Acts 10. This is the chapter in which a Roman named Cornelius hears the Gospel and gets saved along with his household. But one of the best verses describing readiness to hear from the Lord is verse 33. He's telling Peter the story. He says, this is what happened. The angel spoke to me, said to send somebody to get you, and now you've come. Verse 33, immediately therefore I sent to thee, and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore, and here's the attitude that we want to have in this church every time we have a service. We are all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God. That's a very good spirit to have as you prepare for a service. Two weeks ago, we began a study of the godly home in wisdom, or established in wisdom. A study of the home in Proverbs. The word home is used about 60 times, but it's referred to more often. Then we have reference to husbands and wives, wives and husbands, and parents and children. and then children in their interaction with each other. And the last time we talked about this, we began by mentioning some basic principles about the home that I think are foundational to our understanding of what the Bible teaches. This is part of a larger series. The Godly Home Under the Law takes in all the references to the home, beginning in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Old Testament passages and examples, and then the Godly Home in the New Testament. And the interesting thing about it is the Godly Home is always the same. You always have the same attitude on the part of the father and mother. the husband and wife, the children toward their parents, the children toward each other, just the idea of the home. It's always the same, but there are different responsibilities depending on which dispensation the people in a family find themselves in. We saw last time the home is to be built on careful planning and preparation. The home is to exemplify wise management and operation. The home is to be a place of love and peace. It should be for Christians a little bit of heaven on earth. The home will be ruined by wrong behavior, but the home will be built by right behavior. Let me encourage you as individuals that you begin reading Christian biography, even if you just read one biography of a Christian preacher or missionary servant of the Lord a year. If you're, well, whatever age you are, you're going to read 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 before you die. And as long as you read good biographies, they will greatly strengthen your life. Some of you may read the biography of Slessor. Mary, Mary. All I could think of was Ann Slessor, and I knew that wasn't right. Anyway, Mary Slessor had a father who was an alcoholic, and he was abusive. How does a person grow up in a home like that and go on to be a servant of the Lord? Well, her example is gonna help you understand that. Hudson Taylor grew up in a godly home. In fact, he found a tract on his mother's desk, sat down and read it, and what he did not know is that his mother, who was away at the time, was at that time, at that very hour, on her knees, praying that her son would give his life to Christ. And Hudson Taylor spent the rest of his years in a home where they needed to tiptoe from the bedroom downstairs because father always spent certain periods of time in the morning praying for God to send missionaries around the world. That had a profound effect on Hudson Taylor. We raise children and our children know that we pray and that we're serious about God. It's going to have a profound effect on them. And one of the things we're going to talk about when we get to this part of the Psalms, what do you want for your children? You want them to be rich so they'll take care of you in your old age? Or do you want them to love God? Now, it's not impossible that they might do both, but a lot of times children read the subtle signals they get from mom and dad, I need to succeed in a worldly sense. My mom, my dad will not be happy with me if I want to serve God. And unfortunately, that's very common, even in Christian families. I've had many a father say, boy, you must just have a hard, hard time. Why? Well, you're a pastor. Pastors are always poor. I said, I would rather scrape through life, struggling with poverty, and have God's ear and blessing and raise godly children and so forth, than have all the money in the world. Proverbs is going to talk about that. So I think part of it is that us parents, we need to get squared away with the Lord and understand what life is really all about, and then communicate this to our children. The second part of this first lesson deals with God's blessing on the home established in wisdom. God provides for the home that's established in wisdom, prosperity and success, Perseverance and stability, protection and security. These are all things that the Proverbs have promised. Now, every other message, I'm gonna give you some introductory information about the book of Proverbs that's gonna be helpful for you. Proverbs are general life principles. They are not absolute truths. Let me give you an example of how we misunderstand this. train up a child in the way he should go, and what? When he is old, he will not depart from that. Is that always true? No, it is not. You say, well, wait a minute, it's a promise of God, isn't it? No, it is a proverb of God. It is a general truth. But that does not mean that it is always true. And one of the mistakes we make, and I'll illustrate this in the message tonight, one of the mistakes we make is assuming that I can do what the Proverbs says and then God owes me a certain response. We need to be careful about that. Turn to Proverbs 3. Proverbs 3. Verse 33, the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, but He blesseth the habitation of the just. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. Proverbs 3, verse 33. But He blesseth the habitation of the just. One of the things that's underneath a lot of the statements in Proverbs is what we call the providence of God. That is, God providing for everything in creation in order to accomplish His purposes. Joseph's brothers wanted to kill Joseph. God provided a way that they would change their minds. Do you remember how He did it? Reuben said, let's not kill him, let's what? Let's sell him. This is providence at work. You say, well, how could providence provide for selling Joseph? No, it was a way to stop him from being killed. But Reuben was frustrated, wasn't he? He came to the pit to get him later on and deliver him to his father. And where was Joseph? He was gone because God had provided a caravan of Ishmaelites just at that time to come along. And the brothers then sold Joseph into slavery. Now in chapter 46, when he reveals himself to his brethren, what does Joseph say to them? You did not send me here. Who did? That's providence. God did. God kept him from being killed. God arranged for transportation to Egypt. And then God had a man there to purchase him. And then everything Joseph put his hand to prospered. Why? Because Joseph's such a great planner, such a wise businessman? No. God gave him favor in the eyes of Potiphar. God was working in his life. This is called providence. So when we read a verse that says the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, there are certain things this wicked individual or this wicked family do not understand. Why did this happen? Well, as Barak said in Judges 5, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. I mean, all nature is in whose hands? It's in God's hands, and God was fighting against Sisera. He could not possibly win, no matter how big his advantage, no matter how superior his weaponry, how much wiser his strategies. Everything he did broke because God was against what he was doing. And so we have that here. Let me just read another verse that kind of supports the same idea. Proverbs 14.11, The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tabernacle of the upright shall flourish. Both of these proverbs contrast two things. The house of the wicked is contrasted with the house of the righteous or the just. Those who are cursed is contrasted with those who are blessed. The word curse has the idea of being overthrown, things not working. We've had that happen to us. God in his kindness makes sure that when we go our own way, it does not work. We get frustrated and we wonder what the problem is. The wicked are those whose moral judgments are distorted. Those who hate the Lord. 2 Chronicles 19 describes one of the kings of Judah as a wicked man. He hated the Word of God. God's curse is upon the homes of people like this. That is, God providentially binds them in with obstacles. I'll do this, and it doesn't work. Okay, I'll do that, and it doesn't work. Everywhere they go, they find walls stopping them. The wicked of Proverbs 14 are evil, not only in their own hearts, but also in the way they mistreat others around them. The Proverbs say that God will overthrow their homes. Some of you may be familiar with Joseph Kennedy and his family in Massachusetts. During the Prohibition, the Kennedys made huge amounts of money manufacturing illegal whiskey and selling it all over Canada and in the United States. And yet, this family has become an object lesson of this very proverb. The curse of God is on the house of the wicked. Now, it's not just that they made whiskey, but that they killed government agents. They arranged for the murder of those who were in their way. They knew what their product was doing to the lives of people who were captured by its power. They didn't care. You're just making money. Any way we can, we make money. But if you know anything about the history of the Kennedys, and it's not just the assassination of John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, their family is filled with one tragedy after another tragedy after another tragedy. We call them accidents. Falling off of a boat and drowning, or being inebriated and running your car into a river and being killed. This has happened in that family over and over again. So this kind of thing is what God is talking about. This is the opposite of those who are just. What's a just person? Biblically, a righteous or a just person is somebody who fulfills his or her obligations. In Psalm 15, we have a description of someone who is in fellowship with God. What does a man have to do to be in fellowship with God? Well, he makes promises and he keeps those promises even if it is to his detriment. That's just plain old biblical justice, biblical righteousness. And that kind of person, God says, the upright, He will bless their homes and cause them to flourish. This picture of the home of the godly is like a plant. God talks about this where Joseph in Genesis 40 is concerned. a plant growing and producing fruit. Let's turn to that verse, Genesis chapter 40 and verse 10. We read from this this morning. The chief butler told his dream to Joseph, this is verse 9 in Genesis 40, and he said to him, in my dream behold a vine was before me, and in the vine were three branches, and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes." Well if you remember the interpretation of that dream, That growth and that flourishing meant that the butler was going to be restored to his position. So just as God providentially hinders the homes of wicked people, He also providentially blesses the homes of the righteous so that they grow strong and bear spiritual fruit. And as I say, when you read Christian biography, you'll have this repeatedly illustrated over and over again. that as a general rule, this is exactly what happens to folks. Turn to Proverbs 15. Proverbs 15. I'd like for somebody to read verse 6 out loud. In the house of the righteous there is much treasure, but in the revenue of the wicked there is trouble. How does God bless the homes of the righteous? We said His blessing is on them. But according to this verse, what do they have? What's the word? Yeah, the word is treasure. There is a broader use of this to speak of, you know, the treasure of blessing generally, but most of the times this word is used, it talks about what? Money. It talks about material provision. He blesses them financially. The treasure in the homes of the righteous can include a treasure of peace and a treasure of happiness, a treasure of eternal fruitfulness. By the way, because this is a general principle, this is not only true for saved people. Unsaved people live the right way and they enjoy blessing. It's not necessarily limited to Christian people for these things to be true. It refers here, though, primarily to financial blessing. In contrast to that, the wages of the wicked bring ruin. Well, why is it that the wages of the wicked bring ruin? They don't know how to make godly choices with the finances they have. They have a windfall of money and they go on a vacation and poof! It's gone. Wow, what happened? I mean, you know, we got $100,000 extra. What happened to all that money? Well, you just look back, keep your receipts. Yeah, that was a stupid purchase. Yeah, that was dumb. Yeah, that was stupid. This is what wicked people do, right? They advertise the lottery by showing people who are out traveling the world, doing all kinds of extraordinary things that will never last. This is what they do. They waste it on things that are of no eternal value. So how does God give the righteous much treasure? Well, they work hard. They save. They avoid debt. They invest wisely. They live frugally. They are generous. They're indifferent toward their possessions. We're not going to talk about finances per se, but being able to say, God, by your grace, I own this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this and this. Now, if you take it all away tonight, that's okay. However, I need a place to live, and I need a way to work, and I mean, they're basic things I have, and God, you promised you would provide those for me. But I don't want to have the kind of attitude that hangs on to my things. He that dies with the most toys wins. Not true. Lie. Yeah, so what am I doing that's right with what I have? Well, the very first thing we do that's right is we say, God, it's all yours. And help me not to attach myself to it. It's very easy for a sinful, depraved person to do. to begin to attach their hope on their nice kitchen, their nice house, their nice car. My sister and brother-in-law and Debbie and I are headed up to the mountains. My truck probably couldn't even make it to the foothills, so we rented a car. Ooh, this is nice. Maybe we can get one of these, and maybe we can. but not without proper planning, not without proper saving, not without proper thinking. And what are we doing? We're simply following what God says. This is His Word. We obey it. We make it our guide. As long as Dave Ramsey agrees with God's Word, that's fine to follow him too. But I'm not following a guru of any kind. I'm following God. doing what God says in his word, I should do. So as God sees to it that the righteous have the finances they need, he also sees to it that the ungodly are frustrated trying to live life by making their primary principle or goal obtaining things. God says something similar to this in Proverbs 21.20, But a foolish man spendeth it up. This proverb contrasts saving and wasting. Wisdom saves, and therefore a desirable supply of food and oil are in His dwelling place. This is not because God necessarily gives the wise a higher paying job, although He might do that in His providence. It is because the wise know how to live with possessions. So that kind of prosperity is typical of godly homes. Not that they're extremely wealthy, but my own father, when I said, God wants me in the ministry, well, that's a hopeless situation. What do you mean? Preachers never make any money. And I found that generally to be true. But here we are, we have everything we need for life. We're not suffering, and yet I know people that have had a great deal of money and now can't even afford to buy a car. They don't own their house. They gambled and gambled and gambled and got loans against their house and spent money on plastic that they never had in actual fact, and they're completely bankrupt. I'm not. Why? Well, we just want to try and live wisely. Have I ever made mistakes? Yes, I have. Have I charged up money on plastic? I didn't have. Yes, I have. It's a mistake. It's wrong. But when you apply the Lord's principles to, I'm not trying to give a financial lecture here, but just in general, if you apply the Lord's principles to daily living, then generally you understand the blessing or experience the blessing of the Lord. Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9. The Lord also provides for the righteous perseverance and stability. You'll sometimes hear folks after a house fire, they're gathered on the front lawn, they're still in their nightclothes, and the news people don't care whether you're still in your nightclothes. You know, zoom in on them. Are they crying? Well, don't zoom in on somebody who's not crying. Find somebody who's crying and zoom in on them. You know, what was it like? Well, what do you think it's like to be out on the front lawn with your house burned down? But typically people will say, Well, at least my family survived. At least we're together. But catastrophes like that, as we call them, tragedies or catastrophes, they oftentimes reveal what a person really is. Those are not times when great people are made. Those are times when people are revealed for what they really are, life difficulties. Well, verse 1 in Proverbs 9 says, Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars. Wisdom is spoken of as a person building a house. What are the seven pillars? First of all, is it literal? I don't think the house necessarily has, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 pillars. And the reason is because this fits a lesson throughout the book of Proverbs that those who live in wisdom tend to continue. tend to survive. Their children go on and live in wisdom, and their grandchildren go on and live in wisdom, and their great-grandchildren and so forth. I think the pillars represent stability and endurance, and the fact there are seven of them indicates that this is perfect, if you want, or mature stability and wisdom. Al Sanders who used to be the vice president of Biola. Say, what is Biola? Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It was a Bible college at one point down in Los Angeles. In his 1961 book, Crisis in Morality, he gives this example of this particular proverb. He's saying, these historical facts illustrate. I already used the Kennedy family as an illustration. He's going to use two other families to illustrate this truth. He says, Max Jukes, an atheist, lived a godless life. He's an ungodly fellow. He married an ungodly girl, and from the union there were 310 persons. So they're going down, not just one generation, obviously. Well, that'd be tough for Mrs. Jukes to have 310 kids, right? So they're going down several generations. 310 persons who died as paupers. 150 were criminals. Seven of those were murderers. A hundred of them were drunkards. More than half of the women that were descendant from Max Dukes were prostitutes. His 540 descendants cost the state one and a quarter million dollars. And he goes on to explain how they had found out this information about this fellow and his descendants. On the other hand, Jonathan Edwards, who lived at the same time as Max Duke, so the mid to late 1700s, married a godly girl. An investigation was made of the 1,394 known descendants of Jonathan Edwards, of which 13 became college presidents. 65 college professors, three United States senators. Well, I guess you can't have a perfect record. 30 judges, 100 lawyers, 60 physicians, 75 military officers, 100 preachers and missionaries, 60 authors of prominence, one a vice president of the United States, 80 became public officials in other capacities, 295 were college graduates, among whom were governors of states and ministers to foreign countries. His descendants did not cost the state a single penny. Probably, they contributed to the prosperity of the state rather than costing them. The house that wisdom builds prospers. Now, this is a pretty remarkable illustration of that. And I don't want you to go away thinking, wow, if we're just righteous, we'll have a whole bunch of college presidents in our heritage. No, but the proverb is true. The question is, will you leave here tonight believing that wisdom has built her house? That she has hewn out her seven pillars? Will you leave tonight saying, God, you said righteous people were blessed. Now, by your grace, we're trying to be righteous. Not so that you'll give us a bunch of stuff, but so that we'll have the kind of home where children will go out to make a real difference for all eternity and not just for time. The stability of the godly and the instability of the wicked are especially evident in times of disaster. Proverbs 12 verse 7, the wicked are overthrown and are not but the house of the righteous shall stand." What two words describe what happened to their stability? The wicked are overthrown. That's the first word that describes their instability. It is overturned and it comes to nothing. An Old Testament example of this in the story of Esther, Haman. Haman was second to the emperor. He had ten sons. I mean, this guy had the rest of his life completely taken care of. if he would just use a little common sense. But Haman had nothing common about him, especially sense. And God absolutely unearthed all of his prosperity. He wound up dying and his sons. For what? What was the turning point for Haman? And it probably wasn't just one thing. What was the thing that changed his future fortune? What did he not like? Mordecai would not what? Now, that is not a description of a decent human being. What? You won't bow to me? Ay yi yi, there's a guy with personal issues. And yet there are people so driven in life by pride that they allow things like this to completely dominate them. It is their fault. I've known of Christians who ruin the rest of their life being obsessive about how they've been abused and hurt and mistreated, and nobody is going to do that to them. What a waste. What a lesson to teach your kids. You know, what did your dad do? Oh, he spent his whole life trying to get back at somebody who mistreated him. Well, I'm certainly glad that God doesn't do that. We have mistreated him, every single one of us in this room have mistreated him, and he has the power to do something about that. But he's kind, he's gracious, and it would have helped Haman to be a little kind and gracious. In contrast to this, the home of the righteous stands. Right? Haman fell. What happened to Mordecai? Well, just read the book of Esther. Mordecai was established. He did his people much good. Wouldn't it be great to say, last week Dr. Berg asked, you know, what do you want on your tombstone? Wouldn't it be great to be able to put on your tombstone, he or she did the people of God much good? Well, the house of the wicked is overthrown and they are not. The house of the righteous, however, on the other hand, shall stand. It can be tempered by disasters. It's not mean that the righteous will never face hardship or have what we call in human terms tragedies. But family relationships are strengthened and people, they see the good works of the Christians and glorify their Father as they see the testimony of faith and hope in the midst of life's difficulties. Proverbs chapter 24, two verses here, verses 15 and 16. The third thing that God blesses the godly house established in wisdom with is protection and security. Verse 15 says, "...lay not wait a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous." Don't hide in the bushes. Wait till they come out, beat them up, steal their stuff. Well, why not? They're supposed to just turn the other cheek, right? Yeah, but God doesn't. And God is much more powerful to retaliate against mistreatment than you ever can be. No, we don't avenge ourselves. Vengeance belongs to who? the Lord. And God does avenge His own. So, lay not weight, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous. Spoil not his resting place, for as a just man falls seven times and riseth up again, the wicked shall fall into mischief. What two reasons are given in verse 16 for the command in verse 15? Well, the command is don't lay weight for the righteous. Don't try and attack the righteous. Well, why not? Well, first of all, even if a just man falls seven times, he's going to rise up again. In other words, your attack won't be successful. This is not good. It's like the guy who says, oh man, we can break into these people's house. They're on vacation. This will be a piece of cake. Breaks the window. He lifts the latch. He climbs inside. But before he can tell his comrade in criminality to come on in, he finds that they've left a Doberman pincer inside. This is not happy. This is not going to end well. See? Ah, I can do this. No, you can't. The dog's going to have fun with you before you can get away. In essence, this is what he's saying. It's not going to work. You won't be successful. Second, the outlaw is not to lie in wait against the home of the righteous because then he himself will fall into mischief. Aha, here he is in the house. What does he hear? He hears little noises of people moving around outside. He looks out the window. He sees the blue light flashing and he goes, oh no, this is not good. See, he'll fall into calamity, into ruin. How are these two things going to happen? Providence. Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, and he's very proud of his wickedness, Ahab is. He says, we should go up against this city and take it back from the Syrians. And he calls all of his false prophets, his false priests, and he says, what should we do? And they say, oh, go up. God has promised blessing. And yet one prophet comes in and he says, if you go, you will die. Well, it's one to a whole bunch. Who do you think is going to be right? Well, whichever one is speaking for God. He's the one who's right. Ahab's a little concerned. Maybe Micaiah might be a little right, so he tells Jehoshaphat, dumb guy that he is, you put on your royal robes and go into battle, and I'm just going to wear street clothes. I'm going to stand my chariot way back here. What's he doing? He thinks he'll be okay. He's sure he can outsmart God. And yet what happens? A man drew a bow at a venture, and he shot this arrow. Normally, you know, suppose you can shoot an arrow 300 yards with some accuracy. Ahab's a mile away. Ooh, miraculously, this arrow just never stops. It just goes and goes and goes. Why? God is going to see to it that Ahab dies. And there's nothing he can do to keep himself safe. And all of his intelligence, all of his scheming and planning, that's not going to help him. You say, I can do this. I can get away with this. Man, don't ever drive again the rest of your life. Why not? Because God's got a car out there with your name on it. And it is going to run you down. That's called providence. You will never get away with pretending to be smarter than the Lord. I'm not saying God is mean. And oftentimes, God is very kind. We do things wrong and He does not reward us according to our iniquity. Psalm 103 says, He's very kind to us, but there is a point at which that ends. Sometimes we think God's mercy will never, ever end. He that being often reproved and hardeneth his neck, Proverbs 29.1, shall suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy. You know what that means? No hope. The time for your praying is gone. It's too late to pray. The time for your wanting to submit is gone. Too late. You resisted and resisted. You told God no, no, no, no, and now it's too late. And that's what's illustrated here. Proverbs 15 and verse 25, our last verse. The Lord will destroy the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow. It's not just the house of the proud or the border of the proud that won't survive. It's the whole house that's going to be destroyed. But he'll establish the border of the widow. What are the two key words of contrast in this proverb? Well, it is destroy and establish. The word destroy is kind of a graphic term. If you've ever worked in renovation before, you'd understand this word. It pictures a guy with a wrecking bar. and he is destroying this wall because it has to go. Establish is exactly the other side of this term. It pictures the builder and he is establishing, he's building, he's constructing the border of the widow. It's interesting how Proverbs uses extremes. You have the proud on one hand and not just the humble, but it's a widow who can't take care of herself. She doesn't need to take care of herself because God's going to take care of her. God's going to provide what she has need of. Notice that the proud person and the widow, the proud can take care of himself, the widow's very vulnerable, are contrasted. While God destroys the very house of the proud, He personally secures even the border of the widow, making her even more secure. God Himself provides protection, prosperity, and perseverance for the home that is established in wisdom, It ought to be the prayer of our hearts that God would pour out his blessing on our homes and our families and make these things not just principles in a book, but illustrations of the way our family is. You know, one of the great things about the Proverbs is that the best exposition of a proverb is often a living, breathing family. I don't understand what this means. Then look at this family. They will tell you by personal experience what this means. That's the greatest commentary on the book of Proverbs. So the Lord should put it on our hearts to pray that these things would be true for us, make us wise stewards in the maintenance of our family relationships and our choices that we make, especially as parents in a family. Okay, let's close with a word of prayer. Father, we give Thee thanks for these truths. May our families here at Lighthouse be illustrations of the truth of all of these principles. But Lord, not illustrations of what happens to those who are wicked, but illustrations of what happens to those who are righteous. God, make our lives count, not just for time, but for eternity. We don't care so much about having a reputation among men. That's just seeking after pride. But we do desire to have your blessing on our lives. And the scripture tells us that though you resist the proud, you give grace to the humble and help us to be humble before you. and to seek not the blessing of men, but the blessing of the eternal God who is our refuge. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.