Address—Eric James
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Savior, we long to follow thee daily, Thy cross to bear.
And count all else would err it be unworthy of our care.
Hopefully most of you got a handout.
You hadn't had any handout, so we better get one to you before you left.
They help when we cover things. It helps to have kind of pre notes in some cases, doesn't it? At least it does mean, but this is a handout on Proverbs. We've been talking about trying to understand the scriptures and I had several conversations in in our home area. We've had some young peoples and I know in past several years I've talked to young people and I said young people, make sure you get.
Line of scriptures, try to get the whole picture as much as you can, because one of the hardest things about understanding scripture is that we don't understand how the pieces fit together. And so if we can get that outline, it can be a tremendous help. And then we can put the pieces together much, much, much more easily. Well, I'd like to talk about Proverbs a little bit.
We went over proverbs in our Sunday school class at home recently.
And I thought it would be a benefit. I'm not going to try to cover the whole book. Needless to say, this is a little summary sheet that her brother, Bruce Anstey put together. And I would heartily recommend that you get this little booklet on Proverbs. I think it's one of his most practical, if I can. Many of us are practical, but I think it's one of the best for young people. He summarizes a lot of thoughts that he puts down in other places.
And Proverbs has often been called the young person's book.
And indeed it is, but I would like to try to cover as much as we're able the the 1St 9 chapters. I asked Bruce if I could use his chart to do that. I didn't ask him before we did it in Sunday school because I think that was the purpose. I can recommend some other pamphlets. Mr. Lundin has written a very helpful little pamphlet on Proverbs that you'll find. Gordon Hayhoe has a little pamphlet.
On that it's really Proverbs 9, although he covers some of the other parts as well.
That our brother Robert Ballard has just reproduced. So you can get that and you'll find it very, very helpful. And of course, there's Mr. Kelly's book. He actually was one of the last books he wrote because he died while he was in the process of writing that book. So it has some of his most mature wisdom of all.
And of course there's other books by Mr. Ironside and and and many, many others. So Proverbs is one of the most commonly read Old Testament books, no doubt. I was talking to a brother the other day. I.
Hope he's still here or not, but he told me I read a proverb every single day.
I read a chapter of Proverbs every single day and I thought he said, and I learned that from my dad and I thought, well, that certainly makes some sense to do that. I don't do that, frankly, but that's good advice, isn't it? Let's look at Proverbs some what I'd like to let's turn back to Proverbs chapter one.
Try to get an outline. We'll try to get an outline of the 1St 9 chapters. We've got some good notes here, something to take up when you go back home. And then you can see the last chapter, starting with chapter 10 through the end of the book are details. So the 1St 9 chapters give us more the principles of wisdom.
And then the chapters 10 through 31 give us more the actual proverbs, the actual specific details.
Proverbs, Chapter one. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment and equity. To give subtlety or prudence to the simple, To the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain on the wise counsels.
To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction. What you'll see from her little outline here, just as we did in our Sunday school when we were going through this, I might mention there's.
Other outlines available for the Book of Proverbs, and I don't think Bruce would say that this is infallible. It's not. Other outlines would work as well. And I had several other sources for some mountain lions, but I think it's a helpful outline. And so we used it as kind of the backbone and we're going through it in Sunday school. One thing I do want to point out, just stay where you are. Just want to read.
00:05:12
Some notes I have in my Bible about Revelation 4. We've referred to that a couple times.
But in Revelation 4, we have a throne set in heaven.
And there is a throne set in heaven. It's a throne of government. What does that mean? Well, let me read a comment that's been helpful to me. It says the throne is the emblem of rule and authority.
The guarantee for order and blessing and security throughout the universe.
The fall of man was a challenge to the throne. Sin is rebellion against the throne. Infidelity, that is people denying there is a God is the denial of the existence of the throne.
Pride aspires to the throne, and Satan defines the throne. This throne is the throne of what we call God's government. It's the foundational principles of the world. God has foundational principles. It's not Christianity as such that goes beyond government, but so long as we're in this world.
We're subject to what we call the government of God. Our brother Doug talked about the grace of God.
And the grace of God and the government of God often go together.
The grace of God is God's unmerited favor.
And the government of God is generally the principle that whatsoever a man soweth, thou shall he also reap. In other words, there is a order to the universe. Although the world is mixed up and confused, and sin has come in and corrupted this world, God is still on the throne. And He sits as sovereign on that throne, moving all the scenes He is behind. Don't ever forget that.
Men will tell you that there's no water to the universe.
We just happen to be here in time and space and all kinds of baloney. But the fact is there is a moral, what we call a moral government in this world. And that's what the Old Testament speaks about. That's what Proverbs speaks about in a particular way. There are rules for conduct, and if we follow those rules, we can get a real blessing.
If we want work against those rules, we can get into great trouble.
And great distress and I can say.
With the with a little bit of experience because of my age and observation that these things are absolutely true. How many young people have sat in these chairs, sat in the chairs in our local meetings or those that we know and we see those that have a desire to please the Lord. If they go on year after year, they get a blessing.
And yet we see those who defy these rules.
And as they defy those rules, they enter on a life sometimes astonishing, astonishingly quickly. I'm amazed how quickly it happens sometimes. But they enter on a pathway that leads to great distress and dishonor and a blot for them, and spoils and destroys their own lives to a greater, lesser extent. So these are critical matters. Let's look at this a little more carefully.
These words are, there's apparently 10 different words here. I don't really don't really have time here to go into the distinct meaning. The word wisdom is probably the umbrella term here. And there's nine other expressions here in verses 2 Through 4 that explain the things that the young person is going to be instructed in. And of course, there's great benefit for those that are of those of us that are no longer young people as well.
Let me also talk about a couple other terms that are introduced here. One is in verse four, the word simple, to give subtlety or prudence to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. There's really three terms here that are important. The one is simple. The other is verse 5A, wise man.
So the one hand we have a simple person and then we have a wise person.
And then thirdly in the end of verse 7. But fools despise wisdom instruction.
00:10:02
What is a simple person? We're going to see that term over and over in this book. A simple person is not somebody. We talk about people that don't have all their mental faculties. That's not what a simple person is in Scripture. A simple person is rather somebody who's naive. They're untrained, unskilled. You know, the word wisdom actually comes, we're told, from the Hebrew word for skillful. It's like an artisan, like Tim as a cabinet maker.
And he's worked many years to become a skillful Cabot cabinet maker. And so when we read the word wisdom, we're talking about skill and living according to the governmental principles of God. It's the same word for skill. Interesting. Interesting, isn't it? So a simple person is one who's naive, like somebody who hasn't learned that skill yet. And so.
Here Proverbs is going to tell us how to get that skill.
Now a wise person simply is one who has gained that skill. So you have a simple person. He can either become a wise person or he can become a fool. Proverb speaks about two pathways over and over again.
One is the pathway, that's the the pathway of the wise man. The other is the pathway that's the pathway of the fool. And we're going to speak about that in more detail, but those are the two distinctions we have. So those three terms we have here now there's a right attitude to learn and we have that mentioned in verse 5A. Wise man will hear.
We want to be wise men. If we want to be wise men, first of all we have to hear what God has to say.
We'll hear the instruction of thy father. I'm sorry. Wise men will hear in a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand the proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. I suppose that has partly mainly to do with what begins in chapter 10, the actual proverbs and enigmas of wise men that can be used by people who are becoming wise men. But first of all.
We need to hear.
Scripture says take heed how ye hear.
Often problem, oftentimes it's not whether people are saying things or not, it's whether we're listening and we're hearing and so scripture instructs us to hear if any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. You know, oftentimes people say I I just don't understand that. Well, why isn't it that I don't understand something? Too often it's because.
I've not really been willing to hear. I don't really want to do what.
God wants me to do and so it just kind of bounces off, comes keeps coming at me, but I just, it just doesn't sink in. Maybe you've had that same experience too. But if we want to get blessed, we don't earn God's blessing. I don't mean to pretend that, but there is an attitude that God blesses our brother Doug spoke about that somewhat in the previous days. There is an attitude. Look at Joseph's brethren. They had to be brought to a.
Where their spirit was right, then grace could be shown to them. Two parts to this attitude. Then we heard about Joe yesterday. He had a bad attitude. He needed an attitude adjustment. Here we have the proper attitude for blessing.
First of all.
Verse 5, then next verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. What is the fear of the Lord? Well, that was a brother. Stan spoke about that a little bit last night. But it doesn't mean to be afraid of God. It means to have a reverential fear for God. Perhaps one thing we can say about the fear of the Lord.
Is that we we have reverence towards God.
And we know that He understands the world perfectly. He created us. He sent us Son, to die for us. He has a plan, a blessing for us.
The fear of the Lord is that we might miss His thoughts. Isn't that a real fear? That's part of the thought of the fear of the Lord. I believe that we might miss His thoughts as instructions. He wants our blessing and He has provided for it in a wonderful way.
But the danger is that we don't fear the Lord. We think we can go our own way and get blessed, and we miss the blessing the Lord has. So here's the right attitude. First of all, that we truly hear. Secondly, that we fear the Lord. We fear that we miss God's instructions as loving instructions and directions for us. And I suppose the second part of fear, no doubt.
00:15:20
Is that we don't have it exactly in this book, but.
God is our Father.
We fear lest we displease him is not a wonderful thing. You know, I just went to a graduation. My daughter just graduated from high school and and one of the people stood up and said they had a new a new principal this year at their school. The other principal bailed about a week before school was supposed to start. So they needed to get a new interim principal for a year.
And they did. And we knew that the young people really didn't respect that previous principal very much. Maybe they feared him.
In the way that he could take away privilege, which privileges which he did regularly, and nobody particularly liked him or cared for him. And maybe that was part of the reason why he retired when he did. But nonetheless, this new principal that came in, they just loved him.
And they respected him. And the president of the senior class got up and said, you know, we were so afraid that we might displease them. And so that was the rule for our conduct. And I thought, well, that's really, that's proper reverential fear, isn't it? Concern that somebody that cares very much for us and with whom to whom we, to whom we, with whom we have a relationship that will disappoint them.
So Isis, I suggest there's those two parts to the fear of the Lord, fear that we displease our loving Father and fear that we miss His wisdom. So that's the right attitude to hear and to have the fear of the Lord. Well, let's go to our outline. I know we're going to have to move quickly if we want to get through the 1St 9 chapters and we'll.
Try to get some help here. So there is his throne in heaven. There are rules for living, rules for blessing, rules for the fool if he violates those rules of blessing.
Verses 8 and 912 lessons. Now, this is all within the context of the household. Notice chapter one. The formal part of it actually starts with verse eight. We're going to find the 1St 7 chapters, except one, all start if we start with verse eight, at least the 1St 7 verses are simply the introduction. We're going to find that they all start with the expression My son.
The proper one of the proper places for learning these truths is in the family.
And I know that this is broken down a great deal. And we read that the family, the households, there's more households that are not the traditional families today than there are those that are traditional families. And I do not doubt that that's Satan's attack to destroy people and to destroy even this country as far as that goes, and to destroy the assembly.
Brother Gordon Hale makes the comment that the family is the backbone of the assembly.
Many of the problems that happen in the assembly are the result of a breakdown in the family.
That's an interesting point, isn't? And I think it's very, very true. So we as parents, those of us that are parents have a particular responsibility. And so it says, my son, hear the instruction of the father forsake, not the law of thy mother.
I know there's a problem sometimes.
Because children tend to be technologically advanced to adults, they can get on the computer and get on Facebook and get on Twitter and these other things, and we're kind of out to lunch somewhat. Some may may do that to try to check on their kids. But in many respects, children are much more technologically advanced. You think in different terms than we do. I grew up with books. You grew up with computers. I've adopted computers to a certain extent.
They tend to be more Calpass sort of person with computers go the little cow pass that I understand. Whereas young people are much, much more different. They understand it much better. So it is true that children are technologically advanced compared to our parents. When you go to school, you learn the technology from academics. As far as parents go, we may be able to help you with some of those academics. Some of those academics may be beyond us. My daughter's taken.
Much more math than I ever took.
00:20:02
I took your calculus, but she's taken linear algebra and four semesters, four quarters of calculus already. So she hopes to be a math teacher someday. But at any rate, we can only help so much in academics. But there's two other areas that are a vital part of our education which you will not learn in school. And remember this because the the breakdown of the generation in many respects is because of the younger generation.
Superiority and technology, and in some cases academics, but that's a false superiority as we have here. Proverbs are not about academics. They're not about technology. What are they about? They're about spiritual issues and about moral issues. What are moral issues or spiritual issues? Spiritual issues have to do primarily with my relationship with the Lord.
Moral issues have to do with my proper conduct, conduct that flows from my relationship with the Lord. And so in Proverbs we have both of those things, both spiritual instruction and particularly moral instruction. You're not going to get good spiritual or moral instruction at school. You're going to get just the opposite. And so it's often been repeated.
Our brother Hey Ho used to tell his children when they were younger.
And that when you go to school, they said, and they teach you about Abcs and about those things, listen to what they say. But when they start to speak about moral matters, how you should act or spiritual matters, which they don't talk about very much, your relationship to God, although they may like to bring in false religions, which is a spiritual matter. He says don't listen to him. It's important that we follow the word of God.
And those of us that are parents.
It's vital that we teach those moral and spiritual lessons at home. They're not going to learn them in school. They should not learn them in school. It's the parents responsibility first of all to teach these vital moral and spiritual lessons which they will not learn from their peers, generally speaking, will not learn at school. We hope they learn some in the assembly if they go there, but there's a great vacuum in our country because.
Spiritual and moral values have not been learned and applied properly. So it starts in the home. And as I said, each of these first seven chapters, with the exception of one which says my children speaks to sons, it's in the proper relationship. I've often thought that they often hear that we're in the school of God, and I've often said that myself, but.
Bill Gooding is back there. He wants to know what scripture you have for that, and I've asked that same question.
I'm not sure we have a scripture that tells us we're in the school of God, particularly for Christians. We're in the family of God. That's a better thing than being in a school, isn't it? The schoolmaster may or may not care for me. I mean, it may or may not like me. He may just show favoritism. But I hope my parents have a much deeper love for me. And this, again, is the proper environment for for learning these spiritual and moral lessons. OK.
That's the first one that's mentioned in our little outline. The second one is the danger of bad companions versus 10 through 33. Again, that's a general outline.
But we see that there is a danger in verse 10. Again, notice it says, My Son of sinners, entice thee, consent thou not. And it speaks about the dangers of some of these wicked men down through verse 23 or so.
There is a danger of bad companions. Remember what it says in the New Testament. Evil communications corrupt good manners.
What happens if we go out with people that don't share our moral and spiritual values? We can get in trouble, can't we? Don't think that you can rise above it because it's going to drag us down to their level. So there's a danger of bad companionship.
Vital wisdom for us. What's the answer? Well, the answer of the Word of God is what we had last night. Sanctification. God has set us apart for a holy purpose. We heard about that last night.
Positionally, He set us apart for a holy purpose. Now He wants us to live day by day as those that have been sanctified. That's the practical side our brother Ron was speaking about last night. And I might add, there's a third aspect to sanctification, maybe even more. But the third aspect is what we call a provisional sanctification. That is, there's an outward place of blessing, and that's what the family is or should be.
00:25:15
Is a place of sanctification. Now that doesn't make the children Christians.
But it puts us in an environment where holiness is the path of blessing and encouragement for us. Tells us in First Corinthians 7 that even if only one parent is saved, the children in unbelieving spouse are sanctified. That's what we call provisional sanctification, a provision God has made dear young people.
So many of you have been raised in Christian families.
Value that it's a sanctified place. No, it doesn't make you a Christian, but it puts you in the ideal environment for blessing. The assembly is a place of sanctification. I know things can go bad in the assembly, but as a rule it's a sanctified place and we thank God for that. So there's a third aspect of sanctification that's a little more suited to.
A to a.
An address rather than the gospel meeting.
So sanctification or separation? First of all, sanctification is to the Lord. He set us apart for a holy purpose. Why is that? Because we're His children. Because He wants to bless us. Because we're part of His family. He wants to conform us to His image, the things we heard about last night. Because He wants to bless us. The other part of sanctification.
Is separation from that which will defile the world.
Two parts of separation. But if we don't have.
Separation to the Lord, separation from the world can be a very challenging thing.
That's why some of these people, like Mennonites and so on, have such struggles so often, because they're separate from the world, but they've never gotten the other half, which is separation or sanctification to the Lord. And so there can be some very sad times. So two parts of separation. Now look at verses 24 through 33.
Young people, there are consequences to bad choices. That's what it speaks about from verse 24 to the end of the chapter. Consequences of bad choices are what we sometimes call, again, the violation of God's government.
It's been said that man is free. We can put that in quotes. Man is free to make his own choices in life.
But he's not free to choose the consequences of those choices. This is where proverbs can be a great help. It tells us what those consequences are without us having to experience them ourselves.
So consequences of bad choices. We'll see that more and more as we go on.
Over in chapter 2, now we want to move forward ahead here. What we have again in the first seven chapters of, of, of Proverbs is the instruction within the parents home before a young person goes out into the world. That's what we have in chapter 8 is when a young person goes away to college or he goes out and gets his own apartment. That's the second stage. But the first stage is instruction in the parents home.
And then we might mention, if you look ahead a little bit, in Chapter 9. Now the sun establishes his own household and becomes a blessing to others. He gets married. He establishes his own household and becomes a blessing to others. Isn't that a wonderful thing? Just think of that, young people.
Once you like to be a blessing to other people, but before you and I, you and I can be a blessing to other people, we need to be blessed ourselves. So chapters one through 7 speak of that blessing, that pathway of blessing learned in the parents households. We don't have to learn it by bitter experience. Hopefully we can learn it by instruction in the home.
We don't have to learn it even by observation, although that's part of what we learn in the family.
We don't have to learn it by pursuing man's wisdom. We don't have to try all the various.
Religions or philosophies of the world. Those are jobs, three friends, aren't they? My personal experience, my observation and man's wisdom, the heart. We don't have to go through all those things. God will teach us himself within a godly family. OK. Chapter 2 it says implementing reading and prayer of the scriptures and prayer in our lives.
00:30:17
Well, that's one way to outline it.
We have that certainly in the 1St 9 verses. Look what it says in verse one, my son, if this is conditional. Now again, we can make our own choices, but there's consequences to our choices. So here's a here's a conditional if, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with these so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and imply thy heart to understand.
That's reading the Word of God, not just a verse. That's being diligent in the study of the Word of God.
Receive my words. You might underline those in your Bible like I have. Hide my commandments with thee. Incline thine ear on the wisdom. Apply thine heart to understanding. That's reading the scriptures diligently and orderly and then prayer verse 3.
Yeah, if again still conditional. Thou cryest after knowledge. This is prayer, isn't it? And lift this up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest her as silver, and searches for her As for hid treasure.
This is prayer. Those two verses are prayer, reading of God, and prayer, diligent prayer.
And then finally to skip ahead and then it says in verse 5 then so we have an if.
Then and look down in verse 7. Then we have a walk. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler or shield to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his Saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity? Yeah, every good path. So there's an if.
And a then. But it starts with diligent, careful reading of the Word of God.
And prayer. Not just the flippant thing like we heard about the other day, but diligent. Look at those two verses.
Dedicated to describing the Word, how we should pursue our reading of the Word of God, and two verses described to what prayer should be in our lives. If we really want to get the blessing that God so much wants to give to us, then our walk will be in such a way that will please Him.
Now in verse 10 we have a little different thought, or I should say I really should jump down to verse 12. We have two great enemies to the young person.
The first is the evil man, verses 12 Through 15 to deliver thee from the way of the evil man.
From men that speak forward things, Man in Scripture is often a picture of secular waves, the rational way, the world in its system, not in its religion or philosophy so much that's more the woman we're going to read about, but it's men in his secular ways. He doesn't think that he have any thoughts about God. God is not in any of his thoughts. So he has different, he has different spiritual and moral principles than the man who reads the word of God.
His moral principles have to do with making money. If he has to beat up some people to get it, well, maybe he has to do that. Maybe I'm speaking metaphorically, but that's what it comes down to. If he's greedy, well, that's just life. That's what it is. That's what we're here for, is to make a bunch of money. And that's the way some people think. That's the evil man.
And then starting with verse 16, to deliver thee from the strange woman.
Well, we're going to talk about the strange woman a little bit later, but the strange woman, in a nutshell, is a woman outside of the covenant relationship, covenant relationship of marriage. Of course, it's a woman outside of the covenant relationship, but it speaks of the woman that flatters with her words, forsakes the guide of her youth.
And she seeks to corrupt our sport, our spiritual.
And moral principles that we've been taught in the household. So there's these two dangers, I like to think. And I think there's an example of this. And First Samuel 25 matter of fact, let me just turn there. Let's turn there very quickly. Keep your finger here because I think the language is beautiful. One of the great themes of Proverbs is 2 pathways. Here we have them, the violent man.
00:35:16
And the.
And the strange woman represent 1 pathway, and the path of wisdom represents the other pathway. We have an illustration of that in First Samuel 25. I'll just read part of the illustration very quickly. Two people here, Abigail and Mabel. Notice what it says about Abigail in the middle of verse three of First Samuel 25. Here's a description of a wise woman. She was a woman of good underst.
And of a beautiful countenance. But the man that's Naval, the fool, that's what his name means, is fool. But the man was churlish and evil in his doings. He was of the House of Caleb. You know what that means. Caleb was a godly man.
One of the two good spies that came back from searching out the land and he was one of the very few that entered into the into Canaan. This man was of that house. What that means, I think is that this man had tremendous spiritual blessings. He had a tremendous spiritual heritage and so many of you young people have a tremendous spiritual heritage. But he despised it and he became an.
Person. That's the person who follows the 2nd pathway. The violent man, the evil man or the strange woman.
Let's go on to the next one, chapter 3, The importance of trusting and honoring the Lord number four, first four verses in chapter first, 10 verses of chapter 3.
Look at verse five, well known verse. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct thy past. You know, dear young people.
I often feel that this is one of the besetting sins of youth.
We're confident, we don't feel our absolute need of dependence on the Lord. And I'm speaking from experience, sad to say, and even too much in my life now, but.
The best path is to be careful that we not make an important decision, or even any decision to that point, apart from the sense that it was the Lord's will for us in all way. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path. So often we see people that go their own way.
And we know it's not going to lead to a good way and that life seems so confused. And life is a jigsaw puzzle. It's a confused enigma, but there's a pathway through it and that's what we're reading about. Dependence on the Lord is so important.
We need to spend time in the Lord's presence, speaking with Him. Do you do that in the morning?
Do you have a time set aside where you pray and say Lord?
You want to talk with the Lord and bring before him the concerns you have of the day, being careful that we don't take a step apart, apart from the sense of the Lords presence.
That's so important. I, I, I really believe that's one of the characteristics of godly people. I've noticed it in my lifetime. I think that's one of the things I've learned a little bit. I hear people that pray just that way. When they pray, they're, they're talking to the Lord because they're, they do not want to take a step without the assurance of the Lord's presence.
That's a good place to be. So verses one through 10 of chapter 3, the importance of trusting, trusting and honoring the Lord, Dependence on the Lord. Verses 11 Through 20, profiting from the discipline of the Lord. A lot of us really like discipline that much, do we? But discipline really comes from the same root word as disciple, doesn't it?
He's making us His disciples, making us to be His followers. Well, when we think about it that way, that's a little different. We heard yesterday about the four types of discipline. Punitive discipline, preventative discipline. The Lord passes us through certain things to prevent us from getting into trouble.
00:40:11
Preparative discipline. He has a purpose of service. He has a work for us, and He wants to prepare us for that work. We may not know why. Did the Lord pass me through this?
Well, he may well want you to be a help to somebody else that goes through the same trouble, and he's preparing you so you can give good advice from your personal experience just down the road. And then of course, there's purgative, which we read more about yesterday. You know the story.
About the silversmith who?
Heats up the silver and he takes off the impurities and takes off the impurities until he can see his own reflection. That's purgative discipline. The Lord wants us to make him more like himself. Well, that's.
Profiting from the discipline of the Lord. We have this verse that's quoted in Hebrews and verse 11. My son, despise not, don't disregard the discipline of the Lord. Has the Lord brought a trial into your life? In my life?
It's part of His discipline. Don't despise it. We need to get on our knees and get before the Lord. He may not tell us exactly why He brought it in, but we can trust Him that He has a good purpose in it and a purpose for blessing. We need to bow to the Lord's discipline because He wants our blessing and happiness, so we don't want to despise it or disregard it.
Neither be weary of his corrections. Sometimes we just get worn out.
We say, Lord, I can't take it anymore, can't we take it anymore?
The Lord will give us the strength if we lean on Him. If we do it in our own strength, we will get weary. But if we carry on in His strength, we won't get weary. He'll give us the need, the need of strength.
For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, and even as a father, the Son in whom he delighteth.
Verses 21 Through, well, let's look at the end of chapter three, first of all, verse 21 to the end. And we're skipping through some of these things quickly, but I do feel even in the assembly and in these meetings often time, not trying to tell you everything, we could never do that. But I know some other brothers and I have spoken in our home meeting and we wondered, well, how fast or how slow should we go in the meetings?
And we felt exercise that we should try to give an outline #1.
And #2 we hope that particularly the young people and others will get an appetite for these things, and then we'll dig into it on themselves. We can't give them every little bit, but we hope that they'll get an appetite. So give them enough to give an outline. That's our responsibility, and then enough to hopefully stimulate your appetite. And that's where we're headed here. All right, verse 21, what we have here to the end of the chapter is.
Divine guidance in the past, how the Lord wants to.
Guide us in the path.
Starting in verse 21.
There are several, several things that will be a help for us and dividend.
In.
I'm sorry, verse.
We're chapter, I'm sorry, verse verse 21 is building relationships. I got ahead of myself a little bit. So the end of chapter 3 through verse 20 of verse 21 to the end of the chapter is building relationships. That's an important part of living, isn't it, that we build good relationships and here we have some things that will help us build good relationships. Notice verse 25. Be not afraid of sudden fear.
Neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh for the Lord, shall be thy confidence.
So one principle as far as developing good relationships is to have confidence in the Lord. The Lord will read it, lead us in the right pathway. He'll give us good instruction. We can trust the Lord to help us develop good relationships. Second verse 27 acts of kindness withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it.
Have you ever thought about that as far as having good relationships and friendships?
Show acts of kindness. Here's the wisdom of the Word of God. Thirdly, in verse 28, generosity, say not unto thy neighbor, Come and go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee.
Be generous.
00:45:00
It's too easy to fail on that, isn't it? But generosity cultivates good relationships. Verse 29.
Be careful not to hurt another. Devise not evil against thy neighbor, seeing he dwells securely by thee. We should be so careful not to hurt others, shouldn't we even their feelings? We should be careful to go out of our way not to hurt other people's feelings.
Verse 30 Strive not with a man without cause. If he have done thee no harm, don't cause strife.
Don't be a person who strives and causes trouble all the time. A troublemaker. That's not a way to build good relationships. I know there's exceptions. There's times when there has to be certain things stirred up. But we're talking about general character, aren't we? Don't be somebody who causes strife. Look at verse.
Verse 31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Don't be overbearing or an oppressor to other people. That's no way to build relationships. Here's some good instruction as to how to build strong relationships.
#7 Look at verse 34.
Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly walk in loneliness. A meek and lowly person is a good person to have to have as a friend and to be a friend to others. So there's seven steps of forming relationships over in chapter 4. It's maybe not exactly forming relationships, but the 1St 9 verses speak.
Of wisdom as a family, treasure, or character.
There's a word for us parents, if you read it there, verse 3. For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments. He's speaking about his father and his mother, and he's hoping to pass these dates on to his children that he walked in and he learned from his parents. There is such a thing as family character.
That's developed a family character.
That's honoring to the Lord and pass it on through the different generations and judge those characters that are not honoring to the Lord. Okay, on to verse #7 here and the instruction in the home divine guidance in the path, chapter 4, verses 10 through 19.
The Lord guides in different ways.
Here's some principles we've often heard the Lord guides by communion or here's a here's a set of of peas if you want. Sometimes it's easier to remember these things when they're start with the same letter. Here's a set of peas for divine guidance. One is consider divine guidance by communion or the Lord's presence being in the Lord's presence.
That's a good way to get direction by being in communion with the Lord.
Being in His presence. Second, by the principles of God's Word, By reading His Word diligently.
Thirdly, by Providence. Now we have to be a little careful here, because Providence in a way is circumstances and we have to be careful. Sometimes Providence circumstances are good indicators. Sometimes they're left there to test us. Remember David when he could have slain Saul. Saul was right there in The Cave where David and his men were. They could have taken his life in no time, and one of his men wanted to do it. But David said no.
Not going to do that. I know it's wrong. So we have to be a little careful about circumstances or Providence. That's one of the weakest of these, no doubt. And the other is profits. That would be other brothers and sisters. We might even mention the five, which would be parents, wouldn't it? Parents who have a love and godly care. Young people, don't despise your parents.
That's a worldly idea because of technology and academic superiority that you might despise your parents, remember.
That your parents, most likely in a Christian household, are far ahead of you as far as these principles of spirituality and moral principles and can be a great help in training you in that area. Don't think you know all the answers because you know a little more technology than your parents.
OK, on to the next one.
00:50:01
Verse 8 #8 Chapter 420 through 27.
The the importance of guarding our hearts look at verse 23 keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life the heart is the very moral core of our being.
The things that we allow ourselves to love are what form our character. What do you love sports? Do you love cars? Do you love money? That's what's going to form your character. Character is tremendously important, and Proverbs is about building a godly character.
So the things that we love are the things we go after.
And they define our lives and we have to guard our affections.
Because we can't trust our heart to make decisions, we have to make decisions.
By our spirits between what's right that has to do with our relationship with the Lord.
That's how we make decisions, and then our affections are to follow the decisions we've made in the Lords presence. Don't lead with your heart. You're going to get into deep trouble. I know the world says that oftentimes do what your heart tells you, but so often that's going to get us in trouble. We must act in communion with the Lord and based on the principles of His precious word for our blessing and happiness.
And then the heart can follow those decisions that have been made according to the wisdom and in the Lorde presence. That's the pathway of blessing and happiness.
So guard your heart, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. We cannot emphasize this too much.
We lead with our heart, we let our affections go after the things that God says don't touch, and we're going to have a fall.
Let's lead according to the Word, the wisdom of the Word of God, and communion with the Lord. Okay, on to chapter 5.
Marital joy and happiness. What a wonderful thing that is. In chapter 5 we have first two principles.
My son, attend to my wisdom, Bow thy ear to my understanding, that thou mayest regard discretion, and thy lips may keep knowledge. Now from verse three to 13, we have the wrong woman.
The strange woman.
And the relationship there is based on lust.
That's not spiritual decision, is it?
Lust is something that destroys us and pollutes, Mr. Lundin and his little pamphlet says this lust degrades the heart and moral sensibilities. It spoils understanding, injuries inwardly like nothing else, and leaves a lasting effect in life.
We need divinely ordered affections and established relationships.
That's the right woman, starting in verse 15 to verse 23.
Notice one thing that's characteristic about the right woman is it's an exclusive relationship. Verse 15 drink waters out of thine own cistern and running well waters out of thine own well. Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad and rivers of of waters in the streets. Well, we could spend a lot of other time, but a proper relationship blesses others.
Not just selfish, self-centered.
But it blesses others, it goes out to others. Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with thee, and so on. Well, I'll read that in detail. But God's order for marriage is exclusive. One man, one wife for all of life.
On to Chapter 6.
How to avoid financial ruin Did you know the Bible talks about finances? You knew that, didn't you?
Here's some good advice as to how to avoid financial ruin. Or maybe that's a little too negatively stated. How we can get along. You know, finances are one of the primary reasons for marriages breaking up.
It happens in the world all the time.
And it happens in Christian marriages as well. It's important that we are careful with our finances. Let's look at some of the principles here very quickly verses one through 5. Avoid cosigning a debt.
00:55:07
Don't cosign a debt with somebody else. Verses 6 through 11. Work hard and save for hard times. Don't spend all that you make.
Boy, that's a tough one, isn't it? We live in a society where we're encouraged to spend more than we make, but the wisdom of the Word of God is don't.
Don't spend more than you make. Live on less than you make, or you're going to have trouble. It's going to affect your marriage. It's going to affect your family. You're going to have to work more hours or get a second job. The family gets neglected. It's a downward spiral. Don't.
Verses 12 Through 15, avoid a swindler, a naughty person, a wicked man, walketh with a forward mouth, and so on. He winks with his eyes. You know, there's lots of promoters out there and swindlers, They'd be more than happy to take your money. We heard of one that swindled people out of literally billions of dollars here. Last year's name was Bernie Madoff, and he was considered an honorable man until finally the whole thing collapsed.
And he turns out he had swindled people literally out of billions of dollars.
He was just sentenced to jail, a man in his 70s sentenced to jail for 150 years. They wanted to send a message, avoid the swindler. And then verses 16 through 19, there's seven deadly sins marking.
The person not walking with the Lord, look at those real quickly. Verse 16 these six things that the Lord hate ye 7 or an abomination unto him.
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood. Stay away from somebody like this, and heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift to running, to mischief of false witness that speaketh lies. And he that soweth discord among brethren, That person's not walking with the Lord. Don't trust him.
Verse 11 #11 Verses 20 through 35, the governmental dealings of God. Well, we've spoken about that. Some the Scriptures speak, the Proverbs speak about that over and over again. Look at verse 27. Can a man take fire in his bosom, in his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned if we violate these principles of God's government?
We're going to There are going to be consequences.
Yes, men may be free to make their own choices, but they are not free to determine the consequences of those choices.
The government of God. And then the last of this, the folly of immorality, starting in Chapter 7, that's really the whole subject.
You can read that through as our time slipping by. This man was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's seduced by this strange woman. She has all kinds of ways to seduce and it gets him in trouble. And finally, what happens?
In verse 23 till a dart strike through his liver.
As a bird hastened to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life, his life is destroyed by not guarding his heart and following the Lord. Chapter 8. Now again the 1St 7 chapters have to do with instruction.
In the parental home, that sanctified place, that is a sanctified place for most of us here. Thank God for that, for those of us, for those who have not been raised in a sanctified place.
We can get it in the assembly, hopefully and from others who may and others who may be surrogate parents to us, those in the assembly who are shepherds and who love to be a help and encouragement to others. But chapter 8 has two parts, mainly the 1St 21 verses.
What we have now. Notice it doesn't start with my son or my children. All the other chapters have.
The young man is no longer in his parents home. It's now time for him to go off on his own young man or young woman and hopefully he's learned these lessons at home and that sanctified place and we trust that he leaves home with these principles that he learned at home. That's the lessons of the 1St 21 verses freedom and detail. It goes over those same things that we.
01:00:00
Read in verses 2 Through 4 of chapter one. Hopefully he's learned those lessons now and made him his own and he will survive in the world. We see young people going to college, particularly those that go away to college, and we I tremble when I see that. I absolutely tremble. A brother called a college campus, particularly when you go away, he called it.
A cesspool, not talking about academics, not talking about technology. Again, I'm sure they're superior there than what you'll find many places. But he is talking about spiritual principles and moral principles. It's an absolute sewer and you have to be warned against it. How can you survive it? By taking the principles of wisdom with you. Verse 21 verses.
From verse 22 Through 31.
By walking in communion with the Lord Jesus himself.
And those verses we have the Lord Jesus as Wisdom personified.
You know, wisdom by itself is not enough.
It only can be properly walked in in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank God he made it that way. But that's the secret. Wisdom isn't good enough. As important as it is must be combined with communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. OK, last chapter, chapter nine time is just about gone here. Maybe it is.
Wisdom helps the son build his own house.
I just want to say one other thing. In chapter 8, notice it doesn't address my son at the beginning or my child, but notice what it does say in verse 32. I really should have mentioned that. I guess verses 32 to the end of chapter 8 give us the two paths. Again. We've been talking about the pathway of blessing and the pathway of destruction, but notice what it says verse 32. Now, therefore, hearken unto me, O ye children.
For blessed are they that keep my ways. You know you may go off on your own.
But your parents are always your parents. My parents are always my parents. They still have a lot of godly advice. No, they're not there every day to instruct and discipline, but they still have a deep care for us. I look forward to calling my mother on a regular basis and speaking with my father, and I value the wisdom and the example that they've given to me.
And so your parents are always your parents. But notice that it's at the end of the chapter.
They're not in the forefront anymore, but keep in touch because they have a love, they care for you, and they're always your parents till the day they die. Chapter 9. Then notice the young person hasn't only gone out on his own now, whether it's a college or a job or whatever it happens to be, but in Chapter 9, the cycle is complete. Wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out her seven pillars. We have now that a new house.
Established.
And now we have the provision of the household from verses 2 down through 12. There's different principles, remember.
First, the person has blessed himself, walks in the pathway himself goes on apart from the apron strings, if we can call that, going out by himself. But now he builds his own house. Wisdom here is actually plural. It implies the thought that it's a man and a wife building their own house now, which will be a source of blessing to others.
That's the normal cycle.
And so we have the provision of the house. She hath killed her beasts. There's sacrifice in that home for the right things, and honoring the Lord. She hath mingled her wine. That's joy. In this household there is joy. She hath also furnished her table.
There's not only physical food, but there's spiritual food there. This is the provision of the house she has set forth. Her maidens she crieth upon the highest place of the city.
Who so as simple let him turn in, hit her, she's they're hospitable.
Wisdom, by the way, is in the feminine.
Suggestion there is that wisdom should be held in the affections of the heart.
She is hospitable wisdom is hospitable forsake the foolish verse six and live and go in the way of understanding that separation from the world. Each of the same principles we've heard about, but now they're coming from a brand new household and that's what we is such an encouragement. There's accountability. Verse seven he that reprove at this corner get it to himself shame he that get rebuked at the wicked man getteth himself applaud.
01:05:19
Reprove not a scorner unless they hate thee. Rebuke a wise man.
And he will love thee. Be accountable to your young people. We see young people that go places where they're not accountable. 99 times out of 100, they're going to make a mess out of their lives. And some of it's irreversible. And then finally, the fear of the Lord, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Now, not just knowledge like we had in the first chapter, but the beginning of wisdom. And then finally, verses 13 through the end of.
Chapter give the opposite pathway.
The competing pathway. There's a spiritual and moral battle out there. The 1St is the path of wisdom we read in the first 12 verses. Verse 13 speaks of the foolish woman. The destruction shall 'cause she also calls out the passengers that go by who so is simple, let him turn in, hit her. There's those who want to destroy you before you can learn the path of wisdom. She says stolen waters are sweet.
It's not godly advice at all, is it?
Bread eaten in secret is pleasant.
But he knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Let's pray.