about time to get started this evening. If you would find a seat and grab a hymnal. Our first
hymn is number 254, "Whosoever Will." Hymn number 254, 254, "Whosoever Will." 254, we'll sing there
starting on the 1st. "Whosoever hear, I'll shout this town, travel through the valley." Let's open
with a word of praise with me. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this day, for the opportunity
to gather together. Lord, I pray that you just be with those two salvations that we had this evening,
and that you'd also just be with all the seeds that were planted, that that would eventually
germinate into a saving faith in you. I pray that you'd be with us for the service, that you would
open our ears to the message and fill, pastor, with your spirit. These things we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. All right, for our second hymn this evening, turn to 261, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus." 261,
261, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus." 261 there, on the 1st.
Bible memory passage of the Galatians chapter number 1 verse 12. If you memorize this whole
chapter word perfectly and you're able to recite it to an adult non-family member,
you will get a prize at the end. On the left-hand side, if you open that up, are our service times
listed. Sunday morning at 10 30 a.m. Sunday evening at 4 30 p.m. and our Wednesday evening Bible study
at 7 o'clock. And of course we're starting a new Bible study this evening so really looking forward
to that. Our soulening times below are listed there and all those meet here at the church building
with the exception of Tuesday so please get in touch with brother Eric if you'd like to make it
to that time. Below that is our nursing home ministry schedule updated there and below is
our year-to-date statistics and if you look at the month of March just praise the lord for how
receptive it's been and this is actually the most salvations that this group of people here has ever
had in one month so that's really exciting and encouraging to see the lord blessing our efforts
out there and we still got many days left in this month so we can keep going on that. On the right
side you'll see our upcoming events April 13th is a men's preaching night that's the pm service
and immediately following that we will have a potluck after. April 19th is our Easter soul
winning marathon we do have a sign up sheet back there please sign up so that I know how much food
to order. Also we did order some custom Easter invites for that and you could start using those
now because I ordered a ton so hand them out they're only good until April 20th after that
we're just going to throw them away so that's a little thing we got there keep that in mind
also the day after that of course is Easter April 20th and we're going to have barbecue catered
right after the morning service you know when you're out soul winning tell people that hey you want
to come to church get some free barbecue on Easter you know tell people that I will say I ordered a
ton of food should have plenty of food but if you would like dessert options I'm counting on you
all right so if you want to bring some desserts that's on you guys I'll provide the drinks and
the meat so looking forward to that and then in the evening we're going to take the Lord's Supper
as a church. May 16th through the 18th is the King James Conference at Shur Foundation Baptist
Church. May 31st we're doing another soul winning marathon in Durant Oklahoma and that's meeting up
with Steadfast Baptist Church. June 28th that's going to be a great weekend on that Saturday we're
going to the Tinker Air Show just as a church family having some fun and the next day brother
Ben Naim from Steadfast Baptist Church is preaching both services for us that day. August 27th through
the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship and the big one for the year October 6th through
the 11th is the Bahamas Mission Trip. Below that there's a QR code if you'd like to give to our
church also if you're a visitor or if we haven't had your information captured before if you
wouldn't mind just scanning that QR code and letting us get some information so we could send
you guys the links to sermons and just events that are going on at our church on the back you know
I'm gonna actually go to this first congratulations to the Reed family on the birth of Theodore the
cutest Theodore by far in this church Theodore Wesley Reed and he was born on March 20th at 3 35
pm weighing seven pounds one ounces and measuring 20 inches long so congratulations to them give it
up for them and the meal train filled up fast thank you guys for you know being a loving church
and caring for people going through that but as always if you want to be more of a blessing to
them that's always an option so you can still bring them a meal if you get in contact with them
i know one thing they're asking is they're asking just that the food be left on the doorstep if you
ever had a baby you know it's not fun when you just have a baby and everyone wants to you know come
over and stay for an hour or whatever so just leave the food they said knock on the door it's like ding
dong ditching but you know showing love doing it all right above that we have our prayer list
and we have brother samson on there i did text him and he says that he's been seeing a lot of
improvement so that is good but we'll keep him on that prayer list for this week also i got an update
about brother miles brother miles is adjusting well to his living center that he's in they're
working on his speech and just the left side of his body but he is getting better every day so
that's a good sign but definitely just keep them in prayer and at this time let's go ahead and go
to the lord in prayer lord we thank you for this day we thank you for our church thank you for how
receptive it's been and for the labors that you've given us i pray that you just enable us to do
more and greater works for you and get more and more people saved i just pray that you would bless
the efforts of anchor baptist church we also thank you for the new life born into the reed family
and into the anchor baptist church family i just prayed that you would bless the reeds that you'd
bless whitney as she recovers help everything to go well and bless that new baby lord we also pray
for brother samson in texas that you would heal him and help him not to be in so much back pain
we also pray for the hausburg family that you would bless brother miles in his recovery help
him to get the best treatment possible and also pray that you'd give miss ria strength and wisdom
in her decisions lord also we pray for miss shawn for her granddaughter hadley just that she would be
able to be homeschooled lord and you just bless their living situation also pray for brother alex
for his work situation lord and we pray for miss remmy i pray that she's doing well abroad that
she bless her travels help her to be safe over there and we pray that you would bless her visa
process according to your will and that you'd heal her body lord we also pray for the members
in our church that have unsaved loved ones that you would just help those people to have many
chances to hear the gospel that you'd soften their hearts and that you would just embolden the soul
winners in our church to preach the gospel just to not just to the community lord but also to our
loved ones and bless the service in Jesus name we pray amen that's going to be it for announcements
we'll go ahead and go to our third song all right in your white handouts turn if you would to psalm
15 psalm 15 1 5 in your white handouts psalm 15 psalm 15 there on the first
the offering plates are being passed turn if you would to proverbs chapter number one
proverbs chapter number one good evening proverbs one the bible reads the proverbs of solomon the
son of david king of israel to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding
to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity to give subtlety to the simple
to the young man knowledge and discretion a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man
of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels to understand a proverb and the interpretation
the words of the wise and their dark sayings the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge but
fools despise wisdom and instruction my son hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the
law of thy mother for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck
my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not if they say come with us let us lay weight for blood
let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole
as those that go down into the pit we shall find our precious substance we shall fill our houses
with spoil cast in thy lot among us let us all have one purse my son walk not thou in the way
with them refrain thy foot from their path for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood
surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood
they lurk privily for their own lives so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain which
taketh away the life of the owners thereof wisdom cryeth out she utter other uttereth her voice in
the streets she cryeth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the
city she uttereth her words saying how long you simple ones we love simplicity and the scorners
delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge turn you at my reproof behold i will pour out my
spirit unto you i will make known my words unto you because i have called and you refused i have
stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have said it not all my counsel and would none
of my reproof i also will laugh at your calamity i will mock when your fear cometh when your fear
cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind when the stress and anguish cometh
upon you then shall they call upon me but i will not answer they shall seek me early but they shall
not find me for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the lord they would none of
my counsel they despised all my reproof therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and
be filled with their own devices for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the
prosperity of fools shall destroy them but who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be
quiet from fear of evil this power heads for prayer father in heaven we thank you for this day
amen all right well we are in the book of proverbs very excited this is often one of people's favorite
books in the bible and it's one of the most popular books of the bible when you get a
new testament even the ones that we hand out out soul winning it has the psalms and proverbs in
the back so really excited to dig into this let's start in verse number one the bible says the
proverbs of solomon the son of david king of israel so right off the bat we get the author
of the book of proverbs there's a couple other people that write a handful of these proverbs
but really the majority of the book is attributed to king solomon which he lived between 970 bc
and 931 bc so when you think about it this book is about 3000 years old and you know how i know
this is the word of god and that it's powerful is because this was written 3000 years ago yet
millions and millions of people read proverbs today i mean every single day people are reading
the proverbs all over the world because this is such a powerful book and to be honest with you it's
a little bit intimidating to preach through this book just because it's such an epic book and i want
to do it justice i'm praying god will help me with that but let's remind ourselves some things about
king solomon if you will go to first kings chapter four first kings four and of course
keep your place in proverbs one first kings chapter number four look at verse 29 it says
and god gave solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart even as
the sand that is on the seashore so the bible says that god gave solomon wisdom so this is not
you know the proverbs are not just like the ramblings of some guy's opinions his own ideas
his own thoughts god actually gave solomon wisdom and lots and lots of it verse 30 says in solomon's
solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the wisdom
of egypt so the bible is highlighting that this wasn't like just your average scholar like this
guy was incredibly wise more than all the people that were around him verse 31 says for he was
wiser in fact than all men so solomon when he was living he was the wisest man alive and it says
then ethan the ezrahyde and he man and calcol and darda the sons of mayhol see i don't know who those
people are but i know who solomon is why because we have the book of proverbs today and it says and
his fame was in all nations roundabout then notice this in verse 32 and he spake 3000 proverbs and
his songs were a thousand and five so notice solomon just wrote a ton of stuff and people
sometimes will say like oh the book of proverbs is just general wisdom i would say that of the
three thousand four thousand five hundred things that solomon wrote there's probably a lot of good
general wisdom in the things that he wrote but the book of proverbs is not just general wisdom it is
the word of god see the bible did not record for us all of the proverbs that solomon wrote and i'm
sure some of them that aren't in the bible were probably pretty good i'm sure they were full of
wisdom i mean he's the wisest man alive but maybe that stuff was general wisdom the thing about this
though but the book of proverbs is that it is the words of god god inspired solomon to write these
proverbs so it's not just like well this is someone's idea about life no everything in the
book of proverbs is just fact you could just hang your hat and whatever the proverbs say you know
that it is a hundred percent right with that go back to proverbs one so like i said solomon's the
author of proverbs but you also have in proverbs 30 a guy named agar so he's one of the authors
and then in proverbs 31 king lemuel he writes some and he preaches the prophecy that his mother
taught him but the vast majority of proverbs is from solomon so i'm going to try to break
these into sections when i can sometimes it seems like the book of proverbs just rapid fires
different ideas at you and sometimes you can find some connections so i'm going to try to do that
when i can and so number one this evening the purpose of the proverbs the purpose of the
proverbs verse two says to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding
so why is it that we have the book of proverbs it's to help us know wisdom and instruction to
perceive right to understand the words of understanding the thing about the book of
proverbs is that reading the book of proverbs will make you a smart person this is why it's
often recommended to people that you read the proverb of the day because this book right here
is just absolutely packed with wisdom and knowledge and will help you get understanding
and if you apply those things to your life you will become a smart and wise person by reading
the proverbs verse 3 says to receive the instruction of wisdom justice and judgment and equity so it's
like these things wisdom justice judgment equity they're constantly instructing you through the
proverbs and you could be wise by receiving that instruction one of the things i want to point out
there is it talks about equity now equity is kind of a buzzword today in our culture where it's all
about like diversity equity and inclusion and i would say diversity is not a strength in the
way that the liberals mean it today we need unity around the word of god and how the liberals and
just leftists use equity is not the way that the bible uses equity how liberals use equity is saying
that basically like well okay we're gonna have a company here we gotta make sure we hire 40 black
people and 40 asian women and 40 black trans men and 40 white guys no it's probably like 20 white
guys let's be honest like that's equity today in in our culture but this is the definition i found
of equity it says the quality of being fair or impartial fairness impartiality then it gives an
example sentence and i'm not even kidding this is the first example that i found it said the equity
of solomon so it's like even dictionaries are referring to the book of proverbs when they want
to know hey what's equity well how about solomon he was someone that was fair he was someone that
applied the law equally and that's really what equity is about it's not necessarily making sure
everyone has the exact same results and making sure that we tailor everything so that everyone
is at the exact same position but it's really that the rules are fair and the rules are applied
equally the rules are applied to everyone and i'll give you some examples of that go to romans chapter
number two romans chapter number two notice in verse 11 it says for there is no respect of persons
with god see that is an example of true equity see god actually funny enough as the the leftists like
to accuse christians of being racist but god actually does not care about the color of your
skin it doesn't mean anything to him your nationality means nothing to god the bible talks
about how all the nations are before him as nothing he doesn't care yet in an effort to
have equity leftists they care exclusively about your skin color to where they have things called
affirmative action and to say hey oh we're going to have equity right and so what we're going to do
is we're going to force you to hire x amount of colored people or x amount of whatever status or
class but that's literally the opposite of equity what equity would be is saying like here's the
qualifications here's the rules it's open to the like whoever meets these qualifications and then
that standard is applied equally to everyone that's real equity but just choosing to hire someone
because they're black is literally racism folks making policy decisions based on the color of
someone's skin is being a respecter of persons it's not equitable it's the opposite of those things
and of course the left are a bunch of hypocrites but look at romans chapter three turn the page
romans chapter three you know god is fair verse 22 says even the righteousness of god which is by
faith of jesus christ unto all and upon all qualifier them that believe for there is no
difference see what is it that determines if someone's saved one thing where are you putting
your trust if you believe in the lord jesus christ nothing else matters that's the standard
it's available to all it's applied to all equally why because god is not a respecter of persons he
is equitable verse 23 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of god being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that is in christ jesus whom god hath set forth to be a
propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of god notice he brings up the jews and gentiles in verse 29
is he the god of the jews only is he not also of the gentiles yes of the gentiles also seeing it is
one god which shall justify the circumcision by faith and uncircumcision through faith so notice
he's bringing up these two groups of people which today people still argue over this and especially
when the new testament was just getting kicked off this is something that the apostles were
constantly battling is saying like is there really a difference between a jew or a gentile
the jews thought they were special just because they were physically descended from abraham and
they're saying like well abraham's our father so we've got the covenant and we're good to go
but he's saying is he the god of the jews only no of the gentiles how through faith circumcision
faith uncircumcision faith it takes faith for both of these people to get saved and if someone's a
gentile and they don't have faith in christ they will go to hell someone's a jew and they don't
have faith in christ they will go to hell why because god is equitable that is real equity
go back to proverbs chapter number one proverbs chapter one so when you learn the proverbs it's
going to teach you how to judge correctly how to apply god's word correctly verse four says
additionally it's to give subtlety to the simple to the young man knowledge and discretion so it
kind of talks about two target audiences that are also going to be blessed by this book and it's the
simple which is just people that are just uneducated or stupid or dumb look god doesn't hate those
people he wants them to learn he wants them to grow and this is supposed to give them subtlety
now most of the time when we use the word subtle it's in a negative light but subtle can also be
used in a different way subtlety sometimes could mean acuteness or penetration of mind delicacy of
discrimination a fine drawn distinction refinement of reasoning so basically just having discretion
being able to have a little bit of nuance right there's a lot of things in the bible
that are very black and white other things take some subtlety some discretion that comes from
knowledge and wisdom and growing in the lord and it says to the young man knowledge and discretion
and and young men we need a lot of it okay because we just tend to lack it so we just need to read
Proverbs every single day, but let me give an example what I'm talking about good
Deuteronomy chapter 22 there's some some things in the Bible that are black and white and you can't say well
This is my interpretation and just excuse away the words of God. Then there's other things that require some
Application and some discretion. There's like the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law. What does that mean?
What does the law literally say and what was the intent behind that right?
What is it behind the law behind the words of God?
That God wants us to do or stop doing or think or stop thinking or feel or stop feeling, right?
What is it that God wants us to do? Let me give you an example of that Deuteronomy 22 verse 5
The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man
So let's just get into the letter of the law
There is a type of clothing that pertains to a man and a woman is not supposed to wear that pretty simple, right?
This is the letter of the law. Neither shall a man put on a woman's garment and all God's people said amen
Right, that's terrible. There's a you're not supposed to wear women's clothing as a man
Then it says for all that do so our abomination unto the Lord thy God
Okay. So what is just the black and white?
Interpretation of this passage is that God hates cross-dressing
God does not want men walking around in skirts. It's an abomination. It's disgusting
It's something that makes you just want to vomit when you see it. It's so unnatural and gross
it's wicked and
Just as wicked as that is in the sight of God is a woman wearing that who is pertaineth unto a man
Which I believe is pants. Okay, but here's just the letter of the law is that God hates cross-dressing, right?
Now what would be the spirit of the law? What would be kind of the motive behind that?
It's that God wants men to look like men and God wants women to look like women
So I would say that anytime a woman is trying to look masculine
That is a sin and if a man is trying to look feminine. That is a sin. It's called being effeminate, right?
So letter of the law cross-dressing is not allowed. What's the spirit behind that men look like men women?
You should look like women. That's the application, right? One thing that I've heard that's always helped me in studying the Bible is this idea of
observation
interpretation
application
Observation. What does the text say?
Interpretation what does the text mean?
Application what should I do stop doing think stop thinking feel stop feeling right?
That's a good way to read the Bible and when you read the Proverbs, it's gonna give you
Subtlety it's gonna give you that ability to have discretion to be able to not just understand what a text says
But what it means and how to apply it correctly go back to Proverbs chapter number one
And as you're turning there, you know think about this
Another example is that God has given human authority real authority, right?
God has given the government authority. God has given pastors authority. God has given husbands authority
God has given parents authority. God has given bosses authority. The Bible does not spell out in black and white
Every single thing that a leader should do or every single rule that they have they have authority
But if an authority makes up a rule and it's not a sin
Discretion and subtlety should teach you that you should obey that rule
Does the like if your parents have a rule kids it says take off your shoes when you get in the house
Does the Bible say thou shalt take off thy shoes when thou enterest into thine abode?
No, right, but it does say to honor your mother and father
It does say children obey your parents and the Lord for this is right
And so you take that and then you could apply it to other areas of your life. This is called discretion
This is called wisdom here verse number five of Proverbs 1
It says a wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise
Council so in this verse, you know you preachers out there if you like outlined verses this verse gives you three
Steps to becoming wise what are those steps? Well says the first thing a wise man will
Hear you know to become a wise person you have to listen more than you speak
You know a fool is known by the abundance of his words when someone is just jibber-jabbering every single day all day long
They can never listen to instruction. They just want to talk talk talk. That is a sign of someone that's foolish
but what does a wise person do a wise person actually listens a wise person actually shows up to church to listen and
It's not like this modern church movement where it's like. Hey, let's all get in a circle kids ladies
Let's all go ahead and get in a circle here
And we'll just go around and just share our testimony and just you've got a word tonight
You've got a word tonight whatever God put on your heart
You know that's foolishness because I'm sorry to tell you that not everybody is at the same spiritual level
Sorry, it's just a fact and sorry. It's just a fact that God has ordained real leadership and that God has ordained preachers
That's just the way that God has made it
He doesn't want us getting in some little circle and calling that church
No church has a pastor church has real preachers and a wise person doesn't despise that a wise person actually wants to come to church
Because a wise person will hear they will listen. Not only that it says they will increase
Learning right so they're gonna be constantly studying constantly reading things because you know how you learn things you read
And there's this idea out there that's based on a lot of truth that some people are visual learners some people are auditory learners
Some people are learning by doing but let me just tell you the truth is that we all learn through all of those things
Okay, and some people want to excuse themselves from reading the Bible because they're like well
I kind of just learned by doing bro. Well, guess what?
God gave you a book and that means that you need to read it and don't listen to some
Psychologist some Jewish Jewish psychologist coming in your elementary school telling a seven-year-old you are permanently an auditory learner
Like I remember being in elementary school and just like being told that and it's just stupid
You know what kids need to be told learn to read and learn to like it
Yeah, some people are gonna be slower than others, but you know how you become a better reader
You do it over and over and over again. No one has an excuse unless you have some sort of physical disability
To not be a reader just because you think like oh, I'm not the best at it
You're not the best at it because you told yourself that and you stopped reading but you know what if you're wise
You know what you're gonna do you're gonna increase learning that means that you're not gonna spend every free second of your life
scrolling on social media and watching all this brain rot reels
Wasting your time not doing anything. You know what a person that's wise does. Oh, they got some time
Why don't I learn something? Why don't I read a proverb? Why don't I read one of the Psalms?
Why don't I just read a book about anything because you know what?
We have a lot of stupid people in our culture today a lot of stupid people in the workforce a lot of stupid people in
Academia even and it's because they're not reading things or they're reading a bunch of lies. You need to read then it says
What's the third thing and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise?
Councils if you want to be wise it's not an option
you must be around wise people if you just surround yourself with a bunch of
Catholics or a bunch of Mormons or a bunch of atheists and that's your group. That's your gang
You're not gonna be a very wise person because you're gonna be around people that don't have the fear of God that don't have true wisdom
No, you have to be around wise people
This is why even if you do just listen online, that's not enough. God does not want you to just hear
He does want you to hear he does want you to increase your learning
but you know, he also wants you to do is to be around wise counsel and
you know in life you're gonna go through problems you're gonna go through situations and
Bouncing them off of mature Christians is gonna help you in your life
Bouncing them off of your parents that are much more mature is gonna bless you
Bouncing ideas off of your pastor is going to help you in your life
But it's the prideful person and the foolish person who thinks I don't need wise counsel
Isn't that funny the wise person gets wise counsel. The wise person is around wise people look at verse 6 another thing here
it says is to understand a proverb and
The interpretation the words of the wise and their dark saying so it's kind of what I was saying earlier
is that there's a difference between just
Knowing what the text says and just being able to dissect a sentence and see what it says on the surfic
On the surface rather than actually understanding what that means right?
And when it comes to the unsaved the unsaved usually can get point one
Right like the carnal mind can understand noah built an ark the carnal man can understand some of the things in the Bible from an
Observation perspective where they start to struggle is when they interpret that and say what does it mean and where they have no hope?
Whatsoever is an application of that and so reading the Proverbs will help you with all three of those things
Number two this evening notice the foundation of knowledge verse 7 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
but fools despise wisdom and
Instruction so notice the person who's already wise. What do they do? They go to wise people fools. They hate instruction they hate
Wisdom go to Luke chapter number 16 and the beginning of that verse has talked about how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
Now I've heard some people take what I would consider to be too extreme of an interpretation of this verse
It's kind of like in Romans 1 where it talks about how reprobates are without understanding that is a that's talking about a spiritual
Understanding reprobates are not gonna understand the Bible folks, but sometimes people say like oh reprobates like can't do math
They can't learn things. They can't learn history. That's not what it's talking about
So where it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
This is talking about in a spiritual sense and a spiritual things
I'll show you that Luke chapter 16 verse 18 says and the Lord
Commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world are in their generation
Wiser than the children of light when it comes to just a carnal understanding
There is you know, the saved and the unsaved are on equal playing fields when it comes to like hey
You want to learn how you know something in science works?
You want to learn how an engine works you want to learn how to fly an airplane like you don't get to be like a better
Pilot because you're saved, you know, you don't get to be a better engineer because you're safe. You don't just you're not an automatically
Understanding more about software development because you're saved
Okay
sometimes even the world when they apply themselves and they learn these things they could be
Wiser even than the children of light in some areas and you know, I work around some people that are unsafe
Thank God I work around a lot of safe people too, but I work with some unsafe people that I'll say right now
They know way more about the IT world than I do. Okay, so when it's talking about, you know
Reprobates being without understanding and stuff like that
It's talking about a spiritual level because you get these over-the-top views where it's like, well, you know Jews created the atomic bomb
So therefore the atomic bomb is fake and was never created because the Bible says they're without understanding
It's like no you're without understanding like you're being an idiot right now
Okay, but the beginning the it says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge
Here's where I would apply that is okay. I want to learn about aviation. I'm going to the best aviator
I don't care if you saved or not, but like don't take your kids to some unsaved
Psychologist that's gonna sit here and tell you how to raise your kids or go to some marriage counselor
It's not safe and give you advice on marriage
You know don't go to some unsaved person to give you advice on how to run a church
Don't go to the unsaved to give you advice on how to preach the gospel, right?
Because to have any knowledge of these things step one
You have to fear the Lord and so you ought to care about where you're getting your advice when it comes to
Spiritual things don't get advice on your marriage from the from the world. Don't get advice for your kids when it comes
From the world stuff like that. That's a bad idea
Really really bad idea go back to Proverbs chapter number one and I'll say this
you know who else is a bad source of guidance and advice is backslidden Christians because even some
Christians do not fear the Lord and so just because someone's saved does not necessarily mean that they're gonna give you good advice on
Childbearing on marriage, you know
There's a lot of saved people out there that are complete and utter feminists and those people do not fear the Lord
And I wouldn't want to get advice from someone like that
I want to get advice from yes someone who's saved about spiritual matters and
They fear the Lord not just that they're saved
But they also fear the Lord number three this evening notice the parental guidance listed here in verse 8 says my son
so Solomon's like
Impleading his child here my son here the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother
You know, let's think about this verse first from the perspective of being a parent
You should be able to say this to your children
You should be able to say my son or my daughter here the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother
you know us as parents we need to actually be instructing our
children and you're not just there as a parent to make sure that your son or daughter gets enough calories for their body for the
Day and that you change their diapers and that you put a roof over their head
Those are the basic necessities but you know God didn't give you those kids just that you could give them physical sustenance
He gave those kids to you so that you would instruct them in the way of God so that you would
In part unto them the fear of the Lord by teaching them the Bible by teaching them spiritual things
And so as parents as a parent I look at this and I think like I need to be instructing my kids
I need to be able to tell my kids. Hey here my instruction and mom's - it's not just for dad kids are not supposed to forsake
The law of thy mother, you know mothers should be giving their children a good
spiritual heritage and passing that on to the next generation and quite honestly
I think moms have a huge ability to do this because just they're with the kids so much
With the children all the time you have all this opportunity to be talking about the Bible talking about the gospel
Teaching them verses, you know, that is something that you should be doing and then when you think about this from the perspective of
Children the application is listen to your mom and dad
Listen to the instruction that your parents give you because here's what I know
I know your parents love you so much and I know that your parents love you more than I love you
And I know that your parents love you more than anyone else in this room
No one else wants you to succeed in life and for you to be a happier Christian and for you to thrive spiritually
Then your mom and your dad I promise you that and I you know as now that I'm grown
I look back on the things that my parents did and I'm just kind of filled with
Amazement and and just kind of all of how much they loved me and how much they sacrificed for me
And I'm looking at some of the things that they did. I'm like, how did you do that?
Like I would have never done that, you know
But I'm telling you your parents do stuff like that for you. They bring you to a church like this
They care about you doing the soul winning verses. They care about you learning how to be a soul winner
They care about you listening in church and paying attention
They care about your growth and you know what when your parents are giving you spiritual advice
You ought to listen to them. You ought to realize that they've lived some life that you haven't lived and trust me
I understand at your age. You don't realize it yet
But your parents know things that you don't and when you look back in your mid 20s or your 30s or 40s
You're gonna say man. I should have listened to them on this point. Just trust me because I was there like less than 10 years ago
All right. I'm only 27. I was a teenager less than 10 years ago
I was there recently
but I'm telling you I could look back at my parents and the advice that they gave me and I always know they had my
Best interest at heart and even though I didn't even grow up in church
So it's not even like my family was just like uber spiritual
But even just the advice that they did give me was good advice
How much more the parents in this room are giving to their children and so kids ought to listen to what their parents say
verse 9 says for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head and chains about thy neck
What is ornaments and chains, you know?
It's something that you decorate something with to stand out and to look good
And let me tell you kids that listen to their parents
You look good kids that take their parents advice and do what the Bible says like their parents are telling them
I look at those kids and I'm like, those are some good-looking kids
I'm talking spiritually right like those kids have some grace about them
Those kids are something to look to and be like praise like these are great kids
Meanwhile you go soul winning and you see a bunch of kids who are literally neglected by their parents
Like I saw at an apartment complex a few months ago a child that was in diapers. So like toddler or baby
You know how those apartment fences they're like this wide and like you and I couldn't walk through those
but I saw a baby just walking through and
Going out to the sidewalk by the road and like walking back and it looked like Heidi's age
Maybe a tiny bit older and it's just like what are those parents doing?
What chance does that kid have to become a great Christian and a great solar only if we reach that kid someday with the gospel?
But like there's all these parents out there that all you spoiled brat kids have no idea
How blessed you are to be born into a Christian family to be born into a new IFB family such a blessing
And I tell you what you will look good and you will stand out and you will not regret listening to what your parents say
But you know what when you disobey your parents when you mouth off to them
When you get too big for your britches and think you know better you look like a jerk
None of us are impressed when kids mouth off to their parents none of us looks at a teenager
That thinks he's too cool to hug his mom and thinks like that's a real bad, dude
We're just like come here punk and hug your mom like you know what I mean
But you know you see a teenage boy like you see like an 18 year old boy
17 year old boy that still honors and reveres his parents that loves his mom and dad that goes soul-winning
That reads the Bible and people are just like wow like this is a great kid, and that's exactly what the Bible says
It's gonna happen that it's gonna be an ornament of grace under the head and chains about thy neck remember
This isn't just general wisdom folks. This is fact. This is just the word of God
It's a hundred percent true number four. I want you to notice warning against wicked friends
You know we're talking about young people this has to be one of the most important things that you realize as a young person
Verse 10 it says my son if sinners entice thee consent thou not
You know first you have to realize that this verse implies that you will likely
Have wicked people in your sphere of life someday that will try to entice you to do wickedly and you know
You may live this like little sheltered
Baptist life and praise God for that
But I'm telling you when you go out into the real world or if you are in public school right now
When you get older you will encounter people that will entice you to sin that will try to get you to do wickedly
You'll be in high school
There'll be people that want you to do drugs to drink alcohol to commit fornication any sin you think of
It's in the public high school today, you know drug dealing that's in the public school today
passing around pictures of
Innocent victims that's happening in public schools today. That kind of wickedness is all around
And so the Bible says the response you need to have is consent
Thou not you need to learn to have some character and some boldness and some braveness about you to say
No and not give in to peer pressure and not care
If people shame you or people think you're weird because you won't drink with them or people think you're no fun
Because you won't commit fornication you need to be man enough kids boys when you're tempted with this to say no to them
To not consent to them and i'm telling you people may sometimes forget that there's a lot of wickedness and sin
And terrible things that happen for young people like like you think like murderer
You're probably thinking 30 to 40 year old guy, you know
Okay, here's some of the crimes recently that have happened in our city now one of these I didn't even include because it was just posted
Uh today we're a teenager in the south. Uh, i'm sorry the east part of oklahoma city like just east of downtown
Okay, see I don't know if any of you guys heard this on the news
Purposely drove their car through the fence of someone's backyard and ran over and killed another teenager
Did anyone hear about this? Okay, one person heard about this. That was a teen that committed that violent murder
Here's some other ones. This was homicide number 14 of this year in our city took place on march 21st
The victim was 16 years old and the perpetrator was 18. So these are young people friday night just prior to 10 pm
Oklahoma city police was called near to the scene near 7th and missouri on reports of a person struck by a vehicle
It appears that the victim 16 year old was at a gathering when the suspect
Intentionally ran this person over with her vehicle and fled the scene homicide number 12. This happened on the 9th of march
The victim was 16 years old late last night police responded to a shooting call where one person had been hit by gunfire
The victim i'm not going to say their name
Was just found outside of the apartment in a breezeway. He was transported transported to ou where he died of his injuries
That's the apartment that we went and sent our soul winning action team to where this young boy was murdered
Homicide number 11 of 2025 on the same night march 9th the victim
16 years old early yesterday police responded to a shooting at an apartment complex northwest oklahoma city
Uh, actually, this was the one we sent our apartment to the other the other ones I mixed up northwest oklahoma city
While investigating the shooting police dispatch received a call of a shooting victim that just arrived at the mercy women's center
The shooting victim not gonna say his name was pronounced dead at the center and the arrested person for that shooting
Oh, they don't know the person who committed that but another 16 year old who died homicide number six and seven
So this is a double double homicide. The victim was 17 years old. The person arrested was
16 years old how many murders in our city are happening from teenagers like this is crazy last night just before 9 p.m
Officers responded to integris southwest medical center regarding three gunshot victims those involved arrived in two separate vehicles one victim died
While investigating it it was learned several
individuals met in the parking lot of five two one two south villa a
Dispute occurred which escalated to a gunfight between them from there
they fled and drove to the hospital a second person ended up dying a few days later another teenager homicide number three of
2025 the person who was arrested for this homicide was 16 years old the victim was 24 yesterday afternoon
Police responded to a shooting call at 1411 Southwest 38th Street
The victim was the driver of a car that had been struck or sorry that had struck a building at that location
This victim was transported to the area hospital where she died
Investigators learned that she had stopped to talk with several people in the 1300 block of Southwest 38th when she was
Shot and she was bleeding out as driving away from the scene
like this is just in our town like all these murders happening and a huge percentage of these murders either the victim is a
Teenager or the shooter themselves are teenagers now
This is kind of shocking to me because I kind of have that same idea you think of a murderer you think of like a grown
Man, right, but yet there's all these teenagers getting wrapped up in this and you got to realize
Parents don't be naive. First of all into thinking they're just kids
No, kids are getting into a lot of trouble these days
It seems like and kids don't write off your wicked friends behaviors and don't think like nothing bad will happen
No bad stuff really happens folks and kids have this idea
It'll never happen to me, but yet it happens to people yet
These are real things that happen in our city and you know what it is
It's kids getting around other wicked kids and I want to read some Bible on this before I preach some more on this
But look at verse number 12 of Proverbs 1 notice what it says
Let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole as those that go down into the pit
These are wicked people and you know what they're doing. They're conspiring to kill. They're conspiring to kill
So when sinners entice you don't consent unto them because sometimes they're very very wicked people and you yourself may think oh
I would never do something like that. Yeah, but if you hang out with people who do you might get caught up in it
You know, I don't think all these teenagers some of them probably did but I don't think all these teenagers or their friends or people
Who are there that night thought? Hey tonight, we're gonna murder someone. Hey tonight. We're gonna shoot two people. Hey tonight
We're gonna kill a 16 year old boy at an apartment complex
But when you're around wicked people sometimes things happen that you didn't expect and you didn't want and you didn't foresee
So it's listen. It's not enough for you to say well, I'm not gonna murder anyone. Oh, I've already decided that in my heart
Oh, I'm not gonna commit fornication. I'm not gonna drink alcohol
It doesn't matter if your friends do though because you may think well, I'm not gonna drink
Yeah
But if your friends do you could get in all these situations where accidents are happening and people are killing themselves driving or people are hurting
Themselves with guns accidentally right or you're thinking I would never kill anyone
Okay, but what about your wicked friends when they get pissed off and in a rage?
What are they gonna do and this this happens to people all the time?
They think I would never do something like that next thing they're they know they're in the midst of stuff happening
And so the way that you escape wicked sins as a young person and as a teenager is not just by saying you won't do
Those things it's by not being around bad people. You have to understand what I'm saying right now
It's not enough that you're a good Christian. It's not enough that you want to be separated
You have to not be around wicked people or you can fall into the same things or be involved with it
Look what it says in verse number 13. We shall find all precious substance
We shall fill our houses with spoil oftentimes, of course crimes are very often motivated by
Money, the love of money is the root of all evil the Bible says and so you know what you should not be around people that love
Money because people who are covetous they'll transgress for a piece of bread, right?
They will do wicked things that you didn't expect. So you have to realize the
Precursors to crime where it's like, oh, okay, you know, you're a wicked person. You're talking about love of money so much
I don't want to be your friend because you don't know how far that goes down into their heart here
They're conspiring to murder over it and it happens all the time verse 14 notice what it says cast in thy lot among us
Let us all have one purse and you know, this verse always makes me think of communism and you know what?
It's okay to hate commies folks. We need to get back to hating commies in the United States. It's a wicked ideology
Notice it's connected people with people that are murderers. Oh, what's your proof pastor Oz?
Why don't you just go see the entire 20th century? I'll just drop the mic right there
Why don't you read a book, you know?
Why don't you read the Gulag Archipelago or something and learn about the hellish horrors of communism in the Soviet Union?
In the 20th century and how millions and millions and millions of people were murdered by their own government
You know anyone that has a Marxist economic ideology. It's not like oh, we just disagree on economics
No, they're wicked people Marxists are wicked evil people. Don't be around them, right? These are people you should avoid, right?
Oh, let's have one purse. Let's be commies together. How about you get the hell away from a little commie?
We have some commie hunts like we did back in the day in America, you know
I was taught that was such a bad thing when I was in school as a kid. I'm looking back
I'm like, let's bring that back. Let's hunt those people spiritually metaphorically look what it says in verse 15
It says my son walk not thou in the way with them refrain thy foot from their path
So this is what I've been saying this whole time. It's not hey my son don't commit their sins
He said that already consent thou not but it's not just hey don't commit their sins. Don't murder. Don't steal
Don't be covetous. Don't be a commie. No, it's don't even be around them
Don't even go in their path. Don't go hang out Friday nights driving around with your super wicked sinful friends
Because one thing leads to another you think you're just having fun being all rebellious away from the house away from mom and dad
Next thing, you know, you're booked into the county jail as an associate to a murder
You know you're dealing with this crap for the rest of your life or you actually get caught up and get involved in it
Here you are a teenager now
You're involved with a crime that's gonna stay with you for the rest of your life
You might even be in prison for the rest of your life if you commit first-degree murder
That's why you got to just stay away
Why verse 16 for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood?
Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any burr actually before verse 17 verse 16 is proving what I'm saying
You know these communists are bloodthirsty. What's their motivation? They run to evil. They make haste to shed blood
You know those of us that are just normal human beings. It's kind of hard to internalize that people like this exist
But it's real where people just want to make haste to shed blood and run to do evil
Then it says in verse 17 surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird
You know if there's a bird outside
And you want to catch it if the bird's watching you and you're setting up the trap the bird's not gonna go in unless
It's a chicken those are really stupid okay, but most birds. They're gonna be like okay. This is a trap
They're watching you put the trap and because they're seeing you do that
They could escape from the evil and this is like us when we see this warning signs of a wicked person
When we see the activities of the wicked it should be like you're setting a trap right before me
I'm not gonna fall for that. I'm gonna run away. Oh you want to drink alcohol time to get some new friends
Oh, you're offering me drugs time to get some new friends
Oh, you're playing around with your dad's guns doing stupid stuff watch out watch out for kids doing stupid stuff when you see that say
Oh, this is a trap. I need to run away verse 18 says and they lay wait for their own blood
They lurk privily for their own lives
You know, it's poetic and tragic is that people that get caught up in these lifestyles, you know
Organized crime being a drug dealer life on the street
You know what happens is they live a really violent life and they themselves often die a really violent death
It's like you want to know why there's so many black people being shot and killed by police today
It's not because police officers are waking up in the morning wanting to hunt black people
It's because you got all these gangs in Chicago and South Dallas and all these kids that sadly were not raised with a dad
That loved them enough to give him the word of God and to say obey my instructions
Don't forsake the law of your father or of your mother
they just neglected them and the streets raised them and the gangs raised them and they got into the drug game and they're
Selling drugs you know what often happens gang fights dying in gang fights over nothing
We're getting shot by the police and the Commission of a crime. That's reality. That's what happens and it's sad. It's tragic
I wish that these kids had some parents that loved them and that's for any color that you are white gangs Mexican gangs Asian gangs
You know, we need some Christian parents to love children and you know
What if these parents are gonna fail on their children?
We're at least gonna go preach them the gospel like we're gonna still go to the ghetto where all the crime is where all the gangs
Are we'll still show up and knock on your door and preach your kids the gospel
But you know, sadly these parents are so wicked oftentimes they shoo us away and don't let us preach to their kids
I was with brother Cameron on Saturday and multiple times these young kids were there
We're able to preach them and here comes crack whore mom to shoo us away. You know, it's disgusting
What a shame what a hateful thing. You're such a hateful parent. You're fine with your kids. Just doing whatever you want
They're running out in the street. They're naked. They're around a bunch of crappy friends
But God forbid a Baptist pastor knocks on your door and wants to give them the gospel like that's the worst thing
That's why these kids lives are messed up. That's why they're growing up in crime
That's why they're ending in a bloody violent death is because of crappy parents like that verse number 19
Says so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of game which take it away the life of the owners thereof
So notice it likens these violent people to people that are greedy and covetous and that are just wanting to get money at any cost
Why because they are often themselves?
Formented people just like you know you live a violent life do all these crimes you yourself often have those same things happen to you
It's like people that are greedy of gain often commit a bunch of sins
And they think that their life is gonna be so blessed when they get money
But what they find out is when they're rich by being wicked that their life still sucks and that it's still terrible
I'll show you that the Bible go to first Timothy chapter number six first Timothy chapter number six look money is a tool
God blesses with you you with it. Praise the Lord if he doesn't praise the Lord
It's just a tool but look what the Bible says in first Timothy chapter number six verse number nine
It says but they that will be rich meaning you want to be rich
fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in
Destruction and perdition like the Bible can't really get much more graphic
He's trying to like wake you up as to how bad it is when people want to be rich. Look, there's nothing wrong with being rich
There's nothing wrong with God blessing you. There's nothing wrong with you working an honest job
Building an honest business building wealth by being godly doing things, right?
But people that want to be rich and they just have to be rich, you know what they do
They often sin cut corners do things that aren't pleasing to the Lord and you know what that comes back on them
It says that it's a snare. It's like a trap, right? It's kind of like hey, you know
When you set a trap on the side of a bird, it's not really gonna have an effect
Well people that love money and that want to be rich
It's like you're more stupid than a bird because like the bird will see the trap and run away
But the Bible's telling you it's a trap and some people will still run to it. There's probably I hope this isn't the case
But there's probably people in this church that someday will get infected with the love of money because it just happens all the time
Because we live in America and I've seen it happen where people are free to thrive. They're soul winners
They're doing good and they pray for God to bless them and they build a business and they start making good money
And then they stop going to church. They stop going soul winning. It's like that person is in for a rough ride
I would rather like if I had to choose obviously, I don't want to be rich. I don't want to be poor
God just give me that what's convenient for me. I don't want to you know, be so poor. I got a steal
I don't want to be so rich thinking I don't need God, right?
but I would rather be on the leaner side of things and be hungry for God than be so full with riches that I forget about him
You know what I mean? And look you may not think that but I'm telling you your life will be better
Your life is gonna be better when you're hungrier for God go back to Proverbs chapter number one
Proverbs 1 look at verse number 20 notice number 5 this evening wisdoms cry verse 20
It says wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets now the Bible in
Proverbs uses a really beautiful literary device called personification
Where wisdom here is kind of like a person where it's crying out where it's yelling out and really what it's supposed to be
Is it supposed to be a picture of God like it's like God crying out to you and God's Word crying out to you
And this is what God is doing go to Psalm chapter 19 wisdom cryeth without she uttereth her voice in the streets
You know God today is calling out for man to believe in him
God today is calling out through his word through the preaching of God's Word through the creation
That he is God that he's real that he wants people to believe in him
He's calling out today look at verse number one of Psalm 19
The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork
You're supposed to look at something like creation
You're supposed to look up at the Sun moon and stars and just be in awe of the mighty power of God
And especially now that we have you know telescopes and satellites taking all these amazing pictures of space like when you look at it
It's just incredible like how amazing God is how powerful he is
You know one thing that I like to think about is when I look at the moon
I think about how God created the moon and not only did God create the moon
But when Jesus Christ was on this earth
He had he saw the moon too and sometimes I just like to think about like
I'm looking at something that my God has also looked at and he made that isn't that cool to think about
You know when I look at the heavens and the stars in the moon
I just it gives glory to God and you know that is that's wisdom just crying to humanity
Just like Jesus is the creator God is real
Evolutions fake folks the Big Bang is fake and just you know how you know what proves that just look outside
That's what proves it go to Revelation 22 Revelation chapter 22
But you know God wisdom is constantly crying out for people to get saved
God is kind of crying out today for people to stop being a Catholic and stop trusting in idols and stop trusting in works
Look what it says in verse 17 and the spirit and the bride say come and let him that heareth say come and let him
That is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely
I mean God is just telling the world come you want it whosoever will right? It's not Calvinism
It's it's not. Oh, you're predetermined. No, it's whosoever will God is constantly calling today
You know, he's calling through church today. He's calling through you going and knocking on someone's door. He's calling people with YouTube videos
That's how I got saved watching a gospel presentation. He's calling through documentaries
He's calling through a mother praying for her son
He's calling through you preaching the gospel to your brother like God is just constantly calling today and he wants people to be saved
Wisdom is crying go back to Proverbs chapter number one. That's why this idea of people, you know
Oh, it's not fair that people go to hell
They never had a chance wisdoms just constantly crying to everyone people have a chance. They have a great chance
I mean God wants them to be saved. Of course. They have a chance Jesus died for them. Yeah, they have a chance
It's a free gift look at verse 21
She cryeth in the chief place of concourse in the openings of the gates in the city
She uttereth her words notice. So it's just everywhere the chief place
You know think about just like I don't know high places of learning or high places of government or high places in business or stuff
Like that like wisdoms just crying there and in the gate of the city wisdoms crying there and just in the city wisdoms crying
They're like wisdom is just crying everywhere today
And then notice what it says in verse 22 how long he simple ones
Will you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge?
So wisdom personified here is getting pissed off at people and of course really it's God that's getting pissed off at people
And you say how how could God have a right for to be angry at someone for being foolish?
How does God have a right to be angry at scorners or fools?
Because he's been crying this whole time because God's been crying out his truth through creation
he's been crying out through the bible through preachers through a bunch of different avenues and when people
Don't see it. It's because they don't want to see it if someone doesn't get saved
It's because they didn't want to get saved when someone doesn't want to listen to bible preaching
When someone wants to be a methodist when someone wants to be a catholic when someone wants to be a mormon or a jew
Or a muslim. It's because they wanted to reject knowledge
Wisdom's crying out wisdom's here. They're not having an excuse and look what he says
How long you simple ones will you love simplicity? Why is someone simple because they love being stupid. That's why
Why is it that crack whore is in the situation?
She's in that rejected us when we tried to preach the gospel to her kids because we were there wisdom crying
You want to get saved? You want a free gift? You want your life to get better?
And she goes nah get out of here. She loves simplicity folks
Why is she in that situation?
Because she loves simplicity.
And look, I'm not saying God hates fools
or God hates simple people,
but I'm telling you that the reason that they're fools
is their own fault.
It's not God's fault.
And you know what, when someone goes to hell,
that's not God's fault.
And when I knock on someone's door of my own time
to preach someone the gospel and they don't listen,
when they go to hell, that's not my fault.
That's not your fault.
That's not God's fault.
It's their fault.
So stop sitting here and accusing God,
getting angry at God, God's so vengeful.
How could God burn people in hell?
Well, because you're an idiot and you rejected the gospel,
that's why.
Because it was a free gift.
Because Jesus paid for all your sins.
He loved you, even knowing you would reject him.
So yeah, you do deserve it.
Look what he commands in verse 23.
Wisdom's commanding this, "Purn you at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you."
He wants to.
"I will make known my words unto you."
Notice God's just wanting people to hear,
wanting people to believe, wanting to give people truth,
wanting to give people grace, wanting people to be saved.
But you know what, when you hear truth,
and when any human being hears truth,
you now have a responsibility with God to obey the truth,
to believe the truth.
When you hear something from the Bible,
when God gives you something,
you know what he's saying to you?
"Purn you at my reproof."
And you know what, Christians too,
who hear the word of God and just despise it,
who hear preaching and just despise it,
you know what, you're a fool too.
You may not be as foolish as the atheist,
who's so stupid he believes that
everything came from nothing.
But you know what, a Christian that despises God's word,
that doesn't listen to the preaching,
that doesn't read the Bible,
wisdom's calling to you and you don't care,
you're a foolish too.
You're simple as well.
And you know what you need to do?
You need to turn at the reproof.
When you get some information from the word of God,
when you are given instruction by a leader in your life,
you now have a responsibility to turn.
And notice what happens when you don't?
God's angry.
God's saying, how long are you going to be stupid?
How long are you going to delight in your scorning?
How long are you going to hate knowledge?
Verse 24 says, "Because I have called, and you refuse."
God called.
"I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded."
Boy, how would the Calvinist explain this chapter?
Irresistible grace.
Oh, yeah, it's irresistible grace.
God's just going to force you to believe.
Then why is he so angry at people not listening?
Why is he so angry at people not believing?
Not harkening to the council.
And he's saying, you said it all at not,
meaning you didn't care about it.
You didn't esteem it as something worthy of anything.
And you would none, meaning you didn't want any of my reproof.
You didn't want the correction.
I'll read for you 2 Timothy 4, 2.
It says, "Preach the word.
Be instant in season, out of season.
Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all lung suffering and doctrine.
For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts,
shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
You know, what we're seeing today
is very similar to the verses I just read
and to what we're seeing in Proverbs 1,
where there's so much wisdom being poured out.
We live in the age of the internet,
where just any information that you possibly desire
is at your fingertips.
And by the way, it's at people's fingertips in Africa,
in the Philippines, all over the world.
People have the internet pretty much now,
and yet people are still not wanting God's approval.
And you know what, that's their fault.
And because of that, look at verse number 26.
Verse 26 says, "I also will laugh at your calamity."
That's a strong word.
That means grievous, affliction, adversity, misery.
I mean, that's extreme, folks.
You know, your average Joe,
when you see someone going through misery,
our reaction is not to laugh at that, you know?
Now, if it's a God-hating reprobate who's in misery,
okay, you know, that's a different story.
But you just see like average Joe gets in a car crash.
You know, none of us are laughing, right?
We're just like, oh man, let's help that person that sucks.
But these people are so foolish
and God has extended so much unto them
and God's called unto them so much.
And yet they hated the truth, they hated God's word,
they didn't wanna listen to it,
that it comes to the point where,
okay, now you're reaping what you've sown
because what you don't know can hurt you
and now they're having all this calamity
and you know what God's doing?
He's laughing at it.
And he says, I will mock when your fear cometh.
When they're afraid, God's looking down at these people
and laughing at them and mocking them for being so stupid.
You say those are mean words.
This is Proverbs chapter one.
Like I didn't come up with this.
This isn't my idea.
Like God is laughing at people's calamity.
Oh, it's never right to laugh at anyone
going through something hard.
God's laughing at these wicked people's calamity.
He's mocking when they're afraid.
I mean, God is so powerful.
See my sermon about fearing God.
Like God, I wanna fear you because when I'm afraid,
I want God to be like, I got you.
You know, you're in the stronghold.
I've got your back.
I don't want God to see me afraid
and be like laughing at me.
That's terrifying, right?
But this is the life of a reprobate, folks.
And I'm gonna tell you,
I believe this is talking about reprobates.
Go to Ezekiel chapter 33.
Because some would scoff at these verses
and they would wanna show you some verses in the Bible
that seem on the surface to contradict what we're reading
in Proverbs chapter one.
They'll show you verses like,
"Rejoice not when your enemy falleth."
And you know what?
Both of those verses are true.
They'll show you verses like this right here
in Ezekiel 33 verse 11.
"Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God,
"I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
"but that the wicked turn from his way and live."
Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,
for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Now, whenever there's an apparent contradiction in the Bible,
you probably have a misinterpretation
on one of these things, okay?
Because there's no contradictions in the Bible.
You need, whenever you have two verses
that seem at odds with one another,
you need to interpret it in a way to where both are true.
'Cause let me tell you, folks,
Proverbs chapter one is true, and Ezekiel 33 is true.
Amen to both of them.
I'm not hiding from one or the other,
'cause this is what preachers do.
They just pick the one they like.
Like, if someone is more on the hate side,
they might just pick that one.
Or if most Baptist preachers are way on this side,
just love only, God never hates anyone,
they'll stick on the Ezekiel 33 side.
But I'm here to tell you that both are true.
Now, what are some differences between these passages?
Well, Proverbs 1, first of all, is very poetic, right?
It's wisdom personified.
Ezekiel 33, we have a direct statement from God
about the wicked.
Now, Proverbs 1, what have we been seeing this whole time?
God's extending wisdom.
Wisdom's crying out to them.
God's wanting them to turn.
He's given them chances.
It's in the high places.
It's in the gates.
It's in the city.
It's everywhere.
Yet, they hated the reproof.
They would none of God's counsel.
They rejected God.
That's what they did.
They rejected God over, over, and over again.
And you know what Romans 1 teaches
is that people that reject God multiple times,
or however many times God decides for that person,
that God could in turn reject them
and give them over to a reprobate mind.
And when someone is a reprobate,
let me explain something to you.
God hates them.
Now, I will tell you this.
This is a vast minority of the world.
Very, very few people are reprobates
in the grand scheme of the world.
Most of the world would go into Ezekiel 33,
because when you're saying the wicked in that verse,
I don't think he's talking about reprobates there.
I think he's just talking about the unsaved in general.
Sometimes the unsaved could just be described as the wicked.
Reprobates are like children of the devil,
or just straight up reprobates,
or children of Satan, things like that.
(coughs)
But when it's saying here,
saying to them as I live, say to the Lord,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
So how could these things both be true?
Okay, random unsaved, random Joe Blow dies and goes to hell.
God's not happy about that, and I'm not happy about that.
Right, God wanted that person to be saved.
But God-hating reprobates that has rejected God
over and over, whose main goal in life is to hate God,
and to blaspheme the Bible, and to attack churches,
and to attack men of God.
Those people have calamity, and God laughs at them.
And you know what, I don't feel bad for those people.
See my sermon on Sunday?
I don't feel bad for the Ryan Beckers of this world.
I laugh at his calamity.
I mock when his fear comes.
And you know what, when he dies and goes to hell,
I will rejoice.
And so will God, because he rejected God a long time ago,
and God rejected him.
So you see how you can interpret these
to where they're both true?
Hey, praise the Lord for Proverbs 1.
Praise the Lord for Ezekiel 33.
It's not an either/or situation.
So people, you know, well, another verse that I have heard
people bring up this point is like,
rejoice not when your enemy falls.
Yeah, when someone does you wrong personally,
someone cuts you off, when someone, you know,
defrauds you or talks bad about you,
don't rejoice when that person falls.
But what if someone's an enemy of God?
What if someone's an enemy of the church of God
and the work of God?
Guess what?
The Bible says that we should hate the enemies of God.
So when the enemies of God fall, God rejoices.
When the enemies of God fall, I rejoice.
This is actually a balanced view on scripture.
This is actually taking both verses
and believing both of them 100%.
Not just in this limbo where sometimes you pick and choose.
Like there's a very clear delineation here.
It's okay to hate the reprobate, okay?
The regular unsaved, it's not okay to hate them.
You should love them.
It's not that hard, folks.
Go to verse 28.
Lastly, we'll see the punishment of fools.
What happens when people keep rejecting God?
Verse 28 says, "Then shall they call upon me,
but I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me."
Again, this goes towards my idea
that this is talking about reprobates, folks.
They're calling upon God, but he won't answer.
Bible says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved."
So if these people are calling upon God
and God's not answering, it's because they're a reprobate,
because they're rejected.
They're seeking God, but they're unable to find Him.
Jesus said, "If you seek, you'll find."
So this has to be talking about reprobates.
Go to John chapter number 12, John chapter number 12.
See, this is an example of what I'm talking about earlier
with subtlety and discretion
and being able to apply different things
in the word of God appropriately.
John chapter 12, here's an example of this.
Verse 37, "But though He had done so many miracles
before them, that He is the Lord Jesus Christ,
that them are the Jews, yet they believed not on Him,
that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,
which He spake, Lord, who hath believed our report,
and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?"
Notice verse 39.
This is so important.
"Therefore they would not believe,
because, that Isaiah said again, He hath blinded their eyes
and hardened their heart, that they should not
see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them."
There's a big distinction between someone who's not
ready to get saved yet, and they haven't believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ yet, and someone who can not
believe, because people will falsely accuse our teaching
on reprobates, and they'll say, "Oh, you guys are saying
Jesus didn't die for everyone's sins."
To that I would say, He absolutely died for everyone's sins.
Jesus died for every reprobate's sins.
Jesus died for every sodomite's sins.
But here's the thing, what does it take
to have your sins forgiven?
What does it take to get saved?
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved.
What is the punishment of reprobation?
It's that God makes it to where you cannot believe.
That's what it is to be a reprobate,
is that you can not believe.
Theoretically, if these people could believe in Jesus,
you know what would happen?
They'd be saved, because anyone that believes
on Jesus Christ, the Bible says, will be saved.
So how do you know for sure that reprobates
are going to hell?
Because they can not believe.
That's how you can know for sure.
Go back to Proverbs chapter number one.
So that's why it says, they'll call upon me
and I will not answer.
They shall seek me early but they shall not find me.
That's a punishment from God.
Verse 29, for that they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
Notice, it's not God just punishing people for no reason.
It's not the Calvinist God, the sick and twisted,
demented view of God that Calvinists have.
No, they hated God, they hated knowledge,
they didn't choose God because it's a choice,
and so God gave them over to a reprobate mind.
But you know what, no one today is a sodomite
because God forced them to hate him.
They chose to hate him, they chose to reject him,
and so God chose to give up on them in return
and turn them over to a reprobate mind
and to make it where they cannot believe.
Verse 31, "Therefore, they shall eat of the fruit
of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
For the turning away of the simple shall slay them,
and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them."
Sometimes you look at fools, you look at the wicked,
and sometimes they're even prospering in a carnal sense,
but we have to realize that sometimes God's giving them
that prosperity because he knows it'll destroy them,
and it's a vessel of destruction.
And even you could apply this to God's people.
So sometimes God's people are foolish,
and God can't really bless you that much
because the prosperity of fools will destroy him.
You could stay there.
Proverbs 10 22 says, "The blessing of the Lord,
"it maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it."
Lastly here, number seven, the promise for the wise.
Verse 33 says, "But whoso hearkeneth unto me
"shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil."
Man, two totally different paths in life
that people can go down.
And it starts with listening to what the Proverbs say.
It's like you wanna hate God, hate wisdom,
hate instruction, hate reproof, hate his words.
Well, you know what?
Then you're gonna call upon God in your time of need
and he's not gonna answer you.
You're gonna try to seek him
and you're never gonna find him.
And when your calamity comes,
in fact, God's gonna be laughing at you.
And when you're in torture and agony and torment,
God's gonna mock you when you're in fear.
That's one group of people.
Then it says, but who so hearkeneth unto me
shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Look, obeying God's commandments
and serving God is not vain.
This is not just an exercise.
This is not just like, well, we're just Christians
just 'cause this is what we do.
We just read the Bible.
No, there's actually results in your life
for serving and fearing God.
There's actual real tangible benefits for serving God,
dwelling safely, being quiet from fear of evil,
just having inner peace of having God on your side.
That is a real thing that you get to have,
but you know what?
It starts with you choosing to love the truth,
to love God's word, to love reproof, to love instruction,
to not be the fool that only wants to talk,
but actually you wanna shut up every once in a while
and hear and increase learning
and actually open up the book of Proverbs
and read it and learn it and open up other books
and attain unto wise counsel.
When you make those decisions,
you know what's gonna happen?
You're gonna dwell securely, you're gonna be safe,
you're gonna have peace.
That's what the Bible teaches through the book of Proverbs.
That's what we're gonna be learning about
the next 30 weeks through this book.
Let's pray, Lord, we thank you for this wonderful book
and this great chapter.
I thank you for your righteous judgments
and I pray that you'd help us to reach people
with the gospel before it's eternally too late for them
by them either dying or just rejecting you, Lord,
becoming a reprobate.
I pray that we in this room would never reject your words,
that we would want correction and reproof and instruction
from these Proverbs.
We love you, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
- All right, for our last hymn this evening,
you'll grab your hymnal, turn to 288.
Hymn number 288, I am resolved.
288, I am resolved.
We'll sing there starting on the first.
♪ I am resolved no longer to lean ♪
♪ By the world he leads us after world ♪