Now this verse isn't suggesting
that we should go around smiting scorners. I know that's disappointing,
but this is an extreme example to make a simple, specific point. You could go so far as to deal
that way with a scorner, that's a mocker, someone who ridicules
and makes light of that which is vital. Ridicules you, ridicules the
Lord. You could go so far as to smack
him upside the head, but it's not gonna do any good. That's
what our text is teaching. He may be wary of you, you may,
maybe he'll take his scorning somewhere else next time, but
it's not gonna teach him anything. It's not gonna get any real knowledge
that way. Have you ever tried to teach
an animal, train your dog or some people maybe on a farm or
something trying to get a mule or something to do
what they want him to do? We've had some experience with
dogs. Now, teaching them to sit and roll over is not that big
of a deal because you're not trying to overcome their DNA
when you're doing that. But you try to teach them not
to chase a rabbit, not to kill things, and not to dig holes. One dog, he was going to dig
a hole every day if it killed a saw. and there wasn't a whole
lot you could do about it. To teach a dog not to fight with
other dogs. These are things, these are instincts that are
deeply inbred within them. You can smite them and they'll
be wary of you as soon as you're not looking. Some dogs just like to tear stuff
up. They just like to watch the world burn. They're going to
tear something up. They're going to tear something
up as soon as you look away now. And that's just an illustration.
You think about this. You probably can, to a great
degree, maybe train a dog to be I have seen dogs trained in a
way that none of my dogs have ever come close to, to where
they wouldn't be distracted by things that other dogs might
be. You might be able to do it. But that's because dogs are better
than humans in that regard. They just are. They're better.
That's scriptural. You know that. Dogs don't have a sin problem. It's not ever gonna help a sinner. Isaiah 1, 4, and 5, the Lord
said, why should I reprove you anymore? you're just gonna harden
yourself even harder. You're gonna stiffen your neck
anymore. Why should I punish you anymore? Why should I correct
you anymore? You're just gonna stiffen your
neck that much more. And that's just the truth. You
can beat a sinner up with the law, and they might be deterred
in some way by the threat of hell. You know, preachers like
to bribe with heaven and threaten with hell, and I say preachers,
false preachers. do that, but it's not gonna make
them any wiser. It's not gonna make them love
the Lord. Obedience to the Lord is out of love, not law. Christ is made unto us wisdom. The wisdom in our text and the
knowledge, we know where that comes from. And notice the contrast here
in a way that a man who is in Christ, who has the wisdom of
Christ, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, I believe, we have the wisdom
of God. The Lord has, we have the mind
of Christ. The Lord has given us understanding. Though mixed with our sin nature, what it would be otherwise, but
we do have that new heart, that new way of thinking, that change
of mind and heart that comes with repentance and faith that
God gives. But see the contrast, you don't
have to beat the man who's in Christ, the man who knows the
Lord, the man who's been taught the true meaning of the law in
that it reveals what we are before God, sinful and wretched and
totally depraved. And someone who's been caused
to fear the Lord, the beginning of wisdom is fearing God, respecting
Him, being in awe of Him. You don't have to beat Him with
the stripes of the law. In fact, that won't do Him any
good either. The law was not given to make
people better. Romans chapter three and all
through the scriptures, the law was not given to make people
better people. It was given to reveal what bad
people we are. By the law is the knowledge of
sin, not the remedy to sin. So it's not going to help in
either case to beat somebody with the law. It's not going
to do the believer any good, a sinner who has been saved by
grace and given the wisdom that our text speaks of. And you remember
Proverbs 2.6, very plain and clear statement made in Proverbs
2.6, the Lord giveth wisdom. That's where it comes from. Out
of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2.6. And if a believer then is wrong
about something, all you have to do is correct him. And we
are, aren't we? We need that correction. The
scriptures are profitable for reproof, for instruction in righteousness,
for correction. You don't have to beat him with
the law. You just show him what God said and he'll be corrected
by that. He'll gain knowledge. He's teachable
now by the grace of God. That's the message of our text.
It's very simple. And how do you rebuke a believer?
How do you correct a believer? What is this thing of correcting
a wise man so that he'll gain knowledge? How do you do that?
Turn with me to 2 Timothy 3, 14. Also very simple and plainly
taught in the scripture 14 to 17, let's say where am I at second
Timothy? I'm in first Timothy Second Timothy 3 14 but continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned. And it has been assured of, knowing
of whom thou hast learned them. And that from a child thou hast
known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. What makes
us wise unto salvation? Where does the wisdom in our
texts and Proverbs come from? The scriptures, the word of God.
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Through faith. Now, the scriptures aren't gonna
teach somebody that doesn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
through faith that he gives us wisdom. He gives us faith. And
then when we hear his wisdom, we say truth, Lord. That's the truth. Look at verse
16. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine. That doesn't mean that you use
the scriptures in order to formulate doctrines. That means the scripture
is your doctrine. It's profitable for doctrine. It's profitable for reproof.
That's our text. For correction, for instruction
in righteousness. Well, you say, well, it's the
law that instructs us in righteousness. No, it's not. It's the gospel.
Only the gospel can tell a sinner how to be righteous before God.
The law can't do that. The law says do this that you
can't do and don't do this that you can't help but do, Romans
chapter seven. That doesn't result in righteousness. What results in righteousness
is coming to Christ and laying hold of Him like Paul said, I
renounce myself, I renounce all my works, I renounce all my heritage. And I press toward the mark for
the prize of the high calling in Christ. He's my righteousness. That the man of God may be perfect
and mature, full, throughly furnished unto all
good works. So one man, you can beat him
upside the head. I like to threaten to punch people
in the throat, but I don't usually carry that out. But you see the point of our
verse. You can beat somebody. That's what the word means. You
can beat them. You're not gonna beat any knowledge
into their head. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't
correct our children, by the way. They need to learn early
that there's consequences for disobedience. They need to learn
the authority of God. If they're ever gonna know who
God is, It's gonna take the mercy of
God. It's gonna take the gospel, the gospel. So we're reproved by the scriptures. Not having a splinter pulled
out of your eye by somebody that's got a beam in their eye. That's
not how it happens. Not telling another man's servant
what he should be doing. We don't do that. Spiritually speaking, that's
what the Lord was teaching there. A man stands or falls to his
own master. We got no business telling somebody
else's servant what they should be doing. We might wanna sometimes tell
somebody else's children how to act, but that's not your job.
Stay out of it, believe me. not to confront somebody about
their sin, not to judge another believer. These are all
ways that God tells us in his word not to be busybodies in
other men's matters and not to ever look down on someone else
that you perceive as more sinful than we are. But the word of
God is profitable. The gospel is advantageous. That's the word profitable there,
advantageous. It does some good. The whip of
the law is not gonna help. It's not gonna help a believer.
Now the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Lord
uses the law not to make us better people, but to show us how evil
we are so that we'll run to Christ. The gospel will reprove the proud
one that would judge another. And that same gospel will correct
the one that was to be judged. Everybody wins when the gospel's
preached. And remember that God, by His
word, dealeth with us as with children. Preaching the gospel is not just
beating you over the head a different way. It's not beating you over the
head at all. The gospel goes forth that sinners
might, that God per adventure might give them repentance to
the acknowledging of truth. He deals with us as with children. The word reproof, it can be harsh. It can be upsetting to the flesh. But whom the Lord loveth, he
chastises that way. And the Lord's preacher comes
that way. That's how the Lord speaks through
his preachers too. He deals as with children. Look
at 2 Timothy 2, verse 23. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid knowing that they do gender strifes. The servant of the Lord must
not strive. That word literally means to
fight. It means to fight. But be gentle unto all, apt to
teach, patient. You see how the reproof of scripture
is not the whip of the law. It's the message of God's love
for sinners in Christ. In meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance
to the acknowledgement of the truth. I don't know if God will
give you repentance or not, but I know if he's going to, I know
how he'll do it. Instructing, you see those words?
Look at, in verse 24, teach. Have to teach. In meekness, instructing,
verse 25. That's how it happens. The scriptures. The scriptures that are profitable
for reproof. Meekness, patience, gentleness,
must not strive. So clear. The simple teaching
of our text is that nothing will help a sinner. Nothing will do
any good. Nothing is gonna fix a person
who is a scorner. And again, that is that they
mock and ridicule. They mock and ridicule the written
word, just like they did the incarnate word when he was on
the cross. They scorned, they mocked, they
shamed, but nothing will fix that except
the truth of God, the gospel. Remember how the father Abraham
told the rich man in Luke 16, the rich man was concerned about
his brothers He said, I don't want them coming here. I don't
want them making the same mistake as me. He said, send Lazarus
back to tell them. If somebody would come back from
the dead and tell them, they'll believe. And Father Abraham said,
no, they won't. They have the scriptures. If
they won't believe the scriptures, neither will they believe no
one comes back from the dead. One thing is needful. Where was
Mary sitting? At the feet of the Lord. And
you remember the next phrase? She sat at his feet, comma, hearing
his word. That's our text. So let this be a priceless practical
lesson to us. When you're with your families
or your coworkers loved ones that don't know the Savior, just
one thing is needful. They don't need to hear your
arguments. They don't need to hear your rebukes. They need
to hear God's. And that happens with the gospel. Scriptures are profitable for
that. Not you, not your intellect, not your Scriptural knowledge even but
the scriptures themselves Like those men who carried their
loved one I think about them in him Now and then As as as we preach
and as we all as believers there are those that we were That we
love that much But they carried their loved
one on a cot and they went to where the Lord Jesus was preaching. And they couldn't get in the
house because there were so many people there. Some to hear the gospel, some
probably just to see the magic show. Some just out of curiosity, maybe. But they couldn't get in. And
so they climbed up on the roof with that man on the cot. If
you think about the logistics of this, it's amazing. They saw the desperate need for
their friend their loved one to hear from Christ. And so they got him up on that
roof somehow or another and they broke open somebody's roof and they lowered him down at
the feet of the Savior so that he could hear from the Son of God, and we also
know that the only hope for those that we love is that they hear
from the Master the words of eternal life. And knowing that, God give us
grace to act accordingly. And may he draw to himself, draw
to himself those who cannot come any other way. Amen, let's pray.