We spent some time in verse 25
last time. I wanted to say a little bit
more about it this morning. I believe this is timely and vital truth. Proverbs 19, 25. smite a scorner, and the simple
will beware, and reprove one that hath understanding, and
he will understand knowledge." Now this is speaking of accountability,
speaking of consequences when there's what's called scorning
here. It's something that we're all
very familiar with because our hearts are full of it. And it's
easy for us to see in other people. We've seen the smirks on people's
faces, the ridicule and rebellion of this type of person. And we've hopefully seen it in
the mirror. We've seen it when it rises up
in our wicked hearts as well. It's
natural to all of us and to one degree or another, by nature
we all express this foolishness. It's someone who rebels against
authority, who thinks only their opinion matters. I'm my own man
and I'll do as I please. They thumb their nose at God
is what they do because God has established the authority in
this world. And we're clearly instructed
in the scriptures to obey it when it's the right authority,
when it's true, an honorable authority, but to despise and reject all
that's decent. And this is, of course, again,
as we said before, it's not saying go around and smite people that
are like that. It'd be all we'd have time to
do, and we'd have to smite ourselves quite a bit. We have no authority
to do that in most cases, but we do when when God gives us
that authority with our children. And that's what I wanted to sort
of talk more about maybe. If your child, and they are,
they just are, it's not, and some express this to more of
a degree than others, but we're born that way, aren't we? We
scoff and scorn and rebel and despise authority. We don't want to be told what
to do. And, There's a time to rebel against
authority, but not when it's godly authority, not when it's
God-ordained authority according to the word of God. And so there's got to be accountability
for that. The scriptures are clear regarding
that with regard to our children. And there's a very good reason
here also added to the fact that the person who
is himself a scorner needs to be rebuked and there needs to
be accountability. But there's a unique aspect to
this proverb. Accountability might be lost
on the scorner, but the simple, not the one being rebuked maybe. And that's, Those who are naive,
those who are simple, those who are open-minded. That's what
that word means, the simple, the open, open-minded. We're not open-minded about what's
right, are we? We're not open-minded about the
truth. I don't wanna hear your opinion about the scriptures.
I just wanna hear the scriptures. I wanna hear what God said. Don't
want to hear what anybody thinks about what God said. Open-minded, that's an interesting
definition there. But even those will benefit from
seeing that there is accountability. It's got to be established. And it's something that current
events cry out this truth, don't they? When idiots face no consequence
for being idiots, it breeds more idiots. That's just the simple
teaching of this verse. I love a quote from Mike Tyson.
Y'all might be mad at me for saying this, but I love this
quote. He said, y'all, social media
has made y'all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and
not getting punched in the face for it. I like that. There's a lot of
truth to that. There's no consequence to being
just a ridiculous, horrible, I can't use the words I want
to for that, for somebody like that. And of course it pours
out beyond the handheld devices into the streets, doesn't it?
And that's the reality of it in our day, but it's an ancient
problem because human nature has never changed. But consider
the effect of accountability on those would-be, would-be scorners. What it teaches to everyone,
really. The naive, the simple, the open-minded,
those who really have no direction, they may not be an out-and-out
scorner yet. Simple. It says here, they'll
take note of that, they'll beware, they'll, and the word can be, It can mean to be crafty. It'll
make them understand a little something about what's real. Criminals face no consequences
for stealing, for destroying property, for assaulting people,
for just outrageous behavior. What's the result of that? It
emboldens others to be lawless. But what if there is accountability?
What if the consequence of committing crime is sufficient to deter
others? That's what we're talking about.
Then everybody wins, even the one to whom the consequences come. There's
nothing worse than just being able to rebel without any restraint
for you or anybody else. Nobody wins. But everybody does
when there's accountability, when there's consequences. And you might ask, well, what's
the spiritual aspect of this? Well, there's a couple of ways that we have spiritual teaching
here. Look at Proverbs 23 with me. Verse 13. withhold not correction from
the child. For if thou beatest him with
the rod, he shall not die. Now that conjures up an image
where you're just whacking somebody with a stick, you know, but that's
not what it is. There is a beating with the rod
that's appropriate. It's called an old fashioned
butt whooping is what it's called. And that's, again, that's something
that's not new. But the new fangled contemporary
teaching of the day is, oh, you'll break the child's spirit. That's
exactly what you need to do because their spirit's evil. They need
to be broken from that. Not broken and not abused in
the sense that they'll have no self esteem or confidence, it's
to be done in love. to show them that there are consequences,
that there is right or wrong, and that there are consequences
for wrong. You're training up the child
in the way that he should go. And look at the rest of this
now. Verse 13, withhold not correction
from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not
die. And there's a reason it says he's not gonna die. It's
because he probably thinks he's gonna die. I did what my mama,
my mama could put a whooping on me. My dad was pretty easy
on me, but my mama, it was real. It got my attention. My ADHD
was cured immediately. You're not gonna die. I'll tell
you what is gonna happen though. Thou shall beat him with the
rod and shall deliver his soul from hell. What in the world has that got
to do with going to heaven or hell? I didn't say it, God did. If you teach a child that there
is no accountability, that there's no rebuke for their scorn, for
their scorn of authority, their rebellion against all that's
godly and right and true, Don't wake up 30 years later
and say, oh, I wish my child, you know, would come to church
or would, you know. God can have mercy when and where
he wants to. But I know what he said about
it, don't you? I know what he said about it. Starts real early. Starts before they could even
hear the God, they couldn't even understand the gospel at that
age. But they can understand God's authority. God's way is not just better.
It is better. It's not just right. It is right. Children, obey your parents in
the Lord for this is right. Is that a good enough reason? But more than that, it's vital.
It's vital. Even a person who's not a scorner
now. In fact, the scripture here says
he's a person of understanding. He gets it. He's a believer. He understands authority and
consequence and righteousness and unrighteousness and honoring
the Lord. That's what it comes down to.
We're to honor our father and mother because in honoring them,
you're honoring the Lord. Because that's his way. That's
his authority. That's his order in the home. But those who are not scorners,
what about them? Well, they need rebuking too.
Because there's a scorner down in there, isn't there? There's
a scorner in all of us. We still lean to our own understanding. We need rebuking too. We all
have the same nature. When God saves a sinner, he has
understanding of right and wrong. A religious lost person doesn't. To them, right is doing your
best and going to heaven when you die because you did your
best. That's wrong, that's not right, that's wrong. What they
call right is wrong. That's an affront to God and
to trample underfoot the blood of his son. But a believer understands,
he's given an understanding, he has respect for the law of
God and the laws of men that are based on the law of God.
reverence for God himself, but he still needs rebuke. And it
is the Bible that is profitable for that. 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and it's profitable. That's why
it's not, you've got a pet peeve, and so you're gonna, you know,
set up these rules and things, that can be fine and it cannot
be fine. I tell you what is real fine is what God said. When the believers rebuke, though
he already has understanding, it will give him, our verse says,
discernment of knowledge. He'll understand understanding
even better. He'll discern Discernment, even
more. He'll grow in grace and in what?
Knowledge. Knowledge of what? What is right?
Who says what's right and what's wrong? Christ, he's the standard. and the knowledge of Christ.
And secondly, as I said, there's two ways. This all has greater
application in the spiritual realm in another sense. He that's
a religious scorner, a spiritual scorner, scorns the authority
of God in this book, not only concerning earthly things, but
concerning things of eternal consequence, despises the truth. And I don't mean somebody that's
irreligious. That's not what I'm talking about.
They may well read their Bible. They may well say their prayers
and give their 10% and invite people to church and win people
to Jesus and all of that, making them twofold more the child of
hell, by the way, when they do that. But if and when they hear
the truth of the Christ of the Bible, they scorn. Like they
did at the very cross. Like we did at the very cross.
What did we do? We scorned Him. We ridiculed
Him. We mocked Him. We puffed ourselves
up and ran Him down. Matthew 26, 64 through 67. It
says they spit on Him. You'll find this phrase there
in Matthew 26, 64 through 67. It says, then did they spit on
him. When is that then? When he said,
hereafter, you're gonna see the son of man sitting on the right
hand of power. He told him he was the sovereign
Lord of glory. And then they spit on him. And religion coddles them like
a parent that doesn't discipline their child. Religion coddles
the scorner by telling him if he just says a few Hail Marys,
you know, and counts his beads, then he's scot-free from any
consequence. They tell him that if you just
exercise your free will, you know, you can do what you want
to do, just be religious and everything will be fine, as long
as you're good outweigh, no. That free will anti-Christ scorner
needs to be smitten with the quick and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword word of God. He's got to be smitten,
doesn't he? Like Saul of Tarsus was smitten
to his knees into the dust. He was knocked off of his horse.
Those in Acts chapter two, when it says they heard the gospel
from Simon Peter, what does it say? They were stabbed in their
hearts. They were smitten in their hearts.
That's what needs to happen. If you smite a scorner, if there's spiritual accountability
for your sin, You're not getting off that easy. You're not gonna
be able to walk an aisle and wipe it all away. It took the son of God being
smitten in our place. That's what we're smitten with.
We're not punished for our sins. We're smitten with the truth
of him who was. And as our text says, it'll affect
others, won't it? It'll affect the open-minded
when that gospel is preached and when some, because those
who are smitten with the truth and knocked on their high horse
and forced to say, Lord, what would you have me do? Lord, which
you remember the definition, the one who owns a person or
thing. over whom he has the power of
deciding. That's who Saul was talking to. This ain't all up
to me. And you remember what he said.
Our text says others will be the simple, the open-minded will
be closed-minded real quick when they see what our sin Really
is. When you get a glimpse of Calvary, you think of sin but lightly,
nor suppose the evil great here may view its nature rightly.
Here, its guilt may estimate. Mark the sacrifice appointed.
See who bears the awful load. Tis the word, the Lord's anointed
Son of man and Son of God. And not until then will you understand
what sin is. and what God did about it. And remember what Paul said about
that? He told his experience and he said, I am a pattern,
an outline, an example for all those who will hereafter believe.
That's our test. And if we believe, We believe on the Savior, we
need reproof also. We must yet grow. Paul, when
he knew the Lord, said, oh, that I may know him. And that should
be the cry of our hearts, that I may know him in the power of
his resurrection. You think about, what does that
mean, to know him in the power, to know him as God? You see,
as I've said to you so many times, it's not that people don't understand
or believe the doctrine of election. That's not it, not the way that
the doctrines are spelled out and you gotta believe these five
truths. That's all fine and well, and
you will, but what you really just need to know is who God
is. And then every one of those will be obvious If we know Him
in the power of His resurrection, if we know the one who said,
I have power to lay my life down, and I have power to take it up
again, if we ever find out who He is, we're gonna understand understanding
the more we know of Him. So Lord, give us discernment that
we yet lack. And it's gonna come the same
way, isn't it? By the word of God. Bless our studies, bless our
lessons, bless this time together. Bless our meditation on your
truth. Teach us more and more what we
already know. Isn't that what Simon said? I'm
determined as long as I'm in this flesh, in this tabernacle.
to teach you these truths though you already know them, to remind
you of these things. What do we need to remind ourselves?
Christ is all, Christ is all. Amen, let's pray.