Watch out Young Man

take your Bible turn back with me to Proverbs chapter 4. I think you know what chapter we're going to be in. I think you know what verses we're going to face. Although it's a mystery. You never know if I'm going to cover the whole chapter or if we're only going to cover a portion of a chapter. To be honest with you, I don't know. I just take each chapter at a time and see how it all works out. Well, tonight we'll be in chapter 4. We were there earlier reading one scripture to our young people, but we will cover the entire chapter.

And when I say that, you might feel like you have to buckle your seat belt because we will cover quite a bit of ground. Now actually, I want you to turn back a little. I want you to turn back to chapter 3. Really starting in verse 27. Remember that the end of last week's message, I gave you what I called some responsibilities. Notice I used the word responsibilities. I didn't use that word homework that none of us like. I asked you to go and study verses 25 on down to verse 35 on your own. Now in my outline, I call those verses seeking to bless others. And if you remember, I challenged you to ask yourself two questions.

Take this very serious. What does each verse mean? And then simply, how can I live this out? Now if you haven't done that, you still got plenty of time. So maybe I'm re-issuing you some responsibilities or homework. Now as I was reflecting on that exercise this week, it reminded me of a professor that I had back in my seminary days. Back when I was in seminary at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I had a professor named Dr. Francis Kimmett. Now Dr. Kimmett, I had him for one particular class. It was Genesis and Exodus. And truthfully, it was a wonderful, wonderful class. Now Dr. Kimmett did something that was unusual in that class.

He stood up and he said, "I will give no tests." He said, "I will not give a test." And immediately we loved it. I mean, I don't know if we shouted hallelujah, but we felt like it. But we loved it at first. It didn't take long before that went away. We had plenty of class projects and papers that we had to participate in. But most important was a project of compiling a class notebook. We had to keep a reading log of Genesis and Exodus in three different translations of the Bible. We had to keep a reading log of quite a few commentaries. That would have been personal notes and compiling that in a very tidy manner.

We had to keep type class notes that had to be very legible in a particular format. And we had to compile everyone's class projects and presentations. And what we thought was going to be easy turned out to be a very, very big job. That notebook just got thicker and thicker. But it turned out to be a great exercise. I remember the project. I still have all of my information. Now what am I trying to show you? What am I trying to illustrate for us? Sometimes responsibilities such as studying on your own, taking a little more time with just a few verses. Sometimes if we do that it will do us more good than we know.

It will benefit us far more than we realize. When you study on your own, when you make sure you digest what is taught in the life of the church, that is from Sunday morning, Sunday night in our Bible study, and here on Wednesday nights, you develop the discipline of going further and going deeper. You will be formed by the extra work in God's Word. And look, this all relates to one word, sanctification. This all will contribute to your growth, your growth. Now tonight we're going to cover all of the chapter, chapter four. I said that earlier. We're going to look at what I'm calling four major divisions.

Now I'm going to give you the the truths as we go along, and I'm going to read the scriptures as we go along. I'm doing that because we're covering quite a bit of scripture, and I want us to to be as good with our time as we can. So the first division or the first truth in our outline comes out of verses one to nine, and I'm calling this keeping it in the family. I'm calling this keeping it in the family. Now I'll read some of the scriptures and some of them I won't. So again, I've said this numerous times. If I don't read a scripture, that just means I'm leaving it for you.

Starting in verse one, he says, "Hear, O sons, a father's instruction. Be attentive to what you get that you may gain insight, for I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching, for when I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the side of my mother, he taught me and he said to me." And starting in verse four, it goes all the way down to verse nine. Now I want to introduce to you a phrase. You probably know this phrase, but this phrase is family dynamics. Now when I say family dynamics, there's a lot of things that can come to your mind, and what I mean by that is we all have different family dynamics.

We have different family activities. We have different family patterns. We have different family structures. Some are good, some are bad, some we see, some we do not. Now here Solomon is introducing us to a different spiritual pattern or dynamic that was within his family, and we haven't seen this before. Let me show you. In verses one and two, Solomon repeats what he has been saying all throughout the Proverbs. Solomon just repeats himself over and over and over, but in verse three Solomon introduces us to what I'm calling multi-generational instruction. Go back to verse three.

"When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the side of my mother, he taught me." What do we see here? This is multi-generational instruction. Solomon simply states that when he was young his father David. This would have been King David. He taught him the very same way. One commentator that I read said that Solomon is being autobiographical. He's talking about his own life, and I think that's true. Simply in our language he's just saying when I was young, just like you, my dad taught me the same thing. So this is multi-generational instruction.

Now that we see the family dynamic, or the family pattern, or the family habit, I want you to see what's taught. So I want us to notice first the beginning of wisdom is wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is wisdom. Verse seven, "The beginning of wisdom is this. Get wisdom." Now right away we should see this is an odd statement. It causes me to ask questions like is he being too wordy? Does he need to work on his communication skills? The answer to all of those questions is no. Simply he is stating that the beginning place of wisdom is making a serious decision to commit to finding wisdom.

I used this example earlier with our children about a young man that I knew who went to medical school. He determined that he was going to become a doctor. He had a goal, and he was going to work towards that goal. So we understand the beginning of becoming a doctor is committing to going to medical school and doing whatever it takes to become one. So we see the beginning of wisdom is committing. It's committing one to finding, committing oneself to finding and getting that wisdom. But then second we see what I'm calling the high price of wisdom. And I just simply say pay for it. I call this the high price of wisdom.

We see this in verse 4, the end of verse 4 and verse 5. He taught me and he said to me, "Let your heart hold fast to my words, keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, verse 5, get insight, do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth." Now verse 5 is key. Now it's in the middle of these verses, but to me this is the emphasis. There's an emphasis with verse 5. The term "get wisdom," go back to verse 5 right at the beginning, "get wisdom." This term carries the idea of buying something or purchasing something. In the original language, it had the idea of a commercial transaction.

And later on in chapter 23 verse 23, the proverb says, "Buy truth and do not sell it. Buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding." Now this leads me to a question. Can we actually purchase wisdom with money like a product? Well no, we cannot. This speaks of hard work. This speaks of time. This speaks of effort. We understand what it's like to have a job. We have a job and we earn that paycheck. He is saying to work hard to get wisdom. Now notice the details surrounding the call in this working hard for wisdom. Verse 4, he says, "Hold fast my words. Keep my commandments." The end of verse 5, he says, "Do not forget.

Do not turn away from my words." So we see right here in these verses the high price for wisdom. It is an important purchase which must be made. Anything worth purchasing is worth working hard for and I think we understand that. And then we see the idea of not forgetting it, not turning away from it, holding fast to the instruction which gives wisdom. So we see the beginning of wisdom is the determination to get wisdom. And then we see the high price for wisdom. We must pay that high price. And then the third observation is the good lady of wisdom. Prize her. I used this term last week. The good lady of wisdom. Prize her.

We see this in verse 6 and then on down to verse 8 and verse 9. "Do not forsake her and she will keep you." Verse 8, "Prize her highly and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland so she will bestow on you a beautiful crown." Here we have wisdom personified again as a beautiful woman. We saw the same thing back in chapter 3 starting in verse 13. In verse 6 we see that this good lady, and I used this term last week, this good lady of wisdom, she will keep and guard the young man if. If he does not forsake her. If he continues to love her.

Now for me in my imagination I see catchy wording. This is instruction yes but this was language that would have attracted the ear of the young son. In verses 8 and 9 we see great blessings if she is prized. The King James uses the word exalted. This means to highly esteem her. Remember she is the good lady of wisdom. Now notice the blessings that are spelled out in the verse. Verse 8, the beginning of verse 8, she will exalt the young man. And then at the end of verse 8 she will honor the young man. This is wisdom. And then verse 9, she will adorn or decorate the young man's life.

Remember the exercise last week how I challenged you in your mind to think of someone and how their life is adorned. The foolish one is adorned with with foolishness and sin but the wise one their life is adorned or decorated with smart, wise, godly decisions. So this good lady of wisdom is to be prized. She used to be exalted, lifted high and loved. If so then the young man's life will be decorated with wisdom. Now in summary we really do see a lot in verses 1 to 9. This determination you could use the word plan choice.

There's a plan, there's a choice, there is a determination to get wisdom and that determination, that choice is the beginning of wisdom. But I want to ask you a question, a rhetorical question, but a serious question. What is your plan? And then another question, what are you doing? If you are doing nothing then you are forgoing wisdom. Wisdom is going by you and you might not even know it. He says make plans to purchase wisdom. He says that she is a beautiful lady which will bless your life. He says to get her, he says to honor her, he says to keep her. Now an application I want to speak to two areas of your life.

I want to speak to two areas of your life and you really need to listen. The first area is this for you personally. This is a personal decision. You must work hard to acquire wisdom, to gain instruction, to hold on, to see her as the good lady of wisdom. So it's personal for you. I can't let you off the hook and again I go back to those questions. What is your plan? What are you doing? And if you are doing nothing then wisdom is going by you. You are forgoing wisdom. So I must ask you, are you working hard to acquire wisdom? And then second, I want you to see that you must determine to bring into your family new spiritual dynamics.

I used that term earlier. You must determine to bring into your life new activities, new patterns, new habits. This must become multi-generational for you. We must see this as bigger than just the parent instructing the child. No, we have to have a greater plan. That's why I called it keeping it in the family. Let's see for some here. Some of us, you need to see three realities with this. First of all, some of you were never taught this. As a matter of fact, some of you were taught wrong. It's sad there even some of you here, you have to divorce yourself. And I use that word divorce on purpose.

You have to divorce yourself spiritually from how you were raised. That's a difficult thing for people to do. To come to the place where they say, "My parents were wrong. My grandparents were wrong." So many have to come to the place where they realize and understand and embrace that they were taught wrong. And then some come to the place where they realize it all has to start with me. You're the first generation. You have to be the first one. It wasn't passed down from your mom or your dad or your grandparents. Some of you need to realize that you are the first generation.

And then third, you need to realize this is a totally new standard, a totally new pattern, a totally new expectation. Again, keeping it in the family, keeping it in the family. We see this going from David to Solomon and then to Solomon's son. I will finish this up with a lengthy quotation from a resource that I use and I think it's very fitting and I want to read it and I think it will speak to you. And I'm quoting, "We can pass down patterns of foolishness like laziness, addiction, abuse, even passivity. Or we can pass down patterns of wisdom like humility, a good work ethic, and responsibility.

Proverbs 3 33 teaches us that we can bring blessing or curse cursing on our home. The good news is that the chain of wickedness can be broken with one generation that pursues the Lord. But the bad news is is that a chain of faithfulness can be broken in one generation as well. The goal of Christian parenting is to pass down godly wisdom so that the chain will not be broken by your children or your grandchildren. Now you know why I titled these verses keeping it in the family. Let's move on. I want us to see the second division or the second major truth in our outline. I am calling this the two roads of life and this is out of verses 10 to 19.

The two roads of life. Verse 10, "Hear my son and accept my words that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom. I have led you in the paths." There's that similar or familiar word. The paths of uprightness. When you walk your step will not be hampered. And if you run you will not stumble. Now the same type of language goes all the way down to verse 19 and I'll read the rest of the verses as we continue. But again verses 10 and 11 is a reminder. Solomon's good at reminding, is he not? Solomon is continuously calling his son to remember. He is always reminding his son what he has taught him before.

This might be a hint for us. This might be a hint for you and for me. But starting at the end of verse 11 and continuing on down to verse 16, Solomon again begins to teach on the paths of life. The paths, the roads, the ways of life. He has taught us with this metaphor before. In chapter 2 we saw the illustration of the path of the road and we will continue to see this metaphor as we continue really all throughout the book. But here in these verses Solomon does two things. First he goes into a greater length in the teaching concerning the path.

And then second he sharply contrasts between the way of the righteous or the wise and the way of the evil one or the fool, depending upon what language you like. Now my approach here, I will assemble the verses around the two paths in life. So I want you to see that. We're going to look at these two different paths. The path of the upright, the path of the wicked, and I will assemble the verses along these paths. So first the road of the upright. We have the road of the upright and it is described in verse 12, 13, in verse 18. I will just simply go down through the verses. Notice the road of the upright will be free in verse 12.

When you walk your step will not be hampered and if you run you will not stumble. That word hampered means to be narrowed or cramped or constrained. And the path of the upright, it will allow one to run and not stumble. This is a safe and secure path for life, whereas the path of the wicked is hampered. There will be stumbling from sin with the path of the wicked and stumbling from foolish living, but not with the path of the upright. It will be free. And then notice the road of the upright, it will provide life. Verse 13, keep hold of instruction, do not let it go, guard her, for she is your life. This speaks of true life.

Now again, I've said this before, this is not gain life as in we can earn salvation. No. Wisdom and understanding, these are gained through a personal relationship with God. And in that personal relationship with God, seeking wisdom and understanding, that brings true life. This is the path of the road of the upright. And then notice the road of the upright will be full of light. The road of the upright will be full of light. On down to verse 18. The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The light shines brighter and brighter as time and life continue according to the verse.

The picture here is of a steady increase of light just like the dawn of the day. The one on this path knows where to place his feet in life because the way is shown brighter and brighter. He knows where to go and not to go because the path of life is well lit. So we've seen the road of the upright. It's described in verse 13, 12, 13, and 18. And now the road of the wicked is described. And we see this in verse 12, 16, 17, and 19. All these verses fit together. Now he starts off by giving a quick series of warnings. A quick series of warnings in verse 14 and 15. He says, "Do not," two times in verse 14.

He says, "Avoid it, do not, and turn away in verse 15." And these are quick, these are direct warnings to stay away from the road of the wicked. Remember he's talking to his son. But notice the description of the road of the wicked. The road of the wicked would be hampered. We learned that in verse 12. When you walk, your step will not be hampered. This speaks of a cramped or constrained life. This is a life constrained because of stumbling blocks and obstacles. These are obstacles from sin, stumbling blocks from foolish living. So the road of the wicked will be hampered. The road of the wicked will be restless.

Verse 16, "For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong. They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble." See, the wicked cannot rest until they have committed evil deeds. They are robbed of rest until they have sinned and brought others into their sinful and wicked deeds. And then notice the road of the wicked will only be satisfied with sin. Verse 17, "For they eat the bread of wickedness and they drink the wine of violence." Verse 17 mentions food and drink. These satisfy natural needs and desires within the life. The body needs food, does it not? The body needs drink, does it not?

And here the wicked is pictured as eating and drinking wickedness. We see the sin and wicked living is what satisfies them. They are not satisfied until they eat and drink wickedness. And then notice the road of the wicked will be darkness. Verse 19, "The way of the wicked is like the deep, like deep darkness. They do not know over what they stumble. Whereas the road of the upright shines brighter and brighter." Did we not learn that? The road of the wicked is nothing but deep darkness. Now this term, "deep darkness," describes a very, very deep darkness. The phrase suggests a dreadful moral darkness and blindness.

Now just like in verses 1 to 9, verses 10 to 19, it is a lot. Simply Solomon points out two roads. You can use roads or paths. Two roads are paths in life. This is very descriptive language. The road of the upright is contrasted to the road of the wicked. But notice one detail here. I haven't mentioned it yet. Solomon does not mention a middle road. There is no middle way. It's one of the other. Only the fool thinks there is a middle way or a middle road.

Proverbs 12-15 says, now listen close, "The way of the fool, the way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but the wise listens to advice." See, the fool will think there is a middle road, but no, there is two paths. The road of the upright or the road of the unrighteous or the wicked. Now question. One probably you've not thought about. What about Solomon's son? We don't hear a lot about Solomon's son throughout the Proverbs. What path was he on? The end of verse 11 and 12 seem to indicate that he was on the path of the upright or the wise. It seems he is listening to Solomon's instructions.

Now an application, I think it is of utmost importance to do two things here. Let me repeat that. For us here, I think it is of utmost importance to do two things. This can be very difficult for some. Some can have cloudy vision or judgment here, but this teaching can clear up that cloudy vision and judgment if we'll allow the teaching to do so. First, we must see what roads the paths that our friends and our family and our loved ones are on. See, there's only two. We must allow this teaching to help us see the path, the road in life, that our sons are on, our daughters are on, our mothers and fathers are on, our brothers and sisters are on.

Anyone in our life, we must allow this teaching to show us where people are. And then second, we must use these examples in the lives of our children. This is a must. And I know this can be tough. We have to have tact and we have to be careful what we say, especially when they're younger. But what happens is, if we do not practice this in the lives of our children, then we can inadvertently communicate to our children that some of these people are okay and we can't do that. It's sad. I don't want to have to do that.

I don't want you to have to look at your sons or your daughters and to say, "Look at how your uncle or your mother or my parents, look at how they live." The scriptures tell us. We have to do that because we have to show our children the path of the upright, the wise, the godly, and the path of the unrighteous, the wicked, the sinful. We must illustrate that because they must see that fork in the road, that fork in the road, that fork in the road. And sometimes they will understand what the scripture means by seeing the example and having it repeated over and over. Seeing it time after time. So I want to ask you, is your judgment cloudy here?

Is the water murky here for you? And you know it can be really hard to come to that place where we have to admit where our son or our daughter, our loved one, people that we love, it's hard to do that sometimes. But we must use God's word over how we feel about our loved ones. So what do we see here? This is the two roads of life. There's not a third. And then third, I want us to see, this is our third division or major truth in our outline, protecting the spring. I call this protecting the spring starting in verse 20. Look at verse 20. "My son, be attentive to my word." He just keeps repeating himself.

"Be attentive to my words and climb your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart for they are life to those who find them in healing to all their flesh." I'll pause there because we'll cover verse 23 on down to verse 27 in the rest of the message. Now again, repetition. Solomon is repeating. He's reminding his son. We see this in verses 20 to 22. But a question, why again, why does he repeat? I go back and I borrow something that I have shared before. Remember the hymn writer that we talked about? These phrases we know.

"Prown to wonder, Lord, I feel it." "Prown to believe the God I love." Solomon knew that his son was prone to forget. And oh, we know the rest of the story in Solomon's life. He kind of did forget. So that's why the repetition. But in these verses, we see the brilliance. I mean the wonderful brilliance of Solomon's teaching. Let me go back to verse 20. "My son, be attentive to my words and climb your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them within your heart." Notice where Solomon calls his son to keep God's word. I've given it to you.

"Keep them within your heart." Solomon knew that his son needed to protect his heart, to fill his heart, and to protect his heart, and to guard his heart, and to put God's word into his heart. He knew that from the heart flow the springs of life. Look at verse 22. "For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all of their flesh." What? God's commandments that he's saying to hide in his heart. Solomon knew the heart was the source to everything in life. One writer that I came across this week said that this is the river of your life. And he went on to say it's the command center. Yeah, I like that. It's true.

The heart is the river of life and it's the command center. So Solomon knew that everything flowed from the heart. Now he's going to go through some specifics in life, and he's going to address specifics in the life of his son. And these are in the form of commands, and there are three that center around verse 24, 25, and then 26 and 27. So I'm going to go through these. Notice what he says. He says, "First, put away sinful speech." Verse 24, "Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk from far from you." Solomon knows that evil speech comes from where? It comes from an evil heart.

He knows that if one's speech is harmful to other people, if it's meant to deceive others, if the speech is slanderous about others, and on and on and on and on, that type of speech comes from where? Comes from an evil heart. So Solomon is saying to make sure that you protect your heart, so that you protect your mouth. Then second, he says, "Keep your eyes forward." Verse 25, "Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure." Solomon knows the path of the unrighteous, or the wicked. He knows that path. He knows his son must keep his eyes on the path of the righteous, or he will take the wrong path.

He knows that any distraction can be disastrous. He knows that distractions can alter the direction. So he says, "Keep your eyes forward." And then third, he says, "Watch your feet." Watch your feet. "Keep your eyes forward, and now watch your feet." Verse 26 and 27. "Ponder the path of your feet, then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left. Turn your foot from the evil way." Solomon moves from keeping the eyes forward to watching his feet. He is calling his son to pay attention to where his feet are taking him. He is calling him not to step to the right or the left of the righteous path.

So Solomon is saying, "Make sure you protect your heart so as to protect the direction of your feet." So in summary, we're seeing something very serious. Solomon calls his son to protect his heart. He knows the heart is the wellspring of life. It's the command center. I used that language earlier. Solomon then calls his son to take notice of certain areas of his life. These are tangible. Put your hands on them. The mouth, the eyes, the feet, the mouth, the eyes of the feet, the mouth, the eyes of the feet. They are all affected by the heart, and they all reflect the condition of the heart.

This reminds me of something that is dear in my memory. It reminds me of the old spring behind the house at my granddad's old farm. My granddad lived in town, but he purchased 500 acres in 1941, and he built a house there. It was more than a camp house. It was a family getaway, and it's very fun memories of our family being there at the old house. But he always was trying to keep the old spring clean. He kept the pump house over that spring, and it was meant to protect it. He knew that whatever got into that pump house, it got into the water, and it would contaminate that water. But there was a problem. Always a problem.

There was a big problem with the spring. Within the water, there was iron or iron oxide in that water in the spring. He could never get that out of the water. He tried all types of remedies, but that iron oxide turned that water red, and it stained everything that it touched. Everything. It was always contaminated. See, what we must see is if the heart is contaminated, then everything else is contaminated. Think about that. If the heart is contaminated, if the spring of our life is contaminated, everything is contaminated. Now, I want to take this in two places in application. Number one, we must have a new heart. We must be converted of God.

We must be born again. I go to an Old Testament passage which speaks of this. Ezekiel 36, 26 speaks about the new birth, and he says, "And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. The lost man must have a new heart." And then, second, "We must keep our heart pure and clean and uncontaminated in the Christian life. We must work hard to keep our hearts pure and clean, and we must work hard to get the contaminants of sin out of our life." Now, listen close. We teach our children the Word. We want this to be a multi-generational work, but look, if they don't have a new heart, it won't work.

And that's the frustrating part. We can teach them the Word, but we can't give them a new heart. We teach, and we work hard, and we train, and then we pray for the new birth. We give them the gospel. We have them in a Bible-preaching church, and we teach them the Word at home, and then we wait on God to say, "That's the hard part, because it's the wind," Jesus tells Nicodemus. It's like the wind. We can't predict it, and so we teach and we pray, but ultimately God must give them a new heart, and then after God saves them, we continue to teach them to do what? To keep that heart clean, to keep that heart pure. Why?

Because we cannot let the contaminants come in. We got to protect the spring. We have to do it in our life, and we have to help our born-again children do it, and then our born-again grandchildren do that as well. Now, in conclusion, I want to mention to you and bring to you the theme. I think it's obvious, the main theme that's here in these verses is directed at the young man. It could be directed at the young woman. It could be directed at the child, the teenager, the college student, and what is he saying? Watch out. Watch out. That's part of the title of the message. Watch out, young man. Watch out, young person. Watch out, son.

Watch out, daughter. Isn't that what he's saying? Watch out for the wrong path. Protect that heart. My father did it for me, and I'm doing it for you. It's all in the family. Watch out. I think back to some of the relationships I've had with teenagers as they begin to grow up. I've done this. Not to take the place of their mother or father. No. Never to do that, but just as their pastor, just to speak into their life, always saying, "Watch out. Guard that heart and guard that life." So what's the title of what we've looked at? Covered a lot of scripture real fast. I know. Watch out, young man. But you know we could make this personal.

We could put our name to it. Watch out. What do we see? A lot here. I think that could impact our life and our children and our homes. And to be honest with you, if we take just chapter four and nothing else out of the book of Proverbs, this can impact generations. Generations and impact even our church.