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Amen. OK, so we're up to Proverbs chapter three now, and last week we were in Proverbs two and we saw that wisdom, understanding and knowledge is to be worked for, isn't it, as well? Now, you're not going to get it without salvation, but after salvation, it doesn't mean that you suddenly have it, right? You've got to work for it. And in its truest form, it comes from the word of God. And look, it's all here, isn't it? But it takes effort to attain that, doesn't it? OK, it needs study, it needs and it needs application as well. Reading, hearing, studying, memorising and applying it is not automatic. But we did see that then when you do that, it preserves us, it keeps us and obviously talk about in our ways, you know, in health and ultimately physical life as well. You could go as far as in Solomon then focused on two types of people it will protect us from, the evil man and the strange woman. And we looked at how these people are an ever present threat to us as believers trying to serve God, right? It's the same old tactics time and time again. And even on that level, seeing this in the word of God should prepare us, shouldn't it? OK, not just the verse about just the examples that we see. In chapter two, we saw that they delight in the frowardness of the wicked. Their ways are crooked and how we also saw how the strange woman flatters with our words. And then finally, how being in God's word and living according to it will help us survive this battle and how the wicked will be destroyed. Verse 20 said that thou mayest walk in a way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous for the upright shall dwell in the land and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. And Proverbs chapter three and verse one where we are starts with my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. I'd like to pray before we get stuck into this chapter. Father, thank you for this book, Lord, this book of just so much wisdom and just so much we can learn from this. Lord, please help me to preach this chapter, chapter three, just in a in a clear and accurate way, Lord, in a way that people will just be edified and be able to go away and really apply it to their lives. Lord, please fill in with your spirit and help everyone here to have a tent of fears. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So again, he's continuing with the theme of preservation of protection, isn't he? Now you could ask you, he said, my son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. And you could ask, is he referring to his own rules or those from the word of God, right? Well, if he's specifically talking to his son here. Life and peace shall they add to thee. And then in Ephesians, chapter six, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said in verse one, Ephesians six, one, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and thou mayest live long on the earth. That's length of days, long life and peace, isn't it? The length of days, long life and peace that we've just read that Solomon was instructing his son. And I said this to my kids recently, life is pretty simple really when you're a child, isn't it? It is pretty simple. Just do as you're told. It is simple, right? Because, you know, we have a lot of decisions to make as adults, don't we? And with kids, you just do as you're told. It's pretty easy. Pass them up. The responsibility's on us, you know? And obviously it's do as you're told in the Lord. Yeah, obviously if your parents are telling you to do something wicked, I don't believe you should be doing that, right? And I think the word of God, I would say, says that as well. I know some people disagree with that and say, well, you've just got to submit. Well, he did say, obey your parents in the Lord, okay, for this is right. So, but it is pretty simple, isn't it? Simple. Just obey, do as you're told. And you know, many of us as adults, we look back and kind of sometimes reminisce about being a kid and things being so much simpler, right? And it is ultimately a much simpler life, but it's much simpler for you when you just do as you're told. Just do as you're told and it's pretty simple. And not only is it simple, but you'll then be blessed for it too, which I think also works in this way. If a child can't just submit to the parents that feed them, clothe them, house them, sorry, and love them, if they can't do that, how will they submit to the various authorities in their life? You know, if you want it to be well with you kids, you need to learn to submit when it's a lot easier to submit. Look, we all have to submit to authorities in our life, don't we? If you can't submit to the authority that clothes you, that houses you, that feeds you, well, you're going to find it harder when you're older, aren't you? Because it is pretty simple. Just submit, right? And, you know, some kids, you do get these rebellious kids out there that find that hard. And by the way, in case you're thinking, why are you talking to the kids? We're a family integrated church here, right? Yeah? The kids are getting preached to as well. And, you know, you get these kids that are maybe sort of, I can't wait until I'm the boss. When I'm a parent, you know, and everything else. Yeah, but you're never the boss. You'll never be the boss because if you become the boss at work, guess who's your boss? Your customer. Seriously, you're like, I'm going to be self-employed, then I'm the boss. No, then every single customer you have is your boss, you know? And ultimately, God's your boss anyway, okay? Because you should be working as unto the Lord. You know, wives, your husband is the boss. Shock, horror. Yeah, that's what the Bible says, you know? Everyone has someone to submit to. Oh, well, that's all right for you, husbands. No, you've got to submit to someone that doesn't love you. You've got to submit to some guy in the workplace. And look, that's just life, isn't it? In all areas of life, God is a boss anyway. We all have a boss. We all have to submit in one way or another. You need to obey young. Because if you can obey young and you just learn to be submissive young, you just learn to obey from young, you know, you learn to honour from young as well, then it will be well with you. And if you don't, it won't be well with you and you'll have a miserable, probably cut short life. Because there's a lot of rebellious people out there and they're not happy. I mean, you know, the worst ones, the ones, you get these people a lot and we'll have them in ourselves because they're just constantly complaining about basically everyone in charge, whether it's the government, whether it's this. They don't spend their lives complaining about them. They're just people that just can't submit. Ultimately, they just hate any form of authority in life. Are they happy? Is it well with them? Do they have length of days and long life and peace? No, because they just can't submit. They just submit to authority. And ultimately here, he's just saying exactly what we read in Ephesians six as well. He said, if you go back now to Proverbs chapter three with that in mind, Proverbs three, you're turning back to and he said, my son, forget not my law, but at the heart keep my commandments for length of days and long life and peace shall they add to thee. Yeah, look, follow the commandments of your parents and you ultimately following God's commandment there. If we are talking here to a son, to a young son here and it will add to you length of days, long life and peace. And as we read in the last chapter, this continues into adult life with God's law and his commandments, doesn't it? So it applies to both really. And here is the prophet of God writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, already writing under the identity of wisdom. I believe that the dual meaning here is God's law and commandments as well. So basically it's the same thing because kids, part of God's law is to obey your parents, but adults here and everyone that's no longer needed to submit to their parents in life, at least in terms of living with them and everything else. Well, you need to keep God's commandments, you need to not forget his law. He then said, let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. So he's saying don't let mercy and truth depart from you. And although they should also be characteristics of ours, okay, look, they should be characteristics of a Christian. People should look at you and think of mercy and truth. I believe that he's still talking about his law and his commandments being bound about the neck and written on the table of the heart here. Hence, rather than not forsaking the mercy and truth, it's written this way because the mercy and truth in life comes from keeping the law and commandments. So when you bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart, ultimately, therefore, when you do that, you're not letting the mercy and truth in life forsake you. Turn to Psalm 25. Mercy is pity, compassion, forgiveness. And it's one of the distinguishing qualities of God. He's a merciful God, isn't he? Yeah, he's a merciful God. He's full of mercy. He's great in mercy. He's plenteous in mercy. You're turning to Psalm 25. Well, you turn to, I'm going to quote Psalm 86 and verse 15. Psalm 86, 15 says, but thou, O Lord, Lord, art a God full of compassion and gracious long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth. God is plenteous in mercy and truth. And in Psalm 25, we see that mercy and truth describe the paths set out for those that keep his commandments. He says in Psalm 25, it says, sorry, I didn't have the verse here, but all the paths of the Lord, if anyone is there, can you see which verse this is? All the paths of the Lord, say again, 10. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. Psalm 25, 10, yeah? Okay, so if you want that mercy and truth that comes from God or if you don't want it to desert you, bind his law, his commandments, his covenant, his testimonies about your neck and etch them in your memory, basically. Okay, you want the mercy and truth of God. It's unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. Okay, so bind his law, his commandments, his covenant, his testimonies about your neck, etch them in your memory. Then verse three says, let not mercy and truth forsake thee back where we are, sorry, back where we are in Proverbs three, let not mercy and truth forsake thee, bind them about thy neck, write them upon the table of thine heart. So shalt thou find favour and good understanding, and the them there is talking about the commandments in the sight of God and man. So we want favour and good understanding, don't we? We want favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Let's see how we do that. Let's continue then in verse five says, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. It shall be health to thine navel and marrow to thy bones. Now these are some famous verses for good reason. There are many times in life where for me, and I'm sure many people could say the same, these verses have guided me. These are like famous verses. I remember memorising these very early on, just for whatever reason, I think these are such applicable verses. These verses have helped me to have peace in hard times. They've helped me when faced with difficult decisions. They've given me peace when unsure where the path is taking me in life as well. But there are, I believe, some key elements in this passage which can be easily overlooked. And I think people do overlook some of the parts of this. You hear people quote these verses, but they kind of overlook a couple of key points here. He said in verse five, trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. Sounds good, right? He then says, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. So there's a condition here. It's to acknowledge him in all your ways, isn't it? That's the condition. So if my days are spent out of the things of God, can I expect him to direct my paths? Is he directing my path if I'm just not at all interested in the things of God? I'm not reading my Bible. I'm not in church. I'm not doing any of that. One of the big questions in the Christian life is, is it God's will if? Isn't that what so many Christians are constantly seeking? God's will in their life. God's will in their decisions. God's will in the workplace. God's will in their relationship. God's will in whatever it is, every aspect of life. What ultimately people are looking for is God's will, aren't they? Well, they should be. Sadly, maybe it's not always the case, right? But a lot of the time people are looking for their own will or looking for something to work out and hope that they can take it off as God's will. But ultimately what we should be doing is looking for God's will, right? What does God want me to do? Where does God want me to go? What does God want me to do in this situation, that and this decision and everything else? Is it God's will? And my answer to anyone, and I've asked this many times, you know, what do you think? Do you think this? Do you think that? Is to make sure that you're doing God's will in the obvious areas. So you need to make sure you're in God's will in every obvious area. And then the less obvious areas will become more obvious, right? And for example, are you doing God's will in church attendance? And look, when I talk about church attendance, I always have to bear in mind that being our sort of church, being sadly our sort of church in a country full of horrendous churches on the whole, right? I mean, not even on the whole, just pretty much all are, right? You know, I'm aware that there are people that it's not so easy to just be in church every week. They come from far and wide, right, to come to our church. And there are people probably watching online right now, maybe if not this morning, who are from countries where they don't even seem to have just a Bible believing, gospel preaching church. And I understand that it's not so easy for them, but what are they doing in the time that they would be in church? So are you saying, well, I just can't be in church, so I'm off playing sport on a Wednesday night? Or I'm off doing whatever, I'm off, you know, I'm on the Xbox on this, you know, I don't know, I don't know, you know, whatever it is, right? I'm doing something else. Well, I can't be in church, so I kind of sometimes tune in on the Sunday in my underpants or something, you know, while, you know, eating snacks and everything else, and then I just kind of get back into bed. But is that really what God wants you doing? God wants you doing on that first day of the week, which where Christians around the world dedicate it to the Lord and worship God and think about God and do the things of God. If you ain't in church, well, I think you should be trying to be at least doing some godly things, right? And, you know, praise God, we got a YouTube channel. It ain't church for those of you out there. It's not church, but it's better than nothing, isn't it? Yeah, it's better than nothing. But however, what are you doing the rest of that day? Are you trying to find people to go soul winning with maybe? Because you know what we do on a Sunday afternoon in this church, we go out and we go soul winning. You know, so when you're not at church, you can't get to church, what are you doing with that free time that you've saved from not travelling? You know, what are you doing on a Sunday evening when people who are nearby church can stay and go to church on a Sunday evening? Well, what are you doing with that time? I hope that if you're not tuning in, or maybe around that time, you might be in the word of God doing things of God, maybe trying to find a church, right? I'm not saying there ain't, look, maybe there are, maybe there's some churches around the nation where they got the gospel right and they got the word of God, you know, and there's some form of soul winning. Praise God, if there is, you need to find them, right? And if you can't find them, you need to find people around you and find a way of being in church, or you could be committing some time in to finding a way of getting near to a church. Because is it the spiritual life without church? It really isn't, is it? Now look, you can do a good, you can have like a good kind of, what would you call it, maybe a good substitute for it, yeah? You can find a way of, you know, at least feeling fairly spiritual, maybe do a bit of soul and everything else, but ultimately we need the house of God. And if you can't get to the house of God, you need to find a way of creating the right environment for a house of God where you live, or put some time and effort into finding a way to get into the house of God, like so many people have in this church, haven't they? Literally up their lives, change their lives, move to be able to be in the house of God. And that's one area, but there's another area as well. You know, you want to make sure you're doing God's will. Are you doing God's will in soul winning? Are you going soul winning? Are you finding a way of at least getting to the point where you're going to be going soul winning? Are you learning how to soul win? Are you getting involved with it, or are you not? And again, I'm speaking to a church full of soul winners, and if you're out there going, well you're talking about soul winning, I'm talking about learning how to win people's souls for the Lord, because that's how people get saved, is by people preaching in the Gospel. And that's what, that's ultimately, you ain't a disciple if you're not soul winning. Let's just make that clear. There's a lot of people out there that think that they're these great Christians, you knock on their doors, most of the time they're not even saved anyway. But however, if you ain't, if you're not going out and winning souls for Christ, and I completely include being a silent partner by the way in that, okay, every silent partner's half a pair, but if you're not going out and being a part of that, are you really a disciple of the Lord? If you're not finding, at least trying to work towards that, look at some people it might take several weeks and a bit of being inspired to do that and everything else, but look, that's a big part of it, isn't it? Are you soul winning? Are you Bible reading? That's in a clear part of God's will, isn't it? Yeah, in thy law doth he meditate day and night. Are you reading your Bible? Do you have a Bible reading plan, or do you just open it every now and again? Do you open it up when things are particularly bad? Do you make sure, does it come first? Does your day begin with the word of God? Because it should, shouldn't it? Are you praying? Do you set aside time to pray to the Lord? Are you in prayer? Are you regularly praying to God? And we're going to look at it briefly in a bit, but tithing as well. People are like, I just can't work out God's will, and it's like, but there's some clear principles in the Bible, aren't there? What's God's will in my life for this job, but well, are you tithing? Have you got your heart right on the things of God first? And if you're doing all that and you're in God's will in all those areas, he's at the centre of your life. Your, your ways are based upon him. He's at the centre. He comes first. Your job choices take him into account. Yeah, takes into account church attendance, soul winning, Bible reading, all of those things. Your routine puts him first. Yeah. Is he at the forefront of your routine? Does he come first? Does, don't those things of God come first in your life? Your financial decisions put him first. All your ways of acknowledging him. Are all your ways acknowledging him? And if they are, well that's stage one. That part's stage one. Stage two is the presumptuous sins, isn't it? Because yeah, okay, I'm doing all of that. However, I'm ticking all those boxes and then I'm just purposely going and doing open, wilful sin that I know is wrong, that it's not like an impulsive thing I can't resist. I know I shouldn't be doing that, but I'm personally choosing to go and do that. Are all your ways acknowledging him? You know that God doesn't want you drinking that. He doesn't want you listening to that. He doesn't want you watching that. He doesn't want you dressing like that. But you're planning to sin, are you? You're still doing it anyway. But if you're not doing that, and if you're cutting out those things and he's the centre of your life, you're departing from evil. Therefore, verse seven says, be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. So I think it all goes hand in hand. You acknowledge him in all thy ways. He directs your paths. You're not wise in your own eyes. You just fear the Lord and depart from evil. And look, it's not about your own perceived wisdom obviously. You're just fearing the Lord. You're not trying to put it all in your own mind. Part of that's departed from evil. So you trust in the Lord with all thine heart. You lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, lead ye not direct thy paths. Be not wise in thy own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil. And what's the result? The result is it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. It's great, isn't it? But I think so many people read those verses and I've heard people before just be like, yeah, yeah, don't lean to your own understanding. And in their mind it's just sort of like, God, just show me the way. God, just show me the way. And that's kind of about as far as it goes. But is that in all thy ways acknowledging him? No, it's not. But then people kind of, they get a bit almost mystical about it. I just kind of, I'm just asking God for his will in my life, but you're not even doing the obvious stuff in your life. And as we've seen earlier, it takes you to apply it. It takes you to say, I know what God wants me to do. I'm going to go and do that. God wants me to seek and search for wisdom. So I'm going to seek and search for wisdom. And people don't do any of that. And then they're like, well, I said to God, I prayed about it. Yeah. You hear people that do this one. I prayed about it. It's like, yeah. So, um, I've got this new job down this, down this nightclub. I prayed about it. It's like, great. Well done. You prayed about it. Yeah. How about you open your Bible and see what God's, God's got to say about it as well, right. You know, but look, and that's sadly what, what, what we see out there. But if you're doing it this way, if you, if all your ways are acknowledging him, the result is when you're not wise in your own eyes, when you fear the Lord, when you depart from evil, it shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones and health and wellbeing. But I think that there's a picture here too, because what's the navel? What's the navel? The navel is the center of the lower part of the abdomen. Yeah. The point where the umbilical cord passes out of the, they call it fetus here. It's a baby, right? Okay. Let's not go into that sort of terminology, but the umbilical cord, basically we're talking about where your belly button is. Okay. And the umbilical cord is a collection of vessels by which, you know, the baby or, or, or, you know, offspring of an animal communicates to the parent by means of the placenta to which it is attached, right? Now the picture for me is being connected to God. That's what I think, why we're talking about the navel. That's what I think is being connected to God. It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones. Marrow being needed for healthy bones. It's ultimately being fully reliant upon God, fully reliant upon God for your health, for your wellbeing. And that comes from in all your ways, acknowledging him in a way, basically just being completely reliant upon the Lord, like a little baby is. Maybe it's not, maybe it's just a turn of phrase, but I believe that's what it is. He then says this, honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy bonds be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Right. Nothing to see here, just Old Testament tithing. Let's move on. Right. Well, we're not going to spend long on this. Okay. I preached a sermon at the beginning of the year on tithing. And if you're unsure about the subject and you look, go back and listen to that sermon. Okay. I think I laid it out pretty clearly in that sermon. Um, I think it was called, why do we tithe? Okay. However, the point with, with tithing, and as you probably have noticed, if you've been at this church for very long, we don't preach about tithing hardly ever. Okay. You, you go to the classic sort of old IFB type churches and they'll be preaching on money pretty much every few weeks. Okay. A lot of the time it's just money, money and trying to find a reason to preach in it. However, I would be doing you a disservice if I awkwardly avoided these verses as well, because it's never pleasant preaching about these sorts of things that the, because of the fact that people just have a real aversion to it. Right. But verse nine says, honour the Lord with thy substance and with the first fruits of all thine increase, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. So who benefits from it? You, you. Now, one of the points that I made in that sermon, uh, back in, and I preached it in January and I said, it'd probably just be something I'll preach on once a year. Is that you have this book of timeless wisdom, don't you? Yeah. We've got this book of timeless wisdom, the book of proverbs. Okay. And the book of proverbs has just so like almost, I mean, I would, I, I've, I at the time was thinking, is there anything in here which only applies to them? Can you think of anything in the book of proverbs? And if you do, let me know afterwards, which clearly only applies to back then the old Testament. That's completely that you could just not apply to your life. Now, I don't think there's that one verse in there. It's just this timeless wisdom, isn't it? It's a book which applies to us for and will continue to apply to us till the end of days, right? Does anyone think that though, though this particular truth doesn't apply anymore because there are many out there that try and say this sort of thing. Now, now one of the stark differences, like I said, that people notice about new independent fundamental Baptist churches is that there aren't weekly services about money, extra offerings, new funds. We've got a new fund for this. We've got new fund for the, you know, to give away to the so-called giveaway or to build up, to be able to put a new this in, to be able to pay for that, a new building. You're in a church by the way, that's completed three church refurbishments without ever asking for an extra penny from the congregation. Okay. That's really rare. I hope you understand that. Okay. Most places would be doing the extra offering, right? We've got a church move coming up guys, refurb, fund and everything else. Yeah. However, you'd be amazed because people still in one way or another try and accuse church, oh, they just want money. We never asked for extra money. However, the Bible just teaches the principle of tithing, doesn't it? And people get funny about that. We've never tried to ask for that. And should I tell you why we've never asked for that, by the way? Okay. Why we've been able to do that. And yes, we did have a free building at the beginning, which helped as well, but ultimately it was because of the fact that there are many of us here that tithe like God commands us to tithe. That's why. The reason that we've been able to do this place that we did the place before and we did the downstairs of the place before without ever asking for an extra penny from anyone is because of all the just faithful men and women of God here that just tithe because that's what God tells us to do. And God's provided for us through that. And we now have an amazing building here and we still haven't gone, can I have a building fund? Okay guys, can we add an extra fund or anything else? He said in verse nine, he said, honour the Lord with thy substance, with the first fruits of all thine increase. And yeah, a church will benefit, okay? We'll be able to have a nice building, put on events, food, pay the staff who can then commit more time to the church and not to writing sermons about tithes and offerings, you know? Because ultimately that's sadly what happens then. We're going to have to find another way of slipping tithing into the sermon or something else. However, the focus in verse 10 is how it benefits us to tithe though. It says in verse 10, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. Tithing benefits us both here and I personally believe eternally too where we're laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven when either moth nor rust doth corrupt where thieves not break through and steal, you know? Okay, so ultimately, look, it will benefit you in both ways. Some people go, well, what about, you know, are we all going to get rich and wealthy? We don't preach that sort of junk here, okay? Because ultimately it doesn't really matter. But you will, if you're giving to God and you're living for God and ultimately, look, he's at the centre of your life, you're committing all thy ways unto him, in all thy ways you're acknowledging him, then you're not going to be begging for bread. It ain't going to happen, okay? Your barns will be filled with plenty, your presses shall burst out with new wine. And these verses follow on from verse 5's trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil shall be health in thine navel and marrow to thy bones. Then he carries on honour the Lord with thy substance with the first roots of all thine increase. So shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. And then followed on by the promise of chastisement. And again, look, you know, you can take it or leave it. And ultimately it's about yourselves really. And like I said, like we have a great church here of people that do just faithfully tithe. But, you know, there is then straight after he then says, my son despise not the chastity of the Lord and just kind of reminds you of chastisement. And neither be weary of his correction, for whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth. Does anyone here think that they don't get punished by God, by the way? Anyone here? They don't get punished by God at all? Because there are two reasons why you wouldn't get chastised. Number one, if the Lord doesn't love you and the Lord loves you if you're saved. Or number two, if you're not his son, if you're not saved. And if you are saved and you are and look, if you're a child of God, you're going to get chastised. You just need to understand and accept that in life. If you're not getting chastised at all, then for me, you ain't saved. Now, it's not for us to gauge that. Some people go a bit far with this and they're going, well, let's work out if they're saved. Are they getting chastised? You don't know what chastisement, in what way, what's going on in people's lives and everything else. That's not how we judge. How do we judge someone's salvation? By their fruits, what comes out of their mouth. And that's ultimately all we can do. Are they saying they're saved or not? You ain't going to work it out by their works. Don't get conned into that nonsense. You're not going to work out by the so-called perceived chastisement in their life. You've got no idea what's going on in people's lives and what's not. And it's also not for us to look at people and decide whether or not they're getting chastised. That's for them to do. And how do we know whether we're getting chastised? Well, firstly, are you ticking those major boxes we talked about? Are you doing those clear things to be acknowledging them in all your ways? Are you presumptuously especially sinning? And are you basically putting God first? And are you asking for forgiveness of things when you are sinning? Are you doing those things where you could tick all that off and go, okay, I don't think this is chastisement then. But that's up to you to do, isn't it? Because we still have to live life, we still have to go through the trials and tribulations of life as well. So it's not always chastisement, but it's up to us to work out whether or not it is. Hebrews 12.8, you don't have to turn there, says, But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers. It did say all, didn't it? All are partakers, then are ye bastards and not sons. So if you're not getting chastised by God, it sounds like you ain't a son of God, you ain't a child of God. And I say that because you think, well, why are you saying that? Don't we all know that? Look, there are people out there that I think just will never even consider the fact they're being chastised. They just don't want to accept it. Look, if you're not being chastised and you're not ticking all those boxes and you're not doing things right and you're just going out there and doing a load of willful sin, you're hearing a word of God preaching, you're hardening your heart, you're turning your head to it all, then I'd be amazed. Because God promises to chastise you and it's for our own good, isn't it? But like I said, the trick is to recognise when you're being chastised. So are you? Are you in church? Are you soul-winning? Are you Bible-reading? Are you praying? Are you tithing? Are you committing willful, presumptuous sin? And thirdly, is God maybe getting your attention about ignorant sin or perhaps helping you to take impulsive sin more seriously? Are you repentant? Are you confessing your sins to him? And that's an important part of it as well, isn't it? Because if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He wants to see that right heart, doesn't he? If you got chastised for every single sin you did, we would all just be getting worked all day. That's the reality of it, isn't it? So what's it about? It's about what's your attitude and your heart to sin? And you've probably heard me give this example before. Because your kids, for example, if your child comes up to you and genuinely says, I'm really sorry I did this, I shouldn't have done it, I'm sorry, and comes to you first, a lot of the time you probably won't even punish them. Whereas when you have to catch them out and you have to get their attention, you're like, I've just seen you do this and they're trying to deny it. No, no, and everything else. Then they get a worse chastisement, don't they? And that's how it works with God as well. Now, it doesn't have to be chastisement, okay? Like I said, if you're trying to respond to it, your heart's right, the chastisement isn't necessarily as needed, is it? So you're like, oh man, just everything, everything I'm going to be getting chastised. No, just get your heart right with God. He wants to help you with it. But I'm going to try and, you know, maybe, look, here's the thing. Maybe you're committing sin. Maybe you're in a bad sin, right? Or maybe it's not. Maybe you're just constantly doing the same old things. You're finding it hard, but you're coming to God. You're saying, I need help with this. Give the parent analogy again. What are you going to do? If your child keeps coming to you going, look, I really don't want to do this. Mummy, Daddy, you know, I just keep committing this. I keep doing this problem. I find it really hard not to. Are you just going to go, come here you little brat. Now you might, you might think, look, now and again, they're going to need some chastisement to maybe this is going to register in their head, right? However, a lot of the time you, maybe you're going to go, right, let's sit down and come up with a strategy. Let's think about a way of solving this, right? Let's think about a way of taking away that temptation to do whatever it is. And is that the attitude we have? And if we have that attitude, I think you're going to get through things probably with a lot less chastisement. Maybe, look, maybe that's, that is going to be a lot different to when it's a rebellious, stubborn spirit though, isn't it? And sadly, there's a lot of Christians out there with a rebellious, stubborn spirit, aren't there? There are so many out there who just, they hear the word of God, they hear it preached, they know it's, they know this applies to them. And what's the answer? He's preaching to me. It's like, no, it's the word of God. Or the answer is, you don't know what my life's like. Well, it's all right for you. Well, you didn't do whatever I did or have whatever I had or you, you know, a thousand different versions of that, right? Whereas what, what should the response be? Wow. That's something in my life. I need to get that right. And I think when you do that, you're much more likely to avoid chastisement, aren't you? You said in verse 11, my son despised not the chasy of the Lord, neither be weary of his correction. So we shouldn't despise it. We shouldn't hate it, should we? And we also shouldn't be weary of his correction. Why would you get weary? Because it comes a lot. Yeah. You get corrected a lot. God corrects you. And here's what we shouldn't be weary of is when he's corrected you through his word. I mean, that's like, great. At least he's warning me. It's like kids. When, when, when your parent doesn't chastise you and says, I'm warning you, that should be something that you're not weary of. Oh, thank you. At least we didn't jump to chastisement stage straight away. You know, that's something not to be wary of. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth. He loves you. And that's why he corrects you. He corrects you through the word of God. He didn't have to do that. He could have just whooped you and made you let you work it out for yourself. For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father, the son in whom he delighteth its far-rown good, because the inbuilt repercussions of sin are much worse, aren't they? That's ultimately what it comes down to. Because you could go, well, you know, is it so bad that I did this? But I tell you what, when you start doing that and you start doing that and the time goes on, you know, take it from, from many first generation Christians in this room, the inbuilt repercussions of sin are serious. I mean, look back at, I mean, you can look back at your own life and then you can see the people that, that maybe never got it out of their lives and think of them now. You know, just think, what an absolute mess, right? So much of that sin gets those people into, thank God that he chastises you and warns you and corrects you before you get to that point, or hopefully before you choose to get to that point, right? Because it's, he loves you, he delights in you. He then says straight after that, happy is a man that findeth wisdom and a man that getteth understanding. Yeah, what a blessing it is. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver and of gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things our cancers are are not to be compared unto her. So stop seeking the riches, right? Stop focusing on wealth and focus on the wisdom that comes from living for God. He said length of days is in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour. Now turn to Luke 16 because the riches here in verse 16 where he said length of days in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour aren't talking about monetary wealth. In case you've ever read this and thought, oh okay, so we get wise and we get like really wealthy. You turn to Luke 16. Well your turn there, I'm just going to mention that Ephesians 1.7 talks of the riches of his grace, by the way. Ephesians 3.8, the riches of Christ. It's not because he's got his pockets full of cash. Psalm 104 in verse 24, your turn to Luke 16. Psalm 104.24 says, O Lord, how manifold are thy works in wisdom, as I made them all, the earth is full of thy riches. And again, this isn't talking about monetary wealth. In Luke 16, Jesus differentiates between money and true riches. He says in Luke 16 and verse 11, if therefore, Luke 16.11, if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, which is a Chaudi or Syriac word meaning wealth or riches, in the monetary sense, he said if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches. And the true riches being spiritual blessings. That's what really it's talking about, which is what Proverbs 3.16 is about. So Proverbs 3.16 says, length of days is in her right and in her left hand riches and honour. It's not talking about cash, cold hard cash if you get wise. It's talking about spiritual blessings in life. Because he's just literally said not to desire all that other stuff and to desire wisdom, wisdom providing you with health, length of days, spiritual riches and honour is what he's saying in verse 16. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. You want pleasantness, you want peace? Find wisdom and get understanding. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. What does it mean that wisdom is a tree of life? Turn over to Proverbs chapter 11 for a famous verse that many will recognise. We spoke about it this morning. There are some vital ingredients to getting someone saved, aren't there? For them receiving eternal life. The vital ingredients are a Holy Spirit filled man of God preaching the Word of God. And we add to that lady of God and child of God as well. It's a Holy Spirit filled man of God preaching the Word of God. Proverbs 11.30 says, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that win of souls is wise. We've just seen that wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. So the fruit is what proceeds out of their mouth. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and it's ultimately what makes them wise. It's the Word of God. The fruit of the righteous is the Word of God coming forth from their mouth. It gives life to the hearer, doesn't it? That's what it does. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. So those words, that wisdom, is a tree of life and happy is everyone where that seed is sown and where it's retained. That's what I believe we're talking about here. That's why that says that in Proverbs 3.18. She is a tree of life, the wisdom to them that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. Okay, so it's the words of wisdom. What are the words of wisdom? It's the Word of God, isn't it? It's the Word of God. They're a tree of life to lay that lay hold upon her and happy is everyone that retaineth her. He said in verse 19, back in Proverbs 3, the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth by understanding hath he established the heavens. So again it's through his Word. Now Genesis, you don't have to turn there. You can if you want. It's Genesis chapter 1. We've just read the Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth by understanding hath he established the heavens. And Genesis 1.3 says, and God said, let there be light and there was light. Genesis 1.6 says, and God said, let there be a firm in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters, etc. It's through his Word, isn't it? Okay, it's his Word that ultimately we're talking about here. The Lord by wisdom and the wisdom ultimately is his Word, hath founded the earth. By understanding, again, it's the understanding we're seeing constantly in this comparison. It's his Word hath he established the heavens. Verse 20 says, by his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew. And Genesis 1.9 says, and God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, let the dry land appear, and it was so. So by his knowledge the depths are broken up. And then it says, and the clouds drop down the dew. And I find the second part of verse 20 interesting is it's kind of like the odd one out. If you read those couple of verses together again. Verse 19 said, the Lord by wisdom has founded the earth. By understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up. And the clouds drop down the dew. Does it sound a bit funny, that last bit? The clouds drop down the dew. It's separate to the beginning of verse 20. And we saw wisdom, we saw understanding, we saw knowledge, and then we just have this add-on and the clouds drop down the dew. Well the first three are clearly contained in those first six days of creation. Okay, you've got by wisdom he's founded the earth, it was by his Word. By understanding hath he established the heavens, again it's by his Word. By his knowledge the depths are broken up. Again it was by his words, and for me that's talking about where he basically, you know, he let it divide the waters. Sorry, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together under one place, let the dry land appear. Okay, so they're broken up, those depths. And then it says, and the clouds drop down the dew. And the dew which, by the way, I don't know if anyone knows much about this. It's absolutely essential in that region during the months of no rain. So the only way that anything survives and grows and everything else in that area of the world for several months there is because of the dew, which comes in off the sea, on the wind, and is the reason, and when I say the dew I'm talking about with a D in case anyone's wondering. It's absolutely essential for watering things and everything else, because I think there's quite a few months in a row where there's literally no rain at all. Now, you know, it's not, the dew itself isn't as clear as to when it was made, you know. In Genesis, I mean, when was the dew, you know. However, turn to Deuteronomy 32 where we're going to look in the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32. Dew is used to picture God's word coming forth from Moses. So Deuteronomy 32, and we're going to look from verse 1. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 1 says this. Give ear, O ye heavens. Deuteronomy 32, 1, this is the Song of Moses. Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass, because I will publish the name of the Lord. Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. So basically, those words give life. They're essential to life in that region. In Proverbs 3, I believe that we're being reminded of that. We're being reminded of the importance of the dew. We're being reminded therefore the importance of the word of God. So not only does God's word create life, like we saw in the first kind of three points there in those two verses, but it maintains life. Hence then the following verse is, if you go back to Proverbs 3, we just saw obviously, just remind you again that verse 2 of Deuteronomy 32 said, my speech shall distill as the dew. We saw my doctrine shall drop as the rain, as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showers upon the grass, and it creates and it maintains life. And then verse 21 in Proverbs 3 says, my son, let not them depart from thine eyes, keep sound wisdom and discretion, so shall there be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck. So the words of God, like the dew in that area, is what basically maintains life. And it's just for me, just a little analogy in there, and just a reminder of just that preservation that comes from the word of God. Now this isn't about salvation, okay, it's about preserving us through this physical life. We need preserving through this physical life, don't we? And we need preserving through the spiritual battle in life as well, and through the battle of serving God and everything else. You know, people I think often you'll get people that just take the Bible and they'll dip in and dip out and take a little verse and take a little passage and try and apply it to their life, but ultimately the Bible's written for really, you know, in its most sense, it's written for everyone obviously, salvation is there for everyone at least from when they first come into the world. And the word of God, there's so much obviously wisdom and so much instruction in it, but really who does it ultimately apply to? The men and women of God living for God. That's who the whole Bible applies to, doesn't it? And those that are trying to live for God and be a disciple of the Lord, be part of his basically spiritual army, yeah? And God's, you know, with that there's a lot of, what do you want to call it, a lot of snares out there, a lot of traps. There's a lot of, there's a lot of adversaries to doing the work of God, to just doing the things of God, to being, just being part of this church. I mean many of you if, you know, if you just look back probably the last few weeks and thought about the opposition to even you just coming to church, the little things that crop up, the ways that things happen and just to stop you even being in church and serving God, to stop you soul winning, to stop you reading your Bible, to stop you being, you know, a part of the elite few that are actually doing the things that God had gone out and preached the gospel and trying to live for God and everything else, you know, I can imagine there are probably quite a few stories just from a few weeks, right? And ultimately it's the Word, it's the wisdom, it's the discretion, it's the understanding, it's the knowledge that comes from the Word of God that are life unto your soul and grace to your neck. So when you're trying to live for God and everything else it's even more important that you're in the Word even more, that you're learning, that you're growing, that you're studying, that you're understanding. In verse 21 he's saying basically read those words and apply them, isn't he? He said let not them depart from thine eyes, he's saying read them, have them in front of you, live by the Word of God. He then says keep sound wisdom and discretion so apply them to your life and then he then says basically and they shall keep you alive, they will bless you, they shall be life unto thy soul and grace to thy neck. Verse 23 says then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble. Why is that? Well, Psalm 119 105 says thy word is a lamp unto my feet and the light unto my path. And it's how we manage to walk safely, it's how we don't stumble again, it all comes back to the Word of God, doesn't it? It's the Word of God, it's all about the Word of God, it's all about studying the Word of God, reading the Word of God, listening to the Word of God, hearing the Word of God preached, applying the Word of God to your life, it all comes back to that and it is a light unto your, it's a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path, isn't it? And you know when you think about that just think without that, walking around in the dark before tarmac, in fact some of the tarmac round here and in other places probably wouldn't be so safe either but before any of that stuff just walking around, I mean it's pretty dodgy, isn't it? We were out just in a little woodlandy path near us yesterday, I mean it's literally just little holes, rabbit holes of stuff everywhere, I mean you break your ankle pretty quickly, couldn't you? And especially when it's dark, when it's pitch black and you need that light, don't you, you need that lamp but that's kind of what the Christian life's like really, isn't it? There are pitfalls and just stumbling stones and not, you know, the stumbling stone, just so many issues and problems everywhere that we're trying to avoid and without the Word of God you're just, you're like a lamp to the slaughter, literally, aren't you? He said, then shalt thou walk in thy way safely and thy foot shall not stumble. This is when you let them not depart from your eyes, you keep the sound, wisdom and discretion. He said, when thou liest down, verse 24, thou shalt not be afraid, yea, thou shalt lie down and thy sleep shall be sweet and that's because you're keeping the sound, wisdom and discretion. And look, I'm not trying to say anyone that suffers from insomnia must be, must not, yeah, because there are other issues for that but, you know, sometimes, look, sometimes people are kept awake because of stress, because of worry, because of anxiety, because of problems with things where ultimately it's probably because they're in sin in one way or another, not always, okay, again, caveat here, those of you that have sleep problems, I'm not saying you're all wicked, okay, however, a lot of the time it is a problem, isn't it? People are going over in their head things they've done, mistakes they've made, errors they've made, things like that and then they find it hard to sleep, right? Because they haven't kept that, that discretion, they haven't kept that sound, wisdom, but when thou liest down, when you get all that right, thou shalt not be afraid, you don't have to fear, do you? When there's not like things hanging over you and you just go to bed going, I know I've done all right, I've done all right today, I haven't like, you know, done, you know, got into this sin or that and I've resisted this or whatever you've done, you know, and you're feeling, yeah, no, I've had a good day, I've had a good week, I've done, you have a lot more peace, don't you? Thou shalt lie down, thy sleep shall be sweet, be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked when it cometh and desolation is the destruction of the wicked and I think ultimately he's saying, look, you don't have to worry any of that, about any of that stuff, when you see like things happening to other people like that, you know, you don't have to fear that because ultimately you're doing the things of God, you're in the things of God, for the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken and when we say the destruction of the wicked, look, there's a lot of wicked people out there that end up in some pretty grim ways and some nasty stuff happens and we don't really know their lives and anything else but you don't have to fear any of that stuff. The Lord shall be thy confidence, shall keep thy foot from being taken and then following these next few verses are a few standalone instructions to keep the Lord as our confidence and our foot from being taken or snared. So he then says this and these are, I think, they just kind of stand alone along this topic. For example, verse 27, withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, go and come again and tomorrow give when it has it by thee. So some good advice here is don't withhold from people and although that could apply to being stingy with your possessions, that could apply also to being stingy with your time, there's a lot of people that just won't do anything for anyone, aren't they? But it could also be with the word, couldn't it, with the Gospel as well. You know, it's in your power, you have it in your hand, don't you? You have the word of God, you know how to get people saved, don't withhold it from people. And you say that, you say, well why would I withhold it? How many people do, right? And I'm not just talking about going out on soul winning times, I'm talking about maybe when there's a family member, a friend or someone and you just for whatever reason, it's, I can't really be bothered. Because we do sometimes, we can get a bit hard-hearted sometimes, can't we? Sometimes you can get a bit too used to maybe the rejections that you kind of think, is it worth it, you know, should I even try? It's like, don't withhold it though, all you have to do is ask them if they want to hear, you don't have to force it on anyone, just ask them. It's as simple as that. Would you like to know how the Gospel, you know, how the Bible says you can be sure you're going to heaven, would you like to know the Gospel? They don't want to know, they don't want to know, right? But we don't have to withhold it ourselves. People withhold good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. It says, say not unto thy neighbour, go and come again tomorrow, I will give when thou has it by thee. And we could do that with the Gospel as well, we could do that with many things. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. And by the way, there's nothing worse than trouble on your doorstep, is there? And again, people do this stuff, don't they? I think sometimes we get angry in bad moods, especially when it's someone you see a lot that's around you, it can be someone in your household, it can be someone outside, and you know, you've got someone who dwells securely by you and then suddenly you're causing trouble, you're having rouse, you're getting grief. We don't need any, you know, the best thing you can do is not row with your neighbours, isn't it? I remember my wife's auntie, her quote was, if you make best friends with your neighbours, the only thing left to do is to fall out with them. Her thought was like, basically remove my foot from my neighbour's house. Because neighbours fall out all the time, don't they? Like, how many people do you know that hate their neighbours for one reason or another, and they're like, you know, putting leaves over the fence at the fall of their own. All that weird stuff, you know. People do this stuff. It's just like, you're best to just avoid that in life, aren't you? It just causes you trouble. What a grief it is as well. I see, horrible. Can you imagine like going out and you're getting in your cars in the morning, you know, like this at each other and ignoring each other, refusing to talk to each other and everything else. And it's like, it doesn't really need to be like that, does it? It's just a stress, isn't it? You know, he said, devise not evil against our neighbours, seeing you dwells securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause if he hath done thee no harm. A lot of people get very self-important and strive over nothing, don't they? And there's something that came to my mind about this, the striving over nothing. One of them was road rage. How many people really strive over nothing when it comes to road rage? To the point where there are people that have and will continue to kill each other over someone just being a bad driver. I mean, I kind of get it a little bit more when they're just tailgating you and, you know, and then undertaking you at like a ridiculous speed, especially when you've got your kids in the car and stuff. That stuff's pretty vexing, isn't it? But when it's literally just someone just did a mistake when they were driving, you know, someone just did something you didn't like. People go crazy, don't they? And really, they haven't really done you any harm either because you're still alive. It might be different if you were like your car was flipped over and you got out of the car and then you kind of went for them. You could kind of understand that, right? But most of road rage, it doesn't involve any accidents. Most of road rage is someone who hasn't actually been done any harm at all. They just perceive that they might have been done harm had it worked out or whatever else. And then next thing you know, they're fighting and a lot of the time not. It's usually bullying from one to someone else or something else. It's pretty wicked, isn't it? But I was thinking as well, here's another one. Because I thought about this a bit just recently, just because I don't think it's a very biblical concept. What about the amount of people that pick fights or have done in the past, probably less now, over someone swearing in them their wives or their children's presence? That's a bit of an old, like that was like, we're old school. So what, mind your language, roller kids. Yet these same people will literally shove their kids in front of the most vile filth on TV. They'll show them the worst movies. They'll show them absolute filth. They'll happily have people blaspheming saying anything else. But that word the world has decided is a bad word. I'm going to basically have a fight with you over it because you just happen to say it in the ear shot of my kids. It does, it kind of vexes you because I think it's a bit of a, you know, I don't know if you guys get the same, you kind of get this little fleeting thought. It's almost like disrespecting me, swearing around my kids. But I do believe it's just completely imbalanced morals most of the time, isn't it? The same people don't care about other things. And ultimately, like, are your kids going to suddenly start using filthy language? They will if you can't control them. They won't if you just go to and don't ever use that word. It's like, okay, thanks for that. Do you think they're never going to hear it? They're never going to hear it. But people do that stuff, don't they? They want to have fights. I've seen this many years when I was younger, people like swearing around the youngster, you know, trying to attack them or something. And it's like, what the hell is wrong with you? Now you're beating someone up or getting beaten up in front of your kid. You're mad. You might as well have just ignored it. Like you ignore everything else. Like you ignore the sodomite walking past everything else. You know, swearing. And what does the Bible, what's the Bible verse about swearing? Oh yeah, they're not there. Not there. Because they're, look, okay, yeah, some got corrupt communication. Is that really what it's talking about? Yeah, we should use language. It should be to the use of edifying, shouldn't it? I'm not telling you to all go out and turn the language, the air blue, okay? I'm not saying that, okay? However, people put it up here, don't they? Church, I mean, I've heard these guys, he's passed the church, they're like, I remember this guy once saying, you know, well, you should have heard the language coming out of their mouth. I mean, were they even saved? Really? Oh, okay. So that's it. Oh, that's how you judge someone's salvation, is it? By whether or not they choose or don't choose through the words that you think are rude. Or the world's told you are rude. Whilst Jesus becomes a cuss word and a swear word. And you get literally people in churches, in churches like us, using him or the word or the name of God and other things as a swear word. Use it as an exclamation and everything else. Take the name of the Lord in vain, but oh no, that's all right. As long as you don't use a word that the world says is bad. And anyway, back to the point, people will strive about that stuff, won't they? Is there really a cause? Does it really matter? Has he really done you any harm? And sometimes I think we just like to let out a bit of anger on people. People a lot of the time are just looking for an excuse, aren't they? Looking for an excuse to have an outlet on someone else. Well, I wouldn't have done that, so now I'm angry. And he said, have they really done you any harm? Because they don't have the standards that you have. He said, envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways. And look, I've seen a lot of wicked people who do that. They'd be with these bizarre morals. I remember like the kind of, when I was younger, the kind of old school plastic gangster types in this country who like to be like, you know, how dare they treat an old person like that while they're just bullying people like they're frightened, center on a daily basis. They always have like this sort of like, the elderly are up here, but, you know, normal people have never done anything to anyone down here because they might look a little bit effeminate or not quite tough enough. Then they just go and bully them, you know? People always have these skewed morals, if that makes sense, you know? They're oppressors. They like to oppress. They like to bully, you know? And we shouldn't envy that type of thing. Oh, well, you know, yeah, I don't put up with this, you know? And then I'm seeking strife where there was no strife, you know? We don't need to be like those types of people. He said envy thou not the oppressor and choose none of his ways. And there are many people that just impose unjust burdens on people. That's ultimately what an oppressor is. Choose none of his ways. We don't need to behave like those people, for the froward is abomination to the Lord, but his secret is with the righteous. So froward are disobedient, disobedient, unyielding, those that turn from what's required. Ultimately, do you know what a froward person is? I think when he's talking about the froward, he's talking about usually the reprobates, okay? That's the sorts of people. It's someone who's unyielding, someone that turns from what's required, which really ultimately is a gospel, because he then continues and says the curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked. He just said the froward are abomination, but he blesseth the habitation of the just. And it's true, isn't it? When you see these people's lives, and look, I'm not obviously talking about the social media life, yeah? But when you just see the, you know, the house of the wicked, it's a pretty, it's a pretty miserable place, really. People, they try and convince you it's not, you know, and obviously nowadays you have like the social media version of your life. A lot of people, if they're into that sort of stuff, which is over here, and your real life is kind of over here, you know. But the reality is when you start to get to know these people, you see them on a regular base, you just see it's pretty miserable, isn't it? Really miserable. It's cursed. It's a cursed life. But he blesseth the habitation of the just. And the more you try and live for God, the more you try and do things for God, ultimately the happier your house does become, doesn't it? You know, and obviously there are many things that you go through, many struggles in life, and harder times, and everything else. However, he does bless the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners, but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools. So those scorners, God scorns them. He gives grace, he gives, you know, basically unmerited favour to the lowly, the humble really. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools. And it is a shame when you see these people out there, isn't it? Like some of these people, it's a shame in their life. Sometimes you see the way like these wicked people behave, these foolish people, and it's just shameful. It's shameful seeing how these people are. That's ultimately what happens, but the wise shall inherit glory. And it can be a tough life out there, but ultimately we're going to end up in heaven, aren't we? We're going to end up in heaven, and what a day that's going to be. And look, that was Proverbs chapter three, and I know there's a lot of different things in there. There's a lot of verses that you can expand there. Hopefully, most of you have taken something from some of those verses. There's a lot of applicable verses to your life there, things that you can think about, things that you can apply, but the takeaway from it all is what really Proverbs chapter three is, in all thy ways acknowledge him, right? In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Just submit to God, right? Put your life in God's hands. Just say, right, I'm going to do everything I know you want me to do, God. I'm going to try and live for you. I'm going to do my best to live for you. I'm going to do everything I can. I'm going to, yeah, I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to actually feel bad about them when I do that. I'm going to try my utmost, and watch what you can do in your life when you do that. Or you can go, oh yeah, but you know, I'll pick and choose myself. Well, you're not acknowledging him in all your ways, and he ain't going to direct your paths, and good luck with that, because I need that light. I need that lamp into my path, because otherwise, yeah, I'm going to fall, right? We need him. We need him. We need him, especially if you're serving God, you need him more than ever, but regardless, we need him. And on that, we're going to finish in a word of prayer. Father, thank you for, well, for the sound wisdom you give us, Lord, in the book of Proverbs, especially just those takeaways from Proverbs chapter three. Lord, I hope I preach that in a way that people think about things, and try and apply it to their lives, and Lord, just try and really get that wisdom understanding, get that knowledge just applied to their lives, and seek it, find it, and when they have it, don't let it go. Just keep trying to live for you, Lord. Help us to have a church here which is just, you know, full of wisdom, full of that knowledge that comes from your word, Lord. Help us to resist the temptation of sin in the various ways each of us does, Lord, and help us to, when we do, to just be repentant, to come to you, to just keep putting you at the centre of everything, to keep trying to live more for you. Help us to have a good week going ahead now, Lord, a week where we think about some of that wisdom from your word, and also to try and find a way to get out on the sole winning times and to get back on Wednesday as well. In Jesus' name, for all of this. Amen.