to get started with our service if you would find a seat grab a hymnal turn to our first hymn 206
oh say but i'm glad 206 206 oh say but i'm glad 206 we'll start there right on the first
there is a song in my heart today something i never had jesus has taken my sins away oh say but i'm glad
say but i'm glad i'm glad but jesus says come and my cup's overrun say but i'm wonderful marbles love
he bring into our size tunnels the soul just sings oh hey but with a word of praise with me
father we thank you again for another opportunity to gather together freely to sing praises to
worship to learn from your word i just pray that you'd be with those that need your hand of healing
and protection lord that you know uh each of those on our prayer list and their needs best
those that aren't able to make it this evening also pray that you just be with us for the service
that everything would be done decently and in order these things we pray in jesus name amen
all right for our next him 472 this is my father's world 472 472 this is my father's world 472 we'll
sing there right on the first chapter one verse 20 on the inside our service times are listed
sunday morning at 10 30 sunday evening at 4 30 in our wednesday evening bible study at seven
o'clock we do also have our soul winning times listed there and keep in mind that all those meet
here at the church building we have our nursing home preaching schedule listed there brother john
for the next couple weeks and we also have our year-to-date statistics for soul winning and
baptism please make sure to keep reporting those numbers you get someone saved on the right you'll
see our upcoming events a couple weekends from now the events finally coming up the durant oklahoma
soul winning marathon really looking forward to this event all the people that are going to get
saved god willing and also seeing our friends from said fast baptist church looking forward to that
one thing that happened last week was the king james conference at sure foundation baptist
church and if you did not listen to those sermons man you have to go listen to those sermons really
great conference tons of great learning material so definitely check those out
june 28th is going to be the tinker air show fellowship event also the next day june 29th
brother ben naeem from steadfast baptist church will be preaching the am and pm service for us
looking forward to that august 27th through the 31st is the fire breathing baptist fellowship and
pastor shelly did announce all the preachers who are going to be at that event so if you follow
steadfast or pastor shelly on any social media platform you can see that list but it's a really
excited to be able to not only be going but honored to be preaching as well so thankful for that
opportunity october 6th through the 11th is the bahamas mission trip so make sure that you're
preparing for that i'm trying to get myself heat acclimated is what i'm doing you know i've got the
passport and everything but i'm trying to like take my lunch breaks outside just to get used to
you know being in the heat because you know i'm so white i just i get destroyed out by the sun you
know i got it used to some of you tan and you're just you need to thank god for that blessing
because i don't have that blessing i'll just burn all right so you want to talk about white
privilege until you see me putting sunscreen on my scalp then white privilege is off the table
but i'm really looking forward to that trip we also have on the back our prayer list of course
if you have any requests or updates please email the church and i'll be happy to add that for you
let's go ahead and pray as a church family before we go to our third song lord we thank you for the
opportunity to come before you in prayer and the blessings that you've given us in this life this
church and our brothers and sisters in christ our family members our freedom lord thank you so much
for all that you do for us and we want to pray for brother eric and brother theodore who are going
to be going on some missions work in the philippines i pray that you please keep them safe that she
would just allow door to be opened unto them to get many people saved to preach to many people
i pray that they would remember to work hard and that you just bless them in their labors over
there lord we also want to pray for rechelle hill for her her father's health and his heart
surgery recovery lord and pray that you bless that family and we also want to pray for brother
travis for an upcoming certification test for his career i pray that you bless him in his endeavors
to go into a new field or we also want to pray for brother samson from texas that you would just
bless him and his recovery from his back surgery thank you for allowing it to go well and that he's
already seen some improvement but i also pray lord that you'd help him on his long road to recovery
we also want to pray for the zaleski family that you bless them and their desire to move here to
find a good job and a good home for their family i pray that you would bring them to us safely lord
we also pray for the home buying process for the halls i pray that everything goes smoothly as we're
ending that process lord also i pray for brother miles hausberg for his health and that you bless
him and miss ria as well also we pray for brother alex to just lead him to a good job to be able
to still serve you pray that you just bless the works of his hands in his career we also pray for
miss remi for her desire to find a car and also for healing for her tumor lord to pray that you
bless her also we pray for all of our church members who have unsaved loved ones i pray that
those people would get many more opportunities to hear the gospel also lord we pray for oklahoma
city that she would just give us more laborers to reach people here with the gospel just bless
our works lord in Jesus name we pray amen this time we'll go to our third song and your white
handouts this time if you would turn to psalm 67 in your white handouts psalm 67 psalm 67 we'll
sing there starting right on that first if you would to chapter number good evening tonight we
are in proverbs 9 proverbs 9 the bible reads wisdom hath builted her house she hath hewn down her
seven pillars she hath killed her beasts she hath mingled her wine she hath also furnished her table
she hath sent forth her maidens she cryeth upon the highest places of the city whoso is simple
let him turn in hither as for him that wanteth understanding she saith to him come eat of my
bread and drink of the wine which i have mingled forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of
understanding he that reproveth a scorner giddeth to himself shame and he that rebuketh a wicked man
giddeth himself a blot reprove not a scorner lest he hate thee rebuke a wise man and he will love
thee give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser teach a young teach a just man and he
will increase in learning the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the
holy is understanding for by me thy days shall be multiplied and the years of thy life shall be
increased if thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself but if thou scornest thou alone
shalt bear it a foolish woman is clamorous she is simple and knoweth nothing for she
sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city to call passengers
who go right on their ways whoso is simple let him turn in hither and as for him that
wanteth understanding she sayeth to him stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten and secret
is pleasant but he knoweth not that the debtor there and that her guests are in the depths of
hell. Let's bow our heads for her prayer. Father God we thank you for this day in our church.
Man all right we're in Proverbs chapter 9. If you remember last week the chapter was telling
us a lot about how to prove wisdom. Talking about how wisdom has to be based in truth
and righteousness. It's not something that's just subjective that anyone could just claim.
Something that could be tested and that's kind of where this chapter also begins. It gives us
another way to test what true wisdom is. And so number one this evening I want you to notice the
fruit of wisdom. Look at verse 1 the Bible says wisdom hath builded her house. She hath hewn out
her seven pillars. She hath killed her beasts. She hath mingled her wine. She hath also furnished
her table. So again we see this chapter is using personification and wisdom is being portrayed here
as a woman. And notice how when wisdom is being described here it's focusing on all the things
that wisdom does. We notice all those things that are said there. Notice wisdom is doing things.
Wisdom's building a house, healing pillars, killing beasts, mingling wine, furnishing a table,
and you know it just goes to show that true wisdom produces results. You know you should be able to
look at wisdom and say okay is this a wise source, is this a wise statement, is this a wise person?
There's some ways that you could actually test that. One has to be based in truth right and that's
the most important thing. We learned last chapter it's got to be based in truth, it's got to be
based in righteousness, but also wisdom is going to produce results. And you look at someone who's
producing results in their life and you're going to be looking at a wise person. I'll read for you
what Jesus said in Luke 7.35. Jesus said this, "Wisdom is justified of all her children." You know
what he's saying? He's saying wisdom is proved by that which wisdom produces. We can look at the
fruit of the result of something and say, "Oh man, this must have been a wise pastor or a wise
ministry." Look at the results of this ministry. That is one of the ways to prove wisdom. What I
think about initially when reading this is one way we could apply this is when it comes to men
providing for their families. Us as men, we need to work very hard and God commands us to work hard,
but it's also good to work smart and it's going to help you to provide when you have a good balance
of these things when you're working hard and you have wisdom because notice what wisdom's doing.
Wisdom is killing her beasts. What is that talking about? Provision, physical provision.
Wisdom is mingling her wine. Wisdom is furnishing her table. So you know us as men,
it's very important that we prioritize learning, education, getting skills, getting wisdom,
because if you just have no skills whatsoever, if you have no knowledge about anything whatsoever,
and you work super, super hard, you might still struggle a lot in this area, whereas the Bible's
highlighting that hey, wisdom is going to provide. Another way I think we could apply this is when it
comes to church. You know, what is the wise church? It's the church that's actually producing
results. Now, I'm not talking about looking to the mega churches of this world and being like,
wow, they've got the millions of dollars. Wow, they've got the great buildings. I'm talking
about quantifiable spiritual results, getting souls saved, people's lives being changed,
you know, godly marriages coming together, marriages being restored, children being born,
you know, good results that are actually quantifiable from a spiritual perspective,
that is the fruit of wisdom. And you can look at a church that is succeeding spiritually and you
can say, hey, there's got to be some wisdom involved in this. You know, the reason I bring
this up is because there's a lot of people who will criticize and attack new IFB churches,
and they'll attack the idea of preaching hard against sin. They'll attack the idea of having
a pastor be in authority, and they'll, you know, be in favor of the deacon model or the
congregational voting model. They'll attack, you know, door-to-door evangelism. People will say
that it doesn't work, that you've just got to have the altar call like the old IFB does,
and have everyone getting saved at the altar every service. But here's my question, is where's the
fruit? Where's the results? You could sit here and criticize all you want, but when I look at new IFB
churches, you know what I see? I see real work getting done. I see thousands, yay, tens of
thousands of people getting saved every single year. I see people growing in the Lord every single
year. I see, you know, even our small church, Humble Anchor Baptist Church here, I see four
soul winners this year win their first soul to Christ. You know what? That is the result of
wisdom, and people can criticize it all they want, but hey, wisdom is justified over children,
and wisdom is actually going to have some fruit. It's going to have some results. Go to Proverbs 11,
flip a couple pages there. You know, let me read for you some soul-winning results so far this year,
in 2025. Thank the Lord for these numbers. Here's a number, 1,813 salvations. You say,
what church is that? Oh, that wasn't a church, that was one person, Evangelist Duncan Urbanic.
Boy, there's some wisdom going on there. When a guy has dedicated his life to the ministry,
he sacrificed a ton to go on the foreign mission field, and here we are in May, by the way,
and bro has won 1800 people to Christ. You know, criticize away haters, but this guy is doing a
great work for the Lord, and that makes me excited. Okay, Steadfast Baptist Church,
2382 salvations so far this year. You know, they beat last year's total record already
in May. Praise the Lord. Seems like there's some wisdom going on. Seems like God's blessing and
God's hand is on churches like Anchor Baptist Church and our friends. Why? Because we're
actually trying to follow what the Bible says. And you know, praise the Lord. Obviously, we have a
smaller group than these churches, but since Anchor Baptist Church was started, we've had 385
salvations in this metro. You know, that is a great result. That is a great number. We're not
even halfway through the year yet, and we are on track to absolutely destroy all soul-winning
records that this congregation has ever had. Praise the Lord for that. You know, but it just
goes to show that you want to decide, hey, who's right? Who's on the Lord's side? Who's got wisdom
on their side? Well, why don't you look at what wisdom is producing? Is it producing churches
that close after six months? Is it producing people becoming bitter? Is it producing loudmouth women?
Is it producing liars, railers? Is it producing YouTube stars that act like faggots to pick up
girls online? Or is it producing people who actually get lots of people saved? Hey, it sounds
like we're on the right side here. Sounds like wisdom is on our side. Go to Acts chapter number
two. But you know, people will criticize hard preaching. They'll criticize, you know, the
pastors of the new IFB and say they're so mean. But you know, I submit to you that hard preaching
produces results. Hard preaching actually works. And you know, I could tell you anecdotally in my
life that hard preaching has changed me as a person. And I could tell you for 100% certainty
that I would not be the man I am today without hard preaching. I would have gone down probably
some dark road, been a total loser, done nothing with my life if it wasn't for the hard preaching
of God's word. But you know, don't just take my word for it because let's see the results of hard
preaching in scripture. Acts chapter 2 verse 36. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly
that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. So notice Peter
is preaching a sermon here and he's preaching a hard sermon because he's looking the Jews in the
eyes and he said, Oh yeah, you crucified Jesus Christ. That's a hard, that's a hard sermon
right there. It's specific. It's against them. It's corrective. It's biblical. That's hard
preaching. But notice the result in verse 37. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their
heart and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? So
notice they received the hard preaching and these people, they had a receptive heart because when
they heard the hard preaching, even though it stepped right on their toes, even though it was
definitely preaching about them, you know what the Bible says is that that preaching, it pricked
their hearts. It caused a reaction inside of them that led them to ask this question, what shall we
do? And you know, we've all been there before. We've all heard that hard sermon that just pricked
us in our hearts where we realized, hey, I'm wrong about this or hey, I've been backslidden. I've been
doing this wrong. And you ask that question, man, what do I do? What do I have to do? What do I have
to do to get right with the Lord? What do I have to do to be pleasing in the eyes of God? You know,
if you've got a good heart this evening, you've felt that before. Why? Because hard preaching
actually works. It does. Look at verse 38. And then Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost. So, you know, this sermon that Peter's preaching, he's not even really
gearing it towards a saved audience, trying to get them to change their life and stuff like that.
He's simply preaching to an unsaved crowd. But guess what? Hard preaching could even work
sometimes with the gospel because the Bible says that some save with fear, pulling them out of the
fire. And so that's kind of what he's doing here. Then it says in verse 39, "For the promise is unto
you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."
And with many other words, did he testify and exhort, saying, "Save yourselves from this
untoward generation." Notice verse 41, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized,
and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls." Sounds like the preaching
worked. Sounds like they heard a message and it pricked their heart and they asked, "Hey, what
should I do?" And he's like, "Hey, repent and be baptized." You know, it's telling them basically
turn from your unbelief, turn from your trust in your false religion or your idols or whatever that
is. Put your trust in Jesus Christ and then what you should do is get baptized and they're just
doing all of it. They gladly received his word. And you know, I wish that preachers would understand
this today, that there's lots of people all over this world that will gladly receive hard preaching.
Yes, of course, the majority of people are not going to like hard preaching. The majority of
people are not going to like the hard truths in the word of God. But you know, should we cater to
people that have a bad heart towards the things of God or should we just bring the hard truths?
Because that's what many people want to hear anyways. And so many pastors today are afraid.
They're scared to preach certain parts of the Bible at fear of offending someone. But it's like
you're doing people a disservice who actually want the full truth. You know, I don't know about you.
I come to church because I want the pure, full truth. I don't want it sugar-coated. I just want
what does the Bible say? You know what? There's lots of people like that in this world. And we
know we got to go find those people. We got to go preach them the gospel and get them in church.
But don't get super black-pilled. No, there's people out there that they want the hard preaching.
They want the truth of God's word. And so we're not going to change to cater to people who don't.
Verse 42 says, "And they continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine and fellowship and
in breaking of bread and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together and had all things common, and sold
their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. And they, continuing
daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with
gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people." Notice this,
"And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." So notice, hard preaching,
it produces results. You know what else produces results? Godly leadership actually produces
results. Good pastors, good preachers actually produce results. Why? Because Peter here,
Peter's a man of God, he has the Word of God, he's preaching a hard sermon, and he actually gets the
job done. He actually pricks people's hearts. He actually gets them to change, to do something.
And notice, obviously the Lord is the one adding to the church daily such as should be saved,
but you know he's doing that through a human instrument, Peter, who's preaching the Word
of God and of course all the soul winners that were with him. It's a team effort,
but you know we need godly people to do the work. Go to Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 6,
and I'll prove this. Hey, how do you, how do I know if this is a wise leader? How do I know
if this is a wise preacher? Okay, is his sermons actually producing results? Is his ministry
actually producing results? Are people actually getting saved? Are things actually getting done?
Well, that would be a good indication that it's a wise source. Acts chapter 1 verse, or sorry,
chapter 6 verse 1, "And in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected
in the daily ministration." So notice the work of God already is just exploding in Acts chapter 6.
It's saying that the number of the disciples are multiplying. So there's also, there's already
God's blessing on their work. There's already people getting saved. But notice what happens.
Verse 2 says, "Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said,
'It is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.'" So, you know,
these apostles are saying, "Hey, we shouldn't stop doing our apostolic work and our ministry
as preachers just to do the daily administration of running of the church." You know, it's not
necessarily disparaging that work, but obviously the role of an apostle at that time or we can
think of now a pastor is more of an important role spiritually than just putting out tables
or something like that, right? That's why he says in verse three, "Wherefore, brethren,
look ye out among you seven men," and notice the description of honest report full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business. So even tasks that some people would
look at as lesser, not as important, you know, he's kind of reinforcing here that it still is
very important work because he doesn't say, "Hey, go get some bum off the street. Go get some random
Joe Blow to take care of the church administration." No, he still has a high calling. He says that this
person has to be of honest report and full of the Holy Ghost and, notice, wisdom. What are we
talking about? The results of wisdom. Let's watch that happen. Verse four, "But we will give ourselves
continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word and the saying, 'Please the whole multitude,'
and they chose Stephen, notice, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip and Prochorus
and Nicanor and Tymon and Parmenas and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the
Apostles. And when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." Verse seven, "And the Word of God
increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great
company of the priests were obedient to the faith." You know, the reason I go to this story is because
notice in verse one, it was talking about how the number of the disciples were already multiplied.
Like, God was already blessing the work. There already was great wisdom being preached by the
Apostles, by these men of God. But by adding other godly leaders, other godly people getting
involved in the game, notice what happened. Even more blessing, even more the Word of the Lord went
forth, even more the disciples multiplied. So, you know, we want to see who's a good leader,
who's a good Christian, what's a good church. Well, it's going to be a church, it's going to
be a leader, it's going to be a pastor that causes the disciples to be multiplied, that causes the
Word of God to go forth. You could look at that and say, hey, this person is producing results,
or this church is producing results. And we could say, hey, that's a result of wisdom. It's a way
we could do a litmus test on wisdom. You know, what if you see some loser like Salvador Alvarez,
who gets ordained and within six months just quits and destroys a great work of God,
you could say, wow, that was not founded on wisdom. Wow, that guy was not doing a good job.
Wow, this was not a real man of God. Wow, this was a total and complete fraud. How do you know?
Well, because lives weren't being changed. A bunch of people must not have been getting saved.
A bunch of people must not have been going to church. He must not have been making much of a
wake in the devil's kingdom when he's preaching a bunch of garbage, a bunch of trash, when he's
actually doing the work of the devil by lying and railing against men of God, preaching false
doctrine, destroying the work of God. Hey, you could say that's not a wise man. And you know,
he wants to go out and continue even after he's failed, even though he's no longer a pastor,
and he wants to continue to talk crap about Pastor Shelley and rebuke him and go all over Facebook.
Okay, well then everyone just needs to know what a loser you are then. Everyone gets to hear what a
complete failure you are to complain about, "Oh, I was given a church that wasn't a thriving church."
Bro's complaining that he received a church for free, a building, a bank account, you know,
everything set up for him, a bunch of church members and bro's complaining in the first year
of your ministry. Like, what do you expect, man? You know, God expects men to bear the yoke in their
youth. And you know, men like Pastor Anderson and Pastor Jimenez literally started their churches in
their homes where they were often preaching to their family and maybe like one other person.
And so you know what, I thank God for Anchor Baptist Church. I thank God for the blessing that
God and Pastor Shelley handed me. And I realized the gravity of the trust of the position I've been
put in and woe to any pastor that just craps all over it, that just treats it like garbage,
that's not even thankful for it. You know, it's just obvious that you're not a wise person to
say the least. So you know what, woe unto this guy, Salvador Alvarez. I thank God he's no longer
a part of this congregation and he would never be welcome here anyways. Go to Isaiah chapter 55.
You know, when we're deciding, hey, what's wise? Hey, it's going to be something that produces
results. What's a good leader? One that produces results. What's a good church?
One that's getting a lot of people saved. Here's the one we can look at. What Bible in this world
is producing results? It's the King James Bible, folks. You know what, you don't see all these
giant evangelistic movements. You don't see Duncan or Bannock in this world getting people saved,
1800 with an NIV. Where's the NIV Duncan or Bannock? Where is the new King James evangelist
or Bannock? It doesn't exist, folks. Why? Because this is where wisdom is coming from.
This is the one that's actually producing results. That's why we know it's wise. Isaiah 55 verse 11,
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it."
You know, one of the proofs that the King James Bible is the pure word of God is that it has
accomplished that which God set for it to accomplish. This Bible right here is the
Bible that's being preached in churches that are preaching hard sermons. This Bible is the one
that's being preached on the mission field all over the world. This Bible is the Bible that is
shaking up this earth. That's how we know, hey, wisdom's coming from this. This is the right
Bible. This is actually getting the job done. Go back to Proverbs chapter 9. Proverbs chapter 9.
Look at verse 3. The Bible says, "She hath sent forth her maidens. She cryeth upon the highest
places of the city." So, wisdom here is personified from an elevated position. Why? Because
wisdom leads to promotion. Whether we're talking at the workplace, hey, you want to get promoted
at your job, just learn a ton about your trade. Do it super well. Be wise in your craft and God
will bless you. God will likely promote you in that field. Or, you know, you could look at this
spiritually, just your spiritual life being raised to new levels. It's going to come through
wisdom. Verse four, the Bible says, "Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that
wanteth understanding, she sayeth to him." So notice how wisdom is speaking to the simple
and it's saying like, hey, come to me. And it's not like God's trying to hold back wisdom from us.
It's not like wisdom is trying to be unaccessible to people. It's inviting people and it's saying in
verse 5, "Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled." So it's like instead of
the strange woman calling you to destroy your life, you know, wisdom is calling out to us to help us,
to make us better, to teach us, "Come eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled."
So notice how wisdom is wanting to teach others. And even in this world, those who are wise,
you know what they do? They teach other people. Wise Christians, you know what they do? They go
out and teach the gospel. They go out and preach to people. Verse number six says this, "Forsake
the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding." So, you know, God's not making
this unclear for us. He's saying, "Hey, come to wisdom. Come learn these things. I want to teach
you these things. Forsake the way of the foolish and live." God wants what's best for us. You just
actually have to have the mindset of actually wanting wisdom. And again, one of the things that
I just keep repeating in this series, it's like, why are some people wise? Why are some people not?
It's because some people actually want wisdom. Some people don't. People who actually want wisdom,
you prove that you want wisdom by waking up in the morning and opening your King James Bible
and reading it. You say you actually want wisdom, okay, you prove that by actually going to church,
by actually being faithful. I'll read for you James 1.5. The Bible says, "If any of you lack
wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not, and it shall be given
him." Notice God is just so ready and willing to give his children wisdom. He wants you to get
wisdom. He says you just got to ask him and that he will give it to you. He'll give it to you
liberally. He won't abrade you for it. He won't correct you for it. He wants you to ask for wisdom.
But you know, some people today, I've noticed that in liberal versions of Christianity, there's kind
of this attitude where prayer is exalted on the super high level. And hey, praise the Lord for
that. It should be. But I've noticed like some churches, prayer is exalted super, super high,
and Bible reading is not exalted at all. But you know what the Bible says? "Whosoever turns
away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be made abomination unto him."
So you know, you're asking for wisdom, you're praying, "Oh God, help me. Oh God, give me wisdom."
You know what? That's insincere though, if you're not also reading your Bible. Because God's
constantly trying to answer your prayer. "Oh, okay, you want wisdom? Here's Hebrews 10. Go to church.
Oh, you want wisdom? Okay, husbands, love your wives. Oh, you want wisdom? Okay, wives, obey
your husbands." And then it's like, you're praying all these prayers, but if you're not reading the
Bible, you know what? God's not listening. God's ready to answer your prayer. And it's right here.
It's the King James Bible. Open it. He'll answer your prayer every single day. "Lord, open mine
eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." Where are you going to behold those things?
Out of thy law, out of God's word. God's not going to come to you in an audible voice
and just fill your head with knowledge. No, what's going to happen is God already wants to bless you.
We already have the preserved word of God right here in English, the King James Bible. It's there
for you, but you know what you have to do? You have to want it. You have to actually desire wisdom,
and if you desire it, you actually desire it, you'll get it. Number two this evening,
I want you to notice we're going to kind of shift gears here, the response to corrections.
We talk about the fruit of wisdom. Number two, the response to correction. Verse seven says,
"He that reproveth a scorner, getteth to himself shame, and he that rebuketh a wicked man,
getteth himself a blot." You know, this kind of actually fits perfectly with what we were just
saying, because people who actually desire wisdom, you know what they're going to desire?
God's word, which does what? Corrects us, right? We've all sinned. No one's perfect. And when we
open this book, it's going to be constantly correcting me. It's going to be constantly
correcting you. But you know what? Wicked and insincere people, they hate correction. And it
is a red flag in any person when they do not like correction, when they despise being instructed.
That is a serious red flag. And it's kind of interesting the way this verse words things,
because read it again. It says, "He that reprove what they scorn or get it to," what? "Himself
shame. And he that rebuketh a wicked man, get it himself a blot." You know, I don't think that God
wants us just constantly pouring out our heart and energy and effort into people that don't even
want it. You know, we should have the attitude that as Christians, we are ready to give the shirt off
our back. We are ready to go the extra mile. We are ready to do anything to help our brothers in
Christ and to help people who are sincere, help people that actually want to know the truth,
that want to get better. And it doesn't matter where they're at in life. They could be in the
in the lowest gutter of their life.
They could be that prodigal son.
But as soon as they start making steps
towards wanting to know the things of God,
wanting to get things right, hey, we should do everything
we could to help that type of a person.
But let me tell you this, someone who does not want
to be helped, someone that does not want
to receive correction, does not want the hard sermons,
when you knock on their door, are you 100% sure
if you die today you'd go to heaven?
Oh no, I'm not, I'm good, no worries, I'm good, I'm good.
Okay, well then, I'm leaving.
I'm gonna go to the next door.
I'm not gonna sit here and just waste my time.
Oh, but you should have told them.
You know, you should have told them
that if they don't listen to you,
then they might go to hell.
Look, they're just like walking away.
You ever had that door where as soon as they open,
they're like, "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
I see that, I'm just like, "Have a good day, see ya."
But I see some soul winners like,
"Wait, whoa, wait, wait, let me,
"can I just give you one verse real quick?"
It's just like, "Bro, that person's not interested."
Okay, walk away.
You know, I'm looking for someone that wants correction.
And sometimes I straight up tell people,
we're like, "Actually, not sometimes.
"Let me correct myself."
All right, I'm receiving correction for myself right now.
I don't believe wrong on salvation.
Hey, the Bible actually says something different.
Can I show you?
What am I doing right there?
I'm saying I am offering to you correction.
That's what we're doing.
I am at your door and I am offering
to correct your bad theology, your bad doctrine
on salvation, and I'm willing to give you the truth.
You know what I say?
Do you wanna listen?
That's a very important question.
Because if I just sit here and waste all my time
with people that don't care, don't wanna know the truth,
don't wanna hear what the Bible has to say,
you know what that actually does?
That brings shame on me.
Read that verse again.
"He that reproveeth a scornor, geteth to himself shame.
He that rebuketh a wicked man, geteth himself a blot."
You are not doing yourself any favors,
wasting your time, out-soul winning,
or just in life in general with scornors.
With people that don't wanna hear a correction,
you're just making yourself look bad.
You're making yourself look foolish.
Go to Titus three while I read Matthew seven, verse six.
Jesus said, give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine,
lest they trample them under their feet
and turn again and rend you.
Jesus is using this carnal application
to illustrate a spiritual application.
You would not give that which is holy unto the dogs.
Think about your nice interior decor.
Ladies love interior decor.
Ladies, think about your nice bedspread or pillows
or whatever you love in your house.
And we just go outside.
We just go to the nasty mangy mutts
and we just throw that stuff to the dogs.
You'd be like, that was stupid.
You're bringing to yourself shame.
You're bringing to yourself, why would you do something so dumb?
Why would you take these nice, beautiful, costly pearls
and just cast them before swine?
If you saw someone doing that, wouldn't you
think this is a crazy person?
What is wrong with this weirdo?
But look, it's the same thing spiritually.
We ought not to cast our pearls before swine.
We ought not to give that which is holy unto the dogs.
Makes me think about all these old IFB bleeding hearts that
are so concerned about the sodomites.
And they don't go out every week and preach the gospel
to the lost, to every door like we do.
But they're just like, oh, we got
to just worry about the ministry to the sodomites.
We have to do conversion therapy to the sodomites.
We got to just pray for the sodomites to be saved.
It's like, OK, have fun casting that which
is holy before the dogs.
Have fun casting your pearls before swine.
But you know what?
You look like an idiot, and you're
bringing to yourself shame.
And guess what?
It doesn't work, because the Bible says that they hate God.
The Bible says that they've been given over to a reprobate mind.
The Bible says that they'll never believe in God.
So how foolish would it be to sit here and dedicate my life
as a minister to trying to reach the sodomites?
Why would I try to reach people who are unreachable?
Oh, hey, there's this body that's
been buried for 200 years.
You think we could take it out and give it CPR?
What if you saw someone giving CPR to a cadaver for hours?
This person's insane.
That's like the ministers that are like, ministry to the homos.
I would rather hang out with cadavers, to be honest with you.
They're probably less disease-filled.
They probably smell better than these disgusting sodomites.
Man, where were we?
Where did I have you go, Titus 3?
Titus 3, verse 9, the Bible says,
"But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions
and strivings about the law, for they
are unprofitable and vain."
So notice, we as Christians-- and let me just talk
about soul winning for a minute.
We as Christians, we are there to preach to others.
We are not there to get preached to.
We are not there to debate people.
We're not there to enter into strifes about questions,
genealogies, contentions, strivings about the law.
Why?
For they are unprofitable and vain?
We're not there to just waste our time.
And I think what it is, is it's pride.
Is a soul winner thinks, man, I know the Bible so well,
and I could go smoke these Catholics.
And it's like, duh, I hope you could smoke false prophets.
But you know what?
I'm not impressed by someone wasting their soul winning time
arguing with some false prophet.
Why?
Because look at the next verse.
"A man that is heretic after the first and second admonition
reject, knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth
being condemned of himself."
You are not going to convince a heretic.
Just not going to happen.
And again, I always stress this.
You need to learn to discern between someone who
is struggling with concepts, struggling with ideas,
just takes them a little bit longer.
You have to preach them the gospel more times rather
than someone who's just resisting you, fighting you,
being contrarian.
You know, I think about this.
We've had in the past people come to this church
who believe that you could lose your salvation.
And we had a guy come in who thought you could lose
your salvation, and I preached him the gospel,
and he didn't get saved.
But you know what happened?
He came back next week.
And you know what that shows me?
It shows me that there must be a little bit of his heart
that's still willing to hear the truth.
And you know, as long as someone is coming here
and they're not spreading their false doctrine,
we should be gracious and give them time to learn,
give them time to receive the truth.
Some people need it over and over and over again.
You know, I'm thinking of a lady right now
at Steadfast Baptist Church who told me
that Pastor Jimenez had to give her the gospel
like eight times before she got saved.
That she was like, you know, resisting the idea
that she was having a hard time understanding
eternal security and she just couldn't really fathom it.
And then finally on that eighth time or whatever,
you know, Pastor Jimenez got her saved.
So look, we should be patient with people.
We should be long suffering.
We should, you know, condescend to men of low estate.
But when someone's actively fighting you,
when someone is a heretic, don't waste your time.
That's when you reject that person
and move to the next door.
Go to Proverbs chapter three again, Proverbs three.
Will someone grab me a water, please?
Proverbs chapter number three.
Notice what it says in verse, Proverbs three, good night.
Proverbs eight, verse, man, Proverbs nine, excuse me.
Someone give me a coffee too, I'm just kidding.
Verse eight, the Bible says, "Reprove not a scorner,
"lest he hate thee, rebuke a wise man
"and he will love thee."
So, you know, the word reproof
is a little less strong than rebuke.
Reproof just could be telling someone that they're wrong.
Thank you, sir.
But the Bible says that when you,
it says, "Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee."
You know, that's a really wicked attitude
if someone corrects you,
if someone, you know, gives you the right information
when you have the wrong information,
and then your attitude towards that person is changed
and you hate that person.
You know, that's a weird attitude.
That's a wicked attitude.
Notice this, rebuke a wise man and he will love thee.
So the wicked person, you could gently correct them.
You could walk on eggshells
and be super, super nice about it.
But if you correct them at all, they'll hate you.
They'll despise you.
They'll change their attitude towards you.
But a wise person, you could just light into even,
you could just rebuke them and they actually love you.
They actually appreciate it.
You know, we should have the attitude,
not of thinking, well, that sounded mean.
Well, that was talking about me.
We should have the attitude that says,
hey, no matter how hard it hurts,
no matter what is said, if the truth is being spoken,
then I need to correct that.
If the truth is being spoken,
then I need to receive whatever the truth is.
And man, wouldn't it be nice if this world was filled
with people that just responded to truth?
Wouldn't that be, everyone would be saved, right?
Like we would just be going soul winning.
It is every person would hear the truth.
Get saved, get saved, get saved.
But you know what, that's not the case.
Why?
It has to do with people's hearts.
It has to do with someone actually want truth.
Does someone actually want wisdom?
Because a wise man loves the people that correct him.
And you know, I don't know about you,
I've gotten some strong rebukes in my life.
And you know what, I thank God for those.
I thank God for those people.
And you know, I've been under pastors and leaders
that have told me some hard truths at times.
But you know what, those truths helped me.
Those truths made me a better person.
It didn't hurt me.
And hard preaching is never going to hurt you.
May hurt your feelings for a second,
but when you actually receive it,
when you actually change,
it's always gonna be for your betterment.
It's always gonna be for your improvement.
Go to verse number nine, the Bible says,
"Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser.
"Teach a just man, he will increase in learning."
So notice the wise man, he's not just content
with the level of wisdom that he has,
'cause you would kind of think of, you know,
the smartest person you could think of,
whoever that is, or just the smart individuals
that you know in life, you'd kind of think like,
man, they have so much knowledge, they have so much wisdom,
they must just be kind of cool with where they're at.
But the Bible's actually saying that the wise,
they actually want to be yet wiser.
You give instruction to a wise man,
they're so ready to learn.
Even though they're already wise,
even though they're already smart,
they're just constantly craving more knowledge.
You know, that's what I've noticed about people
I know in my life who are very wise.
They are always just hungering and thirsting after wisdom.
They just, they don't get tired of it.
They don't get tired of learning.
They don't get tired of reading the Bible.
They don't get tired of reading books.
They're constantly just wishing
that they had more time to learn,
more time to get wisdom.
He's gonna increase in learning.
Makes me think about how, you know,
those who increase in learning,
obviously those are the ones who's wise.
So think about this, the person who's wise goes to church.
The person who's wiser goes to church twice a week.
And the person who's the wisest
goes to church three times a week.
Why?
Because that person's increasing in learning.
They want to receive more instruction.
Hey, it's a wise person that wakes up in the morning
and reads their proverb of the day.
But it's a wiser person who reads the Bible for 15 minutes.
It's a wiser person who reads it for 30 or 45
or however long, you know, you can read.
The wise person is constantly increasing learning,
trying to get more instruction, not less.
I'll read for you 1 Corinthians 8, verse two.
The Bible says, "And if any man think
"that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet
"as he ought to know."
You know, that's a very sobering and humbling verse
that we all should have this attitude that, hey,
okay, you think you know something,
you think you have some wisdom,
but the attitude we should have is,
well, I don't know anything as I ought to know yet.
Oh, you have some Bible knowledge, okay.
Well, you don't know as much Bible as you should.
Oh, man, I'm really good at my job.
Well, you're not as good as you should be.
You know, that's the attitude that you should have.
You should always be hungry to learn more,
hungry to get more wisdom.
Number three this evening, we'll talk about this,
the fear of the Lord.
It says in verse number 10 of Proverbs 9,
the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding.
You know, we ought not to underestimate the importance
of fearing God, because we've been talking so much
in these last couple chapters about wisdom.
And you know, we want this, right?
Because wisdom produces results.
We want results in our life.
Whether you are a mother raising children,
whether you're a guy out in the workforce
trying to bring home the bacon,
whether you're in the ministry,
whatever it is you're doing in life,
you wanna succeed, you want the fruit of those things,
but where does it start, the Bible says.
It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
That is important.
What does fear mean?
It means being scared.
The Bible talks about fear and trembling.
Sometimes the modern type churches will say,
"Oh, it just only means respect."
No, fear means fear.
Fear means being scared.
And you know what?
Being scared is not your whole life,
but it's the beginning of wisdom.
Why do people get saved?
'Cause they're afraid of going to hell.
Oh, that shouldn't be your motivation?
Seems like a pretty great motivation to get saved.
I mean, hell is eternal fire.
No rest, day nor night.
The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.
They're there where their worm dieth not.
I mean, that sounds terrible, 'cause it is terrible.
And you know what?
Everyone should be afraid of going to hell,
and that's what I hope people are afraid of
when we go to their door with the gospel.
I hope they're afraid of going to hell, because why?
Because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
How do people come to the wisdom of understanding
the gospel and salvation?
It starts with the fear of the Lord.
I'll read for you Revelation 20 verse 15.
The Bible says, "And whosoever was not found written
"in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."
That's a scary verse.
And you know, people who are unsaved,
they should hear that and tremble before an almighty God
who has power not to just destroy their body,
but to destroy their spirit and soul in hell.
That's what Jesus said that people should fear.
But of course, the Bible says
that it's the beginning of wisdom.
So I'm not saying that your entire life
should be always categorized by fear.
You know, it's a component
that should be there your whole life,
but it shouldn't just be the obsession of your life.
Go to 1 Peter chapter number two, 1 Peter two.
You know, the hope is, is that you get saved,
and now obviously we don't need to be afraid of hell.
You know, I hope no one in here is afraid of hell,
because once you're saved, you're always saved.
You can't lose your salvation,
so it's literally impossible for me to go to hell,
so why would I sit here and fear it?
You know, I fear other people going to hell.
I fear for my loved ones who are unsaved to go to hell,
but I don't fear that for myself.
But what we should do after getting saved is we should grow.
1 Peter 2, 1, the Bible says,
"Wherefore, laying aside all malice and all guile
"and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speakings,
"as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
"that ye may grow thereby.
"If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious."
So you know, the ideal situation is that,
hey, someone's presented with the gospel,
they fear God, they fear hell,
and they decide to put their trust and faith
in Jesus Christ to save them.
But you know, after that, that person should start to grow.
How do they do that?
It says, "Desire the sincere milk of the word
"that ye may grow thereby."
It's talking about Bible reading.
You know, this is not just my opinion
or something that Baptist preachers
just love to constantly talk about.
No, this is actually how you grow spiritually,
is reading the word of God.
And look, I hope everyone in here
reads the Bible every single day.
But if you do not, you need to.
You need to do these things.
You have to start growing spiritually.
Now, side note on this, this verse,
it says, "Desire the sincere milk of the word
"that ye may grow thereby."
A lot of modern versions will actually change this
and say that you get the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow into salvation.
So it makes it seem like you have to start reading
the Bible and start growing spiritually to be saved.
That's a false gospel.
Bible teaches that salvation is by faith
without the deeds of the law.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter five.
But you know, the fear of the Lord's
the beginning of wisdom.
Hopefully you fear God, you're afraid of hell,
you get saved, you start growing in the Lord,
you start reading the Bible.
Then the hope is that you start having more
of a motivation of love in your life.
And look, that's great too.
We need both of these things.
As Christians, we need the fear of God,
and we also need the love of God.
And you know, false prophets, they cannot comprehend this.
You know, Mormons, they go out on their Mormon mission
because they think it's like earning their salvation.
So they're afraid of hell,
and instead of believing the gospel,
they stay with their false religion
and they try to do works to escape hell.
And then we tell them, hey, salvation's a free gift,
you can never lose it,
you don't have to do all these things to be saved.
And it kind of blows their mind.
Have you ever had someone out soul winning,
when you tell them that salvation's free,
then they're like, well, then why are you doing this?
Then why are you out here?
And it's like, maybe, just maybe, because we love God.
Hey, maybe 'cause we love you,
maybe 'cause we don't want you to go to hell.
But you know, these people can't comprehend this,
but look what the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:13,
"For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God.
"For whether we be sober, it is for your cause."
He's like, "I don't care if you think we're crazy,
"or if you think we're sober."
He's like, "We're doing this for the right reasons.
"We know we are."
Verse 14 says, "For the love of Christ constraineth us,
"because we thus judge that if one died for all,
"then we're all dead, and that he died for all,
"that they which live should not henceforth live
"unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
"and rose again."
You know, I think when you actually start to grow
in the Lord and you start getting some maturity spiritually,
I think that the most powerful motivating factor is love.
And you know, I honestly pity and feel bad for Christians
that haven't experienced that,
that don't even understand what I'm talking about right now.
But when you sit here and think about
and try to conceptualize the amount of love
that Jesus Christ had for you, had for me,
to sacrifice himself, to die a brutal, horrific death,
to pay for our sins, you know what,
we shouldn't just live unto ourselves after that.
Makes me want to live for my savior.
Makes me want to live for God.
Makes me want to live for other people,
not just being selfish and taking
this free gift of salvation, this free grace of God,
and then just being like,
"Well, forget the rest of the world.
"Yeah, I'm going to heaven.
"Too bad that no one else is."
You know, that's not the right attitude.
The love of Christ constrains us.
You know, leading by constraint doesn't work.
Oh, weird, there it is again.
The love of God constrains us.
I mean, God is just leading us by the love that we have for Him to do something for Him,
to go out into this world and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And look, you know, I don't love going soul-winning because I just love getting sunburns and I
love sweating to death and I love going to the ghetto and I love hearing the gunshots
and I love hearing the smoke alarms.
That's not why.
I do it because I love people and I love Jesus Christ.
That's why.
The love of Christ constrains us.
You know, we put up with all those things and you know what sometimes people think?
You guys are crazy.
I mean, haven't you all heard that?
Oh, you guys are crazy.
You guys are going in the ghetto?
You're just knocking on random people's doors.
Well, it's like, hey, whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God.
Or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
Oh, you think we're crazy?
You think we're nuts?
We're doing it for you guys.
You know, people think we're so weird, so crazy, knocking on a person's door and talking
about salvation.
Hey, it's for you.
And you know who else it's for?
It's for Jesus Christ.
Because the love of Christ constraineth us.
So this is the progression that should work.
You should start, hey, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Then you grow in the Lord, you read the Bible, you mature, and hopefully you can get to the
point where you're motivated by love.
You know, that's the ideal situation.
But look, we still need the fear of God.
And all of us, no matter how spiritually mature you may think you are, we still need
the fear of the Lord.
We still need to walk in the fear of God all the days of our life.
Go back to Proverbs chapter 9.
That's why I think our church is very healthy, and churches that go soul-winning, new IFB
churches, I think that they're very healthy because we go out into the world and we're
loving people, we're ministering to people, we're sacrificing for people.
And then we come into the house of God, we hear hard preaching, we hear the fear of the
Lord.
We have a good mix of these things at our church, and I think that's a healthy balance.
Verse 11 says, "For by me, thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life
shall be increased."
So wisdom is going to bless us.
Wisdom could even add years to our life.
Just goes to show how important it is to seek wisdom.
You know, especially young people, as the book of Proverbs is geared towards young people.
You know, the quicker you apply your heart to wisdom, the quicker you seek these things
with all your heart, the better your life is going to be.
And quite literally, the longer your life could be.
You know, if you're rejecting wisdom and you're just spending your youth, you know, doing
drugs, smoking cigarettes, committing fornication, drinking alcohol, living this hard and fast
party life, you are literally shaving years off your life.
With or without God's divine intervention, there's the natural consequence of sin, like
you are shaving years off your life.
You know, you ever see a drug addict and people say, you know, that person's lived
a hard life?
It's like the woman who looks like she's 70, and it says like, "Annie, age 30, don't
do drugs."
And it's like, yeah, you know, you want to seek wisdom and avoid these pitfalls could
literally add years to your life.
Verse 12, it says, "If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.
But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it."
And you know, every single person in here, we all need to just take responsibility for
our lives and realize that if there's an issue we have in our life, if there's something
about our lives that we don't like, you know, it very likely is a result of our own foolishness
and our own stupidity, whether that was recently or in our youth or whatever.
But the Bible's kind of teaching here that we need to be responsible for what we do.
If you be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself.
But if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
Hey, if you don't listen to God's commandments, if you don't read the Bible, if you reject
the hard preaching, you're the one that's going to pay the consequence.
You're the one that's going to pay the price.
You know, how many times have we all heard people say, "Man, I wish I knew this when
I was a teenager."
"Oh man, I wish I knew this truth when I first got married.
I wouldn't have blown up my marriage," or whatever, you know, you've heard stuff like
this.
And it's like, look, if you scorn the Bible, okay, you think you're so smart, you're so
smug, you're so wise, but guess what?
You're alone going to have to bear it.
You are going to have to pay the real consequence for that.
And look, us as a church, myself as a pastor, I want to serve God's people, I want to be
there for people when they've made those mistakes in the past and helped them make the best
of whatever situation that they're in.
But you know, to the young people who have not yet destroyed their life with the stupidity
of sin, it's like you just need to realize right now, hey, if you're going to be wise,
you'll be wise for yourself.
If you scorn it, you alone will bear it.
You know, you think your tattoo is so cool when you're 18, but it doesn't look that
cool when you're 40, and it looks way less cool when you're 60.
And you're going to have to bear that stupid sucker on your body for the rest of your life.
Look, I'm not down on people who have made that mistake, but those people who have made
that mistake, they would agree with me in telling the young people, "Don't do it.
You'll regret it.
Be wise."
Look at verse number 13.
Last point this evening, number four, the deception of sin.
Verse 13, the Bible says, "A foolish woman is clamorous.
She is simple, knowing nothing."
So it's going to go on and talk a lot more about deception and why I'm kind of using
that point.
But one of the things right off the bat is sometimes people could be deceived by the
loudest voice in the room and people would say like, "Oh, this person's loud or this
person's talking a lot, therefore they must be right, therefore they must be wise."
But notice this foolish woman, so she's simple, this foolish woman is clamorous.
What does clamorous mean?
Clamor is a loud uproar as from a crowd of people.
So this one woman is just so loud, it's like a crowd of people.
Also the Bible says, "She is simple and knoweth nothing."
So you know, the loudest voice in the room is not always right, but the loudest woman
in the room is almost certainly wrong.
Let me repeat that for you.
The loudest voice in the room is not always right, but the loudest woman is almost certainly,
certainly wrong.
It is a bad attribute of a woman to be loud.
The pick me girls, right?
So loud.
The Bible talks about women should be meek and quiet.
Now yes, the Bible does specifically bar women from being pastors, from preaching behind
the pulpit.
And ladies should be doing godly activities like teaching their children the Bible, teaching
their children doctrine.
So it's not like teachings wrong, but you know a pastor is supposed to cry aloud, he's
supposed to spare not, he's supposed to you know, supposed to smite with the hand, stomp
with the foot, and you know that is not a good attribute in a woman to be that way.
And have you ever noticed the most wicked groups of women in our world, like these pro-abortion
women, they're the loudest women.
You know they go out in these big protests and hordes, you know a loud clamor, and it's
just, it goes to show that the Bible's right, the godly woman is meek and quiet.
And you know let me tell you this, even if a woman is not directly violating the letter
of the law, like she's not a pastor, she's not a preacher, and she's not directly violating
that letter of the law, you also have to think about the spirit of the law, that god does
not want women to be loud in general.
And it's like, I just promise you this, that god is not pleased with a woman that just
blows her mouth off at every single Facebook post, that gets involved in every single fight,
that goes and corrects and rebukes every single preacher, like I don't care if she's
not a pastor and she's not preaching behind a pulpit, that's wrong. That's wicked. That's
a bad attribute. And it's kind of like people want to hide behind the letter of the law
where it's like, you know, I know I have a podcast online where I teach the Bible, but
I'm not a pastor. No, that's stupid. No, that's wicked. That's garbage. People that
are defending that kind of stuff. It's like, what kind of feminist, you know, Kool-Aid
have you been drinking? It's a bad sign when a woman is clamorous. Notice verse 14, it
says, "For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the
city to call passengers who go right on their ways. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither.
And as for him that wanteth understanding, she sayeth to him, 'Stolen waters are sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he knoweth not that the dead are there, and
that her guests are in the depths of hell." The reason point number four is called the
deception of sin is because I think this woman can be a picture of sin in general. Notice
what this woman is promising to the people that pass by. She says, "Oh, stolen waters
are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant." You know, this is exactly what the devil does
and what wicked people do when they try to get you to sin is they try to tell you that
it's good. They try to tell you that it's pleasant, that it's enjoyable. You know, the
reason why people try drugs for the first time is they want to experience that pleasant,
high feeling, right? The reason people drink alcohol is because they want to get a buzz.
They want to get that good feeling that alcohol brings to them. You know, same thing with
fornication and adultery. Whatever it is, it has some sort of allure to it. Otherwise
people wouldn't be doing it. But here's the thing, it's deceptive though because look
at verse 18, "But he knoweth not." You just underline that in your Bible. It's like whatever
temptation that comes your way, okay, it may look good, okay, but you know not though.
It's like it makes me think about, you know, teenagers. They could do something that seems
on the surface like it's not the biggest deal in the world. Now of course, we know that
the Bible actually makes sin exceeding sinful. We should do the same thing. But society at
general and people who are not saved, not godly, they'll look at something like let's
say teens, they go to a store and they shoplift a candy bar. Now let me tell you, that's wicked.
That's wrong. God is not pleased with people stealing. But here's the thing. They'll think,
oh it's no big deal. It's kind of fun. It's kind of gotten allured to it. It's just a
rush. Oh, it's just a few bucks. We're not really hurting anyone. But hold on. But he
knoweth not. But he knoweth not that you're going to get your butt thrown in jail. Oh,
but you knoweth not that there's going to be consequences coming your way regardless
of whether you think it's a big deal or not, because it is a big deal to God. I'll read
for you Romans 7 verse 13. The Bible says, "When it was then that which is good made
death unto me, God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that
which is good, that sin by the commandments might become exceeding sinful." And you know,
that's the truth that we need to constantly remind ourselves with that, hey, things of
this world, sin may have its allure, it may have its pull of the flesh, the devil or this
world might try to convince you that it's just a little fun, that it's no big deal,
but, but he knoweth not, though. But he knoweth not that the dead are there and that our guests
are in the depths of hell. You know, the consequences for sin are often way worse than we anticipate.
And especially if you're saved, you have God chastising you for your sin, you ought to
realize that God's going to come down hard on you for that. Also, I think this could
be a picture of false religion. Because look at verse 16 again, it says, "Whoso is simple,
let him turn in hither. And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, 'Stolen
waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.' But he knoweth not that the
dead are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell." You know, false religion
has a certain appeal to it for this world. And usually, the appeal is to your pride and
to your flesh. Because false religion teaches the religion of do, right? Do good works
to be saved. Oh, just be a good person and you'll be saved. And people that are trapped
in false religions like Catholicism, Mormonism, you know, it really appeals to their flesh
because they think that they've done something great to earn their salvation. It has some
sort of appeal to them, but they know not that the dead are there, that really they're
in the depths of hell. You know, every single false religion, whether it is appealing to
you or not, it will lead you to hell. Why? John 14, 6 says, "Jesus saith unto him, I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by." There's only
one way to heaven, that's Jesus Christ. Let's finish in Proverbs 9 verse 14. I want to highlight
one more thing here. It says, "For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the
high places of the city," notice, "to call passengers who go right on their ways." You
know, this woman, which, you know, could picture a loose woman, it could picture sin, picture
false religion, it could picture a lot of different things, notice it's not like the
people that get trapped by this woman were all necessarily seeking her out and wanting
to find her. It says that these passengers were just going right on their way. They're
just living life. They're just walking down the road and this woman is calling out to
them, "Hey, whoever's simple, come into me," right? And this is just the reality of this
world is that whether you're saved or not, there's going to be temptation in this world.
There's going to be the devil coming after you, trying to get you to sin, or loose women,
or just wicked people in this world that are going to try to entice you to sin. We have
to be reminded of these things. We'll finish in 1 Peter chapter 5 verse 8. 1 Peter chapter
number 5, last verse of the evening. Verse number 8, notice what the Bible says, "Be
sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about
seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." So notice, it's not that
people who get deceived by the devil are all just seeking Satan, right? It's not like
hell is full of people that are just like, "Man, I wanted to worship Satan. I wanted
to go to hell." No, a lot of times Satan is seeking you. Satan is seeking me. He's
walking around as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So, you know, we ought not
to just get comfortable thinking like, "Oh, I can never go down a dark path. I can never,
you know, buy the deceitfulness of sin." No, we need to constantly every single day renew
our mind. Read the Word of God. Seek after that wisdom. Walk in the Spirit. Pray and
ask God to help us with these things. Not just think like, "Hey, I'm good. I've arrived."
No, no, no. You can just be walking down your way and you can get deceived some day. That's
why you need to be strong spiritually. That's why this chapter is telling us to do things
like, "Hey, seek wisdom. Follow wise people. Go to a church that's wise. Seek correction."
You know, that's a good way to get safe, to be safe in this world. Seek correction. And
then lastly, of course, fear God. Fear God. It's the beginning of wisdom. Fear the Lord
and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man, the Bible says. Let's
have a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you for this chapter in your word. Thank you for
the warnings that are found therein. I pray that all of us here would be a people that
seek wisdom, not just with our words, Lord, but also by actually reading the Bible. I
pray that you'd help us to seek unto wise counsels. I pray that we'd be people that
desire correction and be people that fear you. We love you in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
This time we'll turn to our last hymn for the evening, if you'll grab your hymnal.
Our last hymn is number 328, "I Want That Mountain." 328, 328, "I Want That Mountain."
We'll sing there 328, starting on the first. I saw the giant of prayerlessness upon the
mountain high. He laughed so hard at my unbended knee. No longer in the wilderness I'll stay
and so I cry. I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I want that mountain
where the milk and honey flow, where the grapes of Eshel grow. I want that mountain, I want
that mountain, the mountain that my lord has given me. A giant of laziness who said I wouldn't
go and witness for the one who set me free. Come from out the wilderness, I'll witness
now. I want that mountain, it belongs to me. I want that mountain, I can't wait where the
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