crying out to people And saying come and receive from me But notice no one stops to listen. Why? Because nobody really Really cares And it says in verse 22 how long you simple ones will you love simplicity for scorners delight in their scorning fools hate knowledge And that you can almost hear a tear in the voice there He speaks concerning the whiz the the simple the word simple there speaks of people who are naive These are those who are satisfied with life as it is They really don't need much more than food and drink a place to live Something to watch on tv They have no desire for anything deeper than that So he refers to them as the simple ones in verse 22 in verse 22. He speaks of the scorners The scorners are interesting you've gotten like two categories on the one you've got the person who's Happy watching the game drinking a beer and that's as far as he wants to go That's that's life for him But then you have the scorners The scorners are the cynical They're the defiant ones They have no shame. They have no conscience They have no decency They actually take an act of delight in scorning other people's beliefs Religion is stupid and for the weak And scorn bill mar is your name Because they're guys like him who have their programs and that's all they do Is they they make movies Or religious and things like that to mock people of faith That is a scorner a person who looks at you and looks at me and there are many who see us Believers as real just very simple minded very naive Very Sophisticated uneducated Just foolish people You know we cling to our god and our guns and our religion. They're scorning us And that's what they do And there are many people who do that and you have friends and you have relatives who do that You have people that you go to work with you have people that if you're in school who are in school your professors Many of them are scorners when I was in college, you know for a number of years I had a number of professors who made it there Their um their chore it was there. It's like their mission to undermine your faith They they would say things I I had one professor in particular comes to mind through the very first day of class said to you how Said to us how many of you are christians? How many of you are born again? and I was in a sociology class in Cal Poly and how many of you are uh believers in Christians born againers So a handful of us raised their hand out about 25 or 30 students There may have been three or four of us who raised their hand and the first thing he said in the very first day of classes I feel sorry for you That was the first thing that was the opening introduction. That was our opening lecture I feel sorry for you Is what he told us because you believe the words of that little black books begin of the bible You believe those words and I feel sorry for you. He says i'm a scientist and I believe in facts And I believe in verifiable scientific evidence and you don't you walk around just believing But I have to believe in facts interestingly enough this man who believed in facts in one of the Lectures he gave to us told us how people say that There is a correlation between smoking cigarettes and lung cancer He said I've got a lot of studies that prove that that's not true He says I smoke I've been smoking for years He says and I've got a lot of studies scientific studies that demonstrate that that is not true. That's fallacious He died of lung cancer That's the truth He died of lung cancer The man who pitied me The man who pitied my beliefs The man who trusted in his science not that science is bad. I'm not saying that it is But this man had placed faith in a position that he thought it was unreadable and just purely stupid and naive Well that man who pitied me I pitied him He died a lonely man couldn't keep his marriages together went through three women Couldn't couldn't keep his life together professor Well educated phd And he considered us those of us who believe the word of god And trust in him who have hope for eternity Have a joy that comes through our relationship with him who's blessed our lives He pitied us But that's called a scornor They're defiant They're cynical They have no shame. They have no conscience. They have no decency They take active delight in scorning belief For them religion is stupid It's only for the weak and then you have the fools The word fool speaks of a morally insensitive individual Anything that makes them think Or uncomfortable Is to be avoided at all costs Especially anything that convicts them They don't want to hear it. They want nothing to do with it They are people who try to not be made uncomfortable at any cost and and a lot of us have people it's christmas season and Every one of us has a relative or two That is exactly like that. Don't say anything to me about god, please I mean, let's just celebrate the real reason for christmas, which is drinking and eating You know and giving presents and trying to feel good one day out of the week and they have their own philosophy Pertaining to that But they're very insensitive more only so we speaking about that here and what does he say in verse 23 He says turn at my rebuke surely. I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you turn Turn at my rebuke wisdom speaking, but it also can be a picture of god who is wisdom In joel chapter 2 verse 28 in the old testament god says i will pour out my spirit upon all people in john 7 38 and 39 jesus said he who believes in me as the scripture said From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water But this he spoke of the spirit Whom those who believed in him were to receive for the spirit was not yet given because jesus was not yet glorified So as wisdom is speaking wisdom is saying i will pour my spirit on you And he also wisdom also says i will make my words known to you Well in john 14 26 Jesus said the helper the holy spirit whom the father will send in my name He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that i said to you Listen when you turn to the lord and you say god i i want your wisdom and i want to understand your ways He says i'll i'll make myself known to you guys understand that today Understand that you haven't been left in the dark. You haven't been left alone You haven't been left without wisdom. You haven't been left without understanding god says i will give it to you But you do pursue him You wake up in the morning. You see today is the day the lord is made. I will be glad i'll rejoice in it lord I'm gonna pursue you. I will seek you with all my heart today. I'm gonna pursue you. I'm a believer I'm gonna follow you today lord You're gonna give me a lot of opportunities today to be a witness for you and there are gonna be a lot of Opportunities to stumble god. I need your help And i want to start out right with you today and even as it says Turn out my rebuke. I will pour my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you and so you say lord I'm gonna read your word. I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna seek you. I'm gonna serve you today You have promised that you would do this for me and I know you will In verse 24. I have called you refused. I have stretched out my hand. No one regarded Because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke I also will laugh at your calamity I will mock when your terror comes when your terror comes like a storm Your destruction comes like a whirlwind When distress and anguish Come upon you I have called I've stretched out my hand You refused You didn't regard You disdained You rejected counsel. You would not receive correction Therefore Because you refused all of this I will leave you to reap the consequences You see when things are going well for you You mocked me When things are going good you rejected my counsel You didn't need me. You had no time for me. You had no desire for me. You didn't need me That's that's the interesting thing. Have you guys ever noticed how how How even we as a nation We begin to turn our backs slowly but surely on God and then A storm hits or a fire hits And people begin to cry out And they say where is God? Where is God? Where is your God? Well, wait a minute. You kicked him out a long time ago You did you you said we don't want you in the classroom You said we don't want teachers praying Speaking of Jesus Christ You said we don't want to say even the most simple in anything like Merry Christmas So it's got to be happy holidays because we don't want to offend people You've been kicking God out for years And then you have a problem And you say where is God? You tell me where he is Because you're the one who told him to leave That's a fact And the Lord here look what he's saying I called you refused I stretched out my hand no one regarded You disdained my counsel you would have none of my rebuke So you're reaping what you're sowing I'll laugh at your calamity I'm mock when your terror comes when your terror comes like storm Your destruction comes like a whirlwind when distressed and anguished come upon you You're gonna call That I want answer You're gonna have trouble But no resource to deal with them And the tragedy will leave you devastated Because you were not prepared to deal with it He says in verse 28 They will call on me I will not answer They will seek me diligently they will not find me Because they hated knowledge Did not choose the fear of the Lord They would have none of my counsel despised my every rebuke Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way be filled to the full with their own fancies For the turning away of the simple will slay them And the complacency of fools will destroy them Isn't that cherry you refused God you refused my word You refused to seek me You refused to communicate through prayer And then your terror hits you And you wonder where I am But you refused to seek me you didn't search for me And now you will have no help You've come to me too late In John 7 33 and 34 Jesus said the this to some who were questioning him Jesus said to them I shall be with you a little while longer and then I go to him who sent me You will seek me and not find me where I am you cannot come When I was present with you you had every availability To have relationship with me, but you never availed yourself of that And the day is going to come When there is no relationship between you and me That's why it's important for us to rise up early and seek him That's why it's important for us as believers to actually understand what it means to be a believer To be serious, you know, I'm believing that we're in a time right now Where it's easier for us to be known for what we believe now It has been said and think rightly so that the fifties in the fifties somebody once said and there's some truth to this In the fifties more people went to hell than pretty much any time in the United States And I thought that was very interesting But the point that we're making was the United States in the fifties here and you know in some people's history and some people's Memories even in the fifties In the United States Coming after World War II and and being on top of the world with this what was called the greatest generation There were there was a lot of morality in the United States the United States at one time As a nation was was really regarded as as the city on a hill It really was the United States at one time was regarded very highly because of its moral strength We were as a nation a very a very moral nation there were there were strong requirements for citizenship there were There were laws on the book books that were enforced such as Ordinances against public profanity What is common in language today when you're in a store and somebody's wearing a t-shirt with some Expletive on it Or you hear a mom speaking swear words to her kid some of you've heard that I have swearing at them like I mean horribly, you know and That you could be fine. You could get a ticket for using language that was improper Um, there were so many things I grew up in That today's world is so different than Even when I grew up It's difficult sometimes for me to adjust because Things are accepted today That were never accepted before The parades and and the programs on tv Um, it's it's profane I mean and and and and I'm not trying to sound like an old buddy duddy, but I am explaining that word shows you I'm a buddy duddy, but An old goat But some of you don't know this You know, do you know that they didn't even have toilets that were seen in in in sitcoms in the 60s and 70s? You did that one of the first the first time a toilet was ever flushed on tv was on archie bunker All in the family and that they called groundbreaking Because nobody even you never acknowledged you even had a toilet in your house It was always amazing to me that lucy and ricky had a kid Because they slept in two different beds You know, there was no swearing. There was no there was no profanity. There was nothing like that at all And what has happened to the younger generation? Is the younger generation that's coming up now that we have such a burden for the younger generation? Does not have a moral code that they live by I don't know what that is What is that are we on fire? I'll see you later I don't know what that is Oh, that's an amber alert. Okay Ha ha ha all the iPhones are going off. Oh, I get it. We didn't have iPhones Instant communication isn't that interesting? See so we live in a different time my illustration perfect In a different time Telephones used to be used to talk on So we we we as a society have become hardened And so you'll have people who argue and say Keep your religion to yourself And then a hurricane hits And then a fire hits Then a flood hits And the church responds The church sends teams The church cleans out people's houses The church prays with a hurt woman cares for her children. The church does that church always has done that But see the world will say we don't need you God we can do it ourselves God But god says i'm going to leave you to yourself And that's what he's saying you would have none of my counsel you despise my every rebuke Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with full of their own fancy For the turning away of the simple will slay them And the complacency of fools will destroy them But whoever listens to me Will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil because You follow the way of wisdom You will not enter into the path of an evil life And the result of avoiding evil Is that you will have peace in isaate 26 3 You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on you Because he trusts in you if i can give you anything as a closing thought about this i can tell you this i've been walking with the lord for a long time now And i can tell you What he just what i just read out of isaate 26 god keeps you in perfect peace you know why Because my god does not fail My god does not fail My god does not fail god has always been right on time god has always done What he promised he always has He always has and i can i can tell you that i've been walking with the lord this month 47 years 47 years And i can tell you my god has always been on time now when i was young i wondered if you was going to show up I did Are you Can you not hear me groaning Can you not see what i'm going through god you see my tears you hear my cry i've been there done that We all do and then the lord says i'm always on time Not a second too soon and not a second too late I am always right on time He always is So i've learned to wait patiently on the lord Because he will arrive at the right moment and my heart can be in peace And i am telling you i have been the person who has struggled wondering god And i've gotten to the place now in my walk with the lord where i say you know what My god is good My god will show up my god does take care of me my god has never forsaken me my god will never leave me My god loves me my god is here because he promised he will keep his word I will trust him and that's what the lord is simply saying They had nothing to do with me They don't have me But if you follow me i'll be with you I will be with you Wisdom we're gonna have a good time going through problems