Look what it says in verse number 5, it says it's better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than for a man to hear the song of fools.
There are a lot of foolish people out there that are just going to always tell you what
you want to hear or entertain you or make you feel good and sing you happy songs.
But it's better, the Bible says, to hear the rebuke of the wise.
And you know, I think when I hear the word rebuke of the wise, I just think of preaching.
Because what does God tell the preacher to do?
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
And so when I think of the rebuke of the wise, it's better to listen to the rebuke of the
wise than to hear the song of fools.
That means that you're better off listening to the word of God and listening to the word
of God being preached than just listening to worldly music, for example.
And I remember when I was younger and I used to listen to a lot of preaching on my headphones,
on my Walkman with cassettes of preaching, believe it or not, and the struggle was real
back then.
You didn't just download a bunch of preaching, we didn't make preaching cassettes.
And it took longer to make the cassettes than to listen to the cassettes.
But I used to make all these preaching tapes and listen to them.
And I remember I used to quote this verse to myself sometimes just to motivate myself
instead of listening to music to want to listen to the preaching.
I'd say, well, you know what?
I'd rather listen to the rebuke of the wise than to listen to the song of fools.
I would quote that verse myself and it would make me want to listen to preaching.
It says, first, the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.
This also is vanity.
Some idiotic people are just smiling and just everything's a joke.
Have you ever known people that just can't get serious ever?
And it's irritating.
Maybe I'm guilty of joking around too much because I do joke around quite a bit.
But there's a time when we need to get serious and put aside the laughing and the joke and
the games and realize heaven and hell are real.
Everybody's going to die someday.
The Lord Jesus Christ died for us and we're bought with a price and we owe him everything
and we need to take the Christian life seriously.
And so we need to spend some time listening to the rebuke of the wise, being in the house
of mourning.
And I love what it says in verse three when it says, by the sadness of the countenance,
the heart is made better.
That tells me that part of the reason why God allows bad things to happen in my life
is because of the fact that bad things that make me sad probably in the long run are going
to end up making me a better person than if everything just went my way all the time.
Everything I touch is turned into gold and everywhere I turn I'm just winning, winning,
right?
And you know what's funny, that hashtag winning, my understanding is that that started from
Charlie Sheen, who's probably one of the biggest idiots on this planet.
Like if you had to think of somebody just being the most stupid, foolish, idiotic person,
it's got to be Charlie Sheen, the actor who's just so full of drugs and he's such a whoremonger
and he's just such a blasphemous fool, total idiot.
But he'll make you laugh on that show that he's on, whatever show he's on.
He was on a show where they're just like drinking all the time.
They're drinking for breakfast and whatever, just booze constantly.
And the thing is, you know, yeah, that's a complete idiot and so he's just winning.
I mean he's just so great and he's got all of his money and his wealth and his fame,
but he's going to split hell wide open.
And if you want to know why Charlie Sheen's such a rotten person, it's probably because
he just grew up a spoiled brat.
He grew up rich and then he's pampered in Hollywood.
And so I'll tell you right now, if I would have been blessed with good looks and athletic
ability and, you know, exceptional intelligence, and if I would have been the most popular
kid in school, I guarantee you that I would not be up here preaching right now.
I'd probably be the biggest arrogant jerk that you could imagine.
Think about that.
I mean, I would probably be a super rotten person because I'm not intrinsically good.
You know, the Bible said about the Apostle Paul, he said, in my flesh dwell with no good
thing.
And, you know, those of us that know the Lord and know the Word of God, we know our sinful
condition.
You know, we know that we have that sinful nature in our flesh.
And so it's the afflictions that we go through in our life that make us a better person because
I guarantee you, just knowing myself, if I would have grown up and just been the coolest
guy and just succeeding at everything and super popular, super athletic, super great
looking, you know, I probably would have become a big jerk and been prideful and, you know,
but here's the thing.
Let's say you go through life and let's say, you know, something's wrong with you physically
so that you're not good looking.
You know, that actually makes you understand what other people are going through.
And understand what it's like to not have everything just handed to you on a silver
platter and, you know, understand maybe how other people feel.
And, you know, you're probably going to be less likely to make fun of someone's appearance
when your appearance has been made fun of and you've kind of been there.
And, you know, the same thing, like if you, let's say you go through financial problems.
You know, then you're not going to have this prideful attitude that says, oh, everybody
who has financial problems is just because they're lazy or just because they're an idiot.
You kind of realize, well, no.
I mean, you know, people get into financial problems.
And so it gives you empathy for what other people are going through and it just makes
you a nicer person, a more humble person when you're not just constantly lifted up and exalted
and everybody's favorite person and whatever.
You know, when I was growing up, I was, until I was in junior high, I was the shortest kid
in the class, the, not one of the shortest.
I was the shortest kid in the class, you know.
And then when I hit junior high, boom, I was normal height.
But man, you know, it's not, you know, going through elementary school being the shortest
kid, the struggle is real.
And you know, and then, so then when I was a teenager, then I get into junior high and
it's like, yes, I'm normal height.
I'm average white guy height.
This is great.
Then, then all of a sudden I just had just extreme acne.
It's just like, man, I can't catch a break, can I?
As soon as I get the right height, now my face is covered in acne.
And you know, so as a teenager, I was really self-conscious about that because I just had
so much acne on my face.
I mean, I had it bad, really bad.
And so, you know, but, and at the time I hated it.
You know, I would have loved to just snap my fingers and for my acne to be gone.
You know, I would, I would have paid any price to fix that as a teenager.
But do you think now that I'm 39 years old, do you think that I care that as a teenager
I had acne?
No.
In fact, looking back, I'm glad that I had acne because it probably made me a better
person.
It probably made me a more humble person.
It probably helped me to treat other people better because I wasn't just Mr. Cool, Mr.
Good Looking, Mr. Perfect, you know?
And I wasn't very athletic either, I'll have you know, okay.
So the, you know, the point is we all have things and I'm sure you could testify all
the things about yourself that aren't perfect or maybe sad things that you've gone through,
bad things that you've gone through.
And all of us, while we're going through those things, we wish that we weren't.
But you know what?
Those things made us who we are today and they actually make us a better person.
And that's why I love how David said in the book of Psalms, it's good for me that I've
been afflicted, that I might keep thy word.
So David said, the bad things that happened to me, the afflictions, the trials, the tribulations,
the troubles, I'm actually glad they happened because now I'm keeping God's word.
And you know, I wonder if everything would have been handed to me on a silver platter
if I would have grown up rich and smart and good looking and athletic.
You know, you probably wouldn't even have time for the things of God because you're
just enjoying all of the fun, you know, with the sports team and all the girls and all
the parties, you know, and you could easily get caught up in those things.
And so the point is that whatever God has put in our lives, whatever thorn in the flesh
that we have, it's there for a reason and we should just be at peace with it and accept
it and even maybe even be thankful for it because, you know, the apostle Paul said that
he was given a thorn in his flesh so that he would not be exalted above measure.
I mean, think about the apostle Paul, I mean, he wrote like half the New Testament as far
as number of books.
And he said because of that abundance of revelations that he received, he was given a thorn in
his flesh so that he would not be exalted above measure.
And three times he besought the Lord that that thorn in the flesh would be removed from
him.
But God told him, he said, my grace is sufficient for thee.
My strength is made perfect in weakness.
And he said, you know what?
All glory in that thorn in the flesh, all glory in my infirmities that the power of
Christ may rest upon me.
And so don't get, you know, and obviously teenagers probably have a hard time accepting
what I'm saying right now, but it's true.
If you're a teenager and you're short or you're underweight, overweight, you know, maybe you're
not great looking, maybe you're not athletic, you're struggling in school, whatever it is,
you know what?
Allow those struggles to make you a better person.
Don't get bitter and upset, oh, it's not fair.
Some people are just handed everything.
Okay, here's a little exercise.
When you get in your 30s, go back and look up all the people that were super cool in
high school and see where they're at now and see if they're serving the Lord right now.
And you know what?
The answer is that probably the cool kids, the cool group, you know, most of them probably
aren't serving the Lord right now.
And so who would you rather be?
You know, I'd rather be a little bit of an outsider, maybe not as cool, not as good looking,
you know, and be serving the Lord.
So I hope that encourages some of you today, all right, that are, you know, that don't
have everything, you know, perfect in your life.
But guess what?
Pretty much everybody, because like I said, it's always going to be something.
If it's not your height, then the acne comes, you know.
And then, you know, it's always going to be something.
So the Bible says, you know, by the sadness of the countenance, the heart is made better.
So sometimes going through bad things and being sad about it actually makes us a better
person.
Suffering makes us a better person.
That's why God allows suffering.
And a lot of people are like, why would God allow so much suffering in the world?
I mean, there's already so much sin in the world.
If there were less suffering, can you imagine how rotten people would be then?
I mean, why did Sodom and Gomorrah get so evil?
Because the Bible said it was idleness, abundance of idleness, fullness of bread.
So basically, they had abundance.
They're rich, they're comfortable, they could relax.
And then what did they do?
They just got into abominations, they just kept getting worse and weirder and whatever.
And so, you know, our country may have to go through a hard time in order to get our
country to turn back to the Lord.
And so, you know, if there was some huge economic crash tomorrow or some huge, you know, pandemic
or something, you know, it's something like a real one this time, you know what I mean?
But like if something serious happened, if something really bad happened, you know, I
wouldn't just be like, oh, I can't believe God's doing this to where are you, God?
You know, if it happened, I would be sitting there thinking like, you know what?
Maybe it's going to make our country better.
Maybe it's what we need right now to to humble us.
And remember, when James said, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness,
what was the next phrase?
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up, because it's the
sadness and sorrow that keeps us humble.
Because if everything goes our way, we'll get too prideful and then we'll be a big jerk
and we don't want that.