Who Are You Listening To?

[0:00] Well, good evening. Welcome back. We are doing. We're continuing our series on the book of Proverbs. And I want you to take out your Bibles and I'm going to read most of chapter one tonight.

[0:17] So Proverbs chapter one, verse eight. Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

[0:32] My son, if sinners entice you, do not give into them. If they say, come along with us, let's lie in wait for someone's blood.

[0:43] Let's waylay some harmless soul. Let's swallow them alive like the grave and whole like those who go down to the pit. We will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder.

[0:56] Throw in your lot with us and we will share a common purse. My son, do not go along with them. Do not set foot on their paths for their feet rush into sin.

[1:11] They are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net and full view of all the birds. These men lie in wait for their own blood. They lay only themselves.

[1:22] Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain. It takes away the lives of those who get it. Wisdom calls aloud in the street.

[1:34] She raises her voice in the public squares. At the head of the noisy streets, she cries out. In the gateways of the city, she makes her speech. How long will you simple ones love your simple ways?

[1:46] How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you.

[2:00] But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster.

[2:16] I will mock when calamity overtakes you, when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

[2:27] Then they will call to me, but I will not answer. They will look for me, but will not find me. Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord, since they would not accept my advice and spurn my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.

[2:47] For over the waywardness of the simple will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.

[3:00] Well, before the preaching of God's word, please join me as I pray. Heavenly Father, we are the sons and we are your children and how much we need your wisdom.

[3:18] Thank you for coming through the Bible, through the book of Proverbs and speaking to us, speaking to us words of warning and words of encouragement.

[3:28] Words that help us in a world that is beset with dangers. And so we pray that you would meet us as we look into your word.

[3:42] Please bless me as I speak. I pray that you would clear away any distractions and help the people, help our young people especially, to hear your word, to bring it in by faith and apply it to their lives, that they would avoid these dangers and these traps and walk in safety.

[4:06] Lord, make us wise. Make us wise, we pray in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, Gloria.

[4:19] I think I have something you'll like. I think I have something that you would really appreciate. What's that? Well, you know those McDonald's Monopoly, you know the McDonald's Monopoly game?

[4:37] Yeah, yeah. The winners actually aren't random. They get picked and I think I might be able to pick you.

[4:50] I'm wondering, do you want picked to win a million dollars from McDonald's? Well, for 45 grand, I can give you the winning ticket.

[5:03] I don't need it all up front. Just $5,000. And then as the money comes in, you'll give me a cut of it.

[5:13] So, what's Gloria Brown going to do? The $5,000 down payment, Gloria can take out a second mortgage on her house.

[5:29] She can get all the $45,000 if she needs it. And this is her friend's husband. Her friend. And he seems like a nice enough guy.

[5:44] And maybe this is from God. This is from God, really. Gloria said, when I first got the offer, I thought to myself that it was a blessing that came knocking on my door.

[5:56] I was going to church and I was trying to do the right thing. And I just wanted a better life. And I just felt this was my opportunity. What's Gloria Brown going to do?

[6:10] Who is she going to listen to? And that's really the question that meets us right here at the front room of the book of Proverbs. Who are you going to listen to?

[6:22] Who are you listening to? If the first six verses of Proverbs is the front step, of the whole book, the front door for Proverbs and verse seven is the key.

[6:38] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. If that's the key, then from here, verse eight, all the way up until chapter 10 when the Proverbs start, this is the foyer.

[6:53] These first nine chapters are the foyer. So before you ever get to the heart of the book of Proverbs where you get to see and read all of those Proverbs, you need to work your way through these chapters.

[7:08] And I think we have a tendency to skip over them and get right into those little tidbits. But these first nine chapters are all about getting you ready for those Proverbs.

[7:24] getting you ready for them. See, you aren't ready to read and understand and apply. You're not going to have the right ears, the right heart, the right mind in your right place until you work your way through chapters one through nine.

[7:43] If chapters 10 through 31 are all the seeds, all those Proverbs are different seeds of wisdom, then chapters one through nine are really all about getting you ready, getting you, getting the field ready to hear, ready for that seed.

[8:03] And so all through the first nine chapters and again and again you hear people begging, pleading to be heard. There's all these voices and they all want your attention.

[8:17] They're all clamoring for your attention. Criminals, we just read it, criminals are saying come with us. Wisdom is crying to be heard. Parents are pleading with their sons to hear them.

[8:30] Adulteresses are using smooth words. The woman folly is loud and her feet never stay at home. There's all these voices, wisdom and folly and parents and adulteresses and criminals.

[8:42] This great cacophony, it's all coming to us and we are all susceptible. We can hear their voices and we can be susceptible to them and especially our young people.

[9:01] Especially, that's who Proverbs is especially written to. It's for all people, for the simple and the wise, but it really is, in a lot of ways, especially for the simple.

[9:16] Proverbs begins with, it's for giving prudence, it's for giving wisdom to the simple. Now, the simple in the book of Proverbs in Hebrew is not the mentally deficient.

[9:29] it's the Hebrew word, Peti, and it basically means to be open. The Peti are those who are open to things.

[9:44] They're naive, they don't understand, they're sort of above commitments. Peti are not grounded yet in God's word.

[9:55] They don't see, they're not convinced yet of the importance of seeing God, the fabric of God's world, and seeing how it works, and submitting to it.

[10:05] They aren't yet mocking wisdom. Those are the mockers. They aren't mocking God, not yet. The Peti might grow into that, but that's not where they are yet.

[10:18] They're still open-minded because they don't know the seriousness of what wisdom is about.

[10:29] They're not serious about the dangers of folly. They don't have strong convictions. They're malleable, they're impressionable, they can be easily taken in, and that's what young people tend to be, and that's how any of us can be.

[10:48] the wise though are committed, they're dialed in, all their heart, disciplined to God's word, to the fabric of God's world, but the simple are rightly or wrongly, innocently or not, not yet committed.

[11:12] They're floating above it all. And so there are all these voices begging to be heard, and so who are you going to listen to? Well, you see in the first in verses eight and nine, parents talking to their children, and it's listen.

[11:32] Moms and dads saying listen. Wisdom begins with listening. Listen to your father's instruction. Don't forsake your mother's teaching.

[11:45] Moms and dads, are you the mouth of wisdom for your children? Are you the mouth of wisdom that wisdom is speaking through to your children?

[11:56] Are you teaching your children wisdom? Are you active, active in that teaching? Or are you leaving it to them to figure out? Don't leave it to them to figure out.

[12:09] Love them enough to teach them. Love them enough to confront them with wisdom. Love them enough to plead with them to listen to you.

[12:21] If you take these things lightly and nonchalantly, they will too. The wise dad, the wise mom of Proverbs is saying pay attention.

[12:32] Pay attention with all your mind and heart and soul and strength to what I have to say. Why? Why, mom and dad? Why should we listen? Why should I listen to you? Because our teaching will be a garland, a grace, your head, a chain to adorn your neck.

[12:50] So think of Michael Phelps when he's wearing all 28 of his Olympic gold, 28 of his Olympic medals, 23 of them are gold.

[13:03] You've seen him gold medal after gold medal after gold medal just covering his whole chest. He's the greatest Olympian of all time, the greatest winner, the most impressive of any Olympian of all time.

[13:22] Even among the legends, he is legendary. And that is what wisdom says, that's what wisdom will do. It will make you impressive. It will make you attractive and victorious and godly and winsome and strong Christ-like, Christ-like in your demeanor, Christ-like in your personality, in the way that you carry yourself in whatever situation you find yourself.

[13:49] I just think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane and his enemies are coming towards him and he confronts them and with a word they fall down.

[14:00] he was impressive in whatever circumstance and whatever situation confronted him good or bad. Young people, older people, I don't think we want what God wants for us enough.

[14:18] We want so much less than what he is willing and able to make us and what he has planned for us. That's God's agenda. That's what he's doing. That's what he's willing to do for us.

[14:29] Fame, money, success, popularity, that's nothing compared to wisdom. Nothing you could desire can compare with her.

[14:42] So mom and dad says, listen. And immediately mom and dad take son or daughter, take junior out into the world because where do you see wisdom at work?

[14:58] Remember what wisdom is. It's seeing the fabric of God's world, how it is, how things are, how they work, and submitting to it. And so where do you get wisdom?

[15:10] Where do you see it in action? Where do you learn about it? It's not on the mountaintop. Mom and dad don't take junior to some Himalayan mountain to talk to talk to some guru, but it's out into the world, out into the streets, into the markets, into the school yard.

[15:26] That's the training ground, interacting with reality. That's why you'll never raise wise children if you shelter them completely from the world. Because you'll never prepare them to deal with the world wisely.

[15:40] They have to learn to see what's out there. You've seen that happen again and again and again. Parents, with good intentions, protecting their children from everything, and it ends up hurting them.

[16:01] No, with mom and dad by their side, they need to go and see. With mom and dad there, not alone, but mom and dad there, say, now come here, look at this.

[16:14] Look at what these people are doing. Yes, this is evil. Now look at how foolish it is. And they say, mom and dad take junior out. They take son and daughter out and say, now you're going to be invited into things.

[16:26] You're going to be invited into things that will destroy you. You're going to be invited, and it's going to sound so good. It's going to feel good.

[16:38] It's going to seem good. And if you go with them, you'll kill yourself. You'll have blood on your hands, and the irony is it will be your blood.

[16:50] You have to reject them. Don't go with them. If sinners entice you, do not give in to them. You have to have a holy stubbornness, a character driven, no, I'm not going with you.

[17:06] And so this is the first point. There's two invitations and there's two rejections in chapter one. And here's the first point.

[17:16] The wise reject the criminal's invitation. The wise reject the criminal's invitation. Watch out. My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them.

[17:28] If they say, come along with us, let's lie and wait for someone's blood, we'll get all sorts of valuable things. Throw your lot in with us, we'll share a common purse, don't go with them.

[17:42] Watch out for the voice of the violent and the wicked, for the gang, even. A gang? Well, you're like, I live in Bremen. Well, Gloria wasn't getting drafted into a gang.

[17:59] She was getting presented a business opportunity. A stroke of luck, of good fortune, of God's blessing from a friend. And it was at least somewhat plausible.

[18:11] Or at least it might be plausible. But the same cruel finger that reaches out and grabs you when you join a gang, it was active here, the same intent.

[18:26] Destroy others for your benefit. And right from the beginning, wisdom, this is so relevant. Right from the beginning, we're seeing wisdom is concern for the good of others.

[18:42] Wisdom isn't personal cleverness that costs others. That is the wisdom from below, from the devil. It's full of selfish ambition.

[18:52] Read James 3. But the wisdom that is from above is pure and peace-loving and considerate and submissive, full of mercy and good fruit. It's connected. It's related to others. In Proverbs, we're going to see this again and again, that the righteous will disadvantage themselves to do good to the community, but the wicked will disadvantage the community to do good to themselves.

[19:16] The righteous disadvantage themselves for the community. That's what Jesus did. But the wicked, the fools, will disadvantage the community for themselves.

[19:27] And you need to see that righteousness and wickedness and they're related to the community because God's made humanity to have a social fabric.

[19:39] No man is an island unto themselves. God made humanity to have a social fabric that holds together. Wisdom sees that fabric and submits to it and serves it.

[19:55] And that is completely foreign to our American rugged individualism. God put us and made us to be social creatures and we live in a social fabric and the fool selfishly goes right against it for his own gain and fights against it.

[20:19] And so here they are. Come with us. We'll be your friends. We'll be your community. community. That is the power of the inner city gang.

[20:30] That's the power of the mafia. That's the power of the high school clique. You can fit in. You'll belong. Gangs and mobs and cliques are families.

[20:41] They're communities. And it's the allure of this inner circle of this group that will protect you and love you. and they're everywhere. The inner circle that feels so good to belong to you.

[20:55] They're in business. Every business has them. Every school has them. Even churches have them. And all you have to do is just give in a little. Walk a few feet down the road with them and you're in.

[21:10] Be silent when they're gossiping. And you're in. Turn a blind eye. Just pretend like you don't see when they fudge the books.

[21:24] And you're in. The entrance bar into this group can be so low. Hardly anything. And you get the feel of the warmth of belonging.

[21:39] We sing that song, the blessing of belonging. How good it is when brothers agree. We sing that song. Well, here's the blessing of belonging, but it's Satan style.

[21:53] It's the bully at school. And you give in to him. You go along with him. It's the girl who bullies the other girls. And you want to avoid her wrath, so you befriend her.

[22:08] It's the hundreds of Wells Fargo employees opening up two million fraudulent accounts to spike their numbers. You were all in it together. And it's the ladies church group gossiping about someone else.

[22:27] It's so much of modern political discourse. There's a whole lot of tribalism and vilification. And you can, if you just unthinkingly, without any real thought, just say the right things to belong better to your group.

[22:47] And the harsher and the more unwilling you are to bend to anyone else, that puts notches of righteousness on your belt. And you get street cred with your group.

[23:04] That's what these are talking about. these people coming to you and saying you can join us in our evil, in our folly.

[23:18] And it's a poison. It's a poison. And how far will it take you? Well, thousands, millions of normal people cheered for Hitler.

[23:32] and they pretended they didn't know what was going on. Their neighbors were on vacation, I suppose, or they were just getting taken away and they pretended like they didn't know what was really happening.

[23:50] The power to fit in was so strong that normal people in mass bowed before it, bent before it.

[24:00] And that's where the proverb starts. The wise men don't listen to the criminal's invitation. They reject it. So, you know who, in my opinion, you don't know him yet?

[24:13] You're going to find out. But you know who is an absolute stud, a boss? I hope someday I grow up to be half the man that this guy was. His name was August Landmesser. And you don't know who August Landmesser is, but you're going to find out, and I hope you think as highly of him as I think of him.

[24:31] August Landmesser, who's that? Well, there's a famous picture of Hitler holding a rally at a shipyard in northern Germany.

[24:42] And there's thousands of men, thousands of men giving the Hail Hitler salute, and thousands of them all doing this, and there's one man. There's one man in the crowd.

[24:54] One man. One man. Everyone Hail Hitler-ing. And he's got his arms crossed. While everyone around him is Hail Hitler-ing, his arms are crossed.

[25:09] Well, the inner circle was strong that day. The criminal's invitation was loud and clear that day in the shipyards, and August Landmesser said, no.

[25:22] No. Young people, young people, B. August Landmesser. The kind of brainless going along with the violent, with the foolish, with the wicked, destroyed Germany nine years after that famous picture was taken.

[25:42] Because in nine years, every major city in Germany was in ashes and rubble. And all those, hail Hitler-ing, either died or lost fathers or mothers or children, sons and daughters.

[25:57] Livelihoods. And that's what mom and dad are saying to their son here in Proverbs chapter 1, 8 and 9, and all the rest here, through 19. Don't go with them.

[26:09] Don't go with them. That's why they're saying this, because this is where this ends. They're waiting for blood. All those people waiting for blood, waiting for destruction, going to destroy others to do themselves good.

[26:24] And the irony is, it's their own blood they destroy. It's their own blood they lose. Don't go with them. Use better judgment. So what did Gloria do?

[26:36] What did Gloria do? She took the ticket. Took out a second mortgage, took the ticket. And from then on, she was in Jerry, the mobster's clutches.

[26:52] It wasn't the beginning. It wasn't a happy beginning. It was the first moment of a living nightmare. She thought it was going to lead her to happiness and joy and to a better life.

[27:07] And it was the beginning of a living nightmare. It wasn't fun. It was lies. And after taxes, and she paid those, and after paying everything Jerry, the mobster, wanted, she was clearing a whopping $10,000 a year.

[27:21] It hadn't changed her life at all. And she had to keep working. And then she had to go on TV and parrot everything that he told her to say. And then she was caught.

[27:33] And the whole scheme went up in smoke. Forty people convicted, along with Gloria, the normal person here. All of them. And she was still trying to pay off her house 20 years later.

[27:47] Because she was caught and she was fined. And now she's on an HBO documentary with everyone shaking their heads and saying, how could she do that? What a fool. Normal, everyday Gloria didn't say no.

[28:02] She didn't see the trap. These are big, obvious things, but they come much more subtly than this. She didn't see the trap.

[28:14] Will you? So, just, I'm having trouble with something. Connect these two things for me. Can you connect these two things for me?

[28:26] Because I really, I can't. I can't. Let's lie and wait for someone's blood. And we will share a common purse with you.

[28:37] Throw your lot in with us. Be one with us. We'll be together. Let's lie and wait for people's blood. We'll be your friend. Do those go together?

[28:50] How long can a family like that last? How long can that kind of community last? Build on blood.

[29:02] Build on selfishness. You join the clique at school, the in crowd, the bullies. And you can have fun tearing everyone else down, but just wait and see how long it takes before they turn on you.

[29:18] And they will turn on you. How did Gloria get caught? How did all those 40 people get caught? The FBI didn't have a clue what was going on.

[29:32] McDonald's didn't have a clue. For 10 years, there wasn't a fair winner of the Monopoly game. Not for the big prizes. You could win a french fry fair and square.

[29:45] But all the big prizes completely rigged. And the FBI didn't have a clue. McDonald's had no clue. They weren't hot on the case. They didn't even know there was a case.

[29:57] But someone on the inside, someone unhappy with someone else on the inside called, left a little message with an FBI agent.

[30:14] That's how inner circles work. Selfishness brings them together, and selfishness tears them apart. And the trap closes, and the fools, are caught on the inside.

[30:30] Young people, don't let that happen to you. Don't get caught. The author says even birds don't fall for the trap right in front of them.

[30:48] Don't let the birds be smarter than you. Or to be more blunt, you're dumber than a bird if you fall for it.

[31:02] Their words are smooth, inviting. They promise friendship, and family, and wealth. Incidentally, that's everything that wisdom promises too.

[31:14] But in the end, they're left with a half-life, a cursed life. They're rotting, not flourishing. look at Gloria. You can find her interviews, you can find her, she's not flourishing, she wasn't from the very beginning.

[31:35] Nothing good came from any of it. And people look for those inner circles, men and women out in the business world, where you're working, look for the inner circles, and don't step a foot onto their paths.

[31:50] Don't go with them. The wise reject the criminal's invitation. But now we're on to our second invitation, our second rejection, our second refusal.

[32:03] Fools reject wisdom's invitation. So the wise reject the criminal's invitation, but fools reject wisdom's invitation. Verse 20, wisdom calls aloud in the street at the head of the noisy, aloud in the street at the head of all the noisy streets.

[32:18] So wisdom isn't fly or secretive. She isn't afraid to be heard. Wisdom is not a shrinking violet. She's not a wallflower. If you're willing to hear her, you can hear her. If you're willing to have her, you can have her.

[32:30] She's inviting the simple ones, the petite. Learn from me. And mockers, quit your mocking and I'll teach you. It doesn't matter how far down the road of folly you can go.

[32:44] If you will turn your ear to wisdom, you will hear her. It's more than I'll just teach you. I'll pour out my heart to you.

[32:55] You'll know me and I'll know you. Wisdom is available. Young, old, smart, not so smart. She's inviting us all to grow.

[33:07] She's inviting us all to know her, to possess her like a man loves a woman, like a man possesses a woman to have her, to have everything that she brings with her.

[33:21] She's the woman that's too good for us all. But there's nothing stopping you from having her, except yourself.

[33:31] that's the tragedy of it. There's nothing stopping you from having her, except for yourself.

[33:45] Look at verse 29, they hated knowledge. They did not choose to fear the Lord. They spurned my rebuke. Verse 32, the complacency.

[33:59] That's not even hatred. hatred. The complacency. I don't need that. The complacency of fools will kill them. You don't even have to hate wisdom. You just don't have to care.

[34:12] You just don't have to want her. Complacent. I'm good enough. It's good enough. Why is Bill Belichick probably the greatest coach in NFL history?

[34:29] Well, one, probably it doesn't hurt to have Tom Brady, but two, he's never, ever, ever complacent. Everything matters. Every little detail matters.

[34:40] Complacent. It's just, I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. We're good enough. We're strong enough. I don't need to listen to my parents. I don't need to listen to my teachers. I don't have to listen to God's word. I don't have to listen to Jesus Christ. I'm fine.

[34:52] I'm fine. I'm good enough. I'm smart enough. I'm fine. And the I'm fine will destroy you. It's okay.

[35:06] We'll destroy you. When the trap closes, when the circumstances change, and you've rejected wisdom, you've ignored advice, you haven't accepted correction, you won't accept a rebuke, you were so smart, then everything changes, and the trap closes.

[35:29] Warren Buffett, the famous investor, says it's only when the tide goes out that you find out who's been skinny dipping. It's only when things take a turn for the worse that you find out who was being really stupid.

[35:46] You were so smart, you seemed so smart, until, well, you weren't. And now calamity crashes down on you. Where's wisdom now? Is she ready to help you now?

[35:56] Is she helping you then? Is she going to get you through this? You're naked on the beach. And wisdom, what's wisdom going to do to help you out? Or we saw this two weeks ago, your Absalom hanging from your hair, from a tree.

[36:13] What did Ahithophel's advice do for him then? Wisdom laughs. Wisdom mocks you. It's like everything that you could have done gets put right in front of your face.

[36:29] And it's all so tantalizingly close, and yet so tantalizingly, and completely obvious, but out of reach. It doesn't do you any good.

[36:39] We say hindsight is 20-20. Hindsight does not save you from your present circumstances. And that's what wisdom is talking about. Your folly will bring destruction into your life, and then when it does, wisdom will laugh at you.

[36:56] It will mock you. It will do you no good. Life and death here, and now you've got to eat what you've cooked. You've got to reap what you sow.

[37:10] Now, is this saying, there you are, you're foolish, and you see it, and now you're broken. Now, is this saying there's no place for repentance? That God won't forgive you?

[37:26] Is that what this is saying? No. No, no, no. That's to misunderstand it. McLaren, he's a commentator, is really helpful here.

[37:39] He, the author, is not denying the possibility of forgiveness. That, the thief on the cross had done a lot of foolish things, a lot of sinful things, and in that last moment, he found forgiveness.

[38:02] He's not denying the possibility of forgiveness, nor the efficacy of repentance, nor is he asserting that a penitent soul ever seeks God in vain.

[38:16] No one ever seeks the Lord in vain. But he is declaring that it is too late to cry out for deliverance from consequences of folly when the consequences have us in their grip.

[38:31] Let me repeat that. It's too late to cry out for deliverance from consequences of folly when the consequences have us in their grip, and that wishes for deliverance are vain.

[38:46] Wish as much as you want. It will not come true. The sighs of repentance are not in vain. We cannot reap where we have not sowed.

[38:58] We must reap what we have sown. We must eat what we have cooked. If we are such sluggards that we will not plow in winter by reason of the cold, we shall beg and harvest and have nothing.

[39:16] Fools reject wisdom's invitation. Such a gracious invitation coming to everyone. Fools, simpletons, mockers, the wise, fools reject wisdom invitation and they suffer.

[39:32] But wise men, oh listen to me, wise men, wise young men, wise young ladies, wise ladies, wise men say, give it to me.

[39:44] Give me wisdom. Give me everything that wisdom has. Advice, I'll take advice. Rebuke, I'll take rebuke. Knowledge, I'll take knowledge.

[39:55] Fear of the Lord, give it all to me. And what happens to them when they embrace wisdom, when they take wisdom to their hearts? Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.

[40:13] Fools suffer for their own folly, but wise men are protected. Wise people are protected. They're kept safe without fear.

[40:26] The fear that is gripping the fool. There's no reason to be afraid for the wise person. Maybe you should think about your own circumstances.

[40:37] Are there areas in your life where you are now reaping what you have sown? There might not be an immediate way out of that, but there is a lesson to be learned there.

[40:50] if you would have been wise, you would not be suffering. And maybe that should change your mind, and that should be a rebuke to your heart.

[41:03] And maybe you need to say, oh, I do need wisdom. Well, fools suffer for their own folly, and that's why mom and dad are pleading with their children. Oh, young people, your parents love you.

[41:17] They don't want harm to come to you. They want nothing but blessing. And that's why the heavenly father is pleading with his children in this book, and he's saying, listen to me. Listen to me.

[41:30] Who are you going to listen to? The world will only love you as long as you're willing to destroy yourself and others for them. The world will only love you as long as you're willing to destroy yourself and others for them.

[41:48] Are you going to listen to them? Or will you listen to God the father who loved you as an enemy, who crushed and destroyed his own son to do you good, piled all the sins of his people on his son and then crushed his son to do you good.

[42:10] He does not demand that you destroy yourself and others for his sake. No, he, the Lord Jesus, will be destroyed for your sake.

[42:24] Who will you listen to? Will you listen to Jesus Christ who has nothing but your best interest at heart? We're going to find out in the coming weeks that Jesus is wisdom.

[42:37] And just as wisdom invites people to take him, Jesus invites people to take him. His yoke is easy and his burden is light. His teaching brings life flourishing for you, flourishing for the whole community that you're connected to.

[42:53] That's what Jesus brings wisdom and folly, life and death. Who are you listening to? I'm saying listen to the one who loves you.

[43:05] At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to those who listen and do what I say. They're like wise men who build their houses on the rock.

[43:18] Listen to me and I'll make you wise. Listen to Jesus and start your journey on wisdom's path. Start your journey in wisdom at his feet.

[43:34] We're all like that demoniac out of our minds with folly and misguided thoughts. Jesus can make us clothed and in our right mind.

[43:50] Oh, to be clothed and in our right mind at the feet of Jesus. That's where wisdom for a whole life begins. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you that you do that for your people, that you do that for sinners, that you do that for all, all, all, all who will come to you.

[44:14] You'll strip them of their sin. And when they've been naked in their folly, the emperor without clothes, oh, you can clothe them with wisdom and you can put them in their right mind.

[44:36] Oh, do that for all of us. Do that for all of us. Make us to be more like you so that whatever our circumstances are, whatever we face, that as we live this life, we will live winsomely, graciously, beautifully, attractive, impressive lives just like you.

[45:01] Make us like you, I pray in wisdom. In Jesus' mighty name, I pray all these things. Amen. Amen.