It's a great day in many ways, but just a few it's a great day
for one thing that it's the Lord's Day.
And I don't know if you noticed on the drive here this morning,
you could see the snow covered mountains.
And just see the beauty around. And they declared there is a
God. And we gather together this
morning and we declared there is a God and we worship Him.
And we do. So in thankfulness we do so
because it's a blessing we do so in honor to him because he's
done so much for us. He's been very, very good to us.
He's granted us salvation, he's loved us.
Even though we don't deserve it. And so we it's a wonderful time
to be able to gather together and assemble like this, and just
give him all the glory and praise.
As we begin this morning, you'll see a passage here written by
the by Solomon. The great wise man as it says
here in Proverbs 13 and verse 15.
Good and is stunned. Good at understanding giveth
favor but the way of transgressors is hard and that's
what I want to focus on this morning.
About that idea of how really it is harmed. when we choose not to
obey, I really it is hard when we choose to do what we want to
do as opposed to God's way because there are there are some
people in the world today and maybe you know some of them
About it. They claim.
It's well, it's pretty hard to live the life of the Christian.
And they can look at the Bible and have an attitude that the
Bible is just simply just too restrictive for them and they
could look at such verses as this and Matthew chapter 7,
where Jesus says here, beginning in verse number 13, Jesus says,
enter by the narrow gate for wide.
Is the gate and Broad is the way that leads to destruction.
And there are many who go in by it. because narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few
Who find it? And a person can look at that
and see what Jesus said and so well.
But the odds are stacked against me if I try to follow the lord.
And and they might conclude. Well what's the point if you
will be able to enter Heaven And not only can you find Jesus
stating that it's going to take some work to get into heaven,
but Paul also writes that those who lived the life of a
Christian, well there's going to be some tough times as well.
Your faith is going to be tested.
You might be persecuted in one way or another, you're going to
have troubles in life in one way or another because Paul says
this in second, Timothy chapter 3, verse number 12.
Yes, and all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus.
Us will suffer persecution and he states that as a fact.
It's going to happen as you live your life and people might hear
that and and hear that Christians suffer for serving
the lord and I don't want any part of that.
After all, who wants to be persecuted in the first place
and what more reason to even avoid persecution will not only
met some not want to be a Christian because of the
persecution that it could bring. But others might have the idea
that it requires them to stay away from certain things.
It required could require them to stay away from works of the
flesh that that might enjoy doing and Galatians chapter 5.
Tells us that those who practice that the works of the flesh.
Flesh. It simply says they will not
inherit the kingdom of God. And so again, after seeing such
a list from Paul there in Galatians, chapter 5 for one
thing concerning, how a Christian should not be involved
in those things, someone could simply conclude, it's just too
hard to just cut those things off from life because without
those things. How can we really enjoy it?
How can we spend a good time with other people?
How can we really enjoy life? Well, let me leave you with the
won't let me State. This one passage that Jesus says
in Matthew chapter 11 and he says this in verse number 30, he
says, my yoke is easy. And he says my burden is light.
You Christ said this and and think about what he says here in
light of what we've seen so far. How is the Yoke of Jesus?
Easy? And how is it light upon us?
That there are restrictions upon us and we're going to face some
troubles or space some difficulties while Living For
The Master. Well, hold on to that thought
because we're going to answer that in our study.
This morning of how this statement by Jesus is true, when
we live for him now in a different light Christians might
sometimes see the world enjoying the pleasures of sin and we
might have the desire to participate and I don't know why
that's blank but will discontinue on.
It will show up here in a moment. and when we look at
other people out in the world, And maybe had that temptation.
Of. Well, should I or shouldn't I
participate in that? Now, I would lie to you and I
would tell you, I would be lying to you.
If I told you that sin isn't fun because we all know it is.
And Satan is going to try to lure Us in any way possible.
And one of the ways he does it is to make sense, Santa's fun,
fun and enjoyable. But when you take a look at the
scriptures, especially the Book of Proverbs, it's tells us,
don't envy those people. Don't envy what they do, don't
envy the fun that they have In fact, you look at various
passages such as like, Proverbs 23 verse 17.
He says, do not let your heart in be Sinners.
But on the other side of the coin, he says, but be zealous
for the fear of the Lord, all the day and then in Proverbs 24
in verse 1, it says do not be envious of evil men, nor desire
to be with them. And then Proverbs 24 and verse
19. Do not fret because of evildoers
nor be envious of the wicked. And there are countless things
that the that the Book of Proverbs tells us, no matter
what they're doing. Don't let that be something that
you desire in regards to unholiness and ungodliness,
don't be fooled by the fund that they might be having or the
enjoyment, they that they might be having.
And as Solomon writes, if we envy that sinner who Delights in
the Sin? Well, we might begin to
rationalize within our own minds that it just might be okay.
It might be okay to do this or it might be okay to do that.
Well in the course of our study of this morning, I want to take
a look at what Solomon, wrote concerning the life of the
center and again compared to the life of a Christian when he
says, again, good understanding giveth favor, but the way of
transgressors is hard according to Proverbs 13 and verse 15
because he simply States this fact that the Sinners life is
actually more difficult while on Earth while the man who walks in
obedience to the Lord. And we're going to see exactly
how that works out and how that is in our study of this morning.
Now, all of us believe that our obedience toward God is best for
us in view of Eternity, we're looking forward to that goal.
We're looking forward to that reward reward of heaven.
And what we do here on Earth is going to get us there as we live
Faithfully for our Lord and we all understand that.
Yet, there might be some who believe that obedience is only
best in view of Eternity. And what I mean by that is that
a person service to the Lord is ultimately fulfilled in Eternal
promises while really hardly looking at really the full
blessings of blessing that we can encounter while we still
live upon this Earth. And not just only in view of
heaven and Eternity. And if we look at it from a kind
of a smaller picture like that, we really miss out the big
picture of really the entire goodness of God and and God's
blessings. While we live here upon this
Earth, there's something interesting and unique about the
Book of Proverbs. in fact, while Solomon while he's riding these
words of advice to his son, he gave advice in the direction
which would result to rewards a consequences in life while we
live upon this Earth. And this, this is unique about
the Book of Proverbs because very rarely if any does Solomon,
write anything about eternal consequences, very rarely.
If any does he talk about heaven, or does he talk about
hell throughout the Book of Proverbs?
He focuses on the life now and he focuses on the joy that you
can have in life right now or the heartache that could come
because of poor church because of poor choices.
And so it all depends on your individual Choice while you're
here upon this Earth. And when you look to other
passages, we know that not only are Solomon's words, good for us
while we live on this Earth, but God's commands are given to us
in order to keep us from Bad consequences.
Because they're written for our own good.
He look here, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 24.
It says and the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes
to fear the lord, our God. For our good always.
Why is that? Well, here's a result of us of
it that he might preserve Us Alive as it is this day.
It is for our own good, so that we can be preserved by God.
Not only that Deuteronomy, 10 verse 13 and to keep the
Commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I command to you
today for your good. And so we see that it just here
primarily in the book of Deuteronomy not, but not only
that someone writes that a person who obeys the commands.
Well, they're going to keep themselves from Evil, they're
going to do themselves some good.
What? During that, in fact, it says
here. Proverbs 16 / 17.
The highway of the upright is to depart from Evil.
He who keeps his way. Well it says the end result he's
going to preserve his soul. Not only that Proverbs 19 16 he
who keeps the Commandment keeps his soul but he who is careless
of his ways. He says he's going to die.
And that's an interesting phrase, one who is careless
about his life one who was careless about the decisions
that they make in their life. It's foolishness and eventually
they're going to die in a spiritual sense.
Not only that. But here's another interesting
phrase by the book, by Solomon, Proverbs 8, verse 36 but he who
sins against me wrongs his own soul, you're not just doing
wrong against God. You're doing wrong against
yourself and you're not doing yourself any good, but he also
says all those who hate me. Here's an interesting phrase,
they love death. And who loves death?
No one. But by the actions of poor
decisions. We show that.
We all know that sin not only has Eternal consequences but it
as well has its Earthly consequences.
Because Solomon wrote that, we can't still the deflesh without
reaping, it's harvest of sorrow and whoa.
In fact, he says this and chapter 11 verses 3 and 5.
The Integrity of the upright will guide them but the
perversity of the Unfaithful he says it will destroy them.
Then skipping on down to verse number five.
He says the righteousness of the blameless will direct his way,
right? But the Wicked Will Fall by his
own wickedness. And let me give you just a
couple more passages here regarding this.
Proverbs 13 13, He Who despises the word will be destroyed.
Roid, but he who fears the commandant will be rewarded.
And then in chapter 15 verse 32, he who disdains instruction who
doesn't want to keep it. He said he despises his own soul
but he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
So from these things, these are General statements by the
Solomon, but let me bring this down, kind of fungal it down to
something specific here, as we progress the in our study.
Because for one thing, the man who was cruel, for example,
well, he brings trouble upon himself, it says in virtue
11:17, but the merciful man does good for his own soul.
But on the other hand, he who is cruel troubles.
His own flesh. I don't know if you've ever
seen, you might have seen this burst in action, really mm, both
ways. I used to work with the guy.
Where he was, he was always coming to work or we would
saying that he got in an argument with this person or
he'd get into a fight with this person.
And he would always tell the story that he was always the
victim, always given that perspective.
But not only that, but this guy he was always stressed.
And because of his stress and because of his situation, he
was, he was on medication because of that.
Anything, he didn't realize that the way he, the reason why he
was getting into these fights all the time wasn't because
everyone else is bad. But the problem was him.
He was the problem. He was the one who was cruel to
other people. He was the one who was picking
the fights. He was the one who created the
stress in his life. He brought, he was cruel upon
his own flesh, in other words. He was always carrying that chip
on his shoulder. Yet, he blamed other people for
his actions. and as on the other side of the coin, Solomon says,
if your merciful upon other people, if you treat other
correctly, And you're not cruel to them.
We're not going to have to complain about other people.
People are going to return love and kindness back to you when
you show that to them. Generally speaking.
There are some difficult people out there to deal with but we
still treat them with love and mercy and respect.
But we do ourselves good. When we treat other people with
mercy and we don't bring trouble Upon Our Own up on our own
selves and bring that into our life. when we talk about Sin
having its consequences there might be some who might think
that well it could be especially those who are younger that
things, you know, we could we can make some decisions in life
and just Yeah, we might not have followed the advice of some and
we might be able to get away with it.
Maybe it will never catch up with us or we might we might not
suffer too much from some of the choices that we make.
There's something that Solomon writes here in the Book of
Proverbs that to me, when I first read it, it was very
striking to me about this idea of what we choose to do and the
consequences that may or or may not lie.
We might have to endure from that.
And it says, this in the very first chapter of the Book of
Proverbs, it says, beginning of verse number, 25 is says,
because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of
my rebuke. Listen to what the Lord says
here in verse number 26. He says I also will laugh at
your calamity. It's pretty harsh, isn't it?
I will laugh at your Calamity. I will mock when your Terror
comes. When your tear comes like a
storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind when distress
and anguish come upon you. He says be continued on in verse
number 28, then they will call on me but I will not answer.
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me.
Here's the reason why. Because they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord.
See what bad decisions. Do he says they would have none
of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.
Therefore Here's the result. They shall eat the fruit of
their own way and be filled the full with their own fancies.
So here you have a situation with the Lord.
Speaking to someone who made a bad choice, who chose to sin did
not follow wise counsel. We've all been there.
We've all done that. And there are things that we do
in our life that we regret. And there are things that were
sorry for. But there are some things that
we do in our life that even though we're sorry about.
And even though we might go to God and ask him to forgive us of
what we've done. He says, In this passage, you
might still have to live with the consequences of your bad
choice while upon this Earth. He says, there are things.
I will not take away. Even though I still will forgive
you. And that's one of the things
about what one, the bad things of sin is.
You know, you could still be grounded by your parents for not
obeying them. Even though, you're sorry for
what you've done, you still going to have to endure that.
It could be having to serve jail time for disobeying the law of
the land even though you're sorry for what you've done, it
could be having a ruined reputation from treating others
wrong even though you're sorry for treating them the way that
you have it could be also having a difficult time earning the
trust of others after lying to him.
It takes a long time, sometimes Arista restoration like that
never happens, even though you're sorry.
You've done that. And you could go the list could
go on and on about what we still have to endure.
Even though we're sorry for what we've done.
And that's one of the harsh realities of our bad decisions.
But even after stating some examples of some of our
consequences that we face in life and making Porter's, poor
choices are sinning. Solomon also mentioned something
else about what poor choices are sitting can do to us.
In fact, for one thing, it says this interesting phrase and
proverbs 10 verse 27, he says the fear of the Lord, prolongs,
Things. But the years of the wicked he
says they will be shortened. That's an interesting phrase,
isn't it? That's an interesting concept.
How is that possible? Those of us who live
righteously? Does that mean we're going to go
on to live longer than those who?
Continue to sin? Who continue to make poor
choices? Well, it could be yes.
But the principle here is that living the life of a Christian
is going to keep you away from things that shorten your life.
Is going to keep you away from making bad choices.
That might result in may. Be degrading your quality of
life or bring you into Harm's Way.
It could keep you from deadly situations.
You see, when you take to heart the advice, given through the
Book of Proverbs, it keeps a helps us to stay safe and it
helps us to stay healthy in our life.
It keeps us from wreaking havoc to our lives and the lives of
others. And this is how the Christian
enjoys a prolong life. But another thing we find as a
consequence of sin, is that, well, it could create addiction.
Proverbs 5 verse 22 says his own iniquities.
He says it entraps the Wicked Man.
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
And we don't want to be there. An addiction could come in
various ways, and forms. And whatever that is that we
become a slave to it through our bad habits, we are prone to
become addicted to it. And bad habits and addictions
can be very difficult to break, can't they?
We could all agree on that. That's why we try to make wise
to wise choices and what we have fun with but what we put into
our bodies, because we never know if that buzz, we never know
if that high will become something that We crave It's
best just to stay away knowing that there's that potential of
us being entrapped in it and becoming a slave to it.
And as we continue to talk about the consequences of our poor
choices and sin while on Earth, I want to take a moment and I
want to look at the prodigal son here for just a moment.
And this is a parable top my Jesus.
So I'm not going to read, I'm just kind of summarize.
But if you want to read along while I summarize, it's in Luke
chapter 15, beginning of verse number 11.
And we all know this Parable taught by Jesus it's a it's one
of the Beloved ones that we love to read because it we love
seeing the end result of God's love and grace at the end, but I
don't focus upon this son who decides to leave for a moment.
He won this this this, this boy this young man.
In my mind, wanted to experience the world.
And perhaps, perhaps, he had talked to, some of his friends,
about how great it was to live on their own and have have
complete Freedom over the lives. No, curfew.
No one to tell you what to do. No one to give you chores, no
responsibilities at home, I don't know.
But maybe he let those ideas stirred, his mind until one day.
He asked his father, give me my money.
That is due me. So that he could experience what
was out there? And now, no Jesus doesn't say
this. I just speculate again.
This is just a parable. Maybe the father just tried to
reason with them and warn them that what was out there, wasn't
worth it, son. It's not worth you spending your
money on, it's not worth your time and a part of your life
investing in. On the other hand, maybe his
father, just let him have the money without reasoning with
him, knowing that his son had already made up his mind.
And there was nothing that the father was going to say that was
going to change his mind. There are some fathers out there
that just would just hand over the money knowing full.
Well, the sum would be back. Because he knew what was out
there and how long it will last. Well, after some days, the some
left and Jesus tells us that he wasted his money on things that
were simply just pointless and he really didn't get very far
with it. And it came to a point where now
he was out of money and there was a Great Famine in that land
too. so, he and really, when it came to an end of all that he
had, As kind of a principle for us.
They even went wouldn't Solomon teaches this one very thing
about what we have weird to be wise with because he wasted what
he had. In fact, you look here, what it
says? Proverbs 21 17.
He who loves pleasure. He says he's going to be a poor
man. And that's exactly what we find
in this Parable, don't we? He says, he who loves wine and
oil will not be rich. It's because he wasted his money
on those things. His poor choices had led him to
poverty and so he felt he he tried to find a job just to make
ends meet him found himself feeding pigs and I don't know
how long it took Jesus doesn't tell us.
Maybe it took a day, maybe it took a week, maybe it took
longer than that. Jesus really doesn't tell us.
But as he was feeding the pigs one day, this slop he began to
desire that to desire that any thought man, I'm so hungry.
It has, he's thinking about this.
We know that he's hit rock bottom.
And he knows it too. Because we know as he's going
through this and he's hit rock bottom.
He reflects the back of how he had it at home.
And he says, here I am in this situation.
And my father's servants, have it much better than I do right
now. He came to that realization.
And here's a hard truth that we see sometimes in a person's
life. That would it's us or maybe
others who make poor choices or we become enslaved to sin.
Maybe we're looking to other people who made really bad
decisions that we try to encourage someone to try to turn
things around, or we might try to give them like a heart to
heart. Maybe have some type of
intervention intervention with them.
But sometimes people choose not to listen, to the wise counsel
of others. And sometimes the only thing
that's going to cause them to turn their life around is for
them to hit rock bottom. And that's hard to see.
Especially our loved ones. To hit rock bottom.
Because of the careless life that they lived.
Sometimes, that's what it takes. you have for this young man to
hit rock bottom, it caused him to change his way of thinking
and so He left that world of poor choices behind him and he
started home. And we know that as he was
approaching his father's house, his father saw him from a
distance there. And he ran out to him, he
embraced him, he showed him his great love and he was so glad to
see him. But as his son, he was like, Dad
Dad. Trying to stop him and he had
rehearsed the speech and he was going to tell him, but his dad
wouldn't hear, his dad, wouldn't hear it because his son was
home. And they had a celebration
because of that. He was going to tell him dad, I
made bad choices. I'm not even worthy to be even
called your son. Just make me, just make me a
servant and I'll be good. But his father embraced him as
his son, and they celebrated the return of his son.
And you, look at a parable like that, that Jesus taught And let
me ask you this regarding what he went through.
Do you think this young man Learned that the way of
transgressors is hard. I think we could all agree in.
Yes. In fact, he learned the hard
way. That the way of transgressors is
hard. L want to tell you, I'm telling
myself this to, we don't have to learn the hard way.
We don't. We can listen to the advice of
our peers, we can listen to the advice of our parents.
You can read the wise counsel of Solomon here in the Book of
Proverbs. And you could read the examples
of people in scripture who made poor choices and we can learn
from their mistakes. And we can see that the way of
the transgressors is hard without having to experience its
heartaches and, and the stress and the difficulty and the sin,
That we might have to face. We can avoid all that.
By listening to wise counsel. I want to talk just for a few
minutes, as we begin to wrap things up this morning about the
advantage of making right choices and how it keeps us
from, making it harder than what it really always, what it really
is. In fact, I'm not going to read
this, but I'm just going to summarize what Paul writes in
Romans chapter 5, I encourage you to turn there and read along
with, read along as I'm describing these things in the
first 10 verses. As we talk about these great
advantages, when we do make right decisions in our life,
Paul he'll has some great promises and Paul lists.
Some great benefits that we have in God through Jesus Christ.
And how we get this, we get this through our obedience to him.
We get this through holy lives and righteous living.
And he mentions, for example, that we have peace.
We have peace in our life that comes from an informant
obedience to him. And this is the piece that we
can't find when we continue to make bad decisions in our life.
We can't find peace in those things but we do find peace and
God. When we live, right?
He also says that we have access to God's grace when we do what
is right. He says that we have a true Joy
from God that nothing in this world could ever bring to us.
And sometimes yeah, we might find joy that I've stated
already in some of the some of the bad decisions that we make.
Yes, there is fun in that. But there's not an everlasting
joy that comes from any of that. But an everlasting joy in God
for doing right? and he says, if Hard Times come
our way, Paul says were able to glory in those trials and from
those trials were able to develop patience and we also
gain experience when we endure through those trials and through
that patience. And as we do this and live
Faithfully, God gives us a promise, and he gives us a hope.
And Paul says, we have a love that God bestows upon his
children and these are just a few things just from this one
passage of when we choose to do what is right.
And God is so good, that he's willing to give us these things
in our life to help us along. And to just give us, give us the
Boost in our life. And to even at the end, give us
that promise of heaven. When we are faithful in the end.
and so, as we summarize our study, As we conclude again,
going back to Proverbs 13, 15. Good understanding is says gains
favor, but again, the way of the Unfaithful is hard and then
Proverbs 22 and verse 5, Thorns and snares are in the way of the
perverse. But he, who guards, his soul
will be far from them and don't you want to be far from them?
Don't you want your laugh to be easy?
The easiest that it can be. We know how to do that.
Now, I'll tell you something, we should be thankful that the way
of the transgressor is hard, we really should because when we
realize that the way of the transgressor is hard, and when
we suffer the consequences of sin, we realize that we had it
better. When we were living, right?
We realize that. And we realize how good God is
to us. And so how easier it is to live
in The Obedience to God's word rather than disobedience.
And so let these words just be words of reminders to you as we
mainly focused really upon what the wise men Solomon wrote as
advice to his son and really advice to all of us.
And take advantage of God's goodness, really?
Because God, he wants to, he wants to bestow us with so many
blessings. Let's let him do it.
Through living for him. I'm praising him and glorify him
and all that we do. And I leave these words with you
this morning and we don't want to close our thoughts without
offering the Lord's, invitation to you this morning.
It's not the invitation from the congregation.
This the Lord's invitation to you.
Do you have, maybe you've never obeyed the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. The best decision that you will
ever make in your life, is to obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
that is the best decision you will ever make.
I understand that Jesus came to this world and he died for you
because he loved you, and he bore your sins upon the cross.
And he died, he was buried. But yet he was resurrected on
the third day and because of that you can have salvation in
his name. You must believe that and then
act upon that faith that you're going to change your life.
Repent. Change your life for the better
change of life and you're going to take God's Will and replace
it with yours. And then confess that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. We find that in Acts chapter 8
and then we see in Acts chapter 2, those people were baptized
for the remission of their sins and they were added to the
church the Lord added them to the church because of their
Obedience of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And you could do that today. The Lord wants you to do that
today, if you haven't done it, I'll be the best thing you will
ever do in your life is to come to him.
We thank you for listening to our podcast, put on by the
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