4. You remember from last week,
this is David teaching his son Solomon. He said, verse 3, I was my father's
son, tender and only, beloved in the sight of my mother. He
taught me also and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my
words, keep my commandments, and live. And so this is David,
this is David, what he had taught his son Solomon. And Solomon
is remembering what his father taught him, what he taught him. And he stressed the importance
of wisdom, the very absolute, over and over and over, this
is about wisdom. And he said in verse 5, get wisdom,
get understanding. Forget it not. Don't let it ever
ever decline from the words of my mouth." And he says there
in verse 7, "...wisdom is the principal thing." That's the
principal thing. "...of all your getting, get
wisdom. Therefore, get wisdom with all thy getting, get understanding."
So he did that, but tonight, he's talking about two paths
that his father taught him about. Two paths. One path is found
there in verse 11. I have taught thee in the way
of lit wisdom, I have led thee in right paths. And then the
other path is this, in verse 14, the path of the wicked. Enter
not into the path of the wicked. Two paths here. The path of wisdom,
the path of righteousness, and the path of the wicked. And I tell you, the path of wisdom,
oh, that's what he says, the path of wisdom. He said, I've
taught you wisdom there in verse 11. I've taught thee in the way
of wisdom. I've taught you the way wisdom
is. The fruits of wisdom, the consequences of wisdom, the blessings
of wisdom. And oh, he says, you know, and
back up in verse 10, and he said, oh, here, oh, my son, receive
my sayings. Receive what I tell you. Seek
what I teach you. And He said, in the years of
thy life shall be many. And that's one thing that the
Scriptures teach us over and over again with wisdom. It gives
you long life. It gives you a prosperous life.
It gives you a blessed life. Back over here, chapter 3 and
verse 1 and 2, look what it says. My
son, forget not my law, but let thine heart keep my commandments
for the length of days, Long life and peace shall they add
to thee." And especially peace. Long life and peace. Who wouldn't
like a life like that? And I tell you, this is the way
wisdom leads you. It leads you on the right path.
It leads you in a good path. It leads you in the path of holiness
and righteousness and the way that Christ got. And He even
talked about our bodies. He talked about our bodies over
here in chapter 3 in verse 8 and 9. Or excuse me, 7, 8. 7 and 8. Be not wise to thine own eyes.
Oh, don't be wise to yourself. Fear the Lord. Depart from evil.
And it'll be health to your navel. It'll be health to your belly.
It'll be like marrow to your bones. And that's what he says,
you know, it'll lead you in the way that it'll make you healthy. Your body is not your own. We're
stewards over our bodies. And Joe McSherry said Sunday,
we was talking and he said, I purpose years and years ago, never let
take nothing in my body that would harm my body. He said that
years ago, he said, I made a purpose that years ago not to take nothing
in my body that would harm my body. Now, I ain't never made
that kind of commitment. I've never made that kind of
commitment. But also at the same time, I realize that I'm steward
over my body like I am anything else with God. And the scripture
says if a man's given to appetite or to gluttony, it's better to
take a knife and cut his throat. He'd be better doing that because
he's going to kill himself. And he's going to be miserable
in doing it. And then look what else the path of wisdom does
for you. He says in verse 12, this is
what it'll do. Wisdom says, I've led you in
right paths. And when thou goest, thy steps
shall not be straightened. Wisdom will direct your steps
for you. Christ will direct your steps. And when that word straighten
means that it won't be caught up in such a narrow way that
you won't be able to pass. God never takes us away that
we can't get through it. Look where He took Job. He took
Job in the deepest, darkest places that a man could possibly go.
And you know what Job said after the Lord hath tried me? He knows
that I shall come forth as gold. And his wife said, Curse God
and die. He said, Woman, you're a fool. Shall we receive good
at the hands of the Lord and not evil too? So that's what
wisdom led him in that path. And so you see, God ain't going
to put us in a path that our feet can't move. that we can't
go, that He binds our feet up in such a way that we can't travel.
He's always made a way for His people. He's always had paths
for us to walk in. And then it says, look what else
it says about it. In verse 12, And when you run,
you won't stumble. When you run, you won't stumble.
You know, I followed my kids when they was little. And then
I followed my grandsons when they was little. Now I follow
my great grandkids, just follow them everywhere they go because
they run and stumble, run and stumble, run and stumble. But we, God says when we run,
when we get so busy, when life gets so hectic and things get
so out of control in our lives that we don't know which way
to go and we're running, we just feel like we're just running,
running, running, running. God says when you do that, you
won't stumble. When we think that God ought to just leave
us alone because we get so taken up with the world and the things
in it, and our worries, and our troubles, and our kids, and all
the things that goes on, we think, oh my, God ain't going to, you
know, I feel like I'm stepping, but God said, I won't cause you
to stumble. You won't stumble. You run, you won't stumble. And
oh, listen, and I tell you what, if you got, if you're on the
right path, and that's why we won't stumble, And oh, look what
he says in verse 13 here. So here's what he said in light
of God's wisdom teaching us and leading us in the right path.
And your steps won't be straight. When you run, you won't stumble.
He says, take fast hold of instruction. Take instruction and hold it
firm. That's what he said. Take instruction. Instruction. And hold it firm. Get it with
both hands. Take the truth. Buy the truth
and sell it not. Take instruction with both your
hands and hold it firm and don't let it go. Don't let the instruction
that God gives us, the instruction of God's Word, the things that
God teaches us and what... Even if somebody else tries to
instruct you. Take it. If it's right instruction,
take it. Hold it. Grab it. Hold on to
it. And look what it says about her.
This instruction, let her not go. Don't let her go away from
you. Don't let her go. Don't let instruction
go. Keep her. Keep instruction. You keep the instruction that
God gives you, the things of the Scriptures, the things of
Christ. You keep them, for she is your life. Instruction's your
life. That's of her life. And I tell
you, God keep us in that path. Look what else he says now about
the path of the wicked. So he said, he talks us, takes
us into the right path, led us there. And then in verse 14,
enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way
of evil men. And all the path of the way of
the wicked is the way of evil. Ain't that what he says? Enter
into not the path of the wicked. Because it's the way of evil. It's the way of evil. And you
know, we just, and most people think that people out here, you
know, and the world is, it's wicked. Oh my goodness, it's
awful. It's awful the way the world,
perilous times it's on us. Oh, evil times is running rampant
around us. But oh, my soul said, but don't
you, don't you go in that path. Don't you go in that path. We
tell our children, don't go in that path. Stay away out of that
evil path. Enter not into the path of the
wicked. Don't enter that path of the wicked. Don't walk in
the path of the wicked. And look what it says in verse
15, avoid it! Avoid it! That's what Paul says,
shun the very appearance of evil. Redeeming the time for the day
is evil. And our Lord says, you know,
in His day it was evil. And look what He said here. And
avoid that path. Just avoid it. Don't even walk
by it. When you see the path of the
wicked, don't even walk by it. Because if you go by it, you
say, well, there's a path. I'm not going to take that path.
But oh, listen. Turn from it, and look what it says, and pass
away. Go and pass away from it. And I'm going to tell you something. You know, people think that you
got people out here, wickedness is lying and stealing and drunkenness
and mistreating people and all that. But there's as much wickedness
in false religion as there is anywhere. It's awful. You listen to some of the preachers
and the things they say and the things that they're doing to
try to get people to come to... A guy told me one day, he said,
you just don't be surprised if I might show up at your place
one of these days. I would be surprised. He had
too much to talk about. His mouth was running too much.
I was laying listening to some preaching and he had to interrupt,
you know, start telling me, you know, oh, this fight's going
this and all that. I said, I just ignored him. People want to be puffed up.
They want to be bragged on. They want to be able to come
in the presence of God in a public worship service just any way
you want to. But we're coming in the presence
of God. You don't go into the presence of the President of
the United States dressed in flip-flops and shorts. Of course, I don't want to be
expressed in any way. That's all I'm saying. But what I'm saying is, if you
went up to see your senator in Washington, D.C., you wouldn't
go in there in a t-shirt and flip-flops and shorts. No. And people that, you know,
it don't make no difference what you do now. As long as you accept
Jesus, as long as you go to church, And oh, and I tell you, look
what it says here about them. This is why you have to avoid
this, because sin's an addictive thing. Sin's a pleasurable thing
for people. For they sleep not. The wicked
don't even sleep, except they've done mischief. Oh, man, I don't
want to go to bed too early to go to bed. There's too much going
on. We've got to go and get into
this. We've got to go get into that. And the Scriptures tells
us that the evil's done in the darkness. And we're not children
of the night, but we're children of the day. For riotous living's
done in the nighttime. And He makes that distinction.
We're children of the day. We're children of the light.
The men that get into meanness, the men and women that get into
mischief, they do that because they say, Oh my, everybody else
is going to bed, now it's time for us to go get into something.
And their sleep is taken away unless they cause somebody to
sin with them. Unless they cause somebody to
fall with them. Huh? You know, sin is addictive. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, Whosoever
committed sin, John 8, 34, Whosoever committed sin is the servant
of sin, the slave of sin. And the Scriptures tell us that
sin reigns. But it don't reign over God's
people. Why? Because sin does not have dominion over us. Why?
Because we're under grace. We're not under law. And oh, look what it says here.
And their wickedness, it becomes a life of wickedness, violence. And oh, they get violent. For
eat the bread of wickedness. I mean, even the bread they eat
is wicked bread. They make the simplest things
in life to be wicked and awful. And they drink the wine of violence.
It's a life of violence and wickedness. And sin, sin in any form it takes
is violent. And I'll tell you something,
very, very rarely will a man sin unto himself. When a man
sins, it always affects somebody else. Is that not right? John
Donne said this, he said, No man is an island, no man is a
rock unto himself. And the right means is that everything
we do has an effect on somebody else. It has an effect on our
homes, has an effect on our children, has an effect on the church.
If you do certain things, it may just affect you, but if this
starts affecting you, it's going to affect the people close to
you, the people you love. Sin just does not exist in a
vacuum. And that's what He says. That's
why, boys, stay away from it. Stay away from it. And oh, it
will damage our relationship with God, others, or ourselves. And so that's why he says, avoid
the path of the wicked. But now look here at the two
paths contrasted here. Look at what a contrast there
is here. He says in verse 18, the path of the just. Now, who
is this just? Where did they get just being
just at? God made them just. Christ made them just. God justified
us. But the path of the just is as
the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect
day. What does that mean? The sun
starts up in our lives. It just keeps getting
higher and higher and higher. And one of these days, it's going
to get hit at Zenith, and we're leaving here. Until they go shine
and shine and shine until that perfect day. That perfect day. And what it means, the sun just
gets brighter and brighter and reaches at Zenith. And I tell
you one, the people who walk down the path of wisdom, I mean,
beloved, their minds is enlightened. They grow in grace. You know,
here's the difference in a believer. A believer, here's how his life
is. First of all, when he's a newborn
baby in Christ, he drinks milk. That's all he can take, milk.
And then the Scriptures tells us then that he grows in grace,
and he grows in the knowledge of Christ, And you know that some grow faster
than others. And that's why the Apostle Paul
said, you know, the inward man is renewed day by day. This inward
man is renewed day by day. And that's why he said, we press
toward the mark for the prize of the high calling God in Christ
Jesus. Now, it don't look like it's
shining brighter and brighter to me and you, but that's what
it says. The path of the just, as far
as God's concerned, just gets brighter and brighter and brighter.
Can you see not the way clearer and clearer and clearer than
you did a few years ago? Do you see the path plain and
clear all the way to the end till we go to be with Christ?
Can you see that path we're to take? Can you see that steps
we're to go through? I mean, we can see the way clear
all the way till we get to glory. How do we see it? God's got a
light on our path and He showed us the light in our Lord Jesus
Christ. And boy, what a day that'll be
when our Jesus we shall see. Oh, what a day that's gonna be. And
that's why it goes on and on until the perfect day. And I
mean just like that, it'll be perfection. Perfection. Oh my. But look what it says
about the way of the wicked. Here's the way of the wicked.
Oh, we're in light. We're walking in light. It gets
more and more and more and more and more and more about Jesus.
What I see. But the way of the wicked is
as darkness. We're light and darkness. And
you know what it says about men in darkness? They love their
darkness rather than what? Light. How many times have you witnessed
to somebody in your family? Witness to them and talk to them
and say, Oh, I'd love you to come hear the gospel. I'd love
you to come and see, I wish, you know, and they tell you that
they're going to. But you know that they'll end
up saying, I'd rather, you know, they'd rather have their darkness
than to come with us light. You know why men love darkness?
Because the light, when you have light turns on, it shows you
your darkness. And men, they won't turn that
light out because they love their darkness. And oh, look what else he said.
The way of the wicked is darkness. Darkness. And they know not that
they stumble. They don't even have a clue that
they're stumbling along. Let me show you something over
in 2 Chronicles. Look back to your left a little
bit. 2 Chronicles chapter 30 and verse
10. Let me show you something I saw. Oh my. They're in their ignorance. They don't know why they're going
in the path they're going. Oh, my. Oh, the light. Christ just gets more precious
to us and more, you know, and life, the shorter it gets and
the closer we get to the way, the more light, the more precious
that day looks to us, the more precious it does. Look what he says now. Here's
what happened. Hezekiah, they hadn't had a Passover in Israel
in years. through wicked kings. Well, Hezekiah,
God raised him up in 2 Chronicles 30, and He raised Hezekiah up. And Hezekiah wanted to start
the Passover. But the priest or nobody was
even sanctified. And so what he did, he sent a
letter out to all of the tribes and all of the people. Sent them
a letter out. He said, you know, sanctify yourselves. We're going to have a Passover
such and such a day next month. We're going to have the Passover.
They haven't had one for years and we're going to have a Passover
like God told us to have it. And in verse 9 it says this,
For if you turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your
children, you shall find compassion before them that lead them captive.
So shall they come again into this land for the Lord your God
is gracious and merciful and will not turn his face from you
if you return unto him. So the post passed from city
to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto
Zebulon. Listen to this. But they laughed
them to scorn and mocked them. Laughed them to scorn and mocked
them. That's men that love darkness. That's men that love darkness. Love darkness. But now let me
show you something here. You know, our life, where do we get our
light at? Where do we get our path at?
Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, He said He's the light of the
world. And when He says He's the light of the world, He said,
I am the light of the world. Does that mean He's the light
of the whole world? When He says the whole world,
the world lies in wickedness. And the whole world's going after
the devil. So when it says He's the light of the world, what
light of the world is He talking about? He's the light of the
world of His people. And if there's any light, any
revelation, any understanding that's going to come into our
minds and our hearts, it's only going to come through Christ
our Lord. Where do we look to for our light? Where do we look
to for our understanding? Where do we look to for grace?
Where do we look to for knowledge? Where do we look for understanding?
Where do we look for wisdom? We look to Christ. He's our light. And listen, and our path is not
bright because we've got some brightness about ourselves. No,
we ain't got no brightness about ourselves. We don't light up
when we go out in public. We don't got halos over our head.
Well, our face don't radiate, you know, like some of these
fellas do and all that kind of rigmarole. But I know this. I know this. You know the moon,
when you see that moon in full blue, that moon has no light
whatsoever of its own. All the light you see from the
moon reflects from the sun. So only light you and I have
is what we reflect from Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 3.18, and
I'll show you what I'm talking about. You know, we don't have
no light of our own. That's why it says Christ is
our light. In 2 Corinthians 3, in verse
18, look here with me. I'll tell you what, the more
we stare at Him, the more that we look at Him, the more we're
changed into the same image. But look what he said in 2 Corinthians
3.18, But we all, all of God's people, with an open face, not
with no veil over our face like Moses when he came down off the
mountain, because his light face shone for being in the presence
of God. But we with open face, beholding as in a glass, beholding
as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord. What mirror? Scriptures. And as we below the glory of
the Lord, we're changed. changed by looking at Christ
and considering Christ and learning of Christ into the same image
from glory, from when we start, to glory. And who does it for
us and who does it in us? The Spirit of the Lord does it
in us. Do you see that? And so, beloved, two paths. The path of the just, the path
of wisdom, and the path of the wicked. Our Lord Jesus Christ
talked about two paths. Two paths in Matthew 7. He said
one path, the broad way. The wide path, the broad way.
He said, you know where it leads you to? He said it leads you
to destruction. But he says there's a narrow
way. A narrow way, the great straight, the way is narrow.
Where does it lead you to? Leads you to life. Leads you
to life. And I'm going to tell you something.
There ain't no other path to walk. Ain't no middle path. There
ain't no other path to walk. Either a man's walking in the
straight, the one that leads to life, the one that leads to
Christ where life is at, or the path of the wicked. There ain't
no other path. There's no other path. Thank God that God made the way
plain. Ain't that right? He made the
way plain. Yeah, he made a plan. He said,
there's a way, there's a highway. It's the highway of wholeness.
And you know what else he said about it in Isaiah 35? He said,
a fool can't err therein. I mean, what he means is that
a fool can't stumble into it. If you get in that way, somebody's
going to put you in. Just two paths. One of them is
going to take us to that perfect day. And the other is going to
end up in destruction. Father, thank You for Your Word.
Oh, Your Word, how it speaks. It has such power, such life. Gives such understanding. Speaks
to us. Approves us, rebukes us, instructs
us, exhorts us. And oh, Lord, it speaks to our
heart like nothing in this world does. And our Father, I pray
that you'd bless the words that's been said tonight. If they're
blessed to a heart, blessed to an understanding, you, Holy Spirit,
will have to do it. And Lord Jesus, we do pray for
our families, for our children, our grandchildren, sons, daughters,
husbands, wives. Oh Lord, please, You came after
us and You got us. Please go after them and bring
them to Christ as it seemeth good in Your sight. For Christ's
sake we pray. Amen. Let me tell you something
in closing. I was listening to Paul Mahan
preach the other night about Hannah's prayer out of 1 Samuel
2. And he says that Gabe, his son-in-law,
was married to his daughter, only child they got. He prayed
and said, Lord, don't let me have any children. Don't let
us have any children unless they're going to be your children. Don't
let us have any children. unless they're going to be yours. Now boy, that's... I wish I'd had sense to pray
that back in the day. But that don't mean that they're
not.