Voice of Salvation Proverbs 1:20-33

To whom does wisdom speak to in this passage? To three classes of sinners : the simple ones, the mockers and the fools. The simple are naive people who beleive anything but examine nothing. They are gullible and easily lead astray. They have not taken ownership of their faith and so every new idea or thought leads them astray. Mockers think they know everything and belittle, ignore or even laugh at the things that are really important. The simple ones may be lost or confused the mockers wear a sneer. Fools on the other hand are people who are ignorant of the truth because they are dull and stubborn. Their problem isn't a low IQ or poor education; their problem is a lack of spiritual desire to seek and find God's wisdom. Fools enjoy their foolishness but don't know how foolish they are! The outlook of fools is purely materialistic and humanistic. They hate knowledge and have no interest in things eternal .
How does wisdom respond to them? First she brings a charge agaisnt them and asks how long they plan to remain in their dangerous spiritual condition. wisdom has spoken to them again and again but they have refused to listen, and this will make their judgment even more severe. After this wisdom issues an invitation that they turn from their evil ways and receive her gifts. This is really a call to repentence and faith. She promises to change their hearts and teach them the wisdom of God from the Word of God.
Tragically the simple, the mockers, and the fools refuse to obey her voice. They laugh at her warnings; and mock her words. Note the word "also" in verse 26. Because they laughed at Wisdom, one day Wisdom will also laugh at them. Because they mocked her, she will mock them. Wisdom sees a storm of judgement coming that will bring distress and anguish to all who reject God's invitation. When that judgment comes sinners will call upon the Lord but it will be to late. How tragic that day will be. "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near" (Isa. 55:6). They turned away their ears from hearing the truth and were complacently comfortable wit beleiving lies. In contrast to the judment promised to unblievers, wisdom promises security and peace to those who will listen to her and beleive (Prov.1:33). Question what is wisdom sayinng to you?

The voice of Temptation Proverbs 1:11-14

Looking at these friends in these four verse its easy to say there not friends at all. Anybody who makes it easy for us to disobey God certainly isn't a friend. Lets be honest and say sin is appeasing to the eye and our flesh, if sin wasn't then nobody would do it. In Hebrews 11:25 it says, "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." Sin sounds exciting to our flesh but it only leads to disaster and death. How tragic that a group of people would find enjoyment in doing evil; and how foolish they were for thinking their quick fix or their fast cash would satisfy their desires. That's the thing about our sinful desires there never satisfied. We as people don't realize how far we have strayed until its rock bottom. Sometimes it even feels like we have blinders on and we forget what's really important, and the only thing we care about is our sinful agenda. It seems like it's a bunch of small compromises that lead to bigger and bigger compromises of our choices and character. They rejected the eternal treasures of wisdom for the cheap trinkets of this world, and they lost their souls in the bargain. As I reread this passage I thought a lot about Judas and how he sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver. Question how many times do we sell Jesus out for less? How many times do we give up Godly blessings for worldly treasures? Something to think about.

The voice of Instruction? Part 1 Proverbs 1:8-32

I think one of the greatest tragedies is that there's so much noise that people can't hear the things they really need to hear. God is trying to get through to them with the voice of wisdom but all they hear are foolish voices that lead them farther away from the truth. This passage of scripture reveals three voices that we as he reader need to identify. I'm going to try and break it into 3 blogs so stay tuned for part 2, and 3.

The voice of Instruction (Verse 8-10, 15-19): This is a voice of a godly father, urging his son to listen to wisdom and to obey what he hears. Both the father and mother of this son have taught him well. Both parents warn him not to abandon what he's been told. These parents have obeyed the instructions of Moses (Deut. 6:6-9) and have faithfully taught their family the Word of God. But what will the children do with their fathers and mothers teaching? A question we all have to ask ourselves. There comes a point in all of our lives when we reach the point of making decisions on our own. How do we respond to those who have tried to instruct us spiritually? In Proverbs 1:15-19 The father tells his son how to avoid yielding to temptation. First: He says, check carefully the path you're on and don't walk with the wrong crowd. Bad company corrupts good character. Stop sticking up for those people in your life that really have a negative effect on you, 1 Corinthians 10:12, "So if you think you are standing firm be careful that you do not fall." No your limits.

Second: don't play with temptation, because temptation always leads to a trap. Lets not play the game how close to the line of sin can I get to without actually sinning. Thats a losing battle avoid the line altogether!! We should always have an exit strategy in mind there is no temptation for us that is to much to bare. Lets be honest whatever the temptation is we always linger to long with the thought after the thought we try to justify our sin to make it sound okay before we actually sin. Then we commit the sin and regret remorse and guilt always follow. Proverbs 1:17 "Birds don't take when they can plainly see the trap," we should be smarter then birds. Be aware of the traps!!

Third: When you disobey God by harming others, you only harm yourself (verse 18-19). You're free to take what you want from life, but eventually you'll have to pay for it , and the price you pay is higher than the value you gain. You end up sacrificing the permanent for the immediate, and thats an awful investment. There will come a day when we will all stand before God what will your investments show??