Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Jun 09, 2019: Proverbs 4 Hear The Instruction Of A Father
Transcript
- You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2019. As we continue to move along through the Bible in three years, we have finished up the book of Psalms this week, and it was a pleasure to see the variety of subjects addressed in the Psalms and the great praises of rejoicing and celebrations that Also, the great sorrows and woes and pronouncements of just, you know, pain and agony and crying out that the psalmist would go through, the prophecies of the Messiah, and such great variety throughout the Psalms. But now as we head into the Proverbs, we're shifting gears a bit. It's a different type of passage that we're dealing with as we get into the book of Proverbs. Oftentimes when we're talking about Bible study, we talk about the importance of context and And context is crucial for us to know and understand the Word of God. Context, sometimes we mean by that just the verses before and after a passage that we're studying. And reading those verses can oftentimes put into context the things that we're studying, the passage that we're studying. And that's an important part of Bible study. But another aspect of context is the type of passage that we are reading. There is different types of passages that we find throughout the scriptures and different types of passages need to be approached and understood in slightly different ways. Sometimes when God is being directly quoted, we understand that's a direct quote from God. There's no debate or question about that. sometimes fools are being quoted. And so you read what the fools are saying, like Job's friends, right? And you go, okay, so I need to understand. They don't know what they're talking about. God corrects them later. And so we take those things into account. Well, as we get into the book of Proverbs, we are looking at the word of God But we're also looking at it with the understanding that this is the wisdom that the Lord gave to Solomon. And so it's great wisdom to us as we get into the further chapters. Chapter 10 is where we start tomorrow morning as we continue journeying through the Bible in three years. And so chapters 10 through 31 of Proverbs are kind of like the classic section of the Proverbs where you have the one line short, you know, pithy sayings. I like to refer to them as Solomon's tweets, right? Because if Solomon had a Twitter account, this is what it would look like, just be filled with these, you know, one-liners of great wisdom and general observations and general truths about life. And we look at them and we understand them in that way, that not everyone is necessarily a promise in every aspect or in this life, but that there are observations and there's great wisdom in receiving and allowing these things to impact our lives and to shape our lives. But the first few chapters of the book of Proverbs are different. They're not those short sayings, but they're longer passages about a few different aspects of wisdom. And so we're going to look at one of those here in chapter 4 as Solomon talks about a little bit about his dad and what his dad taught him, and he passes that on to his children. And so I've titled the message this morning, Hear the Instruction of a Father. I want to encourage you to hear, to listen up to the instruction that a father has given. And so we're looking at David sitting down with Solomon. having some time with him to pass on some of the lessons that he's learned. You can see this in verse three here of chapter four. He says, when I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live. Solomon here is reflecting on times where his father sat with him and taught him and gave him instruction and taught him in the ways of the Lord and in the ways of wisdom. But at the same time, Solomon is addressing his children. In verse 1, he says, hear, my children, the instruction of a father. And so you see this passing on of truth, this passing on of encouragement and exhortation and instruction from generation to generation. And I would encourage you, as you have opportunity, to follow suit that the things that we learn as we walk with the Lord are not intended to just be ours alone, but to be passed on to the next generation. A father you can think about is someone with experience who loves you and wants what is best for you. A father is someone who has experience, who loves you, and wants what is best for you. And of course, you have that biological father, right? You have that kind of person in your life, but they may not be one who instructs you in the ways of the Lord. May or may not. You're blessed if they are, but that's not true of every person, every situation. However, we can also look and understand this is the word of God, and here our heavenly father instructs us And he loves us and wants what's best for us. And he has experience. You know, he's seen life lived a thousand different ways. And he knows the best ways for us to go. He knows the best results, how they can be obtained in our lives. He desires to give us instruction that we might experience the best of of all eternity for the rest of eternity. And so we have earthly fathers, we have a heavenly father, and we also have, you might refer to them as spiritual fathers, that there are those who have that experience of walking with the Lord and impart instruction to us and help us to, well, live the life that God has called us to live. I was thinking about it as I was preparing for this and kind of thinking about this role of that spiritual authority. As Solomon says, hear my children, the instruction of a father. He is addressing his children, but it's also broader. He's speaking to those who will listen and he's presenting himself as a spiritual authority in the lives of those who will read and follow the instruction and the wisdom that he has to pass on. ♪♪ And that was exciting and a blessing, and it's gone by fast. But at the same time, 15 years of marriage for us means 15 years of pastoring as well. If you were around, you know the story. But if you weren't, you know, we were on our honeymoon, and that's when Pastor Tom shared with the congregation that he was moving to Japan with his family and that I would be stepping in to pastor the church. And so I came back two weeks later. Married, knowing everything and having all doctrine and theology and practical things of life figured out, I began to teach and to lead here. And of course, I've learned a lot since then. I've watched and observed a lot. And I just want to share with you as I work through these things that This morning, I share this message with you, not as a father in a weird sense, but just as one who's been around, and as I described it, a father, someone with experience who loves you and wants what's best for you. Listen, I want to encourage you to listen up to the things that are written here in the Word of God, because it is what is best for you. Over the past 15 years, I've seen lives go through all kinds of situations. I've seen lives destroyed and ravaged by sin. I've seen lives that are broken and destroyed be turned around and restored and given new life in Christ. I've seen marriages restored and healed, but also I've seen marriages fall apart and break away and become a great destruction. We've seen people delivered. We've seen people enslaved. There's been a lot. And so in some senses, I kind of like, you know, picture Living Water as this 15-year-old kid, right? Yeah. although it's 28, but 15 years old, and I've got my arm around the kid and say, you know, kid, child, living water, we need to receive this instruction from the Lord. There is great benefits to walking with the Lord in the way he calls us to, and there's great destruction when we don't. And this is the idea conveyed here as David passes this on to Solomon. As Solomon passes it on to us as the Lord, our heavenly father wants to speak to us, and he says, listen, hear me. You know, that's the great struggle of every parent, trying to get their kids to listen to them, right? And in a similar way, the Lord, he has a great struggle ahead. And we have a part to play in that, and we don't have to make it a struggle, but we can voluntarily listen to the instruction of our Father. In verse 2, Solomon says, For I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my law. We're looking at the Word of God. I work hard every week to give you the Word of God, good doctrine, right? Pay attention. Listen up. Cause yourself to hear. And so as we work our way through these things, there's three points we'll look at in this instruction from a father to help us to experience the life that God intends for us. Point number one, looking at verses one through nine this morning is this. In all you're getting, make sure you get wisdom. In all you're getting, Make sure that you get wisdom. Let's jump back into verse 1 and 2. It says, Here again, Solomon encourages us to listen. He speaks to his children. He speaks to us. He says, hear my children, the instruction of a father. This instruction, he's going to repeat a few more times as we work our way through Proverbs chapter four. Listen, he'll say, hear, you need to pay attention. You need to listen up as I'm saying these things. This instruction is needed because it is not normal for us to listen. It's not normal for us to listen. It's not like our natural inclination. It's not our natural condition to be listening and receiving, even those who have authority over our lives. And man, I can remember myself being a 15-year-old kid, right? That my parents would try to be telling me something, instructing me in something, and I would say, I know, before they even got partway into the lesson they were trying to teach, right? I'd be like, I know. And then One of my parents inevitably would challenge me, okay, well, what was I going to say then? Since you know already, and I had no idea what they were going to say, but I just didn't want to be instructed, right? I wasn't listening. And in a similar way, we can easily find ourselves in a place where we're not listening. He says, hear, my children, the instruction of a father. We need to deliberately, on purpose, open our ears and hear God. what the heavenly father has to say to us. And here's the message essentially in verse five. He says, get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Here's the message essentially David passed on to Solomon. Solomon now passes on to his children and to us this morning. Get wisdom and get understanding. Now wisdom and understanding are used interchangeably really throughout the book of Proverbs. And there's some parallels to wisdom and understanding. There's lots of things that we could think about. But wisdom, as we talk about wisdom this morning, we're talking about wisdom from above. Wisdom that is from God. The Apostle James, when he writes his letter, he says, look, there's different kinds of wisdom. There's wisdom from below, and there's wisdom from above. And there is a worldly wisdom type of wisdom that we could have, but that's not the kind of wisdom that Solomon is talking about, nor that the Father is encouraging us to follow. But wisdom that's from above. It's more than just knowledge. It's more than just information. It's insight from God about how to live and what he desires. And so we are to get wisdom and to get understanding. It's the first thing on this list of stuff we need to talk about. To get wisdom, to get understanding. He says, do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. There's two aspects of wisdom. It's getting it, but then there's also retaining it and holding on to and remembering the lessons that we've learned and the lessons that we've been taught. He goes on in verse six to say, do not forsake her and she will preserve you. Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is referred to throughout the book of Proverbs often. It's personified as a woman. And so do not forsake her. Don't turn away from wisdom. Don't turn your back on wisdom. And what she will do then is she will preserve you. She will protect you and care for you. Love her. Love wisdom. And she will keep you. She will hold you in the right place. She will protect you from things that are harmful to you. He goes on to say in verse 7, Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing. It's the most important thing. It's the thing above all things. So in all of your getting, he says, get understanding or get wisdom. And here as we reflect on this and consider verse 7, This is something for us to consider and allow our hearts and our minds to be stretched a bit, tested a bit, that we would dwell on this thought for a moment that wisdom is the principal thing. Wisdom is the most important thing for us to be pursuing. This instruction here has in mind this truth that you kind of need to accept and you need to wrap your minds around it a little bit. And that is you are right now in your life involved in getting. You are in pursuit of something or some things. You might be involved in getting multiple things or it might be, you know, some, a couple primary things that you're seeking after. But You are getting something. Maybe you are working on, you are focused on getting money. Now, money is something that you need. Money is something that we all need to survive. It's part of life. And getting money in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. But any of these things that we could consider, well, they might be good things. They can start out as good things, but they become out of place when they take the place of getting wisdom and getting understanding. You need to get money. And you should be getting money. You should be, you know, Paul said, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat. That's part of God's desire for us is that we be productive, that we be, you know, living in a way that is honorable. And so getting money is one aspect of life and it's one thing that we need to be getting. But is it the main thing that you're focused on? You can be getting money out of greed or you can also just be getting money because you need to provide for your family. Maybe you're focused not so much on getting money, but maybe you're focused on getting a girlfriend or getting a spouse, you know? That's the pursuit of your life. That's what you are looking for. That's what you're thinking about. That's what you're aiming for. That's what you're trying to get. You are getting something. Are you getting money? Are you trying to get a spouse, a relationship? Maybe you're trying to get security, right? Is that your focus? That, man, you just, you don't like that place of being unsettled, uncomfortable, and so you're looking for this amount of money, you know, in this account, and this kind of conditions, and this kind of situation, so that you can be comfortable and secure. Maybe you're not so much focused on that, but you're working on getting approval. You know, that you are in the workplace, working hard, To be approved, to be received, to be accepted, to be admired, to be looked up to. You know, maybe back in school days, it's more seen as like getting popularity, you know, having that kind of relationship to the people around you as a whole. And there can be a consuming place of our lives where we are looking to get approval. We're working hard. just primarily so that others might approve of us or our actions or what we do. Maybe you're focused on getting pleasure, getting entertainment, getting enjoyment out of things or situations, and we can fill our lives and pursue pleasure, pursue good times, pursue these kinds of things. Maybe others are caught up into getting in shape. You can tell that's not what I'm getting, right? That's not what I'm focused on. But that can be something that we pursue. It can be something that becomes what we are getting. Now, again, like all of these things, there is a good portion of these things. And then there's a time where that gets out of proportion and it becomes a bad thing. Godliness with contentment is great gain, Paul says, right? So we need to be godly and we need to be content. That we need to get money, right? But we also need to learn to get contentment and have that balance that we would be godly. Bodily exercise profits a little, Paul says, but godliness profits in all things, right? And so there is that profit. It has that place. And sometimes that getting in shape, well, it takes time. priority over other things and becomes something that is a hindrance rather than a help. What are you getting? And I've just been throwing out some examples to try to help you think that through, but perhaps there's some others that I haven't mentioned. Perhaps there's some other things that are the focus, that are the pursuit, that are your goals and objectives. You are getting something though. And you say, I don't know, maybe I'm just focused on getting by. Like I'm just, my goal is to survive. Like that's all that I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to get by. Whatever your objective, your goal, your pursuit is, whatever it is that you're getting, here's the instruction for us. In all you're getting, get understanding. Solomon here is saying, look, You do have pursuits. You do have things that you're working towards, things that you're trying to accomplish, things that you're getting. You do have those things. But whatever you do, don't let those other things that you're trying to get supersede or take a higher priority than getting wisdom. You need to make sure that in all the things that you're trying to get and all the things that you want to accomplish and the goals in your life, Yes, you want a career. Yes, you want to, you know, have this kind of comfort and this kind of security. Yes, you want to see these kinds of things happen in your life. Yes, you want to get those things. Most of the part we're saying, great, those are good things to want to get. But at the same time, do not let those things become more important than you getting wisdom. How do you get wisdom? Well, In today's reading, in chapter 9 of Proverbs, we have chapter 9, verse 10, which says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Here's where we start forgetting wisdom. We start with the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord speaks to us about obedience to the Lord, that He has given His instruction and His commands, and we must be obedient. We must take the Word of God to heart. and to walk in a way that pleases the Lord. To start to have wisdom, to start to get wisdom, we need to come to the Lord in a humble place, desiring to please Him and walk in His ways. He goes on to say, knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Getting to know God is the next part of this. It's what God has wanted from the beginning and not just for his own sake, but because it's what's best for us. What we need to do is to know the Holy One. We need to know the Father. We need to have a real relationship with the Father. How do you get wisdom? You need to start with a fear of the Lord, placing him in that rightful place of King, Almighty, Judge, Master. He's the Lord. And I must serve him. But not in a cruel way where you need to be fearful and stay away. But no, no, no. Then to also know the Holy One. To draw near. To become familiar with God. To know his nature. To know his character. To know what he likes. And to know what he cares about. To get to know his thoughts and his mind. Another aspect of this that we could consider on getting wisdom is to get to know the scriptures. Paul tells us in Colossians 3, verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. There is a wisdom that we receive when the word of God dwells in us richly. When there's a richness, there's a depth, there's an intimacy with the scriptures. And it's why we always encourage you as a congregation. It's why we always encourage us as believers to to be involved in reading through the Bible. And whether it's through the Bible in three years or some other plan, that you need to have some time with God in his word. As we get to know the word of God, as we get to know God, as we fear the Lord, it's where we begin this journey to have wisdom from above. Wisdom, you could think about it this way, it's God's will, God's way. Wisdom is following God's will and doing it God's way. Before that, we need to know the heart of God, the mind of God. We need to know you are getting something. In all you're getting, there's a lot of pursuits that you have, a lot of goals and objectives. There's a lot of things that you're seeking out and chasing after. And many of those things are good things and should not be taken away. But in all of your getting, make sure that none of those things takes the place of you getting to know God. In verse 8, he goes on to say, As we get to know God, as we live out God's will, God's way, it brings great reward. When you exalt wisdom, that is you lift up wisdom, you lift up God's ways, you lift up God's heart, and that's important to you and that's important in your life. Well, he says, she will promote you. There's promotion. There's advancement. There's benefit as you exalt wisdom, as you lift up the knowledge of God and the ways of God. Embrace wisdom, he says, and she'll bring you honor. Your life will will be benefited. Your life will bring honor to you and to the Lord when you embrace the word of God, the will of God, the ways of God. It will result in grace and glory. The glory of God being demonstrated in your life when you know him and walk with him. And so the reality is we are all in pursuit of variety of things. But in all you're getting, everything that you're chasing after and everything you're trying to achieve and accomplish, Make sure that you don't let wisdom fall off the list, but that you keep it a priority. Again, this is communicated to you by a father, someone with experience, someone who loves you and wants what's best for you. There's a lot of good things to chase after, a lot of valuable things that you can get, but all of them become harmful and dangerous when they replace the getting of wisdom from God. We need to know God. We need to walk with God. Well, we're going to move on to verses 10 through 19 for the second point this morning, and that is this. Do not enter the path of the wicked, even temporarily. As Solomon continues to exhort and instruct his children, and you and I this morning, Jumping into verse 10, it says, Again, Solomon gives this instruction to listen, to hear. And again, I'll say, because it's not normal to listen. And you may not even know I said that already this service, because you weren't listening, right? But I'm not saying that you shouldn't listen. It's not normal for us to listen. It is so easy, and especially when it comes to our parents, right? It's like, listen, Dad, I've heard that story a hundred times, you know what I mean? And so here's Dad trying to give instruction, but here's kid, you know, saying, I've heard that, I've heard that, I've heard that. I'm not listening anymore because I've heard that so many times. And it is very easy for us to tune out, to become kind of numb and callous to instruction, right? We need to guard ourselves against that. We need to deliberately pay attention and listen and receive the sayings of the Lord, the sayings of wisdom, to receive the teachings that God is wanting to give. In verse 12, he says, when you walk, your steps will not be hindered. And when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep her for she is your life. When you listen to your father's instruction, when you receive that wisdom from above, he says, when you walk, your steps will not be hindered. Have you ever experienced some kind of situation where you're trying to move forward, you take one step forward, and then, well, something happens, and you end up two steps back, right? And you go one step forward, and then you go two steps back, and you go one step forward, and two steps back, and Sometimes it's a little bit better. You go two steps forward and one step back. You're only set back a little bit. But there's these hindrances. There's these obstacles. There's these situations that hold you back from getting to where you want to go. But he says when you embrace wisdom, when you receive the teachings and go down the right paths, that your steps will not be hindered. And when you run, you won't stumble. There won't be those tripping hazards, those things that will cause you to stumble, that cause you to fall, cause you to trip in the midst of your run. So take hold of instruction, he says. Don't let go, for she is your life. And so as he calls us to pay attention now and to take hold of these things, here's the next lesson he wants to teach, found in verse 14. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Here's the instruction. Do not enter the path of the wicked. On the surface, this seems pretty obvious, right? It's like you could replace that with don't kill anybody. It's like, no problem. Yeah, I'm not going to kill anybody. I'm not going to go down the path of the wicked. Do not walk in the way of evil. No problem. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. I don't want to walk in the way of evil. We would immediately respond to that and think, that's not a concern for me. That's not something that I really have to wrestle with. I don't want to go down the path of the wicked or in the way of evil. Solomon here puts a big do not enter sign up, right? And we might easily find ourselves in a situation where we're thinking, that's not a warning that I need to be concerned with. But then he goes on in verse 15. He says, avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on. I think we need to understand the picture that is being painted here. As we're walking down the path of righteousness, walking down the path of wisdom, we're walking The path of the wicked is not somewhere far behind us that in order to go on the path of the wicked, you would have to, you know, do a complete 180 and then run in the opposite direction. That's not what is being described here. Of course, that would be a way of wickedness, right? That would be a path of foolishness. But that's not the only way to get on the path of the wicked. It's kind of like as you're, you know, heading down the freeway that, well, every so often there's some off ramps. And you have opportunity to get off the freeway frequently. In a similar way, as we head down the path of wisdom, listen, you're going to have many occasions, many opportunities to get off the path of wisdom, to take an off-ramp and to get on the path of the wicked. Solomon says, avoid it. You're going to have decisions to make on a regular basis, on a consistent basis. You're going to have decisions to make of whether or not you're going to stay on the path of wisdom or you're going to get onto the path of the wicked. That you're going to come to those interchanges, those intersections, and you're going to have to make decisions. And again, we may think, well, this is pretty easy. I don't want to go down the path of the wicked. But the path of the wicked doesn't always look like, you know, dark and scary and full of ghosts and goblins. And, you know, the path of the wicked oftentimes looks like, hey, the objective that I'm seeking, the thing that I'm trying to achieve, and it's a good thing, This is like a shortcut to get to that. I mean, it's like, well, I could go this way and it would be a lot easier. It would be so much better for me if I got off here and went this direction. Shortcuts, they do look shorter. They do appear to be a better option, to be a better route. And you and I will face these opportunities in our lives. Not just like, you know, every once in a while, but consistently on a regular basis, you're going to have opportunity to take a shortcut. what you think is a shortcut. It looks like a better route. If I just cut through here, it's not a full deviation from the course because, look, I'm just going to cut through here and it's going to bring me about and I'm going to get to where I want to go, which is a good thing. I'm going to get there faster. That's the intention. That's what we're thinking. That's what we see when we have that opportunity. And you can apply that to your thoughts, your conversations, your decisions in the workplace, in the home. There's an abundance of opportunities to get off the path of wisdom, to deviate from God's way and God's instruction, to do something different with good intentions. But it's the path of the wicked. We need to stay away. Do not enter, he says. Avoid it. Walk around on the opposite side. Stay away from it. Don't travel on it, even temporarily. And you know, sometimes we have that strategy in our mind, right? Well, look, it's probably not best if I say it this way. It's probably not best if I, you know, give this impression. If I tell this lie, it's probably not best. But look, I just need to get through this moment. And so this lie, this will get me through this moment. So then I can get around that. And then I'll stop after that, right? Then I get back on the path. But I just need to get around this obstacle here. And so we convince ourselves it's worth it. It's going to be better if I go this way. If I, you know, cave in and compromise on this temptation, well, I mean, I know it's not the best, but it's going to be better if I do that than if I hold the course and stay away because, you know, that's going to bring some challenges and difficulties. And so we convince ourselves that if I just deviate a little bit, it's just for a short time. I've got it under control. I can handle it. I can see the problems and I'll just get right back on the path. I'll get right back on where I need to be. But notice where the path of the wicked takes you. Verse 16. He says, Solomon says, Because here's where that path takes you. It takes you to a place where you cannot sleep unless you do evil. Now, I think it's probably pretty typical for us. We read that, we go, wow, what an exaggeration, right? It's like, look, I'm not going to be on the path that long, right? Parents tell their kids, look, if all your friends are going to jump off the cliff, are you going to jump off the cliff? And the kid is always thinking, we're not talking about that. We're just talking about this little thing. It's not that big of a deal, right? We're all familiar with that, right? In a similar way, here's the instruction of the Lord and And the Lord says, don't deviate because if you do, you're not going to be able to sleep until you've done evil. And we're like, we're so far from that. Like, you don't know what you're talking about. It's not that serious. But that lightness, that attitude of dealing with deviating from the ways of the Lord lightly, it's something that is very dangerous for us. What Solomon is describing here is a place of being trapped by sin and captive by it. The idea here is that We're not able to rest. And when you are caught up in sin, you're not able to rest until you give in to the desires of your sinful nature. He says, their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall. And you and I, we would all think, I would never come to that place. I would never go that far. But that's always how the path of sin begins. The path of the wicked starts there. Well, us convinced, I can just kind of take this shortcut. I can deviate. I'll get back on the path, but I'm just going to go this way for this reason. And we have it all worked out in our heads, but we don't understand and we fail to realize where that path leads. We think it leads back around. Oh, look, I can see it goes parallel to the path and I'll just jump right back on the path of righteousness and I'll be back right on track where I need to be. That's not where the path leads. It doesn't help you. It doesn't take you to a better situation, a better opportunity to seek the Lord. It takes on a different course that leads you into captivity where you are bound by sin and you cannot rest without involving yourself in sin. When I was young, we had a family that were good friends, the Andersons, and they had an above-ground swimming pool. It was a pretty big pool and they had lots of kids. And so we always loved going there in the summer. We'd get in the pool and there'd be like, I don't know, 20 of us kids in this big round doughboy pool, right? And one of the things that we love to do is we would all get in the line and go around the pool, this huge, like, 20-foot pool, right? And we'd go round and round and round and round, and we would get this awesome whirlpool going. So, like, even in this big pool, like, you could see, you know, how it dipped in the center, and it was just, the waters were rushing, and sometimes the parents would be like, okay, you can't do that when the younger kids are in the pool, because it, I mean, it would become a really powerful force. And once it got going... Even the older kids, like, you could not stay in one place, no matter how much you wanted to, no matter how much you tried. Even if you're holding to the side, you know, the water would just be pushing you and then pushing people into you. And there was just this whirlpool. It was amazing. And it was probably, you know, it's probably way exaggerated in my memory, in my imagination, but that's okay. We'll leave it like that. Because that's how this path of the wicked starts out. You know, you think, hey, we're just kind of having fun. We're just kind of going around. But But before you know it, you're in a situation where you can't stop it even if you want to. You're now caught up in the current and it's causing problems and people could be hurt and there's danger and it's difficult. This is the path of the wicked. Seems like a shortcut. Looks so great. Looks like so easy. It's just a little deviation. Not a big deal. But it ends in captivity. It ends in destruction. Jesus said this in John 8, verse 34. Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. You get involved in sin, and it's like putting shackles on. You get bound into it. You get captive to it. Don't deviate. Do not enter the path of the wicked. Verse 17, for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. In this captivity, wickedness and sin, it becomes... as normal as eating and drinking. It becomes as much a part of our life as having a meal, having a drink. It's as common as food and wine, and it feels as necessary as food and drink. But in contrast, verse 18, the path of the just is like the shining sun that shines ever brighter under the perfect day. It's a completely different path. Before you head down the path of wickedness, it looks like they're parallel. This is similar. It's just like a little... Got to get around this, but we're going in the same direction. But there's a big contrast. The path of the just is like a shining sun. It gets brighter. It gets better. There's more revelation. Verse 19, the way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. The way of the wicked is like darkness. Here's the other difficulty. Here's the other problem with the way of the wicked. The path of the wicked, it's a dark path. And this is one of the problems with those who would say, I know this isn't best. I know this isn't right. I know this isn't what God wants, but this is the direction I'm going and I can repent later. I can ask for forgiveness later. I can ask for, you know, grace later. But one of the problems with that, there's lots of problems with that attitude. But one of the problems with that is you're assuming that later on, you'll have the clarity to be able to recognize the sin and repent of it. But that's not the way that sin works. That path is a dark path and it clouds your understanding. And from here you can see and you go, that's clearly sin. I know it's wrong, but that's the direction I'm gonna go. But when you're on the path, listen, your mind will be darkened. You will not have the clarity that you have right now. Before you could see clearly that it is sin and you think you can handle it and you think you'll just get around, you get through this short segment, this shortcut, and then you'll get back on the right path. But that's not what happens. You get on that path and now you can't figure out why is this so bad? Why do they say this is, what's so wrong about this? And we can easily find ourselves in this place of darkness. Although we clearly understood and we knew way better before, but But sin, the path of wickedness, it darkens our mind. It darkens our understanding. Think about Samson, right? In the book of Judges, great strength, great victories. And yet he's playing around with this woman, Delilah. She's trying to figure out the source of his strength and he's telling her silly things and she's doing them. And as you read through the account, you're like, what is wrong with you, Samson? Can't you see she's trying to destroy you? Why do you keep going back there? Why do you keep? And over and over until finally he caves and he tells her the truth about the instruction that God gave to him, about the hair on his head. And she shaves his head and says, Samson, Samson, the Philistines are upon you. And it tells us in Judges chapter 16, verse 20, Samson awakes from his sleep and said, like he did, he said, I will go out as before at other times and shake myself free. Philistines are here. No problem. I'll go take care of them. I'll knock them out. Easy. No problem. Then it says he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. He's on the path of darkness. So confused. It's where we end up. It's where this path takes us. So Solomon exhorts us. Here's the instruction of a father. Do not enter the path of the wicked, even temporarily. Because what you think is temporary, oftentimes happens. becomes permanent because of the darkness and the bondage that it brings. That's a huge danger, a great risk to take. It's not worth the risk. Stay on the path of wisdom. Follow God's word. Again, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord. Fear the Lord and stay on the path that he has set for you. Well, the final passage here this morning is verses 20 through 27. Here's point number three. Keep your heart with all diligence. Verse 20 says, Again, he calls us to listen. Pay attention. It's an instruction we all need. Incline your ear, he says. Again, he's talking about being deliberate and intentional, listening on purpose, someone who loves me and has experience and wants what's best for me, someone like that is speaking, I need to tune in and receive what is being said. Do not let them depart from your eyes, he says in verse 21. Keep them in the midst of your heart. Keep them in your heart. So you're receiving them, good job. Now, now keep them in your heart. Don't let them depart. This, again, it's the natural course. We hear things, we learn things, and then we forget things. Sometimes just as quickly as we learn them, we forget them, right? And Solomon is saying these things. Don't let these truths, don't let this instruction be one that goes in one ear and out the other. But hold on to it. Hold it close to your heart. Keep it in the Again, it's something that is deliberate and intentional that you need to, on purpose, remind yourself of these things that you have learned. It's a great benefit if you do verse 22, for they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. So verse 23, keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. Keep your heart with all diligence. In talking about the path of wisdom and the path of wickedness, You need to keep your heart and you need to be diligent in it because all of these things can easily slip from our minds, slip from our hearts. We can easily forget the things that we have learned. Listen, you have a heart condition. I was thinking about my physical condition, right? I have a thyroid condition because of a thyroid issue, uh, We collectively, you know, me and the doctor, we put to death the thyroid organ in my body. And so now for the rest of my life, I have to take what the thyroid would normally produce. I have to take a pill, which is the hormone that regulates my body. And if I don't take that pill, there's some serious consequences. If I take too much, there's some serious consequences. For the rest of my life, I have to keep a regimen of pills. Well, this daily dose, I have a thyroid condition. I have to keep it. I have to maintain it. In a similar way, you have a heart condition. Your heart is deceitful. It's prone to wander. Your heart wants to stray from the ways of righteousness and the ways of wisdom. Your heart desires and seeks after the things of this world and this life instead of the things of God. And there needs to be an ongoing keeping, guarding, that you would take your daily doses to keep yourself in the right place. If you had a physical heart condition, that it would be a similar situation, right? You would have to structure your life to take care of that heart condition. You would have to change your life and change your diet and change your activities and change what you do. You would have to rearrange things in order to keep your heart in a spiritual sense. We need to keep our heart with all diligence because we have a spiritual heart condition and there needs to be this deliberate. We need to structure our lives. We need to change things. We need to set things in order, to watch our spiritual diet, to watch what's going in our minds and going in our eyes and going in our ears. We need to guard ourselves so that we keep our heart in that place of wisdom, that place of righteousness. Jesus describes our heart a little bit in Matthew chapter 15. He said, the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. This is the kind of stuff that your heart contains. This is the condition that we have in our hearts. Sin. We have a sinful nature. So to stay on the path of wisdom, we need to keep our hearts. Have daily doses of time with God, time in his word. We need to guard against paying attention to those off ramps and those opportunities. Yeah, that looks like a shortcut. Is it? Is it something that is beneficial? He goes on to say in verse 24, put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far from you. I think this is one we can all relate to, right? A deceitful mouth, perverse lips. Sometimes it seems like a shortcut. If I just say this, It's not true. If I just be deceitful a little bit, I can get around this issue, get around this situation. Verse 25, let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. Hey, recognize the grass is always greener, right? That's the saying for a reason because we look over there and go, whoa. Yeah, the ungodly have it great. Boy, if only I could go live in carnality and enjoy, I mean, that just looks amazing, right? And we can. Don't let your eyes look to the left or right. Let your eyes look straight ahead. Verse 26, ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. Ponder the path of your feet. You know it's important, it's good for you. Stop and take a moment and think, where is this path taking me? I'm making this decision at work. I'm putting in more hours. I'm going down this path. I'm getting this opportunity. Or in the home, I'm moving to this location or I'm changing these things around or I'm allowing this. And just stop and think, where does this path take me? Where is this going? Where does this end up? Ponder the path of your feet. Stop and think. Sometimes we just get caught up in life and we're just going. But take a moment to ponder. Does this take me closer to God? Does this make me more like God? Your natural course is not to get better and better and better. Your natural course is to stray from God. So ponder the path of your feet. Keep your heart. Pay attention. What's happening internally? He says, do not turn to the right or to the left. Remove your foot from evil. Remove your foot from evil. I think this is an important thing to consider. Don't turn from the right or left, right? We already talked about that. Staying on the path of wisdom, but remove your foot from evil. From time to time, you're going to find yourself with your foot in evil. Just like from time to time, you're walking along and then you find your foot stepped in dog poop, right? It's all over your shoes or hopefully you're wearing shoes. If not, you know, your barefoot and kind of squishes between your toes. That's like the worst, right? You ever had that happen? It's gross, right? Listen, from time to time, because we are sinful beings, you're going to find yourself with your foot in evil. And there's decisions to be made at that point. What are you going to do? We all make mistakes. And there's the temptation there. We find ourselves with our foot in evil. We're in the midst of it. And what we need to do is to come back to repentance and don't turn to the right or left. But sometimes we find our foot stuck in the mud. We find our foot stepped in poop. And then we continue down that path. Again, there's many off-ramps to the path of wisdom. Don't change course. Don't turn to the right or the left. Instead, remove your foot from evil. Yes, you fell in there. Yes, you got that. But come back. Clean it off. Begin to walk with the Lord again and head down the path of wisdom that he has established for you. Here, Solomon gives us some important instruction. It's the instruction of a father. Someone who loves you and cares for you and wants what's best for you. Says, look, the most important thing in life is You're going to want to chase after a lot of things and pursue a lot of things. Make sure you don't let those things push out the pursuit of wisdom. Make sure you get to know God. You need to make sure that's a priority in your life. You need to make sure that's first and foremost. And watch out for the path of the wicked. There's going to be lots of temptations, lots of opportunities. You're going to think it's better. You're going to think it's a shortcut. You're going to think, you know, it's not a big deviation and you'll get right back on the path that you're supposed to be on. Don't entertain that. It's not going to work out better for you. It never does. That's a path that leads to destruction and captivity and darkness. So keep your heart. Watch out for yourself. Recognize your own weakness that you're prone to wander. Don't trust your own heart. Don't trust your own feelings. Don't let yourself just follow after those things. But no, check it with the scriptures. Check it with the way of wisdom. Is this what God wants? Does this work out to make me more like God and draw me near to him. Ponder the path of your feet. Guard yourself against your own wanderings within your heart. Great instruction from a father who loves you. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for each one of us that you would help us to see these things Lord, where there's not clarity in our hearts, where there is darkness in our understanding in these things, Lord, would you bring revelation and shine the light of your truth, the light of your word upon our hearts, upon our lives, upon our decisions, upon our words and conversations. Lord, that we would be able to see clearly the path of wisdom. Help us, God, to put you as the priority of our lives. Lord, that we would meet with you, that we would know you, that we would seek you. loving you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. God, I pray that you would protect us from those off-ramps onto the paths of wickedness. Lord, as appealing as they are, I pray, Lord, as we head into this week, that we're going to face those off-ramps and those opportunities. Lord, would you help us to have discernment and to see through how great they look and to recognize the end result, the darkness that it brings, the captivity that it brings. Help us, God, to stay true to you and to your ways. And God, I pray that you would help us when we find ourselves with our feet in wickedness, having stumbled, having some issue. Lord, would you help us to come to repentance, to come to you again where you promised to provide cleansing and you set us back up and you receive us. Help us, Lord, to keep our hearts clean. in line with yours, and to come back quickly when we stumble off the path. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.