 All right, Proverbs chapter 13. Let's begin reading here in Proverbs chapter 13 at verse one. I'll read verses one through three, and we'll get into our study. A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. A man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. So we'll take some time to look, especially at verse one, I'll give you a little bit of a prolonged approach to that particular verse because it's a very powerful and important one. Again, notice how he says, a wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. If you were to say, what is the point of this one proverb? It's a simple point. Wisdom is demonstrated by the ability to be taught. We use the term teachability. I don't even know if that's a real word, but the point of the proverb is wisdom is demonstrated by an ability to learn or to be taught. Wisdom is demonstrated by teachability. Now that's something we had noted in the previous chapter, remember in chapter 12, in verse one how Solomon had said, whoever loves instruction loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. Well, it's the same kind of thought. In this particular verse though, the context is valuing a father's wisdom as well as a father's instruction. And so a wise son heeds his father's instruction, speaks to us about valuing that which your father has to teach you. A wise son listens to his father's correction. A wise son listens to his father's chastisement, to his father's rebuke. A wise son listened to his father's discipline. A wise son will listen to his father's instruction. Now why would a wise son do that? Well, the reason a wise son will listen is because he honors his father. It's because he respects his authority. And it's because he understands that his father has life experiences that have contributed to his understanding of life. So a wise son is gonna listen to the father because it is his father. And because his father has life experiences. Because his father has something to give to him. When you read your Bible, and I think it's important to point that out once again, when you read your Bible, you'll discover that that a man has a tremendous responsibility. We who are fathers and grandfathers for that matter have tremendous responsibility in the home. If you were to begin to survey and to ask questions related to how did our society get to where it is right now? A lot has to do with the absence of a father in the home. A lot has to do with that. A lot has to do with the disrespect that men in general receive here in the United States. And indeed we do. Just this evening, I was listening to the news and there was an interview of a woman who wrote a book concerning the importance of a man in masculinity. She's a PhD. And she's been pointing out that for many years that men have been looked at and treated as inconsequential. And she was pointing out that men have been devalued in this society for many years. And every man in this room knows that's absolutely true. We all know that. I mean, you watch the commercials, I won't beat this horse to death today, don't worry. But you do, you see the commercials and the father's pretty much an idiot. He's too stupid to even know how to do anything. And that's okay. But if you were to reverse that, if you were to say a woman is stupid and she can't do, can you imagine what would happen? But it's okay for us as men to be disregarded and disrespected. But a man in his place in the home is of utmost importance. He models authority. He models godliness. He has a strength. It's interesting, even grandfathers have that in the home. My daughter, Corinne was speaking to me about my grandson. I have a grandson named Josiah. My grandson Josiah is 14 years old. He'll be 15 years old pretty soon. And he sure has grown up so quickly. But he had done something. And his mama had said something to him about, you know, he's gonna be in trouble. But his whole concern was that she would tell me because he respects me as his grandfather. He didn't care if mom gets mad, but don't tell papa about this, you know? So men have, we have that authority, fellas. And we've been called by God to model that. We've been called by God to be an example of what a godly man is. We're an example. And we also have instruction that we can give to our kids. We can say to our kids, do this and God will bless you. But if you fail to do this, you're gonna reap the consequences. We can do that. And fathers are intended by God to be that model of godliness. We are to earn their respect and retain their respect. And we are to retain the honor that they give to us. And why is that? It's because if we retain their respect and honor, it increases the possibility of them learning from us. Some children have a father that is a model of what not to become. I have a young man I was speaking to. He's in his mid-30s. He's a pastor. I know his father. And he came to speak to me a while back now. And he's known our family a long time and he knows my son Joseph. And we're having a conversation, he and I, and he's a young pastor and he's coming to an older pastor and asking for advice and all. And as he was speaking to me, he says to me this, and I hope this doesn't sound self-serving to you. If it does, forgive me. But he says, you know your son Joseph really loves you. And I said, well, of course, I pay him too. No, I said, I said, yes, I know that. He says, well, you know, he wants to be like you. And I smiled at him. And I said, well, thank you, you know, for saying that. He says, no, he wants to be like you. He says, now with me, there's nothing about my father that I would like to be like. Can you imagine that, dad? Can you imagine that if your son said that about you? If your son said there's nothing about that man that I would like to be like, what a heartbreak that is. And when I heard that, it caused my heart pain for that father had not earned the respect of his son. You have to earn the respect and retain it. You have to be that man that they can look to and they can say, that's the model that I'm gonna use for my life. I can say quite honestly, that in many ways, that was my father. I saw him in a certain way. And I said, these good things that my dad has, those are things that I want in my life. So if you wanna be one who can instruct your children, earn their honor, earn the respect. So you can be the person they look to. You see, we do have tremendous influence teaching the children the ways of the Lord, are primarily the father's responsibility. It's not my wife's responsibility. And it's never been the church's responsibility to teach my children the way of the Lord. It's my responsibility to do that. When the children of Israel were about to celebrate the very first Passover and God was given instructions concerning the meal, the Passover meal, he began to speak concerning that meal, its setting and things that would go on around the table. And I mentioned this recently, but it bears repetition in Exodus chapter 12, verses 26 and 27. It reads, it shall be when your children say to you, speaking to the father, when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service that you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households, so the people bowed their heads and they worship. When your children say to you, I want you to note that in Exodus 12, it doesn't say when your children say to the mama, it's when your children say to you, see that's our responsibility as men to be that model in the home and to answer the biblical questions that they would have. In the New Testament book of Ephesians chapter six, verse four, it says, you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. There's a great example of a father in terms of his instruction to a son that is found in scripture. And it would be the model of David who was the father of Solomon who wrote these proverbs. And this is what he says in 1 Chronicles 28, verse nine. King David said to Solomon, as for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. That's a father speaking to a son. And what is this father saying to his son, seek the Lord and obey him, pursue him with all of your heart. And that's a great model and that's a great principle. Now, this is something that applies to us in life. You see, the one who is truly wise is the one who is open to instruction because the one who is open to instruction is going to gain wisdom. How else are they going to continue to learn and gain wisdom if they're not listening to those who've gone before them who have wisdom? And so on the one hand he says, a wise son heeds his father's instruction but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. A scoffer does not listen to correction. The word rebuke is correction. So somebody who is refusing instruction is referred to as a scoffer. It's a scorner, an arrogant, foolish person. And that scorner, that scoffer doesn't respect authority and will not respond to any level of discipline. According to Proverbs 15-12, a scoffer does not love one who corrects him nor will he go to the wise. A scorner, an arrogant person says, I know more than you, why would I listen to you? What do you have to say to me that's of value to me? What profit does that give to me? What am I going to gain by listening to you? A scoffer thinks they already know everything. They're Google geniuses. They know everything there is to know. And it's real difficult. It can be real difficult because a person who is not teachable is very unwise. You need to have a heart. Let me speak with an open heart to you for a moment now. You need to have a heart to learn because people can teach you if only you'll listen. And it doesn't necessarily have to be some intellectual genius. It can be the wisdom of a child who's simply speaking to you something that is real and it's true and it's concrete and it can cut to the heart. Like I've shared with you before, I was in Bible college and the assignment that I had for this particular class was to read certain amount of books in the Old Testament in two different versions. And I hadn't finished my assignment and I had to be able to sign it was an honor system. I had to be able to sign that I had read and completed the reading or else I was gonna be penalized and so I was reading through the portions of scripture that I had yet to do and I had to read them twice, one in one version and the other in another translation. And I was just going through it. I was just sitting at my parents kitchen table. I still remember just looking and I basically just intent on reading and there was a little boy about seven or eight who was at the table and he says, what are you doing? And I said, I'm reading the Bible. And he said, you know what? Now this kid was around eight years old. He says, you know what? I said, what? He said, you treat the Bible like it's a textbook. And when he said that to me, I slapped it. No, when he's, get thee behind me Satan. How dare you tell me the truth? He was right. He was right. I was treating God's word as it was an ordinary book. You can learn from anybody who speaks truth. Listen, listen carefully because a lot of times the Lord is gonna speak something to you by a source that you would not have intended to hear from. A scoffer will not listen though. A scoffer doesn't respect authority. A scoffer doesn't respond to any level of discipline. He doesn't love the one who corrects him. Why? It's because a scoffer is full of himself and he thinks he already knows. Therefore he doesn't want instruction. Proverbs 10 verse eight, the wise and hard accept commands but a chattering fool comes to ruin. It's interesting how scoffers are mentioned concerning the last days. In second Peter chapter three verse three, listen to what the apostle says, knowing this, that scoffers will come in the last days walking according to their own lusts. And I have to tell you that this world that we live in is filled with those who are doing exactly that, walking according to their own lusts and not willing to receive instruction. What happens with a scoffer very often is that they cause dissension. They promote discord. A scoffer breaks the unity of a church because he is constantly arrogantly calling into question everything he hears. Proverbs 22 10 says cast out the scoffer, contention will leave, strife and reproach will cease. How do you deal with it? You have nothing to do with it. Why? Because a scoffer is only looking to cause problems, causing dissension. And so a wise son heeds his father's instruction that a scoffer does not listen to rebuke. Verse two, a man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. He who guards his mouth preserves his life, but he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. So a man shall eat well by the fruit of his mouth. When it says the fruit of his mouth, the fruit of his mouth refers to the results of what he is saying, the fruit of his speech. Now of course he's not saying that a person produces food by speaking it into existence. It's not like you're there saying ham sandwich and bang, there it is. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying that we have what we say as if we speak things into existence. It's actually understood when you look at the second line of the proverb where it says in verse two that the soul of the unfaithful feeds on violence. The unfaithful, the word unfaithful is a word that means deceitful. The unfaithful are those who attempt to get what doesn't belong to them. So he's saying the unfaithful desires and hungers for violence, but will receive violence upon themselves. In other words, words and wishes will receive their just rewards. In verse three, he says he who guards his mouth preserves his life. Yeah, it's better to shut up sometimes, isn't it? But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. It's always safe to measure what you say. You know, you need to know when to say, when to speak and when to be silent. And you also need to learn how to measure your words. Every husband in this room knows that. Does your wife says, does this dress make me look fat? But he has said, you know, honey, I think the phone's ringing. I'll be right. You know, need to know how to measure your words. Hold your peace. There are times in general that you do that. You don't have to always fill the vacuum of silence with the sound of your own voice. There are people who think that they get uncomfortable. Perhaps you're one who gets uncomfortable when things are quiet. We've all been in rooms when it gets quiet. And you think, well, it's too quiet. Somebody better talk. So there you go. And it was so nice until you did that. So it's just wise to guard your mouth because you will preserve your life. In Proverbs 10, 19, in the multitude of words, sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise. Proverbs 17, 28, even a fool is counted wise when he holds his peace. When he shuts his lips, he's considered perceptive. Psalm 141 verse three, there's a prayer, set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. You know, for many years I had that particular Psalm taped on my screen in my office. God set a guard over my mouth. Help me to be a person who doesn't feel that I have to speak all the time. Help me to be a person who's quiet and listen because I can listen and I can learn rather than having to always fill the silence with my own voice. There's an Arab proverb, take heed that your tongue does not cut your throat. That's an interesting one, isn't it? Well, Proverbs 21, 23 says whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles. And Proverbs 29, 11 says a fool vents all his feelings a wise man holds him back. So you don't have to talk just because. Keep that in mind. Verse four, the soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made rich. The soul of the slugger, the soul of a lazy man. Rather than dreaming about what you wish you had, work towards realizing your dreams. A lot of people don't do that anymore. Just laying around saying, boy, I wish. No, he's saying, no, go out and achieve those things. Proverbs 10, verse four says you who has a slack hand becomes poor. The hand of the diligent makes rich. Go out and work and earn the things that you desire and see if your dreams cannot come true. Verse five, a righteous man hates lying. A wicked man is loathsome and comes to shame. This is an interesting one for many, many reasons, but I'll share first, a righteous man out of a pure heart, a morally upright person hates the way that is false. That's because God has changed their heart and therefore they speak the truth and love. In Colossians chapter three, verse nine, Paul said, do not lie to one another since you've put off the old man with his deeds. Psalm, it's in Psalm 119, verse 163 says, I hate in a poor lying. I love your law. But this wicked man, notice how he has spoken up. This wicked man is loathsome. Again, we don't use that word loathsome. What does that mean? Well, I like to look up the words and this is an Old Testament. So this word is in Hebrew. So what is the word loathsome mean? And it's interesting what that word speaks about. The word loathsome speaks of having a bad smell. He stinks is what he's saying here. He smells bad. And so what it says literally is a wicked man stinks and he makes himself hateful to any who might know him. He smells bad and nobody wants to get near him. And so the point he's making is very simple. Live a righteous life, serve the Lord and don't be stinky. Okay, verse six, righteousness guards him whose way is blameless. But wickedness overthrows the sinner. Righteousness is portrayed as a fortress. It's a fortress that is actually protecting you but it's protecting you against making bad decisions. Righteousness protects you from making sinful decisions. But wickedness will ultimately lead you to pain the consequences. Wickedness overthrows the sinner. Verse seven, there is one who makes himself rich yet. It has nothing. One who makes himself poor, it has great riches. This is an interesting proverb. It's viewed in various ways. I'll give you a basic way. When it says there is one who makes himself rich yet has nothing, it's speaking about pretense. It's the person who doesn't have anything but pretends that they do. They act like they're very wealthy. They act like they're very rich. They act like they're very, you know, in the know. But in fact, they're not. They're pretending to be somebody. They're pretending to be rich. And so he's pointed that out. There's one who makes himself rich. He's pretending to be rich. He has nothing. But notice, and one who makes himself poor yet he has great riches. On the other hand, there are those who are very wealthy who walk around as if they don't have anything. They pretend that they have poverty but they're doing that to conceal their wealth in order to avoid responsibilities of helping somebody else perhaps or lending money to somebody. So the point of this is don't try to make yourself out to be what you are not. Verse eight, the ransom of a man's life is as riches. But the poor does not hear, rebuke. Rich people are often exposed to assaults. They can be blackmailed. They can be extorted. In difficult times they may have to put all their riches up to save their life or to save the life of somebody else. But a poor person is normally not a threat to lose all that he has because he doesn't have anything. And therefore he's not concerned about losing and what he doesn't have. The poor does not hear, rebuke. Verse nine, the light of the righteous rejoices. The lamp of the wicked will be put out. The light of the righteous. There's a contrast between light and a lamp. Interestingly enough, light would speak of the sun. A lamp is a lesser light. So he's saying the light of the righteous continues but the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished. Verse 10, by pride comes nothing but strife. But with the well advised is wisdom. If you're wise, listen to good advice and don't stubbornly argue out of pride. Anybody here ever argue out of pride, just out of pride? I know nobody did, but theoretically. You know, he's saying be aware of that. Be aware because out of pride comes nothing but strife. There are so many fights that people get into that are so unnecessary. So choose the battles that are necessary and don't fight about silly things. Verse 11, wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished, but he who gathers by labor will increase. Steady and progressive saving is better than dishonest and greedy grabbing. Be very careful not to get into these get rich quick seams. You know, every week I get two, three, sometimes more, no less than two or three emails. I have some very important people riding me, people from the head of the FBI, people who are corporate bankers. Sometimes I get widows who are simply looking for a charitable place to donate $57 million U.S. All I have to do is send them my social security number, my address, my license, and I can be a multi-millionaire. You know, they wouldn't do that if it didn't work. They wouldn't do that if people didn't send them the information they're asking for. Sometimes they write and they'll say, we have X amount of dollars for you and all you need to do is send us $57 and send it to, you know, whatever this way and you'll get your money released to you and they get the money. It's because very often people want to get rich quickly. And so he's saying, avoid this. Wealth gained by dishonesty will be diminished. Instead of hoping for that lottery ticket of X amount of millions of dollars that some of you bought, make sure you tithe, but he who gathers by labor will increase. Verse 12, hope deferred makes the heart sick. But when the desire comes, it's a tree of life. Oh, that's so obvious. If you keep postponing certain things, you just get depressed. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. There are some things that you just keep waiting and longing for and you get anxious and depressed about that. Now here's powerful verse 13. He who despises the word will be destroyed. He who fears the commandment will be rewarded. The law of the wise is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death. To despise when he says he who despises the word to despise speaks of willfully rejecting. He who despises the word is one who willingly rejects God's word. And if you willingly reject the word of God, you will be destroyed. The word destroyed speaks of being brought to ruin. The person who knows God's word and refuses to do it, their life is gonna be in shambles. Excuse me, how can I say this quickly? I really, as a pastor, as a Christian, as someone who's been walking with the Lord for a while now, one who's been in ministry for a long time, I can tell you this with experience that there are many Christians today who are not being equipped for works of service because they have fallen into the spirit of the age, the spirit of the age that, and you see this in the writings of Paul to Timothy and both first and second Timothy, how they're in the end days will be lying in deceptive doctrines and that people will no longer endure healthy teaching, but instead are gonna heap unto themselves, teachers, because they have itching ears. In other words, they're gonna heap to themselves, teachers that they prefer because these people say what they want to hear, having itching ears. They will voluntarily turn themselves away from truth and will turn unto fables. That's, we're seeing that today. I mentioned to you that when we were in Israel recently that there was a particularly television evangelist that if I mentioned his name, those of you who watch TV and watch what is called Christian TV, you'd know his name the minute I say it. He's very famous. And he was there with us when we were in Israel with 60 bus loads. I had mentioned to you that each one of those buses was sold about 50 people, 55 maximum. So you're looking at 3,000 people who came. And I also mentioned to you that he teaches something called hyper grace, which is undermining what the spirit of the Lord teaches us in his word, concerning what is called sanctification, which is that God's working in your life, removing those things he's not pleased with over time. And the way that happens is that you begin to pursue the things that matter and you reject the things that don't. So you put away line, you put away stealing, you put away these kinds of things, you put those things aside and you pursue the things that matter, holiness, righteousness, you pursue the Lord. But because of the doctrine that this person is teaching, there are multitudes of people who listen to him or being told that there's no need to continue a pursuit of the Lord. There's no need to repent on a daily basis. Repentance is an ongoing thing. It's not what you did the day you got saved and you never repented again. It's an ongoing attitude where you're turning away from sin and turning to the Lord. The word repent means it's from the Greek word, metanoia, and it speaks of a change of mind. And when you actually are repenting, you're changing your mind and that's something you do daily. So there are things when you first get saved that you think are okay and you continue in them because you don't know that's wrong. So you get saved and you're drinking and you're smoking dope and you don't think anything about it because after all, dope is an herb and God made the herb, right? Because that's what I was told when I got saved. You know, the Bible says that God made the herb because we called marijuana herb at that time. So I said, oh, that's cool. Bottom line is there were people even at that time who were trying to keep the old life, well, saying they have a new one, but you read your Bible and when you read your Bible, there's a lot of commands that I was mentioning this recently that Jesus gives a lot of commands in scripture. There are things that were to do that demonstrate that we have come to faith and in your life is to be transformed, right? And how's it gonna be transformed? It's transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's transformed because you're no longer being conformed to this world. But you're pursuing the Lord and how are you gonna have a new mind? Your new mind comes to the washing of the blood of Christ, the spirit of God and the word of God. And so, wherewith all shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed there to according to thy word? Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you. How do I know that I can live a life that is pleasing to God by hiding your word in my heart and allowing the spirit to write on the tablets of flesh so that I do the things from the inside, not simply because they're printed on a page but because they're printed on my heart. And how does that happen? By turning away from things that keep me from the Lord and turning to the one who keeps me. That's how it works. But a person who despises the word comes to ruin. And that's why in this church, until the Lord removes me from this pulpit, I have to promise you, I will always encourage this church to what God says, love his word, pursue him. Why? So your life will be blessed and you won't come to ruin. That's why. And that's what the scripture teaches us. Obedience results in blessings. Obedience results in heaven. In John 5, 24, most assuredly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and shall not come into judgment but has passed from death into life. Verse 15, good understanding gains favor. But the way of the unfaithful is hard. Every prudent man acts with knowledge but a fool lays open his folly. Wisdom makes a man acceptable to God and to man. The unfaithful person's way of life is unpleasant and is offensive to God and to man. Verse 17, a wicked messenger falls into trouble. A faithful ambassador brings health. The unfaithful messenger, a wicked, speaks of an unfaithful messenger. The unfaithful messenger doesn't deliver the message properly. The result is that they will be dealt with because of that. But in contrast, the faithful ambassador brings health. By being faithful, he brings the message unchanged and that message produces good in the life of the one who receives it. Somebody said, this speaks of an ambassador of Christ who does his work faithfully, keeps back nothing that is profitable but instead faithfully declares the whole counsel of God. He has given a message and he faithfully delivers teachings that are health to the souls of men. This one is approved by God and because he is, it results in his own health and blessings. This is the one who will hear one day said to him, well done, my good and faithful servant. You are an ambassador. Paul speaks of that in 2 Corinthians 5. We are ambassadors of Christ. An ambassador is an individual representing a kingdom while living in a different place. So you have an American ambassador who's living in Sweden or Germany or France or Russia. He's an American bringing the values of and representing the values of the country that he resides in. He's an American living in Germany but he brings with him what it means to be an American. He's our ambassador. You, believer, are an ambassador. You may not realize that but that's what Paul calls you in 2 Corinthians 5. We are ambassadors of Christ. And we have a message that we bring. He says in 2 Corinthians 5 that God was in Christ and he says that we have been given a message of reconciliation and we bring this message and we say be reconciled to God. That's our message. We are people who actually inhabit a different place. The earth is not our home. Please remember that. We're just passing through. This is not our home. We're just passing through. We're representing another kingdom. We represent heaven. We gotta understand that. The church has forgotten that. We represent another kingdom and different way of life, a different way of thinking. When we try and blend in and become what they are that's not what we were created to be. We are created to be representatives of the kingdom of God and a faithful ambassador remembers that. And because he's or she's a faithful ambassador they don't change the message. They give it as it is. God was in Christ reconciling man to himself. Be reconciled to God. That's the gospel. You see? And so he's making it very clear that a wicked messenger falls into trouble. Why? Because he doesn't deliver the message. So be careful to deliver the message that God entrusted to you. Verse 18. Poverty and shame will come to him who disdains correction. But he who regards a rebuke will be honored. The desire that you have will be accomplished. It's actually sweet to the soul when your desire is to do those things that are pleasing to the Lord. Fools don't turn from evil and they don't accomplish any good. So what we desire is to do that which is pleasing to the Lord because it brings pleasantness to our own life also. Verse 20. This is a good one. You might want to mark this. He who walks with wise men will be wise. The companion of fools will be destroyed. I've said this a thousand times. My father said it to me. I say it to my kids. I'll say it to us as a church. Be careful who you hang around with. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that we should run around thinking that. We're so good. We're so much better. Obviously we're not. You know, the closer you get to the Lord, the more you see yourself for what you are. You know that, right? The closer you get to Jesus, the more you see yourself for what you are. It's the people who aren't very close to him who think they're good. That's a fact. It's the people who aren't in the word who think they're just fine this way. It's the people who don't have godly friends that think they're just great this way. As a matter of fact, we all have one or two friends we collect so we can always point to them, say I'm better than that. That's a fact. Be careful who you allow to influence you. Be careful. Your pastor isn't David Rosales. Your pastor's your best friend, whoever that may be. The one who talks to you after a Bible study and says I don't agree with the thing I heard today. That's just not true. I think that you need to understand this and then you listen to them. He hasn't read the Bible, doesn't pray. He's never taught a Bible study in his life but he knows more and you listen because you know why his way is a lot easier but it's also a lot slipperier. Slippier. You will slip. What's the word I'm trying to say? Slippery-er. There's no such word, is there? It's a greasy pole. A slippery slope. Be careful. My mom used to tell me that all the time. I thought my mom didn't know what she was talking about. What does an old woman know? She was in her 30s, my goodness, she doesn't know. What would an old woman in her 30s know? I had a friend named Marika Sada and she did not like Ray. Well, she had good reason. He was sneaky. He was terrible. He was a lot of fun too. Let me tell you one thing about Ray. He and I were 14 years old and we went to a mall and when we went to the mall, he went up to, we're in a store and he went up to a pool table, billiard table and he got the billiard ball and he was just throwing it on, and he just kept throwing it. And you're not supposed to do that. So the salesman walked up and said to him, "'Don't do that.'" But my friend Ray just kept doing it. And the guy said, "'Don't do that.'" My friend kept doing it. And finally, the guy got really mad and he said, "'What's the matter, can't you hear?' You know, this is Ray." I'm not approving of what he did, but this is what he did and this is why my mom didn't like me around him. Ray pretended he couldn't hear and he made the man feel terrible. He made him feel terrible and the man's apologizing. And I'm saying, you know, this is my brother. We didn't look anything alike. This is my brother and I'm sorry, he really can't hear you. Oh, the guy's, you know, he feels terrible because he was so, so I said, my brother says it's okay. And we walked away. And about 20 minutes later, we came back and he walks up, Ray walks up to the guy and says, "'Excuse me, do you sell pool tables?' So I love this guy. He was so much fun, but we got in trouble. His name, he had an alias. His name was Augustus Romero. That was his alias. Because he got pulled over and the police assailed him so much. My name was Don Johnson. I had my alias too. And why am I telling you these dumb things? Be careful who you hang around with because they really do influence you. They really, really do. So choose the people that you're gonna be closest to who can help you to be closest to the Lord. Make that decision. That's what I've done in my life. I know that there are people in my life that I love very much who really are not a help for me to be closer to the Lord. They're my ministry. I know that. I have ministry to them. There are others that want me closer to the Lord than I am right now. They're my friends. So be very, very careful who you allow to influence you. Be very careful because you can be influenced in the wrong direction. Let's see now. Verse 21. Evil pursues sinners but the righteous. But to the righteous good shall be repaid. A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. Much food is in the fellow ground of the poor and for lack of justice there is waste. He who spares his rod hates his son but he who loves him disciplines him promptly. The righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul but the stomach of the wicked shall be in want. Okay, we'll just touch on these and conclude. Evil pursues sinners. Verse 21. But to the righteous good shall be repaid. Evil will be exposed and punished in proportion to its effect on other people. But the righteous will receive reward for the good that they have done. The evil receives judgment, proportionate to the evil and the righteous receive reward, proportionate to the good. Romans 2 verse the sixth rate says God will give to each person according to what he's done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But to those who are self seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil there will be wrath and anger. Verse 22 says a good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, that's his children's children. Good is repaid to the righteous. By raising godly offspring when the inheritance is passed on they receive the fruit of your blessings. Sometimes God will pass on the wealth of a sinner to a righteous person. This happens in cases where unsaved parents will leave an inheritance for the children who are Christian. Verse 23 much food is in the fallow ground of the poor. And for lack of justice there is waste. Injustice deals what honest labor produces. If you over tax the poor he loses incentive to produce. And then finally he who spares his rod hates his son if you don't discipline your child you don't love him. So discipline your children from an early age. And here's an important thing. Discipline them quickly when the infraction occurs. One of the things that can be a mistake is if we'll say the fathers at work and mama got fed up with the kids and she starts saying to them wait until your dad gets home. That's really not a good idea because you're delaying the response to an evil thing. You're delaying that. Not only that you're also encouraging the kid to be afraid when his dad comes home. That's not a good thing either. In Ecclesiastes 8 verse 11 this is a very powerful scripture because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully said in them to do evil. It's always best to discipline them quickly, discipline them early, discipline them proportionately. Don't go crazy on them and don't be brutal to them and not all children respond to correction equally. You know that. Listen, if you only have one child, that's you may not understand that. When you have more than one child, they have such radically different personalities. It's like Marie and I, my wife and I, raised four entirely different people. We did, but it's like their personalities in so many ways are different. Like the two older ones and the two younger ones, it's like those are two separate families. It's like we gave birth to two of them and adopted two. They were so different. It was night and day. You know, Corinne, my daughter Corinne, shh, she was born mad. I'm not kidding. I mean that baby's face was red from the moment she was born and she was mad all the time. Baby David, my son David, my son David has a will of his own, a will of his own. He was the one, if I spanked him, if I spanked him, he's the one who would look at me and say, what? Is that the best you can do? That was David, Joseph. If Joseph did something wrong, all I had to do was look at him and shake my head. And he'd say, and he'd cry. And Anna, she's a mix of them. Anna, I never spanked her. I never spanked Joseph. He says I did. I never did. But Anna, I never spanked Anna. I lectured her and she's told me, she's an adult now, obviously. And she said, you know, dad, there were times when I wish you would have just hit me and get it over with, just get it over with. Because I would talk to her for an hour, an hour. And I would not let her move. And I'd say, you stay right there until I'm through. Oh, she hated it. But that was her punishment. So you have to discover what works. So not every child a tap on the bottom is gonna, doesn't work. And that's what makes parenting difficult, isn't it? It's discovering what it is. So one of the things I also learned, and I'll say this quickly, is how to listen. And what it is that had upset me, why did that upset me? Because some of the things that they did were wrong in my book, but not necessarily wrong in and of themselves. And I had to begin to ask myself, why does this bother me? And I discovered, some of you parents have too, is the things that would get me the most upset were the things I saw in my kid that were most like me. And I remember where I went when I was a kid and I remembered my attitude and that would cause a reaction. And I had to learn that they're not me. And I had to learn how to correct that behavior in a way that it wasn't punitive so much as disciplining them and instructing them. So the whole point that I'm trying to make here very quickly is he's speaking about, sparing the rod, he's speaking about the rod of discipline and he's saying if you spare the rod, you're really not loving your child because a child left to himself will bring shame to his mother. You need to care about them and shape them, move them in the direction they're to go. You discipline them from an early age and then finally the righteous eats to the satisfying of his soul. Righteous people are satisfied with what they have but the funny thing is, when he says the stomach of the wicked shall be in want, the desires of the wicked are never satisfied. Ecclesiastes 5-10, he who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver nor he who loves abundance with increase. You can have a lot of money and you can have a lot of things but that doesn't make you happy. Happiness does not, joy doesn't come from the things you possess. Joy is something you have because God gives it to you. And that's, and by the way, the productivity of your life, if you're pursuing things to be joyful or happy, you're never going to be. The things that you do ought to be pouring out from a life that's satisfied and joyful and that's when you have your greatest satisfaction. It's because you're not looking for something to bring satisfaction even in the effort that you are exerting at that time but you're doing those things simply because you love doing those things and that's where the fruit comes. See, I love teaching the word, I love being a pastor. I'm not trying to be something, I'm enjoying being something and your ministry is really coming out of that relationship that you have with the Lord. It's not that you're trying to make something happen, something happens because God is making something happen in you and that's where satisfaction comes. If you enjoy the Lord, everything else flows from that.