PROVERBS 1-8 THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Proverbs 1-8 The Beginning Of Wisdom

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 2013.

This evening we're going to be looking at the book of Proverbs and looking at what we read this week in the Bible in three years. And so we'll be looking at Proverbs chapters 1 through 8. And as we begin this new book, I want to just spend a couple moments. Oh, by the way, junior hires, dismissed for your class. Thanks, Jonathan.

I want to take a couple moments to just kind of remind us where we are as we're continuing this journey through the Bible in three years. We spent a lot of time looking at history as we began, you know, in Genesis and working our way through all of the

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And so we started that in the book of Job and we got to see the life of Job and some of the things that were going on in his life. And then we spent a good portion of time in the book of Psalms. And man, what a refreshing time. And I really love the way that God just breaks it up. As you go through the word, just, you know, from Genesis through Revelation, he really changes it up. There's lots of different styles. And so, you know, it was refreshing to be able to just

Spend some time focusing on worship on Wednesday evenings as we considered the Psalms throughout the week. Well, now we're in the book of Proverbs, which is continuing on in the poetic books. These are, you know, poetic style of writing that we're looking at. And we'll continue that over the next few weeks on into Ecclesiastes and then Song of Solomon.

Now for the poetic books, we changed up the style of our Wednesday service a little bit because before, you remember, I was using the screen a lot, showing maps and illustrations and, you know, timelines and all of those kinds of things because that was appropriate for looking at history.

But now in these poetic books, you know, the Lord's kind of changed it up and it's been a little bit more interactive. And we want to continue that this evening as we are looking at the book of Proverbs. You know, we'll see as the book of Proverbs talks about the importance of counsel and the multitude of counselors that bring safety. And so one of the things that I'd like to do as we go through Proverbs this evening and over the next few weeks is

is to give you an opportunity to share some wisdom from the chapters as God has been speaking to you throughout the week. Now, Proverbs are short, you know, and so we want to encourage you to kind of keep it short. You know, I'm not talking to preach a sermon here, but maybe to share just a couple thoughts of something that God showed you, some wisdom God taught you as you've been reading throughout the week.

And you might notice on the corner of the stage here are two microphones set up. That's so that the live stream, the video recording, they can catch. So as you share, then everybody gets to benefit. But also I just pointed out, so if you say something foolish, we have it on record. We'll use it against you. No, I'm just kidding.

But so yeah, so we want to encourage you after I'll share a few things from each chapter, but then I want to give you an opportunity to share as well. Maybe we'll allow one or two people to share if you have something that God showed you, some wisdom he gave you as you've been reading throughout the week.

Well, as we look at the book of Proverbs, we know that the author of Proverbs mostly is Solomon. We'll see that throughout the book. Solomon wrote the Proverbs that we'll be looking at in chapters 1 all the way through chapter 22. And then again in chapters 25 through 29, those are all attributed to Solomon personally.

There's some other guys as well. There's just generally referring to the wise, sayings of the wise. And so Solomon, it might be in there, but also some other wise men. And you see that in chapter 22, verse 17 through chapter 24 through the end of the chapter.

Then there's a guy named Agur in Proverbs 30 and King Lemuel in Proverbs 31, which is probably Solomon as well, but attributed under the name King Lemuel. And so Solomon, remember, asked God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3. We studied about that. God gave him wisdom. He was the wisest man who ever lived aside from Jesus Christ. So he had great wisdom, great insight, more than all before him. And as a result, he wrote...

The Proverbs. He wrote these great wise sayings that we are about to see. And so as we look at these things, when we remember the timeline, these things are all happening really in the peak of Israel's history during Solomon's reign. He built the temple, remember? It was a glorious time. He filled Jerusalem with gold, with treasures. I mean, it was just the height of the kingdom. The borders were expanded to its greatest extent. And this wisest king is on the throne today.

and sharing among other things these great proverbs that we will be studying for the next couple of weeks and so it's a glorious time and there's great wisdom here because God gave Solomon this great wisdom but as we begin looking at this wisdom it would be important or valuable for us to consider what is a proverb what is it that we're looking at in the book of proverbs

Well, I like Haley's Bible Handbook's definition of a proverb. It says, And I really like it because it just brings such great clarity to what a proverb is, right? Yeah.

What is that? Okay, so let's just break this down. It really does have great value. The word pithy, it means that it has substance or there's real meat to it. You know, it has a great point to it. And so a proverb is, it's a saying that is short, but even though it's short, it has great substance, but it's also axiomatic. Now, that's not a word I've ever used outside of this context before, but that means that it's something that's generally regarded as true.

So it's something, it's a general truth, a general revelation, something that we can see and observe and verify that that is the way that it is. And so it's short, but it's powerful. And it's a general truth or a general revelation that we can see. And the value or the life, what makes Proverbs so catchy and the life that is in them is antithesis,

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The word proverb in Hebrew means to be like or similar to. And so that's the idea. It's this comparison. It's like a parable. It's something that's comparable to or similar to.

I like what Wiersbe says about Proverbs. He says a proverb is a short statement based on long experience. Short statement based on long experience and that's what we're seeing throughout the book of Proverbs. Now that's really important to understand because as we've talked about different books of the Bible as we've gone through them,

Hopefully you understand by now that, well, when you come to different books of the Bible, you need to think about how you read and how you interpret those books of the Bible. For example, when we looked at the book of Job, we got to see, you know, whenever you got to the words of Job's friends, you pretty much...

disregard what they say. You don't pay attention to what they say because God rebukes them for what they say. And so the things that they say, you don't hold those up and say, this is what God says because God said, that's not what I say. You know, they need to repent because they're not saying the right things. And so there's

you know, things that we have to think through as we come to different types of scripture. And as we come into the book of Proverbs, we need to understand that Proverbs are general truths. They're general observations. Not every proverb is a promise. Not every proverb is a direct promise from God. These aren't laws that God, you know,

the universe by, but these are general truths, general observations that are great principles for us and godly principles for us.

But that's not the same thing as a law. So there is a law, scripturally, spiritually, you reap what you sow. And that's always going to be the case. Whatever you sow, that is what you are going to reap. And if it's righteousness, then you reap everlasting life. But if it's, well, if it's unrighteousness, then you reap death and destruction. That's the law of God. And that will always be that way. But we also understand that

The ultimate fulfillment of that is in eternity. And so not everything is reaped in this life. And that's an important aspect to consider in the book of Proverbs. Some of these things are absolute truths, but when it's in the context of eternity. But Proverbs is primarily focused on this lifetime. And so we need to understand it from that context. That Proverbs are general principles for life.

that we might know, you know, what God says, this is the way I want you to live, that we might be blessed and fulfilled. But I would caution you as far as taking every proverb as a direct promise from God. Now God can give you a proverb personally and say, this is for you, this is a promise for you. And there's no problem with that. But it's not a general promise for all situations, for all circumstances, in all conditions.

Alright, so that's the background then for the book of Proverbs. And now we're going to jump right in to Proverbs chapter 1. If you are there with me, look with me at verse 1. It says, The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. To know wisdom and instruction. To perceive the words of understanding. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity. To give prudence to the simple things.

Here as we begin the book of Proverbs, the introduction here, again it tells us these are the Proverbs of Solomon. And he tells us what these are for.

These Proverbs are to help us so that we might know wisdom, so that we might perceive words of understanding, so that we might grow in our understanding or receive instruction that we would be directed. He also says in verse 4 to give us prudence. That's kind of like wisdom and discernment that we would be prudent in our lives, that we might increase learning, he says in verse 5, even if you're wise and you're an expert in

on the proverbs then you will increase learning it's okay george i ended the show there's no no more slides uh he was like the screen's gone oh i'm a bad assistant pastor if i don't fix it

So to increase learning that wise people are teachable people. And even though we've read these things and studied these things, reading them through once again is, well, it's beneficial for us because if you're wise, then you're teachable and you're going to learn and you're going to grow as you look at the Proverbs again. So that's what this is all about. For us to grow in wisdom and understanding. For us to be wise as believers in Jesus Christ.

And he tells us how that all begins in verse 7. He says, Here's where it all begins. If you want to be wise, it begins with the fear of the Lord. If you want to have understanding, it begins with the fear of the Lord. You cannot be wise apart from fearing God.

You cannot have understanding if you do not fear God. There are lots of smart people with high IQs and great educations and they're just, they're brilliant. But if you do not fear God, you're not even on the beginning of the path to wisdom.

That wisdom, as we're talking about here in the scriptures, begins with the fear of the Lord. Now, a lot of times we kind of like to soften that word fear a little bit because it's like, oh, you know, that's kind of hard, you know, like to fear the Lord. Like, no, no. So, you know, then we say, well, you know, it means to have a deep reverence for and that's good and that's appropriate. We need to have a deep reverence for God. But, you know,

I would just remind you what Jesus said. He said, I'll teach you who you should fear. Don't fear man who can only kill your body. But instead, fear God who after he's killed your body, he can cast your soul in hell. The fear of God, there's an awe and a reverence that we have for God, sure. But there's also the reality that if we do not, if we do not have righteousness from God,

If we do not have wisdom from God, if we do not fear God, well, he'll give us a reason to be afraid. There is a need for us to really fear God, to realize he is the judge and we will give account and we will stand before him and he knows exactly what's going on in our hearts and our minds, our motivations. He knows exactly what's going on and we must fear the Lord. And if you do not fear God,

Well, he goes on to say, fools despise wisdom and instruction. I am a fool if I do not fear God. I am a fool if I disregard Him. If I don't consider what will take place when I stand before Him in eternity. I am a fool if I don't consider what He says and His instruction. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Well, as we go on in the chapter, there's a lot more things happening there, of course. But the other thing I wanted to highlight from this chapter is verse 20. Verse 20 says, wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. And we see this idea happening throughout the book of Proverbs. It's this idea of wisdom calling out publicly, inviting. Hey, anybody who wants wisdom,

Come on, I'm right here. I'm available for you. Sometimes we kind of get the idea that, you know, wisdom is really hard to find or it's impossible to find. But what Solomon is sharing here in the book of Proverbs is that, you know, actually wisdom's inviting you, calling out to you,

You do have to search for wisdom. We also see that taught in the book of Proverbs. But it's not this impossible thing that you can't get it, you can't attain it. Listen, if you want wisdom, it's available to you. In fact, James tells us in James 1.5, If you lack wisdom, then ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. If you want wisdom, God's promise is, I'll give it to you. Ask. Ask.

Wisdom is inviting you to receive it. God is promising to give it if you will ask. It comes down really to our willingness to ask and to seek, to wait, to learn, and to receive. So we need to check our hearts. Are we looking for wisdom? Are we seeking God for wisdom?

And so those are a few highlights here from Proverbs chapter 1. But as I shared, I want to open it up. And so is there another verse or another thought perhaps that God spoke to you and gave you some wisdom here in Proverbs chapter 1 that you'd like to share? I'll give you a couple seconds and then we'll move on to chapter 2. Anybody from Proverbs chapter 1?

Yeah, Carlos. One thing that the Lord has put in my heart to think about, and I've been thinking about this a lot, is the fear of the Lord. The whole thing you were talking about. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So it's like knowing of God and the consequences is really the fear that we should have. I think that's kind of what... I don't know if I can explain it, but

It's like if you know God, then you'll fear him because you know the consequences. But if you don't know God, then you won't fear him. And the only way you know God is by...

by, you know, obviously reading and understanding who he is. That's kind of what has been kind of in my heart thinking about that verse. Great. Yeah, thank you for sharing. Yeah, we'll see that also in another chapter coming up that knowing God, well, actually the next chapter too, we'll talk about that. So, okay. Anybody else? I'll give you one more. George? I think verse 5, a wise man will hear and increase learning. Hmm.

Just to be seeking wise counsel. And it says in verse 7 that fools despise the wisdom, so they're not seeking the wise counsel. They're not lending their ear or increasing their learning about the Lord. And we haven't gotten to two yet, but it says, incline my ear and apply my heart. So it's not just listening to the wise counsel or hearing, but it's applying it in my heart.

Amen. Great. Good stuff. Alright, Proverbs chapter 2. Look with me at verse 4. It says, If you seek her as silver, talking about wisdom, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

And this is kind of piggybacking on what Carlos was just sharing about. That the fear of the Lord, it comes with knowing God. Now, what Solomon is saying here is, if you seek for wisdom as silver, if you're searching for wisdom, if wisdom is precious to you, it's valuable to you, then, he says, you will understand the fear of the Lord.

So if you don't understand the fear of the Lord, you can understand then that, well, wisdom is not that important to you. That you're not searching for wisdom as silver. Because he goes on in verse 6 to say, it's the Lord who gives wisdom. Wisdom comes from fearing God and walking with Him. So the fear of the Lord is not a fear of the Lord where it says, you know, I got to get away from God. That's not the fear of the Lord.

The fear of the Lord is God is the ultimate judge so I need to walk with him. And if you fear the Lord in the sense where I can't come to church because I messed up this week that's not the fear of the Lord.

If you fear the Lord in the sense like, I got to kind of stay away for a little bit and try to be real good to make up for my sin and then I can try to come back and be right with God. That's not the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord says, I'm going to stand before God so I better get right with God. It draws us near to God. It never pushes us away from the Lord. And as the fear of the Lord draws us near to God,

Then from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. And He pours into us wisdom and understanding. Searching for wisdom is connecting with God.

And so I want to encourage you this evening and as we continue on in the book of Proverbs to dig deep and search for wisdom as we study these chapters. Be persistent because there's great value there as you search for wisdom and draw near to God that God will be speaking wisdom and knowledge and understanding to your heart. If you are not seeking God and you're not doing diligence in the Word of God and spending time with God, listen carefully.

It means, it reveals that you think that you are wise. And you don't need God's counsel. You don't need God's wisdom. You think you're wise, but in reality, Solomon would say, you are a fool. Well, verse 21 now, jumping down there, it says, For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.

Here's some of the benefits and the consequences of receiving wisdom or rejecting wisdom. He says, The upright will dwell in the land. The blameless will remain in it. There's a blessing, a result of longevity in the earth or in our place as we are upright, as we have wisdom and are seeking God, that we will remain, that we will dwell. But the contrast...

In verse 22 is that the wicked will be cut off from the earth and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. And so if you want to last, be wise. If you are foolish...

And practicing sin and continuing in sin and disregarding what God says, you will not last. Now again, these are general truths. You can see this evidenced in life. But the ultimate fulfillment of these things is actually in eternity where those who are upright, because they walk with God, they have everlasting life. But those who are wicked will be cut off and cast away from God.

So some heavy things here for us to consider. And the great value that we find here in wisdom in providing that relationship with God and that everlasting life. How about some other things? Did you find some other things in chapter 2 that really ministered to you and gave you some wisdom from the Lord? Anybody want to share? Patty psyched me out. Alright, chapter 3, verse 7.

Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. I think you can already see kind of a theme here, right? The fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom. From the Lord we receive wisdom. The necessity of searching it out. And here he says in verse 7, Do not be wise in your own eyes.

And you might be thinking, I never knew there was a verse 7 of Proverbs chapter 3. I never got past verses 5 and 6. Those are the favorites we always look at. But this is an important one to consider. Are you wise in your own eyes? I am wise in my own eyes when I disregard what God says and do what I want anyways. When I know what God says but I do what I want to do anyways even though I know God told me not to do that.

I'm wise in my own eyes. I'm thinking, hey, I've got this handled. I understand what's going on. I can take care of this. I know better than God. Are you wise in your own eyes? I would also extend that to say, you're wise in your own eyes if you don't even consider to ask God. As you're making decisions, if you don't ask God, Lord, what do you want in this decision?

You're wise in your own eyes. You think, I understand it. I've got it figured out. I have the wisdom. I can make the decision without bugging God. And that's foolishness. That's being wise in your own eyes. But instead, he says in verse 7, fear the Lord and depart from evil. What is the fear of the Lord? Well, you'll understand it when you walk with God. The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil. To repent is the fear of the Lord.

To repent and turn from sin is fearing God. It's the beginning of wisdom. It's a way that we protect ourselves from being wise in our own eyes. And yet, how many people know what God says, but do what they want because they do not fear God? Verse 11, My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction.

For whom the Lord loves, He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights. Great reminder for us here. Sometimes there's discipline that God brings in our lives. And we think, man, God must be so angry with me. He's probably through with me because He's allowing or bringing this discipline. But Solomon reminds us, listen, don't despise the chastening of the Lord. Why does He bring chastening?

It's not because He's done with you. It's not because He hates you. It's not because He's so upset with you. He can't believe what you did. No, He's not surprised or shocked by anything. He knows exactly what you're going to be doing ahead of time. Even when He died upon the cross, that's why He died because He knew what kind of person you were going to be. You would need a Savior. No, but He brings chastening in us, in our lives because He loves us.

Whom the Lord loves, He corrects. And He gives the example. Just like a father corrects his son. Richard, why do you discipline Noah? Because you hate him? Something audible. Because I love him. It's because you love him. It's because you care for them. You want the best for them. So you bring that correction, that chastening, that discipline. In the same way, God loves you. And that's why He brings chastening.

The author of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 12, talks a bit about this as well. And he says the same thing. Don't be concerned if God brings chastening, because you know it means that God loves you. When you should be concerned, the author of Hebrews goes on to say, is when God does not correct you. And so if you can do things that you know are wrong, and you don't receive any correction or chastening from the Lord...

The author of Hebrews says you need to be concerned about that because it shows you're illegitimate. You're not really a son. You're not really a child of God if you're not receiving chastening or correction from the Lord. Important stuff to consider. We'll finally jump down to verse 35. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools. Again, in Proverbs we're going to see this kind of thing happen all the time. There's this contrast. Which do you want?

Glory or shame? Now if I present it to you in that way, I think we all select glory. Who says, sign me up for shame, I want some more of that. Well, nobody who actually knows what shame is, signs up for that. The wise shall inherit glory. If glory is what you want, it requires wisdom. If you're wise, you will inherit glory. But if you're a fool, your legacy...

Your inheritance, what you receive, will be shame. So he's placing the choice securely in our lap. I mean, there's no getting around this. It's your choice. Wisdom and foolishness is not like something you're just, well, I was born a fool, and so that's what I'm going to be the rest of my life. Well, yeah, you are born a fool, just like I was born a fool. But we can pursue wisdom.

We can fear the Lord and depart from iniquity and walk with God. And God brings forth from His mouth wisdom and knowledge and understanding. And so He pours wisdom into us. It comes back down to that relationship with the Lord. And if you're walking with God, you will inherit glory. But if you're not spending time with the Lord, if you don't have a real relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ, shame will be your legacy. Well, that's Proverbs chapter 3.

Anybody want to share any thoughts that the Lord ministered to you? Some wisdom He gave you from Proverbs chapter 3 before we move on? See for it.

Going back to what you said, everyone's favorite verse is verse 5. Yeah. That verse is always ministered to me every time because it's the trust. I think it's the trust part that I feel every time, you know, because when you ever pray about something and you always pray and you gave God, you know, the time limit that he can actually burn and if he doesn't answer, you always try to fix things your way.

So I find that I always feel that way because it seems like I always try to do things the way I understood. God always reminds me of when I was meditating on this verse this week.

We like to take the reins back, but we got to trust the Lord. Let Him do it. Proverbs chapter 4, verse 7.

Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore, get wisdom. In all of your getting, get understanding. I love these first few chapters of Proverbs and this great emphasis on seek out wisdom. He says wisdom is the principal thing. Is that what you thought of when you woke up this morning? You woke up and you say,

Turn off the alarm, you got your cup of coffee and you thought, you know, wisdom is the most important thing. It's the principal thing. I got to get wisdom today. I hope it was, but often times it's not. We forget about the importance of us leaning in and pursuing growth in our understanding of God.

It's so easy for us to kind of just get complacent. You know, like, I've learned enough of the Bible. I've learned enough of God. I've got just enough to kind of just coast. But that's not wisdom. Wisdom is the principal thing. So get wisdom, Solomon says. In all of your getting. Hey, there's a lot of things that you're getting. You're pursuing all kinds of things in your life and throughout your day.

But in all of your getting, make sure that you get wisdom. What is it that you are getting? What is it that you are pursuing? What is it that you're searching for, that you're longing for, that you're trying to obtain? What is it? Well, make sure it's wisdom, Solomon says. Verse 14. Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Verse 15. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it and pass on.

I highlight this verse because I think it's so important for us to remember to stay off of the path of the wicked. Sometimes we think about wickedness or sin and we just kind of relate it to that final step, the final act of sin. And we forget about all the steps that lead up to it. You know, sometimes we hear about a brother or sister in the Lord who's fallen into sin and we're shocked.

But we are often reminded, well they didn't just wake up today and say, I'm going to rebel against God today and run from Him. No, there was a path that they were on. And steps that led up to it. It was kind of gradual. And so as he talks about not entering the path of the wicked, it's a reminder for us, listen, you need to be very careful. It's not just the end result. It's not just the adultery at the end, but it's the flirting at the beginning.

And you need to stay away from the path. Everything that leads down the road to that sinful act, you need to stay away from the path altogether. Avoid that. Stay off of it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it, he says, and pass on. And so we need to kind of be thinking ahead and looking down the road. Where does this course take me? And stop now if it's the path of the wicked. Because that will lead you to certain destruction. Verse 23 says,

Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. This is a great verse for us to consider because it reminds us of the importance of our hearts. God has entrusted you with your heart. It's your responsibility. Keep it. Take care of it. Keep it inclined to the things of God. Keep it turned and tuned to the voice of God. Keep it right with God.

Well, cultivation is a good picture of it. It's like, you know, you can't just tell your heart what to do, but you cultivate it. You feed it the right things. You direct it the right way. And your heart...

It's transformed and it's changed by God as you keep it connected to God. How much time are you spending on your heart? You spend a lot of time on your hair perhaps. But how much time are you spending on your heart? You waiting for the joke for my hair? No, okay. So keep your heart with all diligence. Out of it spring the issues of life. Your whole life boils down to your heart. So take care of your heart. Your marriage...

Well, it's based upon your heart. Your work, your parenting, your fun, your blessings, your eternity, it's all based upon your heart. So keep your heart with all diligence. Because it's what brings forth all of the issues of life. Well, that's what I had thoughts for Proverbs chapter 4. Anybody want to share? Yeah, Harvey. I liked where he started out, how the Lord addresses us.

Verse 1, hear my children. Verse 10, hear my son. And then again in verse 20, my son, give attention to my words. I can see a father speaking to his child. It's kind of a coaxing and nurturing. Amen. That relationship that we have with the Lord. That's great. Alright, Proverbs chapter 5, verse 3.

Here in chapter 5, Solomon deals with the subject of adultery and immorality, these sexual sins.

Warren Wiersbe points out, we live in a world that has commercialized sex and turned adultery into entertainment. And so this warning is desperately needed. Few people believe that there are tragic consequences to sexual sin. But Solomon names some of them here.

And that's what we see in chapter 5 is the devastation and destruction of sexual sin. Now he's talking about, you know, he's talking as a man to other men. But ladies, no problem. You know, just reverse the roles. And these same things apply to you. That there are guys who are immoral, who are out to get you and seduce you. And then for guys, there's girls who are out there who will seduce you as well. And

It may drip honey, their lips, but the end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. And so he says in verse 8, remove your way far from her and don't go near the door of her house. Now again, we often think about sin and we think of just that final step. We're like, okay, I got to avoid that.

But Solomon's reminding us, no, don't even go near to the door of her house. In fact, later on he'll say, don't go on the pathway that leads to the door to her house. So it's not just what happens in the house, but stay away from the door, stay away from the pathway, stay away from the street that leads to the pathway. Just remove yourself. Keep yourself, as Paul told Timothy, to flee sexual immorality.

It's not to be played with. It is great. It brings great destruction. Instead, in verse 15, he says, drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own well. What is he talking about? He's saying, look, all sexual relationships are reserved for marriage. And any kind of sexual relationship outside of marriage is destructive.

All sexual relationships are reserved for marriage. Well, what about this? All sexual relationships. There is nothing sexual permitted by the Lord outside of marriage. Nothing. Some of you might be thinking, well, what if I don't have a sister? Then you need to wait. All sexual relationships, all sexual encounters, all sexual activity is reserved for marriage. Verse 21 says,

Solomon points out, God's watching your life. He sees you. He ponders all your paths. You might not think a whole lot about what you're doing, but God does. He knows exactly what's going on. And notice what he says in verse 22. His own iniquities have entrapped the wicked man. We get trapped by our own sin.

God doesn't have to work real hard like, how am I going to get them in their sin? And, you know, chasing them and bringing them back and get their attention. You know what? We bring it all on ourselves. We trap our own selves in sin. He doesn't have to trap us. We trap ourselves. The reason why God calls it sin is because it's destructive. Because He knows this is going to mess up your life. So I'm going to call it sin and tell you not to do it.

It's not that God says, this is going to be something great. I don't want them to experience something great. So let me threaten them. If you do this thing, even though it's going to be really great, then I'm going to make it miserable for you. I'm going to make you pay for it because I didn't want you to experience something wonderful. No, no, we've got it backwards. It's destructive. That's why God says, don't do it. And because it's destructive, we trap ourselves by our own sin when we engage in it.

So good words of wisdom on sexual immorality from Solomon here in chapter 5. Any other thoughts that you want to throw out there real quick before we move into chapter 6? Alright, chapter 6 verse 1. My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in a pledge for a stranger, he goes on to say, get out of it. He's dealing here with the idea of cosigning.

And the idea of signing up to say, yeah, I'll cover them if they don't pay back the loan. He says, stay away from it, get out of it, unless you can afford it and you're just kind of willing to just give away that money, stay away from co-signing or taking up surety for your friend or for a stranger. It destroys relationships and he's warning it may destroy you.

Verse 6, go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. If you're lazy, you need to consider the ant. Because the ant works hard and prepares for the next season. Sometimes it's hard for us to do that. We're so consumed by the moment that we forget about what's coming next. We get caught up in this life, we forget about eternity. But you need to prepare for eternity.

You need to prepare for the next season of your life. What's around the next corner? Over the next several months, the next couple of years of your life, what's around the corner? The time is now to prepare yourself and to get ready for what is ahead. Then verse 26, another warning against immorality. He says, For by means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread, and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. That's such a powerful picture.

By means of a harlot, a man is reduced to a crust of bread. That's why God calls it sin. Because that's what it will reduce you to. So flee sexual immorality. Anything else from chapter 6 that maybe God gave you some wisdom that you'd like to share? Robert? Verse 26. Yep. Where it, excuse me, 25. That's not after her beauty. And I heart neither let her...

Take heed what your eye is. I mean, it's awesome because God admits that women are beautiful, but to lust, to desire, and bring them into your heart, it only gets in your heart through one way, and that's through covetousness, and we covet with our eyes. So that really spoke to me a lot. It does, because it also talks about fear of the Lord as we go on into chapter 8. One of the things is to hate what God hates.

And pride. And thinking that you have it all together and you don't have to follow, I don't have to follow these words. It's kind of awesome. That woke me up. Great. Thank you for sharing. Alright, Proverbs chapter 7, verse 6. For at the window of my house I looked through my lattice.

Now, here Solomon is describing this picture, this illustration of watching this young man get trapped and seduced by this adulterous woman. Verse 10, And there a woman met him with the attire of a harlot and a crafty heart. In verse 18, she tells the guy, Come, let us take our fill of love until morning. Let us delight ourselves with love. But then verse 23,

till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life. And so he paints this picture to once again make the point, involving yourself in sexual immorality, it starts out nice, it starts out with pleasant things, oh let's take our fill of love and you know, she doesn't go up to him and say, I'm going to pierce your liver with the arrow, I'm going to

None. That doesn't happen. And again, ladies, you can just flip it around. I was listening to Pastor Dave Rolfe and I thought it was kind of funny what he said. He said, you know, if guys weren't able to deceive women with, you know, here's this line, you know, and kind of deceive them with this line, then we'd all be single. You know, that there's, there's, there's this danger of being seduced. Right?

And there's these pleasant words that kind of lure us in. Like, oh, this is going to be wonderful. But we don't know that it's going to cost us our lives. Sin is destructive. It's great, great cost. And so flee from it. That's the point. Verse 24. Now therefore listen to me, my children. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths.

Here's the thing that happens whenever someone is on this path and they're saying, I can handle it. But notice what it says in verse 26. All who were slain by her were strong men.

We look on and we think, man, that must have been a weak man. Not like me. I'm strong. I can handle it. I can handle the temptation. I can handle the situation. I can handle the sin and manage the sin and still be okay with God because I'm strong. No matter how strong you think you are, sin will destroy your life. Her house, His house, it's the way to hell.

If you want to destroy your life and go to hell, then by all means engage in all kinds of immorality and live whatever sinful life you want to live. But don't think that you can get away with living in sin and still enter into eternity with God. The fear of the Lord is to depart from evil. We have to repent. We have to turn. Well, I'm going to jump into chapter 8 because we're short on time. So Proverbs chapter 8 says,

Here in chapter 8, we see wisdom personified. That is, wisdom is being talked about as if she is a person. Now, there's a lot of discussion that could be had here in chapter 8 because people attribute this to being Jesus. That what's being referred to here is Jesus. I would caution you against that. I think there's some parallels because, of course, Jesus is wise. But it does not...

that this is Jesus specifically. It's wisdom. It's, you know, again, it's one of those ideas of poetry. It's not meant to be a literal, you know, understanding that this is exactly Jesus talking. But it's wisdom that is speaking. Verse 1 says, Does not wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice? And what does she say? We'll jump to verse 13. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth, I hate. So we've been talking about the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom. And what is it? Well, it's to hate evil. Again, it's this idea of repentance. Of turning away from sin. Turning away from pride and arrogance, perversity,

God says, I hate those things. Wisdom says, I hate those things. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. We need to learn to hate pride. Not to hate people and not to hate ourselves, but to hate pride, to hate sin.

So that we repent of it and turn away from it and rid our lives of it and scrub our hearts and keep our hearts with all diligence so that we don't get on the road that leads to the path that leads to the doorway to the house of sin. That we hate those things and stay away from them. I don't know why, I just had this thought come into my head about Joanna Rees. She does not care for, it's not her favorite thing in the world, right? Pinto beans?

Now she hates them. So what does she do? She makes sure she stays way out of the way. She goes out of her way. She makes sure I'm not going to eat those beans. Because she hates them. In the same way we need to hate sin. So that we go out of our way. That we make sure that we do our diligence to keep ourselves from evil.

So wisdom calls out and says, here's the fear of the Lord to hate evil. Then in verse 18, riches and honor are with me, she says, enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. Wisdom calls out and says, listen, if you will listen to me, if you will be wise and follow me, your reward is better than riches.

We get caught up in this life and we value riches quite highly. But wisdom is actually more valuable. Primarily because it has eternal value. Not only does it have value in this life, but it has eternal value. And so the fruit of wisdom is better than gold, better than fine gold, better than choice silver, better than platinum or whatever other valuable thing you could think of.

And so what ought we to do? Well, verse 33. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death. So as we begin this journey looking at wisdom, here's what we need to do. To hear instruction and be wise. Don't disdain it. Don't disregard it.

Hear instruction. Listen to these things. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. Make it serious. Make it real in your life that you receive what God speaks through His Word. Receive the wisdom from God. Because whoever finds wisdom finds life and favor from the Lord. Do you want favor from the Lord? Do you want God to pour out blessings on your life? Find wisdom. Search it out. Ask God for wisdom.

seek him out, walk with him, fear him, and depart from evil. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word and the great opportunity that you have given to us to be wise. Lord, to receive wisdom from you. We see, Lord, the importance and the great value that it brings. I pray, Lord, that you would help us, Lord, to dig into your word.

Lord, that we wouldn't just read it to get through the chapter, to get through the portion, but Lord, that you would speak to our hearts and that we would receive from you wisdom as we connect with you over the things that we're reading and we converse with you over the habits and the patterns of our life and what your word has to say about it. As we talk with you and walk with you, Lord, pour out wisdom into our hearts. Help us, Lord. Teach us the fear of the Lord that we might depart from sin and

To stop living in it. Stop playing around with it. Stop walking on the path that leads to that ultimate destruction. Lord, I pray that you would call us to the path of righteousness. And Lord, that we would have wisdom and respond as you call out to us. So Lord, teach us, grow us, instruct us, chasten us.

that we might be instructed and corrected and wise and reap everlasting life. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.