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

So the last few weeks we've been going through leading up to Proverbs chapter 4 and so to kind of recap in Proverbs chapter 1 and Proverbs chapter 2 and 3, we're kind of building this theme of wisdom and we see that Proverbs really over emphasizes the theme of wisdom and in Proverbs chapter 1 we got the importance of wisdom. We saw why it's so important to attain unto wisdom and not forsake the wisdom of God. It said the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So without the fear of the Lord you'd have no wisdom, you'd have no knowledge, no understanding. In chapter 2 we were given practical advice on how to get this wisdom, that we were to receive his words, to hide his commandments in our heart and not to forget and to cry unto knowledge, to cry for that knowledge if you don't have it. And in chapter 3 he emphasizes not forgetting the law but trusting in the Lord, you know not just hearing the words but actually putting all your faith and trust in those words. And here in chapter 4 we see in the first few verses the Bible reads, hear ye children the instruction of a father and attend to no understanding, for I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. And so we're kind of building on this theme and we see that it's so important for children to obey their parents. Why? Because it's such a perfect parallel with us and God because when you're harkening to the instruction of the father, when you're harkening to the instruction of a mother, you learn how to obey authority. You learn how the people that are older than you are more wise than you. They can give you that wisdom and that instruction that you can't learn when you're a kid. When you're a child you can't understand this world. You can't understand everything. You need someone to guide you. You need someone to instruct you. The same way as with us and God. Even though we're adults and we think that we know everything, God still needs to instruct us. We still need His wisdom. We can't understand everything. So we have to go to His words and He says for I give you good doctrine. He doesn't give you any bad things. Every single law of God is good. Everything in this Bible is good. He gives you good doctrine. Turning you into 1 Timothy chapter 4. We're going to see the Bible emphasize the importance of doctrine. In 1 Timothy chapter 4, this is instructions given unto a preacher. But it's practical advice for all. It's practical advice for every man. It's practical advice for every woman, for every child. He said what is the word doctrine? It just kind of means your beliefs. It's what you hold to. We see in chapter 4 verse 6, the Bible says, If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereinto thou hast attained. He says look, if you want to be a good minister, you have to have good doctrine. You can't have false doctrine and be a good minister. You have to have the fundamentals right first. A good mechanic has the good fundamentals. A good plumber has good fundamentals. A good preacher has good fundamentals. He has good doctrine. Skip down a few verses in chapter verse 13. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. We see it's not just important to read this Bible. We see that it's not just important to be encouraged to help others. We see it's important to focus on doctrine. That's why when you come to church, you need to learn doctrine. If they're not going to teach you any doctrine and say, oh you have to go to seminary, they're not going to be a good minister of Jesus Christ. It says a few verses down in verse 16, Take heed unto thyself and unto thy doctrine, continue in them. For in doing this, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. We see it's important to understand doctrine to save yourself. From what? From hell. You have to have good doctrine or you're going to go to hell. You have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ or you're going to go to hell. All those that have false doctrine are not going to be going to heaven, but not just heaven and hell. Every area of your life. You want to be saved financially? You have to have good doctrine. You want to be saved in your family? You have to have good doctrine. It just extends to every area of your life. We see it in a flip over one chapter in chapter five verse 17. The Bible says, Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine. You say, Why does Pastor Anderson, you know, preach the doctrine over and over and over? Because he wants to be counted worthy of double honor because it's so important to teach doctrine. We see in the last part of this verse, though, if you flip back to Proverbs in chapter in verse two, it said, For I give you good doctrine forsake ye not my law. So he's telling, look, I give you good doctrine. I'm giving you good laws. I'm going to try and help you. I want to give you wisdom. I want to give you instruction. Forsake it not. But is that what people are doing today? If you turn to Hosea chapter four, and I'm going to read a couple of verses before we get there. In Hebrews chapter 13, the Bible says in verse five, Let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have. For he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And that's a good definition of the word forsake. You kind of wonder what does forsake mean? Well, a good word to believe, you know, it says in Matthew 19, this is Jesus speaking. He says, Everyone that has forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name's sake shall receive 100 fold and shall inherit everlasting life. Now, what would it mean to forsake houses? Just abandon it. Leave it. You know, go away from it. Brethren, sisters, father, mother, wife, if these things are holding you from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, if they decide, Hey, my family is going to forsake the Lord, they're going to go in this direction. You have a choice. Are you going to go with them or are you going to forsake them and go into the Lord? Are you going to trust in the Lord? And the Bible saying, if you want to be worthy of Christ, if you want to inherit eternal life, you need to forsake them and trust in Christ. This isn't just saying like, look, you just have to hate your family. He's not saying you just have to hate your family, but if your family is going to forsake Christ, if your family is not going to follow after Christ, you need to forsake them and follow after Christ. If you want to be, you know, worthy in Christ's eyes and Luke chapter 14, it said the same thing. It said, so likewise, whosoever be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. You know, a lot of churches confuse disciple with someone who's going to heaven. The Bible says there's only one thing you have to do to be saved, that is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. But the Bible says to be a disciple, you have to forsake all that he hath. That's a lot. You have to forsake money, all your goods, all your family. What does that mean? It means you could just walk away. Pastor Anderson so many times, he says, look, he's got the keys to the van. He's like, if someone were to take the church and the van, have it. He's ready to forsake it all. That's the picture of a disciple. A disciple is not someone who says, I go to church once a week. You know, sometimes I read my Bible. No, a disciple is someone who's forsaken all. So if you say, hey, I want to be a disciple. Well, it's a pretty tall order, forsake all. But we see that the Bible is talking about forsake mind law. He's not saying, you know, forsake these worldly things and coming to me. He's talking about the opposite. People that would have the law, have God's word and they would forsake that. So we see in Hosea chapter four, verse one, the Bible reads, hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. Because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood touches blood. Therefore, shall the land mourn. And everyone that dwelt therein shall languish with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, yea, the fishes of the sea, also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive, nor approve another, for thy people are as they that strive with the priest. Therefore, shall they fall in the day, and the prophet also shall fall with thee in the night. And I will destroy thy mother, for my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge, because thou has rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me, seeing thou's forgotten the law of thy God. I will also forget thy children. As they were increased, so they sinned against me. Therefore, will I change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, and they have set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be like people, like priests, and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them for their doings. So we see a very famous verse here in verse six that says, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. And at the end of that verse, it says, thou has forgotten the law of thy God. And this is what God's talking about someone who would forsake, someone that would leave it, someone that would forget the law. They say, I don't have anything to do with the law. We see a description of these people, says in the very beginning, there's no truth, there's no mercy, there's no knowledge of God. It says they're swearing, they're lying, they're killing, they're stealing, committing adultery. Sounds like a nation that I know, maybe in this country. Isn't that what we're like? Aren't we full of liars? Aren't we full of killing? Aren't we full of stealing? Aren't we full of committing adultery? This country is likened under Israel in the fact that they have forsaken the Lord. This country at one point was a very Christian nation. They might not have all been saved, but at least they had a form of godliness. And we see in 1948, the Supreme Court used the separation of church and state as an argument to outlaw time for school prayer. So we see in the schools, and I'm not advocating public school, but we see it as a nation. In the schools, kids were allowed to pray. It was encouraged. It was even required in many schools. We see in 1962, the Supreme Court again declared that prayer in school was unconstitutional. We see in 1963, the Warren Court stopped schools from allowing Bible reading in classes. In 1980, the Supreme Court declared that posting the Ten Commandments in a school classroom violated the Constitution of the United States. Now is that a nation that's seeking after God? Is that a nation that's going after God? Or is that a nation that's forsaking the laws of God? I mean, you're gonna take the Ten Commandments off the wall. Now, of course, in schools today, you can still be a Christian. You can still read your Bible. But in the schools, they lifted up the word of God so high that it was actually required. Many schools were required to have the Ten Commandments on the wall. Many schools were required to have Bible reading, to have prayer. And they said, well, that's unconstitutional. You can't make people worship the Lord. And in some ways, you could kind of agree with that. But it's pretty obvious that our country's not just saying, hey, we don't wanna force that. We don't want anything to do with it. They're using this argument of separation of church and state to try and ruin our country, try and destroy the history of our country. And it said in 1980, when they were talking about the Ten Commandments, this is what the court said in their ruling. They said the preeminent purpose for posting the Ten Commandments on school walls is plainly religious in nature. The Ten Commandments are undeniably a sacred text in the Jewish and Christian face. And no legislative recitation of a supposed secular purpose can blind us to that fact. The commandments do not confine themselves to arguably secular matters, such as honoring one's parents, killing or murder, adultery, stealing, false witness, and covetousness. Rather, the first part of the commandments concerns the religious duties of the believers. It says worshipping the believers of the Lord God alone, avoiding idolatry, not using the Lord's name in vain and observing the Sabbath day. So they're saying, look, the Ten Commandments, they're certain ones that we say are secular. That we say everybody should abide you. You know, no killing, no murder. But the ones that talk about worshipping God, the ones that talk about idolatry, we don't want those on the walls. And you know, it's under this false premise of secular. There is no such thing as secular. The Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that in them is in six days. He didn't make anything secular. Everything is for his glory, for his purpose. And it's this false, atheistic view that says, oh, there's these secular things. There's these things we can agree upon. But you know, that's not religious. No, everything's religious. Jesus said, if you're not gathering with me, you're scattering a broth. You can't be anywhere in the middle. You're either for Christ or you're against Christ. You're either going to heaven or you're going to hell. There is no secular. There is no middle way. And the separation of church and state is a lie that's trying to promote this secularism. It was, he said, where is this coming from? Is it actually in the Constitution? Is it actually, you know, some of the laws of our nation? Well, no. It was a phrase used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter. Now in 1801, the Danbury Baptist Association wrote a letter to President Thomas Jefferson. And they were alarmed about a rumor. There was a rumor in the country that there was going to be a national denomination. So it would be like the government saying, look, everybody has to be Baptist or everybody has to be Methodist or everybody has to be Catholic. And Thomas Jefferson was like, you know, that's unconstitutional. We can't, because according to the First Amendment, which says, Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the people peaceably to assemble. And to petition the government for an address of grievances. He was saying, look, we can't make a law that's going to restrict religion, according to the First Amendment. So he said, in this letter, he quoted the First Amendment and he said, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. But the founding fathers were not ignorant of the fact that you can't take the religion out of a man. You can't take the beliefs out of a man. You can't take the morality of a man. When he goes to make a law, when he goes to make a ruling, his face is going to play a part. There is no such thing as a separation of church and state, but among lawgivers, those that are atheists, that's a religion. They're opposing their religion on their views. When they say, hey, we don't want anything to do with God. That's their religion, imposing their views just as much as a Christian would say, hey, we should observe the laws of God. And, you know, I think the founding fathers, they obviously made a great nation and, you know, they had a lot of good laws. But when they made the thought of, hey, we don't want to have, you know, we want to have freedom of religion. That's a good thought, but back then everybody was Christian. You know, they were just looking at it from the viewpoint of, we don't want the government to come in and rule our churches. You know, we want the government to come in and say you have to be Catholic or you have to be Protestant. We want to have the freedom to exercise to worship God. But if you look at their laws, where did they get them? They got them from the Old Testament. They said, you know, thou shalt not murder, thou shalt not commit adultery. They were citing the Bible. They all had the common unity of the faith in Jesus, you know, in Jesus Christ. I mean, they had a form of godliness at least. They weren't saying, look, everybody can be an atheist and a Hindu and whatever. That's one of the secular arguments for this, you know, this atheism. They're saying, look, we should have every religion, you know, no religion. And they're trying to restrict Christianity in this nation. They're trying to forsake the laws of God. They're trying to say, hey, the things that we don't like, we're just going to get rid of those. They want to forsake the laws of God. If you turn to Jeremiah chapter three, the Supreme Court said this when they were talking about the Ten Commandments. They said, for a child might read them, reflect upon them, and then obey them. That was one of the arguments used by the Supreme Court to say they didn't want the Ten Commandments posted because they said, hey, look, if someone reads that thou shalt not kill, they might actually obey that. Now, why don't we have blessed murder in this country because we just have the Ten Commandments on the wall. We're teaching kids it's wrong to kill people no matter what. You shouldn't just go out and kill someone. You shouldn't lie. You shouldn't steal. You should honor your father and your mother. But, you know, when you don't have those on the wall, unfortunately there's a lot of children that don't get that instruction. We got in the first verse that said, here ye children, the instruction of a father. So many children don't even have a father. They're in a single parent family and they're going to school and they don't have the Ten Commandments. How are they going to do right? How are they going to follow anything that's right? They need God's word. And in Jeremiah chapter three and verse eleven, the Bible says, and the Lord said unto me, the backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will cause not my anger to fall upon you. For I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. Gently acknowledge thine iniquity that thou has transgressed against the Lord thy God and has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion, and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. We see that the cure is simple, that we have to acknowledge our sin and come back to God, turn back down. He's a merciful God. He wants to forgive us. He can forgive this nation if we wanted it. If the people of America would turn back to the Lord, would look to the God, would look to his commandments, he would forgive a multitude of iniquities. And you know, you look at Josiah, you look at different times in the Bible, sometimes God says, look, the sins that you've done in this nation are too grievous for me to forgive, but I'll at least pardon your generation. It'll move on to the next generation. Josiah didn't have to see all the wicked evilness that was going to come on the children of Israel in his life because he turned to the Lord. But you know, because of their wicked abominations, because they're passing their seed unto Moloch, you know, the next generation is going to be punished for it, the ones that forsook the Lord. You know, if I look at America's history, when I look at the abortion, the 60 million children that have been slaughtered in this country, when I look at the sins of sodomy and all the filth and the whoremongering, it's tough for me to believe that God would just forgive all that. So my fear is that God would just delay it, that, you know, we could turn unto God and he could see that there's enough righteous people in America to spare us of that judgment, because judgment will come unto America. You know, when he was looking at Sodom, he said, look, if there was at least 10 righteous people, he was going to spare that city. I want God to look at this city, I want God to look at the city that I'm living in and say at least there's 10 people. That's why it's so important to go out sowing, that's why it's so important to get people saved. Why? We need to grow. We need to multiply. We don't want to shrink down to the point where God says, well, there's just not enough righteous people. I'm going to pour out all of my judgment on their wickedness. If you skip down to verse 20, it says, surely as a wife treacherously departed from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord, and the voice was heard upon the high places, weeping in supplications of the children of Israel, for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel, for shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us, for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God. We see a lot of times in the prayers of, you know, the righteous men, that it wasn't that they would just confess their sins, they would confess the sins of their fathers. You know, if we look at the previous generations, if we look at the last 50 years in this nation, there's a lot of sins that we should ask forgiveness for. You know, we should look at it and say, look, Lord, we're sorry that we're here, but we're going to turn and we're going to move towards you. We're not going to continue forsaking the Lord. We're not going to continue in the heritage of those that would forsake the Lord and let this nation rot. I mean, if you look at the last 50 years, how much worse has this country gotten? I mean, every day it's getting worse, but we need to look at that and say, Lord, please forgive us for our sins, please forgive us for our father's sins, that we could turn unto them. And he says, when you would turn, he'd give you pastors according to my heart, verse 15. You want to know where the good pastors are? Well, they'll come when we turn unto the Lord, but what happens when people start forsaking the Lord? We start getting all the false prophets. We start getting all the false teachers. They start getting risen up and it says that people will heap unto themselves false teachers in the last days, right? Don't we see that so much? You say, well, what about us? I mean, we're not, you know, going after idols. We're not going after all these false guys. Are we not? I mean, what is it that every actor in this world wants? I mean, what's the highest achievement of an actor? An Oscar? What's an Oscar? It's a golden man. They're worshiping man. They get up and they stand, they have these speeches and they think they're so great. It's on TV. What's the, like, one of the most famous monuments in all of America? The Statue of Liberty, right? A graven image of a woman. What about the, the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial? What about Mount Rushmore? What about the Lincoln Monument? What about the Olympics? Even if you look at their metal, it's got a man or a woman, whatever it is, on their, on their thing that they're striving for. Turn, if you would, to First Corinthians chapter nine. We see that America is not innocent, even in going and whoring after, you know, false gods. And of course it's not after the name of Balaam as much. They're just worshiping themselves. That's why the Bible says in Romans one that they worship and serve the creature more than the creator is blessed forever, amen. They're worshiping themselves. They love themselves. That's why the Bible says that men will become lovers of their own selves. In First Corinthians chapter nine and verse twenty-five it says, and every man that strived for the mastery is tempered in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we, an incorruptible. So flip back to our Proverbs, we see that the importance is not to forsake the Lord, but to strive after him. Why? To not get an incorruptible crown, but to get a, or not to get a corruptible crown, but to get an incorruptible crown. And if you look at verse three it says, 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. Verse five he says, get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth, forsake her not and she shall preserve thee. Love her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding. 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. So you see that Solomon, he's talking about being, in verse three there, that he was beloved in his father's sight. He was beloved in his mother's sight, but he also heard the instruction of his father. We know that Solomon was David's son. David had a lot of sons, he had a lot of wives, and he was very beloved in his mother's sight. If it wasn't for his mother, he would have never taken over the throne. The Bible had Adonijah actually take the throne. We see that Bathsheba came unto David and she said, look, you told me that Solomon was going to reign. And we see that David gave him the instruction and at his dying words, David gave him a lot of instruction to not forsake the Lord, to keep his statues. Why? So that he could live, there in verse four, he said, get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. He was telling Solomon, wisdom is the best thing to get. And a little bit later in Solomon's life, he's standing before God and God says, look, ask for whatever you want and I'll give it you. I mean, that's a pretty good command, right? Whatever you want, I'll give you. Now what was it that Solomon asked for? He asked for wisdom. Why do you think he asked for it? Because his father was saying, get wisdom. His father was saying, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline from the words of my mouth. We see it's so important for a father to continually impart into a child what's right. And when he's old, he won't depart from it. It says forsake her not and she shall preserve thee, love her and she shall keep thee. We see that wisdom and instruction will preserve your life. It says, wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting, get understanding, exalt her and she shall promote thee. She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. You say, how is wisdom going to give me honor? How is wisdom going to give me a crown of glory? Well, we read that in 1st Corinthians, it was important to strive for an incorruptible crown, right? In 2 Timothy 4, the Bible says, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. In James chapter 1 verse 12, the Bible says, blesseth the man that endureth temptation, for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. We see that, look, in 2 Timothy, you can get a crown of righteousness if you love his appearing. If you're looking for Christ coming in the clouds, you can have a crown of life if you love Christ. In Revelation 2, 10, the Bible says, fear none of these things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I'll give thee a crown of life. The Bible promises over and over that there's a lot of crowns that you can attain unto. And he says, look, if you love the Lord, you can get a crown of life. If you're faithful unto death, he'd give you a crown of life. Well, in Proverbs chapter 14, the Bible says, the crown of the wise is their riches, but the foolishness of fools is fallen. And probably one of the most famous verses for this church, Proverbs 11, 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that win his souls is wise. So if you win souls, you're wise. Well, what is it that Proverbs said wisdom will give you? A crown. How are you going to get a crown? By going out and winning souls. How are you going to get a crown? By being wise. Wisdom will teach you to go out and win souls. Well, what's the opposite of that? Well, someone who's not wise isn't going to go out and win souls. Someone that's not wise is not going to get that crown. You say, why is it so important to go out and soul win? Why is it so important, you know, to have wisdom so you get crowns? I mean, if you really want to get to heaven and you're just there and he's like, he's passing out the crowns, he's like, oh, skip you and just keep going. I mean, I want him to just sit there and just keep, oh, here's the crown of life. Here's the crown of righteousness. You know, just keep pouring them on. We see that it talks about Jesus in Revelation have many crowns. We see that the elders, you know, that are sitting on the 24th thrones, they cast their crowns before Christ. Why don't you strive for a crown? Why don't you go out and preach the gospel and get somebody saved? That's how you're going to be wise. That's what Proverbs is saying. Let's keep going in Proverbs verse 10, here, oh my son and receive my sayings and the ears of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straight. And when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction. Let her not go. Keep her for she is thy life. See that the Bible is reckoning unto wisdom as a woman and it says to cleave unto it. You know, many of the Proverbs are pretty much written to a man and just as a man is supposed to cleave unto his wife, we're supposed to cleave unto wisdom. And verse 10 it said, here, oh my son and receive my sayings and the ears of thy life shall be many. We see if you want to live a long life, you need wisdom. If you want to live a long life, you need good instruction. It says in verse 11, I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in right paths. God will lead you into all the right paths. If you look at this Bible, if you know this Bible, if you're looking for every area of your life through this Bible, you'll go down the right path. You say, how am I supposed to know where to go? How am I supposed to know what job to get? How am I supposed to know, you know, how to live a Christian life? Just go to this book, go to his commandments and you will definitely go down the right path. If you want to go down the wrong path, just don't do what this says. You know, it's not a mystery. It's not like, you know, the modern evangelicals, they think you have to like hear God or faith is this some mysterious thing where you're kind of wondering like, you know, I don't know if this is God's will. I don't know if this is what God wants me to do. No, he told us what he wants us to do. It's right here in this book and if you open up this book and you read it, then you'll be on the right path and you say, I don't know if I'm on the right path. Well, look at this book and it'll tell you if you're on the right path or not. You want to know where to go? Open up this book. He says in verse 12, when thou goest thy steps shall not be straightened and when thou runest thou shalt not stumble. Now, when he says straighten there, it's, you know, it's not straight as an S T R A I G H T. It's straight as a narrow, as in like being restrained. He's saying, look, when you go out, your feet aren't going to be restrained. It's not going to be narrow. You're going to be able to just go full speed and he says, you're not going to stumble. You're going to be going full speed, unrestrained, and you're not going to stumble. Then what? When you are going to instruction, when you go in the steps that he gave you, he says, take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her for she is thy life. Turn if you would of Psalms 119, we see that God, you know, likens unto, once you get the right path, once you know the right way to go, he wants you to run, he doesn't want you to walk. God's not a God, you know, that's just kind of lazy. He's just kind of stumbling along the way. Now he's running. And we look at Psalms 119 in verse 30, the Bible says, I have chosen the way of truth. Thy judgments have I laid before me and I have stuck unto thy testimonies. Oh Lord, put me not to shame. I will run in the way of thy commandments. When thou shall enlarge my heart, teach me, oh Lord, the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end. You see that the psalmist is saying, look, when I understand thy commandments, when I have perfect clarity of the law, I can just run in the right direction. You know, when you get into a good church that's going out soul winning, like Faith Board Baptist Church, I mean, is there any restriction of you going soul winning? No. I mean, we have soul winning on Monday, we have soul winning on Tuesday, we have soul winning on Wednesday, we have soul winning on Thursday, we have soul winning on Saturday, we have soul winning on Sunday. You can run in the right direction. But is that what you're doing? Are you just taking baby steps? Maybe you're not even going in the right direction. You need to get into a Bible believing church that loves the Lord Jesus Christ that's going to lift up his word so you can run in the right direction. In Psalms 147 verse 15, he said, he sent forth his commandment upon the earth, his word runneth very swiftly. In 1 Corinthians 9 24 the Bible says, know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 9 verse 26, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly, so phytite, not as one that beateth the air. He's saying, look, I know where I'm running. I'm not running uncertain. I'm running down the right path. You know, and I know that there's only one person that wins the race, so I'm going to try my best to be that winner. I'm going to be the one that's going to get the crown. I don't want to just walk my way to heaven. I want to run my way to heaven. I want to run my way to the crown of life, to the crown of righteousness. In Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1 the Bible says, wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with such so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. So he's constantly saying run, but you know what, he's saying you have to run with patience. You know this, that if you run after the Lord, it's going to be a lifetime of running. And you have to pace yourself in a sense of understanding that it's a lifetime. You have to pace yourself, you know, I mean it doesn't say sprint, but it does say run. You know, and I believe someone that would just, you know, sprint would be someone that's taking something on that they can't do forever. Like going soul winning for 20 hours a day. I mean you can't keep that up. That's just silly. You should pace yourself to a reasonable, you know, time frame. The Bible says when Jesus was talking about working, he said no man worketh in the night. You know, we're not going to go out soul winning at 2 a.m. That's not going to be very effective, but I mean how many people are, you know, go soul winning for several hours every day? I mean that's reasonable for some people, for young men that maybe don't have a family yet. Why don't you go out and win you a wife to Christ? Why don't you go out and win a bunch of crowns before you have a family, before you have more responsibilities? If we go back to Proverbs chapter 4 in verse 14, the Bible says, enter not in 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, 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, but the path of the just is a 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. The Bible covers over and over warnings against wicked people and we need to be warned that there is this wicked people on this earth that we should avoid. Turn to Matthew chapter 7. You know, I think it's so important to even look at, we're going to look at a lot of New Testament verses here, but some people look at the Old Testament and say, oh, there's obvious enemies, there's obvious people that you should avoid, but in the New Testament, we're just supposed to love everybody, you know, we're just supposed to be kind to every single person, we're supposed to hang out with everybody, invite everybody into the church. Oh, there's some wicked people that should not be coming into the church, there's some evil people you should have nothing to do with. You know, I just think of every politician, there's a good list to just start with. I would never want to be around, you know, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Obama, none of these people. They're wicked. When we see in Matthew 7 verse 15, this is Jesus speaking, beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You know, what, what characterized Judah in the day of Christ? Was it that they just love God's word or were they forsaking God's word? Like what happened? You had the Sadducees and the Pharisees, you have all these false teachers rise up. What's happening in America? We have all these people forsaking the Lord, we have all these false prophets rising up and Christ is saying beware of false prophets. Why? Because they're everywhere. Flip over a couple of chapters in chapter 10, he says they come to you in sheep's clothing. The thing that I think a lot of people think about a false prophet is they think they're just going to show up and be like, look, Satan sent me here and I'm going to tell you a message of how to go to hell. Come follow me. No! They're like, how's it going? You know, I'm just going to pull up a chair, how are you all doing tonight? You know, Jesus just loves you, he's not mad at you. I mean they come to you so sweetly, they come to you so soft, they're not going to preach a hard message, they're not going to preach you the truth, they're a false prophet. And in Matthew chapter 10 verse 16 the Bible says, Behold, I send you forth this sheep in the midst of wolves. Be therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils and they will scourge you in their synagogues. We say, look, there's a lot of men that are going to hate you, that are going to want to do evil unto you. In Philippians 3, you don't have to turn there, turn to Acts chapter 23. In Philippians 3, the Bible says, Finally, my brother, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. The Bible's giving us all these warnings and he's saying, why? For safety. Why is it that you don't want to go in the steps of evil men? Because of safety. Why do you not want to go be with winebibbers and riotous eaters with flesh and drunkards for safety? And we see in Acts chapter 23, we're going to get a good story of that, but in our main text in Proverbs, he's saying some people are so wicked, they can't even sleep unless they hurt somebody. They can't even sleep unless they've done some kind of evil. You know, it made me think of this story in Acts chapter 23 and it's talking about Paul and Paul's coming back to Jerusalem and he's been arrested. But the Romans have taken captive of him because they were afraid that he'd be killed because he said he was a Roman. And it says in verse 12, And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and elders and said, we have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now therefore, you at the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you tomorrow as though you would inquire something more perfectly concerning him. And we, wherever he come near, are ready to kill him. So we see a group of men and they make a conspiracy, yes, conspiracy is a word found in the Bible, yes there are conspiracy theories out there, yes there are wicked people that make plans to kill other people. And that's happening in this world, that's happening in the new world order, that's happening in high places of spiritual wickedness in this country and in the whole world. Why? Because there's evil men and we need to be aware of those men. But we see these guys, they bind themselves, they say, look, we're not even going to eat, we're not even going to drink until we kill Paul. And what happens in this story? The Romans bring like a whole battalion to protect Paul and they go on to the next city. And it says in the next chapter, he says that he was in that city for two years. Now either these guys just died in starvation and thirst or they broke their promise. But we see even when someone makes such a vile and wicked decision, I mean, they're like, look, we're not going to eat or drink until we kill you. I mean, how much more evil can somebody get than saying, look, I'm not even going to drink water until you're killed. In Jude chapter 1 verse 4, I'm not going to read it, but read all of Jude. It warns of evil men and verse 4 says, for there are certain men, crept and unawares who were before of old, ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into the city'sness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. What are we talking about, forsaking, right? They're forsaking the Lord. They know who he is. They know that he bought the price for them, but they're going to forsake him. They hate God. They hate God's people. They're going to forsake the Lord, even though he bought them. They're going to deny him. In Revelation 21, sorry, Revelation 22, 11, the Bible says, he that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still. Look, there's certain people that we should just avoid. Now I believe we should go out and knock every door and we should be meek unto every person and we should try to give them the gospel, but when we get these warning signs of these wicked, evil people, go on to the next door. Shake off the dust and go on to the next door. Let him be filthy which is filthy. Let him that is unjust be unjust. You know, we're not going to change every mind. Broad is the way which leads them to destruction and many there be which go in their act because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leads them to life and few there be that find it. Turn back to our main text and we're going to go through the last part of this chapter. In verse 20, the prophet says, My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart, for they are life unto those that find them and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all villages, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyes look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil. And you know, I felt like these last seven verses tied together perfectly for the thought of keep the eyes on the prize. Keep your eyes on the prize. What is he saying there in verse 20? My son, attend to my words, incline thine ear unto my sayings. We need to hearken unto God's words. And it says in verse 21, Let them not depart from thine eyes, keep them in the midst of thine heart. We should keep our eyes on Jesus Christ. We should keep our eyes on the Bible. David, when he was talking in Psalms 21, he said, Mine eyes shall be on the faithful of the land. We should look unto the righteous people. We should look unto the soul winners. We should look unto the good righteous, the wise counsels, the good pastors, the ones that have good doctrine. And we should keep our eyes on them. We shouldn't look off to the wicked people in this world. We shouldn't look off to the worldliness and the movie and the TV and the magazines and the politicians, all those wicked people. We should keep our eyes on his ways. Verse 22, Except for they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thine heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. We see when we have our eyes on the right thing, it's going to be helping you. And out of it is going to issue out of your heart. God's going to give you a new heart. God's going to change your heart and allow you to have the right desires. When you have your eyes on the right thing, you're going to have the right desires. When you see someone going out soul winning, it's going to encourage you to go soul winning. Why? Because it's going to change your heart. It's going to renew your mind. It's hard to sometimes go out soul winning when you're by yourself. It's sometimes hard to go read the Bible when nobody around you wants to talk about it. It's really hard. That's why you got to keep your eyes on the faithful. It says in verse 24, put away from the forward mouth and perverse lips put far from thee. We see that the tongue is an unruly evil and we need to keep our tongues under control. Why? So we don't get our eyes off, you know. What happens when you're looking at something and then you just hear someone talking or you hear someone say something? I mean it diverts your eyes, right? We need to keep our mouths pure. We need to keep our mouths, you know, away from the forward, being like unbelieving, being contrary. Because it's going to get people to stumble, it's going to get people to keep their eyes off of the Lord. It says, let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. We need to just keep our eyes straight, keep our eyes on the prize and ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established. You know, when you look at the Bible and he's giving you the right way, why don't you ponder, hey, is that the path I'm on? Am I looking in the right direction? Why don't you turn to Matthew chapter 6 and that's when we'll finish. He says, turn not to the right hand, nor to the left, remove thy foot from evil. We're not supposed to be looking over here, looking at all the distractions of the world. You know, the Bible says the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches, you know, cause a lot of people to stumble, stumble at the word. And Jesus said in Matthew 6, he said, the light of the body is the eye, if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? No man can serve two masters, for either will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Look, what is this chapter saying? It's saying, look, we don't need to forsake the Lord because you can't serve the world and God. You can't serve yourself and God. You can't serve your family and God. You have to forsake all if you want to be his disciple. You have to look unto him and if you seek the Lord, he'll give you all the other things. He'll give you all the other blessings. You'll have prosperity in this life. You'll have prosperity in your family. He'll give you new brothers and sisters. I mean, look around in this church, we have plenty of brothers and sisters. When I came to this church, I've never met more friendly people. I've never met more people that love the Lord, that have a zeal for God. I've never felt more close to people here. I mean, honestly, I was going to a church of 500 people, independent fundamental Baptists, and the person I like the best there doesn't even compare to the person here that I know the least. I mean, that's what happens when you surround yourself with faithful men. That's what happens when you surround yourself with God's people. And he's saying, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and we need to keep our eyes on him so that we'd be filled with the light. We'd be filled so we could walk with the light. And you know, he said that his word is light unto our feet, right? When you have the word, it's pointing you in the right direction, and then your feet can go and you can run in the right direction. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you, God, for your word. I thank you that it's just such a clear instruction that it's just the right path, that we can go and we can run in the right direction, that we can have certainty that we're obtaining a crown of righteousness, a crown of life, if we love thee and we obey thee, that we have wisdom, if we go out and preach the gospel. I just thank you so much for this church, I pray that you'd allow us to just continue to reach this area, that we'd win many souls to Christ, and that we would just always have that wisdom with us, that we not forsake your laws, that we not forsake the way of the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.