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Voddie Baucham - The Gospel According to Proverbs: Trust and Obey · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: Amen. As we take our seats, please open to Proverbs
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  Speaker 1: chapter two. Proverbs chapter two, we finally completed our time
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  Speaker 1: in the first chapter. We've come to this new section
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  Speaker 1: in Proverbs chapter two as we continue in our series,
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel according to Proverbs, and the text reads, my son,
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  Speaker 1: if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments
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  Speaker 1: with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining
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  Speaker 1: your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out for
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  Speaker 1: insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek
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  Speaker 1: it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures,
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  Speaker 1: then you will understand the fear of the Lord and
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  Speaker 1: find the knowledge of God. If you'll recall, we're operating
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  Speaker 1: from the working definition of wisdom, and our working definition
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  Speaker 1: is that wisdom is the righteous application of true knowledge,
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  Speaker 1: the righteous application of true knowledge. We've talked about the
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  Speaker 1: fact that there are these enemies of wisdom, these two
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  Speaker 1: main enemies, the enemies of legalism and moralism, and we'll
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  Speaker 1: say more about those as we continue. But on last
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  Speaker 1: week we looked at wisdom's sermon. We looked at what
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  Speaker 1: wisdom says when wisdom stands in the street and proclaims.
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  Speaker 1: This week we look at a father's plea, which is
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  Speaker 1: Solomon now responds and turns to his son in light
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  Speaker 1: of what wisdom has said, and makes this plea. When
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  Speaker 1: we see this plea, and when we look really at
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  Speaker 1: the tone and the tenor of the Book of Proverbs
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  Speaker 1: as a whole, this is not so much a father
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  Speaker 1: speaking to a son as a young child. This is
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  Speaker 1: a father speaking to a son as he reaches maturity.
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  Speaker 1: This is a father urging a son as it's time
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  Speaker 1: for decisions to be made. And here in this text
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  Speaker 1: in particular, I want you to think about some scenarios.
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  Speaker 1: I want you to think about a father speaking to
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  Speaker 1: a son. And again we've said before when we talk
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  Speaker 1: about father and son, the Book of Proverbs clearly is
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  Speaker 1: father Solomon's speaking to his sons, but it is also
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  Speaker 1: applicable to all parents speaking to their children. And it
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  Speaker 1: is applicable to all mature believers speaking to younger believers
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  Speaker 1: whom they seek to encourage and disciple. So when we
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  Speaker 1: talk about this fatherly instruction, understand it in that context.
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  Speaker 1: But here, as we think about the father son instruction,
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  Speaker 1: the parent child instruction, I want you to think about,
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  Speaker 1: for example, a wedding day, or as a wedding day approaches.
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  Speaker 1: If you haven't had the experience of marrying off a child,
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  Speaker 1: then perhaps you've had the experience of being married and
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  Speaker 1: having a conversation from your parents as this day and
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  Speaker 1: as this moment approaches. Or imagine a son or daughter
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  Speaker 1: who is about to leave home and go off to university.
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  Speaker 1: Or imagine a father speaking to a son who is
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  Speaker 1: about to go off to war, or reverse it. Perhaps
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  Speaker 1: it's not the idea of a son or a daughter
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  Speaker 1: who is about to go off into some venture, but
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  Speaker 1: perhaps instead it is a parent on their deathbed who
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  Speaker 1: recognizes that this is the last and final opportunity, an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to speak those last words of wisdom. What do
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  Speaker 1: you say? What do you share? You can't cover everything,
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  Speaker 1: but you have to cover something. So what do you say?
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  Speaker 1: What do you do? What do you share? In moments
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  Speaker 1: like that, and in moments like that, you get a glimpse,
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  Speaker 1: you get a picture of what is important. This is
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  Speaker 1: why I have such fondness for the last sections in
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel of John. When you get to the Gospel
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  Speaker 1: of John and you get there to the last chapters,
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  Speaker 1: especially chapters fourteen on, everything slows down, and you have
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  Speaker 1: this picture of the Lord's Supper, and there it is
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  Speaker 1: this last night that Jesus has with his disciples, this
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  Speaker 1: last night where they share this meal together, and Jesus
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  Speaker 1: gives these final instructions. And it's amazing what you say
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  Speaker 1: when you realize that it's your last and final opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: And essentially that's what's happening in the Book of Proverbs.
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  Speaker 1: The Book of Proverbs is Solomon recognizing and understanding that
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  Speaker 1: he won't always be here, and that because he won't
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  Speaker 1: always be here, there are some important things that he
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  Speaker 1: needs to store up for his sons. They're blessed in
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  Speaker 1: that these things have been preserved. Amen. And ultimately we
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  Speaker 1: recognize that the wise son of Proverbs is Jesus Christ himself,
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  Speaker 1: who is a son of Solomon and an heir to
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  Speaker 1: the throne. The king leaves instruction for his son who
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  Speaker 1: will rule, who will rule, so that his son will
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  Speaker 1: rule wisely, And here we see precisely that. But as
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  Speaker 1: he gives these instructions, I want you to recognize the
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  Speaker 1: pattern of it. And the pattern goes like this. Listen,
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  Speaker 1: receive love and treasure, and then you find listen, receive
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  Speaker 1: love and treasure, And then and only then will you
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  Speaker 1: find Listen to the text again, my son, if you
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  Speaker 1: receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you,
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  Speaker 1: making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart
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  Speaker 1: to understanding. Notice the pattern there. It happens twice. First,
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  Speaker 1: if you receive my words. That that's listening, and then secondly,
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  Speaker 1: treasure up my commandments the ear and then the heart,
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  Speaker 1: making your ear attended to wisdom. There's the ear again,
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  Speaker 1: inclining your heart to understanding. Yes, if you call out
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  Speaker 1: for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you
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  Speaker 1: seek it like silver, raise your voice seek. How do
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  Speaker 1: you seek? Again? You're hearing? And then what do you do?
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  Speaker 1: Raise your voice to understanding? If you seek it like silver,
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  Speaker 1: if you search for it like hidden tread, then you
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  Speaker 1: will understand the fear of the Lord and the knowledge
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  Speaker 1: of God. Listen, receive love, treasure, and you'll find. Here's
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  Speaker 1: how you respond to Wisdom's sermon. And so let's look
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  Speaker 1: at these first. If you listen, the father's plead to
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  Speaker 1: his son is first and foremost, that his son will listen,
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  Speaker 1: That his son will hear, My son, if you receive
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  Speaker 1: my words, and treasure up my commandments with you making
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  Speaker 1: your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding.
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  Speaker 1: Notice the contrast here if you go back to chapter
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  Speaker 1: one and look at verses twenty four to twenty seven.
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  Speaker 1: He says, or Wisdom, this is part of Wisdom's sermon.
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  Speaker 1: Because I have called, and you have you refused to listen,
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  Speaker 1: stretched out my hand, and no one has heeded, because
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  Speaker 1: you have ignored all my counsel and will have none
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  Speaker 1: of my reproof. Now what's the consequence for not having listened,
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  Speaker 1: for not having heard? I will laugh at your calamity.
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  Speaker 1: I will mock when terror strikes you. When terror strikes
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  Speaker 1: you like a storm, and your calamity comes like a whirlwind.
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  Speaker 1: When distress, I'm sorry, Yeah, when distress and anguish come
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  Speaker 1: upon you, Wisdom cries out in the street. And what
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  Speaker 1: is the problem. The problem is you haven't heard, You
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  Speaker 1: haven't heeded, you haven't listened. So after Wisdom's sermon, after
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  Speaker 1: this great warning, this call to repentance by Wisdom, the
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  Speaker 1: father then comes and says, listened to what you hear again.
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  Speaker 1: Remember the father is instruct his son, and he sang
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  Speaker 1: to his son Wisdom is standing in the streets, and
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  Speaker 1: wisdom is preaching. And here's Wisdom's sermon. Wisdom's sermon is repent.
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  Speaker 1: Wisdom sermon is there is coming judgment. Please listen, please hear,
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  Speaker 1: please heed, because the judgment comes because you don't listen,
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  Speaker 1: because you don't hear and you don't heed. The scoffer
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  Speaker 1: is experiencing the judgment of God. The fool is experiencing
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  Speaker 1: the judgment of God. Why because the scoffer and the
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  Speaker 1: fool did not hear, did not heed, did not listen.
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  Speaker 1: Don't be like them. Notice what he says here. He
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  Speaker 1: doesn't say don't be like them in doing what they do.
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  Speaker 1: Of course that's implied. But don't be like them in
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  Speaker 1: refusing to heed, in refusing to hear, and in refuting
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  Speaker 1: refuge us to repent. This hearing and heeding is a
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  Speaker 1: theme in the Book of Proverbs. It occurs over and
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  Speaker 1: over again in Chapter four, verse twenty and Chapter five,
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  Speaker 1: verse one, identical statements. My son, be attentive to my words.
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  Speaker 1: Incline your ear to my sayings, Listen to me, hear me.
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  Speaker 1: If you're a parent, you've grow weary of saying this amen,
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  Speaker 1: Your child growing up in the home of parents. You're
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  Speaker 1: weary of hearing that, listen to me heed my words
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  Speaker 1: in chapter five and verse seven, and now O sons,
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  Speaker 1: listen to me and do not depart from the words
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  Speaker 1: of my mouth Chapter seven, verse twenty four. And now
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  Speaker 1: O sons, listen to me and be attentive to the
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  Speaker 1: words of my mouth. Chapter eight, verse thirty two, And
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  Speaker 1: now O sons, listen to me. Blessed are those who
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  Speaker 1: keep my ways Chapter nineteen, verse twenty. Listen to advice
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  Speaker 1: and accept instruction that you may gain wisdom Chapter twenty two,
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  Speaker 1: verse seventeen. Incline your ear and hear the words of
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  Speaker 1: the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge. And
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  Speaker 1: then in chapter nineteen, verse twenty. In chapter twenty three,
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  Speaker 1: verse twenty two, listen to your father, who gave you life.
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  Speaker 1: And do not despise your mother when she is old.
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  Speaker 1: Listen heed here, listen, heed here. We also find this
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  Speaker 1: in the New Testament. There is a principle. The principle
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  Speaker 1: is found in Romans chapter ten, verse seventeen. So faith
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  Speaker 1: comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: How it does faith come through hearing, through hearing, through listening?
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  Speaker 1: The idea. There is hearing and hearing and hearing and
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  Speaker 1: hearing and hearing and hearing what the Word of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: Galatians chapter three, verses one through six. Let's turn there
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  Speaker 1: and look at that if we can. Galatians chapter three
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  Speaker 1: Paul is expounding on the same idea, and Galatians the
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  Speaker 1: idea that we find here in Romans and Romans is
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  Speaker 1: just a clear, succinct statement. Faith comes through hearing and
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  Speaker 1: hearing through the Word of Christ. But listen to what
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  Speaker 1: he says, and remember, Galatians is a different kind of
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  Speaker 1: epistle even from the opening and Galatians. The greeting from
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  Speaker 1: the Apostle Paul in the Book of Galatians is not
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  Speaker 1: like the greeting in other letters. The Apostle Paul is
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  Speaker 1: upset with the Galatian Christians, and he makes it clear
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  Speaker 1: that he is upset with the Galatian Christians, and the
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  Speaker 1: reason that he is upset is because they are turning
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  Speaker 1: away from the truth. But listen to what he says
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  Speaker 1: in chapter three, Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?
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  Speaker 1: It was before your eyes that Christ Jesus was publicly
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  Speaker 1: portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did
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  Speaker 1: you receive the spirit by works of the law or
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  Speaker 1: by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun
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  Speaker 1: by the spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh?
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  Speaker 1: Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed
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  Speaker 1: it was in vain? Does he who supplies the spirit
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  Speaker 1: to you and works miracles among you do so by
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  Speaker 1: works of the law or by hearing with faith? Same phrase,
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  Speaker 1: hearing with faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it
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  Speaker 1: was counted to him as right, no sciousness. Twice he
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  Speaker 1: contrasts the law or legalism with hearing with faith. Remember
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  Speaker 1: the two great enemies of the Gospel. Great Enemy number
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  Speaker 1: one is legalism, Great Enemy number two is moralism. Here
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  Speaker 1: Paul is attacking great enemy number one, the enemy of legalism,
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  Speaker 1: and both times he attacks it head on with what
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  Speaker 1: the idea of hearing with faith? Faith comes by hearing
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  Speaker 1: and hearing of the word of Christ. But here he
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  Speaker 1: makes it clear it is hearing with faith, not just listening,
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  Speaker 1: but listening with faith. Children, obey your parents and the Lord,
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  Speaker 1: for this is right. Honoring you, honor your father and
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  Speaker 1: your mother. This is the first commandment, with the promise
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  Speaker 1: that it may go well with you, and that you
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  Speaker 1: may live long in the land. What are you hearing?
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing here? Fathers, do not provoke your
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  Speaker 1: children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline
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  Speaker 1: and instruction of the Lord. There's an exchange going on here.
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  Speaker 1: Father's parents who have an injunction from the Lord based
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  Speaker 1: on the fifth commandment, and that injunction is to teach
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  Speaker 1: the word to your children and children who have an
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  Speaker 1: injunction from the Lord. And the injunction is children, listen
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  Speaker 1: and obey. This is essential. This two way street is assumed.
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  Speaker 1: And here in Proverbs we basically see a fleshing out
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  Speaker 1: of this two way street. There is the law. The
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  Speaker 1: law very clearly says listen, obey, children, obey your parents,
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  Speaker 1: Honor your mother and your father. But why why is
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  Speaker 1: this essential for you? And notice that this is not
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  Speaker 1: saying children, when you've come to understand everything, when you've
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  Speaker 1: come to evaluate everything and get to that point in
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  Speaker 1: your life where you can say, okay, fine, this is
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  Speaker 1: a good idea, go ahead, what do you have to
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  Speaker 1: teach me? That's not the way the commandment works, because
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  Speaker 1: the only way that the commandment could work that way
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  Speaker 1: is if children were first called to independently go and
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  Speaker 1: investigate the world, find the truth somewhere out there apart
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  Speaker 1: from their parents, and then come back and say, okay, mom, dad,
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  Speaker 1: now I have found the truth. I have verified your
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  Speaker 1: worthiness to teach me. What do you have to say?
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  Speaker 1: It can't work that way. It can't work that way.
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  Speaker 1: So what does this mean? Here's what this means for
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  Speaker 1: sons first, For children first, the younger believer first, This
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  Speaker 1: means number one, that you do this by faith. You
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  Speaker 1: do this by faith, that you trust the Lord, and
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  Speaker 1: that you demonstrate your trust in the Lord by hearing
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  Speaker 1: and heeding the words and the warning and the instruction
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  Speaker 1: of those under whose authority the Lord has placed you.
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  Speaker 1: Doing so by faith, by faith, that's the only way
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  Speaker 1: this works. By the way, if you say this and
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  Speaker 1: you be hearing, you may say wait wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
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  Speaker 1: time out. That doesn't make any sense to me. You're
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  Speaker 1: saying to me that I'm just obligated to listen and
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  Speaker 1: believe to these people without first going out and discerning
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  Speaker 1: for myself. How are you going to go out and
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  Speaker 1: discern for yourself by placing your faith in someone else?
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  Speaker 1: Are you following the only way that you can verify
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  Speaker 1: whether or not you should be placing your faith in
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  Speaker 1: your parents is by going and placing your faith somewhere else,
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  Speaker 1: so that you can then come back having verified that
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  Speaker 1: you are able to place your faith in your parents.
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  Speaker 1: There are two problems with that. Number One, it's assuming
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  Speaker 1: that you understand enough to know where to go get
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  Speaker 1: the verification. Newsflash, you don't. But here's number two. The
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  Speaker 1: only way that you can do and trust that process
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  Speaker 1: is if you disobey and disregard the commands of God himself,
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  Speaker 1: who says, children, obey your parents, and the Lord honor
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  Speaker 1: your father and your mother. We must do this by faith,
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  Speaker 1: obay the authority that God has placed in your life. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: but what happens if they are wrong? What happens if
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  Speaker 1: they are sinful? What happens if they are back it up,
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  Speaker 1: There is no what happens if all parents are sinful? Amen? Somebody? Amen,
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  Speaker 1: all parents are sinful and all parents will be wrong? Amen?
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  Speaker 1: Belongs right there. You can say amen to that. I
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  Speaker 1: know some of the people are right to it. They're like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I want to say amen to that, but
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  Speaker 1: my parents are here, so I feel like I said,
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  Speaker 1: just look straight ahead, and not all parents are sinful,
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  Speaker 1: and all parents will be wrong. Here's a newsflash. Every
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  Speaker 1: authority to which your called to submit, outside of the
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  Speaker 1: direct authority of God himself, is a frail, flawed, sinful authority.
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  Speaker 1: That's the only kind there is, because all have sinned
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  Speaker 1: and falls short of the glory of God. But the
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  Speaker 1: question is this, does your heart trust the Lord or not?
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  Speaker 1: And so by faith we hear and we heed. Secondly,
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  Speaker 1: in addition to obeying the authority, by faith that God
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  Speaker 1: is placed in your life, persevere in hearing the word
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  Speaker 1: of God. Persevere in hearing the word of God, because
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  Speaker 1: that's our only hope. Your parents are sinful, Your parents
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  Speaker 1: are flawed. All of us have sinful parents. All of
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  Speaker 1: us have flawed parents. All of us who are parents
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  Speaker 1: are sinful parents and flawed parents. Amen, So what must
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  Speaker 1: we do? How do we guard against that? Persist in
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  Speaker 1: hearing God's word? Persevere in hearing God's word. Faith comes
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  Speaker 1: by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Hear
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  Speaker 1: the word, Listen to the word. Take every opportunity to
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  Speaker 1: hear and heed God God's words. Listen to the preaching
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  Speaker 1: of the Word of God. Read the word of God
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  Speaker 1: for yourself. Persist in prayerful consideration of the word of God.
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  Speaker 1: James one to five says, if any of you lacks wisdom,
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  Speaker 1: let him ask God, who gives generally generously to all
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  Speaker 1: without reproach, and it will be given to him. Seek
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  Speaker 1: the Lord in his word. Seek the Lord for wisdom
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  Speaker 1: to hear his word rightly. What about the other side
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  Speaker 1: of this? What does this mean for us as parents,
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  Speaker 1: as teachers, as instructors in the word of God. And
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  Speaker 1: by the way, if you are a parent, you are
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  Speaker 1: a teacher and an instructor in the Word of God. Amen.
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  Speaker 1: There's no way to get around that. Ephesians chapter six
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  Speaker 1: does not give you an option. No parent has an
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  Speaker 1: option as to whether or not they will instruct their
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  Speaker 1: children in the ways of the Lord. You will either
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  Speaker 1: do it rightly or you will do it wrongly. You
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  Speaker 1: will either obey or you will disobey. But it is
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  Speaker 1: not optional. So what do we do in light of
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  Speaker 1: this and light of the fact that the father's plea
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  Speaker 1: is for the son to listen to wisdom. First of all,
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  Speaker 1: we must teach God's wisdom to our sons. It must
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  Speaker 1: be a priority. This means that we must know that
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  Speaker 1: wisdom for ourselves, because we can't teach what we don't know.
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  Speaker 1: We must also believe that this wisdom is the most
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  Speaker 1: important thing that we can give to our children. We
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  Speaker 1: must also model a commitment to hearing God's word ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Here we don't have the option of saying do as
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  Speaker 1: I say, not as I do. Amen model that commitment ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: Why Because whether we like it or not, this is
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  Speaker 1: the relationship that God has established. Children come into this
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  Speaker 1: world not knowing anything, and they have to be taught.
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  Speaker 1: As Christian parents, we recognize that our children have come
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  Speaker 1: into our home and that we have an obligation to
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  Speaker 1: give them God's truth, God's wisdom, God's word. They have
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  Speaker 1: an obligation to hear and to heed, to listen to
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  Speaker 1: the words of wisdom. And so we start with that plea,
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  Speaker 1: my son, if you receive my words, treasure up my
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  Speaker 1: commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and
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  Speaker 1: inclining your heart to understanding. But not only is there
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: this hearing, but there is a seeking. There is a
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: seeking if you call out for insight and raise your
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: voice for understanding. This is more active call out for insight,
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: raise your voice for understanding. Don't just sit there, don't
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: just listen it, but cry out, ask for insight, seek understanding,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: call out for it. Like a child who calls out
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: in the only way that they know how, saying I'm hungry.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: They'll scream and cry at the top of their lungs
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: until they're fed. This is the way that the father
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: says to his son. You ought to call out and
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: cry out for wisdom. Don't just sit and passively listen,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: but seek it. Cry out for it, call out for it.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Literally in the Hebrew, make it like an invited guest.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Elsewhere in Proverbs we see this eight seventeen. I love
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: those who love me, and those who seek me diligently
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: find me. Do you believe that that's what wisdom says.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: That's what the wisdom of God says. I love those
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: The prophets said this to Israel Isaiah fifty five, verse six.
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: Seek the Lord while he may be found, Call upon
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: him while he is near. This is an active process
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of seeking God. Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen. You will seek
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: me and find me when you seek me with all
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: your heart This is a passionate desire and plead. Jesus
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: speaks of this in Matthew chapter seven. Ask and it
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: will be given to you. Seek and you will find.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: the one who knocks it will reopened. Do we believe this?
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: Are we seeking this wisdom and seeking this knowledge? Or
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: are we just sitting passively and idly by. There are
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: some common errors that we commit as it relates to
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: this seeking of the wisdom of God. Two of them
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: were already familiar with. One is the legalism fallacy, the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: legalism fallacy, and I won't go into that because we've
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: talked about that. The second one is the moralism fallacy. Again,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: in each of these messages, we've talked about legalism and moralism.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Legalism believes that we please God by keeping the law.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: It is an enemy of the Gospel. Why because it
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: renders the death of Christ null and void, completely unnecessary.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: If I can keep the law and please God, Jesus
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: died for nothing. Moralism says Jesus merely as an example
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: for us to follow. Just be more like Jesus. That's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: all that's required. And both of them ignore the fact
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: that we are ruined sinners in need of a savior.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: That Christ died for sin, once for all, the just,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: for the unjust, in order that he might bring us
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: back to God. Both of these errors keep us from
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: seeking the wisdom of God because we're seeking legalism and morality.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: But there are a couple of other errors that I
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: want us to look at. First is the later in
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: life fallacy. The later in life fallacy. I remember, as
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: a new Christian, I actually had a conversation with a
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: friend of mine. He was actually a teammate of mine
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: college football team, and he grew up in the church.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: He was the son of a pastor. I was a
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: brand new Christian, never heard the gospel till I got
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: to university. Hear the gospel. Come to faith. My whole
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: life is turned upside down. And I would go to
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: him and ask him questions because again, he grew up
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: at a pastor's home. He played in church, he played
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: the piano in church, and he just knew all these
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: things that I didn't know. And at one point he
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: looked at me and he said, listen, I'm happy for you,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: but I need you to stop coming to me with
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: these questions. And I said why, And he literally said
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: to me, I know when I start getting into that,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: I'll become accountable to it. Wait what he was the
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: only one who's ever been so honest with me. But
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: how many of us have that later in life fallacy?
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That later in life fallacy that says, I have this religion,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: and I understand this religion, and I know Jesus is there.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: I know he calls me to repentance and faith. However,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I know that when I do that, there are certain
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: parts of my life that will be over. So what
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do is pursue all of those parts
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: of my life, keep Jesus kind of right here, really close.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: But then when I'm old and I've gotten all of
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: that out of my system, then I'll get serious about
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: my religion. If you can't say amen, you ought to
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: say ouch. The later in life fallacy, I've got time
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: for that. But right now I'm young and I want
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: to enjoy it. I've got time for that. But right
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: now there are opportunities for me, and I want to
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: enjoy them. And so I don't want to be too
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: serious about that. The later in life fallacy. There are
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: a number of problems with the later in life fallacy.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Number one, it keeps us from obeying the one who
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: tells us to seek Him, seek the Lord while they
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: may be found. Number two, it assumes that you have tomorrow,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: amen later tomorrow. Tomorrow is not promised to you. There's
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: a third problem here. And the third problem here is
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: that it is a complete misrepresentation of God. The idea
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: here is that God is the one who comes to
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: steal and kill and destroy, but the enemy has come
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: that you might have life and have it more abundantly.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: You completely turned reality on its head, and you believe
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: that all the joy is found outside of Christ, and
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: none of the joy is found in Christ. You were deceived,
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: and you have the world exactly upside down. True and
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: lasting joy is found in Christ and in Christ alone.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: There is another fallacy, and this is what I like
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: to call the election fallacy. That we hear this a lot,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: especially in reformed circles. We run into this all the time.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: This fallacy plagues those who first learn about the doctrine
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: of election, and the fallacy goes something like this. Number one,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I just found out that God chooses those who will
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: be saved. Number two, I don't know or believe that
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: I am one of them. Therefore, number three, whatever I
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: do is meaningless. Whatever I do is probably disingenuous because
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: it's just out of fear. Right, I don't like or
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: want to worship this kind of God. And all of
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: this comes from a misguided understanding of the doctrine of
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: election and ultimately what we do. Here's what people do.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Because I have conversations all the time, especially with young Christians.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: They've run into the doctrine of election, and all of
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: a sudden, their assurance has gone out of the window.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: I just I just I just I just I just
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: I just you just wan Well, I just don't know.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: What is it that you don't know. I just don't
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: know if he's chosen me. I just don't know if
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: I'm the elect. Well, you don't have to know. Well,
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: but of course I have to know. Why do you
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: have to know? Do you know what his word says?
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Do you know that his word says to you to
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: seek the Lord while he may be found? Well, yes,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I do. Well, then seek the Lord while he may
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: be found? Well, how do I know that that's not
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: just my flesh? You don't so seek the Lord while
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: he may be found? How do I know? That's not
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: just my fear? You don't seek the Lord while he
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: may be found? Because here's what's interesting, and this is
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: what always happens. We choose to believe certain verses of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: scripture while clearly ignoring others. Because here's what I've become
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: convinced of. People who hold on to the election fallacy,
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: enjoy being miserable, and refuse to allow you to guide
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: them out of their misery. Well, why because there's certain
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: things in the scripture that they just won't receive. Anything
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: that gives them doubt. They will cling to and cherish
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: it and hold it to their bosom. Oh, sweet doubt,
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: I might not be saved. I will hold this verse
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: and never let it go. But then you bring them
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't know Hebrews eleven six. Without faith,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: near to God must believe that He exists and that
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: he rewards those who seek him. Ah that verse. AH
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: not too sure about that verse. I just can't you know,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: because you know, how do I know that I'm actually
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: seeking him? Rightly? You love misery, you want to be miserable,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: and literally you cling to anything in scripture that helps
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: you stay miserable, and you run away from anything in
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: scripture that could alleviate that misery. You will seek me
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Seek the Lord while he may be found. Believe that
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: he is, Believe that he exists. Believe that God rewards
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: those who diligently seek him. Do you believe that The
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: answer no, No, I don't believe that, because if I
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: believe that verse right there, I can't hold onto my
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: misery and fear and continue to ask questions over and
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: over and over again about whether or not I'm one
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: of the elect And that's what I really want to do,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: is election and true absolutely all day, every day, twice
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: on Sunday. It's true, Amen. But is it true that
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: God rewards those who diligently seek him? Yes? Well, wait
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: a minute, how can it be true if he saves
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: people according to his own will and simultaneously be true
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: that he rewards those who seek him? Do you ever
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: consider the fact that you can't seek Him apart from him? Huh?
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: Did you ever consider that you can't seek God apart
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: from God? Here's what's not happening in heaven. God is
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: not saying here, here are the elect here's the ones
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: that after Wait a minute, what is that person doing?
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Wait a minute, Michael Gabriel, stop that person.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: They're seeking me and I never intended for them too.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: Do you see how ridiculous that is? God is enthroned
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: in the heavens, He does whatever pleases him. As Abraham
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: Kuyper says, there is not one random, a rogue molecule
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: in all of the universe, not one. There is not
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: one square inch in all of creation over which Christ
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: does not declare mine. And that includes you, and it
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: includes your will. Do you seriously believe God placed you
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: in a family where you would hear the word of God.
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: God placed you in a church where you would hear
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: the word of God. God convicted you of your sin
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: when you heard the word of God. God make you
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: care about whether or not you are his. God makes
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: you spend time thinking about your repentance, all so that
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: you could merely what die in your misery. You have
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: a couple of choices. Either spend the rest of your
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: life trying to answer questions that you will never be
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: able to answer or do what he says. Seek him,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: seek him. Believe wholeheartedly in the sovereignty of God, and
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: seek him because the sovereign God says to seek him.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Search for him. Finally, if you hear, listen, if you seek,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and lastly, if you treasure verse four, if you seek
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: it like silver, and search for it like hidden treasure.
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: Seek it like silver, search for it like hidden treasure.
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: Notice the contrast in chapter one, verse twenty two, how
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: long o scoffers, will you delight in scoffing? Remember I
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: said this word delight means literally to treasure. They treasure
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: scoffing like the doubter treasures their doubt. They love it,
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: they love it. It's like Gollum with the ring my precious.
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: But the father says to his son, who has just
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: heard Wisdom's sermon, treasure it, listen. Don't just don't just
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: listen sink go after it, pursue it. And don't just
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: seek it and go after it and pursue it, but
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: treasure it, delight in it. In the other Wisdom literature,
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: we find this in Job twenty two, twenty three to
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: twenty six. If you return to the almighty, you will
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: be built up. If you removing justice far from your tents.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: If you lay gold in the dust and gold of
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: over among the stones of the torrent bed, then the
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: up your face to God. You'll be like gold and
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: silver Psalm one, nineteen seventy two. The law of your
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: silver pieces elsewhere. In eight ten, take my instruction instead
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. In eight nineteen,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: my fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: my yield than choice silver. We find this in the Gospels.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Matthew thirteen forty four. The Kingdom of Heaven is like
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: all that he has and buys the field. It's more
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: precious than anything else that you have. Treasure it, treasure it.
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Matthew nineteen twenty one. Jesus said to him, if you
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: would be perfect gold, sell what you possess and give
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven,
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: and come follow me. Treasure here's the great irony. Remember
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: I told you the way that we often look at
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: the Book of Proverbs is we rip the Book of
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Proverbs out of its context. We don't see Christ as
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: the wise son of Proverbs, and we use the Book
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: of Proverbs as a means to an end. If you
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: follow these things, if you use this for your business principles,
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: then your business will succeed. In other words, if you
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: rip the Book of Proverbs out of the context of
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: the overall message of Scripture and use the Book of
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: Proverbs for its principles, then the wisdom of Proverbs will
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: bring you the treasure of riches. Whereas Proverbs teaches that
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: wisdom itself is to be sought like a treasure, not
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: as a tool to get you to other things. Do
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: you see the folly in that treasure wisdom? Value wisdom
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: more than anything else. Fight for the pleasure of wisdom,
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: and fight against all of those things that compete with it.
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: What's the result of this? If you hear, if you seek,
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: and you treasure, what does he say finally in verse five,
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: then you will understand the fear of the Lord and
• 45:25
  Speaker 1: find the knowledge of God. Again, what was the point
• 45:28
  Speaker 1: that we just made. The way we misuse proverbs is
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: we say, okay, if you take the principles from proverbs,
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: you will be successful and you will get rich, as
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: though the goal of these proverbs is success and wealth.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: But notice the goal. Will hear, here's the father's goal
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: for his son verse five. You will understand the fear
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: of the Lord and find the knowledge of God, because
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: there's nothing more valuable than the knowledge of God. Bruce
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Walkee puts it this way. Plato and Aristotle employed theology
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: in the sense of the science of divine things. Quite differently,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: the Hebraic expression of theology or knowledge of God points
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: to a reality which at once includes the transcendent intellectual questions,
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: designates the involvement of man's total personality in the presence
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: of Yahweh through prophetic word, through worship, celebration, and through
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: the psychological mode of communion in faith. In other words,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: there are those who seek just theological knowledge and information
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: with God, but this Hebrew term is far different than that.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: This Hebrew term encompasses seeking theological information about God, but
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: it also moves to the application of that both in
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: the corporate worship of God and in personal intimate communion
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: with God, the father's passionate plea. Here is this, Listen
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: to wisdom, hear what wisdom is saying. Don't just hear
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: what wisdom is saying, but seek out what wisdom is saying.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: Search it, Search it diligently. Don't just sit there and
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: let it go in one ear and out the other.
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: Listen carefully, mullet over, find it, and then treasure it.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: Treasure it more than anything else. Why because when you hear,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: and when you seek, and then when you treasure, ultimately
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: what you will find is God himself. Find God because
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: God is the goal. God is the goal. Are there
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: other things that you absolutely there are other things that
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: you will find. It is true that Godliness will impact
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: every aspect of your life, and we praise God for that.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Amen that every area and avenue of our life is impacted.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: And by the way, here's one of the ways that
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: you can know when these things have been sought wrongly,
• 48:38
  Speaker 1: because how many times do we do this. We we
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: listen to the word, and we hear the word, and
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: then we and then we seek the word, and we
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: study the word, and then we treasure the word. Right.
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: We do all of these things and then we begin
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: to live our lives in accordance with this word that
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: we found. And then all of a sudden something happens.
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: We lose a job, a loved one dies, a marriage ends,
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: some tragedy strikes, and immediately here's our response, why would
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: God do this to me? Do you know why we
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: asked that question, because here's what we really believe. I
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: listened to the wisdom of God. I sought the wisdom
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: of God, and I treasured the wisdom of God because
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: I believed it would give me my job, my children,
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: my spouse, my friends. That was my end goal. So
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: when one of those things was taken away, I shake
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: my fist at God because I did not seek wisdom
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: so that I could find God. I sought wisdom so
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: that I could find those things. And when He took
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: away those things, he revealed the fact that they were
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: chief in my heart, not him. And how many times
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: did the people then run away from the faith? Why?
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: Because I tried God and he gave me the stuff
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: I wanted, and then some of it was taken away. Therefore,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: I'm done trying God, because ultimately I don't want God.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: I want things, and I'm using God as a means
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: to an end to give me things, which means that
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: those things are your God, and you are an idolater,
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: and you are still lost in your sin. Because the gospel,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: according to Proverbs is this, we hear, and we heed,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: and we seek and we treasure, why so that we
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: might find God. And everything else is extra Because here's
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: the reality. Everything else will be stripped away from you,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: everything everything. But what's the old saying. You never see
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: a hearst carrying a moving van, right Amen. At the end,
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: they're not going to put you in your casket in
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: a vehicle and then attach all of your stuff to it.
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  Speaker 1: Everything else will be gone, everything else will be lost.
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  Speaker 1: And so if what you are pursuing is everything else,
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  Speaker 1: then at the end you are lost. But if your
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  Speaker 1: greatest desire is God himself, then even when everything else
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  Speaker 1: is stripped away from you, ultimately you've lost nothing, because
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: nothing matters more to you than knowing God. I've said
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: many times, what a beautiful providence it is that in
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: our scripture reading, we're reading the Book of Job right now,
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  Speaker 1: because ultimately, ultimately what happens there everything is stripped away.
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  Speaker 1: His friends come and the only way they can interpret
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  Speaker 1: the reality of what's happening with Job is legalism and moralism.
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  Speaker 1: The first part of the Book of Job disabuses us
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  Speaker 1: of that notion. He's a righteous man, he's a righteous man.
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  Speaker 1: I know, when you see what happens to him, you're
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: going to be tempted to believe that he wasn't a
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: righteous man and he's being punished. He's a righteous man
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  Speaker 1: and he's not being punished. He's a righteous man, and
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: everything is stripped away from him even though he's a
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: righteous man. Why Because being a righteous man doesn't guarantee
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: you that everything won't be stripped away from you. And
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: everything being stripped away from you does not mean that
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: God doesn't love you, or that God's not aware he
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: is still seated on his throne. Because here's the other thing.
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  Speaker 1: When everything is stripped away from you, if what you
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: are left with is self in Christ, you want amen,
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  Speaker 1: because there is nothing, nothing more significant than that. What
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: does it profit a man to gain the whole world
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  Speaker 1: and lose his soul? Or what can a man give
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  Speaker 1: in exchange for his soul? The answer to both questions nothing.
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  Speaker 1: Hear God's word. Hear the wisdom of God and the
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: word of God. Seek the wisdom of God and the
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: Word of God. Treasure the wisdom of God in the
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Word of God, because when you seek it and hear
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  Speaker 1: it and treasure it, you find God. Seek ye first
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  Speaker 1: the Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things
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  Speaker 1: will be added to you. In other words, all these
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  Speaker 1: other things will be extra God is enough. God is enough.
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  Speaker 1: May he grant us grace to see that, to know that,
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  Speaker 1: and to cling to him because we believe that. Let's pray, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: good and gracious God, the God and Father of our Lord,
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the God of all mercy, the God who
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  Speaker 1: is to be treasured above all, Grant by your grace
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  Speaker 1: that we might have ears to hear, and that we
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  Speaker 1: might have eyes to see your goodness and your glory
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  Speaker 1: and your majesty. Grant that we might rejoice in You
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  Speaker 1: above all else, that we might seek you above all else,
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  Speaker 1: that we might treasure you above all else, that we
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  Speaker 1: might see you through the person and work of Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 1: and that we might treasure the gift of your son
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  Speaker 1: above any and every other gift that we might receive.
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  Speaker 1: Grant that we might recognize that every good and perfect
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  Speaker 1: gift comes from You, and that we might be appropriately thankful.
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  Speaker 1: Grant that we might hear your word, and seek your word,
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  Speaker 1: and treasure your wisdom in your word, and that through
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  Speaker 1: your word, God, we might find you. This is our prayer,
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  Speaker 1: and we ask it in Jesus name,