Proverbs - The foolishness of sin

Transcript (Auto-generated)

Good morning church. It's good to see you all here this morning. Don't want to wait. Well here we are. Week two of our series in the book of Proverbs. And today marks the last of two parts of an introductory sermon. Okay, last week we began with an introduction. Today's the last part of an introduction. Before we then spend the next eight weeks looking at practical wisdom for living as disciples of Jesus. And don't worry if you weren't here last week we're going to start with a very brief recap of what we spoke about last week. See we looked intentionally as we came to understand that we were going to begin to look at the book of Proverbs. That we needed to gain an understanding of how it is that we actually gain wisdom. And so through an exploration of Proverbs one seven and nine verse ten. We were able to see it revealed that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. And we defined this fear that we speak about and we read about in the Proverbs. As a profound reverence and awe towards God coupled with a healthy awareness of danger brought about by our sin. After we explored this together we determined that in order to grow a healthy fear of the Lord which is essential for gaining wisdom and knowledge. We must stop and seek God regularly. In essence we must obey his command in Psalm 4610 to be still and know God. And I don't know about you but if you were here last week and you left this sermon you should have gone, yeah okay I can see that I can understand that we've discussed how to gain wisdom. But I hope that as you left you felt as though there was still something missing. Because I think there's a second question that's worth our consideration before we dive into looking at the practical content of this book. And that is the question of why. Why is it that we need wisdom? Because I'm not going to care about how I gain wisdom if I can't see the value in gaining wisdom. Why is it that we need to seek God regularly? Why is it that we need to fear the Lord and gain wisdom and knowledge? And so that's what we'll be looking at today but before we dive into Scripture would you join me in prayer? Heavenly Father we thank you for your word. Lord we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us. Lord you've revealed the way in which you've called us and created us to live. Lord we thank you that your word tells us very clearly that if we seek you, if we seek wisdom and knowledge that you will give it freely. And Lord we pray that as we read through some of the Proverbs this morning. Lord that you would be revealing to us what it is that you want to say. And Lord that we wouldn't just hear what it is that you want us to say but you would help us to take that next step, to be obedient, to respond to what it is that you revealed to us this morning. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. If you got your Bible there, Proverbs 2 20 to 22. Says this, So you will walk in the way of the good and keep the paths of the righteous. For the upright will inhabit the land and those with integrity will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. In 1999 a science fiction film called The Matrix introduced a new symbol of choice. And this symbol has in recent years has been widely adopted by various philosophical and social purposes to explain things in a particular way. And it's the symbol of the red and blue hill. For context if you haven't seen the movie, the main character very early on is presented with a choice. If he takes the red pill, he will gain knowledge. It will be the acceptance of truthful reality. But if he takes the blue pill, then he's able to remain in a state of deluded ignorance. He's able to go on living life like he didn't know any of the things that have been revealed. He's able just to keep going on in ignorance and bliss and have no consequences. But if he takes the red pill, he gains a truthful reality of what is going on in his context. And I think this is a helpful illustration for us this morning as we explore this question of why we need wisdom. Because I want to suggest that as we look through the proverbs here this morning, we'll find that you and I find ourselves in a similar position where we have to make the choice. Either we fear the Lord, seek His wisdom and gain a truthful perspective of our reality, or we choose to remain in the foolishness of sin and folly, and so grasp at a deluded ignorance of life here on earth. We spoke about the first of these parts last week, the path of wisdom. We determined that it begins with the fear of the Lord. It's the fear of the Lord that leads us to knowledge and wisdom for how we are to live. It's the fear of the Lord, it's His wisdom revealed to us that gives us a truthful insight into reality, who God is, who we are and how He created us to live. We read last week the words of Proverbs 2, 1-8. It says, my son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding, yes, if you call out the insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of His saints. I don't know whether you followed along in the daily Bible reading booklet that we put together, but if you did, you would have read this week Proverbs 3, which further explores this same idea, Proverbs 3, 1-8. It says, my son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, so you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment for your bones. This is the path of wisdom, the way of wisdom. And yet, as we read these verses, I don't know about you, but I can't help but sense that this strong encouragement to fear the Lord to seek wisdom and knowledge stems from an underlying concern that there is a second dangerous path that can be chosen to walk. A path of folly and deluded ignorance, the foolishness of sin. And it's here that we're going to turn our attention this morning. The word folly from my count appears at least 21 times throughout the book of Proverbs. And when we read them back to back, just these one line of verses, throughout the book of Proverbs, we gain a good idea of what this path looks like. Similar to last week, I'm going to have them all up there. The verse references are there for you. But I'm just going to read them back to back. I'm going to invite you to let this sink in. For lack of discipline, they will die. Let us stray by their own great folly. Folly is an unruly woman. She is simple and knows nothing. The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves, but a fool's heart blurts out folly. All who are prudent act with knowledge, but fools expose their folly. The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their waves. But the folly of fools is deception. The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. The wealth of the wise is their crown, but the folly of fools yields folly. Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one whose quick temper displays folly. The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but by the mouth of the fool gushes folly. The discerning heart seeks knowledge, but the mouth of the fool feeds on folly. Folly brings joy to the one who has no sense, but whoever has understanding keeps a straight course. Prudence is a fountain of life to the prudent, but folly brings punishment to fools. Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool bent on folly. To answer before listening, that is folly and shame. A person's own folly leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord. Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away. The schemes of the folly are sin, and people detest a mocker. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes. As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly. Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them. I think out of all of this, Proverbs 19 verse 3 summarizes it well for us this morning. A person's own folly, that is foolishness, leads to their ruin, yet their heart rages against the Lord. Here we have a stark comparison from what we spoke about last week. Rather than fear the Lord, the path of folly and foolishness of sin sets a person's heart to rage against the Lord. And so this morning, it's worthwhile considering that we have a choice to make. Will we fear the Lord, seek his wisdom and knowledge, seek a truthful reality for who we are, who God is and how he created us to live? Or will we embrace the foolishness of sin and folly, lead ourselves and be ignorant to the call of wisdom? And the book of Proverbs, Solomon in writing it, portrays wisdom as a person. It's really cool because it gives wisdom the narrative to speak. Wisdom becomes a character. And I don't think it's any coincidence that in the opening chapter of Proverbs, wisdom speaks of the choice that we have to make between two paths and highlights the importance of taking this decision seriously. If you've got your Bibles with you, Proverbs 1 verse 20 to 23. Wisdom cries aloud in the streets. In the market she raises her voice. At the head of a noisy street she cries out. At the entrance of the city gates she speaks. How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you. I will make my words known to you that I have called you and you have refused to listen. Because you have refused to listen, I have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded. Because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you. When terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind. When distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call upon me that I will not answer. They will seek me diligently but will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despise all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices for the simpler killed by their turning away and the complacency of fools destroys them. But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. I want to read those opening three verses again, verse 20 to 23. Wisdom cries aloud in the streets, in the market she raises her voice. At the head of the noisy street she cries out, at the entrance of the city gates she speaks, how long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? And these opening verses that we hear wisdom speaking. There's a truth to where we are as humanity. Our default position from birth is that we are born into sin. And so from birth our default path, our default position is deluded ignorance. It's folly and the foolishness of sin. And yet we see that wisdom cries out. Everywhere throughout the city. Wisdom cries out in the busyness of life. And I just want to make an observation of that because if that's true for us today, if wisdom is crying out in the streets, in the marketplace, imagine how scary it is that we could become too busy, too preoccupied by the other things going on that we don't intentionally and regularly stop and seek God and His wisdom which cries out to us. The truth is church is that wisdom is crying out and we have a choice to make. There's a warning in the rest of what is said here that we cannot choose to ignore the call of wisdom for too long. There's consequences for that. Verse 24, Because I have called you and you refuse to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heated, because you have ignored all of my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when terror strikes you. When terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Not because it's enjoyable, but because we didn't listen to wisdom. In those moments when things fall apart, then they will call upon me but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently but will not find me because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices, for they are simply killed by their turning away and the complacency of fools destroys them. But it doesn't end there. Verse 33, But whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease without dread of disaster. We have a choice to make. Will we fear the Lord, seek his wisdom and knowledge, a truthful reality of who God is, who we are and how he created us to live? Or will we continue in the foolishness of sin and folly? Will we turn our back on wisdom and live in deluded ignorance? Very simply and at a foundational level, this choice begins with the acceptance or the rejection of Jesus Christ. We're born into sin and yet God revealed himself to us. Jesus Christ died on a cross to forgive us of our sin. That we would be reconciled to him should we choose to accept his free gift. Very truly, we either fear the Lord, gain this wisdom and knowledge and accept the truthful reality that God is God, that we are sinners, that we rebel against God and we need saving. If we do that, we accept this free gift of forgiveness. Or we embrace folly. We desire deluded ignorance. We go that Jesus guy, he was just a lunatic, a crazy. I don't actually need him. I've got my life under control. We reject Jesus and continue in the foolishness of sin. At that foundational level, we have a decision to make. And yet I want to suggest this morning that it doesn't just end there. Each and every time we seek God, we're told that he shares his wisdom and his knowledge with us. But when we receive that, we have a decision to make. Will we accept this? Will we apply it to our lives? Will we build in wisdom and knowledge and truthful reality? Or will we go, well actually that part doesn't suit my lifestyle? Will we pretend that we didn't hear that, revert back to deluded ignorance? The reason that it's important for us to consider this this morning, to be reminded that we have a choice to make, is because over the next eight weeks, we're going to explore the book of Proverbs. We're going to read and unpack wisdom for practical living as disciples of Jesus. We're going to look at wisdom for family and parenting. We're going to look at wisdom for work and for money and for humility and for sex and relationships, for friendships and community, for words and the anger wrath and these are big parts of our lives. And I want to suggest that each and every Sunday as we unpack this, God has revealed his wisdom to us through his word. Don't just come on a Sunday and hear words and then leave unchanged. As we stop and seek God's wisdom for how we are to live as disciples of Jesus, as we hear the practical wisdom for how we have been created to live, we will be presented with a choice. Will we choose the fear of the Lord? Will we accept and gain the wisdom and knowledge that he gives to us? Will we make change in our lives to ensure that we live according to what God has revealed? Will we allow the wisdom of God to make changes to us? Or when it gets hard, will we choose to reject it? Will we choose to continue in the foolishness of sin to disregard the wisdom of God for living? My hope and prayer is that as we continue, not only through this series on Sundays, but as you continue to read Scripture in your own time throughout the week, as you seek God, my prayer is that each of us would flee from foolishness, that we would avoid the temptation not to change when God points something out. But that very truly we would be reminded to fear the Lord, to show awe and reverence to him, to be reminded of the danger of our sin, and thus grow in wisdom and knowledge. As we continue through this series, don't forget that every time God reveals himself to us, every time he gives us wisdom and knowledge, we have a decision to make. Let's ensure that we choose wisely. Would you pray with me? Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are our God and our Creator. Lord, we thank You that even though we rebel against You, even while we were rebelling against You, You loved us. Lord, that You've made it possible for us to have right relationship with You. Lord, thank You that You reveal Yourself to us. Lord, that You reveal wisdom and knowledge for how it is that You, our God and Creator, created us to live. Lord, thank You that we have such easy access to Your Word. Help us not to take that for granted. And Lord, our prayer is that as we seek You, as we make time in our lives to intentionally stop and seek You, Lord, that You would give us wisdom and knowledge for how to live as Your disciples. Lord, thank You that even in the midst of our foolishness, You love us and reveal Yourself to us. Lord, we pray that as You do, by Your Holy Spirit You would help us not to disregard Your wisdom. By Your Holy Spirit You would give us the strength and the confidence to make the changes that You call us to make. To take on board the wisdom that You give to us. To implement it in the way that You show us. Lord, we thank You that Your Holy Spirit helps us in this process. Lord, as we continue through the book of Proverbs, our prayer is that You would help us to flee from foolishness. Lord God, that You would help us to grow a healthy fear of You. To take on Your wisdom and live in the way in which You've called us to. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.