If Sinners Entice You

I'm sorry, I forgot all about it. I'm always conscious of this, brother, because I know you can hear me, so I gotta be careful what I whisper to myself. Again, good to see everybody tonight. So just before we get started, just by way of information, if you remember last week, Brother Keith had brought up that we have been discussing and considering, both Brother Keith and Brother Mike and I, about Wednesday nights.

And so tonight we're going to introduce, or at least give out some information on what we're going to do on Wednesday nights going forward. And again, not something that is set in stone, but something that we, again, have been considering that would be beneficial and would aid us in our Wednesday night meeting.

So what we'll do tonight is I'm gonna take the most of the time, the lion's share of the time going through Proverbs, and then Brother Keith's gonna come in the last couple of minutes and we'll have time of prayer, and he's gonna give a little bit more detail about what we're gonna do on Wednesday nights, and we're planning on beginning it next Wednesday.

So now that you're all excited to wait to hear Brother Keith, you'll have to deal with me first. So with that in mind, let's open up to the book of Proverbs, the first chapter, and consider some thoughts.

Brother Keith, would you open us up with a word of prayer, Brother? Yes, sir. Our Father and our God, we are so grateful to be able to sit around the open word tonight, and we pray for Brother Andy as he brings the word to us and instructs us from the word that Lord we know ultimately is your Holy Spirit who is the teacher.

So we pray that he would be with us, that he would teach us, that he would lead us into all truth. I pray, Lord, also for the many folks in our church that are dealing with different struggles, and Lord, as we'll pray more later, we just want to already begin to lift up to you those who are struggling with pain, continuing to remember the Gomez family, Lord, and even right now, knowing that Tamara's at her father's memorial service there as they are having his honors as he was military service.

So we pray for her, we pray for their family, pray for Jerry, who's gonna be traveling up there in a few days, and just ask that you be merciful to them all. In Jesus' name, amen.

Amen. Okay, so if you remember, last week we looked specifically, I've gotten that word down since last week, by the way. I only say it once, though, because it might not happen again. But we did, we looked directly at verse seven, and again, remember what I have tried to lay out, that as we go through Proverbs, at times we'll look at sections, at times we'll just pull out certain thoughts, and at times we'll look at an individual verse, because again, my aim in doing this is not to be exhaustive in the sense of word by word and line by line, but rather how I came to this study for myself was that I found myself, as I mentioned, I found myself with a portion of my time, but it was a short period of time that seemed idle for me.

And I wanted to fill that, besides anything else that I was doing, and that Proverbs, in that sense, is a good way to do that, because you can read it in shorter sections and come away with a handful of thinking.

So that was my intent. So tonight I wanna read from verse nine, from verse eight through verse 19, and see where we go with that. And then we'll gauge it on the other side, whether we have time to continue or not.

So, and before we read it, let me just remind you of the theme that I'm gonna carry as we go through this, and the theme being that the book of Proverbs is not just isolated sayings or riddles or enigmas or Proverbs, but rather it's a cohesive book, and it's going to demonstrate to us, again, two main characters, two main groups of people, one being those that are wise, those that are wise in the knowledge of God, and those are the ones that are diligent.

Those are the ones that are willing to put their hand to the plow to learn the wisdom of God, and that those are the ones that will be the ones that receive the blessing of God, and the other group, and again, only the two groups involved are those that are the fools, as the Bible directly speaks of them that way, and that they are characterized by being lazy, not willing to put their hand to the plow, or if they do, many times just turning back, and that they wind up being the ones who receive not the blessings of God, but in many cases, the very judgment of God, and the righteous judgment of God.

So keeping that in mind, let me read from verse eight through verse 19, and again, just as a reminder, New King James, so if it's different than yours, you need to buy a New King James Bible. Verse eight, my son, hear the instruction of your father.

Do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be graceful ornaments 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 Sheol, and whole like those that 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. My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood, and surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, but they lie in wait for their own blood.

They lurk secretly for their own lives, and so are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain. It takes away the life of its owners.". So in this section, and again, I wanna deal with it as a section, because there are several thoughts that are repeated through it, but there are also some things that I think that we can pull out and make application to us in our daily living.

The Instruction of Father and Mother in Proverbs

The first thing I wanted to just notice, and I don't wanna really deal with is verse eight and nine, where it says, my son, hear the instruction of your father, and don't forsake the law of your mother, for they will be graceful ornaments on your head and chains about your neck.

And here's the thing I wanted to mention, and maybe we can have a little discussion about it, is I find it interesting that he would state it this way in the sense of the instruction of the father and the law of your mother, and certainly we wanna take it in a very literal way, where Solomon is reaching out and saying to those that will hear him that they need to abide by what he instructs them as a father, whether it be a father in the sense of father and son relationship, or a father in the sense that he's the king of Israel, and do not forsake the law of your mother.

And here's where I had a thought. To me, there is this sense in the scriptures where the mother could, I think, could be likened to the church. In that, and I'll show it to you a little bit later as we go on, but many times, or at least a sufficient amount of time, they do think there are some references to the church in that sense.

And I thought of it this way, that you and I ought to really consider, in order to gain wisdom, we're going to need the word of God, the law of God, and that's the instruction of the father, and we're gonna need the law of your mother, and not only your physical mother, but really of the church.

And that's what I came away with, that there's these two great realities for us if we're going to grow in wisdom. And one being the word of God, the law of God, the instruction of God, the express will of God, the revealed will of God, but the other being that we ought to make great use of the church of God, because the church of God should be an institution for what?

Higher learning for the truth of the word of God. In other words, the church is to compliment and to help foster the truth that God has given to us. And that is one of the great tasks of the church is to build one another up, to teach one another, and all the other one another's that we're going through on a Sunday.

But just the thought as we go through this, to consider that it's not necessarily just a father to son, or a mother to a daughter, or just in that realm, but I do think that there is some credibility to the fact that we ought not have said the law of the mother, and the mother being the church.

And there's so many people, so many people who would probably disagree with me and say I'm on another planet. Does anybody here think I'm on another planet? Does anybody here think I'm somewhere in the realm of reality?

Something? Thank you, brother. I got something, brother. The mother of us all. Good. I always liked you, Matt. But I do think there's a reality in that you and I ought to think of it that way. And let me say it this way, and this is not really where I wanted to go, but I have a little bit more time.

I want to be careful about my word. I know. I want to be careful about my time. I mean, my wording. Because I almost wanted to say that we ought to play with the word of God. But that's a very bad way of saying anything.

And what I mean to say is that we ought to enjoy the word of God and seek to expand our minds as far as the word of God will allow us. And so that's what I mean by play. I certainly don't mean play in any kind of wrong connotation.

But you and I, as we come to the word of God, and as we read, we ought to read it for its context. We ought to read it in its historical setting. We ought to read it in the way that we see it as it comes across us.

But then we ought to be able to open our minds. And as you brought up the verse in Galatian, and there are other verses where you could find this strand of truth that the mother would be the church. And that you and I, again, if we look at it that way on top of any other way, what Solomon is really doing, again, remember the first nine chapters of Proverbs, all Solomon's doing, or his main speaking seems to be to just keep plugging away at the fact that you and I need to be very diligent and we need to be very watchful and that God has given us both his word and the church to aid us in our, if you will, our pilgrimage to keep on going and going and going.

Remembering at all times that the wisdom that is above all is the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is the wisdom of God. So I wanted to make that remark about verse eight and nine, but let's move on a little bit.

The Enticement of Sinners and the Pleasure of Sin

Verse 10, my son, if sin has enticed you, do not consent. And I think it's interesting that this is the way Solomon continually pleads with all those that will listen to him. It's in the sense of my son.

It's in the sense of someone who is not only in a place, perhaps to give wisdom, but is in a place of someone who really desires that the wisdom that he gives will be accepted, that the wisdom that he gives will be adhered to.

And so there's this continual addressing of those that he writes to. And I actually went back and counted. I can't remember right now. It's probably in one of my later notes. How many times in the book of Proverbs, Solomon uses that term, my son, and it's many.

It is truly many. And he continually speaks out this way. And so, as he said, my son, if sin has enticed you, and I also thought about this, Solomon being inspired by God to write, that really it speaks not only of Solomon's desire and Solomon's concern for his hearers, but of God's concern for us.

In other words, how many people do you and I know, if you were to ask them to characterize God, how many of them would say something like, well, if God exists, he's awful mean. If God, if there's a God, he does all these mean things, he's a tyrant, he seems to take pleasure in the sufferings of others.

And that's so far from the truth. It really is because the reality is God is such a caring God, isn't he, brother?

Just today, I was, someone posted on social media, a comparison, it was a mocking comparison of Lucifer and God. And the idea was Lucifer is all about freedom and your ability to make your own choices and doing what you want to do, and how Lucifer is the hero.

And God just gets angry because a woman ate an apple. And the idea was, kind of brings you back to the whole R .C. Sproul thing, where somebody said, why did God get so angry when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit?

And R .C.'s like, what's wrong with you people? You don't understand, they committed high treason against the God who created all things. And I just, it's interesting, as you said, people have a view of God, and he's a tyrant.

And the real hero is Satan,.

Who just wants to give you whatever you want. And what's interesting is, as we read these verses, and if we get to it, the very thing that you just said, that the devil is portrayed as the one who wants to give us freedom, if you read these verses that we just read and go through them, it leads to nothing but what?

Bondage, death, loss. Again, the fool is the one who refuses the wisdom of God and suffers for it. The wise are those who receive the goodness of God and benefit from it. And so certainly when you think about it, and again, I think there is this reality that many will argue about the justice of God.

But they certainly want the goodness of God. They think, yeah, yeah. And we're gonna see that also in this section. I'm glad you brought that up, because if you look at the way this is worded, and I don't wanna jump ahead too far, but there's a commonality of this or a comradery of this.

Look at this, let me point it out just now. In verse 11, look what it says. It says, come with what? Us. Then it says, let us. And then it says, let us lurk secretly. Verse 12, let us swallow. Verse 13, we shall find all kinds.

We shall fill our houses. Verse 14, cast in your lot among who? Us, let us, and on and on and on. And there's this, if you will, this reality that the ways of the one who does not love God is one in which there is a desire to attract others to that very thing, to what you just said.

And remember what Paul said in Romans, right? That those that do the things that displease God, they not only do them, but they take pleasure. If you remember what it says, remember what it says, I think it's Romans 1 .32.

They take pleasure in what? In others that do the same thing. And so in that sense, sin has many friends and sin likes its friends.

You gonna say something? No, I just, it's absolutely true. Wolves prowl and packs, sinners love sin.

Sinners love sinners. I mean, and so you and I, when we think about that and we think about the instruction that God is giving to us, it's instruction for a certain group of people. And it's going to be those people that are diligent in following after him because the cost of this world, and I was gonna bring this up a little bit later on, but if you remember what Paul says in Ephesians, you know, one of the bad things about preparing ahead of time is I'm not sure where my mind is cause I'm already, I've noted through fireworks into chapter four.

So I'm not sure if I'm speaking on my thoughts from chapter four or chapter one, but I guess it doesn't matter cause you won't remember when I get to chapter four what I said in chapter one anyway. But if you remember what Paul says in Ephesians two, where he's talking about you who are dead in trespasses and have been made alive together in Christ.

Remember what he says? He said that we walked according to what? The cost of this world. And if you think about it and you read what's in these verses and if we ever actually look at them, that's the reality.

There is a cost. There is a path. There is a principle, if you will, in this world and the child of God and the one who's going to listen to the instruction of God and gain wisdom and be blessed of God is going to have to be one that's not gonna cave in to the overriding principle of the world.

And again, that goes back to the whole concept of the narrow path and the wide path and the many and the few, but there's this reality as we go through the book of Proverbs. And again, there's that great contrast, right?

And it doesn't matter where you are on the stage of life, whether you're young or old, whether you're a man or woman, whether you're whatever, there's this constant, if you will, tide that's going to entice us.

And it's going to entice us and we'll see it here in a minute, entice us in the wrong way and you and I have to be those who are willing to resist. Now, did I ever relate to you a story about when I got a new job one time and I was still driving a truck.

This is way back, early 80s. And I had switched jobs. Well, actually, I think this was a second job. I took a second job. And anyway, I was driving doubles, two trucks that are hooked together. And I would drive them from Long Island to New Jersey, go to a cross dock.

They would strip the, they call them pups. Those little trails you see on the road, they're called pups. And so they would strip the pups, put all the freight on the dock, reroute it, put it back in the pups, and then we'd bring them back.

And then they'd have guys in the daytime who would pedal out with the freight. Okay, so now you understand that whole cross dock operation. But one time I got a job, first night on the job. And I don't know about you, but when I first meet somebody, it's a little bit of a different experience to me.

I'm not as, I'm very comfortable with people I know. I am not as comfortable with people I don't know. And I'm not saying I'm right. But anyway, you know how when you go to, maybe you start a new job, your first day, you always got a little bit of a butterfly, right?

You always got a little bit of, what am I getting into? Anyway, the whole point is this. I take this truck, these are truck drivers, right? Folks, these are people from the North. These are Teamsters, these are the whole hook nose, soprano kind of thing.

I go from Long Island to New Jersey. I go to the dock, I get out, I report to the boss. And I don't see anybody in the place, okay? And he comes right up to me, young guy. I remember his name, his name was RJ.

He comes up to me and he says, hi, I'm RJ. And I'll tell you what, here's what we're gonna do. Don't worry about anything right now. I want you to go upstairs to the lunchroom. And I said, okay. He said, go upstairs to the lunchroom.

There's a stripper on the table in the lunchroom. You go and enjoy yourself and we'll worry about the work later. This is a true story, folks. I'm not making this up. I would be crazy to try to make this up.

And I took a deep breath. And I was like, okay, Lord, what do we do here? First day, not sure how to handle all this. And then of course, and this is all within a second of time. And then I said to him, I'm a Christian.

I've made a covenant with my wife. I am not going to partake of going upstairs to your little, whatever it is. Well, I'll tell you what, I was a mock man for Menard. I worked there for about a year and it wasn't the most pleasant experience.

But my whole point in saying it is, to so many people, they would say, what are you, out of your mind? That's just the way it is, man. Especially in that kind of environment. It's just the way it is. That's where you and I really need the wisdom of God.

To know, maybe not know exactly what to say, because at first I was a little bit taken back, but to know at least enough to know to say no. Right? And to worry about the consequences of that later, rather than trying to go through all these different scenarios, because of course that certainly would not have been the right path for me to take.

So when you think about that, again, when Solomon says this in verse 10, where he says, my son, if sinners entice you, and there is this reality, if you will, to this enticement to sin. And again, along with that, there's reality that God is mean.

And as you brought up that the devil, the evil one, he's the good one. And yet that's not the truth. It's God who opens his hand and feeds everything, isn't it? It's God who feeds the birds. It's God who dresses the plants.

It's God who allows summer and winter and fall and winter to come over and over again. It's the goodness of God in that, again, even in that, how many people will not even submit to the goodness of God, the reality of the truth of the goodness of God, that God is in truth, not a God who takes pleasure in...

Remember what it says in Ezekiel, it says, God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked would what? Turn and live. And again, to many, that seems like a fairy tale, but to us, it is a reality that we hold very dear.

So... What's your picture on that? It's the wives and the fool, and the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Right. If there's no God, then your covenant that you made with your wives, no big deal.

Yeah, yeah, that's it. There is no God. There is no right or wrong. There is no absolute. So... Every man does that, which is right in his own eyes, right? Just, yeah. I think it was Chesterton,.

I might be wrong, but he said, if there be no God, all things are permissive. There be no God, all things are permissive. Which would absolutely be a true statement, right? Paul says, if you're already in this life, we have hope, what?

We have the most, we might as well just eat, drink, and be married for tomorrow we die. That's why there's that thought that he that dies with the most toys wins. Right? That's what the Pharaohs thought.

But that's just not the case. And again, all these things are wrapped up as we'll go through Book of Proverbs, all these things will begin to witness of this great truth in many, many different ways. Because this is, again, this great contrast between those two groups, the wise and the fool.

And not only that, but just to think about it, just because we are wise, or just because we're the children of God, well, we put it to that way. And what a great privilege it is to be a child of the living God.

But that does not exempt us from what? From being enticed. And not only that, but it won't exempt us from falling into the very trap that the fool falls in. And remember, I brought this up in the introduction that Solomon, for all the wisdom that he displays, he does what?

He falls into many of the things that he warns his hearers not to fall into. So if we begin to think, well, I don't have anything to worry about, we got more to worry about than we possibly know. Because the devil is our adversary, and he goes about as a roaring lion, and he seeks who he can devour.

And he's a liar. He's a murderer. He has no concern for you and me. He has no concern for the glory of God. His only concern is to consume and to destroy, because that is ultimately going to be his faith as he goes through this.

The Corporate Nature of Sinful Enticement

All right, let me see if I can get a little bit further through this. So it talks about this enticement of sin, right? In verse 11, if they say, come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood, let us lurk secretly for the innocent without pause, let us swallow them alive like sheol and hold like those that go down to the pit, that you and I would realize who these people are.

Who are these us and we that is being spoken of? Is it the Saddam Husseins of the world? Bots? Is it the great despots of the world? And the great, is it the pharaohs of this world? Who is the us? Okay, the unredeemed, the unbeliever, the one as you brought up brother Mike, the one who says there is no God, right?

And that is absolutely true. So again, we are constantly being bombarded by the unbeliever, whether consciously or unconsciously, whether it's in a very overt way or very covert way, you and I have to be very careful to maintain our walk before God because there's this, if you will, this continual current and it's an enticement, it's a allurement to the things that would not only displease God, but also would do us harm.

And you'll see that as we get through these verses, because ultimately what he talks about here is the reason why we ought not to consent is because it leads to death. And so there's this allurement, if you will, to sin.

And I will say this also, we can be enticed by those who even mean well. In other words, we can be enticed by sinners. And although we are by his great grace, redeemed sinners, we are still sinners. And so would we be fair in saying that we need to be careful that we not only entice each other to sin, but we're not enticed by each other to sin.

Would that be a fair way of looking at things?

Bunyan, he addressed that whenever Pilgrim had survived Vanity Fair, and then he joins himself with Hopeful, and they're making their way along to the Celestial City, and then the road gets rough, and their feet are sore.

And Pilgrim looks over, and there's a fence. And over the fence is a stile, and right along the fence is green, and smooth, and beautiful. And he says, well, why don't we just climb over, and we'll just walk along this way?

And Hopeful says, well, the Lord said we should stay on this side. And he says, well, let's just go over for a little ways. And they go along, and they just went along, right along the other fence. But slowly, it says, by degrees.

By degrees. It took them to Downing Castle, and there was a seat of doubt that was sewn there. Yeah.

And that's a really valuable illustration of this point, because, again, we They're both believers. Yeah, yeah, that's the point, that we can, whether consciously or unconsciously, entice each other by either the words we use, the actions we do, or the things we don't do.

In other words, it only takes a little spark to get the fire going sometimes, right? And so we need to be careful around one another. And just because we are united together as the children of God doesn't mean that we don't need to walk in a very discerning way amongst each other.

Because, again, if you look at me long enough, you're gonna see some real black spots, right? But don't get too proud of yourself, because I see the black spots in you. Even with bad eyes, I can see the black spots.

So we have to be careful that we don't get enticed, because there is this enticement to sin. I always like the saying that says that man at his best is at best a man. Man at his best is at best a man, even a redeemed man.

And so you could look at it in any setting, in any station of life. A husband loves his wife with all his heart. That doesn't mean he can't entice her to sin. He even talks about a father provoking his own children to wrath.

So there are many things that you and I need to be careful of. And so there's this enticement that you and I have to watch from, if you will, from every corner. And that ultimately it'll come down to your walk, my walk with God.

Ultimately, that's where it comes, right? I'm responsible for my walk. I'm not excluding, and certainly as we go through to one another, there's gonna come out more. I'm also responsible for your walk to a certain extent.

But I am absolutely responsible for my walk. And if I'm enticed, I can't say that it's someone else's fault. It's the things that reside in my own heart. I have to, sorry, you were gonna say something, right?

Oh. No. Yeah, so just something to keep in mind. I remember when I was with the kids up in the front, and this was a verse that we taught our kids as they were growing up. Well, I beat it into them, not physically, but maybe sometimes physically, but mostly spiritually.

And it was Exodus 23 too. Do not follow the multitudes to do evil. Do not follow the multitudes to do evil. It's so easy to follow the enticement of the multitude. It's so easy to be moved by the current, if you will.

That's why I tell you to stay out of the water in the rip currents, because it'll just sweep you off your feet, and you'll be gone. Well, Levi, you gonna say something?

No, the world is heading downstream. That's the easy way. Yeah. And we're to be upstream Christians. Yeah, we're to be the salmon.

We just gotta watch out for the bears that are trying to snatch us out of the river, right? I mean, you think about it. It's so good. There's so many illustrations in the world that just bear witness to the word of God.

That's what I meant when I said enjoy the word of God. Just try to extrapolate the word of God into the creation of God, because the creation of God bears witness to the word of God. So yeah, there's this enticement, and there's this attraction, and none of us are exempt.

And again, sin loves company. Sin loves company. It loves to have fellowship with others. And that's why it says, let us, we, join with us. Again, when I went to that, when I relayed that story to you, he was, this RJ guy was shocked that I wasn't going to join in, in their festivities.

And you and I have to be aware. And not only that, but there's a reality. I mean, if you look at it in these verses, verse 13, we shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil, casting your lot among us, and let us all have one purse, one person.

And here's the reality, friends. One of the reasons why Solomon lays this out so clearly and repeats himself is not only is there an enticement to sin, there's a pleasure to sin. Friends, you and I do not sin because we don't find pleasure in it.

We sin because of the gratification we get from sin. Now, you might say that's not true. No, it is. The word says it. Yeah, it is. Sin is sweet for a season. Sin is sweet for a season. And the pleasures of sin are not only enticing, but they can bring reward.

Remember what it says in Hebrews about Moses? What does it say? It says that he refused the pleasures of sin for a season, right? And did he suffer for it? Absolutely. But he refused the pleasures of sin.

He refused the riches that would come out being raised up in Pharaoh's house and being considered as one part of that, and that you and I have to realize that there is this reality. There's an allurement, there's a pleasure.

And again, it's not easy to walk against the tide, folks. And if we begin to think that we've got this thing licked, then this thing has got us licked. Think about it. I often think about it as, and I might be the only unspiritual one here, but how many times I've got up in the morning and said, man, I had a good day, Lord, yesterday.

Seemed like I walked pretty good, Lord. Talked to a couple of people, everything just... And I'm almost proud of myself until I open my mouth, right? And then I find sometimes those very days are the most difficult days and I'm at a loss as if, well, what happened?

Well, I know what happened, right? I just, I took pleasure in the wrong thing, right? It was self-gratification. It wasn't really to the glory of God. And you and I have to be very careful about this, the pleasures of sin.

Remember, if you will, the temptation of the devil on the Lord Jesus? Remember one of those temptations, Will? He took him up, he put him on a pinnacle of the temple. And what'd he do? He showed him all the glory of the world.

He says, this you can have. Just fall down and worship me. Is there not to be gratification, pleasure? Again, if anyone says they sin because of any other reason than gratification, they're just not speaking the truth because that is what is at the heart of it is a desire to gain from it.

I thought verse 12 was rather interesting. Let us swallow him alive like Sheol and like those that go down in the pit. You know who I thought of? Jonah. Jonah, he decided to cast off the wisdom of God and the direction of God and the law of God and the word of God.