Two Journeys

So, I want to set in your minds this morning as I begin just a picture of a lush and inviting oasis in the midst of a vast, howling desert. Probably very few of us will ever have the experience of crawling through a desert like the Sahara or something, wondering if we're going to survive the next hour. I don't know anybody that's ever been like that, though some people have been through that experience. And, imagine if you were like that and you crawled up to the crest of a dune - a sand dune - and you looked down, and there was the most incredibly inviting sight you've ever seen in your life. There was an oasis. There are 15 palm trees there for shade, and 30 fig trees fully ripe with delicious figs. You may not have liked figs before this moment, but now they're looking really good to you, and, most importantly of all, a pool of delicious, inviting clear, clean water to drink. And best of all, it's not a mirage. That's what I want First Baptist Church to be in this world. I want you to come here and be refreshed. I want you to be strengthened and invigorated in a howling wasteland of sin. That's what I want. I want the Bible to be that for you. I want you to come to the Scriptures and feed and be nourished and be refreshed in the Scriptures. I want that every morning for you in your quiet times; I want that when you hear me preach; that's what I want the gospel to be for you.

I want the Gospel to renew you and refresh you; I want your weak knees to be strengthened; I want your arms, that you feel are about to give way, I want them to be renewed in strength as you come again to the cross and the empty tomb, and remind yourselves, what Jesus did for you. I want you to picture this oasis as though there's this column of light going up to the heavens, and it's just cloudy and dark all around, but there's this beckoning, just column of light saying, “This is the place, come here.” Because I want you to have a sense that this is just an oasis, the real paradise is yet to come. These are just foretastes that we have, and so the desert is the world and all of its sin, but this morning, I want to speak specifically of the issue of conflict, of broken human relationships, of difficulty in relationships. And I would think that there's no one listening to me right now, that doesn't have a sense of that, that perhaps may not have even experienced it this very morning. I won't ask, "What was it like getting ready for church?" I won't ask that because it could be that it was a wonderful, delightful experience of the grace of God and the delight you have in one another, and maybe not, but in any case, I think you would be able to relate to the issue of conflicts.

We live in a world filled with conflict. To some degree, we were promised - we weren't alive at the time, but the human race was promised - that World War I would be the war to end all wars. I don't know whoever coined that phrase, because within a generation after that one came the one that it gave birth to, World War II, the worst of all military conflicts, ending in two hideous nuclear explosions and the revelation, the full revelation of the Holocaust, and just the depravity of human hearts, and so the United Nations was crafted so that we would never go to war with one another again, be able to talk things out and resolve things through political means and through negotiation. There have been 168 armed conflicts since then.

But you know that human conflict goes far beyond that global kind, goes far beyond just what you read and hear about in CNN. It goes far beyond anything like that; it hits close to home. It hits marriages. Half of marriages end in divorce, but even many that do not go through divorce, it's almost as if the husband and wife are just living estranged from one another. And, even in a good solid Christian family, they would testify that it's the conflicts that make it sour and bitter and not what it ought to be. And so, the conflict goes husband to wife, wife to husband, and also goes parent to child, child to parent. There's broken relationships there. Sibling to sibling. The first revelation of conflict was Cain and Abel and the way that Cain hated his brother and murdered him. So, it's been that way horizontally ever since, but, dear friends, the fact is the root issue is sin. It says in Isaiah 57:20-21, listen to these verses, “The wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud, there is no peace, says my God for the wicked.”

So, the real issue is not just what's going on between labor and management or what's going on in neighborhoods where there is strife and conflict and the police have to get called in and some kind of loud conflict, 2:00 in the morning. It's not all of that. The core issue is a vertical one, up toward God. We are not at peace with God apart from Jesus Christ. We're not at peace with God, and, so therefore, the Gospel of Jesus Christ can be the only answer there is to human conflicts. It's the only answer there is. And it holds out not just an answer, but it holds out a victorious answer. A sweet, victorious answer. Because here's the thing, dear friends, imagine that oasis with a column of light going up, you know what's going on up there, through that door, standing open in heaven, in Revelation 4? Zero conflict. None. From eternity past, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have been in perfect unity with one another. From eternity past, there has never been a shade of a shadow of a hint of a whiff of a conflict between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and there never will be. They were in perfect agreement about everything; they love one another deeply; they're in agreement about every detail.

And that spreads out from that central throne where God reigns out to those angels of 100 million angels that are standing around the throne - the Holy Angels in perfect peace with one another, never a shade of a conflict between them. And so it is the saints in heaven, the redeemed, those that have been reconciled with God - they love one another perfectly with a perfect love. They are perfectly one as the Father and the Son are one. That's where we're heading. We're going to get there too. The Lord is going to lift us up there, and we're going to leave conflicts behind; We're going to leave it behind. And why? Because of the work of reconciliation, worked by Jesus Christ at the cross through His blood, we who were once enemies in our mind and alienated from God, (Colossians 1), have been reconciled by Christ's physical body through His death to present us Holy and blameless in His sight. Free from all sin. We have been reconciled through faith in Jesus Christ, reconciled with God the Father. Romans 5:1, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:10, it says there, “If when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more having been reconciled shall we be saved through His life.”

So, we Christians can be truly at peace with one another. Now, I am mindful - very acutely mindful - of the fact that there's every likelihood that I'm speaking to people who are not reconciled with God right now. You're not at peace with God. And, though you may not feel it, God is at war with you, because of your sins. And yet, for all of that, this is the nature of the love of God in Christ. He is welcoming you, beckoning you to come back and be reconciled to God. And so, it says in 2 Corinthians 5, "We urge you, we plead with you, we beg you, be reconciled to God." God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God. And part of that righteousness is a perfectly one relationship with God, that we are perfectly one with God, and that God is at peace with us and loves us. Come to Christ; come to Him because frankly, all of the practical details I'm going to give you from Proverbs will not help you at all. They won't stick. You won't be changed. Can a leper change his spots? Can an Ethiopian change his skin? Neither can you who are accustomed to doing evil and do good. You're going to go from this place in a conflict just like you always do, and you're going to have a week full of conflicts, and you're going to have difficulties because you're not a peace with God.

Can I just urge you? It's not complicated. You just need to trust in Him. You don't need to do anything; you don't have to move from your pew. While you're sitting here, you can just believe in Jesus. You can look to Jesus who shed His blood on the cross and say, "That's my righteousness. I'm a sinner, He died for sinners. I trust in you, Lord Jesus." God didn't leave Him dead on the cross; God raised Him from the dead on the third day. God has accepted the work of Christ. “I can be reconciled with God right now.” Can I just urge you be reconciled to God? There, now. So, I have hopes that some of you who are… now listen to some advice.

And, if you've already been reconciled and have been for years, you need some advice, don't you? How's it going in your relationships? Is it perfect? Is it wonderful? Well, you know why it's not because God has left us here to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and part of that work is work horizontally in relationships with sinners like you. And we need help, don't we in that because we have these habits of conflict. We don't deal with it well. We don't deal with it well, and we need some help. And you can get help from many books in the Bible, but the book of Proverbs is very practical in the help that it can give you. And so, I began the sermon not even really mentioning Proverbs because the exalted themes that I have been giving you since I began speaking are better found in books like Romans and other places, but, having been reconciled to God, we still need some help, don't we? Horizontally. And the book of Proverbs is an excellent book for describing conflicts and how to be resolved through them, and so I want us to turn our attention to the book of Proverbs.

Now, I was so excited. I mean, I was genuinely excited about this sermon this morning, you know why? Because it was just a little over eight pages. Anybody who knows me knows how short that is. You're like, "You're kidding, an eight-page sermon." I say, "A good thing too because we have the Lord's supper." Alright, and so we're going to be done by 12:05, and it's going to be exciting. It's going to be wonderful. Wrong! I preached it this morning like I always do, and what I realized was what I had here is just a categorization of a bunch of Proverbs concerning conflicts, no comments at all, just Proverbs categorized dealing with conflicts. And as I began commenting on it, it swelled up to its usual size, so I'm going to go ahead and do my best to preach this and not worry that much about time, but I'm going to say this: we have these deep, bitter habits in relationships that need to be uprooted, and they're only going to get uprooted by the Word of God, and all scripture is God-breathed and is useful. And this is a useful book for helping you horizontally with your marriage, in your family, with co-workers, with neighbors. This is going to help you.

God’s Attitude Towards Dissension

So, let's start with this first concept, and that is God's attitude toward dissension. Let's start at Proverbs 6:16-19. And I'm not going to read all of that, just a little section of it: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to Him,” and then one of them is listed as, “a man who stirs up dissension among his brothers.” Hate, dear friends, is a very strong word, but let me say it to you plainly: God hates dissension. He hates it. He hates sinful, wicked conflict; He hates it. The unity that God intends between people is pictured, as I said, by the perfect unity in the Trinity, and when anything falls short of that, it falls short of the glory of God. It is sin, and God hates it. And so, He hates dissension. He wants to heal it though. It's not so much that He hates it and will pour out wrath because of it; God will pour out wrath because of unresolved dissension that wasn't brought to the cross. He will do that. But God wants to heal it. And so, God has sent the Gospel into the world. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in a large amount of flour that worked all through the dough” (Matthew 13:33).

And so, God wants to heal our dissensions. He wants to heal it, and so He's sent forth the wisdom of God. And some of that wisdom is in the book of Proverbs. One of the things God teaches us in Proverbs is just how devastating and costly human conflicts are; they're devastating. Like this one, Proverbs 17:1 says, "Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife." And then Proverbs 21:9 says, "Better to live on a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome life." Basically, what these two Proverbs are saying is, it would be better to undergo extreme privations, even of basic physical necessities, than to go through strife and conflict. It would be better to roll out a sleeping bag in the attic with the rodents and the cockroaches than to have strife and conflict in your marriage. It would be better to have a moldy piece of old muffin with worms coming out of it, than to have the most lavish feast you've ever had, and there's conflict going on while you're eating it. And frankly, I've had meals like that from even when I was growing up. I've seen that, and it is absolutely true.

So, the biggest problem with human conflict is that it's just so difficult to recover from. Very hard. Proverbs 18:19 says, "An offended brother is more unyielding than a fortified city, and disputes are like the barred gates of a citadel." It's like an iron bar, and you just can't break it. Have you ever gone through an experience with somebody in a relationship and you just can't seem to get past it, because maybe they won't let you get past it, or in your own heart, you're holding some bitterness that's because of the conflict? It's devastating and costly. So, these verses and many others speak of the cost of it.

What about the causes? Where does conflict come from? What does Proverbs tell us about that? Well, many, many places. Proverbs actually has a lot to say about the root system of conflict, where does it come from.

Let’s start with this one: pride. So many conflicts come by pride, Proverbs 13:10, "Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice." Anyone who knows me knows that that's a key verse that helped me in my... Well, in my marriage. My wife just has better taste in clothes than I do, and she used to ask me as we were getting ready for an outing, "Is that what you're wearing?" Now, since I was a boy, I didn't enjoy playing dress-ups. I don't know about you men - do you enjoy just throwing on clothes to see what they look like? So, my pride would start to kick in. "What do you mean is this what I'm wearing? This is what I'm wearing both kind of now and for the rest of the day." But my tendency was generally to over-dress for certain occasions, et cetera, et cetera, and so it was a way of saying, “I'm offering some advice, if you'd like it.” Proverbs 13:10 helped our marriage. “Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.” We'll kick in Proverbs 15:1 later, but Proverbs 15:1 kicks in at that point and says, "Hun, I was just trying these on because they just... Well, what do you think I ought to wear?" Or even better, before I even put it on, say, "What do you think I ought to wear?" But in any case, pride is the root of so many quarrels. 

Secondly: instant annoyance. Proverbs 12:16, "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult." Instant annoyance, just hair-trigger. Have you ever met somebody like that? Have you ever been someone like that? That instant annoyance, they just tick you off, something happens and there it goes. 

Thirdly: anger itself. I think anger is like a drug. I really think it's like alcohol... People get... They're under the influence. And then when the head clears, they wonder, "What did I do? How could I have done that?" And anger is like that. Any of you ever gotten angry and said some things and done some things and they're like... Then it clears and you're like, "What did I do?" Anger is a devastating thing, a dangerous thing. Proverbs 29:22, "An angry man stirs up dissension and a hot-tempered one commits many sins." And so, anger is a root of many, many conflicts that moral filth that James calls of anger. 

Fourthly: words. What causes conflicts? Words. Well, what kind of words? Well, just words. Proverbs 18:21, it says, "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Well, what kind of words? How about many words? Lots of words. Okay, maybe you're just given to talking. Proverbs 10:19 says, "When words are many, sin is inevitable.” One translation has that, "Sin is inevitable, but he who holds his tongue is wise." In other words, if you're just talking and talking and talking, sooner or later, you're going to say something you regret. I pray a lot, just in terms of my preaching ministry. I think God's called on me to do this, and I can't hide the talent in the ground for fear, but you look over 11 years of preaching and there's a lot of words and I say a lot. I keep this Proverb in mind, "Where words are many sin is inevitable.” Be careful what you say. But that's true, not just in preaching, but it's just true all the time.

Reckless words cause conflicts. 12:18, "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Again, saying something, you'll regret, something bitter and mean. Harsh words, says in Proverbs 15:1, second half, "A harsh word stirs up anger." Deceitful words. Proverbs 15:4, "The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit." It's so vital that we tell each other the truth. If there is deceit that comes in, lying comes in, it causes conflicts. It ruins relationships if you can't trust each other.

Gossip causes conflicts. Proverbs 16:28 says, "A perverse man stirs up dissension and a gossip separates close friends." So just sharing that little morsel, a sweet little morsel of some information, that can cause conflicts; it's very hurtful. Or insults, just insult, saying mean things. Proverbs 11:12, "A man who lacks judgment derides or insults his neighbor." But again, a man of understanding holds his tongue. You just don't say that clever put-down that… yeah, they laugh, but you know it hurts, and you may not have even known that you caused some damage. 

Fifthly, hatred causes fights and quarrels. It says in Proverbs 10:12, "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs." And so, what is that? It's just that deep-seated malice. You're just against somebody in your heart. And we're going to talk in a moment about unforgiveness, but that's generally what's caused it. Out of that comes the conflict, you're ready to have a conflict with a person because you just don't like them. You hate them, actually.

Sixthly, there are just some people who enjoy a quarrel. They think they're good at it, and it's like a tennis match or a contest, and they just like to do it. They like to argue. And it says in 17:19, "He who loves a quarrel loves sin; he who builds a high gate invites destruction." There are some people that just love a quarrel. Proverbs 26:21 says this, "Charcoal to embers and wood to a fire so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife." Hold on to that one. Now I bring up its partner verse, Proverbs 27:15-16, "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day. Restraining her is like restraining the wind or grasping oil with the hand.” There are verses about quarrelsome men and quarrelsome women. Don't be either one. Don't be a quarrelsome man. Don't be a quarrelsome wife. Ruins a marriage when you're bickering and quarrelling. And then the verse about the wife, it's like grasping wind or restraining the oil. You can't get hold of that, of a quarrelsome wife. She doesn't control her mouth, and so it's very, very damaging in the relationship. But I'm just saying, there are so many that... Men, don't just read that verse. Read the other one I just read to you because there are quarrelsome men too. And it's very, very damaging. 

Seventh: the issue of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness. This causes conflict. 17:9, "He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends." In other words, “I forgive you,” but then a week later, “I'm going to bring it up again.” Repeating the matter, it ruins a relationship. It just ruins it. 

Eighthly: misunderstanding or poor listening. That will cause a conflict. Proverbs 18:13, "He who answers before listening, that is his folly and his shame." Have you ever done that? "I know exactly what you're saying, you don't need to finish your sentence," and go forward and you make a fool of yourself. And then the individual says, "That's not what I'm talking about. You haven't listened to me." Do you answer before listening? That's folly and shame. Wait. Be slow to speak, quick to listen.

Ninthly, alcohol or drugs causes strife and conflict. Proverbs 23:29 and following says, "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife?" That's what the sermon is about. Who's got conflicts? Who's having conflicts? Who has complaints? “Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.” How many conflicts in this nation are caused by abuse of alcohol or drugs? Devastating.

Tenthly: adultery. I'm going to preach, God-willing, a whole sermon on Proverbs on sexual purity, but adultery causes conflicts. A majority of divorce in America is because of adultery. And so, it says in Proverbs 6:32 and following, "Jealousy arouses a husband's fury. He will show no mercy when he takes revenge. He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse the bribe, however great it is." That relationship broken forever. They're talking man to man and can never be friends again.

Eleventh: provocation from fools. There are just some people that are provocative. Proverbs 27:3, "Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both." Do you know the kind of person that you just can't help but get in a conflict with them? And then you start to realize that the same thing's happening in all that person's relationship. It's best to just steer clear; they're provocative people. I'm not saying that you can't have a ministry, but if you try to have that ministry and it just isn't going anywhere, it's just difficult.

And then, the twelfth: greed. Proverbs 28:25, "A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper." These are just some of the root causes. It's an amazingly thorough list, isn't it? Of the cause, the root causes of conflict: Instant annoyance, pride, anger, words, hatred, people who love a quarrel, unforgiveness, misunderstandings, alcohol, adultery, provocation, greed. This is the seed bed of human conflict. These types of sins are at the root of every human conflict in history, both between a husband and wife, parent, child, but also nation and nation. You're going to find the root causes in that list I just gave you.

Alright, thirdly, how should we avoid conflicts? Isn't that good? As Ben Franklin put it, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Be better not to have it, be better to avoid it, to not have the conflict. How shall we avoid it?

Well, number one, how about be patient and even-tempered? Have a long fuse. Proverbs 16:32 says, "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." It takes strength of character to not go in for that conflict. Just be a strong man, a strong woman, be a warrior, and keep in mind Ephesians 6. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, dear friends. We're not at war with them. We're being Satan's fools doing Satan's work, so he can call the demons off for the day - the people are doing it. We'll come back and see, we'll get it going again tomorrow, but you don't need to do anything. You're doing his work for him. We should be helping each other in our battle against demonic forces, not hindering or not helping Satan to do his work. And so, just be patient and even-tempered.

Secondly, overlook an insult. Charles Spurgeon once said about pastoral ministry - this is no offense, this is just some wisdom for us pastors - but he just says, "Every pastor needs to have one blind eye and one deaf ear and no one to turn them." Just, "I never heard it." Just overlook it. You don't have to take up the cudgels and go in and battle for your honor or for the validity of the ministry. Just let it go. Overlook it. But that's true of everybody. It's just to your glory to overlook an insult. You know how you do it? Get really, really humble about yourself. That is to say, get really, really true and realistic about yourself. Go to the cross and in effect say, "You don't know the half of it. You don't know the 120th of it. I am so great a sinner, and I actually deserve far worse insults than you've given me." Be humble, and you'll be able to overlook that insult.

Thirdly, be an active peacemaker. Be an active peacemaker. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the peacemakers for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." And so, Proverbs 15:18 says, "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel." There's just some people who know how to put out the fire. Yesterday, I was riding along Roxboro Road, and there was a house on the corner that was burning openly. Just burning. I hadn't seen that much. I mean, flames, licking fire going, smoke billowing. But I was okay because there were like seven or eight fire engines around it, and I have a feeling that the owners of the house wanted to have it destroyed it and they were allowing the fire department to burn it for educational purpose. I think that's what's going on because they were making no effort to put the fire out. So, as I was watching that... By the way, just good news, it was out this morning, so it all had a happy ending.

The bottom line is, I would like to be like a skillful fireman. I want to put the thing out. Do you know how to put it out? We talk in our family about putting out the fire with kerosene. Alright, are you that kind of a person? That's not how to do it. “Don't go into that situation and say that to your brother or sister. That's going to just make it worse.” Learn how to put the fire out. 

Fourthly, use gentle healing words. Now, if you just get one proverb, this is the one. There a lot of good ones, but this is the one that was up on our mirror for years, I use it probably more than anything else. Proverbs 15:1, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." Try it. Try it on for size. "You don't know my spouse." Just try it. "You're right, hon. You're right. I'm sorry, I should have listened better. You're right." And what happens to the conflict? In many cases, it goes away, and make it genuine too. Make it genuine. But try a gentle answer that turns away wrath. 

Fifthly, forgive quickly and wholeheartedly as the Lord forgave you. This was on the cover of the bulletin, "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs." In this way, we are most like Jesus. We're most like God. God covers our sins; let's cover each other's. Forgive one another deeply from the heart.

Sixthly, drop the matter quickly before it gets out of control. Proverbs 17:14, "Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam." So, drop the matter before a dispute breaks up; just drop it. It just gets wider and wider. Just drop it quickly.

Seventh, don't hang around people who love to argue. Proverbs 22:24 and following says, "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man. Do not associate with one easily angered or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared." 

Eighthly, observe proper social boundaries. I like this one. I don't know what to do with it, but I like it. Proverbs 25:17, "Seldom set foot in your neighbor's house, too much of you and he will hate you." Alright? You just need to know when not to just show up. "Here I am to bless you." It's like that loud greeting early in the morning that Proverbs said... It's not a blessing, alright? Just knowing when... You should always leave them wanting more of you, not less. So, observe proper social boundaries.

Ninthly, don't meddle in other people's affairs. Christians need to hear this. Proverbs 26:17, "Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel not his own." I can't imagine, I've never done it, but what it'd be like to seize a dog by the ears? I guess the advice is, don't do that. But I mean, as Christians, we are not to be - and other Scripture says this plainly - busybodies. If you're out in a public place and there's some conflict going on, you don't know the people, you are not called on to do anything but pray for them. Pray for them. Maybe God could give you a ministry. Who knows? They might invite you in, maybe not, but pray for them. Don't seize a dog by the ears.

Alright, well, how should we resolve conflicts? Well, listen to one another. Proverbs 18:2, "A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions." Listen to each other. 

Get all the facts. Proverbs 18:18, "The first to present his case seems right till another comes forward and questions him." By the way, that's a great parenting verse. Remember how I told you about being a circuit riding judge sitting on cases? It's so good to listen to the first individual and then the second one comes along and the whole picture changes. Alright, but that's just a general principle. Let's get all the facts before we jump to a conclusion, and that way we can resolve a conflict.

Again, use gentle and healing words, we've already talked about 15:1, but persuade. Now, here's a key idea with conflicts: Conflicts can be redemptive, can be necessary. And here's the thing, you know what I think happens? In God's wisdom, He gives - let's say a husband and wife - each of them part of the solution. Each of them have a valid perspective. Each of them have a valid thing to say. They need to come together to get the whole picture of wisdom there. Right? As iron sharpens iron, you need two pieces of iron to do it. If one of them runs away, then there's no sharpening that can go on. So, the thing is, come together and have the humility to say, "You have something I need to hear." But have the humility also to say, "I have something that I also need to say." Have the courage to say that. And so, you have to be willing to persuade sweetly and lovingly, but persuade. Proverbs 25:15 says, "Through patience a ruler can be persuaded and a gentle tongue can break a bone." I guess break a bone is a good thing. But, at any rate, the idea is, you can persuade, you can be powerful and effective through gentle persuasion.

Make amends for sin, that is, ask for forgiveness. 14:9 says, "Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright." When you've done something wrong, will you go and ask forgiveness? When you've done something wrong, will you make restitution? Will you do what it takes to reconcile your brother to you? It's costly, and fools mock at the process. Don't be a fool. Go do what you need to do to make it right. And then ultimately, don't feed the issue; just let it die. Proverbs 26:20 says, "Without wood a fire goes out, and without gossip, a quarrel dies down." Don't feed the thing; don't feed it.

Well, there's so many things that we can say from the book of Proverbs. I want to give you just a book recommendation and just close with an exhortation. The book recommendation - the best book I've ever read on this topic - is Ken Sande's Peacemaker, and we have some copies of it out there in the resource center. Grab it. It is an excellent book. And Ken Sande does a great job at diagnosing just the different ways. He looks on conflict, just like I said a moment ago, as something that can be very constructive and helpful in growing. Don't run from it. Go into it wisely, and listen, and follow this advice.

But you said there are three types of responses to conflict: Escape responses, what he calls “peace-faking.” You know the fight or flight. These are the flight people, and they run away from the thing. They never resolve anything. There are extreme versions like suicide, flight denial. The faking, you're friendly but in your heart you're against them. That's not resolution. Escape responses. Then there are the attack responses, what he calls “peace-breaking,” so that's assault, litigation, murder, all the way down to arguing and verbal fighting, those kind of things. Both of those are to be rejected. In the middle is peacemaking, and that is such things as overlooking. It's reconciliation, negotiation, arbitration, accountability. There are various things in the middle. They're very sweet and helpful in Christian relationships.

And he gives us four G's, and I'll close with this. First of all, glorify God in a conflict. You went to a conflict? Let's glorify God. You ask this question: How can I please and honor the Lord in this conflict? Secondly, get the log out of your own eye. How can I show Jesus's work in me by taking responsibility for what I've done? Thirdly, gently restore. How can I lovingly serve others by helping them take responsibility for their part of this conflict? So how can I restore? How can I work in this individual? And fourthly, go and be reconciled. How can I demonstrate the forgiveness of God that I've received by going and giving that same forgiveness to someone else?

Now we have the opportunity this morning to enjoy the Lord's Supper, and I think there's just a perfect fittingness to having a sermon like this on conflict resolution, and then going to the Lord's Supper. This, dear friends, this is an oasis, is what it is. This points ahead to a time in which we are going to sit in perfect peace with God and also horizontally with others. Every other Christian. We're going to get peace eating in the kingdom of heaven.

Now, the bread and the juice, they are physical things. It's literal bread; it's literal juice. I do not believe that they are transformed in the actual literal body and blood of Jesus. They're not, but they're physical, and they're real. And someday we're going to sit at a physical real table and physical real resurrection bodies with the physical real resurrected body of Jesus, and we're going to have a physical real feast there. And this is a foretaste of that, but it also calls on us to look back at how Jesus shed his blood on the cross that we might be forgiven with God and with one another.

I'm going to ask, if you have given your life to Christ, come to faith in Christ, and you've testified to that by baptism, you're welcome to come. If you've not, I ask that you not come or not partake. Instead, hear what I said earlier, come to faith in Christ. If you are a Christian and your relationship with the Lord is right but you know horizontally, there's a broken relationship, can you just resolve before you take the Lord's Supper? Take today, please partake, but you're going to go to that brother - that sister - and make it right. You're going to work on it according to the principles we've learned today. Won't you close with me in prayer?

One of Jesus' most remarkable statements - and most courageous, I think, given the context - in John chapter 5, He said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working." We serve a God who is constantly energetically working. He's a God of labor. But the Bible also portrays our God is in heaven, and He does whatever pleases Him. So, He's a being that's delighting in the works of His hands. He's delighted to do the things He does, brings Him great joy and pleasure to work. Wouldn't it be sweet if you lived your life like that? It's my desire and my prayer that as a result of this sermon today that we might see work differently than we ever have before. But not only does God work, not only is He constantly at work, laboring to bring about His purposes, He has also entrusted to us work to do as well. And so, as the sun makes its circuit around the earth and shines on 24 different time zones, it shines down on the people busy at work.

Start with the land of the rising sun Japan. You start with a stock broker in Tokyo selling stocks - Nikkei stock exchange - or a rice farmer who's bent over double. I used to see them in Japan, putting little rice plants into a saturated rice paddy, or a Siberian logger - big burly guy - cutting up Siberian fur, as the earth continues to turn. And the sun moves on past the Ukrainian wheat farmers or some pharmaceutical workers working in some German pharmaceutical company or shines down on the Rive Gauche of the Seine in Paris where there are some painters working on new techniques with oil and canvas, crosses the Atlantic. Cambridge, Massachusetts, some professors there, scurrying across Harvard yard to their class, maybe they're a little late, but about to give a lecture there, or goes across to Chicago where some sanitation engineers are emptying some dumpsters and working hard at keeping the streets clean. Or to Sacramento where there are some stay-at-home moms that are sitting and discussing parenting with one another while the kids play at the playground, or to the place where some people say is the most dangerous occupation up in the Bering Sea, where there are some Alaskan king crabs being fished by fishermen, risking their lives for a big catch. 24 hours of sunlight shining on a world busy at work.

But the question that the Bible asks all of those workers and all of us is why do you do what you do? What is the purpose of the labors of your hands? There's a famous story about a traveler in the middle ages - you've probably heard a version of it before - who visited a city where many stonecutters were cutting. And the first was asked, "What are you doing?" And he replied, "I'm cutting stone, isn't that obvious? I've got to feed my family." He went to the second and he said, "Well, I'm the best stonecutter in the land. I'm perfecting my technique. Look how smooth and polished these edges are." Yeah, so the third, and he said, "I am building a cathedral."

Now, those three different responses, I think, are paradigms of different ways that people look at work. The first one really, to some degree, lacked purpose all together. His nose was to the grindstone, so he could feed his belly. As it says in Ecclesiastes, "All of man's efforts are for his stomach" (Ecclesiastes 6:7). So, he's trying to feed himself and his family. The second is working on a career; he's developing his technique, trying to be the best at what he does. The third had a grander vision of building a cathedral, a big purpose in his life. But the fact is, frankly, even cathedrals will not last forever. King Solomon did great projects, and he talked about the outcome of those projects. In Ecclesiastes 2, it says, "I undertook great projects. I built houses for myself, planted vineyards, I made gardens and parks, and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them, I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. My heart took delight in all of my work, and this was the reward for all of my labor, and yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless. A chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:4-11).

So, that's projects done in the Ecclesiastes code phrase under the sun, done just on that horizontal level of human endeavor trying to do something great, and he didn't see much in it. So why should we work? What is the overarching purpose for which we should work? I think Jesus gave it to us better than anyone in His high priestly prayer in John 17. Jesus, the night before He was crucified, said this to His heavenly father, He said, "I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." John 17:4. That's it, dear friends. If you're a Christian, live for that. “I brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.”

So, our work should be for the glory of God. We should fit into His overarching plan, the building of the kingdom of Christ. That's what we should be laboring for, but does the Bible have any practical wisdom about our lives of work, either about our careers or even about menial day-to-day tasks? Yes, it does, and we go to the book of Proverbs for that, as we have over the last number of weeks. And, today, we're going to look at the topics of... By the way, have you ever had a moment of regret? I had a moment of regret this morning. The title should have been “Labor, Leisure, and Laziness.” It dawned on me this morning I missed a perfect chance at alliteration. There aren't W's that go across, so it's got to be “Labor, Leisure, and Laziness.” Alright, so just to raise that little work thing, but it's about work, but you know, but it's about labor, leisure and laziness, that's what we're talking about. So, I'm done with my pangs of regret now.

That's what we're preaching about today, but we're looking at this topic of work, of labor, and we're trying - we're seeking through this sermon, through the work of the Holy Spirit, I think - to achieve a very difficult thing, which is balance in life concerning our work, balance. Now, in America, I want to ask you, as you know, this nation, are we a bunch of workaholics, are we a bunch of pleasure sordid, playaholics. Which one?

Well, it's a complex question as you think about it. My first job, I worked, in my opinion, for a workaholic. Now one of the first jobs I had, actually, first technical job, I just graduated from high school, and I was working in Bedford, Massachusetts for a company that made solar-powered water pumps. And one of the three founders of the company, a graduate of MIT, was just a relentless workaholic, worked about 100 hours a week. Chain-smoker, hypertensive kind of guy. I don't know if he's still alive, but I know this: He never stopped working. And there are people like that; I've seen people like that. Whole corporations can be driven by the ambition of a CEO who lives his life like that and never satisfied. They tend to be miserable people. They only think about work all the time where they're working. If they're not working, they're thinking about work.

And electronic technology has made it possible to do that more and more. You could be working while talking to someone, if they'll put up with it, with the BlackBerry, the cellphone going on… I mean, the people can be... You can be doing massive things over the wireless through the laptop, even while sitting next to somebody who you're out on a date with, like your wife or something. I've never done that, but you know, people can be working all the time. So, are we workaholics? Well, it seems to me that America actually tends to be more bent the other way, what you might want to call playaholics.

Have you ever seen bumper stickers that allude to this? “A bad day of fishing still better than a good day in the office,” something like that. I don't even know what to say about that. I'm not trying to offend those of you that love fish or to fish, something like that; I don't see that. But at any rate, I understand what's behind it. The person would rather be recreating than working. Or this one, “Work fascinates me, I could sit and watch it for hours.” I've seen people like that before. Frankly, I've been with people like that before from time to time.

How about this one? “If work is so terrific, how come they have to pay you to do it?” Or this one, “I'm stuck here, but my head is stuck on the weekend.” Well, I really saw that when I was in the workforce. I worked for 10 years out in industry, and Monday morning - or even worse, Tuesday morning after a three-day weekend - it's a tough time to go to work. People are still wishing they were on the weekend.

How about this one? “Hard work has a future payoff, but laziness pays off now.” Well, I'm actually preaching against that, and we'll talk about that in this sermon. But it's a philosophy. Or this one, “I owe, I owe so off to work, I go.” Now, that one hits a little close to home, because remember when I was preaching on money, how many people have run up credit card debts to pay for pleasure items that they then have to go to a job they hate and pay off? So, the reason for working then is because of debt. So, Americans have almost endless ways to spend leisure time, addicted to hobbies, sports, computer, video games, vacations, et cetera. And the struggle of the church over the ages has been defined balance.

Early on in church history, there were ascetics who pulled away from a lifestyle of leisure and pleasure and went off in the desert and did nothing but fast and pray. Later on, in the development of the monastic movement, they would add working, laboring with the hands. It was a relentless lifestyle driven, I think, by a bad theology of what it took to be saved, to have your sins forgiven, and very difficult for them to find balance. Perhaps some of the most balanced people on this were Puritans, but they are well known for the Puritan work ethic, and they had a dim view of what most people of their age called leisure or play.

They were against the book of sports, for example, which just had to do with leisure and recreation, very, very strong Sabbatarians. And for them, their worship was a form of work for the Lord, and they were focused on that. There was a kind of a relentless feel to the life, although not universally with them. Balance has been very, very difficult to find. And so, my desire is that we would have a godly proper balance between labor and leisure and not drift over into the laziness that we can see. 

So, let's go back to the beginning and try to understand briefly a theology of work. And we start with the blessing that work is itself. The Bible opens with God at work. I mean right from the very, very beginning, God creates the heavens and the earth. He's at work, as Jesus said, "To this very day, my father is at work and I too am working” (John 5:17). God is always putting energy to putting will toward this universe to achieve a purpose.

So, from the very beginning, God says, "Let there be light,” and there's light. And in verse 31 of Genesis 1, "God saw all that he had made and it was very good, and there was evening and there was morning the sixth day. And thus, the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array." So, there's God at work skillfully weaving a universe, and then God entrusted meaningful work to human beings. Genesis 2:15, it says, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." So, there is Adam, and he's at work before the fall.

What the fall did in Genesis 3, it came in and brought a curse on work. It brought a curse on work. So, in Genesis 3:17-19, Adam has to hear this, "For the punishment for what he did and sinning and breaking the law of God. Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow, you will eat your food until you sink back into the dust for dust you are and to dust you will return." That is a curse on work is what it is. Labor would become futile; it would become frustrating. Efforts will be put forth, and nothing would come of it, and that's where I think Solomon picks it up in Ecclesiastes, where he just sees the vanity of it all.

In the New Covenant, though, in Jesus, work has been redeemed, and we are called mysteriously co-laborers with God. Our work actually has an eternal benefit as Christians as we do the good works. We are God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10), created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God laid out or ordained in advance that we should walk in them. And so, the implication there in the open teaching in other places that our works actually have eternal consequence. And, that's mysterious because God doesn't need us at all. But He has in some mysterious way committed to us eternal works - works of eternal consequence. So, that's a brief overview of work and where we're at.

Let's look at Proverbs, and Proverbs begins celebrating the glory and the rewards of labor - the glory and the rewards of labor. And, in order to do that, the book of Proverbs introduces us to the ant. The ant. We are introduced to the ant, "Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider its ways and be wise” (Proverbs 6:6). The ant is a role model for us. The ant is held out in Proverbs 6, one of the most amazing creatures that God ever made.

We're talking in the staff about what would happen if the natural world just weren't restrained anymore toward the human race and just went after us. Who would you dread the most of all of the created beings? And one of our guys said, "I think it's the ants." I mean, what are you going to do with the ants? I thought it was the eagles. I thought, if the eagles came after us, what are you going to do? Swooping from up above; you're in trouble. I think Hitchcock made a film like that about birds, but the ants… Do you realize there are one million ants for every human being on the face of the earth? What would you do against your million if there were war between us and the ants? How would you take on your million ants?

Ants are amazing creatures; they can lift over 50 times their body weight, similar to us lifting an automobile. They all live in communities, colonies. The largest ant colony ever found was located in Italy in northern Spain. It stretched 3,600 miles. One colony. Literally, of course, billions of ants.

Now, every ant has a specific function. Soldier ants protect the rest of the colony from outside encroachment. Harvester ants store seeds for use as food. Some of the ants chew up the seeds and form a kind of a pasty bread that all the other ants eat. Others take out seeds that have gotten wet and lay them out to dry. Weaver ants use their larvae which produce silk threads to sow together leaves for shelters and other purposes. Carpenter ants hollow out tree stumps for use as nests. Slave-maker ants actually raid other ant colonies and steal away a larvae, which then grow up as slaves for their colony.

Now, Solomon urges us to go to the ant to study the ant and look at its ways and to observe the ants specifically for its work ethic. It has no commander or overseer or ruler (Proverbs 6:7 and 8), and yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. The issue there with the ant is its dedication to the task, self-motivation also, and foresight. So, it's dedicated, it's motivated, and it doesn't have an overseer directly commanding it, doesn't mess around when the boss isn't watching. It just sticks to the task. And foresight - the ability to store up today what's available today, so that they can eat tomorrow. Now, the essence of the sluggard, and we're going to talk more about the sluggard later in the message, but is procrastination. Putting off to tomorrow what ought to be done today. The ant doesn't do that. And so, we have the ants as an example. In effect, God is saying to us, "Why can't you be like the ant?" Somewhat like a scolding parent, and saying, "If only you could be as dedicated to your task as the ant is."

Well, what are the rewards of labor? Well, first and foremost, very plainly and clearly, the satisfaction of basic necessities, food, clothing, and shelter. Food, clothing, and shelter. And we have had numerous opportunities to counsel people in the community and others that have come that are having trouble in certain areas, and it takes them to sermon. but one of the basic lessons is if you're able-bodied, it's up to you to provide for your basic needs, and if you're the head of a household for those of your family, that's a basic lesson of Scripture. And so, it says in Proverbs 16:26, “the laborer's appetite works for him.” His hunger drives him on; it forces him to do whatever it takes to care for him. His own needs and the needs of his family drives him on. And so, we've seen photos from The Great Depression of people with signs saying we'll work for food, people who are formerly investment bankers that are selling apples, whatever it took to get a job. But Proverbs goes beyond that. Actually, abundant food and blessing comes from labor as well. Proverbs 10:4 says, "Lazy hands makes a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth." So excess or surplus or wealth comes from diligence, from hard work.

Also, skill at labor produces an ever-widening scope of opportunity, advancement in life. Proverbs 22:29 says, "When you see a man skilled in his work, he will serve before kings, he will not serve before obscure men." So, if you want to advance, if you want to have a wider scope, wider horizon of ministry opportunities or of life, then be skilled in your labor. Be good at it. That's what the book of Proverbs is teaching. Also, hard work results in authority and greater responsibility. Proverbs 12:24 says, "Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor." So again, diligence results in authority and the ability to lead others. It's usually hard workers that get in that position, not always, but frequently. Also, hard work results in the fulfillment of desires. Proverbs 13:4 says, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing. But the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” Isn't that a sweet verse? So, basically, it's just the desires of your heart frequently come through the labors of your hands. That's what Proverbs is saying.

Obviously, I know Psalm says, "Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." But this verse is teaching that, so often, it comes through your hard labor as well. And so, in the end, a hard worker will be praised and rewarded. Just go to the end of the book, and you have the virtuous wife in Proverbs 31. Incredibly hard-working lady. Proverbs 31:13 and following, it says, "She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She's like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it's still dark. She provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls." And at the end of all that, in Proverbs 31:31, it says, "Give her the reward she has earned and let her works bring her praise at the city gates."

Well, that's true, not just for the virtuous wife, but for a man as well, for anybody - that hard work results in praise and rewards. I think we even get that from the Lord. "Well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things. Now, I'll put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your Master” (Matthew 25:23). He's rewarding labor there. Initiative, energy, sacrifice. That's what's going on there.

Proverbs also gives us some practical words of wisdom on work. One of them is, work your fields and avoid fantasies. A couple of Proverbs teaches… Proverbs 28:19 says, "He who works his land will have abundant food, but the one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty." It's been heartbreaking for me sometimes to see people who leave a good job or a good situation for some whim, some fantasy, really. A get-rich-quick scheme or some other thing, and they get themselves into difficulty, and they don't really recover. Now, I'm not saying it's not possible that the Lord can come and give you a vision for a ministry and cause you to make some sacrifices, like the rich young ruler is called on to sell everything and follow Jesus. But this proverb still speaks a word of wisdom to us to be careful that you're hearing God properly.

Secondly, prioritize your tasks wisely. Proverbs 24:27 says, "Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready, and after that, you may build your house." So, the idea is, you might want to make your house cushy, comfortable, luxurious, just like in the book of Haggai with paneling and all that, but there's something outside the house that needs to be done first. So, look after that. Prioritize your tasks wisely.

Thirdly, be honest in business. Proverbs has many things to say about the honest scales or the dishonest scales, and how much God loves an honest set of weights. And that just expands to just talk about honesty in business and honesty in how you earn your living. In Colossians, it says, work hard, and not just when the boss's eye is on you. But even when it's not, do your work as unto the Lord (Colossians 3:23-24). So, honesty in business. And Proverbs urges us to take care of our equipment. Take care of your tools, the things that you use to make your living. Prize your possessions. Proverbs says in 27:23, "Be sure to know the condition of your flocks. Give careful attention to your herds." And then it goes on and says, "Because they're going to give you wool for clothing and food for your family." So, look after your things. Be good stewards of your possession.

So, this is just some of the practical wisdom that God gave Solomon for a lifestyle of hard work. It's wise, it's prosperous, it's orderly, and it's satisfying. So, the Lord envisioned a life that's going to be six-sevenths labor. Might as well enjoy it, dear friends, because that's what God's called us to do, to be productive, to work hard, to work for His Glory, and to do things fruitfully for Him. 

But what about rest? Is there a place for leisure in the Christian life? Is there a limit to work? Well, from the very beginning, we learned that there actually is a limit to work, and God set that up by the Sabbath rest that He took in Genesis 2. It says, "By the seventh day, God had rested from the work..." Or, sorry, "Had finished the work he had been doing. So, on the seventh day, He rested from all of His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. Because on it, He rested from all the work of creating that he had done." And then God established that as the law for Israel and ten commandments: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. "Do all your work in six days, and rest on the seventh, for God made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh” (Exodus 20:8-11). So, therefore, God gives us a picture of a limit to work. There's just a limit to it.

Now, we know theologically that God has to constantly work or the universe doesn't exist anymore. We know that, but there's a symbolic resting from work that God intends, a picture of our future heavenly rest, but also a rhythm for everyday life for the Jews and for us as well. So also, just the rhythm of day and night tells us that when the sun goes down… And, after Edison, I think we are confused about this. But people in less developed nations, they know when the sun goes down, you go to bed. And you know, they did. I remember in Kenya, you see these little coleman-style lanterns, but those are only for a little while and then they go out and they're in bed. Hour or two after the sun goes down. Not us. Ever see a satellite photo of the Earth at night and just all of the lit areas? Those are all the first world countries that have forgotten what it means to go to bed when the sun goes down. 

But God intends for the rest of a laborer to be sweet. “The sleep of a laborer is sweet,” it says in Proverbs 3 and verse 24. After you've done everything that God wanted you to do, you've lived a faithful day, the sun has gone down, you've finished up, it's just time to put your head on the pillow and rest.

And that rest is sweet. Interesting word, though, isn't it? Sweet? The book of Proverbs talks about this thing called honey, and it talks about how sweet honey is, and that it's a good thing to enjoy it. It's a good thing to taste the honey. God made it delicious for a reason. There's even a command in the Bible that we ought to eat honey. Proverbs 24:13 says, "Eat honey, my son, for it is good. Honey from the comb is sweet to the taste." And the next proverb talks about some other topics, so that's all that proverb has to say is just, “Eat honey.” It's good. Well, I think that honey is a metaphor. It isn't just that God really wants you to eat honey and that there's... It's got to do with a health thing, and if you just eat it, you're going to be healthy and live long and all that. No, it just tastes good. There's no other reason for it. It just tastes good.

So, I think an extreme ascetic life out in the desert grinding away, especially one in which you're trying to pay for your sins thereby, that's not what God had in mind at all. God created fruit. He created beautiful things to see, created experiences and things for us to enjoy, leisure things that are what I call amoral pleasures, not immoral pleasures. But those things that are good, richly to be enjoyed. "Eat them," God says. That's the kind of life He gives us.

But you know, there's more to say about honey from Proverbs, isn't there? There is a command not to overeat honey. Proverbs 25:16 says, "If you find honey, eat just enough. Too much of it, and you will vomit." Now, it's not often you hear the word “vomit” from the pulpit, but that's what the Proverbs are saying. You'll vomit. If you take in too much of the good things of life, it will come out of you in a bad way. It will destroy you. So, there's a balance here on leisure. Now you're going to say, "What in the world does honey have to do with leisure?" I just don't think... I think that honey is a metaphor for blessings in life that are not intrinsic or essential to keeping us alive. It's just the good things of life. God created all things richly for us to enjoy, but it says in Proverbs 25:27, "It's not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor." So there, just going from honey to honor, shows it's a metaphor. It's just a metaphor.

And so, the basic thing is, please enjoy the good things of life, but don't over-indulge. And one of the dangers of overeating honey is you grow to hate honey. And, once you hate one kind of honey, you're constantly then drifting looking for the next kind of honey. And it's a bad way to live. It really is, I think, a satanic way to live. You're empty, you're restless, you're wandering around looking for something in life. And you haven't noticed that you have become idolatrous is what it is. You're looking horizontally for the blessings of life, and you've forgotten that God is our pleasure. He really is our honey, above all of these earthly blessings.

So, it says in Proverbs 27:7, "He who is full loathes honey, but to the hungry, even what is bitter tastes sweet." So, that's the whole problem, I think with America: it's over-indulgence. It's not that God's blessed us. It's a good thing that He's blessed us. It's the over-indulgence. Yes, there's food, but why do we go on to gluttony and to obesity? It's not enough for some to have recreation. We have to play to the level of a frantic addict. It's not enough to have a weekend or a vacation, some pretty place. We become idolaters and live for the weekend and hate work. It changes the heart. It's not enough to watch a ball game or two from time to time. We've got to have 24/7 ESPN, and how many... I don't even know how many versions we are up to. ESPN 360. They just added ESPN Boston. And you're wondering how do I know? Well, we'll talk about that another time.

But at any rate, there's just lots of different ways to over-indulge in different things. So, it is damaging, dear friends, bottom line, to love pleasure. Proverbs 21:17 says, "He who loves pleasure will become poor. Whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich." Now, I don't think that means pleasure in an absolute sense. We're a pleasure in God; we're created for pleasure. John Piper satisfied me about that. We ought to be hedonists living for the pleasure of God. That is fine, but that's not what that Proverbs is talking about. It's talking about a horizontal earthly pleasure that you then live for; it becomes an idol. That leads us very easily and naturally to the shame and destructive destructiveness of laziness.

And so, we have introduced a different character now. We had the ant earlier; now we meet the sluggard. The sluggard. And what a fascinating character this individual really is. Have you ever studied the sluggard passages? They're really quite fascinating. This is an interesting guy. First and foremost, he loves to sleep. I mean, he's just addicted to sleep. Proverbs 6:9-11, "How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty is going to come upon you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." I remember in school there was a guy in our fraternity; you couldn't wake him up with fire to his feet. I never tried that. Somebody said they did, and it didn't work. I mean, this guy, you couldn't get him up. But this sluggard just loves to sleep.

Or this one, Proverbs 26:14, "As the door turns on its hinges, so the sluggard in his bed." That's his labor that day, to find the comfortable way to sleep. How to get the pillows arranged, and what's the best position for sleeping? Now, the sluggard is filled with desire. He's filled with dreams and aspirations, but nothing ever comes of it because he's completely unwilling to work for it. Make any of it happen. Proverbs 13:4, "The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligence are fully satisfied." And again, Proverbs 21:25, "The sluggard's craving will be the death of him because his hands refused to work." So, it just torments him, all the things he wants, but they don't come his way because he doesn't work for them.

The sluggard is constantly making excuses for his laziness, even to the point of ridiculousness. Proverbs 22:13, "The sluggard says, "There's a lion outside or I'll be murdered in the streets." I mean, please. The reason the sluggard says he doesn't want to work, and what might happen if he goes out. Something's going to happen. “I might get eaten by a lion. Somebody might murder me. I just need to stay here where it's safe.” The level of laziness can reach ridiculous, even epic proportions. Proverbs 26:15, "The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. He's too lazy to bring it back to his mouth."

So, I pictured this. A man still living at home with his parents at age 40. Sleepy from his afternoon nap, he turns out just in time for dinner for his mommy who has cooked for him yet again, another home-cooked meal, asking her if she would please cut it up for him and feed him. That's about the picture I get from this proverb. How pathetic and disgusting laziness can become! And the sluggard then creates immense frustrations for people around him, immense frustrations for his extended community, his family. Proverbs 10:26, "As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him."

Have you ever been camping, and you use sappy or wet wood, green wood? And it's just billowing smoke and whatever, wherever you stand, it seems the wind shifts to get that stinging smoke into your eyes. Well, that's what it's like to send a sluggard to do a hard worker's job. Imagine a scenario, and I saw things like this, not exactly like this, but imagine a scenario where an employer, a manufacturer wants to get some parts made ASAP. They need them that day. The best vendor in the area is willing to set aside some work for this special project if he can get the drawings by 10 in the morning. And so, the boss sends a messenger with the drawings. Little does he know he has sent a sluggard.

The guy drives by a Starbucks and realizes he's not going to get his morning coffee break like the rest of the guys. So, he pulls in. An hour later, he rolls out, and he brings the drawings to the vendor. Vendor didn't get them by 10 o'clock, so he figured that the guy didn't need them after all. He puts them in the bottom of the queue. Around 4:30, there's a phone call between the boss who sent this guy and the vendor, and it's frustrating to both parties. And why? Because the sluggard was in the middle. That kind of stuff goes on in the workplace just about every day. And it's a shameful thing. Sluggard misses opportunities and makes excuses about it.

Proverbs 20:4, "Sluggard does not plow in season so at harvest time, he looks but finds nothing." There was a window of opportunity for him to get his crops in the ground; he missed it. Growing season is over; he missed it. And even more amazing in the proverb, he looks for the harvest, and he didn't know why it's not there. He's shocked. And so, it is now. The deadline for applying for fall classes comes and goes, and then the registrar gets a phone call from somebody who wants to apply, register for classes. Well, that ended a week ago. And what's amazing is how angry the individual gets toward the person on the phone. How angry they are about it. And so, it says in Proverbs 19:3, "A man's own folly ruins his life, and yet his heart rages against the Lord." God, how could you let this happen to me? And he never traces it back to his own laziness.

He's always a day late and a dollar short. He starts projects and doesn't finish them. And basically, dear friends, he is fighting his laziness his whole life. Proverbs 15:19, it says, "The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.” Look at how ironic that is. Every moment, what he wants is his own ease and comfort. That's what he's looking for at every moment. And as a result, he leads a very difficult life, very difficult life. He wants to travel, but he can't find his passport, so he has to apply for another one. Very stressful for him. Tries to find a dress shirt that he knows he can't find, he goes and buys another one at a certain amount of expense, finds the original dress shirt a week later. A college friend's father dies. He meant to get a sympathy card or something in the mail, doesn't. The relationship goes down a tick as a result.

He doesn't pay the bill on time, and so there's creditors calling. Very, very difficult. His way is blocked in with thorns. Basically, he's a slave to his own sense of comfort. And the result of all of this, in Proverbs 24? You heard Allan read it. I'll read it again. A shameful display, visible to the whole world. "I went past the field of the sluggard, past the vineyard of the man who lacks judgment. Thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds and stonewall was in ruins and I applied my heart to what I observed, and I learned a lesson from what I saw. A little sleep, a little slumber. A little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." 

So, you may say, what's wrong with a little sleep? I think Proverbs is overly harsh on sleep. No, not at all. Actually, it's from Proverbs 3. It says that the sleep is sweet to the laborer. The problem is love of sleep. Proverbs 20:13 says, "Do not love sleep or you'll grow poor. Stay awake and you'll have food to spare." That's the problem. So, guard your heart, dear friends. Watch your tendencies. A little of this, a little motion in direction, next thing you know, years later, you've missed a whole bunch of good works God wanted you to do because you weren't vigilant over your heart.

Well, what application can we take from all of these proverbs? Well, first and foremost, let's go to Jesus on this topic of work and say to Him what was already said one time before. What must we do to work the works of God? What do you have to do to work the works of God? Jesus' answer is this: this is the work of God. Believe in the one He has sent. The work of the human race has already been done, dear friends, already been achieved. The central work of the human race was done by one man, Jesus Christ, when He shed His blood on the cross and died for sin, that work is finished. He said so. He said, "It is finished, it's done." And the reason that I can preach so eloquently about the sluggard is I played that role from time to time in my life.

I have. I've played the role of the workaholic, too. All of us struggle with balance in every area of our lives. We are sinners, and we are saved by works, dear friends. They're just not our works. Jesus' work on the cross saves us. His righteousness and obedience of the law saves us. Step into that by faith. Step into that, and trust in the Lord Jesus. I said it's likely, there's some here that have never trusted in Jesus. Set aside your own works; they cannot save you. It does not matter how great your career is, or how many of the works of your hands, they cannot pay for your sins. Trust in Jesus. It's the only, only work that will save you, the work of Jesus.

Well, secondly, what now then? How do I work the works of God aside from believing in Jesus? How do I do the good works that God's ordained that I should walk in them? Well, I think we should understand the overarching glory of God in the building of the kingdom. Just say, I am doing this work. I am preaching this sermon right now that God's kingdom might be advanced. Even down to “I am peeling these potatoes to the glory of God, that I might pray while I'm doing it, that I might give my labors to God as an act of worship.” That, the Puritans were excellent at that. Live like that. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might to the glory of God.

And then learn the practical lessons of Proverbs. Don't despise the menial tasks of the day. A life worth living is made up of garbage taken out and bills paid on time, and lawns mowed and gardens weeded and socks repaired and shirts ironed and thank you notes written on time. Cars washed, groceries bought, meals cooked, children bathed and put to bed. That's life. Do it all to the glory of God. Do it for His honor.

And use your spiritual gifts; have a ministry. We're going to talk more about that in a few weeks, but just be sure that you're using your spiritual gifts for the glory of God. Build up the church; build up the brothers and sisters in Christ. And beware of the recreation craze culture that we live in; beware of it. A little of this, a little of that, next thing you know you're addicted. Don't go there. Have the wisdom to show restraint.

And teach your children, please, to labor. Their bent is going to be toward recreation, toward play, and so also their schoolmates. Be the mean parent. We talked about the mean parent last week that actually makes your kids learn how to work. Be the mean, tough parent that says, “You actually do have to make your bed every morning and keep your room clean and learn how to serve.” And all the more as they get older. Teenage boys, teenage girls learning how to serve others with their vigorous bodies. Finally, don't procrastinate or be like the sluggard. Do the good works God has ordained for you to do today. For His glory. Close with me in prayer, if you would.

So, almost 19 years ago, I began - Christi and I together began - the greatest adventure of our married life. I remember when Nathaniel was born (he's not here so I can speak his name from the pulpit without having asked permission first), but I remember very well wheeling him back in the little plastic bassinet and looking down in his face and telling him that I loved him but not feeling anything at all. I remember that distinctly; I didn't know him. How can I say I love you to this little baby that I didn't know? I guess I was loving him by faith at that moment, that I would grow to love him, and I did, and the other four children as well that the Lord has blessed us with. It's been an incredible adventure. Isn't it remarkable how children inevitably bring a smile to your face when you just look at them, when you consider what they do, when you listen to the things they say? You watch them develop. It just brings tremendous joy, and I could tell stories that would absolutely embarrass all of my kids, and I would get in big trouble when I got home, so I'm going to leave it off. I had one in mind even this morning, but I'm not going to share it… about an Amber alert and other things. But I won't get into all that at all because it wasn't even true.

I just thank God that even Joseph and Mary could have used an Amber alert in those times. You remember when they didn't even know where Jesus was? Aren't you glad that God did not look for perfect parents when He sent Jesus into the world? Nobody would have been able to do the job. And so, Joseph and Mary saying to one another, "I thought you had Him," "I thought He was with you," and back and forth, and then to the extended family, the cousins and all that, and no one knew where He was. And I just think that's a lesson to parents for all of us that we ultimately are not in charge of our children; they really are God's, that God alone can watch over them. God alone can protect them and prepare them for what He has in mind for them. We have many such lessons in life, and so, we are attending today to the topic of Proverbs on parenting.

Just a word about Proverbs in general, what a rich book it is. And I was talking to someone this morning about just this topical approach to Proverbs, which I've chosen to take, and I think it's the best approach to Proverbs. But I feel like I'm just taking different kinds of magnets and putting them on the same 31 chapters and bringing out different verses and putting them together, and the effect is just so powerful. Today, it's on parenting. It's going to be on work or on conflict resolution, or we've talked about money. It's just a powerful book. And I praise God for it in this one area of parenting because I remember distinctly when I was growing up, hearing regularly that we kids didn't come with an instruction manual. And I remember hearing that again and again, and I've come to realize, as a Christian, that really isn't true.

Dear friends, we have an inerrant instruction manual on parenting in the Bible and the Scriptures as a whole. 66 books of the Bible teach you how to be a godly parent. But I would have to say there's no book that gives more practical insights on how to parent your children than does this book of Proverbs, and so this morning we're going to roll up our sleeves, and we're going to look at different aspects of parenting from the book of Proverbs. And, as we study Proverbs on parenting, I want to just entice all of you - no matter what category of life you may be in - to listen carefully. Obviously, if you are a new parent this morning or a parent of growing toddlers or preschooler, something like that, you may feel you have the most to gain from the insights that come from Proverbs. You have a lot to learn, and you're ready, and it's that time of life. And so, I think it won't be hard for me to persuade you to listen.

If you are a parent of teens, I believe that this - the home base of the book of Proverbs - is counsel given from a father to a teenage son, getting him ready for what he's about to face as he ventures out into his life. That's why there's warnings about prostitutes. There are warnings about drunkenness and about falling in with the wrong crowd and all that because this is immature here, hearing from a godly father what to think about. And so, therefore, I think, parents of teens, this should be your home base right now in terms of how to parent your teens. And so also, if you are yourself a teenager, I would urge that you read this as instruction from your heavenly Father on what to do about these various issues of life. It really is a word given to you.

If you're an empty nester, you still have a lot to gain from this. Your children may be grown, and you may not be in that phase of active parenting as you were, but it could be very soon that you'll be grandparents. And they'll be coming to you for counsel, or at least you'll think they should come to you for counsel, and you'll be ready to give it when they ask you what to do. And certainly, you can at least make it a matter of prayer as you learn from Proverbs what godly parenting is all about; you can take these back to God in prayer.

And if you're single or a college student or a youth, you may think, “This isn't even on my radar screen.” Well, let me tell you something: if you're in college or just out of college, it ought to be on your radar screen. It could be very, very soon that you'll be asking some real questions about how to train a child. It's an incredible adventure. It's an amazing, a wonderful adventure, but it's one of the most complicated things you can ever do. You're dealing with the intricacies of a human soul. You're dealing with issues of sin, of life and death, of all of these issues, and you're seeing a reflection of your own heart as well. There are just so many things involved. And so, if you are a college student or a youth or single, you're out of college, but not married, I just want to say it may be a lot sooner than you think that you'll have to listen to this. And, second of all, even if in the providence of God, you never get married and never have children, you still ought to care very much how the next generation is being raised. It should matter to you. You should be able to get out of your own situation through prayer and counsel and encouragement enough to say “I care about how kids are being raised in this church and around the world.” So, for all of that, I just would like you to give careful attention to what Proverbs says on parenting.

And I want to begin just with the issue of the urgency of good parenting. This is a life-or-death issue; if anything is, this is. I know that you parents want to give the best you can for your children. Most parents do. They want to give them every opportunity they can ever have, opportunities of education, food, clothing, and shelter, obviously, but the best you can give them. You want to give them a wealth of rich experiences. You want to give them musical instruments or sports or travel or different other things, and that's all fine, but let me ask you a question: What would it profit you as a parent if you should give your children the whole world, and they should lose their souls? 

Thus, we come quickly to the urgency of good parenting. It is a matter of eternal life or eternal death. Now, fundamental insights from the soul come in the book of Proverbs in parenting language. Some of the famous little verses in the first 10 chapters of Proverbs come as the counsel from a father to his son. That's kind of the home base of the language of the book of Proverbs - a father giving advice to his son.

So, Proverbs 1:7 and following says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Hear my son, your father's instruction and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck." So there, this incredibly important statement, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," is given in the context of a father giving counsel to his son, to listen to his father and mother's advice. Again, Proverbs 3, "My son, do not forget my teachings, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." Again, it's said in the context of a father giving advice to his son, and I believe the greatest advice - the greatest counsel a godly parent can ever give to their son or daughter - is this: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel!

That's the greatest advice a parent can ever give to their child, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." And, dear friends, you know you get ample teachable moments on that one, don't you? You get to come again and again and again to the gospel, and so you should. Now, when we come to Proverbs and parenting, perhaps there's one in particular that may pop up in your mind. Proverbs 22:6, which says, "Train up a child in the way he should go. And even when he is old, he will not depart from it." This probably is the most famous verse on parenting in Proverbs, maybe even the most famous verse in Proverbs. Many parents have read this verse, perhaps you've memorized it; perhaps you've cross-stitched it. Perhaps it's framed and above somebody's desk, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old, he will not depart from it." Some Christian parents who have wayward kids have claimed that somewhat as a promise that their wayward kids will at some point return to their solid upbringing in Christ. The sad thing is that the verse doesn't teach about returning to anything; it actually teaches about staying in a path that you are started in early on.

So, I really wouldn't go to that verse. I would rather go to the Prodigal Son and teach based on that and how the father is ready to receive back a prodigal. I remember when I was taking Hebrew in seminary, and my Hebrew professor just burst everybody's bubble on Proverbs 22:6. The Hebrew literally says, “Train up a child according to the mouth of his way." It's kind of an awkward Hebrew expression. Or “according to his way,” or “carefully according to his way,” and “even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Well, just about every English translation inserts the word “should.” “Train up a child in the way he should go,” implying that the training is along the line of what he should do. What my Hebrew professor said, is it, as far as he was concerned... it didn't read that way.

He says that Proverbs is generally pessimistic about the heart of a child, the natural way of a child, and, if you train up a child according to his way - in other words, give the little brat anything and everything he wants (permissive parenting) - he'll be expecting it his whole life. "Well, that's a different way of looking at that proverb. I wouldn't have cross-stitched if I knew that's what it meant." But actually, I'm not sure I hold that analysis either. My view is a little bit more in the middle. The word "train up" in Hebrew literally means dedicate as you would a house. You can dedicate a new house or, even more significantly, the dedication of the temple. It has to do with setting up a house or a temple on its first day in the direction that it's going to go.

And so, therefore, I think what it means is that habit patterns start very early. And, however you set that child, they're going to be following that path their whole life. Again, the book of Proverbs is a book of tendencies, not absolutes, but habit patterns start early. Children are very much like wet cement; they're setting every day. They come in moldable or shape-able. You can pour them and put them in a mold, et cetera, but as time passes, they are less and less under direct control, and they just get set. And so, be careful how you train them early on because those habit patterns start early. I think that's really what it's talking about: a child that's never learned to deal with their sin nature. They haven't learned to deal with their selfishness or their aggression. They haven't learned to be other-centered. They're going to be struggling with selfishness their whole life in ways that perhaps others that had better parenting won't. 

If they grew up in a home where there's a regular pattern of family devotions, and they see their father and mother having daily quiet times, and they are trained on how to do daily quiet times, and they're trained in how to do that, they probably have less struggle in their lives having regular quiet times than others that didn't get that training. So thus, good parenting at an early age is an urgent issue. I think that's what Proverbs 22:6 is saying.

And wisdom itself, in the book of Proverbs, is a life-or-death issue. Proverbs 13:14 says, "The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death." You know the death we're talking about here isn't merely physical death, although the book of Proverbs tends to be a bit horizontal and focused on this life. Yet, we know that the stakes are eternal. Eternal life. Eternal death. And so, Proverbs 15:24 says, "The path of life leads upward for the wise to keep him from going down into the grave." And the fullness of Scripture tells us what's beyond the grave, and that is judgment. So, the central concern of Christian parents every single day should be, as I've already said, to bring your children to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God the Son. He came into the world as a human being, that He might take our sins on Himself, that He might suffer and bleed and die in our place on the cross. God didn't leave Him dead, but on the third day, God raised Him from the dead. That, my friends, is the only hope for sinners like us, and, as parents, you need to bring your children to that gospel again and again.

Think about what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, "But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it” - Lois and Eunice, grandmother and mother - "Those from whom you learned it and how from infancy, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus." That is a parent's task right there: from infancy, training them in the Scriptures so that they can be wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

So, let me just pause and ask: Are you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus? Let's just set parenting aside for a moment. Someday, each one of you who hears me today will stand before God. Are you ready? Are you ready to stand before God? Are you ready to face eternity, either with God through faith in Christ or apart from God because of your sins? What's the sense in listening to a sermon on parenting and not hearing the gospel? Repent and believe. But I just want to say to you, parents, bring your children again and again to the gospel, not just one time, but again and again. 

However, having said that, good parenting is not required for heaven. All over the world, there are bad parents who are not bringing up their children in the fear and nurture of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are a lot of different flavors of that. There are Buddhist types, and there are Hindu types, and there are Muslim types, and there are atheistic materialistic types and all that. None of them are bringing up their children in the fear and nurture of the Lord. None of them are bringing their children to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Is it over for those children? I tell you it's not. But the grace of God can cut across bad parenting and rescue people whose parents were never believers at all. So, praise God for that. It's not over for you if you weren't born in a Christian home. I've heard it said again and again by people who do comparative religions and all that, "If you're born in a Christian area, you'll be a Christian," and all that. Listen, we know as Christians, that's just not true. It's the grace of God alone that saves people, and so we can go to other countries where there are no Christian parents teaching their children these things, and have hope that some of them will repent and believe the good news.

Isn't that wonderful? Secondly, I want to give you this. Good parenting doesn't guarantee heaven either. This may be the bitterest part of all for Christian parents, but it is true. And I think you know it, just because you and your spouse are godly, just because you pray, you train them well, you saturate them in the Scriptures, you bring them to church, you try to lead godly lives in front of them, you try to be honest about your sin and confess it, put sin to death by the power of the Spirit, there's no guarantees that any of your children will be with you in heaven. No guarantees at all. And I think this is important to meditate on. There is no machinery of good parenting that produces regenerate kids. It's not like Henry Ford with the Model T assembly line thing, if you get all the machinery right, you're just going to go ka jing, ka jing, ka jing, one godly kid after another. It just doesn't work that way.

Dear friends, that's behaviorism. "If you get all of the parenting strategy right, they will believe." I do not believe that. I believe that we need to as best we can get the parenting right. God is a God of means. He does use good parenting to bring kids to Christ; He does. But it's not guaranteed. 

Alright, so what is the goal of good parenting? What are we shooting for? What is it we want? Well, we want heartfelt, delighted obedience to the Lord. That's what you're looking for. You're going after the heart. You want them from the heart to delight in Jesus and follow his ways; that's what you're looking for. The basic cry then of a parent, which you heard Jim read earlier, Proverbs 23:26, "Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways," that I think is probably one of the key proverbs and what you're shooting for in parenting. Proverbs 23:26, "Give me your heart, my son, and let your eyes delight in my ways."

So, the focus is on the heart. Above all else, a big pitfall, I think, of Christian parenting is the tendency to raise a brood of hypocrites who will outwardly conform to religiosity but have no heart relationship with Jesus Christ. They know how to speak the language. They know where to go and what to do and all of that sort of stuff. "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me," said the Lord. The danger is raising Christian moralists who do all the right things, who say all the right things, who give their money in the right direction, but their hearts are far from Christ. That's a great danger. What we're looking for is a heart delight in Jesus, that they would delight in the ways of the Lord, that they would know that His yoke is easy and His burden is light, that they would come to Jesus of themselves and delight in Him from the heart.

And so, all obedience to the law must be heartfelt obedience. Proverbs 3, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments. For length of days and years of life and peace, they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." So, the godly father and the godly mother, they're seeking that. They're seeking heartfelt obedience, that God's ways are written on the hearts of the children. 

This is one of the gifts of the New Covenant, one of the blessings of the New Covenant. From Jeremiah 31, God's going to make a new covenant in those days. It's not going to be like the covenant He made with their forefathers. He said, "I'll put my laws in your minds and I will write them on your hearts." He's going to give us a new nature, and He's going to write the laws on the hearts. So therefore, in parenting, you're always going for the heart. Whenever the child sins, you've got to reason with their hearts. Now, I know it in a very early age, it's hard. The communication is not quite there. There's some certain patterns that get established, and that's fine, but more and more as they get older and older, it's a matter of the heart. Bringing the child to understand the heart issue behind the pattern, "Why did you do this? Why did you take your sister's cookie? Why did you hit her back?"

I was thinking about a t-shirt that someone told me about once, "It all started when she hit me back." I thought, "Wow, I need that shirt." Okay? “It all started when she hit me back.” Alright, did it? Did it really? I tell you what, sometimes I feel like a circuit riding judge when I come home. I sit down, "Alright caseload, case number 1173-C, bring it up." And you're just sitting there on this case and trying to find out what happened, but the goal of it is to get to the heart. "Why did you do what you did? What does it show about what you love and what you hate? What's going on in there?" So, the goal of good parenting is heartfelt obedience to the Lord. 

The core of good parenting is loving persuasion, or I would say the strategy, might be a better word than "core", the strategy of good parenting is loving persuasion. Our God is a reasonable and reasoning father. He reasons with us in the Scriptures. Again, and again, He shows us why. He answers our why questions, not all of them, but many of them He answers why. And so, it says in Isaiah 1, "The Lord says, Come now let us reason together. For though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the best of the land. But if you resist and rebel, you'll be devoured by the sword, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." That's a Father reasoning with His children about consequences, about blessings and curses. That's how He is. In that very same chapter, it talked about God as a Father who reared children and brought them up, but they rebelled against Him. Isaiah 1. So, on behalf of the Father, Christ also is constantly reasoning with us, reasoning with us so that we would have a certain heart attitude.

Therefore, the father in the book of Proverbs is constantly reasoning and persuading. Again, that same one, Proverbs 23:26, "Give me your heart, my son." He's pleading with him. He's saying, "Please, I want to plead with you to give me your heart so I can persuade you about something." A father can't compel the son to do this. You can't make the son give him the heart. It just isn't going to happen. It's got to do with persuasion, and so there are many such persuasions in the book of Proverbs. Just read through, and you see them. Proverbs 2:1-5, "My son, if you receive my words, if you treasure up my commands within you, if you make your ear attentive to wisdom, if you incline your heart to understanding, then you'll understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Proverbs 2:1-6.

Proverbs 1, right after "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge," he then reasons with him to not throw in with highway robbers and thieves. Bad company corrupts good morals. He doesn't say it there, but he says, "Don't join in with bad people." He's reasoning with him. Or again, to guard his heart. Proverbs 4, he says, "My son, be attentive to my words. Incline your heart to my sayings. Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the wellsprings of life." Again, but the strategy is reasoning, persuasion. He explains why he should guard his heart because it's so important. Everything comes from your heart. He's reasoning with him, or he persuades him not to fall in with the wicked woman, the immoral woman. In Proverbs 5, he says, "My son, be attentive to my wisdom. Incline your ear to my understanding that you may keep discretion and your lips may guard knowledge for the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end, she is bitter as wormwood. And now, O sons, listen to me and do not depart from the words of my mouth, keep your way far from her, do not go near the door of her house."

Do you not hear a father pleading with a son, reasoning with him? That's the whole strategy on parenting. So, if you asked me, if you came to me and you asked, "What is your strategy on parenting?" It's that I'm going to go for the heart by reasoning with them from Scripture. That's my strategy. There's going to be disciplines - we'll talk about that in a moment - but that's my strategy. My basic strategy is I want to reason with their hearts from Scripture concerning what God wants from them.

This also, I think, is the antidote to the parental abuser. We're going to talk in just a moment about the rod, but I think the antidote is that the parent isn't always saying, "Because I said so, that's why." There is a reasoning process where the child, little by little, starts to understand the worldview of the parent, which hopefully is scriptural, and why they make the decisions they do, and why this is wrong, or what they should have done instead so that they understand. I do believe there is a time to say, "Because I'm the mommy, that's why." I think there is a time for that, especially at the younger stages, "I just can't... We don't have time to explain everything, you just need to learn how to obey." And that's true with God too, isn't it? God doesn't tell us everything. Did He tell Job everything? He didn't tell Job everything. He just says, "Because I'm God, that's why." And it was completely satisfying to Job in the end, but still, there's a balance here. There's a balance. This keeps you from being an abusive parent that's also playing the tyrant role and saying, "Just 'cause I'm in charge." Instead, you're showing the reasons why, and it's a reasonable faith we follow. 

So now we get to the issue of the resolve of good parenting, and that is loving discipline. Loving discipline. Our God, our heavenly Father, disciplines us as His children. The book of Hebrews in chapter 12 literally quotes Proverbs 3, just quotes it verbatim, and it says, "You have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons," says the author to Hebrews. That's how he introduces it. He's addressing you as sons, “My son” - comes Proverbs 3 - "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you because the Lord disciplines," or scourges or punishes, "everyone He loves and He scourges everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" So, if you're a child of God, you are disciplined by God according to His wise patterns.

The discipline could be anything. It could be a physical affliction, a sickness. It could be a financial reversal. It could be losing a job. It could be any one of a number of just circumstantial issues that are grievous to you. Anything that causes you trouble, that could be discipline from the Lord, but God does bring... He brings strokes in your life. He does. Now, I don't say that every disease or sickness, whatever, is a discipline for sin; I don't say that. But I do believe that we, as children of God, ought to see our time here on earth as under the discipline and training of God in reference to sin.

Sarah Edwards, who was a godly woman, when she found out that her husband, Jonathan Edwards, had died suddenly from a smallpox vaccine, she had probably one of the most heroic godliest reactions in church history. And she talked about the goodness of God in giving such a godly husband and father, and she said, "Let us kiss the rod." What an incredible response. Let us kiss the rod is basically, "I want to be trained by you, Father. I want to be disciplined by you. I want you to be my Father. I know I'm a sinner. I need that kind of training." And so, we should be looking at it that way.

So, God does discipline us as His children, so also godly parents must discipline theirs. There are many of these commands. They're actually somewhat famous in the book of Proverbs. “Spare the rod, spoil the child” isn't in Proverbs. I looked for it, couldn't find it. But really what it is, is a summary of these proverbs that do talk about the rod. That's what it is. That basically you're doing your children no favors by not bringing adverse circumstances, even painful circumstances, to them when they sin. That's not love. That's not kindness. It's really sloth to some degree. It's really self-serving, and I think all of us may struggle to some degree. And maybe there's different... Those that struggle on the tyrannical side and those that struggle on the lazy, self-serving, sugar daddy or sugar mommy's side. But the fact of the matter is, it isn't loving to not deal with your children's sin.

So here are some of the proverbs. Proverbs 13:24 says, "Whoever spares the rod hates his son." Wow, what a statement. "But he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." In our day and age, many of a worldly mindset look on corporal punishment as, by definition, child abuse. They see no distinction whatsoever between loving discipline and child abuse. It's all the same. The Bible actually teaches the exact opposite. Child abuse is not to discipline your children when they sin. That's abusive to them, because sin is a terrible master, and if they don't learn to deal with it and to put it to death by the power of the Spirit, they're going to be under the tyrannical boot of sin their whole lives. It's not loving not to do it.

And so, it says in Proverbs 23:13-14... And by the way, in Proverbs 13, it speaks about being diligent to discipline. Dear friends, if you're a godly parent and you want to do a good job in this area, it takes remarkable diligence. Did you think you just had to discipline one time for that sin? Just once, and that was it. "I remember distinctly disciplining you for that, that should do it." Are you that way with God? Just one time he had to deal with you and from then on, you never did it again. That's just not honest, and so you have to be diligent to discipline. It's not just one time.

Proverbs 23:13-14 says, "Do not withhold discipline from a child. If you strike him with a rod, he will not die." I love the way Jim read that as though, you know, "Don't think he's going to die if you give him a spanking." Actually, it's quite the opposite. If you strike him with a rod, you'll save his soul from Sheol. Sheol's actually on the other foot on that one. Proverbs 19:18, "Discipline your son, for there is hope; Do not set your heart on putting him to death." Again, the idea is, it's more dangerous to the eternal welfare of your child to not discipline them than it is to discipline them. Again, Proverbs 29:15, "The rod and reproof give wisdom." Notice the combination, rod and reproof. Rod is the discipline, and reproof is the verbal correction, so that they understand what's going on.

"Rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." So just let him go. Let him grow wild. Let their little hearts run whatever way they want to go. Well, shame is down that road. You don't want to do that so you need to discipline, and you need to train them. This passage teaches, I think very much, as Dr. Dobson said years ago, "Parenting is not for cowards." I mean it takes a lot of courage; it takes a lot of consistency.

Now, what is the rod? What do we mean by the rod? I believe that it's both a physical and metaphorical reality. I do believe it's physical. That means I believe in corporal punishment. So, what do we mean? I think we mean something that administers some temporary reminder, shall we say? That brings some kind of pain, but no damage to the organs or flesh in any way. So, there is a part of the body that seems to be well-designed for this. If you grew up ice skating, like I did, you know very much what part of the body that is. It's just designed for this, and it recovers very quickly. I've been told many times by those very dear to me, "But it hurts, it hurts." Well, of course it hurts. If it didn't hurt, it wouldn't be discipline. If I sat them down and gave them a lollipop for that sin, I'd be teaching a different lesson than I want to teach. It's got to hurt, but it can't do damage.

I also believe the rod is a metaphor. There comes a point where you just don't do that physical stuff anymore. You just do other things, like God does with you. God doesn't give you a spanking on your rear end. Well, He may, I mean, it's possible that He may do that, I don't know that it'll teach a lesson, but we'll save it. It actually taught me something... Why am I talking about this? Anyway, it taught me something when I was learning to skate, "Don't do that, or you'll fall." But at any rate, God for the most part, brings other pressures to bear on the life; it's still a rod. And so, as the kids get older, they may have something they want to do, an outing they want to go on, a football game they want to go see; there's maybe something they want to do. You make it conditional, "I want to see this happen. If it doesn't happen, you're not going." When it doesn't happen, they need to not go, or you're going teach them a bad lesson. And it's tough, but... Believe me, it's tough because of the emotions and all that that get involved, and we are among the most wicked parents that have ever walked the face of the earth. It's really unbelievable, the abuse that we have put our children through and not permitting them to go to such and such an outing. But at any rate, the fact of the matter is, there are different kinds of rods, and we need to be consistent in administering. 

Why is the rod needed? Because of original sin and actual sins. Original sin. Friends, they come into the world from Adam with a bend toward rebellion; they just do. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, and the rod of reproof drives it far from them. Because of their nature, their nature isn't essentially good. "My kids are essentially good kids." Well, no, they're not. If they're descendants from Adam, they're essentially rebellious and they need to be trained by the heavenly Father out of that rebellion, but also because of actual sins, so they don't get in habit patterns, the rod is needed for that.

How should the rod be administered? Well, it should always be done with a loving motive. That is a key, dear friends. You don't want to be an abuser? Check your motive. If your motive is anger, you have been inconvenienced by this child, you have been embarrassed by the child, those are two of the greatest bad reasons that kids get spanked. The parent has been embarrassed or the parent has been inconvenienced, some juice has spilled or some other thing has happened, those are two bad reasons for that. That's not what's going on. It shouldn't be done in anger, and it should always be done with a respect for the child as a human being before the eyes of God, the throne of God. They're not yours; they're God's. Someday, that little boy, that little girl will stand alone before Jesus. You won't be there. And so, have respect for that child as a human being created in the image of God. 

There is a vast difference between loving discipline and child abuse, and I think we know that. I've been trying to describe it, but you know there's an increasing threat, dear friends, to parenting rights from our surrounding culture. You should be aware of that. It's getting more and more dangerous to try to raise your children in the training and nurture of the Lord. Our surrounding culture is less and less biblically oriented. I was shocked to find out that, in November of 2007, legislation was proposed in the state of Massachusetts - Massachusetts State Legislature - considering a bill that would make it illegal to use corporal punishment even in the privacy of your own home. Can you even believe that? Just ponder that. Ponder what it would take to enforce that. Ponder that it would happen here in the US. Even in my bizarre state, home state of Massachusetts, 6% favor the legislation, 93% are against. Well, thank God for that, but even that public opinion can change. 

In 1979, Sweden became the first country in the world to ban spanking. Many, many other nations followed suit. 19 in the world have banned it. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children issued a policy statement saying it was their settled conviction to get rid of corporal punishment the world over as soon as possible. And they want the US to sign off on a treaty that would include these kinds of statements. All of this exposes, I think, a fearsome trend of the government to get increasingly involved in the parents' training of children. By the way, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children never mentioned abortion at all. I did a search on it. I searched on spanking, and 385 references came up under the search mechanism. I searched on the word “abortion,” not a single reference came up. That is no accident, friends. It's been purged; it's been blocked in the software. Do you understand what I'm saying?

They just bifurcate it, and so the government says there is no right for the laws to invade a woman's womb, but there's every right for government to invade the relationship of parent-child in this matter of godly discipline. Remarkable! What we have to do is be aware of what's happening in our culture. There are some that propose a constitutional amendment in the US supporting parental rights, including the right to homeschool your children. That certainly would be an effective means; I just don't think it's very likely. It's possible. I mean anything's possible, but only four constitutional amendments have been passed in the last, I think, 60 years. So, it's very, very difficult to get a constitutional amendment passed, although it may be the very avenue that God, in His sovereignty, will bring about.

But, at any rate, you need to be aware of your rights as parents and be careful. I'll tell you - the horror story is amazing. State of Washington, some teenage, 13-year-old said his parents brought him to church too much, so he was depressed. And so, they brought it to court, and the court mandated they could have their child back if they signed a statement saying they'd bring him to church less frequently. Well, what is the government's role there? What does that even come from? But that's the country that we live in, that's one of the states of our Union, the State of Washington. So just beware, be alert, be prayerful.

So, what is the delight of godly parenting? Well, a good child. A child that turns out well. 3 John 4 says, "I have no greater joy than this: To know that my children are walking in the truth." That is true for godly parents too. Isn't it a delight if you see your kids, your grown kids, walking in the service of the Lord? They've been trained, and they are godly. It's a delightful thing. And many proverbs hold out this joy. Proverbs 15:20, "A wise son makes a glad father." Proverbs 23:24-25 says, "The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice. He who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad, let him who bore you rejoice." So, delight in them.

If they should come to faith in Christ, don't take credit though. You know the statement “God has no grandchildren?” Okay? Thank God, He gave you a role, but it was God who gave them birth. As many as received Him, to them, He gave the right to become children of God, children who are born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. So, when they come to faith in Christ, you will be delighted, and you'll know Who did it; it wasn't you, it was God that did it. 

What is the heartbreak of good parents? It's a wayward child, and no book in the Bible so clearly and accurately describes the prodigal as does the book of Proverbs. It's a heartbreaking thing. Proverbs 17:25, "A foolish son is a grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him." Proverbs 19:13, “A foolish son is ruin to his father.” Proverbs 13:1, "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." Even to the point of cursing parents. There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers, or who kicked their widowed mothers out of the home. Proverbs 19:26, "He who robs his father and drives out his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace." So, that's the heartbreak of godly parents, and that's a child that ends up a rebel.

What is the remedy? Well, the book of Proverbs holds out two remedies: One of them is delightful, and one of them is terrifying. The delightful remedy is that the prodigal will return, that the rebel who's wandering away from God will at some point come to their senses and come back to the father, just like in the parable of the prodigal son. And so, it says in Proverbs 14:27, "The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death." And Proverbs 16:6 says, "By steadfast love and faithfulness, iniquity is atoned for. And by the fear of the Lord, one turns away from evil." So, that's the delightful remedy, that the prodigal will come back. The prodigal will come back to Christ.

The terrifying remedy is sudden and instant death and damnation. Proverbs 20:20 says, "If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness." Big picture, utter darkness in the New Testament. That's hell, dear friends. The cursing of father and mother is a road to hell, and so parents need to know that their children need to obey them for the sake of their own souls. Again, Proverbs 29:1, “A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy."

Well, we've looked at parenting today. There's more we could say. Let me finish with this: There is only one perfect father. There's only one perfect father, and that's God the Father. God the Father deals with this according to Hebrews 12, according to His wisdom, that we may share in His godliness, that we may inherit His righteousness. That's why He disciplines us. We, fathers, discipline for a short time as we think best so that we can achieve certain goals. God knows what He's about, and He will do it perfectly.

If you are a son or daughter of the living God, you are in the hands of a loving Father, and He knows how to get you to heaven. Amen? He knows how to finish your training and get you up to heaven, and in the end, you'll be like a son, you'll be like a daughter standing around the throne, looking at the face of your heavenly Father, knowing that the skill of a parent, God the Father, brought you there. Close with me in prayer, if you will.

Well, you knew it was coming soon or later: you're going to hear a sermon on money. So often, skeptics concerning religion say, "All they ever do is talk about money." The fact of the matter is though that Jesus talked about money more than just about any topic, and we need to hear the wisdom of Christ, and we need to hear the wisdom of the book of Proverbs today. In effect, we're going to sit at the feet of one of the savviest financial advisors in all of human history, and we're going to gain instruction from Him.

A year ago, Forbes put out a list of the top wealthiest - top 100 wealthiest - people from history, and they did some criteria where they adjusted some wealth based on 2007 dollars. And they based it on the percentage - the individual's percentage at their peak wealth of their nation's gross domestic product - so they had all those things, and they made out a list of the top 100. I find those kinds of things interesting. I like to read that kind of things to see who's number one and number 10 and all this kind of thing.

Number one on that list was John D. Rockefeller, who basically had a 90% monopoly on the oil industry from top to bottom for a good number of years. Can you imagine what that would be worth today? But his own peak wealth in adjusted dollars was $318 billion, greatly dwarfing anything that Bill Gates or any of the others have today. I found it interesting that most of the top 100 lived in the last century and a half, and what amazed me further is that 21 of the top 50 were born in America. And a number of others moved to America to make the bulk of their wealth. I found that interesting and convicting.

The list from Forbes, however, went back in antiquity back into history, and I find that interesting too, studying famous wealthy people from history like Marcus Licinius Crassus who died in 53 BC worth 200 million sesterces, whatever that is. I actually didn't find out what a sesterce is worth, but 200 million sound like a lot of them. And he was, I think, 10th. Listen to how he made his money. In part, he had the world's first fire department, and he would go to the plantations, the wealthy plantations around his area when they were burning, and he would, while the plantation was burning, begin to negotiate a price.

And the longer it went, the less the thing was worth, of course. Finally, they would sell. If he said, "I'm not selling, this is my ancestral lands," he would take his fire department and go home, and the thing would burn to the ground and be close to worthless at that point. So, he really had people over a barrel, and, in this way, he amassed a fortune that would be worth about $170 billion today. What I found interesting though about that list is that nowhere on it is King Solomon.

He isn't referred to; he's not mentioned. He was just dispensed with. I guess Forbes didn't think much of 1 Kings 10:23-24, which says this, "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth. The whole world sought audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.” I would like to sit at his feet and learn money from him today, to try to find out about wealth, because he was the richest of any man that lived in his day.

His ships and other venture brought in, it says, 666 talents of gold. Every year. A talent is 75 pounds. I calculated that out to be close to 800 to a million to a billion dollars a year, just in that gold income. A billion a year coming in. He had a fleet of trading ships that brought wealth, vast amounts of wealth from distant lands. He was a man who knew from personal experience the advantages and, may I say, disadvantages of wealth.

It's interesting how Proverbs says, "Cast but a glance at wealth and they're gone” (Proverbs 23:5). We'll talk about that later. But you know, within one generation, his own son, Rehoboam had lost it all, just about all of it. As Pharaoh Necho came in and took all of the gold shields and all the other wealth that Solomon had accumulated and took it away…

So, as we come to the book of Proverbs today, and we come to learn about money and material possessions, we're sitting at the feet of one of the all-time world experts on the topic. Now, in this sermon, I'm going to also have us sit at the feet of the all-time world expert on material wealth, and that's Jesus. And though I'm not going to speak much about Jesus' view on money, we're going to learn some basic principles, some rudimentary rubber-meets-the-road-concepts, about producing wealth from Solomon. And then we're going to find out from Jesus what to do about it, what to do with it, so that's basically the two parts of the message I'm going to give today.

Now, just I want to take a step back, because in my series on Proverbs, we've been mostly in the first nine chapters of Proverbs, and that reads differently than 10 through 31. It just does. And generally, when you think of Proverbs, you think of the stuff I'm about to do today. You think about pithy, wise, little sayings that are troublesome in some ways because sometimes it seems like they're not true but are generally helpful in everyday life. Wisdom - the Hebrew word for wisdom is hokma, which means "skillful living" - literally, a sense of skill and living.

And, as we've said, this is a practical kind of rubber-meets-the-road book with an eye for detail. I like what commentator Derek Kidner said about Proverbs. He said, "There are details of characters small enough to escape the mesh of the law and the broadsides of the prophets, and yet they are decisive in interpersonal dealings. Proverbs moves in this realm, asking what a person is like to live with, or what he's like to employ. Or how he manages his daily affairs, his time and himself. This good lady over here, for instance, does she talk too much? Or that cheerful soul over there, is he bearable early in the morning? And this friend who's always dropping in and wearing out his welcome, we'll here's some advice for him. Or that rather aimless young man who doesn't seem to have a direction in life, what advice can we have for him?"

I love that kind of summary of the kind of practical aspect of the book of Proverbs, how it just speaks to daily life issues that we face all the time. And the central question is - we've already kind of set the table over these first number of sermons in Proverbs - is this: will you be wise, or will you be foolish? It's wisdom or folly. John Calvin called the physical creation here "the theater of God's glory." Well, when you have your brief time on the stage, will you do so as a fool or as a wise person? God is watching you; He is the audience - how we live.

Alright, when we come to Proverbs 10 through 31, we come to pithy kind of everyday life statements that are memorable and that teach us something about how to live. Every culture has its Proverbs. We have ours as well. You know some of these from Ben Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac, like, "A stitch in time saves nine." Or, "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Or, "Apple a day, keeps the doctor away” - those kinds of things. These are just general kind of statements. They're easy to remember, they're poetic or rhyming a little bit, they have a kind of a symmetry to them, and they teach you something about life.

But we need to be careful as we come to Proverbs to try to understand how we should interpret this book. Mark Dever - I was listening to a sermon that he preached recently on Proverbs - and he was talking about just different clues, so we can know how to interpret Proverbs. And the first clue I thought was very, very helpful, and that is that you just need to use common sense as we come to these to apply them.

Take for example, the everyday life proverb, "Look before you leap." What does that mean? Look before you leap? Well, I think it means before you take a decisive action in life, be certain that you've considered all of the ramifications. Think about what will happen next after you take that decisive action. That's what it means. I think we know that.

We know it doesn't mean that every single time that someone leaps before looking, a disaster occurs. We don't throw out the proverb because someone said, "I want to test it," and one day they leap without looking, and everything worked out just fine. It's still generally true. We know that, in general, it's best to look before leaping.

We also know that the saying, "Look before you leap," doesn't just have to do with leaping. I think you know that, don't you? Frankly, when is the last time some of you leapt? I'm sure it's been a while for some of you. I don't mean anything insulting, but you probably haven't leaped in a while. But still the proverb, "Look before you leap," is helpful. It extends to more things, like pulling out decisively into traffic. Look before you leap is almost literally true there. "Alright, look both ways, be very careful as you... "

Or quitting a job. I've actually been on the job with somebody who was hot-headed and they just quit dramatically. Very dramatically. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. This guy dumped over a huge rack of hardware that was so carefully binned and organized. The only thing we could do is get a shovel and shovel it into the dumpster and buy all that hardware pre-sorted again. He came back a week later asking for his job back. He did not get it, needless to say.

But here's a man that didn't look before he leapt. He had nothing to go to. He had no career opportunity. There was nothing else for him to go to. So, I think we understand generally what it means. Now, as we read Proverbs 10 through 31, we're going to come on basically a topical handling of many things, and you've read the... You've read this book before. It's amazing, I don't understand the order to it, do you? I mean, just reading through Proverbs 10 or 12 or 14, and you just don't know why it comes out in that order. And any of you who have been here any length of time know that I'm a pretty fanatically committed expository verse-by-verse preacher. I decided not to do that to you in Proverbs.

To go verse by verse through Proverbs, I think is not the most effective way to handle it but rather pulling out what it says on these various issues and putting them together so that we can study them in a concentrated way. So, over the next few weeks, we're going to look at Proverbs on various vital topics, like conflict resolution, just person to person conflict resolution. Proverbs on parenting, just I think Proverbs is probably the greatest, most practical manual there is on parenting, and raising children. Proverbs on sexual purity, the need for sexual purity, and the need for us to be very careful to be pure in our hearts in this day and age. Proverbs on work, on being a good worker.

We're going to talk about these various topics, but today the issue is money. And what I want to do is I want to draw out some major themes from the book of Proverbs. I went through the whole, all the chapters, and then drew out anything that related to money and then show some of the best of them, and then drew out these major themes. And I want to preach it in that way.

First, the first major theme is this, and this is a simple one; you've heard it before, but we can't hear it enough. And that is that spiritual health is better than material wealth. It is more important for you to be spiritually healthy than it is for you to be materially wealthy. Proverbs 16:16 says, "How much better to get wisdom than gold or to choose understanding rather than silver?" If you can only have one or the other, please choose wisdom before God. Be a wise man or a wise woman rather than be wealthy.

Wisdom, as I said, is ultimately living wisely before God with an eye to eternity. And frankly, as we look across the whole Bible, Old and New Testament alike, many a rich man is actually a fool. We have Nabal in 1 Samuel whose name means "fool,” and he's very wealthy, so just because you're materially wealthy, it doesn't mean you're going to be wise. Jesus told several parables in which a rich man is actually a fool in God's sight.

For example, the Rich Man and Lazarus. Here's a rich man who's eating lavishly from a fully provided table, and there's a poor man who's at his gate day after day, longing to just get something that would fall from the rich man's table. And this... And clearly in the parable, the rich man has no relationship with God, no concern for the things of God, and ends up in hell. And what a fool.

Or again, the Parable of the Rich Fool, in which this man has a bumper crop and he decides he's going to tear down his barns and build bigger barns and then spend his years in ease and luxury and comfort, living however he wants. And he doesn't realize in the proverb, in the parable, it says, "You fool, this very night, your soul will be required from you. Who then will get what you stored up for yourself?" (Luke 12:20) So again, you can be wealthy materially and still be a fool in God's sight.

Solomon, I think, understood this as well or perhaps better than anyone else, how spiritually empty it can be to accumulate wealth and not be right with God. I have a genuine hope that Solomon ended up well with God, that he repented from his idolatries. I don't know that for sure. But you can imagine during his low point when God is so distant from him, going into all his treasuries, where all those talents of gold are and realizing they did nothing for him, just left him feeling empty.

And so, Solomon said this: Proverbs 15:16, "Better a little with the fear of the Lord than great wealth with turmoil." So, spiritual health is better than material wealth. Practical step, then, is you should honor God with your wealth. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, "Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine."

So, basically, if you would be faithful to give to God what is His, give of your tithes and your offerings... Give generously. Let me just encourage you, FBC, I just was so blessed by your response to the Lottie Moon Christmas in August push. We really didn't say anything about it week after week, we didn't use high pressure techniques, we just prayed, and we let the need be known to you. And we more than met the prayer goal of $25,000.

I'm very encouraged by that, and, actually in some ways, not surprised, because you have been very, very faithful over the years to support missions through your giving. But yet, for all of that, we've never been further behind in our budget than we are right now, and so there are still needs. Everything's fine, and money in, money out and all those things are fine. But staff, elders, always we've been careful about expenditures, but we know that we're in economic downturn and difficulty. We know that. But we walk by faith, not by sight. We don't look at what the market's doing; we look at what God's provided us with, and we want to be generous. And so, I just want to urge you to continue in this good work of giving to the Lord. I'll say more about just the need to store up treasure in heaven later on in the message.

Secondly, the book of Proverbs tells us a lot about how wealth is made. How do you make money? How does it come in? You're saying, "Alright, now it's getting good. Alright, I want to know. How does that happen? How do we make money?" Well, first of all, Proverbs tells us that money is a gift of God; it's given as a gift of God. Everything you have is given you by God. Keep that in mind. Proverbs 10:22 says, "The blessing of the Lord brings wealth and he adds no trouble to it."

So, again, that's one of those things that is generally true. Okay, you look at Job and he could say, "Well, I beg to differ, I had a hard day today," but in general, it's generally true that it is the blessing of the Lord that brings wealth, and He adds none of the trouble to it that non-Christians face. God especially gives it to those who pursue wisdom and righteousness.

Proverbs 8:18-21, Wisdom speaking in the first person, says, "With me," with wisdom, "are riches and honor. Enduring wealth and prosperity. My fruit, says Wisdom, is better than fine gold. What I yield, surpasses choice silver, I walk in the way of righteousness. Along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on those who love me and making their treasuries full." So, a wise life generally results in material wealth. Again, Proverbs 22:4, "Humility and the fear of the Lord brings wealth and honor and life."

Thirdly, wealth is the product of hard and honest labor. You want to get rich, work hard. Bottom line. Work hard as a student, get good grades, do your responsibilities, develop a character that's the opposite of a sluggard, and, at the end of that kind of a life, you're going to have all your needs met and then some. And so, it says in Proverbs 10:4, "Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth."

Also, money is accumulated by careful saving over the years. Listen to Proverbs 13:11, "Dishonest money dwindles away, but he who gathers money little by little makes it grow." We talk to anybody that knows anything about money, they'll talk to you about the value of compounded interest and investing early in life so that things can double and double again over a period of time.

So, therefore, you can just take a step back and say, "Okay, these first two kind of themes that spiritual health is better than material wealth, and this insight, should teach you how to make a budget." When you make a budget, you should calculate how much you're earning, and then as you're starting to look at how you're going to spend expenditures. Step one: give to the Lord. Right off the top, what your tithes and offerings are going to be. Just give it to the Lord as though it weren't even there. Go from that. Step two: financial planners will tell you, pay yourself. Savings. Store up money in savings and then live off the rest. It's just wisdom from the Lord.

Also, wealth comes as an inheritance from parents, the book of Proverbs says. Proverbs 19:14 says, "Houses and wealth are inherited from parents. But a prudent wife is from the Lord." I think the thrust of that proverb has to do with where a prudent wife comes from, but it does say houses and wealth are inherited from parents; it just makes sense. Godly people who live a long, long time - they have more than they need at the end of their lives, and they'd like to give it to their children, and so it comes in that way.

Negatively, Proverbs teaches us well how you can amass wealth in a bad way. Wealth can actually come in through sin. Proverbs actually has much to say about the wealth of the wicked. Solomon realizes that, just because someone is wealthy, it doesn't mean they're righteous. Proverbs 28:6 says, "Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse." So, you can be a rich person and have perverse ways.

Wealth can come from highway robbery, for example, in Proverbs 1. We're talking about this at family devotion just a few nights ago, how after Proverbs 1:1-7, just that introductory section that ends up with, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." After that, the very first topic dealt with is the warning that a godly set of parents gives to their son to not fall in with wicked people who entice him to get involved in highway robbery. "Come, let's lay in wait for some poor soul and let's take his money and his possessions, and we'll divide a common purse" (Proverbs 1:11-14).

Wealth can also come from dishonest business practices. From the bad, the faulty scales or weight system. We'll talk positively about that in a few moments, but it can come negatively from people who just twist things and act in a perverse way as business people. Proverbs 20:17 says, "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel." So, you can actually get wealthy through fraud.

Or exorbitant interest. We'll come back to this topic later, but Proverbs 28:8 says, "He who increases his wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another who will be kind to the poor." So, it is possible for you to gain a lot of money by charging excessive interest rates. Or you can become wealthy by oppressing the poor. Proverbs 22:16 says, "He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich, both come to poverty."

Finally, wealth can come negatively through stinginess, being a miser, an Ebenezer Scrooge. At the root of that is idolatry. People just love money for in and of itself. And so, it says in Proverbs 28:22, "A stingy man is eager to get rich and is unaware that poverty awaits him." Now in all of those negative cases, the wealth amassed by wickedness amounts to nothing in the end. It amounts to nothing. Proverbs 10:2 says, "Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death."

The third major theme in the book of Proverbs discusses how wealth is lost. You think, "I don't want to know about that." Well, yes, you do. You want to find out how it is that money dwindles away, how it bleeds out of life. But before we even get to that, let me say this. First of all, all material wealth will be lost some day. I hope you know that. Everything you have materially, you will give up some day. All of it.

Stepping outside of Proverbs, listen to 1 Timothy 6:7, the Apostle Paul says, "For we brought nothing into the world and we can take nothing out of it." And again, Job 1:21, Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart." So, Proverbs itself makes it clear how temporary is wealth. Proverbs 23:5 says, "Cast but a glance at riches and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

Well, that's certainly true on your death bed, but it could also be true before that as well. I think the bottom line - and we'll come back to this at the end - is be wise and understand you are a temporary steward of material possessions. You have a window of opportunity to use your money wisely. Use it wisely. Because one way or another, it's going away. One way or another.

Well, what are some of the things that Proverbs says causes us to lose our wealth? Well, sexual immorality leads to poverty. It's a link you may not have thought of, but it does. Proverbs 5:8-10 says, "Keep to a path far from the adulteress. Do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your best strength to others and your years to one who is cruel, lest strangers feast on your wealth and your toil enrich another man's house." And again, Proverbs 29:3 says, "A companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth."

I think we can extend that, just like "look before you leap", to just immorality in general. Addictions and other immoral lifestyles lead to a squandering of wealth. Being addicted to alcohol or addicted to drugs, or any of this kind of over clear-cut wickedness is a good way for money to be destroyed quickly.

So also is laziness and negligence, and we're going to talk more about this in the sermon on work, but, in Proverbs 24, it says this, "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man." Say, "Boy, I'm looking forward to that sermon, I like to sleep in. I like to rest a bit. It's Labor Day, we get to sleep in tomorrow."  Well, do what you will, but a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and pretty soon, your wealth is gone. Well, we'll talk about that in the sermon on work, but I think the point is, you can get into bad habits, and, when you get into those lazy bad habits, little by little, things just fall apart. You don't maintain your possessions or property, you don't look after your car or other things the way you should, and it just costs you more money down the line. Laziness does.

And this proverb was projected up on the screen: Proverbs 27, it says, "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks. Give careful attention to your herds. For riches do not endure forever and a crown is not secure for all generations." In other words, be sure you know what's going on in your career, with your business, with your finances. Study it, stay with it, because it's not guaranteed that it'll be here tomorrow. So, stick with it. I think that's the wisdom that Solomon is giving. 

And finally, I think maybe most acutely for some, a love of pleasure can cause money to go away, just being addicted to the good things of life. Proverbs 21:17 says, "He who loves pleasure will become poor, and whoever loves wine and oil will never be rich." And again, I'm going to talk about this in terms of being addicted to honey later on, but you can just get addicted to the good things in life and start to overspend and start to overlive, to live beyond your means. And before you know it, you're in deep trouble. We'll talk more about that in just a moment.

Fourthly, the dangerous side of wealth… There is a danger to wealth. There are two great danger the book of Proverbs sees: Yearning for money and trusting in money. These are two great dangers when it comes to material wealth. First of all, yearning for it. It says in Proverbs 23:4, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich, have the wisdom to show restraint." A famous saying: somebody came up to Rockefeller as he's amassing that equivalent of $300 billion. Someone said to him, "How much is enough?" And he answered, "A little more. A little more."

Well, that's... I'm not talking about Rockefeller per se, I'm not going to stand in judgment over him in particular, but that attitude is idolatrous, dear friends. Yearning for money is really a hard issue. It really just has to do with worship; it has to do with idolatry. Proverbs 28:20 says, "A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." So, yearning for money is very dangerous.

Secondly, trusting in money is dangerous. Proverbs 11:28 says, "Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf." And this is so important. We talked about this in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on anything other than the Lord." What that means is, you look ahead to the future. Don't think, "Well, at least I've got money or my parents have money, and we always got this to fall back on." 

That's not a good way to think. It's actually very dangerous. And if the Lord knows that you as a Christian have that attitude, He may be bringing some things on you that are greater than your resources to teach you to trust only in Him and not in the money. So, don't yearn for money and don't trust in it. Proverbs 18:11 says, "The wealth of the rich is their fortified city, they imagine it to be an unscalable wall." Well, it isn't. Not at all.

Fifthly, one of the big themes concerning money in Proverbs is justice for the poor and needy. Concern for the poor and needy comes up again and again. The book of Proverbs is keenly aware of the issue of poverty, the needs and the claims of the poor and downtrodden. We've already seen a number of Proverbs that mention the poor and the needy, and wicked men who get wealthy by oppressing them.

Proverbs acknowledges that there are in many cases - obvious inequities in life. Proverbs 13:23 says, "A poor man's field may produce abundant food but injustice sweeps it away." That does happen. It could be that an individual is working hard, they have a harvest coming, but in their country maybe, in their area, or maybe even in this country, there are systems that are unjust and take that harvest from that individual and then they'll become poor, even though they've worked hard. It does happen. God is concerned that the righteous demonstrate their compassion by caring for the poor and needy by showing them material kindness. Proverbs 14:31, "He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God."

Now, recently, I read one proverb that really convicted me, especially given our present economic situation. If you look at the last 15 - 18 months economically, look at what happened to the stock market. Many people could ask rightly the question, "What should I put my money in? What is safe? What's a safe investment? That I know if I put it there, it's going to be secure?"

Can I give you what Proverbs says about that? You ready? Proverbs 19:17, "He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward him for what he has done." Now, there's a good investment, dear friends. This may be, I think, the most certain savings plan there is in this world. Invest in the poor and needy. You may say, "How can I give to the poor and needy? I have to provide for my own family, we're in tight times right now." Then you proceed perhaps to store up a little bit of money for the future, some savings, some other things, maybe some investments, and you begin to ask the question, "What should I invest it in? What's going to bring back a return on investment?"

John Newton who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace,” he said this about this very proverb, Proverbs 19:17. He said, "If you had a little money to spare, would you not lend it to me if I assured you that it would be repaid when wanted? And you trusted my character, and you knew that it would be. Would you not lend it to me? Proverbs 19:17 says, ‘He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay him back again.’ ‘What think you of this text?’ asked John Newton. ‘Is it the word of God or no? I dare stake all my interest in your friendship, that if you act upon this maxim in a spirit of prayer and faith with a single eye to his glory, you shall not be disappointed.’”

Well, there's a good holding place for your money, dear friends. You say, "Well, if I give it all away, then I'll become poor and needy myself." This proverb says, "No, you won't. God will give it back to you when you need it." Meanwhile, you'll be storing up treasure in heaven.

The sixth major theme has to do with borrowing and lending, and boy, is this a needed topic for us today. We are a debtor nation par excellence. We're in debt, dear friends. Federal deficit. I don't know where it's at recently. When I wrote this sermon and what I found on the internet - 11.6 trillion. If it's now 14.1... The numbers are just so big they boggle the mind. What is a trillion dollars?

The typical American family, at a more detailed level, is buried in debt as well. According to the Federal Reserve fund, the household debt equals - get this - almost 25% of net worth. Can you imagine one quarter of what you're worth, you owe that amount. 136% of disposable income. 136% of your disposable income you owe.

After wages fell behind inflation for a decade, Americans mortgaged their homes and ran up their credit cards to cover living expenses. They didn't adjust their lifestyles; they'd continue to live in the same lifestyle and end up with credit card debt. 2005, Americans spent $42 billion more than they earned. And that's scary when you think about that.

Our trade deficit with the world is 850 billion. That's what we owe to the world. These are shocking statistics. Average American household with at least one credit card has more than $9,000.00 in revolving credit card debt. Sadly, most people are oblivious to the cost of that debt, just how expensive it is to carry that kind of debt.

For example, if you wanted to stop using your credit card and pay off a $1,000.00 credit card debt, making only the minimum monthly payment, it might take you as much as 10 years to do it. That's because even though the principal slightly diminished every time, you're racking up large amounts of interest as well.

The pitch is appealing. Have you heard it? "Easy monthly payments." It entices you to spend more than you ought to, but is it easy for you? Or for them, the people offering it to you? It's not easy for you. According to the Federal Reserve, consumer debt in America as of January 2007 was $2.2 trillion. Credit card rates, 12.4%, something like that… Pretty soon you're in deep trouble.

Another problem with this whole borrowing and lending, as I've mentioned, is out of control appetites. Proverbs 21:20, it says, "In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil. But a foolish man devours all that he has." So, there's a devouring, a principle of devouring. We get into debt with ravenous appetites for life, as we define it, and pretty soon get into debt.

I was amazed (I don't know if you were), but I was amazed to find out that Michael Jackson died in a mountain of debt. Didn't that amaze you? Maybe it didn't amaze you, maybe we're just used to it at this point, but I'm thinking, "My goodness! The man was an earner." He had immense earning power. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars rolling in, and yet when he died, his estate was, in arrears, $500 million. Now apparently, his estate will be able to pay it back since he owns the Beatles money and recorded songs and all that sort of stuff, so they'll be able to get it back, but I just couldn't believe it.

He was spending $20 to $30 million more than he was taking in year by year. He had a lavish lifestyle with huge shopping sprees of toys and antiques. And, according to one account, he had absolutely no sense of the value of things. No sense of the value of money or possessions. It just didn't compute.

Well, that's a grand or a grotesque example of problems that many of us have as well. We struggle being content with what God's given us, content with the food He's given us, with the clothing He's given us, with the lifestyle we have, content with that, and wanting more, greedy for more, and putting it on the credit card. So, Proverbs gives warning about borrowing. Proverbs 22:7, it says, "The rich rule over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender." Or could we say, even more shocking, the borrower is enslaved to the lender.

I remember distinctly when I graduated from MIT, I suddenly got four credit card applications in the mail. "Now that I have achieved this high level," blah, blah, blah. They were flattering me. And Chase Manhattan was inviting me to work on their plantation. "Come and work on the sugar plantation. We'll give you this huge amount of money that you'll then blow, and you'll get into debt to us and you'll be working on our plantation the rest of your life."

Well, that's exactly what happens in third world countries. Like I was reading about a tea plantation in Ceylon, and they go up to lower caste people in India, and they give them more money than they could make in a year, just give it to them with certain strings attached. They blow it on alcohol or other things, or who knows what they blow it on; then they're enslaved to the tea plantation. Well, that's what Americans do on the credit card thing. We get enslaved and we can't get out of it.

Now, I have no idea how you stand individually with discretionary debt. I don't know, but my guess is there could be some of you that are struggling with this problem, and there are some excellent Christian resources to help you get out. So, I would urge you to find out what they are. Crown Financial is one of them; there are others. Find out how you can get out of debt.

On the flip side, Proverbs gives a very stern warning to those that lend at usurious rates. Proverbs 28:8 says, "He who increases wealth by exorbitant interest amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor."

Final major theme is business practices. We'll just touch on this briefly because we'll come back to it in work. Honest scales and weights equals honesty in business. Proverbs 11:1, it says, "The Lord abhors dishonest scales, but accurate weights are his delight." And again, Proverbs 16:11, "Honest scales and balances are from the Lord, and all the weights in his bag are of his making."

Again, the scandals have rocked the news, like Enron and Bernie Madoff with his whole Ponzi scheme thing. I didn't know what a Ponzi scheme was so I looked it up, and it's pretty clever how it works. Some say that Social Security is the biggest Ponzi scheme of all. I guess you can look that up and see if it's true. But, at any rate, the fact of the matter is, there's a lot of dishonesty in business practices.

The bottom line is the Lord wants us to be honest, to use honest scales and weights and measures as employers and as those rendering a service. Conversely, as workers, we should live in the same way toward our masters and serve them, it says in Colossians 3, "With sincerity of heart and reverence to the Lord."

So, let me summarize what Proverbs says about this. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; honor His righteousness above all money. Secondly, beware of money, either seeking it too much or trusting in it. Absolutely. Money is one of the greatest idols there is in this world. Thirdly, remind yourself that someday all of your money will be gone. So fourthly, honor the Lord with your wealth, giving it away for His glory, invest in eternity by advancing the gospel and giving to the poor and needy.

Fifthly, work diligently and honestly, knowing well the condition of your means of making wealth. Sixthly, amass savings gradually by reducing expenditures and increasing earnings. And seventh, beware of debt.

Now, let me tell you something, that's all just practical wisdom in the book of Proverbs. What it is, is a well-oiled machine, that in this world under the sun and, to use of language of Ecclesiastes, will produce material prosperity. It just will. You follow those you're going to become wealthy. The question is, what to do with it?

And I don't think Proverbs answers that as well as the teachings of Jesus Christ. The Puritans who made famous that expression "the Puritan work ethic" became incredibly wealthy, but in the second and third generation, they decayed in their faith. They went away from Jesus. And one Puritan scholar said piety begat, or gave birth to prosperity, and the daughter devoured the mother. And it can happen in America too. How, as we follow these principles, we become a wealthy nation and then become as a result, idolaters. But instead, Jesus points to a better way.

First and foremost, material wealth is limited now, it can't bring you much happiness, and it is useless on the day of judgment. Proverbs 11:4, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." This is a true warning to all who would desire or yearn to get wealthy. Jesus put it this way, "What profit would it be to you," using the business language, "What profit would it be to you to gain the whole world and forfeit your soul?" Or, "What would you trade in exchange for your soul?" Jesus says. 

But it says in Proverbs 11:4, yes, "Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." Yes, but what kind of righteousness? Well, the Bible is very clear: Perfect righteousness delivers you from death on the day of wrath. But where can you get that? All has sinned and fall short of the glory of God; we have no perfect righteousness. Proverbs 20:9 says, "Who can say I have kept my heart pure, I am clean and without sin?" No one. But instead, the Bible points to Jesus, a perfect righteousness. He dealt with money perfectly.

Future topics: He dealt with relationships perfectly, He dealt with sexual purity perfectly, He dealt with parents perfectly, both dealing with His parents and dealing with others. Everything He did was right. That is a perfect righteousness that Jesus just wants to give you by faith as a gift in exchange for your sin. You give Him your sin; He will give you the righteousness that will deliver on the day of wrath.

"God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Look to Christ and Him crucified to find out something that will be not just worthwhile but absolutely effective and effectual on the day of wrath - the righteousness of Jesus.

Secondly, what about all your money that you're going to get when you live such a wise life? When you work hard and you get good grades, and you get a good job and you save, and you don't get entrapped in that whole lifestyle, there's no addictions in your life, you live simply, you save money, give to the poor and needy. Guess what? You're going to have surplus. What should you do with it?

Well, I don't have time to get into all of the answers, but I want to encourage you to read this book by Randy Alcorn The Treasure Principle. He gives you an excellent defense on how you can invest in eternity. The book's right out here in the book stall; you can just pick one up after it's over. It's a simple read, and in effect, he says, "Store up treasure in heaven with the money you have temporarily." The mentality is you're going to lose it anyway; lose it now by faith. Give it away. Give it to the poor and needy. Give it for the sake of the gospel.

Jesus put it this way, Luke 12:32-34, "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." I told you that Solomon was one of the all-time great experts on wealth and what to do with it… Jesus was greater.

For you know, 2 Corinthians 8:9, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor so that you, through his poverty might become rich." The best thing that we can do with our money, having earned it by these principles, is to give it away for the glory of God, the salvation of others. Close with me, if you would, in prayer.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches on Proverbs 3:5-6, and explores God's call to trust him completely and not to lean on our own understanding.

Well, you don't have to know much about American history to know the significance of the date July 4th, 1776. That's when the Continental Congress gathered together and passed what John Adams called “the most important resolution ever taken in America.” It's what he said at the time. It was, of course, the Declaration of Independence. And the key statement in that document read as follows, quote, "Resolved that these United colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved."

So, it was the birth of a new independent nation, and that date has been marked ever since then as the birth of our country. We celebrate it every year by the more popular name, the Fourth of July, but its official name is Independence Day. Independence Day. Now, as we come to Proverbs 3:5 and 6, I want to go exactly the opposite direction from that because I believe that Proverbs 3:5-6 is a declaration of dependence for every Christian. And I think every day ought to be Dependence Day for us Christians.

Every day we ought to assent to and openly embrace the fact that apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Now, these are some of the most famous verses in the book of Proverbs. Many children learn them and memorize them at an early age. As we break them apart, Proverbs 3:5-6 lays out as three commands and therefore a conditional promise. Three commands and a conditional promise. Now, the context of this promise that's given is, I think, of a father's advice to his son. Much of the book of Proverbs is couched in that kind of language.

Look at verses 1 through 4, "My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. Let love and faithfulness never leave you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win good favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." Now, this could be read perhaps as... You could think it was Solomon reflecting his father David sitting him down when he was a young boy and giving him some advice. Or perhaps, again, at the human level, King Solomon giving advice to his son, maybe Rehoboam, or something like that. Again, at the human level, it could be just generally advice that fathers can give to their sons. But, for me, I think because it was included in inspired Scripture - the Holy Spirit inspired this as the inerrant Word of God - I think it's best for us as Christians to take this as a word from our Heavenly Father to all of us as sons and daughters of the living God.

Now, you remember at that time, God promised Solomon a long life if he obeyed Him. There was a conditional promise. 1 Kings 3:14, "If you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands, as did David your father, then I will give you a long life." And so, there are conditional promises in the Christian life. In other words, “if you do these things, then I will bless you in this particular way.” And so, the wise and loving father, after having set the stage for the promise in verses 1 through 4 of Proverbs 3, gives a series of three commands coupled with a conditional promise. Command Number One: Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Command Number Two: Lean not on your own understanding. Command Number Three: in all your ways acknowledge Him. And here comes the promise: He will make your paths straight. He will make your paths straight.

So, let's look at it very carefully, and let's begin with the first command. And that is that you should have total trust in the Lord. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart” (Proverbs 3:5). The fundamental issue of our lives is our relationship with Almighty God, our Creator. And the fundamental issue of that relationship is trust. Another word for trust would be faith - that we have faith in God.

Now, the root Hebrew word here means, in effect, to just throw yourself down in the abandonment of confidence and have a sense or a feeling of peace and security in that. That's really what it means. And there's just so many verses that testify to this. The same Hebrew word is used in a variety of ways, that gives this sense of just casting yourself on God and a resulting feeling or sense of security and peace and rest in him.

Leviticus 25:18-19, and it says, "Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land." That's the same Hebrew word. A sense of safety. You're going to be secure. "Then the land will yield its fruit and you will eat your fill and you will live there in safety." So, there's this picture of contentment and abundance and security. Again, Job 11:18, "And you will feel secure” - The same Hebrew word – “because there is hope. You will look around and you will take your rest in security."

Or again, Proverbs... Sorry. Psalm 4:8. The Psalmist there says, "I will lie down and sleep in peace for you alone O Lord, make me dwell in safety." There's that same Hebrew word. You can just go to sleep at night. Your heart is at rest and untroubled because you know that God is taking care of you... A sense of security. Or again, Isaiah 26:3-4, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord the Lord is the Rock eternal." And again, Ezekiel 28:26, "They will live there in safety” - the same Hebrew word - "And I will build houses and plant vineyards, and they will live in safety."

So, the word use is a feeling, a sense of peacefulness, of security, of ease, of comfort, sometimes even in dire circumstances. Psalm 27:3 says, "Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident." So, a sense of trust, of confidence, even if you have an army coming after you. Now, God has sought to build this trust in the hearts of His children from the beginning of redemptive history, right on through. So much of what God does in the Bible for His people - and then as we read about it, what He's doing for us - is to work in us this faith, this sense of trust in Him.

He taught it as God the Savior and also lessons taught by God the Provider. Lessons from God the Savior started when God moved Israel out of Egypt, out of bondage. And He used mighty power and miracles to work these ten plagues on the most powerful nation on earth. And God was teaching His great power for this result, that His people would trust in Him with all of their heart. That they would be confident in His power. He put His omnipotence on display with those ten plagues. And then even more, when the Israelite nation was trapped by the Red Sea and that powerful army, the Egyptian army, was pressing down on them with their chariots. And how God stood between Pharaoh and his army in a pillar of cloud and fire and wouldn't let them come near. And then He led them, that night, through the Red Sea. And there the water was walling up on the right and the left, and they passed through on dry ground, but then the water came crashing down on that wicked army. God was teaching the same lesson: trust in Me. I am powerful, I am mighty, I'm working a great salvation for you. Behold, My mighty hand and My outstretched arm. Trust in Me, again and again.

And so, it says in Exodus 14:31, "When the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they put their trust in him, and in Moses, his servant." So, because of this display, the people trusted in the Lord. Well, that's lessons of God the Savior, that is “trust in Me because I am a great Savior. I am a great protector.” But it's also lessons of God the Provider.

Soon after that... After they had crossed the Red Sea, they're on the other side and they were in the desert. And there were probably more than two million Israelites, and they're in the desert, and there's nothing to eat, and there's nothing to drink. And so, the lesson of the manna is the same lesson. Deuteronomy 8:3, "God humbled you," Moses said to his people. "God humbled you causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you know your fathers have known to teach you, that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." God was teaching them to live by His word, to trust in His Word and in His provision. So, day after day, they went out, and they collected that manna in baskets. It was a daily lesson of God's provision. God will meet all of your needs. God can take care of you. Don't be anxious. Rest in me. I will provide.

Well, it's a constant lesson for us as Christians, isn't it? Oh, how we struggle with this, to trust in the Lord with all of our heart. To be confident. Every trial you go through is a new opportunity to learn this lesson, to trust in the Lord with all of your heart. That expression "with all of your heart" means fully and completely. No competing alternatives. Again, and again, the people of God have been tempted to kind of mix together a trust in the Lord plus something else. We're going trust in the Lord plus our bank account or our stocks or our portfolio. We're going to trust in the Lord plus our own achievements or our resume or something like that. We're going to trust in the Lord plus our own cleverness. There are all kinds of options. I'll talk more about them in a moment. But that's a temptation. No, this is trust in the Lord with all of your heart, fully, completely and confidently.

The second command is this: that we should reject prideful independence. We should reject it. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” The enemy of genuine trust - I think, the central enemy of genuine trust - is self-reliance. Oh, how much we embrace this idol of self. How much we trust in ourselves to do anything and everything in our lives. And again, this lesson came out with the Israelites.

Remember how, as they neared the Promised Land, Moses sent out those twelve spies? And they spied out the land to see what kind of land it was and what the people were like and all of that. And then the twelve spies came back with a report that it's a good land, but we're in trouble. It's a good land, but we're going to lose. Well, why are we going to lose? Because there are cities with walls up to the sky. And there are these warrior... This warrior race there, the Anakites and they're huge... Bulging muscles, and with military prowess, we can't touch them. “We look like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we seem the same to them” (Numbers 13:32-33). Israel should have been quiet and peaceful like a baby nursing in his mother's breast, like a young boy up in his father's shoulders, trusting confidently in power - the power of God. But instead, what do they do? They looked at those walled cities, they looked at those mighty warriors, and they looked within, and they said, "We can't do it."

They sought to trust in themselves, they didn't think they had enough power, and so they turned away from the Lord. And so, it says in Deuteronomy 1:32-33, 40 years later, as Moses analyzed what happened there... This is what Moses said, "In spite of all of this, in spite of all of what God had done for you already” - in spite of all of that – “you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.” You didn't trust in Him.

Friends, this is a key issue throughout the history of the Old Testament. Again, and again, as you read the history of Samuel and Kings and Chronicles... Again, and again, the people of God were brought into dire circumstances. And their response was frequently represented by the king. The King of Israel, the King of Judah, how he would respond. What would he do? Would he send out for human allies? Would he go out for Assyria? Would he reach out for Egypt? Would he send money by envoys to try to get an ally when this army was invading? Or like Jehoshaphat, or Hezekiah, would he just simply kneel before God and say, "Save us, O Lord. We can do nothing against this great hoard." Again, and again, it was the same lesson: will you trust in Me? Or will you lean on your own resources?

Now, as I've said, there are many false trusts that we can have. Many false trusts. People can rely right here in this passage on their own understanding; I'll talk more about that in a moment. They can rely on their physical strength or their personal wisdom (Jeremiah 9:23). They can rely on their material wealth (Proverbs 18). They imagine it to be a fortified tower. Oh, they can rely on the fortifications of a well-built city wall (Deuteronomy 28:52). They can rely on horses and chariots, military technology. I wonder how many in our military establishment are relying on American military technology to protect our country. You can rely on that. You can rely on self-righteousness (Ezekiel 33:13). And the worst of all, you can rely on idols (Isaiah 42:17).

There is an account in Isaiah 36, in which through the mouth of a prideful Assyrian field commander, God really taught me what trust is all about. This field commander came to challenge Hezekiah. Hezekiah isn't surrendering. They're kind of surprised. All of Judah has been destroyed by the invading Assyrians. The Assyrians had never lost a battle. And I think they're just kind of mystified. And so, this field commander comes to talk to Hezekiah, and he says, "Tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the King of Assyria says, ‘On what are you basing this confidence of yours?’” (Isaiah 36:4). What is the base of your confidence? What is the ground base of your peace in the midst of this circumstance? I don't understand it.

So, he guessed at it. In Isaiah 36:6, he guessed at it. He said, "Look, now you're depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff which pierces a man's hand and wounds him if he leans on it, such is Pharaoh King of Egypt to all who depend on him." Well, that's a beautiful image, isn't it? It says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

What are you leaning on during the time of trial? And if it's anything but the Lord, it will become like that splintered reed of a staff which splinters and pierces your hand as you put your weight on it. It will not be able to support your weight. Any idol will in the end fail you. But rather, you need to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

What does that mean, "On your own understanding?" Well, the contrast here... This is the book of God's wisdom. God is giving us wisdom. And the temptation is to rely on - and I'm not meaning to be insulting to any of us - our thimbleful of insight, that tiny amount of intellectual prowess that we possess.

By His understanding, God stretched out the heavens and crafted the earth. By His mighty power and His understanding, He created the cosmos with all of the nebulae, the stars, the pulsars, the quasars, all of that stuff. God did that. “He names them all, and by His mighty power and His great understanding, not one of them is missing” (Isaiah 40:26). That's an interesting expression in Isaiah. Missing from what? Well, just missing. “It needs to be there," says God. You wouldn't even know if it were missing. And God in this earth crafted these ecosystems in perfect harmony and balance with each other. And He has been spinning out a redemptive history with all of His plans coming to pass despite the sins of human beings. We can't even touch him concerning his understanding. We should lean not on our own understanding.

But us, in Job 8:9, it says, “we were born only yesterday and we know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.” Don't trust in your own take on the situation. Let me tell you something, the longer you go on in life, the more of a temptation this is. I've been there, done that. I've been through this... We've been through economic crises before; we know how to do that. We've been through illness before; we know how to do that. We've been through various challenges in our family life; we know how to do that. And you start to trust in your own experience what you've been through, and this is a false trust.

Something God may say from Scripture may not make sense to you. You'll read it, and you'll say, "I don't get it." And the root of unbelief starts to creep in when you say, "If I don't understand it, I'm not going to believe it." There's been some great atheists that really started there. They didn't trust in the Lord with all of their hearts, and they most certainly did rely on their own understanding.

Let's take Thomas Jefferson, for example. In a letter to Francis Adrian Vanderkemp dated July 30, 1816, he was talking about the doctrine of the Trinity. And this is what he said, "Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them, and no man ever had a distinct idea of the Trinity. It is the mere abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus." So, he's leaning on his own understanding. When it came to the doctrine of the Trinity, he threw it out. He couldn't figure it out. He threw it out.

So, it is people do the same with predestination. They do the same with God's providential ruling over the world. They do it with prayer because they don't understand how God can be sovereign. And they do it with the problem of evil. Again, and again, people have made that mistake. They say, "God cannot be all powerful and good at the same time and see this kind of evil." They can't understand it, and so they throw out what the Bible clearly teaches.

Mark Twain put it this way - so in love with his own understanding - he said this about all religions, "Faith is believing what you know ain't so." Well, I don't think so, dear friends. I think instead, faith goes beyond what I can comprehend. It's not contrary to it. It doesn't contradict; it just goes beyond it. Twain also said, "The gods offer no rewards for intellect. There was never one yet that showed any interest in it." Well, you know he's a very funny man, but the root of that is rebellion. God created intellect. He's just saying, "There are going to be some things I will do that you will not understand. At that time and at all times, do not ultimately lean on your own understanding.” The Bible is full of appeals to human reasoning power. The book of Proverbs is a book about human understanding and how to live in a wise way in this world.

God created your intellect. But there may be some times in your life when you are going to have to rely on this verse and say, "I don't get it. I don't understand what God is doing. I don't know why we have to go through this. I'm hurting. I'm in pain. And God doesn't seem to answer. He doesn't seem to care." Oh, dear friend, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Think of Romans 11, "Oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out." That means you can't figure out what He's doing. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has ever been His counselor?” (Romans 11:34). You may not understand what God is doing in your life, and you may struggle, but that's a key time to trust in the Lord and not on your own understanding.

Command number three: a consistent relationship with the Lord. “In all your ways, acknowledge Him.” Now, this language of all your ways speaks of a daily relationship with the Lord. In all your ways - it refers to how you walk daily, how you live your daily life. The word “way” or “road” is a Hebrew metaphor for just daily life, the paths you choose to take. How long you sleep. What clothes you wear. How you earn your money and what you do with it after you've earned it. How you eat and how much you eat. What you drink and how much of it you drink. How you speak. How you behave with your family and your friends, and your co-workers, your neighbors, total strangers. Those are your ways. It's how you live. It's your way of life. This is a comprehensive issue. “In all your ways,” it says. And not merely acknowledge Him. I know many - probably even most of the English translations - go with the word “acknowledge.”

I'll start with this: I don't think there's anything wrong with embracing the concept of acknowledge in this sense, that you can, like Columbus did with the banner of the King of Spain when he came to Hispaniola. When he came to the New World. He stuck a flag in it and claimed it for the King of Spain. Alright, so in all your ways, stick a flag in it and claim it for Jesus, for King Jesus. That's fine; acknowledge He's king of everything. But I want to go a little further because the Hebrew word is simply “know.” It's literally in all your ways, know Him. Know Him. And this is a fundamental issue of our relationship with God. To know the Lord means to have a deep and growing covenant relationship with Him. It's to see His hand in all your ways. To see His kingly authority, yes. His throne ruling over everything. But go beyond that. I'd like you to see all of His attributes. Study Christ in all your ways. Get to know His power, get to know His compassion in all your ways. Get to know His infinite mercy, His unchanging nature. The fact that He's the same yesterday and today and forever. In all your ways, know Him. Study Him, yes, but know Him deeply and richly, as in a covenant relationship.

Jesus put it this way, "Now, this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). Make this the centerpiece of your daily life, to know the Lord in all of your ways. Paul did it in Philippians 3, he said, "I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him” (Philippians 3:8).  That's what Paul wanted every day. If you really ask Him just, if God lets you live the whole day, you go to sleep tonight, what do you want today? The centerpiece, Paul would say is, I want to know Jesus. I want to know Him. I want to know Him in all of the things that I do. I want to know Him in suffering. I want to know Him in celebration. I want to know Him in triumph and in defeat. I want to know Him all the time. That's what I want.

Alright, so there you have your three commands. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Have that feeling, that sense of confidence based on the power of God. Trust in Him with all of your heart. Lean not on your own understanding. Don't rely on yourself or on anything in yourself. Don't rely on any idol, don't rely on anything ultimately, but God. In all of your daily life, in all of your practical ins and outs of your daily life, seek to know God. Those are the three conditions. If you meet them, then He makes you this promise: He will direct your paths or, literally, make your paths straight.

Again, the word “paths” implies your life course, the direction of your life. And I think that the Hebrew word – “He will make your paths straight” - implies a smoothing out of the road so it's clear of obstacles. It says in Isaiah 26:7, "The path of the righteous is level. O Upright One, you make the path of the righteous smooth." Or again in Isaiah 40:3-4, "A voice of one calling in the desert: Make straight the way of the Lord. Make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground shall become level, and the rugged places a plane." So, the implication is, if you meet these three conditions - you trust in the Lord, you don't lean on yourself, seek to know Him in everything you do - He is going to clear the road ahead of you.

Now, I think there are two ways that He does this. He does it in what to avoid, in helping you in the area of what to avoid. And secondly, in the area of what to do. He clears out obstacles first in this issue of what to avoid. And friend, it just has to do with sin. Can I tell you that sin just complicates life? Sin makes life really, really complex and difficult and twisted and strange. And gets you in over your head and gets you to a place where you don't know what to do. It makes things seem desperate. And so, God helps you by avoiding those twists and turns that would never have come on you if you hadn't sinned, the things to avoid.

Listen to these Proverbs: Proverbs 22:5, "Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked. Whoever guards his soul will keep far from them." So, those thorns and snares are what blocked the road of the way of the crooked. Again, Proverbs 15:19, "The way of the sluggard is blocked with thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway." So, if you're given to chronic laziness, you're going to have a hard life. It's what it's saying. But the path of the upright is smooth by comparison. Proverbs 21:8, "The way of the guilty is devious." That is, tricky and twisted; it's hard to trace out. “But the conduct of the innocent is upright.” It's a simple life. Proverbs 2:14-15, it speaks of those “who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.”

So, God will direct your paths by helping you to avoid those snares and thorns and twists and turns that come on you because of sin. So, if you trust in the Lord with all your heart and you lean not on your own understanding, if you know the Lord in all your ways, God will keep you - your path - free from the difficulties that come on. Let's say, the chronic liar whose lies get ever more complex to cover up the initial lie. Oh, what a tangled web he has to weave when he decided first to deceive. Or like the adulterer whose deceptions reach to every area of his life. Lying to his wife, lying to his children, lying to his friends, lying to himself as he covers his tracks and tries to keep from getting caught in this adulterous relationship.

Or like the Wall Street financier and stock defrauder whose elaborate defenses against investigation come crashing down when the government starts to get after him and starts to do some research into his life. Or the tax evader who sweats out all the time whether he's going to get called for an audit by the IRS. Or the spouse abuser who's afraid that his wife's check-up is going to reveal some recent bruises that he left on her because he had a fit of anger against her. Or the procrastinator who keep putting off getting bills in the mail and then finds one that was due three weeks ago, if he finds it.

God has the power to keep you free from these snares and these twists and turns, so that you're not... Let's say the constantly angry person who has these blow-ups and then has to go and make it right. Apologize, go cap in hand again and again. Or the gossip who has to, under conviction of the Lord, go back and call up people and explain the gossip and try to patch things up after the words have gotten out of the lips. Sin complicates life. Sin twists life. Sin makes life difficult. And if you trust in the Lord with all your heart and you lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways you seek to know Him, He's going to keep you free from these kinds of snares.

Well, that's negatively what not to do, what to avoid. He also makes your path straight in terms of what to do with your life. How should we spend our time here on earth? What should we do with our time? God has an answer for that. In Christ, God has a beautiful, a marvelous answer for that. It says in Ephesians 2:10, "We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them." And so, God has a big picture work, a life work for you to do.

So, He's going to direct your paths, not just in, let's say who to marry, or what job to take out of college, or should you refinance your home, or should you move and take a better situation and some of the... Those are all life decisions, and God gives wisdom for that. But this goes bigger than that. This has to do with what is your calling in life. When someone sums up your life in one sentence, as they may seek to do at your funeral. What was your life work? What did you do? God has an answer for that. He's got a plan for you, and then He's going to build it up with smaller good works that lead up to that one great calling that he has for you in your life.

Well, what applications can we take from this? Well, many. What I want to do over the next few minutes is just speak to different people in the congregation how you can use Proverbs 3:5 and 6 in your life. First of all, I want to speak to the unbeliever. I just want to speak to you. If you've come in here today and you've never trusted in Jesus, you're lost. You don't know that your sins are forgiven. You listened to Britney's testimony and maybe something stirred in your heart. You listening to me preaching, and maybe something is moving. The question is can you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with your soul? Can you trust in him with all of your heart? Can you lean not on your own understanding of heaven and hell and judgement day and all of that? What are you relying on for judgment day? What are you basing your confidence on for judgment day?

If your own understanding is that there is no judgment day, God's word says there is. Lean not on your own understanding. We're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ, all of us. If your own understanding is that, if you're good deeds outweigh your bad, that God will forgive you. And on the basis of what a good person you've been, He will accept you into heaven. But the Scripture says “there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10). And it says anything that does not come from faith is sin. And so, all the good works that you thought you had are going to collapse as sins because you didn't do them for the glory of God. If your own understanding is that all religions are basically the same, but Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). It's only by the blood of Jesus that sins can be forgiven. If your own understanding is that there is no God and there is no judgment day, the Bible speaks very directly that there is a God, and He sees your heart right now.

If you abandon your own confidences that you've brought in here, perhaps when you walked in here, and you lean on the Lord Jesus Christ and you seek to acknowledge Him for the rest of your life, He will forgive you of all your sins. And He will take you by a straight and narrow path, Jesus calls it, to heavenly glory. So, trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. And in all your ways acknowledge Jesus Christ, and He will take you to heaven.

Secondly, I want to speak to the successful Christian. Things are going well for you right now; I'm happy for you. I'm happy for you. It's good when things are going well, aren't they? I wouldn't speak against it; I like it when things are going well in my life too. I think that's a delightful thing. But let me tell you something: trust in the Lord, even when things are going well. Don't trust in the sweetest frame of mind. Don't trust in recent successes in business or in ministry. Don't trust in how well things are going for you in your family life. Don't trust in these things. Trust in Jesus Christ. Trust in his blood shed for you, and keep trusting in that.

You may say, "Well, I'm done with that; I came to faith in Christ. I remember it distinctly, I was baptized, I don't need to trust in Jesus and His blood and His righteousness anymore." Oh, yes, you do. Even and when things are going well - I might say, especially when things are going well - trust in the Lord then with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Don't become arrogant as a growing Christian and think you don't need instruction anymore from the Bible. Don't become independent as a successful Christian and forget that every good and perfect gift comes from God. Don't be impressed with your growing knowledge of the Bible or of Christian doctrine, because Paul says in Corinthians, "If anyone thinks he knows anything, he doesn't know as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2).

When you're asked to give counsel or advice to someone who's struggling, don't lean on your own understanding. Stop and pray. I do that every time. People come to me for advice. Before I say a word, I say, "Can we just pray and ask God for wisdom?" I don't lean on my own understanding at that time of counseling. I say, "God, speak through me and through one another so that we can come to the truth." And when figuring out what to do with all the money God is blessing you with as things are successful and going well, then lean not on your own understanding. Say to Him, "Lord, all this money is yours. How do you want me to invest it in your kingdom?" In all your ways, know him. At every moment, seek to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring Jesus into the secret chambers of your outwardly successful life and say, "Is it every bit as successful in here too, in my prayer closet? Is it every bit as successful in my putting sin to death by the power of the Spirit? Is it going well in that area? Or am I a white-washed tomb? Looking good on the outside, but inside there's decay.”

So, to the successful Christian, I say trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways know Him, and He will direct your paths. Ecclesiastes 7:14 says this: "When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, consider God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future." Do you understand, successful, happy Christian, how quickly it can turn? Let's talk to our brother Job when we get to heaven and say, "Job, what was it like when while this first servant was speaking, the next one came?" That was a very, very tough day. And I would say none of us have ever had that kind of a day. But you know what I mean when I say that it can turn quickly. So, if things are going well, be happy, rejoice, give thanks to God, but don't trust in any of that. Trust in the Lord; He will see you through whatever's around the corner, even if it's greater success and happiness.

Thirdly, to the unemployed, I want to say a word. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways know Him, and He will direct your paths.” You're going through a huge trial, struggling with fears about the future with questions of self-worth. You look around you, and you see 10% unemployment. Some places, we heard earlier in Bible for Life, maybe as high as 20% unemployment in some parts of our state. And it could be that the overwhelming issue of your life will be this one thing, "How can I get a job?" But the deeper questions there, "Am I a good or capable person? Am I worth anything?" It's easy to let anxiety overwhelm you and for doubts to dominate in your mind. Trust in the Lord now more than ever before. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Don't become immersed and forget the Lord's mighty power. He can move his little finger and get you a job.

Don't focus on your own strengths and weaknesses. Yes, you need to get a resume together. So, write your resume, but don't trust in it. Yes, you need to make some phone calls and set up some interviews. Make the phone calls, set up the interviews, but don't trust in that. Trust in the Lord. Yes, you've got to get active, you’ve got to get busy, you've got to move out, and do things to provide for your own needs or those also of your family. But trust in the Lord; let Him direct your paths. Seek to know Him and all of the pain and the suffering. When you plant some seeds and you have good hopes, and then it doesn't turn out, they go a different direction. They don't call you, and you're very disappointed. Know Jesus during that time. Seek to bring Him into that tough trial and get to know Him in that suffering. In all of your ways, seek to know Him and let Him direct your paths.

To the single adults, I speak now to somebody who has never been married or yearns, who yearns for a spouse. Looking for a godly husband. Looking for a godly wife. This could be one of the most trying trials in life. I remember it distinctly. It seems like it will take a miracle of epic proportions to find the perfect person to meet up with you… also the perfect person. Both of you, the perfect person. We'll talk about that another time. That's after marriage, and trust in the Lord with all your heart. We could go on and on with this. Okay?

You the perfect person, waiting for the perfect person. Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Don't let the devil lie to you. Don't forget that you are already as a Christian, as loved as you need to be. You are precious to Jesus. You are His prized possession. He shed His blood for you. You will not be - you cannot be - any more loved than you already are. Trust in Him and lean not on your own understanding. Don't resort to techniques; don't lower your standards to try to catch someone by unworthy means. Don't think it's all up to you to get the right spouse. Don't lean on yourself; don't rely on yourself. And in all your ways, know the Lord. Seek to make the most of your time as a single person. Seek to learn how to follow Jesus now, to look at some of those advantages that Paul talked about in 1 Corinthians 7, that you're free from some earthly entanglements so that you can serve the Lord. And let the Lord bring that individual to you. Let the Lord bring him. He will direct your paths. He will protect you from a bad marriage, so that you're not married to somebody who pretended to be a believer, but really wasn't. He'll guide you to the right person. Remember the words, what Jesus said, "What God has joined together" (Matthew 19:6). He'll direct your paths. He'll bring you to that right person.

Oh, I could keep going. I could speak to the new parents. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” You know very little about parenting, it's true. You know very little. You'll learn more. I'm still learning. Still learning, 18 years and still on the job learning. But trust in the Lord. And when those doubts come in, and when those fears come in, lean on the Lord and seek to know Jesus in all of that journey.

College students, make this the greatest year of your life. Do it simply this way: trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways know Jesus and let him direct your paths. I could speak to the lonely elderly. I did a funeral yesterday. I'm thinking about widows, widowers. You're missing your spouse. Trust in the Lord; let Him minister to you. Let Him comfort you. Let Him console you. And, if per chance, you have a chronic illness, perhaps even a terminal illness, and you're facing your own mortality, “trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Close with me in prayer.

So, I'm going to just tell you, I had a lot of different ways I was going to begin the sermon, but I'm just going to tell you my strategy today. I'm just going to tell you the nuts and bolts of the sermon, so you can just know right away what I'm going to try to achieve. I'm preaching today a sermon of contrast. I'm going to set up a contrast, and I'm going to contrast Solomon to Jesus Christ. And I'm going to make much of Solomon, so that I can make even more of Jesus Christ. I'm going to talk about the greatness of the wisdom, the gift of wisdom that God gave to Solomon, not so you think highly of Solomon, but so that you think highly of Jesus Christ.

I want to talk also from Proverbs 8 about the greatness of the wisdom of God displayed in physical creation, in the physical universe that surrounds us, so that you may marvel in the wisdom that God displayed in the physical universe but so that you can marvel more in the cross of Jesus Christ, because I think the wisdom of God displayed in physical creation is small compared to the wisdom of God in the cross of Jesus Christ.

And so, I'm going to talk to you also about the gift of the book of Proverbs, and the wisdom displayed in the proverbs of Solomon that we have, and the nuts and bolts of it, and the rubber meets the road, and trying to understand how to live a wise life and the value that there is in that. I want to make much of that, but I want to make even more of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, Solomon is great; Jesus Christ is greater. The wisdom of God in creation is great. The wisdom of God and the new creation and the gospel is greater.

The wisdom of God in the book of Proverbs is great, but the wisdom of God displayed in the cross of Jesus Christ is infinitely greater. That's the sermon. And so, if you get that, you get it all. So now I have to go do it. I have to find a way to make you think great thoughts of all of these things, and I'm trusting in the Holy Spirit and the Word of God simply to do it. So, let's start with Solomon. Let's try to understand just how great he was, and we'll start with the Queen of Sheba. You know who she was. She had heard a reputation, by reputation of Solomon, of this Jewish king living in Jerusalem, raining in Jerusalem - how there didn't seem to be anything that he couldn't explain.

She had this reputation from other kings, perhaps in that region, she was down in perhaps modern-day Ethiopia, somewhere down in that area, Eritrea, somewhere there, and she had by reputation, this man, Solomon. And she resolved she was going to believe enough with that reputation to make the 1,200 or so mile journey to Jerusalem and see if it was really so. I have a feeling she was a brilliant woman, and she wanted an intellectual challenge. And she wanted to go and test him with hard questions, see if she could best him, like she'd probably best all the men in her life.

So, she wanted to see if she could take Solomon on and win the chess game of conversation with him too. I don't really know what her motives were, but I do know she made the journey. She came from the ends of the earth, for a thirst for wisdom, a thirst knowledge, a seeker of truth, and she's willing to spend herself and of her resources lavishly to get it. And so, she came and maybe she came across the burning sands of the desert. In any case, you have to imagine that a 1,200-mile journey would have been arduous and difficult in that day, and so she arrives to see and to meet Solomon. Solomon, his court was arranged, she saw all of the arrangement of how his servants worked, and she brought with her gifts of spices and gold and precious stones. I don't think she realized just how common gold had become in Jerusalem at that point, but she brought it anyway. And I wonder if Solomon's advisor said, "Put it over there with the rest," but she did bring some spices that he hadn't had before, and she brought her questions. She came to ply him with difficult questions.

And 1 Kings 10:3-9 says this, “Solomon answered all of her questions, there was nothing too hard for the king to explain to her. And when the Queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace that he had built. The food on the table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cup-bearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord. She was overwhelmed.” That's what it says in the NIV. I like another translation better: “there was no breath left in her.” She was breathless.

Now, you have to know how infrequently this happens in life - how rare it is that reality exceeds great expectations. It doesn't happen often, but it happened in this case. There was no breath left in her. And she said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true, but I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes, indeed not even half was told me, in wisdom and wealth, you have far exceeded the report I heard, how happy your men must be, how happy your officials who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom" (1 Kings 10:6-8).

Now, just stop there. I just want to jump ahead to my purpose in the sermon: how happy will we be to stand in Jesus presence and hear His words for all eternity? Just to stand in the presence of the King of kings and listen to Jesus speaking. Oh, what joy that will be for us, just to hear him speaking to each one of us who have believed in him individually. But she's just saying to Solomon, how happy they are to stand and listen to you. "Praise be to the Lord your God," she said, "who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel, because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, He has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness" (1 Kings 10:9). She was a woman deeply satisfied by her journey. She was happy she made the journey; she went away filled with praise for the Lord, who had given such wisdom to a man. 

Solomon was indeed the wisest man who had ever lived. But a thousand years later, one of Solomon's own descendants was born, 26 generations later. He was supposedly the son of a carpenter; He was before his calling into ministry a carpenter himself. He went around teaching and proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Of course, I'm speaking of Jesus of Nazareth, and this is the claim one day that Jesus made concerning Himself. In Matthew 12:42, speaking to his fellow citizens there in Capernaum, who knew Him well - had kind of watched Him from the very beginning, who understood who He was in a physical sense, but who greatly underestimated who he truly was -4 He said this, "The queen of the south will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here." And it's in the name of that one, the one greater than Solomon that I stand and preach to you today.

Jesus is infinitely greater than Solomon, and I want to explain how. I want to show how Jesus is the wisdom of God for us. Not merely that he speaks wisdom or He displayed wisdom, or He lived a wise life, but how He actually is wisdom from God for us. We're going to see that in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So, let's talk more about the greatness of Solomon's wisdom. Solomon's wisdom came. It had its origin in humility. You remember the story: Solomon was about to take over the kingdom from his ailing and soon-to-be-dead father King David. And so, he knew he was the heir apparent. He had some time to think about it. We don't know for certain. I looked and researched, and I could not find out how old Solomon was when he took the throne, but he was following the greatest king that Israel would ever have in the Old Testament - His daunting father, David, a man of great achievements, militarily and wisdom and leadership and in piety godliness. And now ruling, Solomon would feel grossly inadequate, way over his head. He felt he did not have what it took to rule. He felt intensely his inexperience and perhaps even felt ashamed of himself, unready to take over this great responsibility.

So, he went to Gibeon one day to offer sacrifices. It says in 1 Kings 3 that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord. And that evening, the Lord came to him in a dream and made an astonishing offer. I bet you wish the Lord would come to you in a dream and make this kind of offer. "What shall I do for you? What shall I give to you? Whatever you wish, it will be granted for you." Solomon made a wise reply. Isn't it interesting how wisdom gives birth to greater wisdom?

So, he already had a certain level of wisdom in his humility; that's what he said in the dream. He answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father, David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart, you have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day. Now, oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant King in place of my father, David, but I am only a little child and I do not know how to carry out my duties, your servant is here among the people you have chosen, great people too numerous to count or number. So please give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong, for who is able to govern this great people of yours” (1 Kings 3:6-9).

At the core of this request is humility. He finds himself what I think Jesus would later call in Sermon on the Mount a spiritual beggar. He doesn't have what it takes. And so, he goes to God, and he begs for wisdom. King David had said of him, "My son Solomon is young and inexperienced” (1 Chronicles 22:5). It was true. Solomon wisely assessed himself in the same way. The wisest thing any of us can do is recognize who we truly are before God, and I would say flee to Christ as a result. That's the wisest thing you can do.

And so, Solomon shows the kernel of wisdom here, in that he finds himself inadequate for what is facing him, and so God gives him a supernatural gift. It says the Lord was pleased that God had asked for this, and then He gives him a promise in three parts. The first two are unconditional, and the third one is conditional. First of all, unconditionally, He's going to give him wisdom - the very thing he asked for - greater wisdom than anyone had ever had up to that point, this is what God said to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies, but for discernment in administering justice, I will do all that you have asked, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be" (1 Kings 3:11-12). See, but that's God, isn't it? The God who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. He asks for wisdom. He gets this kind of wisdom, almost immeasurable wisdom. What must heaven be like then? What must it be like, the new Heaven, the new Earth? Words cannot describe what heaven is going to be like, to be in God's presence. Let your heart be captivated. You can't meditate on it enough. It's not a guilty pleasure, friends, let's meditate on it. How great must it be to be in the presence of such a generous God as this?

So, he lavishes wisdom on Solomon. That's the first gift, unconditional, lavish gift of wisdom, but secondly, he gives him the gift of wealth and honor. Moreover, he says, "I will give you what you have not asked for, both riches and honor, so that in your lifetime you'll have no equal among kings," (1 Kings 3:13), and so it was given to him again, unconditionally, just a gift. You didn't ask for it, but I'm going to go ahead and give it to you. But then the third would be conditional, and I think it really stood as a warning to Solomon, stood as a warning. “And if you walk in my ways and obey My statutes and My commands, as David, your father did, I will give you a long life” (1 Kings 3:14). Conversely, if you don't, I will kill you. Isn't that about what he's saying? You will not have a long life. You will die.

And so, this stands as a warning over all of Solomon's life, I believe. God holds the power of life and death. So be careful, keep my commands and keep my statutes as David, your father did. And so, this is the promise God made. God keeps His promises and how? 1 Kings 4 describes just how lavish the reality was, that was just a promise. What did God actually do? Well, 1 Kings 4 tells us what He did. God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, greater than the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan, the Ezrahite; wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He described plant life from the cedar of Lebanon to the Hyssop that grows out of the walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom sent by all the kings of the world who had heard of his wisdom.

So, this is a sense of the greatness of the gift of wisdom that God gave to Solomon, and this is what the Queen of Sheba came to listen to. Plant life, animals and perhaps rivers and laws of physics before there even was an Isaac Newton, and stars and planets and all kinds of things. I mean, it must have been an incredible time if you had a curious heart and wanting to learn some things as I'm sure she did.

So, we see the greatness of Solomon's wisdom and, I think even more, the book of Proverbs itself - inspired scripture, inspired by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Solomon wrote these proverbs. Over 800 of Solomon's proverbs are recorded here. Choice proverbs. A picture of wisdom. Now, one chapter in Proverbs, which you heard Wally read earlier, Proverbs chapter 8 gives us an insight concerning the antiquity or even the origins of wisdom itself, and, as we come to Proverbs 8 which we're going to look at briefly, try to understand what Solomon is saying about the origins of wisdom. There are some questions that come to our mind.

This is a fascinating chapter, and it's linked to Jesus Christ is really what attracts me this morning. I'm preaching on the greatness of Jesus Christ and the wisdom of Jesus Christ, and I'm starting in Proverbs chapter 8. So, I want to ask three questions about Proverbs 8. First of all, what does the chapter say? What does Proverbs 8 say? What does it teach us about the wisdom of God displayed in creation? Secondly, I want to ask the question: why is wisdom personified as if it were somehow separate from God and working alongside of God? What does that mean? Why this language? How do we understand it? And thirdly, how does Proverbs 8 relate to Jesus Christ? How do we understand this chapter as it relates to Jesus Christ?

So, let's start with the first and just try to understand Proverbs 8 and what it teaches us about the ancient, the origins of wisdom itself. And Solomon goes back to the wisdom of God in creation, and wisdom is personified. He uses a technique of personification here to make wisdom, which is an attribute of God, somewhat come alive. The beginning of the chapter, personified as a wise woman.

And Proverbs 8:1-6, it says, "Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights along the way where the paths meet, she takes her stand, beside the gates leading into the city at the entrances, she cries aloud to you, oh men, I call out, I raise my voice to all mankind, you who are simple gain prudence, you who are foolish gain understanding, listen for I have worthy things to say. I open my lips to speak what is right."

So, there is wisdom speaking to us. Wisdom is personified as a woman calling out and beckoning for people to come and listen. So, Solomon there is arguing for the value of wisdom as worthy of human desire, and it's going to do it, saying that God possessed it since the creation of the world. And so, Proverbs 8:22-31 describes the wisdom of God in creation, but he's using again this technique of personification, so he says wisdom's origin is before creation. Look at verses 22 through 26: “the Lord brought me forth as the first of His works, before His deeds of old, I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning before the world began when there were no oceans, I was given birth. When there were no springs abounding with water before the mountains were settled in place, before The Hills I was given birth, before he made the earth or its fields or any dust of the world.”

So, wisdom here is celebrated as ancient from the beginning, from the creation of the world, from before the creation. Verse 22, the mysterious key: “the Lord brought me forth as the first of his works were possessed me, at the beginning are acquired.” There are different ways of translating that Hebrew word as the first of his works. Simply put, I think we can at least say this, that Solomon is celebrating wisdom as ancient. It's not some new thing, but it's been around since the creation of the world. And it's not a human creation; it's really tied to God Himself. That's what he's saying. It was by wisdom that God created all of these things.

Now, what is wisdom? Well, we've defined wisdom, especially as it's nestled in the book of Proverbs, as skillful living or dealing with the physical world and all of its surroundings in a skillful and wise way, dealing properly with this physical creation. And so, Solomon is arguing that God used wisdom itself in arranging this physical world, this universe, and all of its marvelous and complex systems before the oceans, before the springs, before the mountains, before the earth or the fields or the dust.

Often, we use that expression that something's older than dirt. I think that Solomon's literally saying that wisdom is older than dirt here. We wouldn't have dirt if it weren't for the wisdom of God. That's about what he's saying. It's about that practical. And wisdom is about making right choices, right selections from an array of possibilities and opportunities. So, I believe that, as God in his infinite understanding searched out all of the possible ways he could express himself in creating some universe, He chose wisely. He chose the best way to display Himself. He chose the best way to put His wisdom on display. I think that's all that Proverbs 8 what Solomon is saying here.

God selected wisely as he created. As he looked at the various options, he selected wisely. So, wisdom is ancient. It predates the universe and, therefore, a worthy object of human desire and ambition. He also personifies wisdom as kind of being there while God was making everything and just enjoying it, celebrating it. Look at verse 27 through 31. Again, wisdom personified says, "I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above and fixed securely the fountains of the deep, and when he gave the sea its boundary so that the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth, I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with the light day after day, rejoicing always in His presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind."

So, wisdom just is enjoying what God is making. That's the personification of wisdom, and wisdom is just delighting in what God's doing. Again, just pause for a moment and meditate on your own personal happiness and delight in the new heaven and the new earth. How much delight will there be in your heart as you range out over the new earth and you see all of the hills and the valleys and the streams and the clouds, and whatever it is there? I don't want to say something would be here and it won't be there, but I'm just saying just all of the beauty and the glory and the majesty and just how much pleasure that's going to bring you.

Satan has lied to us about God, that He is against pleasure. He is the God of pleasure, and there's all this delight and joy in what God has made. And so, it is wisdom delighting in what God has made. Wisdom soars up into the cosmos, to speak of the realm where God made the sun and the moon and the stars and set them in perfect order. You know the wisdom of God, and this is really amazing, how God set up the solar system exactly right with forces balanced in just a marvelous way. We are just the right distance from the sun, not too close, not too far away. And there's actually... You can go on websites and they'll go on much further than you probably want to about how much God displayed in science, how much God displayed His wisdom in the cosmos and the arrangement of the universe, with the stars and the planets and the sun. Just marvelous - the wisdom of God there. Everything focused on life, that there would be life here on this planet.

Or, the wisdom of God in the careful crafting of the earth's atmosphere. Proverbs 3:19, it says, “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth's foundations, and by understanding he set the heavens in place,” including the clouds and just what we would call the atmosphere. He celebrates that in Proverbs 8. When scientists writing about this put it this way: “Earth biosphere is poised between a runaway freeze-up on one hand and a runaway evaporation on the other. If the average temperature of the earth surface cools by even a few degrees, more snow and ice the normal form, snow and ice reflect solar energy more efficiently than other surface materials, and it would result in ever lowering temperatures, resulting in more ice in a downward spiral into a great freeze. But on the other hand, if the average temperature of the earth's surface warms just a few degrees, more water vapor and carbon dioxide will go into the earth's atmosphere, resulting in a much stronger greenhouse effect, this would in turn cause the earth's temperature to rise even a little bit more and you get runaway heating.”

Everything's just set perfectly for life, and it's not an accident, dear friends; it's something that the wise God did so that we would be able to live. Wisdom is also seen in the boundary of the oceans, God setting a limit for them, so that they cannot inundate the earth as they once did in the flood of Noah. God is able to set a boundary, and the ocean cannot cross. And so, wisdom is personified as delighting in what God has made. Look again at verse 30 and 31, "I was the craftsman at his side, I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world, delighting in mankind." So, wisdom speaks of herself as somewhat of a craftsman, a craftsman makes and shapes and crafts things, but it doesn't seem like wisdom is doing that, but that just delighting in God doing all of those things.

And the chapter ends in verse 32 through 36 with wisdom making a final invitation and a warning. Look at verses 32 and following. "Now then my sons listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise, do not ignore it. Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway. For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord. But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death." So, wisdom is just standing there begging to you, as the reader, as the hearer, saying "Come to me. Follow me." Wisdom is a worthy object of desire; it will lead you well in life. You'll have a wise life. You'll be fruitful and productive in this world. Conversely, you'll be cursed in this world if you do not follow my ways. As a matter of fact, if you hate me, you love death. And so wisdom is making an invitation.

Alright, so this is what Proverbs 8 says. What does all this have to do with Jesus Christ? Well, in order to answer that, we have to go back into church history and clear up what's known as the Arian error. Arianism is the doctrine that Jesus is God the Father's first created being, that Jesus Christ is actually a created being, His greatest created being. And He's the first created being that He ever made. Arianism kind of resurfaced in the 19th century with the Jehovah's Witnesses, and they're around us today. So, when the Jehovah's Witnesses come and talk to you about Jesus, they do not believe in Jesus the way we do. They believe He's a created being. The slogan of Arianism is, “There was when He was not.” In other words, there was a time when Jesus didn't exist, and Arias sees this in a number of places. Colossians 1:15, for example, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” That's what they think is an Arian verse, "For by Him, all things were created, things in heaven and earth, visible and invisible." So, in their mind, the order in Colossians is, God brings Jesus forth and then, with Him, kind of creates the universe, and then they take that understanding and they go back to Proverbs 8. And what do they do with it?

This is definitely Jesus. Do you not see? “I was the first of His creations, and then I was by His side while He was making everything.” The Son speaking of the Father. And so, you look at verse 22, "The Lord brought me forth as the first of His works." Verse 27, "I was there when he set the heavens in place," kind of observing and watching. Verse 30, "I was the craftsman by His side” - I was participating in creation. Well, Arias thought that these verses were speaking of Christ. Now, as you heard, read right here earlier, how God revealed through John that it was through Jesus that God created all things. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning, through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made" (John 1:1-3). But the way they think about that, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Arians, the way they think about that is that God first created Jesus and then with Him in some way created the universe, and they think that Proverbs 8 teaches that.

Arias was very successful in selling this for a while. It really teetered on the edge of being accepted as the orthodox view of Jesus, until God raised up Athanasios, one of the great heroes of church history, who stood famously against the world with his view that Jesus was not a created being. He was eternal God, the doctrine of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, co-equal, co-eternal. There was never a time that Jesus didn't exist. And so, we have the Nicene Creed as a result of that doctrine, "I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father, before all worlds, God of god, Light of light, very God of very god begotten, not made. Being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made." And so, that's the creed that we hold together with Christians all over the world.

Athanasios then taught us that Proverbs 8 cannot possibly be teaching that Jesus is a created being. Alright, well, that leads us to the next question in Proverbs 8: Why is wisdom personified here, as though it is somehow separate from God? Now, you could just... I think in one sense, kind of... I think a lazy answer is saying it's just poetry. It's a poetic representation of wisdom and how great wisdom is. I guess that would work, but it doesn't really satisfy me. I just wanted to know a little bit more. I said why? It just so leads to that Arian error. I just am troubled by it but not in any way disrespecting Proverbs 8. I just want to understand it.

First of all, let's establish this: Isaiah 44 in verse 24 says that Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God that gave the Ten Commandments, the God of the Old Testament, the Lord was completely alone when he made the universe. There was no one with him. Very plainly taught many places. But listen to this, Isaiah 44:24, "This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the Lord who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself." Now, what is the significance of that? There was no non-Yahweh being at that time. No one by his side celebrating anything. There weren't any angels. There was nothing. There was just Yahweh, the Lord. That heads right to the doctrine of the Trinity. Do you not see it?

Father is Yahweh, Son is Yahweh, Spirit is Yahweh - that is the Lord. Now, if that bends and kind of breaks your mind, it's okay. It's been bending and breaking human minds from time immemorial. But it is the doctrine of the Bible. Yahweh was alone when He created heaven and earth and all things. But the Bible does reveal that it was through Jesus Christ that God made all things. I think then to answer my question - Why does he, Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, personify wisdom as though it's somehow by the side of God? This isn't what I make of it, and do what you want with it. These are the kind of things that trouble me. They won't trouble you, you'll go home and say, "It's just Scripture, I have to accept it, I'm in trouble." But it's my job to be troubled by these things and to make you troubled as well, so here we go.

What I'm thinking is, that God, not having created anything yet, contemplating creation is contemplating why He would create it. The end for which God created all things, as Edwards put it. Why did He do it? And the answer the Bible seems to give is to display or to put on display His glory, that He would put Himself on display. His glory in my mind are His attributes shining brightly and radiantly through what He's made. One of those attributes is wisdom, and when God wisely crafts a universe, wisdom pops up and starts to sing her song. You start to see the wisdom of God in all that God has made, and you wouldn't be able to see it displayed if God hadn't made the world.

And so, we look in Psalm 104:24, it says this, "How wondrous are your works, O Lord. In wisdom you made them all." So, we see wisdom by looking at the physical universe. Jesus said this about wisdom in Matthew 11:19, "Wisdom is proved right by her actions." So, wisdom is justified or displayed or put on display by what it does. When God set forth to create, He brought wisdom into existence and put it on display. That's the best I can make of it. You can come afterwards and talk to me about my heresy, whatever you'd like to do, but I say this to you: Jesus Christ was no created being, no matter what Proverbs 8 says.

Alright, so Jesus's wisdom then, as it relates to Solomon, how much greater is it? Well, I don't, at this point, want to talk Solomon down, but you know his sad history, don't you? You know what happened to Solomon? Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived, but he may have been one of the greatest fools that ever lived too. And it's very tragic what happened. Like so many other wise men, he did not practice what he preached. Solomon began the book of Proverbs with this central assertion that I preached on last week. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Again, Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." He mentions the fear of the Lord 10 times beyond that first reference in Proverbs 1:7. He carefully tells us what it means to fear the Lord. He says, "Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and shun evil” (Proverbs 3:7). Proverbs 8:13, "To fear the Lord is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance." So, in other words, Solomon needed to stay humble with all of his great learning. He needed to stay humble or else he's going to stop fearing the Lord, and he's going to lurch off into wickedness. And that's precisely what happened. He stopped fearing the Lord, he became presumptuous, he lost his fear of God, and then thought he could do anything.

Now, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. The word “Lord,” as I said, “Yahweh,” the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who revealed Himself at Mount Sinai through the Ten Commandments. God gave the Ten Commandments and indeed the Old Covenant to Israel, and that included Solomon. All of these commands were binding on Solomon. He needed to obey them, but he didn't. 1 Kings 11 tells a sad story of Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God as the heart of David, his father, had been. He followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians; and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. So, Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He did not follow the Lord completely as David, his father, had done.

On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. And he did the same for all of his foreign wives who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods, and he sacrificed one of his own sons on one of these altars. Thus Solomon, for all of his wisdom, became an arrogant fool.

Thankfully, for him, and for the entire human race, God raised up one of Solomon's descendants to atone for Solomon's sin, and yours and mine too, if you believe in Jesus. He raised up Jesus, the One of whom we spoke at the beginning, who said, “One greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). Solomon was known for his incredible wisdom, for observations on living things like plants and animals. His reputation spread around the world, and yet Jesus said He was greater than Solomon. He said the Queen of the South would rise at the judgment day with that generation, Jesus's own generation, because she recognized Solomon's wisdom enough to sacrifice to get it, to make that long journey. And she's the one that said that Solomon's wisdom far exceeded his reputation, but the Jews of Capernaum, indeed of the whole Jewish nation, grossly underestimated Jesus and the greatness of His person and of His wisdom.

Well then, in what ways was Jesus greater than Solomon? Well, Solomon studied and described plant life; Jesus created it. Solomon's kingdom was wealthy beyond anything the Queen of Sheba had ever seen; Jesus owns every atom in the entire universe. Solomon's wisdom penetrated great mysteries, but Jesus is omniscient; there are no mysteries to Him. Solomon's glory was great but temporary. Jesus's glory is ultimate and eternal, and His glory is going to radiate the New Jerusalem so that you don't need any sun, moon, or stars, or any lamp. That's the greatness of the glory of Jesus.

Solomon, to feed his ambition, I guess, worked his people half to death, so much so that they wanted Rehoboam to go easy on them. But Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:28). Solomon became an idolater and committed spiritual adultery against the living God; Christ died for Solomon's sins. Solomon died and was buried, and his kingdom was torn from his son because of his sins - Solomon's sins. Jesus died and rose again on the third day, and His kingdom - of the increase of His kingdom - there'll be no end. His kingdom's just going to keep on increasing and increasing and increasing. In those ways and a hundred thousand others, Jesus is greater than Solomon.

Paul made this statement: 1 Corinthians 1:30, "Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God, that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption." Colossians 2:2-3, it says, it speaks of Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures," all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. In other words, if you have Christ, you have all the treasures of wisdom. You have everything you need of wisdom. And it's a mystery to me; I don't really know how it works. But both of these verses speak of Christ as being wisdom from God, not merely that Jesus lived a wise life, not merely that Jesus spoke wise things, or He displayed wisdom or any of that. He is wisdom. Just as He says in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Jesus is saying, "I am truth." I don't know fully what that means. I've been a Christian now for 27 years, and I'm still learning what it means that Christ has become, for me, wisdom from God.

I think what it is, it just simplifies the quest, go to Jesus all the time. Go to Jesus, go to the cross, all the time. Go to the empty tomb for wisdom. If you're confused, go to Jesus. If you're discouraged, go to Jesus. If you're sinful, go to Jesus. Jesus is wisdom, not merely that He teaches wisdom. Solomon, for all of his wisdom, is inferior to Christ. Solomon spoke of the ideal king. Proverbs 16:12, he said, "Kings detest wrongdoing for a throne is established through righteousness." He described it; Jesus lived it. Because it says in Hebrews 1:8-9, God the Father speaking, God the Son says, "Your throne, O God will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom." Solomon commanded sons to obey their fathers. He says in Proverbs 23:24, "The father of a righteous man has great joy, and he who has a wise son delights in him." Well, that's good, but Jesus lived it perfectly, constantly obeyed His Heavenly Father. John 8:29, He said, "I always do what pleases Him." John 14:31, "The world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do."

And of the Son, God the Father said, "This is my Son whom I love. With him, I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Solomon spoke of worldly treasures and wealth, how to get money and keep it and make it grow. I'll do that sermon in a couple of weeks, God willing. It's like, "Oh, that sounds good to me, how to make my first million by age 75" or whatever it is.

Jesus says, “It would be better for you to trade all the wealth of the world and gain the kingdom. For the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, when a man found it, he hid it again, then in his joy, went and sold everything material and physically he had and bought that field,” (Matthew 13:44), so that he could have the kingdom. He said to the rich young ruler, "If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven, then come follow me." Solomon spoke of the danger of the tongue and urged people to be careful with what he said; every single one of Jesus's words was perfect. Solomon said that holding on to his words led to a wise and prosperous life. If you followed his proverbs, you'll be a wise and prosperous life. Jesus said this, "Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, he's crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).

Jesus's words are greater than Solomon's. Solomon's wisdom is compared to a bubbling brook (Proverbs 18:4). But Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Whoever drinks the water I give Him will never thirst. Indeed the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life" (John 4:14). Solomon spoke of a protected tower to which a person can run and be kept safe; Jesus's name is that tower because everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Solomon's wisdom calls for obedience, but Jesus actually obeys on our behalf and hands it to us as a gift. Solomon's wisdom commanded that we feed our enemies, but Jesus actually died for His enemies. Again, in this way and a hundred thousand others, Jesus's wisdom is better than that of Solomon.

Christ has become for us wisdom from God - our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, can I just urge you? Be made wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. The greatest wisdom God has ever displayed is at the cross of Christ. Jesus shed His blood for sins. Are you a sinner? Are you a sinner? You have no other Savior than Jesus, but God didn't leave Him dead, on the third day, He raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand of God in the heavenly realms. And from that place, He will come someday to judge the living and the dead. The wisest thing you can do is fall at His feet and trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins. That's wisdom. And it will always be wisdom.

Secondly, I want to say to you this: let's embrace both Solomon's wisdom and Jesus's. The beauty of the Christian life is you get both. You don't have to choose, like what will I do? You get them both. As one commentator put it, if you have a $100.00 bill in your wallet, you don't despise also the $5.00 bill you have in your wallet. You get them both. You get to keep them both. And so, we not only have the nitty-gritty every day kind of wisdom of the book of Proverbs, we also get the infinitely greater wisdom of Jesus that saves our souls. You get both. And frankly, I'm glad for it. Therefore, as a Christian, I want to come to the book of Proverbs and read it through the light of the cross. I want to read it as a Christian, so I want to learn how to parent from the book of Proverbs, so that I can bring my children to faith in Christ Jesus. I want to learn how to handle my money the way the book of Proverbs tells us to do in terms of business practices and saving and hard labor and all that, so that I can have more to give for the kingdom of God.

See, Proverbs is valuable. Just let's connect it to the cross and the kingdom of God, and it becomes incredibly valuable. I want to learn about the fruit of the tongue, so I can speak carefully the way that Solomon said that we should. But I want to speak the gospel to one another. I want to learn from Solomon about the dangers of a sluggard's ways. I don't want to be a sluggard; I don't want my house overgrown with weeds. There is a patch... Never mind. There's a part of my land that needs some attention right now; I don't want to be the sluggard, okay? So, the book of Proverbs is a gift from God, but weeding my yard is not going to get me to heaven. Trusting in Jesus will. And having trusted in Jesus, I then go out and weed my yard, so I'm not a sluggard, and I can glorify God, and every weed I pull brings glory to God through the gospel. Learning from Solomon about the dangers of alcohol will help you avoid that trap, so you don't have that woe and misery that Solomon described, but it's in the New Covenant that we get the indwelling Holy Spirit. That's far better than anything alcohol can ever do.

Learning from Proverbs about the virtuous wife will help a Christian man who's unmarried know what to look for. It can help parents of young daughters know what to raise their daughters to be. It can help a young woman - unmarried woman - to know what kind of woman she needs to be, for God to bring a godly husband to her. It can help married men and women to know also how to esteem one another, and it can be a challenge and encouragement to a wife to be a more godly wife. And learning from Proverbs about the dangers of the wayward woman and her dress and how she entices people is valuable to Christians in this sex-crazed age. We need the warning. We need to read Proverbs 6 and 7, about the adulteress. It will help Christian women to dress modestly and not in alluring and enticing sort of way. It'll help men to avert their eyes if there is temptation. It'll help us to lead more godly lives. But apart from the cross of Christ, it's really worthless. It will not save us.

And so, one of my great fears, especially with you parents raising your kids, is that you substitute the morality of the book of Proverbs for the gospel of Jesus Christ. It isn't. You can have all of this wisdom and still end up as poorly as Solomon lived toward the end of his life. The gospel alone saves. So, my final application to you is this: Delight in the infinitely superior wisdom of Jesus Christ. He is a greater, wiser king than Solomon. What He did at the cross and at the empty tomb is infinitely greater than what God did at the original creation. And the gospel gives us a better wisdom than the book of Proverbs. The joy is we get it all. As it says in Corinthians, all things are yours. Close with me in prayer.

Every single person in this room is united by one thing. As I begin my message today, I'm thinking about this one thing that unites us all, and that is a craving for - an overwhelming need for - intimacy with Almighty God, that we might have an intimate, a close relationship with God. It's the deepest need of any human being. Psalm 1:31, "My eyes are not proud, O Lord. My eyes are not haughty. I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me, but I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me." Wouldn't you love to be like that in God's arms right now, like a weaned child resting comfortably and at peace?

How often have you read those accounts of the little children with Jesus and wish you could have been one, crawl up in Jesus's lap? Or be like John at the Last Supper, putting his head on Jesus' breast and asking him questions? Intimacy with God is a deep need. But our God is a consuming fire, it says, in the New Testament. It says that he dwells in unapproachable light. The holiness of God, like a searing bright light, piercing our reality. How do we put this together? How do you cuddle up with a consuming fire?

Some people begin to work on the image of God in our minds and pitch one or the other. Some cling to the teaching that God is light and, in Him, there's no darkness at all, and they really somewhat abandon any possibility of intimacy with God and closeness and affection and tenderness, like a little child. Others so crave that intimacy. They've been perhaps wounded by sin. Theirs or the sins of others against them, and they're just broken people, and they just would love to crawl up into God's lap and just be there for a while. But they, in doing that, forsake any sense of the fear of the Lord, or the holiness of God, or that God would judge sin, or any of that.

What I'm about to say, I say with much prayer and with tenderness, but a number of people have recently recommended the book The Shack to me. Members of this church have read it; some have commended it to me, and I believe that the author of The Shack has created an idol that's not biblical and is presenting intimacy with that idol, that we can have intimacy with the God that The Shack presents, that God's kind of like a warm, inviting mama, cooking a pie. And there's flour on her apron, and you just want to just crawl up and just be absorbed in all that love. But as you read this book (and I've read two-thirds of it, and I've read a lot of accounts about it, talked to others), the passage I'm about to preach on doesn't fit at all. The fear of the Lord - you just wouldn't fear that God, any more than you'd fear a bunny rabbit. Dear friends, that's an idol, and we're told to keep ourselves from idols. I say it with all tenderness because I've been perplexed, frankly, at people that have commended this book to me, having read the whole thing. Perplexed. And they tell me, "Now, the theology's off, but it's very, very compelling, it's very... " So I thought, what is compelling?

You know what's compelling? It's the intimacy. Can I say to you the real God offers a better intimacy than the idol-maker God does? We've got a better intimacy waiting for us in heaven, dear friends. But I want to preach today on the fear of the Lord, and I do apologize for the appearance of my face. It doesn't help me today - this red face preaching on the fear of the Lord. I envisioned, I looked in the mirror, I said, "This will not do." But what can I do? The damage is done. I didn't put sunscreen on, like my wife always tells me to do, and I said, "No, it's not me, I don't need it.” But I did need it, and it's too late. But I want to find a way, I want to find a way that you will retain both God is love and God is light in your conception of him, because this is what God has told us he is. Also, God is spirit. But people just don't seem to be able to keep them together. And this study this morning on the fear of the Lord is a rich one and a deep one and a full one. It's not a simple one.

My thoughts on what this means have been deeply challenged, and I've learned some things, and I hope to commit them to you this morning. Now, as we come to Proverbs 1:1-7, we come to the introduction of the book of Proverbs. You’ve already heard the reading this morning, it says, "The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth. Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles."

So, that's the purpose of the book of Proverbs, according to Solomon. It's kind of like if you're picking up a book at the Christian bookstore, and you wanted to know why you should read the book. And so, the publisher has put on the back, or on the inside dust cover, the reasons why you'd read this book or what advantages come to you. And so, a disciplined and prudent life comes from studying the book of Proverbs. Discipline and prudence - we need these things, and certain character traits come, like righteousness, justice and equity. These are good things, and it's for everybody. Let the youth and the simple learn; the naive, let them gain an instruction and wisdom. So, it's for that person, but it's also for the wise. Let the wise hear and gain even more wisdom. So, it's for everybody. But I want to focus on this verse 7. Center to everything is this one statement in verse 7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." So, we have before us now this concept of the fear of the Lord. There was a time that Christians wouldn't have minded being called God-fearing people. We were God-fearers, that kind of thing. That kind of terminology is a bit passé; people don't talk that way as much anymore. So, I think it's important that we recover a biblical sense of the fear of the Lord. Now, what is fear? What do we mean by that? Well, it's a natural emotion, but I believe the fear of the Lord is a supernatural grace.

Now, when I talk about the natural side of fear, fear is just an emotion. It responds... It's an emotional response to a perceived danger. It results in certain physical effects: an elevated heart rate, and breathing rate, and adrenaline, and other things come on. There's just physiological side of fear. Scholars have arranged the basic emotions of the human in categories. I've found one list that has six basic emotions. I don't know if this is true, but I know that these are all emotions. There's love, joy, surprise, anger, sadness, and then there's fear. They say these are the basic ones. I don't know if there's more or less. All I know is that those are all emotions, and I felt all of them at different times in my life. But fear is an emotion. And then there are different nuances of fear. You can have alarm or shock, fright, terror, panic, hysteria, mortification. There's anxiety. There's tenseness or uneasiness. There's apprehension, worry, distress, and dread. So, there's all different kinds of flavors of fear. That's natural fear.

Some fears are irrational, one might even say childish, like fear of the dark or fear of not having your closet closed before your dad kisses you good night. I'm not saying who that might refer to, but the closet sometimes may need to get closed, and that might be an irrational fear. I've checked the closet; there's nothing in it, alright? Well, there's a lot in it, but there's nothing you need to fear. You may need to fear your dad in reference to the closet, but that's another topic. But some fears are actually quite reasonable, like if you're in a precariously high place and there's a very real possibility of stumbling and falling to your death. I remember an old, an ancient castle I saw in the Hunza Valley in Pakistan, and it was really centuries old, completely unprotected. There's no insurance. They don't care if you, the tourist, fall to your death. That would be your problem. They sure aren't going to get sued. And so, you can do whatever you want. And there's a picture of me kind of leaning a little bit over the edge to look down at literally a thousand-foot drop. And I think that's a rational fear. I mean, we might actually fall to our deaths - all of these things or the fear of crossing a busy four-lane interstate.

That's a natural fear. The fear of the Lord is a supernatural grace. It's given by God. It is not natural to fear the Lord. Look at the verse again, it says, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." A few weeks ago, when we talked about the wise man and the fool in the book of Proverbs, the fool is the unregenerate man. And the unregenerate man has no fear of the Lord. When God first begins, therefore, to convert someone, he must begin here with the fear of the Lord. We sang earlier “Amazing Grace” by John Newton, and you know that line? It says, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace, my fears relieved." So, John Newton was a vile sinner, a wretch, he called himself, and well so. He was a slave trader and a wicked man, and he went to sleep one night before a big storm hit. In his own testimony, he said, "In the same old confidence that I always went to sleep with." And yet, he was lost. When he woke up, the storm was raging and the boat was groaning, and there was a real sense that he was going to die and go to hell that very night. It was the beginning of the fear of the Lord for him that eventually led to his salvation in Christ.

So, the fear of the Lord then is a supernatural grace, essential to our salvation. We must have this, or we will not be saved. Now, as I've continued to meditate on it, I think there are two different aspects of the fear of the Lord. There is a negative side, and there is a positive side to the fear of the Lord. Negatively, then, I think fear of the Lord is the emotional reaction to danger. And what is that danger? Well, Jesus commanded that we should fear God in this sense. In Luke 12:4-5, he said, "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after they kill the body, can do nothing more to you. No, I tell you who to fear. Fear the one who, after the death of the body, has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him." Jesus told us to fear God in that way, "Fear him who has the power to send you to hell."

The unregenerate man does not consider that a genuine threat. It's something to be laughed off than considered serious. But by the grace of God, some people begin to see their danger, that there's a real danger of hell, a real danger spending an eternity in the lake of fire, in eternal torment. And the smoke of their torment, it says in Revelation 14, rises forever and ever. There is no rest, day or night. Should we not fear that if we are in an unregenerate state? Jesus said you should. Now, I believe this is a supernatural grace from God, and it's the beginning of a lifetime of seeking God. And I believe the fear of that condemnation should end when you come to faith in Christ. I think that's what Newton meant when he said, "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved." I was, by grace, saved from hell, and I don't need to fear condemnation anymore. I think this is exactly what John means in 1 John 4:15-18, when he talks about this topic of the fear of the Lord. This is what he says, "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so, we know and rely on the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him. And in this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world, we are like him. There is no fear in love. The perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears has not been made perfect in love.” Believe me, dear friends, that verse has been - or the passage - has been hugely on my mind, as I've preached on Proverbs 1:7, trying to understand what it means. But I think at least he's saying this, "If you acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, you're a believer. God lives in you, and you need not - you must not - fear condemnation on Judgment Day." It's an insult to his grace and to the Gospel. And so, if you do, you've not been perfected in love. Perfect love drives out fear. Similar to Romans 8:15, where it says, "You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by which we cry out, 'Abba Father'." So, we're not living in bondage to fear all the time.

But I also believe that there is still remaining a healthy fear of sin and of God's response to sin that we must cultivate as Christians while we live in danger of sin. And we are still in danger of sin, dear friends, because we're still here. And so, there is a fear of the Lord in reference to sin that we must still actually maintain, and it's not faithless to do it. You remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the early church and how they lied to the apostles; they lied to the Holy Spirit about an amount of money they were giving, and then, individually, one after the other, Ananias and then Sapphira, both of them instantly dropped dead. Not a hand was laid on them. They just dropped dead. And it says in Acts 5:11, "Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events." There's nothing wrong with that. Actually, that's exactly what God was going for. He wanted a healthy fear of sin, of lying to the Holy Spirit, to seize the church.

So, therefore, the fear of the Lord is partly then a fear of His holy response to sin, either fear of his wrath in hell if you don't know that you're converted, if you don't know that you're saved. You ought to fear death. You ought to fear hell, you ought to. If you walked in here today in an unsaved state, you ought to be afraid right now that you'll spend eternity in hell. You ought to fear it. Jesus said you should. But there is relief from that fear through faith in Christ. “Come to Christ” oh, what a beautiful song that was. That song always makes me cry. I don't know if it would be a disservice to my friends and family to have somebody sing that at my funeral. Then everybody would be dissolving in a puddle of tears. But how refreshing is that? Come to Jesus and live. You don't have to die. Come to Jesus and live. You won't die. You won't go to hell. You'll spend eternity in the presence of God. Come to Jesus. But even if you've already come to Jesus, you've already been baptized, your conscience is cleansed by the testimony that you're a child of God, but you still know you have sin.

Are you done with the fear of the Lord? I tell you no. We ought to fear sin and what it can do to us. We ought to fear God's holy discipline. I heard of someone I know well, who was in a significant ministry position, and pornography was found on his computer, and he's out. His life, his ministry, is finished. His family is in turmoil. How can I hear that and say, "I don't fear that. I'm not afraid of that. I'm beyond that. That could never happen to me." If any man thinks he stands, take heed, lest he fall. I'm thinking of the sinner, take heed might be a healthy fear of sin and of God's holy reaction to it. I think we ought to fear even now. So, that's the negative side, has to do with sin. And I am convinced the fear of the Lord, it says in another place in Proverbs, is the hatred of sin. The stronger you are in the fear of the Lord, the more you hate evil and flee from it, like Joseph did from Potiphar's wife. How could I do this great evil and sin against God? You just know he's there. There's just this holy fear of sin and of discipline as a result.

But here's the good news, dear friends, that fear is temporary. There will come a time we don't need it anymore. We will fly to Jesus, and we will not need to fear sin anymore. We will be done with it. There'll be no temptations. There'll be no indwelling sin nature. The devil will be in the lake of fire, and we'll be free. It's temporary, but we'll still fear the Lord even then because there is a positive aspect of the fear of the Lord that has, I think, nothing to do with sin. The negative aspect, the fear of the Lord is the emotional reaction to danger in sin, reference to God.

The positive aspect is the emotional reaction to infinite majesty, the infinite person of God. And the response that the Bible uses for the way we respond to that is called fear – it’s the fear of the Lord. I do not understand it, friends. I've gone and meditated on this as far as I can go. Why don't they call it something else, like awe, or wonder, or reverence? You can do that if you want, but the Bible just uses that same word. And so, I'll just stay with it and just say, in some way, the word is going to be redeemed. There's not going to be any danger, but there's still the fear of the Lord in the presence of this infinite majesty of God.

So, why do I think they'll be the fear of the Lord in heaven? Well, a number of passages teach it. For example, this one, Psalm 19, in verse 9, it says, "The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.” The fear of the Lord is pure, clean, enduring forever, or out to eternity. So that means the fear of the Lord is a clean thing. It's a pure thing. Fear of man is not. It's dirty; it's filthy. Some of these phobias are filthy, but the fear of the Lord is not. It's a clean thing. It's a clean thing, a pure thing. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. Then there's Isaiah 6, where the burning ones, the seraphim, are in the presence of Jesus, and he's high on his throne. And they have six wings. You remember, with two wings, they covered their faces, and with two, they covered their feet. Both of those, I think, are a reaction to the infinite majesty of Jesus up on his throne. They're covering their faces. They have nothing to fear from him. They are holy. They're the holy angels; they're the burning ones, the seraphim. They're not afraid of judgment. They're not afraid they're going to get thrown to hell. They're just covering their faces in the presence of the infinite majesty of Christ.

And then there's Revelation 15:1-4, that passage, we read it on the way to church this morning. And there the redeemed are; they're up in heaven. They're standing there before the sea of glass mingled with fire, it says. And they're there, and they're worshipping God. They're done with their fight, they're free from the world that is dominated by the beast, and they're up in heaven, praising God. And this is what they say in Revelation 15:4, "Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." So, here are the righteous saints, they're free from sin, and they're saying, "Who will not fear you?" To them, it's inconceivable that any created being would not respond to God's infinite personhood in majesty with fear, the fear of the Lord. It's unthinkable. God is infinite in his majesty. A.W. Pink said this, "Happy is the soul that has been awed by a view of God's majesty, that has had a vision of God's awful greatness, his ineffable holiness, his perfect righteousness, his irresistible power, his sovereign grace.” When you have a vision of that, you are filled with awe, filled with the fear of the Lord, in this positive sense, and you are happy.

A.W. Tozer, in his classic The Knowledge of the Holy said, "Forever, God stands apart in light, unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite." So, here, as I've meditated on this fear of the Lord that I can't understand, I think it just has to do with the infinitude of his attributes. Psalm 36:6 says, "Your righteousness is like majestic mountains. Your justice is like the depths of the sea.” So, there's this scope of God. “Heaven, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. The eternity of God, he's the Ancient of Days, before the foundation of the world, and all of that, the Alpha and the Omega, the infinite presence of God.”

Isaiah 55, "As high as the heavens are above the Earth, so higher are my ways than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 40:22, "He sits enthroned above the circle of the Earth and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in." God desires that we fear him. He actually openly reaches out for this. He wants us to fear him. It says in Jeremiah 5:22, "'Should you not fear me?' declares the Lord. 'Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.'"

So, in summation, what is the fear of the Lord? It has a negative aspect, and that has to do with sin, danger from sin, God's holy reaction to sin. If you're lost, if you're not a Christian, you should fear what God will do on Judgment Day. You should fear hell, and you should flee to Christ into the cross. You should fear him and flee. The God of The Shack wouldn't hurt anyone. There's no need to fear him or flee to the... There's none of that. It just isn't there. Friends, it's an idol. But the God of the Bible is one to be feared. If we're apart from Christ, you're in great danger.

But even if you're in Christ, we're still in danger. We have this beast called indwelling sin. The very thing I hate, I do, as it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. I need protection, and the fear of the Lord is part of that protection for me. Positively, however, there is the fear of the Lord that I think will go out to eternity. It just has to do with how infinite God is and how finite we always will be. Pure? Yes. Holy? Yes. Resurrection body? Yes. In glory? Yes. Still finite created beings, and God infinite.

Alright. So how is the fear of the Lord the beginning of knowledge? Well, as I already mentioned, fools don't naturally possess this fear of the Lord, it's not naturally there. They actually despise it. It says, "Fools despise wisdom and discipline.” They hold it in contempt. They consider this insignificant. So, the unregenerate person, Psalm 36, it says, "An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked. There is no fear of God before his eyes, for in his own eyes, he flatters himself too much to detect or hate his sin." Paul put it this way, summing up the fact that all of us need Jesus, we all need a savior. Romans 3, in verse 14 and following, he says, "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery, mark their ways, and the way of peace, they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes." That's the final word. A.W. Pink, commenting on that, said this, "Why is it that today the masses of people are so utterly unconcerned about spiritually-internal things, and that they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God? Why is it, even on battlefields, multitudes are so indifferent to their soul's welfare? Why is it that defiance of heaven is becoming more open, more blatant and more daring?" The answer is because there is no fear of God before their eyes.

Now, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, it says here. What that means is, if you don't have that, you haven't learned anything, not really. Some of the world's most brilliant geniuses have been aggressive atheists. This text says they learn nothing. They could be very educated people, they could have six PhDs, they could have three Nobel Prizes; they learned nothing while they were here in this world. You've heard of Watson and Crick, who developed the double helix model of the DNA. Both of them are aggressive atheists. Francis Crick said this on the matter of religion, "Christianity may be okay between consenting adults in private, but it ought not to be taught to young children." James Watson kind of connected with our text inadvertently, I can assure you, but this is what Watson said, asked by a student if he believed in God, he said, "Oh no, absolutely not. The biggest advantage to believing in God is you don't have to understand anything, no physics, no biology. I wanted to understand.” Oh my goodness, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding. What's going to happen with Watson and Crick when they stand before God, if they didn't convert before they died? All of their knowledge will be as nothing. It will be meaningless. Like wet tissue paper, it will disappear. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

And it begins there because we must be convicted that we're sinners, and that's where it starts. Look at the day of Pentecost. Peter is up there preaching the Gospel, and he is being very, very clear about the death of Jesus. He died on the cross as a substitute for our sins. He is preaching the Gospel, says with many other words that he warned them and pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” And it says in Acts 2:37, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?'" That's the fear of the Lord. That's the beginning of knowledge. They're cut to the heart. They're convicted. They need a savior. And he says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Same thing happens later in Acts 16 - the Philippian jailer. You remember what happened? Paul and Silas are there, they're singing praise songs to Jesus, and there's an earthquake, and the doors - prison doors - fly open, the chains fall off, and the jailer runs out and he thinks he's lost all his prisoners. And he draws his sword, and he's about to kill himself, and a voice calls out from the darkness, "Don't harm yourself, we're all here."

And the jailer calls for lights, and he runs in and falls, trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brings them out and says, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" That's the fear of the Lord; that's the beginning of knowledge right there. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your whole household” (Acts 16:31). And preach the word. There are many examples of this from church history. It was fear of the Lord, maybe even a superstitious fear of the Lord, that led Martin Luther in the middle of an electrical storm to fall on his face in the mud and pray to Saint Anne, saying, "I'll be a monk if you just get me out of this electrical storm." And in that same, more or less, superstitious fear, he went into the Augustinian monastery and began to try to earn his salvation through good works, by being an incredible monk, by long times of fasting and prayer, and by a pilgrimage to Rome, where he went up the holy staircase on his knees, mumbling the Pater Noster, the “Our Father,” and hoping that somehow he could diminish his time in purgatory, and just pleading that he might somehow escape the wrath of God. He was afraid to die. It was fear of the Lord as he held the cup of what he believed to be the actual blood of Jesus, he started to shake and he spilled it, spilled the wine.

He was terrified of God. It was out of fear of God that he used to have long times of confession with his father confessor, Johann Staupitz. Even the slightest mental issues, the tiniest things. Finally, Staupitz said, "You're making it too hard. You just need to love God." He said, "Love God? I hate him." What is it that makes somebody say that? Fear, the terror of judgment and wrath. But it was the fear of the Lord that led him to the gates of paradise. In the words of Scripture, "I'm not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Romans 1:16). For, in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is from faith to faith, just as is written, the righteous will live by faith. And he said, "The gates of paradise flew open for me and I was free at last, and ran through them into salvation.” But, it's the fear of the Lord that was the beginning of knowledge for him. But God is holy and he was a sinner, and it is fundamental to our ongoing life as sinners in this world, even after conversion, as we've said.

Now, where does the fear of the Lord come from? Well, if you look at Proverbs 2, the very next chapter, Solomon gives the advice that you ought to seek it diligently. Proverbs 2:1-6 says, "My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver, and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will find the knowledge of God, for the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding."

So, therefore, ask God for it. If you don't fear God, ask him for it. He gives it as a gift. He gives the fear of the Lord. Psalm 86:11 says, "Teach me your ways, O God, and I will walk in your truth. Give me an undivided heart that I might fear your name." If you sense today that you've been dealing too lightly with God over your sin, you really don't fear him like you should, you've had too low a view of him, perhaps you feel, to some degree, that an idol has been crafted, and you haven't really seen God for who he really is, then cry out for the true, genuine fear of the Lord, that you would understand the grace of God in giving that to you. You know, it's actually part of the gift of the New Covenant. The New Covenant gives you this as a gift. It's part of your birthright as a Christian. Jeremiah 32:38-40, it says, "They will be my people and I will be their God. This is the New Covenant. I will give them singleness of heart and action so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me so that they will never turn away from me."

God uses the Scripture to work this in. You read the stories. Read about God coming in the cool of the day to Adam and Eve after they sinned, and they cowered before him; they were terrified. Read about the flood, and how the entire world, except for Noah and his family, and those with them on the ark were wiped out. God has been working fear of the Lord from the beginning of redemptive history all the way through. When Abraham was justified by faith, a promise was made to him, and he said, "Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky." And Abraham believed God and was created in His righteousness. And he said, "You're going to inherit the land." He said, "How do I know that I'm going to inherit it?" And he said, "Get a sacrifice ready." So, he got the pieces of the sacrifice, separated them out, and then it was a long time. He was waiting, and he's knocking the birds away, the buzzards that are coming. And then suddenly, as the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abraham, and behold, a dreadful and great darkness fell on him. And then He makes the promise: know for certain your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, where they'll be enslaved and mistreated 400 years.

Now, what is this deep, dreadful darkness? Literally, the horror of great darkness. This is God coming to his friend, Abraham, and teaching him to fear him properly. “Fear me, and everything's fine.” And this is the paradox, dear friends, the paradox of Mount Sinai. God comes with thunder and lightning and earthquake and fire, and all of this terrible voice, speaking so loudly that they beg not to hear it any longer. And God spoke this mysterious word in Exodus 20, "Do not be afraid, the fear of the Lord has come upon you so that you will not sin against me." Do you understand how that works? If you fear me, you don't need to fear anything. You don't need to fear man. You don't need to fear death. You don't need to fear financial trouble or sickness or any rejection from people. If you fear God properly, you don't need to fear anything.

You know what happens every time the angels come? You know what happens? The glory of the Lord shines around, and some... And you know what angel always has to start with? He always says the same thing, "Do not be afraid." The first thing he says every time. But there's an order, "I see that you're afraid. Now don't be afraid." He didn't say it to the Roman soldiers, note that, who were guarding Jesus. He didn't say that. They shook with fear and became like dead men, but he didn't say, "Do not be afraid." They had reason to fear. But to those whose hearts were right toward God, the message is, “Fearing me, you need fear nothing.” You need fear nothing

So, what can we do by way of application? Well, the fear of the Lord leads. It's not the end. It's the beginning of wisdom. When the Gospel is done with us, we are going to be escorted out of what someone called a craven fear through various steps of our journey, until at last, we understand the holiness of God, coupled with the infinite dimensions of his love for us. Ephesians 3, Paul says, "I pray that you will have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,” The magnitude of it! How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ? “And that you would know that love that surpasses knowledge. You may know that infinite love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

That's infinite language, that's where the fear of the Lord leads. So, the fear of the Lord is just the beginning of knowledge and of wisdom. It leads, in the end, to a full sense of the love of God. So, therefore, we should work out our salvation with what? Well, with fear and trembling. With fear and trembling. That's how you do it. Fear the Lord, give him glory and honor. Fear sin. Take it seriously. Guard your hearts. Tremble in his presence. Shun evil. Fear the Lord, and shun evil. So, it leads to a holy life. It also leads to patterns of costly obedience. The angel of the Lord stopped Abraham from sacrificing his son Isaac. He stopped him and said, "Now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, Isaac, from me" (Genesis 22:12). So, the fear of God leads to patterns of costly obedience, could be financial, a sacrificial gift. It could be stepping out in faith in a ministry, evangelism missions. It could be very, very... Just...  Jesus said, "If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.” Could be get rid of something in your life that's causing you to sin, get rid of it. Cut it off and throw it away. It could be electronic entertainment. It could be something that is causing you to sin, throw it away, get rid of it. Costly obedience. And if you do that, dear friends, you need fear nothing else. Close with me in prayer.

Pastor Andy Davis preaches an expository sermon on Proverbs 1:1-7, explaining the choice we have to either live in a wise way to God's glory and to our benefit, or we can live foolishly to our detriment.

On January 12, 2007, during rush hour, as commuters were passing through the turnstiles of the L'Enfant Plaza station of the subway line in Washington, DC, hurrying to their jobs and their other destinations, a man took out a violin and began to play. He played for more than 45 minutes. Thousands of people walked by. A few people threw coins and bills into his open violin case, but none stopped to listen for any length of time. About six or seven people did pause briefly, but no one stayed for any length of time. Now, this man played beautifully, incredibly skillfully; however, there was no applause because the people walking by really had no way to appreciate the level of skill and technical, really perfection, and achievement of his playing.

And who was this man that was playing the violin on a subway station in Washington DC? Well, his name is Joshua Bell, and he's one of the greatest violinists of our time. He's the winner of the Avery Fisher Prize for Outstanding Achievement in classical music. He annually books more than 200 international concerts a year. The six pieces he played were written by Bach and involved some of the most intricate and beautiful violin techniques known to the craft. The violin he was holding in that subway station was a 1713 Stradivarius worth $3.5 million. Now, that's a lot of courage to bring a Stradivarius into a subway station. Now, two days before he played in that DC subway, Joshua Bell had played before a sold-out crowd at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The seats went for $100 each, and you couldn't get tickets. But on that cold morning in the Washington subway, he collected a mere $32.17 for his efforts. Only 27 of the 1,097 passers-by contributed money.

Now, those DC subway riders who heard the music really could not be expected to appreciate it. They were just hurrying to work. And I have to confess, if I'd been one of them, I probably wouldn't have stopped much longer either. As Paul says, I'm not saying this to shame you. It's not that. And so, it was also that the Washington Post writer that set this whole thing up was just doing a little bit of a test of beauty and aesthetic skill in a strange setting. But the more I meditate on this story, it really lined up well with wisdom's call in Proverbs 8. In effect, this was a living parable, not just of a skillful violinist who nobody really could appreciate well, or Prince and the Pauper kind of story - that kind of thing. Skill, unappreciated. Far more significant than that is a tragedy of greater, really of infinite proportions.

And that is the fact that wisdom - the wisdom of God - stands in crowded streets all around the world, holding out her hands and beckoning to simple people as they hurry by. Wisdom standing at the busy intersections and crossroads of life, pleading with us to give up our foolish ways and follow instead the way of wisdom. In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman doing this calling. In Proverbs 1:20 and following, it says, "Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voices in the public squares; At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ‘How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?’" (Proverbs 1:20-22).

Proverbs 8, similarly it says, "Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand; beside the gates leading into the city at the entrances, she cries aloud: ‘To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind. You who are simple, gain prudence; you who are foolish, gain understanding. Listen, for I have worthy things to say'" (Proverbs 8:1-6). Well, that's wisdom, wisdom personified, crying out. How much greater then is the claim that Jesus Christ has on us as He does the same thing? As He stands and extends His hands, as it says in Romans 10 concerning disobedient people who will not listen to Me, it says, "All day long I've held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people" (Romans 10:21). Or in John 7, at one of those massive feasts of the Jews, Jesus goes right into the center of that crowded city and stands up and calls out, on the last and greatest day of the feast, calls out in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him" (John 7:37-38).

Picture it in your mind, Jesus standing up in a crowded city, calling out to people to come to Him, that they may have life and have it abundantly. Or in Matthew 11, where He... Again, you get the picture of Him extending out His hands, even physically, saying, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Dear friends, we hear or we die. When Jesus says, "He who has ears let him hear” (Matthew 11:15), it's no light thing. As He says in another place, "Be very careful then how you listen” (Luke 8:18). And so, as we begin a look at the book of Proverbs, just some studies in it and try to understand wisdom's call, I always want you to step behind that metaphor of personified wisdom, and I want you to see Jesus as He calls to you to leave foolishness - the foolishness of sin - and walk after Him in the joy of eternal life.

Now, as we come to the book of Proverbs, we come really to a fork in the road. Really constantly, there's this fork in the road in the book of Proverbs. You're brought to a decision point: you can go left or you can go right. Again and again, many of the Proverbs are written in this kind of contrasting couplet kind of style. For example, Proverbs 10:9, "The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out." So, there I'm put at the fork in the road. Will I be a man of integrity who walks securely, or will I take crooked paths and be found out? What am I going to do? Proverbs 10:9 puts me at the fork of the road. Or again, Proverbs 10:12, "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs." Again, the proverb puts me right there at the fork in the road. Perhaps someone has wronged me. Will I hate that person, hold a grudge against him, and thus stir up dissension, or will I in love cover over all wrongs? I'm put at the fork of the road by that Proverb.

Again, Proverbs 13:18, "He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored." Perhaps I have sinned and I'm being corrected, I've done something wrong, and I'm being disciplined. Maybe the Lord is using someone to give me a word of rebuke or correction. And again, I'm put at the fork in the road: Will I become prideful? Will I kind of harden my heart? Will I resent the person who's bringing me the truthful message? Or will I heed that word humbly? Will I change my life and live differently? If so, I will be honored, but if I ignore the discipline, I'm going to come to ruin. Again, a fork in the road and a decision to be made. We could multiply this by the dozens from the book of Proverbs. It puts us at the fork in the road, and the central issue is always the same: it's always about a relationship.

Now, I'm not speaking horizontally about the relationship. The book of Proverbs is full of practical wisdom about good relationships: husband and wife, parent-child, neighbor to neighbor, king to people, judge to those being judged, merchant to those that are buying from them. You know, there's all kinds of human relationships, and we'll look at some of that. But that's not what I have in mind. I mean, much more of that vertical, that infinite relationship with Almighty God, that's the real issue as you stand at the fork in the road. Two verses speak about this, Proverbs 9:10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."

We're going to give some attention to that concept in a full sermon, in a few weeks. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. You won't make the right choice. You're going to turn the wrong direction if you don't first fear the Lord. Or again, Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths." So, you stand there at the fork in the road and you're to abandon trust in yourself and in your own wisdom and you're to learn to think after God, to think like God does. That's the key for the fork in the road. Now, all decisions flow from this central one: What will you do with God? Are you in a right relationship with God? That's the central one. Everything else flows from it.

And from that, in terms of tendencies and patterns and habits, and, frankly, in terms of essential identity, in the book of Proverbs, you have two key individuals. They're two paradigm people. You have the wise man, and you have the fool. Wise man does this, and the fool does that. And two basic journeys flow from this as well. The wise man walks in the way of wisdom. You could almost picture it as an upward ascending path, getting brighter and brighter more and more righteous, more and more like Christ ultimately. Or the fool - the foolish paths of descending spiral really down to hellish, foolishness, and rebellion. And I want to talk about those two basic journeys, just as an introduction to this book of Proverbs, and I want to use the two different ways to live approach to ask you where you're at in your relationship with God. Where are you at in your relationship with Jesus Christ? It's really a diagnostic tool.

So, let's look first at the ascent to heavenly wisdom. Now, when I talk about steps and ascending, I don't want you to think that it's mechanical. You go from this stage to the next stage, and then having achieved that, you go to the next stage. It's not like that; it's really not that clear cut. Life is seldom that clear cut. But there are tendencies in these Hebrew words that we're looking at, and an upward call of God in Christ Jesus toward wisdom, and that's what we're going to follow. Same is true of the negative journey down to hellish rebellion, but the first step that the book of Proverbs gives us in this ascent to heavenly wisdom is discipline. Discipline. The Hebrew word is Musar. Proverbs 3:11-12 says, "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father, the son, He delights in."

Now, this discipline clearly arises out of love - love from God and love from parents. It's painful. If it weren't painful, it wouldn't be discipline. Says in the book of Hebrews, quoting this very same passage, "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful," (Hebrews 12:11). It's painful. But it arises out of love. Proverbs 13:24, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." Well, if that's true, as Jesus said, "You then though you are evil know how to give good gifts. And how much more will your Heavenly Father?" (Matthew 7:11). And so it is here, if we, though we are evil, know how to discipline our children and that it's really bad for them if we don't, how much more, then, does the Heavenly Father discipline us? That's where it starts. Now, the basic idea then in the book of Proverbs is that we all begin naturally as fools. In Adam, we are fools; that's where we start. We don't come out of the womb wise.

It says in one proverb, "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. But the rod of reproof drives it far from him” (Proverbs 22:15). And so, we start naturally as fools, and those natural tendencies really abide with us our whole lives. And so, our whole lives were really under the discipline of the Lord. We tend to do foolish things, and so the way to Heaven then really is a way of reproof or discipline. Proverbs 10:17 says, "Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray." So, the key thing in Proverbs again and again is, do you accept the rebuke or not?

Second step, then, in the ascending path toward holy wisdom is discernment. Discernment. Hebrew word is Binah, from the Hebrew word meaning “between,” between two things. And so, it has to do with making distinctions between this and that, between right and wrong, between good and evil, between a wise path and a foolish path. A discerning person, therefore, can see these things and understand which way to go, begins to get some discernment. This is the very thing that young King Solomon asked for. We'll talk more about him in a later message, but Solomon asked for wisdom from God. This is what he said: 1 Kings 3:9, "Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?"

Well, you know, it wasn't long after that that he's sitting in judgment over two women who are fighting over one infant. One of the infants had died, and the other one was still alive, and they were bickering and arguing over whose child it was - a brand newborn. And so, there they stand - two women, this one and this one, and both of them making the same claim. And you remember how Solomon says... The king says, this one says, "My son is alive, and your son is dead." But then this one says, "No, your son is dead, and mine is alive." Well, there he's at, being in the moment. The between moment. What's he going to do? Well, you remember what he does (I don't know how in the world it worked), “Take a sword and cut the baby in half, and give them each half.” And one said, "Yeah, go ahead and cut him." That was an act of God, in my opinion. I mean, who's going to say that in front of a judge? “Sure, go ahead and cut him up. Neither one of us have him.” But that's how the Lord blessed. But still, you can see the distinction. This and that. Which one? Which way are we going? And he said, "Give the baby to this one. She is his mother." So, the person at this point has begun to understand from discipline of the Lord to make distinctions between right and wrong. They get disciplined by God, they trace it back, and they find out what they did wrong, and they decide not to do it again.

Alright, the third step is understanding. The Hebrew root word is Sakal, and it takes this discernment a step further. Not only at this point does a person understand right from wrong, but they go beyond to see God in all of it - God's ways, the wisdom of God in this. And really the answer to the question, why? Why is it like this? Why is this the wise path and this one the foolish one? Why has God given us this command and forbidden this? He sees the bigger picture. Now, this is what understanding is about. Why does God favor marital faithfulness over adultery? Why does He favor the truthful witness in court over the one that pours out lies? Why does He favor the honest merchant who uses honest scales and honest weights over the deceptive merchant who's tricking everyone. Why? He sees the bigger picture of the effects of evil in the universe and what God is doing.

Fourth step is the step of prudence. The Hebrew word is Orma. Proverbs 1:4, "To give prudence to the simple and knowledge and discretion to the youth." And Proverbs 8:5, "O simple ones learn prudence, O fools, learn sins." Now, frequently this word in the Hebrew is translated “guile” or “subtlety,” frequently in the negative sense, somewhat like the serpent in the garden having some guile or trickery. But in Proverbs, it is frequently used as something good. And I think when Jesus said, "Be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves," (Matthew 10:16), it's a shrewdness in dealing with, I think, evil in the world. Do you remember how the apostle Paul says, you took a certain action... 2 Corinthians 2:11, "In order that Satan might not outwit us, for we're not unaware of his schemes." I know what he's doing; I can see what he's doing. I understand the temptation, the pull. Another word for prudence… Translated prudence as Mezima. Proverbs 5:1-4, "My son,” he says, "Pay attention to My wisdom and listen well to My words of insight, so that you may maintain discretion” - there's the word - "and your lips may preserve knowledge for the lips of an adulterous drip honey. And her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end, she as bitter as gall and sharp as a double-edged sword.” So, this prudence keeps someone from being tricked by the honey words of an adulterous. He can see through it to say, “This flattery doesn't mean anything. She is just leading me here to destruction.” He's able to see through what Satan is doing and how Satan is tempting. He is able to steer clear of treacherous shoals and reefs that lay hidden to the undiscerning eye.

I was reading recently about Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe, and the hardest part of all, of course, was getting around South America, the tip of South America. And at dawn on October 21st, 1520, Magellan led his ships through the first stages of the treacherous Straits that would later bear his name, the Straits of Magellan.

Straits are an amazing 334 miles long, buffeted by an endless succession of tricky winds and gales. Very complex weather patterns, very difficult to read, and very violent. And on each side of the passageway, lay reefs and shoals, most of which is obviously are hidden to the eye. But, as Magellan stood on the deck, he noticed the behavior of the water and noticed that the water was running like a river between the left and the right shoals, just like a river and its river bed, and he followed the motion of the water through the twists and turns. It took 38 days to get through, as he followed that river and as they charted their course. And when he finally got through and came out into clear peaceful waters, he named that ocean Mar Pacifico - the Pacific Ocean - just because of the peace he felt after that. That's just a picture of life.

It's dangerous in this world, and we've got to have prudence to see what Satan is doing, because Satan doesn't come saying, "Honestly, I want to destroy your world. I want to destroy it. I want to take from you everything you value." Instead, he comes like an angel of light, and so a wise person is discerning to see the hand of the Devil and what he's trying to do.

The fifth word is knowledge. The Hebrew word is da'at. In Proverbs 1:7, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." This, dear friends, is not so much information as it is a covenant relationship with God. It's not facts and figures you can put on a test, you can get the right answer on a theology exam, or you can go home and tell each other what I even preached about. What an achievement that would be: "I know what he talked about. I even remember a little part, that Magellan thing. I remember that." They always remember the illustrations.

But no, it's more than just facts and figures. It's all about a right relationship with God. It's God-centered knowledge. Proverbs 2:4 and 5, "If you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God." It's a knowledge of God. So, Jesus said, "This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And so, we see the wise man in Proverbs moving from his native foolishness as a child to full mature wisdom of God. Step by step, as he grows under the hand of his loving father, he becomes more discerning, more prudent, more filled with the knowledge of God. Until at last, that knowledge is consummated in glorification, an instantaneous transformation. We will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is, and the journey will be complete.

Now, don't misunderstand this. We are not in any way teaching some new secret Gnosticism, where there are going to be special discipleship classes, you need the word of knowledge for each ascending step. And come to us, the elders will tell you, if we find you worthy, we'll give you that key of knowledge and up you'll go. It's not like that. It's not that clear, but all of these words are used in the book of Proverbs, and there is, I think, a general movement upward toward wisdom and righteousness. But conversely, there's also the descend to foolish, hellish foolishness. Just as we have the Wise Man's ascent from childish foolish to heavenly knowledge, but the book of Proverbs traces out an opposite journey down to hellish foolishness, again, beginning with that native foolishness that we have.

When we were living as missionaries in Japan, we lived in the city of Tokushima, and nearby was a resort town named Naruto. And in the ocean way, right near Naruto, the straits there, the tidal current is the fastest in all of Japan, and the fourth fastest in the world, going 12 miles per hour. Can you believe ocean current 12 miles an hour? It's very fast. And this creates their massive whirlpools, the Uzushio. And so, people would come to see the whirlpools, reaching in some cases 66 feet in diameter. And if you were out there in a kayak or a rowboat or something like that, you might get quickly escorted to the bottom of the channel. A very strong downward pull. And that's what I have in mind as I talk about this downward pull toward hellish foolishness. There's an ever-increasing force on the fool as he travels along in life.

Step One is naivete, just being naïve. Sometimes the word is translated “simple” or “gullible.” Proverbs 14:15 says, "The simple believes everything, but the prudent gives thoughts to his steps." So, this man just believes everything. He's wide-eyed and gullible. But he also willfully exercises his irresponsibility. Proverbs 1:22, "How long, oh naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?" You just seem to enjoy it. This is not cute or charming naivete. Not at all. This is a moral issue. It's the beginning of a deadly journey. Proverbs 1:32 says, "The waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them." A naïve youth is on display in Proverbs 7, as the king looks through his lattice window and sees a young man lacking discretion. He's naive, he's gullible, and he's walking down the street, and suddenly out comes of woman, the wayward wife. She's dressed with evil intent, and she comes out and uses those honey words, "My husband's gone a long way on a journey, he's going to be gone a long time, and I've got fellowship offerings. And come, let us spend the night together. I was looking for you and now look, I've found you. You're the very one I was looking for." Yeah, right. We'll get to that later, alright?

But, at any rate, there's this lure. And again, the king looking down through the lattice window at this naïve young man. And all of a sudden, he follows her, little knowing it will cost him his life, when an arrow pierces his liver, and he groans and says, "How I spurned discipline and wisdom." Well, he begins by being naïve; he's not aware of what's going on; he doesn't see the evil and the danger in the situation.

Step Two is stubbornness. The naïve person who's rebuked and chastened comes to that key fork in the road again, a key moment in life, and, if he yields and learns, he takes a step toward wisdom, but if he hardens his heart, he begins getting sucked down that whirlpool, down that vortex toward hellish foolishness. So, Step Two then becomes stubbornness as he doesn't heed what he's learned, and he becomes stubborn. Proverbs 13:19 says, "A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but fools detest turning from evil." They get stubborn, they dig in their heels and they detest turning away from evil.

Well, this man is not stupid. He's thick-headed and stubborn. He has developed a taste now for evil. Proverbs 10:23, "A fool finds pleasure in evil conduct, but a man of understanding delights in wisdom." So, he finds pleasure in evil conduct; he enjoys it. He loves to hear himself talk (Proverbs 12:23), but he says nothing worth listening to. He is unreliable as a worker (Proverbs 26:6) or as a messenger. You can't send him to take a message. He squanders the money he has; he's developing everyday life habits of foolishness. He is a tremendous source of grief and agony to his parents (Proverbs 10:1). Not only does he bring ruin to his parents, he actually despises them. Proverbs 15:20, "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother."

Step Three is hardening of heart. The Hebrew word is ewil. He refuses counsel because he is convinced that he needs none. He doesn't need any advice; he knows what he's doing. He doesn't need any input. Proverbs 12:15, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." So, you can't tell this man anything. He already knows what to do. And again, Proverbs 15:5, "A fool spurns his father's discipline and he mocks at sin." The whole concept of sin is a joke. For me, I have to tell you, it's a deadly force that I'm fighting every day of my life. It has a tyranny to it, and I don't want it to ruin everything I care about in this world. That's how I look at sin, but a fool laughs at it. It's a joke; it's funny. And so, it says in Proverbs 14:9, "Fools mock at sin." He tends to be angry and irritable. Proverbs 12:16, "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult." At this point, frankly, even the most extreme hardships and disciplines have little effect on him at all. Proverbs 27:22 says, "Though you grind a fool in mortar, grinding him like grain with a pestle, you will not remove his folly from him." It's just woven into who he is.

Step Four is he's closed to God, closed off. The Hebrew word here is nabal. Nabal. It's the word “fool.” It shows up in Psalm 14 in verse 1, "The fool says in his heart, there is no God." That's what the nabal says. Do you remember 1 Samuel 25? We meet a man named... You usually say Nabal? Well, that's him. You remember how David was watching? He and his men were watching the sheep during sheep shearing time, and they're hungry living out in the desert and all that, so he sends messengers to Nabal and asks for some food just in return for the labor that they've done. And this man treats them harshly and rudely, sends them away with nothing, and the messengers go back to David. Do you remember how David reacts? He says, "Put on your swords. We're going for a ride."

Well, meanwhile, the other servants in the household find out what has happened, and they are in a panic, and for good reason too. They run to Nabal's wise wife, Abigail, and they say this about Nabal. As they speak to Abigail, they say, "Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him." Well, that's a nabal. He's a fool, he's so wicked that no one can talk to him. Have you ever tried to evangelize to someone like that. Jesus said, "Do not give dogs what is sacred and do not throw pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces” (Matthew 7:6). Well, that's a nabal.

And finally, he is a confirmed rebel, a scoffer, a mocker. Proverbs 9:7 and 8, "Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. Do not reprove a scoffer or he will hate you, but reprove a wise man, and he will love you." He absolutely refuses correction even from his own father. Proverbs 13:1 says, "A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke." He's no longer at this point, dear friends, some naïve simpleton. It can't be excused as youthful immaturity. No, he's not investigating folly anymore. He's confirmed as a rebel rejecting all authority. Proverbs 21:24, "Scoffer is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride." And what is the outcome for him? Proverbs 29 in verse 1, "A man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy."

Now, that's the book of Proverbs. That's wisdom and foolishness. That's two journeys, dear friends: two different ways to live. The way of wisdom, the upward path of wisdom, or the downward path of foolishness. What is the answer as you stand at the fork in the road? Well, I can tell you right now from personal experience and from Scripture and from theology, the answer is not a raw act of the will. I have decided; I have made the decision; I'm going to be a wise man and not a fool. I'm going to stand at every fork of the road and always choose the right path for the rest of my life. Dear friends, you don't know yourselves; you don't know the devil and his trickery; you don't know the world and its allure.

You and I - we all need a Savior. We need a Savior. We need someone to be wise on our behalf, amen? We need someone to be more than that, we need someone to be wisdom for us, and we have such a one and His name is Jesus, who has, it says in 1 Corinthians 1:30, become for us wisdom from God. Amen. He's not just teaching you wisdom. He's not just saying, “Follow me, I show you the wise way.” He's doing that: He is teaching you wisdom. He is saying, “Follow me, I'll show you the wise way,” but He's more than that. “I will be your wisdom on Judgment Day. I will live the righteous life for you, and I will give you every right decision I ever made as a gift.” Oh, how glorious is that. Oh, how glorious it is.

It is not legalism for me to stand here week after week before the pulpit and say, "You need to live a righteous life. You need to make wise decisions." It's not going to be legalism for me to preach the book of Proverbs and say, "Here's a good way to handle your money. Here's a good way to use your tongue. Here's a good way to deal with your wife. Here's a good way to deal with your children." It's not legalism, I want that kind of rubber-meets-the-road wisdom. But my righteousness does not consist in that. Amen! It consists in the fact that Jesus lived the perfectly wise life, died in my place, shedding his blood for my sins and all of my foolishness, and just gives it all to me as a gift. And so, as we begin this study in Proverbs and go through and look at these topics, never forget that Jesus has become for us wisdom from God, that is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. And He, by His Spirit, will enable you to make wiser and wiser choices as you stand at probably about a thousand forks in the road a day and ask God to help you navigate those shoals.

Dear friends, we come now to a time of celebration of the Lord's Supper. We have here a memorial, a remembrance of what Jesus did. A moment ago, I said that Jesus died on the cross in the place of sinners. We've heard testimony from Leticia and also from Adrian of how God saved them. If you are a Christian, if you have come to faith in Christ, and if you have, as these two did earlier today, testified that to that by believer baptism, you are welcome to come and partake in this - the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is nothing magical, but we do trust, and we have prayed that the Holy Spirit will use these elements of bread and of juice to remind us of the power of the cross and of all of what God has done for us. So, I'd like to invite the deacons now to come help serve a table as we share the Lord's Supper together.

So you hear in my prayer, I have a simple goal, and my goal is to beguile your hearts and entice your hearts with the greatness and the marvelous nature of Jesus Christ. That you would be weaned from the things of this world and that you would be stoked up in your affections for Christ, that's my goal, my desire. And I really am gonna just focus on one verse, verse 42. You heard the sermon I preached last week on the wicked tenants. We've already been through that. And if you didn't hear it, I'd encourage you to go on the internet and you can listen to it there. But I really just wanna zero in on verse 42.

Some of the most glorious building projects all over the world have been done in stone. When you think about the Great Wall of China, which I personally have had the privilege of walking on, what an extraordinary engineering achievement it is, built in stone. I've never seen the Great Pyramid of Cheops there in Egypt, this pyramid, again, built of stone. I think about the cathedrals in Europe, Notre Dame and Chartres and other places in Europe that are built sometimes over 100 years with stone that's quarried out and shaped and fit together almost like a jigsaw puzzle, and soars to heights of close to 400 feet, the spires going up with flying buttresses and glorious stained glass, and a testimony of people's commitment to worship God. Or the mountain fortress of Machu Picchu in South America. These are incredible building structures in stone, but then, none of them compare to the building structure that God is building: The church of Jesus Christ. And each one of you, if you're a child of God, you are called in 1 Peter chapter 2, living stones that in some mysterious way, quarried out from Satan's dark kingdom, and you've been brought over into the kingdom of the Beloved Son and you've been set in place as living stones in this glorious church structure that's rising up.

And today, with one verse, I want to talk about the most important stone in the whole structure: Jesus Christ. He is the stone the builders rejected, who has become the capstone. The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes. And so, my goal is that it'd be more marvelous in your eyes when I get done than it is right now. The greatness of Jesus Christ, the greatness of the work of God in Christ, that's what I want you to focus on today. Now, let's set this in context, this one statement. Jesus is in the final week of his life, He's already entered Jerusalem, it's the week of Passover. There are more than a quarter, probably more than a quarter of a million worshippers there flooding the small city of Jerusalem, ready to offer sacrifice and take part in the Passover. Jesus has already been celebrated as he rode on a donkey and he entered the gates of Jerusalem as the coming King. And they're expecting a kingdom to come immediately, that it would be right with that triumphal entry that Jesus would bring in the kingdom of the Messiah, the messianic reign. And so, they call out “Hosanna,” but not one of them really understands what Christ is there to do.

His enemies greet him, they meet him and they begin to spar with him in Matthew 21, and he's beginning to have conflicts with them openly there, and those conflicts will result, ultimately, in his own condemnation and death. And so he is answering his opponents here. He's answering his critics. And he's doing more than that as he tells this parable that you heard read for you this morning. As he tells this parable, the parable of the wicked tenants, he's really tracing out the whole history of the Jews, and their tendency to reject the messengers that God sends and even worse, to not bring forth that harvest of righteousness that God intended in planting that vineyard. 

And so, the details of the parable are familiar to us. There's a landowner who plants a vineyard and he gives it everything it needs for a full harvest, fully supplies it with everything needed. Then he rents it out to some tenant farmers, and goes away on a distant journey. After a period of time, at the right time, he sends messengers back to get his share of the harvest, it's harvest time. But the wicked tenants seize the messengers and they beat them and they kill them, stone them. And he sends more messengers, and the tenants treat them the same way, and this goes on. And last of all, he sends his son saying, “They'll respect my son.” But as you heard read already, when the tenants saw the son, they saw an opportunity to do the very thing they've been wanting all along: They wanna take control of the vineyard. They want it for themselves. They don't wanna submit to any authority. They want the full harvest for themselves. And so, they seize the son. They say, “Here's the heir. Let's take him, and kill him, and take his inheritance, the vineyard.” And so, they take the son and they throw him out of the vineyard and they kill him.

So that's the parable. And it's the culmination of Israel's history of rebellion against God. From the time of the Exodus through the time of the exile, the Jews consistently rejected the messengers that God sent, and the men that God sent to lead them, one after the other. God gave them the laws of Moses, he gave them a covenant, a conditional covenant, and they were supposed to obey those laws, but they didn't. And so, God would send messengers and call on them to obey the laws, to give them his harvest of righteousness, but they inevitably mistreated these prophets. These prophets, they preached and they prayed and they warned, and they cried and they bled and they died one after another. And finally, the time had come in the fullness of time for God to send his only begotten Son. This is the culmination of Israel's history of rebellion: The rejection of the Son, Jesus Christ. And to explain this very thing, Jesus quotes an ancient Psalm, a Psalm that was maybe 1,000 years, a little less than 1,000 years old. Psalm 118, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” We're gonna spend our whole time today focused on this one verse to try to understand it.

So let's start with the first phrase: “The stone the builders rejected.” We have here an architectural image, an idea of a grand and glorious building being erected, erected in stone. Massive buildings in Jesus' day, as we already mentioned, were constructed in stone. Herod's temple, the temple complex where they would come to worship, it was a massive structure, a complex made of stone. And in Mark 13:1, when the disciples saw all of these incredible buildings made of stone, they said, to Jesus, “Look, Teacher! what massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” So these stones have been quarried and shaped and fit together in a perfect way, an incredible structure. So it's an architectural image made of stone. 

The builders that Jesus refers to here have to be the Jewish leaders. They are the leaders of the Jewish nation, religiously. They are the chief priest, the scribes, the elders of the people, the Pharisees, the leaders, the Sanhedrin. These are the builders.

So Jesus says, “The stone the builders rejected.” There's a single stone that he has in mind, and the builders reject this stone. And this is, as I said, the culmination of a long pattern, a settled pattern, a history of the rejection of the messengers of God by the people of God. All you have to do is just trace in your mind back in history, the ones that God raises up. You can start with the conflict between Jacob and Esau, and how Esau hated his brother, Jacob, and really made him flee, wanted to kill him. Even though Jacob was the one that the promise would be fulfilled through, ultimately.

And then, Jacob's son, Joseph, was rejected by his brothers. They hated him. They could not speak a kind word to him because of his dreams and I guess his attitude, and the fact that he was preferred by his father, Jacob. But Joseph was the very one that God had ordained for their deliverance as a family. Because of his position in Egypt, he was able to set aside grain, and they were able to survive a terrible famine. And so, they rejected this very one that God had raised up to be their deliverance.

And then there's Moses. God sent Moses to bring the people out of Egypt, out of bondage, but the Jews rejected Moses. Again and again, they rejected him. From the very beginning, two Israelites who were fighting rejected Moses saying, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” They didn't realize that Moses was the very one that God had appointed to deliver them from bondage to Egypt. But even after he had done so, during the time of that great rebellion when the spies came back and they did not choose to enter the Promised Land to believe God, they talked of stoning Moses and going back, choosing another leader and going back to slavery in Egypt. They rejected Moses.

Then there was David. There was not one of David's family, the family of Jesse, who thought that Samuel was there to anoint David. He was the little kid out in the field with the sheep. Not even his own father, Jesse, thought that he was worth even mentioning. He was rejected. Everyone thought it was gonna be Eliab, the firstborn, who was so tall and regal-looking. And the Lord told Samuel, “Do not consider him just because of his appearance for I have rejected him. He's not going to be king. A man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart.”

Well, David was rejected by his own family. And as a matter of fact, when he goes there to bring some food, and his brothers are going to fight the Philistines, but nobody wants to fight because there's Goliath coming out day after day to challenge the armies of the people of God, and no one has the courage to come and confront this man who's speaking blasphemies against the God of Israel. He comes and shows up with some food from the father, Jesse, and they just tear into him. And they insult him and they lay him low. They don't know that he's about to deliver them and all of that sorry army with them by his courage. He is the very one that God had appointed to be their deliverer. Did King Saul recognize that he was the anointed successor? Did he accept that, say, “When I finish my time, I'm gonna hand it over to this God's man”? No. Instead, he hunts him down and he chases him down and he wants to kill him. And he did everything he could to kill David; he did not accept him. And even after David had been in power as a king for years and years, his own son, Absalom, rejected him and wanted to murder him and take his place. And many of Israel followed Absalom at that time.

But of all these categories of people, probably no one was as clearly rejected as the prophets. God sent the prophets one after the other. And “the tenants,” it says, “seized the servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them in the same way.” Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, speaks to the Sanhedrin, this very body that's about to condemn Jesus to death.

After Jesus' death and resurrection, ascension, there's Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, and he traces out all of this history. I'm just giving you, really, Stephen's sermon is what I'm giving you so far, is that Israel has always rejected the messengers of God, always. And so, Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, says, “You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You're just like your fathers. You always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not kill? And now, you have betrayed and killed the righteous one, Jesus.”

Jesus himself said this before Stephen's sermon. In Matthew 23, he said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and you decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.” And so,” said Jesus, “you testify against yourselves that you're the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers.” What does he mean by that? “Kill me. It's what you do.” And that's what they did. And he said, “I'm gonna send you prophets and righteous men and teachers. And some of them, you will murder, and some of them, you will stone. You're gonna treat them the same way you treated the prophets before. It's always the same.”

Now, the question is why. Why do they reject the prophets? Why do they reject the messengers that God sends? Well, I think there's a little story from the Old Testament that really illustrates why they rejected, rejected, rejected, over and over. I don't know if you remember the wicked king Ahab, and Ahab wants to go on a military venture of questionable outcome. He's gonna go fight and try to defeat Ramoth-Gilead, where the Arameans are powerful. He's gonna go out and fight against Ramoth-Gilead. And so, he's there with his friends, one of the more mysterious friendships in the Bible, godly king Jehoshaphat from the kingdom of Judah. So these two kings are there, and there are all these evil prophets of Baal and all these weird prophets, and they're all prophesying that he's going to succeed, King Ahab is going to succeed. “Go and be victorious!” “Go ahead!” And so, his ego's getting all pumped up. Jehoshaphat asked the question, he said, “Isn't there a prophet of the Lord here that we can inquire of? Don't you have one left?” [chuckle] He saw through all of that as the nothing it was. You remember what Ahab said? He said, “There is one man, Micaiah, son of Imlah. He's a prophet of the Lord, but I hate him because he never says anything good about me; only bad.” Oh, that's a very telling statement, isn't it? “He only says bad things about me all the time. I wanna hear good things.”

So Isaiah, the prophet, takes the whole attitude and puts it together for us in Isaiah 30:9-11. This is what Isaiah said; he was a prophet, he also was persecuted. Tradition says he was sawn in two, he was put in a log and they sawed through his body while he was in a log. Unbelievable. But Isaiah said in chapter 30 verse 9 through 11: “These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord's instruction. They say to the seers, ‘See no more visions!’ And to the prophets, ‘Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel.’” End quote. Well, there it is, friends. The prophets told the truth: The people were sinful. They needed to repent or die. And so, God sent these prophets to tell them the truth and they didn't wanna hear it. And so in the end, they generally tended to murder them because they wanted to hear pleasant things from God.

But though this pattern of rejecting the messengers of God is well-established as I've done so far in this message, it comes to its fullest fruition in this: The rejection of the only begotten Son of God. God sent his Son into the world and they did not receive him. The stone the builders rejected, it's not Jacob, it's not Joseph, it's not Moses, it's not David, it's not any of the prophets. It's the only begotten Son of God, it's Jesus that they rejected. He is the stone, this is the Christ. And this rejection is astonishing when you consider the quality of Jesus Christ, what kind of man He was.

Now, God searches the hearts of every man. Psalm 7:9, it says, “Oh, righteous God who searches minds and hearts.” He's searching your mind and heart right now. He knows what you're thinking about; I don't, but he does. He searches your mind and heart. He knows what's in your mind. And the testimony of God right before the flood in Genesis 6:5, it says that, “Every inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil all the time.” That's what brought the flood on. But sadly, this similar testimony is given in Genesis 8 after the flood, “Even though in every inclination of his heart is evil from birth.” That's in Genesis 8, after the flood. Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful and wicked beyond all understanding.”

So that's our hearts. But what about Jesus? Here is the one man in all history whose heart is filled with the light of God. It is pure, it is holy. Every inclination of his heart is only good all the time, the only pure man that ever lived. He's the only one that perfectly fulfilled the two great commandments: To love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and to love your neighbor as yourself. He's the only one that ever did it. This is the quality of the man that they hated. All of his words were helpful and true and beneficial, all of them, even the convicting ones. And all of his healing miracles brought a river of grace and mercy and blessing to the people of Israel. The lame walked, the blind saw, the deaf heard, the dead were raised to life and the good news was preached to the poor, a river of blessing coming from Jesus' life. His demeanor, just as a man, what kind of person was he? He was gentle and tender-hearted. He wasn't a yeller or a screamer or a rabble-rouser out in the streets. That wasn't what he was like. Children felt comfortable sitting on his lap. He would touch them gently and pray for them. That's the kind of man that he was.

And at one point, after a bunch of miracles, in Mark 7:37, the people were just overwhelmed, they're just overwhelmed with amazement of Jesus. And they said of him this: “He has done everything well.” How could they hate somebody like this? How could they hate and reject a man like this? But they did. The builders rejected him. These leaders of the Jews, they assessed Christ, they evaluated him and they rejected him. “No, not this man, give us Barabbas,” they said later. But it was already in their hearts. They had rejected Jesus.

They were offended at his freedom from the tradition of the elders. He didn't wash his hands the way they did. You know, they had everybody under control on that hand washing thing. Jesus didn't do it. I'm not saying he wasn't hygienic, I'm just saying he didn't follow the traditions of the elders. And they hated his freedom from that. They were offended at how freely and powerfully he healed on the Sabbath. Despite their teachings, he went ahead and clearly healed and it frustrated them. They were disdainful of the fact that he came from Nazareth in Galilee. They said to Nicodemus in John 7:52, “Look into it, and you'll find that no prophet ever comes out of Galilee.” [chuckle] Of course. They missed Isaiah chapter 9, when it talks about a light shining in Galilee. They didn't see that scripture, but they were convinced that no prophet could ever come from there.

And secretly, in their hearts, they were jealous of Jesus. Pilate even could see that, that it was out of jealousy that they'd handed Jesus over. He had a sway over the crowds. They listened to everything he said. He could do anything, he could do miracles. They couldn't do that. They, I think, were incredibly frustrated by his healings, because they knew he was from the Devil, but here, he's doing these healings. They couldn't put it together. So they hated him.

I think though, especially, you wanna know why? Especially they hated him, because he told them the truth about themselves. He said, generally, in his preaching in the sermon of the mount, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, you will by no means enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” And later in Matthew, He's gonna give them the seven woes. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” He calls them whitewashed tombs. He told the truth and they hated him for it. Now, they should have repented. They should have said, “Yes, I am a whitewashed tomb. On the outside I look good, but on the inside, I'm full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. Oh God, make me clean.” And he would have done it. But instead, they hardened their hearts and dug in their heels and they would not listen to him.

And so, in the parable, the tenants seized the Son, threw him outside of the vineyard and they killed him. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. Now, God had predicted that this would happen, not just here in Psalm 1:18, which by the way is quoted five times in the New Testament. It is an important prediction. But even more clearly, I think in Isaiah Chapter 53, there the prophet spoke very plainly about the Messiah, the servant of the Lord, who would be rejected by his own people.

And so, Isaiah 53 begins with this question, “Lord, who has believed our message?” They're not believing. “Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. Nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, and yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Now Jesus' repulsiveness comes to its maximum point on the cross when he is bleeding and dying. He is ultimately repulsive to the Jews. This can't be the King of the Jews, but it was. And so they hated him for it, though, this rejection was predicted. Now his rejection was complete. They took him out of the vineyard and threw him out. They threw him out of the vineyard. It was outside of the camp that they put all the refuse, you know? It says in Hebrews 13, that the blood of bulls and goats, the sacrifice is brought into the most holy place as an offering for sin, “but the bodies are burned outside the camp.” And so, Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his blood. So let us also join him outside the camp, bearing the reproach he bore. He was thrown out, rejected completely. You know, the law of Moses said, “You should make a place,” speaking to the nation of Israel, probably two million strong. “Make a place outside the camp, where you may go and relieve yourselves, lest I see and be disgusted, and turn away from you.” That's where the refuse goes. That's where the outcast and the lepers go, and Jesus was completely rejected by his own people. The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.

For me, though, the most significant rejection of Christ wasn't by any of these human beings. It was really by God. In some mysterious, infinitely mysterious, way, God rejected Jesus too. Now this is not what this Psalm is talking about, but we should acknowledge it, because Jesus himself acknowledged it up on the cross, didn't he? Didn't He cry out, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” And so, in some infinitely mysterious way, God himself rejected Jesus.

And it's the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3 that tells us why and how it worked. Jesus, our sin bearer, took all of our nasty, wicked guilty sin on himself, and then God poured out his wrath. He made Jesus a curse. And so, it says in Galatians 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who's hung on a tree.’” This, dear friends, is the stone the builders rejected. The most acceptable, the most beautiful, the purest man in history became the most rejected.

Secondly, He has become the capstone. The stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone. This, dear friends, is the exaltation of Christ. He is exalted in this passage. He is made glorious, and who can measure that infinite journey that Jesus traveled from the pit, as it were, of hell on the cross, rejected under the wrath of God, to on the third day, being raised to life in a glorious resurrection body. And after a 40-day instruction period with the church, ascending through the atmosphere, higher and higher, until a cloud hides Jesus from their sight. And then the book of Hebrews takes over and tells us that he traveled through the heavenly realms, to the right hand of Almighty God, and sat down there at the place of ultimate honor in heaven. How can you measure the infinitude of that journey as he goes from ultimate rejection to ultimate exaltation?

Says in Ephesians 1, “God raised Christ from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power, and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.” That's how exalted this rejected stone is, that's how glorious he is. 

Now, we have to deal with a little detail here. You may be asking, “is it capstone or is it cornerstone?” You may not, but it's my job, first, to get you to ask, “Is it capstone or is it cornerstone?” Which is it? Is he the cornerstone or is he the capstone? Frankly, the Hebrew goes either way. It's the “head of the corner,” that's what it says, and it's really hard to tell. And that's why these English translations always give you a footnote. They choose one and they give you the footnote on the other one, because nobody really knows. You know the ultimate answer is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I'll give you another verse. Okay. Jesus said in Revelation, “I am the Alpha and the Omega. The first and the last, the beginning in the end. I'm everything.”

And so, the cornerstone is that first foundational stone you lay and it's gotta be put in just the right position, and just right orientation, and it needs to get all the other stones started in the right direction or the whole thing's worthless. It's gotta be just right. It's a foundation stone on which everything is based. And so it says in Ephesians 2 in verse 20 and 21, that the church of Jesus Christ is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” So there, Jesus is the cornerstone and you know how you see in some of these old stone buildings, there's this polished, beautiful stone with a date on it and inscription and all that. That's a ceremonial stone, but it's also a vital stone, the first one. 

Or is he the capstone? Think about an arch, and there's the keystone in the middle and it holds all the weight pressing in on that keystone. Anybody here from Pennsylvania? It's the Keystone State, they tell us. You got the northern colonies and the southern colonies and there's Pennsylvania, in the middle, as the keystone holding the whole thing together. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's what they claim for themselves. I'm not saying it isn't true, but all I'm saying is that this architectural image, and it holds the weight and distributes the weight and it's just the keystone in the entire arch. And generally, it would be decorated, maybe made beautiful with some carvings or some other things, it's a vital stone.

Now, which is Jesus? Hey, whatever gives him the most glory, that's what he is. He's the beginning, he's the last. He is everything. He is the Alpha and the Omega. In any case the one who was rejected has become infinitely lofty and majestic. And so, how wrong were the buildings to reject him? The soaring majesty of Christ, the very one that the builders rejected as worthless, the equivalent of dung to be set outside the camp, he has become the most important stone in the entire edifice. The builders rejected him, but God exalted him.

That brings us to the third. “The Lord has done this,” it says. This is the direct work of Almighty God. It's something God has done. The Lord has done this. The sovereign plan of God, and I say it is sovereign, it is the plan of God on both sides of the equation. The stone the builders rejected, that's the first half, has become the capstone, now that's the second half. The Lord has done both of them, both of them. Now, what do you mean? Well, I say that God, in his sovereign plan, ordained that the Jews would reject their own Messiah. He set it about, it was their destiny to do so. I do not shrink back from this language because this is the very language that the Apostle Peter uses in 1 Peter 2, quoting this exact same text.

In 1 Peter 2, he's saying, now this stone, to you who believe, is glorious, “but to those who do not believe, ‘the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’ and ‘a stone that causes them to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the message - which is also what they were destined for.” Now, I don't know if I can persuade you how they can be destined to reject their own Messiah, and God still condemn them for it, and he can. Those depths, I don't know that I have enough brain power to plumb, but I know that this is what the Bible teaches. God's was the plan and theirs was the sin, but God did this. He set apart Christ as his very own, and had him born into the context of Israel, and ordained that Israel would reject him. The stone the builders rejected. The Lord has done this.

Now, they said the exact same thing in Acts chapter 4, when after Jesus had been crucified, third day rose again, ascended into heaven, sends forth the Holy Spirit of God. Pentecost comes. The church explodes out of the streets of Jerusalem, 3,000 people come to faith in Christ. The Church is just moving. At that point, the Sanhedrin gets involved. Peter and John do a healing. They give Peter and John a warning not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus. They do some more healings, they bring in all the apostles, and they warn them again not to preach or teach at all in the name of Jesus, and they beat them. They are rejecting Christ and his messengers. And in the middle of all of that, they have a prayer meeting. Peter and John go back, and they have this prayer meeting, and they gather the church together and they talk about the threats and all that. And this is what they prayed. “Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate,” this is Acts 4:27-28, “Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and with the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did,” listen. “They did what your power and will had determined beforehand should happen.” That is my faith, friends. That's the faith of the Bible, that God does this, the rejection, and the Lord also does, dear friends, the exaltation. The exaltation.

God willed that the church of Jesus Christ be built only by His sovereign power. It's not by the plans and schemes of religious leaders. They were the ones that rejected Him. Not by the plans and schemes of political and military leaders like Pontius Pilate or the emperor Caesar. They were the very ones that persecuted the church for two centuries, after the death of Christ, three centuries. Not by the philosophies of men, for the philosophers of Mars Hill in Athens scorned the message of the resurrection, and mocked it. Not by any of these things, not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, says the Lord. So, the elders of this church, ministerial staff, we can make all the plans we want. Unless the Lord builds this house, we will labor in vain. Amen? We need the Lord at work at First Baptist Church. We need him to exalt Christ in our midst. I asked, and I prayed this morning, I said, “Lord, exalt Christ through this sermon. Make him appear glorious and majestic.” Because my words aren't enough. Only the Lord can build this church.

Fourth part. “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” There are four key figures in this quote; the stone, and that's Christ, the builders who rejected the stone, those are the Jewish religious leaders. The Lord has done this, that is God, the Father. And it is marvelous in our eyes, that's you and me, dear friends. We are the audience of this grand and glorious sovereign plan of God. We get to watch it. We get to look and see what God has done. And it is sweetly marvelous in my eyes. Oh how delightful it is.

Wonder and be amazed. The point of all of this is worship, that your hearts would be moved from stone cold hardness to sweet affection for Christ, and loyalty to him, and love for him. That you will spend eternity gazing at the stone that the builders rejected. 

And he will have enough in his infinite person, and his great achievements, to call forth from you a river of praise for all eternity. And not just you, but people from all over the world will be doing. We're gonna be on our faces, dear friends. We're gonna be falling down before Jesus' glory, and we are going to be praising and offering worship to him for all eternity.

How can we conclude? How can we apply this? Well, I wanna begin by just urging you to marvel at the glories of Jesus. “The Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Is it marvelous to you? Do you see his appeal, his attractiveness? Earlier, we sang one of my favorite hymns. “Jesus, I am resting, resting.” It was Hudson Taylor's favorite hymn. And he was in the midst of a terrible trial in China, and suffering and there was no let up in sight, and he was humming this very hymn. “Jesus, I am resting, resting.” And somebody was insulted. “How can you hum and whistle during this time, when all this is going on?” He said, “It's precisely because all this is going on that I wanna rest in Jesus.”

“Jesus, I am resting, resting, in the joy of what thou art. ... I am finding out the greatness of thy loving heart.” Are you finding out how great is his love for you? “Thou has bid me gaze upon thee and thy beauty fills my soul. For by the transforming power, thou has made me whole.” I can scarcely go over these words without tears coming to my eyes, because I think about the greatness of Jesus' love for me, a sinner. And that he has transformed me and made me whole. I was broken. I was dead in transgressions and sins and now I'm alive. And now I love Jesus and I love God the Father. “Simply trusting thee, Lord Jesus, I behold thee as thou art, And thy love, so pure, so changeless, satisfies my heart; satisfies its deepest longings, meets, supplies its every need. Compasses me around with blessings.” This is love. “Thine is love indeed.”

Jesus satisfies, dear friends. Whatever idols you're playing with right now, they don't. And if you're a Christian, you know it better than you used to know it. There is no idol that can satisfy your heart. Jesus can satisfy. Is this stone the builders rejected marvelous in your eyes? Is he marvelous seven days a week? Is he marvelous when you're toying with sin? Is he marvelous all the time? It's the essence of the exaltation of Jesus as the stone is the worship he receives from grateful sinners all over the world. Come to him. Look to him. I'm speaking even to Christians. You may have been a Christian for four or five decades. Come again to Jesus and gaze at him and let him satisfy your deepest longings. Don't run after sin. Don't run after the world. Don't run after power or money or sex or anything else. Run after Jesus and let him satisfy you.

Secondly, I must give, tenderly, a warning to the unbeliever. I don't know your spiritual state, I can't see by your faces. I see that there's some guests here today. I welcome you. I'm glad you're here, but can I give you a tender warning not to reject Christ like they did? Look at verse 44, right in the text. “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” Now, I thought about this, and I said, “What would I rather? Would I rather be broken in pieces or crushed?” Answer is, neither one. I don't wanna fall on Jesus. And I think, by that, it means like the authority figures seize him to arrest Him, lay hands on him to stop him. That's what his enemies were about to do. They were going to arrest Jesus, kind of fall upon him and seize him. And he says, if you do that, you will be broken to pieces.

And it's going on today. Even though Jesus is up at the right hand of God, there are still people trying to lay hands on Jesus to stop him. It could be presidents of countries who are making decisions that are ungodly. It could be political leaders that are doing it. It could be all, it could be in this country to the ends of the earth. It could be tyrants in Africa or in South America or in Asia, that are openly opposing the Gospel, but they're trying to lay hands on Jesus through his people. “Saul, Saul, Why do you persecute me?” “Who are you, Lord?” “I am Jesus, the one you're persecuting.” They're trying to lay hands on Jesus. He said, he's giving them a warning. “Be warned, you rulers of the earth. Don't try to lay hands on me because if you do, you'll be broken to pieces.”

Alright. Well, what about the one on whom he falls will be crushed? Well, the word literally, in the Greek, means ground to powder. You get a picture of like a millstone, grinding something until it's just a dust. That's what the Greek word means. And I just, in my mind, I go back to Daniel chapter 2, when King Nebuchadnezzar, the most powerful man on earth, had a dream. And in that dream, he saw a statue. And the statue had a head of gold, and chest and arms of silver, and belly and thighs of bronze, and legs of iron, and feet partly iron, partly clay. And while he was watching, a stone was cut out, but not by human hands. And that stone flew through the space, I guess, and came and struck that statue on its feet of clay, and smashed it. And then the gold and the silver, and the bronze, and the iron and the clay, all of it were smashed to pieces and became like dust on the threshing floor. Then a wind blew it all away and there was not a trace left.

The interpretation is clear. It's a transfer of power from one government leader to the next, from the Babylonians to the Middle Persians, to the Greeks, to the Romans, to whatever followed the Romans. Someday, there's gonna be the stone that's gonna come and it's gonna smash it all, and it will all be gone, blown away without a trace. He on whom it falls will be crushed. If the time of the coming of Christ, you are his enemy, you will be crushed. Speaking of the second coming of Christ and judgement day, when he comes to set up a kingdom that will last forever and ever, Oh, how sweetly glorious it will be, to be in a right relationship with Christ when he comes again. But if you're not, he is a dreadful enemy. “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” Come to Christ then. Come to him and trust in him, and be not his enemy, but be his beloved son or daughter.

A couple of more words of encouragement and I'll be done. If you're going through a hard time, if you're oppressed, if you're feeling rejected, you're going through things, there is no one who knows how you feel like Jesus. Your rejection is as nothing compared to his, but he is compassionate. He knows what it's like to be tempted, just as you are. Come to Him. Let him refresh you and renew you. Let him tell you how it turned out for him. He's doing fine. He's at the right hand of God. He is eternally happy and blessed, and so will you be in him. Dispel the shadows of discouragement and doubt and rejection by looking to Christ and realizing that if you're in him, you'll be just fine. And if I can urge you, just as believers in Christ, worship this stone. May he be marvelous in your sight. If he's not so marvelous to you today, if you can't wait for the sermon to be over, if you can't wait to go do some other thing, beware of idols and see if the stone is as marvelous in your sight as it should be. And if not, then repent, really. And say, “Lord, take the idols from me. I wanna see you, I wanna be melted by you. I want you to satisfy my deepest longings again, like you used to.”

And then finally, if I can urge you to just as the bent of this whole passage is, bring forth the fruit of the kingdom, both within the walls of this church through the kingdom. It is just helping others in their walk with Christ. Encourage them. Lift each other's burdens. Pray for each other. Love each other. Don't be strangers to each other. Get involved in ministry here, get involved in Home Fellowship, Bible for Life class. Find out how people are doing. Shoulder their burdens and pray for them. Bring forth fruit within the walls of this church. And then let's go out into the streets. Let's go to 27701, right around here. Let's do this mission trip. Thursday evening prayer, Friday, serving in various ways. Saturday, a cook out, and reaching out. Let's see if we can save someone by the power of the gospel. See if we can reach out and be useful to God. The stone the builders rejected, well, he's up in heaven now. He's at the right hand of Almighty God, and he will be glorified for all eternity for what he did. Close with me in prayer.

From the very beginning of creation, God made a world designed for fruitfulness, filled with fruit. Genesis 1:11 says, “God said, ‘Let the land produce vegetation, seed-bearing plants and trees in the land, that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so.’” So this is the time of year for it, isn't it friends? Don't you love to walk into Kroger, or Winn-Dixie and just go to the fruit section. This is the best time of year for fruit, whether it be succulent cherries, that's my personal favorite. I think I may be addicted to them. I think the more I eat, the more I wanna eat. I don't think it's a good thing, especially since I don't know what to do with all the pits. I eat them all driving down the highway with the window down and I spit them out on the highway as I go hoping not to offend anyone else, as I pursue this great love I have for cherries. I’ve eaten a lot of them, don't any of you ... I don't want bushel fulls of cherries, you're very generous people I've found. So you don't need to do that. I also think we're coming out of that time when they're $2.99 a pound, and they're heading back toward $5.99 a pound. Don't do it, spend your money on something better.

But the world is filled with variety, papaya, mango and fuzzy brown kiwi fruit and beautiful strawberries. God made a lavish variety of sweet and succulent fruit. God did all of this because of His goodness. So also when God created man in his own image, in his own likeness, male and female, he created them and he blessed them. And he said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth, and subdue it.” Fruitfulness there meant having children, lots of children, who themselves would be fruitful and multiply. And the world would be filled with the image of God and the world already being filled with the glory of God, then the world would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That was God's original intention. So the consistent teaching of scripture is that God lavishes on this creation, on this world, everything needed for full fruitfulness and he desires - can I go even stronger, demands - fruitfulness from us for all that he's invested in our lives. He wants fruitfulness. Now, many scriptures testify this is not a small theme in the Bible.

It's actually a very great theme in the Bible. God demands a harvest of fruit from us. John the Baptist in his fiery preaching said this, when he saw the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was preaching, he said, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” Those words stand over every day of my life. Where is the fruit in keeping with repentance? Have I repented for my sin and is there fruit in my life, to show it? Later he said, “The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.” So the fruitless tree will be condemned. Jesus said, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, make a tree bad and its fruit would be bad, for a tree will be recognized or known by its fruit.” That's how he's going to assess us on judgment day. He will look at our lives. He'll look at the fruit, and he will know what kind of tree we are. And he is a perfect fruit inspector, he never gets it wrong. All he has to do is look at the fruit of our lives, fruit of our words, our deeds. He will know what kind of tree we were.

He says in John 15, “I am the vine and my Father is the vine dresser. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit.” Oh, you ought to meditate on that if you're a Christian or if you claim to be one. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. While every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. So, fruitfulness is very much the issue with the vine and the branches. Hebrews 6, one of the most terrifying chapters in the Bible because it deals with the topic of apostasy. And the author there in Hebrews 6 says, “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened who have tasted the heavenly gift who shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance.” Then he uses this kind of imagery, “Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned.” It's the same thing as the vine and the branches, do you not see it?

When God sends forth his resources he demands a return on the investment. He wants fruit from his Christians, he wants fruit from his people. And if there is no fruit that land is in danger of being cursed in the end, it will be burned. Many parables teach this. There's a parable of the fruitless fig tree. As you remember how the gardener is there attending and the owner comes and says, “You know time after time I come to this fig tree and there's no fruit on it. Cut it down. Why should it use up the soil?” And the gardener says, “No let it go one more year. Let's fertilize it, dig around it. And come back, and if in a year's time there's no fruit, then let's cut it down.” Same parable, same idea, same concept. The central parable Jesus ever told the parable of the seed and the soils. The farmer goes out and sows his seed and some falls on the path, and some on the rocky soil, and some on the thorny soil and some on good soil. And in the end, the issue is what kind of soil are you? As you hear of the word of God, are you producing 100, 60, 30 times what was sown or nothing? Use your fruitfulness. Comes up again and again. Now it comes up hugely in the chapter we're studying right now. Matthew 21.

Matthew 21 is all about fruitfulness. And frankly, it's really all about fruitlessness. It's not about fruitfulness, it's about the fruitlessness of Israel, the people of God. All of those generations have come to a culmination as Jesus enters Jerusalem, as he rides on that donkey, as he enters the city, a triumphal entry. It's the final week of his life. And all of these people, these crowds are there with adulation and they're praising him and saying, “Hosanna.” They don't really understand who he is, they don't know what he’s doing. But Jesus also comes in face-to-face confrontation with his enemies. They're face-to-face now and they're gonna be in each other's face, for the rest of this week, culminating in Jesus's own death, which those same leaders are going to orchestrate. They're gonna orchestrate his death because of their hatred for him. And this really is the pinnacle of the fruitlessness of the Jews, the people of God.

And so here in Matthew 21, there's just a very big focus on the issue of fruitlessness. You remember how Jesus going into the city the next day as he's just about to cleanse a temple, he comes to that fruitless fig tree. It's got nothing but leaves on it, and he curses it and says, “May you never bear fruit again.” The cursing of the fig tree, right in this chapter. Then after the question about authority Jesus asked a question about John the Baptist, and he said, “Why didn't you obey him? Why didn't you follow him and why didn't you repent when he preached to you?” He's dealing with fruitlessness there. And the parable of the two sons. And how there's one son who says he will not obey but then he goes and obeys. And then there is the other son who says he'll obey but he doesn't. That issue is the issue of fruitfulness. Are you actually obeying? Now we've got this parable of the wicked tenant farmers. So bottomline I think in Matthew 21: Christ has come to judge this fruitless nation. He has come to judge Israel, the fruitless nation.

Now that's immediate context. Biblically there's a deeper context in this parable and it's really a rich backdrop. In Isaiah chapter 5, the prophet there gives a song, Isaiah song. And it's the song about a vineyard. And Jesus, there is no doubt in my mind, is thinking about Isaiah's vineyard song as he tells this parable. So Isaiah 5 goes like this. This is the prophet Isaiah hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born. He says this. “I will sing for the one I love, a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad. Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I did for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Now, I will tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”

Now you can see, you heard reading the parable you can just see the points of contact that the vineyard is planted there's provisions made for it, there's a wall, there's a watch tower, winepress all the same elements and a bad ending no fruit, both cases. Now, Jesus goes beyond when he starts getting into the messengers that get sent and then the Son gets sent, we'll get to that. But he's definitely got this in his mind, I think, as he tells this parable.

Now look at the parable in verses 33 through 39. We'll read again and consider its elements. “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, he dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenant sees the servants, they beat one, and killed another and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘Look here is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Now in every parable you really wanna seek the central lesson. The main lesson doesn't mean that the details aren't worth looking at, they are. But we look for the main lesson and the main lesson here is pretty clear. That fruitlessness produces and results in judgment. That's the main idea. Or if I could elaborate a little bit more, because the tenant farmers refused to surrender to their master, his rightful harvest, judgement, is coming. That's really what the parable is about.

So the image, then, is of this vineyard. And I think it's not hard to see that Israel is the vineyard and God is the absentee landowner. I don't think that's hard to see. So it begins with this landowner literally in the Greek, it's a man, a householder. So he's just a, he's a property owner and he wants to have an investment. There wasn't the stock market or other things, back then. So there would be frequently, I think agricultural investments. So this would be a venture capital issue for him.

He is investing in this vineyard. He is putting up the money for it. It's his idea. He buys the land. He knows what he wants. Maybe a risky venture, maybe not, depends on the fertility of the soil or whatever. But this is an investment for him. And every advantage is given to it. He builds a wall for protection. So that those that might damage the harvest are kept out whether animals or men. And he's got this winepress in anticipation of the harvest. I mean, there's gonna be a harvest, right? Of course there is. There's gonna be grapes, lots of them. And so he builds, it doesn't say the size, but you can imagine an optimistically large winepress, it would really be two different cisterns at different heights, one higher than the other, made of stone and coated with plaster. And so the grapes would be put in there and they'd be trodden upon, by the servants squished with the feet. Does that gross you out? Realize they're making wine. It's gonna be fine in the end, don't worry about it, okay? But they're squishing it with their feet and then the juice runs down a trough into a lower area where it's going to begin the fermentation process. So he makes provision for that for fruitfulness. And he puts a watchtower. So an elevated area where the whole thing can be observed again for safety and protection. Be sure that everything's fine. 

Alright, so everything's prepared, everything is there...everything for success is there. And he rents the vineyard out to these tenant farmers. They're skilled vine dressers. They would know how to do the work. And he's hiring them. And other parables go into more detail about hiring processes and what arrangements are made. We don't have any of that. But this absentee landowner, he's going to be leaving on a journey, he wants trusted laborers who are gonna do this harvest. And it's a key concept that the vineyard doesn't belong to them, they're renting it.

They're working it for someone else. And then the owner as I've already mentioned goes away on a journey. He is absent from the scene, he's an absentee landowner. The tenants are on their own. They do not see the master day after day. They have to make their own decisions about this vineyard and about their behavior. In the Luke version of this, Jesus says, “The master goes away for a long time.” He's away for a long time. Luke 20:9. 

Alright, then comes harvest time. Verse 34, “At harvest time or when the harvest time approaches, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.” Now, the owner can mark time as well as these tenant farmers. He knows when the vineyard should be producing fruit and the time has come for him to collect the fruit. But a shocking turn of events.

Verse 35, “The tenants seized the servants. They beat one, killed another and stoned the third.” This is absolutely shocking. Criminal, literally criminal, what they're doing. But I think the owner shows and we'll talk more about this in a moment, astonishing patience with these men. I mean, really remarkable patience. He sends more messengers than the first time. 

But the tenants treated them the same way. Final step is the sending of the son, verse 37, “Last of all, he sent his son to them.” And we get an insight into the thinking of the owner. “Well, they haven't respected any of the messengers I've sent. They were slaves, they were servants. I'm gonna send my son.” Actually the Luke account says, “Beloved, son.” So does Mark. “I'm gonna send my beloved son. They will respect him,” he said. But here the rebellion reaches its absolute dark nadir. Its pit, greatest pitch of wickedness. Look at verse 38, and 39. “When the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come let's kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Now the motive is pretty clear, the tenant farmers do not want anyone ruling over them. They wanna be in charge of their own lives, they want to own the vineyard, they want to get all of its benefits for themselves, they don't want to be in submission to this ruler, this owner.

And so it's an insurrection, it's a rebellion. Notice the detail that they take the son and throw him out of the vineyard and kill him. He's killed out of the vineyard. This is an important detail and we're gonna talk more about it later in this message and again next week. But Jesus was killed, outside the city gates, as a symbol of His rejection by Israel, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. 

Alright, so there's the parable, then Jesus draws his hearers into it. It's so beautiful how He does that. He's a master teacher. And he says, “Judge, this situation. I want you to assess.” Verse 40, “When the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” Now, I think this is interesting, 'cause as we already heard the song of Isaiah. Isaiah does the exact same thing or God does it through Isaiah, “Now than you men of Judah, and you dwellers in Jerusalem. Judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I did for it? Why then did it yield only bad grapes?”

So he, in Isaiah 5, he draws them in to make an assessment. Jesus does the same thing. It's so beautiful. But in Isaiah, the Lord is saying “Judge for yourselves.” You know what's going on here? Jesus is talking to His enemies. He's talking to the chief priests and the Pharisees and the elders of the people, the Sanhedrin, the very ones who are about to condemn him to death. And he asks them, “Now you tell me what's gonna happen to those men?” So in Isaiah he's saying, in effect, “Judge for yourselves.” But here he's saying “Judge yourselves. Pass sentence on yourselves.” And what's amazing is, with blinders on, they just go ahead and do it. They just go ahead and give the answer. “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end.” They said, “And he'll rent out the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.” Right. They absolutely got it right on every count. Jesus has skillfully laid a trap for them where they judge themselves with their own words.

No doubt, the chief priests and the elders and Pharisees were delighted to show their judicial instinct, their ability to proclaim justice in a situation, not knowing that they were speaking about themselves. At the end they got it, didn't they? They perceived that Jesus was telling this parable about them, they got it at the end. But they didn't get it at this point. Chief Priests and Pharisees used a clever expression, literally if you could bring it across in the Greek, “He will bring those bad men to a bad end.” That's about what they say. And Jesus's own enemies predict what Jesus himself says at the end, “Therefore the vineyard will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.” So that's the judgment. Okay, well now let's interpret the parable.

We've talked about the elements, let's give an interpretation. Let's begin with the absentee landowner. Is it not clear who the absentee landowner is? It is Almighty God. It is God himself, who is the landowner. And we see various aspects or attributes of God clearly displayed in this parable. For example, we see the sovereignty of God, specifically his right to rule and to demand a harvest. The vineyard is his. He owns it, and he has the power to come back and bring judgment on those that deal poorly with it. We see there the sovereignty of God. Central to this parable then is this concept there is nothing in all this universe that doesn't belong to God. The heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, the earth and everything that's in it, it's his for he made it and he rules actively over it. It is his. Everything you own, your personal vineyards, all of those things are God's, for he made them. And some day he's going to want them back, they belong to him. That’s the central concept here is this, the sovereignty of God is ownership of everything.

Secondly, we see the goodness of God to Israel. How good is God to this vineyard? How fully and richly has it been provided for? Everything needed for godliness and fruitfulness has been given. He said it in Isaiah. It's implied here, in this parable. “What more could I do?” Fully equipped, the best of the best, was given. God lavishly provided Israel with everything it would need for full and rich harvests. He gave them promises through the patriarchs, Abraham, Issac and Jacob. He delivered them out of Egypt by the mighty hand, by his own mighty hand and outstretched arm, by His servant Moses, who was a gift to the people. He led them through the Red Sea and the water was walled up on the right and on the left. And they saw the power of God and God fed them with bread from heaven every day. Manna from heaven, and water from a rock and they drank from this rock. And he brought them to Sinai and he gave them living words that they should live by, the law of God inscribed by the finger of God in tablets of stone.

And he brought them into the Promised Land, despite their sinfulness, and their rebellion and their wickedness, brought them in, and under Joshua, destroyed all of their enemies, the Walls of Jericho fall down, and that's really symbolic of all resistance by the Canaanites in the Promised Land. He clears them out and brings his people and plants them in a rich and fruitful land. And gives them everything they need for full and rich harvest.

We see also interestingly the absence of God. In this sermon title, I say “The Absentee Landowner Demands His Harvest.” What do I mean by absentee? Well we see very interestingly here, the absence of God. Look at verse 33, “He went away on a journey.” In many parables, I would say, in all of the stewardship parables, if you can identify a type of parable that's a stewardship parable. There's almost always an absentee king or master or owner who's not there moment-by-moment or day-to-day. He's gone. So you have the parable of the five talents and the two talents and one talent. He entrusted to them and he goes on a journey. He's gone.

Parable of the ten minas is the same way. There's another parable, a nobleman who goes to a distant country to have himself appointed king. Again, he's gone, he's out of the picture. The five wise and the five foolish virgins, all of them become drowsy and fall asleep because the bridegroom is a long time in coming, he is not there. And then there's the steward of the house whom the master of the house appoints to feed the other servants in the house. And it'll be good for that servant, whose master finds him doing so when he returns. He's gone, he's out of the picture.

Why is this a consistent theme of the absentee owner? Well, the key concept I think is that on Judgment Day, we're gonna stand face-to-face with a visible God. No faith needed then, friends. You will see your judge Jesus Christ sitting on the throne face-to-face. And you will give God an account for what you did by faith in an invisible God in this world. Didn't see him moment-by-moment. He wasn't there, he wasn't in your face. And you had to believe in him, you had to trust in him or you would not obey. And so we have this idea of the absentee owner. And at some point, he's gonna come back, in all of these parables he comes back and brings them to an accounting every time. So in Verse 40, Jesus asked, “When the owner of that vineyard comes, what will he do?” So he's going to come back.

Now, I want you to know, and you must know this by faith, the absence of God is from a human perspective only. Do you not know that? It's because we're just so blind to Him, we don't see Him. We don't know. And the Scripture testifies very, very plainly of the doctrine of the omnipresence of God. Psalm 139 does it better than any other passage. “Where can I go from your spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I descend to the depths you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn and set on the far side of the sea, even there your right hand will hold me, guide me, hold me fast.”

There is nowhere in all this universe you cannot go and God is not there. However the Bible also reveals this about God. In Isaiah 45:15, “Truly you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior of Israel.” He is the God who hides himself, though he is omnipresent. He is in some sense hidden from us. So this means that God the king, the owner of all things does not stand in our face day-by-day and demand things of us. It's just not the way it works. You must have faith. You've got to perceive him by faith. You've got to have the eyes of faith. If you don't have the eyes of faith, you will not see him and you will not listen to His demands for a harvest. It was that way even in the Garden of Eden, wasn't it? Was God right there, when Adam was contemplating what to do with the fruit? He was not. Adam was in some way, in some sense on his own at that moment.

And you remember what happens after he eats and they make the fig leaves, and all that. He hears the sound of the Lord as he was walking in the garden in the cool day, that's God coming from his distant place. He wasn't there when the decision had to be made. Now he's there. Oh, friends, God is invisible to our eyes, but he's visible to faith. He's inaudible to our ears, but he is audible to the ears of faith. You can't sense him with your skin with a touch, but you can feel him with the Spirit. And Job knew very, very plainly, when he was talking about sexual immorality. “Made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a girl, for what is man's lot.” And then he says in Job 31:3, “Does he not see my ways and count my every step?” Well, there's a man full of faith. God counts his every step. He's never away from God, not for a moment. I believe frankly, as a pastor, as a preacher, one of my number one responsibilities is to make God vivid to you week after week. To make his existence real to you. The substance of things hoped for. That you would have a vivid sense of Judgment Day and of the world to come and live accordingly. That's what I wanna do, I wanna help you with that.

So we see the absentee aspect of God. We see also the patience of God. How patient is God with these wicked tenants? He sends one messenger after another, after another. Now, there you might say that's foolish. If you weren't knowing that you were talking about God, you might say, “This man is too patient.” But he's very, very patient and finally he sends his son. That shows incredible patience that God had with Israel. And this is culminated, I think in Romans 10:21, “concerning Israel he says, ‘All day long, I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.’” So that's God. He stands all day long in front of Israel. “Here I am, will you not love me? Will you not follow me? Will you not obey me?” He's just standing and holding out his hands all day long to Israel, to a disobedient and obstinate people. He does that again and again.

Well what is the vineyard? What is it? And what is its harvest? Well, it could be the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey, “I gave you this great land and look at it you've turned it into a desert.” I don't think so, do you? I don't think it's the land. I think the land is a metaphor for something else. Well, look at what Jesus says at the end, in Verse 43, “I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

So the vineyard equals the kingdom of God, whatever that is. Now, you've had 21 chapters in Matthew to figure out what the kingdom of God is. It's a place where God reigns, actively joyfully gladly in human hearts. That human hearts gladly submit to the kingship of the king. They're delighted in his laws, they're glad to do what he says, that's the kingdom of God. God is not so concerned with the land and its fruit and all that as He is with the people. Isaiah tells us this after his version, this parable, “The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the house of Israel and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness but heard cries of distress.” But friends, it is bigger than just Israel, it is. It's every human being on the face of the earth, that's the vineyard, it is.

It's people, created in the image of God filling this globe and it's God's desire as written over that map that beautiful map out there. Habakkuk 2:14 I've already quoted it, even today, “That the earth would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” That is the fruit of the harvest of the vineyard. He wants people to turn away from their wicked idolatries and come into a delightful relationship with the eternal God and bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance. That is the vineyard. That's what it is. And so God chose the Jews, a chosen people. And set up this beautiful little space and time experiment, a real people in a real nation with real kings and all of that. So that the world would be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. He blessed them and poured out blessings on them that the nations might come to know the greatness of God.

Psalm 67 says this, so beautifully, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us that your ways may be known on earth, O Lord, your salvation, among all nations. May the peoples praise you O God, may all the peoples praise you. May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you. Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us and all the ends of the earth will fear him.” Well, that Psalmist knew what the vineyard was and what its harvest was but the people didn't seem to know.

The tenant farmers didn't get it. They didn't seem to know why God had blessed Israel so richly. Can I just stop and say to you, Oh Church of God, do you know why God has blessed you? Why he has lavished material blessings on you and spiritual blessings, one after another? Why he has enriched the soil around you and poured on you for years and years, what does he want from you? Same thing, may the peoples praise God, may all the peoples praise you. That includes you, that you would praise him. Yes. But that you would be instrumental in bringing lost hardened dead, cold, sinners into the kingdom that they might praise him too. That's the vineyard that's the harvest that God intends.

Israel didn't do it. They didn't do it. Oh, friends, can I just say this? There's no point in you listening to this sermon, if you are lost, you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and you don't know by the time I get done, how to remedy that dire situation. That you would look to Christ crucified, that you would realize that Jesus’ shed blood on the cross is sufficient for your forgiveness of sins. And that your heart can be transformed from a heart of stone into a heart of flesh, and you might love God and worship him and serve him the rest of your life. That's why this church exists. That's why I preach. That's why we're here. That you might be saved from that cold dark situation. I urge you, come. I can’t imagine that hundreds of people are listening to me and every single one of you is regenerate. There must be some here who have never come into a right relationship with Christ, come to Him. Well, who are these wicked tenants?

Well, you could say the wicked tenants of the people in general, the Jews in general that's possible. They did live selfish, self-centered, lies, they had a vision of the kingdom like that, they didn't care about the Gentiles, except they wanted to whoop up on them and crush them. They didn't have a vision for that, and so they just took the blessings of God and they used them to worship Baal and Molech and all of these false deities, the people of God.

But I think the focus, the wicked tenants really are the leaders of Israel, in particular. Later, Jesus is gonna say, and next week I'm gonna preach on this one text from Psalm 118, “the stone the builders rejected has become the capstone.” So the builders are the leaders of Israel. They rejected the capstone, they rejected Jesus. Jesus says, “Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites.” They sit on Moses' seat and authority over the people, but He calls them blind guides. So the wicked tenants are the leaders of Israel, generally, the people of Israel, yes, but the leaders in particular, they were fruitless, toward God. 

Who are these messengers he keeps sending? Who are the messengers? Well, they are prophets. They're the servants of the king. And God sends them, he sends them Elijah, he sends them Elisha, he sends them Isaiah, he sends them Jeremiah, he sends them Ezekiel and Daniel. He sends them these prophets one after the other. And how were they received? We'll talk about that more next week. The stone the builders rejected. It's a culmination of this attitude of rejection. Stephen says, “You stiff necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears. You're just like your fathers, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Was there ever a prophet you didn't persecute?” Can you name one? Every single messenger God sent the Jews rejected. I'll talk more next week about why they did it.

But Jesus said in Matthew 23, “Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them and shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you're the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of the sin of your forefathers.” The messengers are the prophets.

Okay, who's the son? Who is the son of the landowner? Well you know who he is. You know him, his name is Jesus Christ, the very one telling the parable and he's different than the messengers. He's not just another messenger, do you understand that? The people hadn't quite got that. Beginning at the end of Matthew 21, they call him a prophet. “Who is this?” “This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth and Galilee.” At the end it says, “The people held that he was a prophet.” Oh, friends, he was a prophet, but he was more than a prophet.

In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, and sustains all things by his powerful word. That’s who Jesus is. And note the amazing clarity and calm as Jesus tells this story on himself. He's talking about himself. “They took the son and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him. He was going to be killed. He was going to be rejected. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. We're gonna talk more about that next week.

Now God's righteous judgment on such a people. “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what's he going to do?” The word ‘therefore,’ means that God's judgment is based on justice, on righteousness. What is he going to do? Because they did not produce the harvest judgment is coming. 

Now the judgement's named, look in verse 41, “‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,’ they replied, ‘and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give them a share of the crop at harvest time.’”Jesus himself names it verse 43, “I tell you that the kingdom of God, will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”

The judgment has been fulfilled. God has judged Israel by taking the kingdom away from Israel, in Romans 9-11, tells the full story on the sovereignty of God. That God has put a spirit of stupor, and hardness, on the Jews now so that for the most part, they reject the gospel. For the most part, there are some Jewish Christians, but for the most part, they reject it. The kingdom has been removed from them. And you see it happening in the book of Acts, don't you? Remember in Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas, in the city of Antioch. They preach to the Jews. The Jews: mixed response, most of them reject. And the next week when they're there, there's huge crowds coming to hear the word. And the Jews were filled with jealousy and began to talk abusively against the gospel. Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly, “We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles” - and they will listen. 

And it's been 20 centuries of the Gentiles listening. Dear friends, if you are genuinely converted you're part of that. The Gentiles have listened to the gospel. Fruit has come from the Gentiles and they are producing its fruit all over the world in Latin America, in Africa, in Asia, all over the world, in Europe, even here in North America, the Gentiles are producing the fruit of the kingdom of God. It has been taken away from the Jews and given to a people who will produce its fruit. There was also a physical penalty as well in 70 A.D., A.D. 70, the Romans came in, destroyed Jerusalem completely, not one stone left on another. Everyone thrown down, maybe as many as a million people, Joesephus tells us, killed by the sword. Tremendous blood bath. 

And the greatest judgment of all is that found individual to Savior, Savior to individual, God to individual. “He who falls on this stone,” Jesus said, “will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.” It's gotta do with personal judgment. If you do not repent, if you do not trust in Jesus, judgment comes.

Well, that's the whole parable. That's the parable applied to them. What about the parable applied to us? Well, friends, First Baptist Church, fruitless-ness is not an option for us. God demands fruit from us. Oh how richly generous has he been with us? He gives you life and breath and everything else. You are alive now because he is sustaining you. He's given you a mind to think so that you can think for his glory. He has given you a body to act, so you can move out for his glory, to do the good works he's ordained for you to do. He has lavished blessings on you, but he wants his harvest back. He will demand his harvest back. And in some sense, though we have the indwelling Spirit, we still have this absentee landowner aspect. He's not in your face moment-by-moment, as you make the stewardship decisions of your life, as you decide how to spend your money at Walmart or in the offering plate or a restaurant. As you make decisions about your life he's not in your face, saying yes, no, whatever. You should ask him what to do and he will guide you. But you're not gonna see him. By faith you live your life, as stewards of these rich blessings.

And so be fruitful do not as it says in Romans 11, “Gentiles do not be arrogant but be afraid. If God didn't spare the natural branches but stripped them off, he will not spare you either.” “If you don't bear good fruit,” it says in John 15, “He'll cut you off the vine.” So you need to bear good fruit. So these applications, I have for you very quickly.

Application number one: Intensify your faith to see the absentee king and landowner. Feed your faith with the word of God. Have an intense sense of Jesus every day.

Application number two: Learn everything you can about Judgment Day and what kind of harvest he wants from you. I would recommend the internal-external journey thing. It's helped me. Internally be like Jesus, grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. Become more and more like Christ. Fruit of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience - become like Christ. External journey, lead people to Christ, be active in missions, be active in evangelism. Be active in the 27701 ministries that Matthew's doing. He just told you some things. We're doing a mission trip. We’re doing a mission trip to Durham friends. You can sleep in your own bed. You don't have to raise support, you can just come and serve. Just come and serve. It couldn't be easier. It's an opportunity for you to produce the fruit of the kingdom.

Application number three: Learn everything you can about how God defines a good harvest and righteousness. “He has shown you, oh man, what is good, and what the Lord desires of you but to do justice and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”

Application number four: Delight in the vineyard. Don't despise all the blessings you have, don't as an American evangelical Christian wish you had fewer translations of the Bible and fewer good sermons to listen to and fewer good churches to go to, and fewer good seminaries putting out good laborers don't wish for less of that. Be thankful, delight in it, and delight in the actual work that God's entrusted to you. We've got this tremendous vineyard to work. It's a sweet thing isn't it? That our lives are not gonna be wasted. We're gonna be used by God for eternal good things, delight in his vineyard and delight in this world that God has given us to work.

Application number five: Marvel at God's patience towards sinners. I don't necessarily mean the sinners in the parable, the wicked tenants who don't use the resources well. Marvel his patience with you. He is so patient with us isn't he? As we struggle every day to be fruitful. Marvel at his patience.

Application number six: Then make the most of God's patience. God's patience leads you to repentance, not to arrogance.

Application number seven: The key moments of your life is when he sends a messenger to tell you something about a harvest he wants back from you. What do you do with the messenger? Do you shoot the messenger? Or do you listen carefully? Now I have the privilege, in some way, of being a messenger of God, if I preach faithfully, I'm a messenger of God, from the Scripture to you saying be fruitful okay? What do you do at this moment? What do you do? This is a key moment when you hear the word of God, it's a key moment. If today you hear his voice, don't harden your heart, instead be fruitful.

Application number eight: Honor and revere the Son who died to make all of this possible. See the courage of Jesus. See that he was willing to be thrown out of the vineyard and killed for you. Honor and revere him. Tell him, when you go home today, if I ever do get done with this sermon and I will, I promise. But when you go home, honor and revere Jesus formally together as a family or you go in your room and close the door and say, “Jesus, you are the most courageous man that ever lived. You were killed and you knew full well that you were gonna be thrown out of that vineyard and killed and you did it anyway. Thank you.”

Application number nine, this will happen more next week: Marvel at the depth of the sovereign plan of God. Have you never read in the scriptures? “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. The Lord has done this.” That phrase, “The Lord has done this,” this is the sovereignty of God, but I'm gonna extend it to both the rejection and the exaltation of the stone. God did it all. He's sovereign over the whole thing, marvel at it. Even if you don't understand it, which I don't either.

Application number 10: Understand where we're at in redemptive history. We are the Gentiles, we are the people in the parable, who got the vineyard and who are now called upon to produce its fruit.

And finally, application number 11, this is as practical as it gets here at First Baptist Church. At your BFL classes, you got a Ministry Team in Interest Response Form. Have you seen those cards? Perhaps you're more into the internet aspect, you can go on the internet and fill this thing out. We're going to find you. We're going to pursue you, we're going to ask, “Have you filled out one of those forms?” We will be very sweet and winsome at the beginning. We'll probably be sweet and winsome all the way through, but the thing is we would really delight to get those cards back from you and we know which ones we've gotten back and which ones we haven't. So we want you to respond to the deacons as they try to organize this church for ministry. We want every member of this church to have an active, ongoing spiritual gift ministry in this local church. Get us that information back, so we can help you and you can be fruitful. Close with me in prayer.