A Fool Defined

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast

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making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Tuesday, June the eleventh,

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twenty twenty four. It is currently
ten nineteen am Central Time, and

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I am coming to you live from
the Theology Central studio located right here in

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Abilene, Texas. Now, as
many of you know, or you should

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know, and if you don't know, why don't you know? Well,

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the reason you don't know is because
you haven't been listening to this podcast.

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But as many of you know,
because you actually listen to this podcast,

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you know, we have been spending
a lot of time talking about the Book

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of Proverbs. It all started.
It was so simple, right, Proverbs,

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chapter one, verse one, the
Proverbs of Solomon. So I asked

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just a very simple in a question, why Solomon? And then we have

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spent hour after hour looking at all
of the complexities and contradictions in Solomon.

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All of the he has wisdom,
but he's he's the most extravagant fool we've

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ever encountered anywhere in the entire Bible. It's absolutely crazy. And we looked

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at some of the you know,
David giving him, he kill these people,

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and then Solomon killing these people,
and then Solomon killing his half brothren.

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All the things Solomon did, it's
just absolutely crazy. So we did

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a lot of work on that,
and we found ourselves with a little bit

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of difficulty. Right, well,
wait a minute, that if Solomon is

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wise, and if we define wisdom
as the correct application or the right application

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of knowledge, well Solomon did not
have the right application of knowledge. He

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did everything opposite too, So then
do we redefine wisdom? And so on

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Sunday we spent over an hour an
hour and nine minutes possibly redefining wisdom or

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limiting the wisdom that Solomon received.
I thought that was an interesting discussion.

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We put forth a very interesting hypotheses, and then we worked to try to

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challenge, to try to find an
answer for it. Hopefully you found that

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to be beneficial. I know it's
not the way typically people would handle this

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subject, but that's been the you
know, this podcast has never done things

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the way everyone else does them.
And you know what, I don't apologize

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for that because you've got you've got
millions of other podcasts, So why do

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you need all of them to sound
the same and do the same. So

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I think our approach was somewhat interesting. So we've been working in all of

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that, and then yesterday I said, okay, for this entire week,

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what we are going to work on
is really this very important phrase, the

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fear of the Lord. The fear
of the Lord. And I gave you

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some very specific things to work on. I gave you some questions to answer,

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and you can go listen to that
yesterday. It all starts with fear,

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and so we that's that's what we
are supposed to be working on.

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So this morning I thought, you
know what, I told everyone to start

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looking up sermons on the fear of
the Lord. Let me look up a

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sermon. I got one cueued up, and I'm like, okay, let's

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do a review. And then I
realized, wait a minute, this is

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going to take like five hours.
I don't know if I have five hours

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of broadcasting today that I don't know
if I have five hours I can dedicate

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to broadcasting today. So let me
get back to that. So I was

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just sitting here and looking at the
Book of Proverbs. Okay, rights,

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it's all about Proverbs. It's really
it's becoming the Summer of Proverbs. It's

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really what has kind of happened,
you know, inadvertently, this is kind

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of where we've ended up. We've
done this in the past, and now

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we're doing it again. Like we're
going to focus on proverbs, right,

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So I'm just sitting here looking at
Proverbs one seven. The fear of the

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Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning

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of knowledge. I'm sitting here thinking
about it. I'm thinking about some of

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the questions I gave everyone to answer. I got a notebook out, started

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thinking about the connection between the fear
of the Lord and knowledge, fear of

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the Lord and wisdom again, some
of the questions I gave you yesterday to

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work on. And then I just
looked down at the next part. The

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fear of the Lord is the beginning
of knowledge. But all right, okay,

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And contrast to the fear of the
Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

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And contrast to that. But fools, And I'm like, oh, okay,

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I know I need to be working
on the fear of the Lord,

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but let me let me spend a
little time this morning, the little time

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I have to broadcast. Let's do
this. This is the next part of

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this versus. But fools, well, what is a fool? What is

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a ful? Let's define what it
is to be a fool. Let's define

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that, right, because look,
the goal, I mean, the idea

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here is we don't want to be
the ful. We don't want to be

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and you know what it's. It's
it's usually we're very good at seeing foolishness.

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We're very good at identifying the full
goals all around us. But when

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you wake up in the morning,
I'm assuming at some point you look into

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a mirror, when you see that
person in the mirror, are you good

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at going, that's a fool right
there, right there is a fool.

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Are you better at identifying foolishness and
everyone else? Are you better at identifying

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the foolishness in yourself? Now?
A lot of times we can have some

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very some very questionable motives when we
decide we're gonna we're gonna study what a

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fool is because we already have someone
in mind, right, we already have

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someone in mind that we're like,
oh, I'm gonna talk about what a

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fool is because I hope they fear. I mean, a pastor can stand

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behind the pulpit and he's thinking,
man, there are some fools in this

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congregation, and so I'm going to
define what a fool is, so hopefully

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they'll see their own foolishness and they'll
be convicted by it, and then I

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will stop having to suffer the consequences
of having a fool in this church.

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Oh, I know you're gonna say
pastors would never do that. Oh,

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yes, they do, Okay,
because you sometimes realize, man, that

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person is such a fool. Look, sometimes people contact me and I get

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tired of their foolishness. So it
could be easy for me to turn on

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this microphone and going, you know
what. I hope that person hears this

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and they see how foolish they are. But see, if I'm doing that,

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then I'm doing it all for the
wrong reasons. Right. What I

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need to be more concerned with is
am I a fool? In the foolishness

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in me? Now? I know? See, I know the right thing,

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But I have a hard time.
So let's what I'm gonna try to

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get you to do right now.
Okay, now I know, I know.

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Okay, where's your husband? Where's
your husband? Okay, let's not

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worry about how foolish he is?
Hey, where's your wife? No?

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No, no, no, no, no, no, don't worry about

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how foolish theyre. No no.
Do you hear your kids somewhere in the

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background. No no, no,
don't worry about how foolish they are.

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No no, no. Are you
at work right now looking across the office

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and you're like, Man, that
person needs to hear this, because that's

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the biggest fool I have ever worked
with him. No no, are you

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driving your car right now? Seeing
the car in front of you going That

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guy is a complete fool. I
need to catch up to him and tell

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me to listen to this. Okay, no, stop no, stop worrying

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about everyone else. Okay, and
I'm saying that more to me than to

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you. But are you ready?
Let's do kind of like a morning devotional.

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Well, we consider what a fool
is. If we just look up

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a dictionary definition of what it is
to be a fool, or what a

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fool is. A dictionary definition gives
us something like this. A fool a

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person who acts unwisely or imprudently,
A silly person. So a person who

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acts unwisely, a person who acts
unwisely. Now, this goes back to

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how this all started. The proverbs
of Solomon. Well, if there was

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ever a man who acted unwisely,
it would be Solomon. Again, I

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continue to refer to the Book of
Proverbs. The Book of Wisdom was written

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by a man who was the most
extravagant full in the history of scripture.

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I mean, it's insane how unwise
he was, over and over and over

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and over again. Okay, so, but we've been working on that problem.

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But against in how I'm focusing on
Solomon. Let me say this.

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If Solomon was the author of a
book about wisdom who was the most extravagant

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fool, well, guess what I
come along and say, Hey, Solomon,

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just take a break, because I'm
going to try to take on the

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title of the most extravagant fool,
and I'm going to be the reader of

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this book. So maybe the reason
I turned to Proverbs sometimes I won't say

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all the time. It's not my
favorite book by any means. Leviticus is

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my favorite book. But I returned
to Proverbs because I don't like being an

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extra ravagant full even though I know
that I am. I'm not to Solomon's

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level only because the only reason I'm
not at Solomon's level is because I don't

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have the means that Solomon had.
If I had the means that he had,

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I probably could put Solomon to shame. All right, But so a

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fool is a person who acts unwisely
or imprudently. They're not very prudent.

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They're not they don't really think it
through. They they are silly, all

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right, that that's kind of just
your normal definition. But I'm like,

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okay, well, we're working on
the Book of Proverbs. So the Book

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of Proverbs provides several descriptions and characteristics
of a full So I'm gonna challenge you

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to write some of these down,
set them on the refrigerator today. Now,

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yeah, it's perfectly okay if everyone
else sees them. But when you

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go to the refrigerator, because I'm
sure you will open and in a number

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of times today, maybe you can
take a second, just a second,

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to just look at those descriptions and
characteristics of a fool that comes from the

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Book of Proverbs. All right,
So here are some of the key aspects

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that define a fool according to the
Book of Proverbs. Who're going to keep

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this self contained in the Book of
Proverbs? Are you ready? Right?

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The first characteristic, the first characteristic. The first really descriptor of a ful

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is someone who rejects wisdom. The
full is characterized by rejecting wisdom and understanding.

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And we see this right here in
Proverbs chapter one, verse seven,

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were where I you know, this
is what led to me doing this this

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morning. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge. Okay,

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so that's what you're supposed to be
working on. But it is impossible for

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me not to read the next part. So the fear of the Lord is

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the beginning of knowledge. Right,
So if you fear God knowledge, okay,

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how are those connected? You're supposed
to be working on that, but

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are there? We go? In
contrast to that, fools despise wisdom and

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instruction. A fool is characterized by
rejecting wisdom and understanding. They reject it.

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They don't like it. They don't
want wisdom, they don't want to

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understand. They don't truly want to
understand. They may pretend they do,

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but they don't really want wisdom,
they don't really want understanding. And I

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think typically not I could be wrong
here, because you could ask yourself.

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I think we could ask ourselves a
question here, Why would a fool despise

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wisdom and instruction? Why would a
fool despise wisdom and instruction? Why would

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a full reject wisdom and instruction?
Who would reject wisdom and instruction? Don't

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everyone want wisdom and instruction? What
is it that makes a fool not want

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wisdom and instruction? What do you
think the answer is? Come on?

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What is it? What is the
answer. There's a person and they don't

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want wisdom and they don't want instruction. What is the reason. I'm going

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to put forth hypotheses here you can
test it today. I think a fool

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despises wisdom and instruction because the fool
does not perceive they need wisdom and instruction,

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or we just state it this way. A fool despises wisdom and instruction

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because they believe they already have the
right wisdom and the right knowledge. They

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don't need your wisdom instruction. They
reject wisdom and instruction because they disagree with

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it. They don't like it.
They don't like what is said, so

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they get mad at it. They
reject it, they push back against it.

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I think there's two possible reasons a
full despises wisdom and instruction. One,

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they're so full of themselves, they
don't perceive a need for any other

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wisdom or instruction because they know everything. Or number two, they just don't

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like what that wisdom and instruction is
saying, so they reject it. So

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really, what it comes down to
is the full is prideful and only wants

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things there. Well, I think
maybe it's pride. Maybe we could just

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reduce it down to pride if we
want to simplify it. But I think

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there's two motivations. You're not going
to accept wisdom and instruction because you already

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think you know everything. You're full
of yourself. You cannot pour water into

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a full glass. Try it.
Take a glass full of water, right,

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and then try to pour water into
it. It just flows over the

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top. You can't get any more
new water in, right, because it

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just splashes over the side. Right. You can't do it. It's full

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of itself. So for a person
to true to truly embrace wisdom and understanding

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or instruction, For a person to
truly embrace wisdom and instruction, they have

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to be an empty glass. You
have to empty that glass of yourself of

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what you think. This is something
I constantly try to do here on this

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podcast. I always tell everyone that, like, one of the prerequisites of

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good to be a good Bible student
is you have to empty yourself of everything

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you've learned in the past. If
you show up thinking, hey, everything

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I've learned in the past about this
text or about this doctrine is right,

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well, then there's no room for
any look, there's no point in getting

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any more instruction. So guess what
people do that don't look for any instruction

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except the instruction that already agrees with
their past understanding, and anything that goes

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against that past understanding they immediately reject
because they're so full of themselves. They're

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so full of of a presupposition that's
not being teachable. Every time you open

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the Bible, the first thing you
have to do is like, hey,

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where you go. I'm going outside? Why? Because I gotta empty out

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the glass. I'm gonna I'm gonna
go empty this in the yard right now.

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I sometimes say I sometimes use this
illustration. It's much more graphic and

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sometimes offends people, but I'm like, hey, all of your past learning,

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all of your presuppositions. That's like
your favorite pet, Fluffy, and

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you love Fluffy, and you hold
on tight to Fluffy and you pet Fluffy,

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oh a Fluffy, because that's your
past understanding. So you think you

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already know everything. You're smart,
you're brilliant. But you know what has

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to happen before we can do this
Bible study. We have to take Fluffy

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out behind the church and we've got
to put Fluffy down. Fluffy has to

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die. I know that sounds extreme. I'm not talking about a real animal.

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I'm talking a metaphorical illustration, allegorical
situation. Fluffy has to go because

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then your past understanding is of no
present value when you open the Bible today.

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Your past studies are irrelevant when you
study the text today. If all

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you do is bring the past with
you, then you can't learn anything else.

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You're like, I already know this, I already know this. Oh

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wait, woa no no no,
no, no, no, no no

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no, that's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. That's wrong. That's

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wrong. And typically when people start
arguing with you, what do they do?

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They cut and pay something they found
on the internet. They cut and

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pay something from a book by MacArthur
or R. C. Sproull or whoever

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their favorite breed. They go to
a commentary, they just cut and paste

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from their favorite pastors in the past. Rarely do they engage in meaningful let's

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just discuss the text. They go
run to their favorite ministry or favorite theologian

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and then they quote that. So
a lot of times what I try to

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say is no, no, no, no no, before we argue,

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Okay, here's what we have to
study, here's what we have to figure

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out. And it may take us. It may be may feel that it's

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redundant, you may feel like it's
ridiculous, but we may spend six months

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looking up everywhere in the Bible that
uses this one word and see and see

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what conclusion we come to. We're
not going to rely on what anybody else

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said. So I think the full
rejects wisdom and instruction because they're so full

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of maybe themselves, or they're past
understanding, or they just don't like what

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it says. Here's wisdom and instruction, and just look, we have to

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be prepared that there's going to be
plenty of times that the wisdom and instruction

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we encounter, the wisdom and instruction
that we are presented, is going to

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go against what we want and what
we like. How do you respond when

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you're confronted with wisdom and instruction that
you don't like. How do you respond

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to that? I think, I
think that's a very important question. So

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I think it can be you're you're
full of yourself, and you just you

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can't hear, you can't be taught
anything else because you're so full of yourself.

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Are you full of your past understanding? Or you just don't like what

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is said. Maybe there's three things. You're so full of yourself you can't

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listen to anybody else, You're so
full of your past understanding, you can't

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hear anything else, or you don't
like what you hear. So you're,

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in a sense you're so full of
yourself. But the full will reject wisdom

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and instruction. They will reject it. That's number one. So when it

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comes to you, how good are
you are you teachable? How teachable are

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you? How quick are you to
push back when you don't like something?

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How much do you rely on your
past understanding for your present? Study Number

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two? So there's number one.
It rejects wisdom and instruction. Number two

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locks discernment. A full locks discernment
and the ability to make wise decision.

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Look at Proverbs chapter ten. Proverbs
Chapter ten, Verse twenty three, Proverbs,

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chapter ten, verse twenty three.
But to do evil is like sport

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to a full, but a man
of understanding has wisdom. To do evil

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is likes a sport to a full, but a man of understanding has wisdom.

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A full locks discernment and the ability
to make wise decisions. A full

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finds pleasure and wicked schemes, but
a person of understanding delights in wisdom.

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So a full locks discernment and the
ability to make wise decisions. You just

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cannot, and you do not make
wise decisions. So, in this particular

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passage, to do evil is a
sport to a full. That's what they

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just will go. They don't think
about it. It's just like a sport.

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It's fun. They lack any ability
to discern or think about it.

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It's just like I'm gonna say this, I'm gonna do this. I'm not

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gonna really discern anything here. Now, that's translated in different ways, in

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different translations. In fact, if
I look at Proverbs ten twenty three,

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let me just look it up this
way, I'm gonna give you some different

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translations here. See how many different
ways it's stated. Proverbs ten twenty three.

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A full finds pleasure in wicked schemes. But a person of understanding delights

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and wisdom. See a person of
understanding a person who's not a full,

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they delight in wisdom, where the
full just finds pleasure in wicked schemes.

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They don't think about it. They
just move forward. They don't discern,

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They don't think, what is this
good or is this bad? They just

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all they care about it's the pleasure. They don't think. They just do

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whatever they feel new living translation,
doing wrong is fun for a fool,

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but living wisely brings pleasure to the
sensible the ESV. Doing wrong is like

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a joke to a fool, But
wisdom is pleasure. But rein study Bible,

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the full delights in shameful conduct,
But a man of understanding has wisdom.

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Now that one may not be as
clear as the first one. But

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a fool just does not think.
Let's think of it this way. A

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fool rejects wisdom and understanding for a
lot of the reasons I've already given you.

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I'm not gonna go back and repeat
all of them because it'll become repetitive.

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But the second thing is a fool
just locks discernment. A fool is

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going to act not based off right
wrong, this consideration, this consideration.

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A fool will just go with what
feels good, what it's fun, what

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is pleasurable, what they desire.
Their desire will trump any they will will

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trump anything else. They're not going
to really get much thought to any other

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consideration. I think that makes I
think that makes some sense. All right,

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So number one rejects wisdom and understanding. Number two locks discernment. Now

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by all means, I'm just giving
you some basic scriptures. You can look

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up other scriptures that may better state
these. All right. Remember my goal

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always and everything I do is not
to always give you all the answers,

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but to get you involved, to
get you to go pursue answers. Okay,

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So number one rejects wisdom and instruction. Number two locks discernment, time

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and time again. You and I
act in a way that's motivated by desire,

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feeling, and emotion, not discernment. What motivates your actions, What

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motivates your words? What motivates them? What motivates your words and your actions

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the most? Is it discernment or
is it desire? Emotion, feeling?

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It is hard to go who whoa
whoa whoa? Whoa? Whoa? Whoa?

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Whoa whoa? I want I'm going
to do this, And what is

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motivating me is this desire, not
discernment. Oh I do that all the

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time. Oh all the time.
I act my motiva. Though, what

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motivates me is rarely discernment, rarely
discernment. I mean, come on,

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we act out of feeling, out
of emotion, out of whatever mood we

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are in, and then we'll blame
it on Well, I'm tired, or

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I'm hungry, or I'm stressed out
or I'm frustrated. Right, well,

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no discernment, says who whoa whoa? Whoa? Whoa whoa. Take into

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consideration all of those emotions. But
now you need to discern what you're about

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to say or what you're about to
do. It is very difficult to do

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that because we're typically just driven by
our base impulses. So number one reject

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wisdom instruction. Number two act or
basically lacks discernment, or acts without discer

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or. Our actions are motivated by
something other than discernment. You could write

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that down a number of different ways. I think that captures the essence a

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little bit more. Proverbs ten twenty
three. Is it's not Maybe it's not.

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Well, I can make it work. I'm not super happy with that

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verse. We probably could do better. But that's good. That gives you

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a chance to consider it. Put
it this way, there's plenty examples of

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people in the Bible who act well
based off something of some other motivation other

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than discernment. And we can find
millions of examples of that. So can

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I, so can you. And
we don't even need to find people in

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the Bible. We can look to
our own lives. Right number three speaks

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without thinking. Fools are hasty in
their speech and do not carefully consider their

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words. Look at Proverbs chapter eighteen. Proverbs chapter eighteen, verse two.

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A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.

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A fool has no delight in understanding
something. No, no, he just

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wants to express what he feels,
what is in his own heart. This

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is kind of like the lack of
discernment. This continues with it. If

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you don't like discernment, you speak
without thinking, you act so a lack

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of discernment. You act without thinking, You act based off your feelings and

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emotions. And guess what then,
You speak without thinking. You speak based

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off what you feel, what you
may think. You're not really considering anything.

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It's just whatever your opinion is.
And guess what you know? How

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that shows up? You just make
claims that you don't even know what you're

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talking. You'll tell someone you didn't
feel this, you didn't feel. Who

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are you to tell someone what they
feel or don't feel? Who are you?

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How can you tell someone what they
fool of defail? Do you think

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you're God? You just speak,
You don't think about you don't think about

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what you actually know. You just
start making claims. You start making accusations,

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you start making You just start going
after things. You and in many

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cases you say things that can be
easily proved that you don't know what you're

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talking about. But that doesn't stop
the full. Fools are hasty in their

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speech and do not carefully consider their
words again Proverbs eighteen to two. Fools

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find no pleasure in understanding, but
delight and airing their own opinions. I

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love that translation. Fools find no
pleasure in understanding, but delight in airing

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their own opinions. Now we're all
guilty of that, right, we're all

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Now everyone has an opinion, but
you've got to be very careful to when

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you state an opinion, like my
opinion is this, this is how I

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think. Right. It's one thing
to state it as an opinion. It's

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another thing to state it as this
is the way it is because I know.

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And the most important thing is you
speak without thinking when you start speaking

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about people and you're telling people what
their motives are or what they feel,

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things that you cannot in any way, shape or form know unless you're inside

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a person. Clearly, now you're
acting as a fool. Now you're clearly

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speaking as a fool. Or if
you start speaking about something that clearly you

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don't have a clue what you are
talking about, when someone can go you

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obviously don't know this subject. You
obviously have no clue. You obviously have

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no understanding on this topic. And
that can be very first, right,

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especially when you're dealing in theological world
or world of hermoneutics or any areas of

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theology. Someone will start saying something. You'll be like, what are you

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talking about? What are you talking
about? I know? You find out

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that person's never even been a seminary, never been to Bible college, never

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been anywhere. Now That doesn't mean
they can't have an opinion, but that

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person needs to acknowledge. Well,
wait a minute, I may not know

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about this particular subject because this is
not my area of expertise, like when

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it comes to areas of theology and
hermoneutics and church history and those areas well.

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I feel like I can speak somewhat
authoritative and dogmatically because I've spent my

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entire adult life going to school,
Bible college, whatever, seminary, Bible

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institute, any place I could go
to gain understand So I feel like I

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can be somewhat dogmatic about that.
But there's other areas I have to be

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like, I don't have a I'd
be fool to act like I know.

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We got to stop and think about
what we know, what we don't know.

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We have to stop and think about
am I am I really? Am

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I really thinking this through? Am
I being careful with my words? A

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fool finds no pleasure in the understanding
you know why? A full you know

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what I like to say, Fools, in many cases have no pleasure in

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actually doing the work in which to
obtain said knowledge. They just delight in

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airing their own thoughts. I mean, if you've ever been a Bible teacher,

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you know, people will come up
to you and argue and argue and

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argue and argue, and most of
the cases they won't go do the work.

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Like and for this podcast, I
always get people these like even with

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proverbs, have given assignments, Go
do this, go do this, work

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00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.519
on this, work on that,
figure out this, figure out that.

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A lot of times people will will
email me and immediately want to argue.

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Guess what they don't guess what they
don't do. They don't turn in the

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00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:00.720
work. I don't get an email
first going here, here's all of my

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00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:03.079
work. I've answered this question,
this question, here's my work, here's

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00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:07.279
the sources I've used. Boom.
Now, I would like to discuss that

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00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:14.799
my work demonstrates to me that your
hypotheses is wrong. No, they just

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skip the work and go, you're
an idiot, you're a fool, you

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don't know what you're talking about.
Well, wow, it must be it

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00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:25.519
must be easy to just skip the
work. I've seen that as a pastor,

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you're literally in the middle of a
sermon that you've spent all week working

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on, and sometimes they'll start arguing
with you in the middle of a sermon.

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Or as soon as the sermon is
over, they'll start arguing with you

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and you're like, okay, okay, well how about you go look this

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00:30:41.599 --> 00:30:44.039
up or go do this or do
this work, or do this work.

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And they won't come back with a
notebook showing you they did all the work.

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No, they come back ready to
tell you that you're wrong. And

398
00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:53.160
guess what they do. They share
their own opinions, not or they show

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00:30:53.240 --> 00:30:59.279
up with some things and cut and
pasted from the internet or from some their

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00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:03.279
favorite book. They went home and
found a book that agreed with them.

401
00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:08.480
That's not thinking. That's going back
to why you reject wisdom and understanding because

402
00:31:08.519 --> 00:31:17.200
you're using your past understanding in the
present. Fools are hasty in their speech.

403
00:31:18.720 --> 00:31:22.960
They do not consider their words.
They find no pleasure in understanding.

404
00:31:22.039 --> 00:31:29.440
They delight in airing their own opinions. Now, as someone who sits in

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00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:33.720
front of a microphone, I have
to in many cases share my opinion.

406
00:31:33.319 --> 00:31:37.839
Now, what I have to be
careful with is what I try to do.

407
00:31:37.880 --> 00:31:40.839
If anyone's listened to me for any
length of time, I love to

408
00:31:40.839 --> 00:31:45.799
say, okay, were listening to
this, this is their hypotheses. Now

409
00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:48.960
we're gonna I disagree with it,
and we're gonna challenge it, and we're

410
00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:51.799
gonna work it out now. It
doesn't always happen in the first broadcast.

411
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:55.839
Sometimes in the second, third,
or fourth broadcast will take this is what

412
00:31:55.960 --> 00:31:57.599
they claimed, and then we go
work on it and work on it,

413
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:01.200
and work on it and work on
it. Work on it now. Yes,

414
00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:07.400
if it's I have strong opinions obviously
with anything related to charismatic theology,

415
00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:10.920
because I've stated it a million times. I rejected outright, it's heretical,

416
00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:15.240
it's foolish. I don't even believe
it should be considered biblical Christianity. I

417
00:32:15.240 --> 00:32:19.519
got no apology for that because I
only need to have been teaching about charismatic

418
00:32:19.599 --> 00:32:22.880
theology my whole life. So that's
the again, based off years and years

419
00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:27.240
of study, and just you know, I don't know reality. Okay,

420
00:32:27.400 --> 00:32:32.119
So so yeah, but we have
to be careful, all right. So

421
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:37.359
Number one a full rejects wisdom and
understanding. Number two lacks discernment, speaks

422
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:44.559
without thinking. Number four leads to
harm. The actions and words of a

423
00:32:44.599 --> 00:32:50.880
fool often leads to harm, both
to themselves and others. Look at Proverbs

424
00:32:50.920 --> 00:32:59.960
fourteen. Proverbs fourteen, verse sixteen. Proverbs fourteen sixteen. A wise man

425
00:33:00.119 --> 00:33:07.240
fears and departs from evil, but
a full rages and is self confident.

426
00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:13.519
A wise man fears and departs from
evil, but a fool rages and is

427
00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:20.000
self confident. All right, the
actions and words of a fool often leads

428
00:33:20.039 --> 00:33:22.680
to harm, but to themselves,
not only to themselves, but to others.

429
00:33:23.039 --> 00:33:27.680
Proverbs fourteen sixteen. Here's another translation. The wise fear the lord and

430
00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:34.920
shun evil, but a fool is
hot headed and yet feel secure. Read

431
00:33:34.960 --> 00:33:40.720
it from this translation, A ful
rages and is self confident. They just

432
00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:45.640
rage, they're self confident, and
guess what that hurts other people. Now

433
00:33:45.640 --> 00:33:49.079
again, you could find some verses
that probably describe how fools can hurt other

434
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:53.480
people. But when someone is just
raging and self confident, they've rejected wisdom

435
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:59.279
and understanding, they lack discernment,
they speak without thinking, and that there's

436
00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:06.519
going to lead to harm. They're
gonna hurt people, they're gonna make accusations,

437
00:34:06.839 --> 00:34:09.039
they're going to attack people, and
they just rage, and they're gonna

438
00:34:09.039 --> 00:34:13.440
be self confident in it, and
they don't care, they won't listen.

439
00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:15.119
They're just gonna attack, attack,
attack, hurt, hurt, hurt,

440
00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:24.800
hurt, hurt. Now, in
theilological circles, that's very easy to do.

441
00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:35.199
That's very easy to do because when
in philological circles, Look when as

442
00:34:35.360 --> 00:34:39.079
within Christianity, there's these things we
call we call it doctrine or theology.

443
00:34:39.400 --> 00:34:45.360
Right, there's theological systems, there's
doctrines. We believe these theologies or doctrines

444
00:34:45.400 --> 00:34:47.440
are right, and we believe others
are wrong. Right, this is all

445
00:34:47.480 --> 00:34:52.440
throughout the Bible. Right, the
Bible refers to some people as false teachers,

446
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.400
that they are to be condemned,
they're false doctrines, are to be

447
00:34:55.480 --> 00:35:00.800
condemned. If anyone preaches any other
gospel than the one and that's received,

448
00:35:00.880 --> 00:35:05.920
they are anathema. So within theology, there is a sense where you are

449
00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:09.880
going to to rage and you're gonna
feel somewhat self secure because you're gonna believe

450
00:35:10.079 --> 00:35:15.199
my theology is right and their theology
is wrong, and you're literally condemned.

451
00:35:15.199 --> 00:35:19.719
You're literally commanded to speak against a
false doctrine and condemn it, or you're

452
00:35:19.760 --> 00:35:22.119
not doing your job as a good
teacher. You've got to say this is

453
00:35:22.199 --> 00:35:25.719
false, and this is true.
So but you've got to be very careful.

454
00:35:25.719 --> 00:35:30.480
When you're raging and you feel self
secure, You've got to, first

455
00:35:30.519 --> 00:35:31.880
of all, go back to what
I've said, you gotta leave. You

456
00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:36.480
got to lay aside your previous understanding
whenever you study, so that you can

457
00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:39.000
be corrected and you can receive wisdom
and instruction. You don't want to be

458
00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:43.719
so full of your past understanding.
So we've already talked about talked about that.

459
00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:45.440
We've got to be very careful,
right. We need discernment, We

460
00:35:45.519 --> 00:35:49.599
have to be able to discern.
We gotta we gotta really think before we

461
00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:53.519
speak. But here's what we have
to do. The way we can try

462
00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:58.760
to in a sense speak, and
we got to not We got to make

463
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:01.639
sure we're not raging in self confidence. We got to make sure we think

464
00:36:01.679 --> 00:36:05.800
this through. I think this is
something important. What we have to try

465
00:36:05.840 --> 00:36:14.599
to do is draw a distinction between
the theology and the people. Now,

466
00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:16.800
I say this all the time.
I struggle with this sometimes, right,

467
00:36:16.960 --> 00:36:22.239
well, mainly with charismatics, right, because I cannot stand charismatic theology,

468
00:36:22.360 --> 00:36:24.920
and I believe the destruction and the
pain and the suffering of its cause is

469
00:36:24.960 --> 00:36:29.679
flat out straight up evil, right, I can't stand it. So when

470
00:36:29.719 --> 00:36:34.920
I go after, you know,
unless I'm gonna speak against Bethel or some

471
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:39.920
of the other charismatics or you know, the New Apostolic Reformation, whatever movement

472
00:36:39.960 --> 00:36:43.760
I'm gonna go after, whichever part
of I mean. To me, it's

473
00:36:43.760 --> 00:36:47.159
all charismatic theology. Some people like
to make distinctions. To me, it's

474
00:36:47.239 --> 00:36:54.000
just all a cancer. I got
to be very careful to attack the theology

475
00:36:54.119 --> 00:37:00.320
and not the people. And that
can be hard to do. That can

476
00:37:00.360 --> 00:37:02.519
be very hard to do, right
like, because that's the people who teach

477
00:37:02.519 --> 00:37:07.000
it. But it's but it's always
you're always much safer to go. Look.

478
00:37:07.039 --> 00:37:09.480
Look, I'm not focusing on the
person. Here's the issue. Here's

479
00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:15.400
the doctrine. Here's the theology that
is absolutely wrong. The theology needs to

480
00:37:15.440 --> 00:37:19.760
be wiped off the face of the
earth. The theology needs to be eradicated.

481
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:23.000
Now now I'm gonna I'm gonna be
in a sense raging right against it,

482
00:37:23.039 --> 00:37:25.920
and I'm gonna be somewhat self secure. So there's gonna be a little

483
00:37:25.920 --> 00:37:29.559
bit of this where it can be
dangerously foolish. Now, what I would

484
00:37:29.599 --> 00:37:31.159
have to do is, each time
I study these issues, once again,

485
00:37:31.199 --> 00:37:37.039
set aside my past understanding to study
it new again. But I have to

486
00:37:37.159 --> 00:37:40.599
keep it focused on the theology,
and I try to do that constantly on

487
00:37:40.639 --> 00:37:45.159
this broadcast. You hear me do
that all the time. Right, Okay,

488
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:47.239
look, guys, let's forget this. Let's forget the person attached to

489
00:37:47.280 --> 00:37:51.639
this. I don't care if it's
MacArthur or I don't care if it's someone

490
00:37:51.760 --> 00:37:54.920
that would be much more on my
side or someone be absolutely against my side.

491
00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:59.440
Okay, let's let's not make it
about them. Here's their hypotheses,

492
00:37:59.719 --> 00:38:06.880
here their position. Now I can
just with reckless upbandon attack the theology and

493
00:38:06.960 --> 00:38:10.360
attack because now I'm attacking a theology, a doctorate. I'm not attacking a

494
00:38:10.400 --> 00:38:15.159
person, and I can rip it
apart. I can mock that theology.

495
00:38:15.239 --> 00:38:21.199
I can be sarcastic because I'm not
talking about a person. Now, when

496
00:38:21.199 --> 00:38:27.519
it comes to the person, you
have to have a different approach. In

497
00:38:27.519 --> 00:38:30.840
fact, I've condemned when people make
it too personal. Right, I'll never

498
00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:37.000
forget. I think it was Rick
Warren, his son committed suicide. I

499
00:38:37.039 --> 00:38:40.119
turned on the microphone and I said, man, this is a sad day.

500
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:45.679
Suicide is a horrible thing. I
just pray for the family and I

501
00:38:45.719 --> 00:38:50.079
got all kinds of emails, people
attacking me, like how dare you?

502
00:38:51.239 --> 00:38:53.760
It's Rick Warren's theology is what led
to his son's death, and you're like,

503
00:38:53.800 --> 00:38:57.679
what in the world is this going? And people got furious at me.

504
00:38:57.719 --> 00:38:59.480
I'm like, whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa. I got no

505
00:38:59.559 --> 00:39:02.559
problem. I'm attacking maybe the theology
or something Rick Warren has written, or

506
00:39:02.599 --> 00:39:08.440
his concepts about how to do church. I got no problem. But that's

507
00:39:08.519 --> 00:39:13.920
that's going after his ideology. I
don't go after the person because his son

508
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:20.840
committed suicide. Who does that?
And there's been times where pastors who I

509
00:39:21.119 --> 00:39:27.519
strongly disagree with have found themselves in
all kinds of problems or difficulties or scandal.

510
00:39:27.559 --> 00:39:30.159
I don't go kick them when they're
down. I typically I'm like,

511
00:39:30.159 --> 00:39:31.480
whoa, wha, whoa, Hey, let's back off here, right,

512
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:36.280
let's this is not a time now. I still got no problem condemning the

513
00:39:36.280 --> 00:39:50.239
theology. So there's it's it's hard
to find that distinction and to articulate it

514
00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:53.679
correctly. Even when I do sermon
reviews. Usually by the time I get

515
00:39:53.719 --> 00:39:57.639
done with the Suermary review, if
it's turned in very negative, I'm always

516
00:39:57.639 --> 00:40:00.480
like Okay, guys, let's remember, let's remember this is not about this

517
00:40:00.599 --> 00:40:02.719
church, it's not about this pastor. It's about the idea. They put

518
00:40:02.760 --> 00:40:07.239
forth, this idea, they put
it online. Now we're taking the idea.

519
00:40:07.360 --> 00:40:10.800
Now, we may utterly destroy their
concepts or their ideas, we may

520
00:40:10.920 --> 00:40:15.960
utterly annihilate the concept, but it
has nothing to do with the person.

521
00:40:15.199 --> 00:40:23.039
And people have a hard time drawing
that distinction. So we don't we we

522
00:40:24.000 --> 00:40:29.960
in some ways Christianity makes us hot
headed and we rage, and we're self

523
00:40:30.000 --> 00:40:34.800
secure because every Christian thinks they're right
in their doctrine. Every Christian thinks they're

524
00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:37.320
right. They think they're understanding of
the Gospels right, they're understanding of baptism

525
00:40:37.400 --> 00:40:40.280
is right. And when you think
yours is right, than anyone who differs

526
00:40:40.280 --> 00:40:45.039
with you, you disagree with I
mean, that's literally theology is based on

527
00:40:45.199 --> 00:40:51.480
screaming other people are wrong. The
entire Protestant Reformation was all the Catholics is

528
00:40:51.480 --> 00:40:54.039
wrong, The entire Catholic Church is
wrong. We are right, and so

529
00:40:54.400 --> 00:40:58.400
Catholics are going to hell because they
have a false gospel. And Catholics would

530
00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:00.639
say, no, you're going to
help because you have a false Guss.

531
00:41:00.679 --> 00:41:02.679
Well, but because there can only
be one understanding of the gospel, that's

532
00:41:02.760 --> 00:41:07.559
right. There can't be fifty right, So I mean on and on and

533
00:41:07.599 --> 00:41:12.320
on and on and on and on. So there's a little bit of this

534
00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:19.440
where where again the text And I
know I almost want to use a different

535
00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:22.400
verse, but I think this is
simple. A wise man fears and departs

536
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:29.119
from evil, but a full rages
and is self confident. There's going to

537
00:41:29.159 --> 00:41:30.639
be a little bit of that.
There's a little bit of that built into

538
00:41:30.719 --> 00:41:37.840
Christianity. So how do we draw
that distinction. Well, we don't want

539
00:41:37.840 --> 00:41:45.400
to harm people, but we want
to harm the theology. But we don't

540
00:41:45.400 --> 00:41:47.360
want to be so self confident that
we can't learn. So we got to

541
00:41:47.400 --> 00:41:51.760
always set aside our past understanding when
whenever we study in the presence. So

542
00:41:52.199 --> 00:41:55.719
a fool is someone who rejects wisdom, who lacks discernment, who speaks without

543
00:41:55.800 --> 00:42:02.039
thinking, who leads to harm.
And then number five, So number one

544
00:42:02.159 --> 00:42:06.840
rejects wisdom, number two lacks discernment, number three speaks without thinking, Number

545
00:42:06.840 --> 00:42:13.480
four leads to harmon number five rejects
correction. Look at Proverbs twelve fifteen.

546
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:22.119
Proverbs twelve fifteen the way of the
fool is right in his own eyes,

547
00:42:22.519 --> 00:42:28.480
but he who heeds counsel is wise. A fool always thinks they're right.

548
00:42:29.119 --> 00:42:35.719
They cannot be corrected, they cannot
be corrected, and we're and this is

549
00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:38.599
difficult for all of us. Nobody
likes to be corrected. Nobody likes to

550
00:42:38.599 --> 00:42:45.519
say I would, I was,
I can't say it. Nobody likes to

551
00:42:45.559 --> 00:42:51.360
say that they were wrong. Fools
resist correction and refuses to learn from their

552
00:42:51.400 --> 00:42:54.039
mistakes. The way of a fool
seems right to them, but the wise

553
00:42:54.400 --> 00:43:07.559
listen to advice. How good are
you being corrected? How good are you

554
00:43:07.719 --> 00:43:19.519
being corrected? It's not easy.
Nobody likes it. Now there's correction,

555
00:43:19.920 --> 00:43:23.199
and then then there's people who just
make absolutely ridiculous claims and things that are

556
00:43:23.199 --> 00:43:29.440
not even anywhere remotely tied to reality. And you can easily go your accusation

557
00:43:29.519 --> 00:43:32.400
and your correction is based off a
complete mis understanding. So it doesn't mean

558
00:43:32.440 --> 00:43:37.920
you have to accept every correction,
because not all corrections are true, right,

559
00:43:37.159 --> 00:43:42.480
I mean, look, if you
reject Catholicism and their understanding of a

560
00:43:42.599 --> 00:43:46.519
justification based off an infused righteousness,
and you believe that that's completely false.

561
00:43:46.679 --> 00:43:50.880
Well, any correction to try to
correct you to come to their understanding of

562
00:43:51.039 --> 00:43:54.639
justification based off and infused righteousness versus
and imputed righteousness, well, you're not

563
00:43:54.679 --> 00:44:00.679
going to accept that correction. So
it's also hard to know, especially in

564
00:44:00.719 --> 00:44:05.400
theology theological circles, because we always
can render the Bible to somehow justify our

565
00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:07.679
actions. Right, everybody can render
the Bible and go, well, you

566
00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:09.440
should do this, and you should
do this, and I can go,

567
00:44:09.480 --> 00:44:14.280
well, I can turn three pages
over and say here's a complete opposite of

568
00:44:14.280 --> 00:44:16.760
what you just told me to do. You can say, well, you

569
00:44:16.800 --> 00:44:20.480
shouldn't do this. Well, I
can find you fifty examples of people who

570
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:23.039
did the exact very thing you're telling
me I shouldn't do. So everyone can

571
00:44:23.079 --> 00:44:28.639
render the Bible to find a little
bit of cover. That's always the danger

572
00:44:28.679 --> 00:44:32.960
of theology. Everyone uses the Bible
to justify their actions. The people who

573
00:44:32.960 --> 00:44:37.559
are very loving will use the Bible. The people who are very much more

574
00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:43.480
condemning and speaking out and correction,
they can find the Bible to prove their

575
00:44:43.519 --> 00:44:47.159
point. I mean, every doctrine
in theology uses the Bible. So this

576
00:44:47.239 --> 00:44:52.239
makes it very hard because again the
text says the way of a fool seems

577
00:44:52.320 --> 00:44:55.920
right in his own eyes. Well, every Christian thinks are right. You

578
00:44:55.960 --> 00:45:01.159
don't have a Christian going man.
I think those Presbyterians are right, but

579
00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:05.719
I'm gonna stay. A Baptist.
Oh, I think those Lutherans are right,

580
00:45:05.880 --> 00:45:08.920
but I'm gonna stay. I'm gonna
stay. You know, Assemblies of

581
00:45:08.960 --> 00:45:14.039
God. No, you think you're
right. You think they're wrong, because

582
00:45:14.039 --> 00:45:16.239
if you thought that they were right, you would stop being what you are

583
00:45:16.320 --> 00:45:21.400
and you go join them, and
then you would think you're right. Everyone

584
00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:24.000
thinks they're right. That's the thing
about Christianity. Not only do we think

585
00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:31.920
we right, we think God agrees
with us. So it's very hard.

586
00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:35.599
So I think what we have to
do is we all think we're right,

587
00:45:35.760 --> 00:45:38.360
but we have to at least be
willing to listen and to consider. And

588
00:45:38.400 --> 00:45:42.320
how do we do that? Go
back to number one. Don't be the

589
00:45:42.400 --> 00:45:47.639
fool who rejects wisdom and instruction based
off your past understanding. Don't rely on

590
00:45:47.719 --> 00:45:55.000
past understanding and presence study. Don't
reject wisdom and instruction simply because you already

591
00:45:55.000 --> 00:45:59.920
think you know everything. Don't reject
wisdom and instruction simply because you don't like

592
00:46:00.199 --> 00:46:10.079
what you hear, don't don't lack
discernment because you just run forth, acting

593
00:46:10.440 --> 00:46:14.920
upon what you feel and what you
think. You've got to be a person

594
00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:22.280
who actually thinks. They stop speaking
before you actually start thinking. Remember,

595
00:46:22.360 --> 00:46:24.880
sometimes our actions and our things can
actually harm people, and we have to

596
00:46:24.960 --> 00:46:30.159
see that. And we got we
cannot be the one to reject correction.

597
00:46:30.400 --> 00:46:32.679
In some ways, we're gonna reject
correction, right, We're going to because

598
00:46:32.679 --> 00:46:36.360
we think we're right. But we
got to be the least willing to consider

599
00:46:36.400 --> 00:46:38.320
hm, could I be wrong?
Now again, you can always run to

600
00:46:38.320 --> 00:46:47.480
the Bible to find justification for your
actions, but we can't reject correction when

601
00:46:47.480 --> 00:46:51.960
it's needed, when it when it
when it makes sense. And it can

602
00:46:52.000 --> 00:47:00.480
be very difficult to see that.
So the Book of Proverbs betray a fool,

603
00:47:00.280 --> 00:47:05.559
at least in part, as someone
who disregards wisdom, locks discernment,

604
00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:08.519
speaks without thinking, causing harm through
their actions and words, and rejects correction.

605
00:47:08.800 --> 00:47:13.400
The contrast between the fool and the
whys is a central theme throughout the

606
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:17.079
book, emphasizing the importance of seeking
knowledge, understanding, and following the way

607
00:47:17.199 --> 00:47:22.360
of wisdom. Now I've left you
with some kind of okay verses with those.

608
00:47:22.480 --> 00:47:25.199
What I want you to do is
write these down. Rejects wisdom and

609
00:47:25.280 --> 00:47:31.280
understanding, lacks discernment, speaks without
thinking, leads to harm, and rejects

610
00:47:31.320 --> 00:47:35.559
correction. I want you to then
write those five down and see if you

611
00:47:35.559 --> 00:47:38.519
can come up with better scriptures in
the Book of Proverbs that would fit those

612
00:47:38.599 --> 00:47:45.079
better. If you can email me
newsif a Yahoo dot com, that's the

613
00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:52.519
newsifit Yahoo dot com, and let
me know what you find. There's your

614
00:47:52.880 --> 00:47:59.280
very brief and quick morning devotion for
this Tuesday, June the eleventh, twenty

615
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:08.119
twenty four. All right, help
you find something positive in this. All

616
00:48:08.159 --> 00:48:12.000
we can do today is every day. Look, every day we're going to

617
00:48:12.079 --> 00:48:14.840
be foolish in some way, shape
or form. That's just the reality of

618
00:48:14.880 --> 00:48:19.280
it. The foolishness is be built
into us because of our human depravity,

619
00:48:19.440 --> 00:48:22.599
so it's always going to manifest itself
in some way. All we can do

620
00:48:22.679 --> 00:48:25.880
is try to be better at seeing
the foolishness in us before we see it

621
00:48:25.920 --> 00:48:30.199
in anyone else, and in doing
our best to try to acknowledge it and

622
00:48:30.239 --> 00:48:32.760
correct it. We're always going to
fall short. That's why we have to

623
00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:37.440
rely on Christ who well, he
is our wisdom. In a sense,

624
00:48:37.480 --> 00:48:40.599
he is wisdom for us. He
is wise, and he is not foolish,

625
00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.280
and our salvation is dependent upon him
and not us. But we need

626
00:48:45.280 --> 00:48:49.800
to try to see it. And
I can think about these all day and

627
00:48:50.079 --> 00:48:52.039
probably find one hundred ways in which
I'm guilty of all of them. So

628
00:48:52.159 --> 00:48:54.599
can you, though, see,
so don't worry about me, and I

629
00:48:54.639 --> 00:49:00.519
won't worry about you to worry about
ourselves. Thanks for listening, everyone,

630
00:49:00.559 --> 00:49:02.599
Have a great day. God bless