Proverbs 1, verse 8. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them.

(0:26 – 0:40)

If they say, come along with us, let’s lie in wait for innocent blood. Let’s ambush some harmless soul. Let’s swallow them alive like the grave and whole like those who go down to the pit.

(0:41 – 0:53)

We will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder. Cast lots with us and we will all share the loot. My son, do not go along with them.

(0:55 – 1:08)

Do not set foot on their paths, for their feet rush into evil. They are swift to shed blood. How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it.

(1:10 – 1:20)

These men lie in wait for their own blood. They ambush only themselves. Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain.

(1:22 – 1:33)

It takes away the life of those who get it. Out in the open, wisdom calls aloud. She raises her voice in the public square.

(1:34 – 1:53)

On top of the wall, she cries out. At the city gate, she makes her speech. How long will you who are simple love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? Repent at my rebuke.

(1:54 – 2:17)

Then I will pour out my thoughts to you. I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call, and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you.

(2:18 – 2:47)

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 overwhelms you. 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.

(2:48 – 3:17)

Since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. For 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.

(3:18 – 3:40)

This is God’s word. When you go for a walk in the forest or in a park, you will sometimes come to a fork in the path. So you know the kind of thing where you can’t just keep on going.

(3:41 – 3:54)

There’s a right and a left, perhaps maybe a yellow trail and a blue trail. And you, the walker, have to choose. You have to pick which path you’re going to take.

(3:55 – 4:04)

And if you’re a bit of a ditherer, it might take you five minutes. And if you’re more impulsive, it might take you five seconds. But you pick one.

(4:05 – 4:27)

And of course, you then commit to one. You tend to continue doggedly down that same path, whether it was a good idea or not. Well, in the book of Proverbs, which we’ve started to look at last Sunday, we’re learning lots of things about what it means to be wise.

(4:28 – 5:03)

But one of the big things we need to really grasp about wisdom is that the life of wisdom begins with a choice. In fact, it not only begins with wisdom, but it actually continues with a continual choice to be wise. And you see, if we don’t commit to this path, if we don’t keep committing to this path, then the default reality is that we’ve chosen another path, a path that’s leading to a very bad destination.

(5:05 – 5:30)

Well, this is what we’re going to think about this morning. We’re going to look at the final two thirds of Proverbs 1. And these two passages that we’re going to look at together are focussing on voices and choices. So it’s about the choices we make, but also about the voices that entice us to make either choice.

(5:31 – 5:45)

So let’s begin, if you’ve got your Bible open, with the first section. This is verses 8 to 19. And in this first passage, what we hear are voices that will entice you to death.

(5:46 – 6:06)

Voices that will entice you to death. Last week, we looked at the introduction to the book of Proverbs. In fact, we looked at the intro to the intro, which was verses 1 to 7 of chapter 1. Those verses explain the book’s purpose.

(6:07 – 6:25)

And they also showcased the appeal of wisdom. It was kind of presenting it as a very attractive thing. But now, having received that initial orientation, we progress to nine chapters of a father’s passionate appeal.

(6:26 – 6:59)

We now hear a series of speeches, of lectures, of calls. You could call this full section, the call to wisdom, chapters 1 to 9. And in these chapters, the father is saying to his son, choose wisdom, not folly. Because only if the son chooses wisdom, will he then apply himself to the Proverbs that follow in chapter 10 and afterwards.

(7:01 – 7:18)

And what we have in our passage today is the first speech from the father to the son. You see that in verse 8. Listen, my son, it begins. I guess we could think of this son perhaps as the son of Solomon himself.

(7:20 – 7:30)

And yet, as we saw last week, this book is addressing really all of the sons of Israel. It’s addressing all those who would seek God’s wisdom. All who want to grow in knowledge.

(7:32 – 7:51)

And what is this son to listen to? He is to listen to his father’s instruction. And he’s not to forsake his mother’s teaching. I was just thinking as I was reviewing this earlier this morning, that this must be the most uncool sermon point that you’ve ever heard.

(7:51 – 8:07)

That basically, you need to listen to your mum and dad. And the wisdom that they’ve already gained from the Lord. And he says there in verse 8, doesn’t he? In kind of strange imagery to us, the garland and the crown.

(8:08 – 8:24)

But basically he’s saying it will reward you. It will be a wonderful blessing for you if you stick with the teaching of your father and mother. The difficulty is that there is an alternative option.

(8:25 – 8:40)

There is another path this son can choose. And there are other voices that he can listen to. If you like, his mum and dad are already on the wisdom trail.

(8:40 – 8:59)

And they’re kind of calling the son to follow them, follow their instruction up that path. But at the fork in the road, there’s another group, a gang really, of what the passage calls sinful men. And they’re already on the path of folly.

(8:59 – 9:16)

And they are enticing the son to follow them, to come with them down their road. It’s like the sirens in the story of Odysseus really. They’re luring him with their tempting voices.

(9:16 – 9:25)

Look at verse 11. If they say, there’s the strategy, it’s their words. And they’re gonna say lots of things to this young man.

(9:25 – 9:41)

All the way from verse 11 down to verse 14, they’re saying things to him, trying to persuade him to follow them. Now, please notice with me how temptation works. Because that’s what we’re dealing with here.

(9:42 – 10:12)

These are the dynamics of temptation to sin. And whoever you are this morning, whether you are a follower of Jesus, or whether you are not, we all know what it is to be tempted to do the wrong thing. What are the dynamics of that? Well, what temptation does is it tells you what you will gain, and it hides from you what you will lose.

(10:13 – 10:24)

That’s what temptation always does. It tells you, here’s what you will gain by doing this. And it is silent about what you will lose.

(10:25 – 10:35)

So the gang say to the young man, yes, come with us. Yes, we’re gonna do this kind of hideous thing really. Even they know that, notice the language there.

(10:35 – 10:46)

They are going to kill an innocent man. They’re aware of that. This innocent guy walking down the street, he doesn’t deserve to be ambushed.

(10:47 – 10:58)

But think about the upside. Think about what you will gain if you do this with us. And there’s two things they dangle before this young man.

(10:59 – 11:20)

They dangle cash, and they dangle community. So on the one hand, cash. Verse 13, once we’ve killed this poor person, we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder.

(11:21 – 11:40)

This is basically a get-rich-quick scheme with a deadly dose of murder in the mix. And even if the act is hideous, don’t you feel attracted by the outcome that they’re presenting here? I mean, I do. Because what the outcome they’re offering is this.

(11:41 – 12:01)

They’re saying, you don’t need to endure the slow, hard grind of accumulating wealth that everyone has to go through. Those many decades of working and earning a wage Monday to Friday, and it’s slow and hard and a gradual increase in salary and so on. But you can avoid all of that.

(12:01 – 12:16)

And just in a matter of minutes, you can gain all of the security that money brings with no effort at all. That is a strong temptation. And that’s the main thing they dangle before the son.

(12:18 – 12:32)

But there’s also something more subtle that they’re holding out to him as well. Notice the implied promise of community. Verse 11, come along with us.

(12:33 – 12:47)

Verse 14, we will all share the loot. These men are not just offering money, they’re offering community. A kind of unholy church.

(12:48 – 13:30)

It’s very possible to sin alone and in isolation. I mean, we would sin if we were living stranded on a desert island, wouldn’t we? But very often, one thing that really leads us into much more trouble is the fact that we often are seeking a place within a friendship group or a workplace environment or some community that we want to just feel part of. And so it’s the child at school who joins in with the gossips and the bullies because they don’t want to be a target and they want to stay in the cool crowds.

(13:31 – 13:54)

It’s the student, isn’t it, who gives up their ethics on freshers week just because they want to fit in. And it’s the adult who morphs into a cutthroat person at work because that’s what you need to be to be a success in this kind of workplace. And this is what temptation always does.

(13:55 – 14:12)

It’s the reason why we often give in to temptation because it promises us things. It says, this is what you will gain. Money, community, instant pleasure, more power, greater control.

(14:13 – 14:26)

And we want these things. And so we seek these things. But what temptation fails to then tell us is this is what you will lose.

(14:28 – 14:53)

It tells you what you will gain in the short term, but it’s silent about the loss. And notice here, very significantly, it is the father from verse 15 who alone speaks up about the deadly consequences. Not a peep from the friends, but the father speaks up and says, my son, do not go along with them.

(14:53 – 15:03)

Do not set foot on their paths. And back in verse 10, do not give in. Do not go along.

(15:04 – 15:19)

Do not set foot. Do not give in. It’s pretty black and white advice, isn’t it? Don’t even put your big toe on the road these men are going.

(15:20 – 15:42)

Because this father knows what every wise person knows, that the first step is rarely the last step. If you don’t want to fall off the precipice, don’t take a step in that direction. That’s a crucial bit of advice in so many areas of life and temptation.

(15:43 – 16:05)

If we think we can dabble in things that we know are unhelpful, but don’t worry, we won’t go too far, then we’re just kidding ourselves. Because that’s not how the sinful human heart works. Don’t put your foot on the path.

(16:06 – 16:19)

And why not? This is a very good parent here. He doesn’t just say don’t or do. He says why? Because this path leads to death.

(16:20 – 16:34)

This is what the enticing voices have failed to mention, that if the son goes with them, he is walking into a trap. And the trap isn’t for the victim. It isn’t for the person who’s going to be harmed.

(16:34 – 16:46)

The son himself will be trapped and harmed and killed if he goes down this road. Look at that. It’s a shocking surprise, isn’t it, in verse 18.

(16:47 – 16:56)

You’re not expecting that punchline. These men lie in wait for their own blood. They ambush only themselves.

(16:57 – 17:13)

They think they’re killing the victim, but they’re actually signing their own death warrant. Because they won’t get away with what they do in the world of God’s justice. They will die.

(17:13 – 17:23)

They will be ambushed. And that outcome should be very obvious to them. I think that’s the point, the obviousness of it.

(17:23 – 17:50)

I think that’s the point of verse 17, which is a bit of an ambiguous verse about the net and the bird and so on. How useless to spread a net where every bird can see it. I suppose back in those days, I mean, I’ve never tried to catch a bird for food, but if you were trying to catch a bird because you needed to eat, then I suppose you wouldn’t lay the net out in the open, uncamouflaged for the bird just to see what you were doing.

(17:51 – 18:05)

And even a bird wouldn’t be dumb enough if you just put a big obvious net in the middle of a path. And the point the father is making is that the trap here is obvious. Yes, the money might be good.

(18:05 – 18:15)

Yes, the community might be fun for a while. But if you rob people and kill people, then eventually the net is going to embroil you and kill you. That should be obvious.

(18:18 – 18:40)

It should have been obvious to Judas. As we read in the New Testament, I was thinking about this, the many parallels between Proverbs 1 and what we see with one of Jesus’ disciples. Judas betrayed Jesus to death for a reasonable amount of money.

(18:41 – 19:03)

30 pieces of silver, according to one thing I read, is about four months wages in those days. So for four months of wages, not life-changing money, but a significant amount of money, he was willing to betray Jesus to die. And yet, within 24 hours of that decision, Judas himself was dead.

(19:05 – 19:27)

And within 42 hours of that, the one that he had put to death was raised again to life. Who made the wise decision? The great lesson is captured in verse 19, that such is the destiny of all who go after ill fortune. Ill-gotten gain.

(19:29 – 19:55)

You see, it’s not just the murderers and bank robbers and career criminals who need to learn the lesson here. The Father’s giving a very extreme example, but he’s saying this applies to any situation where we put gain over what is right. Any situation where we harm other people to get the things we want.

(19:55 – 20:14)

It applies to all situations in life when we cut corners and avoid the slow, steady progress of wisdom. In all such situations, there is a disastrous outcome. And so suddenly this passage feels a lot more relevant to all of us.

(20:15 – 20:41)

Because I don’t imagine that many of us are thinking of becoming career criminals, which is kind of what he’s describing here. But the point is, the same dynamic, the same dynamic of foolishness, of seeking instant gain by unethical choices, is something we’re all tempted to do. The folly of cutting corners morally to get ahead a bit quicker.

(20:43 – 20:58)

The folly of harming others because we selfishly need something or want something. And if we need to push them to the side, if it hurts them a little bit, well, that’s just tough. This is a warning to each one of us.

(20:59 – 21:14)

Not to go down the wrong road and follow the foolish path. And yet what follows is, as the father’s first speech develops, is a bit of a change of gears. And so we come to verses 20 to 33.

(21:16 – 21:30)

And now we have something slightly different. After the voices that will entice you to death, we now have a voice that can save you from disaster. A voice that can save you from disaster.

(21:31 – 21:46)

And what we now have, quite curiously, is a woman’s voice. Her name is Wisdom, verse 20. And notice where she is.

(21:47 – 21:56)

She’s in the streets of the city. And she’s also in the public square. And she’s also on the top of the wall.

(21:57 – 22:25)

And she’s also at the city gates. Now, all of these locations are public, the most public places in a city. So there’s a shift here from the domestic background of the previous verses, the home situation of eight to 19, where you can almost imagine the sinful men kind of enticing the young man to follow them into the streets, follow them into folly.

(22:26 – 22:45)

But now we’ve left that home perspective, and now we are in the city, we’re in the streets. And the picture here is that the young man or the young woman has now gone into the world, as it were. And Lady Wisdom is going out to them.

(22:46 – 22:57)

She’s not the father or the mother, but she’s very much in league with them. And she’s saying very similar things to them. She’s after the same goal.

(22:58 – 23:40)

In the book of Proverbs, Lady Wisdom is a repeated character who personifies godly wisdom. She isn’t God, but she acts and speaks in ways that God speaks and acts. And so she goes to the public places and she cries out at the top of her lungs, verse 22, how long will all of you simple people love your simple ways? Notice here that the assumption is that the people she’s crying out to have been choosing the foolish path for some time.

(23:41 – 23:57)

The simple, the naive have been loving their simple ways. There are people who delight in mockery. There are fools here who have hardened so much that they now hate knowledge.

(23:58 – 24:12)

Whereas the previous section was, what choice will you make? This section is much more, you’ve made the wrong choice. Now turn from it. Or to use the biblical word, repent.

(24:14 – 24:26)

Repent means turn around. It means do a U-turn. It means if you’re on the wrong trail, even if you’ve gone many miles down it and you know you’re going the wrong way, stop, turn around and go back to the junction.

(24:28 – 24:40)

Because if you do that, even now, it need not be too late. Look at verse 22. Then, positively, I will pour out my thoughts to you, says Lady Wisdom.

(24:40 – 25:04)

I will make known to you my teachings. There’s still opportunity for this person who’s out in the streets to come back and learn the thoughts, the teachings of Lady Wisdom. But Lady Wisdom is not confident that they will listen, which is why she speaks so strongly with a grave warning in the verses that follow.

(25:06 – 25:20)

But since you refuse to listen when I call and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, that stretching out the hand there is a hand of judgement. Lady Wisdom’s holding out a hand and saying, I’m going to bring judgement. But they’re disregarding that.

(25:20 – 25:40)

Since you disregard all my advice and don’t accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh when disaster strikes you. I will mock when calamity overcomes you. Lady Wisdom goes on to describe the calamity as like a sudden whirlwind.

(25:41 – 25:59)

That’s a perfect image, isn’t it? Of sudden disaster, you know, whirlwind just sweeps through. And destroys everything in its path. And when the whirlwind comes, there will be no chance to call on Lady Wisdom then to save you.

(26:02 – 26:22)

And this all sounds very grim and maybe harsh to some people’s ears. Lady Wisdom might sound a little bit mean, you might think, saying she will laugh when disaster comes on them. But notice that even here, this is Lady Wisdom’s attempt to wake these people up.

(26:23 – 26:39)

Even by saying that she’s going to mock them and laugh at them when disaster comes, it’s an attempt to spur them into action. Look at verse 32. For the waywardness of the simple will kill them and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

(26:39 – 26:59)

You see, the big issue here is complacency. One of the great problems when we get trapped in a life of selfishness and sin and we ignore God is that things can seem to run smoothly for a while. They can go well in the short term.

(27:00 – 27:14)

It’s kind of like the person who has committed a serious crime, but they haven’t been caught yet. And they’re chilling at home every night and they’re eating ice cream. And life is good.

(27:14 – 27:40)

And they’re completely complacent. And then one morning at 5 a.m., the whirlwind and the door is bashed in and utter destruction comes. Yes, these are strong words, but they are designed by Lady Wisdom to jolt the complacent person out of their sleep and stupor.

(27:42 – 28:20)

Whereas verses 8 to 19 were aimed at the person starting out, don’t choose a life where you reject God’s wisdom. Verses 20 to 33 are saying, if you’ve long since chosen that life of foolishness and decided that your way is better, God lovingly warns you through Lady Wisdom that however happy life is in the short term, it will lead to disaster in the long term. And yet there is an offer, a call to the complacent, a call to the prodigal son or prodigal daughter.

(28:21 – 28:38)

God is saying you still yet can choose a different path. The whoever of verse 33 is singular, singular. It’s as if the masses won’t listen.

(28:40 – 29:03)

It’s as if most people won’t respond, but maybe there’s one, maybe there’s just one person here among that crowd going the wrong direction, a whoever who might say, I need to turn around. I need to stop listening to the wrong voices. I need to stop listening to the voice of atheism.

(29:04 – 29:34)

I need to stop listening to the voices of doubt and agnosticism. I need to stop listening to the voices of self-centred, short-term pleasure-based living, which is fun in the moment, but which is leading me to a disastrous life and eternity. Whoever listens to the voice of wisdom will live in safety and be at ease without fear of harm.

(29:35 – 30:12)

And I guess that kind of has an application just in general everyday life, doesn’t it? If you choose a wise life and you steer clear of folly, then the consequences of your wrong behaviour in that sense won’t follow you. You’ll suffer for other reasons, but you won’t suffer because you’ve been a complete idiot. But I guess as Christians who understand the gospel and the fuller picture of the New Testament, this is not just about living a good life now, but it’s about that great hope of living forever in relationship with God through Christ.

(30:13 – 30:25)

Lady Wisdom is not Jesus, but she acts and speaks like Jesus. And she calls us to turn around. You know, Jesus is God’s final words to the world.

(30:26 – 30:54)

And Jesus, if you think about it, he came to the streets and the public places of our world, didn’t he? He went to where people were. He didn’t just hang out in the temple, but he went right to where people were and he called people to repent and he called people to seek God’s wisdom. And the really tragic thing is that the cry of Jesus, who is the epitome of wisdom, was largely rejected by the world.

(30:57 – 31:24)

They took Jesus and they nailed him to a cross. That’s what they thought of the wisdom of God. But in contrast to the foolish son who abandons his father’s instruction and murders and steals for ill-gotten gain, Jesus listened to his father’s instruction and he died as an innocent man at the hands of a gang.

(31:26 – 31:47)

It’s amazing to think, isn’t it, that Jesus died in the place of a murderer, Barabbas, and he died in between two robbers, two thieves. Because on the cross, Jesus was dying for people just like that. People like you and me who go after ill-gotten gain.

(31:49 – 32:17)

And he died in order that we might be forgiven and free. And so just a few, I hope, pointed but helpful applications as we finish. Maybe you’re here this morning and you are a younger person and you’re just at the point in life where you are making the big choice about what fundamental path you’re going to take in life.

(32:18 – 32:36)

The message of this passage is really simple. Choose the way of wisdom and realise, and this is something that as a younger person who grew up in church, I struggled to realise. Realise that there is no need to go down the wrong path to test whether it’s the wrong path.

(32:37 – 32:43)

Because the trap is so obvious. Death is so obvious. Others have been caught in the net.

(32:44 – 32:58)

You can see it for yourself, surely. And therefore, you don’t need to go down the roads to experience that destruction for yourself. So choose God’s way by putting your faith in Christ and by committing yourself to follow him.

(32:59 – 33:14)

I wonder if there’s someone here you kind of very consciously need to make that decision. And you’re maybe thinking, I can just keep sitting on the fence. But God’s word is saying today, there is no such thing as sitting on the fence.

(33:15 – 33:35)

So that’s the first kind of application of this. The second one is maybe to the person who already has chosen the wrong path. And maybe you’re sitting here this morning you might be in church, but you’re very, very far away from God in your heart.

(33:36 – 34:01)

Or it could be maybe more likely you’re maybe listening to this online because you don’t go to church anymore, but you just listen in every so often. And long ago, you left the influence of a Christian home. You left maybe what your parents taught you of the gospel or a Christian gran or the friend who introduced you to Jesus years ago.

(34:02 – 34:17)

And maybe you believed for a little while and then you rejected it, or maybe you just never believed. And there you are, you’re out there in the world as it were. And maybe it’s already bearing bad fruits.

(34:19 – 34:30)

And you’re realising that you maybe picked the wrong path. But there’s a lot of pride there. And it’s really difficult to humble yourself and say, I’ve got the whole thing wrong.

(34:31 – 34:45)

Maybe that’s you. Or maybe even worse, maybe life is actually going okay in the short term. You’ve not been struck by lightning yet.

(34:47 – 35:23)

But you need to realise, I lovingly say to you that complacency today leads to catastrophe one day. Even now hear the call to turn around. And thirdly, if you’ve chosen the path of wisdom and you’re basically committed to it, we continue to face the daily challenge of competing voices, don’t we? You know, none of us will wake up tomorrow, even if you’ve been a Christian for many years without facing all sorts of choices about how to live tomorrow.

(35:24 – 35:32)

The temptations still come. The voices still speak. The battle is very real.

(35:34 – 36:12)

And we need the encouragements and the warnings of this passage to help us. Maybe when your next battling temptation, and it will be tomorrow on a number of fronts, you could turn to Proverbs one as a place to help you in a moment of temptation and difficulty. Let the words of a wise father and his expose of what temptation is not telling you, let that strengthen you, strengthen your resolve to reject the enticing voices of quick sinful gain.

(36:13 – 36:41)

Because in the end, the voice of wisdom has something much better to offer us than the short term gain of folly. It offers us great reward in this life and in the next. Let’s take a moment to reflect on what we’ve heard.

(36:49 – 37:09)

Heavenly Father, we thank you that your son listened to your voice and in the end, it led him to life. It led him out of the pits to the highest place of honour and glory. We rejoice in the path he chose.

(37:11 – 37:37)

We rely not on ourselves, but in Jesus faithfulness to you. But in light of that, we pray that you will help us to choose wisdom, to choose Christ, to choose repentance, to choose your way. Lord, there’s so many situations here of how that might speak to individuals.

(37:39 – 37:52)

Please call us, each of us, in the way that individually we need to hear your call. And may we respond today with the help of your spirit. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.

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