The Gospel According to Proverbs

As you take your seats, open your bibles with me to the Book of Proverbs Proverbs chapter one, Proverbs Chapter one, and you'll remember that we are in the midst of a series from the Book of Proverbs. The series is entitled The Gospel according to Proverbs. The Gospel according to Proverbs. This is our third installment. As we look at this section from verses ten through nineteen Proverbs chapter one, Beginning in verse number ten, it reads, my son, if sinners entice, you do not consent. If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason like she'll, let us swallow them alive and hole. Like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us, and we will have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. But these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. It takes away the life of its possessors. Amen. We've talked about the fact that there are two great enemies of the Gospel, two great enemies that prevent us from understanding the Gospel rightly, two great enemies that deceive us and take us off of the path of the Gospel. And those two great enemies that we've talked about repeatedly are legalism and moralism. You'll remember that legalism is the idea that being right with God is a direct result of us keeping the law that God requires of us, this keeping of the law in order for us to be redeemed, in order for us to be saved. And what this legalism does is ignores a couple of things. Number One, legalism ignores the fact that we cannot keep the law, that we are incapable of the kind of righteousness and the level of righteousness that the law requires James Chapter two, verse ten. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. Legalism ignores this fact as well. It ignores the fact that we are incapable of keeping the law in its entirety, And it ignores the fact that failure to keep the law in its entirety leaves us right where we begin, condemned and guilty before God. But there is an even greater problem. That greater problem is that legalism robs Christ of his glory, because Christ for sin once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that he might bring us back to God. As Isaiah says, all we like sheep, had gone astray, each of us had turned to his own way. But God hath laid upon him the iniquity of us. All. You see, legalism robs Christ of his glory in that legalism presumes that somehow we can do that which Christ died to accomplish on our behalf. And if legalism is right, then Christ died in vain. Legalism is a great enemy of the Gospel. Therefore, but there is a second enemy. It is a much more common enemy. And that more common enemy is the enemy of moralism. And whereas legalism says you are right with God to the degree that you keep the law, and legalism, therefore, in order to be sustained, has to do a couple of things. Legalism has to reduce the number of laws that we pay attention to, we can't keep the law. So what the legalist has to do is the legalist has to keep an ever shrinking list of laws. Otherwise, if we look at the whole law of God, we have to recognize number one, I can't keep the law, and therefore my legalism will leave me condemned. So what I do. What I do is I keep a small list of laws and then secondly I change the standard. But what moralism does is moralism reduces Christ to a mere moral example. Moralism is based on the idea that Jesus is merely our example, and what God requires of us is for us to be moral people who live by moral principles. Moralism ignores the law altogether. Moralism grades on the curve. Moralism says, I just need to be a good person in relation to other people. And the reason that moralism is so significant for our purposes is because moralism is the lens through which we often read the Book of Proverbs. We look at the Book of Proverbs and we look for moral principles in the Book of Proverbs that make us righteous, moral principles to be used so that if we do this, we will get that. And on the flip side, we look at these moral principles and we say, well, I did not get this, therefore I must not have done that. I think it's brilliant and wonderful that we are now in our systematic reading through the scriptures, reading through the Book of Job, because we'll have several messages over the next couple of months in this series. And the Book of Proverbs and the Book of Book of Job are both in the wisdom literature, and it's amazing. When Job's friends come to him, what they are doing is they are misapplying the concept of wisdom. Job's friends come to him, and essentially they are saying to him, we know the rules that God has set in place for the way the world works. We know that no one who is righteous would experience what you have experienced because there are rules and principles, and you must have violated the rules. You must have violated the principles, otherwise you would not be suffering the way that you're suffering. And in part, the Book of Job is there to destroy that kind of mythology turning proverbs into law, because that's what Job's friends are doing, and we know that they are wrong because at the beginning of the book we're told this man is upright. He is not suffering because he has violated the law of God. He is suffering in spite of the fact that he has not The danger of moralists moral lessons says, here are the principles which we turned into laws, and the law says, you do this, you will get that. I don't do this, you will not get back something that happened in your life. You must violate love morals. That's the only way that something is terrible could happened. Of course, filicide. People who are successful, people who are wealthy, people who are prosperous, must be doing things right. That's the way the moralist thinks, and that's the way most people think. That the worlds organize this way, Gods organize the world in this way, and that there is moral principles that have become moral laws, and being right with God is all about learning which moral principles and moral laws to follow so that we can gain success through them. Moralism, too, robs Christ of his glory because moralism completely ignores the cross and again renders it utterly useless. Why why did Christ need to go to the cross? Moralism makes sense if all Jesus was was a moral example, and all the way up to the cross, you can get away with that. But if he was just a moral example showing us how to live by right principles, why why did God nail his only begotten son to the cross. That's not necessary if all he is is a moral example. But he's not. He's not so like it's sister legalism, moralism falls short. So what we're trying to learn to do is to read the Book of Proverbs through the lens of the Gospel, to read the Book of Proverbs and avoid the tendency to turn principle into law, to turn proverb into law. These are not laws. These are basic principles about the way the world generally works. And these principles are there to teach us some things, but they are not there to supplant the Gospel, to replace the Gospel. In fact, they are there to support and point us toward the Gospel and the person and work of Jesus Christ, especially when we realize, and if you remember our introduction to this, one of the principles that we have to remember when we read the Book of Proverbs is that Jesus Christ is the wise son of Proverbs. Not you, not me, Jesus. Christ is the wise son of Proverbs. So when we read the Proverbs, we are not reading something that says, here's what you have to try harder to do and to accomplish. What we're reading is, here is what you begin to look like more and more as Christ, the wise Son of Proverbs, is formed in you. With that in mind, we come to verse ten, and in verse ten we see this stern warning, and this warning is designed to point us to our need for the Gospel to warn us. In fact, it's not enough to merely keep our children. Are those whom we disciple from acts of folly, we must strive to keep them from the very heart of folly. And remember that the way that the Book of Proverbs is presented to us, it is a father speaking to his son. It is a father mentoring and discipling his son. And we've already said that this applies not just to the parent child relationship, but it applies to discipling relationships as well, because those discipling relationships are cast in the same lot. Classic example is the relationship between the apostle Paul and Timothy, or the apostle Paul and Titus. Whom he refers to as sons. So this is not just about parents and children. You'll hear me talk throughout this series about what parents are doing for their children, but understand that this is about all of those who find themselves in positions of authority and positions of discipleship and mentoring. Westminster Larger Catechism helps us understand this. In discussing the Fifth Commandment, for example, questions number one twenty four and one twenty five. Ritus follows question one twenty four, who are meant by father and mother in the Fifth Commandment? The answer, by father and mother in the Fifth Commandment are meant not only natural parents, but all superiors in age and gifts, and especially such as by God's ordinance, are over us in places of authority, whether in family, church, or commonwealth. In other words, honor your father and your mother is not just a commandment that relates to your nuclear family or your biological relatives. Honor your father and your mother is a principle. Is a command is a law that relates to every relationship of authority. Question number one twenty five, why are superiors styled father and mother? Answered? Superiors are styled father and mother both to teach them in all duties toward their inferiors like natural parents, to express love and tenderness to them according to their several relations and to work inferiors to greater willingness and cheerfulness in performing their duties to their superiors as to their parents. If you want to see examples of this, look at the New Testament. When we see, for example, the household codes. In the household codes, we see the relationship of husband and wife, the relationship of parent and children, and the relationship of servants and masters. Everywhere you see the household codes, you see all three. You see the duty of the one who is the superior, as it were, and the duty of the one who is the inferior, the duty of the one who is exercising authority, and the duty of the one who is submitting to that authority. In Romans chapter thirteen, you see the same thing in relation to the government. You see our responsibility to submit to the authority of the government, but also the clear responsibility of those who are in authority to be ministers of God. And all of that is rooted in the principle of the law that we find in the Fifth Commandment. In the submission to authority. I say all that to say that when we read here in the Book of Proverbs, and we read about this father son relationship, it is very important that we realize it's not men to be limited only to the father son relationship, but to all relationships of authority and submission. All of us who find ourselves in submission to authority and all of us who find ourselves exercising authority must keep these things in mind. So again, I'll speak specifically about the father son relationship, but we know that the father son relationship includes the father daughter relationship, the mother daughter relationship, the mother's son relationship, but also all relationships of authority. First, know this, our commitment to keeping our sons from the heart of folly requires at least two things. Number one, it requires clear, unambiguous warnings. And number two, those warnings must be based upon and appreciation for the dangers of folly. Those are the two things that we'll see first this unambiguous warning. Keeping sons from the heart of folly requires unambiguous warning. Again, this is not the goal here is not just to keep sons from folly. The goal is to keep them from the heart of folly. And you'll see that here clearly in the passage. Look with me in beginning in verse ten. You see in verse ten and in verse fifteen these clear, unambiguous warnings. Look at verse ten, my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. That's clear, unambiguous. He doesn't say, my son, if sinners entice you, you you might want to think about it, and you might want to get no, no, no. If sinners entice you, you do not consent. Look at verse fifteen, my son, do not walk in the way with them, And look at the second half of the verse. Hold back your foot from their paths. Do not consent. Do not walk in the way, hold back your foot from their paths. These are clear and unambiguous commands. When it comes to folly, it is required that we have clear and unambiguous commands. We have a duty and responsibility to those under us, to those who submit to us, and part of that duty and responsibility is to have a clarion call when it comes to folly, do not consent. Why does he start with consent? Because sin starts in the heart and the mind, and we are enticed because we are sinful. This is why the command is so forceful recognizing the fact that sin is enticing to those of us who are fallen. And here we've already gotten to the heart of the gospel, because the heart of the gospel is the gospel pointed to the heart, recognizing that we sin not just because of external issues or external factors, or external opportunities, but we sin because of the internal motivation of the heart. We are fallen people. James Chapter one, verses twelve to fifteen. Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed. Notice that word enticed by his own desires. Did you catch that when he is lured and enticed by his own desires, then desire, when it is conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, brings forth death. Temptation does not create sin, Enticement does not create sin. The sin is there. The enticement merely opens up the opportunity. The enticement. It merely gives us a chance to see what was already there. Isn't it amazing. I don't know about you. Well, actually I do know about you, because you're just like me. You do not have the desire to walk up and put your finger on walls, or on chairs or on tables. You just don't. You just don't walk around all day just thinking I would really like to touch that. But as soon as you see a sign that says wet paint, do not touch something on the inside of you, it just wants to. Now here's how you'll justify it. You'll justify it by saying, well, I just want to see if it's still at know what it is is. You've just been told not to do something. Sin dwelling in you rises up and wants to do exactly what you've been told not to do. You can pass by closed doors over and over and over again, and then someone puts up a sign that says keep out, and all of a sudden, the door that you've never thought about opening before. You want to know what's behind it. It wasn't the sign that said with paint. It wasn't the sign that said keep out. It was what is inside you. You're born in sin and shaped in iniquity, and this entice comes, and this enticement becomes attractive because of the sin that is in you. You have a heart problem. And this is why our goal is not just to keep our sons from acts of folly, but from the very heart of folly. And then he says, you not walk in the way with them. You won't walk in the way with them unless you succumb to the enticement. Don't consent, don't agree, don't say yes. He doesn't just say don't be found in their paths. He says, don't consent, don't agree, don't say yes, because as Amos three to three says, how can you walk together unless they agree, Unless they've made an appointment, you can't do it. You won't find yourselves walking with sinners and walking in their paths unless you have agreed in your heart and in your mind. That's where it begins. So that's where this clear and unambiguous command comes in. Do not consent, don't take your mind there, because it's when your mind and your heart go there that your feet go there, do not consent, do not walk in the way with them, and then hold back your foot from their paths. Notice this progression. First, do not consent, don't even take your mind there. And then it's do not walk in the way with them. First, don't agree with them. Secondly, don't walk with them. But then thirdly hold back your foot from their paths. As he says, don't don't consent, don't walk with them, and don't even walk like them, don't even walk behind them, don't even go where they have gone. This progression on a sound familiar. We find this progression again in another part of the wisdom literature, in Psalm Psalm one, verses one and two. Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked north, stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Again, notice that progression. The idea here is that both of these are in the wisdom literature. Both of these are poetic literature, and you use this repetition in order to reinforce it's making the point more forcefully. Don't consent, don't walk with them, do not do not even let your foot trod upon their paths? Do you hear me? Do you understand me? Can you hear your parents? Amen? Can anybody here? Can anybody right? Have you ever had that moment in your life where you've gotten this kind of instruction? Parents on the church grounds with their children can often give sort of light corrections and light or redirections. And you know, you're you're with your child on the church grounds and you're having a conversation with your friends, and maybe there's a child over here and you give them one of these, you know, get back over here, and maybe your child's doing you know, you're just you're not, I believe. But all of a sudden, when people start leaving and cars are going out, and you have a child who's heading out toward where the cars are. Now, it's not now, it's at you right here, come come, do not go into the parking lot? What cars? Do you hear me? Do you understand me? Are you sure? Have I been clear? It becomes unambiguous. Do you see? And this is what we see here in light of folly. There's a difference. And here's what we here's what we learn. There is a difference between shepherding our children and and sheltering them. And this clear and unambiguous command is a sheltering command. Shepherding our children is walking with them through difficult things that they have to face. Sheltering them is protecting them and keeping them away from dangerous things. There's a difference sheltering or shepherding a child. Think about it. What does a shepherd do is shepherd walks alongside the sheep amen. Shepherding a child is basically saying, listen, this is something that you're going to have to learn. This is something that you're going to have to be able to do. I want to walk with you. You don't know how to do it yet, but you have to learn how to do it. I'm going to walk with you because you need to learn how to do this. And so we're going to walk along this road together, and I'm going to hold your hand. I'm going to show you how to cross the street. Eventually, you'll grow up and you'll become mature and you'll become responsible and you'll be walking along these streets by yourself. So I'm going to shepherd you so that you learn how to do this thing that you're eventually going to have to do. That's not what we're talking about here. We're not talking about shepherding. We're talking about sheltering. Sheltering says you don't need to know, that, you don't need to learn that, you need to stay away from it at all costs. And the clear and unambiguous command says to our children and says to those whom we're discipling, this is not something that I'm trying to get you ready for. This is something that you simply need to stay away from. Stay away, stay away. There are these clear commands throughout the scriptures two Corinthians, chapter six and verse fourteen. To not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Clear, unambiguous command, this warning, this warning that says, this will destroy your life. Stay away from it. Not you need to be strengthened and you need to put no stay away from it. This will ruin you, This will destroy you, This will destroy your life and potentially could destroy your soul. Two Timothy three two through five. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient, to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, un excuse me, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying its power, a void such people. You see how clear and unambiguous that is one Corinthians fifteen thirty three. Do not be deceived. Bad company corrupts good and morals. That is the basis upon which these kinds of clear commands are built. And that's exactly what we're reading here in Proverbs chapter one. Stay away, stay away, stay away again. There are two things that have to happen. Number one, we have to give these clear, unambiguous warnings to those whom we're shepherding and those who were sheltering. But number two, those clear, unambiguous warnings have to be heeded. Listen to me, children, please hear me, because this is why if HE'SI in six one through four, it's there. Children are being your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, which is the first commandment, with the promise that it may go well with you. And that you may live long in the land. There's a reminder there of the fifth commandment. There's a reminder there to obey this authority. But why is it so important that you learn to obey this authority? Here's why, because you don't know what you don't know. In fact, you don't know much of anything. And I don't say that to insult you. I say that to warn you. You don't don't know much of anything. And this is why these warnings come, because we know what you don't know. The second principle is this, keeping sons from the heart of folly requires an appreciation for the danger. This is why these unambiguous warnings come, because there is an appreciation for the danger. Notice how the author goes to the heart of the matter. First, in verses eleven to fourteen, he goes to the heart of their wicked intentions, and then in verses seventeen to nineteen, he goes to the heart of their inevitable consequences. Look with me, if you will, beginning of verse eleven. And it's really interesting the way that this is written. My son, the sinners entice, you do not consent, and then he gets very specific here, if they say, Now, as I say this, I want you to ask yourself this question. Can you imagine anyone trying to entice you with these particular words? If they say, come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without reason like sheil, let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the pit, we shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. Now we read that, and our immediate thought is, yet, no one tries to entice you with those words. That's just that's that's not the way it sounds, that's not the way it happens. But that's the point. Solomon. Here is the wise father speaking to the not yet wise son, and he's saying to the not yet wise son, when sinners entice you, these are the words that you are not hearing. The words that you hear is come hang out with us, Come, let's have some fun, Come, let's go. But these are the words that you don't hear. The words that you don't hear is come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without reason, let us swallow them up, them up like she old they see. That's what you don't hear. But I do hear that. Why Because I've lived longer than you and I know where this road leads. This is one of the most difficult aspects of parenting. One of the most heartbreaking aspects of parenting or pastoral ministry is offering clear warnings based on the fact that we have an appreciation for the heart of folly, for the dangers of folly, for the consequences of folly, and giving clear warnings and then seeing that look in the eyes of the one that we're you know, that look, that look that says I hear you, but I don't hear you. When you're speaking and pleading passionately, and you know that on the other side, there is a person who is sitting there hearing Charlie Brown's teacher. Do you know this the Charlie Brown cartoons. When the teacher speaks, it's always why why why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Never clear words? And you see when you're sitting there and you're pleading, and you're saying, please don't do this, and that look in the person's eyes that says, you know I'm gonna be respectful because you know, you're my pastor, you're my father, you're my whatever. I'm gonna be respectful because you're my teacher. I'm gonna be respectful because you're whatever. And I'm gonna sit here and I'm gonna let you finish talking. But as soon as you finish talking, I'm going to go and do exactly what I want to do. Because you don't know me, and your warnings may apply to other lesser mortals, but I can handle this. I'm certain that that you see people will fall in this way with the Lord, but that's not me. I am not laying to him. I am half manned, half amazing. And they go down the road that you warned them for, bade them and beg them not to go down, and they up shipping, yeah ship with you said to them, do not marry that one. Don't do it, and they'll say you in our love. And then several years later they come in sheepers leave with their heads about, hoping that you don't remember the warning that you gave while they're asking you, what do I do in a miserable situation like this? Or you said to them, stay away from this crowd. Stay away from this, don't do this, don't do that, don't hold that way. And now they're shipwreck and they come back and there's Jill, and there's shame because they think that what you're going to say is I see I told you that a whole I prayed to God. That's not our response, A prince of our responses, I'm sorry I didn't. They can learn this that we the printh of God, uses it to teach you. But this is why we give the clear and unambiguous warning, because we can see what they can. They just see the butterfly going across the party line. We see the cars that will trust in the guilding. And it's because of what we foresee that we offer the warning. But there's a second thing. He sees the heart of their inimical consequences. Look what be if you will at Verses seventeen through nineteen. But I want you to see it in a different way Verses seventeen through nineteen, And I want you to start with the phrase, such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust games? Let that be first, Such are the ways of everyone who is a greedy for unjust games? We go back into verse fifteen. He said, Alasna, do not walk in the way of them, hold back in their fleet from their pass for their feet burnt and evil, and they make haste to shed glow. This is a picture of the kind of people that they are, Okay, the kind of people that they are. Now, there's a couple of passages of scriptures they give us a picture of the kind of people that they are. Passages of Office to talk about people who are quit the shed blood. But also, most famously Romans chapter three looking at Me and Romans chapter three, which is repeating and quoting these utests in the passages Romans chapter three, beginning in verse nine. Romans chapter three, beginning verse nine, We then, who choose any better off? No note at all, For we have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are under sin, as it is written. And let's see, we're talking about Jews and Greeks all Underin everybody the whole world, none is righteous, no not one, No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. There it is in. Their paths are ruined and misery. So stay out of their paths and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Those are the people about whom we speak here in this text. Look at it again verse fifteen, My son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. There's warnings throughout the Bible about these people. Who are they fallen man? Notice that we're not talking about notorious sinners here, all fallen men. Now back to that phrase, because we'll understand it better if we go at it backwards. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain? What are the ways? What are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain? Look back beginning at verse seventeen, because verse nineteen says such are the ways, But you got to go back to verse seventeen. What are the ways? Number one in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. What does that have to do with anything? When did we start talking about hunting birds? Right? Follow the point? Why is it in vain to set a net in front of birds? But because they see you walking up with the net, and before you put the net down, the bird is gone. And then you put the net down and leave it. They saw you leave it there. You're not gonna catch a bird if they see you. Right, that's the point here. It's ridiculous, right, Yes, it is ridiculous, And that's his point. Remember, such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. In vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. But these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives, and now the end, it takes away the life of its possessors. In other words, a bird is smart enough to see a trap being set for it and to run away. But these men, in their folly, are so blinded by sin that they are not only setting the trap. They're the bird. They are the bird. When you live like they live, the consequences are inevitable. This is why there was such a stern warning, because the consequences are inevitable and the consequences are great, and we understand not only again, this is not about don't do this because they will ruin your reputation. This is about don't do this because they will take you to hell. Isn't it interesting? In the beginning we find the introduction to the Book of Proverbs, and then this great thesis statement in verse seven, what it's all about? Now? In verse twenty, we are introduced to lady Wisdom, the good News, and the Book of Proverbs. But between the introduction and the good news, here we find the bad news. And what's the bad news? I'm glad you asked. The bad news is that men are falling, and these fallen men will entice you. And the bad news is you are falling, which is why the enticement will work. And so he takes it to its logical conclusion. I know what you're being enticed with. It's not innocent, and it leads to ultimate destruction. He does this in other places chapter two, verse sixteen. He does it with adultery and the adulteress. Look at verse sixteen chapter two in Proverbs. So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress, with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God, for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed. None who go to her come back, nor do they regain the path of life. Do you see what he's doing. He goes all the way to the extreme here. I want you to see what sin really is. I want you to see how dark it really is. And if you miss his point, you can find yourself in a trap. Because if you miss his point, if you look here and you don't realize that this is poetry, this is hyperbole. He's using the extreme in order to explain the heart of the matter. Well, then if I don't end up dead, then I guess I didn't really participate in this thing that he's talking about, right, But you do end up dead, because the wages of sin is death. Do you get it? He uses it again in chapter six when he talks about laziness. Remember the ant beginning in verse nine, though how long will you lie there, oh sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest? And poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an unarmed man, or like an armed man. Well, I'm not poor, therefore I must not be guilty of this. You've missed it. You've missed it. He uses this pointing to the heart of the matter so that you see the nature of the sin. Jesus puts a finer point on it in the New Testament when he says in Matthew five, verses twenty one and twenty two, you have heard that it was said of old you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Why because murder starts in the heart, adultery starts in the heart. All of these things start in the heart. The heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. And that's what is getting to here. And that's why he says, first and foremost, when they entice, you do not consent. Do not take your heart there, because number one, when you look at the heart of their desires, here's what it looks like, not just simple mischief, but theft and murder and deceit. And when you look at the heart of their desire and what it leads to. It's not just a slap on the wrist. It's it's it's it's not just correction with the rod. It's not even just physical death. But we are talking about separation from God himself. So when they entice, you look at the heart of what they're enticing you with. When they entice, you look at the heart of the consequences that come, so that when they enter you, you will guard your heart from their enticement. And so we see here these two things. Number one, this clear unambiguous warning. We want to keep our sons from the heart of folly. Amen. So there's clear, unambiguous warnings. We don't play around with it. We don't mess around with it. We're clear and unambiguous. And then secondly, these clear and unambiguous warnings are based on what they're based on our understanding of the magnitude and the consequences of folly. This is not just don't get in trouble because I don't want you to embarrass me. This is more than that. And so let me leave you with this application. This is from Puritan author and Cotton Mather. He left these five, these five principles, And I want to leave you with these these five as as the way that we very specifically apply this to keeping our sons from the heart of folly, or keeping the heart of our sons from the heart of folly. Again, it requires that we do this, but it also requires that there is a hearing, that there is a hating of the warning. Let me leave you with these five things from Cotton May the number one We must learn to consider the condition of our children. We must learn to consider the condition of our children. What does he mean by this, Well, we have to understand that our children are fallen and that their greatest need is the Gospel. There is a trap that we fall into as parents, and it'll sound very familiar. It's the trap of legal and moralism. And so I want to raise my children to follow laws and rules and to be moral people, mainly so that they don't embarrass me. Mainly so that they don't embarrass me, not because I recognize that they are sinners in need of a savior, but just because I don't want to be embarrassed, and I want them to grow up fearing embarrassment. So I say things like, ah, look at your friends. Your friends are watching you using embarrassment. Listen to me. I don't care that your friends are watching you. I care that God is watching you. This is not about you embarrassing me in in front of my friends, or embarrassing yourself in front of your friends. This is about you being a sinner in need of a savior. And if you have the greatest reputation in the world and people think well of you, but you are not right with God, you still end up in hell. Consider the condition of your children that they are sinners in need of a savior. Your children don't just need to behave better. My children don't just need to behave better. They need to be saved. Secondly, we must learn to instruct our children in the great matters of salvation. And we will do this when we consider the condition of our children. We don't just instruct them in the great matters of behavior, but we instruct them in the great matters of salvation. Thirdly, we must learn to rebuke and restrain them from everything prejudicial to their salvation, not just everything prejudicial to our reputation. Son, that's a problem. And it's not just a problem because I don't like it. It's a problem, because there is a God who is watching. Fourthly, we must learn to lay charge upon our children, to charge them with scripture. And this is that unambiguous, clear command that we give. And then fifthly, he says we must learn to pray for our children. And why does he include this one? Here's why. Because I can do all of these things, I can understand my child's condition and their need for a savior. I can instruct them in the great matters of the Gospel. I can rebuke and restrain them from everything prejudicial to their salvation. And I can lay charge on them again and again from the scriptures. But that will not save them. I can do all of those things, but salvation belongs to the Lord, which is why at the end of the day, it's not enough for me to plead with my children to flee from folly. I must plead with God to save them. Amen. And this takes us back to that first principle. You see, when we look at the public of Proverbs in terms of moralism, it's easy to think about it in this way. Well, if I do these things, then that's the kind of child I will get. And so we do those things, and then something happens with our child and they don't end up, and we start going to wait, wait, wait, where did I go wrong? Why? Because you've turned proverbs into law and you've turned the Gospel into moralism. If you do this, you're guaranteed to get that. And our children are just widgets on an assembly line. And if you take them through the assembly line and do all the things and tick all the boxes, then in the end, that's what you get. No, your child is not a widget on an assembly line. Your child is a wicked sinner in need of a savior, and unless God intervenes, they have no hope. Do you hear me? This is why that last point, we must learn to pray for our children, to plead with God to save them, because ultimately that is their great need and that is their only hope. Because ultimately, keeping the heart of our children from the heart of folly depends utterly on the grace of God, and the grace of God alone. I'm sure all of us who've reached a certain age can remember two things. Number One, we can remember those times when we were pulled aside by our parents, those significant moments in our lives where we did something that we regret and don't even want to talk about in church, and our parents found out and there was that clear, unambiguous warning. I'm sure we can remember that, and I'm sure we can also if we've reached a certain age, remember people who got the same warnings that we did, but have not ended up in the same place that we are. For me, there is a poignant reminder of this, and I've talked about it and I've written about it on a number of occasions. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. I was born in Los Angeles in nineteen sixty nine, which means that I grew up and was coming of age during the late seventies and early eighties when the crack Wars were happening in Los ange There were movies about my neighborhood drive by shootings with submachine guns. It was awful. The streets ran red with blood, the crips and the bloods and all this. Yes, this is where and when I grew up, and I can remember the warnings. I can remember when when some somebody who lived down the block got arrested or got shot and I was sat down and I was reminded, do you see do you see. Do you see why I tell you not to run with that crowd? Do you see why I tell you not to go there? Do you see why I tell you? Do you see why I tell you? And I can remember that, And I praised God for those things, and that by his grace I made it out of there, And I remember that. But I also remember going to the funeral of my sixteen year old cousin who received the same warnings that I did, but became a drug dealer and was selling crackcoat to cocaine, and at the age of sixteen, was shot and killed. His life over gone. Here. I am fifty. Not only did he not make fifty, he didn't make twenty. We received the same warnings, sometimes at the same time, sitting right next to each other, with the same finger being pointed in both of our faces. And what's the difference between the one who's killed at sixteen and the one who's made it to fifty. Not because I'm better, because but for the grace of God. Their GOHI laying in a grave somewhere as a teenager is God's grace, not my goodness, not my ability to listen, not that I had a greater fear of the concept. But now any of that, It's God's grace. And when we understand that as parents, it drives us to our knees. God, Please keep the heart of my child from the heart of folly. God, please keep my heart from the heart of folly, because I'm prone to wander. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the color love. Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it. Seal it for that courts above, because that's the only hope. The only hope is on Christ, the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking. Said, Let's pray Our great and glorious God, are kind and merciful, patient and long suffering God, How good God are Almighty God. We bow before you and humble adoration, and in fear and trembling, recognizing that our hearts are prone to the heart of folly. The hearts of our children are prone to the heart of folly. The hearts of those whom we mentor whom we disciple, whom we teach, they are prone to the heart of folly. And that is only your grace that keeps us. And we plead with you God for that grace, for that grace that sustains us. For that grace that opens our eyes to folly, and that points us to our desperate need for the person and work of your son, Jesus Christ. For that grace that grants us a heart of repentance, For that grace that allows us to turn from sin and turn to Christ. For that grace that applies the perfect life and the shed blood of Christ to us, And for that grace by which we are found in Him and saved. Grant we pray this grace to us and to our children. Grant that Christ indeed have the fullness of the reward for which he died. Grant this we pray in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen.