Thank you for watching!
this opportunity that we have to sing praises unto you this evening. I pray
that you would bless us Lord as your congregation and fill us with your
spirit as we sing songs and I pray also that you'd fill Pastor Oz with your
spirit as he preaches unto us Lord in Jesus name I pray amen. For our next
song if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number 125 the solid rock
Hymn number 125.
We'll go ahead and start there right on the first.
My hope is built.
please raise your hand and usher will bring you one.
On the front is our Bible memory passage of the week,
Galatians chapter number one, verse 19.
Keep working hard on that chapter.
On the inside, you'll see our service times listed
Sunday morning at 10.30 a.m., Sunday evening at 4.30 p.m.
and our Wednesday evening Bible study
through Proverbs at seven o'clock.
We do have our soul winning times listed there
and just as a special notice, the Saturday rally.
course that's our big soul winning time of the week that we like to push it's
been our most receptive time and just to do something special this Saturday
immediately after soul winning we'll be going to eat as a church family so anyone
who wants to go soul winning that day will get a free meal so it's a good
reason to go soul winning this Saturday for sure. We do also have our nursing home
ministry schedule listed there as well as our year-to-date soul winning
statistics please do report your numbers if you have any. Also we have our
this upcoming Sunday evening is going to be our men's preaching night
and so that's going to be followed by a potluck so if you'd like to bring
something to share for that we'd greatly appreciate it.
Then the weekend after that is the or a couple sorry a couple weekends after that is the Durant, Oklahoma
soul winning marathon
Teaming up with pastor Shelly and steadfast Baptist Church
There is a sign-up sheet in the back if you're still wanting to sign up for that
June 28th, we're gonna have a fellowship day at the Tinker Air Force Base
Just having a good time hanging out watching the air show and the next day brother Ben Nyeem from steadfast be preaching both
Services we're looking forward to having him
August 27th through the 31st is the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship at
Steadfast. It's going to be awesome. October 6th through the 11th is the
Bahamas Mission Trip. Make sure you're thinking about if you're wanting to go
to that, passports, making sure you have all your details ironed out. It could take
a little while to get those things done. So that is coming up. On the back you'll
see our we got a QR code there for giving as well as our updated prayer
so make sure you're faithful in keeping these in prayer and before we go to our third song we'll
go ahead and go to the lord in prayer as a church family lord we thank you for this evening we thank
you for the ministry here at anchor baptist church and all the people that are here and lord we
left up these prayer requests asking that you would just hearken to these and answer these
for her father's health. Just pray that if the surgery hasn't happened yet today that she would
just bless that, that she watch over that. And if it already has, I pray that you just help him to be
healthy and to watch over him, help him to recover. And I pray that you just bless their family during
this difficult time. Also, we pray for brother Zach's mother for her health. I pray that you'd
help her recover from health issues this last weekend. Please bless her Lord. We also pray for
Test for certifications. He wants for work. I pray that you bless him in his career in his endeavors, Lord
Also, we pray for brother Samson in Texas for his back surgery tomorrow
I pray that you please help that to go well
That it would fix the issues that he's having and that he'd be able to not be in so much pain in the future Lord
Help him to keep his mobility as well. I just pray that you bless him tomorrow. We also pray for
Brother Theodore for his great-uncle Rick that you'd help him to recover from recent brain aneurysms that you'd bless his health Lord
Also, we pray for the Zaleski family in Florida that you just bless them with their desire to move here
I pray that you'd help Brother Zaleski to find the job that he wants and needs Lord and also that they would find the housing that they need
I pray that you bless them
We also pray for the Hall family that you would bless their home buying process that things would go smoothly
We pray for the Halsberg family for brother Miles's health that he would
Be blessed Lord that you'd help miss Rhea and taking care of him and just bless that family
We asked for brother Alex with his upcoming job interview that he would just find favor in the eyes of the interviewers
And that you would just help him to find a job that be a blessing Lord
We also pray for Miss Remy for her healing of her tumor Lord that you just bless her and also for the
Church members in our church who have family members that are unsaved
I pray that you just help those members, family members, to be softened to the gospel,
that they would get many chances in their lives to hear the gospel.
And Lord, we also pray for our young men that are leaving for the Philippines soon, Lord.
I pray that you just enable them to do a mighty work over there, that they work very hard,
that you keep them safe, and that you allow them to come back to us with definitely many, many
All right, it's gonna be it for the announcements. We'll go ahead and go to our third song
All right for our third song if you would at this time take your white handout and turn to Psalm chapter 67
That's Psalm 67 in the white handouts
be merciful unto us.
Asan bless us.
doth not wisdom cry, and understanding put forth her voice. She standeth in the top of high places,
by the way, in the places of the paths. She cryeth at the gates, in the entry of the city,
at the coming in at the doors. Unto you, O men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of man. O ye
where I will speak of excellent things
in the opening of my lips.
shall be right things for my mouth shall speak truth and wickedness is an
abomination to my lips all the words of my mouth are in righteousness there is
nothing forward or perverse in them they are all plain to him that
understandeth and right to them that find knowledge receive my instruction and
not silver and they and knowledge rather than choice gold
for wisdom is better than rubies and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared
to it.
I, wisdom, dwell with prudence and find knowledge of witty inventions, the fear of the Lord
is to hate evil, pride and arrogance, and the evil way and the froward mouth do I hate.
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom, I am understanding I have strength, by me kings reign and princes
decree justice.
By me, Prince's rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth,
I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
Riches in honor are with me, yea, durable riches
and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold,
yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.
I lead in the ways, in the way of righteousness,
that I may cause those that love me to inherent substance and I will fill their treasures.
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was.
when there were no depths I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains were
Before the mountains were settled before the hills was I brought forth while as yet
He had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world
When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth
when he established the clouds above,
when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,
when he gave to the sea his decree
that the waters should not pass his commandment,
when he appointed the foundations of the earth,
then I was by him.
as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing
in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were the sons of men, now therefore
hearken unto me, O ye children, for blessed are they that keep my ways, hear instruction,
and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates.
waiting at the posts of my doors, for whoso findeth me, findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the
Lord, but he that sineth against me wrongeth his own soul, all they that hate me love death."
Let's bow our heads for prayer. Father and Heavenly, thank you for this day, our church, and we ask
Lot about one of the main villains of the book of Proverbs. That's the strange woman and really this whole chapter is about
Wisdom, but wisdom is personified throughout this whole chapter. It's a really beautiful chapter, but it's personified in a feminine way
So it's almost like the Bible is juxtaposing the strange woman and wisdom here
And so we're gonna look at that this evening. I've got three different sections for this chapter number one
I want you to notice the cry
of wisdom, the cry of wisdom.
Verse one, the Bible says,
doth not wisdom cry and understanding
put forth her voice.
And I think what this is showing us is that
Wisdom is not really that hard to find.
Wisdom is just crying out to us.
And you know, there's so many ways
that wisdom does this.
We'll look at some of those,
but you have to understand that
just like Proverbs one is talking about,
how long will you simple ones love simplicity?
The reason people don't get any wisdom
and don't have any smarts about them
is the fact that they weren't really wanting it.
They weren't really paying attention
because the Bible is saying
And you know, if we're honest with each other in the day and age that we're living in in
2025, we have more access to information, to knowledge, to the truth than human beings
have ever had in history.
I mean with things like AI it is just amazing the research that we can just have at our
fingertips in a second and you know obviously we need to be careful with this technology
not allow ourselves to become too dependent on it or overly trusting of it where we just
read something just automatically believe it you know we need to fact check things but we
also shouldn't just be like oh a new technology therefore it's bad.
You know, I've heard this idea from Christians recently that it's like devil AI, you know, AI is satanic.
Look, it's just a tool.
And you know, we don't want to be like the old IFB that waited 30 years after the internet was invented
to start live streaming their sermons.
And when they did, it was just like...
Wednesday evening service March 22nd 7 o'clock p.m. You know, it's just like we want to embrace technology
And we want to use it for the glory of God, but you know wisdom is constantly crying out today
I'll show you one way that's happening go to Psalm chapter 19
Psalm 19
One way that wisdom is just crying out to people today is through God's creation
Just from the simple physical world that we are living in it is just constantly crying out the wisdom of God
And that's what the Bible teaches in Psalm 19 verse 1 the Bible says the heavens
Declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his
Handiwork notice verse 2 day and today utter its speech and night unto night showeth knowledge
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
So notice the heavens, they're declaring the glory of God.
You know, obviously the earth isn't speaking, space is not speaking,
but it's just declaring the glory of God.
Why? Because God created it and it's so obvious just by looking around
that there is a mighty, magnificent, intelligent creator in this universe.
And you know, every single person knows this.
That's why it says there is no speech nor language where their voice
is not heard. It doesn't matter what continent you live in.
Doesn't matter what language you speak. The wisdom of God's creation is just
screaming out at you every day.
Just go outside. Look at the sun, look at the moon, look at the stars.
These things are just a testament to God's wisdom and God's
might. Go to Psalm 148.
So 148, you know, that's why the Bible says that the fool has said in his heart that there is no God
because for someone to even just simply look outside and just look at the reality of the world and come to the
Conclusion that this all came from nothing. You have to be a complete idiot to believe that when wisdom is constantly telling you otherwise
Look at the poetic language of verse 3 here. It says praise ye him son and moon
Praise him all ye stars of light praise him ye heavens of heavens and ye waters that be above the heavens
Let them praise the name of the Lord for he commanded and they were created
So I mean just this poetic language that the Bible is using
You know
It's as if sun and the moon and the stars of light in the heaven that all these things are gonna praise the name of the Lord
You know, of course, you know this even
this chapter talks about like snow and all these inanimate objects praising God and how is it
their praising God is because they're giving testament to God's wisdom in his creation.
Go to Romans 10. Another way that wisdom is just crying out to people today is through the preaching
of God's word.
You know God has chosen the foolishness of preaching the Bible says and obviously it's foolish to the unsaved mind
To the carnal person, but really preaching is the wisdom of God and it's calling out to people today
Verse 6 of Romans 10 the Bible says but the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise
Say not in thine heart who shall ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or who shall descend into the deep?
That is to bring up Christ again from the dead
But what sayeth it, notice this, the word is naïve, even in my mouth and in my heart, that is the word of faith, which we preach.
Notice Paul is saying here, look, you don't have to go looking around on this far journey to discover the true wisdom, to discover the true word of God.
You don't have to go up into heaven.
You don't have to descend into hell.
He's saying, look, the word is naïve, it's right with us.
Go to verse number 18, it says,
but I say, have they not heard?
Yes, verily, notice this, their sound went into all the earth.
their words unto the ends of the world. So you know the Bible does not paint this
picture that oh you know the Word of God only went to the European nations only
went to the United States and you know those poor people in Africa how is God
gonna send those people to hell if they don't believe in him if they didn't
even get the Word of God. No the Bible says that his words went into all the
earth to the ends of the world. There's not all these people in the world that
It just doesn't exist, folks.
And additionally, you know, Romans one,
go ahead and turn to John 12.
Romans 120 says for the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen
being understood by the things that are made
even his eternal power and Godhead
so that they are without excuse.
So think about the witnesses that people have in this world to the wisdom of God and to the truth.
They have simple creation, which the Bible says that basically, hey, this is manifest,
this is clearly seen to all people, and all people, by simply looking at creation,
can come to the conclusion that there's a God and that that God is powerful.
people wouldn't necessarily know that that's Jesus Christ,
but that's why there's that other witness,
which is the preaching of God's word,
which the Bible says has gone into all the earth.
And so that's why people are without excuse today.
Every single person, whether you like it,
whether I like it or not,
if someone ends up in hell today,
that's on them, that's not on God.
because God gave them the truth.
Wisdom was crying out to them.
They had the gospel being preached throughout this whole world.
And you know what the Bible says is that those that seek find.
And how you respond to truth
often determines how much more truth you're going to get exposed to.
See, the person living in the jungle of Africa or South America or something like that,
when they look at creation
and they in their hearts say,
yeah, there's a God.
Yeah, he's super powerful and that person wants to know God and maybe even praise God, you know, show me who you are
I want to learn about you, you know
That's the person that God is gonna give a lot of Bible to a lot of preaching to soul winners missionaries
You know, that's what I believe
John chapter number 12 look at verse 31
The Bible says now is the judgment of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out and I if I be lifted up
From the earth will draw all men unto me this he said signifying what death he should die
And you know when we think about wisdom
Wisdom is calling out to everyone.
Wisdom is lifting up its voice for people to harken unto wisdom.
And also wisdom can picture the Lord Jesus Christ in this chapter as well.
And when we go through this chapter, Proverbs 8,
there's going to be a lot of parallels between wisdom and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Because just like wisdom is calling out today,
hey, Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.
And so Jesus today wants people to be saved.
He has called them.
drawn them. Go back to Proverbs chapter number 8. You know, because you get this idea from Calvinist
that, well, Jesus only died for certain people and he picks and chooses. Who goes to heaven? Who
goes to hell? It's weird because, like, wisdom's just crying out to everyone. Wisdom's just like,
listen to me. And Jesus is saying, hey, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me.
Look at verse number 5 of Proverbs 8. The Bible says, Oh ye simple, understand wisdom and ye fools
Be ye of an understanding heart now this verse is
Encouraging because obviously
Fools people who are fools can be very frustrating
But the good news is that there is hope for a fool because the Bible saying here. Oh ye simple
Understand wisdom. So, you know wisdom is calling out and saying like hey, I know you're a fool right now
I know you're silly right now.
I know you're stupid right now, but understand wisdom kind of contrasted with the strange
woman in proverb seven, where she's calling out and she's saying, Hey, whoever simple
turn in hither, I'm going to destroy you.
Wisdom is saying like, Hey, you're simple, but understand.
It's actually wanting you to improve, wanting you to get better.
And so, you know, dealing with simple people can be frustrating.
Let's just be honest.
And so we should be patient with them.
We should be long suffering with them.
And you know, sometimes you go out soul winning
and you run into some pretty simple people.
You know, we try to go to the ghetto for a reason
because they're very receptive to the gospel,
but sometimes you go to a place where it's so ghetto,
it's like this person's illiterate.
And look, that sucks, I'm not happy for that person.
But sometimes you might have to work a little harder with someone,
spend a little more time with someone,
and you ought to learn to discern the difference between someone who's rejecting your teaching,
and who's, you know, contradicting what you're saying,
and someone who's just having a hard time grasping information.
Because wisdom is calling out to that person.
Wisdom is saying, hey, understand wisdom.
Ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.
Now go back to Proverbs 1.
Now why is there hope?
For the fool. Well, I'll tell you why because being foolish is a choice and guess what being wise is also a choice
It really is now of course
I'm sure there's some genetic factors to your IQ and your intelligence and stuff like that
But you know what being wise is a choice being foolish is a choice
Look at verse 22 of Proverbs 1 how long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity?
So, why are they simple?
Why are they stupid?
Because they love simplicity.
Because they love being stupid.
And notice, in the scorners delight in their scorning.
And fools, what hate knowledge?
Hey, what's stopping someone from becoming wise?
What's stopping someone from becoming knowledgeable?
It's your own desire.
Because those who want to be wise,
you know what they're going to do?
They're going to love wisdom.
They're going to love learning.
They're going to love listening.
They're going to love attaining unto wise counsels.
But the fool just says that they hate knowledge.
You know, sometimes hate can mean to
esteem something less than something else.
And what does the fool do?
They always don't care about learning.
Learning is on the down low.
Oh, you know, who would read a book?
That's so boring.
People who are wise would read a book.
And it's like, you want to know how people get wise?
It's through reading.
Because in the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God, and the word was God.
You know that Jesus Christ is the word of God?
You know how you have a relationship with wisdom?
You know how that you learn wisdom?
It's through words.
You know what this book is?
This is a combination of words.
in a different order, and everything that you read is just a combination of words.
But you know what? It can give you wisdom, and so you have to love
knowledge, not hate knowledge. Number two, go back to Proverbs 8.
We saw the cry of wisdom. Number two, I want you to notice the characteristics of
wisdom. Verse 6, the Bible says, Here, for I will speak of excellent things,
and the opening of my lips shall be right things.
For my mouth shall speak truth and wickedness
is an abomination to my lips."
What I want you to notice about these verses
is that wisdom is objective.
Wisdom is not subjective because you know there's just like there's science falsely so-called in this world
Where people will say oh, this is science and it's really not it's it's just fairy tales like evolution for example
It's the same thing with wisdom
Sometimes people just throw that word around and say like oh, you know this philosopher. He's so wise
He's so smart or people say, you know, Muhammad Gandhi. He was so wise, you know Jordan Peterson this guy's so wise
but you know what actually determines wisdom
is very specific characteristics.
Read this again in verse seven.
For my mouth shall speak what?
Truth.
And what?
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
In order for something to be wise,
it has to have something.
Truth.
And so many people today just throw that word around.
Oh, there's such a wise teacher.
Oh, there's such a wise professor.
Let me tell you where wisdom comes from.
The fear of the Lord.
It has to come from truth.
And even children of this world who could be wiser in their generation than the children of light,
the things that unsaved people are wise about, it's still based in truth.
Like if some unsaved guy has run a business for 50 years,
he might be really wise on how to run a business.
But all of his principles are going to be based in truth for it to be real wisdom.
And so what I want you to understand is that wisdom is not.
Oh, he's good with words.
Oh, he sounds really smart.
No wisdom has to be based in truth because you know, you got guys like Jordan Peterson
who are very crafty with their words.
I mean, they're excellent speakers.
They are super good at convincing people.
But the question is, is what they're teaching based in truth or not?
You know, you could have someone else like Paul said that he was rude in speech.
He was not very eloquent, he wasn't the best speaker, but man, was that guy wise.
Why? Because he was dropping down the truth.
Let me give an example of this.
Here's something that the world thinks is so wise today.
And you'll see this with beautiful pictures,
with this caption in very nice font,
what it'll say, hate the sin, love the sinner, right?
And people will be like, wow, that's so wise.
And it came from Gandhi and said, that's so beautiful,
that's so wise.
But question, is it true?
Absolutely not, it's not true.
Psalm 11, Psalm chapter number 11.
You know, wisdom is determined by something.
It's gotta be true.
And notice also it said that wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
So people that act like they're wise or think that they're following a wise person has to
be true and you can't be speaking wickedness.
You know someone who would listen to liars, someone who would spread gossip, someone who
would support sin, these are not wise sources no matter how good they may speak.
But the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hatheth.
Oh, hate the sin, love the sinner.
Well, here's the problem with that.
That's not a wise statement because it's not true.
God does not just hate the sin.
There are instances where God hates the sinner.
And there's instances that we too should hate the sinner.
Let me read for you.
Hosea 915, the Bible says, all their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them.
Look, there's just tons of verses in the Bible that talks about God hating individuals.
There's verses about God hating nations, God hating the soul of the person that loves violence.
You know, that's not God just hating the sin, folks.
God hates the sinner.
And you know what hell is, it's people being burned and tortured and being in suffering,
in agony, in smoke, in torment, forever and ever and ever.
And the Bible says they have no rest, day nor night.
People that are in hell will never escape.
They will only experience pain and suffering and misery for all of eternity.
Sounds real loving, right?
No, absolutely not.
You know, God does not love the people that are in hell.
Now, did he love them at one point?
Of course.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Of course, God loved every single individual in this world at one point in time.
But no, God does not love people in hell.
And, you know, it's funny, Pastor Shelly and I, we went to a college campus one time
in DFW, I believe it was TCU, it was a Christian university.
And we were asking these Christian kids this question, does God love the people that are
in hell?
And I think that every single one of them said yes.
And it's like, wow, this is the Institute of Higher Learning.
This is the Christian University when it's just like,
you don't even have to get far into Psalms to see that God hates people.
It's madness.
Look at verse number eight.
With Proverbs 8, the Bible says all the words of my mouth are in righteousness.
There is nothing forward or perverse in them.
So, you know, of course, the ultimate source of wisdom is the Bible.
Why? Because it's always going to be true.
And it says that all the words of my mouth, speaking of wisdom,
but we can apply this to the word of God, says are in righteousness.
There's nothing forward or perverse in them.
You know, it makes me think about how the Bible says every word of God is pure.
And you've got people today that want to side with the Jews,
the Jewish censors with Hollywood and the people in charge of TV shows and movies
who want to tell you, oh, this is rated PG-13, this is rated PG, this is rated R.
And what do they often base it off of? Language.
where they'll say, oh, there's these certain bad words that exist.
And some people will take that mentality and even think that there's bad words in the Bible.
And there's holier-than-thou's and virtue-signalers that will get up and criticize you
and judge you for even saying the word hell.
And it is madness, folks.
I mean, when I go out soul winning,
I always make the person say hell
because when I read Romans 6, 23,
I say, hey, we've all sinned and because of that,
we deserve to go to hell.
Or I'm sorry, I say, we deserve a punishment from God.
When we die, there's one of two places we can go,
heaven or where?
And I make them say it.
And sometimes people are like,
it's just like, it's not a bad word.
It's a real place. It's a real word in the Bible here
And you know what the Bible says is that all the words of my mouth are in righteousness
There is nothing forward or perverse in them
I do not want this holier-than-thou attitude that acts like the words that are in the Bible are sinful folks
It is ridiculous. Now look parents can make their own rules for their children. That's fine
But you know don't come in here acting like bastard is a bad word
or hell, or piss, or whore, or ass.
Every single word I just said is in your King James Bible.
And so it would just be madness to act like these are bad words
because what you're saying is that God is just putting bad words in the Bible.
Like, the Bible says every word of God is pure.
We could hand this to a child and it's not going to defile their mind.
It's not going to hurt them.
And you know, the Bible talks about some pretty rough stuff.
And the Bible talks about, you know, relationships between men and women, but it always does
so discreetly.
And so even words like ass, bastard, piss, hell, dung,
these are all words that are used in the Bible,
but you know what, they're not bad, they're not wrong.
And quite frankly, the words even that Hollywood wants
to censor sometimes, who says that those were bad words?
Who says that those were sinful?
Show me a Bible verse, please,
where the Bible says that certain words are sinful.
Now, there could be words that are describing sin,
that would be sinful.
Here are some sinful words lying.
Here are some simple you know some sinful words you speaking proudly you boasting those are some sinful words but you know what a word in and of itself is not sinful it is a man made doctrine there is no verse that says cussing is a sin people constantly show you oh look Peter cursed.
Peter cursed, Peter swear.
Yeah, what he's saying is like,
I swear to God, I don't know Jesus Christ.
Let me be struck dead if I know Jesus Christ.
That's actually what it means to curse and to swear.
And I've heard people get up behind the pulpit
and preach with their whole chest.
You know, Peter was cussing when he was denying Christ
and when you cuss, you're acting like someone denying Christ.
It's just like, you just butchered that entire story,
my friend.
It's not at all what Peter was doing.
It's a man-made doctrine.
I'm not gonna let people be all grandstanding about something that's not in the Bible.
Notice verse 9.
The Bible says,
and write to them that find knowledge.
You know, the wisdom of the Bible is straightforward
to people who are receptive, to people who want to...
They want the cry of wisdom.
They want to find the truth.
They want to understand the Bible.
The Bible says that they're all plain to him that understandeth.
And what's funny is, in any area of life,
Something that you're not familiar with can just look crazy to you and super confusing.
I mean, I remember the first time I saw Pastor Shelley computer programming.
It looked like he was like working for NASA or something, like building a spaceship.
I'm just like, this is so crazy.
You know, and then I started understanding components, bits and pieces of it.
I don't claim to be an expert in that area whatsoever.
But you know, it starts to become a little less foreign to you.
If you've ever learned a foreign language and you open up a book in a foreign language,
I speak English, and I'm just looking at this, and it's just no problem whatsoever.
If you speak a different language and you open up that language,
it's not going to look crazy to you.
It says they are all plain to him that understandeth.
Here's the truth.
A lot of times, people will criticize the Bible and think that it's wrong in certain areas,
that it's not wise in certain areas,
and let me tell you why they think that is because they don't understand it.
Because those of us who understand the Bible, we're like,
oh yeah, Leviticus 20, that totally makes sense.
You know, we're opening up the book of Revelation,
and we're like, oh yeah, that makes sense.
Matthew 24, after the Tribulation.
Yeah, it makes total sense.
But people who are not around the Bible or reading the Bible much,
it's not plain to them, it's difficult to them, it's hard for them.
And you know, you don't want to get this mentality in life
that like, just because you don't understand something
means like, oh, it must not be true.
Because like this is a disease of the mind amongst conspiracy theorists is like I don't understand something
Therefore, it's not true. But the truth is is that it's plain to him that understand it
You know people who you know went to the moon for crying out loud
They know how to do it because they did it but because people are stupid because people are moronic
They're just like that's impossible. There's no way that could be done
What's lunar orbit rendezvous? What's trans lunar injection?
What's the difference between Buzz Aldrin and Buzz Lightyear? They don't know, right?
But to people who actually know these things, it's plain. It's obvious.
And you know, you and your job, you have a different trade than me.
You know, we got plumbers in here, we got engineers in here.
I would go to your job and I'd be kind of like, I don't know what you're doing.
But to you, it's plain because it's something that you've studied.
Well, it's like this with the word of God. If you want to know it,
and you seek knowledge and you spend time in the Word of God,
you know what, most of the Bible is pretty dang simple.
Yes, there's some hard portions, and I thank God for those hard portions,
but you know what, the majority of the Bible is pretty straightforward.
It's not really hard to know what to do, it's hard to do it.
But the Bible is pretty straightforward.
Number three, let's talk about the value of wisdom.
We talk about the cry of wisdom, the characteristics of wisdom.
Let's talk about the value of wisdom.
Look at verse number 10.
It says, receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge,
rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things
that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
You know, so the Bible is trying to impart to us and especially to young men, to children,
to teenagers.
It's trying to impart unto us the importance of having the right priorities in our life.
And the fact that we need to understand that wisdom is better than all the things that
may be desired.
Now that's a pretty extreme statement.
that the Bible is making, that anything you could dream up, anything that you could want,
it's actually more important to get wisdom.
Why is that?
Because wisdom is what actually allows you to succeed in any area of your life.
What are some things people want today?
How about people want a wife?
But if you were just given a wife and you had no wisdom whatsoever, we didn't have the
Word of God to teach us, you know, how to do marriage, how to act as a man, how to provide
all these things.
You know, people want money, people want riches, okay?
Have you ever heard of this thing called the lottery?
It's a bunch of money is given to people without wisdom and what do they do?
They lose all of it.
Sometimes it ruins their life.
Sometimes they end up being broker a few years later than they were
before they even played the lottery.
Why? Because wisdom is more important.
Verse 12, the Bible says, I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.
pride,
arrogance and the evil way
and the forward mouth
do I hate.
So here is an attribute of wisdom
and here's some value to wisdom.
The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is to hate
evil.
How can you recognize if someone is not wise
is when they don't hate evil.
How do you recognize when someone is a fool
when they've hated knowledge, they've hated wisdom?
It's like you see a situation going on
and there's a clear side of who's on the side of the Bible
and who's not.
And you see all these people siding with the side that's not scriptural.
And what do I know about that person?
I know that they're not wise because they're not fearing God.
We had a situation in the last six months, all this craziness in the new IFB.
It's like we got children cursing their mother and father.
We've got a bunch of lying going on.
We've got a bunch of railing going on.
We've got a bunch of feminism being preached.
We've got a bunch of false doctrine being preached.
And it's like people that side with that, you know what I know about them?
Is that they don't fear God.
Why? Because the Bible says the fear of the Lord is to what?
Hate evil.
You know what evil means? Evil means harm.
And you know what sin does?
Sin harms people.
And so people who are wise and people who actually love and fear God
are always going to hate evil.
No matter who it's coming from, they're going to stand on the side of truth.
Then it lists a few things. Pride.
Eregancy in the evil way, and the forward mouth, do I hate.
Stay there, I want to read Psalm 119 verse 104.
The Bible says, through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way.
See, if you actually love wisdom, and you love the Word of God, and you love the precepts in the Bible,
you know what that causes you to do? It causes you to hate the false way.
But you know, have you ever noticed someone where it just seems like they're always lining up with the wrong side of a controversy,
they're always misinterpreting Scripture, they're always misapplying it, they're always on the wrong side of things?
That person is not esteeming God's precepts high enough.
Through thy precepts, I get understanding.
Therefore, I hate every false way.
Talks about in verse 13, it says they're pride.
You know, the wise person would hate pride.
People speaking arrogantly, people getting puffed up,
people putting themselves in positions of authority
that they were not placed in.
You know, people rebuking elders,
people preaching false doctrine.
I mean, false doctrine is pride.
You know why? Because you're not submitting yourself to what the Bible says, you're saying,
no, my idea is better. Oh, my philosophy is better. That's pride. The Bible says we should hate that.
Talks about the evil way. So it kind of just repeats that twice. It says that you hate evil
and the evil way. Then it says the froward mouth. Wow. I cannot warn people enough about the froward
It is a serious negative trait in a person.
It is a serious revelation of a person's character
and who they are when they are a forward person.
What's someone who's forward?
They're always just contrarian.
They've always just got weird takes.
They're kind of a hard person to manage,
a hard person to deal with.
They're always kind of bucking against their authority.
They're always disagreeing with everything their authority says.
This is a forward person and this is a very dangerous person.
And you know, something I've noticed recently in the new IFB
is that it seems like there's this group of people
that really wanna change the culture of the new IFB.
It seems like there's a lot of people that they really want to change the culture of
men being in charge, men running the home, men being in authority.
Seems like there's some people trying to push against hard preaching and just bucking against
authority in general.
And it seems like there's kind of this push to change the culture.
And let me tell you where it's coming from.
It's coming from a forward heart.
Because, you know, these new guys that are getting ordained,
they're sending pastors, aren't the ones preaching this weird junk,
preaching this trash.
It's like they go take an ordination from someone just to turn around
and preach differently than their pastor.
Preach differently and change the culture.
You know what? That is disingenuous.
Because when I went through Pastor Shelly's class,
he had everyone take a little sheet and he asked,
about in general just what do you disagree with me on and it's funny how someone can get ordained and
All of a sudden just for months and months and months
It's just preaching a different culture
Preaching different doctrine preaching crappy sermons and that is a forward person
And any, you know, we have so many different satellite churches right now in the new IFB and praise God for that.
That is so awesome.
But you know, to any of the guys that are training for the ministry right now,
if you and your heart are constantly disagreeing with your pastor,
you don't like his culture, you don't like his vision, you don't like his preaching,
you've got all these problems with the new IFB.
Hey, do us a favor and don't get ordained.
Please.
I'm so sick and tired of people they want to yoke up to the new IFB just to try to change what it is.
It is disingenuous, it is wicked, it is coming from someone who is pro-word.
No, you should not take an ordination from someone that you do not agree with.
You know, I didn't just get ordained to think like,
man, how do I change the culture to be as far from steadfast Baptist Church as possible?
I'm thinking like, I love steadfast.
I love the culture there.
I love the vision that Pastor Shelley has.
I love his hard preaching.
I love his rough attitude.
I'm not trying to change those things
because he's the one that trained me.
It would be disingenuous for me to just try to change everything.
It would be forward.
And you know what?
It's not a wise thing to do to say the least.
And so I really hope that this attitude stops.
And I hope that, you know, obviously I've never done this,
and people who have done this have way more experience than me,
and defer to their wisdom on this,
but we just need to be very careful vetting people
that are going into the ministry.
That I know.
We need to be careful,
and we need to watch out for the forward mouth.
We need to watch out for the forward person,
because that is a manifestation of someone that does not fear God.
that is not esteemed wisdom very high and you know what people get hurt when bad people get
ordained in the ministry. Things get destroyed. Churches shut down. People get hurt. It's terrible.
We got to be careful. Look at verse 14. The Bible says...
Counsel is mine and sound wisdom.
I am understanding.
I have strength.
So you know, part of strength, when we think of strength,
we think of working out, eating healthy,
getting your protein in, you know,
all those things are great,
but we also need to constantly strengthen ourselves
with wisdom.
You know, we need to make sure we take the sincere milk of the Word and we're ingesting
the strong meat of the Word and getting our spiritual protein in, getting that strength.
Look at verse 15.
The Bible says, by me, kings reign.
and princes decree justice.
So remember, this chapter is saying that of all the things you could desire,
wisdom is the most important thing.
It's better than anything you could desire.
What is one thing that some people desire?
They'll desire power sometimes.
People will desire to be in a position of leadership,
a position of authority.
But you know, more important than just being a king,
more important than just being a prince is having wisdom.
Why? Because the Bible says,
and princes decree justice.
Go to Deuteronomy chapter number 17.
And, you know, one of the most important aspects of leadership, and I don't care if you are
a pastor or a mother or a manager, whatever position of leadership you have in life, one
of the most important things for us to consider is constantly seeking wisdom, just constantly
seeking wisdom.
Deuteronomy 17 verse 18, the Bible says, and it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne
that he shall write him a copy of this law in a book of that which is before the priests the Levites
and it shall be with him and he shall read therein all the days of his life
that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and to keep all the of this law and these statutes to do them
that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren and that he turn not aside from the commandment
to the right hand or to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom,
he and his children in the midst of Israel.
So notice the Old Testament kings of Israel, God wanted them to physically write out a copy of the law of God and
to read therein all the days of his life.
You know, it sounds like God just wanted leaders and kings and people in positions of authority to
constantly be seeking wisdom and for getting wisdom to be one of their highest priorities.
In fact, this is why God was so pleased with Solomon.
Because when Solomon was dedicating the temple and he was asking things from God, he asked for wisdom.
He asked for an understanding heart to judge God's people.
And he's like, hey, because you didn't even ask for riches and long life and safety and the necks of thine enemies,
you asked for wisdom, I'm going to give you wisdom and all those things that you didn't ask for.
You know, it just goes to show why it's so important to seek wisdom first.
It says that if you do this, you're going to learn to fear the Lord your God.
You know, when it comes to leaders in this world, don't you want them to fear God?
Right? Because power is a real thing and power can be abused, can it not?
So people who have power, don't you want them to fear the Lord?
I mean, if you're in a courtroom and the future of your life is hanging in the balance,
don't you want it to be a judge that fears God?
someone that fears God, you know what they're gonna do?
They're not gonna accept the testimony of one witness.
They're gonna make sure that there's evidence.
A real judge that fears God,
he's not gonna accept hearsay.
He's not gonna just harken until lies.
He's not gonna just convict you without evidence.
Why?
Because he actually fears God.
You know, or police officers, you know, they have a lot of discretion in their career and police officers do have the ability to abuse their power.
Wouldn't you like to have some cops that actually fear the Lord, that they actually care about, hey, not only am I just an officer of the law,
not as just the court going to judge me, but there's God in heaven right now watching my actions, too?
That's what we need from leaders, and it says that it's going to cause his heart
not to be lifted up above his brethren.
No one likes to follow a prideful leader.
No one likes to follow an arrogant jerk.
No one likes the boss at work
that he can never even be spoken to.
He can never even get input from anyone.
It's just he's such a manabilo
that no one can even speak to him.
No one likes to be around that type of leader.
The king, he has a lot of power.
He has a lot of authority,
but that doesn't mean God wants his heart
being lift up above his brethren.
No, God wants leaders to be humble.
How does that happen?
Through reading the Bible every single day.
Go back to Proverbs chapter number eight.
But you know, that just goes to show that
the old cliché is true.
Leaders are readers.
Right? That is absolutely true, because here's a leader, the king in the Old Testament, and what does God tell him to do?
Read every single day.
And people that are successful leaders in whatever industry, there's something that's common about them, they read.
And if you want to get wise, if you want to learn, if you want to maybe be a leader someday,
more importantly than worried about, you know, being tall or buff or anything like that, worry about getting wisdom.
That's what's going to help you be a good leader.
Verse 16.
The Bible says by me, Prince's rule and nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me.
and those that seek me early shall find me."
So notice, wisdom, seeking wisdom, it rewards your life.
It helps your life.
You will have a better life.
You will be more successful in whatever area of life
when you actually prioritize getting wisdom first.
Wisdom's gonna love you back.
It's like a positive feedback loop here.
And you know, it makes me think of this statement.
Here's another cliche, and this one's not true.
Ignorance is bliss.
It's one of these things that people just repeat.
And sometimes people say, oh, that's so wise.
Wait, but hold on, is it true?
That's what we should ask when determining
if something's wise.
Oh, ignorance is bliss.
No, the Bible says that I love those that love me.
Those who love wisdom are the one
that's gonna reap the blessings of wisdom.
But what you don't know can hurt you.
Then it says this, and those that seek me early
shall find me.
And again, you know, the book of Proverbs is primarily being written to young men.
It just goes to show that God really wants young men, teenagers, to seek wisdom early
in life and to realize that, hey, childhood and youth are vanity.
And pretty soon your childhood is going to be over, your teen years are going to be over,
and some people they wait until they're 30, 40, 50, oh crap, I need to start getting some
wisdom in life.
I need to start figuring stuff out.
If, as a child, you start taking reading the Bible seriously.
You know, if you can read, you know what you should be doing?
You should be reading the Bible every single day.
No matter what age you are, you should be prioritizing that.
Notice verse 18, riches and honor are with me.
Ye durable riches and righteousness, right?
So it doesn't make sense just to chase money,
chase success when by chasing wisdom,
sometimes God will bless you with those things in addition.
And it says that it's durable riches.
What's better, being rich for a short amount of time
in your life or having durable riches that last.
You know, there's a big difference
between the drug addicted street bum
that buys a scratch off ticket and wins somehow,
the one in the million that that happens to.
There's a big difference between that guy
and a guy who started a business, worked super hard,
you know, got good customers, got good cash flow,
built a legitimate business by labor.
The magnitude of wisdom between these two people
are just huge.
That's why people who play the lottery,
they often go broke.
They often lose it all.
Yet people who are wise often can be much more successful
financially.
Verse 19, the Bible says my fruit is better than gold,
yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver.
I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,
and I will fill their treasures.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 11, Hebrews 11.
So it's talking about how the fruit of wisdom, it's better than gold,
It leads in the way of righteousness.
So wisdom is never going to lead you to sin.
Wisdom is never going to lead you down a dark path.
And it goes to show that wisdom is not driven by your desires.
Wisdom is not determined by your heart
because our desires oftentimes leads us to a sinful road.
And sometimes our desires say,
hey, you know what would be good for me right now
is to procrastinate on my homework.
right? This is what kids think.
Oh, you know, it'd be so good
is if I stayed up all night playing video games
and not doing my homework.
But wisdom actually leads to
lasting blessings,
lasting good consequences for your actions.
It's not short-sighted.
Hebrews 11 verse 24 says,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the
pleasures of sin for a season. See, Moses was a wise man. Why? Because he wanted to be.
Why? Because he chose affliction over the pleasures of sin for a season.
You know, we got a lot of foolish young people today
that are not thinking about the long-term consequences of their actions.
They're just living today.
They're just living for now. They're living for the present.
Whatever their flesh wants in this moment,
they think that must be what's wise.
That must be what's good.
mentality today where people make up their own right or wrong, their own definition of good.
No, folks, wisdom is absolutely concrete. And wisdom is always based in truth and making
decisions like committing fornication. You know, it may seem like it's a good idea in the short
term, but you know what? It ruins people's lives. People bring that baggage into marriage. People
bring bastard children into marriage. People bring STDs into marriage. And so the wise decision is
what will feel the best for you or be the most pleasant at that time,
the wise decision is actually what leads to durable, righteous results.
Go back to Proverbs chapter number eight.
Proverbs chapter number eight.
Verse 22, the Bible says,
before his works of old.
So even before God's creation, God possessed wisdom.
Proverbs 3.19 says the Lord by wisdom
hath founded the earth by understanding
he hath established the heavens.
So...
God had this wisdom with him before the world was kind of makes me think of John chapter 17
where Jesus is praying to the father and he talked about how he shared glory with the father before
the world was that the father loved Jesus Christ before the world was. Why? Because Jesus is a
perfect example of wisdom. He's pure wisdom. He's true wisdom. Verse 23 of Proverbs 8. The Bible
From the beginning or ever the earth was so again
What have I been saying this whole sermon is that wisdom is fixed wisdom is objective. It's not relative
That's why wisdom the Bible says was set up
from everlasting.
See, it's not subject to our opinions.
It's not subject to man's thoughts,
what's wise and what's not.
No, wisdom has been set up from everlasting.
How is that possible?
Well, forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven.
You know, God's word has eternally existed.
And because God's word has eternally existed,
wisdom has also eternally existed.
By the way, Jesus Christ has eternally existed.
Jesus Christ is not a created being like the Mormons will teach.
No, Jesus Christ has always existed throughout all eternity.
Look at verse 24, it says,
abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth.
So even before the days of creation,
you know who was there?
The Lord Jesus Christ was there.
And how do we know that?
Well Colossians tells us that he was the one
making the world anyways.
So Jesus has always existed.
Verse 26.
He had not made the earth nor the fields nor the highest part of the dust of the world
When he prepared the heavens I was there and notice this when he set a compass
Upon the face of the depth, you know, I love that word compass there because it completely debunks the flat earth
Because, there's a couple definitions of compass.
One thing, it could just be a line that encompasses something, which you want to know what that
is.
That's a circle.
That's what that is.
Also, a compass is like a geometric measuring tool that sometimes people use to measure
what?
Circles.
Now, I'll just read you the definition of it.
It says, a compass is an instrument for drawing or describing circles.
Measuring distances, et cetera, consisting generally of two movable rigid legs hinged
to each other at one end.
Ray J, have you ever seen one of these?
If you could picture what I'm talking about right now.
Yeah, I've seen one of these before.
And what's funny is Pastor Shelley, he did a Baptist bias episode one time
where he showed all these ancient Bibles.
And in these ancient Bibles,
it showed a depiction of God sitting above the earth
with one of these compasses.
And guess what shape the earth was?
It was a globe.
It was like in all these ancient Bibles.
Why? Because the Bible does not teach the flat earth.
People love to repeat that lie that the Bible teaches the flat earth, but you could stay there
Isaiah 40 verse 22 says,
it is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth.
And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain
and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in.
So the Bible says that he sits on the circle of the earth.
And of course we know that we live in a three dimensional world.
So what is a three dimensional circle?
It is a sphere, folks.
So the Bible does not teach a flat earth.
No, it's saying that
I was there when he set a compass upon the face of the depth and that God sits on the
circle of the earth.
Now, obviously, I hope everyone in here understands and knows that the earth is not flat.
But you know, you could literally just observe the fact that the earth is a sphere with your
own eyes during a lunar eclipse because during a lunar eclipse, the earth is in between the
And as these heavenly bodies are moving,
you will see the shadow of the earth
being projected onto the moon.
And what's interesting about a lunar eclipse
is that no matter what angle the sun is at
during that lunar eclipse,
the shadow, the shape of the shadow on the moon
is circular, which can only be done with a sphere.
Go home tonight.
get a flashlight, hold up a basketball, or tennis ball, or baseball, and just go around
the object.
And what you'll notice is that the shadows are always going to be circular.
Why?
Because the Earth is a sphere and you can literally prove it with your own eyes during
an eclipse.
You know, it's just, it is literally reality denial to be a flat earther.
And again, we want to discourage that culture as much as possible.
I do not want to attend a church where people feel comfortable saying the most idiotic, retarded things imaginable.
I do not want people getting all dogmatic about the dumbest conspiracies that they know nothing about that they've done no research into whatsoever.
I want that culture discouraged because it is a scourge on Christianity to be stupid.
And to be foolish because you know what the Bible is constantly saying is that wisdom is crying out
God's saying how long will you love simplicity? How long will you fools hate knowledge?
You know, it's a shame when Christians are stupid
It's a shame when Christians believe
idiotic ideas like the flat earth people who are flat earthers should be mocked
People who believe in geocentrism should be mocked.
It is absolute insanity that has been debunked for hundreds and hundreds of years,
and I am not going to pay it respect.
I am not going to give you respect for that.
I'm not going to pay it credence.
No, I'm not going to hear you out.
I'm going to tell you to stop.
How long you just stop speaking so foolishly is what I'm gonna say. We do not want that attitude in our church
And you know if you think that's mean you know what I think is mean
I think it's mean to subject all of you to stupidity. That's what I think is mean
I I think it's mean if you got cornered by some visitors like hey you want to talk about the flat earth. I
Don't want that
No, that would be really annoying
We will not have that culture Proverbs chapter number eight
You know what, before I even move on.
Also, here's some other ways that you could just prove
that the Earth is a sphere with your own observation.
If you go to the coast and you look at a ship going out to sea,
you will see it disappear bottom first
because it is going above the horizon
because the Earth is a sphere.
Also, if you go to the Northern Hemisphere,
you will see stellar constellations
that you can only see
in the northern hemisphere, whereas you go to the southern hemisphere, you will see different
stellar constellations that you would not be able to see in the northern hemisphere.
That's because of the shape of the earth. If we're just on this dome and, you know,
NASA glued all the stars to the glass dome up there, you know, what's going on?
Are they just dimming parts and different? It's just retarded, folks. The earth is obviously
The Bible says when he established the clouds above,
when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,
when he gave to the sea his decree
that the waters should not pass his commandment,
when he appointed the foundations of the earth.
Referring to back when, you know,
God had separated the dry land from the water.
Verse 30 says, when I was by him,
as one brought up with him,
and I was daily his delight.
We're joicing always before him.
So when it says I, that's referring to wisdom,
and when it says was by him, that's referring to God.
So let's read that again with that in mind.
When I, wisdom, was by him, as one brought up with him,
and I was daily his delight.
I like this verse because the Bible teaches
that God delights in wisdom.
God loves wisdom God loves knowledge and you know as as his children we should be the same way
And those of us who have children, we take great pleasure when our child says something that's true or says something that's wise.
You know, I remember one time we were sitting at dinner and Bethany corrected one of the younger daughters about what it takes to get to heaven.
She's like, no, it's only believe in Jesus.
I'm just like, that was a wise statement.
And you know, I just, I had pleasure at that moment seeing my child choosing to be wise.
And this is another reason why God, I believe, gave us free will.
is because God takes pleasure in his created being
actually wanting knowledge,
actually thirsting for knowledge,
calling out for knowledge, praying for wisdom,
asking, you know, reading the Bible every single day,
not because God programmed us to,
not because we were created and came out of the womb
with all this knowledge and wisdom and information.
No, but because that person actually desired those things.
pleasure to God.
Verse 32, the Bible says,
now therefore,
hearken unto me,
O ye children,
for blessed are they
that keep my ways.
Hear instruction and be wise
and refuse it not.
So notice the application,
it's saying like, hey,
here's the truth,
God takes pleasure in wisdom.
What's the application?
Be wise, O my children.
Right? So it's not a vain exercise when we choose to believe the Bible.
It's not a vain exercise for us to choose to obey the commandments of God.
It's not even just for our own benefit.
That like, well, of course, you know, our life is going to be better when we keep His commandments.
We're going to have some sort of feeling of satisfaction when we do God's word, when we receive God's word.
But you know who else is benefiting? God is benefiting.
God created all things for his pleasure and God actually takes pleasure in
his children being wise. He actually takes pleasure in us keeping the
commandments. You know that should be a strong motivator for us to actually
think about the gravity of what I'm saying right now that here we are these
tiny little specks of dust in a vast gigantic universe. We are just
meaningless in the sight of God but God looks down and God says hearken unto
He says, you know what, I take actually pleasure in you doing right.
He gets pleasure out of you reading the Bible, after you going soul winning, you repenting
from your sin, you doing things that are wise, that actually brings pleasure to God.
And as much as we should think about ourselves when it comes to, hey, don't go down the road
of sin because your life is going to be destroyed, you know, another positive motivating factor
for us to be wise is thinking about the fact that, you know what, God actually takes pleasure
in this.
We're actually making God happy.
You could stay there, John 8, 29.
Jesus said, and he that sent me is with me,
the Father hath not left me alone,
for I do always those things that please him.
You think about why did God love his son Jesus Christ so much?
Why did they have such a great relationship?
It's because Jesus always did those things that pleased him.
See, God takes pleasure in us.
He knows that we're but dust.
He knows that we're sinners.
He wants us to walk in wisdom and he does take pleasure in those things.
But Jesus was always walking in wisdom.
Jesus was always keeping the commandments.
Jesus was always doing those things that pleased him.
That's why God the Father had just such an immense love
for Jesus Christ and by extension a love for us
because for God so gave the world or for God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
That son that he loved, he gave for us.
Go to Romans chapter number 12.
Romans chapter number 12.
Look at verse number one, the Bible says I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy and notice this acceptable unto God which is
your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
So, you know, of course, we're not going to be perfect like Jesus Christ.
We're not going to always do those things that please Him.
But you know what?
We should offer our bodies a living sacrifice and do those things that are acceptable unto
God.
That's how we're going to be accepted with Him.
You know, I know there's this weird new idea lately that you don't have to do works.
You don't have to obey God's commandment to be accepted with him.
But it's like, okay, then why is the Bible telling us to transform, to renew our minds,
to give our bodies a living sacrifice so that we can prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God?
Go back to Proverbs chapter number eight.
You know it makes me think of if you love me keep my commandments, right? Hey, you know if you love yourself
It's also true. Keep God's commandments if you love yourself because otherwise you're gonna get punished
You're gonna get chastised you're gonna ruin your life, but also if you love Jesus keep God's commandments
Yeah, it's good to have wisdom for yourself because wisdom is gonna benefit yourself
But wisdom also is going to bring pleasure to God and that's something that I think we should care about
verse 34 says blessed is he that heareth me
watching daily at my gates,
waiting at the posts of my doors,
for whoso findeth me,
findeth life,
and shall obtain favor
of the Lord.
You know, in this portion of scripture, when it's talking about wisdom, personified, this
really is just screaming to me, it's just jumping off the page, thinking about the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Because the Bible says, He that hath the Son, hath life.
And what does the Bible say there, that those who so findeth me, findeth life.
The most accurate, the absolute best wisdom in this world is Jesus Christ.
And He is the Word of God, and so you can get that wisdom at any time by reading your Bible.
That's why it says in verse 34,
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates.
It makes me think about daily Bible reading.
You know, the Bible, people would be like,
well, how often should I read my Bible?
Do I have to do it every day?
Well, the Bible says to seek wisdom.
And here, wisdom, it says that we're supposed
to watch daily at my gates.
You know, I think that God would take pleasure
of you seeking wisdom daily.
Not just thinking, you know, seeking wisdom once a week,
once a month, once a year.
No, he wants you to seek it daily.
Verse 36 says this,
but he that sineth against me,
wrongeth his own soul all they that hate me love death you know those who
despise the word of God those who are rebellious or even Christians that are
just prideful they're not submitting themselves to the word of God they're
just you know going their own ways to doing their own things notice what the
Bible says that they sin
But he that sinned against me wrongeth his own soul.
You and I in every single person,
when we go against the word of God,
we are hurting ourselves.
And today, people love to thumb their nose at the Bible or mock God or blaspheme God or talk all sorts of crap on the Word of God and His commandments.
But at the end of the day, all you're doing is hurting yourself.
Those who love God, those who fear Him, hey, they're going to find the favor of the Lord.
You know, it makes me think about the biblical structure of marriage and this big fight lately that's been happening over feminism.
It's like, hey, if you want to swallow the lie of feminism, you're just going to be hurt yourself.
I mean, if you want to be dwelling with the brawling, contentious woman,
and you want to breed a culture in your church of feminism and loudmouth women,
hey, you're going to have to live in that bed.
I'm not going to have to live in it,
because I'm going to destroy that attitude.
I'm going to destroy that culture.
No, you're just, whenever you go against the Bible in any way,
you're wronging your own soul.
You're hurting yourself.
And people, you know, atheists of this world that love to mock God,
the sodomites of this world that love to mock God,
and blaspheme his word about how terrible God is, how terrible and mean God is.
You're the one that's got to die of AIDS, faggot.
Hey, you're the one that your bowels are falling out.
You're the one that's got the STDs.
You're the one that's rejected by God and reprobate and worthy of death.
You're the one that hates yourself.
You're the one living a debauched life, not me.
So, you know, mock on, but he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.
You know, you are going to be destroyed.
You are going to burn in hell, and you know what? You're going to suffer it.
You're wrong in your own soul.
And so that's why the Bible is just imploring to us, hey,
harken to wisdom, seek wisdom, seek it early.
All those that don't, all they that hate me, love death.
You know, people that just hate the Word of God, that hate following His commandments,
you look at those people and you just think, like, you must just love death.
Like you must just love your life being terrible.
You must just love destruction in your marriage.
You must just love destroying your church.
You must just love destroying the work of God.
When you're not hearkening to the Word, you must just love these things because if you
didn't, you'd be actually following God's commandments.
You'd actually be esteeming wisdom.
Let's do a quick recap.
Talked about, first of all, the cry of wisdom.
You know, we gotta realize that wisdom's more accessible now to us than it ever has been.
We have a responsibility and a duty to become wise.
Do not be content.
Oh, I'm just not a person who really cares about learning.
Fix that attitude.
Do not go through like, oh, I'm just not really a reader.
God gave you a book to read.
It's called The Bible.
and you need to seek wisdom.
Wisdom is crying out to you from everywhere,
from creation to preaching to the word of God in your lap.
We need to seek it.
And we talked about the characteristics of wisdom.
We gotta remember that true wisdom is objective.
And how do we know if something's truly wise?
Well, it has to be based in truth
and it has to be based in righteousness.
If it leads you down a sinful path,
it's leading you against God's commandments.
And if it's based on lies,
you know for sure that's not wisdom.
That's not wisdom that's calling you.
And then we talked about the value of wisdom,
how it's something we should seek more than anything,
more than money, more than fame, more than power,
that the blessings that we're gonna get in this life
come from getting true wisdom.
We'll close reading verse 34.
The Bible says,
that hate me love death let's have a word of prayer Lord we thank you for your word we thank you for
this great proverb and I pray that you would help every single person in this room to desire to
seek wisdom I pray that they would seek learning and understanding that they would read their
Bibles every single day Lord I pray that you would help me that you would give me wisdom as a young
I pray that all of us would choose to love you, to fear you, to keep your commandments.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
If that will go ahead and sing one last song to conclude the service.
If you would, take your hymnals at this time and turn to hymn number 448.
Brethren, we have met to worship.
In number 448, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first.