Benefits of Wisdom
Date: June 17, 2026
And so grab those. Boy, it looked like we’re not grabbing too much. So maybe we’re good. All prayed up. That’s a good deal.
But Brother Patrick is busy back in the PA booth, so we did not get a missionary letter tonight. So I thought we’d let you know we did take on Chase Williams for support, the missionary family that was with us two Wednesday nights ago.
You remember from the children singing? Yeah, that’s what you remember. That’s what I remember for sure. All of it was good. But we took them on for support too. And praise the Lord, because if you’re giving, we’re able to do those things. And the Lord has been good to us. We’re right at—oh, I’d have to check. I looked the other day; we’ve got one coming off the field, Josh Aaron. But we’re right around 58 taking those two new ones on. Maybe it’ll take us 57, him coming off the field. But God’s been good to us. Man, great missionaries all over the place. It’s an honor to have a part of the work that they’re doing. Just a great, great thing. Praise the Lord for that. Thank you for giving on that.
And soul winning tomorrow, 10 a.m. If you’d like to come to that, we’d love to have you come to it, if there is no rain. We’ll see how that goes.
And then not this Sunday—Sunday’s Father’s Day—but then the next Sunday, all out for Soul Sunday. Let me just emphasize that for a bit. I don’t mention a whole lot on Sunday’s announcements, but that’s just a special Sunday. That morning message will focus on the gospel. And so try to get someone that you’re not sure of their salvation; get them in. And then Sunday we’ll meet here at 4 o’clock, and we’ll head out and go soul winning. We’ll be back here by 6 o’clock. And that’s just an exciting time. On that bus, it’s an exciting time. We’d love to have you come now. We may have a little problem with that parking lot Sunday afternoon, but we’ll be all right. We’ll find a place to park, we’ll load up on that bus, and head out.
And that’s just an exciting time. We’ll try to find us a good fishing hole. And even if you don’t regularly come soul winning, come out on that day. It’d be a great day to be with us, and we’d love to have you for that.
If you’ve got your prayer request cards filled out, pass them down to the aisle, and our usher will walk by and collect those. We’ll get them shuffled over to Brother Chip. And it is good to have our runaway child back home, and she says she wants to run away longer. She enjoys those trips, you know. And good to have Sarah back. Good to have Liz with us for a bit, and just good to have them back home. What a blessing for sure. And Brother Chip, we only got one card. Wow, we’re prayed up tonight. And so that’s a good deal. If you come, leave it with Brother Chip, please.
One quick little story. One of the things we were praying for was Ben Campanelli, Patrick’s brother, getting married. So we went down there for that, and Gregory and Bree came up, and we started going through the trailer park where we used to all have bus routes. It was Brother Chase; he used to have a bus route, and we all worked on the bus route together.
Gregory told us one time they went up; they were knocking on new doors. They walked up to this trailer, and I don’t know if you’ve seen Florida trailers, but there are no rails or anything. It’s not safe down there; it’s very dangerous. They went up there, and naturally, we always open up the screen door and then knock on the real door. Well, there was no screen door, and they weren’t thinking. So Gregory opened the real door, opened it up in order to get into the—realized that he was seen into the house.
Well, what had happened at the exact same moment, a giant gust of wind came and blew him off of the thing. So now he’s hanging off the edge, holding onto the doorknob with Chase, trying—and the door’s open and everything. They finally get themselves—they ran to the corner. They were all embarrassed, and somebody came, and then they were both like, should we go back? So that was door knocking in the trailer park. And it was really neat to see Chase and his wife. We connected with them, and then Marlene and Patrick took them out, and that was really special.
So, we’ve got soul winning still going on, Pastor, and we’re going to be praying tonight for Katie, Brother Go Forth’s daughter. She’s still in LaBelle, okay? So she hasn’t gotten out yet. Do you have a date, or she needs a little bit more time? So we’ll just pray for her. All right, we’ll just pray for her. She needs to be able to get out.
And Bill and Tabitha, Sarah, and Liz made it back safely. And by the way, this is something that we prayed for, so the Lord was good. They went around Europe and scared everybody and then came back. It was crazy Americans. And they have a lot more guts than I would. I barely want to leave Tennessee, so good for you. Good to see you, Liz. Answers to prayer, God’s riches at Christ’s expense, grace, and then an unspoken. We all have some unspoken. We’re all fighting different things, from finances and just trying to stay close to each other in our marriages, relationships, and work. Let’s just all support each other and encourage each other. We’ll go to the Lord in prayer.
All right, has anybody got the theme yet? We’re going to do page 340, the Old Rugged Cross. What do you think the theme might be tonight? The cross, the cross. That’s all right. Okay, y’all sing it out now. This is an old good one right here, okay?
Amen. What a day that’s going to be. And we exchange it for a crown. Amen. We can put them down at his feet. That’s awesome.
We’re going to pray here in just a minute. But I was just thinking, you know, we had at least 20,000 church showings. And I’m being facetious there. We had a lot of church showings. The teachers in the school and Brother Adam, they’re like tired of all the church showings, but nothing really. We even had a contract, and it wasn’t fulfilled. But when you started praying at seven o’clock, just seemed like things started really perking up, and we’ve got an offer—it’s a cash offer, 2.3.
Someone has said, “Well, if it’s just cash, why can’t we do it tomorrow?” I think the church that we’re sharing with, but the financier, they’re more real estate agents, and they have their process, and they want their due diligence time. But on or before July 31st is when it’s supposed to close. But let’s keep praying. That’s when everything really started happening. So let’s keep praying. You know, Daniel, he started praying, and it took three or four weeks, but God fulfilled. And there was a battle going on. If he had stopped praying at any time, it wouldn’t have turned out like it did. So let’s keep praying for God just to bless.
And so if you would, would you come on down to the altar like we’ve been doing? If I can have two men lead us in prayer. We’ve already done first and second. I think we’re about the tenth—no, I don’t know. But any men that haven’t prayed three times, we’ll put it that. Any men you have—Brother Johan, good. Anybody else? Well, Josh, those men want to come lead us in prayer tonight. Listen, if we can get on our knees, great. Just something about getting on our knees is a good thing. If you can’t, we can all get on our knees. Just getting up is the problem now, you know? But let’s just come before the Lord and ask him his blessing. Our prayer has been that we can close on the property and use the proceeds before we draw from that loan. And let’s just continue to pray this property to be sold right here. Would you do that? These two men will lead us at this time.
And that’s just awesome, God’s people praying together. By the way, we’ll give you an update on the building on Sunday night. So just Sunday night, we’ll kind of update you where we’re at on that. So I’m looking forward to that.
Proverbs. We’ve been in Proverbs for a couple of—oh, maybe a month or two now. Last Wednesday had service over there. A lot of you working in VBS, and praise them for that. The Lord gave us a good service over next door. And we somewhat finished up Proverbs 1. Let me just go back. So many of you missed Vacation Bible School where you ought to be. But just a great, great promise in chapter 1. Let’s just go back there real briefly.
So many were here, there, yonder. You missed it, and I just want to briefly mention it. It’s such an incredible promise. Look at verse number 22 of chapter 1, Proverbs 1, verse 22. He says, “How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity?” By the way, he’s got simple ones cornered, and the fool—all of us are prone to one of those three. We talked about that. We don’t have time to get to that. But, “How long, ye simple ones, will you love simplicity? And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.” Here’s a promise, it’s an amazing promise. “Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you.” Wow, what a promise! What happens when you get the Spirit poured out unto you? “I will make known my words unto you.” Boy, the Bible just comes alive!
There’s so much more to it. We won’t go back and rehearse all of last week, but I had just mentioned it. But we’re going to be in chapter two tonight of Proverbs. We’re going to read verse 21 and verse 22 just as a way of a beginning, a little bit of the end product of wisdom or denying wisdom. And we’ll just kind of start with the end result there.
Proverbs 2, and we’ll read chapter 2, verse 21 and 22. Would you please stand as we read God’s word together? Proverbs 2, verse 21 and 22.
Before we read it, let me say this—I meant to mention this. I mentioned it at the very beginning of the study: if you have something you want covered, please let me know. If you text it to me or give it to me in writing, that would be so much better. I’ve had several people do that, and I appreciate it. I plan on covering those. But Proverbs is just a book of wisdom. It’s how to live life well in this world. It will give you wisdom for that. So if you have a subject you want covered, text me or give that to me. I’ll be glad to try to cover that as we go through the book of Proverbs. So just kind of want to mention that again.
But today, let’s just read verse 21 and 22: “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.”
We’re going to go through chapter 2 and really the benefits of following wisdom. Would you pray with me that God would speak to hearts on that? Father, we do come. We do ask, Lord, would you guide my tongue and my faults? Lord, help me say everything you want said, Lord. And then, Father, more than that, would you send your Spirit applying the truth? And, Lord, let us grow and be a better Christian and be wiser in this world because of it, because of tonight. And Lord, maybe just a phrase that’s said, would you happen to say that phrase and change your life through it? Well, thank you for what you do. And so in the name of Jesus, we pray.
You may be seated.
Some say this—I don’t know if it’s true. I’m not a Hebrew expert. You know the New Testament original language is Greek for the most part, and the Old Testament is Hebrew for the most part. I’m not a Hebrew expert by any stretch of imagination, but some will say in the original language that chapter 22 is one long sentence—that’s 22 verses, and the Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. But it’s not acrostic, but many will say, or some will say, that it’s just one sentence. Now, here’s the fault: if that be true, maybe a little bit, he’s saying this is one continuous thought and kind of lumping it. Because sometimes we think Proverbs is just, you know, this proverb. Much of it is chapter 10 through 22 over there. It is very much of that, but not all of it. And of course, chapter 1 through 7, we’ve covered this, it’s really about the father talking to the son. We could say Solomon talking to his son, but directly, it would be God talking to His children on how to live in this world this day and time.
So let me give you a little, just a little brief outline of chapter 2. Verse number 1 through verse number 4 is intensely seeking and applying wisdom. Verse number 5 through verse number 11 is the greatest benefits of wisdom. Verse 12 through 15, wisdom delivers you from the wrong crowd. Verse 16 through 19, wisdom delivers you from the wrong woman. Verse 20 through 22 is the end result of blessing or destruction.
Now, let’s just kind of go through this outline a little bit tonight. All right? We’re going to start with verse number 1 through verse number 4: intensely, just intensely seeking and applying wisdom. Let’s start in verse number 1, chapter 2, verse number 1 of our Bible study. He says there, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words.”
Now, when it says “my words,” I really think that goes back to chapter one. We’ll go back over chapter one. Look in verse number 20, chapter 1, verse number 20. He says, “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets.” Goes on where she’s crying out, the chief concourses and the gates and so on. I think a little bit has to do with that: the words of Lady Wisdom. We talked about that the first Wednesday night. Proverbs often talk about Lady Wisdom, Wisdom personified, and Lady Wisdom. And he said, “If thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto understanding, and apply thine heart to understanding. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding.”
Let me just stop for a second. Just a little fault here. He uses a lot of different words here. He uses words, commandments, wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. We’re going to kind of compile all those. The Bible always lists them for a reason; they are different. We’re not going to get into that. We’re just going to kind of lump them together and say wisdom, all right? So we’re saying here, if you receive them, and you hide them, and you incline your ear to them, and you apply your heart to them—and now let’s get down in verse number four, I think it really makes it real to us—verse 4: “If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures.”
Now, you know people will do a lot for money.
I mean, people—I know of a fellow, he would work over 100 hours a week for months, 120 hours a week. I mean, he couldn’t do it long term, but he would do it every summer pretty much, and in the winter he’d be busy, but every summer he’d do that. People will do a lot. I was talking to a man; he’s a small business owner, and he works a lot of hours. He’s a hard worker. He said, “Well, I can take that, but if I’m doing that and I’m not making money, it gets to me. But I can work long hours, I can work hard, as long as I know I’m making good money, I’m all right with it.” People will do a whole lot for money.
I was talking to a man, and he owns a house with building all around. He owns 15 acres. And he has people come by all the time; they want to buy his house, whatnot. And he’ll say, “Well, I’m not really interested in selling, but if you want to make it worth my while, we will talk.” And he said he’ll talk down. Nobody’s quite yet made it worth his while. But money can do a whole lot. You know what I’m talking about there? I’m not talking about sinful things. People are driven by money. It drives you to get up early on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, you know. Whether you want to or not, you got to pay the bills. And some of it’s not wrong; you got to pay your bills. But money—people will do so much. Some people just have such a desire for money; it motivates them. Are all of us out there like that? All of us have some of that, don’t we? Come on. Hey, my name is Jimmy. You know, I take what you give me. That’s exactly right.
But he’s saying there in verse four, he’s saying, just like people that are seeking her as money and searching for her as for hidden treasures—money. Now he’s saying when you desire, you’re going after wisdom like that.
Last week we talked about the simple one. They don’t want to hear it. You know, it might be too much trouble. They may have to change. They may have to get involved. And the fool hates knowledge and all. No, but here, this person is seeking, just like you’re going after money. They’re driven. “I want to have some wisdom. I want to have some knowledge and understanding,” and it drives them. They’re after that.
He said, now, if you seek it like that, if you’re after it—it’s a good combination, by the way. We’ve already read it, but over there in chapter 1, verse number 20: “Wisdom crieth without.” I mean, she’s crying. She uttereth her voice in the streets. She cries from the chief places of the concourse, in the openings of the gate in the city. She utters her words. So you’ve got that, and then over here, you’ve got a guy who’s trying to get it. But you’ve got a good combination there. And when you get that combination growing together, boy, you can get so much accomplished, and you can make some very, very wise decisions.
Now, here’s the thing: when wisdom and what we want to do, or maybe our pull, our temptation, when those two things differ, that’s when it determines how much wisdom we really want. That’s when it’s determined how much you’re really seeking it. Is it just, “I just got to do this,” or is it, “Well, wisdom probably…” That’s what determines how much you’re really going after wisdom.
By the way, don’t try to be the exception; just follow wisdom.
I thought about it today: my worst personal financial decision, and I’m going to confess it—it was years ago. It was one of these timeshare things, that’s what it was. Oh, and I know better! I know to sleep on it. I know that I’ve taught it for years, and I didn’t sleep on it. I didn’t sleep on it, and I didn’t follow Lady Wisdom. That’s one of my things: I sleep on every big decision. And I didn’t do it. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I mean, yeah, dumb, dumb, all the way across. Some other people are honest enough to do it. But when you differ from wisdom, are you going to follow the wisdom that you know, or are you going to follow what you want to do or the temptation of the pull? That determines how much you really are seeking wisdom. Are you chasing it like people chase money? That’s what he says in verse four.
Now let’s keep going here, and he gets into verse number five and he gives benefits. These are really great benefits of wisdom: verse 5 through verse 11. Verse number five, he says, if you’re seeking for it like you seek after money, “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord.”
Now we’ve already mentioned this on Wednesday. Let me just say a word about the fear of the Lord. It’s not just, you know, being in Tennessee, we say scared or scarred. “You scarred?” No, I’m not scarred. It’s not—someone says a reverential respect, but I would say it more like this: It’s awareness of God’s presence in your life at all times. He can squash you just boom like that, or he can promote you, boom, like that. It’s awareness God is in control. He’s in your life; he’s working every second. It’s just awareness of God in your life; he can promote or put you down any split second. He’s in control.
And he’s saying, look, when you go after wisdom like that, the thing you’re going to get is you’re going to understand the fear of the Lord. Here’s a good thing: if you’re a born-again Christian, as you grow in the Lord, perfect love casteth out fear. And you grow and you understand this thing of the fear of the Lord. Now, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It’s the beginning of knowledge.
It’s always the baseline. Sometimes a Christian has been growing in the Lord, and they’re serving the Lord out of love, and they’re not worried about God just squashing them; they’re truly serving him on a pure level. But then we all backslide, and there’s always that baseline: “I don’t want to be taken out of the woodshed.” I don’t want to get chastised. But that’s the beginning.
As we grow and we get wisdom, we’re like, “Man, I understand this thing of the fear of the Lord.” God doesn’t want me to walk around scared all the time. God wants me around trusting in Him. “Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.”
But as I seek for wisdom, just like I seek it for money—that’s the way you seek for wisdom—then God says, “Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.” Now, the greatest thing of both of those is you get saved: salvation. That’s the greatest thing. You’re seeking wisdom like you ought to. Hey, the greatest thing is you’re going to understand the fear of the Lord, and you’re going to get to know God—the knowledge of God.
You know, how many out there just love the book of Psalms? Anybody love the book of Psalms? Sometimes I think, what would we do without Psalms? I mean, it’s just such a lifeline. By the way, if you’re going through a hard time, I recommend staying in the book of Psalms, getting into the book of Psalms more than ever if you’re going through a tough time. Just an amazing book. And probably more encouragement I’ve gotten out of the Book of Psalms. It’s just amazing. And look, as you seek for wisdom, you learn to draw from the knowledge of God and the Word of God and the Psalms, and you just get so much out of it. And as you seek for wisdom like that, then you get to know God. What a best thing in all the world! And you realize God’s in control. He can promote me anytime he wants. He can put me down, but I’m resting in his hands. I’m good. Wisdom will lead you to that.
Let’s keep going on. What are some benefits of wisdom? What’s the next verse there, verse number six? He says, “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” You see, true wisdom—it may flow through an individual, God flows through—but true wisdom comes from God.
Can I say this? I’d be afraid to be, you know, these people. Okay, take Jordan Peterson. And what was his campaign? He’s got a book now too: We Who Rise to God. Oh my goodness. I’m not trying to be mean. I pray for him to get saved before, and I meant that very sincerely. But how’s your wrestling with God doing right now? If you know much, he has a brain injury. My friend, wisdom doesn’t come. It doesn’t originate from any man, any lady. It’s from God. That’s what he’s saying right there. When you grow and you seek wisdom, you know, right? Hey, true wisdom comes from the Lord. Amen? We who rise with God. Friend, nobody’s intelligent enough. I argue with God—I don’t know a peon brain—not going to measure up. None of us. And wisdom comes from God. That’s where wisdom comes from. And I like what he says right there. It’s a great, great verse. He says, “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”
Some other benefits. Look at verse number seven. He says, “He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous.” “Layeth up” makes you think, you know, that there’s what we lay up for a rainy day. We store up for a rainy day, right? You know. And he says he lays up this wisdom, and he stored it up for a rainy day. We all have rainy days. And when you’re seeking after wisdom like that, you get wisdom that’s stored up for the rainy day.
He goes on with the same thought. He says he is a buckler. Now, that buckler is a certain type of shield. It really protects your whole body, and it’s a large shield, all right, so that they can get behind it and protect them. And he said, look, this wisdom, it’ll lay up sound wisdom for you. And when you’re getting shot at during tough times, it’s a buckler to them that walk uprightly. Oh, it’ll take care of you during the tough times, is what he’s saying there.
Look at verse number nine. I’m sorry, I skipped verse number eight. “He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.” You know, God has a way of taking care of his people. “I have been young, now am I old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Doesn’t mean they’re going to be millionaires and all the rest of that, but God says, “I’ll take care of them. I’ll preserve them. They’re going to make it through some way.” Isn’t it funny how God’s people—they may struggle and all struggle—but God’s people, they just make it through. That’s what he’s saying. He’ll preserve them; he’ll take care of them, those that are just seeking after wisdom.
Then verse number nine: “Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.” I think that means you can make some wise decisions. That equity has to do with fairness, impartiality. You ever deal with a situation? A good illustration is when our kids were little, and we used to be more involved with the children’s ministry. Miss Tammy used to teach Children’s Church. We had Junior Church, Primary Church combined, and she used to teach that. And when your kids are in your class, and you’re giving out the “Best Boy, Best Girl,” that’s tough. Because you’re like, “Well, I don’t want to favor them,” you know, but then if they are being the best, I don’t want to disfavor them. You know, all this mind game: should I give it to them or not? I mean, they really were the best, but then so-and-so is going to say something, and they’re going to think, “Whether the preacher’s scared,” you know, and all that. That’s kind of equity. God says, I’ll give you fairness; you’ll be able to figure out what truly is fair. That’s equity, impartial, see?
And he said, look, wisdom—you’re seeking after it. You’d like your people go after money, and he says, “Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.” You make some good decisions. God’s people make some of the best decisions. By the way, it’s not necessarily money we’re talking about here. So many things are worth much more than money. I’ve said it often: money is the cheapest of God’s blessings—souls.
I was talking to a young lady recently. She’s been to college and has taught in a Christian school for, I think, nine years. And she’s looking to go to the mission field and whatnot. And I told her—I’ve known her since she was in school—I said, “You know, you’ll never regret living for the Lord.” And she’s a very talented girl, a hard-working girl. She can make money; she can do all that. But she’s spending her life living full, and boy, at the end of the day, that’s going to be a wise decision. But if you’re seeking after wisdom, you’ll be able to make the right decision for you. It’s not always the same for everyone, but you can make wise decisions.
Let’s keep going. Just the benefits of seeking and chasing and wanting wisdom. He says verse number 10, verse number 11 there: “When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, and understanding shall keep thee.” It’s kind of like you have built-in protection. These things, you just kind of—you have a protection. And you know some of these cars nowadays, they have automatic brakes. Now, they’re not going to brake all the time, and you can adjust. I don’t like a car driving for me. Anybody know what I’m talking about? This lane thing, you know, and you get out of the lane that’s going to get you. I’m like, man, I want to drive; leave me alone. But even when you turn all that off, they still have emergency braking. And I’ve heard people talk about, man, honestly, I was looking down and looking away, and somebody stopped, and that car stopped for me. And praise the Lord, I didn’t like it. I was complaining about that thing, but it saved me from a wreck. And I haven’t had it happen yet, but I’m sure it probably will happen, and I praise the Lord for it if it does stop me from having a wreck.
But here’s the thing: it’s kind of like when you seek after wisdom, you have just ingrained in you—you know when to put the brakes on. That’s outside the realms of wisdom, and there’s something inside, and it preserves you. That’s what he’s saying there. He’s using two words. Let’s go back. What are the two words? “Discretion shall preserve thee,” and “understanding shall keep thee.” Those are those brakes inside of you: “Whoa, I don’t want to go there.” And wisdom gives you those things.
Now he gets a little specific here in 12 through 15 about the benefits of wisdom. Verse 12 through 15, we had said this, but wisdom protects you, delivers you from the wrong crowd. All right, let’s look at that real quickly here. We’ll just read these verses here. Y’all will be with me tonight? A little bit more of a Bible study than a typical Wednesday night. We have Bible studies. Look at this saying. Look in verse number 12. Let’s just read a couple of verses. He says, “To deliver thee from the way of the evil man; from the man that speaketh froward things.” By the way, “froward” has to do with—they’re just not going to stay on the path. They’re going to be here, there; they’re always going to get off the path of wisdom. They’re just boom, boom, boom, they’re always going to get off of them. “Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths.”
Now here’s the thing: wisdom delivers you from the wrong crowd. By the way, you are or soon will be what you hang around.
Look over in chapter 13, chapter 13, and you’ve probably heard or seen this verse, Proverbs 13, verse number 20. We use this verse a lot with youth, but it’s true when you’re 40 years old, 50 years old, all the other years old; it’s true of all of us, all right? Proverbs 13, look at verse number 20. It’s an amazing verse. Proverbs 13, verse number 20. He says, “He that walketh with wise men shall be what? Wise.” That’s pretty amazing. Pretty strong. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise.” Wow. Look at the last part of that. Very interesting. Notice what he says: “But a companion of fools shall be destroyed.”
Now the interesting part about that, it doesn’t say you have to be a fool. It didn’t say that. It didn’t say a fool shall be destroyed; it said a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
I’ve shared this story over the years; you probably remember it. It’s story number 48, if you remember my stories. But about the boy—he’s a good boy—but he just had a day. He didn’t have anything to do, and he was walking along, and two of his buddies pulled up. He’s walking down the side road, pulled up, and said, “Hey, won’t you ride with us?” And he knew better. He knew he shouldn’t do it, but he said, “Well, what’s wrong? Just spend one day.”
So back in the day when they had bench seats—you remember those, you know, and we get them sometimes in pickup trucks, but not that often anymore—the seat goes all the way across. Brother Josh says, “No, not anymore.” Mold trucks still have them, Brother Josh. Come on now, check them out. That’s when you see somebody driving in a pickup truck, a man and a lady, and I always say if they’re sitting across like that, well, they’re married. If they’re sitting like that, they’re not married yet. Shame on me, but I say that sometimes. I should have Brother Chip’s philosophy of 33 honeymoons. Come on now.
And anyway, so the one boy got out, “Come on,” and that good boy, he got in, and he sat down in that seat, you know. And they’re riding around town, you know, with the one boy driving. He had asked this girl out for a date, and he won that date, but the dad, he was an old funny guy. He was just one of those old-school guys. He said, “Uh-uh, my daughter’s not going out with you.” And so he was mad. That young guy driving, he was mad at this guy. So they drove by—he said, “Hey, let’s go by.” He just turned me down. He wouldn’t let his daughter date me. Let’s go by. And they rode by, and he had a circle driveway, and they pulled in that driveway and they yelled, “Hey, old man in there! We don’t want to date your daughter anyway!” and all kind of yelled out profanities, whatnot. And man, they took off, boom, took off, and they just laughed.
The boy in the middle, he’s a pretty good boy, he knew better than that. Well, just one day with these guys, you know? And it went around town, right around town a little bit, and they said, “Let’s do it again.” They went and they did the same thing, pulled in there, yelled and screamed and hollered and all that, and spun out, took off, you know, rode around town, have a good time. And they said, “Let’s do one more time, just last time, one more time.” And they pulled in that circle drive and they began to yell, and then what they didn’t realize, that old farmer of a man, the dad, he was as mad—he was hot mad as a hornet. And he was waiting for them that last time. And he was standing behind a tree, had a high-power rifle—a true story. And when they took off, he shot right into the middle of that car.
But a companion of fools shall be destroyed. So here’s what I’m going after: over here he says, “Hey, you’re just seeking after it just like someone’s driven to get money. You’re driven to have wisdom.” And wisdom protects you from the wrong crowd. You’ve got a safety. And he said, “Oh, it’ll deliver you from the wrong crowd,” seeking out wisdom.
Now he changes gears. These verses, 12 through 15, they deliver you from the wrong crowd. Verses 16 through 19, wisdom delivers you from the wrong woman. Let’s look at this very briefly here. We’ll be done pretty soon here with chapter number two. Wow, we covered a whole chapter one Wednesday night; that’s saying something for sure. Look in verse number 16. You all stay with me tonight, amen? Good. Verse number 16. He says, “To deliver thee from the strange woman.” Proverbs talks a lot about that. I really, the first time he’s starting to really address it a whole lot. But “to deliver thee from the strange woman; even from the stranger which flattereth with her words.”
That’s interesting to me. We’ll study it as we go through Proverbs, how much the Bible, when it talks about the wrong kind of woman, it’ll talk about her words. It’ll talk about her dress and other things, of course, immorality, but it talks a lot about her words: flattery. What’s flattery? Flattery is—there’s a difference between praise and flattery. Praise is maybe just trying to encourage someone; you’re praising them. It’s for them, for their benefit. But flattery, you’re praising someone with an ulterior motive, a selfish motive. You’re wanting something out of it. That’s flattery.
And it’s very interesting. He starts talking about this woman and says she just flattereth with her words. Wow. Very interesting there. By the way, that strange woman, it has to do with—she’s not naturally, that’s not her natural position where she ought to be. She’s foreign. She’s not with her husband where she ought to be. She’s strange; she’s out of the realm she should be in. “And deliver thee from the strange woman; even from the strange woman which flattereth with her words: Which forsaketh the guide of her youth.”
What’s he talking about there? There’s no matter of parents. That may be even more specific—her dad. But she just forsaketh the guide of her youth. She’s not going to listen to parents and follow on that. That’s the guide of her youth. And this strange woman, wicked woman, she doesn’t have it. She just forsakes it, all she’s been taught in her youth, the guide of her youth. Very interesting.
Then he says something else about the strange woman. He says, “And forgetteth the covenant of her God.” What’s a covenant? Well, Malachi talks about when you enter into marriage, a marriage covenant. What’s he talking about here? He’s talking about she forgets about her marriage vows. “To thee and thee only shall I keep myself,” you know. She forgets those marriage vows, that covenant she made before God and with her spouse and before the people that were gathered. She forgets all of it, and she just forgets them all about that, and she doesn’t hold her marriage vows up high. She just forgets that covenant.
Let’s talk about it. Can I just say a word or two in our day and time? You know, it’s amazing how married people will flirt with the opposite sex. Come on, which is a shame. What a shame. I say this often, it’s so true: if you would not say that with your spouse standing there, you ought not say it when your spouse is not standing there. It’s just a shame how lightly we treat the covenant, the marriage vows. It’s a shame.
Let me say this: someone ought not be able to come up and start talking about your spouse, especially someone of the opposite sex. No way. Uh-uh. Now, if you need to go to a counselor, okay, make it a private thing, you know, or go see the preacher, or make it a private thing with someone, or if you’re a lady, find a godly lady; if you’re a man, find a godly man. But don’t be going around criticizing your spouse to someone else, especially the opposite sex. Shame, shame, shame. You made a covenant, for better or for worse.
And this lady, she just forgets the covenant. Then what does it say? It’s a sad verse or two here. It says, “For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.” This is a sad statement here. None that go unto her return again, neither take hold of the paths of life.
Have you ever seen someone you say, “Well, they just got a good life. They’ve been married for 40 years, and they’re not—they’re not millionaires, but they’re all right. They go to church, and they’ve got a good life.” That kind of thought. He said, oh, someone that goes into her, they’re not going to have that life. What a sad thing. Boy, I’ve dealt with those, and praise the Lord, some of them have stayed together—those that have committed adultery and whatnot. And some of those are still together, but all the struggle, the struggle. And I’ve dealt with their spouses too, all the tears and the hurt and the pain. And it’s so hard to recover and get past and move on and rebuild that marriage. Sometimes they never—you know, they get divorced, but sometimes they’ll try to stay together. If they can reconcile, that’s God’s will, if they can. Hardness of the heart—they won’t, then okay. God allows for it.
But such a heart. The best illustration I ever heard of it is a man said he had a vine growing up, and it’s one of those that can climb, you know. And it was on one side of his garage, and he had kind of babyed that thing, and it climbed up that side of the garage and all over the wall, over to the—and really just covered a lot of the whole thing. It was beautiful. And he kind of lined it all up beautifully, covered up the whole vine. And he was weeding, you know. If sometimes you try to get too close when you’re weeding, anybody know what I’m talking about? And man, he accidentally clipped that main vine, and that whole thing just all died. And now he’d go back and try to bring that thing back, but it took years and a lot of watering and fertilizer and babying. And that’s when somebody commits adultery. It’s so tough.
And he says those that go under her, oh, they never can say, “Boy, I got that life.” Man, I was talking to a man, and he was talking about his uncle, I think it is. And he said, “Yeah, Brother So-and-so, he’s done pretty good. He’s got a good life.” And he’s a middle-aged, older man that goes to our church. And he does have a good life. He’s been married for so many years and established. And I think, I don’t know, I think they got the house paid off and all that stuff. They’re not wealthy, you know, millionaires, but they’re living a good life. And he said, “Oh, don’t go down that road because you won’t be able to have that good life.” What a sad thing.
Now let’s finish this thing out. You all ready to finish this thing up? We’re almost done here. We’re almost done. Let’s get these end results of just chasing after wisdom and following it. And verse number 20, he says, “That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.” “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.”
I’ve said it already, but it’s kind of like, I’m not saying they’re going to be millionaires or anything like that, but they’re going to be all right. God’s got them. I haven’t used this or told this in a long time, but Mom and Dad, they will catch—say, man, they sold out and quit their job. Dad had a good job in Florida, moved to Tennessee to go to Bible College, and that’s when I came along. But they were kind of set when they were younger and had a good job and just focused on money. He got saved, and they gave it all up, and they spent years and years living for the Lord. Mom and Dad were never wealthy.
But at the end of my dad’s life—a little before Dad passed, and we were trying to encourage him on his lawn—a little before Dad passed, he got his house paid off, and he’d come to church here. You know my dad, he had moving in his blood. Dad would go to a church, he’d go to church, and he’d say, “Hey, best church I’ve ever been to,” for six months or a year. And then, you know, he slowly started, and he’d move. You get moved, you know. And Dad was here, I don’t know, maybe seven years. I thought, “Well, I wonder if that’s it. He’d say the same thing: ‘The best church I’ve ever been to.’” I thought, “One of these is going to change here or not,” you know. And he said it until the day, praise the Lord.
But we honored him. Remember, I don’t know if anybody here was there—of course, my family—but we had Brother Dad Day way back in the day. Miss Mickey, you were there for that. And we honored him, and he went out, if you will, being honored. House was paid off. They were never—I enjoyed one of the last good memories I had with my dad. Dad kind of knew he was going to the end. And his lawnmower—he was one of those guys; he believed in Snapper lawnmowers, you know. I mean, you know, these guys who got their certain lawnmower, Dad, that was his lawnmower, you know. But it was about 45 years old. It had been through World War II. I mean, it was just—but that was Dad’s lawnmower, you know. But he wanted to get a nice lawnmower, and he couldn’t go out—they didn’t put it that way. I don’t know if he could or not. But we went on Marketplace or maybe Craigslist back in the day, and we rode all over Nashville, and we finally found it. It looked like it was brand new for a great price, you know, on Craigslist. The thing was, and we bought it, and we took it back home, and Dad was so happy. He was proud of this nice, brand-new lawnmower, you know, and it looked like it for just a fraction of the cost, and Dad was so happy about it. And I say all that, that’s the way Dad’s life ended, and he was glad the house was paid off, had a good lawnmower for Mom when he was gone. She didn’t—you know those old lawnmowers and old cars, you got into all the special tricks to it, you know? You—it’s new, and you didn’t have to do all the special tricks to it. And so Dad was happy with that.
And, you know, next door—some of you heard me tell this story—but next door used to be about, oh, it was, I think, at least an eight-foot tall wood fence, privacy feet—not six, I think six, at least six, maybe eight, I’m not sure. But you couldn’t see in there. If you were standing on Mom and Dad’s porch, you could see their porch light typically was on all the time. And anyway, and it just, you know, they never came out. Finally, once or twice, we would see them come out. And I remember I was working on their car, so Mom and Dad’s car, and someone came out, and I was down there working on it, and they said, “Hey, I think Mom and Dad’s dog had got out or something.” I don’t know. But it came over. Well, I don’t know if he came over or she came over, but it came over. And he was changing over into a she—he, him. He had a dress on, and he had makeup on, but you could tell—you could tell that’s a guy. And then a little while later on, a little while later on—I can’t remember if Mom and Dad called or what—but they closed up the whole neighborhood, and the SWAT team came out. I’m talking about police were all over; they closed the whole—you couldn’t get in the neighborhood. And the SWAT team, and they’re going to Mom and Dad’s next-door neighbor right there. And my dad’s like, “Hey, what’s going on?” You know. And so the talk in the neighborhood was that guy there was a member of KISS. Remember back in the '70s, the KISS rock group, and kids in Satan’s service and all the different things, you know? And we’re like, “No.” And Miss Tammy’s the queen of research, and she is sure enough. And it was an old KISS member. And he was kind of like a hermit. He lived over there with his wife, girlfriend—and that’s debatable, you know, which one it was. And he had beaten her up. And when they came out of there, I think they’d found like 12 cut-up dogs or something, just—and on and on. And I thought, wow, Mom and Dad weren’t filthy rich, but their house is paid for. That went out pretty good. And this guy served the devil, Benny Vincent, if you don’t want to look up his name. And that’s how he went out.
And it kind of goes in line with what he’s saying here. He’s talking about this thing about wisdom—those who want to take wisdom and they’re seeking after those who don’t want it. Verse 21: “For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.” You know, it’s kind of like they try to hang on in this whole world, but they’re going to be rooted out. You can’t hang on to a moment of it. What a sad day. What a sad day.
I thought about this. We’ve got to be done. We’ve got to be done. Told too many stories. One last thought I thought about. Sometimes we talk about there’s no tears in heaven. Well, actually, that’s not true. There is. You know, there’s the Great White Throne Judgment on down after the seven years and after the millennial reign. And then the Great White Throne Judgment, and that’s for the lost. And that’s where there’s the throne on the bottomless pit there. And right after that, chapter 21 of Revelation, that’s where he wipes away—you can’t wipe away something that’s not there. He wipes away the tears from their eyes.
Sometimes we get so mad and bitter and frustrated with the wicked. You know, in the end, we’ll see where they’re at and their destruction. And I don’t think we’ll be gloating over it; it brings tears. Friend, don’t get too bitter over the world. Justice is coming, and they’ll soon be cut down. Don’t get too flustered over it. God sees it all. And at the end, honestly, I think we’ll kind of pity them.
Let’s bow our heads, if you would, please. For just a little bit, let’s spend some time with the Lord. However he leads you to, we’ll have a word of prayer, and our instruments will play, but let’s just spend a little time with the Lord. Would you do that? If you want to come forward, you come forward; you’ll be obedient to him. Maybe just to pray for someone, however the Lord leads you. Would you stand? Let’s stand, and let’s have a word of prayer. You’ll be obedient to the Lord. Father, thank you for Proverbs. Lord, I pray you to help us to seek after wisdom and to listen to it, to hide it in our hearts, Lord, and incline our ears to help us to follow it. And thank you for letting us see the end result. Bless our people tonight. In Jesus’ name we pray.
Would you be obedient as the Lord leads you?
Original File: 2026-06-18 - Pastor Paul Chisgar - Benefits of Wisdom - Wednesday PM 06⧸17⧸2026