(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Man, the part of the psalm that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse number 7 where the Bible reads, The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. And the title of my sermon this morning is, Making Wise the Simple. Making wise the simple. Now turn if you would to Proverbs chapter 1, most of the sermon is going to be spent in the book of Proverbs because the Proverbs talk a lot about what it means to be a simple one and all of the reasons why you don't want to be a simple person and why we need the Word of God to make wise the simple. We need to stop being simple and we need to start being wise. While you're turning there, Psalm 119 verse 130 says something similar to Psalm 19. It said, The entrance of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the simple. Now if you look up the word simple in the dictionary, I looked it up on my favorite dictionary which is dictionary.com and here are some of the definitions that I found for a simple person. Definition numbers 13 through 16 seem to apply. Unlearned and ignorant. Definition 14, lacking mental acuteness or sense. Verse 15, unsophisticated, naive or credulous. Credulous means somebody who believes everything that they hear. Naive means that you ascribe the best motives to everyone and you think that the world is just a wonderful place. Definition 16, simple minded and definition number 25 I think is the one that probably matches scripture the most. Ignorant, foolish or gullible. Let's see what the Bible says about being simple. Look at Proverbs chapter 1 verse 1. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to perceive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity, to give subtlety to the simple, to the young man, knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels, to understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The Lord is the beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. Now the first thing I want to point out here about the simple man is that he's different from the fool and that when we read in scripture about the fool, the implication is that the fool has chosen the path of stupidity. He's had a lot of chances to receive instruction, to receive learning, to receive correction and he's constantly choosing to be dumb. He's choosing to be stupid. He's choosing to be foolish and there's an element of wickedness in the heart of the fool. In fact, when Jesus is describing all the wicked things that come out of the heart of man, blasphemy, pride, he said foolishness. The difference with the simple man is that it's not too late for him and obviously it's not too late for most fools either to straighten up their foolishness. But the simple man is often just a young man. Maybe he's just young, he's just inexperienced and he just hasn't had the opportunity or he just hasn't had the drive to start doing any serious learning yet. So the simple man is someone that the book of Proverbs is constantly trying to reach out to the simple one and tell him it's time to start getting smarter. It's time to start learning, getting some instruction, getting some wisdom. Here's how to get started. So simple is not as negative of a word as the fool and I guarantee you there are many people here today that are simple. I know that for a fact because there are children here and of course children are by nature simple. But even many adults here today may lean toward simplicity and that maybe they're a little bit ignorant or unlearned and so forth. But all of us should want to increase our learning, increase our wisdom and get away from simplicity in our minds and in our lives. So look if you would at verse 22 and let me show you why we don't want to be a simple one. The book of Proverbs is designed according to verses 1 through 8 to give subtlety to the simple and to give knowledge and discretion to a young man. To help a young man not to grow up to be an idiot, just to put it in modern vernacular. To help a young man not to grow up and make a fool of himself and ruin his life. God wants him to cease being simple and to gain wisdom. Why? Look at verse 22, how long ye simple ones will you love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold I will pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. Again, God's word is the example for the simple one. How to straighten him out. Look at verse 32, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But, who so hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Go to Proverbs chapter number 7. You see the fool is one step beyond the simple one and if you're a simple person you're on your way to becoming a fool unless you're on your way to becoming a wise man. You can go either way. See the simple one needs to stop loving simplicity and to love knowledge but the fool hates knowledge. Look at you at Proverbs chapter 7 verse 6. This is another reason why we don't want to be a simple person. Proverbs 7 verse 6, for at the window of my house I looked through my casement and beheld among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding. Void means empty. It's lacking. It isn't there. Passing through the street near her corner and he went the way to her house. So right away we see that one of the dangers of being naive, gullible and simple is that you'll be roped in by the strange woman. Among the young men, the guy who headed the way toward the house of the whorish woman, the one who was enticed by that was a simple man. He was a simple young man. He was foolish. He was ignorant. He was gullible. Look if you would at chapter 8 verse 5. We're just going to go in order through the book of Proverbs looking at simplicity. Chapter 8 verse 5, O ye simple, understand wisdom and you fools be ye of an understanding heart. Here, for I will speak of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be right things. Look at chapter 9 verse 4. Constantly the Bible is appealing unto the simple one, trying to help him, trying to get his attention. And I hope every young person is listening to these scriptures today so that they can stop being simple and decide to take the path of knowledge and wisdom instead of the path of scorning, which scorning is mockery and making fun of and just thinking everything is a joke. The wise man takes life seriously. Everything is not a joke. Certain things are not to be made fun about. We should reverence the things of God and we should think and use knowledge, not just constantly comedy and partying and fun. Right? Why? Because simplicity will destroy you. Because it will lead you to the path of the strange woman. Look at Proverbs 9 verse 4. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. As for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine which I have mingled. Forsake the foolish and live and go in the way of understanding. The implication is that simplicity can kill you. Forsake the foolish in order that you might live. Look at verse 13, same chapter. A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knoweth nothing. Now this shows it's not just young men that are simple and gullible and naive. Also the young ladies need to be listening to this sermon so that they cannot grow up to be a simple woman. And what's the definition of the simple woman in this verse? It's one who doesn't know anything. She's simple and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house on a seat in the high places of the city to call passengers who go right on their ways. Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. And as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen waters are sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not, why? Because he's naive. He knoweth not that the dead are there and that her guests are in the depths of hell. Simplicity, knowing nothing. And you know, another thing I take from this passage is that if you have a woman who's simple and knoweth nothing, it seems like she's on a path to going into a life of fornication as well. See the young man who's simple, he's enticed by the foolish woman, right? And then the woman who's simple and knowing nothing, what does she do? She becomes the enticer of other simple men. So either way, whether you're male or female, being ignorant, unlearned, uneducated, naive and gullible leads you to a path of sin. We're to increase in knowledge, the Bible says. We're to increase in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Look at verse number, actually chapter 15, excuse me, chapter 14 verse 15. Alright, I got it right. Chapter 14 verse 15. Proverbs 14, 15. The simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his goings. So again, what is it? One who's gullible, one who's naive, one who's ignorant. Look at verse 18, the simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. Now what does that mean? Well, it means that the simple inherit folly, meaning that they're on a path that leads them to that destination where they graduate from being a simple person to a full-fledged fool. That's the destination that they graduate to. And then the prudent man, he graduates to higher levels of knowledge. He's crowned with knowledge. That's his destination. Look at chapter 19 verse 25. Proverbs 19, 25. The Bible reads, Smite a scorner and the simple will beware and reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. What the Bible is saying here is that the simple man doesn't have understanding. We've seen that in several verses that being simple is equated with one who lacks understanding or void of understanding, right? So what the Bible is saying here is that the simple one, it's not enough just to reprove him. If you just come to him and tell him you did wrong, usually that's not enough for a simple one to even listen to what you have to say. Okay. Now if you go to a wise man or one that has understanding and you reprove him or tell him that he's wrong, then he'll understand knowledge, right? A wise person, one who understands, you go to them, you tell them they're wrong, they get it, they understand it, they thank you, they correct the problem. Whereas the simple one needs a beating. The simple one needs some kind of a punishment, some kind of a repercussion or he just doesn't get it. Why? Look at chapter 21. Keep your finger in chapter 19 verse 25 and look at chapter 21 verse 11. The Bible says in chapter 21 verse 11, when the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise and when the wise is instructed, he receiveth knowledge. So here's a progression. The scorner gets punished, the simple is made wise and then that wise person, you can actually teach them something. You can actually just explain something to them with words and they get it. They receive the instruction. What's it say in Proverbs 19, 25? Smite a scorner and the simple will beware and reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. So by looking at these two verses and comparing them, we can see that the simple one doesn't necessarily have to be the one who gets the beating. If the simple one is smart, he should just see when the scorner gets a whipping or when the scorner gets in the car accident or messes up their life or gets fired from their job or gets a spanking or, you know, gets their rear end kicked because they mouthed off to a stranger somewhere in public or something and mouthed off to the wrong person and gotten beaten. You know, the simple one that's wise would actually begin to learn from other people's mistakes as well and not have to make all the mistakes on their own. Look at chapter 22, chapter 22, verse 3. But this is one of the reasons why you don't want to be a simple person because I would much rather learn my lessons just verbally. I'd rather have someone just be able to just tell me something and I get it and I understand it. I'd rather just go to church, hear the preaching and walk away saying, you know what, that makes sense. That's what the Bible says. I'm going to follow God's word. I'm going to do what's right. But the simple one just glazes over during church and it's only when he or someone he knows gets their butt kicked that they actually, whoa, maybe we should stop acting stupid. It's not until they get arrested or until they get a severe punishment or fired from their job or they're living in the street or they're living in the gutter before they actually wake up. Don't be simple like that. Be wise. Learn. Take instruction. Gain knowledge. Proverbs 22, verse 3. A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself. But the simple pass on and are punished. Again, kind of ties in with the last two verses we looked at. This picture here that I see, the simple pass on and are punished is just the attitude, you know, just walking right into bad situations, danger, punishment, hazard. The prudent man foresees the evil. He sees bad things that are coming and he gets out of the way. He avoids those situations. Look at chapter 27, verse 11. Chapter 27, verse 11. We're just going through the book of Proverbs getting an understanding of what the Bible teaches about the simple one, why it's bad to be simple and how can we get ourselves out of that state of simplicity and get to the point of being wisdom or a man of understanding. Look at chapter 27, verse 11. My son, be wise and make my heart glad that I may answer him that reproacheth me. A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished. If you would, go to Ezekiel, chapter number 45. Ezekiel, chapter number 45. That's it for the book of Proverbs. Go to Ezekiel, chapter number 45, and I'm going to be pointing out to you verse 20, but while you're turning there, I'm going to read for you verse 19. And the priest shall take up the blood of the sin offering and put it upon the posts of the house and upon the four corners of the settle of the altar and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. And so thou shalt do the seventh day of the month, we're in verse 20 now, for everyone that eareth, what does it mean to err? It means to make a mistake. For everyone that eareth and for him that is simple, so shall you reconcile thou. And what this verse is teaching is that a lot of people make mistakes or commit errors or get into sin by ignorance. In fact, if you read Leviticus, there are whole passages describing sinning through ignorance. For example, Leviticus, chapter 4, and I believe it spills over into chapter 5. Hey, if anybody sins through ignorance, here's how you take care of that. Here's how you fix that. Why? Because a lot of people aren't even setting out to sin. They're not setting out with horrible motivations or just wanting to do wickedly, but they're just dumb. They're just stupid. They're just ignorant. They're just foolish and gullible because they're simple. They're young. They're inexperienced. Or they're old and have decided to live their life in a perpetual state of simplicity and ignorance. Look, we need to make sure that we get the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding that we need so that we don't live a life of sin through ignorance. How can we obey God's laws if we don't even know what they are? How can we obey the Bible if we don't even know what the Bible says? How can we know what God expects of us if we've never even read the Bible cover to cover a single time? And the vast majority of Christians say, I'm talking about people that are saved. I'm talking about people that have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. They've been born again. I'd say 99% have never read through the Bible cover to cover. And then you wonder why they go to these churches that are just teaching all kinds of false doctrine. You wonder why they're living lives of fornication and drunkenness and stupidity. I'll tell you why. It's because they didn't read the Word of God. They're simple. They're unwise. They're ignorant. And even if their heart's in the right place, they're still going to live a life of sin unless they have the knowledge, wisdom, and understanding to avoid sin. To foresee the evil and hide themselves. To live a life that's right. Go to Romans chapter 16. You see, the sin of ignorance is still a sin. The Bible doesn't say if any man sinned through ignorance, that's okay, let's just forget about it. He said if there's a sin of ignorance, this is the blood offering that you have to do. Here's the burnt sacrifice you have to make. Obviously under the Old Testament system with the sacrifices, it was still considered sin and they still had to pay for it. And so we don't want to just be ignorant and unwise and unknowledgeable and then we end up getting into sin. Maybe because we didn't even know what the commandment was. I can't even tell you how many people I've talked to that talked about messing up their life in various ways. And they said, well if I would have heard this preaching when I was younger, I never would have done that. I never would have lived that way. I wish I would have learned these things sooner. Well, you've got to go to church and learn. You've got to read your Bible and learn. Why? Because knowledge is power. Knowledge is going to save you from the strange woman. Knowledge is going to save you from the pit that's laid in front of you. Knowledge and wisdom and understanding is going to preserve you and keep you and guide you through this life. Whereas simplicity is just a recipe for disaster. The turning away of the simple shall slay them. I mean it's life or death. You know how many people have died just from doing stupid things? Just from doing stupid things. Just lighting themselves on fire by accident and falling off of buildings. Just because they were just being silly, careless, dumb, or getting in a car as a teenage boy with a bunch of other teenagers. You know, getting all crazy. Next thing you know they die or they kill others. Simplicity, foolishness, ignorance. How many people have wasted years of their life in a false church or a false denomination just because they never read the Bible to figure out what God's word even really said? And if we were to go down to the big rock and roll fun center that teaches all kinds of false doctrine on a weekly basis, it's packed today. It's packed. It's huge. Why? Because there are plenty of people who are simple and ignorant. And those churches with all their signs and billboards and advertisements, they might as well be saying, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither. You know, the adulterous woman of religion will bring them in and say, Hey, I'm stupid. You're stupid. Come on down. Let's worship the Lord together. I mean that might as well be the advertisement because that's the true story. I mean if you doubt that, look at this movie, The Shack, that everybody's going to see. You know, millions of viewers. And it portrays God in the most blasphemous, bizarre ways. And people think it's wonderful because they didn't read this book. That's why. Because they're ignorant. They're gullible. They're naive. They're foolish. Simplicity, I tell you. Look at Romans chapter 16 verse 18. The Bible says, For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. Talking about a false teacher, a false prophet who's teaching lies. They don't serve the Lord Jesus Christ. They serve their own belly. Watch this. And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Who is sucked in by these false teachers, false prophets, false preachers? That's easy. Those that are simple. They don't know any better. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 that we should be henceforth no more children. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. It talks about the slight of men and the cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And if you're a babe in Christ, you're going to be easily deceived. If you don't grow in knowledge, if you don't go to church and get the preaching and the teaching and read your Bible, you're going to go down that simple path according to Ephesians 4, according to Romans 16. So let me give you some practical advice this morning, some tips. I'm going to give you seven things that will help you not to be a simple person. Seven things that will increase your learning, increase your intelligence, so that you don't fall into this category of being ignorant, gullible, foolish, dumb, unintelligent, uneducated, you don't know anything. I'm going to give you seven things to help you not be that guy. And then I'm going to give you seven things that will tend to make you simpler. Seven things that will dumb you down as a person. So let's start out with the good things, seven good things. Well, obviously, number one, reading the Bible. I mean, that was the first thing that we read, right? The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. It will make wise the simple. God's word will shed light on the subject and will make wise the simple and enlighten you and give you knowledge. Obviously, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of instruction, wisdom, understanding, and everything else. So number one, read the Bible. Number two, listen to instruction. Listen to instruction. Over and over again, the Bible says that the simple one needs to gain instruction or teaching from his parents, right? The simple one needs to listen to the wisdom of his parents, also listen to the wisdom of the preacher, and listen to the wisdom of any wise person, any wise counselor or person who knows the Bible and can discern the Bible. Now, look, the Bible does not say that we should go get instruction from the heathen or get instruction from those who deny the word of God, okay? We should gain instruction and advice from godly people in our lives because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. So we should listen to instruction, meaning listen to advice or teachings or maxims that are coming from our parents, grandparents, you know, unless obviously your parents are living a wicked heathen life. But if your parents are Christians but they're just a little bit watered down of a Christian, you can still learn from your parents. Don't just blow off your parents. Oh, my parents are watered down. Look, if your parents are a saved Christian, you should learn from them in the areas that they are wise in. I guarantee you they have something to teach you. Learn from your parents. Learn from the pastor. Learn from preaching. Learn from any mentors or people in the church that you look up to as being wise people, godly people, good, soul-winning Christians. These are the kind of people to listen to and learn from. But number three, to stop being a simple person, number one, read your Bible. Number two, listen to instruction. Number three, exercising your brain. Exercise your brain. Your brain is like a muscle that needs to be exercised. And we have too many people today going through life where they don't use their brain and their brain begins to atrophy and they get dumber and dumber. And then they come to church and it's over their head and they want to go down to the Animal Crackers Baptist, Kool-Aid Baptist, you know, Fun Center Baptist because the preaching is over their head. And then they expect me to dumb it down or other preachers. I'm not going to dumb it down. You need to get smarter. You need to get smarter. They want a dumbed down Bible version today. No, you need to get smarter. Oh, they're like, the NIV is on a third grade reading level. Okay, I'm glad I don't worship God that's a third grader. I thank God that he doesn't write on a third grade level. They brag about that like it's a good thing. This is for the third grade. The eight year old international version. I'm an adult. And you know what, even children need to read the King James, of course. Children understand it just fine, especially when they grow up with it. It's easy for them because they don't grow up dumbed down. So exercise your brain. How do you exercise your brain? Well, here are some ways that you exercise your brain. By doing math. Do math. Okay, but today many people, and I'm getting into my points on things that make you simpler. It's just everything's a calculator. Everything's a GPS unit. They don't use their brains to make any kind of a calculation or to add or subtract or measure anything. And by just always leaning on these crutches, your brain will tend to atrophy. Do math. Memorize the Bible and memorize anything. Just learn to memorize things and not to just always, every single time, rely on a device for every piece of information. Every, you know, when everything's written down, everything's on your phone, everything's on your computer. You know, there are certain things that you should memorize and get used to actually exercising your brain a little bit. To find directions, to perform math, to look at maps, to actually use your brain. I mean, there are certain things that you take for granted in life. Like, I take for granted that everybody knows how to read a map, but that's not really true. Because looking back, because I'll run into people who don't know how to use a map and I'm blown away by that. Because I just thought that part of being a human being is you know how to read a map, but it's really not true. Because now that I think back, I remember in school, we were handed little worksheets. I don't know, who did this in school, where you're handed a map and they tell you, interpret this map. And you'd have to say, find, they'd say, give directions from the red house to the grocery store, looking at this map. Who knows what I'm talking about? You do that kind of stuff? Yeah, it's like, you'd have to say, okay, you turn left on Maple Street, you turn right on this and that. And you're actually learning how to use maps, you're learning how to read the scale, you're learning the compass directions. You're learning, you know, some people today, they don't even know how to use a map today. And you say, well, who needs it? We just have a GPS. Well, but the problem, and I'm not against technology, I use the GPS. I use calculators, I use all these things. But what I'm saying is, when you just constantly use these things, your mind is atrophying because you never do anything hard ever. Everything you do is easy. It would be just like if physically everything you did was easy. What if you just had an electric cart take you to the mailbox to get the mail-in back? What if you just, instead of going up the stairs in your house, and I'm not talking about those who are disabled or have some kind of a physical problem, but I'm saying, what if you're just a young, able-bodied, 25-year-old man and you just have an elevator in your house instead of just going up the stairs? And you just always did that, which was easy. You know, everything is ordered and brought to you. You know, you never actually did anything, but your body's going to get weak and atrophied and unhealthy if you were that sedentary. But see, that's what some people are doing to their minds. Their minds are just so atrophied and so unused, it's like a person who never uses their muscles and they get soft and flabby. Some people today have a soft and flabby mind. Seriously, this is a big problem. It's epidemic today. Doing math is good, memorizing things, actually using and interpreting maps. How about intelligent games? You know, how about for recreational time, instead of just playing a video game or just a foolish game, how about playing a game that's a little more intelligent? You know, at least if you're playing Scrabble, you might actually learn something, right? I mean, playing games that are more intelligent, like maybe, you know, doing a crossword puzzle or even Sudoku or something, just something that uses your brain to some level. Number four, so number one, reading the Bible. Number two, listening to instruction. Number three, exercising your brain. That could be any number of activities where you actually strain your brain a little bit. You use your mind a little bit instead of just always relying on crutches and tools to do everything for you. Number four, reading and studying other subjects than the Bible. This could be math, language, geography, history, science, etc. Now, some people will object to this, and here's what I've heard some people say. The only book you should read is the Bible. Only read the Bible. Here's the problem with that mentality. Because on the surface, that sounds pretty good. Just read the Bible, read the Bible. You can't read it too much. I agree with that on a certain level, but here's why that doesn't add up. Let me explain to you why. Because the people who are saying that, they're not reading the Bible for several hours a day. Now, I've gone through a phase for years where all I read was the Bible, but the difference was I was reading it for hours a day. Now, look, if you're going to read the Bible for hours a day, great. I'm not going to stop you and try to put some other outside reading in your hand, but let's just face it. The average person, not even the average person, 99% of people, even who do read the Bible cover to cover, they're not reading the Bible for hours a day. Now, if you do read the Bible for hours a day, great. I'll take my hat off to you. I think that's great, and I'm not telling you to change anything. But the average person is probably reading the Bible for 10 or 15 minutes a day, maybe 20 minutes a day, and that's if they're doing a good job. Because if you read the Bible 15 minutes a day, you finish it in a year. Right? Is everybody listening? You read the Bible for 15 minutes every day, in one year you've gone through the thing cover to cover. But yet I'm constantly running into Christians who haven't read it cover to cover. Even in independent fundamental Baptist churches, even in this church and other like-minded churches with us, I'm constantly talking to people who've been saved for three, four years and they just finished their first time through. Or they've been saved for 10 years and they've read it only three times. That tells me they're reading it an average of five minutes a day. So I'm saying the people who are doing a good job are reading it like 15 minutes a day. And even the people who are really excelling at Bible reading are maybe reading it an hour a day, four times a year, which I think is good for anybody who wants to be a pastor and wants to do serious Bible study should start investing an hour a day if you want to pastor a church. Right? Okay, that's four times a year. But even that leaves a lot of other time in your day. You have 24 hours in a day, folks. And you know, people say to me a lot, they say, you know, when do you sleep, Pastor Anderson? When do you sleep? You know, you do all this stuff, you're always cranking out all this work. You know, do you ever sleep? And you know what I tell these people? I tell them, you know what, I sleep eight hours every night. I'm not one of these people that burns the candle of both ends and stays up all night. Now, there are times when I stay up all night, but I do not habitually deprive myself of sleep. I don't do it. You know, my personal philosophy is, I don't believe in asceticism, and my personal philosophy is that we should take care of our body as the temple of the Holy Ghost and be healthy and think long-term and not burn out by going too overboard. You know, the Bible says, be not righteous over much, why shouldest thou be destroyed? That's not telling you sin a little bit. If it says be not righteous over much, that doesn't mean sin a little bit. No sin is okay. When it says be not righteous over much, some people, they try to do too much and they burn out. Like a marathon runner who just sprints the first mile. And he can't even complete the race. So the point is that people need to understand that, you know, I don't have some ascetic, crazy schedule. I sleep eight hours a night. But the reason that I get a lot done is just because I maximize the 16 hours that I'm awake. And I get things done. Look, 16 hours, you say, well, you know, I have an eight-hour job. Okay, that means you have eight other hours in the day. Eight other hours. What are you doing with it? What are you doing with your two days on the weekend? The truth of the matter is that I am not some superman getting a lot done. I'm getting an average amount done and a lot of other people are just wasting huge amounts of time. So they're like, whoa, look what you're doing. I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm just living a normal life here. But it's just that people are wasting so much time when they could be doing something profitable or intelligent with their time and with their lives. And I'm a strong believer in reading and studying other subjects, math, language, geography, history, science. And, you know, whatever interests you that's intelligent, my children do a ton of outside reading. They don't just read the Bible. They also do a ton of other outside reading just to learn about a broad array of subjects. And you can take the hyper-spiritual approach of saying, well, I'm only going to read the Bible, but the average person who says that reads the Bible 10 or 15 minutes a day. Oh, yeah, that's the only book I read. And then they rot their brain on Facebook for several hours. They rot their brain on TV, comic books, radio, just whatever, or just meaningless banter. That's not really virtuous to say, well, the only book I read is the Bible for five minutes a day. At that point, you're just not that smart of a person. And like I said, if you want to do intensive Bible study, then, yeah, the Bible is going to be the only book you have time for. If you go real deep into the Bible, you're training to be a preacher. Or you just, as a Christian, just as a lay person, as a man, as a woman, boy or girl, you really want to learn the Bible for your own edification and the edification of others, then great, read huge amounts of the Bible. But don't just sit there and read the Bible for 15 minutes and say, well, that's the only book I read. Oh, wow, that's great. Wonderful. Now I know how shallow you're going to be as a person. Remind me to go on a long drive with you. You see what I'm saying? And here's the thing. When I was a young married man and I was working at a job where I worked with my hands and I had the ability to listen to my headphones while I worked, I would listen to the Bible on audio. I'd listen to Alexander Scorby reading the Bible. But let me say this. I was not able to listen to Alexander Scorby for 10 hours straight at a time, five days a week. That was just a little too intense. So usually what I would do is I would listen to the Bible, and I'm talking about just while I was working just as a multitask, just so I don't have to listen to all the rock music and everything on the job sites because on job sites that allowed it, I would have the Bible going on my headphones and listen to that. But I would usually tell myself, okay, I'm going to listen to the Bible for one hour, then I'm going to listen to preaching. Or I'm going to listen to the Bible for two hours today, then I'm going to listen to preaching. Why? Because the Bible is a little heavy sometimes after an hour or two, so then I could get into something else that was intelligent to listen to. I wasn't just like, you know, two hours of Bible and then just... You know, I was actually listening to something intelligent, but something a little bit lighter than the Bible. Audiobooks or preaching or something like that. It was still intelligent, but it wasn't as heavy. So let me just put that out there that, you know, it's okay to read and study something other than the Bible that's intelligent. And I'm not saying to read things that are wicked or perverted. I'm saying, you know, read good things that are helpful to you. Number five, ways to get smarter. Godly music and musical training makes you smarter. It exercises your brain. That could be singing. I don't know an instrument. Singing. Even singing will make you smarter. You're using your brain. You're getting smarter. Singing godly music. Okay, did you catch that? Godly music. Playing the piano, playing a guitar, godly music is going to make you smarter. Number six, hands-on working will make you smarter. Working with your hands will make it, you know, working on a car, working on a motorcycle, building something with your hands. That stuff's all using your brain and making you smarter as well. So there's nothing wrong with getting out and working and doing hands-on work and physical work and things of that nature. That is a way to gain intelligence. And then seventhly, have conversations with intelligent people where you do a lot of the listening. Right? Have a conversation with intelligent people and listen to what they're saying. Right? Okay, here are the seven things that tend to make you simpler. Number one, cheap entertainment is making you dumber. And the first thing that comes to mind is the idiot box or the television. You see, the saying goes, simple things amuse simple minds. So watching TV and just rotting your brain on cheap entertainment makes you simpler. Other types of cheap entertainment include video games, cartoons, and comic books. Now listen, I'm not saying that it's a sin to ever play a video game. I'm not saying it's a sin to ever pick up a comic book or something like that. I'm not saying, oh, these things are just wicked and sinful by nature. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that this is what they're like. Let me give you an analogy. They're like white sugar. White refined granulated sugar is what they're like to your diet. They're not really giving you any nutrition. They're not doing anything to improve your health, right? And they should be consumed moderately, very moderately. It should be just a special occasion. I mean, it's like a Coca-Cola. I don't think it's a sin to drink a Coca-Cola. I don't think it's going to destroy your health to drink a Coca-Cola on occasion. But you know what? If you're just every day just Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, right? And you're just downing high fructose corn syrup, refined processed sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, you know, just constant EDTA, constant just sodium benzoate just coming in. You're going to destroy your health. And not only that, but you're filling up with empty calories. You don't have room for the fruits. You don't have room for the vegetables. You don't have room for the healthy essential fatty acids. You don't have room for the proteins that you need because you filled up on junk. Okay, now take that analogy over to this cheap entertainment. This cheap entertainment is like a Twinkie. It's like a Ho-Ho. It's like a Coca-Cola. When you look at that comic book or cartoon or video game, I don't care if it's totally clean, it's a Ho-Ho. It's a Little Debbie. It's a Twinkie. It's Coca-Cola. Do you understand what I'm saying? That's not asparagus. That's not a T-bone steak. That's not a glass of raw milk. That stuff is void of nutritional calories. And not only is it harming your body doing just a bunch of that stuff, you don't have room for the good stuff. Well, same thing. When you fill up your mind with just hours upon hours of light reading, comics, cartoons, video games, I don't care if they're as clean as a whistle, now you don't have room for anything intelligent in your life. And then you wonder why you're simple. You wonder why you're dumb. That stuff is the icing on the cake. That's not the main course. But that's a lot of people's main course today. And look, we live in a day where grown men are addicted to video games. And you know what you're doing? You're losing all the respect that your wife used to have for you. You think your wife wants to be married to an overgrown child who plays video games all night? You think any little girl wants to grow up and be married to a man who's addicted to video games? They don't. And I want my wife to respect me and look up to me. I don't want her to look at me as a big overgrown child that she has to care for, child number 10 in our house. She's not looking for another big baby to take care of. Cheap entertainment, my friend. Cheap entertainment is tending you towards simplicity in your life, not toward wisdom. It's time to cut that garbage out and try to get some nutrition, some actual brain food. I'm not talking about bananas, avocados, and walnuts. I'm talking about brain food as in intelligent stimulation in your brain of reading, learning intelligent things, preaching the Bible, other intelligent things. Number one, cheap entertainment. Number two, talk radio. You think it's making you smarter. It's not. Talk radio, people think that it's like a really intelligent alternative, you know, to just all the cheap entertainment out there. I'm listening to the real Sean Hannity, the Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck. You know, I'm learning the issues of the day. No, no, you're being spoon fed a certain view that's not making you any smarter. It just makes you think you're smarter, and the smarter you think you are when you're not, that's actually making you dumber, because talk radio just gives you an inflated sense of understanding the world, an inflated sense of understanding things. Again, I'm not saying it's a sin to listen to talk radio, but you know what, put it in the category of a hydrogenated fat. Put it at the very little pinnacle of your food pyramid, folks. Don't have it as the basis, right? Number three, foolish companions. You start hanging around with idiots, having long conversations with idiots, you're going to start being an idiot. Companion of fools shall be destroyed, the Bible says. Cast out the scorner, and then the simple will actually learn something. Number four, reading internet articles as a substitute for reading books. Now, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with reading an internet article, but when you think, oh yeah, well Pastor Anderson, I do a lot of reading. Pastor Anderson said that smart people read and that readers are leaders. Well, I'm on my phone and on my tablet and on my computer just reading, reading, reading. That's not a substitute for reading actual books. Now, I'm not saying if you have some kind of a Kindle device or something where you actually read a real book on there. Okay, that's reading a book. I don't like doing that because I feel like I stare enough at a screen in my life. I don't need to replace books with a screen. But if you like reading the e-book, great. But I'm talking about people who just read these little short attention span, little articles, little articles. And what's wrong with it? Because every little article that you read, it's just touching on a subject. Real smart people, real intelligent people, they learn the whole subject. They don't just touch on things. People who just read an article that takes five minutes to read and then walk around spouting off their knowledge, that's not a smart person. A smart person goes and reads a 300-page book and then talks intelligently about that subject. A smart person doesn't just read an article online that quotes Bible verses. Oh, I know how to burn them now. I know this subject now. No, a smart person reads the whole book of Jeremiah and then has an intelligent thing to say about the Bible, reads the whole book of Isaiah, reads the Gospel of Matthew. And when they're done reading the Gospel of Matthew, they know something about Jesus Christ, not just reading an article that quotes a couple of verses from Matthew. Learn the whole subject. Go deep. Read a book, not just articles that just touch on a subject. They just barely touch it and walk away instead of actually getting to the meat on the bone. They're just eating the skin of the chicken. Now, I don't take the skin off my chicken, folks, but I'm also not just going to eat a plate of skin. I don't say to the waiter, slap me some skin. I want meat. I want something there. You know, I love when my wife makes schnitzel, which is a breaded cutlet of pork or a breaded cutlet of veal. But you know what? When she runs out of meat, she takes all the extra breading and she just fries it by itself as a decoy. And when I bite into that thing, I hate that thing. You know what I mean? But if I have a little extra breading, ooh, this is good. But you don't want just nothing but breading, nothing but fluff. Always external, always exterior. No, no, I want to get to the meat. I want to get to the heart of it. I want to eat what's on the inside of that schnitzel. I don't want to be like, sometimes you'll hand a schnitzel to a child and they eat it like a corn on the cob and then just hand it back to you, just a stripped piece of meat. That's what a lot of people are doing mentally, just reading a bunch of little articles that just touch on things instead of getting real education. And then they talk like they know all about that subject, like they're an expert. And then that makes their intelligence go down. Because when we think we know more than we do, then that causes our intelligence to drop even further. Number five, rock music and pop music tends toward simplicity in your life. It really does. And this is why my other point that corresponded to this was godly music in your life makes you smarter. In fact, I even read a study on this that was done on rats, okay? And here's what they did. They took rats and they put rats in mazes. They were all in the same maze. And they did this a whole bunch of times, this very well done experiment. One control group had no music played. The rat would solve the maze in X amount of seconds. And then as it does the same maze over and over again, it gets faster and faster at solving the maze and getting the cheese the more times it does the maze, okay? Well, then the second group was played, you know, this wasn't done by a, you know, a preacher. So it was with classical music. You know, they didn't try hymns of the faith. They did classical music, more intelligent music, right? And those rats literally solved the maze a little faster than the ones who didn't listen to music. So they're just pumping classical music the whole day and they solved the maze a little faster. And this is where you get these people who are like, oh, I want my kid to be smart. And they buy the baby Bach or baby Mozart. You know, they buy like, they pay like ten times as much for a classical music CD just because it says it's for babies. Like, ooh, you know, get them off to the best start, you know. Start the college fund now and put them on the baby Mozart or whatever. So, but that's where it comes from. It's from these studies. They've read these studies and then they're like, ooh, let's make some money, you know, let's sell this stuff. So the point is that the ones who listened to intelligent music, they actually solved the maze a little faster. They got a little smarter. Okay, the ones who listened to, they played basically like a rock music, like hard rock. And then they played another one like the golden oldies, like the kind of doo wop type of, you know, 50s and 60s, kind of the golden oldies, like, you know, like the Beatles, the Beach Boys, stuff like that, you know, that style. And those groups both, they literally, they got worse and worse at the maze to where they couldn't even solve it anymore. I'm not kidding. Like the first time they were in the maze was the best they did. Like a week later, two weeks later, a month later, it's taken them like, it's supposed to be like a 60 second maze or whatever, I don't remember the exact numbers, but it literally was something like a 60 second maze is taking like 10 minutes. Whereas the other groups are getting down to like 30 seconds because they're learning how to do it. It was just dumbing them down and rotting their brain. You know, and I mean, the pop music, it's so stupid, like the words are stupid. And if you let all that stuff is just going into your mind and it's reducing intelligence is what it's doing. And look, we're all going to hear it when we go out, we hear it at the grocery store, we hear the guys, but look, if you're going to sit there and just recreationally, hey, let's turn on some of that. I mean, just, you might as well just turn down the intelligence, turn up the simplicity. That's what you're doing. It's foolishness. So, you know, rock and pop music will dumb you down. Okay. And that explains a lot in our culture today, right? Then number six would be never challenging your brain. Always using technology. And I already talked about this. Always just straight for the calculator. When people work here at Faithful Word Baptist Church, I make them do addition in longhand. All addition is done longhand. And I told them, I said, check it with a calculator, but you must add and subtract and multiply and divide in longhand. Why? It's a waste of time. Well, you know what? I'd rather waste my time than waste my brain. Mind is a terrible thing to waste, amen? So, you know, I don't want to just waste my brain. Why? Because I know that if, and it's not just because I'm trying to make them better people, although I, you know, I want to make all of us better people, amen? The reason why I want them to do the math in longhand is because I want them to be good at math so that when they count the offering, they count it right. So that when they pay the taxes, they pay it right. So when they do the payroll, they do it right. And somebody who's always using a calculator is more likely to make mistakes when it comes down to doing the payroll, the taxes, the offering, whatever, because their mind is not in a mathematical mode. The guy who's doing long addition, long subtraction, multiplication, division, his brain, the math part of his brain, and I don't know what part that is. You know, whether it be the frontal cortex or the hippocampus, it's certainly not the cerebellum, amen? But whatever part of the brain that is, I don't know. I'm not acting like a brain expert up here, but I'm here to tell you right now that whatever part of the brain that is, it's not working on people who constantly use a calculator. And when they go to fill out important documents, they're going to make mathematical errors. They're going to make mistakes. So I'd rather waste a little bit of time having them do the math in the long hand and then just check it with a calculator than to just calculator all the way, because then, you know what, when you end up having to redo things, it wastes more time than doing these right the first time. Anything worth doing is worth doing right the first time. And number seven, things that rot your brain and make you simpler are modern Bible versions. Modern Bible versions, they're dumbed down, they're stupid, they're dung in regard to literature value. Even the world will tell you, even unsaved people will tell you the King James Bible is the greatest literature of the English language. I read a book about the English language. I just read a book just about the English language itself, and it was clearly written by an unbeliever, because he's talking about, you know, oh, these languages came from tens of thousands of years ago or millions of years ago. There was no acknowledgement of the Lord or God or the Bible. It was clearly written by an unbeliever. It was just a book about English, just teaching you about English. But then it had this whole section saying, look at how the King James Bible is such great English and look how these modern versions are just so bad. It wasn't showing any doctrinal differences. It was just showing, like, look how stupid this passage from Ruth looks in the NIV. And this person clearly did not believe the Bible. But even the world can look at it and tell, this is dumbed down, it's stupid, it's cheap. You say, well, then why is it the best-selling version in America? Well, look at the movies that are the best-selling movie. I mean, somebody help me out, oh, worldly ones. Somebody help me out. What are some of the just the dumbest movies that are probably just grossing hundreds of millions of dollars at the box office? Don't say the shack, all right? I already talked, I already covered that. Just some of the most dumb kind of just, like, and look, I'm not even talking about Wicked. I'm not even talking about Immoral. I'm talking about just dumb. I mean, they're just bottom shelf mentally. Nobody wants to say anything. Power Rangers. Power Rangers, Beauty and the Beast. Transformers. I mean, I wonder how many adults are going to see Transformers. I mean, Transformers, isn't that a toy you play with when you're like five or seven or eight? When I was a kid, they had the GoBots and the Transformers. But, I mean, you have 30-year-old men, 40-year-old men, 50-year-old men walking up, two tickets for Transformers. I guarantee you that if we were to stand outside Harkins right now, we'd see all kinds of adult men buying tickets to all just these kind of childish, just kind of dumb, just kind of silly, ridiculous, nonsensical type of movies, you know. And then you wonder why the NIV is the most popular Bible version. Well, there's your answer right there. Because broad is the way that leads to even mental destruction. Broad is the way that leads to mental disability. Many of their bewits go in their act. Okay. Don't just sit there and say, oh, well, everybody's doing it. Yeah, but look at all the foolishness. Be one of the few that's smart, that's wise, that has understanding, that has knowledge and wisdom. So modern versions, I believe, will rot your brain. Quick review. Things to help you not be a simple person. Read the Bible. Listen to instruction. Exercise your brain. Read and stutter. Read and... Don't stutter. Read and study other subjects even besides the Bible. Godly music and musical training. Hands-on working and experience building something, doing something, fixing something. And number seven, conversations with intelligent people where you do listening as well, not just talking. Okay. Things that tend to make you simpler. Cheap entertainment, the idiot box, video games, cartoons, comic books. Number two, talk radio. Number three, foolish companions. And especially that morning talk radio, you might as well just go get an ice-pick lobotomy, my friend, if you're going to listen to morning talk radio. Foolish companions. Number four, reading internet articles as a substitute for books. Number five, rock and pop music. Number six, never challenging your brain, always using technology instead of doing any calculation yourself or looking at a map. And number seven, modern Bible versions as opposed to the King James version which makes wise the simple because it's God's word. Let me just close on a couple of scriptures. You don't have to turn to these. I'm just going to crank through these. Proverbs 9 verse 9. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be yet wiser. Teach a just man and he will increase learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. First Timothy 4.12, let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Then in Daniel chapter 1, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were taught in all the learning and tongue of the Chaldeans. Such as had the ability to learn language and science. It said of them, as for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. It says in verse 20, and in all matters of wisdom and understanding that the King inquired of them. He found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. That shows right there that we should be an example of the believers through reading, through learning, and that God can give us knowledge, skill, and understanding. Where we should be the smartest guy on the job, not the dumbest guy on the job. And look, I'm not saying you're going to be the smartest guy on the job, but that should be the goal. You know, different people are blessed with different starting points of genetics, different upbringing, different schooling, different parents, whatever. So we might all start at different points, but there's no glory in being dumb. And we should work toward increasing learning, start cutting out some of these simplicity builders in our lives, and start bringing in some knowledge builders in our life, and get smarter, and achieve a goal of, hey, I want to be an example where people look at Christians and say, well, the smartest people are Christians. Not, man, every Christian I've ever talked to was a dunce and an idiot. Would you want that to be a testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, yeah, Christianity just preys on dumb people. Only dumb people follow that religion. Look how dumb they are. No, no, we want them to say, well, you know, I don't believe the Bible, but the Christians are the best workers in this company. Those people from Faithful Word Baptist are some of the smartest guys I've ever talked to. That's a better testimony. That's a testimony Daniel had, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. And by the way, that's what the Apostle Paul had as a testimony. Listen to this. Don't turn there, but Acts 26, 24. And as he thus spake for himself, Paul, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself. Much learning doth make thee mad. Look, Paul's getting criticized for learning too much. He's like, man, you've learned too much. Much learning has made you mad. But he said, I'm not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. That ought to be our testimony. We should be criticized like, oh, man, those people of Faithful Word, they're too smart for their own good. They've gone nuts from learning too much. They learned too much Bible. They know too much Bible. I'd rather have that leveled at me than, oh, I have a bunch of flat earthers and dunces and people who don't know anything. I mean, which would you rather get accused of? I'd rather get accused of being a little too smart, Mr. Smarty-Pants, Pastor Smart-Alec. I'd rather get that than Pastor Dunce, Pastor Ignoramus, Pastor Imbecile, Pastor Man-Child. I don't want to be accused of that. I'd rather be like Paul and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, where even if they're going to throw me in the fiery furnace, they know that they're throwing a smart guy into the fiery furnace, not an idiot. Right? I mean, look, being smart is not going to prevent you from being persecuted and hated and criticized. It didn't stop Festus from throwing Paul back in jail. Throw him back in jail. But you know what? Let me go talk to you later because you're a pretty smart guy. And he came and visited him in jail because he liked to listen to him talk. That's a better testimony. Just look up every time the word knowledge is used. Tell me whether God wants us to have it or not. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for the ultimate book, the ultimate guideline for our lives, the ultimate source of knowledge, wisdom and instruction, the Holy Bible. Thank you for giving it to us. Translate it accurately into our language, the English language, so that we could just from a child know the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. But they're also able to make us wise in so many other areas of our life as well, Lord. Help everyone here to make Bible reading the number one priority, Lord. And then help them to spend the rest of their day doing intelligent things, not just rotting their brain, surfing nonsense online, Lord. Help us all to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.