1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:04,360 I would invite you with just that much enthusiasm to turn 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:10,120 with me to the book of Proverbs, Proverbs chapter 1. 3 00:00:18,630 --> 00:00:21,870 I want to talk to a few different groups of people 4 00:00:22,030 --> 00:00:25,910 today, kids who didn't go to children's church. 5 00:00:26,590 --> 00:00:28,910 Look at me. Kids, I want to talk to you for 6 00:00:28,910 --> 00:00:33,070 a second today. Kids, there are a lot of really 7 00:00:33,070 --> 00:00:34,510 good things in this world, right? 8 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:42,280 Play sets and ice cream and campfires and Sunday school and 9 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,360 summer camp and swimming pools. There's a lot of good things in 10 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:48,800 this world, right? There's also a lot of bad things 11 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,440 in this world, aren't they? There's a lot of what the Bible 12 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,320 calls wicked things in this world. 13 00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,520 So how do we do what's right in a world that's gone so wrong? 14 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,720 Kids, how do we know who should be our friend? 15 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,960 How do we talk to each other? How should we treat our parents, 16 00:01:09,960 --> 00:01:13,760 mom and dad? What are good words that build 17 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,600 other people up? What are bad words that tear 18 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,320 people down? Kids, listen to me. 19 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:26,120 Proverbs is for you. I want to speak to the average 20 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,680 Joe or average Jane here this morning. 21 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,160 You've grown up in church, your Sunday regular. 22 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,600 You're not a criminal, but you really aren't a devoted follower 23 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,480 of Jesus either. The term nominal or cultural 24 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:43,800 Christian would best describe you. 25 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,200 You've never made a commitment to following God wholeheartedly. 26 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:54,640 You have one foot in and 1 foot out, and your life shows it. 27 00:01:55,960 --> 00:02:00,200 Your relationships are strained, You're a regular rider on the 28 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:05,720 struggle bus, and you want help. Proverbs is for you. 29 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,360 I also want to speak to what I would call the teachable person. 30 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,520 You are done trying to get life advice from social media. 31 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:19,960 There aren't enough Tik Toks or YouTube Shorts for you to figure 32 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:23,800 out your life. Maybe you're a young adult and 33 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:25,840 you're wanting to get married. You're ready to get married and 34 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:28,840 you need to know who to marry, when to marry, and what that 35 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,960 should look like. You're teachable. 36 00:02:32,040 --> 00:02:36,200 You want to learn social skills. You want to learn to have skills 37 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:39,240 in your relationship with God, but also in your relationship 38 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:42,880 with other people. Proverbs is for you. 39 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,880 See, Proverbs is a book for all of us. 40 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:48,800 And I realized I don't have my clicker, Travis. 41 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:51,120 It's on the other pulpit. Thank you, Sir. 42 00:02:53,480 --> 00:02:58,320 And so for the next 11 weeks, this summer, we are going to 43 00:02:58,320 --> 00:03:00,560 study the book of Proverbs together. 44 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,960 Proverbs is a book unlike any other book in your Bible. 45 00:03:05,360 --> 00:03:09,560 It contains so much wisdom in so many different areas and speaks 46 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,120 to so many groups of people all at the same time. 47 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:17,840 So today we're only going to really study the 1st 7 verses of 48 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,880 Proverbs, but we're going to look at a lot of other Proverbs 49 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,480 throughout this series as well. And even today, if you're one of 50 00:03:24,480 --> 00:03:27,440 those people, I'm just going to, I'm just going to soften the 51 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,080 conscience. If you are somebody that needs 52 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:33,680 to take notes or look up absolutely every reference 53 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,440 that's on the screen, you're going to find yourself pretty 54 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:42,120 frustrated this summer. OK, Proverbs has hundreds of 55 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,080 proverbs, hundreds of sayings and they go together. 56 00:03:46,080 --> 00:03:48,920 And unlike most books where you start at chapter 1, verse one 57 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,160 and go all the way through to the end, we're going to be 58 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,520 jumping around a lot, a lot, but we're going to learn together. 59 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:59,800 First, let's start with the background of Proverbs or the 60 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:02,440 we'd call this the basics of Proverbs. 61 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:05,440 Look at chapter 1, verse one of Proverbs. 62 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:12,480 It says the Proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. 63 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,800 So first we're going to stop and look what kind of book is 64 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,680 Proverbs. The fancy term for that is what 65 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:23,720 genre? You know what genre is. 66 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,720 It's like different categories. My wife and I are notorious for 67 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:29,680 having different tastes in movies. 68 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:36,160 She likes movies that you don't have to pay careful attention to 69 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:39,120 a ton of plot twists, especially at 10 O clock at night when 70 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:43,240 she's tired. I like the whodunits and they 71 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:48,120 got to watch closely. We I like dumb sitcoms from the 72 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,000 90s. We actually found one we like 73 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:51,240 together. Home improvement. 74 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:55,640 That's what we're watching right now, but we rarely like the same 75 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:59,200 what we'd call genres of movies. Well, the Bible has different 76 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:00,600 genres of different categories too. 77 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:03,760 You have the law. That's pretty straightforward, 78 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:04,840 right? First five books. 79 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:08,560 It's the history of the world in the early generations of the 80 00:05:08,560 --> 00:05:10,840 church. You have the law, thou shalt, 81 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:15,760 thou shalt not. You have the Gospels, the story 82 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,720 of Jesus in his ministry, and it reads like a story. 83 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,040 Once Upon a time Jesus went to Galilee and he healed somebody 84 00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:26,200 and he said this. You have letters in the New 85 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:28,440 Testament. Paul writes to a specific church 86 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,800 or to a person. You have Peter writing to 87 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:34,840 dispersed Christians. You have prophecies that says 88 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,160 thus says the Lord, and it's a prophecy about something that's 89 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:40,200 going to happen in the future to the nation of Israel. 90 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:42,680 But Proverbs is different than all that. 91 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:45,200 It's what we'd call wisdom literature. 92 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:48,680 Wisdom literature would be the following books of the Bible, 93 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:55,440 Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and there's some wisdom sprinkled 94 00:05:55,440 --> 00:05:58,720 throughout the Psalms. If you notice in the Proverbs, 95 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:00,800 it doesn't have a lot of names and dates. 96 00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:04,800 It's not historical. It was written in history, but 97 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:07,080 it doesn't mention Abraham, it doesn't mention Israel's 98 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,960 history, and it doesn't mention Israel's covenants. 99 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:17,640 It these are proverbs, They were written because somebody under 100 00:06:17,640 --> 00:06:20,280 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit observed creation, 101 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:25,560 observed the world through the lens of God and his people. 102 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,120 And so the form would be just that, a proverb. 103 00:06:29,480 --> 00:06:31,040 You guys know what a proverb is, right? 104 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:35,760 It's been so funny this last week when I'm studying proverbs 105 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:38,880 and trying to think of what are some common proverbs we use 106 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,520 today. I hear them everywhere, all the 107 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:43,960 time. Here are some I just heard this 108 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:47,760 week. Not everything that glitters is 109 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:49,440 gold. Have you heard that one? 110 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,120 How about this one? This is needed for me because 111 00:06:54,120 --> 00:07:00,360 I'm not very handy. Measure twice, cut once, right? 112 00:07:01,160 --> 00:07:02,840 For me, it should be measured 3 or 4 times. 113 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:09,800 How about this? Loose lips sink ships, also 114 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,720 known as snitches, get stitches, but we don't do that one as much 115 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:15,520 either. How about this one? 116 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,880 It's not what you know, it's who you know, right? 117 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:25,120 He's not here, so I can tell. Pastor Jake said there was one 118 00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:26,760 in his family. We were having coffee yesterday, 119 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,160 talking. I was mentioning my sermon. 120 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,920 He goes, I got 1 in his family. There's this proverb, if you're 121 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,040 going to be dumb, you at least got to be tough. 122 00:07:37,160 --> 00:07:40,200 Or here's another one. People don't care what you know 123 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:42,920 until they know what you that you care. 124 00:07:44,680 --> 00:07:49,040 So proverbs are helpful because they're usually short, you know, 125 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:50,720 to memorize. It's not like the preamble to 126 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,120 the Constitution. They're short, they're catchy, 127 00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:55,960 they roll off the tongue, and they're easily quotable. 128 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:59,480 So here's the definition of a proverb, A biblical proverb, 129 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:01,080 like what we're going to be studying this summer. 130 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,560 This is a proverb. It's a poetic, pithy saying that 131 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:12,520 instructs those who fear God. So it's a poetic pithy saying. 132 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:17,680 It's something short, sweet, memorable that instructs those 133 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,440 who fear God. And we're going to unpack what 134 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,440 it means to fear God. Well, who's the author? 135 00:08:24,200 --> 00:08:27,440 Well, it says right there, chapter one, verse 1, the 136 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:33,200 proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel. 137 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:40,679 So Solomon composed directly probably 95% of the proverbs in 138 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,440 the book of Proverbs, Solomon is the son of David. 139 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,480 Remember, King Saul was the first king of Israel, but he 140 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,200 turned his heart from the Lord and then God chose David to be 141 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,560 King. David sin in some big ways, but 142 00:08:53,560 --> 00:08:56,600 generally speaking, he feared God, He followed God. 143 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,280 He had Solomon, Solomon's the third king of Israel. 144 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:03,960 When given the chance to ask God for anything in the world, he 145 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:07,720 said give me wisdom, give me a heart of wisdom. 146 00:09:09,040 --> 00:09:15,560 And So what we have here are Solomon's wisdom put down in 147 00:09:15,560 --> 00:09:19,320 Proverbs. But he's not the only author of 148 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:23,280 the book of Proverbs. Look at what it says in Proverbs 149 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:24,120 25. One. 150 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:26,440 This is how a different section of Proverbs is introduced. 151 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:30,240 These also are Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of 152 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:35,400 Hezekiah, king of Judah copied. So these are the next section 153 00:09:35,400 --> 00:09:39,840 going from chapters 25 to 29 of Proverbs are still Solomon, but 154 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:41,560 they were written by the men of Hezekiah. 155 00:09:41,560 --> 00:09:44,600 Hezekiah was a king. Israel had some bad kings, but 156 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:47,120 Hezekiah was a king. That said, you know what? 157 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,360 I think we should go back and read God's word and you should 158 00:09:50,360 --> 00:09:53,520 go back and study the kings that actually, you know, followed God 159 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:55,960 and worshiped God the way that he wanted them to. 160 00:09:56,560 --> 00:10:00,280 So the men of Hezekiah, 300 years after Solomon, collected 161 00:10:00,280 --> 00:10:03,800 more Proverbs and recorded those for us in Scripture. 162 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,080 We also have an author called Ager. 163 00:10:08,560 --> 00:10:11,960 You see that in Proverbs 30, verse one, the words of Edgar, 164 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:17,160 son of Jake the Oracle. So we don't know much about this 165 00:10:17,160 --> 00:10:19,080 Edgar. He's probably somebody that 166 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,560 served in the King's court and he wrote down. 167 00:10:22,560 --> 00:10:25,160 If you read Proverbs 30, they're really interesting. 168 00:10:25,160 --> 00:10:28,920 It says stuff like 3 things I say to you, yes, 4 things are 169 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:31,120 true and says that over and over again. 170 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:35,080 Just a fun, you know, unique way to capture wisdom. 171 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:41,240 And then Proverbs 31 says this, the words of King Lemuel, an 172 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:44,560 Oracle that his mother taught him. 173 00:10:45,720 --> 00:10:48,080 So we don't know who this King Lemuel was. 174 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:51,400 He was not an Israelite king as perhaps an Egyptian or a 175 00:10:51,400 --> 00:10:55,520 Babylonian. He recorded more proverbs that 176 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:58,080 his mother taught him. Isn't that cool? 177 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,320 A mother's wisdom recorded for us in Scripture. 178 00:11:03,040 --> 00:11:08,080 And then you had somebody who collected all of these proverbs 179 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:13,080 together and recorded them and preserved for them in Scripture. 180 00:11:13,560 --> 00:11:16,920 So all of them are God's word, but they have different authors. 181 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:20,440 Well, who are the proverbs primarily written to you? 182 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,920 Another way to say this is who's the audience? 183 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,480 We'll look at Proverbs 8, Proverbs 1/8 with me. 184 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,040 What are the first 3 words? My Bible. 185 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:35,840 My Bible says this. Hear my son, your Father's 186 00:11:35,840 --> 00:11:39,720 instruction. You see this over and over 187 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:41,400 again. Flip over with me real quick. 188 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,520 Chapter 2, verse one. How does it start? 189 00:11:44,040 --> 00:11:48,200 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments 190 00:11:48,200 --> 00:11:52,720 with you, look at chapter 3, verse one, My son, do not forget 191 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,720 my teaching. Chapter 4, verse 10. 192 00:11:56,000 --> 00:12:01,960 Hear my son and accept my words. So a proverbs primarily written 193 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,840 like a father to a son. Raise your hand if you are a son 194 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,720 today. Good. 195 00:12:10,400 --> 00:12:12,760 How many of you? It's been a while since you were 196 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:14,480 a boy in your mom or dad's house? 197 00:12:15,800 --> 00:12:22,880 How many of you needed fatherly? Wisdom said short, sweet and to 198 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:25,560 the point. How some of we could say this 199 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:26,720 way. How many of you need a tough 200 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:30,600 love? Where are my sons who are 201 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:32,720 currently living in the house with their parents? 202 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:36,920 I'm primarily looking at like, this row right here. 203 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:45,560 The speeds, you guys, Raymond, Mav Morgan, you need the wisdom 204 00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,240 that your dad gives you because your dad was once a boy and your 205 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,560 dad did dumb things, foolish things. 206 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:55,920 You might even know some of those stories. 207 00:12:56,720 --> 00:12:59,040 My girls know some of my dumb Jared stories. 208 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:01,480 Well, it's like chapter 1 of about 6. 209 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,360 We need the wisdom as sons, but it's not just sons, it's 210 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,440 daughters too. For example, Proverbs 31 written 211 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,000 about the virtuous woman said King Lemuel learned from his 212 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,480 mother and she had to learn that, right? 213 00:13:16,480 --> 00:13:18,040 She wasn't just born with that wisdom. 214 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,360 So when you read Proverbs through the lens that this is a 215 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:27,960 father writing to his son, a lot of those proverbs make sense. 216 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,160 This is a father wanting to instill wisdom and instruction 217 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:39,840 in his children, in his sons. So then chapter 1, verses 2 218 00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:46,240 through 6 there in Proverbs give us the basics, the basics 219 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:48,600 through the background and then the basics. 220 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:52,400 The basics are this. First, Proverbs are written to 221 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:57,400 develop moral skill. We're going to use that word a 222 00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,960 ton this summer, the word skill, because I think that captures 223 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:08,440 the idea of wisdom so well. Proverbs 1/2 says to know wisdom 224 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:13,520 and instruction, to know wisdom and instruction. 225 00:14:14,520 --> 00:14:18,560 When the Bible talks about knowing, this is deep personal 226 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,360 knowledge. He's saying this is I don't want 227 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:27,960 you just to know about wisdom. I want you to know wisdom, for 228 00:14:27,960 --> 00:14:33,200 example, I am a sports geek, not as much as my brother, but I'm a 229 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:36,280 sports geek. And you could say this, hey, do 230 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:41,720 you know Charles Barkley? Like, yeah, you know, went to 231 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:47,840 Auburn, hates Alabama, drafted by the 76ers, played one season 232 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:51,760 with Doctor J, has stint with the 76ers, the Round Mound of 233 00:14:51,760 --> 00:14:52,800 Rebound. Yeah. 234 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:55,480 And now he's like in all those Capital One commercials that 235 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:58,480 just get in your brain like an ear worm and can never get out. 236 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:01,080 They talks like those are terrible. 237 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:02,600 That's my Charles Barkley impression. 238 00:15:02,600 --> 00:15:03,440 That's all we're going to do today. 239 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:05,560 I could say I know Charles Barkley. 240 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:06,720 Do I actually know Charles Barkley? 241 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:09,640 No. My home church up in Waterloo, 242 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,440 there's missionaries who ministered in Philadelphia. 243 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,760 Generally they had Charles Barkley in their house. 244 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,240 He would sit on their floor and play board games with them and 245 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,440 their kids. I know Charles Barkley. 246 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:27,800 They know Charles Barkley. That's what progress is written. 247 00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:32,520 Not just you know about wisdom. It's not don't think like game 248 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,560 show and knowing the answers to trivia questions. 249 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:37,120 We're talking about knowing wisdom personally. 250 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:42,720 Wisdom speaks to masterful understanding or skill. 251 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:49,480 Wisdom is used in Exodus 28. Moses was to call all the 252 00:15:49,480 --> 00:15:53,240 skilled men to whom I've given wisdom to build the Tabernacle. 253 00:15:54,120 --> 00:15:58,280 Do you know that wisdom was actually used of sorcerers in 254 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:03,240 Egypt in the time of Moses? They were called Egyptian 255 00:16:03,240 --> 00:16:07,560 magicians, and it says they had wisdom to conjure up all of 256 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:09,920 these things. It's a reminder that you can 257 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:15,120 have skill, but it's bad. There's the wisdom to governor, 258 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:20,560 to administrate First. Kings 328 says Solomon saw all 259 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:23,760 that. He has, saw that he has wisdom 260 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,680 from God to administer justice. So when Solomon said God, I want 261 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:30,800 to have wisdom, he wanted to have that skill in 262 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,080 administrating and leading the nation of Israel. 263 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,640 Sometimes wisdom's talked about encyclopedic knowledge. 264 00:16:39,160 --> 00:16:41,200 You know, some of those people are just a walking, talking 265 00:16:41,200 --> 00:16:43,680 encyclopedia. Kids will tell, tell you later 266 00:16:43,680 --> 00:16:46,120 what an encyclopedia is. They just have all the facts. 267 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,880 This is what First Kings 433 and 34 says. 268 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:54,160 He, Solomon spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to 269 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:55,600 the hyssop that grows out of the wall. 270 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,520 He spoke also of beasts and of birds and of reptiles and of 271 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:00,520 fish. And people of all nations came 272 00:17:00,520 --> 00:17:04,760 to hear the wisdom of Solomon and from all the kings of the 273 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:06,599 earth who had heard of his wisdom. 274 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:10,520 That's one way the Bible uses wisdom. 275 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,480 It's the another way it's to use the ability to answer questions. 276 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,720 A queen of Sheba comes and travels a long way because she's 277 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:21,400 hearing this man Solomon is wise, and she asks him some of 278 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:26,520 the most difficult questions, philosophy, and he answers 279 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:29,600 those. But what we understand 280 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,520 throughout the Bible and the book of Proverbs is that wisdom 281 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:38,160 is based on knowledge. Wisdom is based on knowledge. 282 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:42,320 You have to know what is true and what is real and how it 283 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:47,400 corresponds, and you have to get that wisdom from somewhere. 284 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:52,560 And you have the wisdom, the knowledge, the skills to take 285 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:55,800 what you hear and apply it to your life. 286 00:17:56,880 --> 00:18:00,040 A lot of proverbs is the knowledge of cause and effect. 287 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,840 If you do this, then this will happen. 288 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:09,040 How many times have you known somebody that didn't think 289 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:11,280 through the consequences of their actions? 290 00:18:12,080 --> 00:18:14,640 In other terms, have you ever talked to a junior high boy 291 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:19,080 before? One of my favorite stories as a 292 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:23,200 counselor is I had a boy in my cabin At our camp. 293 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:25,600 They have homemade chocolate chip cookie ice cream 294 00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:27,560 sandwiches. They're called chippers. 295 00:18:27,560 --> 00:18:29,680 I don't want to know how many calories are in one. 296 00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:33,240 A boy bought one of these camps in the middle of July. 297 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,280 He buys one of these at 3:00 in the afternoon and comes in a zip 298 00:18:36,280 --> 00:18:39,560 lock bag. I didn't know this until 299 00:18:39,560 --> 00:18:42,600 bedtime. Bedtime rolls around, it's time 300 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:48,520 for lights out and he opens that ice cream cookie sandwich like 6 301 00:18:48,520 --> 00:18:51,720 hours later and it spills everywhere. 302 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:56,120 I'm like, shouldn't use his name Roy, what were you thinking? 303 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,280 He goes well I wanted milk and cookies at bedtime. 304 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:05,280 I'm like, dude, it's everywhere. If you grab an Ice Cream 305 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,000 Sandwich in the middle of the afternoon, then it's going to be 306 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:11,480 a melted mess at bedtime and it's going to make it harder for 307 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:15,280 your counselors, right? That knowledge of cause and 308 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:19,440 effect and what we need to understand is we can't know 309 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:24,200 something absolutely without comprehensive or 310 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:29,160 all-encompassing knowledge. There's a seminary that cranks 311 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,000 out guys that love Jesus and love the Scriptures out in 312 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:35,640 Philadelphia. It was started a little over 100 313 00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:41,080 years ago in the 1980s. They built a library on that 314 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,600 property and they picked the most beautiful spot on campus. 315 00:19:44,960 --> 00:19:47,560 They built a majestic, amazing library. 316 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:50,720 If you've ever been to our state capitol and gone into that 317 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:53,280 library, that's that's what I visioned some of the pictures, 318 00:19:53,560 --> 00:19:57,320 man, it's beautiful and amazing. There's a guy who is called in 319 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,840 the ministry out of. You know, just working and his 320 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:07,440 job was, he was a radon tester and he took his equipment to 321 00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:09,880 school with him to the library to study because he had a job 322 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:13,200 right there afterwards. And he decided just for fun, I'm 323 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,000 going to plug in my equipment and test the radon in this 324 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:19,200 library. Now they recommend that you 325 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:22,320 start radon mitigation. You start to deal with the issue 326 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:30,400 when it's at 4 PCL 4. If you work in a uranium mine, 327 00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:40,200 you're exposed to 200. OK, they discovered 1500 PSL in 328 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,600 this library, the highest concentration of radon they've 329 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:48,360 ever discovered in North America in the middle of this library. 330 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,640 But when you built, when they built that library, they didn't 331 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:54,920 know what they didn't know, right? 332 00:20:56,520 --> 00:21:00,160 And so they had to, you bet they had to do a lot of radon 333 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:02,720 mitigation. But all that to say is if you're 334 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:07,480 truly going to be wise, you need to know and you need to know 335 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:10,280 all-encompassing comprehensively. 336 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:13,560 But we don't know everything. So we're going to have to get 337 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:15,400 our knowledge from somewhere else. 338 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:22,000 And the only way we get that absolute certain knowledge is if 339 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:25,440 God reveals it to us. Another way to say that is 340 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:31,240 there's no wisdom, true wisdom, true skill for life outside of 341 00:21:31,240 --> 00:21:33,880 God's Word. So that's our definition of 342 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,960 wisdom. If you want a short, helpful 343 00:21:37,120 --> 00:21:42,080 definition of wisdom, it's skill that produces righteousness. 344 00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:47,880 Notice it's not knowing how to spell all 66 books of the Bible. 345 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:52,120 It's not knowing off the top of your head the 12 tribes of 346 00:21:52,120 --> 00:21:57,080 Israel or the 12 disciples. It's more than just knowing 347 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:01,880 about the Bible. Now wisdom is skill that 348 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:07,040 produces righteousness. In Proverbs was written, it says 349 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,880 to know wisdom. Look at verse 2. 350 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:13,080 It says to know wisdom and something else. 351 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,800 Instruction. Instruction. 352 00:22:16,640 --> 00:22:18,000 Here's the definition of instruction. 353 00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,880 It's a painful lesson to correct a moral fault. 354 00:22:24,440 --> 00:22:27,720 How many of you have ever had to learn a painful lesson before 355 00:22:29,200 --> 00:22:33,640 you have been instructed? It's a painful lesson to correct 356 00:22:33,640 --> 00:22:38,200 a moral fault. Sometimes this instruction is 357 00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,360 personal, and it's to present or prevent foolishness. 358 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,320 Again, read verse 8 of chapter one with me here. 359 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,720 My son, your father's instruction and forsake not your 360 00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,880 mother's teaching. Proverbs 1925 says this. 361 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,240 Strike a scoffer and the simple will learn prudence. 362 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,880 Reprove a man of understanding and he will gain knowledge. 363 00:23:04,000 --> 00:23:08,440 So sometimes you can learn a lesson because of somebody's 364 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:14,280 else's painful consequences. Maybe you're a younger sibling 365 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,360 or an older sibling, I suppose. Have you ever watched your 366 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,880 sibling get in trouble for something and think, I'm glad he 367 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:24,480 had to learn that lesson and not me? 368 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:30,400 I'm going to learn from him. I am not going to repeat that 369 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,160 poor decision. This is the idea of instruction. 370 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,760 It's to prevent foolishness. Well, what happens if you're 371 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,160 right in the middle of foolish behavior? 372 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:44,240 If you're just walking the path to destruction? 373 00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:49,160 Well, there's also instruction that takes the form of corporal 374 00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:52,240 correction. Proverbs 1324. 375 00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,680 My parents are here today. I swear this was my parents 376 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,880 favorite Bible verse. Whoever spares the rod hates his 377 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:03,280 son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him. 378 00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:07,120 I remember, we'll just say it this way. 379 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,080 I remember receiving the Board of Education at the seed of 380 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:11,960 Learning growing up. Have you been there? 381 00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:16,280 And afterwards my mom and dad would say, I'm doing this 382 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,480 because I love you. I'm like, no, you're not. 383 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,720 That hurts. But you know what? 384 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,120 A parent who loves their children will discipline them. 385 00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:32,880 Discipline them properly and with restraint and with a 386 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,360 corrective purpose. But it's the parents who let 387 00:24:36,360 --> 00:24:38,760 their kids run Willy nilly and do whatever they want. 388 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:44,440 That's not love. That's just put them on the fast 389 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:50,360 track to pain and destruction. He who loves him is diligent to 390 00:24:50,360 --> 00:24:53,960 discipline him. And the goal then, when you 391 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,920 receive that instruction is to listen to it. 392 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:02,040 Proverbs 1920 says listen to advice and accept instruction. 393 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:04,880 Why? That you may gain wisdom in the 394 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,640 future. We receive this instruction. 395 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,840 We receive this discipline so that we will learn from it. 396 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:14,320 And it's not just learning to live with it. 397 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,680 You actually get to the point where you love the Lord's 398 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:21,280 discipline. Proverbs 12/1 says whoever loves 399 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:26,160 discipline loves knowledge. I like how Proverbs states it. 400 00:25:26,160 --> 00:25:27,480 Remember they're short and pithy. 401 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,120 But he who hates for proof is stupid. 402 00:25:31,360 --> 00:25:33,200 I got all the kids attention because we're not supposed to 403 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,080 say stupid, but this is what God's word says. 404 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:42,160 It is stupid when you hate being corrected for doing the wrong 405 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:46,240 thing. You are stupid if you want to 406 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:51,120 continue doing the wrong thing and not be corrected by somebody 407 00:25:51,120 --> 00:25:55,040 who knows better. Whoever loves discipline loves 408 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:59,960 knowledge, and so all of these together help develop moral 409 00:25:59,960 --> 00:26:04,240 skill, but they also develop mental skill. 410 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:08,520 Look at the end of verse 2. It says to understand words of 411 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:12,240 insight. So the goal of Proverbs is 412 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,560 actually to help you become smarter, more intelligent to 413 00:26:16,560 --> 00:26:22,160 understand words. These words could be given 414 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:25,200 verbally like in Proverbs 1/8 here my son. 415 00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:30,680 So listen to these words. It could also be written words. 416 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:33,880 Proverbs 321 says do not lose sight of these. 417 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,080 As in you're looking at this wisdom. 418 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,280 What do we know about words? Words, Simply put, communicate. 419 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:47,280 Words communicate. God is a commutative or a wordy 420 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:50,640 guy. He chose to reveal himself 421 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:55,280 through his word, through imperfect people writing down 422 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:58,600 His perfect word so that 2000 plus years later we have it. 423 00:27:00,320 --> 00:27:02,600 But it says in the book of Hebrews God and in former times 424 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:07,080 spoke through the prophets. He now speaks through his Son. 425 00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,680 Remember John one starts out and says in the beginning was the 426 00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:15,360 word and the word was with God and the word was God. 427 00:27:15,360 --> 00:27:19,840 And in most copies of the Bible the word is capitalized capital 428 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:25,480 WY because in John 114 it says the word became flesh and dwelt 429 00:27:25,480 --> 00:27:30,280 among us. Jesus Christ communicates who 430 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:33,520 God is because he is God. He's the Son of God. 431 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,280 And so the goal of Proverbs is for us to understand words of 432 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,960 insight. Down in verse 6, you look, it 433 00:27:41,960 --> 00:27:45,920 says to understand a proverb. Again, those short witty sayings 434 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:50,240 and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. 435 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:56,640 That saying it says proverb and a saying is like a parable. 436 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:59,680 It's like a little story or a little illustration is to help 437 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:04,200 you make a quick critical judgement of your own behavior 438 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:05,640 in light of what the proverb says. 439 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:08,480 And then it says, and they're riddles. 440 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,480 My girls are really into riddles right now. 441 00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:13,520 Half the time they don't make sense. 442 00:28:13,520 --> 00:28:15,440 And I'm very confused. There's this one going around, 443 00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,880 the kids at church, something about 1 + 1, but it doesn't 444 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:19,840 equal 2. Sometimes it equals 2. 445 00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,080 And it's kind of a Riddle, but it's really just annoying. 446 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:26,800 See riddles. What's the, what's the purpose 447 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:28,160 of a Riddle? It doesn't say anything, just 448 00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:29,600 straight out. It's not just prose. 449 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,040 It's not just, you know, sqrt 4 is 2. 450 00:28:34,360 --> 00:28:36,600 The difference, this is the difference between poetry and 451 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:39,240 prose. And the purpose is for you to 452 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:44,200 engage your brain and figure it out and remember it so that you 453 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:48,440 can live it out. So the basics of proverbs, it 454 00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:52,600 wants you, you to develop moral skill and mental skill. 455 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:56,680 Well, what's the benefit? Why read the Proverbs? 456 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,280 Why spend time in a sermon series on the book of Proverbs? 457 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:03,640 Well, there's benefit for the student. 458 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:08,120 Look at verse 3 of Proverbs, one on the student's side. 459 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:13,440 It says this to receive instruction in wise dealing in 460 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:16,840 righteousness, justice, and equity. 461 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:23,520 So when you read the Proverbs and study the Proverbs and 462 00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:27,920 ingest the proverbs and memorize the proverbs and do the 463 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:29,280 proverbs, you're going to do this. 464 00:29:29,280 --> 00:29:35,360 You're going to receive, was it say wise dealings, receive 465 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,200 instruction and wise dealing. This is the this is the 466 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,440 situation. We are put in difficult spots as 467 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,280 people living in a fallen world, right? 468 00:29:46,640 --> 00:29:49,120 We are putting in threatening situations. 469 00:29:50,960 --> 00:29:54,080 We are so close. On any given day, a couple bad 470 00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:58,760 decisions could ruin your life. You've been there. 471 00:29:59,880 --> 00:30:05,640 Some of you who've had your life turned completely off track by 1 472 00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:11,240 foolish word you said. One bad conversation, one dumb 473 00:30:11,240 --> 00:30:18,960 decision you made in one moment. So how do we respond wisely? 474 00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:24,600 Respond with understanding in those threatening situations 2 475 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,440 that come to the mind that Proverbs talks about all the 476 00:30:27,440 --> 00:30:29,560 time. There's always going to be the 477 00:30:29,560 --> 00:30:31,720 temptation for easy money without work. 478 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:38,440 Just the latest thing that 32nd YouTube video says. 479 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,840 Why are you putting your money in a bank account? 480 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:44,320 Why don't you do this instead? Why are you working hard 40 481 00:30:44,320 --> 00:30:46,520 hours a week? Just do this and get rich 482 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,680 quickly instead. Or take your love for your 483 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,760 favorite sports team and turn that into a profit. 484 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,560 Easy money without work. Another one that Proverbs talks 485 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,840 about over and over again is easy sex without commitment in 486 00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:06,280 marriage. The Lady Folly, Dame Folly 487 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,880 allures guys to easy sex without the commitment. 488 00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:14,560 We see that in our day and age with the hook up culture and 489 00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,640 pornography and all of that. Easy sex without marriage 490 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:22,200 without commitment. But Proverbs offers for the 491 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:28,440 student of the word wise dealing to say no to sin in those 492 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,400 situations. This is also to develop 493 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,360 righteousness. Righteousness is right social 494 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,520 order according to God's word. There's a right way to live this 495 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:39,160 life. There's a right way to order 496 00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:43,080 your family, to order your church, to order your society 497 00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,800 according to God's Word. I appreciated this definition of 498 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:50,840 righteousness, said this this week when I was studying. 499 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,880 And it entails disadvantaging yourself to advantage others. 500 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,440 The opposite of righteousness is wickedness, where you advantage 501 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:01,440 yourself. You put yourself, you stack the 502 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,680 deck for yourself by making it difficult for other people. 503 00:32:06,560 --> 00:32:10,120 But righteousness says I'm going to disadvantage myself to 504 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,800 advantage others. There's also a chance to receive 505 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:18,080 justice. Justice, Simply put, as this, 506 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,240 it's punishing an oppressor and relieving those who are 507 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,880 oppressed. Equity is that liberty within 508 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,960 the law. It's that freedom within 509 00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,560 structure. I find it so fascinating, like 510 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:32,040 with building a fence in your yard. 511 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,680 When you have a fence built, it actually causes you to enjoy 512 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:38,960 your yard more. When there's no fence and you 513 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,960 technically have until the property line, but you don't 514 00:32:40,960 --> 00:32:43,600 know where the property line is, you'd never actually use your 515 00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:46,160 yard that much because you're always worried about encroaching 516 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:50,200 on your neighbor's property. God gives clear boundaries for 517 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:55,280 His people to enjoy their life, to enjoy His creation, to enjoy 518 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,760 His good gifts. But that's freedom within 519 00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:03,000 structure, and that's what Proverbs offers to the student. 520 00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:06,640 What about for the teacher? What about if you're the person 521 00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,120 needing to instill wisdom in others? 522 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,480 What if you're the parent or the grandparent or the school 523 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,560 teacher or the aunt or the uncle, the Sunday school 524 00:33:16,560 --> 00:33:20,480 teacher, the VBS helper? What is the benefit for you? 525 00:33:21,760 --> 00:33:23,960 Verse four goes from receiving to giving. 526 00:33:23,960 --> 00:33:26,760 It says to give prudence to the simple. 527 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:31,360 That term simple we're going to visit here in a few weeks. 528 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:35,000 Proverbs describes essentially 3 different types of fools. 529 00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:42,200 The simple, the fool in the mocker or the scorner, the 530 00:33:42,200 --> 00:33:46,280 scornful. But for the teacher it gives you 531 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,120 the chance to give prudence to the simple. 532 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:54,000 The simple means someone that is open to everything and committed 533 00:33:54,000 --> 00:33:57,360 to nothing. Open to everything and committed 534 00:33:57,360 --> 00:33:59,680 to nothing. It gives you a chance to give 535 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,520 wisdom, to give prudence, to give guidance to simple people. 536 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:09,520 It also says there knowledge and discretion to the youth, to the 537 00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:12,199 youth. I like how it's not to young 538 00:34:12,199 --> 00:34:16,120 people or young kids. It says to the youth, we could 539 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,600 say it this way. It gives you a chance to pass 540 00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,360 something on to the next generation. 541 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:25,639 There's wisdom from those who've preceded us, right? 542 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:30,040 I think of my grandparents going through the Depression era, how 543 00:34:30,040 --> 00:34:35,000 they viewed money, their priority of saving because they 544 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:40,080 had to is something that needs to get passed on, right? 545 00:34:40,679 --> 00:34:44,280 We live in such an affluent society, we forget about that. 546 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:48,400 But it says here to give something to youth knowledge and 547 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:52,520 discretion. Discretion is the ability to 548 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,080 problem solve. Have you ever noticed that's a 549 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:58,240 struggle for the younger generations to solve problems, 550 00:34:58,600 --> 00:35:02,040 to see a situation and if they put it on Google and it doesn't 551 00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,120 instantly give them back the answer, they don't know what to 552 00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:07,160 do. They don't know how to dissect 553 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,520 the situation and address the problems and not just get jobs 554 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:14,680 done, but respond to situations with biblical wisdom. 555 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:17,640 That's what the Proverbs often offers. 556 00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:21,040 But it gives them a chance also to grow themselves. 557 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:30,120 It says to sorry to let the wise hear an increase in learning and 558 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:32,720 the one who understands obtain guidance. 559 00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:35,560 Even if we're in a position as a parent that we still have a lot 560 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:38,560 to learn, right? Even if we're grandparents, we 561 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:40,280 still have a lot to learn. Amen. 562 00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,920 We're never done being a student in need of the wisdom that's 563 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:50,920 found in God's Word. It says let the wise hear and 564 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:55,160 increase in learning. We want to be people that are 565 00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:57,880 teachable. Nobody likes somebody who thinks 566 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,760 they have it all together. Instead, we are wise and we 567 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:06,280 continue to get wiser. So that is the benefit of the 568 00:36:06,280 --> 00:36:08,280 Proverbs, benefit for the student, benefit for the 569 00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:10,160 teacher. And finally, let's look at the 570 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:16,080 backbone of Proverbs. Probably the key text in 571 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,640 Proverbs is Proverbs 17. If you'd like to underline or 572 00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,680 highlight verses in your Bible, I'd encourage you to highlight. 573 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:28,680 Proverbs 17 says this. The fear of the Lord is the 574 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:33,160 beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and 575 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:39,720 instruction. That phrase fear of the Lord is 576 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:43,600 so important and it's so misunderstood. 577 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:49,120 Fear of the Lord. First there's a connection. 578 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,080 You have to study that phrase together. 579 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,640 Fear and the Lord. If you separate fear out and 580 00:36:55,640 --> 00:36:58,560 only try to study fear, you're going to get the wrong idea. 581 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,520 You're going to read a meaning in that it was never intended. 582 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,160 It'd be like this if you had to do a school project on 583 00:37:04,160 --> 00:37:09,120 butterflies and you spend half your time studying butter and 584 00:37:09,120 --> 00:37:13,120 half your time studying flies. You're going to have a messed up 585 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:17,000 report on butterflies, right? You have to study them together. 586 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:20,880 There's a connection there. There's also the importance of 587 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:22,960 revelation. When we talk about the fear of 588 00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:26,040 the Lord, there is an emotional aspect to it, but there's a 589 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:30,760 mental aspect to it. Psalm 19 is one of my favorite 590 00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:34,400 Psalms and talks about the wisdom of God's Word and it 591 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,040 describes God's word in these ways. 592 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:39,560 The law of the Lord is perfect reviving the soul. 593 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:41,880 The testimony of the Lord is sure making. 594 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,840 Why is this simple? The precepts of the Lord or 595 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:47,760 right rejoice in the heart. The commandment of the Lord is 596 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:51,240 pure enlightening. The eyes listens to how David 597 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:55,760 describes the word of God. He says the fear of the Lord is 598 00:37:55,760 --> 00:38:03,200 clean, enduring forever. There's a connection between the 599 00:38:03,200 --> 00:38:06,480 fear of the Lord and the Word of the Lord. 600 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:11,200 You don't untruely fear and Revere God the way that you 601 00:38:11,200 --> 00:38:15,480 ought to unless you have God's Word instructing you. 602 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,840 Proverbs 2 one through 5 starts out this. 603 00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:24,120 If you accept my words, then let's have remember cause and 604 00:38:24,120 --> 00:38:27,280 effect. If you accept my words, then you 605 00:38:27,280 --> 00:38:30,360 will understand the fear of the Lord. 606 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:37,200 Notice there's a mental there's in revelation part of the fear 607 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:40,200 of the Lord. I don't know about you, but the 608 00:38:40,200 --> 00:38:44,000 people I know that have the closest walk with God live in 609 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,400 their Bibles. Sean and I got to ride down to a 610 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,240 wedding together with our kids yesterday and he shared the 611 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:56,600 story of a lady from his hometown who just loved God's 612 00:38:56,600 --> 00:38:58,000 word. And you could tell she was just 613 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:00,720 everybody who trusted Jesus is a St. 614 00:39:00,720 --> 00:39:03,120 But Sean described it this way. She was a St. 615 00:39:03,720 --> 00:39:07,960 And at her funeral, at the end of the funeral, they had 7 616 00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:14,960 tattered and worn Bibles spread out on the front, marked up, 617 00:39:14,960 --> 00:39:17,280 barely holding together, duct tape together. 618 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,360 Seven of those Bibles from her time walking with God over the 619 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,240 years. And they said, if any of you 620 00:39:22,240 --> 00:39:25,240 don't have a copy of God's word or any of you want to follow 621 00:39:25,240 --> 00:39:27,480 God, please take one of her Bibles home with her. 622 00:39:28,680 --> 00:39:32,280 That's somebody who fears the Lord because they've spent time 623 00:39:32,280 --> 00:39:35,080 dwelling on the word of the Lord. 624 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:39,680 And there's not just taking it in or receiving it. 625 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:42,800 It's actually having the humility to have, we call that 626 00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,360 reception. You don't not just listen to the 627 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:47,640 word, but you actually receive it and internalize it. 628 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:51,240 It's the humility to accept instruction. 629 00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:55,680 Proverbs 1533 says this. The fear of the Lord is 630 00:39:55,680 --> 00:40:00,440 instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. 631 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,880 Somebody who fears the Lord puts themselves under God's 632 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,800 authority. They don't decide I like to 633 00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,400 think of God like this. They don't say things like that. 634 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,400 Instead, they respond to who God is as revealed to His Word, and 635 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:21,040 they humble themselves. You cannot be simultaneously 636 00:40:21,400 --> 00:40:24,480 arrogant and proud and also somebody who fears God. 637 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:30,960 It's a humility. It's receiving what God has 638 00:40:30,960 --> 00:40:33,680 revealed to you, and what it results in is adoration. 639 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:39,320 It's that wedding together of love and fear. 640 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:44,040 See, there is an emotional aspect to the fear of the Lord. 641 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:48,920 It's an emotional response to what's been revealed about God. 642 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:54,360 Places like Deuteronomy chapter 6 actually equate love of the 643 00:40:54,360 --> 00:41:00,240 Lord and fear of the Lord. Proverbs Exodus 1431 talking 644 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:04,760 about the Israelites freshly released from captivity crossing 645 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:06,280 the Red Sea. It says this and when the 646 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,400 Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against 647 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:13,360 the Egyptians, remember God shut the sea upon the Egyptians and 648 00:41:13,360 --> 00:41:17,160 they were wiped out. When they saw that the people 649 00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:22,520 feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses the 650 00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:26,600 servant. So seeing the mighty hand of God 651 00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:32,280 in display and pretty gruesome judgement, it didn't cause them 652 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,400 to run away from God. They actually leaned into and 653 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,320 trusted God. Book of Hebrews says our God is 654 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:43,840 a consuming fire. There's that reverential awe. 655 00:41:45,120 --> 00:41:48,960 You don't treat God flippantly or casually. 656 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:54,480 You respect Him for who He is. How many of you have ever read 657 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,120 the Chronicles of Narnia? We love those books in our 658 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:01,680 house. CS Lewis wrote those to 659 00:42:01,680 --> 00:42:04,160 communicate actually, a lot of biblical truth. 660 00:42:05,400 --> 00:42:10,720 And in the first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the 661 00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:14,520 four children stumble into this world of Narnia, and they're 662 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,800 getting a crash course from Mr. Beaver on the who's and the 663 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:21,840 what's of Narnia. And he comes to discussing 664 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:25,640 Aslan, who's the Christ figure in Narnia. 665 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:31,920 This is what the book says. Aslan is a lion, the lion, the 666 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:34,640 great lion. Oh, said Susan. 667 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:38,560 I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? 668 00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,560 I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion. 669 00:42:42,440 --> 00:42:46,800 Safe, said Mr. Beaver. Who said anything about safe? 670 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:51,160 Of course he isn't safe, but he's good. 671 00:42:54,160 --> 00:42:58,720 God is not safe. God is not just like you and me. 672 00:42:58,720 --> 00:43:01,880 God cannot be manipulated or coerced to do anything. 673 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,800 He is the sovereign, Almighty God of the universe. 674 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:08,960 He alone executes justice and judgement perfectly. 675 00:43:08,960 --> 00:43:15,840 He is not safe, but he is good and He's kind. 676 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:21,840 He cares for us. He's not safe, but he is good. 677 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:26,840 And you see that tension, that even as I'm saying it, just that 678 00:43:26,840 --> 00:43:28,920 emotional response to who God is. 679 00:43:29,960 --> 00:43:33,960 That's the fear of the Lord. Here's what an author named 680 00:43:33,960 --> 00:43:36,040 Seabridges describes the fear of the Lord. 681 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,040 This is a little wordy, but I think it's helpful. 682 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:42,320 This is the fear of the Lord, that affectionate reverence by 683 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:47,480 which the child of God bends himself humbly and carefully to 684 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:50,480 His Father's law. Do you see that? 685 00:43:50,480 --> 00:43:55,440 There you have the child of God. You have that affectionate 686 00:43:55,440 --> 00:43:59,560 reverence bending Himself humbly, that humility, putting 687 00:43:59,560 --> 00:44:03,600 yourself under the authority of God and carefully to His 688 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,200 Father's law. That revelation aspect, that 689 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:09,280 connection between the fear of the Lord and the Word of the 690 00:44:09,280 --> 00:44:13,480 Lord. See what Proverbs tries to say 691 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:16,440 is this. You might be a respected leader. 692 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:21,400 You might be ACEO of a company. You might be a mover, a shaker. 693 00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:23,680 You might be a savvy businessman. 694 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:26,600 You might be able to turn a few dollars into a lot through 695 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:29,440 persuasive trading and starting of new things. 696 00:44:30,240 --> 00:44:32,040 You could be a great communicator. 697 00:44:32,800 --> 00:44:34,200 You could be somebody who wants to listen. 698 00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:37,800 You could be, in our modern day language, an influencer. 699 00:44:39,840 --> 00:44:43,960 But Proverbs makes it very clear there is no true wisdom outside 700 00:44:43,960 --> 00:44:49,360 of the fear of the Lord. See, wisdom starting point is 701 00:44:49,360 --> 00:44:53,600 the fear of the Lord. When you have a big glorious 702 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,320 view of God, it leaves you feeling really, really small. 703 00:44:58,200 --> 00:45:01,640 And that's precisely where God's word wants you to be at. 704 00:45:02,520 --> 00:45:06,680 Because when you are small and God is big, you have those 705 00:45:06,680 --> 00:45:09,160 proportions. Understand correctly. 706 00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:12,600 That's where you get that skill to navigate life. 707 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:19,160 So our big idea is this, we become skilled for life. 708 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:22,240 That's the title of this sermon series through Proverbs. 709 00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:28,080 We become skilled for life when we fear God and follow His Word. 710 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:34,840 My prayer for my own life is that I would become more skilled 711 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:37,880 in fearing God and following His Word. 712 00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:45,760 I am a dad, I'm a husband, I'm a pastor, I'm a citizen, and that 713 00:45:45,760 --> 00:45:49,560 all of those positions of responsibility require skill to 714 00:45:49,560 --> 00:45:52,360 do it well. I don't want to just run out the 715 00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:54,240 clock. I want to do things well for the 716 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:58,720 Lord, but that starts with fearing God and following His 717 00:45:58,720 --> 00:46:02,440 word. So we're going to go all and 718 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:04,680 we're going to push all of our chips in the middle of the table 719 00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:06,760 with the book of Proverbs this summer. 720 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:11,440 I want to encourage you as a church family to go all in on 721 00:46:11,440 --> 00:46:13,560 Proverbs. One thing you can do, I don't 722 00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:17,640 have it up here, but there are 31 chapters in the book of 723 00:46:17,640 --> 00:46:20,280 Proverbs. If you are struggling with 724 00:46:20,280 --> 00:46:22,400 family worship, maybe you're struggling reading the Bible for 725 00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:26,560 yourself. Today is the 24th day of the 726 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:28,480 month. Tomorrow is May 25th. 727 00:46:28,960 --> 00:46:31,200 Get up and read Psalm or Proverbs 25. 728 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,600 The day after that, read Proverbs 26, Proverbs 27. 729 00:46:35,840 --> 00:46:38,720 In over three months together, you would read through the book 730 00:46:38,720 --> 00:46:42,920 of Proverbs 3 times. That'd be a great way for you to 731 00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:45,880 spend time in God's Word this summer gaining that wisdom 732 00:46:46,320 --> 00:46:49,240 that's found in God's Word. But we also have a couple other 733 00:46:49,240 --> 00:46:52,880 things we want to offer to us. First, we have a family 734 00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:55,040 scripture guide. This was a great idea that came 735 00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:56,960 my way this week from some of our church members. 736 00:46:57,280 --> 00:47:00,480 And they said this, Hey, we'd like to memorize some Proverbs 737 00:47:00,480 --> 00:47:04,200 with our family. And so each week during this 738 00:47:04,200 --> 00:47:08,960 summer, each week of the sermon series, there's one proverb to 739 00:47:08,960 --> 00:47:12,920 memorize either personally or with a friend or as a family 740 00:47:14,000 --> 00:47:16,320 Each week this summer, 11 Proverbs. 741 00:47:16,600 --> 00:47:20,640 Guess what the first one for this week is Proverbs 17, The 742 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:25,040 fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the week on 743 00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:29,040 discipline and family. Guess what the proverb is Spare 744 00:47:29,040 --> 00:47:32,960 their odds, spoil the child. There's there's lots of those 745 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:36,080 though God's word is replete. The Proverbs is replete with so 746 00:47:36,080 --> 00:47:38,520 much practical wisdom you can just grab on to. 747 00:47:39,160 --> 00:47:42,280 Those are printed for you front and back on half sheets of 748 00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:44,000 paper. I would ask if you're one of our 749 00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:46,520 greeters here at Carlisle, if you could grab that stack and 750 00:47:46,520 --> 00:47:48,200 have those out ready to pass out to people. 751 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:50,880 We'd love to be a church that memorizes God's word together 752 00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:53,480 and together gleans the wisdom from Proverbs. 753 00:47:53,960 --> 00:47:56,400 But another thing we're going to be doing this summer are summer 754 00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:59,240 studies. Summer is a time of rest from 755 00:47:59,240 --> 00:48:01,720 our normal Wednesday night and Sunday night rhythms. 756 00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:05,520 But we want to encourage men meeting with men, women meeting 757 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:07,640 with women, growing in the wisdom of the province. 758 00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:10,560 We're going to be using a Bible study book by Warren Weirsby 759 00:48:10,800 --> 00:48:13,760 that walks through the Proverbs. If you're guys, we're going to 760 00:48:13,760 --> 00:48:16,640 just going to be super sacrificial and manly. 761 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,920 We're meeting at 6:00 AM on Wednesdays starting June 17th. 762 00:48:21,480 --> 00:48:25,720 Ladies, we're going to let you meet at 6:30 in the evening and 763 00:48:25,720 --> 00:48:28,240 we're going to put the kids to bed for you or at least occupy 764 00:48:28,240 --> 00:48:30,640 them during the tough hours before bedtime. 765 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:32,640 So guys, we're going to be meeting there. 766 00:48:32,640 --> 00:48:35,000 You can grab one of those books this week. 767 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:37,120 We'd love to connect to you with those summer studies. 768 00:48:37,120 --> 00:48:41,160 We just want to be people that grow in God's Word together and 769 00:48:41,160 --> 00:48:45,360 glean from Proverbs and develop that skill for life. 770 00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:47,560 I invite you in the Pew in front of you. 771 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:49,680 If you're a guest with us today, we're so glad you came. 772 00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:52,880 What a great Sunday, worshipping God together. 773 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:54,880 I'd invite you to grab a Connect card. 774 00:48:54,880 --> 00:48:57,200 That's a little card in the Pew rack in front of you. 775 00:48:57,200 --> 00:48:59,080 I'd invite you to write your name. 776 00:48:59,080 --> 00:49:00,480 Write some information about you. 777 00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:03,360 If you're a regular church attender, remember, just write 778 00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:06,800 your first name on that card and then on the back there's a spot 779 00:49:06,800 --> 00:49:08,760 for you to put prayer requests. If there's a need in your life 780 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:11,840 that you'd like myself and Pastor Jake to pray for, we'd 781 00:49:11,840 --> 00:49:13,760 love to know that. We'll make sure to pray for you. 782 00:49:13,760 --> 00:49:16,680 But I want you to answer this question as we look ahead to 783 00:49:16,680 --> 00:49:18,320 this summer in the book of Proverbs. 784 00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:23,480 Answer this question for me. What's 1 area of your life where 785 00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:28,600 you need God to grow your skill? Think of your life. 786 00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:32,680 You say I need skill from God's Word in this area. 787 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:36,880 Then my follow up question and what step will you take to 788 00:49:36,880 --> 00:49:42,120 pursue wisdom there? Where's the need and how are you 789 00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:44,480 going to pursue God's Word to meet that need? 790 00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:46,960 I'm going to give you just a moment to write that out. 791 00:49:47,120 --> 00:49:49,920 I want you to take a moment after you're done writing just 792 00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:54,160 to spend time in silent prayer and say, God help me to grow in 793 00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:58,080 wisdom here. Or what God might do is say, 794 00:49:58,080 --> 00:50:00,440 hey, I know you're thinking in this spot, but I'm actually 795 00:50:00,440 --> 00:50:02,760 going to reveal this area of your life to you. 796 00:50:03,320 --> 00:50:04,880 Just take a moment to commit that to the Lord. 797 00:50:04,880 --> 00:50:07,360 And I'm going to pray and our worshi team is going to come U 798 00:50:07,400 --> 00:50:10,680 and we're going to close roclaiming how great God is.