I've preached a lot of messages. I don't know that I've ever preached a message like this one. It's got some things that it wants us to do that almost seem impossible, I guess most of the time. I thought that the first four verses would be good for us, And I looked at that, a good man and then a virtuous woman. And I thought, boy, this ought to be interesting. This ought to be good. But then I started really studying the first verse. Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge. But he that hateth reproof is brutish. And so I began to consider this and begin to study it. And I could see its point, the point of why we should love instructions. Even that's a little difficult. No, that ain't a little difficult. It's real hard. Because what it's speaking of here that we love instructions, it's actually saying to us that we like somebody to tell us what's wrong with us. We like reproof, because you see the rest of the verse says, he that hateth reproof. And so it's dealing with the fact that it's We, a person that loveth righteousness, that loveth knowledge, will love the instructions that will tell them what's wrong with them. Now, this gets a little rough. It's saying that you, a person that really loves the knowledge of God, the know, you know about God, you know God's will, you know what God desires of you, you have a knowledge of His ways and what His will is for your life and on and on it deals with the knowledge of God. Do you love that knowledge of the relationship with God, the goodness of God to you, the land of the living? It begins with saying that you love instructions. And these instructions are reproof, they're warnings, they're chastisement, and rebuke, are all in that word instructions. Loveth knowledge. Whoso loveth instructions, loveth knowledge. So it's where you really want somebody, whoever it might be, a preacher, a teacher, whoever it might be, it might be a friend, but you want them to tell you everything that's wrong in your life. He that whoso loveth instructions, he that loveth hard preaching, he that loveth somebody that'll just roll back and preach on sin and deal with everything that could possibly be in your life, and you'd want it, you'd desire it, you'd love to hear it, you want to know what's wrong with you, you want somebody to tell you This is what your problem is. Here's your fault. Here's why you're away from God. This is why you're not right. This is why you're not setting a good example. This is what's wrong in your Christian life, and you want it. Whoso loveth it, loveth instructions, loves reproof, love correction, Now, that's a little bit hard to swallow, loving somebody just to preach and deal with you and show you why you need help in your Christian life, just what is wrong with your life, being truthful to you, tell you if you've got pride in your life, if you've got air in your life, if you strayed, what it is that's causing you to not be the Christian that you want to be, I think the Bible does say we have secret faults. And there's many places, there's many places where the Bible speaks of how that we really don't know ourselves that well, the things really well. You know, we have a pretty good idea, but the truth is, I guess, It's easy to deceive yourself what kind of person you are. Really, what is the truth about your life, about your spirit, your attitudes, about possible worldliness that's slipped into your life, things, attitudes you have, dispositions, mannerism, worldliness? That's in James chapter 4, talks about people becoming worldly. and have worldly friends. All these things are in our life. We go through problems and often that we don't act right. We don't stand like we ought to. We don't show our faith like we ought to. I don't know that anybody in here gets out of line or out of sorts at times, but we do. If you're honest with yourself, you know as well as I know that the psalmist was right when he said he wanted to see A wicked way, is there a wicked way in me? Apostle Peter, when Jesus was washing feet, Peter said, wash me all over. If that's the way it's got to be, I want to really be clean. Or it's just feet now. And you do pick up things as you travel through around and go around. Maybe without realizing it, you'll pick up some of the ways of the world, the talk of the world. And I'm not talking about swearing or cussing and all that stuff. It's just some of the things of the world. You start picking up the spirit of the world. You can start picking up some of the mannerism of the world. You can pick up some of the fads of the world. You can pick up some of the apparel of the world. And really innocent, you think, and you don't realize that it really is showing something in your life that is not really Christian. Does it really represent the Holy Ghost of God in you? Does it really show that you're the Christian you ought to be? Everything about you speaks out. All of our mannerism, of all of our attitudes, all of our spirit, everything we do speaks of whether we are really Christ-centered, whether we really love God enough to just stand true and live holy. You know as well as I do. The standards have changed in most churches. They became lax. There's churches that just allows most anything in their church, any kind of apparel. There's some of these churches that the girls go in short shorts. I've had preachers tell me. And the men don't dress. I think I was telling Paul today, if there's ever a place Now, I want to show my Lord that I want to revere Him. I want to praise Him. I want to acknowledge Him. I want to show that I believe He's so important in my life that everything about me, I want to show it with my spirit, my attitudes. I want to show it with my apparel. I want to show I'm going to wear my best all the time. I'm not going to dress down. I'm going to dress right. I'm going to dress up, not down, up. And this world is all changing now that people don't care how they come to church? Used to be. That's one of the reasons I like Brother Massagill's. I see those kids, even the little kids, dressed up sharp, little boys dressed all up sharp. Why? Why should they dress up sharp? because they fear their God. They want to show they love him, and they revere him, and they want to exalt him, and they want to show every way they can that he's worthy of them giving their best to him. So we have kind of a difficulty just holding the standards like we used to. But this is a little bit difficult, I think, saying you really ought to want, you ought to love it with a passion to be pure, to be holy, to be godly. And if there's a fault there, if there's a problem there, if there's something there that's not right, I want you to tell me. I thought about starting the service or the sermon and going down in front of Paul and stand Paul up and say, now, get a mic and you start telling me everything's wrong with me. Anybody want to do that? Try that? Does anybody want to volunteer for that? That's what he's asking. That's what he's telling here. If you really mean you want to be close to God, if you really want to know God, if you want to know what God expects of you, you want to know what it is to mean to really please Him, is give your best. No, no, no. Give your all. Don't give partially. Get everything about you, you give your all. I'm saying we love the knowledge, we love His Word, We wouldn't mind Brother Hardin. I love Brother Hardin. He had fingers that could reach from the pulpit to the pew. They were just long fingers, and it looked like he'd point them. I thought, my soul, buddy, those things are, they look right at you. I mean, the psalmist, the psalmist wanted to know. He wanted to understand just what is wrong with him. There's a song in our blue song book, Cleanse Me, Search Me, O Lord. It comes after the words of David, King David. See if there be any wicked way in me. I want to know. I want to know if there's something in my life. this displeasing, distracting, deceiving, something in my life that's not like Jesus, something in my life that shows that I really love the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell me, am I blind to it? Am I deceiving myself? This is what it's asking for. It's asking for you, me, everyone, to be willing to be just told exactly every fault in our life. Why? Because you want to live for Jesus. You want to set a good example. You want to be close to him. You want to see if there's anything holding back and hindering you from being used by God and helping it to work or being a testimony. See if there be, see if there be any wicked way in me. I wanna see, I wanna know. That's what the psalmist says. That's what we're hearing in Proverbs we're reading, is this desire. It's like every man that hath this hope purifies himself. He just wants to be as pure and clean and as holy as he possibly can in order to face God. And so he's willing to be examined Do you think, the Bible tells us we're to do about this is what we're about to do in the book of Thessalonians. No, it's in Hebrews. It's to where we, examine ourselves, and it's where also we're taught to really actually rebuke our brotherness or wrong. We feel that our own personal opinion of ourselves is good enough, but if we really want to know, if we really love knowledge, if we really want to know the truth and what God expects of us, we'd be willing to say, tell me. Tell me. Tell me what's wrong with me. Tell me what keeps me from loving people. Tell me what keeps me from being honest with people. Tell me what's wrong with keeping me from forgiving people. Tell me. I want to know. Why? Because I want to be right with God. Why? I want to be ready for the rapture. Why? I want to set an example. I've got people looking at me, people following me, people watching my life. They make a decision by looking at me. on whether they'd want to be like me or never be like me. I'm saying the person that loveth knowledge, he really wants to know. He's willing to go through whatever it takes, the blindness we have about ourselves, the things that we cover and things that we think that's not that bad that we do. You know, sitting here tonight, you know what I'm saying, and you know what's in Christians' lives that hinders their testimony. You know. You know a number of things about them. Two things happen here. Do they want to know or would they let you tell them? Would they let a preacher tell them? Would they let a friend tell them? Would they let a loved one tell them? Would they let them be honest with them? Can you be honest with everybody? What you know about them? What you see about them? Well, if you really love knowing God, how holy and righteous he is, what kind of a measure, what kind of a life does he present that he wants us to be? We sing the song, be like Jesus all day long. Oh, to be like him, blessed redeemer. Twice it tells you in the Bible to walk even as he walks. Am I a good ambassador? Am I a good representation of Christ? Can people see Christ in me? Does my life shine out? Am I a light of the world? A lesser light, but I'm a light of the world? Am I good enough testimony that my family, my family would follow me as I follow Christ? Tell me. Do you wanna hear the answer to that? Do you want somebody to pull you aside? No, no, I'm gonna tell you just what kind of a person you are. I know what you think you are, but I'm gonna tell you what you're really like. According to the Word of God, according to the Holy Spirit of God, I'm gonna help you with your Christian life. Well, look at the rest of this verse. But he that hateth reproof is brutish. This is a person that resists the truth. They're not reasonable. You can't help them. It's don't tell me. They don't want to know. They don't want to hear it. They're satisfied at what they are. and they don't wanna hear your opinion. They're not gonna believe you anyway. And so there are people that's unreasonable, people you can't, they resist the truth. You can't help them. You see, that's why I had that verse we read earlier, that we must love the truth. The truth will set you free. The truth will show you what righteousness and godliness and holiness is all about. And so, the Bible tells in these last days, then in 2 Timothy 4, 3 and 4, it talks about the people, how they turn their ears away from the truth. I'm just giving you the truth here. I'm trying to give you the truth. This is what the Bible's teaching here. It's actually saying this. You studied out. Studied out. And what I'm saying is not just, you know, something that I've hypothetically built up just to build it up. No. This is what the Bible's talking about. Whoso loveth instruction. Instruction. Instructed in what? Instructed in ways of God. Instructed in the knowledge of God. Whoso loveth instruction, loveth knowledge. Knowledge of who? It's not knowledge of ABC. It's not knowledge of this world. It's not knowing those things. It's knowledge of God. Knowing the ways of God. Knowing the works of God. Knowing the spirit of God. Knowing what God wants you to be. Knowing what God reads in your mind. like an open book. He knows exactly what you're going to be thinking afar off. Now, the Bible makes it clear here that the person that's hateth reproof. You know, that's one of the reasons, you know, you hear me preaching about different times and I'll nail this down. When you go to Romans chapter eight, there is therefore no condemnation then that are in Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh, but after the spirit. I challenge you, you listen to most preachers, of this liberal kind of sort, and they will not go any farther. There's therefore no condemnation." And they put a period there. Some of them don't even print the rest of the verse. They don't want something to judge them as not being right. They want to consider, I've told God I want Him to save me. My life has changed. I believe that I'm, maybe I'm not the best Christian. Maybe I got some things wrong. How was the testimony used to be? I know I'm not what I ought to be, but I'm not what I used to be. Is that a good one? Do you think that would pass, they get an A in God's word, in God's test? person that doesn't want to be told. Don't tell me. I don't want to hear it. Keep it to yourself. Okay, maybe I'm not all I ought to be. Maybe I'm not as clean as I ought to be. Maybe I'm not as pure in mind as I ought to be. Maybe I don't live the way I ought to live. But I still believe I'm I'm just a spokespeople. Though they go hand in hand, they'll still be judged, the Bible tells you. No matter how big a crowds they have, no matter how many people they have that agree with them, though they joined hand in hand, that's a security if you got a lot of people doing the same thing. No, it's not. No, it's not. God deals with you as an individual. Every man should give an account of his own. Isn't that what the Bible says? Every man's gonna give an account. This isn't something new. Turn to Proverbs 15. I'll just read a couple of verses and I'll quit. Proverbs 15 and verse number 32. 31, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. It's a great verse to underline. He, the person, the ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. Look at verse 32. He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul. But he that heareth reproof, getteth understanding." Exactly what I've been dealing with tonight, the same thing in these verses. As I said, this is nothing new. This has been going on whenever Whenever people begin to apostatize, turn away from the truth, start building their own kind of beliefs, every man does that which is right in his own eyes. There was no king in Israel, and every man did that which is right in his own eyes. Even that verse of the way that seemeth right, the word in there, begins to deal with the fact that it's comfortable It's easy. The way that seemeth right to people. That'll work. That's pretty good. That's okay. The end thereof is the ways of death. Look with me to, did I say Isaiah 30? Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30 and verse number eight. ear-tickling here in the Old Testament. They turned their ears away from the truth. They wanted to hear fable. This is almost the exact same thing, just written in another way. Verse number 8. Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever, that this is the rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the Lord, which say to the seers..." That's the ones that they believe could see down the road, could understand some things. "...which say to the seers, See not, And do the prophets prophesy not unto us right things? Speak unto us smooth things. Prophesy, the word deceit there, shows that just tell us a lie. Tell us things that are fables. Tell us things that are not. Don't tell us the truth. We don't want to hear it anymore. I like who I am. I'm satisfied with it. I don't care what others think. I believe I'm all right. Quit bringing God before us. Notice he says, get you out of the way, turn aside, out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. Wherefore, thus saith the Holy One of Israel, because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon, therefore this iniquity shall be to you a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant. And he spake, It has the breaking of the potter's vessels that is broken in pieces. He shall not spare, so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sheared, or to take fire from the hearth, or to take water with it out of the pit. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you be saved. In quietness, and confidence shall be your strength." Look at the last four words, and ye would not. He said he'd give you life, but he said, these people that will not turn, that will not receive the truth, he said, these people, would not accept salvation. They would not accept what he said. They would not obey it. That you shall be saved. When a person begins to resist the truth, and I'm done, when a person begins to resist the truth, what they begin to do is harden their heart. They build a resistance. That's what these people are. He's told them how they could be saved. But they say, stop. I don't want to hear it anymore. Don't tell me. Leave me alone. Don't even bring God's name before me. Let me live the way I want to live. He that being often What's the next word? Reproved. Hardeneth his neck. He that be not reproved, and shall be destroyed. Let me read that. I got it. For some reason, I've quoted that a million times, and I know where it is. He that be not reproved, hardeneth his neck, and suddenly shall be destroyed. And that without, you read that word remedy, without remedy, without cure, without hope, without a chance of ever being saved. Often reproved, saying no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You won't get reproved anymore. she'll suddenly be destroyed and there'll be no other way around it. There'll be no hope. You've heard me say it different times. It's a dangerous thing to toy, to just kind of tempt God. Like you can do things and Nothing will ever happen to you. I've told you a story of a girl in Waynesboro that she used to go to Sunday school in church and she told me, I didn't bring up the conversation, I didn't start it whatsoever. She said to me, her mom and dad sat there and her two other sisters sat there and she said to me, she said, why is it During the invitation, I don't hear anything anymore. I don't believe she was 14 at the time. Heathen being offered reproof, hard in his neck. You can't just brush God off and expect him to treat him any way you want. You read where Jesus, walked no more in the towns where he was born at. They rejected him. He did no great things there because, the Bible says, because of their unbelief, left them. That song fits there. It says, he will never pass this way again. We're either serious about our relationship with God or it don't really mean much to us. We really believe there is a code of righteousness, principles of righteousness that he expects us to live. There is a, I think it's called the straight and narrow way and few there be that find it. It doesn't have the big crowds, and it doesn't have a lot of wickedness in their midst. They so love God and love His Word that they don't want to be shameful in any way worldly and misrepresent the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you think of this, I'm closing. There's a number of people that's watching you, number of them. and they'll probably end up where you do, I hope. If you live straight, live godly, live holy, consistently, daily. See, it really don't take much for them to lose confidence in you. It's amazing how lost people know the Bible fairly good. Really is, it's amazing. They know what to expect out of a person that says they're a Christian and so, without even knowing the Bible, they say, well, I don't think that's Christian. Tell me. Tell me. I don't want to be somebody that deceives other people. I don't want to be somebody that leads people astray because I'm not conscious or concerned or even desiring to be a better Christian. I want somebody to tell me. Don't you want somebody to tell you? If you're faulted, if you're deceiving people, if you're not living up to the Word, you're not walking in the Spirit, tell me. Can you imagine, can you imagine you cause somebody to go to hell with a bad spirit, unforgiving spirit? You just don't like somebody. I don't understand it. I agree that I want to know Him more personally. I want to know Him closer, everything He desires of me. I want to please Him. Tell me. Tell me. I want to hear it. I want to know. It ought to be in everybody's life that really believes You're doing one of the two things. You're either gathering or you're scattering. One of the two things. You're either causing people to desire the things of God, want to know God, want to know, have knowledge of God, want to have a close relationship with God, want to hear His voice, Want to sense His presence? Want to hear a well done? If you love knowledge, knowing God, all of us ought to really desire somebody tell me where you see a fault in my life. I want to know. Father, in Jesus' name, may this message ring in every one of our ears, my ears, their ears. May we realize the truth of this matter, of knowing God, knowing his word, knowing what he's done for us, knowing he's went to every extent he possibly can without showing any force that we have to, but he's gone all the way to where he can't go no more. He's done everything he can to reach us. His hand is not short. It's extended to all. And I pray in Jesus' name, we'd realize this truth, how we need to be an example of our Savior. Follow Him. Live for Him. Love Him. And know Him with all our heart. Know what He's like. Know His will. Know His ways. Know His word. Know His voice. Help us, in Jesus' name, to desire to live holy, in Jesus' name. Amen. Your Honor Smith. Amen.