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Wednesday Devotional featuring Dan Burson on “Remember them that are in bonds”. A devotional from Hebrews 13:3 on remembering persecuted believers in prayer, drawn from the testimony of a former imam who suffered for coming to Christ and from the plight of Christians in Afghanistan, North Korea and Nigeria.

Transcript

There are words to that hymn and the reason I picked it out is it goes with the theme for this evening. A subject dear to my heart, what happened, is in 1970, Marilyn and I were smuggling Bibles behind the Iron Curtain into Eastern Europe with literature crusades. In that process, we made another trip to bail some Christians out of prison who were in Hungary and who were Hungarian Christians. And who had been caught with the Bibles.

So Marilyn and I found out that their fine was $2,000, which was the equivalent of a year's wages. So there was no way that these people could pay the fine and be released from prison. So Christians here in the United States put together the money and Marilyn and I went over. And Marilyn's mind was so sharp back then that she memorized all the directions to people's houses that we need to go to so that nothing was written down.

So if we were ever caught or searched, as we were once or twice at different times, there was no evidence. And so we would rely on Marilyn, and she would give us exact directions to, in this case, the woman's house whose husband was imprisoned so that we could deliver the funds. And so we did that. Now the reason I bring that to your attention is because that's what we're going to look at tonight.

Hebrews 13, 3, Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them, and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. I'm talking about persecuted believers, Christians who are imprisoned for the sake of Christ. And around the world, there are many tonight suffering. And so as we pray this evening, I'd like us to remember in our prayer, we don't have a prayer sheet tonight because Tim Baldwin, unfortunately, hurt his knee badly and had to go to emergency.

He's in a hospital emergency room because he has sepsis in his knee. And so he's in an emergency room right now. So that's why he's not here with our normal prayer sheets. But I'd like to at least add this to our prayer request tonight for imprisoned believers who are suffering for their faith.

Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Matthew 5:10 says, Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven.

For so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. So this evening I'd like to give you a concrete example of what I'm talking about. This is testimony of a gentleman who they're referring to as Peter, modern day Peter, because some of the things that have happened to him actually happened to Peter. His real name is Jadrah.

Jadrah was an imam over 50 years, and then Jesus appeared to him. When he became a Christian, his nephew severely beat him, and mobs tried to kill him. Extremist imams tried to force him to return to Islam. Jadrah's prayer is to witness to all his previous followers before he dies, so they will believe and be baptized.

He said, I was searching to be closer to God. One night he heard a voice say, Go to the place. A light appeared, and he followed the light into a mosque where the light shut off. Someone called his name.

Jadrah asked, Why did you lead me here? Who are you? And a voice said, I am Jesus Christ. You are looking for me.

That's an unusual thing. And sometimes in these Muslim countries, very unusual things happen in terms of leading people to Christ who have no other resource to bring them, where missionaries cannot go, where the Word of God is not at all available. And he said, I had no peace. I needed to find books that come before the Koran.

So he found a Bible and a Christian who answered his questions when he read that Jesus is the life and way to heaven. He believed. He continued leading prayers in mosques and preached about Jesus based on passages from the Islamic teachings. Isn't that interesting?

Because I've read the Koran and in it there are parts regarding Christ. But you never think of people using those parts regarding Christ to teach other people. At any rate, the persecution began with his family. His nephew, a Muslim extremist, confined him in a room and beat him so badly he couldn't move, demanding that Jadra leave that religion and revert to Islam.

He actually hired nine men to keep Jadra from escaping. Jadra prayed, God saved Abraham's son from the fire and Jonah from the fish. I believe God has the power to save me from this room. He didn't get angry or scold his nephew because he knew that Christ was persecuted in this world.

Jesus said that if anyone believes in him, they will be persecuted and humiliated. And that's why I behaved very well. His nephew let him go but forced him to leave the village. Then told a mufti and an Islamic legal expert where to find Jadra.

The mufti incited 5,000 people to surround Jadra's home. The elderly man was mercilessly beaten and forced to say that he did not become a Christian. That's why we sang that hymn tonight. Did you see about renouncing Christ?

In that hymn it mentions renouncing Christ, being forced to. But they did not believe his denial. After two days they decided to kill him. They bound and stuffed him in a bag and were ready to throw him in a river where Jadra prayed.

The bag opened and he fell out and got away. Extremists found him and took him to the mufti's compound. But the next day the mufti suddenly became paralyzed. Jadra escaped again.

Three months later the mufti came to Jadra's village. He saw Jadra's injuries and asked for forgiveness. Jadra said, I don't have any problem with you. Jesus Christ will forgive you.

To this day people mock him. His children abandon him. Some of his former followers threaten to kill him. And the anguish of being rejected by his loved one is worse than the physical torment he mentioned.

If I'm in need, no one in the village helps me. They look at me like I'm an animal, not a human being. They treat me like a street dog. Yet he secretly spreads the good news.

I make friendships, share a bit, then invite them to a quiet place where no one can see us. And there I share the Gospel with them. I have to do this very carefully. Many of his former followers now believe in Christ.

But no one will hire him. They must travel for where they are not known as Christians to find work as field laborers. Jadra said that when he was an Iman, he said, I had no financial problems and no peace in my heart. After believing in Christ, I have no food, but I always feel peace.

Jadra's friends call him a living Peter because, like the apostle, God revealed to him that Jesus is the Christ. And like Peter, he uses sacred books to reveal Jesus to others. He is beaten, mistreated for preaching about Christ, and he once, under torment, denied Christ. It is hard for us to fully grasp the extreme pressures put on Christian converts to force them to recant and return to the religion of their society.

Many Christian converts in high-risk nations are rejected and abused by their families and communities. They lose their meager belongings, their jobs, health, from injuries. They are outcast from society. Some converts are pursued by extremists who are determined to make them revert or die.

That's why they especially need our prayers and support and pray that God will encourage believers like Jedra to persevere. It makes us think how blessed we are to live in a nation where we have freedom to meet like this and not be persecuted for our faith in Christ. Jesus did warn his followers that they would be persecuted. He promised that the ones who perseveres to the end will be saved.

Over 388 million Christians face high levels of persecution and discrimination, and here are some examples to focus on our prayers. The extremely dangerous countries are Afghanistan. Christians in Afghanistan face the death penalty for leaving Islam. Even those who flee the country are at risk of persecution from other Afghan refugees, but God is reaching Afghans, especially ones dismayed by Islamist cruelties and drawn to Christ's love.

North Korea. North Koreans suffer unimaginable persecution under a cruel regime where the Bible is banned and Christianity is illegal. Some escape through China. If they are found, China forcibly returns them where they face punishments of hard labor, torture, and execution.

But God is reaching North Koreans who take great risks to follow Christ. Nigeria. More Christians are brutally killed in Nigeria than all other countries combined. Isn't that incredible?

Than all the other countries in the world. Islamist terrorists attack Christian villages, mutilating and massacring people, and destroying property. Massive numbers of Christians are displaced, orphaned, and traumatized. But God is equipping Christians to care for and restore those who are hurting.

Nigeria. So the cost for those who believe. Christian converts in militant Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, and communist countries. They force extreme pressure to deny Christ.

They face extreme pressure. They are harassed, beaten, imprisoned, outcast, threatened with death, and their property stolen or damaged. Christian in hostile societies that are hostile to Christianity face harsh discrimination. Overtly or subtly, they are denied jobs, education, and aid during crisis.

They are falsely accused of crimes out of hatred or vengeance. Officials abuse their authority to allow or perpetrate discrimination. Of course, widows, orphans are traumatized. Christian widows and orphans face persecution and are extremely vulnerable and ill-equipped to provide for themselves when they lose the breadwinner of their family.

Christians traumatized from persecution need God's supernatural healing to flourish. So we need to pray for grace and endurance for these people. 1 Peter 5:10 says, And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Secondly, pray for God's strength and weakness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Paul experienced suffering, but learned that God's grace was enough. And through his weakness, God's strength was revealed. Number three, pray for those who persecute the church.

Acts 7:59 says, While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he fell on his knees and cried out, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, he fell asleep, and Saul approved of his execution. So, of course, being a Christian convert and evangelizing in Muslim countries is very dangerous.

And even getting baptized is risky for everyone who's involved. So we need to pray for our fellow believers who are facing this kind of constant persecution. And also give thanks for the fact that we have opportunities to spread the Gospel unhindered and without governmental interference, at least at this point.

Family Bible Hour featuring Trenton Tuggle on “Do Not Be Afraid”. A teaching from the youth group’s Life of Christ study on the kingdom offered and rejected, God’s sovereign plan, and Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2), applied to an anxious age.

Transcript

Sorry about that. Well, as I was doing some research leading up to this, I stumbled upon a number of poll results, which had interesting numbers in my mind. I found this one from the American Psychiatric Association, and this is from May of this year, so a number of months ago. And in May of this year, the APA polled a number of people, and the respondents that answered that Americans are either very or somewhat anxious about, 53% of them said that they were anxious about the impact of emerging technology in everyday life.

I thought that was really interesting. 53% either very anxious or somewhat anxious about the impact of emerging technology. This was way back in May. 60% said that they were either somewhat anxious or very anxious.

60% about keeping myself or my family safe. I thought that was really interesting. 60%. And even larger, 62% said that they were very or somewhat anxious about current events happening around the world.

Now, this was published in May, and probably the respondents, the poll was probably taking place right about when we kicked off this thing in Iran. So perhaps that was part of it. 82%, though. That seems like a high number to me.

So, I also have a bit of a cough. Please excuse me. I'm going to have a drink of water handy. So just last week, published in the New York Times, there was an article titled, The Problem with Apocalyptic Thinking.

And it's subtitled, From Climate to COVID to AI, we face a terrifying feeling of exponential growth spinning out of our control. Are we right? In other words, is this feeling right? In other words, translated, is the feeling grounded and based in reality?

Are we indeed spinning exponentially out of control? So you might recognize some of the faces on the right over here. But it talked about climate alarm, COVID, and artificial intelligence. And on the right-hand side, you'll see at the bottom is, of course, the COVID shopping in masks.

Second up, we've got Greta Thunberg, the face of climate alarmism. And at the very top, you might not recognize him. That's Dario Amode, who is the CEO of Anthropic, one of the top two AI companies. OpenAI with ChatGPT and Anthropic.

with their product called Claude or Claude Code. You might have heard of it. It's changed lives, to say the least. I know, right?

The article went on. So I thought this was a fascinating article, but it talked about a number of other forms of existential dread. I wish my remote was working here. I'm sorry.

I'm going to have to stand here blocking you all. But it talked about the fertility crisis, a bunch of different things, the woke mind virus, 5G, the great replacement, and most important, perhaps, they talked about the fall of American democracy. Now, I found this really, really fascinating because in the very same paper, when I clicked back to the homepage of the New York Times, they had this article about Mamdani's surprisingly persuasive solution to a world on fire. I found this interesting because Mamdani is an admitted socialist and, of course, famously, both Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

He explained that socialism is the required number one step on the path towards communism. So I thought that was interesting that their concern was the fall of American democracy. Here's a quote from it, and the feeling that all these visions share is the drop in your stomach sensation of contemplating sudden and overwhelming loss of control. That was really interesting.

So I found a more recent poll. This is from Quinnipiac University, taken only last month, and it found that Americans are very or somewhat concerned that future AI systems could potentially threaten human survival. 73% of respondents were either very or somewhat concerned that future AI systems could potentially threaten human survival as a species. I thought this was really eye-opening.

This was very, very interesting that so many people are living in such fear. So I thought I would share what we're studying in the life of Christ with the youth group. If you don't know, every Fridays we've got a youth teaching, a class. It starts at 6.30.

I teach the class currently. And we actually start eating pizza at 6 o'clock. And the class starts at 6.30. And we usually have kids plus maybe one two or three adults sitting on a class.

And the kids are anywhere from ages 9. It's basically, if your kid has the patience to sit through an extremely boring one-hour Bible lecture, they're welcome to it. And so we have kids anywhere from age 9 to 10 on up through. We have a number of college kids.

I think we now have at least some sophomores in college. So you're welcome to join us there. But what we're studying is the life of Christ. So let's go ahead and open in prayer.

And then I want to jump into some teaching from this class for this morning. Our great God, our Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you that you sent him, that he became flesh and dwelt among us. Thank you that he was made in every way as we are, tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Thank you that you made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might have your righteousness. All those that believe in his name. And so thank you. We pray that you'd be with us this morning as we look into your word.

We pray that you'd just guide and direct our hearts, our thoughts, our minds, and that we would just learn about you and glorify you in all that we think. In Jesus' name, amen. Introduction to my class. There are a couple people here, I think, who haven't probably seen the last time I introduced this.

It's been some time. Usually what I do when I'm volunteered for a Sunday morning is I try to put together what we've been doing in youth group, particularly if it's relevant. I happen to think it's relevant. And what this class is, is it's a chronological, geographical, and theological study in the life of Christ.

And so the premise, just by means of introduction, is that most of us can place these events in chronological order. If you had to place those in order, how would you do it? You know, most of us could do that. You know, let's say probably the birth, then maybe, yeah, probably baptism.

Let's see, resurrection? No, death first, then resurrection. Pretty straightforward. But what about all those other events?

What about the feeding of the 5,000? What about the feeding of the 4,000? What about the cleansing of the temple? Did it come before that or after that?

The answer is yes. There were two cleansings. But a lot of us have a hard time putting all that together. So I'm trying, this is an attempt, to put together the chronological study of the order of events in Christ's life.

Now, it's based on a harmony originally by A. T. Robertson that was refined by Albert Cassell-Weeand, and that's the book that I'm using. And it arranges it like this.

We have a time of preparation. Then we have the Galilean ministry. We're also incorporating the geography. You can see the geography up there.

And those of you who have heard me introduce this before, you can just glaze over and say, I'm going to nap with my eyes open for three minutes. Three minutes. Go. Galilee, the breadbasket of Israel.

Fish, bread, grain. All came from Galilee. That was the breadbasket. Judea, the urban city.

The center of Israel. The capital city, Jerusalem. Perea. Over to the right there, on the right-hand side there, the Sea of Jordan.

When traveling between Galilee and Judea, the Jews would invariably cross across the Jordan and down through Perea on the east side and then back across around the location of, boy, it's hard to see in this. This is a, I might need to focus this. Focus. That's as good as it gets.

There you go. You can see Jericho right there. So they would cross over and travel from Jericho on up to Jerusalem for all the feasts. And so with that, we have the Galilean ministry.

Then Jesus takes the twelve over to Decapolis and some other areas. And we have what we call the specialized ministry. Then we have resumed the ministry in Judea. We have a very urban ministry in Judea.

And then over to Perea for a few months. He retires to Ephraim and then goes on to Jerusalem for the concluding week. So the time of preparation is things like his baptism, his infancy, the cleansing of the temple. And it leads right up to his rejection at Nazareth.

Then the Galilean ministry. He settles in Capernaum. Capernaum, if you see on the north side of the Sea of Galilee there, Capernaum is his home base. He chooses the twelve.

He gives the great sermon on the mount. The feeding of the five thousand is during the Galilean ministry. Unfortunately, by the end of the Galilean ministry, John the Baptist is beheaded. He's deserted by everyone who started to follow him except for twelve men and a handful of women.

John the Baptist is beheaded. And that's what leads Jesus to what we call the specialized ministry. Things are very hot in Israel. So he takes the boys, the twelve plus the few women, out of Israel to the land of Decapolis, Caesarea Philippi, Tyre, Sidon, those areas.

And he has some special time with them where the Pharisees can't hound his every step. And he has a little bit of freedom. It's during this time that Jesus first starts letting the hints drop that I'm going to suffer many things at the hands of the Jewish leaders and I'm going to die and resurrect. And they just don't understand.

They just don't get it. Which is fine because he also talks about church truths. He says, Peter famously says, you're the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus says, and you are Peter.

On this rock, I will build my church. A little play on words. You are Petros. And on this Petra, I will build my church.

The transfiguration takes place. Then they resume the Judean ministry and the Perean ministry. Sends out the 70. He's got 70 followers throughout all of Judea.

Every little town and village in Galilee was evangelized. Every little town and village in Judea was evangelized. Every little town and village in Perea was evangelized. Eventually, they all rejected him.

They all rejected him. And so he retires to Ephraim. And then we have the triumphal entry, which is really arguably part of the concluding week. So he comes in.

Hosanna, the son of David, on Sunday. On Monday, we have the cleansing of the temple. On Tuesday, I have it down here, parables, woes to Pharisees. Tuesday was a day of complete confrontation.

The Pharisees, the Sadducees, everyone was out to get Jesus. And he thwarted them easily. Wednesday was a quiet day, except for Judas made a little bargain on that day. Then we have the upper room discourse, his trials, his crucifixion, his burial, and his resurrection.

on Sunday again. Here's the timeline. The Gospel of John records these four Passovers by which we can make an attempt to try to fit all of this together into a timeline. So, basically three and a half years.

So, what was the message that Jesus was preaching? What was the message Jesus was preaching? If you recall, in those days, Matthew 3, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And this was his message.

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We read in Matthew 4, when Jesus himself began his ministry. From that time on, Jesus began to preach, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

When Jesus sent out the twelve, he said, as you go, preach this message. The kingdom of heaven is near. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom of God is at hand.

In Mark chapter 1, we read the same. The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the Gospel. What kingdom is this?

I've presented this before. I'm going to jump through this quickly because I know you've seen this. But when talking about the covenants, we've got the Noahic Covenant, which provides for nations, specifically with the national right of execution of criminals from those who take a life. The government is given the right to take their life of a murderer.

But the Abrahamic Covenant narrows it down to one specific nation. The Mosaic Covenant provides laws for that nation, and then the Davidic Covenant provides a house, a throne, and a king and kingdom for that nation, kings for that nation. During the New Covenant, that one nation will again become prominent. And now we see here at the end of history, after 2,000 years of the Jewish people being scattered among the world, just exactly as the Lord had predicted, just exactly as he had foretold.

They have now been gathered into their own land again. We are ready for God's next plan. Much more can be said. In the Davidic Covenant, we read in 1 Chronicles 17, just a little bit of it, but I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established.

How long? Forever. Huh. So we currently don't see a throne in Jerusalem.

Bibi Netanyahu has, I'm told, a pretty good office. I don't think he sits on a throne, right? And so this has yet to be fulfilled. But this is what Jesus was offering to them.

If they had accepted it, it would have been fulfilled. Now, we know that he wasn't caught by surprise. Was God up in heaven thwarted? Dad, nabbit, my people aren't accepting my offer.

What am I going to do? No, right? That wasn't God's attitude, right? God was not caught by surprise.

He knew this was going to happen. The stone that the builders rejected, he prophesied beforehand that the Lord Jesus Christ would be rejected. But that's what he offered. He offered a literal earthly political kingdom with a spiritual qualification of repentance.

And so, that was the offer that Jesus said. We see a huge shift in the ministry of Jesus. Just to continue briefly before we jump into more of this. At the beginning, when Jesus sent out the 12, and then later on he sends out the 70, at the end of his ministry, he asks them this question.

He says, Have you never read in the Scriptures, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone? This is from the Lord, and it's marvelous in our eyes. So their message was, Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. At the end of Jesus' ministry, he says, Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

And so, this is the message that Jesus gave on Tuesday of Passion Week. In the top right, you see when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that Jesus was speaking about them. Although they wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds because the people regarded him as a prophet. And so that's towards the end of Matthew.

In the book of Acts, when we open up the book of Acts, the apostles, the disciples, are still confused. And so when they came together, we see this quote right here from Acts 1-6. When they came together, they asked him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And of course, Jesus' response, it's not for you to know.

Times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. When Jesus talked to the disciples, he said, When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything? Nothing, they answered. Now, however, he told them, the one with a purse should buy, and likewise a bag.

The one without a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you, the Scripture must be fulfilled in me. And he was numbered with the transgressors. For what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.

So they said, Look, here are two swords. That's enough, he answered. The point wasn't that they should be armed to the teeth and fight their way through with the gospel. The point was that the entire relationship between the disciples and the world was going to change.

The king himself was going to be crucified on a cross. And what happens to the king, the persecution of the king, is going to happen to the king's followers. Just like what happened to the forerunner, John the Baptist. What happened to the forerunner will happen to the king.

They kill John the Baptist, they're going to kill the king himself, Jesus Christ. So there's a symmetry here. Acts 4:27 sums this up. And this is something that I have really tried to hammer home with the kids and youth group through this entire time.

This has been a verse that we've used in several of our classes because you see it so clearly. In Acts 4:27 it starts, In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They carried out what your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen. You see this?

Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles, the people of Israel, Herod. These four all conspired against. But think of what this is saying. They carried out what your hand and your will had decided beforehand would happen.

So when the people turned on Jesus, and they shouted, Crucify! Crucify Him! God was not surprised. This was not a huge, you know, God was not up in heaven scratching His head thinking, Man, what am I going to do?

How am I going to get through these people? They're thwarting my plans. No. On the contrary, they were fitting in exactly to God's plans.

Exactly to God's plans. Can we trust God to execute His plans? Of course we can. He's the only one you can trust to execute any kind of plan.

So, I showed this last time. A Christian view of history. You can view it as His story. An encouraging verse there.

Matthew 10, 29 on the left. There are not two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. God attends the funeral of sparrows. Think about that for a minute.

God attends the funeral of sparrows. There are not two sparrows sold for a penny, yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. The very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid. Is this applicable to today's situation? So AI. Is AI going to destroy humanity?

Have we to fear AI more than anything else? I don't think so. Do not be afraid. You're worth more than many sparrows.

Okay, we're going to jump through these. Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. Jesus said, if you're willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. Later, this is in Matthew 11.

Later on, in Matthew 17, after he's been beheaded, the disciples asked him, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? Jesus replied, Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come. And they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished.

In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands. And so, that's my brief overview. Now, I want to bring you to the Galilean ministry. Let's transport ourselves to the Galilean ministry of Jesus.

He had moved. We read in a certain passage that he moved from Nazareth. He and his mother and brothers and sisters all moved from Nazareth to Capernaum. Capernaum is the hometown.

And we read in Mark 2, just a little hint of this. A few days later, he went back to Capernaum, and the people heard that he was home. You see how this Capernaum is now home to Jesus. He no longer lives in Nazareth.

So, here's Capernaum on the map. You can see it at the top, the north of the Sea of Galilee right there. That was Jesus. Okay.

So, I got a little bit excited by this, and I did cut and paste some slides in from another one of my presentations on archaeology. This is modern-day Capernaum. You can go there and see what it looks like today. They've excavated it.

As you can see, they've excavated all in this area, even outside of the walls. You can see on the bottom left there additional buildings that have been excavated. Now, of course, they've kind of protected the ones inside this little walled-in area. The white building in the center there, that is the synagogue.

Now, you could get really excited, but that's not the synagogue that Jesus was in. That's a Byzantine-era synagogue built in the 300s A. D. after the time of Jesus.

But you can go there and see it. This is literally just a few hundred years from the time of Christ. You can go there today, walk through that synagogue. I've got some photos of it.

I think this is really fascinating. Perhaps when violence dies down, we should have some sort of a Lake Howell trip over to the Middle East and travel this area. It would be so fascinating. This is not the synagogue that Jesus set foot in, but you can see parts of the remains of the synagogue that Jesus himself set foot in.

This synagogue was built on top of the first century synagogue that Jesus himself would have set foot in. The dark basaltic rock that's on the bottom, you can see in a little area on the left-hand side where they've excavated down that low. That dark basaltic rock, that's the paving, the cobblestones of the synagogue that Jesus himself would have set foot in. And you can see this for your own eyes in Capernaum today.

You can see what they did on the right-hand side there. They built the third century synagogue on top of the first century synagogue. So you can see that today. And when you go outside of that synagogue and you pass the first structure going south toward the Sea of Galilee, the second structure, they found something remarkable when they excavated it.

Here's a photo of what it looked like back when they first excavated it. I think this was in the 70s or 80s was when the original excavations were taking place before they built that additional structure there. And when they excavated this particular structure, they found the first, the next door neighbor to the synagogue was just an ordinary, large but ordinary house. The next structure down, they were fascinated because they found a Byzantine era, like a vault.

It was an octagonal structure, and this is a type of structure that during the 300s and on up to the 400s, 500s, and some into the 600s, what they would do is they would build these octagonal structures, not as a church, but to kind of venerate or commemorate a particularly like a holy place. So what was this holy place? They found when they dug down, when they excavated, that this octagonal structure built probably in the 300s, maybe in the 400s, this was built on top of a church, a church with a large central room. They found that was really interesting.

They found in the Byzantine era structure, it wasn't used as a church, but prior to the 300s, it was a large church with a big central room, and they found large vessels for serving large crowds. As they continued digging, they found that that church was in turn built out of a house church. It used to be a house church in the 200s. And they found, what indeed did this house church come from?

Eventually, at the lowest level, they excavated, and they found that it used to be an ordinary house. It was just an ordinary house, and indeed, it had been transformed from an ordinary house with lots of small vessels for serving various household responsibilities. And they had transformed from a house into a house church into an actual church. And then later, when it was destroyed, they built a Byzantine-era octagonal structure to venerate the place.

Today, you can go and see this. They've kind of built a Catholic octagonal thing on top of these remains. You can look underneath them. They've not disturbed the remains.

And inside the building, there's a glass floor there. And you can go look down on the very room, which was in the middle of that octagonal structure, which was in the middle of the church structure, which wasn't a very large church. It didn't hold that many people. But the verse there in Mark 1 29, as soon as Jesus and his companions had left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew.

So most archaeologists believe that this is the home of Simon Peter. This is the home of Simon Peter. And indeed, that this might have been the home that Jesus lived in during his time there at Capernaum. So you can go and see that for yourself today.

I just love this. I'm sorry. I have to cut and paste these slides. They're not even the same format.

You can see I apologize for that. But I have to interject this because it's so fascinating to me. So let's go back to time when Jesus was through. And this is going to be an example of the kinds of things we do in youth group.

And we read that one Sabbath, Jesus was passing through the grain fields. And his disciples began to pick the heads of grain as they walked along. This is in Mark 2, 23. And so they began to pick these heads of grain while Jesus was in Galilee.

In fact, through Jesus' entire ministry, while he was within the territory of Israel, he was hounded by Pharisees. He was hounded by religious investigators trying to determine, you know, what's the nature of this guy's... Because there were messianic figures that would pop up from time to time, and it was their job to basically go and thwart them, to ferret out what's the truth? Are these real messianic figures?

Now, they knew that the real Messiah would indeed be a Pharisee. They knew, the Jewish leaders did, that not only would the Messiah be a Pharisee, come out of the Pharisaic order, but the real Messiah would, as his primary job, was going to march on Rome and personally kill the Roman Emperor. So they were waiting to see, is this the man? So they were following him, hounding him, and here they are passing through the grain fields, and here are the Pharisees, also passing through the grain fields, watching their every move.

So when the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what's unlawful on the Sabbath. So as you know, not only had the law of Moses been venerated, but they had added to it. The Jews at the time, they looked at the law of Moses as something of, like somewhat of a leaky wall. It's a wall to try to keep us from sin, but it's got all these holes in it.

You might accidentally sin. There might be any number of ways through which sin might accidentally enter in, and so they came up with, you'll see it referred to in the Gospels as the traditions of the elders. Later, it got more formal names like Mishnah and things like that, but the traditions of the elders, this is what governed them all. And so the Pharisees saw this.

They said, look, your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath. It's unlawful to harvest grain. So here's a big grain field. Pick some grain, rub it, and eat the little seeds inside, a nice nutritious snack, granola, we call it now.

Unlawful. And so Jesus has an interesting series, an interesting family of responses to this. I want to walk you through this. Jesus replied, have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests. What's he talking about here? You remember the story when David was hungry, and he entered, and indeed marched right in and grabbed the showbread. It's not lawful for them to eat.

Yet none of the Jewish leaders would condemn David, King David. We see that the law indeed was not given as, you know, Jesus is going to, he's going to push them on the purpose of the law. Is the law here to make you holy? Is the law to prevent you from sinning?

Is the law going to single-handedly by obeying the law, is it going to cleanse your heart of sin? And Jesus is going to push back on this. Indeed, there are exceptions, even to the law of Moses, because people are more important. And so David has been, they were hungry, they ate the consecrated bread.

I wonder how that response was received. I don't know, because Jesus continues. He says, or haven't you read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and yet are innocent? What's this talking about?

The priests in the temple break the Sabbath? What were the priests' job? What was the job of the priests? They were doing sacrifices.

They did all kinds of work for the sacrifices. Now, were there more sacrifices and offerings, or fewer sacrifices and offerings on the Sabbath? Oh, no. There were more?

Wait, these guys worked on the Sabbath? May it never be. Do you see Jesus' reasoning here? They literally work harder on the Sabbath.

What? How can this be? There are clearly exceptions to the law. Jesus is trying to get them to understand.

What's the purpose of the law? We read in the New Testament that it was meant to be a guardian. The word, oh, I forget the Greek word, but the Greek word that's used there for guardian or sometimes translated tutor, it really means it's a kind of Greek term that talked about someone who would escort a young boy to and from school. On the way to and from school, that escort would protect the boy from his own self.

He would protect the boy from perhaps engaging in altercations with others. He would protect the boy from altercations others might foist upon him, right? So he would bring the boy safely to school. The law was intended to bring the Jews to the school of God, to learn of the nature and attributes of God.

Or haven't you read in the law, on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent. So here's Jesus continuing point after point after point. Let me get another one. If only you had known the meaning of I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent.

What's that all about? I desire mercy and not sacrifice. Well, they would have known what that's about. That's from Hosea 6:6.

This is a remarkable passage where God says through Hosea, what shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes. Think of what God's saying here.

Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth and my judgments go forth like lightning. For I desire, this is the verse here in verse 6, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. You see what God is saying here to the Jews, and you see what Jesus is saying?

If you'd only known, if you'd only known what this means, if you knew what this means, you would not have condemned the innocent. Jesus gives the penultimate point here. Then Jesus declared, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. This is a really important one.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was given to mankind, all of mankind, not just the Jews, as a day of rest. Throughout history, if we examine the French, I think, tried a 10-day work week, all throughout history, people have tried to invent better ways, more efficient ways to extract labor from humanity. And every time they've failed, man needs a rest every seven days.

Who would know better than man's creator? Every time any other system is tried, it's always failed. The Sabbath was made for man. Man was not made as a robot to fulfill the Sabbath.

Here's my rules. Good luck, people. That's not God's attitude. God made the Sabbath.

That's a blessing for us. I know I'm grateful for this Sabbath. You see his point? Ultimately, Jesus concluded, therefore, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.

Oh, so much is wrapped up. Oh, boy. You could have a whole sermon on this one verse. I guarantee you.

This would be an enjoyable sermon, too. It'd be very enjoyable. The Son of Man, therefore, is Lord, even of the Sabbath. He's the one who made it.

He's the one who invented it. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. I invented the Sabbath. I made the Sabbath.

It is mine. I can do whatever I please. I'm the boss. I made it.

I invented it. The Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. So much more can be said, right? There they are, going their way, eating their grain.

The Son of Man is a title of humanity, a title of humility, a title of deity, and the fulfillment of prophecy. Again, you could have a whole sermon just on that one little verse, and it would be an absolutely enjoyable sermon to put together, I think. But the title Son of Man, at its face value, simply refers to someone who is the son of a human being, a homo sapien. The son of a homo sapien is another homo sapien, right?

To use, you know, scientific terms. The son of a person is another person, right? God calls Ezekiel the son of man, I don't know how many times. The son of man, though, is Jesus' favorite title for himself, because he's not just any son of man.

He is the, the son of man, the fulfillment of prophecy in Daniel chapter 7. Oh, man, we got, we are low on time. Bear with me. Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel has this vision, all kinds of crazy stuff. We don't need to get into it, because he continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. Who do you think this is? Thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels. Wait, what? I don't know.

Its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire. A river? Not a stream.

A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands attended him in myriads, upon myriads, stood, not seated, stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. Who do you think this Ancient of Days is?

God the Father, the Ancient of Days. Continuing a couple verses down, Daniel says, in my vision of the night, I continued to watch. And I saw one like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. When Jesus was at his trial and he finally opened his mouth, he was silent as a lamb before.

Anyway, when Jesus was at his last trial and he finally opened his mouth, he said, I tell you, you're going to see the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. And they knew exactly who he was claiming to be. Listen to this. One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, he approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

And he was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. It will not pass away. His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

And so they knew exactly who Jesus was claiming to be. So claiming to be the Son of Man. As Jesus comes down, he's the Son of Man. They truly didn't understand that Jesus later on in the Galilean ministry.

Actually, after the Galilean ministry ends, he comes in. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that he must be killed and on the third day raised to life. Good old Peter. Don't you love Peter?

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. Can you imagine? You can be yourself with the Lord. Can you imagine taking the Lord aside and shaking him?

Hey, man, get that. You're not going to go die? Far be it from you, Lord. This shall never happen to you.

You remember Jesus' response, right? Get thee behind me, Satan. Right? They were afraid.

So bring it back to today. I've got to close. Which of you, by worrying, can add a single cubit to his lifespan, Jesus asked. Which of you, by worrying, can add a single cubit to his lifespan?

627. In verse 34, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Jesus said, do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God, believe in me as well. And so in this day and age, this is a huge key thing. Do not let your hearts be troubled. This is super important.

The world around us seems to love fear. What's one of the most popular movie genres? You know, horror films. Can you, it truly blows me away.

I just don't understand it at all. Horror films are one of the most, what was Michael Jackson's biggest hit? Thriller. Why?

People seem to like and enjoy living on the edge, right? Not so with Christians. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Much more can be said.

I want us to all get out of here and good time for lunch. Thank you for having me here. I think I forgot to open in prayer. Let's close in prayer.

Our gracious God, our Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your love, your love for us. Thank you for your love that sent your only Son. Thank you for your love that saw fit to send Him for us, Lord. We did not deserve this.

But you, in your loving kindness, will never leave us nor forsake us, Lord. Thank you so much again for all these things. We pray that you would just keep us safe until next week again. We pray that you would help our hearts to be stayed on thee as we live in this world that seems to be more and more saturated with fear.

We pray that you give us discernment and patience and excitement as we share your gospel of peace with a troubled world around us. In Jesus' name, amen.

Wednesday Devotional featuring Micah Tuggle on “The Freedom of God”. A teaching on how God, who cannot lie, binds Himself by His word, freely limiting His own freedom for our sake through His covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David, and the new covenant in Christ’s blood.

Transcript

Good evening. So we've already covered partial differential equations, and now we're moving on to non-homogenous. Wait, what? I have to correct my mind.

So in college and career, we are going over the attributes of God right now, and the one that we're currently on is freedom. That does not mean that God resides solely in the United States of America, the land of the free. So what does that mean? Well, here in the United States, we all have an idea of what freedom means for us.

So our government recognizes certain, it affords us certain freedoms, and you can kind of categorize this in two ways. Rights that are recognized according to the worldview of our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution, and privileges that we are afforded. So an example is your right to free speech. According to the beliefs of our government, we have a right that is protected by the government to free speech.

Versus driving is a privilege which can be revoked, and you can just not have it if you don't have your license. So what does freedom look like for God? So he's not limited by any government, and he's not limited by the laws of our nation, but he's also not limited by reality. I am not free to just fly off into outer space.

I don't have that ability. I guess you could say I'm allowed to, but I just don't have the capability. Reality is limiting my freedom in that way. But God, well, he did that, actually.

So he is unlimited by, you know, human laws and by reality itself since he is omnipotent. So in what ways could he possibly be limited? Well, the book you've heard of that we are basing our kind of, not curriculum, but maybe curriculum, off of is Ryrie's survey of Bible doctrine and basic theology. And he calls the attributes of God his perfections.

So, you know, you could say the attribute of God, one of his attributes is truth, that he is truth and truthful. And Ryrie would say the same thing. He would just say that it is one of his perfections. And that reflects the nature of his attributes not having any negative connotation.

So let's just think about some of the ways that the attributes interact. Because God is omnipotent. How does that interact with itself? Well, can he make a rock so big he can't lift it?

I'm sure you've heard this before. That question doesn't even make sense. Because it's not that his ability to make a rock is limited. It's that his ability to lift a rock is unlimited.

A rock cannot have the quality of being so big that God can't lift it. So he's all-powerful, but he can suffer hunger and thirst by not using all of his power. So when Jesus walked the earth, he was tired and hungry and thirsty, and he could feel pain. He bore our pain and our sins, which is worse than the physical pain.

So let's look at something that's, I think, potentially a little bit more interesting and has some more neat implications. God cannot lie, so if he says something, it must be true. And so when God first created the universe and you have a blank slate, he's completely free to do whatever he wants. But if he says something, because he can't lie, he cannot contradict that.

And he will not contradict that. So in this way, it's possible for him to limit his own freedoms for the sake of whatever he's talking about. And in our case, he limits his own freedoms for our sake. And it's because he loves us.

He cannot ever leave you nor forsake you because he said so. And he limited himself in that way. Because God cannot lie, when he said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, he limited himself. He not only won't, but he can't because he cannot contradict his perfect and true nature.

And I think that is just about the coolest thing. So, let's now consider God's love for us, that he would not only send his son to die for us, but would also limit his own divine, omnipotent, limitless, free power for our sakes. So, not only did he do things for us, but he made it so that he cannot forsake and abandon us. So, some of God's covenants that he has made are good examples of this.

If you open to Genesis 9, 9 through 17, we'll just take a look at some of these covenants as God has made them. Genesis chapter 9, starting in verse 9. As for me, behold, I will establish my covenant with you and your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that comes of the ark, every beast of the earth. Indeed, I will establish my covenant with you, and all flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood, and there shall never again be a flood to destroy the earth.

Then God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I am giving to you, to be between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive generations. I put my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. And it will be when I bring a cloud over the earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud, and I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh. So the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all the flesh that is on the earth. So, in Genesis chapter 8, it seems that God is free to flood the earth with water to destroy the earth unlimited amount of times as much as he wants to. But then, for our sake and for his love for us, he says that never again will he use water to flood and destroy the earth. And thus, he limits his unlimited power and restricts his own freedom for our sake.

So, just that one example is already, you know, knee-bucklingly significant that the creator of the universe would love us so much. If we turn to Genesis chapter 12, verses 1, 2, and 3, we read the Abrahamic covenant. And Yahweh said to Abram, Go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.

And so you shall be a blessing, and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. So again now, God is saying something, and he is saying that he is going to do something. And because of his truth and his inability to lie, he cannot lie because he is truth, he is restricting his freedoms so that he has to act in accordance with his covenant.

You know, if I were a perfectly true person who could not lie, then when I promised you something, I would be forcing myself to complete it. Of course, I'm imperfect and I can lie, so I might not be able to, or I might not be willing to, you know, complete my promise. But God here, who is perfect, he can and he will and he must. If we look over in Genesis 15, 17, and 18.

Now, it happened that the sun had set and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch, which passed between these pieces. This is talking about the, when Abraham cut the covenant. On that day, Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, To your seed I have given this land from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. And so, while previously, you know, before making a covenant, he was able to say, actually, I'll give you Brazil.

That seems like a nice area. But for our sakes, he makes us promises. And this is significant because if he wanted to, let's just say, you know, give Abram that land, he could have just done it. He could have just said, trust me.

And then he could have just left it off there. And he could have allowed himself, he could have afforded himself the opportunity to change his mind or just decide not to. Which, of course, he's omniscient and he knows the future and the possibilities of the future. But here, for our sakes, we can trust and rest in the Lord and rely on him because he is truth and because he limits his own freedom in these ways.

Exodus chapter 19, and we see the Mosaic Covenant. I'm going to read verses 5 and 6. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

So Moses, sorry, that was verse 6. So I'll read 5 and then I'll read 6. I started in 6. Verse 5 of Exodus 19.

So now then, if you will indeed listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my treasured possession among all my covenant. Then you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And these are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

We see a conditional covenant where he says the word, if. I am obviously not, you know, in a position as God is, but if I had the power to say something and then limit myself, it would be a lot less scary for me to say, if you do this, then I'll do this. And that's not to diminish his conditional covenants to us, but I think it helps us to just reflect even further about the unconditional covenants of God and how great they are. If we move to 2 Samuel chapter 7 quickly.

We're going to look at 12 through 16. 2 Samuel 7, 12. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up one of your seed after you who will come forth from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. When he commits iniquity, I will reprove him with the rod of men and the strikes from the sons of men. But my loving kindness shall not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.

Your throne shall be established forever. That's another time where he doesn't have to say, I will do this, you know, regardless of your actions, I will do this, but he does. And then we get to a very exciting covenant in Jeremiah 31, verses 31 to 34. We can read through that.

Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, declares Yahweh, when I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the old covenant which I cut with their fathers in the day I took them in the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant which they broke, but I was husband to them, declares Yahweh. But this is the covenant which I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, declares Yahweh.

I will put my law within them, and on their heart I will write it, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares Yahweh. For I will forgive their iniquity and sin, and their sin I will remember no more. How great is that covenant?

And we read in Luke 22, verse 20. And in the same way, he took the cup after they had eaten, saying, This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. So how great is that? That we are so beloved by the Lord our God that he would make such effort and go to such lengths for us and for our confidence in him.

We don't have to hope that God decides to take care of us. He already has from the moment he first spoke it. And from the very beginning, he had a plan for us. If we finally turn all the way back to Genesis chapter 3, 14 and 15.

And Yahweh God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you more than any of the cattle, and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you will go, and the dust you will eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.

So you can see that God made up his mind with his, another perfection of God, his omniscience, from right here in the very beginning. So it's encouraging and incredible to reflect on what God does with his freedom. And with his freedom, he has decided to love us and take care of us and make provision for us to live with him for eternity and glorify him forever. That is what God has decided to do with his freedom.

He's made covenants. He has sent Jesus to die as a payment for our sins and thus justified us. He has made a way for us to be with him, and he has freed us from sin. So he used his freedom to afford us freedom from sin.

If we turn to Romans chapter 8, I'm just going to read 1 and 2. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. So if you're ever wondering how much does God love us, don't stop thinking when you think of the crucifixion. Keep on thinking until you think about all the covenants that he's made with us and all the times that he has promised us that he will look out for us and care for us.

Let's close in prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for your love for us. Thank you for freeing us from sin. Thank you for giving us abundant blessings.

We pray that you would help us to be a good steward of all that you've given us and glorify you. Amen.

Family Bible Hour featuring Tim Baldon. A teaching from Hebrews 11 on the faith of the Old Testament saints, whose failures go unmentioned because under the new covenant God remembers sins no more, and on true faith as trusting what God has said, shown in how we live.

Transcript

And that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise, as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise.

For he waited for the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead were born as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, innumerable as the sand which is by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises, offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him, in a figurative sense. By faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.

By faith, Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshipped, leaning on the top of his staff. By faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hid three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith, Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.

This is a chapter of season. Esteeming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he looked to the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days. By faith, the harlot Rahab did not perish with them, with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace. And what shall I more say?

What more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and Samson, and Jephthah, of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.

Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us. From what you know of the Old Testament, what's missing in this chapter? These people all seem to be perfect, don't they? Yet, in the Old Testament, when we read this chapter, they all seem to be perfect.

But, in the Old Testament, we read about Noah getting drunk and exposing himself. Abraham asks his wife to conceal their relationship of being married in order to protect himself. Sarah laughed at God's promise to give her a son when she was old. Isaac lied about his wife being his sister to protect himself.

We read about Jacob's various schemings. We read about his favoritism toward his younger sons. We read about his self-pitying complaints about what a rough life he's had even though he had achieved a great amount of wealth and God had taken care of him in every situation. He talks about near the end of his life how rough he's had it all his life.

We read about Moses striking the rock in anger even though God had plainly said speak to the rock. We read about Samson's failure with Delilah. We read about David's sin with Bathsheba and his arranging for the death of her husband. We read about Elijah fleeing in terror from Jezebel despite the clear demonstration of God's supremacy and God's power on Mount Carmel just hours before.

Why are none of those things mentioned in this chapter? That's a question that I ask myself when shortly after I spoke from Hebrews chapter 10 I read through Hebrews chapter 11 thinking about what am I going to say next time and as I read it I'm looking at it and I'm thinking this doesn't sound like the Old Testament I mean I've read this chapter multitudes of times but I found myself asking that question why are these things missing? the answer I believe is because Hebrews chapter 11 comes after Hebrews chapter 8 chapter 9 and chapter 10 what did we learn in chapters 8 through 10 that would tell us why the faults and flaws and failures of these Old Testament saints aren't mentioned in what we call the Faith Hall of Fame let's turn back to chapter 8 where Jesus is declared to be the mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises we're going to start in verse 6 when it says now he that he is referring to Jesus the Son of God the author that the author of Hebrews has been writing about ever since chapter 1 verse 2 so all this time he's been building up to where we are now but now he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant which was established on better promises for if that first covenant had been faultless then no place would have been sought for a second because finding fault with them he says behold the days are coming says the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they did not continue in my covenant and I disregarded them says the Lord for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people none of them shall teach his neighbor and none his brother saying know the Lord for all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness unrighteousness and their sins and iniquities their lawless deeds I will remember no more now that sounds promising as an explanation to why those things don't come up in chapter 11 their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more that passage there the author of Hebrews is quoting from Jeremiah chapter 31 where Jeremiah was giving that prophecy that that there would come a time when God would change from the old covenant the old testament and would create a new covenant and as a part of that new covenant he would not remember the sins of his servants chapter 10 verse 12 speaking about the same man Jesus but this man after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever sat down at the right hand of God from that time waiting till his enemies are made his footstool for by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified now this is telling us that something is now past Jeremiah was looking forward and saying there will come a time when a new covenant will be established this is talking about something that is past at this point he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified but the Holy Ghost the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after he had said before this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I will write them then he adds their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more so Jeremiah is prophesying this is coming and the author of Hebrews is telling us it's here the time has come we are now at the new covenant which as I was thinking about it the folks mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 were not part of the new covenant they weren't they weren't around when the new covenant was established it didn't come until Christ came gave his life on the cross so how do we reconcile that how are their sins and iniquities gone we can find that in Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews chapter 9 verse 15 says and for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant there we go tells us flat out Jesus is the one who is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance so the new covenant is not just for those who have lived since Jesus' death and resurrection but it's retroactive in order to remove the sins of those who were under the first covenant the Old Testament now how are our sins forgiven is it by what wonderful people we are and how many good deeds we've done did we earn it? no of course not Ephesians 2:8 and 9 we're probably all familiar with for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast grace and that grace includes the forgiveness and the erasure of sins that are from God's memory comes only by faith you can't get it any other way comes only by faith and that is what each of these people in Hebrews chapter 11 has shown at some point in their life they demonstrated faith in God the only difference between us and them is that they were looking forward to Christ's death burial and resurrection and we are looking back at Christ's death burial and resurrection now if you wonder whether folks in the Old Testament even believed in the resurrection of the dead you know obviously in Jesus' time there were Pharisees believed in spirits and they believed in resurrection of the dead the Sadducees didn't believe in spirits and they didn't believe in resurrection of the dead but what did the Old Testament say about resurrection from the dead?

Consider these passages Job chapter 19 25 to 27 For I know that my Redeemer lives I didn't say will live I know that my Redeemer lives and he shall stand at last on the earth and after my skin is destroyed this I know that in my flesh I shall see God whom I shall see for myself and my eyes shall behold and not another how my heart yearns within me. Does your heart yearn for the day when you will see God face to face? Psalm 16 8 through 10 says I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Sheol nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. That one is talking about Jesus it's talking about Jesus being raised from the dead that he would not stay dead he was the one the the Holy One that it speaks of there you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption and that's something that the early apostles used regularly to talk to people who doubted resurrection or doubted at least Jesus' resurrection and they went back and they said hey we got these prophecies from the Old Testament about resurrection that resurrection is coming and that's what their faith was in Isaiah 26, 19 says your dead shall live together with my dead body they shall arise awake and sing you who dwell in dust for your dew is like the dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead there will be a resurrection Daniel chapter 2 chapter 12 verse 2 and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake some to everlasting fire some to shame I'm sorry some to everlasting I can't read some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt I beg your pardon Ezekiel 37 verses 1 through 14 I'm only going to read a portion of that but you can read that whole passage starting in verse 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them Thus says the Lord God Behold, O my people I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people and brought you up from your graves I will put my spirit in you and you shall live and I will place you in your own land Then you shall know that I, the Lord have spoken and performed it Perhaps most importantly from the Old Testament for the passage that we're considering today Hebrews chapter 11 go back to Genesis chapter 22 verse 5 the story when Abraham was told to take his son Isaac the one that he had been promised would be the father of all these descendants that that Abraham was supposed to have God said take him up and offer him up to me and Abraham had gotten up bright and early took what he needed along with some servants and along with Isaac and headed for the place I think it's three days that they've walked to get to the place gives Abraham some time to think now what are you going to do if God says okay I've given you a son and this son is going to provide you with more descendants than you can count and then God says after you get the son he says now take your son and offer him on an altar to me you'd be thinking this is confusing what in the world but in 22.5 when they get to the place when they can see the place far off Abraham stops and he tells the servants you stay here and Abraham said to his young men stay here with the donkey the lad and I will go yonder and worship and we will come back to you I don't know exactly when, where, or how but Abraham figured out God cannot lie if he said that I was going to have descendants by this son I will and if he says offer this son on an altar to me there's only one conclusion I'm going to offer my son on an altar and God is going to raise him from the dead that must be what God has in mind now it turns out that that's not exactly what God had in mind he wanted Abraham's example he wanted Abraham to work it out in his own heart that God was faithful and he wanted us to be able to see Abraham's faith so it seems likely to me that when the author of Hebrews was making the point in Hebrews chapter 11 17 to 19 By faith Abraham when he was tested offered up Isaac and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son of whom it was said in Isaac your seed shall be called accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which also he received him in a figurative sense.

It seems likely he was making the point that from the time of the ascension of Jesus the new covenant was established and the sins and failures of all believers those all believers who have faith in Christ are forgiven and forgotten by God and he illustrates that for us by recounting only the acts of faith that these people demonstrated and leaves out or forgets all their failures, their sins, their unfaithfulness God will never call them back to remembrance it's interesting that in this chapter Hebrews chapter 11 you go from verse 29 by faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land whereas the Egyptians attempting to do so were drowned then by faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days what did that leave out? 40 years of wandering in the desert and failing failures of faith it's completely left out in this chapter our salvation is based on faith our faith God can see our faith because he knows our hearts question can others see our faith? you might come up with different answers on that depending on whether you're looking back at Romans chapter 4 which talks about justification of faith apart from works or if you're looking at James chapter 2 where we're justified by works and not by faith alone but in fact they're not contradicting each other in Romans chapter 4 the emphasis is on justification before God by faith whereas in James 4 the emphasis is on justification before other people so if I may well let's look for a moment just flip over a page or two to James chapter 2 verse 14 what does it profit my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works can faith save him if a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them depart in peace be warmed and filled but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body what does it profit thus also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and I have works show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works you believe that there is one God you do well even the demons believe that you know and tremble but do you want to know oh foolish man that faith without works is dead was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect and the scripture was fulfilled which says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God you see then that a man is justified by works and not by faith only likewise was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also God knew Abraham's faith before Abraham even figured out what he thought God was going to do but verse 24 here says you see you see Abraham's faith by Abraham's works I'd like to offer an illustration which I believe can make the matter perhaps a little bit clearer or hopefully will make it stick in your memory how many of you trust me? my wife had her hand up first I'm glad of that all right now obviously it might depend on what I'm asking you to trust me for for instance if I say yes, I will go home and I will put your prayer request on the prayer sheet for Wednesday night guess what?

I'm a forgetful, forgetful person and it may not happen so don't trust me necessarily when I say yes, I will do that I will try I try always to say I will try to remember when I get home but if I were to tell you and I will I'll tell all of you right here I will not do anything in the next 15 minutes to hurt you and I will not allow anything that I can prevent I mean obviously if a tree falls on the building I can't stop that but anything that I could prevent I will not allow it to happen to you that will harm you I'll ask again would you trust me on that and by the way I will not be offended anybody who does not say they would trust me on that that's fine but how many of you would trust me? okay most of you most of you alright I'm not offended alright you know what this is? it says it's a rat trap but this is not a rat trap this morning because it has never been used to trap a rat and it's not going to be used to trap a rat today what this is at the moment is a faith tester it has never trapped a rat it's brand new and I will pull this little staple out that keeps it from being able to be set you know how a faith tester works works pretty much the same way as a rat trap but now you pull this thing over here and you put that thing right there and then you put some bait on it I'm going to turn it around here now I don't want to get injured so alright so how it works is you reach in there and you touch that thing there and when you touch that we'll find it later so that's basically how it works that is how it works so anybody want to retract their statement of faith in me? all right so most of you would still trust me I will state it again I will not do anything to harm you and I will not allow anything to harm you if I have a way to stop that from happening so who would like to volunteer to come out and and by the way whoever whoever comes up have you seen this before?

you've never seen this before but you would you would trust me you sure? okay I'm a volunteer I don't even have to pick somebody usually I have to pick somebody and coax them up here but alright well Wayne come on up now sure so Wayne you've never seen this before right? I mean other than I've seen a rat trap you've seen a rat trap but not a faith tester alright so I take this thing whoops I gotta get that out of the way and I set the trap I mean the tester I set the faith tester and before we start I wanted to let you know that I'm not going to stop him as his finger gets here and say now I know you trust me because you put your finger close to it I'm just going to tell you that I will not allow anything to happen to you what do you want me to do? I would like you to tap that thing do I get the pencil or whatever?

no but you can have you can have you can have that if you'd like I don't know if that will help you at all You want me to touch that? I would like you to touch that, yes you keep pointing at it and not touching it You mean the thing that just fell off? Yes, I am messing up All right he could have touched it and nothing would happen Really? Yes that's correct You never did touch it all right All right, I was going to ask you guys to be the jury and say does he trust me or does he not?

I'm not sure we got that far All right, I'm done I need to make sure that you understand that it is not your faith If he had stuck his finger in there, it would not be his the amount of faith he has or doesn't have that stops the rat trap from going off the faith tester. And it's in the same way. It is not how much faith I have. It's not my faith that changes the situation.

It is God who is in control. Now, when we were talking, I took these two springs off. of the bar. Now it will get you.

Now it will not. It still looks like it's set. Because my thumb is under it, holding it in place. Only I wasn't able to keep my thumb there, holding it in place.

Shame on me. But then if you touch it, nothing happens. Some people get mistaken on that and they feel like, okay, whatever I can believe, if I can believe hard enough, if my faith is strong enough, then I can get whatever I want from God. And that's not the way it works.

Faith is believing what God says. What He tells you. Where He tells you to go. What He tells you to do.

And that comes from here. So we're not out there using faith to do things that God has never promised He would do. Don't talk yourself into believing you can do something that God hasn't said to do. Live your life in such a way that the world around you can see that you have faith in what God says.

You trust the Word of God. When God says that He will save you from your sin, and you say, Lord, I believe, God knows your heart, whether you actually believe that or whether you're just, I've heard people give the Gospel and say to somebody, well, you know, it can't hurt, you know, go ahead and people will say the prayer and think, well, okay, at least I'm covered. No. God knows your heart.

And people around you will know, too, if you're saved. They'll be able to see it in your life if you're following what God says. Live your life in such a way that the world can see that your faith is in him. Father, we come to you.

We give you thanks for your word. Thank you for what you have promised. Lord, we ask that you would do for us what you, what the man asked in the Gospels. Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief. Father, we ask that you would help our unbelief when we face situations that we're tempted not to trust you. Strengthen our faith. Cause us to live in such a way that they see you in us.

In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Family Bible Hour featuring Junior Watson on “The Eternal Christ.”  A compilation of Scriptures from John, Isaiah, Zechariah, Philippians, Daniel, Colossians, and Revelation, showing Christ as the eternal Word, the Creator, the pierced Savior, the exalted Lord, and the coming judge.

Transcript

Thank you, Brother Jonathan. And good morning to everyone. Good morning to visitors and those who came before. You're welcome.

My subject this morning that I've been speaking on, the eternal Christ. The Alpha and the Omega. God with us. It's going to be a compilation of Scriptures, so if you want to write them down, I'll quote them out for you.

If not, I'll just tell you what it is. First one is John 1 and 1. Then you have Isaiah 48, verse 12 to 13. Isaiah 46, 8 to 10.

Isaiah 45, 21 to 23. Philippians 2, verse 5 to 11. Daniel 7, verse 9 to 10. Revelation 1, verse 8 to 16.

Revelation 22, verse 12 to 13. And Revelation 22, verse 16. Zechariah 12, verse 1 to 11. Isaiah 9, verse 6 to 7.

Colossians 1, verse 15 to 20. Acts 20, verse 28 to 29. The eternal Christ, the Alpha and the Omega, God with us. The main theme: Jesus Christ is not merely a great teacher, prophet, or a created being.

He is the eternal Word, the Creator, the pierced Savior, the exalted Lord, and the coming judge. God revealed in the flesh for the redemption of his people. Key text here is John 1 and 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

Introduction. There is one question greater than every other question. Who is Jesus Christ? The answer determines how we worship, how we understand salvation, how we face death.

And how we prepare for eternity. Scripture does not present Jesus as only a moral example or religious leader. It declares that he is the eternal son. The one who was present before creation.

The one who, the one through whom all things were made. The one who humbled himself to death, to die. And the one before whom every knee shall bow. The Bible gives titles that belong to Jehovah alone.

And it applies them to Jesus Christ. The Old Testament reveals the eternal God. The New Testament unveils that same God in the person of his Son. Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the eternal Word. John opens his Gospel, not at Bethlehem, but before time. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1 and 1.

Notice the three declarations. In the beginning was the Word. Before creation began, the Word already existed. The Word was with God.

The Word is personally distinct from the Father. The Word was God. The Word fully possesses the nature and deity of God. Jesus did not begin in a manger.

His earthly body began in Bethlehem, but his divine existence is eternal. Isaiah recorded God saying, I am He, I am the first, I also am the last. My hand also had laid the foundation of the earth, Isaiah 48, 12-13. The one who calls himself the first and the last is the Creator.

Yet Jesus said in Revelation, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Revelation 22, verse 13. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. Omega is the last.

Christ is declaring, I stand at the beginning of all things. And I will stand at the end of all things. History begins with me and ends with me. He is not contained by time.

Time is contained by him. Jesus is the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Isaiah 46, verse 9 through 10 says, I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning.

God alone knows the end from the beginning because God alone stands above creation. He is not guessing about tomorrow. He rules over tomorrow. Colossians applies his divinity, his divine authority directly to Christ.

For by him there was all things, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth. All things were created by him, and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1, 16 through 17. Jesus is not part of creation.

He is the one by whom creation came into being. The stars made through him. The angels made through him. The visible and invisible realms were made through him.

Earth breathes. Every breath is sustained by him. Every atom remains in order because he upholds all things. John 1, verse 3, agrees.

All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. If everything created was made through him, through Christ, then Christ himself cannot be created. He is eternal God.

This means our lives are not accidental. We are created by him and for him. The heart will remain restless until it returns to the one for whom it was made. Jesus is the promised child and mighty God.

Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah. For unto us a child was born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Isaiah 9, verse 6. A child was born, speaking of his humanity.

A son was given, speaking of his eternal divine identity. Then Isaiah gives him names no ordinary man could bear. His name shall be called Wonderful. Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 9, verse 6. Jesus is the child born in time, yet he is the Mighty God from eternity. He is the Prince of Peace because he alone reconciles sinful humanity to a holy God. Peace is not merely the absence of conflict.

Biblical peace is restored fellowship with God. Christ made that peace through his cross. Isaiah continues, after the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end. Isaiah 9, verse 7.

Earthly kingdoms rise and fall. Presidents change, nations shift, empires collapse. Glory be to God. Hallelujah.

But the kingdom of Christ has no end. His throne is not threatened. His authority cannot be voted away. And his reign will never diminish.

The Lord was pierced for our salvation. Zechariah gives one of the clearest prophetic revelations of Christ's crucifixion. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him. Zechariah 12, verse 10.

The speaker is not yet, the speaker is the Lord, yet he says, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. The prophecy points forward to Calvary, where Jesus pierced in his hands, his feet, and his side. The eternal Creator entered his own creation and allowed sinful people to nail him to a cross. Acts 20, verse 28, gives a staggering description of the price paid for the church.

Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. The church is not bought with silver, gold, or good works, tradition, or human effort. It was purchased with the blood of God manifested in the flesh. Jesus Christ.

This is why the cross cannot be reduced to an inspiring story. It was divine rescue. At the cross, the only one bore the punishment for the guilty. The righteous one died for the unrighteous.

The creator was rejected by his creation. The shepherd laid down his life for his sheep. Mercy and justice met. Sin was judged and grace was offered.

Zechariah said, there will be mourning. A true encounter with Christ produces godly sorrow. We do not merely mourn because people in general sin. We recognize my sin required his suffering.

Yet that mourning leads not to hopelessness, but to cleansing, forgiveness, and new life. Jesus is exalted above every name. Philippians 2 reveals both Christ's humility and his exaltation. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 2 verse 5. Jesus, though equal with God, did not cling to his heavenly glory. He took the form of a servant. He entered our world.

He obeyed the Father completely. He humbled himself even to death on the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. Philippians 2 verse 9.

Then comes the universal declaration that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Philippians 2 verse 10 to 11. This echoes Isaiah 45. I am God and there is none else.

And to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Isaiah 45, verse 21 to 23. In Isaiah, every knee bows to Jehovah, the only Savior. In Philippians, every knee bows to Jesus Christ.

The Apostle is not lowering Jesus beneath God. He is proclaiming Jesus is the Lord to whom Isaiah's prophecy belongs. Every person will ultimately acknowledge Christ. The redeemed will bow with joy.

The faithful will bow in worship. The broken will bow in gratitude. The rebellious will bow in judgment. The nations will bow before the king.

The enemies of God will bow before the judge. The question is not whether every knee will bow. The question is whether we will bow now in saving faith or later in inevitable judgment. Daniel saw a vision of heaven.

The ancient of days did sit. His throne was like a fiery flame and its wheels as burning fire. Daniel 7 verse 9, Daniel saw a courtroom of eternity. Thrones were set.

Books were opened. Fire proceeded from the throne. God is holy, eternal, and judge over all humanity. Revelation gives John a vision of the glorified Christ.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord. Revelation 1, verse 8. John then sees one like unto the Son of Man, clothed in glory. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire.

Revelation 1, verse 14. The imagery parallels Daniel's vision of the ancient of days Jesus revealed in divine majesty. His eyes are flames of fire. Nothing is hidden from him.

He sees private sin. He sees public hypocrisy. He sees every wound. He sees every act of faithfulness.

He sees the hidden tears of his people. He sees the plans of the enemy. Revelation 22 and verse 12 declares, Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. Jesus is coming.

He is not coming merely as the suffering lamb. He is coming as the righteous judge and reigning king. He comes with reward for those who belong to him, and he comes with judgment for those who reject him. Jesus is the root and offspring of David.

In Revelation 22, verse 16, Jesus said, I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. How can Christ be both David's root and David's offspring? He is David's offspring, according to the flesh. Jesus was born into the line of David.

He is the promised Messiah King. But he is David's root, according to his divine nature. David came from him. The one who descended from David is also the one through whom David was created.

Jesus is fully man and fully God. David's son, yet David's Lord. Born of a woman, yet eternal before all worlds. Hungry, yet the bread of life.

Thirsty, yet the giver of living water. Weary, yet the giver of rest. crucified, yet the resurrection and the life. Buried, yet forever alive.

The bright and morning star announced that night will not have the final word. Christ brings the dawn of God's eternal kingdom. For those who belong to him, the darkest hour is never the end of the story. After my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

The warning follows the truth that the church was purchased by God's own blood. Because the church is precious to Christ, wolves seek to distort the truth, divide believers, and diminish the person of Jesus. The church must guard the Gospel. We must not accept a Christ who is only a teacher, but not Lord.

We must not preach a Christ who saves, but does not reign. We must not proclaim a Christ who was born, but deny that he is eternal. We must not celebrate a Christ who died while forgetting that he is coming again. The biblical Christ is the eternal Word, the Creator, the Majesty, the Mighty God, the pierced savior, the exalted Lord, the ancient of days, the root and offspring of David, the alpha, and the omega.

Conclusion. Jesus asks every generation, whom say ye that I am? John answered, the word was God. Isaiah answered, the first and the last.

Colossians answered, by him were all things created. Zechariah answered, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. Philippians answered, every knee should bow. Revelation answered, I am Alpha and Omega.

The proper response is worship: repentance, faith, obedience, and exultant expectation. Preach in close. Church, behold your king. He was there before the first sunrise.

He spoke the world into existence. He came down through the virgin's womb. He walked among sinners. He carried the cross.

He shed his blood. He rose from the grave. He ascended in glory. He intercedes for his people.

And soon he's coming again. So bow before him now. Trust him fully. Serve him faithfully.

Guard his truth carefully and lift up your heads, because Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, is coming quickly. That's my portion for this morning. Thank you.

Family Bible Hour featuring Charles George on “What’s in your wallet?” A teaching from the book of Proverbs on God’s wisdom in regards to finances.

Transcript

Good morning. Good morning. That quote, Benjamin Franklin, as the founding father of our nation, this, this quote is for my kids. Spending $7 Starbucks coffee.

I must warn you, this is going to be long. This is going to be fast. At times, boring. The PowerPoint might work or it might go haywire.

My wife has been asking me to do the PowerPoint. So here we go. First, let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for thy beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming down to this sin-sickened world to save wretched sinners like us.

Thank you, Lord, for accomplishing all that thou hast purposed in thy mind. Lord, give us light from thy word and the grace to obey. Bless all those who are gathered here. Speak to us, O Lord, through thy word.

Bless thy servant, give him utterance. We pray for those not able to make. Because of various reasons, we ask for a special blessing upon them. Bless them, O Lord.

Grant them peace. Once again, bless our time together. Pray thy name be glorified, exalted, and magnified. We pray and ask the most precious name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen. Amen. We have been in the book of Proverbs for the past few months discussing various topics. Larry has put the topic as, what is in your wallet?

What is in your wallet? So everyone, take your wallets out. Let's see what you have. Anyone here as a Capital One?

Oh, yeah, you're set for life. Just kidding. This came in the news, so I thought I'll share with you. This happened on a Sunday morning.

A prominent pastor, not sure if his car broke down, but came in an Uber. He instructed the ushers to close the door and start aggressively demanding a donation for a new car. He made sure that everyone contributed to that cause. Another news, just the headlines, ABC 7.

The headlines raised like this. Pass a different decision to buy Lamborghini for wife as an anniversary gift. You know how much a Lamborghini costs? Six can go up to $600,000.

The famous quote, the secret of happiness is money. That is the biggest lie. It's not true. Financial wisdom, that is our topic.

God willing, we are going to look at the subject of getting money, keeping money, spending money, and giving money. Getting money, keeping money, spending money, giving money. Four steps of financial management that includes wealth, poverty, generosity, and greed. You know, in the assemblies, we did not talk about money.

In fact, in our 22 years at Lake Howell, I'm not sure if anyone has preached a sermon on wealth. I have spoken once on giving on a Wednesday evening. I'm sure you don't remember anything. After studying on this subject, money and wealth, I feel like I'm not the right person for this topic.

However, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I'd like to proceed. We do not speak about money due to two reasons. First is a biblical reason. I don't want to go into the details.

I was just reading the verse, Matthew chapter 6, verse 3. What you do, you should do it secretly that your left hand should not know what your right hand is doing. That is the primary reason that we're not taking an offering on a Sunday morning. You know, worship comes from a glad and an overflowing heart, and so is giving comes out of worship.

So for that reason, we do not speak about money. The second reason is a cultural reason. Sadly, there's a strong association today between ministry and financial manipulations. We all have seen scandals in the American media.

I'm not mentioning any names. Tell evangelists using the hard-earned donations of everyday believers to buy private jets, mansions, luxury items. Therefore, we have made a practice to de-emphasize the whole issue of money. Now, people think that the Bible has very little to say about this topic.

Surprise, surprise. Roughly one out of every seven verses spoken by our Lord Jesus addresses money, stewardship, material possession, and so on. Out of 38 parables given by our Lord Jesus, 16 of them deal directly with money or financial management. Unfortunately, we don't have time to get into that.

The Bible contains more than 2,300 verses related to money. And that's the reason it's going to be long. Proverbs itself has over 100 verses, 130 to be exact, a staggering number. It's not because money is the most important topic, but rather because money is one of the most accurate indicators of what's going on in our heart.

If you show me your bank statement or your credit card statement, I can tell you what kind of a person you are. The Lord Jesus explicitly warns us in Matthew chapter 6, verse 24, you cannot serve both God and money. The New Testament writers spend a lot of time warning us about the spiritual dangers of wealth. 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 10, Paul clarifies that the love of money, not money itself, is the root of all kinds of evil.

Bible scholars often point out that Scripture mentions money and possession more than faith and prayer combined. So clearly this is an important topic. Now when we look at the subject of money and wealth, there are some questions you might have. For the sake of time, I'm not going to read the whole thing.

You can take a look at it. Does my financial security come from my bank account or my faith? It speaks of my heart. Am I satisfied with what I have or am I constantly craving more?

How much should I give to the Lord, my giving? Should I buy a house or rent one? Should I buy a car or use Uber or rely on public transportation? Should I get life insurance?

As we know, proverbs are not promises but guidelines. They contain general principles for wise living, not guarantees for wealth, for health and wealth. Now first, let's build a foundation for our study. Proverbs 22, verse 2.

The rich and the poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. We are all made in the image of God. We are all equal before Him, whether we are rich or poor.

Psalm 24, verse 1 and 2. We are reminded that the earth is the Lord and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters. Furthermore, God does not just make us.

He owns everything we have. Let us look at a few more verses to come from that. Haggai, chapter 2, verse 8. The silver is mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts.

The resources that God has placed on this earth belongs to Him. He owns all the wealth in the world. Psalm 50, verse 10. We just sang that song.

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. God owns the natural resources. In Deuteronomy, chapter 8, verse 10. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

The harvest and the produce that comes from the land are direct blessings from God. So we see this principle even applied to secular rulers. Esther 1, verse 2. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me.

Cyrus, King Cyrus, understood this profound truth. It was the God of heaven who gave him authority over all the kingdoms of the earth. First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 2. Through these Scriptures, we see that God is the ultimate owner of everything.

He owns the earth, the silver, the gold, the cattle on a thousand hills. He is the true landlord of creation who gives individual the strength and ability to produce wealth. Furthermore, he hands the entire empires to rulers according to his sovereign plan. So we see that God is the source.

He is the owner. He is the director of all wealth. This is the absolute foundation for our study this morning. Everything we have belongs to God.

People often think that when you give 10% to the Lord, the remaining 90% belongs to them. Wrong. 100% belongs to the Lord. He is the source of every blessing.

We are just stewards. We are just managers or caretakers of the financial resources God has entrusted to us. Deuteronomy 8, verse 18, that he may, but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth. From this we see that God gives us the physical strength.

He gives us skills and intellect to produce wealth through our labor. As we have already established, God owns all the resources. Therefore, your job as a wage earner is to wisely manage and multiply a portion rather than consuming it all. Now, the challenge of money management.

The truth is, earning money is often much easier than managing it. Consider this example. In 1995, a 22-year-old young man, 6'9", power forward, I'm not naming the name, was selected as a first-round draft pick for the Orlando Magic. That is our basketball team.

This was exactly 30 years ago. He signed a multi-year rookie contract that paid him roughly, whatever, throughout the brief career we can see. Believing, he believed that his money would never run out. He bought an expensive mansion and accumulated massive collections of luxury cars.

Cars for his mother, cars for his friends, and so on. By 1999, his NBA career was over. Within just a few years, he went completely bankrupt, ultimately spending six months on the streets of Orlando, out of his Chevy Impala. What a sobering, tragic reality.

God has given him the power to get wealth, but he lacked the stewardship to manage it. This is why God challenges us not to place our trust in uncertain riches, but to remember that we are merely caretakers of what is ultimately his. Proverbs 16, verse 26, goes on to say that we must work to survive. Money is essential for survival, providing food, clothing, shelter, and so on.

In early societies, if a man had no wages, he faced literal starvation and death. Ecclesiastes 10, verse 19, a feast is made for laughter, and wine makes merry, but money answers everything. While this may sound cynical, Solomon is highlighting a practical reality, that feast and wine can give you temporary joy, but they cannot pay your bills. Money is needed to solve everyday earthly problems and acquire basic needs.

Proverbs 10, verse 15, the wealth of the rich is their fortress. The Bible realistically acknowledged that financial resources offer a layer of protection and stability in a harsh world. Because money is required to survive, God commands us to work diligently to earn it. 1 Timothy, chapter 5, verse 8, but if anyone does not provide for his relatives, especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Taking care of basic survival needs for a family is framed as a core duty. Now, when wealth becomes a problem, moving the goalposts, now if money is essential tool for survival, where does the problem arise? The problem arises when the pursuit of money has become an end in itself. Look at the world around.

We see rich people making millions, then billions, and now pushing into the trillions. The financial goalposts keep moving because wealth has become a status symbol. There is nothing wrong with honestly earned wealth, but it becomes a trap when it begins to control us. 1 Timothy 6, verse 10, For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

Money itself is not evil. But loving it, making it the center of your life, distorts your priorities and damages your soul. Now let's look at a practical basic advice found in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 15, verse 16.

Better is a little with fear of the Lord than great treasures and trouble with it. When we first started studying the book of Proverbs, we established a foundational truth that the fear of the Lord is a beginning of wisdom. Here the writer contrasts a small, humble life lived in reverence to God against a massive earthly treasure that brings nothing but chaos and trouble. There is another verse in Proverbs 16, verse 8.

Better is little with righteousness than vast revenues or gains without justice. The word there, justice, means being honest, treating people fairly. A small bank account maintained with honesty is better than millions built on dishonesty. Now let's look at the economy of the little, how God multiplies.

Now when we investigate the economy of the Bible, our God is a God who blesses little things. He multiplies it. Just consider the entire earth when He established it, when He put man on this earth. He put Adam and Eve on this earth, and today you and I are living on this planet where there are about 8.3 billion people.

Think about the New Testament. Consider the miracle of five loaves and two fish. In the hands of a boy, it was barely a single meal. But when it was blessed by the Lord, Jesus used that little to feed thousands of hungry people with baskets of leftover to spare.

The little is significant here. The writer in Proverbs, he talks about a little with the fear of the Lord, a little with righteousness. In God's hand, your little is more than enough. In Exodus chapter 16, we don't have time to go into all the details.

God provided manna in the wilderness. Some gathered a lot, some gathered little. The Bible records that everyone had exactly what they needed. The hymn writer puts it like this.

Little is much when God is in it. Little is much when God is in it. Labor not for wealth or fame. In God's hand, your little is always more than enough.

This is a profound truth that you will find in the Scripture. Now, let's look at some of the warnings that Christ, Christ's warning on money. Now, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, on this earth, He constantly interacted with the topic of money, exposing human hearts. We don't have time to get into it, but just to say He commanded us to pay our taxes to the government.

He called the rich man a fool because the man hoarded wealth as if he would live forever. He showed the rich man and Lazarus to prove that wealth cannot save a soul from eternity. He praised the poor widow who gave her last two mites, highlighting that God measures the sacrifice, not the amount. So we see, even in the case of Judas, we see Jesus was betrayed by Judas for money, for 30 pieces of silver, because Judas loved money more than the Lord.

So the Lord, Jesus, leaves us with a sobering warning. Luke chapter 6, verse 24. This was a question that was asked two weeks back in jeopardy. My kids didn't know that.

Luke chapter 6, verse 24. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. That word woe is profound. Declaration of sorrow and curse over anyone who finds ultimate comfort in a bank account rather than in God.

The Word of God says, hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Now let's look at the only secure bank investing beyond the grave. With all these examples in front of us, let's look at Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 to 21. Actually, this was the verse.

Here he lays down a direct command that cuts through all human economic system. But God says, verse 19, do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

So if you are looking for the most secure bank in existence, this is it. Why? Because neither moth, nor rust, nor inflation, nor market crashes can ever get into the treasury of heaven. No thief can break through the walls of glory to steal what you have placed in the hand of God.

Jesus is directly calling us to invest our money beyond the grave, not only 401k, but for eternity. Now I think this is a question that we need to ask ourselves, especially concerning money and wealth. What is wealth? Wealth is when you start accumulating resources.

Maybe it's money, maybe a few houses, maybe a few cars, a few acres of land, maybe in different forms, collecting sports cards, collecting arts, watches, and so on. And the question is, where is your heart? Where is your heart? What is your heart truly anchored in?

One of our friends and his neighboring friends owned a heavy, fireproof, commercial-grade security safe attached to the wall. One of them had gold over $85,000 plus whatever things were there. You know, gold is now $4,500 per ounce. This was a few years back, believing it was completely secure when they left for a wedding.

Thieves broke into their home, and the thieves couldn't crack the safe open. You know what they did? They took the entire safe with them. Their reality is that earthly treasures are never 100% secure.

Is your heart anchored in your collection, your portfolio, your real estate? Is it anchored in a safe that can be carried by thief at night? Or is your heart anchored securely within the veil of eternity, tied to the living God? The Lord Jesus concludes this section with an absolute rule.

You cannot serve God and mammon or wealth. Matthew chapter 6, verse 24. You cannot have two masters. When you choose to serve God first, your entire relationship with money changes.

It stops being a master and becomes what God intended it to be. A tool to manage for his kingdom purposes rather than for our selfish desire. And we also need to be mindful of where our heart is. Now, I want to leave you with a question to ponder.

Imagine you had limitless money like Elon Musk. What would you do with it? What would you do with it? How would you spend it?

Your honest answer to that question reveals exactly what is sitting on the throne of your heart. Is it money or is it God? Think about it. Now, we are going to look at the framework for financial wisdom.

The financial wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs is beautifully categorized into two pairs. Two views, wealth and poverty, that is the external condition. You can be either rich or poor. The other is generosity and greed, the internal characters.

These are the four things that we are going to spend the rest of our time. The absolute foundational principle in Proverbs is that wealth must be gained honestly. The primary vehicle God has ordained for that gain is daily labor. Now we are going to look at different ways in which wealth can be gathered.

Proverbs 13 verse 11. Wealth gain hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Let us be completely honest with ourselves. There is no such thing as free money.

Money gained quickly through gambling, scams, lottery tickets, or get-rich-quick schemes, is wealth gotten by vanity. Roslyn High School, that is in Long Island, one of the top public high schools in the nation. Pretty much almost above 95% of the kids get into the Ivy League schools. And because of that, that has made the superintendent of that school a local hero.

The committee was so thrilled with the school's prestige that no one questioned the inflated school budget, allowing 11 million theft to go unnoticed for eight long years. Easy money vanished, and two of the administrators ended up in jail. God did not design our soul or our hand to operate on shortcuts. Money managed through patience, through discipline, and hard work as a beautiful compounding effect over time.

It grows little by little. Now, there is another way you can get wealth. It is by inheritance. Best by labor, not inherited.

Proverbs 20, verse 21. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed. As parents and grandparents, we naturally want to pass a blessing to the next generation. But if a person receives a massive financial inheritance before they learn how to sweat, how to save, how to budget, they will treat that money as an infinite plaything.

The ultimate biblical example for this is the prodigal son. He demanded his inheritance early, and he wasted it all. Consider this. The largest wealth transfer in human history is happening right now.

Over the next two decades, an estimated $124 trillion in assets will change hands. To the young people here today, you must be spiritually ready and financially wise to manage what comes to you. Best, if gained gradually, not with haste, look at Proverbs 28, verse 20, and verse 22, dangers of get-rich-quick mindset. A faithful man shall abound with blessing, but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and consider not that poverty shall come upon him. The Scripture warns against a haste to be rich, greed, a desperate, reckless rush to accumulate money. God's wisdom always favors gradual growth, little by little, over frenetic accumulation. A faithful man is steady, reliable, and committed to doing things the right way, the honest way, day after day.

When you abandon faithfulness for haste, you end up stepping into the territory of deceit. Proverbs 20, verse 17, highlights that trap. It speaks about dishonest wealth. Bread of deceit is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

Wealth acquired unscrupulously, might taste sweet for a moment. It's temporary, but it will turn to absolute bitterness. It's similar to that example that I spoke earlier, Roslyn High School. Then you see the progression here.

Proverbs 21, verse 5 and 6. Verse 5, the plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty surely to poverty. Careful planning and steady work brings stability and success, while rush choices lead to lack. Verse 6, getting treasures by a lying tongue is fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

This is the ultimate warning. Chasing money through shortcuts lies is spiritually lethal. It destroys marriages, ruins mental health, and leads to absolute ruin. Furthermore, God ensures that ill-gotten gains do not stay with the wicked.

Proverbs 28, verse 8, one who increases his possessions by usury and extortion gathers it for him who will pity the poor. The money you accumulate through deceit will ultimately be taken away by God and handed over to someone who actually cares for the broken and the poor. So these are different ways in which wealth can be gathered, getting money. Number one, it must be gained honestly through labor.

Number two, if you inherit something, that is good, but just be mindful that you need to have the value around what you inherit. Number three, gathering it gradually and not with haste. Number four, acquire wealth in the right way, righteously and completely free from deceit. Now let's look at some advantages and dangers of wealth.

Now wealth has certain advantages to it, and Proverbs spells it out, a degree of security. I do not need to explain this in detail. Those of you who have resources, those of you who have wealth have certain advantages. Proverbs 10, verse 15, the rich man's wealth is his strong city.

Proverbs 18, verse 11, similar verse. It warns that money gives you a false sense of security. Proverbs 13, verse 8, the ransom of a man's life is his riches. So certainly there is a certain degree of security when you have these kinds of resources.

The safety they feel is only in their minds, not in reality. You know, wealth is a double-edged sword. Externally it protects, and internally it can blind you with pride and attract dangers. Now, when you have money, when you have wealth, you always tend to have many friends.

Proverbs 14, verse 20. Not only that, wealth also naturally brings power and influence. People have positive opinion of you. Proverbs 27, 22, verse 7 says, The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

Owing money reduces your freedom. You become a slave to the borrower. Now, not only there is power or influence, but there is also the ability to speak freely, to express yourself, to say whatever you want. There is an element of arrogance at times with people who have resources.

They say all kinds of things. Proverbs 18, verse 23. The poor uses entreaties, but the rich answereth roughly. A person in poverty must beg, he must plead, he must speak submissively.

Entreaties. He had to beg because he lacks power, leverage, or any other option. We see this play out in the global stage at times. Just a couple of years ago, a prominent example of this occurred when President Donald Trump bluntly told Ukraine President Zelensky, you don't have the cards.

You don't have the cards. In other words, you don't have anything. Just shut up. He was putting him down, highlighting a lack of leverage and dictating terms from a position of immense national and financial power.

A wealthy or a powerful person often speaks harshly. The poor has to beg and plead. But as believers, we must pass the external condition of wealth and poverty and focus on internal character. The rich man may rule the boardroom and answer roughly today.

His strong city is built on sand. The God of heaven is still the maker of them all. Now, a moment of reckoning. Now, these are certain things that you need to be aware of.

Wealth has absolute limit. It cannot deliver a soul from death. Money or no money, rich or poor, must face a moment of reckoning. Proverbs 10, verse 2, treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivereth from death.

A similar verse, Proverbs 11, verse 4. A powerful example of this occurred when the father of one of the richest men in India had a medical emergency. He believed that he had the whole floor to himself, despite having the best medical teams and vast resources at his disposal. He slipped into a coma and passed away a few days later.

Material riches cannot stop physical death or save a person from spiritual ruin. Good character and integrity matters more than money. You know, as believers, as those who have tasted the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and those who have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as believers, we know that our righteousness is like filthy rags. As our late brother Howard used to say during the remembrance service, he always speaks this verse.

Our righteousness is like filthy rags, but the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ has been imputed to us. This gives us a permanent, holy, standing in God's presence. A righteous person has nothing to fear in death because they possess eternal life and eternal reward awaiting for them. What profound truth that we need to appreciate as believers of the true living God.

Now wealth does not deliver you from death, and those who have trusted in riches shall fall. Proverbs 11, verse 28, he that trusteth in his riches shall fall. So here we are reminded that we should not trust in riches. Now there are some who tend to overwork to be rich.

Proverbs 23, verse 4, labor not to be rich. The Spirit of God is speaking here about exhaustion of overwork. There are those who take up two and three jobs, stretch themselves out, spend 16 or more hours a day. Now let me be clear here, I'm not here to judge anyone.

You know there are circumstances where people have to work for those hours to provide for their family. These are requirements, but on the other end of the spectrum, there are those who overwork to be rich. They sacrifice their marriages, they sacrifice their children, they sacrifice their assembly life on the altar of accumulation, keep paying money. They end up with a house full of goods.

They have gathered the goods, they are wealthy but exhausted and empty. No time to enjoy what has been gathered. There is another truth which is extremely important and which we need to be reminded that riches easily disappear. Proverbs 23 verse 5 says, Will you set your eyes on that which is not?

For riches certainly make themselves wings, they fly away like an eagle toward heaven. Look at that phrase, that which is not. Bible describes wealth as temporary illusion. One day it's there, the next day it vanishes.

Wings like an eagle. Wealth is volatile, just like wild eagle that sits nearby for a moment and then suddenly flies away. Money can disappear instantly through economic crashes, bad investment, health crisis, or theft. Look at the statistics of lottery winners.

Studies show that vast majority of those who win massive windfalls end up completely bankrupt within 5 to 10 years. Earthly wealth simply will not stay put. Now let's turn the coin over and look at the other side of our pair, poverty. The reality of poverty, so on one side there are riches, on the other side we see poverty.

Now when we consider poverty, there are those who are born into poverty, those circumstances they find themselves in, not out of their own doing, no fault of their own. Scripture treats them with immense tenderness. But we are going to talk about those who are pushed into poverty by the wickedness of others, so there is some wisdom for those who do that in the book of Proverbs. Poverty infused by bad actors, the greed of others.

Proverbs 30, verse 14 gives us a graphic description of those exploiters, the greed of others, keeping money. We see this clearly in our modern financial system. There is something which is known as lending market. Now lending market is nothing, but you can go to a bank and take a loan.

The bank will give you a loan at a certain percentage. Now to get a loan at a certain percentage, you need to have a credit score. Normally the credit score ranges from 300 to 850. Below 579 is considered poor, and above 800 is considered exceptional.

So you might get an interest for one person, on the other side you might get for 7 or 8, whatever. Depending on the credit score, the bank will lend you money at a certain rate for different reasons. There are those who do not have bank accounts or those who do not have financial standings. So when they go to a bank, the bank refuses to give them loans.

So what they do is they are forced to go to a money lender known as subprime lenders or loan sharks. They lend them money at a very high rate of interest. At that rate of interest is so high that if they do not pay the money, the outstanding principal will double in 3 to 4 years. This is the kind of people whose teeth are as swords and knives, devouring the poor for profit.

Proverbs 28, verse 8 warns, He that usury and unjust gain increases his substance. He shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. This is something, this is about threatening somebody or taking bribes. This is poverty infused by bad actors.

Now, poverty acts related by bad decision. Proverbs also warns that we can drive ourselves into poverty through our own choices, our own habits, and lack of discipline. Proverbs 10, verse 4, He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand. Talks about laziness, carelessness, or half-hearted effort.

So, laziness is something that we need to be avoided. Laziness is something that can lead to poverty. You know, hands folded, not willing to do, not willing to go and do something. Next, refusing to heed correction.

Proverbs 13, verse 8, Many times there are warnings. There are people who refuse to take heed to those warnings. This describes someone who is unteachable, refuses to learn from their mistakes. Next, pleasure-seeking, throwing off money and your wealth on pleasure.

Proverbs 21, verse 17 says, See, that love of pleasure shall be a poor man, constantly draining your resources. Then there is drunkenness and gluttony. Proverbs 23, verse 21, Lack of self-control. Then you are wasting time on frivolous things, like spending all your time on video games.

Proverbs 12, verse 11, One who finds his hand will have plenty of bread. One who pursues worthless things lacks sense. So different reasons, which I would say, which infuses poverty, accelerate poverty, which breeds poverty. Poverty is never just one thing.

It can be infused by bad actors, accelerated by bad decisions, or bred by bad mindsets. Understanding these differences is exactly what makes wisdom of Proverbs so practical and deep. Next, stewardship. I guess we'll skip that for the lack of time.

We spoke a little bit at the beginning. Now the second pair I'm going to run through is generosity and greed. Again, it's got to do with money. There are different verses that focus on certain aspects of generosity.

Generosity, giving money, greed, keeping money. Let's establish a profound truth. God is generous, so generous that you have a special word for His generosity, the word grace. You know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Though He was rich for your sake, He became poor. And because we are His children, we are made in His image and redeemed by His blood. We are commanded to look like our Lord. We must be generous.

Proverbs 28, verse 27. He that giveth unto the poor shall not lag. Speaks of giving to the poor. Proverbs 3, verse 9.

Honor the Lord with thy substance and wear the first fruit of all thine inquiries. Speaks of honoring God. Proverbs 11, verse 17. Speaks about the joy of giving.

Proverbs 14, verse 21. The person who has mercy on the poor. Happy is he. Speaks of happiness.

Proverbs 3, verse 10. Speaks of blessing. Then there is Proverbs 11, verse 24 and 25. There is one who scatters.

Oh, one who gives freely. One who gives freely is enriched. His substance will increase. Proverbs 19, verse 7.

He that has pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he repay. God gives it back. So we see human logics tells us keeping money makes us rich. However, God's wisdom says exact opposite.

Keeping an open hand. Giving money allows God to bless and multiply our resources. To have this, we must develop the mind of Christ. The one who set his heavenly riches aside to be born in a humble manger with no place to lay his head.

So we see now when generosity only need to give, you only need to be concentrated. But, you know, when you give, you honor the Lord, and that is about generosity. So we saw there is joy in giving, there is happiness in giving, there is blessing in giving. And remember that when you give, you have a sense of satisfaction.

You have the peace that is in your heart. And God is no man's debtor. Now on the other side, the other contrast we see is greed. Keeping money, that dark contrast of greed.

While generosity expands, the soul, greed shrinks it. The book of Proverbs exposes greed as an insatiable trap that manifests in three destructive ways. You know, greed is accumulation. There is advice for those who tend to be greedy.

Proverbs 30, verse 15 and 16 compares greed to a leech. The host leech hath two daughters crying, give, give. You know, when a leech attaches itself to the human body, all it knows is to suck the blood. And that's what greed is all about.

The greedy person is trapped in a cycle of constantly demanding more and more and completely incapable of finding contentment. Now there is a link between greed and laziness. Proverbs 21, 25 to 26, the desire of the slothful killeth him, for his hand refused to labor. So we see laziness feeds greed.

Lazy hand refused to labor, coveting greedily all day long. Then we see Proverbs 23, verse 6, the hypocrisy of a grudging giver. So, eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meat, for as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, saith he to them, but his heart is not with them.

The morsel which thou hast eaten shall vomit up and lose thy sweet words. So the principle is that greedy persons are often hypocritical hosts. They may invite you to their table and politely tell you, eat and drink. But internally, they regret every dime spent on you, accepting their hospitality results in bitter, rigorful experience where you, where your compliment and gratitude are completely wasted.

Then you see the ultimate cost of greed, self-destruction. Proverbs 1, verse 19. Unjusted greed ultimately consumes or destroys the lives of the person who chases it. And not only that, Proverbs 15, verse 27.

A greedy person not only suffers alone, their driving ambition brings chaos and stress and ruins their entire household. So, brothers and sisters in Christ, our life on this earth is temporal. Money and wealth are temporal. They are passing away right before our eyes.

But while wealth is temporary, the internal attitudes of generosity and greed that we exhibit carry massive, eternal weight. The entire book of Proverbs stands as an unmovable monument to this truth. It is far better to be poor and generous than to be rich and greedy. Greed promises a fortress, but it brings absolute ruin to the soul.

True financial wisdom is not about reaching a certain number in a bank account. It's about managing whatever economic condition that you find yourself with the right godly character. How you deal with wealth is one of the most critical tests of your life as a believer. To help us anchor this truth, let us turn to Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 6, 6 to 8.

Just read the first part. But godliness with condemnation is great gain. The word there is profit. Look at that phrase, great gain.

The world thinks great gain means adding more luxury cars or more real estate to your name. But the Holy Spirit says true profit, true wealth, is godly life, godly character paired with a satisfied soul. Contentment flows naturally out of a heart of deep gratitude, whereas covetousness is nothing but greed. True wealth is simply being happy and peace with what God has handed you.

To illustrate this, let me ask you a question, a very familiar verse. I want to visualize that famous passage from Philippians chapter 4, verse 13. I can do all things to Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things to Christ who strengthens me.

As you sit here this morning, I want you to think of something specific in your mind. That you can do through Christ who strengthens you. Something you would never accomplish without Him. Just take a brief moment and think about it.

Now let me ask you a second honest question. How many of you, when thinking of that verse, were thinking about money? Probably a very few. We usually quote that verse before a difficult, when we have a difficult, when we have a tough exam, or a sports game, or when we face a trial in life.

But that entire text is all about money. It's fundamentally a passage about managing your income. If you read the context, Paul is writing to thank the Philippines for a financial gift. He's explaining his relationship with material resources.

He says, I know how to be a beast, and I know how to abound. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Paul is saying, I have learned how to live on low income. I have learned how to live on high income.

I have learned to be completely content with whatever comes in, whether I have much or whether I have little. Because I can do all things, including managing my budget and staying content in any economy, to Christ who strengthens me. Christ gives us the supernatural power to conquer greed and anxiety. May God help every single one of us to live faithfully within our income.

Let me close this morning with what I believe is the most magnificent, well-balanced financial prayer in the entire Bible. It's found in Proverbs chapter 30, verse 8 and 9, spoken by a man named Edgar. This is how he says, Remove far from me vanity and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches.

Feed me with food convenient for me, lest I be full and deny thee and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and still. Take the name of my God in vain. What a beautiful sons of prayer.

Edgar doesn't pray for a mansion or a private jet. He says, Lord, don't give me so much wealth that I might become self-sufficient, arrogant, and ask, Who is the Lord? But don't let me fall into such deep poverty that I become desperate and turn to theft and bring shame upon your holy name. Lord, just give me my daily bread.

Give me what is convenient for me. True wisdom is never about how much money passes through your hands this week. It's entirely about the state of your heart. Whether a person has a little or a lot, true wisdom means maintaining absolute integrity, staying completely teachable, working diligently with your hand, and refusing to let greed or laziness destroy your Christian character.

As we walk out of this door today and return to our daily lives, let us bring this study into an active personal application. I leave you with these searching questions to ponder in the secret place of your heart this week. I will leave the question for you to read. May God help us to be faithful, loyal, and true to the person of Christ and to his blessed word.

Thank you.

Transcript

OK. All righty. Well, I decided not to do a PowerPoint, so you all are going to have to be looking into your Bibles a bit, rather than looking up at a screen. Trust that will work for you.

All right, an outline before we get started. Sometimes that's helpful, so you can have some idea of direction, and hopefully I will be able to somewhat stick to it. Again, our subject is the aspect of our attitude. Are we prideful in some way, or are we haughty?

Are we arrogant, or are we following the Lord's example of humility in our lives? And we'll start out, well, surprisingly enough, from the book of Proverbs. And we'll be looking at just some precepts, and we will see that Proverbs is very clear about condemning pride and commending humility. And as we've observed all through this summer, that there's usually comparisons involved.

If you act this way, this thing will happen. And if you act the opposite way, then this other thing will happen. And we'll certainly see that regarding our subjects of pride and humility. And then we will look at a parable that illustrates those precepts, one of our Lord's teachings.

And then what I hope will be our primary focus will be on humility and the Lord's pattern for us as he lived that out in his life. And perhaps looking at one or two other examples that we can follow in that regard as well. OK, so the precepts, we'll start out with-- we're going to try to go in order as these things are given in the book of Proverbs. There's probably some reason that they're put in this order.

And if you figure that out, then let me know. I wasn't particularly looking at that. But we'll start out in chapter 6 with this idea. Well, before we get started in that, let me ask you folks, because I do want to see if maybe I always like a little participation here, to think about a definition for pride.

And if you have one that's just not the opposite of that, for humility. So be thinking about those things. And if you have something, I will ask you to share it with us. If not, you'll have to bear with mind.

Proverbs chapter 6, and beginning at verse 16, we read about some things that the Lord hates. We certainly don't want to be involved with things that the Lord hates, things that are an abomination to Him. He says, these six things the Lord hates, yes, seven, are an abomination to Him. And it starts out with this, a proud look.

Or a haughty look. And then he lists other things, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among the brother. I thought it was interesting not only does it start out with the idea of just a proud look being something that the Lord hates or is an abomination before Him. I don't know if that makes it any worse than all the others.

But it does remind us that the sin of pride, and it is a sin, is kind of a foundational sin, if you will. It is the outcome of pride, both as far as the fallen angel, the devil, our adversary, Satan. He, of course, was lifted up by pride, and that was his fall. And then he induced our first parents to disobey, commit the first sin.

And if we look at that, certainly pride was involved in that. First John, the epistle of First John tells us about the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and those things were certainly involved in the fall. The other thing that I found interesting about this list is that pride is one of those in the list, and maybe the only one that we could fall into and not even necessarily know that we have fallen into it. If we steal something, if we lie, if we are swift to shed blood, all those things are pretty apparent to us that, oh, yeah, that was a sin.

A lot of times, if we're not careful, if we're not yielding to the Spirit, if we're not trying to follow the pattern of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's something that we can fall into. And frankly, it's one of those things that might be more apparent to others around us than it is even to ourselves. OK. Anybody have a definition of pride yet?

OK. That's fine. This was a pop quiz, and the thing is, so as usual, we consult AI for various things. And so I have to tell you that the first time that I looked into this subject and put it into just the rudimentary AI that Google has for us, the Gemini, that surprisingly enough, one of the things that came right up at the top was an article from ethnos360.

Yeah, how about that? So it's not all bad. And somebody's doing something good with getting it out there, getting their material out there, so that AI would pick up on that. It was a very nice article on pride.

So here's a definition that we can think about. And the Bible pride is defined as an attitude of self-sufficiency, self-exaltation, and rebellion, where an individual elevates their own importance, desires, and opinions above God and his authority. It is viewed as the core root of human sin and the opposite of spiritual humility. So it involves self-reliance, self-worship, and then as a result of those things, as we'll see in our parable once we get there, a contempt for others.

OK, going on in Proverbs then, Chapter 8, and we're coming across these things, these precepts to us, just as they occur in the book, verses 12 through 14. Here wisdom is speaking to us directly concerning this subject. I, wisdom, dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way.

He says, the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. First of all, that's where we started out, of course, in our study in the book of Proverbs. So we have it coming before us again. And so he's defining evil as pride and arrogance and the evil way.

And the perverse mouth, I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom, I am understanding, and I have strength. Fear of the Lord produces a hatred of evil, and as we've seen already, a hatred of pride and arrogance. OK, Proverbs 11 and verse 2, we're going to see a lot of these contrasts now, few anyway, with pride and humility.

When pride comes, then comes shame. But with the humble is wisdom. Chapter 16 and verses 18 and 19, this one's fairly familiar to us, I think. Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. The consequences of pride of haughtiness is that eventually, either in this life or the next, there will be destruction. But the result of being humble is much better, of course. And we'll see those results here as we go to chapter 18 and verse 12.

Before destruction, the heart of a man is haughty or full of pride, and before honor is humility. We will, again, keep these things in mind as we look at the parable as far as the outcomes of a haughty attitude or one that is humble. And we'll see that humility brings honor, if not in this life and in the next. Proverbs 22, 4, a similar thought, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches in honor and life."

Again, we might not see that in our present physical lives often, but it can be and should be. And if we are looking at riches in honor and life in the correct attitude and with the correct vision as to what those things entail, then humility will bring those things to us. And our brother Charles will probably help us out with the aspect of humility bringing riches into our lives next week. OK.

So we have-- there was one other one. One of the outcomes that we see from pride is this. We'll look, first of all, at Proverbs 13:10. So we will go back to pick that one up.

"By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom." And then if you'll flip over to Proverbs 28 and 25, "He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered." The outcome of pride and haughtiness is contention and strife. If we find ourselves involved in a situation of contention and strife with others, it may be all their pride that's causing that to take place.

But we need to take an assessment of our own hearts and attitude to make sure that we are not contributing to that strife and contention that we are not being prideful. I thought here, as we consider our subject, is that while humility invites God's grace and mercy, pride ignores God altogether. Humility is based on a proper assessment of ourselves and of God, which is essential to our understanding and accepting of the gospel. Pride puts self first and keeps us from understanding that we cannot save ourselves.

We are all sinners before a thrice, holy God. It's no wonder that the Lord speaks so disparagingly of having a prideful attitude if the outcome of that is to prevent a person from acknowledging that they need a Savior and for understanding that their own sin had before a thrice, holy God, has caused them to need salvation that we cannot accomplish on our own. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But the prideful person, I think, well, I'm not too bad.

I'm pretty good. And if that person is even acknowledging that there is a God, it would say, well, I'm good enough for him. So as we think about the awful results that can take place from pride, we want to also think about the benefits that come from true humility. As we are going to the New Testament, let's stop by just one familiar verse in the book of Micah.

Very familiar verse. Chapter 6 and verse 8. He has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?

But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. There is no other way to walk with God other than to walk humbly with him. If we have a prideful attitude, we will not be walking with God. We've gone over the precepts.

We've seen the difficulties that come from pride or having a haughty attitude and how that compares with humility and the benefits of that in our lives. Let's look at a parable, Luke chapter 18. Of course, it has to be keeping with my somewhat alliterative outline there, the parable of the Pharisee and the public of Luke chapter 18. We'll begin reading from verse 9.

Also, he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector or a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. You can just kind of feel the contempt and the arrogance that the Pharisee was feeling at that point towards the tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess, and so it ended. That was his prayer. He can at least commend the Pharisee that he was showing up to the temple to pray.

His prayer, not so much. The tax collector, on the other hand, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breath, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. One thing that you'll notice right off is the publican's prayer was a whole lot shorter and a whole lot more to God's liking as we will see. Because the Lord tells you, and his reason for bringing these two before those who trusted in themselves was to say this.

I tell you, this man, that is the publican, went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. The Pharisee, he asked for nothing, he confessed nothing, and he received nothing. The publican, on the other hand, asked for mercy, confessed his sin, and received honor or justification from God.

The Lord says those exact-- gives that exact same principle if we just go back to another parable just to emphasize this point. In chapter 14 and verse 11, one of the parables-- the Lord was at the table with a group, again, consisting of some Pharisees and others. Verse 11, "For whoever--" and the parable here has to do with taking the lower place. When you come into a feast, you're invited to someone's event.

Don't take the best place in the house. Take the worst place. Take the lower place because someone else will come in, and they will have to ask you to move back. And so then, again, the conclusion of that is, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The reward of humility is that we will obtain God's favor. Again, whether in this life or the next, it's a guarantee. The third time-- well, not taking those in chronological order just the way we're taking them-- that he said the same thing is found in Matthew chapter 23. Here, it was not given in the setting of a parable, the direct teaching to those he was addressing.

Speaking at the beginning of this chapter, it tells us that Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples. And he talks about the Pharisees again. They say a lot of good things. Do what they say.

Don't do as they do. And says this about them, "They love the best places." This is verse 6, chapter 23, Matthew. "They love the best places at feast, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, rabbi, rabbi.

But you do not be called rabbi, for one is your teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father, for one is your father who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers, for one is your teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." The Lord repeats something three times in exactly the same fashion. It's pretty important stuff. And so we have that before us.

So having seen that, let's look at the one who we can look at as our pattern for humility. So we talked about the definition of pride. You can look at humility as being exactly the opposite of pride. It also has been said, and this quote has been attributed to several different people, that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.

It's often attributed to C. S. Lewis, also to Rick Warren, more contemporary. We go back a little bit further to John Nelson Darby.

John Nelson Darby had the same thought. And I had often heard that he said that exact same or wrote that exact same thing. But what he did write in a book called The Man of Sorrows is that true humility is forgetfulness of self, the same thing as the same thought as contained within the idea of true humility is not thinking less of ourselves or not to be beating ourselves up unnecessarily, seeing, you know, boy, we're just such terrible people all the time. That's not necessary.

What is necessary is the forgetfulness of self altogether as much as that is possible in our lives. We are to think more of God and his requirements and his desires for us, as well as thinking more of others than ourselves. Romans chapter 12, to start to get some one other thought before us, before we look at our Lord Jesus Christ as the pattern for humility in our lives. We're all very familiar with, of course, the first two verses of this chapter.

I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies of living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And what is part of that perfect will? For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly or accurately, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

Our pattern for a life of humility, of course, our perfect pattern is in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. And no better place is that set out in regards to humility and how that is to impact our lives, his example, than in Philippians chapter 2, of course. We'll just begin at the beginning of this chapter. "Therefore, if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy--" it's amazing how much mercy shows up in our contemplation of this subject.

"Fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition," or conceit, could also say pride, haughtiness, arrogance. "Let nothing be done through that. But in the lowliness of mind," and that's the same Greek word before us there for humility, "let each esteem others better than himself.

Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others." And then Paul exhorts us to have this attitude, to have this mind in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond server and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. "Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Our pattern has been set before us, our perfect example of living a life of humility. As we saw in Romans chapter 12, God doesn't ask us to get up on our cross and to have our bodies treated like the Lord Jesus Christ was treated. He asks us to be living sacrifices for himself. But Paul encourages us here to have that same attitude that our Lord Jesus Christ did exhibit in allowing himself to be taken to the cross for our sakes.

And of course, even before that, he lived a life of humble service. He, several times in the gospels, pointed out that he did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. So service, obviously, is involved in the aspect of humility. I think it's interesting that the ladies are going to be taking up that subject here in their next study.

And as a part of that, I understand one of the things they're going to be reviewing. They're going to have a study specifically on service. But they've also been encouraged to read a book by Ken Fleming called "He Humbled Himself." And this is a copy out of our library.

We appreciate Jonathan and his service in keeping the library up. We should more take advantage of it. But this will be back in there. And Brother Fleming's idea is to bring out the aspect of service as depicted, particularly in this portion of scripture, and to encourage us to be servants to one another as the Lord was to those he came in contact with.

One final exhortation along the same lines is if we just turn back a book into Ephesians. Chapter 4, verse 1, "I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you," again, another beseeching, another begging us to engage in this attitude and with our actions. Here the emphasis is on actions. "I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

We have the opportunities and everything that we encounter in our lives to have an attitude of self-sufficiency, self-worth, self-worship, in a sense. Or we can have a walk as we have been encouraged to do, to walk in lowliness of mind, to walk in humility, being as it's been brought before us the forgetfulness of self. Week to week, we come and have the privilege and the pleasure of remembering our Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has done in His person and all that He is accomplishing in us and will still accomplish in terms of coming again for us. But in keeping with Brother Darby's definition of true humility, being the forgetfulness of self, we also need to remember to forget ourselves.

Let's close. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you once again for your word. We thank you for the exhortations that it has to us. Thank you for the wisdom that is given to us in the book of Proverbs, these precepts that are laid out that teach us the outcome of our actions and our attitudes.

We do pray for hearts that would be humble, certainly before you, but also before each other, and that we would endeavor to live lives that would be pleasing to you, that we would indeed walk humbly with you, our God. And our Lord Jesus Christ, we again thank you for being the ultimate example of a life of humility. We pray that we would endeavor to follow your example as we leave this place and go out to a world that is in the need of a Savior, that many that we encounter, we pray that we would deal with them in a humble fashion, confident of the truth, but not arrogant in it, as we pray these things in our Lord Jesus, most precious and worthy name. Amen.

Transcript

Today our subject is "Choosing Wisdom in a Deceitful World." And all of these lessons we've had in Proverbs involve wisdom. So this is just kind of a review, but it's kind of majored on the word "wisdom." Before I start here, just so we're the guidance, Lord, to open our eyes that we might understand and teach us by your blessed Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name, amen.

Before I start on this wisdom, I thought I'd share just a couple of verses. 1 Corinthians 1. The background on this is God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and done in verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1, it says, "But of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." So the Lord Jesus is wisdom from God.

And then Colossians 2. I'll start in verse 1 there. "For I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, and knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Whenever you're looking at Proverbs and wisdom, it's a type of Christ.

Sometimes it's very, very close. You can exchange the word "wisdom" for Jesus. But I'd like to begin in 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, judgment, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, to the young man of knowledge and discretion." So think of the word "wisdom."

It involves all these things that are listed here, instruction, understanding, justice, judgment, equity, prudence, and discretion. It says, "A wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel." It's involved in the body of Christ. We need each other.

We need wise counsel from each other. It says, "To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles, the fear of the Lord is a beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." Here it talks about the fear of the Lord is a beginning of knowledge. It's an amazing thing.

You can have a man with four doctorate degrees, four doctorate degrees, and they don't seem to have any wisdom from the Lord at all. I mean, really smart. But, you know, when you come to the fear of the Lord, that's the beginning of knowledge. It's the beginning of wisdom.

In Proverbs 9-10, it says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." But wisdom and knowledge are tied together, and understanding, it says, "But fools despise wisdom and instruction." This is one thing that's good to stop and think. How are you at receiving instruction?

How are you receiving correction? I'll tell you, none of us like to be corrected. I don't care who you are. In the flesh, you don't want to be corrected.

But in the Spirit, you know this is God's way. It's the only way we'll ever grow, is correction and instruction. And it's really, if you are, think back, and you don't like to be corrected. Ask God to give you a heart that's open to correction.

That's a way of life. That's the way you're going to grow. That's the way you're going to become like Christ. It says, "But fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Look in Chapter 2, so much, and I could include hundreds of scriptures, but we don't have the time for that. But anyway, Chapter 2, "My son, if you receive my words and treasure, my command is within you," I'm in verse 1 there, "so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding." Wisdom and understanding are connected. "Yes, if you cry out for discernment, lift up your voice for understanding.

If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasure." It's the idea of searching for it. You desire to have this wisdom. It's not just a lackadaisical, "Well, the Lord is my wisdom.

I don't need to do anything." It says, "But they that hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled." It's the idea of God wants us to have a desire to have this wisdom from God. Then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

Beautiful, beautiful verse there. Then you'll understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. Look with me in one verse in Hosea, Ezekiel Daniel Hosea. Verse 6, chapter 6, verse 6, "For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

Jesus used this verse twice. He said, "These are the things that you bypass, but this is the thing that you need to really understand. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." That we might know God, that we might just get acquainted with Him.

It's very precious to know the Lord. It says, "For the Lord gives, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. If you seek for as you're going after gold." I know in the tribe where my son is, they have gold in that area.

Everybody in the village is gone, all the men. They're all going after gold. I'll tell you what, they'll sacrifice everything to go after that gold. But that's the way we're supposed to be with wisdom.

It says, "For the Lord gives wisdom." From His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. The Lord is the one that's going to give us that wisdom. Chapter 3.

Verse 13, "Happy is a man who finds wisdom." Like I say, happy is a man who finds the Lord Jesus. True happiness comes from the Lord. Happy is a man who finds wisdom and a man who gains understanding.

"For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and a gain than fine gold." She is more precious than rubies and all things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is at her right hand. In her left hand, riches in honor, these are true riches.

Not just money, it's talking about true riches. Her ways are the ways of pleasantness and all her path of peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her. You see, the tree of life was there in the garden and Adam and Eve could have taken from it.

But they chose to take the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was forbidden. And the Lord put them out of the garden, lest they take the tree of life and live eternally in their sin. That would have been a terrible thing. So God put them out of the garden and they couldn't come back in.

But the tree of life, the Bible tells us in Revelation 22 that we have the right to the tree of life. You know, those who come to know the Lord Jesus, at that moment they have the tree of life. From the moment they put their trust in the Lord Jesus. And this is, she is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happy are all those who retain her.

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth by understanding he established the heavens. So he shows the Lord and his wisdom and understanding. The wisdom, it created everything. What a wonderful, wonderful thought that is.

Okay, go to chapter four, please. Verse four, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words, keep my commands and live. Get wisdom, get understanding, do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, she will preserve you.

Love her and she will keep you. Wisdom is a principle thing, therefore get wisdom and in all you're getting get understanding. Exalt her and she will promote you and she'll bring you honor when you embrace her. It goes on to say it'll keep you, protect you from the evil man and protect you from the adulterous woman.

True wisdom from the Lord will do those things for us. Go to chapter nine, please. Wisdom has built her house, verse one. She has hewn out her seven pillars.

She has slaughtered her meat, she has mixed her wine, she has also furnished her table. She has sent out her maidens, she cries out the highest places of the city. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. This is like wisdom as a preacher.

He's out there preaching. And he says, send out her maidens, she cries out from the highest places of the city. That's interesting, the highest place of the city. Whoever is simple, you know, he's inviting.

The Lord is inviting the simple. Make the wise the simple. The word of God makes wise the simple. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.

As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him, come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. For sake, foolishness, and live, and go in the way of understanding. It's like the Lord Jesus in John chapter seven. He cried out, whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

And this is like the wisdom is like preacher out here. For sake, foolishness, and live, and go in the way of understanding. He who corrects the scoffer gets shame for himself. He who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.

Do not correct the scoffer lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man and he will laugh you. Somebody rebukes you. You don't like that.

But I tell you what, if you know it's for your own good, you'll love him. I remember when my son was about 17 years old, and we were in the city of Chicago looking for the U. S. consulate, and this taxi driver was driving us all over to Chicago just to run up the bill, yeah?

I mean, we're driving on, and we don't know where we're going, this huge city of 20 million people. And finally I told the taxi driver, stop! I said, and I only paid him what was on the thing, and I got out, and I was fuming. And my son says, "Dad, you're out of line."

Whoo! My son! Rebuking me! I had to stop thinking, that's right.

I'm out of line. I had lost it. I really lost my temper, you know? Anyway, we did find the consulate.

Verse 9, "Give instruction to a wise man, he will be still wiser. Teach a just man, he will increase in learning." This is a way of life. It's instruction, rebuke, correction, these things.

God wants us to be able to see it his way and receive it. Then it says, "The fear of the Lord is a beginning of it." This is a verse you ought to memorize. "The fear of the Lord is a beginning of it."

And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. That's where it all starts. "The fear of the Lord is a beginning of wisdom." And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Who's the Holy One? Look at Mark 1:24, "Knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Look at verse 23 of Mark 1:23. "Now there was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit."

He had a demon in him. "And he cried out, saying, 'Let us alone.'" "What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us?'"

They see the power of God. They see that Jesus is the Son of God. And they see that they're subject to the Messiah. He says, "I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. That's the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And a verse in Proverbs 16. This is a verse that's quoted in the New Testament more than any other verse from the Old Testament declaring the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

Verse 10, "For you will not leave my soul in shield of the place of the dead, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption." That's Proverbs 16 verse 10. Excuse me. I'm jumping around here.

"For you will not leave my soul in shield, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption." Peter quotes that on the resurrection. Paul quotes that verse on the resurrection of book Acts. "For you will not leave my soul in shield, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption."

That's why there in Proverbs 9 verse 10, the fear of the Lord is a beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. You get to know the Lord Jesus and you have that wisdom available. Okay, let's look at chapter 8.

Chapter 8 is an amazing chapter. Some people would put the Lord Jesus as the main feature here, and I think it is, but at least it's a type. And you'll see that some are very close as we get toward the end of this chapter, but it's a preacher again. Chapter 8 verse 1.

"Does not wisdom cry out and understanding lift up her voice?" It's like a preacher. She takes her stand on the top of the hill. Beside the way where the paths meet, she cries out by the gates at the entrance of the city, at the entrance of the doors.

"To you, old men, I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O you simple ones, understand prudence, and you fools, be of an understanding heart. Listen, for I will speak of excellent things." The thing is, the Lord says, "Listen, listen, listen with your mind and heart and be ready to listen and obey.

Listen, for I speak of excellent things, and from the opening of my lips will come right things, for my mouth will speak truth, wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All words on my mouth are with righteousness, nothing crooked or perverse is in them." They all are plain to him who understands and write to those who find knowledge. "Receive my instruction and not silver and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things may desire cannot be compared with her.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence and find out knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil." The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. The pride and arrogance and evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom. I am understanding.

I have strength. It's like the preachers out there telling you to come to the Lord Jesus, come to the Lord Jesus, come to the Lord Jesus. You know, there's another one very similar to this. He's on the streets crying.

It's in chapter 9. Look at chapter 9. Look at the similarities here. The devil preaches a false gospel.

It's nice to get it to sound good, you know? Look at verse 13 of chapter 9. "A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing, for she sits at the door of her house on the seat by the highest places of the city."

Similar to the Lord preaching in chapter 8. You call to those who pass by who go straight on their way. Whoever is simple, her message is to the simple. The Lord Jesus' message is to the simple.

Her message is simple. Let him turn in here. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. "As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret places."

Secret is pleasant. Stolen water is sweet and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. This is her message. "But he does not know that the dead are there, and their guests are in the depths of hell."

I think some of the things that are the devil's going overtime right now, trying to get young people away from the Lord. One of them is pornography. I'll tell you what, pornography will eat you up and spit you out. I know a dear friend.

He was a missionary. A missionary came home on furlough. He had a wife, three beautiful children. He got involved in pornography.

One night, his wife got up and saw him watching this pornography on TV three o'clock in the morning. They end up getting a divorce, split apart, and he just got married to pornography. That's how much of a grip it had on him. The guy told me it's harder to break from pornography than it is from heroin.

Pornography will destroy you young folks. I'll tell you what, it'll destroy you old folks too. But it's amazing. There's two out there preaching, and they're both standing on a high hill, and they both cry out.

It's up to us whether we listen or not. Chapter 8, verse 15. "By me kings reign and rulers decree justice." He's talking about wisdom.

"By me princes rule and nobles all the judges of the earth. I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently will find me." Those who seek me diligently will find me. Riches in honor are with me.

Enduring riches. Not the riches like silver and gold, but enduring riches and righteousness. My food is better than gold. Yes, and fine gold in my revenue than choice silver.

I traverse the way of righteousness in the midst of the path of justice. That I might cause those who love me to inherit wealth. That I may fill their treasuries. The Lord possesses me, possessed me at the beginning of his way.

Sounds like Jesus there. The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his way before his works of old. I've been established from everlasting. That's my Lord Jesus.

I've been established from everlasting. The eternal Son of God. From the beginning before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth.

When there were no fountains abounding with water before the mountains were settled. Before the hills I was brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth or the fields or the primal dust of the world when he prepared the heavens, I was there. Jesus was involved in that.

He was the creator of the heavens, you know. When he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned the seas its limit so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundation of the earth, then I was beside him or as a master craftsman. Jesus was there at the creation. He was the master craftsman.

Pretty beautiful story there. I was his delight. God's a father, delighted in the sun. God the father, delighted in the sun.

I was his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in his inhabited world. And my delight was with the sons of men. My Lord Jesus, delight was with the sons of men. That's beautiful, beautiful.

My delight was with the sons of men. Now therefore listen to me my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, do not disdain it. Blessed is a man who listens to me.

I'm going to look up a word study. Look up the phrase, they would not listen. Look at the Old Testament, would not listen. Boy, there's a lot of places there.

God sent prophets to him and they would not listen. It's a warning to us, I believe. Blessed is a man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my door. Whoever finds me, finds life.

Whoever finds me, finds life. That's the Lord Jesus. Whoever finds me, finds life. Look at 1 John 5.

I'll start in verse 9. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is a witness of God, which he has testified of his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has a witness in himself.

But he who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he does not believe the testimony that God has given of his Son. This is a testimony that God has given us eternal life. This life is in his Son. He who has a Son has life.

He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I've written to you, believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life and you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Whoever finds me, finds life and obtains favor from the Lord. I'm back here in Proverbs chapter 8.

It says, "He who sins against me wrongs his own soul." Think about that. Congress sins against the Lord Jesus. Whoever sins against wisdom wrongs his own soul.

Then that last statement says, "All those who hate me love death." Whoo! "All those who hate me love death." Look at me in 2 Thessalonians, please.

Chapter 1. I'll just start reading in verse 3. 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 3. "We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you abounds toward each other, so that we ourselves, most of you among the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions."

They were suffering great persecutions in this church. "And tribulation that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer. Since it is the righteous thing for God to repay with tribulation those who troubled you and to give you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels." That's when Jesus comes back to establish the kingdom.

He says, "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God." Who do not know God. And on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the ones He's taken vengeance on.

The ones who don't obey the gospel. Jesus said, "You must be born again. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and I shall be saved." And they reject that message.

They reject who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Thou shalt be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Those who hate me love death. Death in the Bible always has the idea of separation.

Those who die in this world without the Lord will be separated from God forever and ever. To me that's part of the worst part of hell. From the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. When He comes in the day to be glorified in His things and to be admired among all those who believe, it's a glorious day for us, the believers, because our testimony among you was believed.

It's amazing. All those who hate me love death. They've chosen their path. Nobody is thrown into hell.

People choose to go there. Those that hate the Lord Jesus love death. I love that. In Isaiah 1 it says, "Come now, let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wall." The Lord Jesus calls out people to come to Him and trust Him, and though their sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wall. Thank you, Lord, for your word.

Thank you for wisdom. Thank you for this beautiful, beautiful scripture. Thank you for Proverbs chapter 8 and the wonderful, wonderful good news. Pray for any here that don't know you, Lord, they might put their trust in you now before it's forever too late.

Lord, help us to grow. Help us, Lord, if we lack wisdom, help us to come to you and ask for it, help us to ask in faith, not wavering, that we might grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, amen.

Transcript

Well, good morning, everyone. This morning, we want to think about friendship in the book of Proverbs. So let me ask you, we had a half hour break, right? How many people did you shake their hand and say, hey, it's good to see you?

Pat them on the back. Boy, I missed you this week. How many of you just reached out to be a friend to the guys over here in coffee, break time, friendship, and making it practical? OK, I want to start out with this conference.

I asked prayer this last week for a conference they were having in Indonesia. So let's look at some of the pictures of the conference and just be thankful for what the Lord did for those three days. So Indonesia, where Lois and I worked for 35 years, and John was over there also for a number of years. Anyway, how do I get this to forward?

There you go. OK, so you make five plane trips to get to Borneo, actually up to the jungle area where we live. And then you have to get on a boat like this and travel for three hours up a major river. And right now, it's kind of flood water season, a lot of rain going on right now.

So sometimes you get to the rapids and you got to get out and walk around while they drag the boat, pull the boat, just maneuver the boat through the rapids. And then you load back into the boat to continue your journey on to, in this case, to where the conference was being held. So we got up to the village, way up in the jungle. And the welcoming committee was glad to have all the visitors there.

And so they give you some tokens and some drink just to refresh you as you get ready to enjoy the three-day conference. And now, having 200 people there, somebody's got to cook food for those folks. So you can imagine cooking over open fires and big vats and things to prepare enough rice and other things. So we're very thankful for the women and their ministry of just providing the physical needs for us to be able to enjoy the time up there.

So it was a three-day conference. We had about 200 folks, people there, plus visitors. So it was just a great time of studying God's word. And the theme of the conference was, don't be carried by the rapids.

Don't be carried by the stream downriver. Don't be carried downriver. Go against the flow, meaning don't just go along with what's going on in society. Think about what you're doing and just do what God wants you to do, even though it may be hard.

So that was the thing they talked about for three days. And you think about, OK, fine, they have McDonald's up there. They have all these stores. You can just go and buy stuff, negative.

Somebody has to get some money to buy the supplies they need. And then they would go ahead and cook it. And these people in this particular area, they are gold hunters. Now, I don't know if any of you have ever tried to pan for gold, but what this lady is doing here, and they'll get the sand and stuff off the bottom of the river, and they just move it around, hoping that there's some gold particles in there.

So they did that to get the money to help provide for this. Another way that they'll get money is cutting rubber. John, did they have that down where you were? Yeah.

You take a little thing, and you cut grooves in the tree every day. And you can see that kind of heart shape, big section there. That's about, I would imagine, three weeks or maybe a month's worth of cutting. They cut a groove every day.

The white rubber sap comes down and goes into that little thing in the bottom. So they did that in our tribe also. OK, wild pig, that's what these ladies have here. So not only rice, but some of the guys go out, and they will get pig.

There is a time of the year where the pig will migrate, so they can see them swimming in the rivers, and they'll get them that way. Been there, done that. Some of these people in this tribe, you don't want to mess with them. I didn't even challenge this lady to arm wrestle, but they are strong women.

It is a mountainous area, so anyway, it's good that they're able to live in an environment like that. Now, one of the things they did at the conference, this fella here, Dave Circe, he worked with this tribe, the Punan tribe, for 40 years. And while they were there, the last day they had a burying of his ashes. His daughter Rachel, who's still up there translating the Bible, she's almost done translating it into this language.

She brought her dad's ashes back. He died in America about three years ago, maybe, I'm not sure. But she brought them back to the tribe, and he had requested that when he passed away, he would like his ashes to be buried with his friends, with his family up in the jungle area. So that's what they did here.

I were just honoring Dave, and they made a place for him. So they prayed for just the family for encouragement and stuff. They prayed for the believers that they would live a life like Dave lived, and then they buried him in this little gravesite and covered him up. So he's up there in the graveyard with all the other tribal believers in that particular tribe.

OK, now, one of the needs-- I got about three more slides. One of the big needs we have in that work up there in that whole area-- there's about five language groups-- is youth leaders, twice a week. I think it's twice a week. They have youth meetings with the high school kids, the college kids, probably 35 to 40 kids, but they need a committed missionary family, either Indonesian or American, that would take this on, take this ministry on, and teach these kids every week.

So they are praying for a family to do that. Now, here's another need. This small church building with all these folks here gathered is one of the churches we administered to for about 20 years while we were up there. And they want to expand the church.

So the back wall, they want to push it back another 13 feet. And the front wall here, they want to go the opposite direction, 13 feet. The sides will stay the same. So you're looking at about $3,500 worth of expenses.

And then they're going to go out in the jungle with their chainsaws and cut the wood part of it, but they'll have a lot of cement work to do. So they're going to need about $3,500. Lois and I are going to be making a donation to help with that, and they hope to get started on this project in the next probably three or four months. So anyway, just appreciate your prayers as they expand this church building.

OK, my favorite slide. You remember, I've been asking prayer for our granddaughter Selah. She's 2 and 1/2 years old. She's one with a brain tumor, and she's been doing chemotherapy for about five months now.

And that's my daughter Kim with her daughter Selah. So continue to pray for Selah. She's still got about eight to nine months to go. The doctor said it is shrinking, so they're encouraged.

But it's just been a long trial for them to go through. And this is the rest of the family, Lois and I. Lois goes over there probably two, three times a month, and she helps babysit the other kids who you can see in the front. There's Patch the Pirate sitting there in the front.

But anyway, she babysits the other kids while Selah is doing her chemo treatment, and that's her family on the back. So the last thing I just wanted to mention was our Bible school up in Walker Shaw, Wisconsin. They have a record number of students this coming semester. So they're praising the Lord, and they're also asking prayer as they get ready to teach this next semester.

So just pray for the Bible school there in Walker Shaw, Wisconsin. OK, that's all I had. So can we turn this off now? OK, how do we turn it off?

There you go. OK. Friendship. Who are my friends?

You know, wouldn't it be great? I think I was mentioned this morning that Jesus is our friend. We sang a couple of songs about Jesus being our friend, but wouldn't it be great if we could just realize and see him in person right now? I would say, boy, Lord, I need your help.

Thank you, Lord, that I have this chance, but I ask you to guide this meeting. But just to experience his person, his presence, in our lives and realize, man, you are the best friend I could ever have, Lord. Thank you. Thank you.

Anyway, he is with us all the time, and he is our friend. And I'll mention a couple of verses about him saying, I don't call you servants anymore, but I call your friends. But we'll come to that later. OK, I want to go through some of the verses that were pointed out in Proverbs about this theme of friendship.

Proverbs 11:14 says, for lack of guidance, I would recommend you don't look at these verses. I'm just going to go down through them real quick, but you're welcome to if you can keep up. Proverbs 11:14, for lack of guidance, a nation falls. But victory is won through many advisors.

You know what? Our country needs guidance. Our country needs godly input into all the things that we're facing right now. And many advisors, not only for a country, but us individually.

And so I ask myself, how many friends do we have that we openly share our hearts with about our lives, about what's going on? How many people do you-- hey, can I talk to you a minute? I just want to share my heart. You really need your thoughts, I need your input, I need your prayers, I need your concern.

But we need many folks that we can interact with, many friends that we can just go through life with and be an encouragement to, and them also to us. So again, the Lord is our best friend, and we need to keep coming to the Lord all the time. Lord, I need you in this situation. I need your help.

OK, 13.20, Proverbs 13:20, walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. So walk with the wise. I think we can all say, thank you, Lord, for the family of God. Thank you for the Akal Bible.

Thank you for the friends back at the homes in Samford. Thank you for the people back in Indonesia that we can interact with. And just thank you for the people you bring along to encourage me and to help me, help us in our walk with the Lord. Now the opposite side of that idea of friendship, companion of fools.

Honestly, guys, you look at our society, and I'm thinking especially of our colleges, secular colleges. A lot of Christians are going to these schools, and they're getting drawn away from the Lord. Honestly, my own daughter, my oldest daughter, who lives now in Missouri, she went to College of the Ozarks, a very good Bible school, went four years. But her last year, she met a guy that lived in the community there.

She got interested in him, and they ended up getting married. Well, he was an ex-Jehovah witness. He's not practicing now, but they don't go to church anymore. They don't have anything to do with religious things.

But they're doing well, but companion of fools. I'm not calling my son-in-law a fool, but he is an unbeliever, and it drew my daughter away from him. So we just need to be encouraging our kids, Jonathan, and Micah, and you other guys, encouraging them to have friends that know the Lord, and it can be an encouragement to you. Because honestly, this satanic attack is real in all of our lives, but especially in our secular colleges.

OK, 1717. A friend loves at all times-- personally, I would say, well, most of the time-- loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. And I think the encouragement there is a friend is going to say, hey, look, I know what you're going through. I know that wasn't easy.

I know you blew it there, but I want to be an encouragement. I want to help you. I've been there, I've done that, and I just want to encourage you and help you. So we are thankful for the friends that understand what we're going through and want to take the time to help us walk through it.

So what times of adversity do we face in our Christian walk today? And I think the biggest one that we all face is social media. How many of us, how many hours a day do you spend looking at Facebook, looking at WhatsApp, just looking at things that you think, well, that might be interesting to look at that? We spend way too much time on social media.

Anyway, one thing I remember-- it used to be maybe 15 years ago of bumper stickers. There used to be lots of Christian bumper stickers about all kinds of things. Driving on the interstate, you'd see that all the time. You hardly see it anymore.

I think our society is moving away from being a prominent influence and outright sharing God's word in one way or another, and we're just being afraid to express our walk with the Lord. Another thing I think we see is when you do get on the internet and you look at different things, what starts popping up in advertisements and stuff like that? A lot of times, it's what you were just looking at. I was looking at car insurance the other day, so trying to get what's a good rate and stuff like that.

Well, then on my Facebook and WhatsApp, well, Facebook is popping up advertising about car insurance. So that's happening automatically. Big Brother is watching. So anyway, our society is going downhill.

1824, one who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. And I think, who's your best friend? Our wives would want to say, don't forget me. I'm with you all the time, so I should count as your best friend.

Well, sometimes we spend time with other people. I don't say we don't spend more time with our wives. They're definitely our best friend, but sometimes we don't treat them as our best friend. We just treat them as a companion.

But anyway, I've mentioned earlier that I spend a lot of time on Facebook and WhatsApp, just looking at my friends back in Indonesia, hearing what's going on, asking for prayer requests. And I don't spend as much time with my own personal family. I've got two brothers and a sister that are still alive, and we might interact maybe once every couple of months. So it's not very often, but my friends as far away as Indonesia daily.

OK, 27/6, Proverbs 27/6, wounds from a friend can be trusted when an enemy multiplies kisses. So wounds, we conceive faithfulness to a point when something in our life is not right, or what the Bible says, our friend will come along and just encourage us to think about what the Lord would have and just point out maybe how we can change in some areas. In the mission, we call it personal ministry. You have a one-on-one personal ministry.

It can be good, or it can be challenging. But don't forget, your wife is the one that will have the most personal ministry in my life. The other day, she mentioned something. I don't remember what it was.

Well, OK, here it is. Here it is. Now, just forget who said this, all right? And you guys sitting right here close to me.

She was sitting in the car. We're coming here. She said, I think you need to put that shirt in the wash the next time I wash. I don't notice it.

But your wife, she points out things. That's an easy thing to point out. Sometimes she'll say, you know, the way you were, that was really coming across hard, but what you just said there. So be careful how you come across.

Anyway, our wives will have personal ministry in our lives and just to be an encouragement to us. OK, 27/9, this goes along with a dirty shirt. Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, but not a dirty shirt. And the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice.

The pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice. So friends do sincerely care for us. They want to encourage us. And even last night, before I went to bed, I went to my friend's house.

And I said, John, would you pray for me? I'm going to be speaking tomorrow at church. So he took about five minutes and just prayed for me. Just said I would just be encouraged and I'd be able to get through the message that God laid on my heart.

But he's a friend that I can count on to help me out and just pray for me. OK, one practical aspect of friends, they do things for one another to show appreciation. OK, when's the last time you thought of Mary, Martha's sister, Lazarus's sister? When she went to Jesus, she kneels down before him.

And in her heart, she's saying, Lord, I know what you're going to do for me, thank you. And what does she do? She washes his feet. She wipes his feet with her hair.

She uses perfume, it says. So she's honoring her friend, the Lord Jesus. And saying, thank you, Lord. And then Jesus turns around as a friend.

I no longer call you servants, but I call you my friends. And what did he do with the disciples the day before he was arrested? He had them sit down and he went one by one and he washed their feet, saying, I love you. Thank you for following me.

I know it's not going to be easy, but I am just looking out for you, and I am honoring you, and I'm just showing you that I appreciate all that you're doing and all that you're going to do. Most of them gave their lives to follow the Lord. So the Lord was thanking them for that. OK, the last one I had was in 2717.

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. OK, I don't know if you've ever seen somebody work metal to form a machete or form an axe. We saw that in the early days in the tribe. They would have a big fire pit and somebody would be cranking a fan to get the fire going really hot.

And he would just have a stick of metal. They used to use springs out of a car. They'd be under springs, and they'd take one slice of that spring. And they would make machetes out of that.

It's good metal. But it's a lot of work to get that thing red hot and then beat it to form it into the shape of a machete. So I'm thinking iron sharpens iron. Well, we need to be thinking about how can I be an encouragement to others.

Maybe not like that, but seriously think, how can I be an encouragement to my friends? How can I be an encouragement to, like Gregory said, people that don't know the Lord. How can I reach out to them and really take it seriously and do what I can to share God's word with these people? So the big idea is the people that you walk with, that you're friends with, will be a big influence in where you end up and the things you do in your life and how you spend your time and what you do.

So let's go on to thinking about friends and how we can be an encouragement to our friends. So we'll spend eternity together with our friends if they know the Lord. We will have no regrets for what we could have done for the Lord. We will say, I did all that I could for the Lord, hopefully.

We will wish we had encouraged each other more to have the Lord's priorities in our lives. And I think when we get to heaven, we'll say, boy, I wish I had done this. Or, wow, now that I realized what the Lord was doing there, I could have done more in that situation. But anyway, friends, how can we be friends and be available for the Lord to use us?

OK. OK, I will mention some of the friends I have at the homes, our retirement community. We do get together every Friday morning for about an hour, about eight to 10 of us. And we pray about different situations.

So we'll be sharing different prayer requests and stuff and then just pray. So we try to do that. Every day, we have coffee break at 10 o'clock in the morning, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, down at the clubhouse, and also at the dining hall. So that's a time to just be encouraged in fellowship and spend time together and just be a help to one another.

In Hebrews 10, 24, and 25, it says, "Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of not meeting together, not doing things with other people, being a loner, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching." And Romans 1 has said this, "For I have longed to visit you so I can bring you some spiritual gift." Now, this is Paul talking to his friends in Rome. I want to bring you a spiritual gift and help you grow strong in the Lord.

That should be our desire also. Who are we helping to grow strong in the Lord? When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours. That's Romans 1, 11, and 12.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, it says, "So encourage each other. Build each other up just as you are already doing." OK, thinking about Paul, the Bible does mention about 26 different people. Actually, it's in Romans.

I think it's the last chapter in Romans. He lists a bunch of people that he says, say hi to this person. Do this for that person because they were special to me. So here's some of the ones he mentions.

Loving his neighbor as himself. He mentions Silas. I'm not going to mention the verses. Who was a leader in the early church and a companion of Paul on his second missionary journey.

He also was imprisoned with Paul and Philippi where their prayers and hymns led to a miraculous earthquake and the conversion of the jailer who was watching them in the jailer. So that was Silas. And then you look at Timothy. And he says this about Timothy.

He calls him a spiritual son. And he says, "I have no one else like-minded who will genuinely care for your welfare." So Timothy had a real heart to be an encouragement to Paul and to others. He mentions Luke, the beloved physician who is a loyal friend and companion of Paul.

And he's traditionally credited with writing the Gospel of Luke in the book of Acts. And it's noted that when Paul is in prison, Paul writes, "Only Luke is with me." And he detailed the account of how Luke was an encouragement to Paul in his ministry. Epaphroditus would bring gifts to Paul during his time in prison.

And Paul described him as "my brother, fellow worker, and a fellow soldier." In Onesophorus, he said, "He often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains." So anyway, these are just some of the ways that Paul's friends encouraged him. You know what?

I got too much here to get through. So how did Paul encourage people in person? He would let them know that he appreciated them. He let other people know what he thanked the Lord for in different people's lives.

He wrote letters. He prayed for them. He modeled friendship with them. So he just encouraged people in many different ways, many different aspects.

Should I mention my oldest friend that I have over there, Orrin Green? 99 years old. We played pool the other night. And he's learning.

He's letting me beat him now. In the early days, he was every man for himself. But 99 years old. And that guy, he served 20 years in Columbia on the Orinoco River.

And I think 30-some years as a counselor and encourager for missionaries all over North America, actually. So anyway, I appreciate Orrin. He's going downhill little by little. We don't play golf anymore.

He doesn't ride a three-wheel bike anymore. But I want to be an encouragement to Orrin and just thank him for his life and let him know that we appreciate him. So anyway, OK, here's some random thoughts. And I'll take a couple of minutes.

And then we'll go ahead and close. So when you think about your friends, you usually think, well, that's somebody you would go up to and put your arm around them, give them a handshake, just show them physically that you appreciate them and you missed them. You would say, hey, how's it been going? I've been thinking about you.

And just wondered how I can be a help to you. Is there anything you need done? Let me know. I know one person sitting in the room right now, he mentioned that he is extremely grateful for our dear friends at Lake Hill Bible Chapel.

He says they are genuine, caring, loving. They put up with my shenanigans with zero judgment. Maybe they'll give me a lecture from time to time, but I can put up with it. Is that right, Dan, about like that?

Oh, I didn't mention to mention. Be specific. Anyway, it's true. We do have a lot of good friends here at the chapel.

OK, thinking about friends, high school. How many of you still have high school friends? I graduated high school in 1968, OK. I still have friends from my neighborhood that I grew up in.

I keep in touch with them on Facebook and stuff. And we were there a couple of months ago up in New York. And I got to visit with them and thank them. And even yesterday, I talked to one of my friends that I grew up with in high school.

And we talked about what's going on. And he's kind of gotten away from the Lord. But we still visit with him and I encourage him. And his mom lives up here in Jacksonville, is it?

From here, not far up there? What is it? The main town-- well, it doesn't matter. But anyway, she lives about two hours from here, right before you cross into-- is it Georgia, South Carolina?

The main town up there, the big city. Yeah, anyway. So I was talking to him about his mom, because I tried to call her and she wasn't answering. But he said she's doing good.

And she's about 95 years old right now. So just keeping in touch with friends from the old days. OK, let me close with this. Christian friends and Jesus calling us a friend.

John 15:5, he says this, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I learned from my father, I have made known to you." So Jesus was just thanking the disciples for them following him for three years and letting them know that he'll be thinking of them and just encouraging them in this way.

So this occurrence just reminds us that Jesus is the vine where the branches. And it just shows us that as we remain in the vine, we can bear spiritual fruit. So thankful for what Jesus did here. And by calling his disciples friends, he was letting them know that he would be available to share divine truth with them and insights, and just to be all that he could with them through the Holy Spirit in their ministries.

And again, like I mentioned earlier, 11 out of the 12 gave their lives for the Lord's service. OK, so I'll finish with this. "I call you friends," Jesus said. So this is a profound relational connection we have with the Lord.

Believers are no longer merely servants executing commands. They are trusted companions who share in the knowledge of God's will, called to live in love, obedience, and intimate fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ. This friendship invites Christians into a deeper understanding of God and a preparatory role in his work in the world. OK, let's close in prayer.

Again, Lord, we do thank you for our relationship with you. That you do care for us, even when we do fall short so many times. We don't always think of what you would do in any situation. We think of, well, what comes natural, what habits we have.

But we ask, Lord, that you would guide us, help us to be sensitive, and to be available, and to be used of you in our lives. So again, we thank you, and just commit the rest of our time to you, both the potluck and then the men's meeting later. We commit our time to you. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you.

Transcript

Oh, interesting that Proverbs is mostly written as instructions from a father to his son, which I'm not gonna be talking much about that today, but I thought that was worth mentioning. So, you can see here Proverbs 4:7, acquire wisdom and with all that you acquire, acquire understanding, which hopefully we are all approaching this study that we've been doing in Proverbs with that attitude. Here are the topics we've looked at so far. We talked about how wisdom starts with awe, talked about guarding the control center, guarding our heart, two roads, one choice planned carefully, which I have actually not heard, but it was probably quite good, wisdom for walking through conflicts, integrity when no one is watching, leadership under God, and last week, wisdom for work.

Today we're going to be talking about the power of a word. Our first passage Proverbs 17:28 says, even a fool when he keeps silent is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent. Well, it's a little bit late for that.

I already signed up to speak. My mouth is gonna be open for next 40 minutes or so, but that gets us directly to the heart of the matter. The words of the tongue reveal the character of the heart. Words tell us about the person who speaks them.

Proverbs 15:7, the lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the hearts of fools are not so. Proverbs 16:23, the heart of the wise gives insight to his mouth and increases learning to his lips. Proverbs 17:20, he who has a crooked heart finds no good and he who is perverted in his tongue falls into evil. So those are some proverbs that talk about speech revealing the heart.

Let's also look at Matthew chapter 12 verses 34 to 37. This is when Jesus is very strongly rebuking the Pharisees. He says, "Brute of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

A good man, out of the good treasures of his heart, brings forth good things, and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." The words we say matter. Hopefully, we are approaching this study in Proverbs with a desire to learn how to live our everyday lives in a way that is pleasing to God, how to gain this wisdom and apply it to our lives.

We can study all that Proverbs has to tell us about speech. We can study all that the Bible tells us about speech, but if we don't get the heart right, we've missed God's point entirely. If you want to fix your tongue, you must start with your heart. Proverbs 4, 23 to 24 says this, "Guard your heart with all diligence, "for from it flow the springs of life.

"Put away from you a perverse mouth, "and put devious lips far from you." Mr. Larry has already preached a very good sermon on guarding your heart in this summer series, so I'm not going to preach it all again. I would just like to briefly look at some verses from Ephesians 4, verses 22 through 24, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

When we place our trust in Christ and his death for our salvation, we are given a new heart, a new nature. If we want to live the way God wants us to live, we must reject our old sin nature and put on the new perfect heart that God has given us. And of course, we can only do that through his power, not ours. So let's look at a biblical example of speech revealing the heart.

Mark 1, verses 40 through 42. "And a leper came to Jesus, pleading with him and falling on his knees before him, and saying, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean,' and moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, 'I am willing, be cleansed.' And immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed." What a glimpse into the heart of Christ.

We see in moved with compassion, that compassion causes him to act, and he says, "I am willing, be cleansed." And talk about the power of a word. Here is the power of the word on display. Think of the power of a word in the mouth of God.

Here are just a few examples I could go on for the rest of my time talking about this. But here's a few examples. Let there be light, and there was light. Cursed is the ground.

We just looked at I am willing, be cleansed. Peace be still in Mark four, when Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves. Mark 11 talking about the fig tree incident during the last week of Christ's life on earth before his crucifixion. May no one ever eat fruit from you again, and no one ever did.

I am, John 18, and all the folks that had come to arrest him fell over backwards. That's pretty powerful. So why am I pointing these out? It's not like any of us has that kind of power.

I can't say milkshake up here, and it just comes, so that would be nice. Let's look further at the fig tree incident in Mark 11. This is after Jesus has already cursed the fig tree. I think a day later.

Let's look at verses 20 and 23 of Mark 11. And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. And being reminded, Peter said to him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered." And Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.

Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be taken up and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him." Now, some people might look at this passage and say, "See, you just have enough, have to have enough faith. It's all about faith, and if you just have enough, you can do anything." But notice the first sentence that comes out of Jesus's mouth.

"Have faith in God." Our faith is not the source of our power. Our faith is not even the source of our salvation. God is the source of our power and our salvation.

I think the point Jesus is really trying to make here is not the extent of what we can do with enough faith. It's the extent of what God can do through us. Without him, we can do nothing. And if we are trying to manipulate God with our faith, we've missed that point.

So, let's go back thinking about the power of a word. Our words do have power, both creative and destructive. Our words affect those around us. The words we say can build up or tear down relationships, which are a lot more important, though sometimes less noticeable, than mountains.

Ephesians 4, verse 29, let's look at some verses that talk about our speech affecting others. "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment so that it will give grace to those who hear." I love the imagery of this verse because that word "unwholesome" could also be translated "rotten." It's often used as an adjective describing food, like rotten fruit or rotten fish.

Most people don't like rotten fruit and rotten fish. And keep that in mind as we read these verses in Proverbs. Proverbs 18, 20 through 21, "From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach will be satisfied. With the produce of his lips he will be satisfied.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Death and life are in the power of the tongue. The words we say matter. Proverbs 10, verse 11, "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked covers up violence."

Proverbs 12, verse 18, "There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Proverbs 15, 4, "A tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but perversion in it breaks the Spirit." James 3, I don't think any discussion on our words would be complete without this passage. James 3, starting in verse 2, "For we all stumble in many ways.

If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man able to bridle the entire body as well. Now if we put the bits into the horse's mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. Look at the ships also. Though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot wills.

So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. Behold how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire. And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body and sets on fire the course of our existence and is set on fire by hell.

For every kind of beasts and birds of reptiles and creatures of the sea is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of God.

From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a fountain pour forth from the same opening, fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives?

Or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh? Again, we come back to the issue of the heart. Which nature are we allowing to control us?

Which nature are we speaking from? Back to Proverbs. Proverbs 10, 19 through 21. "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, "but he who holds back his lips has insight.

"The tongue of the righteous is as choice silver. "The heart of the wicked is worth little. "The lips of the righteous feed many, "but ignorant fools die for lack of a heart of wisdom." As James said, the tongue is set on fire by hell.

No wonder Solomon says that when there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who holds back his lips has insight. Does this mean we should go through the rest of our life miming whatever we want to say? I don't think you wanna sit here and watch me try to do that for my remaining time. Look just a few verses down.

The lips of the righteous feed many. We look just a few verses back in the same chapter at Proverbs 10, 11 again. "The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, "but the mouth of the wicked covers up violence." That sounds to me like speaking is happening if your mouth is a fountain of life.

Sometimes Solomon and ultimately God says we shouldn't speak and sometimes he says we should. Which is it? Let's look at another of Solomon's inspired writings. Ecclesiastes chapter three.

Look at verse one and verse seven. "There is an appointed time for everything "and there is a time for every event under heaven. "A time to be silent and a time to speak." Okay, so we just gotta figure out there's a time to be silent, there's a time to speak, and that's a large part of wisdom.

Knowing when to say anything, not just what to say, but when to say it. Knowing when to be silent and when to speak. Proverbs puts high value on that. Proverbs 15, 23.

"A man has gladness in an apt answer "and how good is a timely word." Proverbs 25, 11. "Like apples of gold in settings of silver "is a word spoken in right circumstances." It's important that we know when to speak.

So how do we know that? How do we know when to speak and when to be silent? I found some Proverbs that I think give some guidelines for that. Yes, I think there are some Proverbs and some other passages in scripture.

Proverbs 18, 13 says, "He who responds with a word "before he hears, it is folly and shame to him." We should listen before we speak. James 1, 19 says a very similar thing. "Everyone should be quick to listen, "slow to speak, and slow to become angry."

Back in Proverbs, Proverbs 15, 1 says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, "but a harsh word stirs up anger." Unless you're trying to stir up anger, probably shouldn't use a harsh word. Seems pretty reasonable. Proverbs 17, 27 again.

All right, I'm not sure if we've looked at this one yet, but anyhow, Proverbs 17, 27, "He who holds back his words has knowledge, "and he who has a cool spirit is a man of discernment." Again, going back to the heart. Where is our heart? Are we operating out of that new nature that God has given us?

Proverbs 26 verses four and five, "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, "or you will also be like him. "Answer a fool as his folly deserves, "that he not be wise in his own eyes." Ephesians 4, 29 again. You can tell I love this verse.

"Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, "but only such a word as is good for edification, "according to the need of the moment, "so that it will give grace to those who hear." Proverbs 22, 17 through 21, "Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, "and apply your mind to my knowledge, "for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, "that they may be ready on your lips, "so that your trust may be in the Lord "I have taught you today, even you. "Have I not written to you excellent things "of counsels and knowledge, "to make you know the certainty of the words of truth "that you may correctly answer him who sent you." Again, we come back.

"Apply your mind to my knowledge, "keep them within you, "that they may be ready on your lips, "so that your trust may be in the Lord." Our, he is the only one who can give us the power to do anything right, including speaking. So if you fell asleep at the beginning and you're just now waking up, that's fine, because talking about talking has gone a lot faster than I thought it would, and this is my last slide. But here are the big points that I wanted to bring out.

Get the heart right. Ephesians 4, 22 to 24 again. "That in reference to your former manner of life, "you lay aside the old self, "which is being corrupted in accordance "with the lusts of deceit, "and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind "and put on the new self, "which in the likeness of God has been created "in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Proverbs 9, 10.

The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Again, we started out our study in Proverbs with that thought of wisdom beginning with awe. That is our foundation for anything we should be doing is our relationship with God and our reverence for him. John 15, five.

Again, getting back to that relationship. "I am the vine, you are the branches. "He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. "For apart from me, you can do nothing."

And I didn't have this verse in my notes, but in Hebrews, I can't remember the exact reference, but I think it's Hebrews four towards the end, where it says the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. You wanna look more at words? We've got plenty of time. We can all sit in our pews and just read the scriptures.

There's tons in there that talks about talking and our speech, God's speech. But it all comes back to our relationship with him. Get the heart right. Let's close in prayer.

Lord, we thank you for this day. Thank you for this opportunity we have to gather together to learn more from your living, powerful Word. Thank you for all that you have revealed to us in that. We thank you especially for the relationship that you have brought us into through your son and his death on the cross.

Pray that as we go about the rest of our day, that we would keep that in mind, that we would walk in fellowship with you, that we would abide in you. We pray these things in the Lord Jesus' name, amen.