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So we're in chapter three, verse
21, as we're picking up. Let me go ahead and open the
word of prayer, and then we'll get started. Heavenly Father,
as we begin this new day, a day of time to come before you and
hear your word, to get to know you more intimately. We just
ask for the spirit to illuminate our minds to understand and particularly
the book of Proverbs help us to get the wisdom that we need
to live a godly life that's pleasing to you and that would be an effective
witness to the world around us. Thank you for Proverbs. Thank
you for your word. Thank you most importantly for
your son that has saved us and redeemed us. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. All right, if you would, open
up to your Proverbs chapter 3 in the Bible. We're also on page
145, roughly. Again, sometimes the page numbers
shift because I edit. And we're going to read verses
21 through 35. And as you know, I've got it
structured. Sorry, Henry, you don't have a copy. So you can
see the parallelism, which helps interpret. That's one thing that
you really need when you're studying Proverbs, look at the parallelism.
So let me pick up at verse 21 and read through the end of the
chapter. My son, let them not depart from
your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion,
so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck,
and then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will
not stumble. When you lie down, you will not
be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be
sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes. For the Lord will
be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught.
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is
in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say, your neighbor,
go and come back, and tomorrow I will give it, when you have
it with you. Do not devise evil against your
neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake. Do not strive
with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. Do not
envy the oppressor and choose none of his ways, for the perverse
person is an abomination to the Lord, but his secret counsel
is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the
house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the just. Surely
he scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble. You see
that phrase throughout the scriptures. The wise shall inherit glory,
but shame shall be the legacy of fools. It's a really amazing
passage. And if you were to break this
down, verses 21 through 26 is kind of like you and the Lord.
Watch, walk, wait. And that waiting is wait on the
Lord, waiting in prayer, and so forth. And then verses 27
through 31 is you and your neighbor. And there's actually, we're going
to see a five-fold do not. And then we come to 32 to 35,
you and the wicked. And there is that noise. I was
waiting for it. Thanks, David, for getting that recorded. You
and the wicked. Consider the contrast. So this
is something you'll see often in Proverbs is these relational
wisdom. And this is how we have to think.
We think about first us and the Lord. That's your primary relationship. And then it's always you and
the neighbor. Typically now we would say you and the church,
right? And then just the general neighbors around us who are unbelievers. And then we would have you and
the wicked. And so it's very important you
understand who you're talking to and how you're applying the
wisdom. All right, so let's look at you and the Lord, the watch,
the walk, and the wait. I've already read 21 through
26, but let me hit some key words that I think are very helpful
here. The first one is do not actually let me hold off. So
let me give you some other passages Matthew 22 36 here is a great
question a lawyer comes to Jesus and He asked teacher, which is
the greatest great commandment in the law? And I love the way
Jesus just summarizes the whole Bible like in a sentence. Jesus
said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all your mind. There's that vertical
relationship, us and the Lord. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor
as yourself. And then Jesus says, these two
commandments hangs all the law and the prophets. So if anyone
asks you, explain to me the Bible in one sentence, there you go,
maybe two verses. I love it. True love for God,
think about this, will always result in kindness for others.
If you have a right vertical relationship, that should play
out ultimately with a right horizontal relationship. The two are inseparable.
And this is where sin comes in, right? We start to have interpersonal
conflicts and struggles, right? Our selfishness, our pride, our
loss, as James talks about. But to harden my heart against,
listen to this. This is a quote from a book here,
you can see here. Actually, here's the whole thing. True love for God always results
in kindness towards other. The two are inseparable. To harden
my heart against one who needs my kindness is to turn away from
the face of God. Think about it, if you and I
are made in the image of God, and we are owned by God, then
how we treat others is indirectly how we treat God. And that's
something that, I mean, the world will quote the Bible, do unto
others, you know, they'll quote the golden rule, right? Do unto
others that you would like to have done unto yourself. But
as believers, we have a much greater perspective, right? We
see everyone made in the image of God, saved and lost. For the
lost, we want to see them saved, and for the saved, we want to
see them grow. James 3.10 talks about what can happen when things
go wrong, right? Out of the same mouth proceed
blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought
not to be so. And then there's the 21 through
26. Now some key words from this passage. The idea of not depart
means escape from one's view on the path. In other words,
don't depart, don't escape from the view of the path. Keep, it's
a command, preserve, keep, guard, watch over. We've seen this over
and over, this command. Now, sound wisdom, as we've talked
about, there's a lot of words for wisdom in the Bible. This
one is thinking wisely. It's the capacity. for understanding,
for proper thinking, right? So this would be including having
the right information and then applying that information. Look
at discretion, acting wisely. So the two always go hand in
hand. You think and act. the ability for wise decisions
and proper judgments. And we're going to see this in
1 Peter. We're going to see this concept of sound judgment being
paired up with sober spirit, the thinking and the doing. Grace
is the favor of God, and to stumble, that literally means to fall
and be injured, but many times it's used to talk about sinning.
That's typically how it's used. The word afraid, Proverbs 3.24,
fear and trembling, And then another word for fear, Proverbs
3 25, great fear, distressful circumstances. So there's degrees
here. And then trouble is to be ruined. That's really the
idea. It's not like a minor thing. This is ruined. And then confidence
is to trust mentally, physically. I probably should throw in there
emotionally and spiritually. And then caught means to be ensnared.
So what's the process here? The command is to the son and
the son is to watch. Guard your godly thinking. Guard
your godly living. Don't leave the godly path. So
I'd like to pause you just for a minute and think about this,
okay? So if you want to grow in the Lord, what first has to
happen? You get saved, right? And if
you're truly saved, what are you going to gravitate towards?
The Word of God, right? You're gonna gravitate towards
the Word of God and the Word. You're gonna gravitate, hopefully,
to believers who are obeying, who understand the Word, who
have a godly life, right? And then what has to happen at
that point? Some point you've got the Word,
you're reading the Word, what has to happen after that? Exactly,
apply the word. I know it sounds like, oh, come
on, Pastor John, I know this already. But believe it or not,
this is where we fall, right? We'll have a situation. We'll know the truth. We should
usually know the truth. If we don't, then we'll go get
it. But then it's like, oh, what do I do? And that's where we
start to have this internal struggle. Should I? Should I not? And sometimes
it's more subtle than that. Sometimes it can just be a quick
reaction that you're not even thinking, you're just reacting.
But this is the mechanism that we need to grow. Hearing the
word, understand it, and apply it. If you don't apply it, you
can't change. And you can have all the knowledge in the world.
I'm sure you've heard stories, you know, there's always these illustrations.
A man had a lottery ticket and he never cashed it in, right?
There's these opportunities that are awaiting you, that God is
providing for you. And unless you step in obedience,
you can't experience that blessing, that opportunity. I know when
you guys go out evangelizing, right, you never know what's
gonna happen, right? Michael, you know, and Derek,
you guys, you go out evangelizing, everyone's done this, and when
you go share the word of God, you never know what's gonna happen.
But when those moments come where someone takes the Bible, receives
a tract, responds in faith, you're like, praise the Lord. You can
only experience that, right, if you go out and apply the word
and actually do it. And that can apply in anything
with the Lord. All right. The purpose on being this godly
path is salvation and sanctification. 322, life to your soul, grace
to your neck. And as we've been sharing, Proverbs
is really a book of calling people to faith. And then now that you're
saved, persevere, obey. And so this is a call to first
salvation and then sanctification. That is becoming more and more
Christ-like. And then the product of this
is that this is the walk and the wait. Be obedient to God. And I put not sin significantly.
The idea is you're going to stumble and fall. I'm not saying you
go ahead and plan for sin. That's not the point there. But
it says then you will walk safely in your way, and your foot will
not stumble. Now, remember, we can't be perfect. And we strive
for that kind of faithfulness. But we know that we're in the
flesh still, and we will stumble at times. Sleep well in your
integrity, not fearing judgment. This is a big one. I remember
as an unbeliever making all sorts of bad, poor, sinful decisions
and just never really comfortable always looking behind, will they
catch this lie, that kind of thing. And then look at this,
don't even be worried about the wicked and their plans. Do not
be afraid of sudden terror nor of trouble from the wicked when
it comes. So let me ask you this question. Do you have that kind
of peace? I mean, we're right now going
through a huge transition with a new president and all that
kind of stuff. There's a lot of unknowns. Do
we worry about what could happen next? We got wars in Ukraine
and Russia. We got China and Taiwan, the
dollar, the economy. I mean, you start looking at
the headlines. The question is, can you still sleep at night?
and rest that God's in control. That's the idea here. Now, it
doesn't mean you turn off the TV and you shut down the newspaper
and listen, you're not aware of what's going around you. You
do need to be aware, but there's that balance, right? I remember
being hooked on talk radio to the point where I'm like, it's
starting to affect me in the way I act towards others, so
I had to pull back. So there's a balance between
being informed and then being overrun by it or controlled by
it. And then ultimately it comes back, look at this, verse 26,
trusting in the sovereignty of God for the Lord will be your
confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. Interesting,
and the way that's expressed is it's not like you're not gonna
have troubles. You're going to come into a situation, but your
foot will escape. And it feels like that sometimes,
right? Like, whoa, man, I just literally dodged a bullet. And
so table talk. What are some of the ways, and
just out of curiosity for you guys to share, what are some
of the ways that you've tried to deepen your intimacy with
God? What are some ways that you've done that? Dennis. Set the day out right, get your
mind focused on the Lord. Do you read scriptures at that
time, or do you just pray? I read scripture in the morning when I first get
up. Yep. And I'm sure there's been
days where maybe you've missed it, and you feel a little bit off balance
from that. All right, so reading in the morning together with
your spouse, what are some other ways? Tell me your name again. Tom.
Tom. Tom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so making a choice to renew
your mind, right? There's a lot of ways we can
put things in front of ourselves and that daily dose of the word
throughout the day. And it's amazing though, isn't
it? How something will be in there applicable for that day
or the next day. And Derek? When I'm at farmer's
markets or that stuff I try to, when I'm talking to customers,
try to slip in bits and pieces of gospel. So sharing evangelism,
witnessing. So now that's an active proactive
as well, right? Now you're going from within
to without with who's out there. And that can be exciting. Anyone
else have anything? Michael? Carrying a backup rack,
and when I leave someplace, I need one. Yep. Yeah, and that's sowing
the seed, right? And you can trust in the providence
of God that someone may take it. I've seen, as an unbeliever,
those Chick tracts. You know, like, what's this cartoon?
I end up reading it, you know? And who knows? You know, I'm
sure that had an impact on me at some point. But yeah, so doing
things like that. So what I'm hearing is obedience,
right? Faithfulness. And I want to make sure you saw
this. The intimacy with the Lord is always two parts. It's hearing
him, but it's obeying him. Because only in the obedience
can you understand him. Because it's there where you
meet him as you try to obey and fulfill his word. And that's
where you begin to really develop convictions and understand. You
go, oh, now I really know what this word means. So great, great
thoughts. Now let's talk about you and
your neighbor, the fivefold do not. All right. And this is very
interesting. So let me jump ahead of my slides
I'm getting. So yeah, I'll just throw this
in there. So there's a process, there's a purpose behind that,
and there's going to be a product. If you're reading, praying, evangelizing,
witnessing, and you're doing that as a habit in your life,
you're going to see fruit in those areas of your life. If
you invest, the Lord always usually provides a return. If not here
in this earth, it'll be definitely at the judgment seat. All right,
let me jump ahead and go to the next one. All right. OK, so you
and your neighbor. And a neighbor is a person who
can get to your house in less than a minute and takes two hours
to go back home. You might look at that as positively
or negatively, depending on who that neighbor is. Here's a little
Farsight cartoon. I just don't like Al. Whenever
Billy goes outside, the new neighbors seem compelled to watch every
little thing he does. You'll notice that his neighbors
are two hungry alligators looking at his boy. All right. So let's
pick up at some of these do nots. Let me just read this. Do not
withhold good from those whom it's due, when it's in your power
to do so. Do not say to your neighbor,
go and come back, and tomorrow I'll give it, when you have it
with you all along. Do not devise evil against your
neighbor, for he dwells by you for safety's sake. Do not strive
with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. So this
idea of withhold means to refuse or deprive. It might be inconvenient
for you to go get it, whatever they're asking for. It might
be, you know, maybe you're kind of having an attitude that day
and you just don't feel like helping. Or maybe that neighbor is, this
is the 10th time they've come over to borrow something and
you're still missing one thing. Do, this is owner, rightful possessor,
power, strength and ability, devise, plan in detail, strive,
quarrel, contest, argue, attack, lawsuit. Sometimes it's translated
that way. Envy, jealousy, get heated, annoyed,
tormented over. Oppressor, it's actually two
Hebrew words, and I don't know if you knew this, but Hamas,
it means the word oppressor or violent, and man is in there. So it's literally violent man,
Hamas-ish. and then choose to select desire. Just a couple other. So here's
another thought. The way in which we repay any
kind of debt is a mark of character. Think about that. An obligation
that you will fulfill. This is something we lose sight
of today, I think, sometimes. But it is important that if you
make a commitment to do something, you will fulfill that debt. And
of course, we have a debt of love that we will try to fulfill
lovingly and so forth. Let me go to the next page here.
Yeah, process of moving. So let's talk about verse 27,
because that's pretty straightforward. Do not withhold good. All right,
let's pick up there. So this is kind of interesting. So there's
a higher authority. Do not withhold moral obligations
when you are able. So this is kind of a perspective
of, well, why should I? Because there's a God above who
hasn't withheld to us. And so as we've been given, we
should then give to others. Romans 10, 13, 7, render therefore
to all their due, taxes, customs, fear, honor. Galatians, therefore,
as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, believers and
unbelievers alike, especially to those who are the household
of faith. Interesting, the distinctions in the relationships, we do show
to each other, we should, more love to each other than we should
show to the world. That's how the world knows that
we love one another and how they know the Lord is true. Titus
2 14 he gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every
lawless deed purify for himself his own special people here it
is zealous for good works and James 2 15 if a brother or sister
is naked and destitute of daily food and you One of you says
to them depart in peace be warm be filled But you do not give
them the things which are needed for the body. What does that
profit? We're familiar with that passage
There is a sense when you get down to brass tacks and practical.
Are you really actually helping them or not? It's easy to hide
behind excuses and things like that, but we have to guard against
that. I remember hearing MacArthur
in one of his early sermons how they had set aside a special
fund to help people and it was very early in their marriage
and he was like, Lord, please don't take all this in one opportunity,
you know. But now look, you know, the money
is not a problem for him at this point. Proverbs 3.28, let's talk
about the neighbor. Do not delay material ownership,
okay? When you have it, meaning you're
able. This is the idea. Let me jump
ahead to my slide here. Here's some other passages that
bring the same principle out. Leviticus 19.13, you shall not
cheat your neighbor nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired
shall not remain with you all night until morning. Interesting there. And then another
one. 329, neighbor, do not devise
misfortunate opportunities when you're their protection. This
is interesting. This is something I think we've
lost, I think. I mean, how many do you really know your neighbors
well? And it's just what society has
become to. And I think we as believers have to somewhat make
an extra effort to at least let them know our names, here we
are, let us know we're available, things like that. 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. Of course, that's very bad. And
let's look at verse 30. People, do not pick a fight,
that's the idea here, with others who intend you no evil. And there's
a lot of insight on this. Like I've been telling you, I've
been going through the Elon Musk biography. He is definitely one
who likes to pick a fight and throw people off in that way.
Proverbs 22, 24, make no friendship with an angry man and with a
furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare
for your soul. Proverbs 29, 22, an angry man
stirs up strife and a furious man abounds in transgression.
Have you ever been in a restaurant, maybe a fast food restaurant,
and maybe you're about to order or you just ordered and you're
sitting down eating and someone comes in and starts creating a scene?
What do you do? Stand back? Anyone left? We had
a situation like that where like, I don't like the way this is
going. I'm going to just kind of exit out. And then as we were
exiting out, several others were exiting out because it just,
you start to see this escalation and this day and age, you don't
know what's going to happen. And then going on Romans 12,
18, if it's possible, as much as depends on you live peaceably
with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves,
but rather give place to wrath for it's written, vengeance is
mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And I can say this with
just not only experience, but the truth of scriptures. When
you don't respond as the world expects you to respond, it creates
a question in their head. Why? and it can lead to some
really good gospel opportunities. And it can lead to them respecting
maybe your character and open up a door for the gospel. So
you never know. So those opportunities, they
come your way, boy, restraint can be a really powerful thing. If your enemy is hungry, feed
him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in doing so, you'll
heap coals of fire on his head. And now the idea is not you're
not like punishing them with doing good, but by doing good,
you're leaving them with this question. Why? Why were they
so nice to me? It is. It can be hard to love
your enemies like that. Michael. Absolutely. And you
should. Well, wisdom, right? And it's
a both and proposition. It may require intervention,
it may not. Each circumstance is different, but you're absolutely
right. All things should be lifted up in prayer. and then take that
action, because sometimes coming in the middle of two people can
be very dangerous. Officers have this problem all the time when
they come onto a scene with a husband and wife fighting. First, they're
fighting each other, but when the cop intervenes, then they
both turn against him. They get those kind of situations.
2 Timothy 2.14, remind them of these things, speaking to Timothy
as he plants churches, charge them before the Lord not to strive
about words to no profit to the ruin of the hearers. Sometimes
we can get caught up on our own that we lose sight of those watching
in on us. And then we have on 331 this
idea of the oppressor. Do not envy this violent man
or prefer his ways. We have that psalmist, right?
I looked at this rich person whose evil is getting away with
everything, and I started to envy, but then I was brought
into the temple of the Lord. And then he realized, wait a
minute, the end of the wicked is bad in the ultimate end. Proverbs 23, 17, do not let your
heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all
the day. It's perspective, isn't it? What
are you choosing to dwell on? If you're envy of a sinner, what
is it in that sinner that you're envying? Is it something they
have, don't have? Michael? Oh yeah, it's by design to let
you have empathy. We all have a little warm heart
in our place for Darth Vader, right? Luke's father. Oh, did
I do a spoiler alert? You should be able to take your
vengeance on that man if somehow that makes it really mean. You
gotta be careful what goes in doesn't come out. Yeah. But what's
interesting about when stories are written that way, to have
empathy towards the evil character, in some ways that is a little
bit biblical, isn't it? To love our enemy. And so again,
there's wisdom in how we do that, but you're right. We don't want
to become like that evil character and be empathetic and say, oh,
if he can get away with it, so can I. But there is a sense in
which when we see someone evil, we should immediately pray for
them. Maybe we can find an opportunity to share the gospel with them.
Maybe no one's ever prayed for them or shared the gospel, and
we could be that person. And there are stories, you know,
of, you know, Individuals, believers going up to a very, you know,
difficult individual and just taking the risk. And we have
stories like, what would be a good one? Well, Esther going to the
king, so to speak, making an appeal. Or was it Ezra going before the
king? He wasn't supposed to have a
sad face. He had a sad face, makes an appeal. I miss my home,
Jerusalem. You know, I think it's Ezra,
right? Nehemiah, thank you. All those prophets start to blur
sometimes. That's why Henry's here. He's my fact checker. All
right, he's my Snopes. All right, so Psalm 37, seven,
rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because
of him who prospers in his way because of the man who brings
wicked schemes to pass. Cease from anger, forsake wrath,
do not fret. In other words, don't worry.
It only causes harm. For evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.
This is extremely relevant for the Hebrews chapter 11 people,
right? For Peter, who's writing to those being persecuted. We're
fortunate, we live in a country, for the most part, our persecution
is soft. We're not shedding blood for
the faith. But that day may change, we don't
know. But we can wait on the Lord in obedience, not getting
angry, not getting wrathful, not worrying, and we can persevere
through that. But that only is possible in
the Lord. You have to be praying and reading the word and obeying
it. Thoughts, comments on that? All right. Let's go to two key
ideas here. Selfishness and antagonistic. Sorry, I couldn't make a rhyme
for you. All right, here we go. Implication, as one becomes morally
compromised, their treatment of others becomes more fleshly. Think about that. Failing to
honor authority leads into self-centeredness. Unwilling to be inconvenienced
are subtle ways of selfishness, right? My wife is constantly
reminding me, you know, when I'm out of light, come on, hurry
up, let's go, you know. Can't you just be patient? I
can. I'm just not right now. Don't they read the speed limit?
It says 45, not 35. As the heart hardens towards
others, one begins to think evil of others. We start to kind of
put on and kind of put things on people and start to think
we know their thoughts. We can become aggressive towards other
and their perspective and priorities shift, envying and preferring
a violent person's path. So this is like a frog in the
boiling water, right? It doesn't always happen immediately,
but it can happen in small ways and then it can grow and grow.
So here's a question for you. Actually, I have a story. All
right. In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and
Tenzing Norgier climbed the 29,000, 35-foot peak of Mount Everest. They were the first. Thousands
followed, thanks to Nepal lifting its tight restrictions on climbing
the legendary mountain. By 2006, more than 2,700 people
had reached the summit of the world's tallest mountain, many
paying more than $60,000 for the experience. One result of this commercial
influx has been the erosion of the traditional moral code of
mountaineering. In the rush to the top, amateurs
who have paid a fortune will do anything it takes to get to
the summit, including abandoning other climbers. David Sharp became
a casualty in March 2006. 34-year-old engineer from Cleveland
managed to reach the summit on his own. However, he ran out
of oxygen on the way back down. As he lay dying, 40 climbers
passed him by, too eager to achieve their own goals, took a chance
on offering their oxygen. to someone else. David Sharp
froze to death. Ed Vistris, who has scaled the
14 of the world's 8,000 meter peaks, says passing people who
are dying is not uncommon. Unfortunately, there are those
who say, it's not my problem. I spent all this money. I'm going
to the summit. This attitude has produced disgust
in many climbers, including Sir Edmund Hillary. On my expedition,
there was no way you'd left a man under a rock to die, he said.
Now, we're not climbing Mount Everest, but Is life any different? I think today, when we see a
car outside a road, we just assume they got a cell phone, everything's
gonna be all right. And those are things we need to think through
as a believer. And who knows, maybe there's
something else going on. Okay, so I read that. So here's a question. What are
some ways that you could practically serve your neighbor? What are
some ways? Hey, there you go. That's a great one, Michael.
Yeah. But you have to know they're
sick. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, simple thing of serving
a meal. Any other suggestions? Cookies. It's Jason, right? Is that us saying you're a cookie
lover fan? Good to know. Yeah, Derek said it great. Just stop and say hi. Be that
friendly wave. Let a familiar face become more familiar. Yeah,
it's harder and harder today. It really does require an extra
effort, and sometimes that can be a hindrance. Yeah, yeah, oh
yeah, because of the distance between people. Oh yeah, yeah. Okay, let's continue here. Let's go to the next page, and
page 150. So Proverbs 32, 35, you and the
wicked. Let's consider the contrast,
okay? I'll read those verses again. For the perverse person
is an abomination to the Lord. but his secret counsel is with
the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the
house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the just." You can
see this parallelism and contrast. Surely he scorns the scornful,
but he gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory,
but shame shall be the legacy of fools. Some key words here
is perverse, devious, that idea of crooked because like a path
is not straight, misleading, or an incorrect path. Scorn to
mock, show no respect. And legacy is increasing shame
and disgrace. It's interesting how some names
we still have today, but it's a name of shame. Hitler, legacy
of shame. Right? Still used today. All right, so let's look at this
table here. This might be helpful in seeing the contrast. Look
at the affections, okay? You have the perverse person
who's an abomination to the Lord, distance relationship, right?
There's no relationship, not to be envied is implied there. And then you have the upright,
secret counsel of the Lord. There is an intimacy. There is
a relationship. This is to be desired. So look
at the affections. And then look at the actions.
One, the wicked has the curse of the Lord is on the house of
the wicked. Man, do you want that? And then of course the
righteous, but he blesses the home of the just. And then look
at the advantage. Surely he scorns the scornful.
So now God is in opposition versus the righteous, but gives grace
to the humble. and then the apex of it all.
It didn't show up in my slide, bummer. But shame shall be the
legacy of fools, but the wise shall inherit glory. And that
is a picture of hell and heaven. Proverbs kind of hides that a
little bit, but that is ultimately the end. James 4. Let me hold off on that
verse. So here's one, two, three, and
four. I got this from the preacher's source book. God will get close
to the nonviolent person, verse 32. God will bless nonviolent
homes, verse 33. God will help the nonviolent
person in times of trouble, and God will reward the nonviolent
person. Now, this is not talking about self-defense and those
kind of things. This is talking about how you
treat others. That's the idea. Implication,
Solomon reveals the contrast between the perverse and the
upright. And we should be acting in such a way that no one would
ever put us in that other category. But it's not like that, is it,
always? Sometimes the Christians, I put them in quotes, act worse
than unbelievers. We have that in the book of Corinthians.
For the perverse, there is nothing but trouble and judgment. For
the upright, there is nothing but grace and glory. It's an
incredible contrast between the unbeliever and the believer.
And for those of us who are saved later in life, we have that real
perspective. We've lived both lives. So, yeah,
let me, Where's this James one? I think this one comes later.
Just want to make sure I don't get ahead of myself. Let me read
this. So is there, yeah, let me, there
it is. Ta-da. Okay. Let me jump ahead. Here we go. So is there a difference
between the Old Testament and New Testament when it comes to
the wicked and the believer's response to them? No, there is not. It's true,
Jesus emphasized a lot more loving your enemy, right? But what he
was doing was not introducing new revelation. He was correcting,
at the time, a misunderstanding of existing revelation. It has
always been love your enemy, love your neighbor. That's who
God is, and that's never changed. And now you do have situations
like David where he's praying against his enemies in precatory
prayers. That's a whole different situation. That's when that person
has declared, I'm an enemy of God and I'm coming for God's
people. And there's a place for us to certainly love them, but
there's a place for us to also pray, God, stop this evil. And
that's appropriate too. But it's the same, Old and New
Testament. We are to love our enemies, but
we're to be wisely how we deal with those situations. All right,
I think we did it with just a few minutes to spare. Let me double
check here. 151, is that it? Because I have
all my pages folded together, so I didn't know if there was
a 151. Yeah, I think that is it. We ended a few minutes early
today. So as we wrap up Chapter 3, any
additional thoughts or questions from 3? And we'll get into chapter
four next week. Yep, we're still not the end
of the month yet. So let me go ahead and close in prayer. Heavenly
Father, as we just contemplate the truths that we've covered
this morning, we wanna be, so to speak, as the jingle goes,
be a good neighbor. But we're gonna be more than
that. Not in a worldly sense, but in a true Christ-like sense.
It does take energy and effort and sacrifice, but that's how
people know that we truly love them. And I would ask even Lord
this week, if there's an opportunity to say hi, an opportunity to
encourage, build up. Just be compassionate and encouraging. I would just ask that we would
be alert, aware, and take advantage of those opportunities, both
at home, in our neighborhood, at work, or just as we're out,
to be just a little gracious. And if we've got some tracks
to share the gospel, but let's show the people this week that
we do love them, and we love them because God loves them.
In Christ's name we pray, amen. All right, we'll take a break
and resume worship at 10 a.m.
Proverbs 3:21-35
Series Proverbs
| Sermon ID | 112252119182856 |
| Duration | 38:20 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Proverbs 3:21-35 |
| Language | English |
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