Good evening everyone. Those of you that are joining us on Facebook Live, we're in Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs 4. I'd like to read this in sections, but I'm going to forget to read the next section when we get there. So I'm just going to read the whole chapter and we'll pray. How's that sound? Okay. Listen, my sons, to a father's discipline and pay attention so that you may gain understanding. For I am giving you good instruction. Don't abandon my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, he taught me and said, your heart must hold on to my words. Keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget or turn away from the words of my mouth. Don't abandon wisdom and she will watch over you. Love her and she will guard you. Wisdom is supreme, so get wisdom. And whatever else you get, get understanding. Cherish her and she will exalt you. If you embrace her, she will honor you. She will place a garland of grace on your head. She will give you a crown of beauty. Listen, my son, accept my words, and you will live many years. I am teaching you the way of wisdom. I am guiding you on straight paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered. When you run, you will not stumble. Hold on to instruction. Don't let go. Guard it, for it is your life. Don't set foot on the path of the wicked. Don't proceed in the way of evil ones. Avoid it. Don't travel on it. Turn away from it and pass it by. For they can't sleep unless they have done what is evil. They are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble. They eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. The path of the righteous is like a light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday. But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom. They don't know what makes them stumble. My son, pay attention to my words. Listen closely to my sayings. Don't lose sight of them. Keep them within your heart, for they are life to those who find them and health to one's whole body. Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Don't let your mouth speak dishonestly, and don't let your lips talk deviously. Let your eyes look forward. Fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Don't turn to the right or to the left. Keep your feet away from evil. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your Word and for the wisdom that you gave to Solomon to write these things down. And we recognize that his sons did not receive his teaching. And there have been times when we have not received yours. We ask, Father, that you would open our hearts and our minds to the things that you have for us, that we might truly get wisdom and understanding and live in a way that's honoring to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. Okay, so this is the fourth of ten chapters. Solomon is trying to teach his son some lessons, and it begins like chapters 1, chapter 2, and chapter 3. So the repetition and why. Chapter 1 verse 8 says, My son, hear the instruction of your father. Do not forsake the law of your mother. Chapter 2 verse 1, My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you. Chapter 3 verse 1, My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands. So there's a lot of repetition here. Here he's saying, listen to me. Hear the instruction of a father. Give attention to no understanding. And then a little bit further down he says, do not forsake my law. Now, repetition, repetition, repetition. It is one of the ways that teachers teach. Why? Because it's one of the ways that we start hearing what was said the first time. When my wife and I were a little bit younger, and we didn't always know how to handle conflict as well as God has given us grace to do in this day and age, I would normally mess up for about six months. And then, like clockwork, she would let me know all the things that I had done wrong in the previous six months. And it would normally start around 10, 30, 11 o'clock at night. And then she would review. Cover it again. And again. And again. And again. And about 1.30 I'm sitting there saying, you're right about everything. Please forgive me. Let me go to sleep. Repetition is a good way to teach and to learn. 11.30 to 1.30 might not be the best timing, but we kind of work through some of those things and we haven't done that. A long time. Praise the Lord. But repetition's good. It's important. Why do you think you go through the same lessons over and over and over? Lessons. Let me put it in the terms that we normally use. Trials. Okay? Because we need that repetitious situation to actually see, okay, what is God really trying to show me here? Because does it really matter if I'm going one mile over the speed limit? Now, someone's going to say yes. Get off of the legalism and, okay, what is God trying to teach at that situation, okay? So, repetition, it's important. He gives some whys here. I give you good doctrine. The word good is tobe in the Hebrew. I keep on wanting to say Portuguese, but it's not in Portuguese, it's in Hebrew. And basically when God calls something good, it's from His perspective. And so when He created things and said, it is good, He said tobe. Okay, so we're looking at good from God's perspective, even though dad is talking to his son, I give you good doctrine. The word doctrine here is lechach, something received, instruction, whether the teacher or the hearer, also in an active and sinister sense, enveiglement. Now, I had to look that word up, and I'll be honest with you, I can't remember what it's about. It's something to do with seduction and deception. But doctrine, learning, or fair speech. Now, started another book by A. W. Tozer. I'm still reading all the other ones. But started one, The Spirit-Filled Life, or something like that. And he starts out talking about the way we do church, and so often it is the way we do church. It's not necessarily inspired or led by the Spirit. It's just we do church. I think Pastor remarked Wednesday night that when you look at how the church was in the book of Acts, and then look at how the church is today, there's a little bit of a difference. It's interesting because Tozer passed in 1963. In case you don't know, that's a long time ago. No, it wasn't? Well, I was three years old when it happened. You were married. He got married in that year, okay. Okay, got married before that. Yeah, okay. But his complaint about the evangelical church, and in one of the books that I'm reading, he actually says, I kind of hope I'm alive when the evangelical church goes down the tubes, or when enough Christians get sick of it and leave. Now, I think when he's talking about the evangelical church of his time, he's talking about people are not really understanding the concept of worship. They're getting more involved in entertainment. Is that a complaint that we have in the church of today? I have a feeling he wouldn't look at what we complain about as entertainment. I don't think he'd look at it as entertainment. He'd wonder where on earth the church went. Okay? And so when we talk about doctrine, one of the things that he points out in The Spirit-Filled Life is we do church, but we really don't like the concept of theology. Now, theology is just the study of theos. Okay? Theoph is going to be the Greek word for God. It's the study of God. Now, when we talk about theology, it covers a lot of different disciplines. Theology proper is about God. Christology is about Christ, things like that. But this is the concept of doctrine. What does the Bible teach about whatever the subject is? Well, he's telling his son, I give you good doctrine. I'm giving you what God calls as good, the teaching, as a father to a son so that you're prepared for life. It's good stuff, okay? And then he goes, where I received my doctrine? Well, I was nurtured by my parents in the things of the Lord. In verse three, he says, when I was a son with my father, tender and precious to my mother, he taught me, verse four, and said, your heart must hold on to my words and keep my commandments. Ephesians 6.4 says, and you fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training the discipline, and the admonition of the Lord. Admonition, basically a word that can be translated warning, and it can be translated Biblical, as in biblical counseling. Okay, that's the idea of the admonition where you're counseling someone in the things of the Lord. So this is where he got his training from his parents, okay. He says, I was my father's son. In 1 Chronicles 29.1 it says, furthermore, King David said to all the assembly, My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. Now, in the book of Proverbs, he says several things about the simple. That means young and inexperienced. I think Solomon's going on 40 when he becomes king. He's young and inexperienced. And the work, being king, is great. Because the temple is not for man, but for the Lord God. In other words, first of all, God has chosen him to be the next king. So since he's young and inexperienced, I want you guys to come along and give him good counsel. Why? Because what he's gonna be participating in is really important because it's not about what we all think, it's about what God likes, the temple there. And so, His dad was really concerned that he got some of those lessons. He goes on to say, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother. One author that I was looking at seemed to indicate that Bathsheba only had one child. I don't know that. Now, yes, she would have had two, one died. I don't know that because the Bible doesn't say she only had one child. We know that she had Solomon. Did she have any other children? Bible doesn't tell us. Yeah, what's that? Nathan was hers also. Cool. Okay, I wasn't sure if Nathan was hers or one of the other wives, but yeah. So I don't know that Solomon was her only son, but he at least recognized that he was tender and the only one in the sight of his mother. She understood this was the one that God was gonna use. And I imagine, you know, if you know that about your kid, you're probably gonna be giving them a little bit of extra attention. Now, is that favoritism? Not really. Favoritism. Lynn grew up with a little brother and then nine years later come along little sister. Little brother and her about 16 months apart, I think. And little brother was a boy. That's normally a point of favor, at least for dads. But little brother was a cross country runner. He was a baseball player. He was a basketball player. He was into sports and dad really liked sports. Little brother, knew that he was the favorite, and therefore wasn't afraid to do things that were fleshly, normal for a young man and stuff like that. And he never really got in trouble. And where Older sister, Lynn, firstborn, always concerned about getting in trouble, always wanting to please mom and dad and stuff like that. Little brother is still the favored child, even though from a Christian perspective, he didn't do anything right. He's still the favored child. And of course the sisters go, why? Now that mom needs a power of attorney, the youngest sister lives close enough to her, we'll take care of you. Nope, I want Mike to be the power of attorney. Okay, now let's complain about why Mike isn't taking care of this, and taking care of that, and taking care of this. But he's the favored son. That's the concept of being favorite when you're recognizing, for example, Moses. Moses had a brother and a sister, right? And yet, Moses got some extra special attention. Why? Because I recognize God's got something for this kid. Now, it didn't mean that he was the favored kid, it's just he was the only one that really needed his life guarded, and so he got some special favors. Miriam actually, wherever they put him in the reeds, Miriam was there so that when he was found, hey, I can get someone to nurse him for you. and he got to go home with mom and be taken care of. But again, that was all part of God's plan. So I think Bathsheba is looking at that the same way. She did have other children. That's great. We love them, but we know this one God has a job for. Okay? All right. Dad's appeal to me in verse four. Let your heart retain my words. In 1 Chronicles 28 9, it says, As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent and thoughts of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you. If you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. You know, when your teenage sons are finally able to drive and they want to go out and have some fun with their friends. What does that sound like? Trouble. It really does. And I remember, you know, my kids are just a little bit too much like me. And when those first times came about, it's kind of like, have fun. Be wise. Don't be foolish. Now, that's all I said. I wasn't trying to get down on him. I was just trying to remind him there is a good behavior that you can exhibit. You've done it. And there is stupidity and foolishness just waiting for an opportunity to show itself. Be wise. So let your heart retain my words and then keep my commandments and live. Proverbs 7 to keep my commands and live and my law as the apple of your eye. That whole concept of I want you to be focused on this. because that's what's important. So that brings us to letter B, the continued call in verses five to seven, similar to Proverbs 2, two and three, which says, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if you will cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding. So you see the need for the person to be involved in the pursuit of this wisdom. So he starts out with, Get it. Get wisdom. Get understanding. I don't know how many of you may have seen the movie, The Master of Disguise. Dana Carvey, when his kids were younger, he wanted them to be able to watch a movie that was kind of like James Bond. but it wasn't James Bond for the reasons that you don't want kids watching James Bond. So he plays a nerd in the movie that his family line are kind of like James Bond, but the way they do it is they disguise themselves. They're called the disguises. Go figure, right? Well, in trying to find out the mystery that's going on, he's learning how to be a disguise master from his grandfather. And he ends up having to go to the Turtle Club. So what do you think he dressed up as? a turtle, not a ninja turtle, just a turtle. And of course, everybody's looking at him kind of laughing. And he says some things that he really doesn't have a clue as to how things work. But somewhere in the rush, he ends up dressing up as, oh, a, you know, a Spanish or a Frenchman, that kind of a thing. And he's talking to the guy and he goes, get it, got it, good. So that's how I've outlined this. Get it? Got it? Good. The first thing is get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget, the word there is shechak, to mislay, to be oblivious of, from, or want of memory, or attention, cause to forget. Today when I went home, and I was reminded right before I went home that I needed to bring a book tonight, and a drill bit. Put the drill bit in Johnny's mailbox and give the book to Vivian. I went home and let the chickens out, got inside and I was waiting for pepper jack meatloaf. You know, I totally forgot about the book and the bit. And that's the concept of memory lapse, okay? That's the idea here. Do not forget. Nor turn away from the words of my mouth. The word for turn away here is natah, to stretch or spread out, to bend away. This is where maybe dad is yelling and the kids are kind of going like this. That's the idea that's given here. Don't turn away from the words of my mouth. In other words, you ought to be leaning into it and listening and trying to get everything you can from it. The got it part, he says, do not forsake her. Well, if you don't get it, You can't forsake her. So obviously he got it. Do not forsake her and she will preserve you, second Thessalonians. 210 it says, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. Do not forsake her. Here we're in an age where we can freely preach the gospel. Now I recognize that may change, and it's not that way in some countries, but there's going to come a time when we get to leave. And the people that heard the gospel here, I meet with normally three, sometimes four or five people with benevolence on a weekly basis, and they each get the gospel. And no decisions are made that I know of. In fact, I'm not looking for them to make a decision. I tell them right up front, I'm not here to shove anything down your throat and not interested in getting you to decide for Jesus. I know some people think that if you don't make a decision, you've said no. No, they haven't said no. They need to come to the conclusion. But they need to come to the conclusion, first of all, am I telling them the truth? There's too many false teachers out there. So am I telling them the truth? If not, don't listen to me. But if I am, the next thing you have to figure out is, do I need to do something to get into that truth, or am I there? And the reason why I say, or am I there, is because in talking to people that, when we get down to brass tacks, I think they might actually be there, when I ask them the two diagnostic questions, very often their answers are not solid answers. They get into the doing of the things that you ought to do as a Christian, and kind of forget sometimes that It's because Christ died on the cross for my sins and was buried and rose again the third day, and he's my only hope. But when we get talking after a while, it's kind of like, okay, I think they understand it. They just don't know how to communicate it well, which again is another problem that maybe you need to get in this book a little bit more often type thing. I share the gospel with a lot of people. I've never seen anybody come to know Christ that I know of. Some of them, maybe they have. But the reality is, is if the time comes that we're raptured and they stay here, God is going to bring all kinds of judgment on this world, and they're going to be in the midst of it because they did not receive the truth. Okay? So don't forsake her. She will preserve you. Well, they didn't get her, so there's no preservation. For us, thankfully, yeah, we're gonna be preserved. And not like a canning jar, thankfully. Okay? Goes on, love her and she will keep you. Now, it is one thing to not forsake. It's another thing to actually love. Why do I say that? Because once again, we have a tendency within the evangelical realm to, we're not going to throw things out the door. We believe these things. But one of the things that A. W. Tozer talks about in one of his books is people will hold on to the correct dogma or the correct doctrine. They know things about God, but do they know God? Okay, and I think that's the idea here is, you know, lover, love wisdom, love understanding, get to know God, learn to enjoy your relationship with Him, because there are blessings in that that are just so much more than, well, I get to go to heaven when I die. As though that's what it's all about. No, no, no. Enjoy your relationship with God now. Okay, so that brings us to number three. Get it, got it, good. Wisdom is the principle thing. The word principle there basically means it's of first priority. Luke 10, 42. But one thing is needed and Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her. We know the story, Mary and Martha, Jesus is there and Mary is sitting at Jesus's feet and just listening. And Martha is scooting back and forth and trying to get dinner arranged and take care of all the possible needs and so on and so on and so forth. And no, no, no, there's only one thing that's really important. Listen, learn, it becomes a part of you and then it shows up in your life. The concept of that focus, I was explaining to someone recently, Lynn can be falling asleep in the easy chair. She's either reading a book or looking at her phone, or we might be watching something on TV, and she can fall asleep. And I mean, she can fall asleep at 9.05, which is too early for me as far as I'm concerned. But I'll sit there and say, honey, go to sleep, go to bed. Oh, okay. She will get up and go to the kitchen and do this and do that. And then she'll go into the bedroom and then she'll come out and go into the bathroom and she'll go back out to the kitchen. Would you just go to bed already? You were already sleeping. It's time to go to bed. So go to bed. And you know, when it's time to go to bed, I get up, go to the bathroom, brush my teeth, go in, put on the pajamas, hop in the bed. Boom. It takes about two and a half minutes. Nope, everywhere. She's a Martha. And one thing is good. A lot of things get done, but the better, go to bed. Or in this case, get wisdom. It's the principal thing. Therefore, since it's the principal thing, get wisdom. And with all of your getting, get understanding. Lynn and I will sit for breakfast and we'll be talking about stuff and she goes, give me your opinion. I want to make sure I'm seeing this thing right. And then she'll give the situation at hand and she'll give her conclusion of the situation. And I go, well, yeah, I think you're seeing it right, but. Lynn is very truth-oriented, boom, there's the truth, there's black, white, and cross the line, and we chop your head off. That's her upbringing, and because I've messed up, I've gone over that line so many times, and I've experienced the mercy and grace of God so many times, when we talk about going over that line, I sit there and say, but, Don't wanna kill the person because they walked over the line, okay? Last week, some of our piano students were at the house and in the past, they have thrown this swing up into the tree and I normally have to get a ladder out to go get it. And I've told them, don't do it or else you're not gonna be able to use the swing. Well, last week, one of them did it. And I'm sure he thinks one of his siblings did it, but I'm pretty sure he did it. Another one ran into our drying rack for clothes and stuff like that, and it broke. Now, they sit in the ground for so long, and they get rusty, they break. But it wasn't the kid that was this big that broke it. It was the kid that was this big. And I'm sitting there going, I don't know. Well, when those kids came for piano lessons this week, Lynn kind of read them the riot act. No, you are not gonna act like a bunch of wild Indians here. And dad came in on it and, is there a problem? And Pastor Al was not happy. No, I wasn't, but you didn't have to bring me into this whole thing. But the whole thing is, you crossed the line, now it's time for death. You can have a little bit of mercy on them, dear. And so with all of your getting, get understanding, not just truth, but some grace in there also. And more, so get it, got it, good, and more. Don't just get it and good for you, but exalt her. And here's a bunch of things that she'll do for you, wisdom and understanding here, benefits. She will promote you, the concept of advancing. She will bring you honor when you embrace her. 1 Samuel 2.30, therefore the Lord God of Israel says, I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before me forever. But now the Lord says, Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed." So if you exalt wisdom, she will bring you honor. She will place on your head an ornament of grace, and she will deliver you a crown of glory. This is similar to Proverbs 1.9 and 3.22. For they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck, and so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck." The whole concept is, when you get wisdom, people are going to notice, ah, that person, they get it. Okay? Much like common sense, as I brought up last week. Common sense is, it's kind of silly that it's called common because it seems to be so rare. But when you see someone that has it, Yeah, they get it, they get it. Okay, then number five, one more time for good measure in verses 10 to 13. He says, hear and receive my sayings and the years of your life will be many. Again, repeated in chapter three, verse two. He says, I have taught you in the way of wisdom. I have led you in right paths. Don't you wish that the things that you've taught your kids, they would hang on to and become a part of their life? It's kind of interesting. I know most of us, as we have kids, we're young. We don't know much more than the kids do sometimes, but as we grow, we learn some things. Hopefully, we're passing some of that along. But somewhere in the rush, the kids have to get out and learn some of those lessons on their own. And it's always hard to watch them do that because I got the answer for you if you just talk to me. But no, no, they're going to go and find out for themselves, kind of just like their parents did. But you can just hear David talking to his son here, and Solomon to his son. I've taught you good things. I've led you in the paths of righteousness. And so therefore, if you walk in them, When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble. Psalm 1836 says, You enlarge my path under me, so my feet did not slip. I think it was Charles Spurgeon, turn of the century area, back in the late 1800s, early 1900s, he talked about walking And I can't remember the terminology you used, but the idea was the path was on the top of a hill, okay? And it was a very narrow path. And if you weren't careful watching where you were going, you'd step on one side or the other. And of course, as soon as you did, you'd slide down that side of the hill. And that's the idea here, to enlarge your path, to make it a little bit wider so it's easier to stay on it. That's what God does for those that, are walking with him. And then Proverbs 3.23, then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble. I think last week I told you about tripping when you come up the stairs. That old wives tale that means you're not going to get married this year. I continue to trip going up the stairs even though I've been married for 38 years. I don't know what it means now, but that's the idea that you're not going to stumble. The rubber of the bottom of your shoe doesn't get caught on something and you end up falling on your face. When you're walking with God, that doesn't happen. And then, of course, final thoughts. Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let go. Keep her. So you see three commands there. Take firm hold of it. Don't let go. Keep her. She's got to be part of you. And it goes on to say, for she is your life. Now for us, we're very often not considering wisdom as something that we need to go out and get. Though James does say, you know, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who upbraideth not. He's not going to rebuke you if you ask for wisdom. And the whole purpose of the wisdom there is so as you're going through the trial, you know how to do it in a way that's pleasing to Him. He's not going to rebuke you. And not only that, but He's going to give graciously, lavishly. He'd more than want you to have wisdom. And then it goes on to say, but let him ask in faith. Oh, you got to believe that God really wants to help you through this situation. This trial is not, oh, God's trying to get me back for last week when I blew it, you know? No, no, no, no. He's trying to teach you something so you can go to him believing that when you ask for wisdom, he's going to give it to you. because he wants you to succeed. Too often we look at God as he's not really, we're not on the favored side of the family because we mess up. And he says, Don took care of all of that a long time ago. You're my favored son. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. You're my favored daughter. Not favorite, favored. Okay? You know, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. That's the way he looks at us. Why? Because we're in Christ Jesus. Okay? So when we go to him, we can understand that he wants us to succeed, wants us to learn the lessons, so we don't need to be double-minded. He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not. That kind of a thing. And Christ is our life. So we've taken hold of Him. If we really belong to Him, we don't have to worry about letting go. He's not letting go of us, which I do appreciate. So that brings us to letter C, putting it into practice in verses 14 through 19. He starts by talking about the path of the wicked. walking in the way of evil. Do not enter it. Do not walk. Avoid it. Do not travel on it. Turn away from it. Pass on. This is two verses and he says six times, stay away from that. Remember what I said about repetition? Why does he have to tell his kids six times to stay away from this path? Because it's just all too natural to go on it. Okay? So, Psalm 1-1, blessed, oh how very happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. Proverbs 1-10, my son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. Verse 15, my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path. So again, a lot of repetition. Why? Because kids need that kind of thing. As far as the wicked, he gives us a description here. They cannot sleep unless they have done evil or unless they have made someone fall. Psalm 36.4 says, he devises wickedness on his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He does not abhor evil. Now I know most of you are not getting online and looking for videos of the World Economic Forum. How boring. Or let's see what Bill Gates said 10 years ago. How boring, most of us wouldn't be looking for that stuff. But the reality is, is when you consider some of the things that these people say in public forums, kind of like, and to know that our government is following the path that they've kind of laid out. This is the path of the wicked. Romans 1 says that when God gives us over to a debased mind to do things that ought not to be done, these people, knowing that the penalty of such things is death, not only do them, but they rejoice when someone else does it. I don't know about you, but if you can't see that going on in the public forum in today's day and age, you need to get out more. You don't necessarily need to watch the news, but you need to get out more because, wow, what is it, Gloria Steinem wore a t-shirt at some rally that talked about how blessed she was to have had an abortion. What on earth is wrong with these people? They've been given over to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done, and not only that, but rejoice. These people can't go to sleep at night if they haven't figured out how they can make someone else fall. It's just absolutely amazing, but it's all around us if we look. Isaiah 57 20 says, But the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Micah 2.1, woe to those who devise iniquity and work out evil on their beds. At morning light, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand. When I consider some of the things that World Economic Forum has planned, we'd like to get the population down to about 500 million. We're presently over eight billion, is my understanding, and if you gave everyone 700 square meters of land, the world's population would fit in the state of, I think, Texas, if not at least Alaska. Are we overpopulated? No, but they believe we are. And therefore, Planned Parenthood, started by Marjorie Sanger, her desire was to get rid of the people that we don't like. So where do we put Planned Parenthoods? In most cities. In the poverty-stricken area. And who lives there? minorities. Yeah, we want to get rid of those people. But think about it with me for just a minute. We want to get the population of the world down to 500 million. You know what the population of America is? 330 million. So maybe America and Canada, that's all we want. The rest of the world, let's just kill them all. How are we going to do that? This is Bill Gates saying this, not me. Don't think I'm saying it about him. He said it in a video better than 10 years ago. Coronaviruses and vaccines. Put two and two together, okay? So they're wicked. They can't sleep unless they've done evil or made someone else fall. It is part of them. Notice John 6, 51 to 58. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? And Jesus said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him up in the last day for my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him. as the Living Father has sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead, he who eats this bread will live forever." Now, this is actually a direct contrast to it in the sense that we don't believe in eating flesh or drinking blood. But Jesus in this same chapter says that you have to believe. And you have to believe in the sense of it becomes a part of you. Like eating and drinking the flesh and the blood of his body. It's a part of you. Well for the wicked, it's a part of them. Notice it says, for they eat the bread of wickedness and they drink the wine of violence. So I've given you a contrast, a positive contrast to the negative that they're all about. Wow. It's become a part of them. Number two, contrasting the paths of the just. Verses 18 and 19. The path of the just is like a shining sun that shines ever brighter until the perfect day. I won't read all these verses so that we have time. 2 Samuel 23.4, and he shall be like a light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds like the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after the rain. Or Matthew 5.14, you are the light of the world. A city that is set on the hill cannot be hidden. That's the idea of the path of the just, shining like a sun that's rising in the morning all the way through midday. And then the way of the wicked? Well, that is like darkness. So much so that they do not know what makes them stumble. And again, go consider some of the things that the world is saying in this day and age. A girl born in a boy's body. Really? Not only that, but let's talk to those little kids when they're really young. So we put these ideas in and then the people that have gone through the surgery, they've done studies. Well, the reason why you have to give them the surgery is because they might commit suicide. So they check on those people a year after they've done the surgery. See, they haven't committed suicide. But studies have been done that 10 years after they've had the surgery, the suicide rate jumps way higher than the people that were struggling with the body's dysphoria. Some of them do commit suicide, but again, it's wrong thinking. And when we give them what they think they want, within 10 years, the suicide rate goes way up. And the world, they don't talk about that. They only talk, you gotta give them what they want. They gotta give them what they want. They don't understand what they're stumbling over. You know, we're going to buy dynamics. That's what he calls it. But let's spend another few trillion dollars and help inflation go up. Okay, but it's only 3% this year. Yeah, but you forgot the 9% last year and the 8% the year before. It all adds up. You've noticed that when you've gone grocery shopping. It's not 3%. It's like 25%. Okay, that's how that works. And no, no, no, they don't understand what they're stumbling over. Let me give you a couple of verses. He will guard the feet of his saints, but The wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength no man shall prevail. Job 18, five and six. The light of the wicked indeed goes out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp beside him is put out. Isaiah 59, 9 and 10. Therefore, justice is far from us. That doesn't sound like today. Nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but there is darkness. For brightness, but we walk in blackness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. I don't know about you, but that description really does fit an awful lot of what we see in the political realm today. So the way of the wicked. It's like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. Letter D. from your center, verses 20 through 27. He says, give attention to my words, incline your ear to my sayings, as he also said in Proverbs 2.1. Do not let them depart from your eyes, Proverbs 3.3. Keep them in the midst of your heart, Proverbs 3.21. You notice there's a lot of repetition. Okay? He has said these things in previous lessons. He's saying them again. Here's the benefits of it. For they are life to those who find them and health to all of their flesh. Now, just a couple of verses here. Proverbs 3.8 and 12.18. 3.8 says, it'll be health to your flesh and strength to your bones. 12.18 says, there is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health. Elsewhere, and I probably should have looked this one up but I hadn't thought of it, the Word of God brings joy, it brings health. Now, we recognize that we live in a fallen world and therefore The older we get, the more our health is diminished and stuff like that. But there is physical benefits to walking the way God says to walk, just like there are physical difficulties when we don't. And if you're not sure of that, go to Psalm 38 and just read the first 10 verses and consider how many times David says in one manner or another that he's struggling with depression. And then look at how many times it talks about physical ailments because his sin has not been dealt with. Physical, not spiritual. Oh, God's not hearing me. No, no, no. I'm praying and it's like there's a brass. No, no, no. Physical ailments because he has sinned and it's not been taken care of. So if we're walking in the path of righteousness, you can expect that there's going to be physical benefits also. Excuse me. Keeping the heart, verses 23 through 27. Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it spring the issues of life. Now, it's very easy to look at this verse by itself. I need a little bit of a drink here. But the rest of the passage is really the demonstration of the keeping of the heart. Let me read a couple of verses for you. You brood of vipers, how can you being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Now, I know we don't like talking about Joe Biden or whatever, but do you realize how many times he has said things that are just absolute lies? I mean, there's not even a story in his life that's close to what he said. He taught at UPenn for four years. He has never taught at UPenn. Why would he lie in such a bold way? Alzheimer. Well, maybe it's part of what's in his heart. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That's why we need a new one, which we get when we're saved. But This guy, everything he seems to say, it's either direct truth, and when you look at some of the things he said that people say, well that was a gaffe, because he makes plenty of those too, but the gaffe, I think he was telling the truth and they're passing it off as a gaffe. And it's kind of like, if he told the truth, well, we know why that election went the way it went. And you have to go back and look at what he said there. But why does he lie so easily? Because it's a part of who he is. Okay, it's the center of his heart. How about Mark 7, 21? For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, and murders. One of the things that parents need to understand is a child's heart is bound up with foolishness. Forget the rod of correction for just a moment. When kids act foolish, it's because that's what's in them. Okay? The heart shows itself through behavior. So what should you expect from a kid? Foolishness. And knowing that, we stop making excuses for it. Well, they're tired. They don't understand. You know, they're too young to know. Rachel made a decision to trust Christ when she was three years old. Now, She made a few more decisions after that. And I think if you look at how the disciples believed in John chapter two, the disciples believed in John chapter four, the disciples believed in John chapter six. Multiple decisions is not a problem for me. But by the time Rachel was three and a half years old, she was saying, you know, there's a part of me that wants to do the very thing that I know I shouldn't be doing. Now, how come she knew something like, Romans chapter seven, because her mom taught her those things. And she was recognizing the pattern in her life at such a young age. Now, none of the other kids recognize it at that young age, but my whole point there is they're too young. They don't understand. They don't understand because we didn't teach them. Okay? And so when my boys didn't get it by the time they were three and a half, it was because mom was a little bit busier and maybe dad was busy with stuff that he shouldn't have been or whatever. But whole point being is kids understand a lot if given the opportunity, but they are, you know, they start with that deficit of foolishness. So keep your heart because out of it flow the issues of life. Number three here, From the heart, the mouth speaks. He says, put away from you a deceitful mouth and put perverse lips far from you, Joe Biden. I mean, anybody, okay? We need to learn to tell the truth, even when it might be detrimental to what people think about us and stuff like that. Over the years, I don't give a lot of detail because there's no need to know detail, but I have no problem admitting, look, these are things I've struggled with. Here's why I struggle with some of these things. When I was going through it, I probably was a little bit less quick to share, why? Because what will people do with that information? But the reality is, is now that I've learned how to walk with God a little bit better and those things aren't as much of an issue, I don't have a problem talking about them. And the reason is, is because people need to know these are common struggles and there is hope. Because when you're going through it, it's like there's no hope. Nobody else is struggling with this. All Christians are good, it's just me. And there is no hope. I have tried, I have tried, I have tried, and there's no hope. Yes, there is. But unless we're honest with each other, that won't be what they've learned, okay? And he goes on to say, put perverse lips far from you. The concept of perverseness is that twistedness and Hanging around men, men's Bible studies, men's prayer breakfast, occasionally you'll hear something as kind of like, yeah, that guy's got a few things to work on still, okay? We're gonna extend grace. We may have to make some corrections if it keeps up, but that's what's in his heart. And then number four, the eye is the light of the body. Now, that's not here in Proverbs. It's in Matthew, I believe it is. But notice it says, Let your eyes look straight ahead and your eyelids look right before you. The idea is what you're looking at, that's where you're gonna end up going. I think Pastor has shared in the past about plowing a field. He's older than I am, so I'll talk about mowing a field. Okay, when you're going along, now because of the mowing, you get to see the last line. But if you get down to the end and look at the last line, maybe that's not what you wanna follow because it might go like this. But you look at something way out there and you just drive for it. And when you get done, it's kind of like, other than the bouncing around, that's a pretty straight line. That's the idea here of keeping your focus where it needs to be. For us, of course, we're looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, right? Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established. The concept of pondering the path of your feet, there's actually thinking about how I got where I am. Counseling a couple right now. They've struggled in a particular area. And getting them to deal with, just admit what happened. That is always, I'm not gonna say fun. It's hard to get people to admit what they actually did. They beat around the bush. One of my teachers when I was in Bible college said the further we get away from God the more we beat around the bush. Just say what you did. Okay, why? Well, I don't want to because what are you gonna think of me? Who cares what I think of you? I'll tell you right now. I already know you're a dirty rotten scum of the earth sinner. So what does it matter? Okay, but I'm not there to judge. I'm there to let's deal with the issue. Okay, finally got the person to admit what had happened, and I go, how do you think you got there? From being here in your walk with your spouse to being there, how did you get there? I don't know. I go, you need to take some time to figure out how you got there. Why? Because life is going to happen just like it did to get you there. And if you don't understand why you got there, you're going to do it again. And we don't do a lot of evaluation. We go through the trial. We don't consider, what is God trying to teach me? It's kind of like, boy, I'm glad that's over. And then there it is again. Why? Because God's trying to show you something. And if you're not looking, you're not pondering the path of your feet, chances are you're going to do it exactly the same way you did last time, that kind of thing. And now this pondering is, I'm actually looking ahead and planning how I'm going to go, understanding that God is still going to be the one that is over that whole thing. But it says, "...ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established," Hebrews 12, 13, "...and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed." So obviously, if it's lame, there's been an issue. And if you continue to walk in that direction, we're going to make it a little bit worse, so that you understand, if you walk in the right direction, there's going to be healing that comes with that. He says, do not turn to the right or to the left. Deuteronomy 5.32, therefore you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. And every single verse that I've got posted here, well, there's only three of them, but each one of them talk about the same thing. Get your eyes on Jesus, get walking, don't be swayed one way or the other, that kind of thing, and then remove your foot from evil. Isaiah 1.16, wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Romans 12.9, let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. cling to what is good. You could go to Ephesians 4 where it says, put off the conduct of the old, put on the new. And then it gives you all kinds of examples of how that works. And so Romans 12, nine, yeah, I've already read that one. Okay, so that's Proverbs chapter four. We have five through nine, five through 10 left, and then we'll start looking at a few topics, and we'll see where we go from there, okay? Any questions or thoughts? Excellente, clear as mud. Let's close in prayer, and we will let you go. Lord willing, see you on Wednesday. Those of you that are in here, pastor will be looking at the next Two chapters. Right, Pastor? Yeah. 31 and 32. One's in law and the other one's out law, or something like that. He wanted to do those two together. That's why He didn't just do two this past week. Okay, let's pray. Father, again, we thank You for Your love, for Your graciousness, Your mercy. Lord, for the things that You've taught us, pray that You might continue to open our hearts and our minds and that we might see Jesus. We might see Him clearly. We might be able to keep our eyes on Him and walk in such a way that brings You honor and glory and the questions of an onlooking world so that we could tell them about You also. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.