Address—Robert Boulard
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Let's turn in our hymn books to 294.
I'd like to sing it to the Tomb of Justice as I am.
Oh, come thou stricken.
For us.
Oh my God.
Shall we ask the Lords blessing?
I have it on my heart just to take up just a few instructions written to us by the wisest man that was ever that ever lived. I want to look at the book of Proverbs a little bit. But before I do that, you know this man was a king. And we'll read his beginning in first Second Samuel chapter 12. We'll just read a couple of verses there.
I want to read those verses and comment a little bit very briefly on them.
And then we'll read some of the things that King Solomon wrote by divine inspiration.
And then we may, if the Lord permits, and we have a few moments, just look a little bit. At the end of his life, he didn't take note of the instructions that he gave to others, and he took no heed to the instructions that the Lord gave to him and as he sought to correct him.
But you know, it's a wonderful comfort to my heart when it says in the.
Corinthians, the apostle Paul could say, at the judgment seat of Christ, then shall every man have praise of God. So you and I are going to see King Solomon in a future day. He'll have a reward. He wrote the book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, and he was used mightily of God. But here's the beginning of Solomon in chapter 12, Second Samuel.
It says in verse 24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her, and she bare a son. And he called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him. And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he called his name Jedediah because of the Lord. Well here Solomon was born at a time circumstances in the palace perhaps hadn't been really pristine. There had been.
Moral failure and his father David, and you know, Solomon didn't ask to come into this world. You didn't ask to come into this world. But God, you know, is interested in every one of you, every one of us in this room individually. And he took great care to form the circumstances of life and to have us born into particular situation. He knew all about it.
And he knew Solomon's beginning. And here David has Father gives him this name. Solomon means peace or great peace.
As Solomon, I believe David yearn for peace, yearn for peace among God's people, yearn for peace in his own family life. But he knew that it was going to be a rough road ahead, and so life didn't turn out the way that he thought it would. But Solomon has brought into this world, and the point is that the Lord loved him.
Everyone of you here, young people are individually called of God, elect, chosen of God. That's what election means. Chosen. God doesn't choose a group, a group of people. He chooses individuals, your elect.
And he has a great interest. He took a great interest in the day that you were born, and he still has a great interest in you right now. And he longs for your blessing. He longs for you to live a long, useful life, long useful life for his glory. And so he calls.
The Lord gave Solomon a name. Jedediah means the beloved of the Lord. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Your beloved of the Lord and on the authority of God's word, I can tell you that this afternoon. Well, let's turn to Proverbs. We'll look at.
Some of the instructions that God gave to Solomon, I'm not going to go over a little outline. Proverbs chapter 22 right at the end, we'll read the last verse and then a few verses in and I would like to have the time to read the whole chapter, but I don't believe we have the time.
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You know, this book is written 31 Chapters, so you got one chapter for every day and yesterday was the 23rd and I was reading this chapter. I made it a habit in my business life when I stayed in a hotel that I would take out the Bible that was in the drawer and I would read the chapter, whatever day it was of the month that I would read that chapter.
And I would read it in my own Bible as well, but you know.
God has given us a book of instruction specifically for young people, and the wisest man that ever lived is the one that gives us really heavenly wisdom for this earthly pathway. And the reason it's given to us is because when man sinned in the garden, he lost his eyesight, he lost his spiritual eyesight, he lost his ability to think the way God thinks.
And he thinks directly opposite to the way God thinks.
And God gave us this book especially for you young people. And I am an older man, and I read that book too. Let's read chapter 22. Just at the end, verse 29, it says, see us, thou a man diligent in his business, he shall stand before kings, he shall not stand before mean men, when thou sittest to eat with a ruler, considered diligently what or who is before.
And put a knife that I throat, if I'll be a man given to appetite, be not desirous of his dainties.
For they are deceitful meat. Labor not to be rich. Cease from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
Well, we'll stop there, and well, let's read one couple more verses. Here it says, Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
This afternoon I'd just like to look at 7:00.
Times that the heart is mentioned in this series of proverbs.
But I'm also exercised to point out that at the beginning of the series of these proverbs, the Spirit of God uses.
King Solomon to point out that the enemy has four tactics that he uses proven tactics to destroy your life, to ruin it. And make no mistake of it, we have an enemy and a very determined enemy and he will never give up trying to destroy your life. And so isn't that nice? The Spirit of God just unfolds what his tactics are very, very effective tactics. And you and I, without knowing it, are.
Victims or we're targets, we don't need to be victims, but we're targets of the enemy and particularly when we're young and inexperienced in the path of faith. And so he says here, see us, thou man diligent in his business. He shall stand before kings. He shall not stand before mean men or obscure men. And so one of the tactics that the enemy has in connection with young people particularly.
Is that we might be diligent in our business.
We all have perhaps aspirations to make a good living, to have a job, to have something that is worthwhile and something that perhaps challenges us in connection with making a living and we might say a career. And so he says the Spirit of God records here that if you are a diligent man, diligent sister.
The enemy has those that are in business.
Are going to notice you and they're going to notice you and they're going to push you. They're going to advance you in this world. You're going to stand before those that make the decisions in this world.
You know, oftentimes there's decisions that have to be made as to how you're going to use your time and whether you're taking an advancement in business.
I know of a young brother who went to university and he's made the decision at the beginning of his time at university that he would go to all of the assembly meetings.
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And came time that in one of the course courses that he had to take, it was only available on Wednesday night. And that was the night when they had reading and prayer meeting in the city that he went to to the meeting in. So his home assembly the meetings on Wednesday night and.
This course was offered. He couldn't graduate unless he had this course, and he went to see the professor. The professor says no, that's the only day I can teach this course, He said well.
I'm not going to miss the meeting, the home assembly meeting, reading a prayer meeting, he says. Can I write the exam if I take the material? If I study the material will just provide me with the material in another way and electronically or other students, can I take the studies? And then if I write the exam, will you pass me? He said. Young man, if you can write the exam.
I'll pass you. Well, you know, I just give you this. He never went to the course. Not not once did he see the professor and know all those lectures.
And then he wrote those exams and passed the course and graduated after four or five years of study and he was in the top class, top of his class. I don't know, five or six, top five or six. Never missed an assembly meeting.
And dear young people, the enemy seeks to make their cause your 'cause they want your their cause, the cause of a good career, the cause of high education, to be the highest priority in your life.
But oh, isn't it wonderful to be able to give the Lord his place in your life in all things, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Now, I remember hearing of Ch Brown. He said that he was a teacher, and he said when he went to university, he went to all the assembly meetings. He never missed.
And as a young man, he doesn't know whether he got 87 in a course or 77. And he might have liked to get 97, but it didn't matter. He was in the presence of the Lord. Well, you know, this world is going to try. One of the things that they're going to try to do is to use up your time.
And to push you forward, advance you in this world so that you use all of your time to build the pyramids and the treasure cities of Pharaoh and they're all going to pass away. And so this is the first tactic that is mentioned here. Verse 20th chapter 23 verse one, it says when thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what or who is before thee. Put a knife to thy throat. If thou be a man given to appetite, be not desirous of his dainties for they.
Deceitful meat.
Well, now we have another tactic and it is this that an appetite for power and position.
You know the knife speaks to us of self judgment.
You have an appetite for what this world has. Do you have an appetite to sit down? You know it says.
Consider diligently who is before thee. There are those that are building the world system. There is a system of things in this world that is opposed to Christ.
The business system is opposed to Christ. The banking system is opposed to Christ. The manufacturing system is opposed to Christ. I say that because the enemy has raised up. These systems love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world is.
I'm not quoting it right, but let's turn to it.
Is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world passes away in the lust thereof.
Well, that's in first John chapter two, I think it is.
So here we have this.
Appetite and the world.
Will say come sit with us and.
The Spirit of God records says if you have an appetite for power and position in this world, put a knife to thy throat. It means to use exercise self judgment in these things.
And so we have this warning given, the second warning to have an appetite for power and authority. And it says in verse four, labor not to be rich ceased from thine own wisdom. Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For richest certainly make themselves wings. They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
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So we have this first tactic is really to push you forward, to advance you. You don't even have to ask and the people of this world are going to advance you and to try to take up all of your time, make their priorities your priority. Then the second tactic is to advance you, to put you in a place of position and responsibility where you don't have time for the things of God. Now you may be able to risk.
Those things.
But you know, the enemy says it's all right to be rich. Make money your object. Make sure you can have a good retirement. And there's nothing wrong with making lots of money. Make money, make that your object.
But you know, money comes and money goes. Money is not something it says. One of the things in connection with money in Egypt, it says money failed. In Joseph's day, money failed. And how we're reminded of Venezuela and a million percent inflation, money failed. But there are men in this world that make it an object to be wealthy and to be well off in this scene.
And so the Spirit of God says that it's a snare to have this tactic, to have this desire, this appetite for wealth cease from thine own wisdom. It's a part of the natural wisdom of man to say I want money so that I can live independent, independent of God. I can do what I need to do without prayer. What a wonderful to be.
Those that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and pray to Him independence for what we need.
Well, we have another tactic here. It says in verse six, Eat not thou the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meat, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he eaten. Drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words. Well, this tactic is to have worldly companions to eat and to sit, and to enjoy the.
Fellowship of worldly companions, companions that have no love for the Savior and so.
He says he exposes this thought that they have. As he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee. So what we learn from this little passage of Scripture is that the heart of the unbeliever and those that are unbelieving friends, their hearts are not really for you. You know, I have sometimes thought in connection with this verse of a man that I was working for. His name is Ralph Gaddy.
I think maybe brother Phil.
I met him, I don't know, maybe 20 years ago or something like that, real believer Ralph Gaddy and his partner Aiden Miller, and they ran in a little truck cap company called ARE and they started a plant in Fernley, NV. So they wanted to, they had built up the business, very successful business right up to the Mississippi River and now they wanted to.
Hit the West and doubled their business, so to speak. And so they put up a plant in Fernley, NV, staffed it and got all the tooling in place and so on. Hired the people. But, you know, there were entrenched competitors across the Mississippi and they wouldn't give an inch. And so we had to fight for every sale. It was hard slugging. And the company was running red ink. And he was advised by his executive.
Perhaps cut bait Just.
Let it go, drop it after a year. After two years became a serious situation and it became evident that he needed funding or else he would have to declare bankruptcy. But he kept going, press, persevering. Then he got an offer from venture capitalists to buy a stake in his business, and so some spoke to him of the unequal yoke.
Let's read this passage of Scripture in Second Corinthians.
Chapter 6. This is one of the passages that was quoted at that time.
2nd Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement has the temple of God with idols?
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Free ye are the temple of the living, gone as gods have said. I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them. Be separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Well, the scriptures have the wisdom of God, and man by wisdom knew not God and dear brother Gaddy reason things out and he decided to sell a part of that business to those that venture capital company, and he entered into an unequal yoke.
He signed the documents and.
11 months.
Almost a year later, they removed him from being CEO of that company and they seized the control of that company and he had a little office in the basement sort of thing, was really relegated to a very menial job. And then he eventually left the company even though he owned.
I think 49 percent or something of a significant percent of that company. The reason I tell you this story is this. The word of God is clear. Do not enter into an unequal yoke. And so there might be nice speeches at the dinner table, there may be in the conference rooms, all kinds of things the synergies that might be involved in making.
A big operation, bigger and better, and we can help you.
But his heart is not with thee, O dear Saints of God, you young people.
The world's heart is not for you. And never, never go out with an unbeliever. You know, there's a quote, Brother Ch Brown again. He used to have this little expression. He say, I'll tell you one way to make sure that you never, ever marry an unbeliever. Don't go out with an unbeliever.
The first time, don't do it. You'll be disobeying God and the consequences are serious.
The consequences sometimes in the governmental ways of God you'll live with for the rest of your life. And so I warn you faithfully and plead with you, never go out with an unbeliever. Never marry an unbeliever. You'll be doing it in disobedience to God. How much better it is being let go. They went unto their own company owner. Wonderful to come into the company of those that love the Lord Jesus. And you know what's not said here?
His heart is not with thee. The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words. There's not going to be nourishment for your soul in an unequal yoke. And so.
What's not said here is that the heart of the Lord Jesus is 100% for you.
Dear young people, the world is not on your side.
The business world is not on your side. Those that are unbelievers are not on God's side. And we need to work and live in the world around us and we need to be a testimony to those that are around us. But we need to be clear as to the character of those that are in the world. They're enemies of God. And so isn't that nice for us to recognize that the Lord Jesus, you know, I think of this.
Having loved his own, which were in the world.
He loved them under the end, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And so he gives us these tactics in connection with the enemy and his desire to destroy life and to ruin the fruitfulness of a young life. These four tactics. Now we have another heart in verse 12. Let's read verse 12. It says, apply thine heart unto instruction.
And thine ears to the words of knowledge.
Well, you know, we were speaking a little bit about appetite earlier.
And I wonder if you have an appetite for the instructions that God gives.
You have an appetite for the word of God if you don't have an appetite for the word of God, cry to the Lord for help to develop an appetite for the Lord and for the Lord's things and develop an appetite for reading the word of God, sitting in the presence of the Lord and reading his word. You and I need instructions and we need to apply our hearts to the instructions that are given You know the hearts speaks of the.
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And you, not you and I, need to have affections, right? Affection to love for the instructions that are given to us of God. Oh, what a loving savior we have. We were walking blind. We were serving an enemy, a master before we were saved, a master that was seeking to destroy us. It's a little picture, you know, of Pharaoh and how he caused the children of Israel to serve with rigor and with cruelty.
He he sought to have them.
And bowed down between by their burdens, and he sought to just destroy them in this way. But you and I have been purchased with the precious blood of Christ. And we being set at liberty in his presence were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, were set at liberty. We can read the instructions of the word of God.
You know, I'll give you a little illustration of this again in the truck cap company where I was working.
The we had trucks that were very trucks, used to be, you know, four wheels and a buckboard gas tank and not much to them.
And probably our brother Gordon remembers that age of vehicle. But you know, in the day that we live in pickup trucks or luxury vehicles, 4 door and people want to have tonal covers on the back end of the the truck pick up trucks so that it's just like a trunk, all fabric lined and lights when you lift the tunnel cover and all those sorts of things.
And so the company went a great deal of expense to photograph the installation procedure of all these trucks so that everyone could install the installers that bought these and sold them, distributed them, could install them correctly because there's a wiring bundle that's different with every vehicle and sequence of wiring that is necessary to get it right.
And so we went to great deal of expense, color photographs, went on the Internet and everything.
And every day the customer service reps got phone calls and there would be a dealer and he's halfway through an installation. He says this tunnel cover doesn't work and it won't go up or down and things like this. And so we trained the customer service reps to ask one question.
Sir, where are you at the what process or what sequence, what location are you on this instruction sheet? This what instruction sheet? Well, the one that's in with the touch up bottle and the keys and it's at the back of the tunnel cover and they go and get it and then open it up and, and the CSRS could walk them through it.
But you know, dear Saints, dear young people.
There were men that had ruined. There was a man that put a tonal cover on and he did the wiring wrong out of his head and he blew the computer on a Nissan Titan, which cost $7000 to fix it.
There was all kind one man. He hit the the key fob and the sunroof opened instead of the tunnel cover and all kinds of things went on because they didn't read the instructions.
And dear young people, God went to a great deal of expense.
God went to a great deal of effort to write you a book of instructions to get life right the first time so that you didn't go through life and make a mess of it broken and have to try to fix it up and patch it up. Some of those trucks were never the right same. After a dealer had butchered the wiring and then tried to put it all back together, the truck was never the same.
And your life will never be the same if you don't read the instructions of a loving father.
A God who loves you, who gave his Son to save you and now is working, interceding on high.
To save your life, that your life, your soul might be saved, but that your life might be saved. Do you have any affection for the instructions given in the Word of God? Oh, May God give us that desire and that affection for His Word.
Well, it says here in verse 15, the third heart, he says my son.
If thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
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Yeah, my reign shall rejoice when thy lips speak right things.
When there's a lovely expression, my son.
You know it's used in the book of Proverbs 24 times, my son.
I think Solomon perhaps was writing. We're not told for sure, but perhaps he had one son, you know?
Rehoboam, that's all. The only son that we're told of, perhaps his only son. We know he had two or three daughters, I can't remember how many, but they're told to us in the lineage and they.
Genealogy, I think it's in First Chronicles, but he had one son. He's writing to his son and he wanted his life to turn out right. And in this character of the, the expression, it's used to as one that honors the family name. You have a name, you're named with the name of Christ. I trust that you're gathered by the Spirit of God under the precious name of the Lord.
Jesus. But if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you have the name of Christ. If you've been baptized, you have the name of Christ on you. Let's read that in Galatians. I think it's chapter 3.
If you were baptized.
The Apostle Paul speaks of it in several different ways. I'm not going to go into the all the detail, but.
Yes, chapter 3, verse 27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, or should say unto Christ have put on Christ, or you disassociated yourself from this wicked world.
And you associated yourself with Christ when you were baptized.
You know, when I was a young man, I loved hockey. I had an appetite for hockey, a bad appetite.
And I came home from school one day and I said to my father, I said, dad, the boys at school want me to join the hockey team here, the school hockey team. What do you think? He says, son, were you baptized? I'm scratching my head and thinking, well, what does this have to do with baptism? I I said, yeah, I was baptized. He said, well, don't you know when you were baptized that the name of Christ was put on your back?
He says that you wouldn't want to cover up the name of Christ with the name of a hockey jersey, now would you?
Would you want to cover up the name of Christ with the name of a football team or the a soccer team or the name of a hockey team? Would you want to? I didn't answer him and I never asked again to join the hockey team because you know, you bear the name of Christ and the testimony of being one that belongs to him 24 hours a day. Oh, what a privilege it is. And so he speaks of my son. If thine heart be wise, my heart.
Shall rejoice even mine you know wisdom the world by wisdom knew not God.
And the wisdom of God, as our brother Harry Hale used to say many years ago, is directly opposite to the wisdom of man. The wisdom of God is not an improvement on the wisdom of man, it's directly opposite to the wisdom of man.
And the wisdom of God is the power of God connected with Christ himself.
And God is looking down to see you as a son, as a daughter. We read in Second Corinthians chapter 6. So I think we have liberty to say those that are sisters in this room, young sisters, you're a daughter.
You're a son. Oh, what is your deportment like in this scene?
Is your deportment like a son? Like a daughter?
Are you dressing and speaking and living like one who is a son, a Prince, a Princess, one who is in relationship with God and addresses God as Father? What a place, what a position of favor and blessing before God. We mentioned, you know, Solomon himself could never address God as Father, and he will, not even in the future, but you will.
You're a son.
You're brought into a blessing, a place of blessing and privilege that exceeds anything.
That any of the Saints ever had before the church period and even after the Church period. In fact, you have the very best place in heaven.
As a part of the bride of Christ, a member of the body of Christ in that glorious scene, to be at his right hand, just displayed before this world and all of his glory, and you there at his side, the angels in another sphere.
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And those Old Testament Saints too, as those that are the friends of the bridegroom. But you are a son. You are a member of the body of Christ. Well, he says he desires us that we would apply our hearts to wisdom and to be wise. That's not what characterizes this world. It's foolishness. The wisdom of this world is foolishness. They're going on with foolishness.
You know there was.
I sometimes have given this little illustration in connection with this wisdom of the world.
In the 1930s, you know, in the 1929, there was a stock market crash in this country and the financial world collapsed and influenced the economic situation in the whole world.
And so men were out of work and there was a great catastrophe economically in this country and all across Western Christian world. And everybody had a new idea and different ideas to how to elevate the situation and rectify the situation. So the educators said, well, everybody should have a university education and we'll just get everybody, they'll get the society to come up and.
The manufacturing, they said, well, we need to manufacture products that people will want to buy and it'll just drive the economy.
The car business that I was working in, they said, well, we need to design cars that people will want to buy. And so as you remember, in the 1920s there were cars that had fenders and they had flat windshields and so on. And so they decided that they would design Airstream cars, streamlined cars. And so they designed streamlined cars, very nice rounded fenders and put the lights inside the fenders and nice V.
Grills and they put the the windshield down at a little bit of an angle and they call them streamlined cars and but really they weren't that streamlined they looked streamlined and when the wind tunnels came into operation when the aircraft were being developed up until World War Two, while they put some of these cars in the wind tunnels and they found out that the.
Cars were more aerodynamic going backwards than they were going forwards.
Well, that's the wisdom of man.
That's foolishness. How could he sell a product that was it was false advertising, but they didn't know. And dear young people trust the wisdom of God. It says here, my son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice even mine. And so you can rejoice the heart of God as you go on in wisdom. Well, there's something that we shouldn't do in verse 17. Let not thine heart and be sinners.
But be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. You know, this term, the fear of the Lord, is used, I think 28 times in the book of Proverbs. I'll have to look it up. But it's used a lot. And it doesn't mean to be afraid of God. It means to be afraid to displease Him. It means to be afraid to displease someone that you love.
That's what it means. Brother Gordon Hale used to remind us that it's a love. It's a fear begotten of love.
And so we're afraid to displease the Lord. Isn't it nice? It says let not.
Heard that. Let not thine heart envy sinners. There are some things we need to prevent ourselves from doing. Let's just look at turn back. Hold your place there. I think it's chapter 4 of Proverbs.
Verse 23.
Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
I'll read it in the new translation. This is what it says. I hope you have a new translation, a Darby translation. It says this. Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded.
For out of it are the issues of life.
Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded.
You lock your computer. You have a password. You lock your car. I think the cars are locked out here. You lock your house.
You lock things because you know that the world is dishonest. In Brazil they put 8 foot walls of concrete all around the house and then barbed wire and sometimes high voltage wire in there too.
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I showed pictures of our house in Hammer Bay, and the brethren were aghast. They said no wall. I said no, we don't have a wall. Aren't you afraid of somebody stealing your garbage can? I said no, I'm not afraid of that.
But you know, we have this.
This instruction given to us, let not thine heart envy sinners, and the sinners of this world are going after the things of this world, and we might envy the way that sinners are living.
Is that true? We might envy this, the cars that the sinners are driving.
We might envy the houses that the sinners are living in.
We might envy the toys that the sinners are playing with.
We might envy the fact that the sinners don't use the Lord's day for the Lord, but they use it for themselves. We might envy sinners, but you know the Spirit of God says don't envy the sinners, don't envy how they live. Don't envy them for driving little red sports cars and and while you drive a little sedan.
Envy them because they're going to come under judgment. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And we read this afternoon of how these things, the Lord is going to burn up, utterly consume everything in this scene, not only all the works of men, but he's going to utterly consume this world itself and the heavens.
Not the uncreated dwelling heart, the place of God, though that 3rd heaven. Well he says in verse 19.
Hear thou, my son, and be wise and guide thine heart in the way. Be not among wine bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh. For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty and drowsiness Shall Cloud clothe a man with rags. Hearken under thy father that begat thee. Despise not thy mother when she is old. Well, here this expression is used to gain my son. And this time, the fifth time the heart is mentioned, he says Guide thine heart.
In the way guide it.
So we're not only to guard our hearts.
Let not thine heart envy. Sinners were to guard our hearts, lock our hearts, prevent our hearts from being deceived by this world.
We are to guide our hearts into the things of God.
To guide ourselves to be found in a state of soul that would allow the Spirit of God to guide us into the path of truth and obedience to the word of God. You know what Christian life is something that doesn't just happen. It doesn't. You don't wake up at 50 years old, say, oh.
I guess I followed the Lord for 50 years. No, that's not how it is there. The enemy is very, very diligent to put all kinds of.
Ruses in front of you. He's trying to deceive your heart. He's trying to distract your heart. He's trying everything possible.
To ruin your life and he begins the day you're born. We know that the Lord Jesus was born into this scene and the day that he was born why the enemy was seeking to destroy him. Well he says guide thine heart in the way we need to guide our hearts affections in the things of God, the way of truth and not be found among those that are seeking the pleasure of this world not be not among wine bivers among.
Eaters of flesh.
You know, there was a man that got saved. I'm going to tell you his name, I think was Al McKinnon and.
He worked for Ian Hurlbut up in Hammer Bay.
And do it in the same business that Jonathan now owns and runs, the little construction business. And 1N day he took this little flat bottom steel boat out of the Bay, loaded up with tools and little lumber, lumber and that kind of thing. It was a fast boat, flat steel. And he took off with this boat and it was very fast boat. The men liked to be able to go out. They were going out on the job.
On company time and then they were coming back on their own time at 5:00.
So I'd like to get back quick. So he took this boat out and Hammer Bay has a couple of islands at the front of the Bay at the opening of the Bay. And he took this little steel boat out and went racing down the Bay. And then he got just beyond the islands and there were big waves on that lake and he hit the waves and up he went.
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And the boat went up in the air, the tools went to the bottom of the lake, and the little boat motor, the outboard motor kept running because it was on. And you know what happens? It just goes around and around in a circle, just goes around and around in a circle until it runs out of gas or the wind blows it to the shore. And so Al McKinnon swam out to that boat. It was terribly cold, wasn't there, wasn't ice on the Bay, But it was very cold in November.
And so he got into that boat, he grabbed the side, he got himself into that boat and.
He took off, it's a mile into the Bay, and by the time he got back to the dock, his clothes were frozen on him and he cried for help. At the bottom of that hill. He yelled and he called for help. They came down and they cut his clothes off with scissors and they were able to save his life.
And he got saved as a result of that experience. He took Christ as his Savior. And if you come to Hammer Bay, I'll point out where he used to live. But you know, the point is that before Al McKinnon got saved, he was trying bungee jumping. He was trying. He tried everything. He went to all the new movies, had to have new, new cars, all kinds of things. He was just trying to satisfy his heart in those things.
I want to ask you this afternoon, young people, are you making progress in the things of God?
Are you studying the Scriptures and justice, making progress, getting a little outline of the epistles, and just reading and enjoying and savoring the things of God that have been revealed to us? Are you making progress? Are you going around in circles just trying this and trying that? You'll never have a satisfied heart.
You'll never. It'll never satisfy you, you'll never be content, and you'll never make progress.
And so it's natural to have growth, we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it will be a hindrance if we go with bad company. Now it says here in verse 23 by the truth and sell it, not also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Well, you'll notice it doesn't have the heart in that particular verse, but I'll tell you this, that when I was a young man, I didn't have a a concordance. I didn't have my own library. My dad had some books on a shelf and he had the synopsis and so on. I own those books now. Thank God for them.
But I didn't have a concordance and so I was looking for this verse by the truth and sell it not. And I'd heard the brethren that used to sit in the front row say, you know, the Epistle to the Ephesians has the highest truth given to the church, and they would spout off different verses of Scripture. And so I thought to myself, I'm looking for this verse. I'm going to find it in the Epistle of the Ephesians, right. So I read the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Oh, I wasn't there. Well, maybe I missed it. I read it again.
And it wasn't there. Well, I said, well, maybe I'm mistaken, maybe it's Colossians. So I read Colossians and well, it wasn't there either. I can't remember how I found it, but here it is in Proverbs 23 by the truth.
Sell it not, you know, in the French it says 911 point. There's a couple of different words we could use in the French we could say.
Means don't sell a little bit of it. Don't sell a little bit of it.
Behind the truth, don't sell a bit of it. Why? It costs God his Son to bring you into the knowledge of the truth, to give you the truth, to give you something that was worth living, to bring you into the position of being a son, an heir of God, joint heir with Christ. It cost God his Son to tell you the truth of all that. And her brother spoke of the truth. Pilate was very mocking. He said what is truth? You know what the truth is.
Dear young people, it costs something to walk in the truth and to buy the truth.
Have you paid anything for it?
I'm going to tell you a little story of I could tell you some brethren in Brazil. I'll tell you something of Brother Ian Hurlbut in Hammer Bay.
His grandfather was Percy. Percy Hurlbut or Clinton Hurlbut. And then, yes, his great grandfather was Clinton. His grandfather was Percy. And then his father was Clayton. And dear brother Ian Hurlbut. He might be 16 years old, 17 years old. He was at a conference leaning on a hall at the hallway and it kind of shy. And brother Harry Hale walked by. Says young man. What's your name?
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He says oh, I'm me and her. But he says oh, that means.
Clayton or Clinton was your great grandfather and Percy is your grandfather and your Clayton's son. He says not many 4th generation go on in the truth of God. The 1St generation buys the truth, the second generation enjoys the truth, and the third generation sometimes squanders the truth of God.
He says not many 4th generation go on.
Ian said, you know, I thought I asked him, well, how did Percy come into or Clinton Hurlbut come into fellowship at the Lord's Table? He said, well you know, he was walking down the street and he saw a door open and there was a a reading going on in a little town called Myrtle, Ontario. And he decided that he would go in there and he sat down among those that were having a reading meeting.
And he heard something of the truth of God ministered in that little assembly.
And it attracted his heart to Christ and he wanted to be where the Lord was in the midst. And so he went, you know, to the he was a member of the Methodist Church, the biggest church in Myrtle, Ontario. And he went to the minister there. He says, I'm going to leave the fellowship here. I'm going to be gathered to the Lords name in such and such a place. And they tried to talk him out of it. No, he says, I, I just want to go to be gathered to the Lord's name.
And so the minister in that pulpit the next couple of Lords days said, you know, Clinton is no longer a member of this congregation, Don't go to his business. Don't have anything to do with this man. It was a little town. You know, he was a leather worker and shoe repair and all those sorts of things. And they starved him out of business. And so he lost his business. He lost his home and he ended up in in the Toronto area.
That's where Clayton and the others grew and went up, went to meeting. Now I just say this, young people, find out where you came from. Find out some of the stories of what the price was paid, why you're here. Why are you gathered to the Lord's name? I trust you are gathered to the Lord's name. You know, there's two things that are ordinary that are normal for Christianity, and that is that when we're saved, we're gathered to the Lord's name. We remember him in his death.
Were baptized and then we're remember him in his death. This normal Christianity and when you're gathered to the Lord's name.
You only take the name of Christ as normal Christianity. God intended that all Christians would be gathered to the Lords name and it's normal Christianity. Well he says here in verse 26, the 6th heart, he says my son give me thine heart.
What a profound statement.
You know, God isn't going to barter with you. I used to think when I was younger, I would say to the Lord, I'm ashamed to think of it now, but Lord, if you give me this, I'll do this for you. Lord, if you would give me this, if you, if you make this situation just turn out just right, why, I'll, I'll do something for you. I'll go to the meetings.
Not the human heart. I'm ashamed of it now. But you know, dear Saints, dear young people, God doesn't want to barter with you.
He gave the best of heaven, He gave his own son. He proved his love at Calvary. He couldn't give anymore and now his heart is 100% for you, right where you sit. He wants the very best for you. He's given the very best and he has reserved in heaven the very best.
The very best place. His heart is 100% for you. And all he desires is that you would voluntarily give him the affections of your heart. And if he doesn't have the affections of your heart, he doesn't have what he would desire. He doesn't have what he wants. He doesn't need your money.
He doesn't want your service and all those things. I shouldn't say it quite that way. He doesn't need it. He might desire it if you were, if the heart was right. But what he really wants is your heart's affections. Then we have the last heart here in verse 33. We don't have time to read the verses up and down, up and above it and below it. But it says, thy eye shall behold strange women. Thine heart shall utter perverse things.
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Yeah, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, Or is he that lieth upon the top of mast? They have stricken me.
Shalt thou say and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not.
When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. You know, I just give the dangers here of drink. Let's face it, we live in a day where we walk, drive down the street and we see vineyards everywhere and free tasting at the vineyards and.
It's a good life. It's Jericho. A constant pleasant odor to the flesh. That's what the name means, a constant pleasant odor.
But it's a city of the curse, and this world wants you to live the good life. Eat, drink and be merry.
They don't have the courage to put that right on the sign, but eat, drink and be merry. And so he says here it's a warning. If you take up with drink, if you take up with the good life, leave Christ out of your life, you'll have the heart of a fool. And at the end of life, utter perverse things. And so we have those four tactics. Forgive me, I'll just outline real quick and we'll close. So let's say the first tactic is in verse.
Nine, and that is the advancement. The enemy has that tactic to advance you to take your time. And then the other is to give you an appetite from verse 1-2 and three, an appetite for power and position, verse 4-5, an appetite for earthly riches. And then we have in verses 6-7 and eight.
The worldly companions and appetite for worldly companions.
And then we have these a heart here is the seven hearts. The heart of the world is not for you, but the Lords heart is and then to apply the heart verse 12 and instructed heart and verse 15 a heart, he says a wise heart. Verse 17, a heart that doesn't envy sinners. And then.
In verse 19, a guided heart and then in verse 26.
A yielded heart and submission to the Lord. And then the last one, verse 33, is a heart that is perverse and utters perverse things at the end of life because it did not appreciate God. Well, that's really how Solomon ended up. He sought to kill Jeroboam. He sought to escape the judgment of God in connection with what he had done, marrying.
Unbelieving women, let's commend ourselves.
Our living God and our Father be thank thee for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for thy heart of love, our God.
I am the Lord, I change not. Oh, we thank thee for the unchangeable love that thou dost have for us, and we thank Thee that thou has taken a great interest in our lives from the day that we're born until we see thee face to face, blessed Saviour. And so we pray that these verses of Scripture that be have been read and these comments made that might, might have an effect upon our young, upon each one of us.
That we might be aware of the tactics of our the enemy.
And that we might yield our hearts to Thee, blessed Savior, in these very few days that are remaining few hours, perhaps in the day of grace, we ask Thy blessing and give thanks in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.