Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Okay, thank you once again for being here today. We are going to begin our study, continuing our study in major themes of Proverbs. We are looking at the simple, the simple as a person described in the book of Proverbs. And so we're going to start in James, chapter three.
[00:00:21] I mentioned this at the very tail end of my lesson last week, and I want to read it because I think it's a relevant passage of Scripture.
[00:00:30] And we're going to start in verse number 13 of James, chapter three. And then we'll look at a couple more points to conclude this major theme today, Lord willing.
[00:00:42] All right, let's read James three, verse number 13. The Bible says, who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you, let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
[00:01:00] But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not and lie not against the truth.
[00:01:08] This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
[00:01:16] For where envying and strife is, there is confusion in every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. All right, let's pray together.
[00:01:45] Lord, thank you for the opportunity to meet as a Sunday school class. Lord, I pray also for the classes downstairs in which the kids are meeting. I pray for the teachers that you would help them to be faithful, to give Your word to the kids, help them, Lord, to keep the attention of the kids. Bless those classes and everything the kids are learning. I pray that those truths that they're hearing would sink deep down into their hearts. And Lord, I pray that you bless our class. Lord, we know and we confess and acknowledge that except you meet with us and accept that you teach us, lord, it is vain for us to be here. So, Lord, please open our minds and our hearts as we look at Your Word. And I pray that you would bless Your word to us so that it would effectually, as the Scripture says, it would effectually work in those of us who believe. And, Lord, because you know that except that you work in us, Lord, we just float about, lord, we're aimless and have no direction. And, Lord, we depend upon you for everything, both spiritually and physically. And So, Lord, we pray as we meet Together that you would meet with us and that we would know because of how you stir In Our hearts and you direct our ways and you reprove us and You Encourage us, that you have met with us, that you have blessed our meeting together not just in Sunday school, but also in the services today as well. For we ask in Jesus name amen.
[00:03:20] Okay, last time we talked about the simple being a person who is what?
[00:03:26] What is a biblically defined a simple person? Come on now, don't be shy. Don't be shy. I know. Listen, I was the same way when I was the student in Sunday school. Whenever someone asks a question, you're always like, well, I know the answer, but I don't want to say it every single time. People think, know, whatever, but I know many of you know the answer to this question, don't. So somebody somebody what's? A simple person lacks knowledge. See, Ms. Karen knew it the whole time she sat there. She sat on the answer and knew it the whole time is someone who simply lacks knowledge. And we'll differentiate that a little bit more with other people mentioned in Proverbs, even this morning. So when you have somebody who lacks knowledge, we talked about the void, the void of knowledge. And as a comparison, we talked about the emptiness of the brain, although that's not exactly the same. But the idea with a void is that it is an area that doesn't contain anything. It doesn't contain anything. A void is something that does not contain anything. It's a vacuum. But here's the in the physical world, a vacuum is one of the most uncomfortable states in the physical world, is it not? Those of you that have been teachers or maybe just good students, if you've taught science, you know that a vacuum is nature's most uncomfortable state. It does not like to be in a state of a vacuum. That is, a vacuum is always seeks to equalize, to come to equilibrium with what's around it. So that the pressure is the same.
[00:05:08] When you talk about a simple person, a simple person is someone who lacks knowledge and wisdom. And when you have a case like that, that means in their heart, in their life, in their mind, however you want to describe it, there is a void of wisdom is a vacuum. And here's what happens. It is absolutely natural and it is, I would say, probably inevitable that something is going to fill that void. We talked about that last week, right? Something is going to fill that void. And we also saw that there are two kinds of wisdom. We talked about Lady Wisdom in Proverbs. She's mentioned several times in chapter one and in chapter eight. And in chapter nine. In fact, the whole of chapter eight is devoted to Lady's Wisdom. Her sermon on the street. She's calling out to those who are void of wisdom and understanding those who have that vacuum because she wants to fill that vacuum with good things, with the wisdom of God, the wisdom from above. Lady Wisdom know one of the literary devices in the Scripture and those of you who is a person who enjoys literature besides Brother Mark.
[00:06:20] Okay? So when you talk about literary devices, the Bible is full of literary devices and that's one thing that attracts people to the Bible. It's not just a book of laws. There are laws, but there are other things that keep our attention, that provide interest, just interest to us. And I'm glad of that. And one of those is Lady Wisdom personified. But then you also have another lady we talked about who's called a strange woman who's a foolish woman, who's an immoral woman in Proverbs in chapter nine and chapter seven, both of those chapters mention the strange woman. She also stands on the corner and preaches and she also has a kind of wisdom. She is also calling out to those who are void of wisdom. She wants to fill their mind with wisdom as well. So here you have the biblical truth that there are two kinds of wisdom, all right? And that's what in the New Testament, the Book of James addresses, okay? So let's read verse number, let's look at verse number 13. Just make a few comments as we go and then we'll get to our main point. Who is a wise man? Notice the mention of wisdom and endued with knowledge among you. Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So here's the first point. I want you to understand that as we go to the point to describe the two kinds of wisdom, a person who has wisdom and knowledge, that's what verse number 13 says.
[00:07:55] That is not just to fill their head.
[00:07:59] Do you see that at the end of verse 13, he says, whoso is wise and has knowledge?
[00:08:04] Let him show out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. So wisdom, proper wisdom, Godly wisdom always affects the life. Good conversation, that's the way you live.
[00:08:21] Good works. You see that in verse three, good works. And then lastly, meekness of wisdom. In other words, the spirit, the attitude with which that wisdom is applied.
[00:08:33] Now, so wisdom can exist, but the wisdom that is from God, if you have a truly wise man, it will affect his life, and if it doesn't, that wisdom is not of God, that wisdom is not of God. There are many people in this world that are full of wisdom, whose lives are a wreck, who live wickedly. You say, well, now we know. We know because the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, right? So we already know from proverbs one seven, we already know that if you have the wisdom of God and you the very first thing it affects is what? Come on now, come on.
[00:09:14] What is the very first thing it affects?
[00:09:17] For that? Even for that, even those are all right, but they're downstream. What I'm talking about is the fear of the Lord, your relationship to God. So we already know that you get wisdom from God, it affects your relationship to God. And then downstream of that, there's all these other effects that deal with your life, deal with how you act, how you treat people, et cetera.
[00:09:45] So that's why when you see very intelligent people who are wicked, that should give us pause. And that's why we should understand that our own wisdom, if it does not affect us in a positive manner, we have a problem. We have a problem. Knowledge was one. Corinthians says knowledge puffeth up, right? So it must affect our life. Verse 14 but if by contrast, ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts so are you trying to tell me that wisdom and knowledge can cause bitter envying and strife? Absolutely.
[00:10:26] Which is dealing with interpersonal problems between people.
[00:10:31] A lot of problems grow out of one of the parties thinking they know better. A lot of problems grow out of that.
[00:10:40] He says, glory not and lie not against the truth. Now notice in verse 15 this wisdom speaking of what's in verse 14, the kind of wisdom that produces not meekness, good conversation, good works of 13. But in 14 it's speaking of the wisdom that produces envying and strife.
[00:11:01] This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish, earthly of the world, sensual of the flesh, devilish of Satan.
[00:11:16] All three are mentioned here.
[00:11:19] But notice verse 15, it is wisdom. But we talked about before, its source is not God, it is wisdom. You know what being wisdom and knowledge, it will fill that void. Given the opportunity, that void will suck that wisdom up in a heartbeat. And then the result will be that person will act on that wisdom.
[00:11:44] That's how you get from being a simple person to a fool.
[00:11:50] That's the difference. A simple person, I'm speaking in Proverbs terminology, a simple person to a Proverbs scorner because that's another category. A simple person to a Proverbs, wicked. These are all categories of people in Proverbs. You know what the difference is? Just where the wisdom came from. That's the difference.
[00:12:16] And so we keep reading here earthly, sensual, devilish. Notice that's going to be the fruit of this wisdom. Again, it's wisdom.
[00:12:29] There are many people in this world that are much more intelligent and have greater wisdom than we do. But the question is, do they have wisdom from God?
[00:12:41] That's why listen, that's why we shouldn't be intimidated at people that have wisdom and are intelligent, the elite or whatever they're called. As a believer, we should not be sheepish as a believer, I should not be sheepish when discussing someone discussing the truths of scripture, the truths of the word of God with people who are intelligent just as much as they are indoctrinated with the philosophies of this world that are designed to fulfill the lust of the flesh sensual designed to fulfill the doctrines of Satan. Devilish.
[00:13:23] In that same way I and in the same way we should all be skillful in the wisdom that God gives us in the same way that they are in theirs. If you listen to the various whether it be the various social issues do you think about abortion or you think about the philosophies that are the basis of trans ideology. You think about philosophies that are the basis of any ideology, whether it be evolution or whether it be any of the morality of this world.
[00:13:59] If you look at those different philosophies, they all have an argument underneath. They all have a basis. They all have some line of reasoning, some logic that has brought them to that point. All of them do by wisdom. All of them.
[00:14:18] It's just a matter of the source. All right, verse number 16. For where envying and strife is, there, it is. There is confusion in every evil work, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure. Notice that first pure. The wisdom that is from above is first pure. Here's one thing we have to understand.
[00:14:41] I'm not going to quibble about this too much, but I will say this looking at Scripture as a whole, not just the New Testament, but the whole of the New and the Old Testament is this a lot of people think that God's primary characteristic is love. God is love. God is love. Love has its definition in God. But did you know, as God has revealed Himself, his primary characteristic is actually holiness?
[00:15:17] If you could say his primary characteristic I know I'm stretching it a little bit because it's not quite that way, but holiness is a very important aspect of God's character. And the wisdom that comes from God is first pure.
[00:15:37] In other words, whatever it is, it starts with purity, it starts with holiness.
[00:15:44] That's one way that's kind of a litmus test. Where does this wisdom go when we get wisdom? And what is its outcome? Is its outcome defilement or is its outcome holiness? Impurity, it says. Then it's peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. Those are all things dealing with our relationships to other people. Just reiterating wisdom that comes from God makes you an easier person to be around, right? It makes you more likable.
[00:16:19] It makes you the kind of person that people want to be like.
[00:16:24] It makes you approachable easy to be entreated, right? That's what that means.
[00:16:31] Full of mercy, good fruits, peaceable, gentle. You ever been around somebody that it's like a fight. Every time you talk to them, it's like they're just chomping at the bits to fight. That's not wisdom from God. It's just not from God. Whatever is motivating that is not from God.
[00:16:50] Without partiality, without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. That make peace. All right. So we see the two kinds of wisdom. You have this wisdom descendeth not from above, verse 15, and then but the wisdom that is from above in verse 17, lady Wisdom, the strange woman you have that this repeated. Okay, so let's turn the page.
[00:17:15] Let's go to Romans, chapter 16.
[00:17:24] We spend a lot of times in Proverbs, but I think it's important, seeing we are New Testament Christians, that we ought to be able to see some of these truths in the New Testament as well as the Old. And we do.
[00:17:38] What we find in the New Testament is this wisdom? I'm sorry, simplicity. Being a simple person is or can be rather a virtue.
[00:17:53] It's a virtue. So definitely in Proverbs we saw that being a simple person that is, having a void of wisdom is very often bad. Because when you're void of wisdom, then does anybody remember what drives your choices? What is it when you don't have any wisdom that's directing your choices that you make, the principles that overrule your decisions, then what drives you? Know what drives it?
[00:18:20] Feelings. Flesh. It's the natural part of you, the nature, the instinct. And for us, that's not good.
[00:18:31] But see, when there's no wisdom, that's what drives us. All right? So Proverbs presents that as a bad thing. All right, that's definitely a bad thing.
[00:18:44] But when you get to the New Testament, chapter 16 of Romans, look at what it says.
[00:18:49] Verse. We'll start in verse 17. Now beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid them.
[00:19:00] For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly.
[00:19:07] And by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple members. Simple believeth every word. What's being described here is a naive person.
[00:19:19] Listen, churches are full of naive people.
[00:19:29] Churches are full of naive people. Let me tell you something.
[00:19:33] And do you know one way in our day in 2023 that that manifests itself?
[00:19:41] Conspiracy theories.
[00:19:44] Believing every website you see now, as we've seen in the past couple years, some conspiracy theories are true.
[00:19:55] But you know what I'm talking about. I know brother Vernon and Sister Betty know what I'm talking about.
[00:20:03] But where everything that comes across that fits the mold of whatever they think is happening in the world, everything that comes across is fact.
[00:20:17] I'm on Twitter now called X, and there's certain accounts, I don't know why they show up in my feed or whatever, but they have an icon that is an emoji. That is a siren.
[00:20:35] It's not a siren. A siren makes noise, but it's a light that you would associate with a siren. It's a light. And at the beginning of their posts, they always have. Every post they have is a siren. It starts like that. Or sometimes if it's really important, it'll be two sirens, two lights.
[00:20:52] But you know what that tells me when I see that? I know this is something simple and I'm on a rabbit trail at this point. But you know what that tells me is they're trying to gin up the fear and the alertness. In other words, they're trying to appeal to someone who is literally living on the edge that somebody's out to get them. Something's about imminently bad about to happen all the time. Every single post they put in there is like this.
[00:21:22] And you know what it does? It deceives the hearts of the simple. People like that. Listen, they are tied up in knots all the time.
[00:21:30] They are tied up in knots all the time.
[00:21:34] It was know did you hear about what oh, when I hear, like, I just kind of cringe. Before Biden. It was Obama.
[00:21:48] Well, we're talking about the puppeteers that control him.
[00:21:53] But it's that kind of thing. Notice what it says. Deceive the hearts of the simple.
[00:21:59] That's naivete. All right? But that's how we see it in everyday life, okay? That's how we see it in everyday life, okay? But notice the next part. For your obedience has come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf, but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple. Concerning evil.
[00:22:22] Here, simplicity, being a simple person is a good thing. Now, in the verse previous, it's a bad thing, but in this verse, it's a good thing.
[00:22:32] Simplicity is a virtue. Look at one other verse. And then we'll in Revelation, if you would, chapter two, revelation two, verse number 24. Jump right into the letter to the church in Thia tyra says this but unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira as many as have not this doctrine and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak, I will put upon you none of the burden here. This church is in the midst these believers in this church are in the midst of devilish doctrines that are surrounding them, okay? But there were people in the church that weren't they were intentionally ignorant of this doctrine. They didn't know the depths of Satan. They couldn't sound the depths of Satan and had experience in all of the wicked things that the devil invents.
[00:23:53] They didn't know that. They didn't know that. And the Lord says, that's good.
[00:23:59] That's good that you don't know it. We should be wise concerning that which is good and simple concerning evil. Now, here's why this is, okay?
[00:24:10] Now remember, simple means to be ignorant. So the Lord's basically saying we need to be ignorant concerning that which is evil.
[00:24:18] Here's why.
[00:24:20] When we interact with and engage with evil and wickedness, that evil and wickedness draws us away from God. So as we approach it just like you remember the foolish man in Proverbs, the proverbs writer says, I looked out the window through my casement and I saw a young man, remember, void of understanding. There's that void simple. And he's walking down the way. What is he doing? He's intentionally going near to the wicked woman's house. He's intentionally going there. He's getting close and close. What you might not understand, though, is that the closer you get, the stronger the gravity is.
[00:25:00] And so when we, through curiosity, dabble in wickedness, in evil, we're curious about it, we approach it, we get near it, we want to know about it. The problems is, the issue is what it does. And we don't know this because we're simple is it reaches out and snatches us.
[00:25:23] That's what it does.
[00:25:25] Before you know it, the magnetism is too strong and it has grabbed us and it has drawn us away from God.
[00:25:36] This is why we should be simple concerning evil.
[00:25:40] Now, I'm going to prove this to you. I'm going to prove this to you in just a minute. How many of you ever heard the idea of sowing your wild oats?
[00:25:49] Sowing your wild oats? Often people say it when they're referring to teenagers. Well, they're just sowing their wild oats. Or let them sow their wild oats. God forbid. Let them sow their wild oats.
[00:26:04] That mentality is flat out dangerous.
[00:26:08] Now, on the surface, it sounds good, right? Well, liberty, freedom, whatever, but it's actually deadly, some people might say, in conjunction with that, go out and experience the world so that you know that it's not really worth it.
[00:26:26] That's in fact, that's what the Amish do, where they call it their say it again rum. Springer.
[00:26:36] That's what the Amish go out into the world and the idea is to experience it so you know it's not all that great. And you'll come back, they're saying so your wild oats. Now, I know they don't say go out and I know that.
[00:26:54] But listen, this thinking is wicked. Here's why.
[00:26:57] Because to say that go sow your wild oats means that you're failing to understand and appreciate how powerful and ensnaring sin is. You're failing to understand that. You're saying, go experience it. Go have fun. Go see what it's like. That is in direct contradiction to the scripture in which God says, be simple concerning evil.
[00:27:21] It will grab you, it will keep you, and it will destroy you.
[00:27:26] The Lord says, don't know about it.
[00:27:28] Don't know about it. Just because we can pick out one exception of somebody who got afraid and returned from sin. That is not the rule, though. That is not the rule.
[00:27:43] But here's the thing.
[00:27:45] Those that who ascent to this kind of philosophy and approve of it usually frame this sowing your wild oats. Go experience the world, or whatever they might say. They usually frame it as if what I'm saying is keeping something good from some simple youth. In other words, I say, don't go sow your wild oath, that's wicked. That'll get you in trouble. And they say, well, you're just trying to keep something from them.
[00:28:18] All these rules and regulations.
[00:28:24] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil, god's hiding something from you.
[00:28:36] The devil said that in the Garden of Eden, god's hiding something from you.
[00:28:41] There's knowledge you need.
[00:28:44] And that's why God's, he doesn't want you to have it, and that's why he's keeping it from you. That's how they frame it.
[00:28:52] That's pretty poor company, if you ask me.
[00:28:55] But here's what you need to remember. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve did not know evil, did not know wickedness by experience.
[00:29:04] And God did not want them to know wickedness by experience.
[00:29:11] God wanted them to know wickedness and evil by God's word, not by experience. Because you can find out about evil by experience. The problem is, it's too late then.
[00:29:24] But they failed. Abeni failed. And what was the result? Indeed, they learned of evil.
[00:29:31] They did indeed get the knowledge of evil, did they not? They did.
[00:29:36] But what incomprehensible harm came upon them and all of humanity?
[00:29:47] They learned of wickedness by experience.
[00:29:51] You know, what if we learn of wickedness by experience?
[00:29:55] If we're not simple concerning evil and we're curious and we dabble in it because we want to know what it's like, I won't say anything else about that, but just suffice it to say it will do us grave harm. So God says in his love and his grace and his mercy toward us, he says, concerning evil, you need to have a very, very big void.
[00:30:22] That's why it's better listen, it's better to be brought up in a Christian home where you don't ever experience or come in contact with that kind of stuff. Because, listen, as someone who did, that stuff just doesn't go out of your mind. It doesn't go away.
[00:30:38] It affects your mind, and it makes it more difficult even if you're free from it.
[00:30:47] So the Lord says, be simple concerning evil. All right, we're almost out of time.
[00:30:54] There are a couple of verses. I'll just read them to you. Concerning simplicity in the New Testament. So I showed you an example of simplicity, that is to be that in which the Lord commends simplicity. He says you should be simple. But just like in Proverbs, the Lord also says you should not be simple. In the New Testament, first John, chapter four, verse one, says this beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. In other words, don't be simple, don't be ignorant. You should be a little bit skeptical. I should be a little bit skeptical. Don't believe everything you hear.
[00:31:33] Two Peter 317 says this ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before beware, lest ye also being led away with the air of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
[00:31:48] Know the truth, don't be simple. Ephesians 517 concerning the will of God, listen to this wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is? See that unwise void of wisdom god wants us to know his will. And that's all about wisdom. Now look at Psalm to close. Look at Psalm 19.
[00:32:20] Brother Lester snuck out to ruin my Sunday school lesson to buz me.
[00:32:30] Psalm 19.
[00:32:33] I wonder if he gets any if he gets secret pleasure from doing that. I'm just joking.
[00:32:39] Psalm 19, verse seven.
[00:32:45] Here's the thing. We've seen a lot about being simple. But here's what I want you to understand and us to remember.
[00:32:51] The Lord doesn't want us to remain simple and we don't have to because the word of God is transformative.
[00:33:00] It will transform a person who is simple to a man who is wise. Every wise man at some point was simple.
[00:33:09] The difference is one thing. Verse seven. The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. See that? That's how you go from being a simple, a simple man to a wise man. The word of God. We have to know it, we have to read it, we have to think upon it, we have to meditate upon it, we have to apply it.
[00:33:39] The word of God. The word of God should be one of the most important parts of our life. Psalm 119.
[00:33:50] We've already seen this verse, of course, in our study of Psalm 119. But look at verse 130.
[00:33:59] It it says this the entrance of thy words giveth light. It giveth understanding unto the simple.
[00:34:10] So we don't have to stay there. God transforms people by his word from being simple people to being wise people. And the difference is his word. Let's pray together.
