WEBVTT 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:24.079 Proverbs chapter 5, which we looked at last Lord's Day, is one of the more infamous passages in Proverbs warning against adultery, warning the uh young person to not destroy his life with a stranger. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:34.479 Proverbs chapter six now turns and puts a focus not on being destroyed by a stranger, but being destroyed by a friend. 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:43.200 Proverbs chapter six zooms in here and warns you not to let your life be ruined by certain kinds of friends. 00:00:43.359 --> 00:00:50.240 Now it does this in the form of warning the young person what kind of person to not become. 00:00:50.799 --> 00:00:57.280 You, I'm sure, understand this concept when somebody's thinking about whether or not they're gonna go to college or what they're gonna study at college. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:02.560 Oftentimes the guidance counselor will encourage the person to spend a day with the person. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:08.000 You want to go, you know, you want to go be a pilot, uh, go talk to a pilot, see what his life is actually like. 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:13.200 You want to be a car mechanic, go to the shop, spend time with the mechanic, you like see what their life is actually like. 00:01:13.359 --> 00:01:18.159 So the more you're spending the time with the person, you start to experience what will that life be like. 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:20.719 You want to be a school teacher? 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.760 Go spend August 1st with the school teacher. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.159 Oh, what a fun job. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:30.959 You got to project out though to what is the full life gonna be like? 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:32.879 What are you actually gonna be like? 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:45.599 You know, you think of a pilot who's gonna be traveling around and away from his family so much, but the flip side of that is, you know, different kinds of incentives and a different kind of lifestyle that some families are are drawn to. 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:50.560 You you're allowed to choose that, but you want to choose it on the front ends, not on the tail ends. 00:01:50.879 --> 00:01:56.799 You know the kind of job where you punch in and keep certain regular hours, you leave home at the certain time, come back at a certain time. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:58.959 Is that the kind of lifestyle uh you want? 00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:00.560 And for some people that's attractive. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:02.159 Well, choose that kind of job. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:05.439 I mean, that's the nature of choosing a career. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:08.080 And this is not just a purely American phenomenon. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:14.400 I know in the ancient Near East and even the Greco-Roman Empire, you often just took the career that your parents were, but that's not entirely true. 00:02:14.560 --> 00:02:15.759 Proverbs is gonna make that clear. 00:02:15.919 --> 00:02:28.080 You have a little bit of volition in this and looking at what you can put your hand to, what kind of crops are you gonna plant, what kind of tasks are you gonna uh pursue, what kind of things are you gonna trade, what kind of person are you going to be? 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:35.599 Proverbs chapter six takes that mindset and applies it to character. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:41.439 Not choosing a major, but choosing a course in life. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.719 What kind of person are you going to be? 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:56.879 And like I said, there's positive ways to say it, that you can work hard, you can be a good steward of your money, you can speak the truth, you can be faithful in your marriage, and some of that was hinted at the end of Proverbs 5. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:00.400 There's this whole negative ways to say it, and that's the way Proverbs 6 goes. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:06.240 Proverbs 6 puts the focus on the negative, that you don't want to be the kind of person that loans out money. 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.319 You don't want to be a lazy person, you don't want to be a liar, you don't want to be a lustful person. 00:03:11.199 --> 00:03:18.560 I think the best way to bring this whole chapter together is to give you an outline that I'm gonna capture for inferior kinds of people. 00:03:18.960 --> 00:03:22.960 And that phrase inferior kinds of people can rub us the wrong way sometimes. 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:35.919 You hear that phrase inferior kinds of people, you know, every person is equal in some sense, and that's true as far as being in the image of God, every person is the same value, worth, and dignity and such, and being the image of God. 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:42.319 Yet, Proverbs 6 is going to make it clear that not every life is charted with equality. 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:47.919 That some people make decisions often early in their life that will determine what kind of person they're going to be. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:57.280 And so Proverbs 6 is warning you about this, these different four different classes of people will come across in Proverbs 6, four different kinds of people that Solomon is describing as inferior. 00:03:57.439 --> 00:03:59.520 Don't become one of them. 00:04:00.879 --> 00:04:02.639 Don't become one of them. 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:05.919 Let's look at him one at a time. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:09.120 The first is I'm going to call the loner. 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:12.479 And I don't mean the guy who's always by himself. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:29.600 I mean the person who is using his resources, using what God gave him to leverage attention, leverage friendship, to he's using it to put other people into his debt, but in a risky kind of way. 00:04:30.079 --> 00:04:31.199 You see it in verse 1. 00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:43.279 My son, if you've put up security for your neighbor, you've given your pledge for a stranger, if you're snared in the words of your mouth or caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:44.720 Save yourself. 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:49.920 You've come to the hand of your neighbor, go hasten, plead urgently with your neighbor. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:56.800 Give your eyes no sleep, your eyelids no slumber, save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:02.800 Now, this is the first real specific category of sin we're dealing with in Proverbs beyond just youthful indulgence. 00:05:02.959 --> 00:05:09.199 Earlier we had the guys that were going out to murder and uh to get wealth that way, and that was probably kind of hyperbolic language. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.079 We saw the sexually immoral person in Proverbs chapter 5. 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:21.920 But here we're getting pretty specific with a category of sin where Solomon's saying, don't be the kind of person that is lending out your money to put yourself at risk. 00:05:22.079 --> 00:05:34.800 Now, this seems so far-fetched to a typical American mind, it's tough to understand what is happening here because I don't know, hardly any Americans are ever in this situation where your neighbor comes and says, Would you co-sign my loan? 00:05:34.959 --> 00:05:42.319 Like there would be enough warning flags in your mind that if your neighbor asked you to co-sign your loan, you'd probably be like, uh no. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:44.639 I mean, it's a very odd thing. 00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:49.839 It was much more common in the ancient Near East, much more common without a central banking system. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:58.160 I mean, this is the way people could afford for houses and fields, is to go in with other neighbors to get neighbors to co-sign and whatnot. 00:05:58.399 --> 00:06:02.240 So there's a place where this can be a good investment, of course, obviously. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:07.680 There's a room for investing in businesses, there's room for putting seed money in to watch a business grow. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:11.519 Of course, a shrewd person you're gonna see by the end of Proverbs does just that. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:15.279 You know, you view your dollar bills as employees, your dollars work for you. 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:20.800 Every dollar you have is one of your employees, and you want to send them out during the day and have them bring back friends by the end of the day. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:22.240 That's good investment. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:23.040 Of course it is. 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:25.040 That a wise person knows how to invest that way. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.560 That's not what's happening here. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.959 This is not shrewd investment to expand your wealth. 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:32.879 This is hazardous investment. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:39.120 You know it's hazardous because the guy is compared to uh a gazelle who's about to get shot with a bow. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:42.399 What is this person doing? 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:51.199 Well, he's lending by co-signing to friends in risky investments, and he's putting his own property on the line. 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:56.879 Now, why would somebody do a risky investment like this for one of his friends or neighbors? 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:02.079 You want to be critically thinking here and figure out what's the heart issue with this person? 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.920 And the issue, probably I'm guessing, is pride. 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:17.279 You have your friend that comes to you and says, Hey, I'm gonna do this, you're a person of wealth, you're a person of power, and this is the way people often extort those kind of co-signing pledges, is you have a lot of money. 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:22.800 I'm not asking for a loan, I'm just asking you to co-sign this. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:28.319 And of course, what cosigning means is when that person defaults, you're on the hook for it. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.519 You don't get a lot of leverage out of that, you don't get out a lot of profit out of that, even. 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.879 Often in those kind of arrangements, you just get back what you invested. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:39.040 You're not even making a profit, an investment. 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:40.079 You would make a profit on it. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:44.000 This year, just if all goes well, you might break even. 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:46.959 Who would make that kind of loan? 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:49.439 Well, you do it to your friends. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.319 Why would you make that kind of loan to your friends? 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.120 Because you want them to respect you. 00:07:55.360 --> 00:08:01.279 You you want them to think that you're the person with money, you're the person who has the capacity to meet their problems. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:12.480 They have a problem, and you say, I have a capacity to meet it, so you sign on as a favor to them, but you understand just like a modicum of wisdom here, you realize that doesn't actually work that way. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:15.839 Those kind of business arrangements end up alienating friendships. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:17.120 It tanks both people. 00:08:17.279 --> 00:08:20.959 The person who received the loan puts them in an awkward relationship with the one who gave it. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:24.480 The person who gave it trashes their relationship with the one they gave it to. 00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:27.279 It's hanging over their relationship the rest of their life. 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:31.040 And if the person defaults, the creditor is gonna come knocking on your door. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.639 The creditor is gonna be calling your cell phone number all the time. 00:08:34.879 --> 00:08:38.639 They probably had different ways to do that in Solomon's day. 00:08:38.799 --> 00:08:42.639 But the point is, it will tank your own relationship. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:46.720 Underwriting someone else's speculation. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:50.639 That's the kind of choice that results in ruin. 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.600 It's the kind of financial choice that a young person makes. 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:59.360 And this is why Solomon warns young people, warning his own son here, not to do that. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:00.879 Don't be that kind of person. 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.679 You know, if you can give money to somebody, give money to someone. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:05.759 Proverbs extols generosity. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:10.639 You know, don't call it, don't call it a loan, call it a gift. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:14.080 And that's I think that's that's good advice. 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:18.720 When you're giving money within your family, it's probably best to frame it in terms of a gift and not a loan. 00:09:18.799 --> 00:09:25.120 Because when you start making loans inside of your family, it causes a million problems that will last for a generation or two. 00:09:25.279 --> 00:09:26.799 It is so tough to unwind. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.440 And Proverbs warns against exactly that. 00:09:29.679 --> 00:09:50.879 I could tell you illustration after illustration of families that I know that have tanked their relationship, siblings fighting against siblings, siblings fighting against parents, grandparents fighting against grandkids, so much strife and division because something that was bracketed as a loan or marketed inside the family as a loan turns out to be a gift, and lo and behold, it explodes the whole relationship time and time again. 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:58.960 So if you have not encountered one of these, you might be rolling your eyes at this and be thinking, this is kind of a far-fetched scenario for the beginning of Proverbs. 00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:00.639 I mean, come on, who would do this? 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:06.559 But if you have encountered one of these, you know how potent this is to wreck a family. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:08.639 So don't do it. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:11.279 You want to give your money away, give it away. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.759 You want to give money to the poor, give money to the poor. 00:10:13.840 --> 00:10:18.320 You want to give money to your son or daughter or your brother or sister, give it away. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:26.960 But when you start loaning inside of the family and putting property at risk and on the line, it is going to end up devastating you. 00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:31.120 If you have done that, Solomon's advice, get out of it. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.039 Well, how do I get out of it? 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:35.440 Go hound the dude you lended to. 00:10:35.600 --> 00:10:36.799 Go knock on his door. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.840 Call him every day, send him automatic reminders in your outlook. 00:10:39.919 --> 00:10:40.559 Email him every day. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:41.519 Hey, have you fixed this yet? 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:42.399 Is this resolved yet? 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:43.200 Is this resolved yet? 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:48.399 Now he doesn't use the language of automatic reminders and outlook, but look what he says in verse 4. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:51.600 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:54.080 In other words, go fix this now. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:10:57.440 Don't go to bed on this. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.200 How humiliating would that be? 00:11:02.639 --> 00:11:03.519 How humiliating. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:04.559 Save yourself, he says. 00:11:04.639 --> 00:11:05.600 How humiliating would this be? 00:11:05.679 --> 00:11:06.799 Because think of the hard issue. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:08.960 Why is the guy giving these kind of loans out? 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:10.080 Why is he doing it? 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:11.759 Because of his own pride. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:18.159 So now he's got to go back to the person and say, on second thought, this isn't going to work. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:20.799 That's humiliating. 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:24.159 It lowers the person, lowers him. 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:31.279 Save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:44.240 A friend of mine who is a deer hunter said that he was hunting this week, and the most beautiful deer came up by him and just walked right up to him, put his nose right in his face, and looked at him. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:46.639 And he said, I couldn't do it. 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:48.480 I couldn't do it. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:49.759 He's just cute. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:56.879 And he had a big white chest and huge antlers, but the white chest, he's like, most of the deer in our neighborhood, this is this is, you know, down the street from here, by the way. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:01.279 Most of the deer in our neighborhood don't have the, you know, the big white, they don't look that beautiful. 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:04.320 But this guy, man, that was one lucky deer. 00:12:05.120 --> 00:12:07.039 That's the language Solomon uses here. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:10.080 Go look at the person and just present yourself to him. 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:11.440 Like, don't shoot me. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:13.200 I need that money back. 00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:14.879 We need to unwind this. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.919 So the first person, don't be the kind of person that's loaning your money out. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:21.840 Again, this is not uh uh dissuading you from investing your money. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:25.279 You want to invest your money, sure investments, make sure investments. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:29.120 Uh Jesus extols that uses illustrations about the people who invest. 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:34.799 In fact, the guy with money, the steward with money who just buried it and didn't want to invest it, he is he's rebuked by the Lord. 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.679 So Proverbs is not saying don't invest your money. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:42.879 Investments, good, loans to friends, co-signing for friends, bad. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:44.960 That's the difference. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.440 First kind of person you want to be is the loner. 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:52.559 The second kind of person you don't want to be is the sluggard, the lazy person. 00:12:53.279 --> 00:12:55.440 Go to the ant, oh sluggard. 00:12:56.080 --> 00:12:58.639 Consider her ways and be wise. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.440 Proverbs has a lot to say about the sluggard. 00:13:01.759 --> 00:13:05.360 The sluggard is a person who doesn't want to do work. 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:08.879 Proverbs 26, 14, one of the best verses about the sluggard. 00:13:09.120 --> 00:13:12.879 As the door turns on its hinges, so is the sluggard. 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:15.679 As the door turns on its hinges. 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:18.720 Just the door that swings open and close. 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:21.840 You know, the a door never goes to work. 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:23.919 I've lived a long time. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.759 I have never seen a door go to work. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:27.200 That door doesn't do anything. 00:13:27.279 --> 00:13:30.320 The door doesn't do the dishes, the door doesn't make breakfast, the door doesn't do anything. 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:34.080 The door just sits there and goes like this, swings back and forth all day long. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:36.080 What a picture of the sluggard. 00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:37.919 That dude doesn't go to work. 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.080 That teenager is just sitting in their bed. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:42.399 Remember, this is to teenagers, I have no teenagers in mind. 00:13:42.480 --> 00:13:43.919 This is to teenagers. 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:47.600 The teenager just is in bed and flips over. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:48.960 Oh, it's time to do some work. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:51.039 I better roll over. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:52.720 Like the door. 00:13:52.960 --> 00:13:55.600 One hour later, oh, time to get going. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:13:57.360 Better roll the other way. 00:13:57.919 --> 00:13:59.120 You're like, what are you doing? 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:01.360 Oh, for a door, that is a workout. 00:14:01.679 --> 00:14:05.440 Man, if that if that teenager was a door, he'd be breaking a sweat. 00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:09.919 That's the way the sluggard is, like a door on its hinges. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:14.240 The sluggard doesn't want to do work. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.000 Proverbs 26, 15. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:20.480 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and it wears him out to bring it back up. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:22.720 That's kind of funny, isn't it? 00:14:22.960 --> 00:14:23.919 Going to breakfast. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:33.360 Oh man, your cereal your spoon is in the cereal, and you're looking at the spoon in the cereal, and you think, man, that is gonna be a lot of work to get this back to my face. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:36.480 Man, those frosted mini wheats, they look so good down there. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.840 If only I could get them from here to here. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:41.919 That's the problem, though. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:44.559 It requires the elbow movement, and I don't know. 00:14:44.799 --> 00:14:47.440 Now, a sluggard really isn't too lazy to eat. 00:14:47.519 --> 00:14:51.840 If you've met a sluggard, this is one thing that will motivate them out of bed, is the food. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:53.200 So, what does this mean? 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:56.480 I think it means that the sluggard is good at doing half jobs. 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:59.919 The sluggard doesn't finish the work, does half of a job. 00:15:00.159 --> 00:15:03.360 The sluggard folds all the laundry except the socks. 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:08.480 The sluggard will mow the grass but not clean up the clippings. 00:15:08.720 --> 00:15:14.559 The sluggard will wash the car but leave the the washcloth out and the hose out. 00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.799 The sluggard will do most of the dishes, just not the pot. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:20.240 That's the sluggard. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:21.600 His hand is in the dish. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.159 He he just he won't finish the job. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:25.919 He's too lazy to finish it. 00:15:26.080 --> 00:15:28.720 He got motivated just enough to start it. 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.399 And the sluggard loves his bed, loves his pillow. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:37.039 The sluggard has a favorite Bible verse. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.080 Jesus says, Don't worry about tomorrow. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:42.159 And the sluggard says, Amen. 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:44.559 I refuse to worry about tomorrow. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:46.159 Preach it, Jesus. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:48.799 That's the sluggard. 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:49.919 He loves excuses. 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.360 Proverbs 22, 13. 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:52.879 This is my favorite sluggard verse. 00:15:53.039 --> 00:15:55.200 My wife used it on me the other day. 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:57.840 There's a lion in the streets. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:15:59.679 I used to wonder what that verse meant. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:01.039 There's a lion in the streets? 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.200 Why does a sluggard say there's a lion in the streets? 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:04.000 That's odd. 00:16:04.320 --> 00:16:06.080 Because there's not a lion in the streets. 00:16:06.159 --> 00:16:09.039 There's not a lion roaming in downtown Jerusalem. 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:09.919 You gotta be kidding me. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:13.600 Even in her Solomon's Day, there's no lion in the streets of Jerusalem. 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:15.759 What a lame excuse. 00:16:17.360 --> 00:16:21.679 We had a bunch of wood that needed splitting in our driveway this week. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:25.039 I looked out a couple mornings ago at the wood. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:27.759 I thought, hmm, I should split that today. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:31.039 I looked up, but it might rain. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:35.200 And DJ, without missing a beat, said, Is there a lion outside? 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:39.200 It might rain. 00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:42.000 What a lame you can't split wood in the rain? 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:42.559 Come on. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:44.480 Johnson, get your head out there. 00:16:45.120 --> 00:16:46.960 That's the sluggard for you right there. 00:16:47.039 --> 00:16:49.679 And the sluggard lies inside of every one of us, doesn't he? 00:16:49.840 --> 00:16:53.360 And so Solomon says, Hey, don't be that kind of person. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:55.759 Don't hug your pillow. 00:16:55.919 --> 00:17:00.399 Don't put off to tomorrow what you can do today because it might you might get rained on. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:02.320 Weak sauce. 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:05.200 What are you supposed to do instead? 00:17:05.359 --> 00:17:06.480 Go look at the ant. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.119 Go study the ant, you sluggard. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:11.200 Consider her ways and be wise. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.720 Ants are hard-working creatures. 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:17.200 Those guys work so hard. 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:19.519 It's amazing what they will do. 00:17:19.759 --> 00:17:20.799 It is amazing. 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:27.440 I watched this ant, this is one of my excuses, I was procrastinating, but I justify it based upon this verse. 00:17:27.680 --> 00:17:32.079 I watched a big ant in our yard wrestle a wasp and win. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:45.440 The ant took down the wasp, the wasp couldn't quite sing it, the ant won, and the ant couldn't move the wasp, and the ant somehow called magically the way those ants do it, and I know biologists will tell you they've got like chemicals or enzymes they let out, and it's like SOS calls to other ants, but whatever. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:55.519 He's fighting a wasp, the dude wins, starts lugging it across my bricks in the morning, and all his friend ants come and they're carrying like triumphantly this wasp all the way back to their ant cave. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.519 I do not want to mess with those ants. 00:17:57.759 --> 00:17:58.880 They are hard workers. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.680 You know what's crazy about the ant that Solomon says in verse 7? 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:02.640 They don't have sergeants. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:04.640 You've never met an ant sergeant. 00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:07.200 They don't have captains, they don't have lieutenants. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:09.119 The ant has needs backup. 00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:11.359 He doesn't call a sleep advisor, the ant doesn't know what to do. 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.880 He doesn't he doesn't call his boss over, say, hey, I can't lift this. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:16.000 Can you tell us what to do? 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:17.440 No, they just know what to do. 00:18:17.759 --> 00:18:18.799 You know what they do every time? 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.640 You know what the ant's solution to every problem is? 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:21.759 Work harder. 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:23.440 That's the ant's solution. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:24.880 Can't lift this wasp. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:26.079 Try harder then. 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:29.440 Consider those guys. 00:18:29.920 --> 00:18:31.279 What does the ant do verse 8? 00:18:31.440 --> 00:18:34.559 Prepares her bread in the summer, gathers her food in harvest. 00:18:35.359 --> 00:18:36.640 The ant is working hard. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:37.920 This is like Joseph's style. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:41.759 Seven years of good weather, seven years of famine. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:50.960 Work hard for the seven years of good weather, and then every other nation is panicking, freaking out in the famine, but not Joseph and his people. 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:51.759 They're feasting. 00:18:51.920 --> 00:18:54.960 I mean, that's something that struck out to me recently, reading the Genesis account. 00:18:55.119 --> 00:18:58.880 It's the height of the famine, not the beginning of the famine, the height of the famine. 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:00.400 All the hungry people came looking for food. 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:01.119 That already happened. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:03.759 Joseph's brothers are on round two looking for food. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.279 And what's Joseph doing the second time they come back to him? 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:08.720 But feasting. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:14.720 That's winter, the heart of winter, and the slugger doesn't have any food because the snow is outside. 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:16.000 Oh, there's too much snow. 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:17.440 I can't find food. 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:18.880 But not the hard worker. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:19.920 There's snow outside, man. 00:19:20.000 --> 00:19:21.440 That means it's time to be warm inside. 00:19:21.839 --> 00:19:24.079 You know what ants actually do during the winter? 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:25.599 They burrow. 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.559 Most ants don't even die off in the winter. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:32.319 They burrow, they put little rocks and dirt under the opening of their hole. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:41.519 They all go down and their body temperature lowers, their activity lowers, and they live off the fats in their body and whatever food they have stored up to we or to waking up next summer. 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:51.200 I mean, ants basically, when winter comes, wrap themselves in a blanket, put on PJs, slippers, drink some coffee, and watch Star Wars by the fireplace. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.119 That's what ants do during the winter. 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:55.440 Why can they do that? 00:19:55.759 --> 00:19:59.039 Because they work so hard the rest of the year. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:01.920 The sluggard wants to do that year round. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:05.920 Sluggard, you know, August 1st is like, mm, Star Wars time. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:06.720 No, it's not. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:08.480 It's get outside and work time. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:14.720 Now you don't necessarily follow an agrarian calendar here in Northern Virginia, but the point is there is a time to work. 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:18.000 And when it comes, you better work. 00:20:18.240 --> 00:20:22.480 And if you don't do it, look at verse 10. 00:20:23.039 --> 00:20:25.039 A little sleep, a little sumber. 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:26.400 That's all the sluggard says, right? 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:28.720 I'm not going to sleep all day, just a little bit longer. 00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:30.559 A little folding of the hands. 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:31.440 Aw. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:35.599 And poverty will come upon you like a robber. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.079 Remember, Proverbs is directed to the teenager. 00:20:38.319 --> 00:20:39.279 Of course, I get it. 00:20:39.359 --> 00:20:41.039 Medically, teenagers need more sleep. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:41.519 That's fine. 00:20:41.680 --> 00:20:44.720 Solomon's not saying tomorrow, you know, get up at this time. 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:53.519 He's just telling the kid, listen, if you're gonna be that kind of person, a little folding hands, a little slumber, game that out. 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:54.799 What's that like in 10 years? 00:20:54.960 --> 00:20:56.480 What's that like when you're 22? 00:20:56.720 --> 00:20:58.480 You're out of college, you don't have a job? 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:00.240 I'll look for a job tomorrow. 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:02.480 I'm gonna hug the pillow another day or two. 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:04.160 I earned it after all of college. 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.880 Man, that becomes your early 30s like that. 00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:09.039 That's Solomon's warning. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:10.480 Don't be like that. 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:17.680 If you eat like that and sleep like that and live like that, you, verse 11, will be a poor person. 00:21:18.319 --> 00:21:20.160 Poverty will come upon you like a robber. 00:21:20.319 --> 00:21:24.240 What that means, by the way, is it means suddenly and expensively. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:28.640 The robber ambushes you and takes what's you think is yours. 00:21:29.519 --> 00:21:36.240 Want will come upon you like an armed man, meaning it will take what it wants and you cannot fend it off. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:40.640 The sluggard may become a beggar, but he will not become a charity case. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.880 People won't give the sluggard money. 00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:44.160 They won't. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:48.480 I mean, if you know the bottom line is he's too lazy, you're not gonna give him money. 00:21:49.759 --> 00:21:53.279 Yeah, there's people begging out at the corner right here at the intersection. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:58.319 And I I I kid you not, every single restaurant in the shopping center there's a help wanted sign on the window. 00:21:58.480 --> 00:21:59.279 Every single one. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:02.000 And people beg at the intersection. 00:22:03.039 --> 00:22:05.279 Are you supposed to have sympathy? 00:22:07.039 --> 00:22:10.160 It's, I mean, it's it's something for sure. 00:22:10.400 --> 00:22:13.680 Poverty will come upon you like a robber if you're unwilling to work. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:17.440 The third category of person to not be is the divider. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:20.240 The divider, the person who sows division. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:25.440 A worthless person, verse 12, a wicked man goes about with crooked speech. 00:22:25.759 --> 00:22:26.960 He winks with his eyes. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:28.480 Notice the whole body is described here. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.799 His speech, he winks with his eyes, he signals with his feet, he points with his finger. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:34.240 This is all dishonest speech. 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:43.519 It's it's innuendo, it's hinting, it's sarcasm, it's snide remarks in the room, it's it's not speaking the truth, it's it's sowing discord. 00:22:43.759 --> 00:22:46.400 Verse 14 says it is just sowing discord. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:54.000 His heart desires evil, his words and his emotions and his fingers and his feet and his eyelashes are all sewing discord. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:22:57.119 He's causing division in whatever room he's in. 00:22:57.279 --> 00:22:59.279 But he won't stand up and cause division. 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:03.200 No, he'll just he'll roll his eyes when the person in charge is talking. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:08.640 He'll plot things behind the leader's back. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:13.119 And if you were to corner him on it, he'd say, Oh no, I don't know what you're talking about. 00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:14.720 I didn't say anything. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:21.200 Just a little rolling of the eyes, a little tapping of the foot, a little nudging, and look at that guy. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:22.319 Those kind of things. 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:24.960 And it's perverted, Solomon says. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:28.480 It's a heart that desires evil, it's souls, it sows discord. 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:36.240 What happens to that kind of person who sows discord on a team, or you know, they didn't have team language here, but in a shared enterprise. 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:40.160 You're working on a farm together, and one of the farmers is sowing discord among the others. 00:23:40.240 --> 00:23:41.839 What do you think will happen with him? 00:23:42.079 --> 00:23:43.920 He is gonna get kicked out. 00:23:44.240 --> 00:23:46.079 What do you think is gonna happen in Solomon's court? 00:23:46.160 --> 00:23:50.319 You got one dude who's sowing discord with everybody else, he's gonna find himself on the street. 00:23:50.480 --> 00:23:57.839 Verse 13, calamity will come upon him suddenly in a devastating way. 00:24:00.480 --> 00:24:04.079 You think that's kind of an overreaction for just being a divider. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:09.039 Well, if you look at these words more carefully, you realize it's not an overreaction. 00:24:09.519 --> 00:24:11.440 Verse 12, his essence is bad. 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:13.279 Like this dude is bad in his heart. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:16.160 He's a worthless person, it says in verse 12. 00:24:16.480 --> 00:24:17.519 He's a wicked man. 00:24:17.680 --> 00:24:20.319 That word for wicked there is a word belial. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:24.400 It's what Paul uses in 2 Corinthians 6 as a synonym for Satan. 00:24:24.559 --> 00:24:28.799 The person who sows discord in a group is synonymous with the devil. 00:24:29.039 --> 00:24:32.079 The devil is a divider, the devil is a liar. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:36.720 Well, people do that in groups of people. 00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:38.960 They signal and divide. 00:24:39.200 --> 00:24:43.519 His demeanor, not only is his heart bad, but in verse 13, his demeanor is bad. 00:24:43.759 --> 00:24:46.319 In verse 14, his outer life is bad. 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:48.319