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So if you turn there in Proverbs chapter 1, the Bible reads, The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, to know wisdom and instruction, to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity, to give suddenly 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 of Proverbs and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother, for they shall be an ornament of grace in thy head, and chains about thy neck. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay weight for blood, let us look privily for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and hole, as those that go down into the pit. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil, cast them thy lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou on the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, and they lay weight for their own blood, they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Wisdom crieth without, she uttereth her voice in the streets, she crieth in the cheap place of concourse, in the opening of the gates, in the city she uttereth her words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, we love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you, because I have called, and ye refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, but ye have said it not all my counsel, and would none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock when your fear cometh, when your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer, they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would not of my counsel, they despised all my reproof, therefore shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them, but whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. Brother Charlie, if you'd lead us in prayer. Dear Lord, we thank you for this day, and Lord, please bless our ears, you know, that we may hear your truth, and you know, let us come in, and let us lead a different way from when we came in, and Lord, please fill the preacher with your spirit, and give him boldness to preach your word, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Here we have the book of Proverbs, and it's the wisdom of God. It's the ultimate wisdom and instruction of the entire universe, and we have a choice here. We can understand all the wisdom and instruction and understanding of this world, or you can be a fool and hate instruction. You can hate knowledge. Who are you today? Do you seek after the wisdom of God, or are you seeking after something else? If you turn with me to 1 Kings chapter two, I'm gonna lay down a little bit of foundation. And as I was thinking about the book of Proverbs, I wanted to know, what is the definition of a proverb? And I was looking at a lot of different places where it used, but here in the first seven verses, it gives us the definition, and it's the best definition, I think. It says, the Proverbs, the Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. So what is a proverb? It's to know wisdom. What is a proverb? Instruction. What is a proverb? To perceive the words of understanding. What's a proverb? Instruction of wisdom. What's a proverb? Justice. What's a proverb? Judgment. What's a proverb? Equity. What's a proverb? To give subtly to the simple, and the young man knowledge and discretion. It gives us right here such a clear definition of a proverb. And as y'all turn to verse kings, I'm gonna read out of Deuteronomy chapter 17. We see that the children of Israel in the law were given a provision by God when they would just set up a king for themselves. Now it wasn't God's will that he would want us, want them to set up a king over themselves, but he made some instructions if they would. And it says in verse 18, and it shall be when he sit upon the throne of his kingdom, this being the king of Israel. It says that he shall write him a copy of this law out of a book, out of that which is before the priest, the Levites, and it shall be with them. And he shall read there in all the days of his life that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words 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 the left, to the end that he may prolong his days and his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel. So we see a charge unto the king to write him a copy of the law, and to read every day, every day. Read the Bible over and over. You say, why? Well, it gives us the meaning there. It says to fear the Lord God. The only way you're gonna learn how to fear God is by reading this book. You're not gonna learn how to fear God by going out into the world. You're not gonna learn how to fear God by getting on the TV, by watching, you know, The Ten Commandments of Charles and Heston. That's not gonna give you the fear of God. You're gonna get the fear of God by reading this words, by seeing all the curses of God, by seeing the wrath of God, by seeing him punishes people. That's how you're gonna learn how to fear the Lord God is by reading your Bible. And you know, there's a direct relationship with reading your Bible and fearing God. You say, I fear God. Well, how much do you read your Bible? Oh, you know, I get around to it, you know, every once in a while. You don't have any fear of God. If you read your Bible every day, then you can start to begin to have a fear of God. We see that the king's instructed to read every day. Why? So he doesn't get lift up and cry. You know, a lot of people, they might hear a lot of preaching online, or they might go to church a lot, and they got it puffed up. They think they have a fear of God. The only way you're gonna get the fear of God is by reading this book. Amen. So if you turn there in 1 Kings chapter two, we're still gonna lay down a little bit of foundation here before we get into our text. Cause I think it's so important to get some of this context before we get into the book of Proverbs. But in 1 Kings chapter two, we have David giving instruction to his son. It says, Now the days of David drew nigh, that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son saying, I go the way of all the earth, be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself. Why is it that God gave us these instructions so that we could prosper? God wants us to prosper in this life. He wants us to have all the wisdom to succeed. And the only way you're gonna succeed according to God is by following his commandments. And we see being a man is not, you know, lifting a bunch of iron, you know, carrying a piece down the field. No, it's standing up for the word of God. That's being a man. It's a man to say, no, I'm not gonna go with you sinners. I'm gonna do what God says. That's the definition of being a man is following this book. And if you flip over one page just to the chapter four, we're gonna see a little bit more information about Solomon. It says in verse 29, and God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men than even the Ezerite and Heman and Chalkaw and Darda and the sons of Mahal. And his fame was in all the nations round about. And he spake 3,000 proverbs and his songs were 1,005. And he spake of trees from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even in the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He spake also of beasts and of fowl and of creeping things and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. So we see that Solomon was given great wisdom of God. You say, why was that? Well, I think one of the things right here, he spake 3,000 proverbs. He had the words of God written on his heart. He had the words of God coming out of his mouth. He knew the words of God. He knew how to fear God. That's when God gave him great wisdom. And we see one more place laying down a foundation. Flip over to 1 Kings 10, just a few pages over. We see that a lot of people came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And in chapter 10 and verse one it says, And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great shame, with candles that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with them of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. We see that the queen of Sheba, she came to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And she proved him with hard questions. You know, the scoffers of this day, the people that don't believe the Bible, they say, oh, the Bible, that's just a book of fairy tales. You know, it doesn't have the questions of life. No, it answers every question. She came to ask him hard questions and he answered all that was in her heart. This book has the answer to every question. This book has the answer to every part of your life, to marriage, to raising children, to succeeding in this life. It comes from this book. But if you don't read this book, you're not gonna have any wisdom. And so I wanted to just go ahead and lay down a little of the foundation before we got in our text. Because I feel like we read that first verse in Proverbs chapter one. Let me flip there, it says, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. Now we have a little bit better picture of who Solomon was. He wasn't just some guy off the street that spake all these Proverbs. He wasn't just some guy that decided, hey, I'm gonna serve God tomorrow. No, he spake 3000 Proverbs. If he did what it said in Deuteronomy, which I believe he did, he wrote him a copy of the law and he read all the days therein. He filled himself with the wisdom of God so that he would know wisdom and instruction to receive the words of understanding, to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice and judgment and equity. We see that the Proverbs have judgment in it. Many Christians in this world, they say, oh, we're not supposed to judge. Well, I guess throw the book of Proverbs out. Throw Solomon out. No, we're supposed to judge righteous judgment is what Jesus Christ said, didn't he? The only way you're gonna get righteous judgment is by going to the Proverbs and seeing the judgment and seeing the equity. We see a lot of times in the book of Proverbs, it'll give us what's fair. It'll give us what's right. And a lot of times that might conflate with what we think in our personal mind, but the wisdom of God is greater than anything that we can come up with. It says that to give subtly to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. One of the things that's great about this book is if you just continue to read it and read it and you fill yourself with the words of God, you're gonna gain great wisdom whether you realize it or not. Sooner or later, everything about the way you think of this world is gonna change. That's why the Bible says renew your mind. We need to transform a mind. We're not gonna be conformed to this world. We're supposed to be transformed by the word of God. God's gonna wash all that filth off your brain, wash all the worldliness off of your life. That's what the word of God does. And it's gonna give subtly to the simple. You might not even realize that you're getting wiser. You know, it's just like the frog in the boiling pot of water, but slowly you're gonna become a great wise man. It says to the simple, even someone who just, I'm kind of simple. If you fill yourself with this book, you can become wise. You can become one of the wisest people that ever lived on this earth. It says, a wise man will hear. You know, he's not talking, is he? He's hearing, he's listening. He's listening to the words of the wisdom and will increase learning. 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. You know, the queen of Sheba, she could have traveled and found Ethan Ezraheit. She could have gone to Chalkaw. She could have gone to Darda. No, she went to Sone. Why? Because he had the wisdom of God. He had the wise counsel. We should seek out those that have the wisdom of God and we should hearken unto them. We should listen to what they have to say so that they can teach us the interpretations. They can teach us the dark sayings. It says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If you're not reading this book, you have no fear of God. The Bible says it's just the beginning of knowledge. In order for you to have any kind of knowledge, you have to fear God. Well, how do you get saved? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, right? You have to at least believe this book for to get saved. The fear of the Lord begins with this book and ends with this book. And as soon as you start pulling away from this book, you start to have less fear of God. You start to have less fear of God. Why do the unsaved have no fear of God? Because they don't read this book. They say, oh, I believe in a God, but they really have any fear of God? No, why? Because they're not reading this book. And we're gonna see this theme is carried out through the book of Proverbs. I'm really hammering this in, but it's so important. And we're gonna see it repeated over and over and over, why? Because it's worth it. God needs to remind us, look, you need to read this book. I mean, can you imagine if you could give your son all the wisdom that you've learned in your life and say, son, I want you to read this. I worked really hard on this. This is all the wisdom I can give you. I mean, wouldn't you want him to read it? That's why he says over and over, read the wisdom of God. Says, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Those that hear the words of God and reject it, the Bible says they're fools. Says my son, hear the instruction of thy father and forsake not the law of thy mother. For they shall be an ornament of grace in thy head and chains about thy neck. We see that not as it's just important to listen to God, but to listen to your parents. Children need to listen and obey their parents, why? Because it'll teach you how to learn and obey God. You know, God gave us an earthly father and mother and have them represent that role so we can learn about God. Just as a parent would instruct his child the same way as God's trying to instruct us. Just as when a child would disobey and a parent chases them, God chases us. Just as a child who obeys his parents and the parent gives them grace, is with God. He'll give you grace and blessing when you obey his voice. And it helps illustrate to us what God is like. That's why it's so important to hear the instruction of thy father. You know, there's so many children that don't have a father. And it's hard sometimes for them to understand God. They sometimes have a warped view of God or a warped view of the Bible, why? Because that relationship's so important to a child. A father is the physical representation of God in their life. And a good father's gonna help them have a fear of God. That's why it's so important. And it's so important for children to hearken to the instruction of their father and their mother. You know, it says it'll be an ornament of grace. Everything that I got as a child was a gift of grace. I didn't deserve, you know, a good home. I didn't deserve clothes. I didn't deserve a car when I was 16. But I got that by grace when I obeyed my parents. You know, when I didn't, they would chase me. Just as that perfect illustration of the Lord. When we obey His voice, He's gonna give us more grace and mercy in our lives. But it says, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. Now the best thing about the book of Proverbs is you have this whole chapter and it has such a great meaning. But then you could just take a few verses and you could get another meaning. And sometimes you could just take one verse and it could have a meaning. Sometimes you could just take a phrase of that one verse. There's just so much wisdom in this book and you can look at it in so many different ways. And we're gonna look at the whole chapter but I wanna focus on this verse for a minute because we see it's gonna lay out some really wicked people that we're not supposed to consent with, right? But isn't there some other people that would be sinners that we shouldn't consent them to? Why don't you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter five. Now we see here listed is some people that I would say were like reprobates. You know, they're the wicked people that hate God. They're the fools that don't wanna hear anything about Him. The Bible describes Sodom as they were sinners exceedingly before the Lord. So that's one category of people that we should just obviously avoid. Those that just hate God, those that don't wanna have anything to do with Him that blasphemous name, we should avoid them. But then what about just unbelievers? The Bible says, be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. What fellowship hath righteousness of unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath ye that believeth of the infidel? You know, we shouldn't have fellowship with someone that's not saved. That's right. Now, of course we're gonna live in the world. We might work in the world. We might be friendly unto those that are unsaved, try to get them saved. But our best friend should not be unsaved. The Bible makes that very clear. We should hearken unto this. We shouldn't have fellowship with those that believe God, that are believers. You say, okay, so we shouldn't hang out with the reprobates. We shouldn't hang out with the unsaved. So just all believers, right? Well, no, I had you turn in 1 Corinthians five. We're gonna see a second group of people. Or a third group of people. But now I've written unto you not to keep company. If any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such and one known not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without, God judgeth. Therefore, put away from among yourselves that wicked person. The Bible says that anybody that's in one of these sins is a wicked person. You know, even a believer can be classified as a wicked person. You know, and I wish when I was growing up and I was going to church, that there were some times in my life that somebody would have said, you're a wicked person for what you're doing. That would have helped correct me. That would have helped me get right. Some people say, that's not merciful. That's not loving. No, it's unloving for somebody to be destroying their lives and you're not warning them. Drunkenness will destroy your life. Fornication will destroy your life. That's why it says not to do that. And we shouldn't bring that in the church and say, oh, it's okay. Cause then other people say, oh, that's not a big deal. You know, I can, he's living in fornication. Why can't I? He's a drunk, why can't I? And it's going to tear other people down. That's why I say it's a little leaven, leavening the whole lung. But if you turn to Psalms 101, you know, it seems like we're kind of on an escalation, right? We see that we shouldn't hang out with the reprobate. We see that we shouldn't hang out with unbelievers. Even a believer who's not living decently in order, as the Bible would say, we should separate fellowship from that person. But in Psalms 101, we're going to even see a stronger review. See in verse three, it says, I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person. There's your first Corinthians five. Who so privileged slandered this neighbor? Him will I cut off. Him that hath a high look and a proud heart will not I suffer. Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land that they may dwell with me. He that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell within my house. He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight. So we see a group of people. He's saying, you know, not wicked people. That's your first Corinthians five. But what about those that have a high look? What about those that have a proud heart? What about those that are dealing deceitfully and telling lies? We shouldn't even hang out with those people. You know, obviously it doesn't say that those people get kicked out of the church necessarily, but we should separate fellowship with someone. If someone's constantly lying, if someone's constantly having a proud heart and you say, wow, you just sound really self-righteous. You know, you just sound, you're so self-righteous. Everybody, you think everybody's, you know, perfect. No, we're all sinners and we all have sin. But when you see someone constantly, you know, rebuke or rejecting the word of God and you bring it up to them and say, hey brother, I'm not gonna hang out with you because you're doing this. And they say, oh, I'm gonna still live that way. They're gonna reject that. We should withdraw fellowship from that person. The Bible makes it very clear. And you know, if you look up the definition of self-righteous, I looked it up in Merriam-Webster, it says to be convinced that one's own beliefs are right and others are wrong. Call me self-righteous, call Jesus self-righteous. He said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. He was pretty convinced he was right and others are wrong. So call me self-righteous. But of course, you know, when people throw that accusation, they're just meaning that you think you're better than other people, right? And of course, that's something the Bible does condemn. We're not supposed to steam ourselves better than others. We're not supposed to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. But when we see someone, you know, rejecting the Word of God, they're not wanting to live a clean and holy life. They're not wanting to follow God's commandments with all their heart. We should separate fellowship with that person. We should find someone that's faithful. We should look at someone and say, hey, that guy's going to church three times a week. Hey, that guy's going out and winning souls. Hey, that guy knows the Bible. Hey, that guy always talks about the Bible. I want to look at him. I want to follow him. That's what the Bible makes it very clear. And you say, well, I, you know, I don't really associate with those kinds of people. Okay, that's great. But how about on TV? Do you know wicked people from TV? Do you look at the drunkards and the fornicators of TV? You say, oh, I know those people. The Bible says I will set no wicked thing before my nuts. Say, oh, I don't have cable. You know, I don't have TV. What about Facebook? How about your friends on Facebook? Are you following, I mean, Facebook's got it down. Do you follow or you unfollow people, right? Are you following wicked people? You say, I don't have TV. You know, but I go on the, I go on Facebook and I pull up all the TV shows and I watch their little clips. I watch Jimmy Fallon and I watch the Seinfeld and I watch, you know, all the friends and I watch all the clips on that. Do you know the wicked people when I name them? Do you know Jim, you know, Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell and all these people? You know, I lived a wicked life. I lived in the world for a long time, so I know a lot of these names. And I hope that my children, when they grow up and someone names a worldly person, knows a wicked person, they say, I don't even know who that is. I hope it's when I say Ethan the Hesahite and Choco and Darda and Mayhole, you're like, who are those people? That's what I want my children to be like when they hear these wicked, worldly people because we shouldn't even know them. And the person that goes on Facebook and watches all that film and that garbage and then condemns people for having TV is a hypocrite. That's what the Pharisees were like. The Pharisees would say the right thing. Yeah, it's wrong to watch all the worldly, wickedness stuff on cable, but to then go and do it in private on your phone or your computer. What's the difference? They're all devices that can pour in whatever you want. We should separate ourselves from the wicked. We should separate ourselves from those in the world. And we should separate ourselves from believers that still want to live in the world. You know, and if you have a brother who's, you know, maybe see him in a vault, it says to come to that brother, you know, and try to win him back, convert his soul, as James chapter five would say. But I wanted to just, if we go back to our main text, Proverbs chapter one, I just wanted to kind of stop on that verse because the thing about Proverbs is you could probably stop on every verse and you could compare spiritual to spiritual and you could get great truths. Because you know, the thing is, I think the New Evangelical would read this verse and they would read the, you know, the context and say, oh, well, I'm not gonna hang out with these murderous, wicked people. But the Bible makes it clear that there's a lot of other people that we shouldn't consent unto, right? There's a lot of other people that we should withdraw ourselves. It says, wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, right? So if we go back to the context, it says, my son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, come with us, let us wait for blood. Let us look privily for the innocent without cause. Let us hold them up alive as the grave and hole. As those that go down in the pit, we shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil, cast in thy lot among us. Let us all have one purse. My son, walk not thou on the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path, for their feet run to evil and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread on the side of any bird and they lay wait for their own blood. They look privily for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. Now we have probably a lot of different people that we could interject into who this is talking about. But to me, the person that just came straight to mind, the group of people that I just thought, wow, this fits so perfectly, is the gangs, right? Doesn't this just fit perfectly with the gangs of this world? It says, look, they wanted to come with us and lay wait for blood. Don't the gangs just lay in wait for blood? Aren't they just trying to shoot each other? Aren't they just trying to kill the innocent? Aren't they trying to kill the widows and the old women and steal their goods? It says, let us swallow them up alive as the grave and whole, as those that go down into the pit. They want to liken themselves into hell. And isn't that just the name of all them? They're like, you know, East Side Bloods and West Side Bloods and Hellbound Gangsters and Hell's Angels. Those are actual names of gangs in this area because they want to be like hell. They want to be like death. It says, we shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. We see that they're trying to rob, they're trying to take goods. It says, cast thy lot among us. Let us all have one purse. Isn't that what the gangs are like? They say, hey, just come with us. You know, we'll take all the goods, we'll put it together and then we'll redistribute. You know, gangster socialism basically. It's wicked. It's wicked on every level. You know, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, they're going to start a gang because they love socialism so much. The Bible doesn't teach socialism. The Bible teaches capitalism. That's why God made separate nations. That's why God gave an inheritance to all the tribes of Israel. That's why God gave an inheritance to each family. Because he wants you to have your own property. He wants you to have your own substance. That's why they had to redeem the land. That's why they had, you know, restoration every 50 years. It wasn't to have one purse. It wasn't to have one, you know, joint community thing where nobody had any property. No, God wants you to have goods. He wants you to have things that you can sell. How could you give a willing offering unto the Lord if you didn't owe anything? You know, so many times in the Bible it says, give an offering of the own will. How in the world are you going to do that if you don't own anything? Oh, hey, I'll get everything. You don't want to go back in the purse. I mean, this is ridiculous. But that's what socialism teaches and it's wicked. Since my son walked, knocked down the way with them. Refrain thy foot from their path. We shouldn't have anything to do with that. You know, people look at these wicked people. You should just run from them. They run to evil, you run from them. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. For their feet run to evil. Isn't that what, I mean, isn't the gangster life, you know, it's like get rich or die trying. I mean, these people are just trying their hardest to go out and get spoiled. And if they don't, they're going to die trying, right? They're just, they don't even care. They're going full speed ahead. They're just trying to run to evil. They just want to get as much goods as they can. But it says surely in vain, the net is spread to the side of any bird. That means every opportunity, they're just trying to, you know, gain the substance. But it says, and they lay awake for their own blood. They lurk privately for their own lives. They're going to find blood all right, but unfortunately it's going to be their own. And so many gangsters are just killing each other. They're dying at such a young age. I mean, the average life expectancy of a gangster is very low considering the average life expectancy. Why? Because they're constantly killing one another. And the body, you know, Jesus said, when he was talking about with the sword, that they would perish with the sword. They had to live by the sword, I'm paraphrasing. But you know, if you live your life always hunting, always, you know, trying to kill, always trying to gain, you're going to get killed by those same things that come out. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. It says, so are the ways of everyone that is greedy of gain, which taketh away the life of the owners thereof. So you see the prime motivation is what? Money, right? That's why it says in 1 Timothy 6, 9, it says, but they that will be rich, fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money at the root of all evil. So you see, you know, when you chase after money, when you chase after the goods of this world, you're willing to do just about anything. And that's so true of our world today. That's so true of our governments. That's so true of all the leaders through in the history that when they're trying to get rich, they're willing to kill and do any kind of wickedness. Now, I don't believe that people are just waking up. These young men are just waking up and deciding, hey, I just want to be this murderous, you know, gangster tomorrow. I just can't wait to kill a bunch of old women and get their goods. I think that that's a gradual process, right? So how do they get there? Well, I was looking at statistics, and if you look at the people that are most involved in gangs, I don't think it's independent bonobo Baptist, okay? But you know, it says that the prime demographics would be a young man, someone between the ages of 17 and 22. This is where the majority of the gangsters fall into that age group. And it says that they also come from low income. Why? Because they're greedy of game. Look, when you come up and you grow up old, get rich or die trying, they think that having money will solve all the problems they have in their life. They think that money will solve the things of this world. And unfortunately, a lot of people that grow up without think they just, they think that having money will solve their problems. You know, a lot of times we read this and we see for the love of money is really all you always say, I don't have any money. Yeah, but the people that are most affected by that are usually those that are poor. Says that they that will be rich, meaning they want to be rich. Not that they are, but that they want to be. You know, having money necessarily isn't evil of itself, but it's the desire of money. It's wanting to have that money that makes them fall into that snare. But even in another further category is you look at what, you know, the government says is race. We see another demographic. We see that the Hispanics and the blacks are the primary races that fall into this category. Now I don't believe that race is even a thing. The Bible doesn't talk about race. The Bible says that God is made of all nations are made of one blood, all nations and men is on the earth. So there's no such thing as race. We're all one blood. You know, whether your hair color is black, you know, green, blue, purple, pink, it doesn't matter. Just like your height, just because of your skin color, just because your eye color makes no difference to God. God's not a respecter of persons. And you know, I don't believe because someone's skin color is, you know, darker than mine, that that just makes them automatically more likely to be in a game. So you say, well, what is it? Well, we see, you know, some statistics among these people that kind of help us fall into this category. But I think that there's some movements in this world that are really pushing these groups into this wicked sin. I'm gonna call it one movement in Pacific. It's the movement Black Lives Matter. Now this movement is such a fraud. It's such a fake. It's such a phony. You know, and if there was a group of people that said, hey, I think the black community is struggling. I want to help them. That's great. I think that's wonderful. You know, if there's a group of people that want to help white people or want to help Asians or want to help Hispanics, who cares? That's great. If you want to help people, that's great. But that's not what this movement's about. So I went to their website, blacklivesmatter.com. And right there in the front, they have this big link that says, what we believe, like they're a church or something. You know, you go to most new evangelical churches today and you can't even hardly find what they believe. It's like hidden in some corner or whatever. You can go to these movements and it's like right there in the front. It's like, what we believe. So you click on it. Now about 12 different categories. So I looked at a couple of their categories. The first category is called queer affirming. It says, we are committed to fostering a queer affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking, or rather the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless he or she or they disclose otherwise. Now what in the world does that have to do with being black? That's a fraud. But then it gets worse. Not only are they queer affirming, they have a whole separate category for transgender affirming. It says, we are committed to embracing and making space for trans brothers and sisters, to participate and lead. We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle side gender privilege. That means, you know, when you were born a male, the doctor said, you're a male. That's what side gender privilege is. It says, an uplift black transphobe. Again, what is mutilating your body and being some sodomite have to do with being black? Nothing. And you know, that's what they want to do. They want to equate, you know, race with being a sexual deviant, which has nothing to do with each other. I don't even believe in race. But even if you just, we're going to categorize people and say, you know, people that have darker skin, that has nothing to do with being a sexual deviant. But it's all over this page. It has nothing to do with you wanting to help the black community. You look at the collective value, they're saying all black lives matter regardless of, and it says perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs, immigration or status. Why are the first three about sexual demons? I mean, usually when you go on a list, it says, you know, age, sex, race, you know, whatever. And they kind of add those last politically correct ones at the end. But they have them right at the front. And they say actual or perceived sexual identity. I mean, some confused transgender freak has collective value as a precious child. No, it says black women has another category. We are committed to building a black women affirming space free of sexism, misogyny, and male centeredness. Well, there's your feminism. Again, what does feminism have to do with being black? I mean, this site has nothing to do with trying to lift up the black community. But this is where I really have a problem because then they have a category of black families. And this is where they're trying to solve the problems. They say we are committed to making our spaces family friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We are committed to dismantling the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work double shifts that require them to mother in private even as they participate in justice work. You know what they're saying? They're saying they don't want a mom and dad to be in the home anymore. They are committed to dismantling the patriarchal practice of this country. They don't want a man-run country. They don't want a man-run state. They don't want a man-run home. They want to dismantle that. Well, that's only gonna hurt the black community. That's only gonna make these kids drive into the gangs and into murder and into fornication and weaken us even more. And you say, well, why are you bringing this up? Well, if you look at the percentages, in 2011, it said that 35% of gang members were black. And you say, well, that's not that big of a number. Yeah, but unfortunately, the black population in America is only 12%. That means they're like three to four times more likely than any other person. And you know, it's not because they're black that they're more likely. It says in the census.gov in 2011 that they were only 12%. So I don't believe that that statistics changed that much in the last five years. Says in the CDC in 2014, the percentage of births considered non-marital, meaning that the parents weren't married when they had the baby in the hospital. It says of white people, 29%. So about almost one third of babies born to white families were not of a mom and a dad that were married. It was from a result of fornication. That's horrible. That's wicked. That's evil. One out of three almost. But in the black population, 71%. Almost three out of four children born in this world black are not from parents that are married. And you say, well, what's the problem with that? Well, if you look in 2014 in the same year of single parent families. So this is children living in a single parent family. Of white people, it's 25%. So about the same statistic, about one in four. And that's horrible. That's awful just in its own right. But in the black community, it's 66%. Almost two thirds of every black child does not have a mother and a father. How in the world are they gonna harken on the instruction of their father? How in the world are they gonna, you know, not forsake the law of their mother when they don't even have one? That's why these kids are driven into these gangs. That's why these kids are driven into sin. Why? Because of fornication, because of wickedness. Why? You know what the Black Lives Matter should do? It should go out and preach the gospel. It should go to these black communities and get them into church. It should give them the wisdom of God. It should teach them the Bible. You know, the Bible says, he that goes forth and weepeth, bearing precious seeds, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. You know how you're gonna help people? Bringing them into church. You know how you're gonna change people's lives? Bringing them into church. Getting them into the Bible. Getting them to fear God. That's how you're gonna change those communities. That's how you're gonna help these people. But when they want to dismantle the family unit, when they want to lift up sexual deviancy, that's just gonna hurt the community's works. You know, and this isn't the only movement, but it's getting so much popularity. Why? Because of this transgender garbage. Why? And you know, just to prove the fraud, I mean, Black Lives Matter started from the George Zimmerman controversy, and I don't know if you know anything about that, but essentially there was this Hispanic man who lived in a private community, and he had noticed that there had been some break-ins in his community, and all the people had been black. Now I don't think being black just means that you're gonna be some criminal or anything, but that's what he noticed. And there was a young man that had came into his neighborhood that he didn't know, he didn't recognize, so he kind of started following him. He called his security. He said, hey, there's this guy. You know, I don't think he should be here. He doesn't look like he's right. And then the kid noticed him and started running. So George Zimmerman got out of his car because he couldn't follow him in the car anymore, and he kind of just tried to see where he was going to tell the security that he was on the phone with. William lost him, so he hung up the phone, and he started walking back to his truck. And then all of a sudden, the kid came out of nowhere and jumped him and started beating, and started slamming his head against the concrete. And in the controversy, he noticed that George Zimmerman was carrying. He said, you have a gun? I'm gonna take that gun and kill you. And so George Zimmerman reached for his gun before the other kid could, and he shot him, and he died. Now George Zimmerman was a Hispanic, and this was Trayvon Martin. He was a black. But this movement wanted to attack the white people. That's how much of a fraud it is. I mean, they're trying to build racism against white people and they're building their own case on the George Zimmerman trial. A man that was defending his own life, defending his community, from somebody that was trying to attack him, and you know, you can say all he was racial profiling. Hey, if I notice a white kid in my neighborhood that shouldn't be there, that looks dangerous, I might confront him. Or a Hispanic or a black, it doesn't matter what color of skin. If they're not in the right place and they look like a dangerous person, maybe you should come up and talk to them. Maybe you should make sure everything's okay. He was just trying to protect his community. But of course this Black Lives Matter was started by three professing queer women. I wonder why their beliefs are the way they are. You know what it says on Wikipedia, this Alicia Garza. It says that she's been praised for being a queer woman and married to a biracial transgender spouse. What in the world does that have to do with being black? And why would you praise somebody for mutilating their body? That's wicked, that's evil. You say, why are you going off on this tangent? Because there's so many people that are enticed by this mentality, by this fraud. When they see something bad happening to them, when they see the evils of this world, they start to get hardened. When they say, look, the only reason you're not succeeding in this life is because the white man hates you. They started to build up a lot of resentment, right? They started to build up a lot of anger. And then that person says, hey, maybe I want to go out and kill some of these innocent people and take their goods. Why? Because they're getting fed all these lies. And you know, they get enticed by the sin. You know, people don't walk up and say, hey, you want to kill some old lady that's innocent? No, they say, hey, just come with us. You know, you'll get rich with us. That's the way sin is, even in our lives. And we can take application by this, by saying, hey, just a little bit of sin is what's going to take you down a dark road. Amen. You know, they didn't think they were going to have blood on their hands, but then at the end, it was their own blood. That's what the Bible teaches right here. It says, wisdom cried without. She uttered their voice in the streets. She cried in the cheap place of concourse. In the opening of the gates in the city, she uttered their words saying, how long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. How long are you going to look at Facebook? How long are you going to just look at the TV? How long are you going to look at the world? Why don't you just look at this Bible? You know what, if you're looking at Facebook more than this Bible, you have no fear of God and you're a fool according to this Bible. You know, unless you like work for Facebook, I guess, but you're probably kind of evil in that way too. But I'm just saying, if you're looking at stuff, I mean, you're going to make time for the things that you care about. No one has to tell you to make time for the things that you care about most in this life. You're going to make time for them automatically. And you say, hey, I'm not making time for my Bible. Maybe you should start caring a little bit more. Maybe you should have some fear of God in your life. It says, but fools hate knowledge. Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I'll pour out my spirit unto you. I will make known my words unto you. The great promise of this Bible is that when you hearken unto God, when you turn into destruction, what you actually do with this book says, he'll make known the words unto you. He'll teach you the Bible. He'll give you the great wisdom. Didn't we see that in the 1 Kings chapter four when it's talking about Solomon? He said, God gave Solomon wisdom. God will give you wisdom. It's not just for Solomon. It's for anybody that'll read this book. It's for anybody that'll hearken unto the Lord. It's anybody that'll turn into his reproof. He'll make the words known unto you. But we see in chapter 20, or we see in verse 24, because I had called and he refused, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded. But you have said it not all my counsel and would not of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish cometh upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter one. We're gonna see that the book of Proverbs chapter one is a perfect parallel passage with Romans one. You know, some people say, you know, y'all believe in the doctrine of the reprobate. Y'all believe people are too late. You know, it's not just in Romans chapter one. It's in this whole book. It's from the beginning of Genesis all the way to Revelation, the doctrine of the reprobate. And we're gonna see that same phrase repeated over. You look in verse 18, it says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has showed it unto them. 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 because that when they knew God, they glorified him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corrupt old man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, to the lust of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves. Didn't we just see that in Romans chapter one? Therefore shall they eat the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. When God gives up on these people, when God gives them over to a reprobate mind, they fill themselves with their own wickedness. It's not coming from God. It's coming from their own heart, the evil of their own heart. And they're filled with all vile affections and wickedness. We'll finish here in Romans chapter one. It says, who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshiped and served the creature more than the creator, who is blessed forever, amen. For this cause, God gave them up unto a vile affection for even their women to change the natural use into that which is against nature. And likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another. Men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving themselves at recompense of their air which was meat. And even as they do not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to those things which are not convenient. Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malacity, whispers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, impackable, unmerciful. Now that just sounds like your average Joe walking down the street, right? No, not of course. These people are so wicked and so evil and they're being filled with all wickedness. And some people would say, how can you believe this doctrine of the reprobate? Well, I have a question for you. How could you believe that God, who sees these people, he creates these people and they reject it. And they're filled with all kinds of vile affections. They're whispers, they're backbiters, they're haters of God, despiteful, proud, inventors of evil things, disobedient, murderous. They hate God. They don't want anything to do with him. They blaspheme his name. If he was just like, oh, cast in love, y'all are great, come here, come to heaven. I mean, what kind of God is that? The Bible says that God is just. And you know, when you spin the face of God, when you hate God, when you're this murderous, wickedest person, God's gonna bring destruction on you. That's why it says in Proverbs one, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when you're here coming. And you know, if you look up at the Bible, we don't have time. Every time the word laugh is used and it's talking about God, it's not positive. It is not something you want to happen. You know, and I've had people come to me and they say, you know, they're really mad about this Orlando shooting and what, you know, Pastor Anderson or Rodney Minnis said. And they're like, you know, you're not like Christ. What would Christ have done if he was there at the Orlando shooting? He would have laughed at them. When they were dying and they were being, their blood was pouring out, he would have been like, ha ha ha. He would have mocked at them. He would have said, help me, help me. That's what the Lord, God would have done. That's what the Bible says that God would have done. And he's going to do it to every single reprobate. Why? Because they're so evil. They're so wicked. They rejected God. Get the Hollywood image out of your mind. Wash your, wash your brain with Proverbs. You know, and I didn't pick this because I wanted to preach on the reprobates. I honestly just said, I want to preach Proverbs because it's so wise. There's so much wisdom of God, but it's right here. It's right here in the Bible. And it's everywhere in the Bible. Turning you into Psalms 14. We're going to see that this is another parallel passage to this same doctrine. And if we return to Psalms chapter 14, we're going to get even more understanding about this. It says, the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that doeth good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and see God, they are all gone aside. They are all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have all the workers of iniquity, no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and call not upon the Lord. So we see these people, they hate God. They reject them and say, there is no God. They do abominable works. And it says that they called not upon the Lord. You say, how come in Proverbs, in our main text, it says when they call, he won't answer. Well, you have to take these three texts together and see what is talking about the reprobate. We see that at first, they're enticed by sinners. We see that these people are enticed and then they hate God. They don't wanna have anything to do with them. They don't wanna even retain them in their knowledge. And they get to the point where they say, there is no God. And then it says that they're filled with all vile affections. They become filled with all unrighteousness to the point where they're afflicting God's people. They're eating them up as bread. And it says that they've not called on God. And at this point, God gives up on them. And even when it comes to their desolation, when it comes to their destruction, they'll call upon God, but he's not gonna answer. Why? Because they didn't believe. The Bible says that how then shall they call him in whom they have not believed? The Bible makes it clear that we're saved by faith. And when these people reject God, he gives them up into a reprobate mind. So where even if they call them, they say, Lord, just save me, just help me. He's gonna laugh at their calamity. He's gonna laugh at them. And if we go back to Proverbs chapter one, we'll finish this chapter. It says, for the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But who so hard girteth unto me shall dwell safely and shall be quiet from the fear of evil. You know, I was thinking about the story of Noah. I think the story of Noah is a perfect illustration of salvation and at the same time, the doctrine of the reprobate. Why? Noah was a preacher of righteousness. He was trying to preach unto the men, but the Bible says that all of their thoughts were continually evil. And when Noah was there with the ark and the door was open, all that went in were gonna be saved. And the Bible says that God shut Noah in. Now at that point, everybody was still alive. Everybody was still walking on this earth, but then the rain began to pour. Now what happened when those people would come to the boat and say, Lord, save me. Were they gonna be saved? No, once the door is shut, it's over. Noah was saved. There was nothing you can do to change that. And there was nothing those people could do to save themselves. The same thing with the doctrine of the reprobate. When it began to rain and they called upon the Lord, he didn't answer. That's the perfect picture of what a reprobate is like. They had the opportunity to be saved, but they rejected it. They didn't wanna walk through the door. It was so easy. Jesus said, I am the door. But we see that if you hearken unto God, you will dwell safely. You know, there's only two choices in this life, heaven or hell. You know, wickedness, righteousness. King James Bible, all the other Bibles. Baptist, all the other denominations. You know, there's another choice there. We saw in Proverbs and in Psalms chapter 14, it said that the reprobates, what, eat up his people as bread. You can be afflicted by the reprobates of this world. You can be afflicted by the ungodly of this world. You can be afflicted by those that hate the Lord. Or you can be afflicted by God, but you don't have another choice. So who are you gonna, what are you gonna choose today? Are you gonna choose to have affliction of the ungodly, the unrighteous and receive your wards in heaven? Or are you gonna be chastened of the Lord? Bible said in the law, when God was giving them a choice, he said, I lay before you life and death, choose life. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Thank you God for letting us come here today. I pray that we would just see the grave importance to go out and to preach the word of prayer. Thank you God for letting us come here today. I pray that we would just see the grave importance to go out and to preach the word. The Bible said that wisdom crieth without is in the streets crying. That's when we go for and we try to win people to the loss. We're out in the streets crying, be saved. And I pray that we'd have the fear of the Lord to go out and warn those that would perish. I pray that we would just harken unto your words that we fill ourselves with the words of God to learn how to fear God. And I pray that you just bless this new church, that we'd be able to reach this area like we've never been before. And that we've been many souls to Christ, but not only win them, but bring them into this church that they can learn to fear the Lord God. Jesus name we pray, amen. Amen.