Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 9. I will then key in on verse 7 - He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself. Friends, a scoffer is going to be an unbeliever - someone who has not received Jesus into his/her heart. You should not waste your time trying to convince them about Jesus. On today's lesson I will be going over two scripture verses that I believe it would be beneficial to write down and begin keeping a notebook (or journal) of scripture verses. By the end of today's lesson there are three things I ask that you consider:
1. God loves us more than anyone else can.
2. We are to live our lives as Jesus did.
3. He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself.
Scriptures referenced on today's lesson:
Call to Action - Are you convinced of the love that God has for you? I want you to ponder what unconditional love actually entails. God loves each of us more than we could ever love anyone else.
[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.
[00:00:22] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them.
[00:00:35] In addition, I pray that everyone listening to this podcast today would have favor with both God and man. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:00:47] This is Proverb 9, beginning in verse 1.
[00:00:52] Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars.
[00:00:58] She has slaughtered her meat. She has mixed her wine. She has also furnished her table.
[00:01:04] She has sent out her maidens. She cries out from the highest places of the city.
[00:01:12] Whoever is simple, let him turn and hear. As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
[00:01:20] Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding.
[00:01:31] He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
[00:01:43] Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
[00:01:51] Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser. Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
[00:02:01] The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
[00:02:09] For by me your names will be multiplied, and years of your life will be added to you.
[00:02:17] If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone.
[00:02:26] A foolish woman is clamorous. She is simple and knows nothing. For she sits at the door of her house, on a seat by the highest places of the city,
[00:02:39] to call to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here.
[00:02:49] And as for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,
[00:02:53] Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he does not know that the dead are there,
[00:03:04] that her guests are in the depths of hell.
[00:03:08] Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 7.
[00:03:13] And Proverb 9, verse 7 says this,
[00:03:18] He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
[00:03:29] Friends, we will take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today.
[00:03:35] But what I'd like to do is to begin a new study.
[00:03:39] And I'm not really sure it's even a study.
[00:03:42] But we are in the last month of the year.
[00:03:46] And what I was thinking is having about 9 or 10 podcasts through the end of the year,
[00:03:53] and actually going over a few of my favorite scriptures.
[00:03:58] And I often talk about the importance of reading scripture,
[00:04:04] but I think it is equally important that we know some scriptures.
[00:04:12] In 1 Peter, chapter 5, verse 8, it says this,
[00:04:40] Friends, our foe is real.
[00:04:45] We know him as Satan.
[00:04:47] And he is going to come after us.
[00:04:52] He is going to try to tempt us into doing evil things.
[00:04:58] Things that we should not be doing.
[00:05:02] And friends, the only way we can avoid the devil is that when he comes,
[00:05:10] that we know how to resist him.
[00:05:14] So what I'm going to be doing over these next three weeks until the end of the year,
[00:05:20] is I'm going to go over some scriptures that I think would be beneficial to anyone listening,
[00:05:26] that you are aware of these verses, and that you know them,
[00:05:32] and that you can memorize them, and actually speak them.
[00:05:37] So today I'm going to make it easy for you.
[00:05:40] The first one I'm going to go over today is probably the most well-known verse in the Bible,
[00:05:48] and that of course is John 3.16.
[00:05:51] So let's go over John 3.16.
[00:05:57] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son,
[00:06:04] that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:06:11] Now friends, the first point I would like to bring up in today's lesson is God loves us more than anyone else.
[00:06:22] That means your spouse.
[00:06:25] That means your parents.
[00:06:27] That means your kids.
[00:06:29] God loves us more than anyone on earth is capable of loving us.
[00:06:39] Because once they get to know us, they realize that we are imperfect human beings,
[00:06:45] and that we make mistakes.
[00:06:47] We have flaws in our life.
[00:06:49] And the way I often view things is everyone has some good characteristics,
[00:06:56] and everyone has something that they can work on.
[00:07:00] So what I'm going to suggest to everyone,
[00:07:05] and especially if you have a difficult time memorizing scripture or remembering where they are at,
[00:07:14] I would ask that you consider purchasing a small notebook.
[00:07:22] And it doesn't have to be one of the little tiny ones that are like,
[00:07:25] you know, two inches, three inches times two inches.
[00:07:29] Get a little bit bigger one.
[00:07:31] Maybe five by eight.
[00:07:32] Something like that.
[00:07:33] But something that you can just jot down.
[00:07:36] And what I recommend is that you actually have some key scripture verses,
[00:07:43] and that you can record them, and you're aware of them,
[00:07:47] and you know where their address is in the Bible.
[00:07:51] But what I'd like to do right now is to focus on our first topic of the day,
[00:07:59] and God's love for us.
[00:08:02] Now, a lot of people in our world today don't even believe in God.
[00:08:08] At least they say they don't believe in God.
[00:08:12] They are trying in our society today to take God out of everything.
[00:08:19] And a lot of people are trying to shame people that admit that they are Christians.
[00:08:28] A lot of people don't understand why people read the Bible.
[00:08:33] And they are trying to do everything they can on their own ability.
[00:08:41] They don't look to God.
[00:08:44] They don't pray to God.
[00:08:46] But, friends, God is the answer.
[00:08:50] If you have anything going on in your life, and you're having issues in your life,
[00:08:56] and you don't know where to turn, God is where you should turn.
[00:09:02] And God is real.
[00:09:04] So, first of all, the first thing I think that you really need to understand is how much God loves you.
[00:09:15] And, you know, I know most people are familiar with John 3.16,
[00:09:21] but I don't really think they really understand how much God really loves them.
[00:09:32] They can vocalize John 3.16, and they can say it, but it's like it's head knowledge,
[00:09:41] and it never really has gotten into their heart.
[00:09:46] But, friends, God loved us so much that he was willing to give up his only son.
[00:09:54] And that is hard to do.
[00:09:58] I mean, it's hard enough, you know, giving up a friend or, you know, if you're in combat or something like that.
[00:10:07] You don't want anybody to die, but especially people that are close to you.
[00:10:11] But, you know, when you talk about your spouse or then after that you have kids together and kids are special.
[00:10:18] Your spouse is special.
[00:10:20] Your parents are special.
[00:10:22] But God loves us more than any of them do.
[00:10:26] And his love for us is unconditional.
[00:10:32] And that in itself is what makes his love so special.
[00:10:37] Because a lot of times, even spouses, you can be together 30 years or 40 years or 50 years,
[00:10:43] and then you might have a disagreement or something like that.
[00:10:47] And sometimes you can be upset with your spouse.
[00:10:50] But God, he knows we're going to make mistakes.
[00:10:54] He knows we're going to make mistakes.
[00:10:56] He is faithful regardless of what we do.
[00:11:01] So let's go over this verse one more time.
[00:11:04] Jot it down in your notebook, John 3 16.
[00:11:07] For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son,
[00:11:14] that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
[00:11:19] And what that means is we are going to be with God and with his son Jesus forever.
[00:11:27] Ever.
[00:11:29] And that is a concept many people don't grasp.
[00:11:34] But when you think that we will be with them 500 years from now,
[00:11:40] we will be with them 5000 years from now.
[00:11:45] We will be with them 50,000 years from now.
[00:11:52] When you think about that, it's a little bit overwhelming.
[00:11:57] I mean, it's great, but it's hard to fathom being around 50,000 years.
[00:12:06] But we will not be here on earth.
[00:12:08] We will be in heaven.
[00:12:11] But we are going to be with them forever.
[00:12:15] And I think the hardest thing that people who don't believe in God,
[00:12:21] once they die, they don't understand the fact that we were actually spirit beings.
[00:12:30] And that we have a spirit.
[00:12:32] And when our mortal body dies, some people call it our tent.
[00:12:39] We live like in a tent.
[00:12:41] We live on this in this body.
[00:12:43] But eventually that body, the heart is going to stop beating and the body will fall on the ground.
[00:12:50] But the spirit is going to go somewhere.
[00:12:55] It's not going to go in your casket with you.
[00:13:00] It's not going to be, if you get cremated, it's not going to be burned up.
[00:13:05] It's still going to be there.
[00:13:07] And it needs to find a body.
[00:13:09] And the Bible tells us we will have a new body.
[00:13:13] And it's not going to age anymore.
[00:13:16] And I always like the idea of that happening.
[00:13:20] Because I am now 67 years old.
[00:13:24] And my body doesn't function the way it used to.
[00:13:27] I get worn out easier than I used to.
[00:13:31] And sometimes you have little aches and pains that you didn't used to have over the little simplest things.
[00:13:39] So anyway, let's go on to our second scripture of the day that I'd like to share.
[00:13:43] And this one is found in 1 John 4, verse 17.
[00:13:51] And it says,
[00:13:53] Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
[00:14:02] Because as he is, so are we in this world.
[00:14:09] So friends, the second point of today's lesson is we are to live our lives as Jesus did.
[00:14:19] In other words, we are supposed to be emulating how Jesus lived on earth.
[00:14:29] And what did Jesus do when he lived on earth?
[00:14:33] Well, he went around preaching the gospel and talking about the good news of the Bible.
[00:14:41] And he went around healing people.
[00:14:45] Spread the good news, heal people.
[00:14:49] Spread the good news, heal people.
[00:14:52] And the Bible tells us that we are to do the same things that Jesus did when he was on earth.
[00:15:00] And it tells us we are to do even greater things than what he did.
[00:15:04] And a lot of people get stuck on that because they said,
[00:15:07] Well, he was Jesus.
[00:15:08] I can't do what he did.
[00:15:10] The Bible tells us we can.
[00:15:12] So what are you going to believe?
[00:15:14] Well, I'm going to believe what the Bible says.
[00:15:17] So let's go over this verse one more time.
[00:15:20] And if you did buy a notebook,
[00:15:23] It is 1 John, way in the back of the book, right before Jude and Revelation.
[00:15:31] So it's the 64th book in the Bible.
[00:15:34] And it's 1 John chapter 4 verse 17.
[00:15:40] Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.
[00:15:55] And I'm just going to add this, not when we get to heaven, we're to be like Jesus, but here in this world, in the here and now, before we die, we are to be like him.
[00:16:11] So before we close today, let's go back to Proverb 9, our proverb of the day.
[00:16:17] And let's take a closer look at verse 7.
[00:16:20] And it says,
[00:16:21] He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself, and he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.
[00:16:33] Now friends, I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible.
[00:16:37] And what I'd like to do is go over the commentary found in my Bible for verse 7.
[00:16:43] A scoffer or mocker is thoroughly set against wisdom, and scoffs at the things of God.
[00:16:55] How should a person respond to a mocker?
[00:16:59] It is best not to respond at all.
[00:17:04] And friends, I know some people have a difficult time with that.
[00:17:10] You see somebody, and you hear somebody talking, and you go,
[00:17:17] Oh my gosh, they are so wrong.
[00:17:21] And you try to interject.
[00:17:24] There are some people, it is better if you just don't even confront them.
[00:17:34] I have often said on this podcast, ordinarily, in the book of Proverbs, they'll talk about a scoffer on a number of occasions.
[00:17:45] And I've mentioned a scoffer ordinarily is going to be a non-believer.
[00:17:53] They are not Christian people.
[00:17:55] And so you expect odd things to come out of their mouth.
[00:18:01] They're not going to have wisdom.
[00:18:03] They are not going to have wisdom.
[00:18:05] So if they don't have any wisdom, and if they don't have any understanding, and it says in Proverbs 1-7,
[00:18:15] The fear of the Lord is a beginning of knowledge.
[00:18:17] So let's see.
[00:18:18] They don't have wisdom.
[00:18:20] They don't have understanding.
[00:18:21] They don't have knowledge.
[00:18:22] So they're pretty stupid people.
[00:18:26] You know, and I don't mean to say that in a mean way.
[00:18:30] But to me, if you don't really receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you should do that as soon as possible.
[00:18:40] Because you're not going to have wisdom.
[00:18:43] So friends, my call to action today is I want you to ask yourself, are you convinced of how much God truly loves you?
[00:18:59] Have you really given that a lot of thought?
[00:19:03] And I want you to think about the fact, if you have kids, what would you think if you had to sacrifice one of your kids?
[00:19:18] I want you to think about that.
[00:19:20] That's what God did.
[00:19:22] That's what God did.
[00:19:23] He allowed his son, Jesus, to die on a Roman cross for us, for you, and for me.
[00:19:34] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
[00:19:43] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me today.
[00:19:51] Jesus, thank you for coming to earth and dying on a cross for me.
[00:19:56] I believe that you are the Son of God, and by dying on that cross, all of my sins have been forgiven.
[00:20:04] Jesus, I recognize I am a sinner, and I have need for a Savior.
[00:20:10] But thank you for forgiving me of my sins.
[00:20:14] I invite you to come into my heart.
[00:20:17] I make you my Lord and Savior.
[00:20:20] Friends, if anyone said that prayer, you are now a member of the family of God.
[00:20:27] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:20:31] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[00:20:35] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
[00:20:40] Friends, tomorrow is Testimony Day.
[00:20:45] Please join me and a special guest as we further explore wisdom today.
[00:20:51] Thank you.
[00:20:52] Thank you.