note to Proverbs chapter 29 Proverbs chapter 29 and our study on leadership in the book of Proverbs chapter 29 and these verses at least and get to all the verses that deal with leadership tonight, so we'll have just a few more and then we'll finish up as far as the verses that cover leadership. We'll finish those up and then we'll get into another topic after that. But leadership is defined as one that leads or conducts a guide And so if you think about it, in some form or fashion, we are all leading someone. Someone is following you, whether it be family, friends, or neighbors, a Sunday school class, workers, etc. Someone looks up to you. for your leadership, and you might not realize that. And it is good to recognize that you do lead people. It's good to understand that, it's good to realize that, because when you influence other people's lives, it's important, it makes you stop and think about what you're doing. And if you influence somebody and they make the wrong decision because of our influence, boy, that's kind of a weighty responsibility. As parents, when you have children, I think almost all parents realize that when they have children, and then they make a mistake, and then they see their kid make a mistake, and they're like, oh. Hmm, that was really my fault because I influenced them in that direction. And sometimes those are small things and they're not so consequential, but sometimes it can be very consequential. It can be very serious. And so it's always important to recognize the fact that we are leaders in some capacity or other. There are people that do look up to us and they do see us. On the flip side of that, because the society and day and age we live in, everyone likes to blame everyone else for their actions. And to a certain extent, we do have to understand and realize that everyone needs to take responsibility for their own life as well. And if we as leaders are careful about how we lead people, and we as people and individuals are careful about the decisions that we make in our life, then all of that will go well. And so as we look at these ideas, understand and realize that you don't have to be a king, you don't have to be a president, you don't have to be a mayor, you are a leader in some form or some fashion to somebody that is around you. And that's important for us to understand. Proverbs chapter 29 and verse number 8, the Bible says this, scornful men bring a city into a snare, but wise men turn away wrath. And let's stop there and let's pray. Father, we thank you just for your goodness to us. Thank you, Father, for your many blessings in our life. Father, thank you for the privilege that we have to gather in your house. Father, thank you for the heat. Thank you for the light. Thank you for the petite pews. Thank you for friends, God, that we can gather around your word. God, I pray that you'd bless tonight. I pray that you'd bless each and every aspect of the service. I pray, Father, that you'd use me. And God, I pray that we would recognize that our leadership and that our abilities and that our person can make a difference in other people's lives. And Father, we'll be careful to give you the honor and glory for all that's said and done. In Jesus' precious name we pray. Amen. As we look at Proverbs 29, and these verses that we're going to look at, all the verses that we looked at last week dealt with kings and rulers and things of that nature. And tonight, these verses deal more with people's influence Maybe in society or maybe in a place. In this instance, in this verse, it's talking about a city. And you can take that same idea and take the concept of it and it applies as well to a church, or a family, or a neighborhood, or other areas, a place of employment, and you can take the concept, the principle that is taught in the Word of God, and apply it to many places. But he says here in verse number 8, Scornful men bring a city into a snare. What is a scornful person, a scornful man? A scornful man would be those who make a mock at laws and authority. And more specifically, in Scripture, many times it is a mock at the Word of God. And they mock the authority of the Word of God. And listen, that's not new. That's been around since the beginning of time. You go back, what was the... after Adam and Eve was the first sin recorded. It was Cain killing his brother. Why did he kill his brother? Well, he killed his brother because he, you boil it all down to the fact that he did not want to bring a sacrifice that God told him to bring. God told him to bring a lamb. You say, well, how do you know all that? It's in there. You can see it, all right? It's not written out for you. But it's very clear because God had appointed them to bring a lamb and Cain, instead, he worked the fields. Now, there was nothing wrong with working the fields. What he was doing was absolutely fine. There was nothing wrong with that. But God wasn't interested in having the works of His hand being brought as a sacrifice, because that sacrifice was a picture of salvation. And the only way for salvation is for a lamb to be sacrificed, because when Jesus came, He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, the Bible says. And so in all of that, Cain destroyed, or disobeyed and destroyed, the idea that was given through the lamb sacrifice, and through his disobedience, he became upset with Abel. Isn't that odd? He disobeyed God, and he got mad at Abel. Isn't that funny how it works? But he did, and he was upset, and he was not happy with what took place, and so for that reason, for revenge, he then turned around and killed his own brother. And so we find that that's kind of scorning. That is not accepting God's righteousness, not accepting God's rules, not accepting God's law and what God's Word has to say. And listen, that is a problem. It's been a problem since Cain and Abel all the way through till 2021. And you know what? I can promise you it'll be a problem tomorrow too. It's an ongoing problem with mankind that he does not want to accept what God has set forth in His Word. And listen, we all have it in us. You ever have somebody tell you what to do and you're like, I ain't going to do that, just because I don't want to. I mean, we all have that independent, rebellious kind of spirit within us, and that's kind of our sin nature. And so he says, a scornful man, that would be somebody who will not accept the righteousness and the law of God. What does he do? He sets a snare for the city. Well, how does he do that? There's several ways that that can be done. Not necessarily that he goes out and says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to try and trap the entire city. That's not what he's thinking. He's thinking, I don't want to do what I've been told to do. And listen, if he's put in a place of authority, Boy, we've seen a lot of this take place over the past year, where somebody who is in a position of authority overreaches all of their areas. And it took place in lots of areas. I mean, they went in and started trying to control things that they had no business controlling. They're overreaching. They became the authority. And granted, they were in a place of authority, but they went a little bit too far. And sometimes people do that, and when they're given power, and you can go back to the Bible, you can find examples of kings who were given power, and they were given power, and they said, you know what? I don't even need God anymore. and they became scorners, and the power went to their head, and they became authoritarians that kind of took over everything, and said, hey, we're not gonna follow God, and then they became the authority, but the problem was, they don't have the power to back it up. Listen, we don't have the power to back it up. God is able to back up His own word. God is able to hold His own. And so if we're submitted to the authority of God, then hey, we're not going to have a problem. And they found out that they could not necessarily control everything. You go back to that story in the book of Daniel that we've referred to several times, and the king who was very prideful and said, man, look at all I've done, and then God sent him out to be crazy and live out in the fields and eat the grass of the fields. And God said, oh no, no, no, you're not the authority, I am. And so we find that he brought a snare onto his kingdom. And you could go through several ways. Listen, there's been many snares brought to cities over the past year and a half. We've watched it unfold. What happens? Lawlessness. When a man decides to scorn what law is given and decides, hey, I don't want to follow those laws. And therefore, he doesn't follow the laws and he doesn't follow the rules. You know what happens? Absolute chaos breaks out. Could you imagine tomorrow? What would happen if nobody obeyed the speed limits, nobody obeyed the stop signs, nobody obeyed the traffic lights? What would happen? I know what would happen. They would drive like they do in Peru. That's what would happen. And I say that in jest, but I also say that truthfully, because if there wasn't a policeman standing on the corner, they didn't pay no attention to those lights. And that's the truth. I mean, they didn't mean nothing. But could you imagine the chaos that would break out in our city if all at once everyone decided, well, this guy decided, I don't care if it's 25 miles an hour. I'm in a hurry. I got to get to work, and I'm going to drive 45 miles an hour. And another guy saying, man, well, I think, you know, 25 is probably a safe safe driving. And so he's going to drive 25. And the other guy comes up behind him and he's just going to pass him because they're not going to pay any attention. Could you imagine the chaos? Could you imagine the snare that would be set in our city? Because scornful men would bring a snare to a city. And it would become a problem. It would become a serious issue if that were the case and everybody decided, hey, we are not going to follow the laws. And those are real basic laws. I mean, could you imagine if it got worse than that? And they decided not to follow any laws and no private property laws. And man, they just come into your house and they just walk on your yard and they just borrow whatever they want to borrow out of your house and they might not ever return it. I guess that would be stealing. But if there's no laws, then They would just be borrowing, I guess. I don't know. But it would be absolute chaos, and scornful men, that would be men who do not submit to authority, and they would make a mock at the righteousness and the laws of God, and say, hey, we don't care what they say. We are going to do what we want to do. They're going to bring a snare to the city. They're going to cause chaos. And it's interesting because you can see that sometimes take place. And so that is a snare that takes place. But look what he says at the last part. He says, verse number eight, but wise men turn away wrath. So you have two basic groups of people. You have scornful men, those who are not going to submit themselves to the Word of God and those who are not going to submit themselves to the authority and are just going to do what they want to do. And then you have those who are submitted and they're wise. In other words, hey, they're learning from the wisdom of God, and they're saying, hey, this applies to my life, and I want to be submitted to God, and I want to do what is right. And so they're going to submit, and they're going to follow the laws of God, and they're going to be wise about it. And the Bible says that they will turn away wrath. There's no need to become wrathful or violent, the answer is in God's Word and turning back to Him and following what He says. And so wise men, hey, they'll avoid that scenario. They'll stay out of that situation. And they'll be able to stay out of those difficulties because they're going to submit to authority. They're not going to have a problem with law and order. They're not going to have a problem with God's word and with God being in charge of things. And so we see that there is anarchy if there is not a, if there's scornful men that are involved. And so I put down anarchy for that one. Look with me to verse number nine, the following verse. We can see anarchy in verse number eight. Scornful men will bring a snare to a city. But verse number nine, if a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest. Look there, it's an interesting verse. I read this several times a couple weeks ago, and I read it and read it. I thought, boy, that's an interesting verse. And I was trying to put it in one of the categories, and I don't know how it ended up in leadership. But here it is. So we'll cover it. But it does kind of deal with leadership. Contendeth. What does contend mean? Contend means to strive, to try and kind of like contention with two people striving for leadership. There's two people that are mentioned in this verse, a wise man and a foolish man. A wise man will listen to God. We've already established that in the verse prior. A wise man will obey what God says. The Bible says in Proverbs 26.4, and you may remember when we covered this, Here in this verse it says, if a wise man contendeth with a foolish man. In other words, if he engages the fool in his folly. In other words, a foolish person does something. What's a foolish person? A foolish person is somebody that they're not going to reason. Matter of fact, the word fool means destitute of reason or common power or common powers of understanding. In other words, they're not going to listen. They don't want to learn. A fool is not somebody that's ignorant. We've covered these before, but it's been a while. A simple person may be somebody who has not had opportunity to learn, but a foolish person is somebody who has been given the instruction from the Word of God, but they have rejected it and they said, hey, I'm not interested in following God. And so they are a foolish person. And so if a wise man is going to contend with that fool, and he's going to try and straighten him out, and he's going to try and correct him, and he's going to try and address his folly that he has committed, the Bible goes on and it says, if a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest. In other words, He's going to try and correct them, but that foolish person is not going to listen. And whether the wise man laughs at his foolishness, or he gets mad because he does not listen to the instruction that he's given him, the Bible says, There's no rest. In other words, he's going to continue to work on this and work on this, and he's going to end up completely wasting his time in this area. Listen, there's only one person that can correct a fool, and that would be themself. They have to decide, hey, I'm done with this and I want something different for my life. They have to decide within themselves. And so we find that a fool is given opportunity many times, but they will not correct themselves. But again, you can pray and ask God. Maybe God will change their heart. But we'll find that, hey, you'll just spin your wheels and you'll not get anywhere and there will be no rest because you're not going to make progress with somebody that is foolish. And so we find that kind of like Proverbs 26, 4 that we talked about. So we see the attention diverted when we're occupied with a fool, but it's not going anywhere and it's not going to help anything. Look with me at verse number 16. And we see the abundance of wickedness in verse number 16. When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increaseth. Now this is an easy verse and we understand this. When wicked are multiplied, The increase of wicked people. Listen, there's strength in numbers. The more wicked people you have, the more strength that they have. There's the smash and grabs that have been taking place out in California and, you know, who's gonna stop them? Nobody's gonna go in and stop. I mean, if you're there, it would not be wise to confront them. Why? Because there's 20 of them and there's one of you. And there's strength in numbers. I remember the riots in Peru and sometimes riots would break out and as a white person you stay far away from any riots and any group of people because you may be the object of their anger. And so you just stay away from those kind of things. Why? Because you may be an American. But it ain't going to help you when you got 20 angry people that are that are mad at whatever and they just are going to do whatever. And so with the strength and with the numbers that are increased. their wickedness increases. That's pretty easy to see. That's pretty easy to understand. Matter of fact, probably one of the best examples of that in the Bible is Sodom and Gomorrah. What a wicked city. If you go back and you reread the wickedness that took place in Sodom and Gomorrah, and that somebody would wander into that city, and that, boy, they automatically wanted to attack them, and what an absolute wicked city. that that place was. Why is that? Because their iniquity had increased. Why? Because wicked people had increased. And the more and more that you see of wicked people, and the more and more you will see of sin being a commonplace and normal, because they become more bold. There's more strength in numbers. There's nobody to restrain them. There's nobody to hold them back. And it becomes a problem. But the verse doesn't stop there, and I'm glad for that. Look with me at verse number 16. It goes on and it says, but the righteous shall see their fall. I found that verse very interesting in that last part. But the righteous shall see their fall. Number one, it's interesting to note this, that righteousness would endure amongst wickedness. That's interesting to see. But it also gives us hope that, hey, you can live right in a wicked and perverse generation that does wrong. And we need to live right. And the Bible goes on and it says the righteous shall see their fall. Now, we won't we won't. Righteousness will not glory in the fall of wickedness. Matter of fact, we'd be sad that they would be destroyed and be unrepentant and never have their life changed, to be honest with you. But they'll see it. They'll witness it. And I'll go back to Sodom and Gomorrah and our story there. Now, if you read the life of Lot, you would think he's a lost man. I mean, if you were living next door to Lot, he was not a display of righteousness. But the Bible says in the New Testament, it calls him this just Lot, which tells us that Lot was a saved man. And Lot was actually brought out of Sodom and Gomorrah and taken up on a hill. And you know what? He saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. He didn't turn around and witness it. His wife did. She turned into a pillar of salt, by the way. He didn't turn around and look. but he knew what was taking place, that the judgment of God was falling, and that the righteousness was pulled out of the wickedness, and that it was separated. And I'm just saying that, hey, that righteousness shall see their fall. They'll witness the fall of the wicked. And it's not something that we would glory at by any stretch of the imagination. But it is something that we understand, hey, that righteousness can live in a wicked and perverse nation. And so we certainly ought to be encouraged by that, and that righteousness can survive around wickedness. Not that we want to, but sometimes you don't have a choice. I mean, if things start going wicked around you, you can't just pack up and move. We're not going to start a colony and become Amish, okay? We're not doing that. So we live in the world, and we live in a wicked world, but we can live righteously. So we see that the abundance of wickedness, they will fall, and they will be judged. Look with me at verse number 18. I want to take a little bit of time here on this verse. You'll recognize it probably as soon as we read it. The Bible says in Proverbs 29, 18, Where there is no vision, the people perish. But he that keepeth the law happy is he. This verse has been implied by many people to give the idea of having goals in life. And while I can't argue that it's a good idea to have goals, you should have goals in your life, I can't say either that that is the, matter of fact, I can definitively say that that is not the primary application of this verse. And we're going to look at this and we're going to find out why. Go with me. Save your spot here in Proverbs 29 and verse number 18 that we just read. But save your spot here and go with me to Genesis chapter 15. And I want you to see this. The word vision is used some 79 times in the Bible. I read them all this afternoon and I was looking at all the times that they were used and actually how many Hebrew words it was used and it was used I think there was five or six different Hebrew words that were used, and we're not going to get into Hebrew at all because I don't know Hebrew. So we'll just look at English, and that's good enough for me. I wouldn't mind looking at Spanish, but that probably wouldn't be beneficial to you. So we'll look at just the English tonight. And he says here in Genesis chapter 15, in verse number one, this is the first use of the word vision in the Bible. Look with me what it says. After these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abraham, in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And we see here that this vision that Abram saw was not a goal. It was not something that he was setting forth and saying, hey, we're gonna go and do this. His vision was literally a vision from God that God appeared to Abram and God was giving Abram a promise in his word. Go with me to Numbers chapter number 12. We'll fast forward here. It's used a few other times as well, and I encourage you to go back and look it up every time that it's used, and read every context that it's used. I did that, and I found that every single time it was talking about a vision of God. Numbers chapter number 12, verse number 6, and I want you to see this in the Word of God for yourself. Numbers 12, 6. And he said, hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. Go with me one more verse to 1 Samuel. I think that verse is very clear and helps us understand what a vision is, that it was clearly something from God, that God was communicating with mankind. Go with me to 1 Samuel chapter number three, and everyone would agree on this verse that I've preached many times and many people have. 1 Samuel chapter number three and verse number one. The Bible says, and the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days there was no open vision. Now, that's clearly referring to God communicating with mankind. And that's what it is saying, that there was no open vision, there was no communication of God to man. One of the verses that I read was really sad, if I'm not mistaken, I believe it was Micah 3, 6, if I'm not mistaken, and it said that there would be no vision and that God would darken the doors. And I believe it was in a reference to the 400 years of quietness between the last prophet and before Jesus came, I believe. But I didn't research it, and I didn't, that's what I kind of took it as. And I thought, boy, that's a really sad verse. But we see here from just these three verses, and I encourage you to go back and look them all up, that vision specifically is referring to, in the word of God, the communication from God to mankind. Now, I'm sure in my lifetime I've read this verse in Proverbs and said, where there is no vision, the people perish. That's why we need to have a vision for doing stuff and things of that nature. I have no doubt that I have in the past. Many people have. I'm just saying the primary interpretation of this verse and application of this verse has to do with the fact that, hey, when there's no communication from God to mankind, the Bible says here in this verse, for where there is no vision, the people perish. And that vision is the communication. You go back and you look at every time the word vision is used in the Bible, and clearly it is referenced to the vision of dreams where God would show mankind something, and He would communicate to mankind something that He wanted to get across to them. Almost all of the minor prophets, they almost all mention the fact, this is the vision of Amos. This is the vision of Obadiah. This is the vision of Habakkuk. This is the vision of this person. And what it is, is God communicating a truth to that prophet to give out to mankind. And so what he's saying in this verse in Proverbs 29 and verse number 18, where there is no vision, the people perish, that would be where there's no communication from God that those people are going to perish. And we find that very true in the New Testament. people who do not know God, people who have never heard of God, people who have never heard the Gospel and they don't know about God, that hey, they are going to perish. The Bible says, I find it interesting, that word perish is used in this verse, and the Bible says in John 3.16, a verse that we all know, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so we find that that parish and that idea of vision is, hey, where there's an absence of communication from God, that those people are condemned. In other words, they're not, how can they know God? It goes back to Romans chapter 10 that we talked about Sunday night. For how shall they hear in him of whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher if somebody doesn't go and tell them? And so we find that if there's no communication from God, that there's condemnation for those people. But it doesn't stop there. It goes on and it says, but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. the law would be in reference to the word of God and those that have the word of God and those that have the communication from the word of God. And let me just say this as well. I think you would all know this, but I'll say it just for reference sake anyways, that we don't Today, God doesn't deal with us in visions because he's given us the completed Word of God. We don't need visions. In the Old Testament days, they did not have the completed Word of God, so God would deal with them through visions. We today have the completed Word of God. But he goes on in the second part of that, and he says, We have compliance, those who would obey the Word of God, those who would submit themselves to the Word of God, those who would understand the authority of the Word of God. That's pretty much the opposite of the first verse that we looked at in the anarchy and the scornful man that would say, hey, I don't want nobody telling me what to do. And we find people that would comply and keep the Word of God, and God is their authority. What does it say? Happy is he, contentment. Hey, listen, you can have joy. I don't know why it's been, it's just kind of come up several times, at least in my own mind. I don't know that I've said it, but it's come up several times. And I think, you know what? Following God will keep you joyful. It just will. As a matter of fact, going through the fruit of the spirit several weeks ago, I don't remember now how long ago, The fruit of the Spirit is joy, one of those fruits. Listen, walking in the Spirit with God will give you joy. Listen, walking in sin will destroy that joy. It will take it away. You look at people and you watch people and you look at the world and you see people that are, man, they don't have any joy in their life. They don't have any peace in their life. Why? Because they're not right with God. They're not walking with God. They won't have that peace until they get settled with God. Oh, they'll have temporary happiness here and there and flare-ups of happiness that they'll seek, but true joy comes from walking with God and having a clean slate with God. I was reminded of the song that we sing Christmas time, Joy to the World. The Lord is come. Hey, listen, He's the one that gives us joy. He's the one that keeps us happy. Not all the possessions in the world, they won't make you happy. They won't fill that void. But God. God will fill that void. He'll put that joy in your heart. He'll change your life, and He'll keep you happy. And so, what a blessing to know that verse, where there is no vision, that would be communication from God, the people perish, but he that keepeth the law happy is He. What a joy to know that we can serve the Lord and be joyful in serving the Lord and walking with the Lord with every head bowed and every eye closed as we stand to our feet. Father, we thank you for your word and God, just the wisdom that's written in it. God, what ideas of leadership, Father, that we would lead in these areas of being wise and not following anarchy. God, that we would be wise and following your word and submitting to you and live righteously even amongst a wicked world. And God, that we would keep your law, as it says, and walk with you and follow you. God, what a joy it is to be saved as a Christian, to know that, God, we can walk with you and our life is right. What a privilege we have. God, I pray that you'd help us during this Christmas season to share that joy with other people. And God, that they could find that joy in salvation through Jesus Christ. Father, we'll thank you for that. God, I pray that you bless each and every person that's here and each and every listener that's listening and tuned in online, and God, we'll thank you for that. In Jesus' precious name, I pray, amen. We'll just have a short hymn of invitation. I always like to give opportunity. If you wanna just pray in your seat or pray at the altar, whatever the need, God is... If God is working, then I like to give opportunity. You.