WEBVTT 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:25.839 From today is taking from the books of from the book of Proverbs, chapter one, verse eight. 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:38.240 Here, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck. 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:43.119 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 00:00:43.679 --> 00:00:47.840 If they say, Come with us, let us wait for blood. 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:50.479 Let us ambush the innocent without reason. 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:55.359 Like Jew, let us swallow them alive and hold like those who go down to the pit. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:01:00.560 We shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:02.320 Throw in your lot with us. 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:04.319 We will all have one person. 00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:09.680 My son, do not walk in the way with them. 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:18.640 Hold back your foot from their parts, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:22.560 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.599 But these men lie in wait for their own blood. 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.480 They set an ambush for their own lives. 00:01:28.719 --> 00:01:32.400 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:35.439 It takes away the life of its possessors. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:37.200 And so reads God's word. 00:01:37.760 --> 00:01:43.040 Welcome to you if you join us while we're singing or are new visiting with us here this morning. 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:43.840 My name's Mark. 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:47.519 I'm the lead pastor here and one of the elders at City Church. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.040 It's great to have you with us. 00:01:49.439 --> 00:01:50.239 You haven't missed much. 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:52.159 This is only week two in our Proverbs series. 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:55.760 We'll be here really until uh at least Easter. 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:56.719 We may go beyond it. 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.000 I haven't quite decided yet. 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:01.439 Uh but it's gonna be really helpful if you have Proverbs chapter one open in front of you. 00:02:01.599 --> 00:02:03.200 Either you have a uh a Bible. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.400 There are a couple of Bibles down here if you if you need one. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:10.000 If you don't have a Bible at home and would like a Bible, you can actually just take it with you. 00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:10.800 That's okay. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:16.400 Uh, or you can look it up on your phone uh just by Google searching or going to your Bible app. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.639 Uh we're in the English standard version of uh of the Bible. 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:24.960 And so that's the one that's going to help you follow along best uh with us. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:44.080 Um Proverbs, as we looked at last week in our kind of introductory sermon, is a uh is a book that uh that wants to help us to uh to live uh wisely in the world, and to live wisely in the world begins with living in relationship uh with the God who made us. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:51.680 So there is a there is an objective shape to wisdom, uh to morality in the world that Proverbs wants to show us. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:03:07.840 And uh these opening chapters, basically chapter one through to the end of chapter nine, there are uh a number of speeches, 10 speeches by a father uh to his son, and then four poems, uh, one of which that we'll come to next week uh by Lady Wisdom herself. 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:15.599 The very uh eternal embodiment of wisdom uh is this character, this female character in the book of Proverbs. 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:20.400 And they are encouraging us to uh to walk down particular paths. 00:03:20.479 --> 00:03:30.319 It's part of the reason why uh we have the graphic that we have, if you can see it, it's a it's a fork in the road because we often come to fork in the road moments. 00:03:30.479 --> 00:03:33.919 Some of them are long considered and mulled over. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:40.080 You stand there uh for a good while, kind of thinking, well, where am I going to live? 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:42.240 Uh, what sort of career am I gonna do? 00:03:42.400 --> 00:03:45.840 Uh am I going to go get into a relationship with this person? 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.680 Who am I going to uh to marry? 00:03:47.759 --> 00:03:54.479 There are questions that we mull over and we ruminate on uh over time before we choose the path. 00:03:55.520 --> 00:04:04.719 But then sometimes have you noticed that there are there are forks in the road that you barely realize you've taken them until you've started down that path. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:10.000 They come upon you so suddenly that you have to make a snap decision. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:21.680 Some choices that you look back and think, I didn't even realize that I had made that choice almost until it was too late. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:28.240 Each of us longs uh at some level to be included. 00:04:28.399 --> 00:04:36.240 Uh, we hate the idea of uh of not being invited uh to the party, unless you're a desperate introvert, in which case you didn't want to be invited in the first place. 00:04:36.319 --> 00:04:39.040 Uh, but you hate the idea of not being included. 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:48.560 Or imagine, imagine you're sitting uh in a uh in a room and next door you're hearing all of this laughter. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:53.680 Everybody's having a great time next door, and you're sitting on your own. 00:04:53.759 --> 00:04:56.000 You're wondering, wow, well, what are they laughing about? 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:58.560 What's what's so much fun? 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:00.399 Are they laughing at me? 00:05:01.279 --> 00:05:03.199 You just want the door to open, don't you? 00:05:03.279 --> 00:05:05.279 And for them to say, Are you coming in? 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:07.519 What would you do? 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.240 I know what I would do, but sure, absolutely. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:16.800 You walk into the room and just imagine that actually what they're doing is they're having a joke at somebody else's expense. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:23.199 They're doing down the boss or another colleague. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:26.000 They're engaging in the character assassination. 00:05:26.079 --> 00:05:27.279 We've we've all been there, haven't we? 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:38.000 That awkward moment when you know that if you don't join in the fun or the sneering, that you're going to be seen as a bit of a spoil sport. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:45.199 Look at you, you know, Bible basher, part of the God squad, not joining in on the on the joke. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:55.680 Or when everybody is is planning to uh to do something that uh that will uh that's a bit of a cheat. 00:05:55.839 --> 00:05:58.160 And they say, well, but everybody does it. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:00.240 Like, why won't you do it as well? 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:07.360 And you think, oh, I've started journeying down a path that I didn't even realize when I walked into that room. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:15.040 See, God knows that actually these forks in the road come upon us quickly. 00:06:15.199 --> 00:06:22.079 And one of the things that we looked at last week was that the book of Proverbs is like divine virtual reality. 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:29.120 Uh, the the father here wants to put the VR headset on the son and say, Look, this is gonna happen. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:35.920 And when it happens, here's the decision that you should make, and here's why you should make it. 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:39.600 Because it's gonna come upon you before you even realize it. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:43.680 So I'm gonna prepare you now, I'm gonna have those sorts of conversations. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.120 And that's the kind of conversation that God wants to have with us this morning. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:59.920 He wants to help us to see the foolishness of going with the crowd that doesn't actually have our best interests at heart and helps us to see how we might go about living differently. 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.959 This morning we have uh three points if you're taking notes, like a good pastor. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:07.120 They don't all rhyme or start with the same letter. 00:07:07.199 --> 00:07:13.439 Uh, but it's the first point nonetheless is to listen to advice from loving sources. 00:07:14.399 --> 00:07:18.160 Listen to advice from loving sources. 00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:22.399 People who have your best interests at heart, who love you. 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.879 This is embodied here by parents. 00:07:25.920 --> 00:07:38.639 Verse 8, hear my son, your father's instruction, forsake not your mother's teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head, and pendants, necklaces for your neck. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:46.959 The section opens up with this father telling his son to listen, hear my son. 00:07:48.079 --> 00:07:51.439 Your God has whatever you think about your parents, right? 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:54.000 You've probably got your parents in your mind right now, and go, really? 00:07:54.720 --> 00:07:56.079 Haven't got terribly great advice. 00:07:56.160 --> 00:07:56.959 So maybe you have. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.279 Maybe you've got great, godly wise parents. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:02.240 Yes, I praise God for them. 00:08:03.199 --> 00:08:17.279 But God has graciously ordered our world to give us relationships with people who are usually older, usually, not always, and a little bit wiser than us, embodied and exemplified here by parents. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:25.040 Now, of course, it's not always the case, and there are lots of exceptions, but perhaps there's an older confidant, an older mentor. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:38.399 My point is that we should pay attention to God's ordering of his world, that we hasn't left us as discrete islands who are left to our own devices to try and work out how best to work wisely in the world. 00:08:39.679 --> 00:08:52.240 It might be a church leader, that there are things and people and relationships that we should pay attention to. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:09:02.399 Moreover, even if you're thinking, well, I'm not sure that my parents are going to be the first people that I'm going to be calling up for advice. 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:31.360 One of the things that we should be thinking about as a young church, and as a as a church that uh that increasingly is kind of growing up through the life stages, so people are getting married, people are starting families, that should the Lord bless us with children, that these sorts of divine virtual reality conversations are the kind of conversations that we must have with those who God gives us into our care, with our children. 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:35.360 Can I say, look, it's not really even so much a question of if. 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:37.440 You know it's not really a question of if. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:38.799 You know it's a when. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:47.200 When the group comes to you and says, come with us. 00:09:48.559 --> 00:09:52.480 When that happens, here's how you should respond. 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:59.039 To have those preemptive conversations is a good and wise thing to aspire to. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:09.840 Have you ever struggled to listen to your parents? 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:19.759 Mark Twain said, When I was 14, I thought that my father was so ignorant I could barely stand him. 00:10:20.399 --> 00:10:26.799 But when I was 21, I marveled at how much the old man had learned in seven years. 00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:40.879 We are not naturally disposed to receiving the advice of others. 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:53.039 Have you noticed you're in a relationship with somebody and they're you're giving them advice and you just know that you just know that they're not listening uh to you. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:57.279 Uh, you know that they're kind of running headlong into making bad decisions and things like that. 00:10:57.360 --> 00:11:02.960 And you're you're saying, you know, I really think that you should reconsider, and you keep on saying these sorts of things. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:12.720 And then somebody else comes in from outside, somebody who's maybe older, somebody who that person respects, and they say exactly the same thing that you said. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:14.559 And they're like, Do you know? 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.559 I just I've just realized. 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:24.080 So then they're going, mm-hmm. 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:25.440 Yep. 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:30.799 We're not naturally disposed to listening. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:36.960 And so we need to hear these opening words where the father says, Hear, listen, son. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:45.840 Take heed of the caring advice of those who love us and have our best interests at heart. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.440 Especially because the the draw of the crowd is so strong. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:56.480 It takes an immense amount of courage to resist that call because we all want to be on the inside. 00:11:56.639 --> 00:11:58.399 We all want to be liked. 00:11:58.559 --> 00:12:03.679 We all have succumb at various points to that peer pressure, haven't we? 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:11.200 The father tries to give a positive incentive to listening to this loving instruction. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:17.519 They're a garland for your head, a garland is really the victor's wreath. 00:12:17.600 --> 00:12:21.919 It's like getting the gold Olympic medal around your neck. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:32.240 The wisdom is something that shows that your life is beautiful, that your life is victorious in that sort of sense. 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.159 And so he says, here's why you should listen. 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:43.039 I know I'm an old man and I know that I irritate you, but actually, if you take my words to heart, it's gonna make your life better. 00:12:43.200 --> 00:12:49.440 It's gonna help you to flourish in ways that perhaps you haven't realized. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:52.159 It's gonna make your life attractive. 00:12:53.759 --> 00:13:04.480 Paul in uh in Philippians, uh, right at the end of the book, says to the Christians, he says, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:06.879 Well, what's reasonableness? 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:30.240 Well, reasonableness is the opposite to a person who is just kind of trigger-happy with criticism, harsh, likes to tear other people down, sees things and situations in the most negative light and is very quick to grumble and complain. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:40.000 Paul says, no, to be reasonable is to be fair, to be measured, to be gracious. 00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000 Think of those people who embody that. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:46.240 Or thinking of those people who embody the opposite. 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.879 There's that those kind of harsh grumps. 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.039 Are they attractive to be around? 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:52.879 Well, no, they're not. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:14:02.480 When you let your reasonableness take root in your heart, that that fairness, that measuredness, that graciousness, what happens to your life? 00:14:02.559 --> 00:14:04.480 Well, your life becomes more attractive, doesn't it? 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:08.960 You become a person that other people want to be around, and that's what the father's saying. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:15.600 The father's saying that if you listen to my words, your life's gonna be one that's more attractive to other people. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:22.559 Oftentimes, uh spiritually speaking, we're a bit like teenagers. 00:14:23.360 --> 00:14:29.120 We don't really want to listen to or have anything to do with our heavenly father. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:37.440 But he is a good father, and he is saying, listen, and I will make your life beautiful. 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:45.759 And I'll do it by clothing you in the humility and grace of Jesus. 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:49.919 So it's worth reflecting on. 00:14:50.080 --> 00:15:02.080 Well, who are the people around you who love you, who have your best interests at heart, and whose wisdom and advice you need to seek or listen to? 00:15:04.240 --> 00:15:12.320 But more than that, have you been kind of over these weeks and months, over the course of your life, been kind of rolling your eyes, spiritually speaking? 00:15:12.559 --> 00:15:17.360 Anytime God is mentioned, you kind of come along kind of slightly begrudgingly. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:20.080 You know what you ought to do. 00:15:20.159 --> 00:15:26.639 You know you ought to listen to your Heavenly Father, but you've been like that spiritual teenager who's been pushing him away. 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:30.240 But will you listen to his wisdom today? 00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:40.799 Will you allow him to beautify your life by wearing that garland, that necklace of wisdom that makes you attractive to others? 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:42.480 First point. 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:46.159 Listen to the advice from people who love you. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:54.000 Second, beware the draw of bad company. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.279 Let's have a look at verses 10 to 14. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:15:59.120 Beware the draw of bad company. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:02.240 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:11.679 If they say, Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without reason, like Sheol, that's the grave. 00:16:11.840 --> 00:16:17.120 Let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the pit. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:26.559 We shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder, throw your lot in among us, we will have one purse. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.840 It sounds exhilarating, actually, doesn't it? 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.039 The lure of the crowd is strong. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:48.960 The father knows that this invitation will come, that you will arrive at this fork in the road before you even realize that it was just around the next bend, and suddenly you're going to be confronted with this question of am I going to follow the crowd? 00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.200 And the draw of the crowd is strong. 00:16:51.759 --> 00:16:54.080 It sounds exhilarating and exciting. 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:56.879 They're full of confidence and pride. 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.840 We're going to be like the grave itself. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:04.000 We join with us, and we're going to be, we're so powerful. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:05.920 We're almost invincible. 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:07.359 Come and join us. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.359 What's more, you're going to get something out of it. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:15.599 Just imagine what we can do together. 00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:18.240 We shall find all precious goods. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:21.279 We shall fill our houses with plunder. 00:17:22.079 --> 00:17:34.240 It's the Father, he kind of puts a uh puts a pin on the issue right at the very end of verse 19, where he says, Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:46.720 Not only is the lure of the crowd strong, but there is the promise of gain, of advancement. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:54.400 Now, look, I I don't imagine that uh that any of us have ever lain in wait for somebody's blood. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:17:56.559 If you have, stop doing that. 00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:02.160 You probably haven't sought to murder somebody to steal their money. 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:11.839 But have you ever been tempted to gain a benefit at somebody else's expense? 00:18:13.759 --> 00:18:15.599 Maybe even reputationally. 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:31.519 You have that temptation to cheat, to get ahead, to just kind of fudge around the edges of your business practices just to get that little extra gain. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:35.839 To lie to the tax man because, well, everybody does it. 00:18:36.000 --> 00:18:37.440 Throw your lot in with us. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:56.319 But it might also be the temp the temptation to destroy somebody reputationally in order to be thought well of by the crowd, by the people whose respect you want, in order to gain that person's position, perhaps. 00:18:59.119 --> 00:19:03.440 You need to benefit at another's expense is also what the bully does, isn't it? 00:19:04.640 --> 00:19:12.240 The bully must manage his or her own insecurities by doing down other people. 00:19:12.640 --> 00:19:23.440 So they get that gain of feeling more powerful, more in control by destroying others, by being cruel to others. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:38.960 Or maybe it's even just in the envy of begrudging somebody else's successes and looking for them to fail, looking for that opportunity just to take them down a peg or two. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:52.480 Or maybe it's rationalizing wrongdoing and telling yourself, well, it's for their good, it's for the greater good, it's for their benefit. 00:19:53.279 --> 00:20:09.200 When you know that it is not, the invitation of the gang is strong and it changes our behavior, it changes how we act. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:32.799 And once our behavior starts to change, do you notice that actually once we begin to journey down that path where we are doing things that loving advisors and counselors and parents have told us is wrong, what happens to us when we begin to change what we believe in the first place? 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:34.079 Have you noticed that? 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:45.680 That often what we believe and what we think about certain things comes in to justify the behavior that we want to do anyway. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:50.880 See what the heart wants, the mind justifies. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:58.079 And once that's happened, the father says, Well, you know, you find you've gone very far down the road at that point. 00:21:02.319 --> 00:21:05.920 What effect does this uh have on us, also? 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:21.279 Well in the passage the father says, Well, it leads to violence, maybe not physically, but don't you feel resentment, anger, bitterness, frustration? 00:21:24.559 --> 00:21:42.400 It also means that once you become part of that crowd, that crowd that is that is destructive towards other people, one of the things that you'll do is you'll want to pull other people in. 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:50.880 Because if you can pull others in, then it kind of diffuses the responsibility that you feel that you need to bear. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:54.559 And it makes you feel better about what you're doing. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:22:02.400 If you can drag others down, then The wise father. 00:22:03.920 --> 00:22:17.039 In addition to kind of giving the positive incentive at the start of this passage, then towards the end, gives the gives the negative motivation, the negative incentive in verse 17. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.839 He said, Your life will be beautiful if you choose the path of wisdom. 00:22:21.920 --> 00:22:31.599 If you don't go with the the crowd that's seeking gain unjustly, that's doing other people down, if you don't corrupt yourself in that sort of way. 00:22:31.839 --> 00:22:37.519 But but also here's the thing that you need to know, son, daughter, it won't work. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:39.200 Verse 17. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:45.119 For in vain a net is spread in the sight of any bird. 00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:55.440 You just imagine I don't know if you've how much hunting you've done, but just imagine uh you go out with your with your net and it's broad daylight, and all the birds are tweeting and flooding around. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:22:57.599 You're like, hey birds, there's net here. 00:22:57.839 --> 00:22:59.519 Here's the net for you. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:00.880 Yeah, okay. 00:23:01.119 --> 00:23:01.680 You see that? 00:23:01.839 --> 00:23:02.799 That's where I want you to go. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:03.359 Does it work? 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:04.240 No, it doesn't. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:05.359 That's what he's saying. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:12.240 So it doesn't work, it doesn't achieve the end that actually you want it. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:18.960 That you're foolishly following the crowd, like naying a net in full view of the birds. 00:23:19.279 --> 00:23:21.039 This plan will never ultimately work. 00:23:21.200 --> 00:23:23.359 It might work in the short term. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:32.799 It's part of the thing of the uh the book of Proverbs is that the book of Proverbs, we said last week, is uh it's full of principles, not promises. 00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.880 We all know people who have got away with things for a long, long time. 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:50.160 It feels like they've trapped many a bird, but ultimately speaking, in terms of divine justice and the moral shape of the universe, the Father's saying they will not always get away with it. 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:52.960 There will come a reckoning. 00:23:55.200 --> 00:24:03.200 To go along with the gang in order to fit in, in order to achieve at others' expense is ultimately foolishness. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:08.880 He says that those who seek the blood of others, well, what are they doing? 00:24:08.960 --> 00:24:10.640 Well, they're seeking their own blood. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.119 They're setting a trap for themselves. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:16.720 And maybe you've felt this. 00:24:17.200 --> 00:24:28.559 You've traveled down that path of being on the in-crowd of sneering and sniping at others and complaining about uh about other people and situations. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:40.400 And uh there's a kind of honor amongst thieves uh in that sort of sense where you kind of feel like you're in the in-crowd, but it doesn't take very much for the crowd to turn on you. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:54.079 You know, if that's the culture that the friendship group has created, it doesn't take much for them to turn their attentions, for them to turn their knives on you. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:25:08.559 And for you to find yourself under the bus, being the butt of their jokes, being cast aside for their gain. 00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:16.880 That's what the father says, look, you gotta be really careful about throwing your lot in with these people because they don't actually truly love you. 00:25:18.480 --> 00:25:20.000 They never really did. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:25.440 But this is the deceitfulness of sin, isn't it? 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:27.039 It promises much. 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:29.119 Come, we're gonna be like the grave. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:34.400 We're gonna throw our lot in together, we're gonna have one purse, yeah. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:35.359 Right. 00:25:37.119 --> 00:25:42.880 Sin promises much and delivers little, it promises life and delivers death. 00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:55.759 It is folly, and we're so easily given into it because we would rather pursue the folly than listen to the father. 00:25:58.400 --> 00:26:02.240 So you gotta ask yourself, how desperate am I to be on the inside? 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:09.599 Have I had to change ways that I have acted in order to be accepted? 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:19.519 Has that led me to compromising or changing the things that I say that I believe in order to justify my behavior? 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:24.720 The invitation will come. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:29.119 How are we going to stand up under it? 00:26:30.079 --> 00:26:32.720 And this is our our final point. 00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:40.799 Our final point is this grace for wandering sons and daughters. 00:26:41.119 --> 00:26:53.039 So listening to the vice to the advice of loving sources, beware the draw of bad company, and there is grace for wandering sons and daughters. 00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:00.240 You know, underlying this temptation to follow the crowd is the fear of what others will think of us. 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:02.640 God knows that. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:04.319 God made us for community. 00:27:04.640 --> 00:27:08.319 He knows that we're going to be concerned with what other people think. 00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:11.920 And he knows how crippling that can be. 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:20.559 It can take a tremendous amount of grace, a tremendous amount, excuse me, of courage to stand in the face of those temptations. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:33.039 I mean, just imagine tomorrow uh you find yourself in exactly that situation of doing other people down, of uh, of just compromising something of your moral character in order to achieve an end. 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:34.000 What are you gonna say? 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:38.240 Well, my daddy told me that I can't really really kind of do that. 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:40.240 I think it's really hard. 00:27:40.640 --> 00:27:45.200 Oh, mommy's boy, daddy's little girl, part of the God squad. 00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:46.960 What are you gonna say? 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:54.880 People in the Bible felt a similar temptation. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:58.480 Let me give you two examples: one from the New Testament, one from the Old Testament. 00:27:59.440 --> 00:28:13.920 In the New Testament, after Jesus uh has uh been crucified, uh resurrected, and ascended into heaven, uh uh Peter is uh uh in a place called Antioch. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:25.920 And he has realized through Jesus' ministry that the Old Testament food laws don't don't apply, that he can have a bacon sandwich in the morning as as much as the next Gentile. 00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:28.400 And that's what he's been doing. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:35.920 He's been eating with Gentiles, that is, non-Jews, and that's been his common practice. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:40.640 But then one day, uh, some Jews come from out of town. 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:58.079 They're sent from James, who at that point is the leader of the church in Jerusalem, kind of the uh the head honcho, and uh and they come into the room where where Peter is, and uh, and they see him eating with non-Jews, eating with unclean hands. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:02.880 And and they say, Oh, Peter, I'm I'm just really not sure that you should be doing that. 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.279 Why don't you just come away with us? 00:29:05.440 --> 00:29:06.880 We're just gonna go into this other room. 00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:09.200 Come and be part of our in crowd. 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:11.279 And so he removes himself. 00:29:12.240 --> 00:29:13.519 This is Peter. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:17.519 On this rock I will build my church, said Jesus. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.000 He struggled with the draw of the crowd. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:25.519 It would take immense courage, it would take immense grace, wouldn't it? 00:29:25.680 --> 00:29:27.680 To resist that temptation. 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:33.359 You've got people whose respect you want encouraging you a certain way. 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:35.599 How are you going to stand up under that? 00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:37.599 Old Testament example. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:46.799 Moses in the book of Exodus has gone up the mountain, up Mount Sinai, to receive the Ten Commandments, and he's gone for 40 days, gone for a long time. 00:29:46.960 --> 00:29:53.039 And everybody in uh in the camp down at the base of the mountain is like, that guy's dead. 00:29:53.279 --> 00:29:56.640 Like he's gone, like he's not coming back. 00:29:57.599 --> 00:30:05.759 And they all gather around Moses' brother, a guy called Aaron, or Aaron, depending on how you pronounce it. 00:30:06.000 --> 00:30:12.160 And they all gather around Aaron and they say, Moses is dead. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.119 Why don't you lead us? 00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:17.680 You be our leader now. 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:19.039 We're gonna put you in charge. 00:30:19.200 --> 00:30:21.599 We're gonna give you all the power. 00:30:22.160 --> 00:30:24.240 Make us gods, will you? 00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:31.359 Make us a God that we can bow down and worship, like a real God that we can see and and touch. 00:30:33.599 --> 00:30:38.960 Everybody's coming around offering you the leadership position. 00:30:39.359 --> 00:30:41.119 And Moses is gone. 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.400 We want you to step into his place. 00:30:44.480 --> 00:30:45.359 You're like, huh. 00:30:45.839 --> 00:30:46.400 Yeah. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:48.960 How would you stand up under it? 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:51.119 Would you resist that temptation? 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:53.359 It would take immense courage. 00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:58.880 It would take immense grace to be able to do that. 00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:00.880 I'm not sure that I could. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:20.000 You see, in order to listen to the advice of the father here, we need the grace of the Son, who always lived perfectly, listening to his father. 00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:29.039 He was asked by the elites of his day to change his story about who he was. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:33.519 He would have been spared his life, he would have been spared a lot of suffering. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:46.319 He stood before Pilate, who had the power to set him free, and yet he didn't waver, but confessed openly who he was. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:52.240 You wicked men lay in wait for the blood of the Son of God. 00:31:53.039 --> 00:31:59.599 They spread their net for him, and he fell into it willingly. 00:32:00.319 --> 00:32:00.960 Why? 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:26.240 In order to give us grace, to forgive every part of us that sinfully desires to succeed at another's expense, to free us from that addiction that we have to the opinion of others and the desire to be on the inside. 00:32:27.839 --> 00:32:53.759 And he frees us by adopting us into his family, to making us sons and daughters of the Father who loves us, whose opinion of us has already been expressed, and it's the only opinion that will ever matter into eternity that you are loved, held secure by him, that you lack nothing. 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:59.759 And so you can you no longer need to pursue unjust gain because your father knows what you need. 00:32:59.920 --> 00:33:03.039 He loves you more than the sparrows of the earth. 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:08.799 And he will care for you, he will preserve you to the end. 00:33:11.359 --> 00:33:22.400 We need Jesus' grace, the grace of his forgiveness, the grace of his freedom to stand up and listen to the words of the Father. 00:33:22.559 --> 00:33:25.359 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. 00:33:25.519 --> 00:33:31.119 Yes, Father, easier said than done by my own strength. 00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:41.279 And it would be so easy to go through this whole book of Proverbs and say that it's really just a book of moral lessons. 00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:42.720 Moralize the whole thing. 00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:51.519 You come away thinking, well, I just need to listen to my parents more, and I need to not be greedy, and I need to hear the opinions of, or need to not fear the opinions of others. 00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:53.680 You know, tick, tick, tick. 00:33:56.319 --> 00:34:08.480 Well, what we actually need is a heart that is soft to the wise words of those who love us. 00:34:08.880 --> 00:34:12.320 Soft to the wise words of our Heavenly Father. 00:34:13.039 --> 00:34:15.360 We only get that through the grace of Jesus. 00:34:16.800 --> 00:34:21.920 But we need his grace to forgive us because we've all run after the crowd. 00:34:23.599 --> 00:34:33.519 We've all sought the easy path, we've all sacrificed a little of our integrity in order to get ahead, in order to be liked. 00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:47.840 We need the grace of the Son of God to change us, to give us that wisdom that comes from above, and then maybe just little by little we might heed these words. 00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:56.400 You might just test in just some small way, saying, actually, no, I'm not going to follow that. 00:34:57.280 --> 00:35:00.079 Actually, I don't think that those people have my best interest at heart. 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:06.079 And maybe over time you'll you'll fall back and you'll think, oh, I went down that path again. 00:35:06.239 --> 00:35:17.039 But Jesus' grace is is is ready and abundant to bring you back and to set you back at the crossroads and go, well, okay, that one went okay. 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:19.039 That one could have gone better. 00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:23.119 By my grace, make a better decision again. 00:35:24.159 --> 00:35:26.320 But we can't achieve these things by our own strength. 00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:34.880 This is why the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that these things are achieved in the context of a relationship with God. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:39.440 That is where wise actions arise from. 00:35:39.599 --> 00:35:57.679 Our relationship with our Heavenly Father, who loves us, who forgives us our sins, who gives us a new heart, who warns us of the dangers up ahead, and who welcomes us back every time we fall. 00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:17.679 If you found this helpful or want to know more about City Church Dublin, visit our website found in the links below.