and Welcome back to our study of Proverbs. I know it's been a while but I've had a lot of health problems and I'm doing better. I want to thank all the young people especially who prayed for me. I've been through open heart surgery and several other things since the last time I sat down to teach here. So thank you for your prayers. We're in Proverbs chapter 7 but before we get there I just want to back up a little bit and remind you of some of the main purposes of the book of Proverbs. We all know. that reading the book of Proverbs will give us wisdom. That's what the Bible promises us. But I don't want you just to look at the book of Proverbs as a set of principles, but I want you to see how even the book of Proverbs points us back to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There's an illustration that I've used many times throughout this study and I'm going to use it again today, have patience. It's absolutely important that you understand this, everything in the Bible points to Christ, everything. And if you read the whole Bible, memorize it and even obey it better than anyone's ever obeyed it. But you don't find Christ. You've lost everything. You've missed the purpose of the scriptures. The scriptures are not given to us so that we can work our way to heaven. They're given to us to show us the one who purchased for us the way to heaven. And that is Jesus Christ. So remember what we learned about the law. The law is great for instructing us in our daily life, but the main purpose of the law. Well, if all we have is the law, then we're condemned by the law because none of us have kept the law. But the main purpose of the law is to show us our great need of God's mercy and that mercy. That salvation, that grace, that kindness, that forgiveness, it is found in the person and the work of Jesus Christ. And so you need to understand both of those categories. The person of Christ, who is he? He's not just a man, he's not some demigod, something between God and man, but he is God in the flesh. What has he done? Well, he was a tremendous teacher and a miracle worker. But the most important thing he did, as a matter of fact, the goal of everything he came to do was to die. You see, young person, you have sinned just like me, just like your parents. And that presents a great problem because God is loving, holy, just and good. Sin does not enter into his presence. Also, not only that, but God is the just judge of all the earth. And one day every man, woman and child will stand before him and be judged. So how can you and I, who are guilty, stand before God and not just stand before God, but be accepted of God, even adopted of God, become children of God? How can we do that? It is only because Jesus Christ died on Calvary for us. And that's what's so important for you to understand on that tree. All the sins of God's people were placed upon him. The guilt for that was placed upon him, and then all the divine judgment from a just and holy and good God. came crashing down on him. You know, like everybody else, I wasn't born a Christian and I didn't become a Christian until the last few months of my 21st year. Prior to that, I had done a lot of sinning. Not good. How can someone like me stand before God? It is because Jesus suffered what I should suffer throughout all eternity. And right before he died for you and for me, he said it is finished. What does that mean? It means paid in full. Everything that was required to bring about our pardon was accomplished there with the death of Christ. But he didn't just die on the third day. No, he rose again from the dead. And 40 days later, he ascended to the right hand of God, where he now sits. And I know you've probably seen pictures of the humble Jesus. And he, oh, he was humble. And you know what? He still is humble. But that doesn't change the fact that he's the omnipotent, all powerful Lord of the universe. He is the great mediator, the administrator of all that God has for us. You see, it's always been that way. God created the world through the sun. It's what the Bible says. And he sustains the world through the sun. He revealed himself to the world through the sun. He saves the world through the sun. And one day he'll judge the world through the sun. And one day he'll recreate everything through the sun. So you see, young person, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is in the center of everything. Now, isn't that ludicrous? I mean, I want you to think about this for a moment, how tiny you are and how tiny I am. You know, I was listening to some scientists the other day and they were saying that They believe that if you took every grain of sand on the beach, in the desert, in the ocean, wherever, and you multiplied it times a billion, that's how many stars there are. You think about that, you think about how small you and I truly are. And to think that all of this that goes so far beyond what our mind can comprehend, that all of it was made by the sun and for the sun. And then for you and I to live our life for any other reason, man, I mean, that may be the best illustration of crazy. How can we not live for the son? How can he not be the center of our lives? And so when we look at the book of Proverbs, when we look there, What should we find? Wisdom? Yes, we should find wisdom. What else should we find? Principles by which to live. Absolutely. But more than anything else, whenever you look at any place in the Bible, more than anything else, what should we find? Jesus. Jesus. You know how people will say, I've heard a lot of people say this and it's well-meaning, it's just that it's wrong. They'll say, you know, when you read the Bible, the first thing you need to ask yourself is what is it saying about me? Well, I don't recommend that because I don't know if your parents have told you or not, but you're not the center of the universe. When you read the Bible, the first thing you need to ask is what does it say about God? What does it tell me about God? OK. Let me show you a passage, I know we're supposed to be in Proverbs but I care more about you learning things than I do about staying with a schedule. It kind of drives the filmmaker guys crazy but we won't worry about them right now. I want you to look over at Jeremiah and there is a really amazing passage in Jeremiah 9, okay? Jeremiah 9, I'll give you time to find it. Let me say this, if you're having difficulty finding it, that's okay, but you need to get better. You need to know where all the books of the Bible are in your Bible, okay? So work on that, like write out lists. Maybe someone's invented a song or something you can sing with all the books in the proper order. But be able to find Jeremiah and Micah. and all those other books that are hard to pronounce. Okay, Jeremiah 9, 23. Listen to what it says. Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast of this, that he knows me, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord." Now, look what it says in verse 23. Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom, and then there's the mighty man and the rich man. Those are the three things that people seem to most honor in the world today, right? Someone who is astute, wise, clever, someone who can figure out the problem or someone who is powerful, whether it's a powerful country or some guy with a lot of muscles who can lift a lot of weights. And then there's wealth. That's a big one. Everyone but wants to be wealthy. And then with wealth comes power and so many other things. Well, all these things that are most esteemed by men, God says they're really not that important. Let's say that you're the cleverest person that ever walked the planet. You're gonna die, and you're gonna stand before God. Let's say that you are the strongest guy. Well, that's only gonna last for a few years, then you're gonna get old, believe me. And let's say you're the richest. Well, it's like I've said, I've heard people say, you never see a... wagon full of money behind a hearse. You can't take it with you. So all these things, although they have their place, the sad thing is most people think about these things all the time when they're not that important. What is important? Verse 24, let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me. To have all this knowledge and all these things and not understand your creator or understand the demands he makes upon you or the provisions he's given you in order to be saved. To not understand that is truly to be a fool. So even if you study all the book of Proverbs, and I mean, you memorized every chapter and you know it far better than me, but you don't know Jesus. Then it really doesn't matter, does it? And, you know, a lot of you who are watching this, you're homeschooled and that's a great thing. OK, I homeschool, we homeschool our kids. But homeschooling doesn't make you holy. Homeschooling does not reconcile you to God. Homeschool fits in all these other things without Jesus really doesn't matter. And I'm sure if your parents are sitting there listening right now, they would totally and completely agree. They want you to prosper academically. They want you to be moral, to have a good ethic, to be a righteous young man or righteous young woman. But all of that apart from Jesus Christ, man, it's no good. It's no good. Everything we do should come forth from a heart that is believing in Jesus and it's being accomplished for the glory of God. OK, so when we study the book of Proverbs, you must keep this in mind. All right. All right. Let's pray. We didn't get to the book of Proverbs, did we? Well, that'll be the next lesson. Let's pray. Father, thank you. Bless these children. Bless these teenagers and their parents. Yes, Lord, that they would know wisdom. But most importantly, that they would know wisdom personified. The person of Jesus Christ, the word of God. that they would know Jesus. Please, Lord, in Jesus' name, amen.