Episode Transcript
Alright, if you look here in Proverbs 13, the title of the message tonight is "A Wise Son."
A wise son.
So if you would, take your pen and underscore "wise son."
Wise son.
Now move forward a few words and underscore the word "scorner."
Scorner.
So our verse tonight is contrasting a wise son with a scorner.
Not a wise man, not a wise child, but the verse specifically says a wise son.
Is a child somebody's son?
Yes.
Is a man somebody's son?
Absolutely.
Is a woman somebody's son?
Well, think about it.
Think about it.
Remember, there's always a greater spiritual reality.
Everything you learn in the Old Testament.
Always.
When you look in Scripture, when it refers to believers, says, "Behold what manner of love that God's bestowed upon us that we should be called," what?
"The sons of God."
The vows is in Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free.
It also says there's what?
There's neither male nor female.
So in Christ, and in the flesh, that's different.
God's assigned us different roles.
And as long as we abide in these tabernacles, then we abide by the roles God's given us.
But in Christ Jesus, there's no Hispanic, there's no black, there's no white, there's no rich or poor, and there's no male or female.
We're all the sons of God.
So, even though, and it used to be this way with the DPS manual, Brother Shepard will remember it, anytime something was referred to in the masculine, it also applied to the feminine.
He remembers that it was specifically written in there as a matter of fact.
And it's that way when you're speaking of things like this.
When it says a wise son, it also means a wise daughter in the flesh.
But spiritually speaking, we're all the sons of God.
That's a beautiful thing when you think about it like that.
And so when we're thinking of a wise son tonight, you have to understand that we're not only looking at sonship in the sense of our relationship with our earthly Father, But the proverb also applies to our sonship with our relationship to our Heavenly Father.
Beautiful.
So think about both of these tonight.
The one in the flesh is true, the one in the Spirit is more true.
So, not a wise man, not a wise child, but a wise son, And every body in here, man, woman, boy, and girl, is somebody's son.
At least God the Father.
Because we are the sons of God.
So this verse concerns a wise person, whether they are boy or girl, in respect to their heavenly Father. and whether they are man or boy in respect to their earthly father.
And so, the first truth revealed by this verse tonight is that a child, and every one of us are children, somebody's child.
Nobody can say, "Well, I'm nobody's child."
Everybody's somebody's child or else we wouldn't be here.
So, the first truth revealed by this verse tonight is that a child or a person of any age, whether old or young, can be wise.
They can be wise.
If you were a little boy or girl listening tonight, you have the potential of being a wise child.
If you're a senior adult listening tonight, you have the potential of being a wise senior.
And people think that wisdom comes with age, but it doesn't.
Wisdom comes from God.
Honestly, the most foolish things I've heard in life have come out of grown people's mouths.
Not children.
But the most idiotic, foolish things I've ever heard, the most vile, wretched things I've ever heard come out of anyone's mouth, has been from grown people.
And I suppose it's because grown people have more experience at being fools than children do.
But the world is full of wise children and foolish men.
And thank God the world also has wise men and unfortunately foolish children.
But wisdom comes from God.
And if you're wise enough to want to be a wise child tonight, whether in relation to your earthly father or your heavenly father, if you're wise enough to want to be a wise child tonight, then you can start tonight by listening to the godly instruction of your father, or of your parents, if you're really small.
Solomon says, "A wise son," look back in your text, "heareth."
"Heareth."
Now you would think that when it comes to wisdom, and it's amazing because salvation is like that.
I've heard a lot of people when it comes to salvation, they have said, "Man, I'm ready to do anything.
I do the most difficult thing you can possibly tell me to do.
I'll do it so I can go to heaven."
But then you tell them to believe the gospel and they won't do it.
It's bizarre.
It's bizarre.
But when it comes to wisdom here, you would think that God would say, "Well, you need to enroll at the Jerusalem School of Wisdom."
Or, "You need to make some kind of journey, some kind of pilgrimage."
Or, "You need to fast for 30 days like Jesus did and be in a state of prayer for those 30 days."
You think it would be something real difficult, but it's not.
It's something quite passive, actually.
It's hearing.
Something as simple as hearing.
And you know that faith and hearing are really one and the same in Scripture.
In fact, the Bible says faith comes by hearing.
And hearing by what?
The Word of God.
Or you could say faith comes by hearing your Father.
And so we all basically go back to faith here.
We go back to hearing.
So if you want to be a wise son tonight, if you want to be a wise person, this is the place to start right here.
As simple as it sounds.
And thank God it's simple.
Thank God He didn't give us some complex step of convoluted rules to go by to be wise.
He gave us this right here.
You can start by hearing.
And you may think to yourself, "Well, I want to be wise, but I'm not a very smart person.
I want to be wise, but sometimes I behave so foolishly."
Well, the devil wants you to think of wisdom as some kind of complex thoughts that belong only to gifted minds.
But that's not true.
If a little son, if a little child can be wise than anybody can.
A wise son heareth and any fool can hear.
Any fool can hear.
If you want to be wise, not in a few years, but not in a few months.
If you want to be Be wise not tomorrow, but if you want to be wise right now, then start by hearing instruction.
It matters what you hear.
You can't just hear anything and be wise.
But in this case, we hear instruction.
Solomon says a wise son hears what?
His father's instruction.
His father's instruction.
And as I'm reading this off here, again, we're applying this to the godly parents, and we're applying this to our Heavenly Father in its greatest application.
So a wise son hears his father's instruction.
And the word translated "instruction" here, it has the idea of correction.
The word translated "hear here" as the idea of taking heed to that instruction.
It doesn't mean listening in the sense of just saying, "Oh, I heard you."
But it means hearing in the sense of taking heed to it.
"Ah, I need to listen to this.
This is important.
This is what I need for my life."
So a wise son takes heed to his father's instruction.
And once again, that Hebrew word translated instruction here has the idea of correction.
So naturally, what do we do?
As young people or as people in the flesh, naturally, we go the opposite direction to where we need to go.
And so God's Word is a...
And just think of the Old Testament too.
When you think of all the instruction in the Old Testament, and I was enjoying Brother Shepherd's Sunday School this morning, but all of it is basically correction.
I mean, God gives you things to go by, and then once you don't go by, what is He constantly doing?
He's constantly guiding you over here, He's sending prophets, "No, you're doing wrong over here."
He sends apostles, "You got it wrong over here, church."
And he's constantly trying to correct and guide.
Correction is what a good father does.
And a wise person is someone who takes heed to correction.
I've paid for all five of my children to have braces on their teeth.
And that gets pretty expensive.
And a lot of people want pretty straight teeth.
You know, girls usually want them more than boys do.
Those girls want those pretty straight teeth.
They get all excited about getting braces and those pink and purple and blue and green rubber bands and all that stuff.
And then when they finally come off, they love flashing that beautiful smile when they get their braces off.
But do you know what gives those girls pretty straight teeth when they get those braces out?
Correction.
Correction is what gives them those straight teeth.
The whole thing about orthodontics is correction.
If a person refuses to be corrected, they'll never have straight teeth.
Just what they do, they just correct the teeth, they correct the alignment.
And if a person in the same way refuses to be corrected spiritually, then they're just going to have a crooked life.
They won't be able to have a nice straight life.
They're going to be crooked, they're going to be off their entire lives if they're unwilling to be corrected.
Some people hate being corrected.
They have a very adverse reaction, they have a very adverse attitude to correction.
And they hate being told that they're wrong.
And that's not a good thing, that's not a good quality to have.
Because correction isn't a bad thing, correction is always a very good thing.
Very good thing. when the orthodontist tightens those braces up, and it should feel good, because the patient knows the teeth are being moved in the right direction.
It's a little painful when those braces get tightened up.
You had braces before?
Alice, no.
But you used to work at a dentist office.
You put them on?
Yeah.
And they get sore.
Their teeth get sore, don't they?
But there's a little pain involved in having them corrected.
But it's always a good outcome when they're corrected.
And so, it's something that most people, when they have those braces on, they get excited about.
And because they're going the right direction.
In the same way, we should get just as excited about somebody correcting us and moving our hearts in the right direction.
I tell you what, when I'm listening to the Scriptures, I'll be there in my weight room, or when I'm reading them and studying for them for church, because I'm preaching to myself when I'm studying the message.
A lot of times I'll be studying that message and God's Word will just move my heart in another direction and just align me back up and align my thinking up with God's Word.
It's always a beautiful experience.
Or if I'm listening to Brother Shepard and he's teaching God's Word or Brother Doug and that scripture is there, if my heart's not right with scripture and then just move that heart over in that direction, It's a beautiful experience to always be right, to always be corrected and have that heart willing to always say, "If there's one thing my heart's going to do, it's always going to move in the direction of God's Word."
I'll never...
That's why in the Old Testament, they'd always talk about being stiff-necked.
Well, what it was is you get a horse and you put the bridle on the horse, And he tried to turn the horse in the right direction, that horse straightens that neck, stiffens that neck up and it won't turn.
Well, our heart gets that way.
And sometimes when people hear God's Word, if it's not something that they like, they will stiffen that heart up, just like a horse's neck, and they'll have good excuses for not obeying the Bible.
They always do.
Good excuses.
They'll explain the Scripture away when it's plain right in front of them.
They'll just explain it away.
And they'll just stiffen that heart up.
But boy, how nice it is when somebody takes God's Word or the Holy Spirit takes God's Word because that's who's really doing the correcting and just moves our hearts in the right direction.
Several years ago, I was speaking to someone here at church in my office next door.
And it was about a problem that they came to me about and that person had a difficult time speaking to me about that problem because of how that person was mistreated as a child.
And it made this person almost start acting like a child, really start acting like a child again.
You could just see that going back to that childhood and a very quiet adult person.
And you know, when people have been mistreated as children, then it really has an impact on them the rest of their lives.
It really, really does.
And it can make them hostile toward correction because of how they were treated when they were young.
But that's something that needs to be corrected.
Because when you're grown, you're not a kid anymore.
It's time to grow up.
And it's not time to say, "Well, back when I was a kid..."
Well, that's when you were a kid.
You know what the Apostle Paul said?
"When I was a child, I thought as a child, I spake as a child, you know, But when I became old, I put away childish things.
And so there comes a time in our life we say, "Okay, you can't blame everything on your childhood."
You got to put that away and say, "You know what?
I need to have the attitude of thanking God that I get corrected."
And again, that may be hard for people because we hate being told we're wrong.
But I don't think that's the right way of looking at being corrected.
You see, there's a difference between correction and criticism.
I want to say that again.
There's a difference between correction and criticism.
You know what that difference is?
Correction is when the orthodontist identifies your misalignment and then straightens your teeth.
Criticism is when the school bully makes fun of your teeth and calls you names.
You see the difference?
They're both talking about your teeth.
They're both putting attention on your teeth.
One does it and causes damage, the other does it and causes repair.
Correction fixes the problem.
Criticism exacerbates it.
And because young people were criticized when they were young, And they had parents that just didn't have good parenting skills, or maybe they were just bad people, I don't know.
But some parents are good parents, and they just don't necessarily have the best parenting skills.
But because the parents criticized them and made fun of them...
And by the way, don't ever make fun of your kids.
Don't ever make fun of your kids.
If there's some place you should feel safe at, it's at home.
If there's somebody that should be on your side, it's your parents.
But don't make fun of your kids.
They came from you.
So, make sure if you're a parent, be in the business of correcting, not criticizing.
Criticism doesn't help anybody.
Correction helps everybody if they'll allow themselves to be corrected.
Now notice that the person giving instruction here in this verse is the son's father.
Sometimes I like working problems backwards because you gain a beautiful truth.
A wise son hears his father's instruction.
You know what that tells us God's intent is?
For fathers to instruct their sons so that they may be wise.
Try to work in your verses backwards sometimes like that and you'll get a beautiful truth out of it.
God expects fathers to instruct their sons so that they may be wise.
So there's an implication here, the attention, the subject here is on the son.
We understand that the son is the one that's wise, the son is the one that's hearing his father's instruction.
But the implication, the implied truth here, the implied lesson, is that it's the father's job to be correcting and instructing your children.
And again, correcting is when you straighten those teeth, it's gentle.
If not, you're going to break some teeth.
You're going to have some bleeding.
You're going to have some patients that will never come back to you.
You'll get a one-star review.
Correction can be gentle.
It can be kind.
It can be loving.
It doesn't mean growling and snapping your fingers.
Sometimes it takes that.
Sometimes it takes that.
But it's not always harsh.
It's loving.
When we read God's Word, is God always harsh and smiting His fist and pointing His finger at us?
No, everything in God's Word does what?
It's always backed up with this great encouragement that He's patient toward us and He loves us so much.
And He died for us and here in His love.
Oh, what manner of love the Father has toward us and all those things.
That's the kind of correction children need.
That's the kind of correction they need to receive.
That's the kind of correction fathers need to give. dads be careful how you speak to your kids, because they will remember it.
And it will have an effect on the rest of their lives.
A wise son hears, they take heed to the correction of their father, whether their earthly father or their heavenly father.
And the father is wise for teaching, and the son is wise for listening. that it says that the son is wise for hearing the father's instruction.
Here's the kingdom truth for you tonight.
A man is no wiser than the child who listens to him.
A man is no wiser than the child who listens to him.
Both are wise in their own respects, because one is accepting the instruction and the other is giving it.
The father is right for giving the instruction.
He's wise for doing so.
The son is right for receiving the instruction.
Both in their own individual capacities are exercising wisdom.
And prideful people don't like being corrected.
Prideful people don't like learning from others.
They want you to think that they already know it all.
You can't tell them anything.
"Oh, I already know that."
Man, I was talking to someone the other day, and I tried telling this particular person something, and they said, "I know, I know, I know, I know."
You ever heard anyone tell you that?
"I know, I know, I know."
And they don't do it.
They don't accept your correction.
But we should always be swift to hear, for hearing is wisdom exercised in its simplest form.
Hearing is wisdom, exercise in its simplest form.
The lack of hearing her father's instruction is what got Eve in trouble.
The lack of hearing his father's instruction is what got Adam in trouble.
In Deuteronomy chapter 6, we learn about parental instruction, Because we have to understand when the Bible speaks about a child listening to their parents' instruction, a lot of times you'll have children that'll say, "Oh man, my parents were terrible.
My parents were ungodly.
My parents taught me how to steal or how to smoke dope or whatever, and I just can't imagine listening to my parents' instruction."
Well, number one, again, the application here is your Heavenly Father.
And number two, there's always an assumption in the Bible that when the Bible tells the child to listen to the instruction of their father, there's always the assumption in Scripture that the parent is instructing their children according to God's Word.
Again, Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 6 through 7, God told Israel, "And these words, which I command thee this day," Notice, "I command thee."
These words that "I command thee" shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
So God says, "I will give you the words, and I'm going to teach you the words."
How many of you all ever been to a train-the-trainer class?
Several people have.
Brother Shepherd does the trainer who trains the trainer.
That's what he does.
That's how high up he is in the teaching.
But that's really what's happening here.
God's training the trainer here.
God says, "I'm going to give you the words to teach.
I provide the curriculum.
I'm going to teach you the curriculum.
And here's what I expect you parents to do with your children.
You are going to talk about them in your house, just in your casual conversation, as you're doing things, as you get up, as you go about your business.
You're going to be talking about my word and my instruction all the time around your kids.
Not turn them loose to do foolish things all day and then tuck them to bed, but you need to have that constant curriculum at home.
So here's the divine order of instruction.
The Heavenly Father instructs the earthly fathers.
The godly fathers instruct their earthly sons.
The wise sons hear their godly fathers.
I'll repeat that again.
The heavenly Father instructs the earthly fathers.
The godly fathers instruct their earthly sons.
The wise sons hear their godly fathers and are instructed thereby.
A wise son hears his father's instruction, look back in your text, and as we begin to close, but a scorner, there's the opposite.
A scorner.
And the word "but" here shows us how this is the opposite of what a wise son is.
A wise son hears from his God-given teachers, but a scorner mocks them.
And the Hebrew word transitive scorner has the idea of mocking, mouthing.
A scorner always has a comeback.
You tell a scorner something, you try to correct someone, they always got a snappy, smart-aleck comeback.
That's a scorner.
A scorner always has an excuse to disobey.
A scorner ridicules the teachers God has given them, rather than respects them.
A scorner, therefore, look back at the end of your text now, "Heareth not rebuke."
They don't hear rebuke.
And that word "rebuke," of course, goes back to instruction.
Remember, the word "instruction" has the idea of correction, which correction is a rebuke.
And so a scorner doesn't hear rebuke.
They will not allow themselves to get corrected.
They have the stiff neck and their uncircumcised and hardened mind.
And they just will not allow God's Word to correct them.
They won't accept correction because they refuse to acknowledge that they're wrong.
And here's the thing, we can always point to the lost people.
But Christians can fall into that scorner trap too.
They fall into it all the time.
The devil can get a Christian into a position of pride.
And then when that pride comes, then they'll get to where they can't be corrected by God's Word.
If it's something they don't like in God's Word, Again, they'll find a way to excuse themselves from it, to explain it away, to harden their hearts against it.
But Christians can fall into that trap of having a scornful spirit.
They can fall into the trap of having a proud, critical heart that won't accept correction from God's Word, and won't accept correction from God's teachers.
I believe there's people all over the United States who probably have good Bible teaching pastors and Sunday school teachers.
And I believe there's people all over the United States that set out in pews, and when they should be there with their notes...
Now, no teacher's perfect.
I hear things throughout my life, and y'all do too.
And you hear things, and you think, "Well, I'm not so sure about that," you know.
But then you go on.
Nobody's perfect.
But for the most part, every child of God should be able to take and be eager to take their pen, their paper out, or their mental notes, or whatever they do, and just feed on the teaching of God's Word.
If you have someone who's gifted at teaching, I mean gifted by God's Spirit, at understanding the Scriptures and then explaining them, That's the gift of teaching, not a gift of speaking.
But if you have someone who's gifted at understanding God's Scriptures and explaining them, man, what a blessing!
And then you sit out there and just eat it up, eat it up, eat it up.
But there's people who sit in churches, who have a pastor who's gifted at teaching by the Spirit of God.
And they will get so sidetracked on something critical that they find.
And they'll start thinking about it.
They'll think about it, they'll lean over and they'll whisper, "I don't agree with that at all."
Did y'all hear that?
"I don't agree with that at all.
That's wrong."
And from there on out, for the rest of that Sunday school hour, the rest of that preaching hour, whatever, that's all they think about.
It's how they could try to argue the difference and defeat that in an argument.
And the devil's got them completely... their hands tied because now they can't do anything for God.
They can't learn His Word because they're critical.
And now it's like having a bad digestive system.
Here's anyone who has gut disorder.
They're still tall.
They're still grown.
But their body just starts shriveling away.
Because it can't digest the nutrients that it needs to have.
And so spiritually speaking, that's what can happen to people.
I had a man write me twice in the past two years.
He'd get mad at his preacher and he'd write me and say, "I'm coming to your church Sunday."
He hadn't showed up yet.
I'll be there Sunday morning, me and my wife and kids.
And the sad part is the last time he wrote, he said, "Pastor is a great teacher."
He said, "He's a good teacher.
He's educated in the Bible and he teaches well and all this."
But, da da da da da da, other things he didn't like going on in the church.
And he said, "I'll see you in the morning."
I didn't encourage him.
I just listened.
I think, "Well, I guess I can learn more about it later."
Then he doesn't show up.
And you know what?
If that man ever writes me back again, he's going to get an earful.
He's going to get an earful.
I say, "If you've got a pastor, and he's teaching God's Word, go there and listen.
Go there and listen.
And don't ever promise to come to church and not come again."
You're going to be upset at me next time.
You know?
So, a Christian can develop that same type of critical spirit and the devil will get you feeling pretty proud about your Bible knowledge and you'll soon become the man or the woman who already knows it all.
And when that happens, those people develop critical spirits rather than listening spirits.
They become a person whose heart can no longer be corrected or at least hardly be corrected.
But every believer, again, is a son of God.
But the believer who hears the rebuke of God's Word is a wise son who hears his father.
And the child that hears the rebuke of his earthly father or his earthly godly mother is a wise child indeed, because then they'll get the correction they need.
And I hope tonight that our heart will be corrected by God's Word, so that it now loves being corrected.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious Word.
Thank you, Lord God, for always applying that gentle, loving pressure with your Word.
Your Word, Lord, it is alive, it's powerful.
And in love, Lord, with the love of God, it's got all the padding it needs so that it doesn't harm us.
But all the strength it needs, so that if we'll allow it, Lord, it will move us back into the place we need to be no matter how far we've gone.
And Lord, I pray tonight that you give us all hearts that are pliable to your Word and immovable to anything else.
In Jesus' precious name, amen.
