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Turn your Bibles to Proverbs
chapter 1. Proverbs chapter 1. If you don't have one of the
outlines from Tuesday, if you'll raise your hand, they'll bring
it to you so that you can follow along with the outline. As you're
getting your outline out or getting a copy of that, I want to mention
how much I appreciate the opportunity of being here. It's been a real
blessing and a challenge to me, and I hope that we can continue
to send students here and see them growing the Lord and serving
the Lord as many of you are. I'd like to mention, if you have
not talked to me, if you're interested either in working with the military
or in coming out to Hawaii to work, either on a long-term or
short-term basis, we'd be glad to talk to you about that and
share with you some of the burden of the ministry there. And Hawaii
is a great opportunity for admissions majors because we have so many
different nationalities and yet you're still in America. You
don't have to get a passport. You have English as a base language. And so you are able to communicate
even if you haven't learned the language yet. And yet you're
able to get an opportunity to experience much of the cultures
and the differences that are there. And so it may be something
you would be interested in. And so I'd be glad to talk with
you about that. In Proverbs 1, beginning with
verse 20, it says, "...wisdom crieth without. She uttereth
her voice in the streets. She crieth in the chief place
of the concourse, in the openings of the gates. In the city she
uttereth her words, saying, How long, you simple ones, will you
love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out my Spirit unto you. I will make known my words
unto you. Because I have called, and you
refused. I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded."
But you have said it not, all my counsel, and would none of
my reproof." Let's bow for prayer. Father, we pray once again this
morning as we open up your Word that you would open it to our
hearts and to our lives. We pray that we can build on what we
presented on Tuesday and bring it to a conclusion and to conviction
as well. And so, Father, we pray that
you'd help each one to follow along with the important truths
that we're going to look at from this passage. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. In our notes, we're on
Roman number three in the outline. You remember, we start out by
talking about the different kinds of people. The Bible says there's
four different kinds of people that you will deal with, and
each of you fits into one of those four categories as well.
And that is the simple, the fool, the scorner, or the wise. And
actually, in my study, in my observation, I believe it's really
kind of on a scale. On one of the scales, the wise.
On the other, the scorner. And then you have the simple
and the fool in between there. And every one of you and I, as
well, fit somewhere on that scale. Some people are wise, simple. They are wise, but they do lean
a little bit towards simple and make some simple decisions at
times. Others are simple, and then others are simple-wise.
They lean towards being wise, but they're still acting simple.
Some are simple fools. They lean more towards foolishness
than they do towards wisdom and on down the line. So as you look
at these things, what you want to do is determine where on that
scale do I fit in my life. And just like we know with many
other areas of our spiritual walk, it can change sometimes
from day to day. There are some days that I can
be very wise and then the next day make a very, very foolish
decision. And so you need to understand that for yourself
and also for those that you work with. As we started the lesson,
we told you that the word wise comes from a root word which
means to be open. It's like a jar that's open to
whatever influences in their life. That's why, I mean, the
simple. And the simple are easily influenced. You put them around wise kids
and they will act wise. You put them around foolish kids
and they will act foolish, because they are open to the influences
in their lives. Whereas the foolish person is
more like this bottle here, in that they're very narrow-minded
and stiff-necked, and so they're hard to work with from that perspective. But the third one we want to
look at this morning is the wise person, wisdom. And wisdom, I
think, can be best illustrated by this jar right here. And that
wisdom is like this see-through jar. One of the words for wise
in the Bible has the root word of being clear. And so the person
who is wise is clear. And it's kind of like the see-through
jar is that they have a clear testimony. In James chapter 3
and verse number 13, it says, Who is a wise man and endowed
with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation
his works with meekness of wisdom. And so if we are a wise person,
then people are going to be looking at our lives and they're going
to be able to see the wisdom in our lives. They're going to
be able to see Christ in our lives. You see, the difference is the
difference between this container of peaches and this container
of peaches. You see, both of these contain peaches, but there's
a big difference. On this one, you can see the
peaches. On this one, you can only see the label. In Matthew
chapter 5 and verse number 16, it says, "...let your light so
shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven." You see, a lot of Christians
are labeled Christians. They have the label that they
are a Christian and Christ lives within them. But you cannot see
Christ in their lives. The wise person is one that you
can look at them and you can see they're transparent, they're
clear, and you can see Christ in their lives. It's not just
the label that they wear, but it's the life that you can see.
Do you see the difference on that? And so if you are a wise
person, you have a clear testimony that people can see Christ in
your life. Over in 1 Peter 3, verses 15
and 16, it says, "...but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts and
be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a
reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. Having
a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you, as evildoers
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation
in Christ." Now, that word conversation, as I tell our people, it's not
just the words that we speak, but it's how our life speaks.
You've heard the statement, your talk talks more than your walk
talks. And so, if we are wise, our life is going to speak of
Christ. They are going to be able to
see Christ. It's not just going to be a label that we wear, but
it's going to be that they can see Christ in our lives. But
you notice as you look at this jar of peaches right here, it
still has a label. Even though you can see what's
inside of there, they still put a label on the jar. Why is that
label there? It's to tell you the brand. It's
to tell you the nutritional facts. It's to tell you what the ingredients
are. It gives you more information. And even though people can see
Christ in your life, we still need that label, the standard,
so they can see what difference He makes in our lives, so we
can tell them what we believe and why. And so it is both the
label, but it is also seeing Christ in our lives, not just
a label. And so the wise person is someone
that you can see clearly the testimony of Christ in their
lives. What would happen if you went
down to the store, and you were going to buy some peaches? Now,
I don't know about you, but I'd rather buy this than this, because
I can see the peaches. I can see what I'm getting, and
that's kind of a little better deal, isn't it? But what if you
walked down the store, and you were looking at this jar of peaches
on the shelf, and as you looked in there, you saw a little fly
sitting right inside the jar there with the peaches. Would
you still buy the peaches? Probably not. Even though the
peaches all look good, and there's nothing wrong with the peaches,
the fact that that fly is inside that jar would make you not buy
it. In Ecclesiastes 10, verse 1,
it says, Here's the problem. It only takes one fly to ruin the
product. It only takes one fly to ruin
the product. You can be a wise young person, and it just takes
one foolish decision to mess your testimony up. And that's
something you here in Bible College need to understand clearly. I've
seen it over and over again. I've seen some of the wisest
kids in school, some of the ones with the best testimony, the
clearest testimony. But they made one foolish decision,
and it's like having a fly inside of this jar. Now, understand,
there are bugs in this jar. I used to work for a canning
factory, and by law, you are allowed, the manufacturers, the
canners, are allowed so many bug parts in every jar. They
cannot keep them out. Bugs are everywhere in the process,
and they get chopped up and mixed up in with everything you eat.
When you go to lunch today, you are going to be eating bug parts.
And it's not because they got there in the cafeteria, it's
because they got there when the stuff was canned. It's going
to be there. And understand, no matter how
wise you are, you've still done some foolish things. You've got
some of that sin mixed in there, some of those dumb choices mixed
in there. But you know, God understands there's going to be a certain
amount of that in our lives because we're not perfect. But if there's
a big old fly sitting in there, nobody's going to buy the jar.
You see, we can ruin our testimony by one foolish decision. And
that's something we need to be careful of. You see, we need
to be transparent. If we're going to be wise, we're
going to be transparent. In Psalms 32, verse 1-2, it says,
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile. You see, we need to
be transparent in the sense that people need to be able to see
God in our lives. And that word, blessed, means
the wise man. The wise man is the blessed man. And so, the
wise man, you know what he's thinking. And I'm not going to
look up some of these verses for time's sake. You can look them up later.
I think you can read. And so, the wise man, you know what he's
thinking. He's up front with you. He tells
you what he's thinking. He tells you what's going on
in his life. The wise man is also someone, what you see is
what you get. You know, people aren't looking
for perfect pastors. They're looking for perfecting
pastors. People don't want somebody that's
up on a pedestal and says, I'm better than you. They want somebody
that's working on some of the same things in their lives that
they're working on, but they're working on it. And what you see
is what you get. They don't try to put on an outward
facade. They don't try to hide what's going on inside of them.
They're very open and honest with people and what they're
dealing with in their life and what struggles they're going
through. They're not afraid to admit when they're wrong. You
know, the difference between David and Saul when they were
confronted with their sin is Saul gave every excuse in the
book, but David said, I did it. He's not afraid to admit when
he did wrong. I remember as a Christian school principal, I would call
students in who were cheating, and the foolish student would
deny everything. No matter how much evidence you
had to put in front of them, they would deny everything. The
simple student would admit it only when you showed them your
evidence, when they knew they were caught. The wise student
would confess before you even told him that they were caught.
You see, they're willing to admit it when they're wrong. They're
not going to excuse themselves. They're not going to cover it
up. They're not going to hide it. They're going to deal with that situation
and take care of it. Number three there, the wise
person wants to see God's will for their lives. He wants to
see God's will for their lives. In 2 Timothy 3, 14-17, it says,
But continue thou, "...and the things which thou
hast learned and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
And that from a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which
there will make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God as proper doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." The word for wise
here in this passage is the Greek word sopho. Some of you might
recognize that's where we get our word sophomore. How many
sophomores here? Raise your hand if you're a sophomore. You know
what the word sophomore means? Sophomore means wise. More, it
comes to the word moron. And so a sophomore is a wise
fool. He's a wise moron. And you know,
they're an educated fool is what they are. And that's really true.
You see, freshmen, they know they don't know anything. They
don't even know where the classes are. They know they don't know
anything. The sophomore thinks they know everything now, because
they've had a year of college behind them. And I found when
I was in school, the further along I got, the more stupid
I realized I was. By the time I was a senior, I
was wondering why they were even graduating me. I was so dumb.
You know, the older you get, the more you realize how little
you know. And the wise person, he understands, I'm just an educated
fool. You know, I've got a college
degree, but that doesn't mean anything. I've still got a lot to learn.
And he wants to learn. You see, he's number 8 there.
He's a sophomore. Romans 1.22, it says, professing
themselves to wise, they become fools. Those who think they're
wise, they're the ones who are the fools. As soon as you think,
hey, I'm wise, then you become a fool, the Bible says. In Proverbs
1.5, the Bible says, a wise man will hear and will increase learning,
and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. You
see, the wise person says, I'm not done learning. When they
graduate from college, they don't stop learning. They don't stop
studying. They don't stop reading. I've got a lot to learn yet.
It doesn't matter how old you get. It doesn't matter how many
degrees you have. It doesn't matter how much experience you
have. The wise person realizes, I've got a lot more to learn.
And he wants to learn. But the word sopho also is where
we get our word sophisticated. Sophisticated. Now, what does
that word sophisticated mean? The word originally meant corrupted,
less natural, deceptive, misleading. Isn't that interesting? That's
what the word originally meant. Nowadays, who do we call sophisticated? Movie stars, politicians, sports
stars. You know what they're doing?
They're living a lie. They're living a lie. That sophistication
is to live a lie. And you know, there may be some
of you here in this room, you're living a lie. You're acting like
you're very spiritual, but when you know inside of you, you're
very foolish. And you're living a lie. You see, the wise person
is sophisticated in the sense that they understand in their
life. In 1 Corinthians 3, verse 18, it says, "...let no man deceive
himself. If any among you seemeth to be
wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise."
He understands that the wisdom comes from God and not from the
world. And so he's got that wisdom. That number B there, the second
thing about the wise person is that he's got his head screwed
on. Put that word, screwed on, there. The Hebrew word for wise,
one of the words is circumspect. It means the idea of circumspect,
a circle. You know, when you put a lid
on a jar, you screw it on because it's a circle. Now, we know the
word circumspect means to be paying attention to what's going
on around you. In Psalms 119, it tells us, Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet. You carry that lamp, it puts
a circle of light, and that's how we walk this life, following
the light of God's Word. But the wise person, he's somebody
who's paying attention to what's going on around him. But he's
somebody that's got his head screwed on straight. He's got
his head screwed on straight. In Ecclesiastes 12, 13 it says,
So the wise person, see the simple person, he's like a jar with
no lid. And if you've got a jar with
no lid, if it contains anything, it's going to spill out. And
it's going to get all corrupted. And so the wise person is somebody
when he learns things, he puts a lid on it. He's got his head
screwed on straight. And that's important. In Ecclesiastes
chapter 12 and verses 9 through 11, it says, And moreover, because
the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge.
Yea, he gave good heed and sought out and set in order many problems.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which
was written was upright, even words of truth. The words of
the wise are as goads and as nails fastened by the masters
of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd. So he knows
that he needs to nail down what he's learned. He needs to put
a lid on it, is what he needs to do. And that's important in
that aspect, is the wise person realizes, as I learn things,
I need to retain those things. I need to hold on to those things.
Now again, in Ecclesiastes 12, 13, the writer, Solomon, said,
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and
keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. You
see, Solomon comes to the end of his book. And if you've ever
read the book of Ecclesiastes, you think this is the wisest
person and he's still not figuring out some of these things. Solomon
comes to the end of his book and he basically says this, I
haven't figured everything out, but I do know this, the best
thing that I can do is fear God and keep His commandments. And
young people, whether you've figured it all out yet or not,
the best thing you can do, the wise person says, no matter what
else I know, I know I should fear God and keep His commandments.
That's the base of the wise person, the understanding. But also,
in letter B there, the world is going to see us as having
a screw loose. If you're going to act wise, the world's going
to call you and say, you've got a screw loose, you've got something
wrong with you. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 18 again,
it says, the priesthood of the cross and then the parish is
foolishness, but unto us which are saved is the power of God.
So we need to be wise people. We need to put a lid on it. In
Proverbs 4, 4 and 5 it says, He taught me also and said, Let
thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither recline
from the words of my mouth. You know, as a pastor, often
it's frustrating to me, you'll have somebody come into church, and
they'll listen to the message, and you teach the message, and
they seem to listen, they seem to hear what you have to say,
but then a week later it's like they've forgotten it all. Why?
Because they didn't put a lid on it. They're not retaining
what they learned. And so many of us, we come to
chapel day after day, we come to church week after week, we
come into the classes, and we're getting all this good information,
but we're not retaining it. We're not holding on to it. And
that's what the wise person does. And then the third thing about
being wise is to keep separate. The reason you put things in
containers, like jars, is to keep it separate. When we're
all done eating, my wife says, put the food away, and we put
it in different containers. We don't take the meat and the potatoes
and the vegetables and the dessert and put them all in one container.
We put them in separate containers to keep them separate. In 2 Corinthians
chapter 6 and verses 14 through 17, The Bible says, Be ye not
unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk
in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore, come out from among them, be separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing. We put things in jars
so they don't get dirty, so they don't get corrupted. We keep
them separate that way. And a wise person is someone
who realizes, I've got to keep certain things separate in my
life. And that, first of all, is to separate feelings from
facts. To separate feelings from facts. You see, the fool doesn't
rein in or control his feelings. Remember, we talked about that
Tuesday. He doesn't rein in or control his feelings. The wise
person realizes, feelings can't control me. Feelings can't control
me. They separate feelings from facts.
Number A there, they separate issues. In 1 Corinthians 6, 12
and 13, it says, All things are lawful unto me, but all things
are not expedient. All things are lawful for me,
but I will not be brought unto the power of any. Meats for the
belly, and the belly for the meats, but God shall destroy
both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication,
but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. You see, the foolish
man says, Well, you know, God gave me an appetite, and I enjoy
food, and I eat food from my belly. And God gave me an appetite
for sex, so it's okay for me to have sex too. You see, He
doesn't separate issues. Those don't go together. But
the foolish man doesn't separate issues. The wise man realizes
that issues need to be separated, that feelings need to be separated
from facts, and we need to do what's right, rather than be
controlled by our feelings. We need to separate right from
wrong. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse number 15 says, "...study
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not
to be ashamed..." What? "...rightly dividing the word
of truth." In Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14 it says that, "...by
reason of use we learn to discern both good and evil." And that's
what the wise person has done. He has learned how to separate
issues. He's learned how to understand
the difference between right and wrong. And to think these
things through from a biblical basis. The main Hebrew word for
wise is used to describe a man that is skillful in working brass.
Back in 2 Kings 7, verse 14, it described a man who was skillful
in working with brass. So the word wisdom, the idea
of the word, is the wise man has learned how to use what he
knows. The wise man has learned how
to use what he knows. There's another series of messages
I wish I had time to share with you that I did in my church,
and I called it the Pyramid of Learning. And in that series
of messages, I talked about the different levels of learning.
When I was in Bible college, I was taught that the highest
level of learning was wisdom. That that was what we wanted
to attain to, was wisdom. But do you know that that's not
the highest level of learning? The base of the Pyramid of Learning
is knowledge. The Bible tells us that we need
to learn knowledge. Now, knowledge is just the basic
facts, basic information. It can be learned in the classroom
or it can be learned by experience. But to learn knowledge. And the
way we learn knowledge is by repetition. In Isaiah 28, verses
9 and 10, it says, Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom
shall he make to understand doctrine? Them that are weaned from the
milk and drawn from the breast. For precept must be upon precept,
and precept upon precept, line upon line, and line upon line,
here a little and there a little. It's the repetition that's the
key to learning. And the way we learn knowledge
is by repetition. As we hear it again and again,
as we experience it again and again, we begin learning it.
The next level on that pyramid of learning is wisdom. And wisdom
is basically the skill in using knowledge. I can illustrate it
this way. Most of you here know how a car
works. You understand the basic principles
of the internal combustion engine. You understand a little bit about
how the car works. And you've got the basic knowledge.
But many of you who know how a car works don't know how to
work on a car. You see, wisdom is knowing how to work on the
car. Knowledge is knowing how the car works. There's a difference
between the two. And how do we learn wisdom? Wisdom
is primarily learned through practice. Through practice. The
Bible says in James 1.22, Be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves. So I learn wisdom,
the skill. See, that's what that... In 1
Kings, here was a man that was skilled in working with brass.
He had experience. He had practice working with
it. He was very good at it. That's wisdom. The third level
of that pyramid of learning is the level of instruction. Now
you say, well, what is instruction? Instruction comes from the same
root word where we get our word chastisement or discipline. And
so instruction is discipline, either imposed or self-discipline. In classroom, your teachers give
you instruction by giving you tests. They're disciplining you
to study by giving you a test that forces you to study. Now,
if you're a good student, you will study whether you have a
test or not. That's self-discipline. And so, the higher level than
wisdom is instruction. Using the illustration of the
car is this. How many of you, basically, you know how a car
works? Raise your hand. All right. Now, how many of you know how
to work on a car? Maybe not everything, but generally,
you could work on a car if you need to. Raise your hand. How
many of you that know how to work on a car, you know a car
is supposed to have its oil changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles? Raise
your hand. Keep it up real high. How many of you change your oil
every 3,000 to 5,000 miles? Half those hands went down. You see, that's instruction.
I know what I'm supposed to do, I just never get around to doing
it. You see, a lot of people have wisdom. I have a lot of
people in my church know what they should do in their marriage,
they're just not doing it. They know what they should do as a
Christian, they're just not doing it. And so instruction is the
discipline to know, to do what I know I'm supposed to do. And
I know how to do. The Bible says in Proverbs 24,
verse 30, I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard
of the man, void of understanding. And lo, it was all grown over
with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and
the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw and considered
it well, and I looked upon it, listened, and received instruction.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of
the hands to sleep, so shall thy poverty come as one that
travaileth, and thy want as an armed man. See, when we don't
reach the level of instruction, we're not disciplining ourselves
to do what we know we're supposed to do. But the highest level
of learning, which is at the top of the pyramid, which the
fewest people are doing, is the level of understanding. Understanding
is the ability to apply what I've learned in another area
and use it in something that's brand new in my life. It'd be
like on the car again, if I had a part break on my car that I've
never worked on before. But because I've worked on other
places in the car and because I've got a manual that tells
me how to work on that part, I can take the manual and the
experience I have from the other parts of the car and I can fix
this new part without having somebody come and do it for me.
You see, I've got the understanding to apply my knowledge and wisdom
to a new situation. That's the level of understanding.
And the Bible says in Proverbs 4, verses 5 and 7. This is why
I tell you it's the highest level. Listen carefully. Get wisdom.
You want to get wisdom. Get understanding. Forget it
not. Neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her
not, and she shall preserve thee. Love her, and she shall keep
thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. You've got to learn that
skill. Therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get
understanding. So understanding is a higher
level than wisdom is. I know a lot of people that know
more about living the Christian life than I do, but aren't doing
it. Because they're not disciplined.
No instruction. And when you don't discipline
yourself, you don't keep growing and get the understanding. And
so, the wise person is one that understands that there are levels
of learning that I have to work my way through. And that I have
to work my way up those levels of understanding. And by the
way, when you minister to others, you will learn this as well.
You'll see people in your church that go on these different levels
as well. And how am I going to help them to come up to the next
level on that pyramid of learning? So we understand that the wise
person is one who is skillful. And then number two there, going
back to page four, separate areas of life. In Ecclesiastes chapter
7 and verses 23, I've got to find my notes here again. Ecclesiastes
7, verse 23. It says, "...all this have I
proved by wisdom. I said I will be wise, but it
was far from me. That which is far off and exceeding
deep, who can find it out? I applied my heart to know and
to search and to seek out wisdom, and the reason of things, and
to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness."
Now you see, Solomon said, I've tried it all. Solomon was the
wisest person in all the world. And yet, he still had a lot to
learn. You are not wise here today if you think you're wise.
You see, you're not wise if you say, well, I'm not a fool, and
I'm not a scorner, and I'm not simple, because every one of
us has made some foolish decisions. Every one of us has that potential.
If Solomon, the wisest man in the world, made some foolish
decisions, what makes you think you're exempt? Well, I'm here
in Bible college. I'm studying for the pastor.
I'm going to go into ministry. But you can be just as big a
fool as I've ever been. And I've been a big fool many times. You
can be very simple-minded. You even have the potential to
become a scorner. And I've seen scorners in Bible college. And
you need to understand that. Wisdom, Solomon said, is understanding
that I can be a fool. And how easy it is to become
a fool. The last person the Bible identifies is the scorner. Bible
didn't have much to say. When I did the study, I looked
up every word on wisdom, every time simple was used, every time
fool was used, there was tons and tons of words. But there
was very few words on scorner. Bible didn't have a whole lot
to say about scorners because usually they're not the majority. They're
the minority. There's scorners in every group. There are scorners
right here in this chapel today. No doubt about it. There are
scorners in every group. But they're the minority. There's
not much the Bible says about them. It does say this, number
A there, put the word mouth. In Proverbs 19.28, it says, Non-godly
witness scorneth judgment, and the mouth of the wicked devoureth
iniquity. Scorners have got a big mouth. Scorners have got a big
mouth. You see, scorner and wicked are
the same word here. And the word scorner means to
make mouth at. To make mouth at. Scorner's always
got to answer back. Scorner's always got to have
a smart remark. Scorners just can't keep their mouth shut.
That's how you identify a scorner. Scorners make fun of the wise.
Now, again, you can look up this verse later, but the word proud
there in that verse is a scorner. Scorners make fun of the wise.
In fact, the scorners, they take pleasure in their scorning. They
think it's a sport. They think it's a game. They
have a good time with it. In Proverbs 1 and verse 22, it says,
How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? And the
scorners delight in their scornings, and fools hate knowledge. Scorners
delight in scorn. They take pleasure in it. They're
proud of their attitude. Proverbs 21-24 says, Proud and
haughty scorner. Proverbs 16-18 says, Pride goeth
before destruction. They're proud of their attitude.
In James 4-6 it says, But he giveth more grace, wherefore
he saith, God resist the proud. but give grace unto the humble."
You know what? You give a scorner a second chance,
and they won't appreciate it. You give a scorner a second chance,
and they will turn against you. They're proud. Being around a
scorner is like somebody threw up all over you. You ever had
that happen? We had one of our families, he
was out to sea, and she had a bunch of young kids, and she was really
kind of stressed out, and one of her kids got real sick, and
she finally, she'd been up almost all night with this kid, and
finally took him up to the emergency room at the military hospital,
and as she was getting ready to leave, she called my wife
on the phone and says, I don't know what to do, I've got the
other kids, and he's sick, and I've got to go to the emergency
room, and I said, don't worry about it, we'll be right there. We met
her at the emergency room, and my wife took the younger kids,
the other kids out in the reception area, and I stayed in there with
her to help her to get through all the process with the doctors.
And she had a hold of this little kid, I think he was about two
or three years old, and she had him in her arms, and you could
see she was just worn out. And I just thought, you know,
I need to do something. So I reached over and I said, let me take
him from you. And you could just see the relief on her face. And
it was like, oh, thank you. And she hands me the kid, and
I reached out, and I grabbed the kid like this. I had him
facing me. I grabbed him like this, and I was bringing him
towards me to put him over my shoulder. And as I brought him
towards me, he let go. Just... It went all over my face,
all over my shirt, all over my pants, all over my shoes. I could
not believe there was so much in one little kid. And it was
just... You know, that's what it's like
to be around a scorner. You walk away from them and you feel like
they just threw up all over you. They just are full of guile,
full of garbage, is what the Bible says. And number A there,
they're full of guile. And they're disgusting. The way
they talk and the things they talk, they're disgusting. You
know what it is? It's a heart problem. It's a
heart problem. You know, Matthew 15, it tells
us it's out of the heart proceeds these things. The Bible tells
us in Proverbs 4.23, Keep thy heart with all diligence, for
out of it are the issues of life. The scorner doesn't listen. In
Proverbs chapter 13 and verse number 1, it says, A wise son
heareth his father's instruction, but a scorner heareth not rebuke.
They're not going to listen. In Matthew 13, it says they don't
hear with their ears. They just don't listen. They
don't hear what you're saying. You know what? You know where most
scorners come from? Christian schools. Fundamental
Bible-believing churches. Every scorner I've ever known
grew up in a good Christian home, going to a good Bible-believing
church, and going to a Christian school. But they went all those
years and never listened. And they became a scorner. That's
a dangerous place where scorners can come from. See, scorners
can't learn. In Proverbs 14, verse number
6, it says, "...a scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not. But
knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth." The scorner can't
learn. The scorner is like you put a
lid on a jar, and it's glued on, and it won't come off. It's
just stuck there, and it won't come off. That's the scorner. The Bible says in Romans 1 that
they did not like to retain God. They became reprobate. It says
that they take pleasure in the wickedness of others. The only
thing you can do for a scorner is rebuke them. In Proverbs 19,
in verse 25, it says, "...smite a scorner, and the simple will
beware. And reprove one that hath understanding, and he will
understand knowledge." The only good reason to have a scorner
around is so you can beat up on them so everybody else will
get afraid. That's really what it comes down to. We were talking
the other day about tax evasion and things like that, and why
do they take people to court? You know who they take to court?
The big names. Why do they do that? So everybody
else will get scared. And you aren't going to change
a scorner. There's no hope for a scorner. Now, I know in God
there's always hope, but even God says there's no hope for
a scorner. You're not going to change them. You've got to deal
with them. If you want hope for the simple and the fools. That's
why sometimes this college has to dismiss students. They're
doing it for your sake. You can't let a scorner stay
around. You have to deal with them. It was interesting, in
Genesis chapter 42 verse 23, it says, And they knew not that
Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
Do you know that word interpreter is the same word for scorner?
When I saw that, I said, wait a minute. Interpreter and scorner,
how does that go together? I thought about it. You know,
an interpreter, first of all, I'm going to the Philippines
in April, and I'm going to be preaching there, and I'm going
to have to preach with an interrupter. That's what I call them. They're
not interpreters, they're interrupters. And a scorner is an interrupter.
They're constantly interrupting you. They don't want to hear
what you have to say, they just want to hear what they have to
say. But the scorner, he interprets the Scriptures the way he wants
to. It's amazed me sometimes how people have justified their
sins from the Bible. I had a couple that was living
together. And they were sleeping together. And they justified
it. It says we always pray before we do it. They're scorners. They interpret the Bible the
way they want to interpret it. The wise want to understand what
God says. The scorner says, I want to make
it say what I want it to say. and they interrupt. Proverbs
22 and verse number 10. Proverbs 22 and verse number
10. I can't find my place here. I'll let you look up that verse
also. But anyway, the point is they interrupt. They're ambassadors. The word for scorner, again,
is also translated ambassador. They say ambassador. This is
ambassador of Baptist College. Scorner of Baptist College. Is
that what it means? No. They're ambassadors like we had
in World War II. You remember how Germany in World War II was
saying, peace, peace, and meanwhile, they were invading countries
left and right? Remember how Japan had ambassadors here negotiating
with us the very moment they were bombing Pearl Harbor? You
know what scorners will do? They'll sit there and tell you,
oh, yes, sir. I'll be good. I'll do what's right. You don't
have to worry about me. And they're false ambassadors. Just like
the ones that came there to Joshua. Remember when they came and they
were false ambassadors to deceive Joshua? The scorners can be very
good ambassadors. They can look good when they
want to look good. But they're lying through their
teeth. Go to Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs
chapter 3. Look at verse number 33-35. Proverbs 3, verse 33, it says,
What should you do with these lessons? What you should do is,
first of all, look at the scale and say, where am I on that scale? Where
am I fitting right now? Am I being wise? Am I wise, simple? Am I a simple
wise? Am I simple? Am I a simple fool? And right on down the scale to
this corner. Where do I fit on the scale? If you're married
here today, you need to understand as a husband and wife where both
of you fit on the scale. If you have children, you need to look
at your children and see where they fit on the scale. If you're
in a ministry, you want to understand where your people fit on that
scale, so you know how to deal with them. In understanding these
things, it can help you to know where you are and where you need
to go and where the people you're ministering are and where they
need to go and how you can help them to get there. How can I
help the simple become wise? How can I help the wise to stay
wise? How can I be sure that I don't make some foolish decision
even though I am wise? In closing, I'd like to illustrate
the difference between these two using this container of water. You see, the simple person, remember,
he's open to any influences. And a simple person is kind of
like this. You put a jar in the water like that, and there's still
air in the jar, isn't there? A simple person can be a saved
person, and the water illustrates the world, and the world's not
getting in him unless what happens? If I tilt the jar just a little
bit, look what happens. Some of the air goes out, and
some of the world goes in. Tilt a little bit more, and more goes
in. And that's the simple person.
If you can keep them on the straight and narrow, if you can keep them
where they ought to be and keep an eye on them, keep them going
good, they'll do all right. But it doesn't take much before
the world's there. And see, that's the simple person.
Now, the wise person, he's got a lid on it. And you put the
wise person in the world, what happens? See, he's in the world,
but he's not of the world. Now, if I put something inside
this jar, it would help stabilize it. Right now, it's not very
stable. The water gets very rough, it's going to get wavering, knocked
back and forth. But you fill this jar with something
like wisdom, it's like a ship. It stays stable in the water
because it's got that weight in the bottom to keep it upright
and stable. Now, the fool is one that what
he's done is he's gotten the world inside of him. You put
the world inside the person and what happens to him? Right down
to the bottom. The scorner, he's stuck. There's no hope for him. The
question is, where do you fit on this scale? When I studied
this lesson out, it challenged me personally. I consider myself
to be generally a wise person. I hope I am. I want to be. But I realize how often I make
some very foolish decisions. And if Solomon was the wisest
person in the world and he struggled, how much more am I going to struggle? And so I realize that I've got
to constantly be watching my life to make sure that I stay
wise and don't become simple. What's the simple person do?
He's not willing to make choices. He's not willing to make choices.
What's the foolish person do? He makes the wrong choices. If
he's not careful, he becomes a scorner. Now, folks, we don't naturally
stay on that scale. We move. If you want to move
up, you've got to make a choice. If you want to move down, don't
do anything, and you'll head right there. Where are you going
to be on the scale? What I want to challenge you
to be is be this jar right here, where people can look at your
life. They don't just see a label. They see Christ. Now, the label
is important. That's why we have standards.
This label tells me the standards. It meets the standards. It's
got the nutritional value. It's got the right ingredients. It
tells me it meets the standards. But standards is like a label
without seeing Christ in my life. That's the difference.
Proverbs People Part 2
Series Spring Semester 2007
| Sermon ID | 81721349361164 |
| Duration | 42:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Chapel Service |
| Bible Text | Proverbs 1:20-25 |
| Language | English |
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