You have to be careful because they lied to us.

Steve Brown:
You have to be careful because they lied to us. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Being adopted into the family of God is not about doing more or trying harder, it’s about being welcomed by God because of His radical grace, free from the penalties of sin and never alone in your suffering, that grace is what Key Life is all about.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. If you open your Bible and we’re looking at kind of an overview of the Book of Proverbs. And when we finish with this overview, and we’re spending probably two, three, maybe four months in the Book of Proverbs. I’m going to go to different places in the Book of Proverbs, because it’s like teaching a dictionary. If you want to know about this subject, you want to go to one place. If you want to know about another subject, you go to this place. And the Book of Proverbs has a lot of different subjects, and we’re going to spend time looking at some of those subjects as we go through the Book of Proverbs. But right now it’s sort of an overview, and I’m giving you some anchors. Let me give you another one. The Book of Proverbs, and I’m going to say a lot more about this later on, the Book of Proverbs tells us what is really going on in the world. One of the things that Jesus said often was, you have heard, but let me tell you. You have heard, but let me say. Well, Proverbs does that too. It does it in a different way, and it’s not so in your face. But it is saying, this is what the world has told you, and they lied to you, and if you’ll listen up, I’m going to give you the truth. I’m going to give you the wisdom. Do you sometimes, I do, get so caught up in this culture you begin to buy into their lies? That is so easy, and it’s so subtle, and it happens little by little, and you wake up one time and you think, you know, they’ve been lying to me about all this. This isn’t true. That’s true politically, it’s true sociologically, it’s true philosophically, it’s true pedagogically, in education, and you’ve got to have a source that will always tell you the truth. And Proverbs does exactly that. Have I told you about the time I did the wedding, in a circus? I always wanted to run away with the circus, and then I became a pastor, and there are similarities. If you say I said that, I’ll say you lied. But I really do love the circus, and to this day, I kind of grieve that most of the traveling circuses are no longer with us. But I had a member of our church, and I loved her a lot. And she fell in love with the, she was a trapeze artist with a traveling circus. And she fell in love with the groundkeeper and the elephant vet at the circus. And they decided to get married, but he wasn’t a Christian. So, she wanted me to talk to him. So, I talked to him for a long time on the phone and I sent him a tape with a plan of salvation. He ended up receiving Christ and then she said, I want you to do the wedding. And I want you to do it in the center ring of our three ring circus. And I want you to do it when we’re close to Miami, where I was then serving. So, I said, I don’t do circus weddings very often, but I’ll do one for you cause I love you. And so, I did it and I drove up to Central Florida where the circus was. And it was an interesting time, one of the band members, a guy called me and said that he wanted to know the color of the bridesmaids dresses because he wanted his dress to match. And this was before the transgender thing. And I was thinking, you know, I’m not in Kansas anymore. This is going to be different and it really was. Do you know what they did? They did, I stood in the center ring of this circus between shows and they did their recessional and their processional on an elephant. And you have not, I remember standing in that center ring of that circus with that elephant, and those are big sons of guns, that’s a big animal, and he’s coming at me with a bride and groom riding this elephant. And my first impulse is to run, but I can’t run, I’ve got to do this wedding ceremony, so I did it. And then I, and then they got back on the elephant and rode out to the wedding march, or rode in to the wedding march. And rode out with whatever they were playing and they were married. So, I did it, and I told Jesus I wouldn’t do this for anything except Jane and you, just want you to know. But you know what I discovered? When you get behind the scenes in a circus, when you go to the circus, it’s glitter, and it’s fun, and it’s exciting, and the music stirs you up, and when the trapeze artists start, I mean, it just takes your breath away, and the women are beautiful, and the men are handsome and strong. Do you know the truth? You know, I got, I spent a lot of time at that circus. Meeting a lot of people, and looking at what they did, and how they did it. And I realized the women aren’t that beautiful, they’re just tired. And the men aren’t that handsome, they’re working hard in a very difficult task. And this is not as attractive, I don’t think I want to run away with a circus anymore. Well, that’s what Proverbs does. Proverbs does that for the believer. It lets you see behind the scenes and it says, listen to me, I’m going to tell you the truth, this is the way it is. Let me show you something else, by way of overview and introduction, the Book of Proverbs gives us a worldview that isn’t that positive about the world. In effect, the worldview of Proverbs says that we live in a dark and fallen place. For instance, Proverbs 6:10 and I could have picked 40 different places. In Proverbs 6:10 through 11, it says.

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler. And you’re kneed like an armed man.

Well, that’s not very up. Well, Proverbs sometimes is not up because it looks at the world the way it really is, and the world is fallen, the world is difficult. We live in a bad place because two people you never met, Adam, man, and Eve, did something that you had no control over, and you’re suffering from it. Now, that doesn’t seem fair to me. It’s called the Fall, but it is what it is, and God was in charge of it. For those of you who are theologically inclined, Just so you know, I’m supralapsarian. No, I’m not going to explain that cause it doesn’t make any difference. But at any rate, there are two views of human nature, and I’ve said this a thousand times. One is that people are perfectible, that they’re basically good, and they make some mistakes, but if you use the right programs and give the right teachings, and allot the right amount of money, then they’ll be fine, and they’ll be nice and kind the way you are nice and kind. Listen to me. That’s a lie. That’s not true. The other view says, human beings are fallen creatures. They are inclined, this is, by the way, one of the major themes of the Federalist Papers, upon which our country was built. People, if you’re not careful, you’ve got to understand. If you’re not careful, you’ll get into trouble if you think everybody’s nice and kind. And if you’re nice and kind, they’ll be nice and kind back to you. It’s just not true. Men and women are basically sinners. And the Scripture is clear about that. The heart is, will deceive you, the Scripture says. Basically corrupt. Who can understand? Who says that he’s not a sinner, is a liar. And the truth is, and I could go on and on and on, but you get the idea. The difference between statism and anti statism politically has to do with how you view human nature. And as you read the Book of Proverbs, you see that human nature is not pretty. It really isn’t. Now, God does some things for his people in terms of being a new creature, in terms of change, in terms of sanctification. The process of becoming more and more like Jesus, but we’re still a hard case. The prodigal son still goes back to the pig farm, even if he doesn’t stay as long as he did before or party as much as he did. And so, if you don’t understand that, and if you don’t get it and you don’t build it into your worldview, you’re going to get into trouble. So Proverbs says, in effect, listen up, people are sinners, and you are too. Be wise. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Steve. And we’ll continue from here in our study of Proverbs tomorrow. Sure, hope you’ll join us for that. So, here’s a no kidding statement, none of us has our act together, but we often compound that problem by putting up a front, by acting like we have it all together. And I can tell you, nothing good comes from that. Well, Steve spoke about this situation in a sermon called, When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. It’s powerful, it’s relevant. And I think it’s going to really help you. So, get your copy on CD for free right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your free copy of the CD called When Believing is Hard and Pretending Doesn’t Work. And finally, if you value the work of Key Life, would you support that work through your giving? You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word, two words. It doesn’t matter, just text that to 28950 and then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And as always, we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.