Sermons – FBCNC

How to avoid two paths to trouble: the path of trouble-finders (vv 1-11) and the path of troublemakers (vv 12-19).

We see, in Proverbs 5, four ways to stay off the path of adultery: spot the false advertising (vv 1-6), avoid the consequences (vv 7-14), take the antidote (vv 15-19), and recognize the reality (vv 20-23).

There are three ways Proverbs 4 tells us to pass down the life of wisdom to our children. We pass down wisdom's life by encouraging our children to desire wisdom above all else in life (vv 1-9), to endure in wisdom all lifelong (vv 10-19), and to extend wisdom to every part of life (vv 20-27).

These last nine verses of chapter 3 how we treat our neighbors and why we treat them that way: instructions for being neighborly (vv 27-31) and motivations for being neighborly (vv 32-35).

This passage provides three reasons we should pursue God's wisdom: because it's the best pursuit in life (vv 13-18), because it's elemental to life (vv 19-20), and because it provides security for life (vv 21-26).

This passage shows how we should relate to God as we walk this path of life: we should commit to his direction (vv 1-4), trust in his wisdom (vv 5-8), and value his providence (vv 9-12).

This passage encourages us to treasure God's wisdom (vv 1-4) and gives three benefits that come from treasuring his wisdom and the path it lays out. When you treasure the path of God’s wisdom, you experience protection on that path (vv 5-11), and that leads to deliverance from wrong paths (vv 12-19), and all of this leads to an enduring reward in the end (vv 20-22).

Wisdom encourages us to take her path in four ways: by giving an urgent warning to turn the right way (vv 20-23), describing a foolish refusal to turn the right way (vv 24-25, 29-30), mentioning a ridiculing departure for turning too late (vv 26-28), and showing a definitive difference between these two ways to turn (vv 31-33).