Proverbs Chap 1 1-8

This is a second session that we're doing it in Proverbs, okay, and if you remember in the first session we looked at a couple of points. First we looked at what is wisdom, so we defined biblically what wisdom is, all right, then we did kind of an overview of the book of Proverbs, we have the style of the poetry and everything else, all right, now what kind of book is Proverbs?

The Purpose of Proverbs in Its Opening Verses

Those are the three points that we made last week. We come now to the second part. We're still in an introduction to the book of Proverbs and so today we want to look at the purpose, okay. Remember the purpose of the book is given in the first seven verses, all right, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel.

Notice we, this verse is, it's definitely, this is an introduction and it tells who wrote the majority of Proverbs. As we already mentioned, there are other authors. When we're given this type of information, however, and this is what I want you to take notice of, when you're given this type of information, it's for a reason.

The Bible doesn't waste words. Whatever is in there is there for a particular reason and the idea here is Solomon is considered to be the wisest man who ever lived except, of course, for Jesus Christ who was a very unique man but he was a man, still is a man.

Don't misunderstand that, but so when we look at this first verse even, it says Proverbs, the Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, it should immediately draw our minds back to the fact that the most important point that we find out about Solomon is his wisdom.

That's what is exemplified in the Scriptures, is how wise he was and that's what he asked for. Yes, that's exactly what he asked for and because he asked for wisdom, remember, he was also given riches and fame.

Solomon's fame spread throughout the whole Middle East at the time, almost their whole known world, okay, and he became one of the richest men in the history of the world, okay. So, verse two says, to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the sayings of understanding, all right.

Again, now we're going to go through a number of verses and the whole purpose for these verses is to tell us what, why Proverbs is included in the Scriptures. There's a presumption that not everyone is naturally wise.

In fact, what is the presumption? Everybody's a fool, all right. Yes, well that's, he's being very presumptuous here today. What I mean by a presumption or presupposition, it's always based upon Scripture, all right, but that's what I mean.

Our presupposition is that everyone is not wise, okay. What is, I mean, what are some of the other presuppositions of Scripture? Things that the Bible very specifically states, but it's part of our presuppositional apologetics.

Well, go back even more basic than that. More basic than that. More basic than that. There is a God. Now, it's clearly taught in Scripture, but it's a presupposition. We take the words of Scripture and that's where we start.

We don't engage in trying to prove the existence of God because nobody can really prove the existence. It is a presupposition, okay, and so maybe I probably should have used the word presupposition instead of presumption.

Proverbs teaches us how to get wisdom. Look at what it says, to know wisdom. Talking about the book of Proverbs, it is to know wisdom. Do you want to be wise? You have to start here in the book of Proverbs.

If you don't understand the wisdom of Proverbs, you're not going to be wise in how you deal with life. Proverbs teaches how to receive instruction. Not everybody can receive instruction, all right? In fact, our natural inclination is, you know, don't worry about it, I got this.

And my favorite illustration of that is that, I think it's an insurance commercial, where the guy's juggling chainsaws and the guy comes in and says, wait a minute, I got this. Come on, I got this. The reason I love that commercial so much is because that's exactly how each and one of each of us is.

We look at that commercial and say, that is stupid. Well, look in the mirror, because we all do this. How often do we say, no, no, I got this, you know? Yes.

I think it's really important to comment on how charismatics would look at this, because think about it from a charismatic perspective. Solomon has a face-to-face relationship with God and he talks to him and God answers.

What would I need wisdom for if I got a face-to-face relationship with God? Anytime I need something, I just go, he gives me the answer. But the exact opposite is true. God gives Solomon wisdom so he could figure out the problems on his own.

Sure. Our job is to go to the Proverbs, right? Yes. Not get a direct word from God. Right. Right,.

Absolutely. And why is that? Other than the fact the Scripture clearly teaches that, but the Scripture also explains to us why that is so. That's true, our understanding is faulty. What else? There's another presupposition here.

Yeah. How do we know that what we're receiving is a word from God? Yeah, but I mean, if I claim that God spoke to me, yeah, I mean, if I claim that God spoke to me, how do I know that that still small voice or this feeling, how do I know that that is from God?

Because you qualify it with Scripture. Yeah. No, it's a rhetorical question. The point is, the answer is, I don't know. I don't know if these feelings or these voices that I'm hearing, I don't know if they came from God.

Like Jay Adams says, he says, that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach, it could have been that pepperoni pizza you had last night, all right? Which can definitely, when you get to be my age, that can definitely have a detrimental effect, all right?

So that's why we don't listen to, you know, our feelings, our impressions and whatnot, and as Jerry said, everything has to be measured by the Word of God. That's wisdom, and the Bible teaches us how to receive wisdom, how to receive instruction.

Not everyone listens to instructions, okay? Proverbs teaches discernment, all right? Look, to discern the sayings of understanding. Not everyone understands wise sayings. You ever talk to somebody and just give them some straight, plain instructions, and to you it's as clear as one, two, three, all right?

And they're looking at you, you know, kind of spacey. Look, we all have different talents. I look at an algebraic expression, and all I have to do is look at it, and in most cases, unless it's really complex, I can do two and three steps in my head, and I can solve the equations very, very simply, all right?

There are other people who have taken algebra three times, and they still don't understand the principle behind algebra, that is merely substituting letters for numbers, okay? Not everybody is gifted in the same way.

Well, not everyone in their natural fallen state can understand wise sayings, all right? And that's what Proverbs is here, is to help us learn how to do that. Verse 3, to receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice, and equity.

This is an extremely important verse, so I want to spend a little bit of time on it. Proverbs is designed by God to teach wise behavior. Sounds redundant, but it's redundant for a reason. This is one of those points that needs to be emphasized, okay?

It also teaches how to receive this instruction, okay? It's one thing to hear instructors. It's another thing to receive what they have to say to you, okay? As somebody who has been teaching for well over 20 years, going on 30 years I've been involved in teaching and instruction, I can tell you that there are certainly people, you sit down and you tell them what to do, give them step-by-step instructions, and then when they bring their homework in, they're not following your instructions at all, okay?

Proverbs teaches this. Notice how Proverbs defines wise behavior. This is my main point. This is what it, notice this. It says, to receive instruction in wise behavior, and then it says, righteousness, justice, and equity.

Notice it is not merely spiritual issues of the heart, but righteousness, justice, and equity. Of course, verse 7 says that this is the beginning, fear of the Lord is the beginning of wise behavior. However, but here, see, wise behavior linked to righteousness, justice, and equity.

What does that mean? Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. Most people quote Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, but all they articulate is Proverbs 3, 5. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not in your own understanding.

What does verse 6 say? In all your ways acknowledge him. That means all of the ways of life, not just your religious segment of life, alright? In fact, that's even a misnomer. Greg Bonson, he gave an illustration that I absolutely, that I absolutely love, and I've stolen it from him.

I've used it many times myself. He said that, he says, I have an issue with Time Magazine. He says the way they divide up their magazine, he says they have a segment on religion. He says the Bible knows of no such concept.

Religion affects every area of your life, so religion, I mean you can have a political, like Time Magazine, they have a political section, they have an education section, they have a, you know, a financial section, and then they have a religious section, as though it's separate and distinct from those others.

Really, the whole of Time Magazine should be, quote, religious, alright? And that's the way we need to look at life, is that everything that we do is affected by our relationship to God. You cannot separate that from anything else, and that's what Proverbs 3, 6 is specifically talking about.

In all your ways, your business ways, your entertainment ways, your financial ways, everything that you have to do is affected and is taught and governed by the Holy Scriptures, okay? Does that make sense?

Alright, and that's what this verse is talking about, sets it up for Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 when we get to it. These are the, these are concepts for all of life, not just Sunday morning when you, you know, when you walk into the church building, okay?

And unfortunately, we see too much of this, you know, in fact it's funny, you've seen, probably seen some of these skits on comedy shows, you know, husband and wife are screaming at each other, you know, their veins are popping out of their head and they're screaming at each other, alright?

Phone rings, a woman goes over, picks up the phone, hello, right? I mean, we can turn it on and turn it off, you know, like that, and that's what unfortunately many people do with Christianity, they think they can turn it on and turn it off.

Okay, I've got a sale to make, so I'm gonna turn off my Christianity so I can make more of a profit, alright? No, all areas of life and all your ways acknowledge him. Verse 4, to give prudence to the naive, to the youth, knowledge, and discretion.

If you want to obtain what the world calls street smarts, don't listen to those who are on the streets because they're not street smart, right? I mean, just think of what you hear, quote, on the streets, you know, and what do they call it now, street cred, you know, I have credence on the street.

No, that's what you hear on the streets, they're not, firstly, they're not the smartest people, look at their rap sheets, alright? If they were that smart, why would they be caught and put in jail, alright?

Why would they be on the streets, that's true, alright? Proverbs will give you the wisdom to understand the ways of the world, the way the world actually works, and encouraging you to adopt principles the way the world should work.

I want to just pause here and say this, Proverbs tells it like it is, okay? It's not a question of that Proverbs is naive, Proverbs is exactly the opposite of naive, you know, and in fact, we are warned to be careful when we're dealing with certain types of people in the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs, you know, some people think that Christianity means that you become a doormat, so you just have to lay down, let everybody trample over you, if somebody smacks you, turn the other cheek, you know, which is a big misnomer, again, how they interpret that verse, but anything, that's anything but the truth.

Proverbs, it'll teach you, it'll tell you, there are these type of people in the world, avoid these type of people, or if you do have to deal with them, this is how you deal with them, okay? If you go to a merchant, if he behaves in a certain way, check his scale before he weighs out your product, you know, because he may be using unfair scales, alright, and that has a broad application, alright?

It's not just talking about going to a merchant like a butcher who's going to actually put things on a scale. When it talks about, you know, having a fair and balanced scale, it's talking about the entirety of his business practices.

If you go to somebody and they have unfair business practices, don't do business with them, okay? Don't take advantage of you. Yes?

Just a real quick example that goes along with that. One of the things that I need to look at when I go to audit companies to see if we're going to stay in business with them is how they treat their employees.

You know, is it fair the way they're dealt with, and things like that, for that very reason. A good.

Example, I don't know if people could hear it on the recording, but Jerry is just talking about when he does his audits, he looks at how the company treats its employees. Are they treating their employees fairly?

And that's a perfect example of what this is saying. You don't want to do business with an unscrupulous businessman just because you can get a lower price. That's going to come right around and bite you on your rear, okay?

Progress will give you understanding to the ways of the world how it really is and how it should be, all right? It will give you understanding into the perverse and criminal mind. If you study the book of Proverbs, it will tell you how these perverse and criminals think, all right?

And if you understand how they think, that's going to help you work your way through the world. Remember, what is our definition of wisdom? Even just the simple version. Yeah, the ability to handle life with skill all to the glory of God, all right?

So Proverbs is concerned with the fact that we will be able to deal with people skillfully in all areas of life, all right? Even when they are perverse or even if they are criminals, how do we deal with them?

And it may be that, you know what, I'm not going to work for you, I'm not going to do anything for you, I'm not going to buy from you because I think you're unfair. You may have to say that. It will give you the wisdom to understand the business world.

It addresses especially the naive and the young, okay? And notice I didn't say that all the young were naive, but the naive is especially, I don't care how old you are, you can be 70 years old and still be naive, okay?

And if you read the book of Proverbs, it is addressed, specifically addressed to those who are naive and to the youth to give them knowledge and discretion. The youths. It not only gives knowledge and wisdom, but tact.

It's not only what you say, but how you say it that's important. There was nobody on the face of the earth who was more tactful than Jesus Christ. A lot of people think that that Jesus was always railing against everybody.

That's not true. In fact, if you look at the Scripture, the times that Jesus lit into somebody, so to speak, was always to the false teachers who were leading people astray. The Pharisees. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, okay?

How did he deal with the harlot by the well? Compassion. Can you give me a drink? All right. Got her involved in a discussion and eventually led her to the place where she was saved. So much so that she goes back to her village and she's telling them, I've met this guy, all right, but he dealt with her.

He didn't come up and say, excuse me, young harlot, would you give me a drink? And unfortunately, sometimes we have to be careful in our evangelism of how we treat people, you know, calling people out and etc.

We need to be cautious. Follow the example of Jesus. Don't get me wrong, there is a time, especially in counseling, where you look somebody in the eye and you tell them exactly what it is, but even then it has to be in love.

Yes?

Isn't it the criteria that in doing so, in following the Proverbs, we exemplify the commands to love our Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourself. It's not just for our benefit that we live our life in following what we're learning in Proverbs.

It's mostly to glorify God. It's.

Wisdom, Love of Neighbor, and the Kindness That Leads to Repentance

Setting an example, right? Sure. What does Paul tell us, what is it that leads to repentance? Kindness. It's the kindness of God that leads to repentance, all right, not the rebuke of the brethren. You follow?

Again, don't get me wrong, look, you've heard me preach. When it comes time, I mean, I tell people very, very clearly, if you, apart from Jesus Christ, you are bound for an eternity in hell. That message needs to get out.

But I hope and I strive that when I do it from our pulpit, that I'm doing it out of compassion and I'm pleading with them, not me condemning them because I deserve that, but pleading with them, this is what your end is, unless you repent of your sin, there's a difference, okay, and we always have to keep that in mind.

How to answer and when to answer is as important as the answer itself, okay. Anthony, what's your expression, you say, don't let the Arminians outgrace us? Don't be outgraced by an Arminian. What is it that sets Reformed churches apart?

We hold to the doctrines of what? Grace. Isn't it the doctrines of condemnation? Sometimes you would think so. No, we hold to the doctrines of grace and of all people we should be the most gracious. All right, verse 5, a wise man will hear an increase in learning and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, okay.

A wise man will listen in order to learn, all right. I can't tell you, you know, being in a position of counseling and having to counsel people of all social strata, all right, I've had to counsel people who have been in and out of jail, okay, I've had to counsel, you know, the average Christian family and then I've had the principle of counseling, I've had to counsel other pastors and very successful businessmen, okay.

Interestingly enough, the people that listen the most have been other pastors, successful businessmen. The guy who's in and out of jail, very seldom do they follow through with what I have to say. Why?

Because they know best and when I see the direction to go and they say, well, no, I want to do it this way. I say, isn't that what you've been doing? Yeah, and this is one of the few times you'll ever hear me quote Dr. Phil, you know.

I said, well, how's that working for you, you know, but it's the truth. The person who is the least successful always thinks that his way is best. When I counsel with pastors who have, and I've counseled with pastors who have fallen so they had to be removed from ministry, I've talked to pastors who had all kinds of other issues and successful businessmen, etc.

They listen and they learn because they understand that they don't know everything and if they are in trouble it's because they're doing something wrong. A wise man understands that he doesn't have all the answers.

Proverbs teaches the importance of listening. Those of you who are coming out Tuesday nights, you know that I did a whole section on a biblical counselor and it's on listening and listening doesn't merely just mean hearing what they have to say, but listening to what they're saying, how they're saying it, and learning so that you can respond, you can.

Go to the right portion of Scripture. It's the same thing on the streets. When you go.

On the streets, you need to be willing to listen more than you speak. Sure, and that.

Jonathan Edwards said something I was reading recently, he said that the wise man goes around asking questions thinking he needs all the answers, the fool thinks that everyone needs to come to him for the answers.

That's a good point, that's a good point. Alright, so Proverbs teaches the importance of seeking wise counsel. Notice the next to the last word on that sentence, seeking wise counsel. Alright, there are people who counsel shop.

They'll keep going from counselor to counselor until they find somebody who agrees with them. Alright, what you want to do is, in fact, I think I put it up here, that means there is counsel you should not seek.

Remember Rehoboam. Alright, Rehoboam is the poster child. Remember he's Solomon's son, he inherits Solomon's ties, he inherits the kingdom, and what does he do? He goes to his father's counselors and they tell him, hey, back off a little bit, your father was tough, you're not your father, you know, you're not your father, back off a little bit, okay, and what does he do?

He doesn't like that, so he goes to his friends. What does his friend say? Ah, you got to double down, you know, and he lost the kingdom. Kingdom was split because of him, because he didn't, that means there was counsel that he shouldn't seek.

Proverbs as Wisdom Literature, Not Simple Commands

Verse 6, to understand a proverb and a figure, the words of the wise and their riddles. Alright, this is a most important verse. Notice I said a most important, not the most important, but it's a most important verse.

It is important to understand that proverbs and figures of speech are interpreted differently than commandments and other forms of literature, okay. Everybody understand what I'm saying there? Commandments are easy to understand.

Thou shalt not commit murder. Rather unambiguous, isn't it? Thou shalt not steal. It's unambiguous. You can tell that to a little child and they can understand that, alright. Proverbs are different, alright.

Proverbs are wisdom literature and they do take some time to learn how to interpret them. Whoops, did it double in. We've already seen different types of poetry. Remember last week we looked at the parallelisms, synthetic, antithetical, emblematic, antithetical, alright, and those are just four.

There are others, but those are the four major types. There's also different types of literature itself. There's the didactic literature, historical narrative. There is the wisdom literature, which we're talking about here.

There is apocalyptic literature, alright, and you have to understand that you can't take one form of literature and apply it, interpret it the same as every others. This is one of the problems with those who always go to the book of Acts for instruction.

Just because something happened once in the life of the church doesn't mean that that becomes normative, alright. Let me give you an example. First time Jesus sent out his disciples and he tells them when you go out, don't take a change of clothes, don't take a weapon, alright, and he gives them instructions.

You go up to the house, knock on the door, if they greet you in peace, go in and tell them your peace will be with that house. If they don't, what, withdraw your peace, shake off the dust from your hands and leave, alright.

Is that the way we should do evangelism? Make sure you don't have a weapon, alright. No. Why? Because the next time he sent them out, remember what he said? Take a weapon, take an extra change of clothes, bring money with you because you're going to need it, alright.

Two different circumstances and you have to interpret the commands in light of those circumstances instead of just isolating one. What's the difference? There were a different purpose in what they were going out and they were facing a very different world, okay.

And can you imagine that? Jesus told them when you go out, you're going to knock on some doors, make sure you have a weapon with you. That flies in the face of what a lot of people would tell you these days.

How you use the weapon is different, alright. For example, you know the five missionaries killed down in Ecuador? Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Darien, you know those guys, alright. Do you know they had weapons with them?

They were armed with rifles when they landed on that beach and when they were attacked, they had already told, made it known between themselves, they had a pact between themselves that even if they were attacked and their lives were in danger, they would not fire their weapons.

They were free to do that, alright, but they were also free to fire, okay. They made the choice not to because they wanted to reach these people so badly that they felt that if they shot and killed anybody that that would be the end of the missionary opportunity.

They were right because their deaths changed that whole area. The majority of that tribe became Christians, okay. They used wisdom. It's not always commands, alright. They had every right when they landed there and they started throwing spears, they had every right biblically to shoot back at them.

Yeah, he says he is no fool who gives up what he can't keep to keep what he can't lose, to obtain what he can't lose. Okay. Proverbs, right in the beginning of the book, cautions us that it's a unique book written in a unique style.

You can interpret Proverbs like you can any other book. You have to go deeper than that. You have to understand how it is written. Verse 7, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

I'm going to pass on verse 7 for the moment because we're going to address this in our next session more fully, alright. Not that this is unimportant. It's an extremely important verse, but I'm just, I don't have the time to address it here.

Yes, the.

Word fear in this case could be substituted for reverence, is that.

Correct or not? That's part of it, sure. There is, yes, respect. It takes on a larger connotation. It's, and this, well here, this is a perfect example of Proverbs. I'm glad you brought that up. I wasn't thinking of this, but we're told that we ought to fear the Lord, and that's the beginning of wisdom.

What's the number one command that Jesus gave in the New Testament? No, you would think so, but it's not. No, no, the one that's repeated the most often by Jesus. Fear not. Yeah, we were told fear the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

You have to learn how to interpret the words and get to the bottom of what is meant by it. It's different concepts. We are told not to fear, and in fact very, very much so, that the main thing is don't fear anybody else.

Don't fear man, don't fear Satan. Who are we to fear? The one who has the power to cast your soul into hell, and that's only, that's only God, all right? Nobody else has the power to do that. You realize Satan doesn't have the power to cast you into hell.

He's gonna be cast there himself, okay? So, but here's an important point. The beginning of knowledge, the beginning of wisdom, begins with the fear of the Lord, and that is, and it's not fear in that I'm quaking that I'm fearing that he's gonna take my life, all right, if you're a child of his.

If you're not a child of his, that's the exact fear you should have, all right? But the fear that we have is the reverence, let me put it this way, the book of the Revelation, John's, John who is the one, the disciple whom Christ loved, right, from his own lips, okay?

He's one, he leaned back on his breast during the Lord's Supper, okay? Now he's given the vision while he's on the Isle of Patmos. He sees Jesus walking among the candlesticks. What does he do? Buddy!

Pal! No, falls down at his feet because he recognizes he is in the presence of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and there's that reverence and that awe that he sees, but he falls down at his feet, and yet we have pastors talking like, yeah, Jesus is my buddy, he's my homeboy, you know?

No. Wisdom begins, if you do not fear God, your wisdom is going to be hidden from you. Any study, any teaching, any apologetic that does not begin with the fear of God is inherently flawed. It has to begin there.

All right, this is the topic that we're going to pick up on next, how to use the book, that's supposed to be of, I'll change that for next time, how to use the book of Proverbs, and that's where we'll pick up next week.

Any final thoughts or questions? And in fact, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to insert something that I didn't have in there, I'm going to do a little teaching on the different types of literature and how they should be interpreted, all right?

Historical narrative, the didactic, etc., because that could be important, especially in how we interpret the book of Proverbs. Yes?

There's two Proverbs that I've read separately, and I'm confused how we would reconcile this. Because on the one hand, one says, he rebukes the wicked, well we'll have a good blessing come upon him, right?

And then on the other hand, the other one says, don't rebuke a scoffer or he'll hate you. How do we put those together?

Okay, can we hold that thought? Because next week, right in here, I'm picking up, I'm going to point out Proverbs 26, which says, answer a fool according to his folly, and I'm going to address that very specifically, so instead of doing it now, if we can just wait till our next session, I'm going to address that very specifically.

That's an excellent point, though, and you're right on target with what I want to talk about, okay? Any other thoughts? Okay, good. Let's close with prayer. Father, we do thank you and praise you for the blessings you've given to us in your Son.

We would simply ask now that you'd be pleased to bless this time that we've had together. May we learn, Father, that we would become wise. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.