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[0:00] sexual immorality and also just the God's design for romance and love in marriage and how that is, you know, what God's design is and what God's design isn't, going outside of those boundaries.

[0:17] But then as we get into chapters 10, and this is where we'll start today, and get all the way into chapter 29, it's just a big collection of just individual proverbs or wise sayings.

[0:30] Many of them are just one verse long. Sometimes you get into two or three or maybe even four verses in a proverb, but most of them are just one verse. I was considering as I was, we're not going to go through the entire book of proverbs.

[0:48] We're just going to pick out some particular portions. I was considering should I, you know, pick a theme because the proverbs have general categories and themes about relationships and communication and humility and other kinds of diligence, those kinds of things.

[1:07] I thought I could just do messages on those themes and just grab whatever proverbs, you know, match that theme. But I thought, you know what, this is the way that the proverbs were written, and so let's just go through it that way.

[1:22] So we'll be looking at a bunch of themes. The other reason I decided to do that was because, you know, there are certain proverbs, I think, that don't fit neatly into a theme.

[1:33] And so if we did go through this by theme, we might miss some things that don't really kind of fit in or they're not neatly categorized. And why would the proverbs be kind of this compiled mixture across many different categories?

[1:50] I'm not sure, but we do know that the proverbs were compiled over time. It wasn't just Solomon writing all this down at once. I'm sure that he came up or developed these proverbs, these sayings over time.

[2:05] And then over time, as he, you know, thought of maybe a new saying that would be helpful to people, wrote it down. The very first, as we look at chapter 10 here, the first verse says, the Proverbs of Solomon.

[2:19] These were written by Solomon for the most part. There are times from verse 10 here to verse, or excuse me, chapter 10 to chapter 29, where there is a little aside that says things like, these are some sayings from wise men.

[2:37] So it seems that there was a, that Solomon was not the one that originated all of these proverbs, but that he compiled them from other wise men as well.

[2:52] Verse, in fact, Proverbs 22, verse 17 says this, incline your ear and hear the words of the wise and apply your heart to my knowledge. This is Solomon saying, hey, here is some words that you can listen to from some other wise men.

[3:10] Also, interestingly enough, here in chapter 10, it says, these are the Proverbs of Solomon. When we get to chapter 29, or excuse me, 25, it says this, these also are Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, copied.

[3:28] And so it seems there was an original collection of Proverbs during the lifetime of Solomon. And then 200 years later, Hezekiah was another king of Judah.

[3:43] And he found some additional Proverbs of Solomon. They're still authored by Solomon, but were not included in this book of Proverbs.

[3:54] And so they were added in later. We read, I think, a few weeks ago in the book of 1 Kings, that Solomon actually wrote over, I can't remember the number, but thousands.

[4:07] I think it was maybe 3,000 Proverbs. And we don't have that in the book of Proverbs. There's not that many. So there are many Proverbs that he wrote that are not recorded in this book of Proverbs.

[4:18] For the sake of time, I'm not, as we go through chapter 10 here, I'm not going to do a deep dive into each proverb. Some of them we'll go through very briefly. Some of them we'll spend more time on.

[4:30] But we're just going to go verse by verse here. We are going to read through all of them. And we'll start with verse 1. So the Proverbs of Solomon. It says this, A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother.

[4:48] Now, before getting into the content, I want to point out something, that this is a literary technique, if you will, that you'll see throughout the entire book of Proverbs, especially here from chapter 10 to chapter 29.

[5:06] And it's a couplet. You have two things. Most of the time, separated by the word but. And the word but introduces a contrast.

[5:17] And that's typically what you'll see. That's what we see here. A wise son and a foolish son. What is the outcome or what is, how does a wise son make his parents feel?

[5:30] And how does a foolish son make his parents feel? There's a contrast. Sometimes the word and is used. Sometimes it's not a contrast but an emphasis.

[5:41] He might say one thing and then also emphasize it by just saying it again in another way. Adding emphasis. And so these couplets is something you'll find throughout the Proverbs.

[5:56] But looking at this one, it says a wise, this is comparing a wise son and a foolish son. And it speaks of the outcome, especially within a family, maybe whether the child is still at home or maybe grown, what is the outcome of foolishness and wisdom among children?

[6:17] Here it says sons, but we can apply this to sons and daughters. And basically the idea is this, that joy accompanies wisdom. When people use wisdom, when they apply wisdom, it's accompanied by joy.

[6:32] But when people neglect wisdom and tend towards foolishness, it's accompanied by grief. And so I think it's always an opportunity to consider our own family life.

[6:46] Or, you know, we can also consider the families of those around us and look at the relationships that are in our family.

[6:59] Do these relationships produce joy or do they produce grief? If foolishness is abounding, then typically grief and broken relationships abound as well.

[7:15] And it could be the foolishness of the children. It could be the foolishness of the parents. Any times it's just the foolishness of both. You know, I'm always, when you're trying to accomplish something, and maybe you're trying different things.

[7:34] I was actually just talking to a young man who's starting a business, and he's talking about marketing, and he's looking at different channels for marketing online and posting things. And as we were talking about it, you want to know what's working, right?

[7:47] It's called a feedback loop. You try something, you see if it works, and if it works, you kind of turn up that dial or do that some more. And if it doesn't work, you try something else.

[7:58] And in a family, you want a feedback loop. And so the number one feedback loop that I have looked for in my family is as we try different things, as we form different habits in our family, is there joy in our household?

[8:14] And if there is joy in our household, that is an indication that we are doing things right. If there's a lot of grief and bickering and fighting, then there's an opportunity there to do something different.

[8:31] Because what we're looking for in our families as an indication of success is joy. Verse 2, it says this, Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.

[8:50] Another kind of big picture idea here is that as we go through Proverbs, we'll see a comparison between the wise man and the fool, seeking wisdom and then going towards foolishness.

[9:02] But along with that is also the righteous person and the wicked person. And those are equated with each other, right? So a wise person lives a righteous life, and a fool lives a wicked life.

[9:19] So really, the fool and the wicked person are used somewhat interchangeably. And the same thing with the wise and with the righteous, used interchangeably. And so here, it's talking about the wicked and the righteous.

[9:33] The treasures of the wicked profit nothing. And the idea here is that, you know, everybody likes money, everybody needs money. But some people go out earning a living, making, building up wealth, through righteous means, and others through wicked means, by cheating and stealing and taking advantage, exploiting others.

[9:56] And so when you go, when you seek for profit, treasures here, through wicked means, really, do you profit anything?

[10:08] Anything of real, meaningful value? No. Ultimately, that profit is meaningless. But it says, righteousness delivers from death.

[10:22] And even if your righteousness, even if doing the right thing, means you don't get the deal, means you don't get the advantage, it's still worthwhile, because it delivers from death.

[10:38] Didn't Jesus say something about the value of riches? He said, what advantage is it to a man if he gains the whole world, right? And loses his own soul?

[10:49] And so we should never be willing to give up our integrity, our honesty, our character, just for the sake of profit.

[11:02] Verse 3 says this, So God is, this is talking about the will of the Lord.

[11:20] The Lord will not allow the righteous soul to famish, to go hungry. And I have a question to start this off with. Are there people who are righteous, who love the Lord, who ever go hungry?

[11:35] This happens, doesn't it? And so what is going on here? You know, some people I've seen treat the Bible, and specifically the Proverbs, as if it is some kind of mathematical or legal textbook, and that if, you know, there are these principles, and if you just do these things, then everything will go your way.

[12:02] And that is not, one, how things work, and two, that's not the intention of the book of Proverbs. These are, in many cases, those general principles of how life works, how God designed the world to work.

[12:18] If you follow wisdom in knowing how God intended life to be, and you follow those things, in general, your life will tend towards the outcomes that God wants for all of us.

[12:35] And so, in this case, if you live a righteous life, you will tend to not ever be hungry. But it's not a hard and fast rule.

[12:47] Some people might ask the question because they're going through a very difficult time. Maybe it's hunger. Maybe one of my favorite shows is The Little House on the Prairie.

[12:59] Right? And there's a lot of pain and suffering in those shows, right? And I can remember episodes where they worked so hard, diligently, farming the land, and all it takes is what?

[13:11] One hailstorm and the entire crop is gone. And so, someone might ask themselves, what did I do to deserve this?

[13:23] Right? And they think, maybe, maybe I did something wrong and God is punishing me. And they might look at a passage like this and say, you know, if I was really a righteous person, then God would not allow this to happen to me.

[13:38] And I think that's a wrong way to approach what the Proverbs are saying right here. We shouldn't try to discern from every event that's going in our lives, you know, if God is angry at me or not.

[13:59] And once we get to the end of all this at the end of our service, we'll talk about this some more. But, in general, right? If your life, if you're constantly going hungry, all the time, it might be a sign that, hey, I'm living a foolish life.

[14:20] Verse 4, he who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. Again, same, same idea. That's a general principle.

[14:31] Not a promise with a certain outcome. But, in general, when you're lazy, when you have a slack hand, when you're not willing to work hard, it tends towards poverty. But, when you're diligent, when you work hard, put your hand to the plow, it leads to prosperity.

[14:48] Verse 5, he who gathers in summer is a wise son, and he who sleeps in the harvest is a son who causes shame. Notice the theme here in the last few verses. Diligence comes from wisdom, but laziness causes shame.

[15:07] And it says, it's interesting because it uses the term, a son. So, he who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame.

[15:23] So, this is in kind of the context of a family. And we've, I'm sure, you know, many in this room have seen this. You have a child who doesn't work hard, and it causes shame to the parents.

[15:38] And why would it cause shame? I mean, it's not me that's being lazy, it's them. Well, primarily because, well, this is my responsibility. I'm the one that raised him. And many times that is the case.

[15:49] Not always, right? Sometimes, children go wayward, they become lazy because of their own, their own foolishness. But a lot of times, it was an indication of the parents' failure to teach and to train them.

[16:04] When they were young, to be diligent in all of their work. Verse 6, blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

[16:15] We'll see a lot of the, Proverbs are poetic, right? So, it uses poetic language. And so, here there's a reference to the head and then also to the mouth. And what's that all about? Well, I think about the head, right?

[16:29] What can go on a head? Well, I think of a crown, right? A crown can go on the head. And so, blessings on the head of the righteous. It's like, righteousness is like a crown. And so, for those who do what is right, but violence and destruction tend to come to those who do what is wrong.

[16:51] Verse 7, the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot. You know, I don't know if it's, it seems like this, there's an idea of legacy. Especially as people get older, they think about, what kind of legacy am I going to leave behind?

[17:08] Older men in particular, I don't know if women have the same kind of thinking, but men in general, I've found, really, especially as they age in life, think, what are people going to remember me for?

[17:18] And people who have a lot of wealth, maybe they'll build a really big building. Maybe, I think of people who built libraries or stadiums, and they put their name, you know, somewhere visible for everybody to see.

[17:30] So that even though, you know, their life will end at some point, they can have something that will go on and on into the future where people will remember them. But what is the important thing to remember about something?

[17:43] Is it about the stadium that they built or the library? Well, maybe those can be good things, right? But here, in talking about the memory of the righteous, the memory of the righteous will be blessed. People will think about somebody with fondness, but the name of the wicked, their memory, will be like rottenness.

[18:03] Instead of sweetness, sweet memories, they will be memories that are sour. Proverbs, excuse me, verse 8 here, 10.8, the wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall.

[18:21] And what is this speaking to? This is speaking to teachability. Right? It's important that all of us, whether we're young, though that's, it's even more important, right, to recognize that you need teaching when you're young, but even when we're old, to recognize that we don't know everything, that there are always things to learn, and we shouldn't be a know-it-all.

[18:48] The wise in heart will receive commands. If somebody gives us some instruction, maybe it's poor instruction. Maybe it's advice not worth listening to.

[19:01] But should we at least consider it? A lot of times we should. It depends on the source, right? But we should consider if the advice is good. Maybe we need to make a course correction in our life.

[19:15] But if we're not listening, then we won't, won't be able to heed those commands. But a prating fool will fall. Prating, that's not a word that I think we use typically every day.

[19:27] Some other translations say a babbling fool, or some say a talkative fool. This is somebody who, it's more important to them that they express their own opinion than hearing the opinions of others.

[19:39] They're very impressed with the words of their own mouth. And so that person will fall because they don't have a teachable, a humble and teachable spirit.

[19:50] And they'll suffer because of it. There's a modern proverb that we have that goes like this. There's a reason God gave you two ears and one mouth. Have you ever heard that? Right? So we should listen, be twice as ready to listen as to, you know, before speaking.

[20:05] verse 9. He who walks with integrity walks securely, but he who perverts his way will become known.

[20:19] The language here is a little bit different. It might cause some confusion. The word integrity, both in the Hebrew language here that is translated from and also in English, I think it's a good translation, that word integrity.

[20:32] It has to do with wholeness. Sometimes we talk about the integrity of some kind of machine, you know, that it's not breaking down, right? It's something that has integrity.

[20:43] It means it's sound, it's whole, it's not falling apart, it's not broken. And it's the same way with the human character. Is your character whole or is it broken?

[20:54] And so some translations, I think, say he who walks upright walks securely. It's the same idea. Somebody who does what is right. But they walk securely. They have a strong foundation.

[21:08] They're not on shaky ground. But when you don't walk with integrity, you live kind of a life that is founded on sand because of the life that you've built up for yourself.

[21:26] When you don't walk in integrity, just one example, is you tend to make enemies, right? When you cheat people and you don't have a lot of good relationships. And so having a good name, having good relationships, having people that want to be friends with you, that provides a foundation, a good foundation for life, some security and safety.

[21:51] When you lose your job and you're looking for a new one, right? People who trust you, who know that this is a person who is diligent in his work, somebody I can trust, somebody who doesn't cheat, there's lots of people who would be willing to offer you a new job.

[22:05] So you're only out of work for a short while. But if you're somebody who's known as not being honest, kind of cheating, exploiting others, people are not going to point you towards new employment.

[22:20] It says this, and this is the latter part of that verse, but he who perverts his way will become known. What does that mean? It sounds like maybe they'll become famous, and that's not what's going on here at all. But really, it's just saying they'll be exposed.

[22:32] People will figure out what kind of a person they are. A lot of times we deceive ourselves, right? We think we can get away with things, but almost never do we get away with things. Eventually, sometimes it takes a little while, but eventually our sin is exposed, our corruption is exposed.

[22:49] There's a passage from the book of Numbers, it's Numbers 32, 23, and it says this, your sin will find you out. And boy, does that happen. I'm sure many of us in this room have found that to be the case.

[23:03] And even if not then, some people are able to keep things secret through all of their life. But will it stay a secret?

[23:15] Will it stay a secret to stay with them in their grave? No, here's what the Bible says. Ecclesiastes 12, verse 14 says this, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

[23:30] Some people do good things in secret. They see somebody in need, they just anonymously give them a gift to help them out. They don't want anybody to know. And others, the secret things that they do on the wicked side of the spectrum.

[23:45] But either way, all of these things will be brought to light one day. Jesus said this, Luke 18, 17, for nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.

[24:01] There is coming a day when all things will be brought to light, no matter how hard people have tried to keep them a secret. Verse 10, he who winks with the eye causes trouble, but a prating fool will fall.

[24:16] He who winks with the eye causes trouble. Now, this is something where we can get a little bit confused because here we're seeing a description of some body language.

[24:27] And so just like it can be challenging to translate from an ancient language like Hebrew into modern English, there's also kind of a translation or interpretation layer when it comes to interpreting body language as well, right?

[24:45] And so even today in 2025 there are different the same type of body language might mean different things in other parts of the world, right?

[25:00] So I think about if you want to show somebody that you agree or you want to say yes, what do we do? We nod our head, right? And if we disagree or we say no, we shake our head, right?

[25:13] Simple enough. And doesn't everybody in the world do that? No, they don't. In fact, in some countries in the world, they do the exact opposite. If they want to agree, they do this.

[25:25] In fact, over the years I've worked with a lot of people from India and they have this thing where they kind of do this. And that means they agree with you, but it looks like they're shaking their head.

[25:39] And so it can cause some confusion. And so it's the same way here as we're reading through the Bible. In fact, some Bible translations will actually try to interpret the body language by using completely different words than what's actually in the Bible.

[25:53] And that can be helpful. In fact, I've got a few examples. The NIV says, whoever winks maliciously causes grief. And so they keep the word wink in there, but they add another word that's actually not in the text.

[26:07] They say winks maliciously. And the reason they add that in is because, well, that was, from what most people understand, what the purpose of winking was. It was some kind of malicious thing.

[26:19] The contemporary English version, the CEV, actually translates it like this, deceit causes trouble. So the word wink is not even in there. And this is just something to consider as you look at Bible translations.

[26:32] There's a spectrum of how Bible translations approach translation. Some try to keep as many words as possible, not completely one-to-one, because if it's completely one-to-one, it can be difficult to read.

[26:46] And others are more generous with their interpretation and they'll even exclude words that were in the original passage because they think it might help with the understanding.

[26:58] And it's not necessarily good or bad, but it is, I think, good to understand the kind of translation that you're reading and kind of the approach that they're taking.

[27:09] If you open up any Bible and look at the foreword, the beginning, they'll usually tell you, this is like the New King James or the NIV, and this is how we approach the translation. And so, you know, I think it's good to go look at that and see what kind of Bible translation you're reading.

[27:27] But the winking of the eye, every time we see that body language referenced in the Old Testament, it's always a negative thing. Now today, when you wink with the eye, it could be maybe negative, but it's generally positive, I think.

[27:41] You give somebody a knowing wink, you know, you tell a joke and maybe you wink at somebody. Sometimes you're flirting with somebody, and that can be both good or bad, right? And the interesting thing about a wink is it's somewhat subtle, right?

[27:54] So if somebody is trying to seduce somebody else's wife, he can just look at her across the room and give her a wink so her husband doesn't find out, right? And that's being deceitful.

[28:06] And so I think that's what we see with winking in these times in the ancient Middle East. And so it's a way to communicate with somebody in a deceptive or a mischievous manner.

[28:18] But regardless, it always relates to some kind of bad behavior. So he who winks with the eye causes trouble. Somebody who's being mischievous, somebody who's being deceptive, it's always causing trouble.

[28:31] But again, and I think this is just a, it says but a prating fool, it's not providing a contrast, it's just saying, hey, it's the same way as somebody who just speaks their mind all the time.

[28:46] You know, we, as I'm looking at the time, we want to take communion today. And so, I think we're just going to look at one more verse.

[28:57] We're going to skip down to verse 15 and then we'll kind of transition over to our communion service. But let's look at verse 15. It says this, the rich man's wealth is his strong city and the destruction of the poor is their poverty.

[29:13] The rich man's wealth is his strong city but the destruction of the poor is their poverty. Now, as we read this, you might ask the question, what does this have to do with wisdom? Because wise, righteous people can be both rich and poor.

[29:32] Right? I think this is just speaking to some of the things to consider when it comes to riches and poverty. There are certain benefits and they're not necessarily moral benefits to having wealth.

[29:48] but it is something to consider regardless. Money has its benefits and wisdom will consider them. There are trade-offs when it comes to being rich or poor and you know, not everybody chooses or has the choice between rich and poor.

[30:04] Some people, their circumstances don't really allow. You know, we have this thing, you know, sometimes we call it the American dream, right? There's this freedom in our country to pursue wealth and for those who work hard, they can, you know, achieve their dreams, their goals, become prosperous.

[30:20] In many countries across the world, that is not an option because they don't have the freedoms that we have. And so, if you are a believer, it doesn't matter how much, how hard you work in a communist nation, you know, there are some ways in which you can get ahead, right?

[30:37] But that government, that communist country is going to keep you the same as everybody else, at least everybody else who's not part of the government system, right? But, sometimes people might have a choice on whether they choose the path of prosperity or a path of relative poverty.

[30:59] I think about the artist, right? Somebody who is passionate about art and they want to be an artist. And what do we know about artists? They just rake in the dough, right?

[31:12] No. It's the poor, starving artist, right? But it's something they love and that they're passionate about. And so, hey, just consider that if you choose that path in life, the other path is ministry.

[31:26] You want to be a pastor. We all know how much money pastors make, right? It depends on if you're on TV or what other things.

[31:37] But typically, people who are in ministry don't make a lot of money. I think about a guy I talked to, he actually did very well. I can't remember what kind of business he was in, but he had lots of money.

[31:49] He decided he wanted to go into a ministry kind of feeding the hungry. And he told his family, I'm going to do this and I just want you to know our lifestyle is going to change. You're not going to get the latest sneakers or whatever.

[32:00] We're going to be going to Goodwill and doing the hand-me-down thing. So this is going to be different, how we're going to live our life. And so one of the benefits of wealth is it provides some soundness, some foundation, at least among worldly things, some security in your life.

[32:23] But if you're living paycheck to paycheck, it doesn't actually take very much, right, for one unexpected expense to turn your life into a tailspin. And so just something to consider, right, as we make choices in life.

[32:45] You know what, I'm going to, we're just going to end there with chapter 10 and we're going to transition. If I could have the elders come up. Let me see how to do this.

[33:04] Yeah, let me just talk about the elders benevolence fund. I just want to share a little bit more about that. I mentioned that briefly. And we're going to take that offering at the very end after we take the Lord's Supper together.

[33:21] But if you're not aware, we have a fund, it's in a separate bank account, that we will have usually a few thousand dollars in depending on when the last time it was used.

[33:34] And if somebody has, you know, they are living from paycheck to paycheck and they have their furnace go out or their water heater, sometimes we might find an opportunity to help them out with that.

[33:45] fund. And so this is something I think we only really expect people who are a part of our church, who are regular either members or regular attenders of our church, if you'd like to give to that, we certainly don't expect any guests to give to that by any means.

[34:02] But if you would like to give to that fund, we're going to pass the plate here in just a little bit. Also, before we pass out the elements, I know every church does this differently, so I like to try to explain as much as possible.

[34:15] We've got little cups of juice and little tiny pieces of bread that will represent the Lord's blood and his body. It's not wine, by the way, it's just juice, so if that's a concern that you have, just know that.

[34:29] We'll all take it together, so we're going to take an opportunity here and we're just going to pass it out. In fact, just for the elders to know, I don't know if we talked about this before, I think we've changed up how we've done this, but we'll go ahead and pass out both the bread and the juice.

[34:42] We'll do them one at a time. We'll wait until everybody has both in hand before we take them. Just hold on to both of those, and then we'll take them together as we read through the scriptures.

[34:54] Who is this for? This is for anybody who trusts in Christ. It doesn't matter whether you're a member here, it doesn't matter whether you've been baptized, none of that matters. Are you trusting in Christ for your salvation? If you are, you are welcome to join us in this.

[35:06] Some people ask, what about the ages of my children? I just leave that up to the parents. If you'd like your parents to take, or excuse me, if parents would like their children to take with you, that's what we do.

[35:18] Children at any age, as long as they're old enough to do it themselves. And then why are we doing this? Why do we do this? Some churches do it once a month, some once a quarter, like we do.

[35:32] But the Bible mentions two things. We do this to remember the Lord. It's a memorial. Now there are some churches that actually do this for other reasons that I think are completely unbiblical.

[35:46] And they think that there's somehow some act of grace going on with taking the bread and the juice. And I think that's actually damaging.

[35:57] Not just misinformed, but damaging. And we'll talk about that in a second too. But the other, the second reason we take this, the Bible says, is a proclamation of something in the future.

[36:09] So we're remembering what Jesus did for us in the past, and then we're proclaiming his death, the Bible says, until he comes again. So we're looking forward to him coming again.

[36:26] Let's go ahead and start the kind of distribution here, and then I'll talk more about what this is and what this isn't.

[36:37] We'll start with the bread here, and then once you guys are done, just come on back and we'll do the juice after that. And I'll just give some instruction, maybe if we finish we can play some music.

[36:53] Thanks, Steve. But what is, what this isn't, so I like to always bring this up because there are many churches out there that, you know, the Catholic Church I think is the most well-known, but many other even in the Protestant vein of things, who say, hey, when you take the juice and the bread, you are somehow consuming the life of God or the grace of God.

[37:19] God, you are becoming more acceptable to God in some way, or this is in some way taking away your sins. That's not true.

[37:35] And so, the Bible says this, I'm sorry, I don't have the, it's in Colossians, in the book of Colossians, but it says this, that you, and it's talking about you, is the believer, that you are complete in him.

[37:59] What that means is, is that when you trust in Christ, we become identified with Christ. And there is nothing additional that we need.

[38:12] Our forgiveness is complete. He doesn't forgive us most sins, he forgives us all of our sins. He doesn't identify us as mostly righteous, or partly righteous, but he identifies us as completely righteous.

[38:28] Again, we are complete in him. All right.

[38:43] Sorry, I know maybe I'm confusing everybody. But I'll, yeah. So yeah, just hold on to both of those and we'll take them together here in a moment.

[39:00] Related to Proverbs, since we're in the book of Proverbs, I wanted to look at a passage that relates to wisdom and the cross. We actually spoke of this in more detail a few weeks ago.

[39:11] But it says this, this is a teaching from Paul in 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.

[39:23] When God calls people to join themselves to him, he's not just looking for those who are the wise men, the ones who are so successful in life and keeping all the rules, having great understanding.

[39:43] But it says this, God's looking for a people who will just humble themselves.

[40:10] You don't have to be smart, you don't have to be wise. you don't even have to be good. And that's incredible.

[40:23] You know, for some of us who might think, hey, I'm a pretty good person. And so they want to hold on to that goodness, that righteousness that they've earned for themselves.

[40:35] But here is what God is saying. I don't want anyone to glory in themselves and all the good things that they've done. And so I have provided a gift that no flesh should glory in his presence.

[40:53] Verse 30 says this, but of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. You see, Jesus became for us wisdom. We can look to our own wisdom.

[41:06] In fact, that's what the book of Proverbs is about. those who are wise, their life leads to life, wisdom leads to life, and foolishness leads to death.

[41:16] That's the book of Proverbs in a nutshell. And if that was our only hope, many of us, most of us, all of us would be in big trouble. But Christ did something for us on a cross so that he could be our wisdom.

[41:32] And that's what it says here, so that he could be our righteousness. righteousness. And so, his death on the cross, the blood that he shed for us, so that just by trusting in him, in his death and resurrection for our sins, that he died for our sins, we can have life, we can have righteousness, we can be identified as wise, not with the wisdom of the world, but with the wisdom of God because of what he did in us.

[41:58] And then, we glory, not in ourselves, we don't praise ourselves, give ourselves a hand clap, right? In fact, we just glory because of what Christ did in us.

[42:10] And that's what we're doing right now. As we drink this cup to remember the Lord and eat the bread, we are taking this as an opportunity to glory in him.

[42:23] So, I'm going to pull up the scriptures and this is the instruction given to the church for how we should take this together as a group. It says this, 1 Corinthians 11, 23.

[42:36] For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed, he took bread. This is something that Jesus did the night before his death.

[42:48] And when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, I'm sorry guys, I've got to get some here. We're going to do this together. I love doing this as a church, as a family here.

[43:01] And when he had given thanks, he broke it and he said, take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

[43:11] So let's eat this and remember the Lord, his broken body. Amen. And then in the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

[43:42] This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. So let's drink together. Amen.

[43:56] Amen. Are you grateful for what the Lord has done for you? Let's sing together and Steve, I don't know if I didn't prepare you ahead of time, so we can just do this a cappella.

[44:08] But I love this song and I think most of us know it so we don't need to open up our hymnals. But does everybody know, oh how he loves you and me? And so let's sing that together. Of course I'm going to have to try to get the right key.

[44:21] Oh how he loves you and me. Oh how he loves you and me. He gave his life, what more could he give?

[44:40] Oh how he loves you. Oh how he loves me. Oh how he loves you and me.

[44:53] Amen. I like to remind everybody he didn't have to because of his love for us he was willing to lay down his life that we might live with him in eternity forever.

[45:05] Amen. Let's pray. Father thank you so much for what you did for us. Thank you. You give us principles of wisdom. You give us principles of righteousness. So many of us, the Bible says all of us have failed.

[45:20] But you still loved us. You still had mercy on us. You still wanted to provide a way. So when we couldn't do it you came in and you took our place.

[45:32] Your death for our life. You died so we didn't have to. You lived righteously so that we could be identified as righteous even though we failed so many times again and again.

[45:50]  We thank you for the sacrifice that you made for us. In Jesus name. Amen.