Jeff Durbin: Righteousness Delivers Us

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Something feel off I Was just seeing if you'd notice

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I Forgot to do the catechism Yeah, yeah, so let's do it right because I don't want you telling pastor

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James on me like You know what happens when you're gone. You're no longer confessional

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I Have pastor's brain right now. You have to forgive me if you would stand together.

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Let's do our catechism I'm just trying to keep you on your toes. That's all

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No, I apologize Question number 36 what benefits to those who are effectually called receive in this life

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Those who are effectually called receive in this life justification adoption

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Sanctification and the several benefits which in this life Accompany or flow from them.

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All right. Now, let's see who's got this without looking. Haha. Okay They'll be a hazing afterwards.

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Okay Romans 830 Let's try again.

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Okay, let's stop stop. Stop. Let's try again. Okay ready and Romans 830

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There you go. Praise the Lord. What's that called? Amen you can be seated.

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All right So we are in the book of Proverbs in our series right now an expositional working through The book of Proverbs God's divine wisdom.

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We're calling it wisdom from above because that's precisely what it is So we're in chapter 10 right now, and we're doing today verses 1 through 2

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Chapter 10 book of Proverbs verses 1 through 2 here. Now the word of the living and the true

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God The Proverbs of Solomon a wise son Makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother

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Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit but righteousness Delivers from death as far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word.

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Let's pray together as God's people Lord, thank you for your word Thank you for the knowledge and understanding that you give to us as your image bearers as your children

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Thank you for your wisdom Teaching us God how to live skillfully with your truth

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We pray God today for the message that you would teach by your spirit that you'd convict us

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That you'd renew our minds that you'd heal the broken that you'd lift us up that you give us hope and joy

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And the righteousness that we have in Jesus Christ and God we pray that you'd get the teacher out of the way that your people

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Remember you and your word and what you've taught by your spirit in Jesus name. Amen Proverbs chapter 10 verses 1 through 2.

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Here's the thing. I Have been as your brother and pastor

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I've been trying as best as I can to try to communicate the difference between knowledge and scripture and wisdom

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Wisdom is the is the application of knowledge the application of God's truth. I Have a deep conviction that we need to pursue not only understanding the

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Bible theological truths being able to articulate Important doctrinal truths in scripture and defend them, but we also need to learn

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Wisdom, how do we actually apply these truths? Because there's a difference between having divine wisdom understanding it being able to apply it and being a knowledgeable fool much that we can see around us in terms of failure in either the failure of the

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Christian Church to influence the world to be salt and light or a failure in our personal relationships whether that's our marriages or our relationship with our children or with one another within a church much of the failures come from a lack of knowledge and Especially wisdom we don't know and we don't know how to apply

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What I've been trying to challenge all of us in is that we need to pursue as the people of God Not only the knowledge that we get from scripture divine revelation explaining who

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God is who am I? What's the truth about this world? How do I know God? We don't need to just pursue those things

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But we have to pursue actually becoming sharp in the application of divine wisdom And that's why

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I'm so especially grateful to God for allowing us to have not only his word but to be able to have space within the life of our community to actually do an exposition on the book of Proverbs because This is the book of divine wisdom.

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How do you live as a Christian? How do you live? How do you how do you manage conflict in your family and your relationship to your parents or manage conflict within the church?

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How do you deal with injustice in the public square in the courts? All of that is right here in the book of wisdom.

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We need to pursue divine wisdom versus being knowledgeable Fools people that know a lot of stuff, but we can't actually apply

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Wisdom, we don't know how to live like God to be like Christ and that's the key issue

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Jesus is wisdom incarnate God incarnate But he is not just God incarnate in terms of giving people truth and truth claims abstractions you see in the life of Jesus the wisdom of God not just in the

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Spectacular way that he can answer people and that he knows their thoughts from afar But how

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Jesus actually can navigate in God's creation what it's like to be

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Divinely wise because he is wisdom incarnate with we're gonna be like Christ if we're going to be like Christ if we're being conformed to Christ image, this is key and probably a revelation to many zealous young reformed people, which is a good thing

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But if we're gonna be like Christ, we can't be just like Christ in his knowledge

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But also in his skill and applying God's truth He is wisdom incarnate if we're gonna be conformed to Christ image that we must be like him

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We'd show no partiality. We are loved with one another and that application comes out in our lives

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See oftentimes we can articulate and Defend the Trinity we can articulate defend justification by faith alone in Christ alone

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We know the sola sola scriptura Solis Christus sola gratia sola fide soli deo gloria

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We can do all that articulate it we can articulate the authority of Scripture We can even defend those truths out there in the public square.

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However, oftentimes we're proud We gossip

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We slander We cause division We entertain one -sided stories.

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We just did a message on that in Proverbs 18 We come to conclusions before we've fully heard a matter.

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We show partiality We get seduced by sexually immoral men and women

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When God gives us divine wisdom as as to how to avoid the harlot the whore the sexually immoral

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How to stay away from her door how to not go into that pit where there is death We are oftentimes let's admit it in all

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Christian communities professing Christian communities But especially in a reformed community, you'll find this often.

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We're knowledgeable fools We know a lot, but we don't actually have the skill of divine wisdom in our daily life and in our personal relationships

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That's what the study is about That's what it's about it's not about just getting through a book It's about allowing these things

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To actually set into our lives our minds our souls our hearts and actually start bearing fruit of divine wisdom you see the difference between knowledge facts abstractions and Wisdom is much like I remember and some of you guys are amazing musicians

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So I might blow this in terms of how to describe it But I when I was young I I learned the saxophone don't ask me why

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I picked the saxophone I Decided I had to do a musical instrument So I'm gonna do the saxophone and I ended up stopping doing the saxophone because the reed would get really funky and stinky

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And so I ended up like picking it up and it smelled so bad It just said now when I see saxophones, all

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I smell is that stinky reed? And so that's why I quit and so I'm a quitter. I'm sorry

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But I remember when I was very young and I started doing the saxophone and doing band class and everything else

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I remember the first thing that you have to learn and you guys can attest to this as musicians many of you

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You have to learn musical theory. You have to learn like, okay, this is the pace. I remember the teacher up there

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Okay, ready everyone and one two, three four one two, three four

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And you're learning that pace To follow the conductor and you're learning the pace and how they want this to flow and the pace and all those things and then you're

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Learning. Okay, this is this musical note. And so I remember the books even right you have a musical instrument

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But you've also got a book a matter of fact downstairs in my cave It's where they have music class here at the church or at this school so all across the wall or the musical notes and describing musical theory and the purpose of music to the glory of God and it's

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Explaining even terms of different beats you want to follow and why you're doing it this way

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And here's the thing you can actually get maybe a degree in musical theory And you know all the things about notes and how that's supposed to sound and all the rest and you've got it down to a science in your minds, but there is a vast difference between understanding the

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Musical theory and this is the pacing and here's what this note means and here's where it belongs on the sheet and all the rest

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You can know all those things and actually not be a skillful musician Right, you cannot be a skillful musician.

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You could just know all the right stuff You could teach a class on it, but you are not actually good at performing the artistry of music

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I remember when candy and I were very young and very newly married we had a couple that were very close to and That my friend

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Aaron his brother was a very famous pianist he was absolutely Astonishing and I would actually encourage you if you get a chance after this message go check it out on YouTube.

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His name was Dax Johnson da X Johnson Dax Johnson and Dax was absolutely

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Astonishing in how he was so skillful with the piano. He could make some of the most beautiful music

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I have ever heard in my life and I mean that sincerely we used before he got like uber famous we used to go and like he'd go to a local mall and he had he had been sort of you know paid to sit

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There and to play and you could listen to him play for hours And it was amazing his skill and his ability to just play all the notes and he invented even a new pedal

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For the piano and just gives it a new sound and it's it's really amazing.

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Some of his music is incredible He had the ability to play that piano in Honestly clearly divinely gifted ability.

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God gave you that gift. That's something special. And here's the thing about Dax. He never took a music class

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He never was taught the piano All the guy did is he loved the piano and he loved the sound that it makes and he just learned on his own

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To play that thing and he started playing concerts Globally and people would pay all kinds of money to go sit for hours to listen to Dax play the piano because he was so Skillful, that's the difference between knowledge and wisdom

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He was able to actually Articulate and he was able to move your soul and your mind with this music and he never took a class on music theory

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He didn't do what I did as a young boy and learn all the notes and how it's supposed to sound He learned this by the way, this is what this is when they were still like AOL online like America, right

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American online this is when it was like you were still like dial -up like Ding ding ding so it's not like he had like the online training like kids today you guys you got it made you can learn

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Anything almost for free just I want to learn that instrument and go to YouTube and some dudes teaching you for free, right?

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You'll learn it all at home and all the rest. This is before that This is just him as a young boy sitting in front of a piano and just creating music with this gift and this skill

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And that's the difference between knowledge and wisdom the ability to actually carry this out in the world skillfully and Here's the challenge in this section you'll notice have you already noticed some of you guys have been in this book longer than I have been

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Right and I'm not making fun of your age I'm saying you've poured over this book for a long time You've been in the book of Proverbs a lot.

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You might have already been wondering before we got to chapter 10 I wonder how pastor Jeff's gonna deal with this and what

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I mean by that is you go from chapter 1 through chapter 10 and Much of it is thematic.

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In other words, you'll have a big section Sometimes the whole chapter and it's sort of aimed at one

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Lane and one area of thought one theme and it's just drilling down and it's the entire chapter and so much of 1 through chapter 9 was already thematic and it's a little easier to manage because you're having these big sections and It's one thought and you may have already known that when you get to chapter 10

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Everything changes everything changes in chapter 10 in the book of Proverbs It's it's the bane of every expositors existence and you get to chapter 10

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Why because unlike chapters 1 through 9 very thematic now we get to mixed

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These are now short Maxim's now it's identified as the

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Proverbs of Solomon We're not going to do a big thing here and a big study over the authorship of this book.

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Is it really ultimately? It doesn't really matter in terms of how much of this was written by Solomon by his own hands

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How much is of it was written by his assistants all those things scholars love to talk about but it doesn't get us to the real

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Discussion I want to imply God's wisdom here And so it's addressed as the

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Proverbs of Solomon and now we have what are short sort of scattered maxims in a way and Bonson when he addresses this he addresses this like this

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He says you really need to think of the book of Proverbs in this way But especially after chapter 10 you need to think of the

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Proverbs verse by verse Like your vitamins, right your vitamins.

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What do you do? You take them into yourself? They go into your system and it takes time for it to work through your system.

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You need to give these maxims You need to give these tidbits of divine wisdom in Proverbs You need to give them time to work in you think of it

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Bonson says like a hard candy, right? You don't pop it into your mouth and then just swallow it all at once You put it into your mouth and you savor it over a long period of time

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You suck that hard candy until it disappears and that's how you have to take the book of Proverbs in these bursts like this

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You have to take it like that. Let it get into you and let it do its work Let it challenge you think about the different ways.

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You have to apply this in your daily life meditate on it If you if we want our minds to be renewed, that's how this truth has to get into us

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And so we're on to verse 1. Here we go Proverbs 10 verse 1 the Proverbs of Solomon a wise man

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Makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother

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So you have now? this Display of what has already been the theme, you know this we've been in the book of Proverbs for some time you know that the wisdom comes like a father to a son it that Relationship between the father and the son or the mother to the child or the parents to the child is

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Upfront and center and the text says a wise son makes a glad father

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But a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother some translations. Don't use the word sorrow some

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Translations use the word heaviness. It's heaviness to her heart so a foolish son is a heaviness to his mother and A wise son is what makes a father glad This is listen how

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God made the world We have to take off the shackles of the culture that's round about us and how we've just diminished the glory of the family

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The foundation and unity of the family we act like you can live a life Well that you can be a wise son

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That you can be have a strong life at the very beginning Without a father or a mother in so many ways just consider it you have an actual culture in some ways where people will actually

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Prize the idea of like that's my baby's mama. That's my baby's daddy You have a culture that teaches that like prizes and accepts it like we have a broken family.

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It's no big deal He's over there. I'm over here. You have now a culture where we even allow homosexual couples to adopt

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Children and broken families or in families that are just totally Harmful to the child where we're saying to a child

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You could grow up with a mother and a mother or a father and a father and you won't be lacking in anything

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And of course, it's not the way that God made the world and that's the culture We live in we live in a culture that's telling us

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It's perfectly fine to live your life without a father or without a mother now It's a fallen world and I want to be very sensitive to this listen at the start.

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It's a fallen world And what ought to be the case? Oftentimes isn't the case

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Sometimes we come from broken families Sometimes we come from harmful parents We have a sinful father an abusive father or a sinful mother and an abusive mother

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I understand that but this is talking about principles the way that God made the world is

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He made the world in a certain way Jesus says it what a man shall leave his father and his mother he shall cling to his wife to become one flesh

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What happens what how did God make the world from the very beginning of creation? Which by the way kind of demolishes the

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Darwinian model and any idea of theistic evolution from the beginning? He made them male and female from the very start

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It was male and female and from the beginning God's purpose was you leave your father and mother one family unit?

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To be joined to your wife creating another new world and new family from which children come

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That's the way God made the world if you want order peace harmony goodness happiness joy

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It's gonna start there at the family Whether you like it or not, that's where it starts and this text is talking about wisdom in terms of the relationship

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Between the father the mother and the child in terms of imparting wisdom in giving love and care

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Raising up the child and but in this case, it's actually talking about the consequences of godly wisdom or foolishness directed towards the family so children

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Today I have you in my sights a wise son makes a glad father

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Now notice what it didn't say it didn't say the superstar athlete makes the glad father

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Did you get that? It's not to say those aren't good things I'm not diminishing the glory of God's gifting in those areas

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But that's not the pinnacle a wealthy son makes a glad father. Nope Nope because that actually is not the definition of success

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Divine success in God's eyes. What's it say in terms of making a father glad and father happy?

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it says a wise son makes the father glad and it says that a foolish son is

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Sorrow as heaviness to the heart of his mother because that's how God made the world

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Well, how does God start in terms of giving order to the world? He creates the family and children come from the family

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There's authority there and there's love and care and nurturing and as you move through God's redemptive story What do you have you have

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God given the Ten Commandments and what here's your test for today? What is the first commandment with promise?

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What is it? the very first commandment in the ten in the Decalogue and the

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Ten Commandments the first commandment with a promise according to Ephesians chapter 6 is

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Honor your father and your mother. It's that commandment that God gives honor your father and your mother

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Keep the word honor there is to keep glory upon Let that set

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Honor your father and your mother. Yes and tales obey. Yes, but it's honor keep glory upon Children your father and your mother and God says when you live that way when you actually

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Function in the world in a way that God made the world. There's blessing and there's promise

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There's goodness and life and happiness and peace and he doesn't say it about lying He didn't say it about adultery

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He says to children honor your father and your mother and then he follows it with the blessings because that's how

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God made the world Keep glory upon your mother and your father. That's God's order in Ephesians chapter 6 go there

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And Ephesians chapter 6 it's a new

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Bible. My pages are still sticking together. I love it Ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 the text says children

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Obey your parents in the Lord for this is right honor your father and mother This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land

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So there's the instruction to children. This is Fundamental it's Foundational to how

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God made the world This is the very foundation of harmony the family and the relationships that we have in the family.

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We are not to be disconnected Oftentimes we can celebrate in today's culture people will just sort of accept

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They have my parents or you know total nerds or my parents or they don't know what's going on and sort of you know you have

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It even It even taught in media and film whenever it gives you the impression of the dad of the family

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It gives you the impression the dad of the family that he's either a deadbeat or he's sort of the absentee father

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Or he's just a total doofus and he's dumb, right you'll have even children shows

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Expressing the relationship between the children and the parents as not good and it's normalized as that's just the way the world is

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That's just the way the world is parents don't know they were talking about parents are sort of out of their element They don't understand us and and they don't really know they don't really understand.

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That's what's taught in media You're not really taught in media and in film and in TV shows the glory of the family and the harmony of the family and the goodness of mother and father pouring into the children loving the children nurturing the children and Highlighting the glory of that relationship, but it's not so With divine wisdom divine wisdom says this is the very foundation of harmony if you

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Child if you kids if you want goodness happiness joy peace life

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Then you follow your mother and your father and you follow God's Word and his wisdom

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Because a wise son makes a glad father and a foolish son is heaviness to his mother

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It's the foundation of harmony and harmony and listen to this check this out this week, you know this you

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I'm not teaching you anything Here you don't know But you know that Scripture has this theme over and over and over these principles and this truth around the family and children and parents honoring them

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God's wisdom foolish children. It's everywhere. But I think it's interesting. I really as I was preparing this

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I Dawned on me that one of the ways that the Apostle Paul Expresses when he explains the gospel systematically in Romans one of the ways that he expresses a broken

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Creation is this way go there. It's a Romans 1 Romans 1

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When he wants to express to the world Just how broken the world is how fallen and separated from God that it is

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He does so in some ways that most of us would say. Yeah, that's obvious That was actually a really amazing insightful thing you did there you pointed to something that shows creation actually turned on its head

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But he does he does more in Romans 1 you guys all know he explains that everybody knows

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God They suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness. They don't want to know God. They don't want him in their knowledge and so what's the first thing

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Paul identifies as Proof positive that the world is in rebellion to their

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Creator. What's the first thing he shows? What is everybody? What? Feel free to say it

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He says they suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness And then what does he try to display in terms of creation turned on its head?

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What's the first thing he points out as broken? David say aloud

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Sexuality and how does he do it with human sexuality? How does he show that the world is actually broken and it's turning creation on its head.

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What's he do? What's he what's he point to in terms of sexuality? What is it? Degrade yet degraded passions and each point specifically to Homosexual practice.

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It's a creation turned on its head All right God made the world to order and function a certain way male and female and then he goes and these people are so Broken, they are idolatrous.

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They don't want the true God. They don't want to know him They don't want to think about him And so what do they do is they exchange the glory of the incorruptible

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God for something that looks like him They switch God for idols and then he goes what he says and then they actually have and women with women

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So Paul's saying it's broken. Here's the obvious display. It's so broken.

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It's men with men and women with women Can you believe it? That's not the way the girl the world even works

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The world will never grow that way life doesn't work that way in God's world He made this whole thing and can you believe people actually switch

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God even in their sexuality? But notice this he goes on with a list and I think what he says is interesting in Romans chapter 1 verse 28

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He says this and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God God gave them up to a debased mind to do what they ought not to be done

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What ought not to be done? They were filled with all manner of Unrighteousness evil covetousness

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Malice, they are full of envy murder strife deceit maliciousness

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They are gossips slanderers haters of God insolent haughty boastful inventors of evil disobedient to parents

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So that's interesting. It's oftentimes Rightly this is not wrong.

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It's rightly rightly we will point to our culture today and call them to repentance and faith in Jesus come to Christ for life and Oftentimes we find ourselves in a discussion where we're trying to love our neighbors that are engaged in say

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Homosexuality and we're trying to point them to what scripture says about why that's broken and how we love them We want to turn to Christ to know

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God and be forgiven and we're very good at pointing out. Hey, this is broken Homosexuality is broken.

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God defines it Here's what he says But you know, we oftentimes don't point to is that he actually named some of our favorite sins alongside homosexuality, right gossip

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Slander haughtiness, and you know what else he says in terms of you want to know that the world is broken. Look at this disobedient to parents

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That's how you know, the world's broken That's fundamental. You want to show the world flips on its head creation gone awry

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Creation flipped on its head gone the wrong direction Here's proof positive. It's not just homosexuality.

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It's actual disobedience to parents. That's a highlight sin Did you notice that this is big?

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Did you notice the disobedience of parents is right near haters of God? disobedient to parents in the same list of rebuke of sins as haters of God Same category fallen creation disobedient to parents haters of God those belong together

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That's what scripture says it's the foundation of harmony the family the parents to the children and What's the consequence today?

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We don't respect this. We don't honor God We don't want his wisdom and the order that he's created the harmony is created with parents to children

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Infusing and teaching knowledge understanding and wisdom into our children. So we have a create we have a world today a culture today around us

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Where there's no common sense I mean isn't one of the things you notice the most when you look out there and you see like Say a video of engaging people on college campuses.

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You see like 22 year old Technically adults but kids right and you say you walk away from videos like that.

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You're like my goodness It's like they have absolutely no common sense No, no ability to like live skillfully in the world

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Like what's what's broken there? And and if you want to find the if you want to find why there's bad fruit you gotta go to the root, right?

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Where's it starts? Of course, it's a sinful heart But it's gonna start in terms of like the way God made the world is godly righteous parents wisdom being poured into the children

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Why is there no common sense? How come they have no idea how to live skillfully? How come they're confused about gender?

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How come they're confused morally today? How come they're confused? Sexually today, how come they have no skill?

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Listen to how it comes Go to Proverbs 4 listen to how it comes Now this is just a repetition so 10 is a short maxim

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That expresses in a new way What you've already heard over and over from across this pulpit in Proverbs So 10 1 has already been said but now 10 1 is a punch

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From what was said in an entire? chapter chapter 4 Verse 1 it says this watch out comes here.

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It is again ready here Oh sons of father's instruction and be attentive that you may gain insight for I give you good precepts

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Do not forsake my teaching when I was a son with my father tender the only one in the sight of my mother

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He taught me and said to me let your heart hold fast my words

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Keep my commandments and live Get wisdom get insight do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth do not forsake her and she will

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Keep you love her and she'll guard you the beginning of wisdom is this get wisdom and whatever you get get insight

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Prize her highly and she'll exalt you she will honor you if you embrace her she will place on your head a graceful

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Garland she will bestow on you a beautiful crown Hear my son and accept my words that the years of your life here.

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It is may be many You're gonna see that in a minute I have led you in the paths of uprightness when you walk your step will not be hampered and if you run you will not

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Stumble keep hold of instruction. Do not let go Guard her for she is your life

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Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of the evil avoid it

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Do not go on it turn away from it and pass on for they cannot sleep unless they've done wrong

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They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence

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But the path of the righteous It's like the don't like the light of dawn which shines brighter and brighter until full day

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The way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know over what they stumble

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So there it is see how the instruction came it does it the whole way through the book father son father Child and then it you get to ten one and now it's a short punchy

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Proverb a wise son makes a glad father a Foolish son is heaviness to his mother

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Here's the consequence kids If you don't obey this if you're gonna resist your parents instruction if you're gonna resist the wisdom that comes from God through them

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To you if you resist it, then here's the consequence. That's how the text comes to us. And so Think about this kids.

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This is where I'm gonna engage with our children a little bit now I don't mean children just by the little children. I mean you Teenagers as well think about The wisdom

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That's come from your parents in your life Wisdom that that you didn't even really know

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It wasn't like you've got a class and you sat down and you got an exam Right when you had to test out and you had to like check the right boxes

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Some of it was stuff that you just caught from your parents, right?

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And you'd even know where you first learned it, but you know it now and you grab hold of it nice and tight

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So for example kids if I told you that um, I wanted to get a bunch of plastic bags

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Right, and I wanted to wrap them around our faces and I wanted to go just let's go run and play with plastic bags

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Run like around our faces What would you say to me? kids No Why?

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Because you'll suffocate who told you you'll suffocate Because one of you momos did that one time and your parents said no

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Don't put the bag over your face. You'll die, right? So they taught you this skill in life keep the plastic bags off of your heads kids and some of you

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Did it again? Next what if I offered you a huge chunky piece of delicious steak and I told you

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I wanted you to put in your mouth And don't bother chewing it. Just give it a swallow What would you say kids?

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No, and why? What's that you'll choke who told you that The world is full of sinners we know this okay, okay

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I assure you someone told you Who your parents, you know parents right that that's especially you got young kids, right?

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When they're like one two and three start introducing food to them. You're constantly watching them, right?

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You're constantly eyeballing like you're totally fearful or those moments Have you ever had the moment as a parent where they start choking on something, right?

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Is that not the most terrifying? Thing right. It's so terrifying for a parent.

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It's a parents. You're watching your kids like a hawk You're like just waiting for that moment. And when it happens like you're ready to get it out

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You're ready to do what you can But what do you always do when the child is learning to eat is you're there in front of them and you're saying what is?

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A parent chew it. Well, you're saying take small bites and sometimes you say spit it out

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Right you say like how many that's my whole last week was spit it out Try again smaller bite why because it's the wisdom from the parents skillful living is that this is only a certain size and God gave you teeth for a reason you need to chew that well and you need to make sure that you swallow it

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So you don't die. That's what you teach your children. That's wisdom passed on to children. It's skillful living

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Taught from the parents of the child how to eat food or how about kids if I said hey guys

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Before church, I met a guy outside wearing all black real sweaty long hair kind of dirty

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Big white van blacked out windows. He says he has candy for us.

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Let's go, right What would you say? No Who taught you something?

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I think yeah candy, right? No, why but why do you not go out?

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To the strangers van with candy who taught you that Your mom and dad who taught you don't talk to strangers.

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Don't trust a stranger. You don't go to someone's vehicle You don't go inside because they entice you with goodies and money and candy

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You say no Because your parents are trying to keep you safe and wise in a fallen world

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With some very sinful and wicked people out there out there that would love to harm you They are out there and your parents are guarding you with wisdom saying here's skillful living.

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Don't go that direction Don't follow that man or how about if I built a fire kids? And I said, let's build a big bonfire and let's all jump in it.

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What would you say? No, why who taught you not to burn yourself on things like stoves and fires who taught you mom and dad

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Don't touch the stove, right or how the parents don't you'd love it. Sometimes you're like don't touch the stove

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Stay away from that stay away from that. Sometimes you're like, well, let's see what happens There's like maybe you just need to touch it for a moment to realize you're gonna burn yourself

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Maybe you just need to get a little bit of pain for you to realize you can't do that So parents have to manage this and say

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I want you to be happy. I want you to be filled with joy I want your life to be peaceful I want you to be separated from all harm and people that would harm you so your parents are saying to you

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Stop swallowing that whole piece of food without chewing it not because they're like because I would I want to rob you of your joy

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Right if parents aren't saying don't go with the stranger who's offering you the candy because we so Don't want you to have any red dye today.

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I don't want you to have any any fun or joy We're saying don't do that because to go don't go on that path.

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You'll be destroyed Don't do this because you're gonna be destroyed the reason the parents are pouring that wisdom into you is because they love you and they want the best for you and they want you to be happy and strong They want you experience life in this world.

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And so all these ways parents we pour into our children this wisdom It's because we love our children we care for them

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Now kids everything I just gave to you about the steak about the stranger the sweaty stranger outside But the van with the blacked out windows everything

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I told you about the fire and every other example you could throw out like don't run with scissors Right who taught you that mom and dad right don't do relay races with butcher knives like, you know, those sorts of things

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Everything I just told you was what your parents pouring into you. This is how to live Here's skill and living that will keep you happy that will keep you peaceful and safe God's Word everybody is precisely that here in divine wisdom

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It's God giving to us wisdom on here's what will keep you safe. Here's what will keep you happy Here's what will keep you joyful and of course that comes from God to us as children

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But it's actually shown that it's mediated from the father and the mother to the child and then what's the maximum?

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What's the punch to it? It says a Wise son makes a glad father and a foolish son is sorrow is heaviness to his mother

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So we need to think in terms of kids and I don't mean just Small children.

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I'm talking to mark teenagers now who love the Lord you profess faith in Jesus God saying here

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Here's the consequences of your sin and foolishness Towards your parents. The question you to ask yourself is this do you make your mom's heart heavy?

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Is that life for you in your home? Do you make your mom's heart? Sorrowful, do you make it heavy because there is?

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Resistance and sin and defiance and a lack of Discipline and honoring father and mother.

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Do you make your mom's heart heavy? Do you make your father? glad and proud

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Not because of all that you can do Not because of all your amazing skills that God's gifted you with in terms of the things that you can produce whether it's musically or Athletically, but do you make your father proud because you are wise?

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According to God's Word There's more in Proverbs on this theme so much more, but I want you to see one final verse here

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Proverbs chapter 23 Verses 24 go there.

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Here's the other expectation of following God's wisdom his wisdom from above it says this

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Proverbs 23 verse 24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice

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He who fathers a wise son Will be glad in him and the text says to our children and again

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I mean those who belong to their parents Let your father and mother be glad Let her who bore you

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Rejoice, it's the duty of a child in God's world

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To work towards the joy and gladness of your parents That's what the text says

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To not be something that brings sorrow to your mother to actually make the mother who bore you glad Now here's here's the here's the key issue ready children

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We have to all recognize this and all your parents understand this in the room as well There is a tendency in a fallen world with sinful people, which would be each and every single one of us

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To resist the instruction and authority of our parents There's a sinful tendency in all of us to reject the authority of your parents to sin against the authority of your parents and so what you must do if you love the

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Lord and you want to be glad in God and to enjoy God is Put that sin to death to recognize that when

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I sense sinful rebellion Hostility a lack of teachability towards my parents in order to enjoy

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God and bring him glory For his glory, I will put that sin to death.

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I will honor my father and my mother I will pursue Wisdom and understanding to bring glory to God the heart of obedience

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Must come with a desire to worship God and to enjoy him

44:30

You will never ever ever want to obey God's law if they are simply external things

44:37

Exerting pressure on to us. You can't give people a list of good deeds and say here you go do these things

44:44

You'll be happy because sinful people will say that's nice. I don't care But if you know

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Jesus Christ and you're forgiven and God dwells in you you should see the law of God Recognize your natural tendency to disobey it and put those things to death in an effort to glorify

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God and to enjoy him Forever that's the key. And by the way, if you caught it if you heard what

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I just said You recognize for each and every one of us that's in every area of life. That's not just from children to parents

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That's in every area of life. How come I don't go into the harlots home? How come I don't go to the sexually immoral man or woman?

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How come ultimately it's not just you know Hopefully so that people around me think highly of me, but it's from the heart.

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I worship and obey God I want to glorify God. I want to enjoy God. I want to worship God So I pursue this wisdom because of this deeply intimate relationship that I have with him.

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That's the key issue now verse 2 Chapter 10 verse 2.

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Here's what the text says. It says Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit but righteousness delivers from death now

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There's no question That the application of this wisdom can go in two different lanes in terms of the first part treasure gained by wickedness

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Do not profit you could talk about that economically. Yes, like in a hard school of economics with money and business and Defrauding your neighbor you could do that, but I am confident.

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There is a much deeper Form of wisdom going on here and I think it'd be a way to say this that we can all understand is very simply this

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Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit can be easily said the rewards of sin do not profit the rewards of sin do not

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Profits in other words what sin presents to you as the bonus as the treasure as the reward

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It'll never actually profit you it's never gonna profit you this is God's world

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He made the world a certain way you and I are in his image He made you to live in a certain way with him to his glory and no matter what anybody entices you with The rewards of sin will never profits false gods never satisfy and The rewards of sin will never truly profits it may look for the moment on the surface like it will

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But the text says Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit the rewards of sin do not profit just think for a moment about how sin

47:33

Entices you a sinful path entices you you may see the people in the after parties

47:39

You may see people at the club you may see people partying and just being sexually free and doing what they want and having many partners and using all kinds of Illegal drugs and substances what you never see is the fallouts, right?

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You don't see that promoted at the party in the after party, right? When everyone's sharing the molly and the ecstasy or the alcohol or the pills you never see the real fallout that I got to see in my own life personally

48:08

But also at the hospital with the person who's dead Where this life and this path took them, right?

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So the enticement is look if you take this thing, you will feel so good

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You will feel so good. You will feel happy You will take this and you will feel so much pleasure if you take this

48:30

Substance if you pursue this idol, you'll lose all your inhibitions You'll be able to talk at parties you'll have close

48:39

Relationships, you'll be able to have conversations. You never thought you'd be able to have before that's honestly how it's promoted, right?

48:46

If you take this ecstasy, for example back, you know 20 years ago ecstasy was exploding over,

48:51

Arizona That's how people would share it. They would say You're gonna feel so amazing. It's like hours of ecstasy.

48:58

You'll have conversations with strangers. They'll become your best friends forever lie It's all fiction it's all fake it never produces they never tell you about the next day how you feel depressed and dark and lost and how those

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Relationships weren't real. It was all fiction. It was all a facade. It was all a lie those pursuits

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Will never actually profit you whether it's drugs whether it's sex outside of marriage

49:29

People try to say, you know, we should be able to love we want who are you to tell me? What I can do with my body if I want to have 50 if I want to have 50 sexual partners

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You know, who are you to say right people brag today about their body counts? Like it's a it's a fun thing to celebrate today.

49:44

How what's your body count? What's your body count? and we have a culture that just sort of brags on the fact that we should just be sexually free and be intimate however many

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Times with as many people as we possibly want with no consequences sex outside of a covenant.

49:58

How are we dealing with STDs? How's that going for you people talking about like herpes today on the rise and just normal and natural to have sexual contact with someone who has herpes or super gonorrhea

50:15

Today we had gonorrhea what back in the 70s and 80s is a real problem And now you've got super gonorrhea and they call it super gonorrhea because why because almost no

50:26

Antibiotics that we have today even the most potent ones can touch it. So how are we doing?

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It's a really paying off. Is this is this freedom actually paying off for us?

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Is it actually? Profiting us these treasures gained by wickedness or how about?

50:45

the Promise of treasure and reward in Pornography we got real quiet in here because it's something we all face.

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Amen There is more free access today to sexually immoral

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Images and content than ever before in history This stuff used to be hidden You had to go into back alleys and dark places and seedy parts of town

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To get access to this kind of content and now you are bombarded with it at every moment in your devices through media and it's something we have to face because it's something that is now promoted as Healthy and good and wonderful and should be celebrated that we can engage in these sorts of things

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But what does it lead to without question? Does it give you the reward that you're pursuing?

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No, the pornography actually leads to documentable statistically provable sinful compulsion

51:52

Right you pursue it and you don't actually get satisfaction you need more and more and more and more and someone gets into a a

52:01

Spiral where they start watching pornography now They're watching pornography for three hours a day four hours a day five hours a day six hours a day

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They go into a weekend where the whole weekend was pursuing Pornography because the images and the pursuit doesn't actually satisfy does it?

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It doesn't actually satisfy does it but what does it lead to more? compulsion more chasing more

52:25

Destruction of the human mind. Do you know that? It's actually a fact and it's proven that the images people see in pornography get actually burned into their memories

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Burned into their memories, so you'll go decades and decades after Viewing pornography for the last time and you'll still be able to access those images

52:45

Unforgettable in your mind even as a forgiven person, you know There's some of you guys came to Christ with a life of this behind you, you know

52:51

Right now that that destruction wreaked havoc that you are still dealing with to this day

52:59

Right. Did it really give you the treasure that it promised the prophet that it promised? distorted a

53:08

Distortion of beautiful sexuality Think about this scripture is big big big big big on the intimacy the glory and the beauty of sexuality man and wife

53:23

It's big There's a lot to say about it in terms of one thing I think that evangelicals have failed in is being light and salt in the area of human sexuality and just how amazing and good

53:35

It is how much it is to be celebrated in the right way to come against the lies of the world

53:43

They're like, hey, look at all this treasure. You can give from our wickedness to come against that lie to show them No, this is real pressure.

53:50

This is the real treasure the husband -wife relationship Totally committed enjoying one another knowing each other and being satisfied in one another but we have a culture that says no distort it

54:00

Make it ugly spread it everywhere. And so we distort what is beautiful sexuality or how about the consequences of a porno a pornography?

54:09

addiction pursuing that treasure in terms of what it does to the physical body how it wrecks your mind your ability to be

54:17

Intimate with your spouse and leads to actual physical problems with men

54:23

It's perversion and it never delivers what it says it will you can talk about Ill gains in terms of fraud in business and defrauding your neighbor

54:34

It never satisfies it looks like it offers treasure. It won't satisfy or how about crime, right?

54:41

Don't obey the law defraud your neighbor steal from others abuse the community

54:47

And so if you would just get engaged in crime, you're gonna make a ton of money. You're gonna live a happy life

54:53

You'll be just great. I'm reminded when I thought about this of Two particular stories one is

55:02

When I was 19 years old I took a break from teaching karate because I was tired of making everybody else money, but myself and working for guys

55:12

And so I said, I'm just done right now. I need to take a break And so I decided I'm gonna do something else candy and I were recently married

55:20

Had a baby and I was like I just I need to do something else And so I decided to start doing selling insurance and investments and you know

55:29

Mutual funds and those sorts of things and I actually did really really well, but I had a partner one day

55:36

He came back to work after going on an appointment. He's like you're never going to believe

55:42

Who I just went to see and I was like who and by the way, this was like 1999

55:49

He goes you're never gonna believe it he goes I just went to the house of Sammy the bull

55:54

Gravano Now for some of you guys in this room, you're like no clue who you're talking about But if you live during the 90s with the mafia at its peak and New York and Gotti and all the stuff that was going

56:06

On Sammy the bull was a very big deal. He was all over the news. He cooperated with the government

56:12

He turned on Gotti. It was a big deal and my partner went on appointments But the name wasn't

56:17

Sammy the bull the name was some other name I was like, what was it like to go sit down to give life insurance to Sammy the bull?

56:27

He didn't get approved by the way Which I thought was funny Sammy the bull thought he was gonna get life insurance.

56:35

I Thought that was amusing the insurance insurance guy must have been like, yeah, I don't think so.

56:41

This is guaranteed, right? So Sammy the bull when he left the Mafia He had a hit put out on him a contract by the

56:48

Mafia to take him out because he cooperated with the government So when my friends my partner went to sit with him

56:54

He comes into the house and he says sit it in the back sitting in the backyard was Sammy the bull Hey, you know what?

57:00

He was wearing a bulletproof vest in his own house How those treasures work out for you

57:08

How that life of sin work out for you to be constantly watching your back in Hiding knowing that there are hitmen who would love to take a piece of you to get that money from the contract he's in his own home with his own family wearing a bulletproof vest and Later while he moved to Arizona, he started an ecstasy ring here in Arizona And he was ultimately caught and thrown back in jail.

57:35

So he spent most of his life in jail So, how did that's a life of crime and that pursuit of that ill -gain

57:41

Work out for someone like that and he was at the top tier of crime families.

57:46

He's the best of the best He's at the very top. You can't really get any higher how to work out for him or I wanted to tell you about the time that I ministered to DMX Some of y 'all have no idea who

58:00

I'm talking about and some of y 'all do I Spent a lot of time giving the gospel to and being a minister to the old famous hip -hop artist

58:12

DMX Which was really weird for me because In my younger days

58:19

I was listening a lot to DMX and now he's sitting in front of me and I'm ministering to him and so I spent a lot of time with DMX giving him the gospel and He is another example of somebody who had all the riches all the fame all the women

58:34

Everything that he could possibly want and now he's sitting in front of me a very broken man

58:40

And I was able to give him the gospel on a number of occasions I spent hours with him communicating the truth to him and I said to him

58:48

I Said to him I said if you don't turn to Christ away from all of this

58:55

Not only will you die? Eternally and spend an eternity away from God.

59:00

I said, but I promise you you are going to die This is going to kill you the life that you're leading now the parties the drugs everything you are going to die

59:11

I promise And some of you guys know what recently happened to him. What was in the last year last two years

59:19

He overdosed and he died exactly as I told him

59:26

Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit It's not going to turn out the way that you think and here's the challenge right let's let's start to summarize this

59:38

The challenge is oftentimes. What is you see? people living a life of foolishness sin wickedness and evil and As a

59:52

Christian sometimes you wonder How are they getting away with that? right Like I think at times

01:00:01

A lot of examples, but I think at times the the sister in Christ Tabitha who saved my son's life from being murdered.

01:00:15

She saved his life Poured into the mother his birth mom and Gave everything to make sure my son lived and wasn't going to be aborted

01:00:26

She has a twin sister Who is a missionary full -time in? India and India what she is is she's a mother to like 45 children or something like that She's in India.

01:00:42

She has little to no support She sacrificed her life to care for these orphaned children in India that are just thrown away like trash

01:00:51

She's caring for them and and she cares for them with these miracles that drop down from God to actually feed these children and care for These children she gives them the gospel she loves them in the only way that she possibly can as a

01:01:04

Mother because these kids are just orphans and she they call her mother and she feeds them gives them the gospel

01:01:10

Disciples them raises them up and she lives a life of essential poverty in India caring for other people

01:01:18

Sacrificing giving her life away and it's such a hard life and the government is making things difficult for her

01:01:25

She has to constantly be very careful It's a challenging life and it looks like from a human perspective

01:01:31

Like you're really suffering and this doesn't look like it's it's giving you a lot of personal reward

01:01:36

I mean, I know you're laying your life down for others. But yeah, where's the riches? Where's the gain of all that you output into others lives you look at someone like her and you say this just doesn't seem

01:01:46

Like it makes any sense is she's a loving one. She's a sacrificial one. She's the giving one and her life is a life of Difficulty and brokenness and you can have people that are just sinful and wicked and do what they please and what happens is they seem

01:02:02

To get like whatever they want. They have riches. They have peace. They have fame It appears so and listen as you deal with this

01:02:09

You need to deal with what God says about that scenario because the text says treasures gained by wickedness do not profit

01:02:16

But sometimes if we're honest, it kind of looks like they do The psalms deal with this go to Psalm 73

01:02:30

Listen to this and we'll finish here for today This would be a two -parter it needs to be

01:02:40

Psalm 73, sorry Psalm 73 Listen to how the

01:02:46

Psalms express this it says Verse 1 truly

01:02:52

God is good to Israel to those who are pure in heart But as for me my feet had almost stumbled my steps had nearly slipped

01:03:03

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked

01:03:09

For they have no pangs until death their bodies are fat and sleek

01:03:15

They're not in trouble as others are They're not stricken like the rest of mankind's

01:03:20

Therefore pride is their necklace Violence covers them as a garment their eyes swell out out through fatness their hearts overflow with follies

01:03:30

They scoff and speak with malice Loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens and their tongues strut throughout the earth

01:03:41

Therefore his people turn back to them and find no faults in them and they say how can

01:03:47

God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High? Behold these are the wicked always at ease they increase in riches all in vain

01:03:57

Have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands and innocence for all the day long?

01:04:03

I have been stricken and rebuked every morning if I had said I will speak thus I would have betrayed the generation of your children

01:04:11

See that don't you? Don't you love? Do you not love?

01:04:16

The honesty in the Psalms about the human experience and that's by the way how the

01:04:23

Psalms will work is they will take you and my Heart and they it'll be laid on the page

01:04:29

Like God is reading your mind and letting you bring this despair out It's right there on the page and then it'll turn into God's truth and God's wisdom as a response so then it says

01:04:41

But when I thought about how to understand this it seemed to be Seemed to me a wearisome task until I went into the sanctuary of God Then I discerned their ends

01:04:53

Truly you set them in slippery places You make them fall to ruin how they are destroyed in a moment

01:05:00

Swept away utterly by terrors like a dream when one awakes

01:05:06

Oh Lord when you rouse Yourself you despise them as phantoms when my soul was embittered when

01:05:13

I was pricked in heart I was brutish and ignorant. I was like a beast towards you. Nevertheless.

01:05:18

I am continually with you You hold my right hand you guide me with your counsel and afterwards you will receive me to glory

01:05:26

Whom have I in heaven but you and there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you my flesh and my heart may fail

01:05:33

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever for behold those who are far from you shall perish

01:05:42

You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you, but for me it is good

01:05:49

To be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge that I may tell of all your works

01:05:57

Do you see how the answer from Scripture is this these treasures gained from wickedness?

01:06:03

They do not profits that you will come to an end. And here's the thing. That's I think Important to note here is the psalmist is talking about the fact that look it looks like everybody is just doing whatever they want

01:06:14

They're getting away with it and they're rich and they're fat and they're happy and They have no concern for you

01:06:20

God and here I am trying to be faithful and they're over here Profiting and then it turns into but that's actually not the case

01:06:27

They are going to be destroyed in a matter of fact It's God who is opposed to them and God is promising that they're going to be destroyed

01:06:36

They will come to an end and you will be lifted up you are held by God you are loved by God Don't be deceived by the treasures gained by wickedness

01:06:47

The pursuit is towards God who is our refuge who loves us We rest in the shadow of his wings and we are indwelled by his spirit.

01:06:55

So the call to God's people is this Turn from foolishness Embrace wisdom set your eyes upon it as God's child set your eyes upon wisdom

01:07:06

Let my life and your life as God's people in Christ forgiven Not condemned forever.

01:07:14

Let it be a pursuit of not just God's knowledge knowing things But also wisdom the skill in actually applying these truths

01:07:24

May God bless us with that. Let's pray father. I pray for you People today for me

01:07:32

You challenge us in this area of your wisdom heal us our minds our hearts

01:07:42

Give us God in this body Give us a pursuit of wisdom to bring you glory and praise

01:07:52

These are your words God we believe them And We want to hide them in our hearts and treasure them up that we may not sin against you bless us

01:08:04

That we may be light in your world for your glory in Jesus name. Amen So now we come to the table

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So one word I need to expand deeply on righteousness delivering from death the next section of verse 2

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Because it's everything but the text you heard today was righteousness delivers from death