[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfreda, Georgia. You will be listening to our monthly Thursday night men's meeting. Get your Bible up in the Proverbs chapter 2 and we'll go through some of that.
[0:20] And I want to read the chapter with you. Now this is like a hard book of the Bible actually for me. Because it doesn't flow in full.
[0:32] I mean this chapter does well. But lots of the chapters are just isolated Proverbs. And he just gives you a proverb and he swaps Proverbs. And so it could take forever if you want to explain every proverb. This is a good chapter.
[0:44] But it really helps you to understand. And I thought about lots of you as I read this chapter. As I prepared for this chapter I really thought about different things, different questions I've been asking. I thought this chapter really fit us very well.
[0:57] So we're going to work our way through the book of Proverbs. In the men's meeting it will take 50 years because we only meet once a month. But I think it would be some good stuff to help you.
[1:07] So read with me if you would. If you've got your ink pen, get your Bible. Keep your Bible open and circle some words as we go through. If you do that kind of thing. Or write it on a sheet of paper and look at it later. My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee.
[1:22] Now, let's stop a second and remember what's going on. Who is talking to who? I need somebody to tell me that in a very good, strong, masculine voice. So who's talking to who?
[1:35] Solomon is talking to his son. What is Solomon famous for? I mean, you've got Samson, the strongest man in the world. You've got Methuselah, the guy that lives the longest.
[1:46] What is Solomon famous for? Wisdom. This guy's the wisest man who ever lived. And so he's writing a book. Now, we could say he's talking to his son and it really doesn't apply to us.
[1:56] Except that the Holy Spirit saw fit to record it. Get it into scripture and put it in the Bible. So there's definitely an application for us. Or God wouldn't have put it in the Bible. Even the parts that talk strictly straight to Jews.
[2:09] There's an application and a teaching for us that we have. So it started out with my son. Now, this is Solomon talking to his son. But I want you to read this thinking in terms of this.
[2:20] He's going to talk about wisdom. He's going to talk about wisdom. He's going to talk about being a wise man. And he's going to tell his son how to go about doing that. And I'll say this to the young guys especially.
[2:33] But I need wisdom. I have a ton of responsibility. The day you get married is the day your life changed forever. The day you got married, you were no longer a foot-free, fancy-free, lazy boy who could do what he wanted to do.
[2:49] Now you've got somebody else's life that's in your hands. And being the man puts a lot of pressure there. You'll make it even worse to let a kid be born. When you let a kid be born, man, you just added a ton.
[3:00] I mean, a woman at least could walk out on her own, do her own thing. Now you've got a baby. I mean, this is no laughing matter. Being a man, being a man, being a husband, being a dad is no laughing matter.
[3:14] I need God's wisdom. And the blunt truth is the majority of men are pretty stupid. They don't have very much wisdom. Because wisdom is not what you get at the school.
[3:27] And by the way, that means public school, home school, private school, Christian school. I don't care where you get it. You don't get it at school. You don't get it in university. You don't even get it from experience.
[3:37] You get it from the Word of God. And so I want you to go through this with me. I want you to know he's going to tell you how to get wisdom. And I'm going to show you some things I think are interesting. So look at this. How about this? If thou wilt receive my words.
[3:49] Why don't you circle that? Will you receive my words? If thou wilt receive my words. And then he says, and hide my commandments. Hide. You ought to circle the word. Hide in your Bible.
[3:59] My commandments. So that thou incline thine ear. So you incline your ear. And you apply your heart to understanding. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge.
[4:11] And liftest up thy voice for understanding. If thou seekest her as silver. And searchest for her as for hid treasure. Now I want you to really verse 4 maybe.
[4:22] At least underline Mark. Seek and search. Seek and search. The title of it. It's on the sheet of paper in front of you. It's digging for treasures of wisdom.
[4:33] And you know Solomon is talking to his son. And he said, son. You got to go after wisdom. And wisdom is not easy to acquire.
[4:44] You can't buy a book of philosophy down at the bookstore. And you can't get the cleft notes on this. Or cleft notes on this. You can't get the cleft notes on it. You got to read the book. You got to do some digging.
[4:54] You got to really get in there. And you're going to get into the word of God. So he said, son. Seek my words. Well, if you really look at this verse. It's really God talking to you. And he's saying to you. Hey, receive my words.
[5:05] Incline your heart. Apply your mind. Apply your heart. Dig into it. Search for it like it was lost treasure. If there was another gold rush somehow.
[5:19] You remember history. All they had to do was tell them there was gold. And people went crazy. And they dug holes in the ground. And they played in the water. They did everything to find the gold.
[5:30] And yet you and I have in our hands. In our lives. In our hearts. In our homes. We have the word of God. Which is full of wisdom. Solomon said, I want you to go after it.
[5:40] He uses strong words. Cry after it. Man, I want you. I want wisdom. I want to know. And so I hope you'll consider that. Then verse 5. He says, then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.
[5:53] Why don't you put a circle around the word then. You see. Some of you. In fact. This will be in your notes. Some of you have asked me over Mormons at one time. I don't understand the fear of the Lord. And I read this.
[6:03] I thought, boy, that was written just for them. You know why you didn't understand it? Because you ain't done the first six verses. First five verses. Four verses. Because you've got to cry after it. You've got to seek after it.
[6:14] You've got to dig after it. And he said, and if you come after my wisdom. And you come after my words. You listen. Then you'll understand the fear of the Lord. And then you will find the knowledge of God.
[6:24] Verse 6. For the Lord giveth wisdom. Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Okay. Where is wisdom located? Somebody. One of you young guys over here.
[6:35] Where is wisdom located? Who gives wisdom? All right. And where does it come from? His mouth. And what came out of his mouth? Knowledge and understanding.
[6:46] I mean, what did he say here? He said, what comes out of his mouth? Words. And by the way, I have words. I have his words. That's why the Bible. You know, Bible is even a term.
[6:58] Like, I guess, what? That Latin root word. It's a collection of books. Really, these are scriptures. These are God's words. This is God's word. That's what we're looking at. And look at what he says there, if he would.
[7:08] Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his saints.
[7:21] Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity, yea, and every good path. Now, if I were studying the Bible and it was me doing it, and it's always going to be something I do.
[7:32] I want you to notice there are two thens. There's a then in five and there's a then in nine. He said, if, if, if, if, if, then. I used to teach geometry to high school students.
[7:43] If, then clauses. If this, then this. Well, that's what's going on right here. If, then. So he said, if you receive my words, hide them in my, hide my commandments, incline your heart, apply, incline your ear, apply your heart, craft your knowledge, lift up your voice for understanding.
[7:58] Seeker like silver, search for like head treasure. Then you'll understand. And in verse nine, he said, and then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment. Verse 10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee.
[8:16] Now, that'll jump off the page. Especially if you're a younger man. And if you're an older man, when you've been making some really dumb mistakes, which we've all made, probably.
[8:27] You said, this is discretion shall preserve thee. Understanding shall keep thee or protect thee. So it's going to preserve you and protect you. To deliver you from the way of the evil man.
[8:39] From the man that speaketh forward crooked, crooked, perverse things. Who leave the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of darkness. You ought to circle in verse 12.
[8:51] Evil man. We'll talk about him in just a second. There are evil men everywhere. There are evil men everywhere. And that's a Bible thing. And if on the human standpoint, Solomon's talking to his, Solomon's talking to his son.
[9:02] He said, son, you need to be aware that there are evil people out there. You need to be aware there are evil people out there. You know, evil people, man, they, they, they will ruin our lives. They will take our money. They'll destroy our character.
[9:13] They'll, they'll ruin our lives in every way they possibly can. They're just leeches. They're just going to get you any way they can. They're going to do whatever they can to take, take advantage of you. And we need to learn how to recognize them.
[9:24] There's evil men. And they, they walk, they walk the wrong paths. They rejoice to do evil. They delight in the frowardness of the wicked. Whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths to deliver thee, to deliver thee from the strange woman.
[9:39] You ought to circle that. Evil men, strange women. Evil men, strange women. Evil men, strange women. He said, son, I need to warn you. There's some men that will want to destroy you.
[9:51] By the way, what did he say in Proverbs? Was it 110? He said, my son, when sinners entice thee, when sinners entice thee, consent thou not. So there were evil men when sinners.
[10:03] And then there's a strange woman. And this strange woman flattereth with her words. Boy, this woman knows how to talk. You are the best looking. You got the biggest muscles.
[10:15] You got to be the smartest guy. I mean, honestly, you are unlike any other. You know, when a woman starts talking to you like that, unless it's your wife, you better get out of Dodge. Because she's a strange woman.
[10:26] And she ought not be talking to you like that. And look here, look what it says about her. She forsakes the God of her youth. No matter what she was taught as a girl and how a lady ought to act, she's forgotten that. She's forgotten the covenant she made with God.
[10:38] Her house is on the road to death. Her house inclineth unto death. Her paths unto the dead. None that go unto her return again.
[10:50] Neither take they hold of the paths of life. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright shall dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it.
[11:02] But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted out. So I'm going to go through this and we'll write some things down there if you want. We'll finish this whole chapter, Lord willing.
[11:13] But this is something I was taught as a 15-year-old boy. And it radically changed my life, 15 years old. At 15, I decided I wanted to know.
[11:24] At 15, that's when I got my first Bible. The night when Brother Ledford was talking about your first Bible. I may have had Bibles before that. I may have had a Bible as a small child, but I still got that Bible.
[11:37] When I was 15 years old, they gave me the closest thing to a study Bible I'd ever seen for me yet. And it wasn't really a study Bible. It just had cross-references and a concordance in the back. And it was a cheesy one with pictures of Jesus in it.
[11:50] So it wasn't really a study Bible. But it was my first. And I really decided I'm going to read that and study it. And I remember my mother and my pastor telling me, nobody understands the Bible unless they learn to dig.
[12:04] And that was a word they used. Unless they learn to dig. You don't understand the Bible unless you learn to dig. Cursory reading of the Bible. Just running through the Bible, you won't learn.
[12:15] It takes digging. And this is basically what he said in Proverbs chapter 2. He basically said this. He said, you've got to go after wisdom. You've got to make up your mind. You want to know.
[12:25] Now, can I just, I'm going to give you the facts out of the chapter. Could we, I think Brother Frick's the only guy older than me right here. So I just tell you, but it's a heavy thing to live and be a husband and a dad and a granddad.
[12:42] I mean, it's very easy when your kid's in diapers still. You think you're having trouble with a two-year-old? What do your kids rebel against you? What do your kids rebel against God?
[12:55] And watch the heartache you're going to feel. I'm just saying to you that this is a big deal being a husband. This being a man stuff is real stuff. It is real stuff being a man.
[13:06] I mean, nobody ever told me. I never knew when I became a man. I never knew. I still don't know if I'm a man yet. I mean, literally. When are you a man? I don't know. We don't have this time when they say, all right, you're a man.
[13:18] I mean, when you turn 18, I didn't go in the military. I never got drunk. And they never took me to a whorehouse. So I never knew I was a man. I got married. I got married. I mean, there's a bunch going on.
[13:28] And when I got married to Betty, I was still a kid and acted like a kid, even though I'd learned a ton of Bible. But, you know, as life goes on, you realize, man, this is for real.
[13:39] This is for keeps. And then if you understand the Bible, you realize there's a heaven and a hell. And all of a sudden, the spiritual condition of your family rests with you in a great way.
[13:50] Much more than you'd like to ever think. Now, you could say, ah, no, no, no. God does the saving. Sure he does. But he also made you the leader. And he also made you the responsible party. And he also gave you the wisdom to lead your home.
[14:04] He gave you the wisdom to man up. And we live in a society where there aren't many men, just to be blunt honest. Most of our men are sissified men.
[14:14] By what I mean, hey, they aren't the leader in their home. We talk about, you know, as a missionary, you always talk about, is that a matriarchal society or a patriarchal society?
[14:25] A matriarchal society where mamas run the show or a patriarchal society where men run the show? And I'll just tell you that I think America is a patriarchal society. I mean, most everybody knows who really runs out.
[14:38] I'm going to talk about every individual. And you may be sitting there going, bless God, I do run my home. Most of us that have to really get out of it about that probably don't. But we need to man up.
[14:48] We need to be the leaders in our home. We need to be a dad that can teach our children. I mean, the things that God ought to be important to us. And so this chapter is very important. And I hope you'll pay attention. So let's look at some things if you would.
[14:59] Let's go to verse 8. It's kind of like the key verse to the chapter. Verse 8. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserves the way of his saints. Now we've got to be talking about God now because Solomon can't take care of saints.
[15:11] And if you've got a sheet of paper, what goes in the blank is saints. And I did that on purpose because I want somebody in the room to tell me what a saint is. What is a saint?
[15:26] So who said that? I didn't hear you. A born again Christian. You know, I really think most of us don't think that. We tend to almost have a Catholic view of it.
[15:37] It's like it's somebody that's been blessed and made a saint. But we're saints. If you are born again, you're a saint. And that means that no church makes you a saint.
[15:48] No church makes you a saint. No group of men get together and determine you're a saint. God saves you and makes a saint out of you. I really want to stop this. So can I just listen to this? You ready for something?
[16:00] You ought to live up to who you are. And you are a born again, new creature. Old things passed away. Behold, all things have become new. You can go around all the time and say, hey, I can't help it.
[16:10] I'm a sinner. But I'll just be blunt honest with you. You're a saint. Now, saints still sin. Saints still can sin. But it is not our lifestyle. That's not who we are.
[16:23] And let me just say this to you. Watch this. How many of you are liars in this room? Would anybody raise your hand and say, I really am a liar? All liars have their part in the place in a lake of fire. So I guess y'all know where you're headed.
[16:38] That was a trap. You see, you're really not a liar now. You may lie, but that's not who you are. And you need to realize that. Hey, that's why, honestly, it ought to be in your heart, man.
[16:49] I don't want to do what ain't natural for me, what normal for me. We're not the same guy we were before. We're not the same guy we were before. And if you are the same guy you were before, you're not born again.
[17:02] I mean, you're supposed to, something happened to you. I would say, I would say miraculous, but you might understand it. It was just miraculous. There you were, a dirty, stinking, rotten sinner.
[17:14] And all of a sudden, God did something in you. And you looked the same. You had the same mind, the same heart. Everything was the same about you, but you were totally different. You were born again. And all of a sudden, without you even understanding, I love one of my friends, his name is Dean.
[17:30] He got saved on a Sunday morning. And his family didn't go to church. He wasn't used to church. And here's the story. He says, he was standing around, and he was listening to them all talk. And one of them said, now, we'll have church tonight.
[17:40] And he said, oh, we have church tonight? And he said, yeah, we'll be back tonight. He said, okay. I didn't know there was church, but if we're having it, I'll be there. Because he got born again. He never, he didn't come on Sunday mornings.
[17:51] And so he came out Sunday night. And on Sunday night, they were talking about going on church on Wednesday night. He was like, man, we go to church again on Wednesday night? Lord, they said, yeah, we go to church on Wednesday night. And Dean said, oh, well, good. I'd like to go to that too then. And then they said, there's going to be a revival.
[18:02] And he wanted to go. Something happened, a totally different person, a totally different person. We are saints if we're born again. So you have no excuse for you to say, man, I just keep living this life of sin because I just can't have victory over it.
[18:18] That's not what the Bible says. Romans chapter 6, sin does not have dominion over you. Sin does not have dominion over you. So when you sin, you sin because you choose to and you want to.
[18:32] Let me just say this. I lie. I'm not saying that I don't ever lie. But I'm not a liar. That's not who I am. It is not my nature to lie. You say, you can't say that. Oh, I got a new nature.
[18:43] I got his nature. And his nature is not a lying nature. And anytime I lie, I quit acting like who I am. And I start acting like who I used to be. And such were some of you.
[18:54] That's what the Bible says. But you've been washed. Justified. And so I just want you, we're saints. If you can get that straight before we start reading. Say, look, this is not, let me tell you this.
[19:06] I'm starting this lesson for you this way. This is not what you do to become a saint. This is not what you do to become saintly. You are a saint. And, and by the way, when you are a saint, you probably want to know about saints.
[19:21] And you probably want to know how saints ought to think. And you probably ought to, you want to know where saints go. If you join a club. I read a, I read about a guy that bought a Jeep.
[19:33] And when he bought a Jeep, as a Christian, before he got, before he bought a Jeep, he had a hard time getting up on Sunday mornings. But when he bought the Jeep, he joined the Jeep club. And the Jeep club went Jeep, Jeep four wheeling up in the hills on Sunday mornings about seven o'clock.
[19:47] And he was able to get up. And he, he read all the Jeep journals. And he knew all about Jeeps. And he studied it all. And he got where he knew every detail about Jeeps. Well, you know what that seems to say, don't you?
[19:59] The guy really liked Jeeps. He didn't really like the things of God. You go figure. You're born again. And as a born again guy, you ought to search out wisdom.
[20:10] And I'll just say, as a Christian man, it is time for you to man up. And here's where you man up. It's not about how many muscles you got or how much you weigh or how fast you can run or how many push-ups you can do.
[20:21] It's do you seek after him? And you seek after his wisdom. That's a real man. And so let's go through some of it if you would. Number one, it's in your notes there. Eight commandments that show our responsibility.
[20:34] That goes in the blank. Responsibility towards God and wisdom. The if of the if-then clause. Okay? The if. And you can easily, you already know every one of these words.
[20:48] We've gone over them already. But let's just briefly fill in the blanks and kind of define them. It says, if thou wilt receive my words.
[20:58] So that's like, this is what you're supposed to do. And that means you're to accept them. You're to accept them. Receive them means to accept them. If I come over here and I say, Wayne, would you receive this bottle?
[21:12] To receive it means he accepted it. All right? Now watch this. I'm going to give you a Bible verse that you ought to mark down. And maybe you're writing the margin of your Bible right here. Listen to this verse right here. 1 Thessalonians 2.13.
[21:23] Listen to this. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing. Because when you receive the word of God which you heard of us. Listen to this.
[21:35] You received it not as the word of men. But as it is in truth the word of God. Which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
[21:46] These Thessalonians. I mean, they didn't have a copy of this Bible. But these Thessalonians. When Paul showed up and he said, I want to talk to you guys. I'm going to give you the words of God.
[21:57] Here was their attitude. They didn't say, well, we've heard a lot of philosophers. We've heard of this philosopher and that philosopher and that philosopher. And here comes Paul. And he's got other. Whereas Paul said, that's not how y'all listen to me.
[22:09] Y'all receive the words like what they really are. The words of God himself. And that is, I mean, if you're going to get in the book.
[22:22] If you're going to study this book. You're going to really have to believe I'm reading the word of God. I'm studying the word of God. God spoke. It's so funny to me.
[22:33] You know, TV. You know, people die and they go to heaven. And they come back and they write books about it. And man, they make the whole circuit. And everybody wants to hear from them. And they tell us what they saw. And they saw a light.
[22:44] And they felt some warmth. And some people have even died and gone to hell and come back. You know? Which I don't believe none of that. On either side of it. Don't believe either one of them. Only one guy I know. Two guys I know died.
[22:55] I can name three guys. I can name three guys I know that died. Or didn't die. But they went to heaven and came back. Jesus died and went to heaven and came back. John got carried up there. And Paul, in a dream probably.
[23:06] He said he wasn't sure if he was in the body or if he was out of the body. But he went there. But that's about it. I don't trust none of y'all guys. If you die and you say you went there. I ain't going to believe a word of it. But watch this. They received it as what it was.
[23:18] The word of God. What if you had written down for you. In good old plain English. What God said. I mean what if you had this book.
[23:31] That the divine almighty. Totally powerful creator God. Judge of the universe. Wrote it down. And said these are my words. Would you approach them differently?
[23:45] Well you do have that. Maybe you hadn't thought about it like that. But you do have that. You have the word of God. They received it that way. It means treat it like what it is.
[23:55] It's the word of God. It's not just that you're going to listen. It's not just you're going to know it. It's going to be that you're going to obey it. The second thing they had to do. It's in your notes there. It says they had to hide them in their hearts.
[24:11] Hide them in their hearts. Verse 1. My son if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee. I'm always impressed with all these guys who memorize poetry.
[24:23] You know and they memorize. They memorize the art of war stuff. And they memorize Plato and Socrates. And boy aren't they impressive. And here's the truth.
[24:35] I don't mind them memorizing all that. I don't mind all the guys who give all the quotes. But if I had to pick who I was wanting to memorize what he said. I think I'd pick God himself. I'd pick God. I would pick God.
[24:47] Now I did not mean that to be a slur. I'm not trying to say anything bad about you knowing quotes. I like quotes. But there's one place we can quote we know it's right.
[24:58] There's one place we can quote we know it's right. And that's the word of God. And can I just say to you that there's been a lot of stuff said and done. And written down. And it turned out they weren't right about it.
[25:10] There's one book you can trust. It's always right. That's the word of God. That is the word of God. So he said hide it. Hide it in your heart. That means we fill our hearts and minds with the word.
[25:22] And we let the word of God transform us. We hide it so it transforms our way of thinking. You've heard the quote. And I'm sure you've heard it. It says five years from now you'll be the same guy you are right now.
[25:35] Except for the books you read. The people you meet. And the places you go. That's a quote. That's what they say. Five years from now you'll be the same guy you are now. Except for the people you meet.
[25:46] The books you read. And the places you go. I want to think like God. Does that seem really wild and crazy and way out there?
[26:00] I want to think like God. And if I want to think like God. He wrote it down for me and told me how he thinks. So he took a lot of the problem out of the equation.
[26:13] He took a lot of the problem out of the equation. He said you ought to think like me. You ought to hide my words in your heart. And look what he said in Romans 12 too. Be not conformed to this world but be ye. Everybody always likes to preach on be not conformed.
[26:24] But really the verse wasn't about what you was going to wear for clothes. He said be not conformed to this world but be transformed. Don't be like them. He's really not talking there about how you wear your hair.
[26:40] That's not what he's talking about. What he's talking about is they got a way of thinking and we got a whole nother way of thinking. They got a way of thinking and we got a whole nother way of thinking.
[26:53] Be not conformed to this world. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. How do you get your mind new? Man if I think like a Georgian I'm going to act like a Georgian. I'm going to think like a Georgian.
[27:04] I mean I'm going to see everything like a Georgian. But if I could get the book of God in my mind if I could hide it in my heart it would change the way I think. Verse 2 and the next one there you're to incline.
[27:17] You're to incline your ear to wisdom. And I got to incline your heart but you can fix that easy enough. Incline your ear. It means give attention. Be fully alert to acquire knowledge.
[27:27] You're to a... How many of you went to school and slept through the classes? I did. I mean you know honestly. I mean I got more B's than C's and a few less A's than B's and only two D's and both of them were in French in college.
[27:48] And no one has ever asked me about my college transcript. They told me that you was going to carry that the rest of your life. But unless you're going to another school nobody ever asks. But you know the truth is I often went to class and man after the first two or three weeks it was like drone on and on.
[28:02] And you just prayed to God that 50 minutes would be up and you could leave the class. And you just made sure you got enough to get through. Well it's not what he wants you to do with the Bible. He wants you to incline.
[28:14] He wants you to work at, work at learning what his book says. He wants you to work at it. He wants you to apply your heart. Verse 2. He wants you to...
[28:24] That's like stretching yourself. He wants you to cry after it. Like you're summoning it. Like you're saying come here knowledge. Come here. I need to talk to you. The next one. He wants you to lift your voice for understanding.
[28:36] And let's go to verse 4. Because I have quite a bit I want to get through to you before it's over. Look, if I've missed anything I'll go back and give them to you real quick. Verse 4 though. If thou seekest...
[28:47] Seek and search like it was treasure. If thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasures. You know, isn't it amazing money?
[28:57] How much a difference money makes? If money's involved, you'll do anything to get money. Let's just be honest.
[29:09] People do anything for money. Everything has its price. I'm not talking about you personally. So don't take offense. But basically, 51... 50.0001%.
[29:21] So that means you're off the hook. Money really makes the world go round. Money makes the world go round. And here's what he said. Man, you ought to think of the Bible as like it's silver.
[29:33] As like it was treasure. As like the guy who went and bought a field. Because he knew there was treasure in it. And he bought the field just so he could get the treasure that was hidden in the field.
[29:45] We ought to go after truth like a miner goes after treasure. The last one there. And I'll go back and make sure you got them all. Our relationship with the Bible and truth can't be a weekend hobby.
[30:00] Or we'll never get it. It takes a habit of investing time and energy and digging deeply into the Word of God. And learning God's wisdom. I think you should have all of them filled in that you want to fill in.
[30:13] But I'll read you the answers. Saints. Responsibility. Receive. Hide. Incline. Apply. Cry.
[30:25] Seek and search. Hobby. And digging. Let me just give you a few of them.
[30:35] There are a gazillion things in the Bible that don't make sense. But with study they make sense. They don't make sense.
[30:46] But when you start reading and finding and comparing Scripture with Scripture. And understanding Old Testament history. And understanding what's going on. You read it and you go, wow. Finally makes sense.
[30:57] There was a guy attending our church. And he came to me and he said, I couldn't understand the circumcision stuff until I got to Colossians. He said, I started in Genesis. And I was reading it all about circumcision.
[31:08] And I kept saying, what in the world is he so hung up on circumcision for? And he said, I got to Colossians. And I understood it was a circumcision of the heart. It was a separating from your old life to your new life.
[31:19] And he said, for the first time. And I happened to preach on it. And he said, boy, the first time. All of a sudden it made sense. It's something you got to work at. Why in the world circumcision? Why in the world so many things?
[31:29] So we dig and we study and we try to learn so we can get in our hearts. Point number two. In your notes there. If we seek him in his wisdom, he gives us promises.
[31:44] Promises. It's an if-then equation. If you do this, then this will happen.
[31:57] And he said, if you seek and search and hide and incline and apply and cry after and lift up your voice, then I got some things for you.
[32:08] I mean, he said that. Just as clear as you can be. I mean, it's even written in if-then form if you read the scripture. Chapter 2, verse 1.
[32:18] If you receive. And then if you go down to verse 9. Then. If you go to verse 5. Then. If. Then. Then thou shalt understand the fear of the Lord.
[32:30] We'll understand what it means to fear the Lord. We'll understand what it means. Isn't that a hard thing? Why did God use the word fear? We're all like, well, everybody's always trying to figure out how are you going to explain that?
[32:45] Because it's really kind of a harsh sounding word. But if you read the Bible. In fact, it's in history. You know, for the last 2,000 years until this new generation that can't understand English.
[32:57] People always wanted. They like to find God fearing people. People really believe he was up there. Really believe he was up there. Really believe he was here. Really believe he made a difference.
[33:08] Really believe he was. It was true. Really believe the Bible was real. And really took it like it was for real. Because if he really is, then maybe I ought to take it seriously. So then we get some promises.
[33:19] And what are they? We get wisdom. We get wisdom. And protection. In verse letter A, we will get understanding, knowledge, wisdom, and protection.
[33:32] Wisdom and protection. And that's in verse 6. Comes to knowledge and understanding. Excuse me. And then verse 9. Let me give you some personal application.
[33:52] That's number 3 there. And let me just go through this with you. We got about 8 minutes by my watch. If it's anywhere near right. Look at verse 12.
[34:03] To deliver thee from the way of the evil man. From the man that speaketh forward things. And if you got your notes there, I wish you'd write down. We will not fall so easily for the evil man.
[34:14] Who speaks crooked, perverse, twisted words. I'm just going to give you a few examples.
[34:29] And kind of make you mad. We have preachers that do it. I mean, they raise people from the dead.
[34:40] No, they don't. They do all this healing. No, they don't. They do a whole lot of stuff. No, they don't. I mean, and you would know that if you read the book. We have people write books about dying and going to heaven.
[34:53] Dying and going to hell. You'd know better than that if you read this book. You'd know better than that. We have politicians on all sides of the aisle. And buddy, they could lie.
[35:05] And they could fool any lie detector in the world. But they couldn't fool a guy who had wisdom from God who could look at the book and say, that ain't right. But we have salesmen.
[35:20] We have perverted people that would. I mean, how does homosexuality become okay? How does it become okay?
[35:33] I'll tell you how it becomes okay. Because we're totally unmoored from this book. This book's clear about it. This book's very clear. I mean, it's just very clear. I mean, there's just no way around it. It's just very clear. How could we have big debates going on about what's a marriage?
[35:48] I can tell you how we could because we don't have a Bible. I mean, how could we have big debates? How could we have big debates about a lot of stuff? Well, because we don't have a Bible. You have a Bible.
[35:59] And he said this. He said, if you get in my book, I'm going to give you wisdom. I'm going to give you protection. Drugs, alcohol, sex, money, money. Politics, power, any of it can become something that ought not be there.
[36:17] Look at verse 13, if you would. Chapter 2, verse 13. These wicked men, these evil men who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness. What comes to your mind when you all hear ways of darkness?
[36:32] What comes to your mind when you all hear ways of darkness? Sir? That's good. But you know what darkness is? Darkness is the absence of. And whose light? God. And where did he give us light? His book.
[36:45] And so if I knew his book, I would be in such better position. Go to verse 16.
[36:56] And you can put in the next one there. There's a strange woman. There's a strange woman. He's talking to men. And I'll just talk to you as men.
[37:08] If I were talking to ladies, I'd say they're strange men. But here he says the word woman. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words. How many people, how many marriages have I seen destroyed?
[37:27] How many creatures have we seen fall? How in the world could they be allured by this strange woman? Well, I can tell you the real answer is, he said, if you'll seek and search for this like treasure.
[37:46] You see, God has nothing against sex, by the way, at all. He likes it. He made it. It's just supposed to be between a man and his wife. That's it. Nowhere else. Not between teenagers and girlfriends.
[37:58] Not between men and men. It's just God's got his way. God said it's good. By the way, God's not got anything against money, has he? He made money. He owns all the money, so he sure ain't against money.
[38:09] He said, all the silver's mine, all the gold's mine. Where do we get in trouble when we take it out of where God wanted it? If I look at it and say, hey, all the money belongs to God. My wife belongs to God. My sex life belongs to God. My thought life belongs to God.
[38:20] And I keep everything where God wants it. Everything's going to work good. And here's what he said. He said, son. He said, son. And the Holy Spirit said to us, guys, God will protect you.
[38:30] And here's the very scary thought that's crossing your mind right now is, does he not know who he's talking to? We don't have those problems.
[38:45] But then I would tell you what the book says. The book says, take heed if you think you stand, lest you fall. I don't trust me and I don't trust you.
[38:57] Because he said, if you think you got it, you probably ain't. So we better all just realize, hey, it could happen to me. So I got to be in the book and obeying him.
[39:08] This woman will flatter you. She will lie to you to make you feel good about yourself. She's speaking out of turn about things that she did. She's speaking out of turn and saying things that that are not hers to say.
[39:22] My wife could say all these nice things about me, but nobody else ought to. And she's turned away from the God that she had as a youth in verse 17.
[39:34] It doesn't matter what promises or what decisions she made as a young girl for God. Her house is inclined to death. Her paths are unto death.
[39:47] And none that go unto her return again. And the funny thing is that old Solomon who writes this book is going to mess up with women. The guy who talks to his son and says, stay away from it.
[39:59] Stay away from it. Stay away from it. He's going to mess up with women. I'm just going to say a couple things about that so I can go ahead and make you really mad. But you know, you know, sex is a is a major problem.
[40:11] Problem. For us. If we don't keep our eyes where they ought to be. Porn has become. Eye candy.
[40:22] The new stuff everybody wants to look at. Sexting. Texting even. Others. The opposite sex. Cute little things. You're. Hey, you got one wife.
[40:34] I'll be talking to her. You ought to be very careful. We can all. We can all mess up. And in the book of Proverbs, Solomon is going to say to his son in the word of God, he's going to talk to him about what a real wife ought to be.
[40:47] It'll climax in chapter 31 when he says a virtuous woman who can find her. Her price is far above what rubies. He's going to be like that. Here she. Here she is. And he's going to he's going to describe what our wives ought to be and what we ought to be leading them to be.
[41:01] But he's going to warn his son on several pages in his book about illicit sex, strange women and stuff like that.
[41:12] So I want to get in this book and I want to know what to do. Look at you at verse 20. God has a good path for you to walk. Let me see. I've given you the things that fill in these blanks. God is a letter C.
[41:24] Let me say I get let me. No, I'm still in letter. I'm still up at number three. So don't worry about it yet. Look at verse number verse 20. God has a good path for you to walk on that thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous.
[41:40] I don't want to be ugly, but there is an us them in the Bible. There is an us them. And some people say that Christians develop this mentality that there's like us and them.
[41:50] Well, I'm guilty. There's saints and there's sinners. There's people that love God and people that don't love God. There's people that want to walk in a holy and a righteous life.
[42:03] And there's people that don't. There are people that ought to their saints. And there's an evil man and a strange woman. You need to know that God has a path for us. We're not supposed to be going to. And man, everybody's wanting to say to us, say, we all ought to walk the same path.
[42:15] Oh, no, we shouldn't. Oh, that's not where we're supposed to be. It's not what we're supposed to be doing. And his truths will cause us to prosper in verse 21. We'll dwell in the land and remain in it.
[42:28] And those who don't know God will die. Now, let me give you some applications. Number four, if I could. I can't tell if you all are mad at me or bored and coasting and praying for eight or what.
[42:41] Look at this if you would. Let her be. Decide right now to seek after God. His wisdom, his truth, and everything about him with all that's within me.
[42:54] That's what I want to do. Well, I want to know God. I want to know God. I want to know God. I'm going to probably aggravate you a little bit, but you get to go home in a second.
[43:09] Guys who can't read can read hunting magazines. Or gun magazines. Guys who can't read can read when they like what it's about.
[43:28] And you are born again. And there ought to be something in your heart that says, I love Jesus. This is not to guilt you, but you ought to decide right now, man, I really want to serve God.
[43:39] Look at letter C in your notes there if you would. Realize. I need to realize that I'm a husband, a dad, and a leader. So I need wisdom to lead my family and protect them.
[43:55] Isn't it amazing what happens the day you get married? I look back now. I look back at the 18-year-old punk that got married.
[44:08] And I don't know how my in-laws allowed that to happen. They should have killed me. They should have put a bullet between my eyes and solved that problem. I was 18 three days before I turned 19.
[44:20] My wife lived in a two-story with a full basement. Very luxurious house in a very prestigious neighborhood for that time when we got married.
[44:33] I moved her to a two-bedroom duplex on not the best side of town. I made all kinds of—I drove away in my Corvair.
[44:50] I drove away from the church in my Corvair. Not my Corvette, you understood. My Corvair. Engine in the back. You never heard of that car. You know why? Because it was so bad.
[45:00] It killed people. Nobody liked it. They quit making it. That's why you've never heard of one of them. But, you know, all of a sudden I wake up one day and, I mean, I got this woman laying in a bed beside me.
[45:12] I got bills to pay. I remember holding a guy that went to our first church, the church I was working in when I was 19.
[45:23] The ripe old age of 19. And they had a little girl, and her name was April. And she was like 10 or 11 months old. And I remember telling Betty, I said, man, they need a say in the world, little babies like this.
[45:33] We ought to ask God if he wants to give us one. And then Betty got pregnant. And when she called me and told me she was pregnant, I about jumped out of the window.
[45:45] Because, I mean, we couldn't pay our bills as it was. And now we was going to have another mouth to feed. I mean, you never met dumber than dumb, me. But, you see, what he's saying is, I got wisdom for you.
[45:57] You should make up your mind. This is so important. You say, I know how to live. Yeah, well, let one big crisis come in our country, which it may be coming. Lose your jobs.
[46:09] Lose your house. Lose everything you've got. Let's say, do we have wisdom? Because you live in America, you may have wisdom. Let cancer come. I mean, we're going to need wisdom.
[46:21] Let children grow up. We're going to need wisdom. But it's a big responsibility. Big responsibility. Let me take you down to letter D so I can really get you mad.
[46:33] Quit acting like a boy. Who will not have the discipline and dedication to do what God has for him to do.
[46:45] Quit acting like a boy. Yeah, that'll work. I'm all for it. Man up. Get in the book. Get in the book.
[46:57] And letter F. Learn how to recognize a strange woman and keep her far from me and my family. I want to learn how to recognize a strange woman and keep her far from me and my family.
[47:14] How many people, you know, if we go around the room, if we go around the room and talk about divorce, almost every one of us have had divorce in some part of our family.
[47:26] Divorce or affairs. It may not be between Betty and I have never had a divorce. I can remember my dad saying he never wanted to see divorce in our family, but my brother's been there now. And tons of people have been hurt.
[47:40] Kids have been hurt. I mean, it's a horrible thing. I want to do the right thing. I want to take care of my family. I want to act like a man. I've got the book. I'm born again. So I have the power.
[47:52] Sin has no dominion over me. Sin does not have dominion over me. I cannot. I mean, I can resist sin. The Bible didn't tell you resist the devil and he'll flee, meaning maybe.
[48:05] That's not what it said. It said you resist the devil, he'll flee. He'll run like a second coward. So you can resist the devil. You do have victory. And when you guys make up your mind, it's your time.
[48:18] You know, it's already time for you to be looking at girls. So here soon you're going to say, I think I want one of them. You better get a little wisdom. Are you guys over here too?
[48:30] Some of you single guys. All right. Question or comment. How many of you read shoot me and kill me? The women haven't quit yet. They would be making more noise. I always quit before they do. Anybody have a comment or question or argument?
[48:45] Five, four, three, two, one. All right. Father, I thank you for the chance to serve you. I pray that you would bless our church. God, help the men to stand up and be and do all that you have for them.
[48:58] God, thank you for them. Thank you for their heart. I know that you've done a work of grace in their life. And I pray you'd help them to live that out. And I'll give you praise for it in Jesus' name. Amen. You have been listening to Austin Gardner, pastor of Vision Baptist Church.
[49:13] For contact information, location, service times, or more audio and video recordings, log on to www.visionbaptist.com.
[49:24] Thank you.