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Alright, so Proverbs chapter 4, you're going to notice, just a brief overview, kind of a lot of the similar concepts are coming up again about wisdom, and it's important to just keep this up in mind when you see these things, like I said, I brought this up from the very beginning from chapter 1, that we're going to see some repetition, especially through the first like 6, 7, 8 chapters of Proverbs, there's a lot of repetition. We started off with just getting to know wisdom and what this whole book is about, so the foundation's being laid here about how valuable and how important wisdom is, and how much it's going to be an asset in your life and is really going to be guiding you for the rest of your life. So let's jump right in here in verse number 1, the Bible says, hear ye children the instruction of a father, so again he's addressing children as we've seen before, hear ye children the instruction of a father, and attend to no understanding, for I gave you good doctrine, forsaking not my law, for I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother, he taught me also and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments and live. Now the end of the very first verse there it says, and attend to no understanding, and I want to bring up a point that I didn't bring up in Proverbs chapter 1, because there's just this stuff comes up pretty frequently, so I wanted to bring it up tonight. Verse number 2 of Proverbs 1 says to know wisdom and instruction, so here in Proverbs 4 verse 1 it says to know understanding, and we have a lot of words that get used in the book of Proverbs, you have wisdom, you have knowledge, you have understanding, all very very similar words, but when it says here to know wisdom and instruction or to know understanding, the word to know or to have knowledge, it's more than just a cursory learning of something, right? So when you're sitting in a classroom for example, a good way to describe this is being in a school classroom or whatever, and you're being taught a certain subject, to be taught about history, taught about science or something like that, you might be able to get a right answer on a test, like if you are presented with something, and then you cram, and then you take a test right away, but it doesn't mean that you really know the material, right? So when you know something, and here's a good explanation of the way I understand knowledge or knowing something, is when you know something, you're able to explain it and teach it to somebody else. There are things that we gain knowledge of or gain an understanding of to a certain degree, but you learn about it, but you don't really know it. You could learn facts, you could learn different things, but when you actually know a concept, it's kind of like, I think of algebra, my mind thinks about math all the time, so you think about a concept when you're first going through school and you're like, a letter, it's like, what does a letter have to do with this? Everything I've been doing is numbers, you know, what is this X and Y and everything else? And it can be a concept that's really foreign. And you might be able to kind of fumble through it and sort of, well, if I plug in these numbers, this works, so this is the right answer, and you kind of get it a little bit, but when you actually know it, you'll be able to say, oh, yeah, exactly, you know, this is just a placeholder, and you could use mathematics to find out the answer, and you know it really well, you should be able to teach it and explain it to somebody else, and this is how you do it, and you go step by step. That's how you know it. It's the same thing, it's very similar with soul winning, right? You could know that you're saved for yourself, but you don't necessarily, you know, anybody who's saved should be able to give the Gospel to someone else, but when you don't really have knowledge of the Scriptures, it's going to be a lot harder to do, because you'll be able to understand that it's just belief, it's just faith, because you know how you got saved, but when you don't have the proper knowledge of knowing it, you're not going to be as good at presenting the Gospel and getting someone else saved, because it's something that you want to be able to just know like the back of your hand, where you could just say, and everybody has knowledge in different aspects, especially things that interest you, you know, maybe it's your occupation, maybe it's just whatever it is that you like to do, I mean, there's things that you really know how to do, and you can do them with your eyes closed, and you don't need to, you know, maybe some of the ladies who's cooking, you have your favorite recipes, you don't need to look them up anymore, you know it, and you know, you can know it and start adding things here and there, and you know what it's going to do, and you have that knowledge, and that's great, but that's having knowledge, and so apply that understanding of the word know or having knowledge, the Bible says here we need to attend to know understanding, or to know wisdom, not just to get wisdom, but to know it, to have it just as part of our knowledge, to where all the truths, and this is the guidelines here, learning the instruction in the book of Proverbs is having that knowledge and gaining that knowing of this, knowing God's word, it's not enough just to read the Bible, just cover to cover, just say, well I've read the Bible, I've done it, you know, check, that's not knowing the wisdom of God's word, and knowing the instruction, you should be able to know enough to explain to others about, I mean ultimately about everything that you believe. Now not everyone's able to do that, and obviously there's going to be a limit for everybody, you know, nobody just knows all of God's word just completely perfectly, and is just without error, and just knows it all, but we ought to be able to, especially on all the important things, all the major doctrines, know them enough to be able to give an answer for why you believe such things. And this is the style that I like, that I sat under in the preaching that I like to hear from God's word, is from someone who knows what they're talking about, someone who's studied it out, someone who's not just guessing up here, you know, as part of my pastime while I'm working, because my job is much more sedentary, often times I'll listen to preaching, I'll listen to other things, I listen to things online, and I hear preaching sometimes from people that just, they don't know what they're talking about, they don't know the scriptures, they feel like they have to come up with a sermon or something to preach, so they preach on a topic that maybe is out of their heart, or maybe something that they've heard or sounds okay, but even when they're standing up and saying, well I don't really know, I mean you could show me, you know, it's like, if you don't know then don't be a teacher and be teaching it, because you don't have the knowledge. But we need to make sure that we're knowing and getting this knowledge and knowing wisdom. That's what this book is going to help us to do. Now let's go back, I want to go back through these first four verses again, because there's another important key instruction here that is standing out. In verse one he says, Hear ye children, the instruction of a father. And he says in verse two, For I give you good doctrine. In verse four, well in verse three it says, For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved, and a son of my mother. He taught me also, talking about his father, my father taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words, keep my commandments, and live. Fathers, don't get slack on your duty to teach your children. Now, the Bible teaches us that women are to be, the wife is to be a keeper at home, and the man is to provide for his family, and the roles are very distinct, and I'm not going to preach an entire sermon on that this morning, it's very basic, very elementary, you know I've preached plenty of other sermons about this subject in the past. But, so the woman, the wife, is the primary caregiver to the children, and it makes sense, she's well equipped for that. And, I believe that the wife is also to be the primary instructor of the children, and to raise them, and we'll actually see a lot of that throughout the Proverbs, as we get later in the chapters. But what we don't want to see happen, is the fathers are so busy out working, they're so busy out doing everything else, that they neglect their own children, and just leave that job 100% up to the wife to do the teaching. That's not scriptural. We need, as fathers, you need to be able to provide instruction for your children also. It's not just solely the wife's job. And especially when it comes down to the really important stuff. When it comes down to the morals and the values, not just, you know, addition and subtraction and reading and all those other skills that you learn. Great, you know, the mother can take care of teaching her children those skills, but when it comes down to knowing, understanding, to teaching doctrine, man, you're supposed to be the spiritual leader in your household. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter number 14. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It is the father's job. Look at, I mean, he's repeating here in chapter 4, here you showed me instruction of a father. Look, this is dad's instructions. This is what you're going to get from dad, so that you can know understanding. I give you good doctrine. This is good teaching. You better listen up. And he's talking here about his father's son. He says, he taught me also and said unto me, let thine heart retain my words. Keep my commandments and live. This is really important stuff that he's sitting down and saying, look, I'm teaching you something, son. And if you love your children, you're going to teach them these things. Don't let things just go and assume that they're just understood. Well, of course they should know that because we've been taking them to church. Of course they should know that because I had them watch this video. Of course they should know, you need to take the time to invest with your children and sit down and make it clear and, and, and drive home the importance of these instructions. He says, look, let thine heart retain my words. Keep my commandments and live. I mean, this is as valuable as your life is. You need to understand how important the doctrine is that I'm teaching to you. Take the time apart to make sure you are making this clear. And it's not even something that needs to be done just once. This needs to be repeated just like with any teaching. It needs to be repeated over and over again, just like with us. And in God's word, how many topics do you see repeated throughout the whole Bible? Subjects that come up over and over and over again. God doesn't leave it up to just one verse and one chapter and say, well, you should have got it from there. I mean, even the book Deuteronomy is a second giving of the law. It's, it's, it's repeated all over again, basically. Yeah, there's a little bit of differences here and there, you know, some, some extra learning that you get. But by and large, I mean, you've got the Ten Commandments in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. You've got all these other various teachings repeated again to make sure, God's making sure, look, you need to get this. Again, fathers, you need to be the same way with your children. You need to get this. This is really important understanding. It's important that you don't just rely on other people to teach your children. Don't rely on the pastor. Don't rely on other teachers. You have the responsibility to teach doctrine unto your children. Now, I do believe, obviously, in bringing your children to church and having them learn, just as you learn. But ultimately at the end of the day, parents, and especially fathers, you're responsible for making sure that your children understand what's right. And if anything's ever said in church that you don't agree with the teachings of, you go home and straighten out your kitchen and say, you know what? This is what was said tonight, but this is what the truth is. You are responsible for teaching your children because they're your children. God gave you that responsibility. And if you're going to be teaching them, what does that mean? You better know what you're talking about. If you're going to have a responsibility of providing instruction unto your children, and you're going to be teaching good doctrine, that means that you have to know what you're talking about. You have to be getting in the Bible. You have to be reading it. You have to treat it very carefully and very seriously. And think about this now for a minute, men. Don't just blow this off. Because if you want to be a good husband and a good father, you have to know what the Bible says. You have to be able to say, you know, I understand working is hard. And you have to do it. And you have to provide for your family. And there's a lot of work involved there. But just as much as you love your children and you know you're sacrificing, man, I'm going to work as hard as I can. I'm going to provide for my wife. I'm going to provide for my children. And it's very noble and it's something you ought to be doing. Just as much as you care about them and love them and want the best for them, you need to be able to understand that just as hard as I'm going to work physically for my family, I'm also going to put in the time to make sure I know what God's Word says so I can lead and I can instruct my family in the ways of the Lord. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 14 because it's not even just for your children, fathers, but it's also for your wife. You are the spiritual head of the household. 1 Corinthians chapter 14 verse number 34 says, let your women keep silence in the churches, for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but their command to be under obedience has also set the law. And if they will learn anything, talk about the women, let them ask their husbands at home, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. Now when we gather together as a church, when we are congregated together, according to 1 Corinthians 14 and other passages, it is permitted for men to speak but it is not permitted for the women to speak. This is a time of learning right now. We're going through God's Word. I'm preaching God's Word and showing the teaching and the instruction that I believe is found right here in black and white in the pages of the Bible and making it applicable to your life. The men need to come here, look, and I'm not saying the women can't learn, but what it means by saying if they will learn anything, what happens is you have a question about something. Right? You want to understand a little bit more because it's learning time You say, wait, what did you just say? Now if a man were to interrupt me preaching, that's not a problem. This has happened in the past. Someone has something to say like, wait a minute, are you saying this? There's nothing wrong with that in the world. Now this isn't just a total discussion time, right? When the teaching is going on, it's not time for just 20 questions. But as the teaching is going on, if something comes up and there's a man there saying, wait a minute, that's not very clear and you ask for clarification or anything like that, you know, there's no rules that say that everyone must remain silent during the preaching. It's the same thing with being in agreement or saying amen. Say, hey, that's good. I agree with that. Either way, you know, this is what this, what these verses is talking about, but what I want to focus in on is let them ask their husbands at home. So it's saying, ladies, if you're learning, you're sitting in church and you don't understand something that's being preached or something that's being taught, you know, it's not permitted for you to speak in the church. You can't pipe up and start asking questions, but you go home and ask your husband and say, hey, when the preacher was saying this, you know, what about this passage or what about, you know, whatever it is, your question is, ask your husband at home. And what that means, husbands, is that the responsibility is on you to be able to answer your wife. Make sure that you can provide that answer because she is looking to you. The Bible is directing her to look to you to ask those questions to, which means that you better be spending more time in your Bible than she is if you want to make sure that you're able to answer the questions that she has. Don't let your wife become the spiritual head of the household or be the, you know, much more spiritually advanced than you are. You are in a position to lead. That's where God put you. Now, some people, you know, maybe their wife was saved a lot longer or anything like that. Well, then it just means you've got to work a little bit harder, husband, and get to that point to where you can just be answering the questions. This is the position that God has put you in. That's where the role that He has ordained for you. Not something to take lightly. As the leader, you are leading the direction that your family is going to take in all areas of your life. So, however holy you want your family to be, however close to Christ you want them to be, man, it is your job to lead. And a good leader is going to lead by example, not just do what I say and not as I do. Because nobody has respect under the hypocrite. Nobody has respect under the person that's saying, oh yeah, you need to be doing this and you need to be this. And you're not doing any of those things. Jesus has a lot of stern rebuke for the Pharisees that were hypocrites. Because it says they say and they do not. They're not even going to lift one of their fingers for the things that they're telling you to do. They're hypocrites. No one wants to listen to someone like that. That's why a good leader is going to be able to lead the way by doing, through their actions. And if you want your family to be able to learn the scripture and read their Bible, you better be reading your Bible. If you want them to walk in the right way, you better be walking in the right way. If you want them to get the TV out of your life, you get the TV out of your life. Whatever that area is, you need to be leading by example. And we see here, turn back if you go to Proverbs chapter 4, that the husband's job is to be that leader in the household and to instruct their children. Verse number 5 here, let's continue on. Verse number 5, Proverbs chapter 4. Get wisdom, get understanding. Forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. So, not only, obviously, do you need to start to get the wisdom, get the understandings, and don't forget it. Don't get started into this and then just think, oh, well, I've done enough. Oh, well, I know, like I said, I read the whole Bible, I don't need to read it anymore. If you don't read it anymore, you're going to forget it. And if you're not putting things into action, you're going to forget it. If you're not doing things and utilizing what you've learned, you're going to forget it. Just like anything that you learn. I learned how to speak Spanish. The less I use it, the more I forget it. But when I put it into practice, I put it into use, it gets a lot easier and is known more, retains in my knowledge, something that I know as opposed to something that I have learned in the past. We need to make sure we don't forget the wisdom and understanding because just like anything else, you can forget this stuff if you are not being diligent to staying up on it. Verse number six, forsake her not and she shall preserve thee. Love her and she shall keep thee. Again, referring to wisdom. Don't forsake wisdom. Love wisdom because wisdom will preserve you. Wisdom is going to keep you through the hard times. Wisdom will keep you going in the right path. Verse seven, that's why verse seven says wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding. That word principle means it's the first, it's the primary, right? A prince in the Bible is a ruler. It's someone who's in charge. It's a leader. Wisdom is the principle thing. It's the number one thing. Wisdom will lead you in all of your ways. Wisdom is found from the word of God. The Bible says in James 1, turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Turn if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This idea of wisdom being a principle thing and just really seeking after God's wisdom. In James 1 5, the Bible says if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him. So the great news that we have right off the bat, the Bible is saying look, if you don't have wisdom, just ask God for it. Go to God in faith and it keeps on going. I don't have it in my notes, but not wavering. When you go to God, don't think well maybe he'll give me wisdom. I don't know. No, you can be confident. Go to God. We have the scripture right here saying look, God gives to all men liberally. He doesn't sparingly hand out wisdom. He's saying look, you want wisdom? Amen. Because God wants you to have wisdom, but you need to go to him and ask. Go to God and ask. You know what? He'll pour it out. Say here's a bunch of wisdom. I got plenty of wisdom for you. Look, it's right here. Ready for the taking. Wisdom the principle thing. Make sure your heart is right to want wisdom. The desire to get more wisdom. With that desire, ask God for more wisdom. Go to God in prayer and say God, the Bible says you give to all men liberally. I don't feel like I'm very wise. I feel like I'm making foolish decisions. I'm doing things and it's not working out right and I'm kind of making some dumb choices. Help me out, Lord, because apparently I need some more wisdom and God will give it to you. But as with everything, God gives you things. God answers prayers. You can't just be slack and lazy and not trying your best also to do what you can to achieve the things that you're asking for. See, God will come through on the supernatural and he will give you wisdom, but you have to be getting it from here. You need to still be reading his word. You still need to be digesting what he's saying in order for him to open up your understanding. See, God will give you the wisdom and the understanding that you need from his words, but you need to be in effect listening to his words by reading them. By putting them in and he'll open up your understanding and allow you to, oh wow, that's what that means. Any time there's verses that are trouble verses for me and I read something and I'm like, you know, I don't really understand. Why does it say it like that? What is this trying to teach or why is that inserted there? Sometimes you read and there's a little factoid that's kind of like added to a story and you're thinking that like that doesn't really quite fit in with the story. Why is that added there? You know, and I'll be pondering these things and they're like, why is that there? You think about it for a while, pray to God. And if there's anything in the Bible, you know, just like a lot of people have problems understanding James chapter two, it says faith without works is dead because there's a lot of false doctrine out there that kind of screw your head around thinking that it means something and doesn't. Anything you run across, pray to God. I always am praying to God. Say, God, can you just help me to understand this? Open up my understanding about this and he'll do it. And you know what? You don't have to worry about it immediately right then. Pray to God for it. Ask for the wisdom. Keep reading, keep doing your research, keep trying to figure it out and God will open up the understanding for you. And one of the ways that you do that is while you're studying and searching something out, when you're seeking that wisdom, when you want the wisdom, when you put that wisdom first, say, I want to know this thing. First Corinthians chapter two, look at verse number 12. The Bible says, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. If we want to get the knowledge and the wisdom and understanding from God's Word, we need to be able, you know, in order for the Holy Ghost to teach us, because as you're born again, you've got the Holy Ghost residing inside of you, which is going to lead you and guide you into all truth and wisdom. The Holy Ghost is who's ultimately going to be teaching you from God's Word. You compare the spiritual things with the spiritual. That's why as I teach the Bible, we are jumping around to different passages in the Bible, because we get another aspect of the same common teaching. We get extra information in different areas of the Bible. So if you want to know anything about any particular subject, a great idea to study it out is to compare spiritual to spiritual. Find all the times that subject is mentioned in the Bible. That's how you're going to get the best understanding and wisdom about whatever it may be. For example, if you want to know all about divorce in the Bible, you have to look up all the times that it's mentioned, putting away and writing a bill of divorce and all these things, and then just think of all the times that they're mentioned. Now, the wisdom comes and your knowledge is built on all of your previous readings. The more you read the Bible, the more you're going to remember, oh yeah, I remember, this was talked about for sure in Exodus. This was talked for sure in Leviticus. This was also taught in the Gospels. Jesus Christ mentioned this, so let's see, if Jesus Christ was talking, it must have been in one of the Gospels. As you're learning more and more and getting more familiar with the books of the Bible, you'll be able to put more of this together and build on that wisdom. You'll be able to compare the spiritual with the spiritual to where you could study the Bible effectively and start thinking about these things and be able to use them. Then you could also use other tools, concordances or electronic Bibles and stuff, but honestly, the best way and to get that knowledge is to not rely on the crutch of a search engine to do your homework for you, but rely on keeping your reading going and your studying and learning from the Bible so that you can know the books for yourself, so that you could know, I don't need a search engine to tell me where, you know, John 3.16, I don't need to give somebody the Gospel, I don't need to try to figure out where is this stuff again, because you know it. Because you've read it over and over and over again and you've studied it and you've learned it and you've used it. That's where you're going to get that knowledge and comparing the spiritual with the spiritual, the Holy Ghost will open up that understanding. Turn, if you would, to Daniel chapter 1. We're going to see here in Daniel, Daniel was a man of great wisdom. Daniel was someone that God gave, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego all had wisdom. And we're going to see here that true wisdom and an abundant wisdom is only going to come from God. And that's why we start with James chapter 1 saying, you know, go to God, He'll give it to you. He's the one that's going to provide that for you. The true wisdom, not the wisdom of this world's foolishness according to God. It's foolish, it doesn't really matter, it doesn't mean anything, it's vanity. But the wisdom that God gives you is precious and that's life and that is what is really important here. And that's why we go to God for our wisdom, that's why we get it from the Bible. Look at Daniel chapter 1 verse 17, the Bible reads, as for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. So God gave them that knowledge, God gave them skill in all learning and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar and the king communed with them. And among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. They're forced today before the king. And in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. So you get all of the most wise, all the smart guys, right, in the whole kingdom of Babylon. Before the king and the people that were the followers of God, the people that God gave wisdom to, it says they were ten times better than all of these other so-called, you know, the magicians, the astrologers that were supposed to be real wise and supposed to be these great counselors to advise the king in all of his decision-making and, well, you should be doing this king because whatever, because the stars are lining up this way. Whatever was looked upon as being very wise and very knowledgeable and knowing all these different things, the Bible says that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, they were ten times better. That's a lot. When you get the best group of people together, like these are the smartest guys, to be ten times better than the smartest guys says a lot. And that's why Daniel was promoted to basically be, you know, at the top just underneath the king in the whole kingdom. And he was put in charge of so much because he had that wisdom, but the wisdom came from God. See, don't get things backwards, and I've mentioned this before, you're not going to get this type of wisdom from the world. You're not going to get this type of wisdom from a university. You're not going to get this type of wisdom from a textbook. You're going to get, well, unless the textbook is this book. That's where you're going to get this type of wisdom. And this is the true wisdom. I mean, who cares how the inside of some certain things work if you can't, you know, like an engine or a computer or what, you know, things that you can actually learn that are not going to be found in this book. This book isn't going to teach you how all of the electronics work in your iPhone, right? I mean, it's not that type of a book. But what that means is that it doesn't really matter. Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with understanding that stuff and learning about that and doing that as a career or job or anything like that. That's not what I'm saying at all. But that's not what's going to guide you in your life. That's not going to provide answers for you. That's not going to provide peace. That's not going to provide happiness. That's not going to provide anything for you. You could know, be the smartest person in the world when it comes to that type of stuff and live the most miserable life because you make all the wrong decisions in your life that just cause you problems. This is the wisdom that's going to benefit you more than anything else in your whole life. And this wisdom is 10 times better than the wisdom of the world. Let's go back to Proverbs chapter 4. Verse number 8, Proverbs chapter 4. Exalt her and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. And that's kind of what we saw with Daniel. An ornament of grace, a crown of glory. He was looked upon as being very wise, but the wisdom came from God because he exalted wisdom because he thought that God's wisdom was important. And he put it into action too, mind you. He didn't just learn these things, but then was too much of a coward to do anything about it. In Daniel chapter 1, I know we turned away from there, but it's the same chapter where the king's chamberlain wanted that, he was in charge of making sure that all these, the children of Israel and all these people were being fed according to the way the king said that they needed to be fed and that they're going to be his counselors and they're going to be the wise men. They're going to be, you know, looked upon and used for the betterment of his kingdom and put in these positions. And so the king's saying, well, they need to be fed with this wine and the meat. And it doesn't say specifically the meat was probably meat offered unto idols and the wine is probably alcoholic wine because Daniel purposed in his heart, he says, he's not going to be defiled. And he requested that, hey, you know, I don't want to have this stuff. Can you give me something else? Can you give me water and pulse? You know, can you give me this other food? And that wisdom that he learned from God's word saying, I'm not going to defile myself. He purposed it in his heart that he wasn't going to be defiled with the king's meat. He wasn't going to do these things because he knew they're against God's law. And he used that knowledge and that wisdom to make the right choice. And it proved him even better. God blessed him for that because when he's like, all right, well, we'll see. He's like, but, you know, the king's chamber is like, this is my position. You know, I'm responsible. If you start looking like you're weak and you're not, you know, you're not as healthy as these other guys, he's going to be looking to me for that. It's my head that's on the line here. So he tested them and what did God do? Of course, they were much healthier looking and, you know, and fatter of flesh and just everything was just better. And whether that's a miracle of God or just because his great wisdom and just knowing that, hey, this food's a lot healthier anyways, it probably is a result of just eating better food, of just eating healthier, of just saying this is what's better for my body because, but in either case, it did him well. In either case, the result is he truly had that great wisdom and it worked out for him. And it ended up being a crown of glory for him because he was the one that was gone to for the important matters of the king. Verse number 10, here O my son and receive my sayings in the years of thy life shall be many. Again, another verse that we've heard repeated over and over again already of your life being extended as being much better by having wisdom. Verse number 11, I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in the right path. So this is again, one more point to know about father teaching his son and I already brought this up, but he led his son in the right path. He didn't push him into the right path and say, that's the right path, go that way. He led him, meaning that he was going first and this is the right way that we're going to go. You're going to follow the same way that I'm going. Not expecting your son to do the trailblazing there into the unknown of the right path. No, I'm going to guide you because I have wisdom and I'm going to teach that wisdom unto you and leading the right way. You need to have the respect of your children by your actions. You need to be able to do the right thing and say this is how we do things. You want your son to be a hard worker, you better be a hard worker. You want your family to love God and to serve the Lord and understand what that means, you better love God and serve the Lord. Anything that you want them to do, they better be able to see that in you. You don't want your kids to grow up and be lazy and just looking for handouts. Don't be lazy. Work for everything that you do. I mean, whatever the area may be, you need to lead that example. Let's keep reading here, verse number 12. When thou goest, thy step shall not be straightened and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her for she is thy life. Cannot understate the importance of the instructions of God. Verse 14, enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away. Now, I love that verse number 15 there. I mean, four times he's just saying, avoid it, it all goes, don't go by it, stay away from it, keep clear, don't have anything to do with the path of the wicked. Go not in the way of evil men. There's lots of evil people out there. Don't learn from them, don't even go close to them. The path that they're on, stay far away from them. Avoid it. Whatever you do, just don't even go around it. Pass not by it, don't even come close. Don't just say, well this is the way that I'm going and there's the wicked way, well I'm just going to go way over here. Just don't even pass by it. The closer you get to it, the more you're going to be looking and saying, oh, maybe I should take that way. There might be something appealing at the beginning of that path. We know the path leads to destruction, but at the beginning you might see a bunch of roses or something. Hey, the wicked path, look at that, they've got all this financial success and all these goods. Man, that looks good. Man, I've been working real hard lately and I'm sore and this life is just too hard. Why can't I just have it a little bit easier? Oh, I can have it a little bit easier. Oh, it just requires me to be a little bit dishonest. I've always got to lie about a few things. You start going down that path of the wicked. That's what he's saying, don't even pass by it. Don't even get close to it. Because the end is destruction. The end is no good. You don't want to even start down that path. Avoid it. Pass by it. Turn from it and pass away. Why? Why should we play so close attention to avoiding the wicked way? Verse number 16, for they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. Now, this is again another very descriptive passage of the wicked people of this world. We cannot forget that these people exist. As foreign as a concept as it might be to any normal person, as it might be to you or to me, that there's people who actually are looking to do harm to somebody else. The Bible says it very explicitly. They say, look, they don't even sleep unless they've done mischief to somebody, unless they've done something wrong, unless they've been out there doing some crooked path, doing some wicked thing, some evil thing to someone else, some stealing, some whatever. It says their sleep is taken away. They can't even sleep at night unless they cause some to fall, unless they're out hurting people. There's people like that. They're predators. They look for their prey in whatever sense that might be, whether it's financially, whether it's in some other indecent way, whether you're just out to get pleasure out of violence. There's some people out there, they're just perverted, and they're twisted, and they're wicked. The reprobate is like that. They actually desire to harm people. We need to remember that there are people like that out there. Verse number 18. But the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. So those wicked paths, it's like walking around blinds, walking around in pitch black. I know this happens at my house too often, but in the middle of the night, with all the kids and stuff, sometimes we play musical beds, and there's some kids coming over here, and it's like, oh man, I can't sleep, so I got to go into that room. There tends to be some walking around in the darkness at my house. Then again, with the kids too, it's like, man, you're walking. It's like, oh man, it's the middle of the night. Barely got your eyes opening, and boom, you're stumbling over stuff. It's like, I don't even know what I'm stumbling over. There's some kids leaving their toys out, and their bikes, and whatever. But that's the way of wickedness. That's what it's like. You can see what's in front of you. You're going to go down that path of wickedness, and you're going to have one thought in mind thinking oh wow, I'm going to get, and a lot of times this is financial success. Because you're going to rob somebody. You're going to steal from somebody. And you're going to stumble and fall. You're not even going to know why you're falling. Because you're just walking in darkness. But when you walk justly, when you're doing what's right, hey, you're walking in light. Oh, yep, I don't want to trip over that. Oh yeah, hey look, there's a thorn in the ground. I don't want, you know, you see all the traps when you're walking in light. That's what wisdom does for you. It shines the light in your path. So you can avoid all the pitfalls. You can avoid all the dangers, and avoid making the wrong decisions of the, that people make that are following a wicked path. Verse number 19, the way of the wicked is as darkness, and know not what they stumble. Verse 20, my son, attend to my words. And notice all of this teaching is being taught unto his son. Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Listen up. This is important. Verse 21, let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them in health to all their flesh. Verse 23, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Now turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 12. Last Sunday I preached a sermon on the wickedness of the imagination of our hearts. And that was the sermon that we're going through, Proverbs 6, the six things that God hates. And we saw last Sunday night how, you know, the heart is wicked above all things, and that, you know, man's heart naturally wants to do wicked things. And the Proverbs here is teaching us, look, you need to keep your heart. And as we saw that last Sunday night too, where we need to set our heart right, we need to set our heart on the things of God. We need to keep our heart with all diligence. We need to stay on this. You know, being diligent about something is not you just do it once and forget about it. You keep doing it over and over and say, I'm going to keep diligent on it. I'm going to keep watch over it and make sure that this is being done right. You are doing your due diligence. Why? Because out of your heart, it says, are the issues of life. Matthew 12, look at verse number 33. Verse 33, Jesus is teaching here, it says, either make the tree good and his fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt, for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye being evil speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Out of the abundance of the heart, what you have your heart set on, the Bible says, your mouth is going to speak. You're going to speak the things that are in your heart. You need to make sure that you're keeping your heart with all diligence and set on the right things, on the godly things, on the just things, so that what's coming out of your mouth also reflects what's in your heart, which is going to be good things. You have good fruit and you're not going to be speaking evil, but you're going to bring forth good things. Flip over to Matthew 15, just a few pages over. Matthew 15. Verse number 10, this is when Jesus is explaining, you know, when the Pharisees were saying, you know, oh, how come your disciples don't wash their hands, you know, before they eat? And this is a man-made law that they made trying to like trump God's law. And they had all these traditions and it says in verse 10, and he called the multitude and said unto them, hear and understand, not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. Then came his disciples and said unto them, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard this saying? And that's so interesting, because he just said, look, you're not defiled by the things that go into your mouth. So when you don't wash your hands, and a little bit of dirt or something gets in your mouth, he's saying that's not going to defile. That's not what really hurts you. That's not what's defiling you. He says, but that which cometh out of the mouth, that defileth a man. The things that you're saying. And, you know, when the Pharisees heard that, they were offended. They're like, wait a minute, you're talking about us. He's saying the things that we're saying are, is, you know, because he said, woe unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. Not in this chapter, but later on. But still, it's the same type of preaching. We're basically saying they're full of dead men's bones. On the outward, they look all nice and clean and proper. But on the inside, they're full of hypocrisy, and they're full of wickedness. Because that was the truth. And they were way more concerned about what they look like on the outside than what they look like on the inside. He's saying, look, the things that come out of the mouth, that defiles a man. Let's keep reading here, verse number 13. But he answered and said, every plant which my Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone, they be blind leaders of the blind, and if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch. Then answered Peter, and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. Tell us what this means. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand that whatsoever enterth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draft. He's saying, it just passes through your body, whatever you're eating or whatever's coming in, it just passes right through. That's not defiling you. Verse 18. But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from thy heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. That's what we need to be worried about and focused on, is the things that come out of the heart, the things that your heart is set on. That's why you need to keep your heart with all diligence. Because that's where you're going to be defiled, is when you start letting your heart, having these evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, right? You start thinking, I don't ever think about murder. What about adultery? You start looking at another person, another man, another woman, other than your wife or your husband. Fornications, thefts, you know, man, times are real tough. I need that. False witness, blasphemies, these things all defile you. And that's what comes out of your heart, so we need to make sure we're keeping our heart with all diligence. Verse number 24, back in Proverbs. Proverbs 3, we're almost done with the chapter, verse number 24, Proverbs 4, 24. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Don't get distracted by looking around. See, let your eyelids look right on. Keep your eyes focused on what's important. You know, think about driving a car, and you start, you see something that catches your attention off the road, and you're just like, oh man, you know, and you're just like focused on what's going on there. What's going to happen to the path that you're on? You're going to start veering off. What happens, I mean, you're not going to be able to stay straight on that narrow path unless you are looking and keeping your eyes focused ahead of you, focused in front of you. You're not going to be able to avoid the pothole or whatever else, you know, some construction site, if you're looking off this way. You're not even going to see it coming. You're not going to see the curve in the road when you're looking off that way. It says, let thine eyes look right on. Let thine eyelids look straight before thee. You don't need to get distracted with the sin. Don't get distracted with the other things that can grab your attention. Keep your eyes focused on the prize. Philippians 3, of course, very famous passage. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. It's not just things to the left or to the right, but also behind you. Don't keep your eyes focused on the things of the past. Whatever things you might have done, whatever things you might think, oh man, this is going to keep me and prevent me from serving the Lord. Don't think about those things. Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep moving forward. Don't let that drag you down, whatever it may be. Whatever sins you have in the past, leave them in the past. If you're a child of God, God has forgiven you. Obviously, whatever might have happened, you need to get sorry, repent, and forsake those sins, but then move forward. You've got to move forward. If you keep on looking back, you're not going to get anything done. You cannot focus on those things and be effectively able to serve God, because you're going to be focused the wrong way, and that's the way you're going to start going again. That's why with any sin you have in your life, you can't just be focused on those things. You have to get it out and replace it with what's right and keep the focus in the right place. Keep your eyes on the prize, on the high calling, on the instruction that God gave us. Just do it this way. Verse 26, ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. The word ponder means to think about it. Ponder, think about the path of your feet. Think about the way that you're going. Don't just start walking not having any clue which way you're going. Have a plan. Think about your path and your decision so you don't have to just come up with things on the fly. Think in advance. Have the forethought. Say, this is my destination. This is where I need to go. We're talking about this even just like with the camping trip is another illustration. How do I get there? What do I need to do? A lot of people these days rely on just, well just throw in the GPS and whatever it's telling me to go as I'm going will go that way. That's a foolish way to go. I'll tell you that right now. A lot of people are doing it, but those things are not accurate all the time. Those things will lead you the wrong way sometimes and you won't know because you just started going and say, well we're already on the way, well just tell me how to get there. It may work sometimes. It's not going to work all the time. It's a much better idea just to plan out in advance. Just say, well this is the way that I'm going to go. I'm going to do my research. I'm going to look it up. I'm going to say, this is the way I'm going. It may be a little old school. I still use maps. Now I'll use a map online because it's a little bit easier than the paper map, but I still look. Whenever we're going to make a trip anywhere, I'll look it up on the map before we go and say, this is the way where I'm going to go. This is the route. This is the route. This is the way we're going to go. When you look at the maps, you also get an idea of detours or routes saying, oh wow, because sometimes you go some way and you don't realize, wow, this road's closed unexpectedly. Well, how are we going to get there? Well, we already thought that out. There's another road over here that'll get us the same way. Now it's out of the way. We got to do this. We can take it and you have the path laid out. Just an illustration of in our life, we need to ponder the path of our feet. How are you going to walk? What's important to you? Where is your destination? You know where your destination is. How are you going to get there? Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Your ways will be firm, cemented down, established. This is the way we're going. You're not going to be swayed and be like a wind, you know, the wave of a wind. You're going to toss to and fro with every wind of doctrine. You know, the people that just don't know what's going on. You need your ways to be established and say, this is the way we're going. Make the decision and go with it and have it all based and founded in God's word. But you have to be thinking about the way that you're going. You have to think about it in advance. Ponder the path of thy feet. Verse 27, turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. Stick to your plan. Don't get distracted or deceived by the path of wickedness. Stay on the right path. So we see here a lot in Proverbs 4, a lot of repetition, but it's one of the reasons why I decided to teach this book on Wednesday nights because the instruction is so important to us. It's so vital. We need to be able to take a step back from our busy lives, especially just from time to time and think, where are we going? What are we doing? Just analyze. Just step back and say, have we veered off path? This is my goal. This is where I want to be. I have goals for my children. Are we meeting that? Are we actually walking or have we gotten distracted? Because it's easy to get distracted. Even if it's not necessarily in the wickedness, you just kind of get distracted with other things, right? With the wood hay and stubble of this world and just kind of start going as well, oh wait, no, no, no, no. But that's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to go this way. Take the step back, analyze, ponder the path, ponder the way, and make sure you're doing what's right that lines up with where your destination is going to be. Do you view this world as your home or are you just a pilgrim and we're passing through? The world's not my home. This world were my home, I'd just be thinking about how can I build my worldly empire here and just build up my house and build up all these physical things. But it's not my home. Those aren't the things that matter. I got a home in heaven. And that's where I'm going to be looking at securing my treasure. And where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. And that's the way you're going to keep your heart with all diligence is keeping it focused on your treasures in heaven. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank you so much for these great words of wisdom and instruction, dear God. I pray that you would please open up this wisdom unto us, dear God. Help us to gain knowledge. Help us to understand and really know your word, dear God. Open up the parts of your word that we don't fully understand, dear God. Help us to gain that knowledge. Help us to have the wisdom to be a shining light to our path so that we could avoid the pitfalls, avoid the snares, avoid the traps that might be springing up in front of us, dear Lord. And we pray for all this wisdom through the name of your son, Jesus Christ. Amen.