Good morning and welcome to Proverbs, Getting Wise God's Way. We are in chapter one, and we're gonna wrap up the chapter, verses 20 through 33. Let's open up with a word of prayer and get started. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time together that we can gather and come and hear your wisdom. And in this particular chapter, we're gonna discover Wisdom is calling out, it's available, and we need to listen, we need to respond. And so help us understand and apply this text. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Don't forget our key verse for chapter one is Proverbs 1.7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. And again, this key verse is the key verse for the whole chapter. Like always, when we have a new section, I like to read the whole text. And we want to read from page 40 in the handout so we can see the parallelism and the structure of the text. So let me begin with chapter 1, verse 20. Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city. She speaks her words. How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn at my rebuke. Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded. You disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes. When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despise my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil. What an impressive chapter and reminder of this availability to God's wisdom and how He calls and calls and calls. But then there's this moment that happens where someone refuses to listen and refuses to listen no more. And at that point, they've rejected God, His word, they've embraced their sin, and eventually what they reap, they will sow. So let's take a look at Proverbs 1 20-33, and let me introduce you to wisdom. Now, what's interesting in this chapter is that Lady Wisdom, that's how she's described. She appears throughout the book of Proverbs and Job. Proverbs 2-4, Proverbs 3-13-20, Proverbs 4-6-9, Proverbs 6, 22-23, that actually should be translated as she. Proverbs 7, 4, Proverbs 8, 1-36, Proverbs 9, 1-12, and Job 28, 12-28, its should be translated as her. So we have this beautiful picture of wisdom personified, and that will be, as you'll see later, going to be contrasted with her opposite, this harlot, this woman who is not Lady Wisdom, and we'll get into that down the road. But before we jump into this, I do want to take a moment just to look at some of the structures of the way we could organize this portion of Proverbs. There's a thematic structure, which reads as follows. Proverbs 1, 20-21, Wisdom speaks. Verse 22, Wisdom reveals the problem. Verse 23, Wisdom calls for repentance and promises blessings. But then in verse 24 through 25, wisdom is silenced. Verse 26 through 32, wisdom reveals the penalty. And verse 33, wisdom calls for repentance and promises blessings. A wonderful thematic connection there. But there's also a chiastic structure. Remember, a chiastic structure, the main point is in the center. So we have instruction, wisdom pleads for all to listen, wisdom reveals the problem, wisdom calls for repentance and promises blessing, but wisdom is rejected on the front end, and wisdom justly mocks. That's the central point here. And then on the heels of that, the implications of that is wisdom rejection on the back end, These are the consequences for not listening to wisdom. Wisdom was rejected and the promise is judgment. Wisdom reveals the consequences, conclusion. Wisdom reveals few will hear. And then our outline that we'll be using is pretty straightforward. Part one is, do you have eyes to see and ears to hear? Wisdom is available everywhere, wisdom addresses everyone, and wisdom award insured. And then part two is what happens when you refuse the rebuke? Fools reject wisdom and wisdom rejects fools. And then part three, what will be your end? Rebellion? Ruin? or repentance. And now we come to wisdom, lady wisdom. Who is she? Where is she? What does she have to say? And she appears, as I mentioned earlier, throughout the book of Proverbs and even Job. Now this is key. Wisdom is not the person of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is never referenced as a female. However, this is a literary device used by the author to get our attention. Let me give you some examples of why we believe the Holy Spirit is not Lady Wisdom, because it's personified here in Proverbs as a female, where the rest of Scripture describes the Holy Spirit as a person with the pronoun He. For example, John 1.32, And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon him. John 14, 16, And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. John 14, 26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 15, 26, But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. Just a couple more. John 16, 8, And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. And then lastly, John 16, 13, So we need to separate the Holy Spirit from the content of wisdom. And that's why Solomon personifies wisdom because it's talking about content, but by personifying it, he's helping us maybe grasp it a little bit better. Wisdom worth is far above Ruby's, as in the virtuous wife. So wisdom is not the person of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is never referenced as female. However, this is a literary device used by author to get our attention. And you have those verses there in the passage. Now, wisdom worth is far above rubies, as is the virtuous wife. Job 28.18, no mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies. Proverbs 31.10, who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. Beautiful connection there about the value of wisdom, but also the value of a virtuous wife. Now, we have to beware of wisdom's counterfeits. And this may not surprise you, but this will offer another perspective. In the Roman culture, there was Lady Justice. This is rooted in Romans Justitia, the goddess of justice. And so you can see here that she's personified. as this Lady Justice. And we still use her today in the legal realm. But this is based on Roman mythology. Another one is another worldly conifant is the one that comes from the ancient Greeks, Sophia, which of course that word has come to mean wisdom. But you get the idea. And again, this is a false individual. This is made up. And this is from the Greeks. Of course we have other gurus, maharashis, spiritual guides, etc. There is always someone peddling their wisdom and we need to discern lady wisdom from mistress folly as we'll see later in the book of Proverbs. But personification is a great tool. It's the way to attribute human traits and qualities to that which is not human. Case in point, here's a Far Side cartoon. We have some bulls in a China shop, but they're being personified as people. And the cashier says to the other lady, I've got a bad feeling about this, Harriet. Bulls in a China shop. There you go. So personification is a wonderful tool to help us think. And the reason this is being done this way is don't forget who Solomon's audience is. It's his sons. And he's been warning them of the adulterous woman. And now he's saying, hey, if you're going to love a lady, love the lady wisdom. And that's the idea behind this. So Solomon is taking an abstract idea, wisdom, personifying it so his sons can understand it more practically. This is to help one cultivate a love for wisdom and will be useful when the parents are not around. Solomon is also revealing more insight into the sinners mentioned in Proverbs 8-19. And again, contrast this, the sinner's scheme in secret versus the wisdom shouting in public. God wants this knowledge out in the world because it's so beneficial. So the question is, do you have eyes to see and ears to hear? Let me go ahead and read Acts 28-25. Here's a great example of eyes that can't see and ears that refuse to listen. This is Paul preaching to the Jews who ultimately reject the gospel. So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word. The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying, Go to this people and say, Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, seeing you will see and not perceive. For the hearts of this people have grown dull, their ears are hard of hearing, and their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, lest they should understand with their hearts in turn. so that I should heal them. Therefore, let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it." So this is a picture where the Jews again harden their heart towards God and God says, all right, no more, I'm moving on. And that's exactly what we saw in the book of Proverbs, this wisdom shouting in the streets, but no one wanted to listen and then eventually calamity would come their way. So we come to this truth that wisdom is available everywhere. Proverbs 1.20 reads, let me pull up the slide so you can see this. Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses. At the opening of gates in the city, she speaks her words. So this is the picture of Proverbs saying wisdom is available everywhere. She cries out. And by the way, the openings of the gates, that's where the judges are, that's where commerce is taking place. This is a very public venue. Now, the question is, can you hear the voice of wisdom above the voices of the world? And there's some really interesting insights into these words, calls aloud, raises her voice, cries out, speaks her words. For example, calls aloud is Tarana. This is describing someone who is shouting to anyone who would listen, trying to get people's attention. Then it raises her voice. This is TITEN. And this speaks up to be heard above others. So this is trying to say prioritize. And then we have KRIZAL, TIKRA. This is to proclaim with great urgency. And speaks her words, TOMER, declare with clarity. I love this progression. It's shouting. It's getting people's attention. It's speaking above others to be heard. It's proclaiming with urgency and clarity. So important, that clarity part. Here's a little reminder about clarity. What we say to dogs, okay, Ginger, I've had it. You stay out of the garbage, understand, Ginger? Stay out of the garbage or else. Of course, dogs don't understand all this, so we hear this, what they hear, blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah. And it really captures what's going on here, doesn't it? We may be speaking, but do they really understand? Now, these are the various voices of wisdom. Let's look at wisdom's various venues and contrast this. And when we get to Lady Folly, you're going to see a sharper contrast. But right now, wisdom is public. It's outside versus private. It's in the open squares, open streets versus a hidden alley. It's on the chief concourses. This is the busy intersections versus a quiet little corner tucked away. It's the opening of the gates in the city. You know, it's first versus last. It's or versus Lady Folly's house or adulterous home. And this picture I have here is the gate, the gate into the city of Babylon. We believe Daniel walked through gates like these. In fact, these gates have been brought over from Iraq and now are in Berlin. And you can actually see these. They're beautiful and they're huge. And it shows you that the gate was the central place. This is where everything took place. And just a few other verses, Deuteronomy 16, 18, talking about gates. So the gates were a place of wisdom. cases were settled, the lawyers were there, so to speak, the judges, the officers. And then Ruth 4.11, you might recall Boaz trying to redeem Ruth. And all the people were at the gate and the elders said, we are witnesses. The Lord make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel. And may you prosper in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem." And indeed this prayer was answered. And of course we know that King David was a descendant of Boaz and Ruth. Here's a wonderful quote, just another good reminder about wisdom being available. Great, great quote. So let's continue on and let's look at letter B here, wisdom and how wisdom addresses everyone. And this is coming from Proverbs 1.22. which reads as follows. How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge. This brings us to three hearts hardened against wisdom. We have this simple ones or naive ones, and it's described as love being simple-minded. This means that they're erring out of ignorance. They don't understand the implications of truth. And this word love means like a crush. It's enamored. It's an attraction that's new. It's flirting. It's very superficial. Now, to give a picture of being, to illustrate this idea of not understanding the implications is this far side. So here we have two spiders. They've just built this amazing spider web at the end of a slide. And this is what they think. If we pull this off, we'll eat like kings. Very naive spiders. Okay, the next one that's in our passage is the scorner. Scorners delight themselves in scorning. They err by refusing to learn the truth and they go so far as to mock the truth. They delight, this word delight means lust, it's fleshly pleasure, it's covet. So you can see that they're moving into this more sinful direction. And then we have the third category. And remember, fools in the Bible is really the end of the line. In our language, we might think of scorners as worse than someone who's foolish, but in the biblical language, fools is at the end of the line. This is outright rejection. And they hate knowledge, and they err by rebelling against the truth. And the word hate means unloved, despised, disgust, detest. This is their view of lady wisdom. And it's sad when you think about reaching this place. And then letter C, wisdom's award ensured. And I love this picture in verse 123, turn at my rebuke. Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. And so there's only two responses in this situation. There is you turn, that is to turn back and to repent, right? That's one response. You hear it and you respond. The second option is that you get rebuked. You're chastened for your disobedience, right? So these are the two ways to learn something. You can learn by learning before you make the mistake, or you can learn after you make a mistake. And so what does turning look like? That's the key question here. And you can see in the text, I've got a couple passages here. This is a good example of one, Isaiah 18 through 20. Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they should be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. You can see this balance here of listen and obey, otherwise refuse and be penalized, be punished. Isaiah 55.1.3, Ho, everyone who's thirst, come to the waters. There's that invitation. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk without money, without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Herein your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David." Again, another wonderful picture of invitation, of wisdom crying out, and yet there is that refusal. And then we have these two words, this pour. I, wisdom, will pour. It means to gush out my spirit on you. In other words, abundance. And then it says the word make. I, wisdom, will make my words known to you. I just love this idea of just helping us. This is an illumination. John 3.5, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water, there's your cleansing, and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. There's a picture of regeneration. This is such a neat idea. But we have to remember that the unbeliever is at a disadvantage. They don't have the Holy Spirit to illuminate. And that's what Paul's getting at in 1 Corinthians 2.14. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Now let me preface here. The scripture is not saying that an unbeliever can't read the Bible and understand the grammar, the vocabulary. They can comprehend what's being said, But that doesn't mean they apprehend and now they've embraced this truth. A great example of this is they'll read the Bible and they'll say, okay, there's a Jesus that claims to be God. And they can read the book and know about Jesus, but because they're not saved, they have no relationship with Jesus. So he's not real to them relationally. It's like the biography about a person versus knowing the person. And that's what Paul's getting across. They are limited on their ability to understand God's Word, and that's a scary place to be when you think about it. But they're not completely helpless. They do understand what's being said. So question, how do you handle wisdom's rebuke as a believer? This is a really important question because it's easy for us as believers to start getting a little self-righteous or, I know it, I know it, and we don't remain humble. We don't respond when someone who's maybe more tender to sin is bring it out, bring it to our attention. And we as believers should be sensitive to these things. And if someone lovingly has the courage to come up to us and confront us in our sin, we should be grateful. Because if we respond in that moment, we're gonna be far better off than if we refuse it and then God has to come along and chasten us. And that's why we have church discipline, right? One-on-one in private, then bring in a witness and bring some leadership and then tell it to the church. And then if all that pleading results in still no repentance, then we send them out of the church and let the world and the devil and God's chastening deal with it. So some passages that really help us how to handle wisdom's rebuke as a believer. Continuing in, here's the one from 2 Corinthians 7.10, which I think is really a key passage on godly sorrow versus worldly sorrow. 2 Corinthians, verse... 8. For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it, though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. Now I rejoice that not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. That's the key point. For you were made sorrow in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. And here's the key verse. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted, but the sorrow of the world produces death. So this is the key principle. Now, Paul is certainly speaking of salvation here, but the principle still applies to us. there is godly sorrow when we repent. And what does that look like? Verse 11 just really expresses it so clearly. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner, and look what it produced, what diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication, in all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." So in other words, true repentance is always undeniable. There's just fruit after fruit after fruit of real change. And that's a question you've got to ask yourself. Are you showing the fruits of repentance. If you truly are broken of sin, have you left that sin? And have you put it off? And now have you put on righteousness and obedience? That's the real test. And that's what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. You've proved yourself. There's no shadow of doubt here. You have demonstrated that you've changed. So what happens when you refuse the rebuke? So let's turn next to the fourfold progression of rejection. The fourfold progression of rejection. So Solomon is showing us this. So fools reject wisdom. Because I have called, same word is cried out. Okay? You refused, you resist. That's step one. I then stretch out my hand. I offer to personally help. No one regarded, no one listened. All my counsel, God's will, advice, wisdom, you disdained it, no serious thought. And then I rebuke in my chasing, you would have none of it. So you see how it starts off at first a refusal, then this total disregarding, and then it's just like literally turn your back, and then there's consequences. This is how the process works. We can see this in kids, right? Particularly, we can see this in adults too, unfortunately. Consider Pharaoh of the Exodus, a very interesting fellow. Pharaoh hardens his own heart 11 times, God hardens Pharaoh's heart 11 times, but Pharaoh started first. And your hardening of your own heart will lead to God hardening your own heart. Now, we did a little study on this, and I want to stress that God does not harden the heart of believers. He does harden the heart of unbelievers after they've hardened their heart. What God does is he chastens believers. Now, a believer can harden their own heart. I won't deny that. But God will not come along in such a way and say, keep it hardened. He'll chase in, he'll put the pressure on, he'll try to break your will in order for you to come to your senses. But I couldn't find any passages in the scriptures where it says, you harden your heart and God hardens your heart as a believer. But he definitely does that as an unbeliever. And what it really is, is them finally saying, Lord, I want none of it. And that was Pharaoh, right? He just said, no, no, no, no, no. Eventually God says, okay, I'm gonna give you over to the desires of your heart. I'm gonna harden it. And so I want to stress that important distinction there. Although this text is primary focus on the unbeliever, a believer, like I said, can harden their own heart. Listen to 2 Peter 1, 5 through 11, and this is a passage that we will definitely cover as we're going through 1 Peter. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith, or supply to your faith virtue. To virtue, knowledge. To knowledge, self-control. To self-control, perseverance. To perseverance, godliness. To godliness, brotherly kindness. And to brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at this. This is someone who wasn't diligent, who didn't supply their faith. For he who lacks these things is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his own sins. That's the consequence for a believer. This is not an unbeliever, this is a believer who is being disobedient, who's refusing to walk, to yield to the Spirit and the Word. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make sure your call and election are sure, for if you do these things, you'll never stumble. For so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting King of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You can see that reward there at the end. So this is a frightening picture, isn't it? That a believer could be in such a position. But think about it. You're a believer, and now you're refusing to submit to God. You're refusing to submit to his word, and you're quenching the spirit. What assurance do you have in your life if you're doing all three of those things? Now, if that goes on forever and ever and ever, you might want to question if the foundation they saved in the first place. But this is a picture of a disobedient Christian. Derek. I never want to say that because the text doesn't say that. So again, apostasy is a secret thing. No one knows except God. Pharaoh hardened his heart 11 times. God hardened Pharaoh's heart 11 times. We don't know who's ultimately has, in this life, reached a point where they just can't be saved anymore. There is such thing as apostasy. We can't see it, though sometimes there are signs, but you never know. Was it Dawkins that repented? One of those guys? I can't remember. But there's been atheists throughout the years that some truly remain that way to their death. And there's some that have come out of that. So we really don't know. So that's why we'd be faithful and witness. We don't know who's apostatized. Because at the farmer's market, I heard a guy talking about things heating up. And it was global. And I walked over. He looked at me straight in the face and said, put your table book away, I want nothing to do with it. I turned around and went to set my Bible down and walked away and didn't say anything more because I didn't want to cause a scene. And that was the right response. You're respecting his request. And that's that you've done your job. You open the door, you slam the door in your face, then you move on. But we don't ultimately know. I mean, there are exceptions where it becomes obvious. For example, I Kissed Dating Goodbye author, I'm drawing a blank on it, Joshua Harris. He has now come out and said, throw away those books. I repudiate all of that. Now that's probably the closest example of someone admitting and acknowledging that they have Departed from the faith and have no desire to return but who knows he may get saved in his life are the odds in his favor. No Should we pray for him can't hurt? But that's that's a picture what apostasy would look like when it's very clear when someone denounces the faith denounces Christ Correct oh yeah, and I would definitely agree with that he was never saved in the first place I Because scriptures are clear, once saved, always saved. But you're right, Derek, we don't know. So we witness, we share, we pray, and that's all we can do. Because only God ultimately knows. And so as 1 Thessalonians 5, 19, as I mentioned, believers can quench the spirit, right? We can also grieve the Spirit, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. And this quenching and grieving is when we rebel against God's Word, we rebel against the promptings of the Spirit, and that will lead to chastening. God will bring loving consequences to turn you around. Yeah, the believer. So these three passages, 1 Peter, or 2 Peter, 1 Thess, and Ephesians are all speaking to the believers. And it's just a sad reminder this can happen to us. We can rebel, and that's sad. But we're still in this unredeemed flesh. We have the Holy Spirit that can help us. We have the word. We have the church. We have all these advantages. But sometimes we can just be stubborn, can't we? Oh yeah, I mean, no one's exempt. And so the question of the text is, are you hardening your heart toward God because of sin or unjust suffering? That's one of the things that can happen. You can be suffering, and that's just so difficult that you start to get angry and bitter, which is why Paul exhorts throughout the scriptures, don't let that root of bitterness take hold. And I'm sure you've heard the joke, or not the joke, but the picture is, bitterness is like, taking the poison and expecting the other person to die. It just doesn't work. All right, so do you know the signs of an approaching storm? We're picking up in verses 26, 28. These are quite amazing concepts. So before I do that, let me just share this with you. These are the front porch forecasters. Well, something's happening. There goes my head. I'd say more like a blizzard judging by my hand here. Uh-oh, rain squalls are coming. My knee is acting up. These are forecasting by their flesh. All right, so wisdom rejects fools. And look at this. Now remember, this is after they've rejected, after they've walked away from the wisdom and the word. I will laugh at your calamity. This is speaking of disaster. I will mock or deride when your terror, worse fear comes. Dread comes like a storm, a windstorm. Calamity comes like a whirlwind, a severest of windstorms. When distress, this is emotional pain, physical hardship come upon you." Very interesting the terminologies and words that the Lord used to cover what happens to an unbeliever who repudiates God's Word over time and chooses to live a rebellious lifestyle. It will catch up to you, right? And this is what Solomon's been picturing all along. Ongoing, outright rebellion. Psalm 2.1 Let's see, I actually just read those. Yeah, Psalm 2, 1 through 4. Why did a nation's rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of their set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed and saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Paul writes, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, he will also reap. Same picture, same truth all the way through. Verse 28, then they will call or shout on me or for me, but I will not answer. They will seek or search me diligently, but they will not find me. And this is a picture of, I need wisdom now, I'm in trouble. I need to find a way out of this mess, right? That's what they're looking for. And God's like, I'm not helping you. You need to suffer these consequences so you learn your lesson. And then Matthew 24, 38, for as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until that day that Noah entered the ark. Remember, Noah took 120 years to build the ark. He wasn't silent. They had Enoch who had preached about judgment coming. God was reaching out for 120 years and no one responded except course known as family did enter the boat eight and all and did not know until the flood came took them all so also will be the coming of the son of man this is a perfect picture of what it's going to be like especially particularly at the rapture right and even at the end of the tribulation these moments when They've had opportunity to repent, they didn't, and then the hammer comes down. And then verse 29, the cause, all right? Because they hated or scorned knowledge, they did not choose or prefer the fear of the Lord. They would have none, would not yield. That's a good picture, right? of my counsel and they despised, disrespected and despised my every rebuke. So look at this picture. They scorn it, they don't prefer it, they would, they disrespected, they despised. And so this is the picture of this progression of what happens to someone who is rejecting. You can almost say they have selected hearing aids. This is particularly for men. There's TV, there's off, and there's wife. Be careful, guys. Don't let them see your hearing aid. OK. Final thoughts as we get there. So what will be your end? Verses 31 through 32. Rebellion, so they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices. They'll come to ruin, for the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. Repentance is the other option, right? But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil. So that's the issue, right? There's rebellion, there's ruin, or there is repentance. Final thoughts as we wrap things up. Hebrews 12, three, for consider Jesus who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted the bloodshed striving against sin, And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by him. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and he scourges every son with whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not chasten? By the way, it's a great verse to show why Disciplining children is a good thing. But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them. But he, for our profit, that we may be takers of his holiness. Now no chastening seems to be joyful in the present. I like that acknowledgement. But painful nevertheless, afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. And that's the beautiful picture of a believer who says, yeah, I sinned. I will live with these consequences. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me of your holiness. Hebrews 12, 3 through 11, Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1.30, because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, because he lived and taught, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That wisdom leads to our salvation. That's the beautiful picture. And the challenge for us, Thessalonians 4, 1 through 8, Matthew 18 15 we have just a minute so I'll just let me see the the first Thessalonians 4 is let me just read that real quick only then brethren we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you shall abound more and more or excel still more Just as you received from us that you ought to walk and to please God. For you know what the commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification honor, not in passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such things. As also we forewarned you and testified, for God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he rejects this, does not reject man, but God, who has given us the Holy Spirit." And of course, Matthew 18, 15 is the church restoration process. So there's room for us to Let's say it this way. Should we rebel? Should we reject God's word? He's lovingly going to chasten us, and He's there ready, should we repent, to then help us. And so you can see this picture of wisdom out in the streets, shouting to the world. And sadly to say, most of the world wants none of it. So any last thoughts, comments, questions? All right, I'll close in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for This picture of wisdom personified, and it's a marvelous, wonderful picture. Thank you for your wisdom. We ask for more in our walk in the days ahead to navigate this life. Let our hearts be tender. Let us listen to that gentle, quiet spirit of yours whispering us into our ear and reminding us of the truths that we know, that we've memorized, that we've studied. And help us to be faithful, not to quench the spirit, not to grieve the spirit. In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, thanks.