Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 5. I will then key in on verse 2 - That you may preserve discretion And your lips may keep knowledge. Friends, it is important that we use discretion in our life. In the context of this particular proverb we are talking about avoiding the immoral woman. We must do all we can to exercise marital fidelity. On today's lesson we will continue our study of the Gospel according to Luke. By the end of this lesson there are three points that I ask that you consider:
1. Take heed how you hear.
2. My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
3. Jesus rebukes the wind and waves.
Call to Action - How do you handle point #2 in your life? Do you have any family members that are yet unsaved? Do you spend more time with them, or with committed Christians (that you will spend eternity with)?
[00:00:06] and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.
[00:00:21] And in prayer, Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today.
[00:00:26] Lord, I pray that you give everyone ears to hear and a heart to receive everything you have in store for them today.
[00:00:34] I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. This is Proverbs 5 beginning in verse 1.
[00:00:42] My son pay attention to my wisdom, lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion
[00:00:52] and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman, drip honey
[00:00:58] and her mouth is smoother than oil. But in the end she is bitter as wormwood.
[00:01:05] Sharp, as a two-edged sword, her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell.
[00:01:13] Lest you ponder her path of life. Her ways are unstable, you do not know them.
[00:01:21] Therefore, hear me now my children and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
[00:01:28] Remove your way far from her and do not go near the door of her house.
[00:01:35] Lest you give your honor to others and your ears to the cruel one.
[00:01:42] Lest aliens be filled with your wrath and your labors go to the house of a foreigner
[00:01:49] and you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed.
[00:01:55] And say, how I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction.
[00:02:02] I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to those who instructed me.
[00:02:10] I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation.
[00:02:17] Drink water from your own sister and running water from your own well.
[00:02:24] Should your fountain be dispersed abroad, streams of water in the streets?
[00:02:30] Let them be only your own and not for strangers with you.
[00:02:35] Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice with the wife of your youth.
[00:02:41] As a loving dear and a graceful to, let her breasts satisfy you at all times and always be enraptured with her love.
[00:02:52] For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman and be embraced in the arms of a seductress?
[00:03:01] For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord.
[00:03:06] And he ponders all his paths, his own iniquities, in trap the wicked man,
[00:03:13] and he is caught in the cords of his sin.
[00:03:17] He shall die for lack of instruction and in the greatness of his folly, he shall go astray.
[00:03:26] Friends today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 2.
[00:03:31] And Proverb 5 verse 2 says this, that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge.
[00:03:43] Friends we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today.
[00:03:48] But what I'd like to do is continue in our study of the gospel according to Luke.
[00:03:55] And on Monday's podcast, we discussed the parable of the sober and he sowed seed
[00:04:04] and we talked about the different kinds of seeds and what that means.
[00:04:09] And there was really only one kind of seed that was productive.
[00:04:14] And that was the seed that fell on good soil.
[00:04:19] So my hope and desire is that everyone listening today is that good seed.
[00:04:27] We remember we learned that the word of God is the seed.
[00:04:32] So it is firmly planted inside of you.
[00:04:37] You should be good soil.
[00:04:40] Let's begin where we left off on Monday and we are in chapter 8 of Luke.
[00:04:46] Let's begin with verse 16.
[00:04:50] No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed,
[00:04:58] but sets it on a lamp stand that those who ever may see the light.
[00:05:04] For nothing is secret that will not be revealed,
[00:05:09] nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.
[00:05:14] Therefore take heed how you hear for whoever has to him more will be given,
[00:05:24] and whoever does not have even what he seems to have will be taken from him.
[00:05:32] So friends, my first takeaway from today's podcast is,
[00:05:37] take heed how you hear.
[00:05:42] Now let's break this down and find out exactly what that means.
[00:05:49] Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson study Bible and what I'd like to do is read the commentary for each of the three verses that we just went over.
[00:06:01] And this commentary explains a lot of things that I believe some of you listening today may have questions with.
[00:06:11] So let's look at verse 16.
[00:06:15] What does the author mean when he says sets it on a lamp stand?
[00:06:23] Continuing with the theme of the word of God introduced in this chapter verses 4 through 15,
[00:06:32] Jesus compares his teaching to light.
[00:06:38] It should not be hidden but displayed so that people can benefit from the illumination it gives.
[00:06:48] Now Jesus is often called the light of the world and what we're talking about when we have that phrase is the fact that Jesus is the word of God.
[00:07:03] And as you delve into the Bible and begin reading the word of God, light will come out.
[00:07:12] You will be illuminated.
[00:07:14] You will be enlightened as to exactly what the directions are of how we should live our everyday lives.
[00:07:24] It is absolutely awesome.
[00:07:27] Now let's look at verse 17, come to light.
[00:07:32] What does that mean?
[00:07:34] Eventually everything will be revealed by the light of the word of God.
[00:07:42] Now many times we live our lives as though no one is watching us, but friends listen to me and listen to me well.
[00:07:52] God sees everything that you do.
[00:07:57] And I think if you consider yourself to be a Christian, if you really ponder that one statement.
[00:08:06] Many things that you may be in the habit of doing, you may stop and forego doing in the foreseeable future.
[00:08:15] He watches every single thing that we do.
[00:08:20] There are a number of occurrences in the Bible that I could give you that talk about that very thing.
[00:08:29] One of the Psalms tells us, no matter where you are, you are not hidden from Him.
[00:08:36] It kind of reminds me of the book of Jonah.
[00:08:41] And Jonah actually believed if he went in the opposite direction of where God instructed him to go that he would be okay.
[00:08:51] But as soon as he boarded that boat and went into the cabin and went to sleep,
[00:08:57] God brought up a tempestuous storm.
[00:09:01] And that boat was in danger of sinking because Jonah defied what God had asked him to do.
[00:09:11] And the only way that that storm came to an end is when the people on that boat literally through Jonah overboard into the water that the sea was calmed.
[00:09:29] Awesome story. Let's go to verse 18, take heed how you hear.
[00:09:36] What does that mean?
[00:09:38] Jesus explicitly warned his audience to listen to and follow the word of God.
[00:09:47] What he seems to have will be taken.
[00:09:51] This phrase introduces the principle of judgment.
[00:09:56] The one who responds to the word of God receives more.
[00:10:01] The one who does not respond to the word of God loses what he thought he had.
[00:10:10] Now, friends, I'd like for you really to meditate on what I just said.
[00:10:16] And I'm going to actually read it one more time.
[00:10:20] Listen to this, the one who responds to the word of God receives more.
[00:10:28] The one who does not respond to the word of God loses what he thought he had.
[00:10:36] Awesome, awesome, awesome.
[00:10:39] Let's go to verse 19, then his mother and brothers came to him
[00:10:45] and could not approach him because of the crowd.
[00:10:49] And it was told him by some who said, your mother and your brothers are standing outside,
[00:10:58] desiring to see you.
[00:11:00] But he answered and said to them, my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
[00:11:13] Let me read that one more time.
[00:11:15] I want to make sure everyone hears this clearly.
[00:11:20] My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
[00:11:28] So friends, my second point today is my mother and my brother are those who hear the word of God and do it.
[00:11:38] In other words, being a Christian and having a fellow Christian is more important than having a blood,
[00:11:50] brother or blood sister if they have not received Jesus into their heart.
[00:11:59] Now what I'd like to do is go over the commentary for verses 19 and 20.
[00:12:07] Jesus' family was concerned about the direction of his ministry.
[00:12:13] Those some have suggested that the brothers hear were sons of Joseph by a previous marriage,
[00:12:20] or in other words, cousins of Jesus.
[00:12:24] Most likely they were the sons of Joseph and Mary.
[00:12:29] Joseph's absence here may mean that he had died by this time.
[00:12:35] And friends, they're at speculation as to exactly when Joseph died.
[00:12:41] He is really never mentioned again once Jesus's born and is taken to the temple.
[00:12:49] Let's go to verse 21, my mother and my brothers in a clear contrast to verse 19.
[00:12:59] Jesus declared that his true family consists of those who hear and do the word of God.
[00:13:09] And I'm just going to clarify on my previous point, is that friends we are going to have any eternal life.
[00:13:20] And if you make good friends with people who are in the family of God and have received Jesus,
[00:13:28] you will be with those people forever into eternity.
[00:13:35] And eternity is one of the hardest concepts for many, many people to just grasp and hold on to.
[00:13:45] That is why so many people are reluctant to receive Jesus into their heart.
[00:13:52] Many people do not believe that there is a here after.
[00:13:58] And they believe that once they die, that's it, that's the end.
[00:14:03] And if that is your true belief, then why receive Jesus?
[00:14:09] And if that's where you're coming from, I in a way kind of understand that.
[00:14:15] But the bottom line is there is an eternity and God has revealed that to me and I believe that with every single core of my being,
[00:14:26] I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that that is true.
[00:14:32] Now let's go to verse 22.
[00:14:34] Now it happened on a certain day that he got into a boat with his disciples.
[00:14:40] And he said to them, let us cross over to the other side of the lake and they launched out.
[00:14:48] But as they sailed, he fell asleep.
[00:14:51] And a windstorm came down on the lake and they were filled with water.
[00:14:58] And we're in jeopardy.
[00:15:00] And they came to him and a woe Kim say, Master Master, we are perishing.
[00:15:07] Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased.
[00:15:16] And there was a column.
[00:15:20] So friends, my third and final point today is that Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves.
[00:15:29] Now what I'd like to do is go over the commentary for verse 23.
[00:15:34] Windstorm, the calming of the wind is the first of four miracles between verses 22 through 56 of this chapter
[00:15:48] that demonstrates Jesus' authority over a variety of phenomena.
[00:15:54] Nature, demons, disease and death.
[00:16:00] This first miracle to place on the sea of Galilee.
[00:16:04] Cool air rushing down the ravines and hills of the area collides with warm air,
[00:16:13] causing sudden and strong storms.
[00:16:17] Even the experienced fisherman in the boat feared this kind of storm.
[00:16:24] Let's look at the commentary for verse 24.
[00:16:27] They ceased.
[00:16:29] At Jesus' word, all the chaos of the storm stopped.
[00:16:35] Such control over nature is attributed to God in the old Testament.
[00:16:42] An example of that is Psalm 104 verse 3.
[00:16:46] Another is Psalm 135 verse 7.
[00:16:50] And finally in the book of Nay-Hum chapter 1 verse 4,
[00:16:56] Let's look at verse 25.
[00:16:59] But he said to them, where is your faith?
[00:17:04] And they were afraid and marveled saying to one another,
[00:17:10] who can this be?
[00:17:12] He commands even the winds and water, and they obey him.
[00:17:18] Now let's look at the commentary for verse 25.
[00:17:22] Where is your faith?
[00:17:25] Jesus' question was a rebuke of His disciples because God was aware of their situation.
[00:17:34] They could trust in His protection.
[00:17:37] For He was powerful enough to control the mighty winds and waves,
[00:17:43] who can this be?
[00:17:45] This is the real question of Jesus' entire Galilean ministry,
[00:17:52] the beginning of which is recorded in Luke's gospel chapter 4,
[00:17:58] beginning in verse 14.
[00:18:01] All of the displays of Jesus' authority during this ministry
[00:18:07] were designed to raise this question of His identity.
[00:18:14] What does it mean? They obey him.
[00:18:18] The closest precedent to Jesus' power over nature was the miracles of the prophet Elijah.
[00:18:26] The disciples already sensed that Jesus was more than a prophet.
[00:18:33] Friends, before we close today I'd like to go back to our proverb of the day
[00:18:39] and we are in proverb number five and verse two tells us that you may preserve discretion
[00:18:47] and your lips may keep knowledge.
[00:18:51] Friends, I selected this particular verse today because this kind of goes along with our story today.
[00:19:01] And the disciples were in that boat.
[00:19:05] They kind of had to have discretion.
[00:19:08] Well, what do we do about this storm?
[00:19:11] When do we tell Jesus? When do we wake him up? What are we going to do?
[00:19:16] So I looked up the word discretion and this is what it says.
[00:19:21] The quality of behaving or speaking in such a way as to avoid causing offense
[00:19:30] or revealing private information.
[00:19:34] Example, she knew she could rely on his discretion.
[00:19:40] Let's look at another example.
[00:19:42] The freedom to decide what should be done in a particular situation.
[00:19:48] An example, it is up to local authorities to use their discretion in setting the charges.
[00:19:58] So friends, it is important that we have discretion.
[00:20:04] This verse, verse two, in this particular context of this proverb,
[00:20:10] is talking about the adulterous woman.
[00:20:15] And we need to avoid that individual at all costs.
[00:20:21] These first six verses going over the fact that we need to have discretion
[00:20:27] and we need to avoid that adulterous woman.
[00:20:32] There are people out there who are going to do everything they can
[00:20:37] to break up your marriage and believe me.
[00:20:40] They are not thinking about your marriage.
[00:20:43] They are thinking about what pleases them.
[00:20:46] And if there's any opportunity they're going to take advantage of it
[00:20:50] and use you for that particular event.
[00:20:54] My call to action today is very simple.
[00:20:58] What I'd like for you to do is ask yourself this question.
[00:21:04] Where do you stand in reference to our second point today?
[00:21:10] My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.
[00:21:18] Now friends, many of you may have family members who have not joined on board with you.
[00:21:25] They haven't received Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
[00:21:29] How do you handle them?
[00:21:33] You know it's an important question.
[00:21:35] How do you handle people who you meet and they're a very strong brother or sister in Christ?
[00:21:43] Who are you going to hang out with?
[00:21:46] A very important question and decision that we each have to make.
[00:21:53] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
[00:22:02] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step,
[00:22:06] I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.
[00:22:10] Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God.
[00:22:14] I believe that you came to earth and died on a cross and were buried.
[00:22:19] On the third day you rose from the dead.
[00:22:22] And now live at the right hand of God the Father.
[00:22:27] Jesus, I confess that I am a sinner and in need of a Savior.
[00:22:33] Jesus, by dying on that cross, I believe that all of my sins have been forgiven.
[00:22:39] And yet I still need your help.
[00:22:42] I ask that you come into my heart.
[00:22:44] I ask that you lead me and guide me from this point forward.
[00:22:48] In Jesus name, amen.
[00:22:51] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:22:55] The Lord make it stay shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[00:23:00] The Lord lift up His cabinets upon you and give you peace.
[00:23:05] Friends, please join me again tomorrow as we further explore.
[00:23:10] We soon today.