So if you could join me in the Bible in Proverbs chapter number one.
Looking forward to jumping into this tonight. I love the book of Proverbs. I feel it has given us just as one of those treasure chests from God. So much practical wisdom we can glean. And we're going to walk through the rest of chapter one. We looked at verse one through nine last time, and so we're going to go from verse 10 down to verse 33.
So we'll just read that text. It says in verse 10, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us wait for blood. Let us look privily for the innocent without cause. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in thy lot among us.
Let us all have one purse, my son. Walk not thou in the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the side of any bird, and they lay wait for their own blood.
They look privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. And then you notice the call of wisdom in verse 20. Wisdom cries without. She utters her voice in the streets.
She cries in the chief place of concourse. In the opening of the gate in the city, she utters her words saying, how long ye simple ones will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof, and behold I will pour out my spirit unto you, will make known my words unto you. And verse 24, because I have called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded, but you have said it not, or you disregarded all my counsel, and with none of my reproof.
I will also laugh, I will at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, but for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They would none of my counsel, and despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Father, we are so thankful tonight to be able to gather in a place that is called by your name, that we seek to elevate the Lord Jesus Christ to an exalted place.
Our heart's desire is to fasten itself upon you. And Lord, as we examine this, we pray that we would be those who fear the Lord, that we would turn from evil, that we would hear the cry of wisdom, that we would not forsake it. Pray for anyone tonight that doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ, that tonight would be the night of their salvation, that they understand that you've brought them here because you love them, have a plan for their life. Pray for the teens, the children's ministry, and all that's said and done, that our Lord and Savior would be exalted. Be with those that are sick in hospitals, perhaps watching online because of such things, that your peace and grace would be with them.
In Jesus' name, and God's people said, man, you may be seated tonight. We'll wait till the rooster gets done crowing, okay? That's okay. It's okay.
I've heard worse noises, right? When Metallica comes on as a song that's opened up, then it's like, hey, you need to change that, all right? But it's okay. Now, tonight we're looking at wisdom, and wisdom's warning specifically. And so, we saw last time that wisdom is not knowledge, it's more than knowledge.
Ginoske, it carries the idea, and that's the Greek word for knowledge, but this is not just an intellectual event. Wisdom is the use of knowledge in a right way. It's application of knowledge. It takes it from a head knowledge to a life application. It's basically, you could define wisdom as the skill of living life successfully.
It's being able to take truth and put it into a way that it is lived out effectively. Maybe perhaps a way to think about this is it's one thing to know the ingredients that are necessary to make a wonderful meal, to make homemade bread, to make biscuits, to make gravy, to make all the stuff that would go into a big breakfast or a lunch or a dinner, and you could know all the ingredients and have them spread out on the counter. It's an entirely different thing to know how to put them into practice to where you can create a wonderful tasting meal that so many of these precious saints of God in our church know how to make it work, and I'm thankful that one of those precious saints is my wife, and she can definitely take care of her husband in that area.
I'm so thankful for that, but you can know what it takes to make food, but can you make that work? And people can know the right ingredients that they need to have a successful life, but it doesn't mean they can always put them into practice to live a successful life, to know how to make that work. In other words, people can know that when they say, I do, that they can be married, and they go through that process of getting married, but it's an entirely different thing to know how to live selflessly, to love sacrificially, to care for your spouse in good and bad times, for better, for worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to forsake all others, to keep the only unto her and him as long as you both shall live, and to live a half of a century faithfully living out those statements.
That's different, isn't it? That takes some wisdom to be able to navigate that some tenacity for some situations for sure, but that takes wisdom. Now knowledge is having the truth, wisdom is application of that truth. You know, Jesus Christ is not only omniscient, which means he is all-knowing of all past, present, and future events simultaneously and effortlessly and equally well. He knows all things, but he's also omnisapient, which sapient is just a word that means wisdom. He is all-wise. He knows how to take all the information and use it the most effective way, and so the Bible tells us in Colossians 2-3 that in Christ or in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Jesus Christ was wisdom personified. He lived it out every day, and what a blessing it is to have Jesus incarnate. What if Jesus never incarnated? What if he never enfleshed himself? What if he never came as a child? What if he never lived in the human realm? What if he just came down to earth in a body one day, died on the cross, and, you know, that was it? But thank God he lived for all the years that he did on this earth, and we have a record of at least 33 years of his life, three years of that in his public ministry, and we can read that. We can see how he interacts with people, right?
Just little things that have been helpful for me. Like Jesus wasn't constantly correcting his disciples. So here you have perfection, embodiment, God Almighty in a body, around only imperfection. Think about it. Just think about that.
Here's his class, and we're below the ground. Like, like everything everyone thought was wrong, almost all the time. That was not said right.
That was not acted outright. Your heart's not where it needs to be. Your mind is off. Could you imagine? Could you imagine? Like how does he not get driven crazy?
You have children, right? Think about, think about times when you begin to get around some people, and you're trying to help them through some processes, and you just, you know, come on, you know, you're trying to, and how we can struggle with patience. When I read about Jesus and the incredible patience that he had, what does that do to me as a pastor, as a father, as a husband, as a citizen? It lets me know, hey, I need to be very patient with others, because God is so incredibly patient with me.
Does that make sense? We see that because we got to read about his life, and what a gracious God he is. What a merciful God. We could not have come up with a better version of a deity. We couldn't have made Jesus up anyway.
It would have never worked. Guys make up thorns, right? This guy's got big, strong, you know, and all this stuff, and he can kill everybody, and, you know, and we create these dumb situations, and that's what the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses were, weren't they? They were gods of bacchanalian feasts, drunken feasts, and sexual feasts, and all these. They just, they created gods that look like them. Jesus looks nothing like us, right?
He's everything that our natural tendencies go away from, and what a beautiful picture that we have painted for us in Christ. Now, Solomon starts Proverbs by talking about the opportunity to gain wisdom, like it's there. You can get wisdom, and it's through the word, and so he tells us there's two key components that we need to have as we enter into this thought. You need to have fear, and you need to hear.
In verse 5 he gives us one of those. He says, a wise man will hear and will increase in learning, and a man understanding shall attain to wise counsel. So the first element that you need to have as you step in, and this is just all introduction. You don't have to, but this is, a wise man will be a listener. You begin to gain knowledge. You begin to listen more. Jesus would say over and over again, if you have ears to hear, hear. He would tell his disciples, like in John 13, he said, blessed are your eyes for they see in your ears because they hear. And so be a listener, and that's what you are tonight, right? I mean, you're listening to the word. You desire the truth.
Praise God for that. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 9, 9, give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. You grow.
You'll increase in learning. One man said, a wise man learns from the experience of others. An ordinary man learns by his own experience, and a fool learns by nobody's experience.
That's so true. So not only do we need to be those who hear, but secondly, we need to be those who fear. Verse 7 says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
Now, the fear here doesn't mean that we're afraid that God's like going to strike us dead. It's the idea that you esteem him to a level of reverence that you would obey him. Now, I reverenced my parents, and it created obedience. In the military, I just have to say I'm so thankful for some of the things that are going on in our country right now. Anybody else with me? I'm thankful that henceforth there are only two genders in the United States, government male and female. Can we give the Lord a hand for common sense in the United States?
When we get back to that kind of stuff, praise God, a lot I could talk about, but I tell you, it is a breath of fresh air. It doesn't mean that you always have to agree with everything that our current president says and does, but I tell you, I am extremely happy with the direction that the United States is going in. We need to have a secure nation. We need to have investment into the United States.
Oh my, my, oh my. I'm thankful that DEI is being undone. You want to talk about a racially stirred up system. I think racism will begin to die down over the next four years, because it's not promoted in every conversation. I mean, I heard some people on liberal networks saying, why aren't there enough certain color of people that are on the stage?
And I think if you become colorblind, you don't think about that. It just, anyway, it just creates a lot of problems in our country, and we need to pray for our president. We need to pray for our leadership. I prayed for Biden. I prayed for Harris. I prayed for those guys. We need to pray for our leadership. The Bible commands that.
We need to lift up those guys, but I'm thankful. And so a wise man will fear the Lord. The expression fear the Lord occurs 14 times in the book of Proverbs. It does not mean being afraid of God. It means that you have a reverence toward Him, and just like in the military, there is a certain level of reverence and fear, respectful fear for the general or the commander, the sergeant, the colonel, the lieutenant, whoever's in charge there.
You follow the orders, and rightfully so. So our reverence for God should also so much more create that. Now the picture here in Proverbs 1 verse 8 through 10 is that of a wise father giving instruction to a son. He is directing him, and he's likened unto the verse four young man. He says to give simplicity to the young man, and he goes on and says, my son, hear the words of your father. And so he's talking to his son here, verse 10, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. And so after he calls his son to both hear and fear, notice the first practical step, and this is so important. What is the first practical step that wisdom presents to the person?
What's the very first thing he says? Verse 10, my son, if sinners entice thee, don't listen to that. Don't consent to that. Don't give in to that. So not only do they need to hear the right things and obey them, they need to know that one day they're going to hear the wrong things, and they can't obey that.
There's different voices, right, that will call out to us. If sinners entice thee, consent entice here. Hebrew word speaks about alluring, deceiving, flattering, persuading. It's pulling you into their schemes. What does it say that the first message of wisdom is to be a warning against enticements to sin? And what does that then tell us about one of the greatest dangers of youth? One of the greatest dangers of youth are that they would also be enticed to sin. Now we all face enticements, but I can tell you, to be quite honest, the enticements I felt in my life to give in to sin were, they seemingly were so much more intense when I was young. I mean, the things surrounding me, the things that we can all, I say this with all humility, we can all fall into sin and the gravest sins in life, right?
That's a possibility. But the order you get in life, you kind of begin to set a pace, you surround yourself with right things, but as a youth, you're not going to be but as a young individual, there are a lot of voices calling out. And so he's saying in essence, son, not only do you need to hear the right voices that you obey, but you need to understand there will be wrong enticements that come, temptation will come. I mean, think about how long did it take for Satan to come along and tempt Adam and Eve? Genesis 2, the end of that, that's their wedding time, right? I mean, it's like, hey, they were both Kentucky nougat and they didn't care and they were just married and happy and the Bible talks about them just being, you know, there they are. Genesis 3, it says the first thing that happened was, and the circle was more subtle and crafty than any beats of the field which the Lord God had made and he comes along and he tempts Eve and gets her to listen to a conversation and they go into this and it's an amazing thing. It's an allurement.
It's an enticement to sin by Genesis 31, the first thing. You know, Eve wasn't seeking the conversation. She's like, hey, would you like to talk to me?
Right? Those conversations come looking for us. You know, I raised three, I raised four daughters, I still got three at home and I know the feeling of being like, man, you just want to keep them around you your whole life. Like, if anybody ever says a cuss word or a bad, dirty statement around them, I'll rip their arms off, you know. I'm like, you know, they say speak some vile way to my daughter, I just, you know, but as they grow, you're like, you know, you can't, they're going to go into the world. They're going to face enticements. They're going to face allurements and there's going to be boys.
You don't want to talk to them. So always show, you know, tell them your dad's 6'5". Say he's the biggest guy you've ever seen in your life.
He's got hair coming out of his, no I don't. But just, I'm like, send him a picture of like Chris Moore, my buddy, he's a big guy, you know, he's like 6'8", you know, muscle bound guy. But there's going to be enticements that could come along and he says, when that happens, don't consent to that. There are few temptations that are stronger than peer pressures. And do you notice it says, not when a sinner comes, but when sinners entice thee. And what you find here, it's a gang enticement. If they say, let us, it's cast in your light among us. Let's all have it. It was this group.
Hang out with us. It's a steady repetition of this gang appeal, portraying the peer pressure that comes. You know, it's heartbreaking when you look into many inner cities, the effect that gangs have upon people with the illusion of power, money, sex, drugs, that fulfill them. I had a guy in our church recently, led to the Lord, he said, when I was a young man, he said, I got into a gang, he said, they gave me drugs, gave me a lot of money, girls. He said, I've been in drug cartels and doing all these crazy things, owned several houses across different states, and he said, I fear for my life, just miserable, miserable.
And I can tell you, that, and I can tell you that, that stuff is a lie. It's a control, because when you're in, you can't get out. And the gang appeal is destructive. One thing wise people will do is avoid peers that pressure them into sin. You remove yourself from the environments of that influence. And what I was trying to say before is that is the one thing that has made my life easier is I don't, I've removed myself over the years for decades now from those environments. When I was in high school, they knew that I was a Christian and that, you know, if they're going to ask me to go to the party with them afterwards, if there's alcohol and crazy stuff going on, I'm like, I'm not going, guys. They'd always try to get me when we lost. They thought, you know, he's, Josh is down, you know, he's upset, let's get him to come with us, and I ain't going to do it, man, I can't do that. And because I know I already lived in enough sin early in my life, I didn't want to go back into that world.
I didn't want to go back into that environment. I know it's only brokenness. I know it's only emptiness. And it's the grace of God that gets you away from that stuff. So not only does Proverbs open with this warning, but notice in Psalms 1-1, we referenced Psalm 1 tonight, but he said, blessed is the man, and notice the first thing he, the Bible and the Psalms elevate as being blessed. Blessed is the man that walketh not, and the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. And then verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. But the blessed man is not known first and primarily for what he does right, he's known first and primarily for what he does not do. Does that make sense? You have to stop doing the wrong. There's people today, they're like, you know what, I want to live for Christ, I want to do the right things. But they still have some poison in the ingredients of sin, and it keeps poisoning their life. Like, why am I getting sick?
Why do I keep falling back? Because you have to get rid of that first. That's why Ephesians 4 22 24 says what it says, right?
He says that you put off concerning the former conduct or conversation the old man, then you're renewed in your mind, then you put on the new man. You don't put a fence post into a hole without first cleaning the hole out and getting it clear, right? That's what we have to do.
You have to remove the dirt, you have to get the the clarity of that before you can put it in there. And I think so many times people, they try to ride the fence. Carrying the whole cross is easier than carrying half of it.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to straddle a fence. It's not a comfortable position to be in. You go over, give your life to Christ, get rid of that stuff. 1 Corinthians 15 33 says, do not be deceived. Evil communication or company is how the New King James translates it. Company is the idea there, corrupts good habits. When you keep the wrong company, it will corrupt the way you live. You have to remove yourself from those peer pressures.
If you're enticed, consent not. Do not give in to that. He goes on in a dialogue as a way to illustrate what this can look and sound like in verse 11. He says, if they say come with us, let us lay weight for blood, let us look privily for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and hold as those that go down to the pit. We shall find all precious substance will fill our houses with spoil. Cast in that light among us, let us all have one purse. One thing that sin will do is it will always over promise and under deliver.
It'll guarantee so much pleasure, happiness. I always think about lust and covetousness like living on credit. It's like a young naive person, you mean I can buy anything with this? And they're like, yeah, go swipe it. You mean I just swipe it? Yeah. And they're like, ah, they're running around town, swipey, swipey, swipe, swipe, swipe.
You know, they're watching Pinterest, they're loving it, they're buying up everything. And then comes the bill. 15% interest payments if you don't, you know, it's like, ah, you know, they're buried under this.
Oh, man. Where I think living for God is like living by paying cash, paying up front. The pain's up front, but the pleasure is long term.
The person doesn't live with the stress and the headache and looking over their shoulder and worried and stressed all the time. Sin guarantees happiness and satisfaction. It always leads to brokenness and sorrow. Satan presented the fruit as the one thing, Eve, this is the one thing you're missing. I know you're living in paradise, I get it.
You're gonna live forever, it's everything's perfect, but you're never gonna be fulfilled until you sink your teeth into that tree. I mean, just look at it. Wouldn't you look at it?
And just, just, if you could just eat that fruit. And he got her to look at it. He got her, I don't know if he's, you know, what level of smell in it and getting just the thought of it, and she gave too much into it. And instead, it led to brokenness, toil, embarrassment, hiding from God, pain and childbearing, spiritual death and murder among her own children.
Was the fruit that good? Destroyed everything. One of the wisest things to learn to do is when temptation comes along is to consider how costly it would be. You're willing to lose your family, your children, your marriage, your life, to bring great shame, embarrassment, spiritual ruin, add up all the cost and say, is it really worth it?
For what? It's an amazing thing what people give in for greed, covetousness, lust, anger, hate, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, impatience, gluttony, all these things, their lives. I would ask the question, are they the people, are the most fulfilled people in the world those who give in to all their sinful desires?
Think about your desires. Are the people who give in to all their desires the happiest and joy-filled, when they eat as much as they can all the time, when they're impatient and they let it out, when they're lustful and they just give in whenever, when they're angry and they burst out, when they're greedy and they just get whatever, and they just keep giving in to every passion, is that the free person and the happy person? That's a person enslaved.
Is that true? The person that's free and that's not the person is that true? The person that's free is the one who can say no to that stuff. Freedom is not doing what you want to do, freedom is being able to do what you know you're supposed to do. That's freedom. And he offers us freedom, but we have to learn to not consent. And we need to teach our young people that, right?
Don't give in, don't give in, listen and learn, listen and learn, don't be naive, don't be foolish. Then verse 15 through 19, in response to the plea of the sinner comes the plea of the father. Verse 15, he said, my son, walk not thou on the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path. He said, their feet run to evil, they make haste to shed innocent blood. This is so reminiscent of the diatribe of Romans 3, when he goes into the depravity of man, none of us are good, no not one. Verse 12, their throat is an open sepulchre with their tongues, they have used to see the poison of aspens under their lips. Romans 3 14 through 18, listen to what he says, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their way, and the way of peace have they not known.
And what's the root cause? Verse 18, there is no fear of God before their eyes, the fear of the Lord is beginning wisdom, Proverbs 1 7, right? They have no fear of God, no reverence for God, they quickly, it's always quickly, they make haste, it's fast, do it now. It's always that way.
That's one reason I'm like thankful that, you know, we're as a church, it's good for us to be patient, to plan for the next two years, to put finances aside, it teaches a church, it teaches youth, it teaches people to be patient. Does that make sense? I just want it now, we're not gonna get it now. I want my new body now. Anybody else?
Yeah. I like to wake up and be like, man, I'm perfect like Jesus, you know, I don't have any pain, I can see perfect, I think awesome and, you know, everything's just right where it needs to be. We're in perfection with Christ and, but we wake up and we're here. And it's freezing. Anybody else's bedroom, my bedroom is so cold this morning, I'm like, I need to get up, but boy, like just toughen up you wimp. Like, I'm pep talking myself.
We have, the house has a furnace downstairs and one upstairs, but I'm too cheap to run the one upstairs, so I'm like, we'll just grin it and bear it, we're okay. You can see your breath in the morning, man, it is nice, nice and icy. Now, notice what he says here in verse 17, he says, this is interesting, he says, surely in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird. It's confusing, if you study this in the Hebrew, in those scholars who write about this, it's hard to translate this with the clarity that it needs and the way it's worded in a lot of the translations, actually. It's more clearly translated, let me just read it and define it like this, in the eyes of a bird, the net is strewn with grain for no reason. It's the idea that the bird does not see any connection between a net that is spread and the seed that's scattered on it. They see the food is there for the taking and they're like, I don't know why they spread the net, it doesn't make any sense to me, but there's free food there. So back in the day, they would spread these nets out, put feet out there and then they would bring the net together and they'd catch birds and that was a trap or a snare for them. So in the past process of thinking, giving no thought, they don't give any honor, there's no respect for the net. It's like it doesn't mean anything. Look at the free, look at the free food and the birds fly down there and they're enjoying themselves and then they get trapped.
That's the picture. Now verse 20 through 33, we have wisdom personified in this last section and it pursues the sinner. I love this, it's such a very, it's such a powerful passage. It's always really stuck with me throughout my adult life, just the pursuit that wisdom has, the passion it has and the response of the foolish. And here's secondly, wisdom's cry. So we see wisdom's warning, then wisdom's cry.
Verse 20, wisdom crieth without, she utters her voice in the streets. Wisdom here is actually a Hebrew word that's not the typical word. The word here is used only four times in Proverbs, twice in Psalms and it's the plural form and it could be translated as the wisdoms. It's the multifaceted excellencies of wisdom. Probably again the best translation, wisdom's crieth without. The multifaceted plural form. Wisdom is public in its pursuit.
It says it crieth without. Wisdom isn't whispering, it's shouting. She utters her voice in the streets. This is the plaza, the town square. She cries in the chief place of discourse or concourse in the opening of the gates. The gates are where the magistrates would sit.
We don't do that these days, but when they would come into the city, the gates was where all the important people and conversations were had. It's there making truth known. Verse 21, in the city she utters her words saying, so not only at the gate but in every part of the city she's bringing the message and the openness, publicity, she's heralding the message. I read this and it's so reminiscent of Jesus, isn't it? You know at the end of his three-year public ministry, John 18-20, he says, I speak openly to the world. Everything's open, he said in Matthew 10-27, when I tell you in secret, speak on the housetops. He said, you're a light, shine before men, let everybody see it, bring the message out, Matthew 5-14-16.
In Acts, after the apostles were locked up, the angel of the Lord literally opened the doors and let them out and he says, go into the city and preach. Notice also the great contrast between wisdom's cry and sin's secret enticement. So wisdom's declaring publicly, but then in Proverbs 1-10, sinners entice thee.
This is more of a secret thing. Verse 11, they lay in wait, lurk privately or secretly. Sinners are very secretive.
Under the cover of dark, they work in the shadows of both conversation and physically speaking they like to be in the dark about things. Where truth comes to the light, Jesus said, men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil, right? Usually sin isn't like, hey, wait until it's the middle of the day.
You know, that usually happens when the night begins. And so we see wisdom's cry, then we see wisdom's indictment. Verse 24. Verse 24 and five, there are three groups of people here wisdom addresses. They are all lost. They all need to be redeemed. They are, and wisdom is evangelistic here.
It is bringing the message to redeem them. Each of these are progressions downward, pointing to the downward blindness of sinners. He says in verse 22, how long ye simple ones will you love simplicity and scorners delight in scorning end, fools hate knowledge. So the first are the simple.
How long ye simple ones? These are the naive. They are the unlearned. They're open to good influences, but they're also open to bad influences.
They're like a simpleton. And they're waiting for direction. And their minds open. They need to be filled with wisdom and close the door. That's why when people say you need to be open-minded, the Jew would say, no, be open-minded to the truth and make sure you have a closed mind to what's wrong.
Shut the door. A fool is open-minded to ignorance. That's why when sometimes somebody gets saved, they're like a month into salvation, they're like, I want to go study, you know, some of these other religions.
Really? It might be good to start reading at least some of this right now, right? You've never really known it. The more you know the truth, the more you'll know error. That's like, you know, the people at the United States, when they examine different false dollar bills, they don't examine false dollar bills. They just memorize the right one so much that when they see the wrong one, they understand it. So study the truth. And then when error comes, you're like, oh, that's wrong.
That's not accurate. You don't learn by, listen, I've studied the other world religions. I know what their teachings are in all the large major world religions and many of the minor ones as well, but make sure you know the truth. Study Christ. Go to the greatest fountain of blessing, right?
Go to the wisdom of the Word. So one of the things that he does here, he's calling to the simple, the naive, the open-minded who need to receive the truth and then close their mind to the error. Secondly, he says, scorners, how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity, and scorners delight in their scorning. These are the ones who are more committed.
They're not just casual about it. They're committed to their sin and they scorn religion and they scorn and despise the Word of God. Weardsby says, scorners think they know everything and laugh at the things that are really important. While the simple one has a blank look on his face, the scorner has a sneer.
That's a good way to put it. Let me just give you some things that Proverbs says about scorners. They delight in their scorning. They pride themselves in it.
They love it. They love to mock the truth. They always miss wisdom. Proverbs 14, 6, a scorner seeks wisdom and finds it not. They can't take rebuke. Proverbs 15, 12, a scorner loves not one that reproves him. Scoffers face judgment. Judgments are prepared for scorners and stripes for the back of fools.
You're blessed to avoid them. Psalms 1, 1, blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly that don't stand in the way of sinners and they don't sit among the scorners. And the Bible tells us in 2 Peter 3, 3, and 4 that in the last day scorners or scoffers will come mocking the idea of Jesus's second coming. And then the third group, it says, and fools hate knowledge. They're now aggressive against it.
This is aggression. It's one thing that, you know, the simpleton is just, they're naive. Scorners, they mock it.
Fools hate knowledge. They intentionally try to silence it. They want it shut off. They want it suppressed. I think in the last four to six months, we have seen something I've just, I still am somewhat shocked by.
The level that the legacy media in the United States has lost its power has been very fascinating to me. It's like the whole country are like, you know what? They're lying. Is it crazy? Places like CNN, MSNBC have lost 50 percent of their viewership.
50 percent. That's why they're cutting this person, cutting this person, because nobody wants to believe you're lies anymore. You lie. You don't tell the truth. And we know you're not. You know, when Elon Musk gets up and he goes like this, they're like, oh, that's like Hitler.
Are you kidding me? It's just when they say things that are so deceitful and tries to turn a nation against itself, nobody listens to that anymore. It's like your old upset uncle somewhere living down by himself by the river, and it's like, you know, he's mad about everything. It's like, you know, he can have strong opinions, but nobody respects him anymore.
Is that, is that, you get what I'm saying? And what's fascinating, even the younger generation are the ones who are moving away from that the most. There's a lot of people that, both young and old, they're both moving away from that, but it's just the scoffing, the mocking, the ridicule, the promotion of the sins of the Bible. They elevate them as being right, and it's just amazing to me. It's an amazing thing to me. I just, and I'm thankful for that. I'm thankful that even after the Ohio State Notre Dame game, you have you have the quarterback of Notre Dame and you have players on Ohio State, you know, they're giving Jesus Christ the Lord, not God in general vague terms, but we want to thank our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Like, and nobody's mocking it. I mean, Fox News is having a lady go on the NFL where they're talking about verses and passages about, I mean, just sharing salvation verses and things, and I'm, this is crazy.
I mean, it's just, I'm so thankful that, you know, again, there's some people that'll praise Jesus one moment, and then they'll go out and do, but there are some very genuine, faithful, loving Jesus people, and I'm so thankful for that. There are people in our country that would, if they could, they would destroy and close down every church. They can't stand what's going on here. I had somebody say one time, say you're walking down an alley, and all of a sudden you see 10 big guys come storming out of a room, running towards you in an alley. How would it affect your fear? And it's dark out, it's one o'clock in the morning, if you knew they just came out of a Bible study. Why did you lose your fear?
Even as a pagan, you know that that's a safe environment. Does it make sense? So wisdom indicts the fool's persistence to reject the call. How long the first message of wisdom is a question. How long, you simple ones, will you lack wisdom? How long do you scorn his delight in your scorning?
How long do you hate knowledge? The fools see no value in the call of wisdom. They hold it with no, it doesn't mean anything. It's worthless.
They treat it as common. It's no treasure. People in our world today look at God's Word, and they just, they don't hold it as a treasure. The Word of God is a treasure. It is so valuable. It's more valuable than your food. It is more valuable than what you eat today, what you drink today.
It is the most valuable thing. Psalm 19 10 says, it's more to be desired than gold than much fine gold. Psalm 119 72, the law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Psalm 119 97, oh how I love thy law, it is my meditation all the day. I have a friend that memorized Psalm 119. I'm not going to do that. There's a lot of things I'm working through right now, memorizing Psalm 119.
Now I say that, I'll get convicted about it sometime. I'll be like, ah, I gotta memorize this. Sue, once Sue gets it down, then I'll take a look at it. That is a massive tome to get down. But friend, do you treasure the Word of God?
Is it a treasure to you? Look at its continued plea in verse 23 says, turn you at my reproof. This is a call to repent.
Turn away from sin. And repentance is this. It means turning away from sin and turning to Christ.
It doesn't mean perfection, but it means a change in direction. It means you agree with God about your sin. It is as bad as he says it is, and you don't want your sin anymore.
You want to live for Jesus Christ. Jesus came preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He said, as many as I love, I rebuke, therefore repent.
It's a loving thing. And what brings repentance? Reproof does. Reproof points out error. It refutes error and convicts the sinner of sin. That's why 2 Peter 4-2, the last letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, he said, preach the Word, be instant, end season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. You need to reproof.
It's part of the process. It is a loving thing. It can save people from the error of their way, the Bible says. Those who reject, reproof, err, and are brutish, Proverbs 29 one says. I would ask you, can you take rebuke?
Can you take when somebody lets you know that what you're doing is not right? You need to, the next time somebody rebukes you for some sinful thing you're doing, you should throw your arms around them and say thank you for loving me enough to tell me the truth. The person who tells you what you want to hear loves themself more than you because they care about how you view them more than they care about the sin that can ruin you.
But if you love someone enough, you would say to them what would benefit them most, and sin will destroy them. I will pour out my Spirit unto you, he says. I will make known my words. If you would hear this and you would turn from your sin and turn to me, he said, I would pour out the Spirit on you.
I would make known my words to you. You know the only way we can know God's word is if he lets them into our hearts. The first Corinthians 2 14 says the natural man doesn't receive those things. That is a gift of God. The message is to turn to repent, to agree with God about sin, and then look at wisdom's judgment. I can tell you this this may sound pretty harsh, but this is reality.
This is going to happen. 24 he says, because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand, no man regarded. In other words, you didn't pay any attention to it. I warned you, I called to you, I pleaded with you, I even begged you, according to Romans 12 1, and you treated it with no value. It meant nothing to you. Like the people of Noah's day who saw no value in the boat, no value in his message, it didn't mean nothing to them.
It was less than worthless until the day it began to rain. Matthew 24 38, for as the days of Noah before the flood they were eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage until the day Noah entered into the ark and knew not until the flood came took them all away so shall the coming of the Son of man be. Jesus is coming back.
The world's going to become very very turbulent. So bad the Bible says no flesh would be saved unless the Lord shortened that time of judgment. Verse 25, but you have said it not, which means you set aside as worthless all my counsel.
You would have none of my reproof. The sinner has rejected the word of God. They've replaced it with their own will. They refused God's call.
God held out his hand. They disregarded it. The counsel of God was set aside as useless. They don't want his reproof. They want their sin. Instead of the fear of the God they were absolutely indifferent to God. Instead of repentance they mock him like a bird thinking they are so wise while they eat fruit inside of a trap. They don't realize it's it's going to destroy them and they're laughing while they're eating it.
Look at all this free food. You're going to tell me like. I think about George Orwell. He wrote a pretty graphic statement one time. He said there was a wasp sucking jam on my plate. He said when I saw him I cut him in half. He said he paid no attention.
He merely went on with his meal while a tiny stream of jam trickled out of his severed esophagus. He said it was only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that happened to him. And that's what people do. They attach themselves to the lust and pleasures and sins of this world and God is calling out to them and their life's going to be cut down. And it's not only when that day comes that they would be taken away that they're going to find out the dreadful thing that's happened to them. This is so reminiscent of how they treated Christ. He preached in their cities for three years calling out, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
He wept over the city. He said how often I would have gathered you but you would not. Now the truth is hid from you. And the consequence of rejecting God's word, 26, it says I will also laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes. Just as a sinner mocked, ridiculed, rejected, and laughed at God, God will return the favor.
See that coming? You understand God laughs? The only time I see in the Bible God laughed is when he brings judgment to rebellious sinners who have mocked him. Psalms 2, what's it say? Why do the heathen rage?
The people imagine a vain thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his annoyance saying let us break their ban of sun or cast away their course. We will not have God reign over us. We'll build a tower through the heavens.
We'll live our life the way we want. Verse 4 says he that sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. He will bring great judgment upon them.
I like what Spurgeon said when he said what must his frowns be if his laughter be so terrible. If the laughter of God could bring such judgment. I can tell you God is gracious beyond words. The grace and mercy and kindness of God are beyond measure. He died in our place, lived 33 years, suffered more than all of us combined. He died for you.
He loves you. But you must know this. There is a limit on his grace.
Did you hear that? It will not be offered forever. Salvation will not. There is a limited amount of days in your life you can be saved.
You can only be saved for a limited amount of time and if you reject the offer you will forever be removed from his presence without an opportunity. That can happen even while you're still physically alive. You can be alive and God gives you over to your own depraved mind. People try to speak the truth and you're blinded, so blinded that this is Romans 1 28 lived out. This is a reprobate mind.
A conscience that doesn't function is what the Greek word means. It doesn't have the capacity to receive it anymore. Totally given over. I've sat down with people through the years that I've tried to share the gospel with.
They couldn't get anything of it. It's like waving my hand in front of a blind person. I don't know how else to say it. Like things that are so clear to you.
Like I'm trying to tell them and they just can't understand what I'm saying. They've mocked God their whole life. They've rejected these things and now they're on a deathbed or they're in some situation and it's like sometimes God graciously opens their eyes up and sometimes he doesn't. Look what he says in verse 28. He says, then shall they call upon me, but I will what?
I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me. For that they hated knowledge. They did not choose the fear of the Lord.
This is what I'm saying. There is a time when people will call out to Him and they will not be saved. They would none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore they will eat the fruit of their own way. God will not answer all prayer. Deuteronomy 1 45, and ye returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord would not hearken to your voice nor give ear to you. 1 Samuel 26, and when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not. Psalm 18 41, they cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not. Of Esau, Hebrews 12 16, lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau, the biggest fool, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright, for you know that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected because he found no place of repentance though he sought it carefully with tears.
That's what Jesus said. He said in Matthew 11 25, he says, I thank you father Lord of heaven and earth because you hid these things from the wise and prudent and you revealed them to babes. You hid them. God hides truth from those who reject him. It's Luke 19 41, and when he was come near to behold he wept over the city last week of Jesus life saying, if you had known even thou at this last thy day the things which belong to thy peace, but now they are, what's it say? Hidden.
They are hid from thine eyes. This is, this is, that should cause some fear. That should, that should wake up a person that's casual about the things of God. Well, you know, I haven't been really reading my Bible and I don't know if I should really look into that stuff and you better wake up. I don't know if I should you better wake up. Better wake up because this is a big deal. This biggest deal in your life.
Nothing more important. Most eternal massive ramifications on what happens to you forever is based on the truth of God's word. How long you simple ones would you love simplicity? The Bible would say. How long would you refuse the knowledge of it?
How long would you take it as something cheap and worthless? If you want to be wise you need to hear and fear, right? Jesus said, blessed are your ears for they hear and your eyes for they see.
God is a gracious God and He extends salvation, but if you're here today without Christ, God's wisdom calls out to you. Do not reject His hand. Do not take lightly the raft He extends you.
Let me close with the words of Jonathan Edwards. He said, you have been once more warned today while the door of the ark yet stands open. You have as it were once again heard the knocks of the hammer and axe in the building of the ark to put you in mind that a flood is approaching. Take heed therefore that you do not still stop your ears. Treat these warnings with regard, lest you treat these warnings with a regardless heart and still neglect the great work which you have to do. Lest the flood of wrath suddenly come upon you, sweep you away and there be no remedy. How dreadful that will be for so many. How dreadful it was for so many and if you're not saved today you need to come today and trust in Jesus Christ. If you have friends that are lost you need to pray for them, but let us leave here tonight with a rejuvenated heart to say God I want to have ears to hear and eyes to see. Amen. Let's all stand tonight.
