Proverbs chapter number 13. You know the Bible tells us as preachers to preach the word to be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. And I believe sometimes we need some preventative maintenance when we are in the work. And I'm going to preach to you tonight about something God's laid on my heart as I was going through the book of Proverbs. We know Proverbs is a book of wisdom. And we gain wisdom from it. This is not just for young people. I know oftentimes when we talk about choosing friends, we always focus on the young people, the teenagers and the kids. But I've seen many adults get away from God because of the choice of friends that they choose to be around. And in Proverbs chapter number 13, I'm not gonna have you stand up for sake of time tonight, but I just wanna share with you one verse, verse number 20. of Proverbs chapter 13. The Bible says, He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. It's very foolish to think that the people you hang around won't affect you. Very foolish for that. The Bible says a companion of fools shall be destroyed. I'm going to preach a message to you tonight called Foolish Friends Lead You to Folly. foolish friends lead you to folly. And we'll talk about that here tonight. I wanna share some things with you to kind of open your eyes, be not ignorant of Satan's devices, kind of open your eyes to what a foolish friend is and different things like that and how it can affect and taint your testimony. And so we'll preach through about some of those things tonight. Let's pray, Lord, we love you. Thank you for the day that you've given to us. Thank you for the ministry that the Northcuts are involved in. I pray that you'll bless them and help them in their needs that they have, Lord, this transition. in the work. Lord, we know it's with heavy hearts that they leave the area they've been for nine years, but Lord, excited about the transition and the new faces and the new people and the people that they're gonna see come to know you as their Savior. I pray that you'll bless them, bless the work, provide for them, open the doors as you'd have for them to do that tonight. Lord, I pray that you'll help this message to speak to hearts. And Lord, may we draw closer to you each and every day. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, as we get into this message tonight, I wanna define a few things to you. Out of this passage, it says, he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Now I wanna, the word companion means to associate with. Somebody that you associate with. A fool, it says there, this is the definition of a fool. One who is destitute of reason, one who follows his own inclination, silly or stupid. That's the definition of a fool. Then the word destroyed means ruined completely, torn down, rendered useless or ineffective. So the Bible says that a person that associates with one who's destitute of reason, one who follows their own inclination, a silly or stupid person will be destroyed. That means ruined completely, torn down, rendered useless or ineffective. In the Christian life, it's very vital who it is that we associate with. You say, why is that? Because a rotten apple makes good apples rotten. And I understand we need to be reaching out to the world and we need to try to win them with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But who you consider your friend and your associations with are very, very, very important. And I wanna preach to you this morning or tonight on that foolish friends lead to folly. Firstly, I wanna talk to you about the foolish friend. Some attributes or some things about the foolish friend that the Bible says. Look at Proverbs chapter number one, Proverbs chapter number one and verse number seven. It's very important because you don't want to be one that is a companion of someone who's destitute of reason and end up being ruined completely. So young people, you need to listen up to this as you're choosing your friends in your life, but adults, we need to choose this as well as we learn who we're gonna associate with and the people that we're gonna be in association around, we need to make sure they're not foolish people, but they're wise. We need to follow those that have wisdom. And it's an important thing to do. Foolish friends, first off, look at Proverbs 1 and verse number 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools, remember, one who's destitute of reason, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So how do I identify this foolish friend in my life? This foolish friend, firstly, hates wisdom and instruction. Someone who's given some instructions and they just despise the authority that's giving them instruction. Someone who despises wisdom and instruction is one who is a foolish friend. I've heard young people, I was a youth pastor for a long time, I've heard kids say, but they're cool. They're popular. All this, but you need to identify some things. According to the Bible, it tells you of what to look for when you're looking for a friend or someone to associate with. By the way, there's one friend that'll never let you down, and that's the Lord Jesus. He's that friend that sticketh closer than a brother. But as we're associating, even with people in our church, by the way, there are carnal people in churches. And we have to be careful that just because somebody's saved does not mean that they're not a foolish friend. And you have to watch out for them. You have to watch out for those that hate wisdom and instruction. I've heard people say, well, it's my life. I'm going to live it the way I want to live it. Guess what that is? Foolishness. You know why? Because they're not willing to learn from instructions of others or given wisdom by those that are around them when the preacher preaches, or mom and dad say something, or someone identifies, hey, you need to watch out for that person, or you need not to hang out with that. They're like, well, they're my friend, they're popular, and they don't like instruction, they don't like the wisdom that comes from it. Look at Proverbs 10, Proverbs chapter 10. We're just talking about the foolish friend real quickly. how to identify them, they hate wisdom and instruction. Look at Proverbs 10 in verse number one. The proverb of Solomon, a wise son making the glad father, but a foolish son is heaviness of his mother. Young people, let me explain this to you. A foolish friend not only hates wisdom and instruction, but a foolish friend is one who mistreats their parents. one who doesn't obey their parents, one who's in rebellion towards their parents. You see what the Bible said there, the prophet saw a wise son making the glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. When a young person does not treat their parents correctly, you need to make sure you're watching out being around them. You know why? Because you're gonna end up not treating your parents properly. And we're talking not just to young people, but we're talking to adults as well. Listen, the Bible says to honor your father and mother. It didn't put an age restriction on that. You know, I'm almost 40 years old and I'm supposed to still honor my mom and dad. We need to watch out for those that mistreat their parents. The Bible talks about that. Also in Proverbs 15 and verse 20, it says, a wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish man despiseth his mother. Proverbs 17, 25 says, a foolish son is a grief to his father and the bitterness to her that bear him. You gotta be careful on how a young person treats their mom and dad. There was times I would go to some of the teenagers in our youth group and I'd say, hey man, you need to watch out for that person. They'd say, why is that? Just watch how they talk to their mom and dad. The way they talk to their mom and dad is showing what's in their heart. They're foolish and they're gonna destroy or ruin completely, tear down, render useless their testimony. And so young people, you need to make sure that as you're choosing friends in your life, friends that are gonna lead you in the right direction, they're ones that treat their parents with honor and respect. They're ones that don't mind wisdom and instruction. The foolish friend not only hates wisdom and instruction or mistreats his parents, but look at Proverbs 10 and verse 23, It says, it is a sport to a fool to do mischief, but a man of understanding hath wisdom. Look at Proverbs 14, verse nine. Fools make a mock at sin, but among the righteous there is favor. Look at Proverbs 15, 21. Folly is joy to him that is destitute of wisdom, but a man of understanding walketh uprightly. A foolish friend not only hates wisdom and instruction, not only mistreats their parents, but they're okay with sin. They're okay with it. Sin is okay for them to do. Oh, it's just fun, we're sowing our wild oats. You see what it said in these verses of scripture, it is a sport for a fool to do mischief. They think it's funny to get out there and get in trouble. They think it's funny to go against the rules and break the rules around them. And it's not just for young people. There's even adults today that all about entertainment, all about how much fun they can have. And man, they just make a sport out of doing things wrong. When I was a police officer, I dealt with that all the time. People going around trying to make sport out of breaking the law and having a good time and having fun. Listen, you can have fun serving the Lord. You can have fun doing the right kind of things. You don't have to go the way of the world to do that. The Bible talks about a foolish friend. Sin is not okay. It's never okay in the eyes of God. Jesus Christ died for all sin. It put him on the cross. It's not okay to make fun and have sport out of doing wrong. But you gotta watch out for those that they're just out for saying, oh, sin's okay to do. It's okay to live with somebody else. It's okay to have boyfriend and girlfriend when you're not even married and start hugging and kissing and all. That's wrong. Not supposed to do it. Why? The Bible says it's wrong. But people that just think it's fun, it's a sport for a fool to do mischief. They're okay with sin. Look at Proverbs 17 in verse 10. A reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. A foolish friend not only hates wisdom and instruction, mistreats their parents, is okay with sin, but a foolish friend rejects correction. They reject it. Look what the Bible said there in that verse. Verse 10, a reproof entereth more into a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool. So you can try to beat it into the fool, but a fool is just not going to respond to the correction. They're not going to respond to it. That's someone who's foolish. You need to identify that. You see somebody constantly being corrected and they don't listen? They won't do it? That happens. Listen, as a pastor, there's people come to me for counsel. And you'll tell them, this is what the Bible says. I know preacher, but... If God said it, there is no but about it. We're supposed to obey it and do it. But a fool is one that you can tell them what's wrong, you can try to correct them in any way as meek and as mild as you can, as forceful as you can, but they just won't hear it. They won't listen. You can't get it into their heart. They reject the correction. That happens so often to the church. God tries to correct us, God tries to help us, get us in the way, and guess what happens? We get foolish. and we reject the correction that God tries to bring in our life. That's foolish friends. And we need to mark them, we need to identify them. Look at Proverbs 26 in verse 11. It says, as a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly. So a foolish friend is like that dog that throws up and then eats his throw up. You say, that's gross, preacher. Well, it's gross for somebody to keep going back to the same sin they're trying to get help out of. The one that God saved them away from, that changed their direction, put them on a new course in life. Why is it they keep going back to that? That wicked kind of lifestyle, that wicked kind. You know why? Because they're foolish. They're a foolish friend. They keep going back to their sin. I've seen it over and over and over again as a youth pastor, as a police officer, now as a pastor. I see people that have tried to get help and they keep running back into it. Our Reformers Unanimous program, we see people come and they try to get help from the Word of God. And we have men of God and ladies that are trying to share with them the truths of the Word of God and what the Bible says about it. But they just cannot quit going back. You know what that is? That's foolishness. That's foolishness and we need to be careful about it. That foolish friend. Not only do you see those things about it, but here's what happens when you make a friend of a fool. What they're going to do. Look at 2 Samuel chapter number 13. 2 Samuel chapter 13 verse 3 through 5, But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimea, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very subtle man. And he said unto him, Why art thou being the king's son, lean from day to day? wilt thou not tell me? And Amnon said unto him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister. And Jonadab said unto him, lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick. And when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand. Look at 1 Kings chapter 12. 1 Kings chapter 12. We're setting the stage here for something. 1 Kings chapter number 12. Starting in verse 6, And King Rehoboam consulted with the old men that stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, and said, How do ye advise that I may answer the people? And they spake unto him, saying, If thou wilt be a servant unto the people this day, and wilt serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants for ever. But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and consulted with the young men that were grown up with him, and which stood before him. And he said unto them, what counsel give ye that we may answer this people who spake to me saying, make the yoke which thy father did put upon us lighter. See what happens is you had two different people getting counsel and looking to their friends to try to tell them something and their foolish friend, because they made friends with foolish people and they were influenced to do wrong. They were influenced, Amnon was influenced to do wrong by his friend Jeroboam or Jonadab. And then you have Rehoboam here that's seeking counsel and the older people are saying, hey, this is what you need to do. But he goes to the younger people that have no knowledge, no experience, nothing like that and says, what do you think I should do? That's just like our college age students sometimes. What they'll do is they'll hear something from mom and dad who've been where they are, who've grown up, they've been your age before. They understand what's happened. God placed them as your parents for a reason. Gave you counselors, godly counsel in your life. And they'll say something, they'll say, you know what, but I'm gonna go ask my college friends. Or I'm gonna go ask my high school friends what I should do. You're asking people that have never experienced what you're going through, people that have never been where you are, seeking counsel for that, and guess what they're gonna do? Influence you for wrong. They're gonna influence you for wrong. A foolish friend is gonna influence you to do wrong. They're gonna turn you against your parents. I've heard this before, oh, your parents are lame. They need to get up with the times. They're too old-fashioned. I've heard that before as a youth pastor. I've heard people say that. I've heard them say, your parents never let you do anything. You're only a kid once. You gotta live now. Your parents treat you like a child. You know what that is? I'd mark that person because you know what they're trying to do? Turn your heart against your parents. Turn your heart against the authority that your parents have in your life. I promise you this, there's not a young person in this room that your friends love you as much as your mom and dad do. Not gonna happen. There's not a girl in here that's dating a boy right now or anything like that, that boy loves you as much as your parents do. as much as the godly leaders in your life have given you. You have no business listening to those friends around you, those peers that have never been involved in what you're doing and where you're at. Listen to the counsel of the older, wiser people in your life. I tease Brother Coggins about being 107, but you know what? We need to seek those people that have wisdom. You know, as a pastor, guess what? I haven't figured everything out. I know that's hard to believe. You've been a missionary for nine years. You don't have it all figured out either. And the fact that matters this, we always need to be seeking counsel. The Bible says in a multitude of counselors, there's safety. That doesn't mean a multitude of your peers around you that are your age, that are trying to get you to do wrong and influence you for the wrong things. They'll turn your heart against your parents. They'll also draw you away from God. Have you ever heard this before? Not just in young people, but in adults alike. You ever heard this? Well, your good music is boring. You need to get up with the times, this new contemporary type stuff. Oh, it still honors God. Listen, it doesn't honor God if it imitates the world. It doesn't honor God if they act like the devil in doing it. It doesn't honor God if they have to dress like the world, walk like the world, talk like the world, look like the world. It doesn't honor God. God doesn't need anything from Satan to get his work accomplished. But that's what people say. All that music that you have, they'll try to draw you away from God saying you're good music. Those hymns, they're old fashioned. You get away from those hymns and start more lively songs. Listen, there's nothing more alive than the blood of Jesus Christ. There's nothing more about what can wash away my sin. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You can have that newfangled type stuff going around. I'll stick with the blood of Jesus. That kind of stuff is exciting to me. But you've got to watch out for them foolish friends because they'll try to draw you away from God. You know what they'll say? Church isn't for you anymore. churches when you get older now it's time for you to do this or you know what churches is that we can worship God at home we don't have to go to church listen you cannot worship God if you're living in sin you can't worship God properly you understand that and if you don't go to church guess what you're doing living in sin because God commands you to go to church If you're physically able to be at church, you should be there. He says, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as a manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. Watch out for those that tell you, oh, I watch church at home. Be careful for that. That's not a local New Testament church. You've got to watch out for that. Now, am I against having live streaming and things like that? Absolutely not. As long as it's used for righteousness and used for right, that's fine. But you shouldn't forsake the church. God loved him and gave himself for it. He died for the church. That's what he instituted on his earthly ministry. And we need to be willing to come and support the work of God. But a foolish friend is going to influence you to do wrong. They'll turn you against your parents. They'll draw you away from God. They'll also lead you into a life of misery, pain, and suffering. Satan shows us temporary delights without showing us eternal disaster. James chapter 1 verse 13 through 16 says, Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. It says, Do not err, my beloved brother. And what he's telling you is, listen, Satan's going to try to steer you down a path of destruction. And you know what he's going to use to do it? Your friends, the close people around you. He's going to use to drag you down. And you're going to have a life of misery, pain, and suffering. But that friend, the fool, look what the Bible says about it, Proverbs chapter number 9. Whose word is this that we're looking at? God's word. Is it Pastor Caldwell's words? No, it's God's words. It's the inspired, God-breathed word that we have. Look what the Bible says about this friend, this foolish person. Verse number 6. Forsake the foolish, and live, and go in the way of understanding. So that means the opposite would be correct too, right? Associate with the foolish and die. Maybe not even physically right now, but spiritually, guess what's going to happen? You're going to be decayed, destroyed, rendered useless if you don't forsake the foolish. It says forsake the foolish and live. Look at Proverbs 14. I'm tired of people saying all the time, well, I just don't want to be offensive. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. Listen, I'd rather hurt somebody's feelings, because guess what? A fool's not going to listen to instruction anyway. You can try to help him all you want to, but a fool's not going to listen to it. I'm not saying that you ought not to try to pray for him and try to reach out to him, but we ought not to rub shoulders with him. We ought not to try to be a companion of him. Look at Proverbs 14, verse 7. It says, go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not him. the lips of knowledge, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." So it said, forsake the foolish and live. Go from the presence of a foolish man. That means if you know somebody who is living the way the Bible identifies as someone who is foolish, that doesn't mean go party with them. That doesn't mean go have a lot of alone time with them. It means forsake them. Go away from them. Don't be around them. Yeah, pray for them. Be a good example where they can see Christ through you, but you ought not to be a friend with the fool. The Bible says to forsake them. Put them away. Why do a lot of God's children end up leaving the church and end up going out the way of the world? I'll tell you why. It's because who they're associated with. A lot of times it's who they're associated with, people who find friends on Facebook. I haven't heard from them since high school. And guess what? They just befriended me on Facebook. And I liked them because they were friends of mine. I looked at their page. They had a lot of ungodly stuff. But I haven't seen them since high school. And then they start talking to them and bringing up old times and bringing up the past. And, oh, guess what? Maybe we ought to hang out sometime. Maybe we ought to do this. And guess what happens? Satan uses that friend, that foolish person, to draw you away from God when it says they need to be forsaken. We have no business trying to hang out with those that aren't doing right. Should we be an example? Yes. Should we pray for them? Yes. Should we witness to them? Yes. But we ought not to be spending a lot of time with them. If you get rid of something bad, though, guess what? You need to replace it with something good. Don't leave a void in your life. So if you get rid of a foolish friend, you need to gain a wise friend. Get those that will help you along the way. Foolishness does not pay. Look at Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. And verse number 1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. I know people say, well, it doesn't matter what people think about you, and to a degree, that's right. When you're serving the Lord, it doesn't matter if people make fun of you, if people pick on you, if people say things negative about you. You keep pressing on, you keep serving the Lord. But it does matter what testimony we have. A good name. When you got saved, your name changed. We hear all the time about, thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And most of us associate that with how we speak and what we say about the Lord. And guess what? We ought not to use his name in derogatory ways. But when a husband and wife get married, the wife takes the name, of the husband. And God likens our relationship with him to that of a marriage. So not only do you need to watch what you say, when you got married to Christ through the relationship that you have, or the bride of Christ as we're known, you took his name upon you. So when it says don't take his name in vain, Brother Doug, it's not just in how we say, but in how we live. What we do. We ought not to take His name in vain. And the Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches. We have a name that's above every name. The name of Jesus. That we are a testimony of wherever we go if we're His children. And what we ought to do as a child of God is to forsake the fool so that we can have a good name for the Lord Jesus. Because guess what? Ultimately we are a representation of Him. as his child. By the way, people know if you profess to be a Christian or not. And they watch how you act and they watch what you do. So we know what we say. It's not important what people think about you when they when they say, well, you shouldn't be serving the Lord. But it is important if they see you not serving the Lord. Because what they're seeing about Christianity is that it's all fake. That it's just for a banner that we wear. See, a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold. Your name can be destroyed. But when your name is destroyed, the influence of Jesus Christ in their life is destroyed. So you have to be careful with that. Foolishness does not pay. The Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver or gold. If I put a bin up here with a bunch of silver and gold in it, everybody here would want some of it. But why is it that we don't care about our name? The name that we took upon ourselves when we got saved, that the Lord Jesus gave us at the day of our salvation, that name of Jesus. We're bought with a price. We're His child. We belong to Him. My children have my last name. They belong to me. I know God gave them to us. They're a heritage of the Lord. But guess what? They're my kids. They bear my name. One day my daughters are going to change their name. Y'all have to pray for me in that aspect. But guess what? We have the name of Jesus that we represent. And a good name. Foolishness doesn't pay because it will destroy your name. Your family can be ruined. Your moral values will disappear. Your life will be rendered useless or ineffective. Those that thought you were friends Those that you thought were your friends won't be there for you because they really weren't your friends. Remember the prodigal son? Spent all that he had on riotous living. But when all the money was gone, all the friends were gone. And he was eating with the pigs. Where were his friends at then? There are consequences for every choice that you make. Church, there's consequences for what we make, the choices that we make. You hang around fools, a companion of fools will be destroyed. A companion of fools will be destroyed. Foolishness does not pay. I'm so burdened about, I hear people oftentimes, even adults that I counsel, and you know what they say to me? Well, I'm friends with such and such. And they're talking about people that are homosexuals, They're talking about people that are anti-God. Well, they're friends. We went out because we didn't want to be offensive to them, so we went out. Listen, be offensive. Say no. Take a stand. Because the Bible says to forsake them. Forsake the foolish and live. You say you're not for homosexuality? No. Preacher, this is recorded. So what? The Bible says it's wrong. It's an abomination. But he also says lying lips. or an abomination under the Lord? Do you hang out with liars? People that are constantly trying to do wrong? People that won't take correction? You young people, if somebody you think is popular in the youth group, they're somebody who doesn't listen to their parents, they're constantly trying to get you to do wrong, they're not popular. They're not popular in the eyes of God. You need to get away from them. Adults, listen, you got people trying to tell you, oh, you don't have to. If they're telling you to do something contrary to this book, mark them as a fool and get away from them. Because they're going to steer you away from God. And then you're going to look down the road and say this. How did I get so far away from God? And it all started because your companions were wrong. Proverbs 13. A companion of fools will be destroyed. That word destroyed rendered useless, ineffective. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be useless for God. You got to be careful who you hang out with, who you associate with, even in a church, even in this building that we come to. We worship God together. We come here. Now watch out. There's people that don't have any desire for God. And guess what? It don't take long to find them. You know why it seems pretty simple when you go to a camp that you've never been to before? I've taken teenagers to different camps for the shame, and our kids have never met these other kids from these other. But within a matter of 20 minutes, all the kids that want to do wrong all found each other. It just happened. They all found each other because this is the foolish group over here. and they are companions one with another. But guess what happens to those on the outside? They start getting made fun of and all this and they say, well, I want to be part of the in crowd. Listen, you're in the in crowd if you're with God. God before us, who can be against us? You stay on God's side. Don't worry about the other people around you. If you're following God, you've got to stand before Him one day. You're not going to stand before those friends. You're going to stand before God. Those friends aren't going to be able to say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. God is going to be the one that's going to be able to say that. And we need to watch out. Even in churches around the area, you say, what's the point of this ecclesiastical separation? Why don't we hang out with people that don't believe exactly like we do with the Bible? You know why? Because if they don't back this book, guess what they are? Foolish. And they're going to lead us down a road of destruction. It may not happen right overnight. Sin is fun for a season, but you will reap if you faint not. Listen, I know that this is just a preventative maintenance message, but God told me to preach it and I believe there's somebody been struggling with it. Somebody needs to make some decisions about their friends tonight. Not just young people, but adults as well. We need to go through our little Facebook page and start eliminating some people from our past. Eliminating some things that are dragging us away from God. Quit listening to people that have no godly spirituality about them whatsoever and getting counsel from them. You have no business doing that. No business getting counsel. If somebody's not godly, you don't go to somebody who's not a soul winner and ask them how to be a soul winner. Doesn't make sense. Just like you don't go to a construction worker for a mechanic. You got to go with somebody who's living it and doing it. Finding counsel. Wise counsel. If you want to have wisdom. But a foolish friend will lead you to destruction. Head bowed, eyes closed. No one looking around