to a simple person. Who is a simple? What would you consider somebody simple? Somebody just don't know a lot is the answer. They are fooled by nature, but they haven't gotten to the place where they just want to do everything foolishly. They haven't gotten to the place where they are a scorner or a mocker of things. They're just simple. They just don't know a lot. They don't have a lot of life lived. They don't have a lot of life experience, but they're simple, they just don't have a lot of knowledge. So you see here, these proverbs are to what? In the way that we teach, in the way that we walk, in the way that we live, it's to give somebody something that don't have much in the way of living, but you're giving them the right kind of things. You've given them an ability to learn how to recognize something is right or wrong, is the idea, like children. Most of our children, the Bible says what? Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. Most of our kids growing up, they're fairly simple. They don't have a whole lot of life lived. They don't know. So like today, we pulled out of the driveway. There was a rabbit that got hit right out here. Well, we've been talking to both Holden and Daisy. When you walk out by these roads or you walk in these parking lots, that there's cars coming down this road. We always have to stop and we have to look both ways and we had to listen for cars. And we shared with them that that rabbit didn't listen and look both ways and walked out in front of a car and it got run over. Well, the same thing would happen to us if we did that. You see, they're simple, but we're just trying to teach them something about life. As the days go on, we just keep adding instruction, right? You just keep adding instruction. Well, we have jumped off into Proverbs, right? Anything you got in the Psalms, Proverbs, or anywhere else, we got 66 tremendous books with a lot of rich stuff in it all through it. So if you got something you wanna give away that you've been working on, thinking about, pondering, can't wait to share. One seven, the fear of the Lord. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, right? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It is good. He also tells us in chapter nine that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So we see both sides that both knowledge and wisdom, they're not gonna function without one another. And the very beginnings of both will be to teach us the fear of the Lord. That's the basic teaching. You always look for that. That's what it's gonna teach us, to give proper place to the Lord in everything, that He takes up first place. That's the first thing knowledge is gonna teach us, give place to the Lord. Wisdom is gonna say, yield to the Lord. Yield to, and everything's gonna build up from there in the right way. And that's really, if you look at Proverbs 1, you'll see Solomon, when he writes this, he gives us his purpose or his aim from the onset of it. What does he say? Verse number one. The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. The Proverbs. What does that word mean? Proverb. What is a proverb? Let's talk about it. Insight on patterns. Patterns in people, patterns in Circumstances that's one thing that we see a proverb will allow us to see patterns It's usually like this you can take these condensed if you use this phrase they are condensed a condensed Filtered truth that explains things and about patterns, about people, about problems, about principles. That's what these proverbs would do. You can say it's like this, it's a similitude, it's similar to this. And proverbs gives us answers for most everything in life. And if something seems to contradict, all you need is another proverb to give clarity on it. That's how they work. They don't contradict one another. They don't contradict the foundational ways of God in this world we live in, and they deal with, say, the psyche, how, in general, this is how people think, with God or without God. And a proverb will explain that for us, and that's why they're so good. But notice what verse two says, that to know wisdom and instruction to perceive the words of understanding. What I see in that right there, those words like to know and perceive, to know wisdom and instruction and perceive the words of understanding. The idea is that a proverb helps you recognize, to recognize. When you know a thing, you're able to recognize a thing. If you didn't know, or have a description of something, you wouldn't be able to recognize it. But with a description of a thing, to know wisdom and instruction and perceive the words of understanding, because we need wisdom, we need instruction, we need understanding, but we have to be able to recognize it. We need to recognize the correct instruction, because not every instruction is corrective that we need to have. I mean, we live in a world surrounded by foolishness, but these fools can often be extremely bright and intelligent and smart and know a lot of stuff, but the instruction they will pass on to us is not worth heeding because it doesn't have the element of the God factor in it, grace in it, God ain't in it. Uh-huh. Right. It makes sense to him. Right. Right. Yeah. Right. Right. It's foundation of everything we do in life. We're always under some sort of instruction. That is, we're always growing, right? Should be. So we need to know that. We see that in this first part right here. Look in verse number five. What does it say about a wise man? What will he do? He will hear what? He will hear and? So the wise continue to what? Increase in learning. Well, how is the increase in learning going to come through? Some form of instruction, but instruction that is wise, not instruction that is foolish. Now the thing is, Proverbs are going to help us discern what is folly and what is wise. It'll help us see somebody doing something with folly in it, and that will be instructional to us not to follow that path. Why? Because we have another proverb that's gonna teach us that that path, we recognize that ain't a path of the Lord. That's the benefit of these proverbs. So you see, to what? Recognize. We gotta be able to recognize wisdom. We gotta recognize the right kind of instruction. and the right kind of understanding. There's wisdom in this world that is of this world that is not wisdom from God. And James chapter three tells us the difference, how to recognize the difference between God's wisdom and the world's wisdom. What's gonna be involved in it? What are gonna be some of the elements, the dynamics in the world's wisdom and God's wisdom? They're two totally opposite insights on how to take the next step through life. Because you could give a raw definition of wisdom is knowing how to take the next step. That is taking the knowledge you have and how to put that knowledge to work. How to put it to work. It's a skill, a skill to put this what I know into action. Well, I've gotta know God's way to then walk out skillfully God's way. Well, if all I have is the world's wisdom, then I'm gonna walk that out. Well, James 3, verses 13 through 18, just go look, you'll see. We've talked about it on a handful of occasions in the past. But James 3 gives us a clear, clear ability to recognize the difference between God's wisdom and the world's wisdom. Wisdom is recognizable, God's wisdom. James 3, let's look about verse number 13. 3.13, I believe we can start there. And James, very practical to the point, he's gonna ask the question, who is wise in understanding among you? You see, that's one of the purposes for Solomon to give Proverbs, so that we can recognize those who are wise and those who are not. Because those who are not, we don't wanna receive their instruction. We wanna receive what comes from the Lord. Let him who is wise, let him show his wisdom by how he lives, by good conduct, by his conversation, that his works, how he does life, are done in the meekness of wisdom. Because wisdom, God's wisdom is meek. That's gonna be a characteristic of the wisdom of God. It's meek. And one of the main reasons God's wisdom is meek is because God's not threatened. God is never threatened by anyone. He's never threatened by anything. He's never threatened by any problem. He's not threatened by nothing. And therefore His wisdom is not threatened by anything. And therefore wisdom that has no threat whatsoever can be what? Meek in its approach. because it doesn't have to come with a defensiveness to it. When you're defensive, what are you? You're rigid, you're harsh, you got blockers up, but the meekness of wisdom always listens, always listens. That's the thing about God. God listens to us who don't really have anything of value to give back to him. Are you with me? The only thing of value we have to give to him is what he's given to us. but he hears us, but he's not threatened by us, but he's able to work with what we in turn give to him, he then what, shapes and molds us to be more like him. So let him show that, verse 14. But if you have, on the other hand, bitter envy and self-seeking, that's somebody who's out for who? self somebody that is meek is somebody that has an ability but they don't have to exercise that ability and there's no threat when they don't exercise that ability they can offer something and you can accept it or they don't have to accept it's not going to determine how they're going to give it to you but somebody who is bitter and envious and self-seeking if you don't give them the light of day they're going to harm you They're gonna come after you. That's one of the clear differences of how this works. And he says in verse 14, but if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. What do you mean do not boast and lie against the truth? What are we talking about there? Don't tell people you are wise in the Lord, because you're not operating in God's wisdom. If you claim to be wise and you have bitter envy and self-seeking and strife and fighting in you, but you claim you have a word from God, you're only lying. Because God ain't in that, are you with me? That's what he's saying, you're lying against the truth. Verse 15, this wisdom, you notice, anytime a passage or these truths are carrying a word over, That's the central idea of the thought there. So we're dealing with what? The wise and their wisdom. One claims it, one has it. And the one that has it doesn't have to claim he has it. He shows it by how he lives and the way he guides. But those that don't have it will fight you tooth and nail to claim they have it. That's it. Something that he's pointing out. Verse 15. This wisdom does not descend, come from above, but it is earthly, it is sensual, and it is demonic. It's flesh-driven. Verse 16. For where envy and self-seeking exists, what else comes with it? Confusion and every evil thing are there. So if it's not God's wisdom, it has nothing but that which has no eternal value to it because everything that is bad is in that. Everything that is of man is there. It may make sense to people, but it doesn't have any element of God in it. Verse 17, but the wisdom that is from above is always gonna be first what? Pure. then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield. That's that idea of meekness. It doesn't have to win the battle because it's already won. There's no threat to it. full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. Recognizable. Recognizable. God's wisdom is recognizable. Amen? It's pure. It's clean. It's clear. you can count on it, you can depend on it, it's gentle in how it works, amen? So can you see how it's recognizable? Just how the works of the flesh are recognizable and the fruit of the Spirit is recognizable? Why? Because they're two works of God, aren't they? They're works of God. So if you go back to Proverbs, Proverbs 1, He writes these proverbs and these condensed life experiences of these truths that he's casting alongside of a way, these rules of thumb, it's like this, a rule of thumb in life, this is what it'd be like. He says, I write these things so you can recognize wisdom. You can recognize the proper instruction from God and you can recognize the words of understanding. of how these things piece and fit together. Well, it sure it does. It does. They are thought provoking and you cast them alongside of a way of thinking and living But they're these short, condensed sayings that you can grab and say, it's usually like this. And then you piece these things together so that what? So if you can recognize wisdom so that we can receive, that's the second reason. Look in verse three, to receive the instruction of what? wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity to receive. So we got to be able to what? Recognize it so that we can receive it because all through our journey as the people of God we've got to be able to recognize God's hand when he's working, when he's teaching, when he's showing something so that we can receive the right instruction of wisdom, of judgment, of understanding, of equity, saying what's fair, what's right before the Lord so that we can, what? Release these things in life. Notice what verse four says, to give prudence to who? King James used the word, what? Subtle, sublimity. What does it say? Subtle. If you was to use a word for an example, this word is not used a whole lot. The word prudence. How does your version read, Miss Barbara? Verse four. So it uses prudence too. Okay. To give prudence to the simple. To the naive. Is that how yours reads? The naive. The word prudence, like I said, is not used a whole lot overall in the scriptures and it's used two different ways. It's used for the craftiness of an enemy or the idea of a prudent gift given to somebody to be able to do something with what they've got. It just depends on the setting that it's used in. For an example, you can say Satan was crafty when he deceived Eve in the garden. He used the crafty skill to manipulate her. There's other times in the scriptures it's used from that perspective, but in this context, in these proverbs, so that we can give to a simple person. Who is a simple? What would you consider somebody simple? Somebody just don't know a lot is the idea. They don't know a lot. They are fooled by nature, but they haven't gotten to the place where they just want to do everything foolishly. They haven't gotten to the place where they are a scorner or a mocker. of things, they're just simple. They just don't know a lot. They don't have a lot of life lived. They don't have a lot of life experience. And what these proverbs do, like when God is what giving us instruction, and when God's doing something in our life, another proverb would say like this, if you strike the righteous, meaning you discipline chasing someone, the simple will see you correcting them and they may gain a heart of wisdom. They may say, I don't want to go down that road. and it'll keep them from doing something silly. But they're simple, they just don't have a lot of knowledge. So you see here, these proverbs are to what? In the way that we teach, in the way that we walk, in the way that we live, it's to give somebody something that don't have much in the way of living. But you're giving them the right kind of things. You've given them an ability to learn how to recognize something is right or wrong. It's the idea like children most of our children. The bible says what foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child Most of our kids growing up. They're fairly simple. They don't have a whole lot of life lived. They don't know So like today we pulled out of the driveway. There was a rabbit that got hit right out here Well, we've been talking to both holden and daisy when you walk out by these roads or you walk in these parking Lots that there's cars coming down this road. We always have to stop and we have to look both ways and we had to listen for cars and we shared with them that that rabbit didn't listen and look both ways and walked out in front of a car and it got run over. Well, the same thing would happen to us if we did that. You see, they're simple, but we're just trying to teach them something about life. We had a turtle that we found the other day. Brother Shanny, come change the light out and I found the turtle way on the other side of the yard. Coming up to show the kids inside the turtle. It was a pretty good size old yellow belly turtle and I brought him to them and Brother Sham was pulling up and he was going to need a hand. So I brought the turtle over here and told them just bring the kids over here and we'll look at it. We fooled with the turtle later and they played with it and all that. Pet it, hold it, got to hold it. And I was teaching him there's a difference between a regular Turtle and a snapping turtle so I showed him pictures of a snapping turtle showed him a regular common snapping turtle I showed him pictures of an alligator snapping turtle and And I said, one of the things that we want to know is that usually a box turtle or yellow belly turtle, they are kind of, they're a little timid and shy. They want to hide inside when you come up on them. They'll pull everything in and they'll get in there and they won't move or come out. They may poke their head out a little bit, see what's going on. But if they see you close by, they'll go back in. But a snapping turtle, he's got a long tail on him and he's got a big old head whether they're little or big and he ain't going to pull into his shell he's going to fight you and bite you if you pick him up the wrong way. Well on our way out today we get down there about Miss Pope Joy's and there's a snapping turtle about yay big crossing the road. So we was able to pull over, and I was able to get some pictures and show them. I said, now look, you see how this one has a tail? He's not going to hide. He ain't going to tuck in. He don't. What he's going to do, he's going to stand his ground, and he'll fight you, and he's going to bite you, so you can't grab him. But they're simple. They don't know. You see, you let him play with this yellow-bellied turtle, and he see a snapping turtle, not sure, just walk up and grab it, and he might lose a finger. Simple. just hadn't seen a lot about life yet. But as the days go on, we just keep adding instruction, right? You just keep adding instruction. So we release, we release to give. See, when we're growing, we're able to recognize, we're able to receive, but we also now can release these things in other people. And then verse five is telling us these proverbs are to what? Reinforce us. to reinforce us, to reinforce us. A wise man will hear and increase learning. A man of understanding will attain wise counsel. For what reason? To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. That is so that we can what? Properly put things in the proper place when we hear people say something. When people are talking and they're talking about this and they're talking about that, These proverbs help us, these little short sayings, because they're all short. They're all short. And we see people do something, we can always take it back to a proverb why they did what they did. For an example, you take some people, you teach a man that has wisdom, he's going to increase in learning. But if you take a scorner, a mocker, and you try to teach him something, he's going to laugh at you and then turn around and try to harm you. Well, Proverbs will tell us that's the difference between the wise and the scorner, the mocker. A scorner, a mocker is someone who's gotten so hardened and rooted in sin that they don't mind speaking against that which is right or that which is wrong. They're gonna take a stand on a thing. It goes along with Psalm 1. Remember Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walks not, in the counsel of the ungodly that's somebody without God that's a world without Jesus nor stands in the path of sinners a sinner is somebody who misses the mark who's not aiming at the mark they doing life their way but they don't always stand out against everybody who's doing life Rightly, they just gonna do it their way, but they're not gonna fight you about you doing your life They just say look you go do your life. I'll go do mine and I won't bother you You don't bother me But a scorner as the scripture says or nor sit in the seat of the scornful the scorner says I want to ruin your life I wanna ruin your ideas of what you have about life. Not only am I a sinner, not only am I ungodly, not only am I a fool, but I want you to know I don't like you and I don't like the way you live and I'm gonna stand up against it. That's the difference between just a sinner and a fool to somebody who's gotten to the point where they become a scorner, a mocker, who will stand up and fight against the things of God. So, but the wise and the man of understanding is always growing, he's always increasing. So that what? He could always recognize, he could always receive, he could always release into others and always be reinforced himself. I mean, that's all of us are in that pattern of growing, right? But these Proverbs help us recognize people. Are they righteous or unrighteous? Godly or ungodly? Are they right or are they wrong? Are they a fool or are they wise? Are they an upright soul winning disciple or are they a scorn and mocker who will hurt the people of God for doing what is right? Proverbs gives us all those clear answers on it. And then the first lesson, the first lesson, notice what the very first lesson of the aim or the purpose What is it? Mr. Billy pointed it out. What's the very first lesson? Fear the Lord. That's the coup de grace. Fear the Lord. Because that's what wisdom and knowledge is always gonna teach us. That's where it starts. That's the foundation. Fear the Lord. Give place to the Lord. Give priority to the Lord. Basically, a person that fears the Lord believes God does what he says he's gonna do. They take God at his word, don't they? They take God at his word as a way of life. That man, God is trustworthy. God is right. I believe him. I treasure him. I trust him. And man, if he says it, I'm going to cling to it. If he says he's going to do it, I believe he's going to do it. So therefore I give place to him. That'd be the easiest way to remember it. You see people who take God at his word. and doing what they're doing because God gave it to them, that's a man, a woman, a boy, a girl that fears God. Proverbs is gonna be clear. Look at 9.10, look at 9.10. You can parallel, I think it's 9.10. 9.10. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? So if knowledge, God's knowledge is teaching us anything, it's gonna teach us to fear the Lord. If wisdom is teaching us anything, it's gonna teach us to yield to the Lord, to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding, understanding. Man, these things are good, they help me. That's why they call it a proverb. These condensed rules of thumb, that you can go by, you can go by. What's lesson number two? Go back to chapter number one, lesson number two, verse eight. I'd say this about lesson number one, don't be a fool, fear God. Isn't that what he said? Don't be a fool, fear God. Lesson number two, don't be a fool, walk in the wisdom of your father, the instruction of your father. Receive instruction. Receive instruction. My son, hear the instruction of who? Your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother. Two things. The instruction of the father is talking about wisdom, and the law of your mother is talking about a principle way of your mama, of how she lives her life. Principle way the law how she governs herself how she governs life as she looks at life She's not gonna have a law different from you What she teaches you is what you've seen You just take what you've seen you take what your daddy's been teaching you on the wisdom of God and walk in it That's don't be a fool receive instruction Don't be a fool fear God Let that be the first thing and don't be a fool receive instruction walk in wisdom and walk in God's way. So, how you think about life, how you think about God, how you, what you think about God, why you think about God, when you think about God. That'll tell you a whole lot, won't it? How you think about Him, what you think about Him, why you think about Him, and when you think about Him. That's what wisdom is gonna teach you to what? Fear the Lord. Receive this instruction verse number 10 on down through verse number 19 is just Psalm 1 Reiterated again. What does he say my son if sinners entice you see this is the instruction that he's given him if sinners entice you Do not what? Don't consent to the council Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the ungodly a sinner is an ungodly person If they say, come with us, let us lie and wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause, like those crime that took place in Meridian this week, or those two elderly folks, what, in their 90s, senselessly. I mean, this has been going on for a long time now, and it's been happening from the beginning. Think about Cain and Abel. This is no surprise to any of us. But we want to, what, teach our kids how dangerous it is to be with the wrong crowd, listening to the wrong counsel, going down the wrong path, and getting to the place where now you pridefully and arrogantly do what you do. All the details. I just thought about that when I was reading this this morning. about this, if you say come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood, let us lurk, secretly for who? The innocent, somebody that's no threat. Let us swallow them up alive like the grave, she-o, and whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all kind of precious possessions, notice they appealing to what? Just the fleshly, carnal nature of the person. We can take advantage of them, then we can take what they got. See, that's the wrong path, ain't it? What does Psalms 1 say? Blessed is the man that walks not in the council, nor stands in the path, or walks in the path with sinners. They stand with them. or sit in the seat of the scornful. Look, verse 14, cast in your lot among us, let us all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run the evil and they make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. A bird can see a net, if he sees a net, it's in vanity. He's not, you gotta do what? You gotta disguise the net. You gotta hide it. You gotta hide it. So if this was something that was clear before the bird, the bird wouldn't get into the trap. Don't let them trap you. You say, what does this instruction do? It allows you to recognize the trap. You see it. You see it. That ain't right, right? To lie and wait for the innocent. It ain't right to shed blood, right? It ain't right to take what is not yours, right? It's just not right. There's no rightness to that. No rightness whatsoever. And this instruction, is doing what? Helping him recognize that that's wrong. That's not right. That's not right. Verse 19, so are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners. They don't even realize they're in the trap. That's the thing. They get so caught up in greed They don't realize they've got their foot in a trap. They caught, taking their life straight from them. Don't realize it. And then from there, the rest of the chapter is just reminding us that wisdom calls out to us every day. Where people gather, right? That's the idea of where people gather. And if you keep going without responding to it, there's always a, A consequence for that, huh? You'll have to eat the fruit of your own fancy, he said. When you want to get out of it, you can't, huh? We just, what was that song we were singing? We just sang a song. I kept thinking in my mind, wait a minute, wait a minute. What was that song, Greg, you sang? Let's see, six. 653, wasn't it? There was a stanza in there, let's see. Okay, yeah. To those who have sought you, you never said, okay. It's conditional though. Because why? Proverbs tells us. People sought him, but they didn't seek him when wisdom kept crying out to them. Then they found themselves in a bad situation and they sought, but wisdom didn't answer. Wouldn't answer. And he tells us, look. Verse 28, then they will call on me, but I will not. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Why? Because as a way of life, they hated what? Did not choose the fear of the Lord they would have none of my counsel and they despised my every rebuke Therefore they will eat the fruit of their own Way, and we'd be filled with the fruit of their own fancies You see what I'm saying? It ain't a just blank invitation to tell everybody under the Sun that if you seek him you're gonna find him not if it's been perpetual, no, no, no, and then you get in all this trouble, and now you want it, God says, I won't answer. Now that doesn't mean that it won't come to an answer, but you might have to wallow in that place for a while, is the point I'm making. Verse 23. That is a cry out Yeah, turn at my rebuke, surely I'll pour out my spirit on you, I'll make my words known to you, because I have called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdain all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke. I also will laugh at your calamity, and I will mock when your terror comes. When your terror comes like a storm and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then you seek, but you may not get an answer when you want an answer. Not to say that God won't eventually, but you may have to continue to seek is the point I'm making according to what we're reading here. Right, again and again and again. Yeah. And that's why verse 22 says, how long you simple ones will you love simplicity for scorners delight in their scorning. So the obvious, there was a reaching out for some time. For some time. So those are, that's why the scripture says we're to take every thought what? Captive. So when we hear things and read things, if I don't, if I can't recognize truth, I'll just read everything as if it's right. But if I don't have something to discern it through, filter it through, guard it through, I won't see the right thing. That's why I've gotta have, these Proverbs help us so much, be able to filter stuff, whether it be or not be, amen? We ain't gonna always get it right, but sometimes it's clear. It's clear, and that's what these Proverbs do, they help us. That's what wisdom is, always clear, always pure, amen? Trustworthy. Father, we love you and thank you. We bless you. Thank you for our time tonight, for the sweet testimonies and praise that we have been able to hear tonight and be able to bring prayer before you and bring people before you, issues before you. And we just ask you now, we just ask you now to help us. We want to hear you. recognize you at work. We wanna be able to receive these great and wonderful truths so we can walk in them and also release them in other people's lives and that you would continue to reinforce us from day to day. We'll be the first to admit we don't have it all together. We don't know it all, but we're gonna keep seeking you who has it all and wants to pull out your wisdom in us. So thank you, thank you, thank you. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all, y'all have a good night. Fellowship on Sunday, Carolyn. You take care of them rolls, huh? All right, all right.