Turn with me in your scriptures to the book of Proverbs. We are in the introduction. Solomon is giving to the acquisition of wisdom. He lays that all out for us in marvelous and beautiful fashion through the first nine chapters of Proverbs, equipping us to live the life of wisdom, to know how to grasp wisdom, and he prepares us to hear the aphorisms, those short pithy declarations of wisdom that are in the close of the book of Proverbs. By the way, he presents this lengthy introduction. We're in the first chapter, and we have gone through verses 8 and 9. We are at verse 10. If you'll stand with me, I'll read in your hearing the context, verses 8 through 14. This is God's very Word, holy, fallible, inerrant in all its parts. Let us hear it. Proverbs chapter 1 at verse 8. My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause, let us swallow them alive like shell and whole like those who go down to the pit, we shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. That ends the reading of God's holy word. Let us ask his blessing on it. Great God and merciful Father, feed us on your word that we may be transformed by it. We pray this for the glory of our Savior. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. As we have been studying in Verses 8 and 9, first we examined the relationships of wisdom as presented in verse 8, we considered how Solomon begins with familial language, and this language continues through his lengthy introduction. It is an intentional use of family language so that we'll understand the way that God has ordered things for the acquisition of wisdom. The natural family is the natural context for the cultivation of wisdom. Fathers and mothers should labor together to build the character of their children, taking the wisdom received from previous generations, improving it, and passing it on for future generations. The child is to hear and heed the instruction of his father and the law of his mother. The family relationship in keeping with the Fifth Commandment forms a perfect context for reverently cultivating wisdom. Parents must be in possession of such wisdom that they may grow in it and pass it on, train their children in it, and parents must be praying for one another and for their children in this divine appointment. So, parents, do we pray for wisdom and for our children to grow in that wisdom? We have a duty implied here by those relationships of wisdom to do that very thing, to be in prayer for that ordered, structured acquisition of wisdom in the family context. Children must learn to recognize God's purposes in growing them in wisdom through the family relationship. This too will be greatly helped by praying for wisdom and praying for parents to be used by God for this critical, valuable training. So children, do you pray for your parents to be wise and to train you in wisdom with great skill. We want that relationship to be blessed by God to that end. And so children, it's imperative that you be in prayer, that God will bless those relationships of wisdom so that you will gain wisdom, that your parents will have that wisdom to train you, to instruct you. And God extends the application of such relationships from the natural family to the spiritual family. Heavenly Father instructs us as His children by His means of grace in the spiritual family of His Church. Christ instructs us in His wisdom through His messenger, ministering His Word. Paul describes that as we looked last week at 1 Corinthians 4, for example, and or the week before. And again, we should hope and pray for the blessings of wisdom to be multi-generational in Christ's Church as well, honoring God and blessing one another with the treasures of a godly heritage of divine wisdom. These treasures are described as rewards of wisdom. In verse 9, wisdom's rewards are honor and elevated privilege, symbolized by the graceful ornament crowning the head and the tokens of honor and esteemed privilege being chains about the neck. These rewards will frequently result in a natural advancement in our occupations and in society. We saw examples of that in Joseph and in Daniel. As we advance in skill, of wisdom, we will ordinarily excel in our work. And this often brings such natural advancement in our job and in society. This ordinary providence is mentioned in Proverbs 22, verse 29, which says, do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before unknown men. This is in the natural order of God. He frequently advances those who are acquiring wisdom, and that is being expressed in their occupations, for example. But we saw in the eloquence of Solomon's poetry that this material advancement is not our primary aim. This is a blessing when God grants it, but the skill and character of wisdom is itself the honor and privilege bestowed by God. We might say in God's economy and for his glory, wisdom is its own reward. As Matthew Henry says, those are truly valuable and shall be valued who value themselves more by their virtue and piety than by their worldly wealth and dignity. Certainly God will grant wealth and dignity in His providence to those who have acquired great skill and wisdom. That's not our highest aim. When He grants it, we give Him thanks for it, seek to honor Him in it, but wisdom is its own reward. And so now we arrive at this context in verse 11 where through The words of Solomon, we have warnings of wisdom. Here first, the enticements of sinners. We have here the father's language warning the son against another kind of invitation. Realize that he issued the invitation to his son to the life of wisdom and the rewards of wisdom in honor and privilege. But there's another invitation being issued. And in the language of the father, a warning is given about that. Here we find that sinners issue an invitation. They entice and draw away from the father's embrace and away from all of the lavish wisdom and love in that relationship and to an entirely different path. There is a parallelism marked out as Solomon says, my son, and describes that invitation to wisdom, and then my son, and gives a warning away from these enticements. Let's work through the words of the warning as we find them here at verse 10 and 11. Beginning at verse 10, first, he warns about sinners. The word for sinners refers to those who offend by missing the mark. They bear the guilt of falling short of God's standard. These are not the sort that should be heeded. They're known for missing the mark. These are the ones who are enticing away from the call of wisdom. They're known for missing the mark, and so consequently, we should not be aiming for something that they're aiming for. they consistently miss the mark. Those who are aiming for the high mark of wisdom must not heed those who are known for their aim to miss the mark that we wish to hit. And these are said to entice. The word here involves the idea of persuading and even lying, deceiving the simple to draw them away from the path of wisdom. We might say that if misery loves company, the wicked crave it and make it their aim to persuade others to follow them in their wickedness. And then the father, in the language of Solomon here, warns and urges, do not consent to those enticements. And this is more than simply avoiding the actions and behaviors that they're offering as sinners. Yes, we certainly must do that. But there's more. This involves, when the description is of consenting, it's describing yielding of the will. It goes to the heart ahead of the actions. Not consenting means don't allow the heart to consider it. Don't allow the heart to lean in that direction. Not just abstain from the path, don't even consider the path. Don't let the idea enter the heart. We know that even if we avoid the overt actions of those who entice, the heart may yield attention to those enticements. even if there's not an actual engaging, for now, in those overt, those outward actions. The wise father goes straight to the heart and urges a refusal, a rejection to be given against that enticement. Give no ground to it. Don't even allow the consideration of it. Don't mull it over in the mind. When the enticement comes, don't be one who says, oh no, I'll just stand here and window shop on it. No, don't mull it over in the mind, reject it entirely, give it no place even in the heart when those enticements come. Do not consent. So as these two paths are set before us, consider that this is a common metaphor in scripture. And it will be repeated here in the book of Proverbs over and over that there are two paths and a description of one path is set in stark contrast to the other. We have asked if we desire the path of wisdom, as we looked at that invitation from the Father in the language that is familial. Do we desire that? Do we desire that loving relationship that bestows the honor and privilege of wisdom, and is that shaping our heart's desires and our actions? Here, we must ask if we have diligently kept and preserved the heart from those enticements away from the path of wisdom? Do we diligently reject the path of the sinners? Do we refuse even the heart inclination, any inward yielding? Solomon, again, gives us remarkable clarity and wisdom in going straight to the heart. We may think we're safe by avoiding the outward actions. Solomon urges us, watch your heart. Don't allow the inclination to lean in that direction at all. If we're to have wisdom, we must make that distinction. Give no ground, even inwardly, to the enticements of sinners. And so to pursue wisdom, notice what we are to avoid as Solomon describes them. He elaborates. As he describes these who are enticing, he describes what they say. And as Matthew Henry describes in the common language of that day, we mentioned a couple years ago when we discussed this, what's described here used to be called a highwayman. A highwayman was a bandit on a road that traveled across long distances. They'd hide out. They'd make their living waiting to attack people and rob them. This was not uncommon. The parable of the Good Samaritan describes that kind of banditry, that kind of attack from highwaymen. So the description used in the poetry here is of those who are bandits. Their character is being highlighted. We need to understand because we're being warned away from that character, a stark contrast is being provided for us. Those here are the ones that make it their occupation to prey on the unsuspecting. They spend their time planning for and engaging in violent robbery of others. What does this imply? What's the character, the heart character described? I mean, clearly, the outward actions are horrifying, right? But there's a heart that Solomon is saying, do you see a contrast? Wisdom is so opposite of that. What is the implication there? Well, the high women, is personally unproductive. It's the first thing we should notice. He's not himself producing anything. He's not himself diligently applying himself to any labor that provides. He's rather waiting to rob others of their possessions and their productivity. He is wickedly occupied and consumed, in the language here, with preying on the productivity of others. This is a powerful and even shocking metaphor for those who entice others away from the path of wisdom. Their aims are selfish and self-serving. By implication, those who pursue wisdom, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. We should, in contrast, be those who are personally productive. We make it our aim to be those who may flourish in productive pursuit so that we are not in any way like those waiting to rob, but rather we would do the opposite. We look for ways to benefit others through our productivity. The one who is pursuing wisdom is personally productive in contrast to those bandits. The one pursuing wisdom is generous and considers how he may increase the prosperity of others. We are intended by Solomon to see that contrast and draw that conclusion. We're warned away from that path of sinners, enticing us to this empty hunger, this lust to rob others. We're to be the opposite. We're to be abounded in productive pursuits that lead to generous profit that benefits others as well as ourselves, the exact opposite of the bandit. So second, notice the invitation and the form of it from these sinners, enticing these bandits, these highwaymen. What they offer in their invitation is camaraderie and fraternity. These who are consumed with selfishness make a pretense of forming a band of brothers. Consider again the contrast here. What do we have in the pursuit of wisdom? We have the warmth of natural connections. We have the wise bestowing wisdom in love, and that causing honor and growth in the one receiving that wisdom. There are natural bonds formed there. These who entice say, abandon those. We've got better bonds. We'll form a band of brothers. We'll have a really good camaraderie. It'll be exciting. It'll be exhilarating. See the language that they use of acting together. They keep using the first person plural, we. You're already a part of this. Come on. Can't you already sense it, taste it? Come with us. We're together in this. The enticement is intended to rob one of the natural relationships to provide an artificial one. That is the exact opposite. It's not productive. It doesn't bring life. It does the opposite. It pursues death and brings death. They say, come with us. Let us lie in wait. Let us lurk secretly. Let us swallow up these victims alive. We shall find. We shall fill. You hear how the enticements, the deceptive language of camaraderie is used to entice away. We see this constantly in our day. Every form of natural bond is attacked, belittled, and destroyed. And in its place, artificial and destructive bonds, so-called relationships, communities, are offered instead. God's natural bonds in family and in church and in the way that those fill us to be productive in social bonds, those are undone. And in its place, the LGBTQ community, right? The BLM community. And you can go through a long list of these communities. And they're intended to undermine natural structures created by God to provide strength, wisdom, life. And they substitute something that can't provide those things that, in fact, do the opposite. They feed on lust, envy, and destruction, and pretend to give a community, enticing and encouraging. to an artificial and destructive community. There is a promise of unity given here that dissolves personal responsibility, that says you won't be lonely, that says you will have great confidence acting together as the group. The invitation begins and ends with this call to wicked companionship. as it begins with its enticements in verse 11 and concludes, cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. We're together, verse 14. And so we see that destructive and artificial enticement to a camaraderie and fraternity that is intended to replace the one we should desire, the one we should cultivate. Third, notice the promise of power without conscience and without consequence. These enticements declare, we'll be able to do powerful things and we won't pay for it. We'll shed blood as we desire. and there'll be no consequence. Murderous taking of life, brazenly, knowingly taking the life of the innocent. Such murderous actions deserve death, but these who entice promise death will not come. Rather, they hold out the suggestion that we have the power of death ourselves. We will minister death as we see fit, and it will not touch us. And so the enticement is for a power without conscience or consequence, holding the power of death as though it cannot touch these who have this artificial camaraderie, this artificial fraternity. The words go up, let us swallow them alive like Sheol, like death itself, and whole like those who go down to the pit. And so there is the suggestion that there can be this power. It is an empty suggestion. It brings death upon those who pretend to exercise it. Fourth, notice the promise of great wealth with great ease. All kinds of precious possessions, opulent wealth, a wealth in great abundance filling their houses, all at the expense of others. It's called here spoiled or plunder. We didn't have to do anything for it. We just reap it. We just harvest it at the expense of others. Note that this is what is precious to the sinner. They call it that. Wealth is held out as the desirable end. And everything, in their eyes, is acceptable in the pursuit of this. Finally, the invitation is repeated, emphasized. It's, as it were, sung like a chorus in the ears of the ones the sinners are trying to entice. Entice. Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. Join us. We'll share all our great wealth and power as one. The Father warns away from this. And we'll take more time to examine the next, my son, at verse 15, God willing, this next week. But notice this contrast as we close. Derek Kidner, an excellent commentator on the Proverbs, he notes this. The first way that was offered, the invitation of the father to the path of wisdom for his son, The first way has none of the flashy appeal of the second. It offers nothing material, really. The implications are there for advancement, for prestige. But what is it said is actually the advancement and prestige. Wisdom itself is. So when the father issues the call, the invitation in the first way, It really is not holding out material wealth as the primary aim. Nothing material, only the hard-won beauty and authority of goodness. That's the contrast. Don't we desire that? The artificial that's being held out as enticement holds out the exact opposite. Every material thing, not a genuine authority, a robbed authority. Not a genuine productivity and life, but a pursuit of death and a ministry of death, as it were. Note the contrast. And note the loveliness, subtlety, the quietness in the first invitation. What a contrast. The invitation to the way of the sinner, loud, brash, bloody, bold. The invitation of the Father, quiet, subtle, not material, something that's hard won by way of beauty in submission, in the pursuit of God's goodness, and an authority that's not robbed, but that's granted through the long, hard path of training and wisdom. Let's choose that first invitation. Let's pray. Holy Father, Grant us, we pray, this wisdom. We pray that when sinners entice, when we hear the shouts of invitation all around us in our day, help us to see through it to what it really is, a path of destruction, wickedness, self-destruction. Father, we pray that we'll be secured by the warnings of wisdom. We will not heed, even in the heart, the enticements of the sinner. That we will seek genuine relationships that you have formed for our good and your glory. And we will not buy in any way the cheap artificial substitutes held out as enticements to draw us away from the path of wisdom. Strengthen us in these beautiful truths of your word, we pray in Christ's holy name. Amen.