Proverbs chapter number two at the beginning there in verse number one the Bible reads
my son if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee so that thou incline
thine ear unto wisdom and apply thine heart to understanding yay if thou cryest after
knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searches
for as for hid treasures and look at verse five this is the key because this is the promise
right it says then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of
God and this goes back to what Jesus Christ said in the New Testament when he said ask
and it shall be given to you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open unto you for
everyone that asketh receiveth everyone that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it
shall be open unto him and of course the book of James tells us in James chapter one if
any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and it breadeth
not and it shall be given him so what the Bible is saying is that wisdom is available
to absolutely anyone who wants it anyone who asks is going to receive anyone who seeks
is going to find anyone who knocks the door is going to be open God is not a respecter
of persons just deciding you know in the sovereignty of his will that just certain
people just don't have access to wisdom no no he gives to all men liberally and it breadeth
not what does that mean though does that mean everybody has wisdom no because there are
conditions placed upon getting that wisdom what's what's the condition in the book of
James it says did he give it to all men liberally and it breadeth not but let him ask in faith
nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and
tossed for let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord so the
Bible is not saying that every single person is going to get wisdom but what the Bible
is saying is that if we play our cards right we will get wisdom because God is not up in
heaven trying to withhold wisdom from us he's ready to deal out wisdom to every single person
and everyone that asketh receiveth everyone that seeketh findeth to everyone who knocks
the door shall be open but we have to ask the right way we have to seek the right way
we have to knock on the right door and also we can't be double minded about this right
because the Bible said in the book of James you know double minded man is unstable in
all his ways and if we waver and we're just like a wave of the sea driven with the wind
and tossed well let me just tell you right now buddy let not that man think that he shall
receive anything from the Lord why because God's word and the wisdom that is found therein
is not on a trial size or trial basis but rather to really get to the truth you have
to be dedicated you have to be committed and you have to really be sincere in your quest
for truth and that's why there's all these verses that are leading up to verse five there
in Proverbs chapter two it starts with because all of these are conditions do you see that
and then chapter five verse five is the promise but you have to meet the conditions of verses
one through four in order to receive the promise of chapter five the promise of chapter good
night why do I keep saying chapter I'm sure there's some great promise in chapter five
but let's talk about that three weeks from now so verse five says then shalt thou understand
the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his
mouth cometh knowledge and understanding but notice all the ifs though right verse two
or verse one there's an if verse three there's an if verse four there's an if you've got
to meet these conditions so what's the first verse say my son if thou wilt receive my words
and hide my commandments with thee so a disregard for God's word is not going to be the path
to wisdom you could get on your knees and pray and beg God to give you knowledge and
give you wisdom and give you understanding but then if you don't read the Bible you're
not going to get it God's not going to listen to you because if you turn away your ear from
hearing the law the Bible says then even your prayer is an abomination because what's God
saying don't come asking me for stuff when you don't even listen to what I have to say
and God's already given us his word here and we need to listen to what God has to say and
then if we ask God for wisdom but we are receiving God's word we're hiding his commandments with
us you know then we're going to understand the fear though then we're going to get the
knowledge of God now what does it mean when he says hide my commandments with thee basically
what he's saying is learn them learn them by heart hide them means put them inside of
you tucked away where they are now part of you memorized or you know what they are you
learn them you receive them you keep them you hold on to them you hide them in your
heart and then in verse two it says so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom and apply
thine heart to understanding think about how people tell you sometimes to apply yourself
do they mean when they say you need to apply yourself they're saying put some effort into this
and so the search for wisdom is something that requires effort on our part first of all we need
to desire it we need to first see what God says in the Bible and this is the starting point this
is the foundation in our quest for knowledge and wisdom and then it says that we apply our
heart to understanding verse three yay if thou cryest after knowledge and lift us up thy voice
for understanding if thou seekest her as silver and searches for her as for hid treasure so you
have to be serious about this you have to be dedicated you have to want it badly and if you
really want to know the truth and if you go to the Bible as the foundation you will find the truth now
there are all kinds of people in this world who believe all kinds of false religions and false
doctrines and there are Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and they're on their way to hell because
they do not have the truth they're not they don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ they don't
believe he's the son of God they don't believe he's the savior of the world they're doomed okay
but then even amongst those who would claim the name of Christ you've got people that are mixed
up in this big giant pagan counterfeit Christian religion called the Roman Catholic Church
it's based on a lot of idolatry hocus pocus I just knocked on the door of someone today and I said
if you were to die today do you know for sure that you'd go to heaven and she said well
I don't know because there's a whole bunch of stuff that I need to confess
to the priest first you know to get me back on track so that if I died I'd go to heaven
folks that's garbage there's nothing like that in the bible there's no mention of that
in the word of God there are no new testament priests cardinals bishops the bible teaches the
priesthood of all believers in the new testament okay there's no monks nuns cardinals bishops
archbishop I mean there are bishops but not the not these guys in a funny hat my friend a bishop
in the new testament is a pastor okay what they have as a bishop is the opposite of what the
bible has a bishop in the bible the bishop must be the husband of one wife in the Roman Catholic
Church he must not be the husband of one wife figure that one out how does that work all of
this hierarchy of the pope and the cardinals and the blue jays and all these other uh you know
things that we have they're not in scripture all right and so you know it's a false religion
and yet a billion people are mixed up in this false religion
but isn't it amazing how many of them we went to Christ and how many of them come out of that
false religion in fact when we're out soul winning Roman Catholics are some of the most receptive
people because they're often just a Catholic in name only they're not really that into it
they don't really necessarily even believe in it they were just brought up in it raised in it they
don't really know but I'll say this there are a lot of people that are Roman Catholic or another
false religion say Mormon Jehovah's Witness whatever East Orthodox whatever other false
counterfeit Christianity a lot of them are in that false religion because they just don't
really even care what the truth is they don't really care you know it's like oh I'm Catholic
I'm Orthodox whatever they don't really care they're not getting on their knees every night
begging God to show them the truth they're not getting on their knees and I'm begging God oh God
please show me if the Roman Catholic Church is it right is it wrong please give me the truth
they're just kind of like oh yeah we're Catholic we've always been Catholic whatever
yeah I guess I'll go to confession every once in a blue moon or whatever they show up to church
a couple times a year or whatever a lot of them are just not even that into it they just don't
even really care they don't care what the truth is okay and there are others that are in it and
they're pretty active as far as going to mass and you know going through the motions and going
through the different practice and everything but they're not really interested in the truth
they're just interested in following their traditions and it's like a national pride
thing like we're Mexican or we're Spanish or we're Italian and this is just what we do
we're Roman Catholic and and here's the thing even if they are dedicated to that religion
they're not the guy who just doesn't even care and barely shows up even if they're pretty into
it and going through all the processes you know yeah they have a zeal but it's not a zeal for God
it's a zeal for their nationalistic tradition their heritage they're zealous about being an
Italian they're zealous about being Spanish they're zealous about being Mexican but it
doesn't make them zealous to actually know the God of the Bible and actually know the Lord Jesus
Christ as their savior they're just they're into this is our culture this is our religion and we
don't want to change and it's kind of like an us against them type of mentality you know that's not
going to work because I guarantee you that if you have someone who's raised Roman Catholic
raised East Orthodox raised in one of these false religions raised as a Mormon or whatever
if they actually want to know the truth and they're actually sincere about it
and they're actually going to the word of God and saying God show me the truth is it Roman
Catholicism you know is it something else what is it I want to know the truth I promise you
that person who is sincere and really seeking to understand really seeking the wisdom of God
really seeing the truth that person will come out of Roman Catholicism and will get saved period
and if they don't if they stay with the Roman Catholic Church you know what that proves
it proves that they are not sincere about wanting to know the truth they are rejecting truth they
don't actually care enough to get on the Lord's side because anybody who seeks is going to find
okay there are going to be a lot of people who go to hell because they just didn't even care
and they're just too busy with the things of this world and the cares of the world and the
love of money and other things entering in that they just don't care and they're just going to
just slowly go off that cliff and then there are others that are just so they're so prideful
about their race or nationality that they're just married to that certain false religion
and that could be the same for Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims too where it's just a nationalistic
culture thing they're just they're just stuck on that that are going to go to hell but you know
I'll tell you who's not going to go to hell somebody who actually sincerely seeks for the
truth because anyone who actually sincerely seeks for the truth is going to find Jesus Christ
and they're going to find that salvation is through his blood his death barrel and
resurrection not through works you know another guy I told you today he just said you know it's
not enough to believe in Jesus you got to be following him you got to be doing the works
you know if you're not doing the works if you're not following him if you know it's not enough to
just believe so you know I tried to give him some thoughts from the bible but he wasn't interested
in listening so then I you know I start walking away and I go to the next door knock on the next
door and then I'm I kind of got the doors out of order just because the guy was in his yard you
know so then I'm walking by the guy again and he stops me again he's like hey I got I got a
perfect example for you he said let me tell you something I was a big fan of Prince but I wasn't
following him because Prince was a wicked person he's talking about the musician Prince he's like
I was a big Prince fan but I wasn't following him he's a wicked person
so he's trying to compare he's trying to say like you know you know being a Jesus fan isn't enough
you know you got to be following him it's a really stupid illustration but at the end of the day
here's what the bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves
it's the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast so the bible says you're saved by
faith not of works okay Prince really has nothing to do with it
I don't think that Prince really was looking for followers while he was on this earth
I don't I don't remember I don't you know I don't really know much about Prince you know to be
honest I was not a fan or a follower of Prince but but here's the thing about Prince I don't
I don't remember Prince saying hey you know if you want to be my disciple you need to deny yourself
and take up the cross daily and follow the artist formerly known as Prince you know
you know so you can always come up with some kind of a a logic to prove why you're right
even when you're wrong everybody who's wrong comes up with some logic to prove that they're
right and I mean this guy like he was real proud of that illustration like he had to stop me and
be like hey I got a perfect illustration for you Prince it's kind of like whoa okay yeah
case closed you know game over insert coin but honestly this this whole idea of just yeah I've
got an answer of why I'm right everybody who's wrong can come up with some way to prove that
they're right but at the end of the day here's what I walk away thinking that guy right there
doesn't want to know the truth he doesn't care what the truth is and so he has deluded himself
because for some reason he wants to believe that salvation is by works and so no matter what I say
to this guy he's going to believe that salvation is by works that's what he wants to believe
he received not the love of the truth that he might be saved instead he's clinging to this
falsehood and then he dreams up reasons why he's right and and how you know there's there's fans
of a certain musician and then there's the real followers which what you know what is that you
have to be like a like a dead head or something to be you know of the grateful dead or something I
mean it's just the whole thing it was absurd but to him it was like the greatest illustration ever
because of the fact that he's wise in his own conceit you know in his own eyes he's wise in
his own eyes somebody's coming to him with the bible telling him the truth it's by faith it's
not of works you've got to trust Jesus as your savior but he's like no no no no he's got it all
figured out and he was going to take me to school and and and straighten me out you know when you're
out so many you run into so many people like that that are they're so wrong but they're so confident
and they have so many arguments and reasons and they're just ready to just take you to task but
they're wrong and all you can do is try to show them the truth and you know you just you just
walk away feeling bad but it's like this guy's not sincere because if he were sincere I believe
from the top of my head to the bottom of my foot that the person who is truly seeking truth will
find it you got the people who don't care they're not seeking anything except just the next ice
cream cone and the next good time in life okay and then you got the people who are just stuck
on their false religion they're not sincere the people who really want to know the truth are going
to get there and you know what that's comforting for me because I struggle sometimes just as a
human being with the thought of how many people are going to hell it's it's it's a it's a really
sad thing to think about how many people are going to be damned it's hard I can't even wrap my mind
around what it's like to go to hell you know and and it's just it's sad to think about how many
people are so wrong and their their lives are wrong and then and and but way more important
than that is that they're they're heading to the wrong place eternally by not believing in Christ
but you know the one thing that makes me feel a little better about that is to know that if
people are truly sincerely looking for the truth they're guaranteed to find it that's what Jesus
has taught and that's what the book of Proverbs is teaching as well that God gives wisdom out of
his mouth comes understanding if you seek you will find the knowledge of God but you have to
want it bad enough now why do we go soul winning what's the purpose of soul winning because you
could say well the people who really want because I remember being told this as a child and and
there's a lot of truth in it of hey the people who really want to know the truth they're going
to find it they're going to get there and you hear all the stories about the guy who's in some
dark deep jungle of Africa and he walks for three days and he doesn't even know why and he stumbles
into the missionary and the missionary gets him saved and it was like God knew that this guy is
sincere and that he wants the truth and so God led this guy to the mission hey great amen okay
but here's the thing what about that huge mass of people that's actually probably the majority of
people they just don't really care and they're not seeking God they don't really care they
don't even really want to know the truth they're just kind of going through life
that's the people where we're trying to get a hold of them and and kind of come to them show up at
their door and say hey if you were to die today do you know for sure that you're going to heaven
and maybe that's something that's that's not even on their mind at all they're not even thinking
about that at all they're just thinking about the nasty here and now and you're basically saying to
them stop for a minute and think about the fact we're all going to die someday do you know where
you're going to spend eternity do you know if you're even going to heaven or hell and a lot of
people aren't thinking about that and then you bring that up to them and a lot of times they'll
say okay sure tell me how I can know and then you can get that person saved even though they're not
necessarily the hardcore seeker of truth found here in chapter two that's the kind of person
we want to pull them out of the fire you know it's not like well if you want out of the built
the burning building bad enough if you want out of that burning building bad enough you're you're
going to find a way to get out and you know we'll be here with the trampoline when the time comes
but I don't know if that's only on cartoons or if they do that in real life but I you know
I'm like we're going to be here with the trampoline when you're ready but then isn't
our job as a firefighter also to actually go in there and kind of drag people out of the building
whether they want to come out or not I mean what if we found some little child in a burning
house and we go into the bedroom and we pick up this little child and they're screaming and
kicking and no leave me alone I want my mommy you're going to be like shut up you're coming
with me and you're going to drag them out of there okay so so here's the thing now obviously
we don't tell people shut up you're coming with me when we go soloing we're obviously kind and
polite and we can't force anyone to be saved like the firefighter could literally you know just drag
somebody out or whatever obviously we can't fully drag people into the kingdom of god I wish we
could man we'd do it if we could if we could force people to get saved you know but we can't right
but we can proverbially speaking you know pull them in and and compel them to come in
and persuade them those are the words the bible uses compel persuade right pulling them out of
the fire right we can we can try our hardest to get the maybe somebody is asleep in the burning
building maybe they're asleep they don't even know the building's on fire we can wake them up
and say hey it's time to go now you need to get out now we're not just going to stand outside the
building and be like well you know the people who really want to get out are going to find a way to
get out now that's true I mean the people that are more serious about getting out are probably
more likely to get out but we want to go in and get them too so yes people who are sincerely
seeking for god they're guaranteed to arrive at the truth because god's not going to hide it from
them god wants them to be saved as much as they want to be saved but there are a lot of people
who just they don't even know that that's what they need because they just don't care and they're
just distracted and they're brainwashed and thinking about it you know that's where we want
to go and put this on their mind also the bible says faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
word of god so a lot of people who don't even believe in god or they don't even believe that
that jesus is necessarily even real you know by coming to them and presenting them with some
scriptures that scripture can can begin to plant a seed in their heart that can then be watered
and it can grow into them actually believing on the lord jesus christ as their savior
so yeah there are going to be those people who are truly seeking truth and they come to us and
say what must i do to be saved you know they stumble through the jungle to the missionary
and they show up on his doorstep and ask him what the truth is but probably most of the time
the missionary is having to go and talk to people who aren't necessarily that interested
and try to explain them here you need to be interested in this you know you need to
think about this and warn them so after we're saved because obviously the most important
knowledge of god is just knowing who god is and and who jesus is and knowing how to be saved
but even after we're already saved there's a lot more knowledge of god that we want to acquire as
christians and so we want to continue to hunger and thirst for the knowledge of the truth because
being saved is the is by far the most important thing but after we're saved we also want to have
the right doctrine we want to go to the right church we want to believe the right things we
want to be able to evangelize others we want to live our life the right way we want to have the
right marriage we want to have the right behavior at our job we want to have the right behavior in
our families and so there's more to learn and so we want to continue to love knowledge and wisdom
and understanding and and to hunger and thirst and cry out for knowledge so even after we're
saved we want to keep asking god for wisdom about how to live the christian life what is the next
step and again if we're sincere we will find it because there's a thing there are a lot of people
who are saved you know they're not a roman catholic they're not a mormon they're not a hindu
or a buddhist there are a lot of people who are saved but they're not necessarily in that grade
of a church they're not necessarily going to a church that has the right doctrine because there
are a lot of saved christians that are going to these kind of non-denominational fun centers
they're saved but a lot of what they're being taught in that church isn't right they're not
necessarily getting teaching on how to live their life again if that person's sincere and really
continuing to look for knowledge and the truth you know eventually they're going to find that hey
we need to be reading the king james bible not these modern messed up bible hey you know we
need to believe this and believe that and get their doctrines right and and actually you know
grow more as a christian so this is a process that continues even after we get saved as we
get closer to god and learn more and so the bible says in verse 6 for the lord giveth wisdom
out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding he layeth up sound wisdom for the
righteous he's a buckler to them that walk uprightly so again he lays up sound wisdom for
the righteous those who walk up rightly okay these are the ones who are going to get the
deeper knowledge and wisdom and understanding of his word he keep it the paths of judgment
and preserve it the way of his saints verse 9 then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment
and equity yea every good path when wisdom enter into thine heart and knowledge is pleasant under
thy soul discretion shall preserve the understanding shall keep thee so knowing who god is getting
saved that's the most important number one thing once we're saved we continue to learn and get
closer to god because we want to be preserved we want to be kept what does that mean physically
speaking on this earth you know i want to be safeguarded would be another word we could use
instead of preserved and kept here you know i want to be safeguarded from all of the dangers
and pitfalls that are out there in life even for a saved christian to mess up their life
and he gives some examples of this he says in verse 12 to deliver thee from the way of the evil man
so even once i know who god is i know the bible i know jesus i'm going to church i could still
be sucked in by the way of the evil man you know some sinful influence that comes along and tries
to get me off of the right path of good christian living okay and think about a christian young
person who grows up in church and they get saved as a child and they learn the bible i mean look
a child who grows up a faithful word baptist church by the time they turn 18 years old
they're going to know the doctrines of the bible pretty well they're going to be really solid on
things like salvation the trinity the deity of christ you know the king james bible the
preservation of god's word they're going to have these doctrines in their mind and they're going
to understand and know the message of the bible in general but here's the thing if they don't
love truth if they're not seeking wisdom if they're not looking for god's way of how to live
their life they can be sucked in by the evil man the way of the evil man see a lot of people you
know they they know all the doctrines when it comes to end times prophecy and salvation and
all of these different things about the nature of god and the nature of the word of god
but part of doctrine is also how to live our lives you know any anything that the bible teaches is a
doctrine you know so we could say for example you know that it's a biblical doctrine for men to
dress as men and women to dress as women that's taught in the bible or hey it's a biblical
doctrine to abstain from alcohol to be sober that's a bible doctrine that's something the
bible teaches us right the bible teaches us not to fornicate the bible teaches us not to commit
adultery these are doctrines of the bible so there are these sort of abstract doctrines about god and
and the bible and salvation and those are the most important things but there's a lot of doctrine
that has to do with the way we live our life right now and so it could be easy for a young
person to desire the truth about going to heaven and who jesus is but not necessarily to be that
interested in the truth about how to live their life you know truths about not loving money and
seeking to be rich truths about dressing as women in modest apparel biblical truths about what to
look for in a wife what to look for in a husband god's giving you all this great wisdom and all
this great advice if you're not seeking that with all your heart you could be sucked in by the way
of the evil man you know the guy who comes along and he tells you hey it's okay to drink it's okay
to commit fornication and there are always going to be christians who justify these things they're
going to be christians that come along and tell you it's okay to smoke weed
hey weed's not mentioned in the bible he gave every green herb
is a blessing man but here's the thing about that is that yeah he did give every green herb
but not necessarily to light it on fire and bring the smoke into your lungs
okay and there are other legitimate uses for that cannabis plant it's actually a very useful plant
because you could use it for hemp you could use it for clothing you could use it for all kinds of
textiles and and on a material basis also there is the ingredient in it that is not the ingredient
that gets you high somebody help me out what's it called again the the the cbd oil you know you
could talk about the medicinal or therapeutic qualities of the cbd oil so there could be
legitimate even medicinal uses for those type of components but then it has another component
called thc which is the component that is the mind-altering part that gets you high
and make no mistake about it today's marijuana has been cultivated to maximize
thc so the marijuana that people were smoking 100 years ago is not the same marijuana that's
being smoked now the marijuana that's being smoked now is much more potent it's much stronger stuff
because it's been cultivated for many many decades to make it as powerful as possible
and here's the thing you know smoking marijuana is really something that should be put in the
same category as drinking alcohol as far as being a mind-altering substance is taking away sobriety
but i guarantee you you can find christians that will justify both they'll justify drinking alcohol
they'll justify smoking pot and they'll be sort of like that prince guy where you know they've
got an argument it's not necessarily a right argument but they've got an argument that they're
gonna hit you with and that they're gonna use obviously the bible can't sit there and mention
every stupid thing you could possibly do in life you know it's i mean imagine instead of the ten
commandments it's like you know thou shalt not snort cocaine thou shalt not smoke crack thou
shall not inject heroin you know thou shalt not smoke pod thou shall not abuse prescription drugs
you know i mean obviously he gives you a basic paradigm of drunkenness and then you you're
supposed to figure out the fact okay well if he doesn't want me abusing alcohol he also doesn't
want me abusing steroids prescription drugs marijuana you know he doesn't have to sit there
and break down each thing to you okay you're supposed to be able to figure it out based on
what he's taught us about alcohol but again the way of the evil man he's going to come along and
tell you that you know the bible doesn't condemn fornication and i've had christians try to prove
to me and tell me that fornication is not wrong according to the bible and i mean that's what
the jews believe i mean you know you want to go join that religion the synagogue of satan
and you know what they don't believe that premarital relations are wrong i mean
they're totally fine with that in the vast majority of cases
you know there's always going to be somebody out there that's going to twist the word of god
or just deny the teachings of the word of god or just try to get you thinking about other things
and forgetting the teachings of god or ignoring the teachings of god and that evil man is going
to try to get you down to the casino he's going to try to get you down to the bar down to the strip
club get you smoking pot get you taking steroids get you snorting coke or whatever and you wouldn't
be the first christian young person to go down this dark path and you won't be the last and
it's because you didn't embrace wisdom and knowledge and understanding and hide them in
your heart and make them a part of you because if you did they would preserve you they would keep you
they would verse 12 deliver you from the way of the evil man from the man that speaketh
forward things and watch this who leave the paths of uprightness and in order to leave the paths of
uprightness you have to be in the paths of uprightness so that you can leave them and so
this is an idea of even being raised in a christian home being taught well but then someone comes along
and says hey let's go do this and and your parents are too strict your church is too strict you know
here's another church over here where anything goes and there are plenty of churches like that
that where literally anything goes so deliver you from the evil man that speaketh forward things
who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness who rejoice to do evil and
delight in the forwardness of the wicked whose ways are crooked and they froward in their paths
now it's interesting how many times the word froward just came up it's in verse 12 it's in
verse 14 it's in verse 15 and this is a little bit of an archaic word because it's a word that
we don't use today at all right in 2022 unless somebody's talking bible they're not talking
froward here's how i like to think about this word froward and you can kind of even see this
in the context here but you've probably heard the term of going to and fro right
so the froward guy is basically the guy who's always going the wrong way
he's kind of a contrarian guy where you know you tell him it's up no it's he's gonna say it's down
if you say left he's gonna say right he wants to go against the right teachings of his parents
the church the bible whatever and he just he gets off the right path he he's not going to he's going
to he's going fro he's he's froward like pointing in the fro direction okay the wrong way contrary
to the right way so as the bible says here he leaves the paths of uprightness verse 13 right
he's froward he resists the truth he leaves the paths of uprightness he goes and walks in the
way of darkness he rejoices to do evil and delights in the frowardness of the wicked
so a synonym of being froward i mean i mean in general fro being froward
basically just means like you're ungodly you're wicked but maybe more specifically it has a nuance
of like you know you're you're actually going against the truth you're going against what
you've been taught you're going out of the right path you're arguing with someone who tries to
actually tell you the truth their ways are crooked right in verse 15 and they froward in
their paths so verses 12 through 15 are talking about delivering you from the way of the evil man
because remember when it comes to gender the book of proverbs is directed toward young men
now again you young ladies have to be smart enough to figure out the fact that hey i can learn from
this book too and not just back oh proverbs is to give to the young man subtlety oh well
okay let's skip straight to ecclesiastes then this is just for young men obviously it's for
young women as well because obviously you have to flip these things over you know
if he's sitting there and telling the young man about finding the virtuous woman in chapter number
31 then you know you you can kind of use some common sense that as a young lady you want to
make sure that you find the right husband as well you know and and so like when the bible says
chasing thy son while there is hope and the bible tells us we should discipline our son
i've literally had some bozo tell me like well it doesn't say anything about disciplining daughters
you know so you only spank your sons you don't spank your daughters but again you have to have
common sense like well of course we don't drink but we can snort cocaine you know it's just like
it's ridiculous right so you have to use a little common sense obviously everything in proverbs
is from a male perspective and you're supposed to be smart enough to flip these things over and kind
of apply them to the female experience in life so obviously god's warning about the strange woman
the strange woman the strange woman obviously you as a as a girl have to flip this over and think
about okay the wrong kind of guy that i could get romantically involved with as well but because
we're from a man's perspective in the book of proverbs we're talking about the young man he's
being warned about the two things that he could fall prey to if he's not seeking knowledge
understanding wisdom if he's not laying up god's commandments in his heart then there's two things
he's susceptible to versus 12 through 15 we're talking about the way of the evil man
now this is not this is not some faggot that's trying to get with him it's just it's just the
way of the evil man this is some dude that basically is just like a sinful buddy
that's the one who's getting him to try drugs that's getting him to the first strip to the
casino that takes him to the strip club for the first time that gives him the first can of beer
do you understand what i'm saying the evil man has left the path of uprightness he's forward
he delights in the wicked and he's trying to get you to follow in his footsteps and to not to be
with him but to be like him does everybody understand so that's danger number one for
the young man is the sinful male companion the buddy who's going to lead you down the wrong path
okay but then in verse 16 we shift gears the other great danger for you young men is the strange
woman right because it says that uh in verse 16 to deliver thee from the strange woman so he said
deliver you from the way of the evil man you know he's going to try to show you his way and you're
going to hang out with him you're going to start having his bad values rub off on you okay whereas
now it's saying you know deliver you from the strange woman the strange woman on the other hand
isn't someone who is teaching you or you're hanging out with her you know this woman is
actually trying to get to you literally and actually commit fornication with you
that's what the bible is saying here right so young men have these two great dangers right
they've got the danger of getting around a sinful buddy that could lead them into an ungodly way of
life and then they have this danger of the strange woman to seduce them physically and actually get
with them physically that's what he's warning about in this passage so let's read this i
gotta hurry up here but it says to deliver thee from the strange woman and you say well maybe i
don't want to be delivered from the strange woman you know because she's pretty hot or whatever
you're an idiot because you don't understand how evil the strange woman is and how destructive
this relationship is going to be unto you and that's why he goes on to explain the danger
because it's easy to just look at the strange woman and just oh you know her lips are smoother
than oil and she's so beautiful don't let her take you with her eyelids the bible says you know
the gorgeousness of her physical beauty is deceptive there's something evil lurking beneath
that you have to watch out for if you're smart you'll know that the wisdom and knowledge and
understanding that comes from god will warn you of this and you'll see her coming a mile away
and you'll run screaming in the other direction you'll flee fornication whereas the fool just
looks at the outward appearance and he's just like hey who wants to be delivered from the
strange woman that's foolishness talking that's your fro word buddy telling you that
okay now look what the bible says in verse number 16 to deliver thee from the strange woman
even from the stranger which flattereth with her words now let's stop and talk about the strange
woman for a minute strange in the bible does not mean weird in this case it's not saying hey stay
away from weird girls although that's probably good advice stay away from the weirdos amen
but strange here doesn't mean weird strange here means that they are foreign unto you
meaning that this is not your wife this is not the girl that you're engaged to that you know the
christian girl the one who is familiar unto you this is not the girl from church who's a godly
young lady from church that you may want to date and get married no the strange woman is the woman
that's basically not christian she's she's of this world or or if if she is saved she's not living
the life of a christian so she's basically out there in the world which is kind of foreign to
us as christians because we're here as christians you know and then the the this world is somewhat
we're we're the bible i'll put it this way the bible says that we are strangers and pilgrims
in this earth right so the strange woman strange in the sense that basically she's not one of us
she's not familiar to us she is just this worldly woman out there the strange woman
and particularly and that's that's not to say that every non-christian girl is just super
wicked and evil of course not this is a particular when we talk about the strange woman we're not
just talking about any woman that is foreign to us any woman outside of christianity because
obviously there are nice people outside of christianity hopefully they're going to get
saved later or whatever but the point is this particular strange woman is specified because
look at the next word even so even means we're going to redefine what we just said
right it's like when the bible in the new testament says god even the father he's saying
like i'm not just talking about god in general i'm specifically talking about the father okay
it's a clarification of who we're talking about so to deliver thee from the strange woman even
from the stranger which flattered with her word so he's saying specifically the strange woman and
the one that flatters with her words and then we're getting more details about who we're
talking about which forsaketh the guide of her youth and forgetteth the covenant of her god
and then it warns for her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the dead
so here are the things to watch out if you're smart here's the things you're going to watch out
for in a woman flattery right flattery this means that basically just you first meet her
and she's already just so into you and she's giving you all these compliments and she's so
easy why because you're not the first guy that she said these things to that's why you know
that girl who's just ready to just throw her arms around you the first time you meet you haven't
even been introduced yet you you know and she's just already just jumping into your lap and
throwing her arms around you and kissing you and always and you say that would never happen
really because guess what first of all in a few chapters the bible describes that exact thing
happening the bible literally describes her you know looking out her windows seeing her
victim coming she runs down and just hugs him kisses him i've been waiting for you
and he's kind of a random dude but she's been waiting for him and and that you know oh wow
i'm special you're not special but folks who who that is older and wiser in here because you know
i i fear that sometimes children and teenagers don't believe me sometimes when i talk about life
because they think oh yeah you know pastor Anderson whatever
so look who out there can testify that they have seen when they were in high school college age
they've seen girls just hop into the laps of guys that they didn't know or just throw their arms
around them kiss them just with with like no conversation just out of nowhere see all the
hands okay i'm not making this up the bible talks about it and it's out there now to this the foolish
young man just thinks this is great i mean you know the fish are just hopping into the boat here
but let me tell you something she is evil okay she's evil she seems so friendly and so nice and
so fun and she's just she's just holding your hand and you don't even know her she's just embracing
you she's just rubbing up against you and you don't even know her she is doing this to everyone
she's probably totally warped in her mind because normal women do not behave this way
i mean honestly sometimes i see the way that young ladies behave and i think to myself like
they must be some victim of abuse or something to just to just act in this way because it's so
abnormal and i feel bad for them it's sad but but at the same time they're dangerous
you know if i saw some dog that had rabies i'd feel bad for it too
but i'd still be scared of it and want to stay away from it
and i'm telling you this type of chick this type of woman is as scary as like a rabid dog or
something it's dangerous to be around especially for the young man who's just he's he's not smart
enough to know what's going on and he can easily be sucked in by something like this taken in
or just fall prey to this and it's it's it's scary
the strange woman she flatters with her words just just right out of the gate she is into
you she's all over you she's she's putting her hands on you she's she's getting physical
she's complimenting you and again we're gonna get you say well you're reading that into the text
just a couple chapters later it's explicitly laid out the flattery is also in the sense of just
the hugs and kisses that are just not warranted or or earned okay even from the stranger with
flat which flattered with her words which forsaken the guide of her youth you know
beware of the girl who rebels against her parents because guess what if she's rebelling against her
parents what happens when you're her husband now you're the authority figure in her life
if she's rebellious toward her parents now she's going to be rebellious toward you
think about that if she forsakes the guide of her youth she's probably going to forsake the
guide of her 20s as well she's probably going to forsake the guy to her 30s or forsake the
guy to her 40s if she's not listening to dad if she's not listening to mom why would she listen to
you and of course when you're all starry-eyed and and dating and and just first in love or whatever
yeah of course you what she tells you that you walk on water and her parents are idiots and
her dad's this and her mom's this but oh you're so wonderful okay fast forward you've been married
for a couple years you're the idiot now right she was talking about how dad was an idiot now
you're an idiot she's going behind doing everything behind her dad's back now she's doing
everything behind your back she forsook her dad forsook her mom now she's forsaking you
you see the woman who forsakes the guide of her youth right her guide her guardian
and that could be a parent that could be mom and dad what other guides of her youth you know
other people trying to guide her in the right way whether that's a pastor or a teacher or somebody
who's actually guiding her in the right path you know she forsakes that what makes you think that
she's not going to forsake you and she forgets the covenant of of her god so even if she's an
israelite she could still be a strange woman because obviously the philistine women could
be seen by the israelites as strange women of course because they're actually of another
nationality and they're worshiping dagon or they're worshiping bale zebub or whatever
okay yeah that's a strange woman but you know even an israelite could be a strange woman if she if she
for if she forgets the covenant of her god so this could even be someone who's a christian or was
raised christian even saved but if they forsook if they forsook the right way and are living like a
heathen they could still be classified as a strange woman even if they're nominally Christian
so why do we want to be delivered from the strange woman why do we want to be delivered from the
stranger which flatters with their words who forsakes the guide of her youth and forgets the
covenant of her god the reason we want to be delivered is because her house inclineth unto death
and her paths unto the dead
none that go unto her return again neither take they hold of the paths of life
that thou mayest walk in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous
for the upright shall dwell in the land the perfect shall remain in it but the wicked
shall be cut off from the earth and the transgressor shall be rooted out god's saying
look if you want to be blessed if you want to prosper if you want to thrive you need to get
around godly people you need to get around good men not that dude who is froward and is getting
you on the wrong path you want to get around good guys that are going to be good influence on you
now the bottle says you know her house inclines unto death and her paths unto the dead none that
go unto her return again neither take they hold of the paths of life now obviously god's using
some kind of extreme language here kind of like a hyperbole like kind of an extreme example sort
of like i did with the rabid dog example like just something dangerous and scary that we kind
of feel bad for but like we don't want to get close to it because we could get infected it's
the same type of thing well here's another good way to kind of understand versus 18 and 19 like
like where it says like none that go under her return again okay think about think about this
what about like let's say there's a woman that stands that's by the side of the road
and says like oh i got stranded here and i just need a ride and whatever and and you're just like
okay yeah you know yeah just take me over to this address you know and then you just get there
and they just there's just like a bunch of dudes waiting for you there and they just rob you and
beat you to death and you die
i can you think can you imagine like a scenario like that
right okay now you say well that's kind of a crazy example or you know
but what it's basically saying is that you know you think that this is just a harmless
little tryst you know and you're just gonna just you know have this one night thing with this
strange woman and it's not a big deal but what you don't understand is that basically some people
have gone into they've gotten into that car or gone to that address or shown up at you know
and and and basically it was a trap and they're literally murdered right like hookers that
basically you know would entrap you and then there's some guy waiting to just
beat the living whatever out of you and take all your money and kill you or who knows what right
but not only that there's also just so that's kind of like the extreme example that's that's
obviously that's not happening every day or every minute right that's like an extreme example of
like you go home with this chick and it's a trap she's bait and they're they're actually there to
extort you kill you rob you whatever but then also if you think about this in in a more general way
the bible says when lust has conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished
bringeth forth death that sin ultimately leads to death if we live a sinful lifestyle we're gonna
die younger first of all okay the wicked shall not live out half their days you know let's say
that you go along with the strange woman which flatters with their words this loose chick
and you actually get sucked in and you actually fall for her trap and you actually commit
fornication you know it's very likely that you could pick up a disease that could slowly eat
away at your health over time and it's not even just the typical stds that you would think of i
mean they're obviously those are those are definitely part of it but you know you look at
people who engage in womanizing fornication right just going out and and and living this
promiscuous life whether male or female many of them could pick up other very dangerous infections
like mersa right who knows what mersa is yeah you know um something resistant staff some what's the
first letter again sim excuse me methicillin resistant uh staphylococcus what's that what's
the a aureus well i don't feel so bad for not knowing it because it it had a few hard words in
it so but anyway you know i've known i've known people in my own personal sphere that went out
and fornicated and did all this stuff and ended up with mersa and ended up with severe health
problems as a result of their simple in addition to other stds that they picked up along the way
you know sin was finished bringing forth death when lust have conceived it bringing forth sin
sin when it's finished bringing forth death also god could just look down and see you committing
this wickedness and he can bring judgment into your life he can bring the car accident he can
bring other diseases and harm that could come upon you so there's a lot of ways that this could
literally come true as far as you know uh the strange woman's house leading to death
you know it could be that the reason she's so forward with you and throwing herself all over
you and willing to meet up with you or hook up with you or whatever it is now because i know
you know the world is changing and now there's all these like apps that people use to just hook
up with whoever and so therefore you know sometimes it could be a trap where you literally
just get murdered or robbed or beaten or drugged or who knows what that's a thing too but even if
it's not that extreme literal case there could still be some slow kill of disease that you pick
up or just god's judgment being brought upon your life you know there are a lot of ways that this
could literally come true that you actually just die okay but either way you're not going to be
blessed as a christian young person if you go the way of the strange woman or get around the forward
man so if you're smart you'll continue even after finding christ and finding salvation and and
knowing who god is you'll continue seeking for wisdom knowledge and understanding listening to
what your parents are telling you listening to what the pastor's telling you so that you can be
delivered from these pitfalls in life and and so that you don't end up getting the dui going to
prison getting your rear end handed to you in a fight you know being abducted being murdered and
you know yeah we're talking from a man's perspective how much more true is this for
females i mean think about it if god's warning the young man about how the strange man the
strange woman is just going to be such a disaster and and is just going to kill him and ruin his
life how much more should the young lady be warned of the strange dude because if you think
about it he has the actual power to physically overpower you you know the strange woman can
seduce you and entice you and and trick you but at any moment you know at least you would have
the physical strength i sure hope so to be able to get out of there at least you know except for
the dude that's you know waiting to jump you at her house or whatever but that again where that
i digress but the point is though you know if you're a woman you could be physically overpowered
by virtually any guy virtually any woman is in danger of being overpowered by virtually any guy
you know i mean that's just the reality of biology and so therefore you're in even more danger
how stupid it would be getting in the car with some random dude going to the home of some random
dude going in a hotel with some random dude who knows what kind of a weirdo he is i mean look at
ted bundy he's all friendly and good looking and charming and ladies liked him and so he's
just constantly luring women into his car and murdering them and so you say well that you know
what are the chances that that's going to happen probably a lot higher if you grew up in a christian
home and you knew better and you went out and did it anyway say your chances went up exponentially
of being a victim but not only that but even if it's not something as extreme as ted bundy
you know there's still all the same things the the disease the beings being robbed being hurt
not to mention just the emotional damage you know if you don't understand why you need to
stay away from the strange woman then you better stick around for the rest of this series because
you're lacking in wisdom because all of us that are smart we know how bad it is to go down the
wrong path and how scary these things are and so we're like begging god every day for wisdom and
protect us to preserve us and you know if you're single you should be praying to god every single
day god protect me from marrying a wicked person please protect me from marrying a weirdo i mean if
you're smart you'd be begging god every day to protect you and to guide you and direct your paths
it's a jungle out there and even if you don't end up with a literal psycho
you know like tyler dokka who says that he's jesus now he's the second coming of jesus okay
even if you don't and i mean he was posing as an independent baptist for a while now he claims to
be the second coming of jesus and says if you don't believe on him you're gonna go to hell
okay but here's the thing though even if you don't end up with a literal psycho
you could still end up with somebody who makes your life a living hell
you could end up with somebody who makes your life miserable or who just leaves you high and dry
has a bunch of kids with you and then just leaves how would that be it'd be rough
stick around and learn the book of proverbs because we want to avoid these two pitfalls
in our lives let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much for your
word lord thank you for warning us and thank you that your word gives us knowledge and understanding
wisdom and lord help every single one of us to be smart enough to to really cry after wisdom and
beg you every day for guidance so that we don't get sucked in by all the con artists and charlatans
and seductresses that are out there lord help us to be smart enough to avoid these things in jesus
name we pray amen amen let's go in our hymnals now and turn to him number 197
will be dismissed and singing hymn number 197 singing i go the trusting art to jesus
nor any ill forebodes let's sing it out on this verse 197 sing it out now
praising the lord
my fears
road
for jesus
is
for jesus
go there my burden
for jesus
so
you know the strange woman can seduce you and entice you and and trick you but at any moment
you know at least you would have the physical strength i sure hope so to be able to get out
of there at least you know except for the dude that's you know waiting to jump you at her house
or whatever but that again where that i digress but the point is though you know if you're a woman
you could be physically overpowered by virtually any guy virtually any woman is in danger of being
overpowered by virtually any guy you know i mean that's just the reality of biology and so
therefore you're in even more danger how stupid it would be getting in the car with some random dude
going to the home of some random dude going in a hotel with some random dude who knows what kind
of a weirdo he is i mean look at ted bundy he's all friendly and good looking and charming and
ladies liked him and so he's just constantly luring women into his car and murdering them
and so you say well that you know what are the chances that that's gonna happen
probably a lot higher if you grew up in a christian home and you knew better and you went
out did it anyway say your chances went up exponentially of being a victim but not only
that but even if it's not something as extreme as ted bundy you know there's still all the same
things the the disease the beings being robbed being hurt not to mention just the emotional damage
you know if you don't understand why you need to stay away from the strange woman
then you better stick around for the rest of this series because you're lacking in wisdom
because all of us that are smart we know how bad it is to go down the wrong path and how scary
these things are and so we're like begging god every day for wisdom and to protect us to preserve
us and you know if you're single you should be praying to god every single day god protect me
from marrying a wicked person please protect me from marrying a weirdo i mean if you're smart
you'd be begging god every day to protect you and to guide you and direct your paths
it's a jungle out there and even if you don't end up with a literal psycho you know like tyler
doka who says that he's jesus now he's the second coming of jesus okay even if you don't and i mean
he was posing as an independent baptist for a while now he claims to be the second coming of
jesus and says if you don't believe on him you're gonna go to hell okay but here's the thing though
even if you don't end up with a literal psycho you could still end up with somebody who makes
your life a living hell you could end up with somebody who makes your life miserable or who
just leaves you high and dry has a bunch of kids with you and then just leaves how would that be
it'd be rough stick around and learn the book of proverbs because we want to avoid these two
pitfalls in our lives let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so much
for your word lord thank you for warning us and thank you that your word gives us knowledge and
understanding wisdom and lord help every single one of us to be smart enough to to really cry
after wisdom and beg you every day for guidance so that we don't get sucked in by all the con
artists and charlatans and seductresses that are out there lord help us to be smart enough
to avoid these things in jesus name we pray amen