Instruction from Proverbs

Book of Proverbs, please. My exercise doesn't necessarily follow William Skate's, but time was wasting. Proverbs chapter 1. As we read the first eight verses or seven verses of Proverbs 1, notice why the Proverbs were written.

Written for a particular reason and a particular purpose, and you'll see that in the first few verses. Proverbs 1 and 1. The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David king of Israel, to know wisdom and to instruction, to perceive the words of understanding. They were written to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity.

To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings.

For the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. The Lord will help us to speak a little word on the book of Proverbs.

I couldn't help but notice recently that the book, the word proverb, the word instruction is 25 times in the book of Proverbs. That's nearly almost one time per chapter. Solomon in his great wisdom, not so sure he had common sense, but Solomon in his great wisdom knew what it was to be able to say spiffy things, either by contrast or by comparison.

You notice he takes, if you you've noticed this, I am sure that when you read the Proverbs he's contrasting one to another, or he's comparing one to another. So there's definitely, definitely reasons why these Proverbs were written that there might be, there might be an understanding of perhaps of that which isn't so clear. When I read some time ago the first chapter of Proverbs, I couldn't help but notice that the word understanding, the word knowledge, and what jumped out at me was the word instruction.

Instruction. I'd like to, with the help of God, to speak just for a few minutes about instruction. We've already heard about instruction in view of the New Testament assembly, in view of baptism, in view of church truth, and instruction is ever so, so much needed.

I remember sitting in this room, this very room, in the year of 1961, in the winter of 1961, receiving such instruction. One of the most, one of the most instructive series of meetings I've ever sat in. Thankfully, Uncle Roy got a bad back, and he asked for help to milk his Holsteins, and I was willing to go and help milk the Holsteins.

But, there was a series of meetings that was going on at that particular time, right here. The building was placed this way, the pulpit was up there, and of course it was all together shaped a little differently. But I watched two men.

I'll never forget the night that Eric McCullough spoke on Genesis 22, on how that Abraham took Isaac and the lamb, and they went to the mountain, and I'm only saved at just about three or four months, and I thought, what a thrill, how thrilling, the substitutionary work, the marvelous teaching that Genesis chapter 22. I received instruction all through that series of meetings. I have sat in series of meetings held by Norman Crawford, Hector Elves, and mighty men of God, and yet I go back to that first series of meetings where I received instruction.

Instruction is something that we all need for the home life. We all need instruction for the assembly life. We all need instruction, young people especially, need instruction for the matrimonial life.

You know, dear brethren and sisters, you dear younger people that are so precious to us, and so vital to God, and so precious to the continuance of the assembly, you know, don't you, that you have to marry a person that is not only saved, but in the Lord. You know that it's wrong to be identified with the unequal yoke, to be linked with the unequal yoke. I could tell you, I could tell you of a couple of men who did that, and they regret it to this day.

I know the Lord overcomes in other ones, but in grace, but the standard is, the instruction is not an unequal yoke. So over the years, I thank God that we are born and raised in a state like Iowa. Some of you here are from Wisconsin, and so I have to include you too.

But we've been born and raised in an area where men moved here, men labored here, men came to teach us. I've been thrilled and thankful to God for the instruction that these men gave us, and how marvelous it has kept and preserved God's assembly. Instruction for the various things, and for what is priority.

What is priority over in our particular life? So the instruction is given. We're going to look at a couple of words, factful words, that will help us to be able to get a little better handle on instruction. Let me just say also that Solomon wrote 3,000 Proverbs.

1 Kings chapter 3 will tell us that there are 3,000 Proverbs that he wrote, and yet if you were to compile the Proverbs that the Spirit of God has recorded, gathered here, there are only 915. So where is the balance? Well, even in the last chapters, last two chapters of chapter 30 and chapter 31, Augur, King Lemuel, those two that are identified as the writers of 30 and 31, so there's even less than 915 as far as Solomon's writing is concerned. I'd like to suggest that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God has taken these Proverbs and brought them together, and in the canon of Scripture, in the canon of the Bible that we have, the Spirit of God has chosen these and brought these together that we might be formed as far as the Book of Proverbs is concerned.

Now, our first word, dear brethren and sisters, is in chapter 4. Man, a conference. Wow. I suppose it's a wrong thing to say, makes a man want to celebrate, but it's a lovely feeling to be at a conference.

Chapter 4, reading at verse 13. Take fast hold of instruction, let her not go, keep her, for she is thy life. Take fast hold of instruction.

In other words, I cannot lose sight of this. I cannot hold on to instruction and then let it go, as if it's not very important, as if it's only secondary truth. This instruction, dear Christian, is vital.

It's vital for my existence, for God. So why is it that the in all of his wisdom, he says, take fast hold of it? Because you and I have an enemy. We have the flesh, we have the world, and we have Satan.

And that enemy is going to get us as he undermines the truth, as he undermines instruction, biblical instruction. The world is going to say, forget that. The flesh is going to say, it's not important.

And Satan is going to say, it's not that important. It is just something that you can let it go. So I need to have this instruction that I am receiving, and that I am getting.

I need to have it, and I need to take hold of it. I need to grip it. That's my word, grip it.

When Paul was writing to Timothy, what did he say? Second Timothy chapter 3, and verse 14. But continue thou in the things that thou hast learned, and thou hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. So continue thou in the things that thou hast learned.

I think that is very, very applicable and very important, especially at this stage of, you might say, the day of grace. It is easy. We have seen it.

We've watched it. I can worship with men, and today they're no longer with us. What has happened? What has happened, brethren, that I didn't have a grip on that which was so vital? They didn't have a grip on God's things.

And I can almost believe that we're going to see even worse things coming in as time goes on. We lost some good men, and it burdens me today that these good men... I wrote down the other day how many funerals I could have gone to in the last six months, and there was a dozen funerals I could have attended. We've lost the Jim Ferrises.

We've lost the Bert Kampmans. We've lost the Roy Webbers. You don't replace men like that overnight.

So dear young men, grab instruction. Take fast hold of instruction, because you're the next generation. We have to have you.

I'm thinking also of when Barnabas goes and he sees those dear believers in Antioch. When Barnabas came to Antioch, what did he say? He said, I'd seen the grace of God and was glad. He exhorted them all with purpose of heart to cleave, to cleave unto the Lord.

That is so very vital, to be able to get close to God, to be able to get close to Him, and let Him get close to you, to be able to sense His touch, to be able to be fed. How vital is that, to be able to cleave unto God? I'm thinking also that there is much instruction that as far as church truth is concerned, we need to get a hold of. Many years ago, Kenny Earns, you probably remember the name from years back in Wilma, he invited me to go along with him to Winnipeg conference in an airplane.

And this airplane was no ordinary airplane. It sounded like a two-cylinder John Deere with no muffler. And let me tell you, that was a lot of noise.

We're shoulder to shoulder in the cockpit, and we had to shout at each other to make one another hear. All of a sudden, Kenny gets out this, Kenny gets out this huge, huge map. Tim probably has done it already also, but he gets a huge map, and I said, well, he says, I don't know where we're at.

I thought of Job's word. I think Job said one time, that which I feared has suddenly arrived. I said, you don't know where you're at.

What do you want me to do? He said, grab that stick. So I got this stick in front of me, and I, he says, you see those clouds way over there on the horizon? Yeah, there's those, yeah, I see those clouds. Well, you grab that stick and aim this plane for those clouds, and then I'll find out where we're at, and then we can go from there.

Maybe think of that little word that Eric gave that nervous lady as she's sitting beside him on an airplane one time, and Eric McCullough says, well, this plane goes down, I'm going straight up. So I grabbed the stick, and I hung onto that stick, and a few minutes later, Kenny hollers over to me and says, oh, how come your knuckles are white? White knuckles. What am I doing? I was grabbing that stick.

My safety relied upon getting those, getting this plane over to those clouds until Kenny could find out where we're at. But did I ever breathe a relief when those tires hit Canadian soil? Grabbing the stick, grip it. I got to grip truth, dear brethren, and when truth comes to my mind, grip it, hang onto it.

He is thy life. She is thy life. Don't let it go.

So, assembly instruction must be maintained. Next one is in chapter 12. Chapter 12, reading of verse 1. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he that hateth reproof is brutish.

He that hateth reproof is brutish. Here's a comparison. Instruction, I gather that he that hateth reproof is in a contrast, rather, it's in a contrast to loving instruction.

A loving instruction is here as far as a thought, as far as being instructed and being told, being counseled, being taught that something is, isn't right. So, we possess, we possess a knowledge, and because of this knowledge that the Spirit of God has given to us, we can be able to admit and to submit when we are in the wrong. Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge.

Give instruction to a wise man. Perhaps I would have had a better attitude a couple years ago, several years ago, when a couple of the brethren approached me, if I only would have known Proverbs 9 and 9. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. So, that does away with, that does away with an attitude that I should not have been approached.

Perhaps there's something that is in my life and your life, and some of the, perhaps maybe a brother or two will want to come along and point that out to you. How are you going to take it, when they'd say that this is wrong, that what they're doing isn't just quite right. Two men were talking one day, both of those men we esteem here highly, Jim Webb and Norman Crawford.

Jim Webb and I had an enjoyable time in Albuquerque several years ago. We started talking one day on the street corner. Jim says to me one day, he said, I made a mistake at a conference.

I blundered. Mr. Crawford took me aside, and he said, with the graciousness and with the care and with the love and compassion, I've never seen a man so gracious. It made me admit, it made, it was easy for me to see my wrong, and I was willing to admit to my wrong.

Let the righteous, Mr. Webb also said this, I was going to tell you, Mr. Webb also said, it almost made me thankful that I blundered, because I got to see this man as he approached me with grace. Psalm 143 and verse 5 says, let the righteous smite me. It shall be kindness and let him reprove me.

It shall be excellent all which shall not break my head. So there are times when perhaps maybe I need to be reminded of that which is not right, that which I'm doing wrong. May we have that ability to take that instruction.

It's not the word grip here, but it's the word grace, and I need to have grace when I'm approaching or I am being approached by that type of instruction. Now there's another one in chapter 19. Chapter 19 reading of verse 20.

Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. Hear counsel and receive instruction. What are we doing? What are we doing today at a conference? What have we been doing for the past years as far as going to meetings are concerned? Every Lord's Day morning, dear brethren, in the ministry meeting, in the teaching meeting, in the Bible class, or whatever format the assembly is, there ought to be instruction.

There must be instruction. I don't just come to the assembly just to say I've been there, but I need to have my heart touched and my head also to receive instruction. I see that in verse 20 of our chapter, we can see that he was gathering.

Receive instruction. Hear counsel and receive instruction that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end. I can't help but think of Luke chapter 10 in verse 39.

One of the most beautiful passages, verses in the book of Luke, because Mary is there sitting at the Lord's feet, listening to his word. What a day that must have been when Mary sat there and listened to the words of the Lord Jesus. I've often wondered, I wonder what he taught.

What was he saying? What was he teaching her? In a way, she was gathering. She was listening to his word, and there was something special about that moment when Mary listened to his word. She was being instructed about himself, perhaps maybe about who he was, perhaps what he had to do, perhaps the work that was going to be accomplished at the cross.

She was being instructed. How much do I appreciate the word, dear brethren? After this pandemic siege, or whatever you want to call it, this interruption in our gatherings, one of two things has happened. We've either drifted back and lost an appreciation of his word and the gathering center, or we're homesick for it more, and that we'll increase for it, that we love it more, and that we have a greater devotion because of the absence of our gathering.

How much do I love this word, this book? Dear brethren under 25, how much do you read the book? How much do you know what it is to lay aside the earthly responsibilities and come into the presence of the Lord, you and your book, and study? I can't help but think that in Psalm number 19, his word is more to be desired than gold, and yet fine gold, much fine gold, and sweeter than the honeycomb. Even the very same chapter or same psalm in verse 8, the commandments of the Lord, commandments of the Lord are pure, enlightening the eyes. I notice in Psalm 119 in verse 9, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

Second Timothy chapter 3, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. You talk about how profitable it is. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable.

But listen to what is profitable for? It's profitable for correction, for reproof, that the man of God might be instructed in righteousness and be furnished in all good works. I wasn't quite quoted this quite right, but you got it. So the word, the word is so very, very precious.

Second Timothy, brother, second Peter chapter 1, Peter writes, and we have a more sure word of, we have a sure word of prophecy, that you do well to take heed as a light that shineth in a dark place. Joseph received instruction, and gave instruction to those men in prison. Daniel rose to be a high, a high figure in the kingdom in that day, because he listened, he listened to instruction.

I was going to ask every husband here, how well can you take instruction from your wife? I see there's a few grins, so maybe I better not pursue that. But how well can I, how well does a wife take instructions from the husband? Let me ask you a little more personal question. How well can we take instruction from our overseers? And it burdens my heart when I hear younger people and middle-aged people telling overseers that we're not going to do it that way.

It burdens my heart to see younger people think they have the right idea over the older ones. You know, Rehoboam made a mistake one day. Rehoboam took the advice of younger men.

He didn't take the advice of older men, and it caused him a great, great loss. So, when I am instructed, I gather. I don't grip it here, and it isn't grace here, but verse 20 is, I gather, I gather instruction.

One more in chapter 23. Proverbs chapter 23, reading in verse 12. Apply thy heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

We have instruction. Now, the instruction that you and I receive at this conference, the instruction that we have received over the years since we have been brought to the Savior and into the assembly, what am I going to do with that instruction? I need to apply it. I need to put it into use.

One of the things that I so thank God for in the assemblies here in the Iowa and Wisconsin area is the fact that that's exactly what the Lord's people have been doing. They've been going out with the gospel. They have laid to heart the teachings of the assembly principles, and they have applied their heart.

They are walking it out the truth, and I thank God that I'm associated with people that are walking out and applying the truth of God. Moses says, teach us to number our days, and we might apply our hearts unto wisdom. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that we might grow thereby.

It isn't now. It isn't grace now. It isn't gathering now, but it's growing, growing.

I might grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. I like what Santa Hagen said in his most helpful book on Proverbs. He said, Satan wants the mind, the Lord looking for the heart.

I couldn't have but noticed that in this 23rd chapter of Proverbs that the verses that follow verse 20 have to do with the heart. You know, dear brethren, in our children, we send them to school and they learn Darwinism, and a little bit later on they learn humanism in high school, and then there's relativism later on in life, and all kinds of isms, and the mind can be saturated with all that stuff, and all of that sometimes bad stuff. That's what wants the heart.

Twenty-three times in the book of the Proverbs, Solomon says, my son, and if Rehoboam would have only listened to it, if he is writing to Rehoboam, if he only would have listened, and if he only would have read it, maybe Solomon should have read his own book himself. But 23 times, at only once does the Spirit of God ask for something. So what is he asking for? Well, you'll see it right here in our chapter, chapter 23, verse 26, the day of my birthday, my son, give me thy heart.

He wants the heart. And if this conference could develop men and women that would turn their heart, that would give their heart, again, to let him mold and make us. Now, how important is instruction? Well, there's much that could be said more than what I have, but let me just quote you three verses that have to do with the importance of instruction.

Chapter 1, verse 9, they shall be as ornament of grace upon thy head. So important that there is honor by bowing and by gathering instruction. Chapter 8, hear instruction and be wise.

So I obviously can see that if I would take this teaching and take the teaching that you're going to receive, even later today at the conference, and take it, what does that tell me? I am a wise individual. But I like the last one, whoso findeth, whoso findeth me, findeth life and obtain favor of the Lord. If I take this instruction and take the instruction that the brethren are talking to give, I'm going to obtain favor and I'm going to find honor as far as the Lord is concerned.

Dear brethren, only one life to soon be passed. The funerals are coming and my wife and I say we're losing our friends. Only one life to soon be passed.

Dear brethren and sisters, let's take and put into practice all the instruction that we can for his honor and for his glory.