(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] It is about time to get started this evening. If you would, find a seat and grab a hymnal. Our first hymn is number 254, Whosoever Will. Hymn number 254, two, five, four, Whosoever Will. 254, we'll sing there starting on the first. Whosoever here, head shout, shout the sound, spread the blessed tidings all the world around, tell the joyful news wherever man is found. Whosoever will, hey, come. Whosoever will, Whosoever will, send the proclamation over field and hill. Tis the loving Father who calls the water home. Whosoever will, hey, come. Whosoever come and need not delay. Now the door is open, enter while you may. Jesus is the truth, the only living way. Whosoever will, hey, come. Whosoever will, Whosoever will, send the proclamation over field and hill. Tis the loving Father who calls the water home. Whosoever will, hey, come. Whosoever will, the promise is secure. Whosoever will, forever must endure. Whosoever will, tis life forevermore. Whosoever will, hey, come. Whosoever will, Whosoever will, send the proclamation over field and hill. Tis the loving Father who calls the water home. Whosoever will, hey, come. Amen, let's open with a word of prayer. You'll bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this day, for the opportunity to gather together. Lord, I pray that you just be with those two salvations that we had this evening, and that you'd also just be with all the seeds that were planted, that that would eventually germinate into a saving faith in you. I pray that you'd be with us for the service, that you would open our ears to the message and fill, Pastor, with your spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, for our second hymn this evening, turn to 261. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 261, 261, turn your eyes upon Jesus. 261 there on the first. Oh, so are you weary and troubled. No light in the darkness you see. There's light for a look at the Savior, and light for abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will prostraint we dim in the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting, He pass and we follow Him there. For us sin no more hath dominion, for more than conquers we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will prostraint we dim in the light of His glory and grace. His words shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well, then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will prostraint we dim in the light of His glory and grace. Good evening everyone, welcome to Anchor Baptist Church. If you don't have a bulletin, please raise your hand and an usher will bring you one. On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week, that's Galatians chapter number 1 verse 12, and if you memorize this whole chapter word perfectly and you're able to recite it to an adult non-family member, you will get a prize at the end. On the left hand side, if you open that up, are our service times listed Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m, Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m, and our Wednesday evening Bible study at 7 o'clock. And of course we're starting a new Bible study this evening, so really looking forward to that. Our sowning times below are listed there, and all those meet here at the church building with the exception of Tuesday, so please get in touch with brother Eric if you'd like to make it to that time. Below that is our nursing home ministry schedule updated there, and below is our year-to-date statistics, and if you look at the month of March, just praise the Lord for how receptive it's been. And this is actually the most salvations that this group of people here has ever had in one month, so that's really exciting and encouraging to see the Lord blessing our efforts out there, and we still got many days left in this month, so we can keep going on that. On the right side, you'll see our upcoming events. April 13th is a men's preaching night. That's the p.m. service, and immediately following that we will have a potluck after. April 19th is our Easter soul-winning marathon. We do have a sign-up sheet back there. Please sign up so that I know how much food to order. Also, we did order some custom Easter invites for that, and you could start using those now because I ordered a ton. So hand them out. They're only good until April 20th. After that, we're just going to throw them away. So that's a little thing we got there. Keep that in mind. Also, the day after that, of course, is Easter, April 20th, and we're going to have barbecue catered right after the morning service. You know, when you're out soul-winning, tell people that. Hey, you want to come to church, get some free barbecue on Easter? Tell people that. I will say I ordered a ton of food. Should have plenty of food, but if you would like dessert options, I'm counting on you. All right, so if you want to bring some desserts, that's on you guys. I'll provide the drinks and the meat. So looking forward to that. And then in the evening, we're going to take the Lord's Supper as a church. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Sure Foundation Baptist Church. May 31st, we're doing another soul-winning marathon in Durant, Oklahoma, and that's meeting up with Steadfast Baptist Church. June 28th, that's going to be a great weekend. On that Saturday, we're going to the Tinker Air Show just as a church family having some fun. And the next day, Brother Ben Naim from Steadfast Baptist Church preaching both services for us that day. August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. And the big one for the year, October 6th through the 11th, is the Bahamas Mission Trip. Below that, there's a QR code if you'd like to give to our church. Also, if you're a visitor or if we haven't had your information captured before, if you wouldn't mind just scanning that QR code and letting us get some information so we could send you guys the links to sermons and just events that are going on at our church. On the back, you know, I'm going to actually go to this first. Congratulations to the Reed family on the birth of Theodore, the cutest Theodore by far in this church, Theodore Wesley Reed. And he was born on March 20th at 3.35 p.m., weighing seven pounds, one ounce, and measuring 20 inches long. So congratulations to them. Give it up for them. And the meal train filled up fast. Thank you guys for, you know, being a loving church and caring for people going through that. But as always, if you want to be more of a blessing to them, that's always an option. So you can still bring them a meal if you get in contact with them. I know one thing they're asking is they're asking just that the food be left on the doorstep. You ever had a baby, you know, it's not fun when you just have a baby and everyone wants to, you know, come over and stay for an hour or whatever. So just leave the food, they said, knock on the door. It's like ding dong ditching, but, you know, showing love doing it. All right. Above that, we have our prayer list and we have Brother Samson on there. I did text him and he says that he's been seeing a lot of improvement. So that is good, but we'll keep him on that prayer list for this week. Also, I got an update about Brother Miles. Brother Miles is adjusting well to his living center that he's in. They're working on his speech and just the left side of his body, but he is getting better every day. So that's a good sign, but definitely just keep them in prayer. And at this time, let's go ahead and go to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for our church. Thank you for how receptive it's been and for the labors that you've given us. I pray that you just enable us to do more and greater works for you and get more and more people saved. I just pray that you would bless the efforts of Anchor Baptist Church. We also thank you for the new life born into the Reed family and into the Anchor Baptist Church family. I just pray that you would bless the Reeds, that you'd bless Whitney as she recovers, help everything to go well and bless that new baby Lord. We also pray for Brother Sampson in Texas, that you would heal him and help him not to be in so much back pain. We also pray for the Hausburg family, that you would bless Brother Miles in his recovery, help him to get the best treatment possible, and also pray that you'd give Ms. Rhea strength and wisdom in her decisions, Lord. Also, we pray for Ms. Shawn for her granddaughter Hadley, just that she would be able to be homeschooled, Lord, and you just bless their living situation. Also pray for Brother Alex for his work situation, Lord, and we pray for Ms. Remy. I pray that she's doing well abroad, that you bless her travels, help her to be safe over there, and we pray that you would bless her visa process according to your will and that you'd heal her body, Lord. We also pray for the members in our church that have unsaved loved ones, that you would just help those people to have many chances to hear the gospel, that you'd soften their hearts, and that you would just embolden the soul winners in our church to preach the gospel, not just to the community, Lord, but also to our loved ones, and bless the service. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. That's going to be it for announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our third song. All right, in your white handouts, turn if you would to Psalm 15. Psalm 15, 1-5, in your white handouts. Psalm 15. Psalm 15 there on the first. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and seeketh the truth in his heart. He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and seeketh the truth in his heart. He that act by him, not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor did the part approach against his neighbor. He that act by him, not with his tongue, his eyes a vile person is content, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. His eyes a vile person is content, but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that swear it to his honor, and change it not, he that put it not out his money to usury. He that swear it to his honor, and change it not, he that put it not out his money to usury. Nor take reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things, shall never be moved. Nor take reward against the innocent, he that doeth these things, shall never be moved. For who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? Amen. As the offering plates are being passed, turn, if you would, to Proverbs chapter number one. Proverbs chapter number one. Amen. Amen. Good evening Proverbs 1. The Bible reads, the proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity to give subtlety to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb and the interpretation the words of the wise and their dark sayings the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay wait for blood let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit we shall find our precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privately for their own lives so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain which taketh away the life of the owners thereof wisdom crieth out she utter other uttereth her voice in the streets she crieth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the city she utterth her words saying how long you simple ones we love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge turn you at my reproof behold i will pour out my spirit unto you i will make known my words unto you because i have called and you refused i have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none of my reproof i also will laugh at your calamity i will mock when your fear cometh when your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when the stress and anguish cometh upon you then shall they call upon me but i will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord they would none of my counsel they despise all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them but who so harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil let's bow our heads for a prayer father in heaven we thank you for this day and this new bible study we ask that you fulfill our master's experience and help us to mark your word and help every day in the service amen all right well we are in the book of proverbs very excited this is often one of people's favorite books in the bible and it's one of the most popular books of the bible when you get a new testament even the ones that we hand out out soul winning it has the psalms and proverbs in the back so really excited to dig into this let's start in verse number one the bible says the proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel so right off the bat we get the author of the book of proverbs there's a couple other people that write a handful of these proverbs but really the majority of the book is attributed to king solomon which he lived between 970 bc and 931 bc so when you think about it this book is about 3 000 years old and you know how i know this is the word of god and that it's powerful is because this was written 3 000 years ago yet millions and millions of people read proverbs today i mean every single day people are reading the proverbs all over the world because this is such a powerful book and to be honest with you it's a little bit intimidating to preach through this book just because it's such an epic book and i want to do it justice i'm praying god will help me with that but let's remind ourselves some things about king solomon if you will go to first kings chapter four first kings four and of course keep your place in proverbs one first kings chapter number four look at verse 29 it says and god gave solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore so the bible says that god gave solomon wisdom so this is not you know the proverbs are not just like the ramblings of some guy's opinions his own ideas his own thoughts god actually gave solomon wisdom and lots and lots of it verse 30 says in solomon's solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the wisdom of egypt so the bible's highlighting that this wasn't like just your average scholar like this guy was incredibly wise more than all the people that were around him verse 31 says for he was wiser in fact than all men so solomon when he was living he was the wisest man alive and it says then ethan the ezrahite and heman and calcol and darda the sons of mahal see i don't know who those people are but i know who solomon is why because we have the book of proverbs today and it says and his fame was in all nations round about then notice this in verse 32 and he spake three thousand proverbs and his songs were a thousand and five so notice solomon just wrote a ton of stuff and people sometimes will say like oh the book of proverbs is just general wisdom i would say that of the three thousand four thousand five hundred things that solomon wrote there's probably a lot of good general wisdom and the things that he wrote but the book of proverbs is not just general wisdom it is the word of god see the bible did not record for us all of the proverbs that solomon wrote and i'm sure some of them that aren't in the bible were probably pretty good i'm sure they were full of wisdom i mean he's the wisest man alive but maybe that stuff was general wisdom the thing about this though but the book of proverbs is that it is the words of god god inspired solomon to write these proverbs so it's not just like well this is someone's idea about life no everything in the book of proverbs is just fact you could just hang your hat and whatever the proverbs say you know that it is a hundred percent right with that go back to proverbs one so like i said solomon's the author of proverbs but you also have in proverbs 30 a guy named agar so he's one of the authors and then in proverbs 31 king lemuel he writes some and he preaches the prophecy that his mother taught him but the vast majority of proverbs is from solomon so i'm going to try to break these into sections when i can sometimes it seems like the book of proverbs just rapid fires different ideas at you and sometimes you can find some connection so i'm going to try to do that when i can and so number one this evening the purpose of the proverbs the purpose of the proverbs verse two says to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding so why is it that we have the book of proverbs it's to help us know wisdom and instruction to perceive right to understand the words of understanding the thing about the book of proverbs is that reading the book of proverbs will make you a smart person this is why it's often recommended to people that you read the proverb of the day because this book right here is just absolutely packed with wisdom and knowledge and will help you get understanding and if you apply those things to your life you will become a smart and wise person by reading the proverbs verse three says to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity so it's like these things wisdom justice judgment equity they're constantly instructing you through the proverbs and you could be wise by receiving that instruction one of the things i want to point out there is it talks about equity now equity is kind of a buzzword today in our culture where it's all about like diversity equity and inclusion and i would say diversity is not a strength in the way that the liberals mean it today we need unity around the word of god and how the liberals and just leftists use equity is not the way that the bible uses equity how liberals use equity is saying that basically like well okay we're going to have a company here we got to make sure we hire 40 black people and 40 asian women and 40 black trans men and 40 white guys no it's probably like 20 white guys let's be honest like that's equity today in in our culture but this is the definition i found of equity it says the quality of being fair or impartial fairness impartiality then it gives an example sentence and i'm not even kidding this is the first example that i found it said the equity of solomon so it's like even dictionaries are referring to the book of proverbs when they want to know hey what's equity well how about solomon he was someone that was fair he was someone that applied the law equally and that's really what equity is about it's not necessarily making sure everyone has the exact same results and making sure that we tailor everything so that everyone's at the exact same position but it's really that the rules are fair and the rules are applied equally the rules are applied to everyone and i'll give you some examples of that go to romans chapter number two romans chapter number two notice in verse 11 it says for there is no respect of persons with god see that is an example of true equity see god actually funny enough as the the leftists like to accuse christians of being racist but god actually does not care about the color of your skin it doesn't mean anything to him your nationality means nothing to god the bible talks about how all the nations are before him as nothing he doesn't care yet in an effort to have equity leftists they care exclusively about your skin color to where they have things called affirmative action and they say hey oh we're going to have equity right and so what we're going to do is we're going to force you to hire x amount of colored people or x amount of whatever status or class but that's literally the opposite of equity what equity would be is saying like here's the qualifications here's the rules it's open to the like whoever meets these qualifications and then that standard is applied equally to everyone that's real equity but just choosing to hire someone because they're black is literally racism folks making policy decisions based on the color of someone's skin is being a respecter of persons it's not equitable it's the opposite of those things and of course the left are a bunch of hypocrites but look at romans chapter three turn the page romans chapter three you know god is fair verse 22 says even the righteousness of god which is by faith of jesus christ unto all and upon all qualifier them that believe for there is no difference see what is it that determines if someone's saved one thing where are you putting your trust if you believe in the lord jesus christ nothing else matters that's the standard it's available to all it's applied to all equally why because god is not a respecter of persons he is equitable verse 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of god notice he brings up the jews and gentiles in verse 29 is he the god of the jews only is he not also of the gentiles yes of the gentiles also seeing it as one god which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith so notice he's bringing up these two groups of people which today people still argue over this and especially when the new testament was just getting kicked off this is something that the apostles were constantly battling is saying like is there really a difference between a jew or a gentile the jews thought they were special just because they were physically descended from abraham and they're saying like well abraham's our father so we've got the covenant and we're good to go but he's saying is he the god of the jews only no of the gentiles how through faith circumcision faith uncircumcision faith it takes faith for both of these people to get saved and if someone's a gentile and they don't have faith in christ they will go to hell someone's a jew and they don't have faith in christ they will go to hell why because god is equitable that is real equity go back to proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter one so when you learn the proverbs it's going to teach you how to judge correctly how to apply god's word correctly verse four says additionally it's to give subtlety to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion so it kind of talks about two target audiences that are also going to be blessed by this book and it's the simple which is just people that are just uneducated or stupid or dumb look god doesn't hate those people he wants them to learn he wants them to grow and this is supposed to give them subtlety now most of the time when we use the word subtle it's in a negative light but subtle can also be used in a different way subtlety sometimes could mean acuteness or penetration of mind delicacy of discrimination a fine drawn distinction refinement of reasoning so basically just having discretion being able to have a little bit of nuance right there's a lot of things in the bible that are very black and white other things take some subtlety some discretion that comes from knowledge and wisdom and growing in the lord and it says to the young man knowledge and discretion and and young men we need a lot of it okay because we just tend to lack it so we just need to read the proverbs every single day but let me give an example what i'm talking about go to deuteronomy chapter 22 there's some some things in the bible that are black and white and you can't say well this is my interpretation and just excuse away the words of god then there's other things that require some application and some discretion there's like the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law what does that mean what does the law literally say and what was the intent behind that right what is it behind the law behind the words of god that god wants us to do or stop doing or think or stop thinking or feel or stop feeling right what is it that god wants us to do let me give you an example of that deuteronomy 22 verse 5 the woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man so let's just get into the letter of the law there is a type of clothing that pertains to a man and a woman is not supposed to wear that pretty simple right this is the letter of the law neither shall a man put on a woman's garment and all god's people said amen right that's terrible there's a you're not supposed to wear women's clothing as a man then it says for all that do so our abomination unto the lord thy god okay so what is just the black and white interpretation of this passage is that god hates cross-dressing god does not want men walking around in skirts it's an abomination it's disgusting it's something that makes you just want to vomit when you see it it's so unnatural and gross it's wicked and just as wicked as that is in the sight of god is a woman wearing that which pertaineth unto a man which i believe is pants okay but here's just the letter of the law is that god hates cross-dressing right now what would be the spirit of the law what would be kind of the motive behind that it's that god wants men to look like men and god wants women to look like women so i would say that anytime a woman is trying to look masculine that is a sin and if a man is trying to look feminine that is a sin it's called being effeminate right so letter of the law cross-dressing is not allowed what's the spirit behind that men look like men women you should look like women that's the application right one thing that i've heard that's always helped me in studying the bible is this idea of observation interpretation application observation what does the text say interpretation what does the text mean application what should i do stop doing think stop thinking feel stop feeling right that's a good way to read the bible and when you read the proverbs it's going to give you subtlety it's going to give you that ability to have discretion to be able to not just understand what a text says but what it means and how to apply it correctly go back to proverbs chapter number one and as you're turning there you know think about this another example is that god has given human authority real authority right god has given the government authority god has given pastors authority god has given husband's authority god has given parents authority god has given bosses authority the bible does not spell out in black and white every single thing that a leader should do or every single rule that they have they have authority but if an authority makes up a rule and it's not a sin discretion and subtlety should teach you that you should obey that rule does the like if your parents have a rule kids it says take off your shoes when you get in the house does the bible say thou shalt take off thy shoes when thou enterst into thine abode no right but it does say to honor your mother and father it does say children obey your parents and the lord for this is right and so you take that and then you can apply it to other areas of your life this is called discretion this is called wisdom here verse number five of proverbs one it says a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel so in this verse you know you preachers out there if you like outlined verses this verse gives you three steps to becoming wise what are those steps well it says the first thing a wise man will hear you know to become a wise person you have to listen more than you speak you know a fool is known by the abundance of his words when someone is just jibber jabbering every single day all day long they can never listen to instruction they just want to talk talk talk that is a sign of someone that's foolish but what does a wise person do a wise person actually listens a wise person actually shows up to church to listen and it's not like this modern church movement where it's like hey let's all get in a circle kids ladies let's all go ahead and get in a circle here and we'll just go around and just share our testimony and just you got a word tonight you got a word tonight whatever god put on your heart you know that's foolishness because i'm sorry to tell you that not everybody is at the same spiritual level sorry it's just a fact and sorry it's just a fact that god has ordained real leadership and that god has ordained preachers that's just the way that god has made it he doesn't want us getting in some little circle and calling that church no church has a pastor church has real preachers and a wise person doesn't despise that a wise person actually wants to come to church because a wise person will hear they will listen not only that it says they will increase learning right so they're going to be constantly studying constantly reading things because you know how you learn things you read and there's this idea out there that's based on a lot of truth that some people are visual learners some people are auditory learners some people are learning by doing but let me just tell you the truth is that we all learn through all of those things okay and some people want to excuse themselves from reading the bible because they're like well i kind of just learn by doing bro well guess what god gave you a book and that means that you need to read it right and don't listen to some psychologist some jewish jewish psychologist coming in your elementary school telling a seven-year-old you are permanently an auditory learner like i remember being in elementary school and just like being told that and it's just stupid you know what kids need to be told learn to read and learn to like it yeah some people are going to be slower than others but you know how you become a better reader you do it over and over and over again no one has an excuse unless you have some sort of physical disability to not be a reader just because you think like oh i'm not the best at it you're not the best at it because you told yourself that and you stopped reading but you know what if you're wise you know what you're going to do you're going to increase learning that means that you're not going to spend every free second of your life scrolling on social media and watching all this brain rot reels wasting your time not doing anything you know what a person that's wise does oh they got some time why don't i learn something why don't i read a proverb why don't i read one of the psalms why don't i just read a book about anything because you know what we have a lot of stupid people in our culture today a lot of stupid people in the workforce a lot of stupid people in academia even and it's because they're not reading things or they're reading a bunch of lies you need to read then it says what's the third thing and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels if you want to be wise it's not an option you must be around wise people if you just surround yourself with a bunch of catholics or a bunch of mormons or a bunch of atheists and that's your group that's your gang you're not going to be a very wise person because you're going to be around people that don't have the fear of god that don't have true wisdom no you have to be around wise people this is why even if you do just listen online that's not enough god does not want you to just hear he does want you to hear he does want you to increase your learning but you know what he also wants you to do is to be around wise counsel and you know in life you're going to go through problems you're going to go through situations and bouncing them off of mature christians is going to help you in your life bouncing them off of your parents that are much more mature is going to bless you bouncing ideas off of your pastor is going to help you in your life but it's the prideful person and the foolish person who thinks i don't need wise counsel isn't that funny the wise person gets wise counsel the wise person is around wise people look at verse six another thing here it says is to understand a proverb and the interpretation the words of the wise and their dark sayings that's kind of what i was saying earlier is that there's a difference between just knowing what the text says and just being able to dissect a sentence and see what it says on the surface on the surface rather than actually understanding what that means right and when it comes to the unsaved the unsaved usually can get point one right like the carnal mind can understand noah built an ark the carnal man can understand some of the things in the bible from an observation perspective where they start to struggle is when they interpret that and say what does it mean and where they have no hope whatsoever is an application of that and so reading the proverbs will help you with all three of those things number two this evening notice the foundation of knowledge verse seven says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction so notice the person who's already wise what do they do they go to wise people fools they hate instruction they hate wisdom go to luke chapter number 16 and the beginning of that verse it talks about how the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge now i've heard some people take what i would consider to be too extreme of an interpretation of this verse it's kind of like in romans 1 where it talks about how reprobates are without understanding that is a that's talking about a spiritual understanding reprobates are not going to understand the bible folks but sometimes people say like oh reprobates like can't do math they can't learn things they can't learn history that's not what it's talking about so where it says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge this is talking about in a spiritual sense and of spiritual things i'll show you that luke chapter 16 verse 18 says and the lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light when it comes to just a carnal understanding there is you know the saved and the unsaved are on equal playing fields when it comes to like hey you want to learn how you know something in science works you want to learn how an engine works you want to learn how to fly an airplane like you don't get to be like a better pilot because you're saved you know you don't get to be a better engineer because you're saved you don't just you're not an automatically uh understanding more about software development because you're saved okay sometimes even the world when they apply themselves and they learn these things they could be wiser even than the children of light in some areas and you know i work around some people that are unsafe thank god i work around a lot of safe people too but i work with some unsafe people that i'll say right now they know way more about the it world than i do okay so when it's talking about you know reprobates being without understanding and stuff like that it's talking about a spiritual level because you get these over the top views where it's like well you know jews created the atomic bomb so therefore the atomic bomb is fake and was never created because the bible says they're without understanding it's like no you're without understanding like you're being an idiot right now okay but the beginning the it says the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge here's where i would apply that is okay i want to learn about aviation i'm going to the best aviator i don't care if you saved or not but like don't take your kids to some unsaved psychologist that's going to sit here and tell you how to raise your kids or go to some marriage counselor that's not saved and give you advice on marriage you know don't go to some unsaved person to give you advice on how to run a church don't go to the unsaved to give you advice on how to preach the gospel right because to to have any knowledge of these things step one you have to fear the lord and so you ought to care about where you're getting your advice when it comes to spiritual things don't get advice on your marriage from the from the world don't get advice for your kids when it comes from the world stuff like that that's a bad idea really really bad idea go back to proverbs chapter number one and i'll say this you know who else is a bad source of guidance and advice is backslidden christians because even some christians do not fear the lord and so just because someone's saved does not necessarily mean that they're going to give you good advice on child rearing on marriage you know there's a lot of saved people out there that are complete and utter feminists and those people do not fear the lord and i wouldn't want to get advice from someone like that i want to get advice from yes someone who's saved about spiritual matters and they fear the lord not just that they're saved but they also fear the lord number three this evening notice the parental guidance listed here in verse eight it says my son so solomon's like impleting his child here my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother you know let's think about this verse first from the perspective of being a parent you should be able to say this to your children you should be able to say my son or my daughter hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother you know us as parents we need to actually be instructing our children and you're not just there as a parent to make sure that your son or daughter gets enough calories for their body for the day and that you change their diapers and that you put a roof over their head those are the basic necessities but you know god didn't give you those kids just that you could give them physical sustenance he gave those kids to you so that you would instruct them in the way of god so that you would impart unto them the fear of the lord by teaching them the bible by teaching them spiritual things and so as parents as a parent i look at this and i think like i need to be instructing my kids i need to be able to tell my kids hey hear my instruction and moms too it's not just for dad kids are not supposed to forsake the law of thy mother you know mothers should be giving their children a good spiritual heritage and passing that on to the next generation and quite honestly i think moms have a huge ability to do this because just they're with the kids so much with the children all the time you have all this opportunity to be talking about the bible talking about the gospel teaching them verses you know that is something that you should be doing and then when you think about this from the perspective of children the application is listen to your mom and dad listen to the instruction that your parents give you because here's what i know i know your parents love you so much and i know that your parents love you more than i love you and i know that your parents love you more than anyone else in this room no one else wants you to succeed in life and for you to be a happier christian and for you to thrive spiritually than your mom and your dad i promise you that and i you know as now that i'm grown i look back on the things that my parents did and i'm just kind of filled with amazement and and just kind of awe of how much they loved me and how much they sacrificed for me and i'm looking at some of the things they did i'm like how did you do that like i would have never done that you know uh but i'm telling you your parents do stuff like that for you they bring you to a church like this they care about you doing the soul winning verses they care about you learning how to be a soul winner they care about you listening in church and paying attention they care about your growth and you know what when your parents are giving you spiritual advice you ought to listen to them you ought to realize that they've lived some life that you haven't lived and trust me i understand at your age you don't realize it yet but your parents know things that you don't and when you look back in your mid-20s or your 30s your 40s you're gonna say man i should have listened to them on this point just trust me because i was there like less than 10 years ago all right i'm only 27 i was a teenager less than 10 years ago i was there recently but i'm telling you i could look back at my parents and the advice that they gave me and i always know they had my best interest at heart and even though i didn't even grow up in church so it's not even like my family was just like uber spiritual but even just the advice that they did give me was good advice how much more the parents in this room are giving to their children and so kids ought to listen to what their parents say verse 9 says for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck what is ornaments and chains you know it's something that you decorate something with to stand out and to look good and let me tell you kids that listen to their parents you look good kids that take their parents advice and do what the bible says like their parents are telling them i look at those kids and i'm like those are some good looking kids i'm talking spiritually right like those kids have some grace about them those kids are something to look to and be like praised like these are great kids meanwhile you go soul winning and you see a bunch of kids who are literally neglected by their parents like i i saw at an apartment complex a few months ago a child that was in diapers so like toddler or baby you know how those uh apartment fences they're like this wide and like you and i couldn't walk through those but i saw a baby just walking through and going out to the sidewalk by the road and like walking back and it looked like heidi's age maybe a tiny bit older and it's just like what are those parents doing what chance does that kid have to become a great christian and a great solar only if we reach that kid someday with the gospel but like there's all these parents out there that all you spoiled brat kids have no idea how blessed you are to be born into a christian family to be born into a new ifb family such a blessing and i tell you what you will look good and you will stand out and you will not regret listening to what your parents say but you know what when you disobey your parents when you mouth off to them when you get too big for your britches and think you know better you look like a jerk none of us are impressed when kids mouth off to their parents none of us looks at a teenager that thinks he's too cool to hug his mom and thinks like that's a real bad dude we're just like come here punk and hug your mom like you know what i mean but you know you see a teenage boy like uh you see like an 18 year old boy 17 year old boy that still honors and reveres his parents that loves his mom and dad that goes soul winning that reads the bible and people are just like wow like this is a great kid and that's exactly what the bible says is going to happen that it's going to be an ornament of grace under the head and chains about thy neck remember this isn't just general wisdom folks this is facts this is just the word of god it's 100 true number four i want you to notice warning against wicked friends you know we're talking about young people this has to be one of the most important things that you realize as a young person verse 10 it says my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not you know first you have to realize that this verse implies that you will likely have wicked people in your sphere of life someday that will try to entice you to do wickedly and you know you may live this like little sheltered baptist life and praise god for that but i'm telling you when you go out into the real world or if you are in public school right now when you get older you will encounter people that will entice you to sin that will try to get you to do wickedly you'll be in high school there'll be people that want you to do drugs to drink alcohol to commit fornication any sin you think of it's in the public high school today you know drug dealing that's in the public school today passing around pictures of innocent victims that's happening in public schools today that kind of wickedness is all around and so the bible says the response you need to have is consent thou not you need to learn to have some character and some boldness and some braveness about you to say no and not give into peer pressure and not care if people shame you or people think you're weird because you won't drink with them or people think you're no fun because you won't commit fornication you need to be man enough kids boys when you're tempted with this to say no to them to not consent to them and i'm telling you people may sometimes forget that there's a lot of wickedness and sin and terrible things that happen for young people like like you think like murderer you're probably thinking 30 to 40 year old guy you know okay here's some of the crimes recently that have happened in our city now one of these i didn't even include because it was just posted uh today where a teenager in the south uh i'm sorry the east part of oklahoma city like just east of downtown okc i don't know if any of you guys heard this on the news purposely drove their car through the fence of someone's backyard and ran over and killed another teenager did anyone hear about this okay one person heard about this that was a teen that committed that violent murder here's some other ones this was homicide number 14 of this year in our city took place on march 21st the victim was 16 years old and the perpetrator was 18 so these are young people friday night just prior to 10 pm oklahoma city police was called near to the scene near 7th and missouri on reports of a person struck by a vehicle it appears that the victim 16 year old was at a gathering when the suspect intentionally ran this person over with her vehicle and fled the scene homicide number 12 this happened on the 9th of march the victim was 16 years old late last night police responded to a shooting call where one person had been hit by gunfire the victim i'm not going to say their name was just found outside of the apartment in a breezeway he was transported transported to ou where he died of his injuries that's the apartment that we went and sent our soul winning action team to where this young boy was murdered homicide number 11 of 2025 on the same night march 9th the victim 16 years old early yesterday police responded to a shooting at an apartment complex northwest oklahoma city actually this was the one we sent our apartment to the other the other ones i mixed up northwest oklahoma city while investigating the shooting police dispatch received a call of a shooting victim that just arrived at the mercy women's center the shooting victim not going to say his name was pronounced dead at the center and the arrested person for that shooting oh they don't know the person who committed that but another 16 year old who died homicide number six and seven so this was double double homicide the victim was 17 years old the person arrested was 16 years old how many murders in our city are happening from teenagers like this is crazy last night just before 9 p.m officers responded to integrus southwest medical center regarding three gunshot victims those involved arrived in two separate vehicles one victim died while investigating it it was learned several individuals met in the parking lot of 5212 south villa a dispute occurred which escalated to a gun fight between them from there they fled and drove to the hospital a second person ended up dying a few days later another teenager homicide number three of 2025 the person who was arrested for this homicide was 16 years old the victim was 24 yesterday afternoon police responded to a shooting call at 1411 southwest 38th street the victim was the driver of a car that had been struck or sorry that had struck a building at that location this victim was transported to the area hospital where she died investigators learned that she had stopped to talk with several people in the 1300 block of southwest 38th when she was shot and she was bleeding out as driving away from the scene like this is just in our town like all these murders happening and a huge percentage of these murders either the victim is a teenager or the shooter themselves are teenagers now this is kind of shocking to me because i kind of have that same idea you think of a murderer you think of like a grown man right but yet there's all these teenagers getting wrapped up in this and you got to realize parents don't be naive first of all into thinking they're just kids no kids are getting into a lot of trouble these days it seems like and kids don't write off your wicked friends behaviors and don't think like nothing bad will happen no bad stuff really happens folks and kids have this idea it'll never happen to me but yet it happens to people yet these are real things that happen in our city and you know what it is it's kids getting around other wicked kids and i want to read the bible on this before i preach some more on this but look at verse number 12 of proverbs 1 notice what it says let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit these are wicked people and you know what they're doing they're conspiring to kill they are conspiring to kill so when sinners entice you don't consent unto them because sometimes they're very very wicked people and you yourself may think oh i would never do something like that yeah but if you hang out with people who do you might get caught up in it you know i don't think all these teenagers some of them probably did but i don't think all these teenagers or their friends or people who were there that night thought hey tonight we're gonna murder someone hey tonight we're gonna shoot two people hey tonight we're gonna kill a 16 year old boy at an apartment complex but when you're around wicked people sometimes things happen that you didn't expect and you didn't want and you didn't foresee so it's listen it's not enough for you to say well i'm not going to murder anyone oh i've already decided that in my heart oh i'm not going to commit fornication i'm not going to drink alcohol it doesn't matter if your friends do though because you may think well i'm not going to drink yeah but if your friends do you could get in all these situations where accidents are happening and people are killing themselves driving or people are hurting themselves with guns accidentally right or you're thinking i would never kill anyone okay but what about your wicked friends when they get pissed off and in a rage what are they going to do and this this happens to people all the time they think i would never do something like that next thing they're they know they're in the midst of stuff happening and so the way that you escape wicked sins as a young person and as a teenager is not just by saying you won't do those things it's by not being around bad people you have to understand what i'm saying right now it's not enough that you're a good christian it's not enough that you want to be separated you have to not be around wicked people or you can fall into the same things or be involved with it look what it says in verse number 13 we shall find all precious substance we shall fill our houses with spoil oftentimes of course crimes are very often motivated by money the love of money is the root of all evil the bible says and so you know what you should not be around people that love money because people who are covetous they'll transgress for a piece of bread right they will do wicked things that you didn't expect so you have to realize the precursors to crime where it's like oh okay you know you're a wicked person you're talking about the love of money so much i don't want to be your friend because you don't know how far that goes down into their heart here they're conspiring to murder over it and it happens all the time verse 14 notice what it says cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse and you know this verse always makes me think of communism and you know what it's okay to hate commies folks we need to get back to hating commies in the united states it's a wicked ideology notice it's connected people with people that are murderers oh what's your proof pastor ozz why don't you just go see the entire 20th century i'll just drop the mic right there why don't you read a book you know why don't you read the gulag archipelago or something and learn about the hellish horrors of communism in the soviet union in the 20th century and how millions and millions and millions of people were murdered by their own government you know anyone that has a a marxist economic ideology it's not like oh we just disagree on economics no they're wicked people marxists are wicked evil people don't be around them right these are people you should avoid right oh let's have one purse let's be commies together how about you get the hell away from me little commie we have some commie hunts like we did back in the day in america you know i was taught that was such a bad thing when i was in school as a kid i'm looking back i'm like let's bring that back let's hunt those people spiritually metaphorically look what it says in verse 15 it says my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path so this is what i've been saying this whole time it's not hey my son don't commit their sins he said that already consent thou not but it's not just hey don't commit their sins don't murder don't steal don't be covetous don't be a commie no it's don't even be around them don't even go in their path don't go hang out friday nights driving around with your super wicked sinful friends because one thing leads to another you think you're just having fun being all rebellious away from the house away from mom and dad next thing you know you're booked into the county jail as an associate to a murder you know you're dealing with this crap for the rest of your life or you actually get caught up and get involved in it here you are a teenager now you're involved with a crime that's going to stay with you for the rest of your life you might even be in prison for the rest of your life if you commit first degree murder that's why you got to just stay away why verse 16 for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any actually before verse 17 verse 16 is proving what i'm saying you know these communists are blood thirsty what are what's their motivation they run to evil they make haste to shed blood you know those of us that are just normal human beings it's kind of hard to internalize that people like this exist but it's real where people just want to make haste to shed blood and run to do evil then it says in verse 17 surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird you know if if there's a bird outside and you want to catch it if the bird's watching you and you're setting up the trap the bird's not going to go in unless it's a chicken those are really stupid okay but most birds they're going to be like okay this is a trap they're watching you put the trap and because they're seeing you do that they could escape from the evil and this is like us when we see the warning signs of a wicked person when we see the activities of the wicked it should be like you're setting a trap right before me i'm not going to fall for that i'm going to run away oh you want to drink alcohol time to get some new friends oh you're offering me drugs time to get some new friends oh you're you know playing around with your dad's guns doing stupid stuff watch out watch out for kids doing stupid stuff when you see that say oh this is a trap i need to run away verse 18 says and they lay wait for their own blood they lurk privately for their own lives you know what's poetic and tragic is that people that get caught up in these lifestyles you know organized crime being a drug dealer life on the street you know what happens is they live a really violent life and they themselves often die a really violent death it's like you want to know why there's so many black people being shot and killed by police today it's not because police officers are waking up in the morning wanting to hunt black people it's because you got all these gangs in chicago and south dallas and all these kids that sadly were not raised with a dad that loved them enough to give him the word of god and to say obey my instructions don't forsake the law of your father or of your mother they just neglected them and the streets raised them and the gangs raised them and they got into the drug game and they're selling drugs you know what often happens gang fights dying in gang fights over nothing or getting shot by the police in the commission of a crime that's reality that's what happens and it's sad it's tragic i wish that these kids had some parents that loved them and that's for any color that you are white gangs mexican gangs asian gangs you know we need some christian parents to love children and you know what if these parents are going to fail on their children we're at least going to go preach them the gospel like we're going to still go to the ghetto where all the crime is where all the gangs are we'll still show up and knock on your door and preach your kids the gospel but you know sadly these parents are so wicked oftentimes they shoo us away and don't let us preach to their kids i was with brother cameron on saturday and multiple times these young kids were there we're able to preach them and here comes crack whore mom to shoo us away you know it's disgusting what a shame what a hateful thing you're such a hateful parent you're fine with your kids just doing whatever you want they're running out in the street they're naked they're around a bunch of crappy friends but god forbid a baptist pastor knocks on your door and wants to give them the gospel like that's the worst thing that's why these kids lives are messed up that's why they're growing up in crime that's why they're ending in a bloody violent death is because of crappy parents like that verse number 19 says so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain which taketh away the life of the owners thereof so notice it likens these violent people to people that are greedy and covetous and that are just wanting to get money at any cost why because they are often themselves tormented people just like you know you you live a violent life do all these crimes you yourself often have those same things happen to you it's like people that are greedy of gain often commit a bunch of sins and they think that their life's going to be so blessed when they get money but what they find out is when they're rich by being wicked that their life still sucks and that it's still terrible i'll show you that in the bible go to first timothy chapter number six first timothy chapter number six look money is a tool god blesses with you you with it praise the lord if he doesn't praise the lord it's just a tool but look what the bible says in first timothy chapter number six verse number nine it says but they that will be rich meaning you want to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition like the bible can't really get much more graphic he's trying to like wake you up as to how bad it is when people want to be rich look there's nothing wrong with being rich there's nothing wrong with god blessing you there's nothing wrong with you working an honest job building an honest business building wealth by being godly doing things right but people that want to be rich and they just have to be rich you know what they do they often sin cut corners do things that aren't pleasing to the lord and you know what that comes back on them it says that it's a snare it's like a trap right it's kind of like hey you know when you set a trap in the side of a bird it's not really going to have an effect well people that love money and that want to be rich it's like you're more stupid than a bird because like the bird will see the trap and run away but the bible's telling you it's a trap and some people will still run to it there's probably i i hope this isn't the case but there's probably people in this church that someday will get infected with the love of money because it just happens all the time because we live in america and i've seen it happen where people are free to thrive they're soul winners they're doing good and they pray for god to bless them and they build a business and they start making good money and then they stop going to church they stop going soul winning it's like that person is in for a rough ride i would rather like if i had to choose obviously i don't want to be rich i don't want to be poor god just give me that what's convenient for me i don't want to you know be so poor i got to steal i don't want to be so rich thinking i don't need god right but i would rather be on the leaner side of things and be hungry for god then be so full with riches that i forget about him you know what i mean and look you may not think that but i'm telling you your life will be better your life is going to be better when you're hungrier for god go back to proverbs chapter number one proverbs one look at verse number 20 notice number five this evening wisdoms cry verse 20 it says wisdom crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets now the bible in proverbs uses a really beautiful literary device called personification where wisdom here is kind of like a person where it's crying out where it's yelling out and really what it's supposed to be is it's supposed to be a picture of god like it's like god crying out to you and god's word crying out to you and this is what god is doing go to psalm chapter 19 wisdom crieth without she uttereth her voice in the streets you know god today is calling out for man to believe in him god today is calling out through his word through the preaching of god's word through the creation that he is god that he's real that he wants people to believe in him he's calling out today look at verse number one of psalm 19 the heavens declare the glory of god and the firmament showeth his handiwork you're supposed to look at something like creation you're supposed to look up at the sun moon and stars and just be in awe of the mighty power of god and especially now that we have you know telescopes and satellites taking all these amazing pictures of space like when you look at it it's just incredible like how amazing god is how powerful he is you know one thing that i like to to think about is when i look at the moon i think about how god created the moon and not only did god create the moon but when jesus christ was on this earth he had he saw the moon too and sometimes i just like to think about like i'm looking at something that my god has also looked at and he made that like isn't that something cool to think about you know when i look at the heavens and the stars and the moon i just it gives glory to god and you know what that is that's wisdom just crying to humanity just like jesus is the creator god is real evolution's fake folks the big bang is fake and just you know how you know what proves that just look outside that's what proves it go to revelation 22 revelation chapter 22 but you know god wisdom is constantly crying out for people to get saved god is constantly crying out today for people to stop being a catholic and stop trusting in idols and stop trusting in works look what it says in verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely i mean god is just telling world come you want it whosoever will right it's not calvinism it's it's not oh you're predetermined no it's whosoever will god is constantly calling today and you know he's calling through church today he's calling through you going and knocking on someone's door he's calling people with youtube videos that's how i got saved watching a gospel presentation he's calling through documentaries he's calling through a mother praying for her son he's calling through you preaching the gospel to your brother like god is just constantly calling today and he wants people to be saved wisdom is crying go back to proverbs chapter number one that's why this idea of people you know oh it's not fair that people go to hell they never had a chance wisdom's just constantly crying to everyone people have a chance they have a great chance i mean god wants them to be saved of course they have a chance jesus died for them yeah they have a chance it's a free gift look at verse 21 she crieth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the city she uttereth her words notice so it's just everywhere the chief place you think about just like i don't know high places of learning or high places of government or high places in business or stuff like that like wisdom's just crying there and in the gate of the city wisdom's crying there and just in the city wisdom's crying there like wisdom is just crying everywhere today and then notice what it says in verse 22 how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge so wisdom personified here is getting pissed off at people and of course really it's god that's getting pissed off at people and you say how how could god have a right for to be angry at someone for being foolish how does god have a right to be angry at scorners or fools uh because he's been crying this whole time because god's been crying out his truth through creation he's been crying out through the bible through preachers through a bunch of different avenues and when people don't see it it's because they don't want to see it if someone doesn't get saved it's because they didn't want to get saved when someone doesn't want to listen to bible preaching when someone wants to be a methodist when someone wants to be a catholic when someone wants to be a mormon or a jew or a muslim it's because they wanted to reject knowledge wisdom's crying out wisdom's here they're not having an excuse and look what he says how long you simple ones will you love simplicity why is someone simple because they love being stupid that's why why is it that crack whore is in the situation she's in that rejected us we tried to preach the gospel to her kids because we were there wisdom crying you want to get saved you want a free gift you want your life to get better and she goes nah get out of here she loves simplicity folks why is she in that situation because she loves simplicity and look i'm not saying god hates fools or god hates simple people but i'm telling you that the reason that they're fools is their own fault it's not god's fault and you know what when someone goes to hell that's not god's fault and when i knock on someone's door of my own time to preach someone the gospel and they don't listen when they go to hell that's not my fault that's not your fault that's not god's fault it's their fault so stop sitting here and accusing god getting angry god god's so vengeful how could god burn people and help well because you're an idiot and you rejected the gospel that's why because it was a free gift because jesus paid for all your sins he loved you even knowing you would reject him so yeah you do deserve it look what he commands in verse 23 wisdom's commanding this turn you at my reproof behold i will pour out my spirit unto you he wants to i will make known my words unto you notice god's just wanting people to hear wanting people to believe wanting to give people truth wanting to give people grace wanting people to be saved but you know what when you hear truth and when any human being hears truth you now have a responsibility with god to obey the truth to believe the truth when you hear something from the bible when god gives you something you know what he's saying to you turn you at my reproof and you know what christians too who hear the word of god and just despise it who hear preaching and just despise it you know what you're a fool too you may not be as foolish as the atheist who's so stupid he believes that everything came from nothing but you know what a christian that despises god's word that doesn't listen to the preaching that doesn't read the bible wisdom's calling to you and you don't care you're foolish too you're simple as well and you know what you need to do you need to turn at the reproof when you get some information from the word of god when you are given instruction by a leader in your life you now have a responsibility to turn and notice what happens when you don't god's angry god's saying how long are you going to be stupid how long are you going to delight in your scorning how long are you going to hate knowledge verse 24 says because i have called and you refuse right god call i have stretched out my hand and no man regarded boy how would the calvinist explain this chapter irresistible grace oh yeah it's irresistible grace god's just going to force you to believe then why is he so angry at people not listening why is he so angry at people not believing not harkening to the council and he's saying you said it all at not meaning you didn't care about it you didn't esteem it as something worthy of anything and you would none meaning you didn't want any of my reproof you didn't want the correction i'll read for you second timothy four two it says preach the word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all lung suffering and doctrine for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables you know what we're seeing today is very similar similar to the verses i just read and to what we're seeing in proverbs one where there's so much wisdom being poured out we live in the age of the internet where just any information that you possibly desire is at your fingertips and by the way it's at people's fingertips in africa and the philippines all over the world people have the internet pretty much now and yet people are still not wanting god's approve and you know what that's their fault and because of that look at verse number 26 verse 26 says i also will laugh at your calamity that's a strong word that means grievous affliction adversity misery i mean that's extreme folks you know your average joe when you see someone going through misery our reaction is not to laugh at that you know now if it's a god-hating reprobate who's in misery okay you know that's a different story but you just see like average joe gets in a car crash you know none of us are laughing right we're just like oh man let's help that person that sucks but these people are so foolish and god has extended so much unto them and god's called unto them so much and yet they hated the truth they hated god's word they didn't want to listen to it that it comes the point where okay now you're reaping what you've sown because what you don't know can hurt you and now they're having all this calamity and you know what god's doing he's laughing at it and he says i will mock when your fear cometh when they're afraid god's is looking down at these people and laughing at them and mocking them for being so stupid you say those are mean words this is proverbs chapter one like i didn't come up with this this isn't my idea like god is laughing at people's calamity oh it's never right to laugh at anyone going through something hard god's laughing at these wicked people's calamity he's mocking when they're afraid i mean god is so powerful see my sermon about fearing god like god i want to fear you because when i'm afraid i want god to be like i got you you know you know you're in the stronghold i've got your back i don't want god to see me afraid and just be like laughing at me that's terrifying right but this is the life of a reprobate folks and i'm going to tell you i believe this is talking about reprobates go to ezekiel chapter 33 because some would scoff at these verses and they would want to show you some verses in the bible that seem on the surface to contradict what we're reading in proverbs chapter one they'll show you verses like rejoice not when your enemy fall and you know what both of those verses are true they'll show you verses like this right here in ezekiel 33 verse 11 say unto them as i live saith the lord god i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from his way and live turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will you die oh house of israel now whenever there's an apparent contradiction in the bible you probably have a misinterpretation on one of these things okay because there's no contradictions in the bible you need whenever you have two verses that seem at odds with one another you need to interpret it in a way to where both are true because let me tell you folks proverbs chapter one is true and ezekiel 33 is true amen to both of them i'm not hiding from one or the other because this is what preachers do they just pick the one they like like if someone is more on the hate side they might just pick that one or if most baptist preachers are way on this side just love only god never hates anyone they'll stick on the ezekiel 33 side but i'm here to tell you that both are true now what are some differences between these passages well proverbs one first of all is very poetic right it's wisdom personified ezekiel 33 we have a direct statement from god about the wicked now proverbs one what have we been seeing this whole time god's extending wisdom wisdom is crying out to them god's wanting them to turn he's giving them chances it's in the high places it's in the gates it's in the city it's everywhere yet they hated the reproof they would none of god's counsel they rejected god that's what they did they rejected god over over and over again and you know what romans one teaches is that people that reject god multiple times or every many times god decides for that person that god could in turn reject them and give them over to a reprobate mind and when someone is a reprobate let me explain something to you god hates them god hates them now i will tell you this this is a vast minority of the world very very few people are reprobates in the grand scheme of the world most of the world would go into ezekiel 33 because when he's saying the wicked in that verse i don't think he's talking about reprobates there i think he's just talking about the unsaved in general sometimes the unsaved could just be described as the wicked reprobates are like children of the devil or just straight up reprobates or children of satans things like that but when it's saying here saying to them as i live saith the lord i have no pleasure in the death of the wicked so how could these things both be true okay random unsaved random joe blow dies and goes to hell god's not happy about that and i'm not happy about that right god wanted that person to be saved but god hating reprobate that has rejected god over and over whose main goal in life is to hate god and to blaspheme the bible and to attack churches and to attack men of god those people have calamity and god laughs at them and you know what i don't feel bad for those people see my sermon on sunday i don't feel bad for the ryan beckers of this world i laugh at his calamity i mock when his fear comes and you know what when he dies and goes to hell i will rejoice and so will god because he rejected god a long time ago and god rejected him so you see how you can interpret these to where they're both true hey praise the lord for proverbs 1 praise the lord for ezekiel 33 it's not an either or situation so people you know another verse that i i've heard people bring up this point is like rejoice not when your enemy falleth yeah when someone does you wrong personally someone cuts you off when someone you know defrauds you or talks bad about you don't rejoice when that person falls but what if someone's an enemy of god what if someone's an enemy of the church of god and the work of god guess what the bible says that we should hate the enemies of god so when the enemies of god fall god rejoices when the enemies of god fall i rejoice this is actually a balanced view on scripture this is actually taking both verses and believing both of them 100 not just in this limbo where sometimes you pick and choose like there's a very clear delineation here it's okay to hate the reprobate okay the regular unsaved it's not okay to hate them you should love them that's it's not that hard folks go to verse 28 lastly we'll see the punishment of fools what happens when people keep rejecting god verse 28 says then shall they call upon me but i will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me again this goes towards my idea that this is talking about reprobates folks they're calling upon god but he won't answer bible says whosoever shall call upon the name of lord shall be saved so if these people are calling upon god and god's not answering it's because they're a reprobate because they're rejected they're seeking god but they're unable to find him jesus said if you seek you'll find so this has to be talking about reprobates go to john chapter number 12 john chapter number 12 see this is an example of what i'm talking about earlier with subtlety and discretion and being able to apply different things in the word of god appropriately john chapter 12 here's an example of this verse 37 but though he had done so many miracles before them that he is the lord jesus christ that them are the jews yet they believed not on him that the saying of isaias the prophet might be fulfilled which he spake lord who hath believed our report and to whom at the arm of the lord ben revealed notice verse 39 this is so important therefore they could not believe because that is i said again he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and i should heal them there's a big diff there's a big distinction between someone who's not ready to get saved yet and they haven't believed on the lord jesus christ yet and someone who can not believe because people will falsely accuse our teaching on reprobates and they'll say oh you guys are saying jesus didn't die for every everyone's sins and to that i would say he absolutely died for everyone's sins jesus died for every reprobate sins jesus died for every sodomite sins but here's the thing what does it take to have your sins forgiven what does it take to get saved believe on the lord jesus christ and thou shalt be saved what is the punishment of reprobation it's that god makes it to where you cannot believe that's what it is to be a reprobate is that you can not believe theoretically if these people could believe in jesus you know what happened they'd be saved because anyone that believes on jesus christ the bible says will be saved so how do you know for sure that reprobates are going to hell because they can not believe that's how you can know for sure go back to proverbs chapter number one so that's why it says they'll call upon me and i will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall not find me that's a punishment from god verse 29 for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord notice it's not god just punishing people for no reason it's not the calvinist god the sick and twisted demented view of god that calvinists have no they hated god they hated knowledge they didn't choose god because it's a choice and so god gave them over to a reprobate mind but you know what no one today is a sodomite because god forced them to hate him they chose to hate him they chose to reject him and so god chose to give up on them in return and turn them over to a reprobate mind and to make it where they can verse 31 therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them sometimes you look at fools you look at the wicked and sometimes they're even prospering in a carnal sense but we have to realize that sometimes god's giving them that prosperity because he knows it'll destroy them and it's an it's a vessel of destruction and even you can apply this to god's people you know sometimes god's people are foolish and god can't really bless you that much because the prosperity of fools will destroy him you could stay there proverbs 10 22 says the blessing of the lord it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it lastly here number seven the promise for the wise verse 33 says but who so harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil man two totally different paths in life that people can go down and it starts with listening to what the proverbs say it's like you want to hate god hate wisdom hate instruction hate reproof hate his words well you know what then you're going to call upon god in your time of need he's not going to answer you you're going to call you're going to try to seek him and you're never going to find him and when your calamity comes in fact god's going to be laughing at you and when you're in torture and agony and torment god's going to mock you when you're in fear that's one group of people then it says but who so harkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil look obeying god's commandments and serving god is not vain this is not just an exercise this is not just like well we're just christians just because this is what we do we just read the bible no there's actually results in your life for serving and fearing god there's actual real tangible benefits for serving god dwelling safely being quiet from fear of evil just having inner peace of having god on your side that is a real thing that you get to have but you know what it starts with you choosing to love the truth to love god's word to love reproof to love instruction to not be the fool that only wants to talk but actually they want to shut up every once a while and hear and increase learning and actually open up the book of proverbs and read it and learn it and open up other books and attain unto wise counsel when you make those decisions you know what's going to happen you're going to dwell securely you're going to be safe you're going to peace that's what the bible teaches through the book of proverbs that's what we're going to be learning about for the next 30 weeks through this book let's pray lord we thank you for this wonderful book and this great chapter i thank you for your righteous judgments and i pray that you'd help us to reach people with the gospel before it's eternally too late for them by them either dying or just rejecting you lord becoming a reprobate i pray that we in this room would never reject your words that we would want correction and reproof and instruction from these proverbs we love you in jesus name we pray amen all right for our last hymn this evening to grab your hymnal turn to 288 hymn number 288 i am resolved 288 i am resolved we'll sing there starting on the first i am resolved no longer to linger charmed by the world's delight things that are higher things that are over please have the lord my son i will come to thee i am resolved to go to the savior and strive he is the true one he is the just one he laughed the words of life i will hasten to him hasten so proud and free jesus i will come to me i am resolved to follow the savior faithful and true each day eat what he's saying do what he will and he is the living way i will hasten to him hasten so glad and free jesus greatest highest i will come to be