Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. This concludes the reading as well as the hearing of God's holy and inspired word. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We know that it contains truth. We have no doubt. Concerning the truth which you have spoken, Father, our doubt lies in our ability to hear it. So we come before you seeking your grace and mercy. Open our eyes, open our ears, that we may see and hear the beauty of your truth. Let us see Jesus Christ in the scriptures. Let us understand what you would have us to do and what you would have us to learn from this scripture text from the book of Proverbs. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. This proverb, like so many of the Proverbs, contrasts the wise man with the foolish man. The specific contrast here in Proverbs 22.3 concerns protecting oneself from foreseeable calamity. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, Solomon writes, but the simple pass on and are punished. And what makes this proverb, or proverbs like this one, so meaningful to us, the children of God is the parallel that it establishes between the natural world and the supernatural world. In the natural world, we know that there are going to be things that come along that are difficult for us. There are gonna be challenges that come our way. Severe weather will damage the crops that we were depending upon for our food. Illness that affects a man's ability to work and provide for his family will create a financial a challenge of the transmission going out in the family car. We know these things are going to happen at some point in time in our lives. And the difference between the prudent man and the simple man is that the prudent man anticipates or accounts for these type of events. He makes preparations for these occasions, whereas the simple man does no such thing. The simple man just goes about his life, giving no consideration to the threats and the dangers that exist within the natural world. And so when the threats and dangers actually do come upon this man, he incurs the full weight of their burden. They devastate the simple man. Whereas the prudent man is able to sustain the storms of life because he has diligently prepared for such occasions beforehand. But Solomon did not write this proverb to warn us about being prepared for the car's transmission to go out. What our sermon text is impressing upon us is the need to be prepared for the spiritual threats and dangers that exist. Quite often the Bible uses this parallel between the natural and the supernatural. It teaches us about spiritual principles by establishing the parallel between the natural and the supernatural. For example, when Jesus wanted to explain the importance of establishing one's faith upon the word of God, he told the story of two men who built houses. One man built his house upon a rock, and the other man built his house upon the sand, and when the wind and rain came, the house on the rock stood while the house on the sand fell and crumbled. We get the illustration of rock and sand, we get that. We can picture in our minds what it would look like if a house was built on a firm foundation and a house was built on a shifting, a sand foundation, and yet the point that Jesus was making in telling that was not how to construct a house. It had nothing to do with how to build a stick frame house. It had everything to do with the need of the Christians the need to build your Christian faith upon the sure foundation of Jesus Christ. And therefore, we understand that the natural is a metaphor or an illustration or parallel to the supernatural. The principles cross over. Solomon's doing the same thing here in our sermon text. He's telling us that some people are prudent about preparing themselves for spiritual threats, for spiritual dangers. And some people are not. The spiritually simple person pays little attention to the spiritual threats that are pronounced to him. He just goes about his life thinking everything's going to work out just fine. And by the time he realizes he should have been more prudent about his spiritual life, it's too late. The power of sin overtakes him. The disheartening truth is that there are a lot more spiritually simple people in this world than there are spiritually prudent people. When Solomon writes, a prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, the noun man in that sentence clause is singular. It's a single man. Not single in the sense of not married. It's one man. But when Solomon writes, but the simple pass on and are punished, the noun in that sentence clause is plural. And the interchange here in this one verse between a singular and a plural demonstrates that for every one prudent man, there are many simple men. And this should give us cause to question our own level of prudence in spiritual matters. Each one of us should be asking ourself, am I prepared for the temptations to sin that I will encounter in my life? Am I prepared for the temptations to sin that will come upon me in my life? Realize, you will be tempted to sin. You know that, right? you will be tempted to sin. You'll be tempted in all manners of sin. Little sins, big sins, private sins, public sins, sins of omission, sins of commission, sins which are manifest in your thoughts, sins which are manifest in the words you speak, sins which are manifest in the actions you perform. Do you, quote unquote, foresee these temptations? Equally important, have you been prudent in hiding yourself from the devastation that these temptations might bring upon you? In asking these questions, I'm not suggesting that you can always anticipate the day and the hour that a particular temptation will present itself to you, and nor am I suggesting that you can arrange your life in such a manner that you've shielded yourself from all such temptations. The questions that I'm asking are aimed to get you to think about your spiritual readiness for engaging in the lifelong battle against sin, whenever and wherever sin presents itself to you. In other words, are you prepared for spiritual warfare? That's what life is. It's a life of spiritual warfare. So are you prepared for that battle? To foresee evil, as Solomon says the prudent man does, one needs to know the enemy that he is fighting. And since our enemy is sin, we must identify the source, or perhaps better put, the sources from where temptations to sin come from. And the first thing to note in this regard is that temptations never, never come from God. That's made explicitly clear in James 1.13. Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. And so God is not the source of the temptations that you and I experience. That's important to know, because if you're seeking out the source of the temptations in order to wage war against that source, it's important to know that you're not waging war against God. God is not your enemy in this battle. Rather, he's on your side. Or better put, You're on his side. If you've been adopted as a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, then your citizenship is in the kingdom of Christ, and therefore, you're on God's side in the spiritual battle that persists in this world. So don't ever think that your enemy is God. Some people have mistakenly concluded that because Jesus taught his disciples to pray, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, that this somehow implicates God as the source of our temptations to sin. But that interpretation, lies directly in the face of what I just read to you a minute ago from James 1.13. The petition in the Lord's Prayer, which says, lead us not into temptation, is simply acknowledging that it's God who ultimately guides our steps and leads us through the pathways of life. And what Jesus is teaching us to pray in the Lord's Prayer is for God to protect us from our own weaknesses. that God would providentially cause us to completely avoid the circumstances where temptation would be too strong for us. For example, when Jesus entered into the Garden of Gethsemane with his disciples, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation. Right? He arrives there, he sits down with them, he says, pray that you may not enter into temptation. And once again, Jesus is telling his disciples to petition God to protect them from their own weaknesses, their own inability to withstand temptation. And so rather than to be confronted by temptation, to fall prey to temptation, we pray to God, protect me from temptation altogether. So let it be clearly understood that God is never the source of the temptations you encounter in life. Rather, God is the only one who's able to deliver you from temptation. He's the one who will always make the way of escape from temptation so that you may be able to bear it. And I'll have more to say about that later on. Now, there are three sources from where temptation does come. When you encounter temptation in your life, there are three sources upon which bring attack to the Christian. And they are, the devil, the world, and your own flesh. And the devil is the most universally acknowledged and understood of these. The Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5.8, your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And we read about Satan's aggressively wicked behavior In the book of Job, for example, the Gospels also tell us about how Satan tried to tempt Jesus into sinning when Jesus was fasting in a wilderness. And if we go all the way back to Genesis 3, we see that it was, guess who, Satan, the devil, who was successful at tempting Adam and Eve to sin when they were in the Garden of Eden. You must recognize that demonic spirits, and Satan, while he's a real being, he's often used in scripture as a representative of the entire demonic realm. And so you must realize that demonic spirits exist, and they're seeking to sift the people of God like wheat. And it's for this reason the Apostle Paul warned the Christians in Ephesus, explaining to them that God's people were engaged in a battle against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness, and all the heavenly places. You can read that from Ephesians 6.12. Now, closely related to the temptations which come from the devil are the temptations which come from the world. In the beginning of Ephesians 2 describes how the course of the world, as it's put, is characterized by sin. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sin. trespasses and sin in which you once walked according to the course of the world. So you see the course of the world is characterized by trespasses and sin. The Apostle John wrote in 1 John 5.19 how the world was under the control of Satan during the first century. We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. Because the world is under the sway of the wicked one, the things of this world are explicitly incompatible with the things of God. John warns in 1 John 2, 15 to 16, do not love the things of the world. Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And so the Christian is to live in the world, but not to love the world. Yet the world, we must acknowledge, can dangle some attractive carrots before our eyes. And therefore, the things of this world, as well as the people of this world, are a constant source of temptation, which the prudent Christian must be able to foresee. And this brings us to the third temptation, source of temptation, which comes from our own flesh. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul admits that he has an internal struggle going on deep within inside his person. Beginning in verse 22, he wrote, for I delight in the law of God according to my inward man, but I also see another law in my inward members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. So then with my mind, I serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now to speak of the flesh and the law of sin, which are in Paul's members, is Paul's way of expressing the sinful desires that he continues to struggle with, even after he has been saved, even after he's received the saving grace of Jesus Christ. And every one of us is in the exact same predicament. We have this same internal struggle between what our sanctified mind wants us to do and what our carnal flesh wants us to do. Galatians 5.17 puts it this way, for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do. You see the conflict here? You see the struggle? I'm sure as these words from the scripture are communicated, as you hear them read or you see them written out, it resonates with your own experience because we all have this internal struggle. And of these three temptations, sources of temptation, it's the flesh that Christians most often neglect to give proper attention to. Many Christians are quick to acknowledge that the devil made them do something wrong. Just about as many Christians recognize how bad of an influence the world can be. But not nearly as many Christians acknowledge the wretchedness that comes from within them. Mark 7, verses 21 through 23. expresses very plainly the sinful capacity which is within our human flesh. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evils come from within and defile a man. If you talk to Christians who have fallen into the big sins, adultery, fornication, murder, theft, what you'll hear them say over and over again is, I didn't think I was capable of that. I didn't think I would ever do such a thing. Those are the thoughts of the simple man Hear that very clearly. Those are the thoughts of the simple man. Those are the thoughts of the person who's totally underestimating the power and deceptive subtlety of sin. but the prudent man foresees evil because he has a comprehensive understanding of where his temptation to sin are coming from. And he knows that demonic spirits are seeking to destroy him. Yes, that's true. He also recognizes that the course of this world is hostile against the righteousness of Christ, but he completely understands that his flesh is capable of committing the most wretched sins. Let me give you a historical example of the difference between the simple man and the prudent man. In fact, if you would please turn in your scriptures to Exodus 9 and you could follow along. Exodus 9 tells a story of three of the 10 plagues that God sent upon Egypt. The whole chapter contains three of them. It starts with a description of the fifth plague, which was the disease that came upon the animals in Egypt. Then it describes the sixth plague, which are the boils that broke out upon the people and the animals in Egypt. And then in verse 13, It describes the seventh plague, which was very heavy hail raining down upon the land. And it's in the context of the seventh plague that we see an explicit example of the prudent man who foresees evil and hides himself, and the simple man who just goes about his business and is punished. Before God ever sent the hail into Egypt, He warned the people through the prophet Moses. Look at verse 18. Behold, tomorrow, about this time, I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as not been in Egypt since it is founding until now. Therefore, send now and gather your livestock and all that you have in the field, for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought in home, and they shall die. You see the predicament here? The warning, God is declaring beforehand, get out of the field because tomorrow the hail is coming. I've warned you. So the people were warned. Now look in verse 20 and 21. He who feared the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and livestock flee to the houses. But he who did not regard the word of the Lord left his servants and his livestock in the field. And the rest of the story explains how the hail came down and devastated everyone and everything that remained outside the house. And so who's the prudent man in this case? It's the one who, when listening, having heard the warning of God, was able to foresee the coming hailstorm and hide himself in his home. That's the prudent man. Who's the simple man in this case? It's the one who did not regard the word of the Lord and subsequently suffered the loss of his servants and livestock and perhaps even himself if he was out in the field. Brothers and sisters, Respect and regard for the word of God is the first step in becoming a prudent person. Everything you need to be prudent about your Christian walk is written in the Bible. God has not only given you descriptive details about the temptations you'll encounter from the devil and the world and your own flesh, thereby giving you the ability to foresee these evils, but the Bible also includes direction on how to hide yourself from these evils. That is, how to guard yourself from suffering the consequences of being overtaken by those very evils. For the remainder of this sermon, I'm going to highlight a handful of biblical directives that you can implement in your own life to guard yourself against the temptations to sin. These are biblical directives. Keep in mind, the prudent man not only foresees evil, but he actively hides himself from the evil, just like the Egyptians who hid themselves in their homes before the hail came. The biblical directives that I'm going to be sharing with you, highlighting, are steps that should be taken, must be taken, before the temptations come upon you, in preparation for the temptations that are gonna come upon you, because you know they'll come. Number one, prayer. I've already dealt with this a little bit towards the beginning of the sermon when we're talking about the Lord's Prayer, lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil. But let me restate the point because it's such an important point. On more than one occasion, Jesus taught his disciples that they need to pray to God that they would not fall into temptation. And the principle here is reliance upon God. It's admitting to God that you're unable to resist temptation in your own strength, so you ask him to protect you from your own weaknesses. You ask him to give you his preserving grace and his sustaining power. You petition the Lord to show mercy to you by delivering you from evil and leading you into paths of righteousness. Number two. Memorizing the Bible. Each time Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he responded righteously to that temptation. And he always responded by quoting the Bible to his tempter. It is written, Jesus would say to Satan. And then he'd proceed to quote what was written in the Bible. And the reason this is such an effective way to handle temptation is because it not only keeps your frame of reference on God's holy word, which provides us direction for righteousness, but it's a firm rebuke to your tempter. Understand that. When you respond with the scripture, it's a firm rebuke to your tempter. So in situations where the tempter is the devil, you're actually rebuking the devil for his intent to cause you to stumble. Think about that for a second. In situations where your tempter is the world, then you're rebuking the people of the world for their intent to cause you to stumble. And in situations where the tempter is your own flesh, then you're allowing the word of God to make course corrections in your own way of thinking, which you would hope would bring about the righteous response that you're looking for. Number three, cast it away. What this means is that you cut off and eliminate the things in your life that do cause you to stumble. In Matthew 18, verses eight and nine, Jesus says that if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, cast it away, get it away from you. It'd be better for you to go through life without a hand than to go through life with two hands and end up in hell. In the same manner, same context, he also says, if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out, cast it away from you. It's better for you to go through life with one eye than to have two eyes and be condemned to hell. And this is hyperbole, of course. Jesus is trying to use shocking examples to make the point that we need to identify the things in our life that cause us to stumble. You need to identify the things in your specific personal life that cause you to stumble and then get rid of those things. Cast them away from you. Even, even if those things in and of themselves are not sinful, And even of those things are as valuable as your eye or your hand. So if your job is that of a clerk at a candy store and this exploits your weakness to overindulge in chocolate, what do you do? You find a different job. You cut off the candy store and cast it away from you because that's causing you to stumble. If your weakness is wasting time playing video games, then get rid of the Xbox. Cast it away. Get it out of your house. It's better that you would suffer the loss of those things than to keep them around and allow them to continue to cause you to sin. Number four, contentment. Contentment goes a long way in assisting a person to exercise self-control. And self-control is ultimately what the prudent person is pursuing. 1 Corinthians 7.5 establishes the obligation of a husband and a wife that they have towards one another to make sure that the other spouse is content in their desire for intimacy. Paul writes that when contentment is achieved in this regard, then Satan is unable to tempt either of those spouses. In just a few verses later, in verse nine, Paul applies the same principle of contentment to widows. He says, if a widow burns with passion, then she ought to be married so that she may exercise self-control. And so as God's people who are waging war against the spiritual forces of evil, knowing, we know that contentment in our physical being translates in preparedness for this spiritual battle that we're engaged in. We're not Gnostic in that regard. We don't believe that the physical has nothing to do and the spiritual has everything to do. We see that there is a crossover between these two. They're connected. Number five, friendships. Have you ever noticed how people will act differently after they've spent time around certain other people? Sometimes these changes are subtle, while other times they're more pronounced. But all of a sudden, after having spent some time with a particular person or particular group of people, all of a sudden this person's speech is different, or his attitude has changed, or he begins dressing differently, or maybe he picked up a Southern accent. This is because the people we associate with have a considerable influence upon us. We don't always perceive how strong that influence is, but it's strong enough that God warns us about keeping company with the wrong people. For example, in Proverbs 22, verses 24 and 25, we're warned against the influence of keeping company with a man who's angry. 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. 1 Corinthians 15, 33 puts it this way. Do not be deceived. Anytime you hear that, that should peak your ears, right? Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. Bad company ruins good morals. Parents will frequently concern themselves with the company that their children keep, and sometimes even going to great measures to change who their peers are. But not nearly as many adults pay attention to this principle of friendship in their own lives. That familiar command from 2 Corinthians 6.14 that tells us not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers, that has application well beyond the question of who a Christian could or should marry. We have yoked relationships in all sorts of areas of our life, in our work, in our school, in our home. All our relationships have this yoking aspect to them, and therefore, these relationships have an influence on us. As you aim to be more prudent in foreseeing evil and then hiding yourself from that evil, know that you will be exposed to temptations from certain people that are around you, the people that you hang with, the people in your peer group, and so choose carefully. Proverbs 13.20 says, he who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. Number six, flee. When Joseph, the son of Jacob, found himself in an awkward situation with Potiphar's wife, he fled. His defense against temptation was his feet. He used his feet to remove himself from the situation where the temptation was. And the Bible encourages this response to temptation in several different passages. 1 Corinthians 10.14 says, flee idolatry. 1 Corinthians 6.8 says, flee sexual immorality. 2 Timothy 2.22 says, flee youthful lusts. And 1 Timothy 6.11 says, flee from the love of money. And the prudent man will be prepared to flee. He'll have his spiritual running shoes on. He'll already be tied onto his feet. He'll have already stretched his spiritual hamstrings so that when the wrong situation presents itself, he'll be prepared to run. Number seven, armor of God. Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 defines the spiritual armor God has given to his people in our battle against evil. And I don't have time this morning to identify and explain each piece of armor. That's a whole different sermon series in and of itself. But I trust you're already familiar enough with this passage that you're able to review it at home during your own personal Bible readings and understand how each piece of that armor is necessary for the prudent man to foresee evil and then to hide himself from it. So let me just read verse 13 as it impresses upon us this very point. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all, to stand. That's what we're aiming for, right? To be able to stand in the evil day. That's what the prudent man is able to do. The armor of God equips him for that. And finally, number eight, Attend church. I'm glad you're here today. The prudent man knows where his spiritual nourishment comes from. And if he's going to faithfully persevere through the years of his pilgrimage here on earth, he needs to know, he needs to have the ongoing nourishment of God's grace. And this is why Hebrews 10.25 says not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing. The context, In that context, it describes how the church's worship assembly is an opportunity for God's people to draw near to God in order to receive the faithful promises of God. Do you hear that? The worship service is not just a time for us to get together and say hi to each other. There's something extremely supernaturally important going on here. It's an opportunity to draw near to God in order to receive the faithful promises of God, to be stirred up to love, to be stirred up to good works, and to receive exhortation from God's word as well as from our fellow Christians. That's vital to your life as a Christian. It's what the Protestant reformers refer to as the ordinary means of grace. They understood that nobody can just walk up to God and demand that God would then give his grace to them. Grace is given by God to whomever he pleases, whenever he pleases, however he pleases, in whatever measure he pleases. But what God has revealed to us in his word, in his promises, is that he pleases to give his grace within the means of the corporate worship service. So if you want to be enriched and nourished by God's grace, then you go to the place where God has said, I'm going to pour out my grace upon people who are there. That's what church is. But there's another element to this particular directive that needs to be heard. For the person who desires to be prudent in life, able to foresee evil, able to hide oneself from evil, There's a resource within the church that he will find helpful. It's the eldership. Hebrews 13, 17 says that God has appointed elders in his church to watch out for your souls. Do you hear that? To watch out for your souls. That's the elder's duty, to provide spiritual care for you, to comfort, to edify you, to feed you with knowledge and understanding, to hold the grace of Jesus Christ before you, and to encourage you in your walk with God. The man who will succeed in being prudent who are seeing evil, hiding himself from it, is the man who will make full use of all the resources that God has given him, which includes the eldership of his church. And these eight directives up here, these are simply a sampling of the vast resources God has given the people, his people, you, to develop prudence in your life. And while all of them are important and indispensable to your Christian walk, I want to impress upon you the importance of prayer. That's why I put it up there first. It all begins with prayer. You may recall the biblical account of the man who approached Jesus and said, I believe, help now my unbelief. The humility and dependence upon God which is expressed in that simple petition to Christ is the foundation for a fervent and efficacious prayer life. Let me say that again. The humility and dependence upon God, which is expressed in that simple petition to Christ, I believe, help now my unbelief, is the foundation for a fervent and efficacious prayer life. When your posture before God is that same humility and dependence, then the Lord is pleased to pour out his blessings and mercies upon you. And this is why I'm advocating that your first act of prudence should be prayer. A prayer which says, Lord, I believe. Help now my unbelief. I desire to know you better through your revelation to me. Help now my ignorance. I desire to cast away all those things that distract me from you. Help now my idolatry. I desire contentment with all that you have given to me. Help now my discontentment. I desire righteous relationships that edify me and stir me on to good works. Help now my discernment. I desire the power to flee from temptation. Help now my weakness. I want to wear the whole armor of God. Help now my nakedness. I want to worship you in the splendor of your holiness. Help now my apathy. I want to be prudent. Help now my simplicity. The person who sincerely prays in this manner will have the assurance which is expressed in 2 Timothy 4.18. And I close with the reading of this verse as an expression of the hope which I encourage you each to aspire to attain. And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory forever and ever, amen. Let's pray. Our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we honor you, we praise you, we worship you, we adore you, for being the God who has revealed himself to us. And not only have you revealed yourself to us, but you have shown forth yourself in such a way that we can behold the power and majesty of your being. We can understand your invisible attributes, And Father, you have revealed yourself in your Word most sufficiently through Jesus Christ. And Father, you have made clear that you are a God of order, a God of justice, a God of righteousness, a God of mercy, a God of love, a God who justifies, a God who sanctifies, a God who glorifies those whom he has called to himself. And Father, we first and foremost praise you for the call of grace that you have put upon the life of everyone here who knows Jesus as his or her personal Savior. We thank you for salvation, and we continue to bring forward to you the meditations of our hearts, the joys and praises of our lips, and deflect and point all glory to you for your gracious acts of love towards us. But Father, we also pray that you would not just save us and leave us, but that you would save us and continue to refine us. And as you refine us, as you continue to transform us into the image of your Son, Jesus Christ, that you would make us prudent people who are able to to have respect and regard for the warnings and the declarations that you have revealed to us in your word. Father, you have not left us to grope darkly in this world, but you have turned on the lights through the proclamation of your word. You have preserved through the ages your Holy Bible so that your people can have it and read it and be, you know, gain knowledge through it. And Father, we pray that this knowledge would translate not just into some academic enterprise, but that it would translate into a very real understanding of the dangers, both physical and spiritual, that are presented before us. Father, may we never underestimate the power of the devil, the attraction of the world, and the depravity of our own flesh. Father, may we understand that these sources of temptation will continue to wage war against us and that our responsibilities in this matter is to be prudent in foreseeing and hiding ourselves from the evils. So Father, give to us the capacity to do so. Give us the desire to pray to you. Give us the ability to know your word and to memorize it and to take refuge in it. And Father, all the other many directives that you have given to us in the scriptures, give us the ability, the desire, the knowledge, the capacity to incorporate these things into our life that we may be prudent. And Father, we pray for the simple. We pray for those who have already fallen into significant sin because of their simplicity. Father, we pray that this very act of suffering, the consequences of their sin would drive them to the cross of Jesus Christ. May they become prudent as a result of their simplicity. May they learn from their mistakes. so that they may not repeat their mistakes. And Father, while they are still on this earth, may they come to have the assurance of their salvation through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Father, we pray for the young who are among us, those who have yet been protected from great falls into sin. We pray that they would not only hear the word, hear it proclaimed and receive it and implement it into their life, but Lord, that they may even learn from the mistakes of others so that they too do not have to repeat those mistakes. Father, this can only be done by your grace, For as we often say, but for the grace of God, there go I. Father, we pray that your grace would be manifest amongst us in such a way as to sustain us and deliver us from evil. For we know that yours is the power, and it is the glory, and your kingdom is forever. In this we pray in Jesus' name, amen. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.