Proverbs 2:12-15
Delivers Thee from Evil Men
Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds Proverbs 2:12-15, detailing how divine wisdom preserves believers from the influence of evil men. He describes evil men by their perverse speech, apostate way of life, depraved delights, and devious paths, contrasting their 'realism' with the Bible's. Martin then highlights the peculiar dangers of their aggressive and subtle influence, particularly for the young. He concludes with practical directives for parents, young people, and all present, emphasizing the necessity of both instruction and prayer, and warning against the wrath of God for those who fit the description of the evil man.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 8 sections · 60 min
- Introduction: The Preserving Purpose of Wisdom in Proverbs 2 0:02
- Wisdom's Preserving Influence from the Way of Evil Men: Description 7:39
- Characteristic 1: Perverse Speech 9:44
- Characteristic 2: Apostate Way of Life 19:46
- Characteristic 3: Depraved Delights 32:23
- Characteristic 4: Devious Paths 40:48
- Peculiar Dangers of Their Influence 45:10
- Practical Directives and Solemn Warning 49:38
Key Quotes
“And you will know very little of the sanctifying power of the word unless that word is coming into the citadel of your being, entering the heart, and is becoming a source of delight to you.”
“But when the bible describes these things it does so in such a way that unless a man is utterly seared his conscience he sees the picture and says god have mercy upon me lest i go down that road and incur your wrath and your judgment that's the basic difference”
“Now since the scripture says out of the abundance of the the heart, the mouth speaketh. Since the Bible teaches that your mouth is an echo of your heart, the fact that their speech is perverse and froward is simply a revelation that they themselves are perverse and froward.”
“And let me say by way of application there are none so adamant in their efforts to seduce others into unbelief and wickedness as those who once walked in the ways of uprightness.”
“I think it's one of the saddest verses in all of scripture there are men described as actually delighting in eating who rejoice to do evil they're never happier than when they are consciously committed to a course that is in contradiction to God's holy law”
“You see a godly young man or woman in the presence of an ungodly man or woman is a constant barb in his conscience there's only one thing you do with a barb in your conscience get it out”
“A religious education without religious taste is not enough knowledge of the gospel in the conviction of your conscience is not enough unless it is joined to the renewal of your heart for in the hour of testing you will follow that which is pleasant to your soul sin or the way of holiness”
“If you've been told God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life as you sit in your impenitence you've been told a lie if you've been told that the anger of God burns against you in your impenitence yet wonder of wonders in his love and mercy he sets before you a way of deliverance and pleads with you to come and entering that way of deliverance you'll be loved and accepted in the beloved then you've been told the truth”
Applications
Parents & families
- Cry out day after day for heavenly wisdom to enter your heart and be pleasant to your soul, so you can recognize and be kept from perverse speech.
- Be content with nothing less than the vitals of Christ, who is the truth, to keep you from the seductive influence of apostates.
- Let true wisdom enter your heart and knowledge be pleasant to your soul, so you are not sucked into the depraved delights of evil men, knowing true delight is found only in Christ and holiness.
- Be content with nothing less than divine wisdom coming home with saving power to your heart, as religious education or conviction alone is insufficient without heart renewal.
All listeners
- Do all in your power to impart God's wisdom to your children, teaching them His law, gospel, and the book of Proverbs, and couple this instruction with pleading with God for the effectual entrance of truth into their hearts.
- Cease to do evil and learn to do well; there is no progress in God's way unless you are weaned from the way of evil through repentance.
- Honestly face and cut off encumbrances with the way of evil that are hindering your progress in the way of good men.
- Flee while the door of mercy stands open, repent, and believe in God's Son to be delivered from the wrath of God and be made righteous in Christ.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 80 paragraphs, roughly 60 minutes.
Introduction: The Preserving Purpose of Wisdom in Proverbs 2
Now let us turn to Proverbs chapter 2 for the continuation of our studies in this most practical book of the Word of God, part of that which comes under the description of 2 Timothy 3.16, Scripture which is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Chapter 2, as I trust you will know by now, and those of you who've been here with any degree of regularity, I hope you'd be able to tell this to anyone if they ask you what is in chapter 2 of Proverbs. It is basically a chapter in which wisdom and its benefits is set before us in most graphic terms.
We are taught in the first four verses what the path is by which wisdom is attained. It's a path in which there is exposure to the words of God, a path in which there is earnest prayer, for illumination of the words of God. It's a path in which there is unflagging diligence in the pursuit of wisdom. Then we have the gracious promise that when one walks that path, wisdom shall be imparted.
The wisdom, the substance of which is described in verses 5 and 9, the fear of God, and the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of the will of God. This is true wisdom. This is saving wisdom. This is sanctified.
This is unifying wisdom. This is wisdom which is unto eternal life. And then we went on to see in our study that the basic purpose for which this wisdom is given is graphically described in verse 8, that he may guard the paths of justice and preserve the way of his saints. That God's wisdom is imparted in order to preserve the saints in a course of holiness.
And so the wisdom that Solomon speaks of is an ethical, a religious, a moral wisdom. It is a wisdom which is unto holiness. Having stated then, as he does in verse 8, that the purpose for which wisdom is given is preserving, that of preserving the saints in a way of holiness, he then goes on to describe how that purpose is realized in the actual experience of a child of God. And we saw in our study last week, verses 10 and 11, that wisdom's sanctifying and preserving influence is only known when it gains an effectual entrance, verse 10, and when it exerts its powerful influence. What is the effectual entrance of wisdom? Wisdom shall enter into thy heart. It comes in to take dominion over us, and knowledge shall be pleasant unto thy soul.
We take delight in it. We take delight in it. We take delight in it. We take delight in it.
We take delight in it. And you will know very little of the sanctifying power of the word unless that word is coming into the citadel of your being, entering the heart, and is becoming a source of delight to you. And then when it possesses the heart, for out of the heart proceed the issues of life, then as we read in verse 11, it begins to exert its powerful influence. Discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee.
So there is, there is Solomon's basic answer to the question, how does true wisdom preserve the way of the saints? And his answer is, it gains effectual entrance, it exerts a powerful influence. But Solomon is not content to leave us with the statement in a general, unapplied principle. And from this point on in the chapter, he then descends to particulars.
Having stated his principle, he now descends to some, some particular applications. Again, it's as though someone said, all right Solomon, divine wisdom is given to preserve the way of the saints, how does it do it? And Solomon answers and says, when it enters the heart, and when it exerts its influence on the life. And it's as though someone asked the question and says, yes, and from what sins then will I be preserved?
And that's the rest of the chapter, at least down through verse 19, in which Solomon tells us, it will in the first place preserve us, from the way of evil men. Verse 12, to deliver thee from the way of evil men. And then you could skip right down to verse 16, without breaking the thought at all, to deliver thee from the strange woman. So it's twofold purpose then, or the way in which it preserves us, exerting its influence, is to keep us from the paths of ungodliness in general, the way of evil men, to keep us from the path of immorality in particular, to deliver thee from the strange woman. And then all of this negative is with a view to verse 20, that thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. He said, you, my son, cannot walk in the path of good men, unless you learn how to be preserved from the path of evil men. But being preserved from the path of evil men is not an end in itself, it is a means to the end, that you may walk in the way of good men.
And so the whole thought of this section of the chapter can be readily understood if you just tie together the first phrase of verse 12, the first of verse 16, and then verse 20. And there you have Solomon's particulars with reference to this preserving influence of the word of wisdom. Now it's in the course of stating this preserving power of the word from the way of evil men and from the strange woman unto a life of holiness that we have both a description of the evil men from whose ways we are preserved, and a description of the evil woman from whose wiles we are preserved. And so the only reason why I'm expounding these passages is because they are here. I take no delight in descending into this description, of evil men. I take no delight in descending into this description of evil women.
But since the Holy Ghost has given it to us as part of that wisdom by which we are to be preserved, I trust that a very looking at this portrait of evil men tonight, and God willing when I'm back with you, this portrait of the evil woman, will fill us with such horror, will fill us with such disgust, will fill us with such a sense of holy antipathy to everything that is spoken of here, that wisdom's preservative influence will be realized even in the description of the evil man and of the evil woman. Well so much then for that general introduction to this section of the chapter. Now let us focus our attention tonight upon verses twelve through fifty. Fifteen. To deliver thee from the way of evil men is the better rendering as you have it in the King James and in the margin of the ASV.
Wisdom's Preserving Influence from the Way of Evil Men: Description
And then he goes on to describe those men. From the men that speak perverse things, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths . We shall study these verses tonight under the general heading Wisdom's Preserving Influence from the Way of Evil Men. And to think our way through these few verses we shall consider first of all this description of evil men.
Secondly, the peculiar dangers of their influence, and thirdly some practical directives which wisdom gives us, in order to achieve this vision. to be preserved from them a description of evil men the particular dangers their influence how to be delivered from that influence first of all then this description of evil men the description of those men from whose influence true wisdom will deliver us and preserve us and as we come to study the details i'm struck again with the realism of the word of god as we had occasion to note in our study of chapter one where we looked at the purpose of the book of proverbs solomon knows that his son his pupil the one to whom he is speaking as he does again in chapter two in verse one is sooner or later going to find himself in head-to-head face-to-face confrontation with wicked men and with wicked men and with wicked men and with wicked men and with wicked men and with wicked men and with wicked women and he knows that if divine wisdom enters his heart it will be an immunizing influence against the wiles of wicked men and of wicked women so the scripture knows nothing of this kind
Characteristic 1: Perverse Speech
of what shall i say the victorian prudery by which the way of evil men would be veiled no no the scripture speaks in some of its most graphic descriptive portions of the way of evil but never in such a way as to incite your desire for evil that's the difference between the realism of the bible and the so-called realism of our own day as found in literature and found in the theater and the arts and in every realm of society people say look life is ugly life is full of immorality life is full of murder life is full of rape and incest and homosexuality so why hide it ah but the difference is this when men parade these things they do so in such a way as to excite the depraved lust of other men and lead them into the very sins they are portrayed but when the bible describes these things it does so in such a way that unless a man is utterly seared his conscience he sees the picture and says god have mercy upon me lest i go down that road and incur your wrath and your judgment that's the basic difference so when anyone says oh the bible's a dirty book look at the song of solomon look at something second look at david's sin you cast it back in their teeth and tell them
that they're speaking as fools it's high time they started reading the bible instead of parroting what someone told them about it this bible that describes the sins of men describes the terrible judgments of god that come upon all impenitent sinners so much then as we introduce this study what then are these men like whose way is going to confront this young man divine wisdom if it enters his soul and is pleasant to him it will keep him from the way of evil men what are the characteristics of these evil men what are they like well the first thing solomon tells us is that their speech is froward or is perverse now i spent i don't know how many hours i've spent talking down this word froward you know what froward is i don't even after my hours but i think i know something of what the word means translated in the american standard perverse as one careful very capable biblical student of another day has said it speaks of that which is impetuous headstrong unrestrained the person who is the one who is the one who is the one who is the one who does not calculate and consult his conscience it's the opposite of discretion
the formal definition of this word is given in the dictionaries would be that which deviates from the right persistence in error stubbornly willful so you get the picture the way of evil men is the way of men whose speech reveals an impetuous headstrong unrestrained spirit a spirit that is stubbornly willful that is persistent in its course of error now solomon says to his son divine wisdom will preserve you from the way of evil men a way that is characterized by their speech that is perverse it is willful and arrogant it is persistent in its rejection of truth now since the scripture says out of the abundance of the the heart, the mouth speaketh. Since the Bible teaches that your mouth is an echo of your heart, the fact that their speech is perverse and froward is simply a revelation that they themselves are perverse and froward. They are committed to a course of unbending and resolute stubbornness to go on in their own way. Now they're smart enough to know that their words can influence people.
You see, words shape thoughts. Thoughts shape character, and character determines destiny. How am I seeking to convey thoughts to you tonight? By words.
That's what I've studied for. That's what I've labored in this passage for many hours for. That's why I've tried to hammer out some kind of a clear structure and try to make it so it will characterize, why am I trying to influence your thoughts with words? Now why am I trying to influence your thoughts?
Because if I can influence your thoughts under God by the means He's ordained, preaching and teaching of the Word of God, there will be an influence upon your character. And why am I concerned with influencing your character? Because your character determines your destiny. Your influence now and your destiny for eternity.
Now what's true with words based upon the Scriptures is true with men who speak perverse things. And so Solomon recognizes that his son, his pupil is going to go out into a world in which he's going to rub shoulders with forward men. Men who have the bit in their teeth, who say in the words of Psalm 2, let us break their bands asunder, cast away their cords from us, who shake their neck like a wild colt, and say, I will not be subject to the Lord God of heaven and of earth. And so with that disposition of heart, they speak things that are reflective of it.
And Solomon knows that his son is going to come into contact with such. And their perverse speech will have a tendency to influence the thoughts of his son. And what influences his thoughts will shape his character. And what shapes his character will determine his destiny.
And so he's concerned that his son have true wisdom enter into his heart and true knowledge be pleasant to his soul so that when he hears perverse speech he can recognize it for what it is. For these men of perverse speech are those who attack all the foundations of right and of wrong. All the foundations of morality who mock the ideas of God and sin and judgment and heaven and hell. They taunt all talk of virtue and honesty and impurity.
And you see a young man feels as it were bullied by the men of perverse speech. They seem to be men who are knowledgeable. Many times they are men who seem to be successful. And so the young man is as it were impressed with this semblance of success and these words which pour out of this perverse man, perverse words can have a tremendous influence unless the young man has had the words of heavenly wisdom laid up where?
In his heart. Meditates upon them day and night so that he can face the very imposing figure of a man of the world who mocks at God and sin and judgment and morality and ethics and he can say very politely yet firmly, Sir, you're an educated fool. For the fool hath said, said in his heart, no God.
You're nothing but a cultured life as though there were no God, no heaven nor hell when those are the only certain things of life.
To be able to look such a man in the face and say if what you say is not true to scripture, it is but gilded and impressive ignorance what Jude calls whose mouths speak great swelling words. But that's all they are. Stick the pin, the divine, the divine truth into them and they're deflated to nothing.
They're great swelling words.
And so he says, my son, divine wisdom is given to preserve you from the way of evil men. Outstanding characteristic of evil men, they speak perverse things. But oh my son, remember to the law, to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. And I say to you dear young people, some of you who face high school teachers whom I've described tonight, very clever young men and women.
They've got their masters working for their doctorate. Very impressive, aren't they? There's a suave-ness about them. There's a sensitivity to high school students or college students.
And they know how, as it were, to take a whole class and get them right in the palm of their hand and manipulate them. And you can feel, as it were, the minds of young men just being surrendered to them. The minds of young men of your classmates being surrendered to them. What are you to do?
Oh, you're to cry day after day, Oh God, may the words of heavenly wisdom enter into my heart. May they take possession of me. May the words of heavenly wisdom be pleasant to my soul that when I hear perverse things, I shall be kept from the influence of the perverse men who speak them. To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because, there is no light in them.
There may be dozens of degrees upon them, but there's no light in them.
Characteristic 2: Apostate Way of Life
Well, we must hurry on to the second characteristic of this evil man, from whose ways divine wisdom preserves us. And Solomon says this about him. Not only is their speech perverse, but their way of life is apostate. Verse 13.
Who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways, of darkness. What are the paths of uprightness? Why, this is the same word we had in verse 7. God lays up sound wisdom for the upright.
The man who walks in moral rectitude, who faces the law of God and says, Lord, those are my orders. Who sees that law reflected in the word and above all in the person of Jesus Christ and says, that is my standard, so help me God, I shall walk in conformity to Him. That's uprightness. These are people whose way of life is apostate.
They have forsaken the paths of uprightness in order to walk in the ways of darkness. And what are the ways of darkness? It's just a synonym for ways of sin. Again and again in Scripture, darkness is used as a synonym for, for the realm of sin.
John 3.19 Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Romans 13.12 Casting off the works of darkness.
And why is sin and the ways of sin called the ways of darkness? Well, because they are framed in darkness. Light is synonymous with truth. Darkness with error.
So the ways in which they walk come out of the womb of what? Ignorance and error. Ignorance of God. Ignorance of His ways.
Ignorance of His will. Ignorance of the wages of the course they set upon. They are ways of darkness. Because they are framed and come out of the womb of darkness.
Secondly, they're called ways of darkness because they're carried out in darkness. The Scripture speaks of unconverted men as living in darkness.
That is, their back is always turned to every source of light that would expose them for what they are. When conscience begins to zero in upon them, they try to turn from its light. And when there is preaching that would search them, they try to turn from its light. And they instinctively know that this is a book of light.
So they pick up a few time-worn, stupid little arguments about contradictions in the Bible and all the rest and with one fell sweep. They say, oh, the Bible's not worth studying. They think. They think.
They may think they're fooling themselves, but they aren't. What is this but the picture of the ways of darkness? A lifestyle that comes out of the womb of darkness that is lived in the climate of darkness. And the saddest thing is it leads to eternal darkness.
It's not without significance that hell is called outer darkness.
Where men will feel without alleviation the full of all the darkness. Of all the ignorance and error and rejection of light in which they lived for their lifetime. And God says, that's what you want it, that's what you shall have and have it for eternity.
The ways of darkness then are the ways of sin. And the characteristic then of these evil men is not only that their speech is perverse and they seek to influence by it, but their way of life is apostate. They forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the way of God. They forsake the ways of darkness.
But now someone asked, and rightly so, what does it mean they forsake the paths of uprightness? Well, there are two possibilities. The first, and I lean in my own thinking to this,
it could be that he's speaking of the companions of this young man who being Israelites had the unique blessing of being part of that one nation under heaven to which God directly revealed himself. The nation, the nation of Israel. The one nation to whom he committed his oracles. The one nation to whom he sent the prophets as a continual blessing.
Occasionally, he would send a prophet to a Gentile city as he did Jonah. But when Paul is enumerating the distinctive blessings of the Jews in Romans, he says that they had the prophets, they had the oracles of God, they had the covenants. They were in that peculiar relationship to him. So, it may well be that Solomon is described as describing the way of evil men in terms of a way of life in which there were companions of this young man who externally walked uprightly.
There was the influence of parental guidance that kept them from a life of abandonment to sin. There may have been the impetus of external identity with the people of God and there may have even been the influence of temporary faith which the Bible speaks of in the parable of the sower in Hebrews 6, 2 Peter chapter 2. And so, if this is what Solomon is saying, then his word of caution to his son is this. Wisdom must enter into your heart and knowledge must be pleasant unto your soul if you are to be preserved from the influence of those who once walked in ways of piety but who no longer walk in them. And we'll see the significance of that in the morning. Or the other meaning could be a man forsakes the way of uprightness in the sense that he sees that way marked out by his own conscience. He hears that way described in the word and he beholds that way embodied in the lives of others.
He gets close enough to it to know what it is and says, I want no part of it. In that sense, he forsakes it. You don't need to walk in something to forsake it. You may see something and run away from it and in that sense forsake it.
So Solomon could be speaking of men who are acquainted with that way from a distance and turn away from it but I rather think he's speaking of men who actually once walked in that way but are apostate from it. They have turned from the light they had. And let me say by way of application there are none so adamant in their efforts to seduce others into unbelief and wickedness as those who once walked in the ways of uprightness. It is as though their consciences having had greater light can only be silenced by dragging others into their path of apostasy.
Lawson, a Scottish commentator who has an excellent commentary on the book of Proverbs said concerning this point and I quote him now among these pests of men none are such virulent pests of everything that is good as those that once made a profession of religion but have left the way of uprightness to walk in those miserable and gloomy paths which begin in the darkness of the mind and end in the darkness of hell. The stings of conscience which such persons experience instead of reclaiming them tend only to irritate their spirits and inflame them into fierce enmity against religion. If instead of being pierced with such stings they are cursed with the conquest of their own consciences they are hardened enough for the blackest sin and prepared not only to do evil but to work it with both hands greedily. They rejoice in the service of Satan and no greater pleasure do they know than that which arises from seeing that Satan's interests flourish and his kingdom prospers. You see the devil no sooner became an apostate than he became an inveterate tempter.
Having plunged himself into the abandonment from God he is committed to plunge the human race into the same. And such evil men are like their father the devil.
Now what's going to keep you young people from that? From people who've sat where you sat and who heard sermons as you hear me preach tonight. And are going to come to you and say I've been down that road but listen I've been on both sides of the fence I've been where you are and now I've been where I once thought I should never go and let me tell you it's great.
The preachers can stand up there and hold over your head the threats of hell and the nagging conscience but listen what little twinges of conscience I have are worth all the fun I'm having. And they begin to weave their whip of seductive talk inviting you to come with them into the waves of darkness. What's going to keep you from that?
What's going to keep you from it? Only one thing if true wisdom enters into your heart and true knowledge is pleasant to your soul. In other words the only thing that will keep you young person is the vitals of Christ who is the truth.
If you're satisfied with anything if you're satisfied with the mere eternal supportive influence of exposure to the truth in your church keeping you at this stage from abandonment to sin you're a prime candidate for the way of evil men who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness because all you know of the paths of uprightness now is bitterness because you have no heart for it. Your heart is of darkness because of these restraining influences and when someone comes along and says look why go on in this torture any longer? Kick off the traces and let your life be where your heart is. It's great.
What have you got to keep you? Solomon knew this. That's why he said to his son look expose yourself to the words of knowledge but don't be content with that. Cry out for wisdom seek for it as for hid treasure then when you understand the fear of God and find the knowledge of God then when you begin to know the will of God and wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul it will begin to preserve you so that when the evil man comes with his perverse speech and then when he sets before you his apostate life and says this is the way to life with a capital L you'll be able to say no my friend I have been brought to one who said I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly and I've tasted of that life which is eternal I have a well of water springing up into everlasting life within my own bosom by virtue of Christ and the Holy Spirit your polluted stagnant pools of sinful desire sinful pleasure hold no attraction for me that's what Solomon's saying he's saying it's this wisdom that preserves you from the way of evil men evil men characterized by perverse speech characterized by apostate lives and thirdly
Characteristic 3: Depraved Delights
notice what he says their delights are depraved speech perverse their way of life apostate but their delights are depraved listen verse 14 who rejoice to do evil and delight in the perverseness of evil or as the King James says the frowardness of evil men they delight to do evil themselves and they delight in the perversity of other men's evil now let's look at these two things they rejoice to do evil when does a thing bring you joy let me ask you kids then what makes you happy when you say when the long-winded preacher says and now for the last point you can go home and go to bed what makes you happy what makes any of us happy well the thing that brings us delight is the thing that brings us joy and brings us rejoicing is the thing that is suitable to our natures as we saw last week in trying to open up the phrase knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul take a little bird and say to that little bird now little Johnny Sparrow I'm going to turn you loose and give you the whole Pacific Ocean for your dwelling place Johnny would look up and frown with little bird eyes and he'd chirp out in his little bird language
but that won't make me happy I'm not happy with you I'm not made for the water well how about if I give you the Atlantic with the Pacific and throw in the Indian Ocean for something extra still brings him no delight why because his bird nature is not suited for oceans though you could give him a million of them he's made for the air and say to little Johnny Fish that you're going to give him all the expanse of the heavens of the western hemisphere it doesn't make him happy it brings no delight because his fish nature is not suited to the air but to the water we go back to our illustration last week tell some of you kids look I got something to make you really happy three pounds of spinach that brings no delight but if I say look here's a half gallon ice cream do what you can with it well that might be a different story why? because it's suitable to your nature and to your desires now do you see what this is saying? I think it's one of the saddest verses in all of scripture there are men described as actually delighting in eating
who rejoice to do evil they're never happier than when they are consciously committed to a course that is in contradiction to God's holy law this is one of the great indictments that God brought upon his people through the prophet Jeremiah look at the statement in Jeremiah 11 and verse 15 God says to Jeremiah pray not for this people what a terrible thing when God forbids his servants even to pray for a people neither lift up nor cry nor pray for them for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me because of their trouble what hath my beloved to do in my house seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many and the holy flesh is passed from thee when thou doest evil then thou rejoicest when thou doest evil ah! this is what brings you joy just like when you turn the bird loose into the heavens the very way that he takes off with such alacrity is an eloquent testimony of his joy and drop the little fish out of your hand into the water and the way he swims off is an evidence of his delight so God says to his people when you're in the realm of sin that it's obvious that this fills you with joy and with delight
Paul uses the phrase in 2 Thessalonians 2.12 who had a child pleasure in unrighteousness that's the picture of these evil men in their way it's one in which they delight rejoice to do evil depraved delights and secondly they delight in the perverseness of other evil men there's only one thing that makes their joy more complete only one thing that makes them happier than being involved in their own sin it's seeing others in their sin you talk about depraved delight to actually see people delighting in that which is a constant offense to God and is bringing damnation to the souls of men that's how perverse men's delights have become Romans 1.32 speaks of the same thing speaking of those who've never had the revelation of scripture but have the revelation of God in natural in the creation what is generally called natural revelation it says who not only do these things and know the judgment of God but rejoice in those that practice the same you and I meet such people every day they brag about their sins some of you men and women will go back into offices tomorrow in which your office companions if given a chance will brag to others
about their sinful escapades over the past weekend you students will go on back and guys will be bragging about their beer busts and their immoral activities over the weekend bragging about it and when someone can top them they all get together and rejoice in the perverseness of one another's evil ways you talk about depraved delights this is the height of it now what's going to keep you particularly you young people from being seduced by this when you feel the pressure of everybody who seems to be happy in their sins and they delight and you have nothing to contribute you're the little goody goody you're the little naive one who doesn't know what life's all about and yet you're a social being and you feel the pressure of not being with it don't you sure you do sure you do now what's going to keep you from joining in their depraved delights only one thing when wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul when mommy and daddy's God and the preacher's God and mommy and daddy's Savior and the preacher's God and the preacher's Savior are not just words and religious talk to you but when Jesus Christ who is the wisdom of God is indeed your own
though your social pressure and the pain of being cut off you'll not be sucked into the way of these evil men with their depraved delights because true wisdom has entered your soul and you know that the only true delight is to be found in Christ and in a way of holiness man was made to be a happy creature so long as he was a holy creature and his happiness and his holiness stand or fall together there was no tear shed till sin was committed now man in his love of sin and in the darkness of his mind says I will find delight in the very thing that has brought me under the curse of God and will bring me ultimately under his darkness and his damnation he says to his son oh that you might receive my words that you may be kept from the way of evil men and then he gives the description speech is perverse their way is apostate their delights are depraved and then the last thing he says their paths are devious verse 15 who are crooked in their ways
Characteristic 4: Devious Paths
and wayward in their paths just a word of definition crooked in their ways and wayward what do they mean when something is crooked it's distorted and I believe what Solomon has in mind is simply this man was made to obey God in obedience to him is the straight path and everything else is a crooked path wayward it means to turn aside their paths have been turned aside from that good and acceptable and perfect will of God their paths are not according to the law or to the gospel Romans chapter 3 they have all gone aside into what into crooked paths their paths are devious Matthew Henry has a choice comment on this I quote their ways are crooked great many windings and turnings to escape the pursuit of their convictions and break the force of them their deceitful hearts furnish them with some sly excuse some subtle evasion or other for the strengthening of their hands in wickedness and in the crooked mazes of that path they seek to secure themselves from the arrest of God's word and from their own consciences and as one commentator said a crooked path is one in which you can never see the end they're in their crooked paths
not wanting to remind themselves that the way leads unto death their paths are devious they do not know they do not live by fixed principles that come with the authority of God their path as it were is a path of putty shaped according to every whim and dictate of their own deep hearts the pressure of their peers the influence of society about them what a contrast with the path of the righteous that is laid with the solid granite blocks of God's eternal character as expressed in his own holy law the problem with these who walk in such paths is that they are not as good as they are to be they often have keen minds and they can justify their courts of action and set it out before others as a very liberating path you see I've got to give Hugh Hefner his right to feel that the way to happiness is to give yourself to a life of sensual pleasure which is the philosophy of hedonism but when Hugh Hefner sets out to construct what's now called the playboy empire I'm disturbed because I see a description of this very thing
his path is devious and he's trying to convince the world it's the only sected with the puritanic ethic you're the crooked ones you're all twisted and tied up come into my straight path of the playboy philosophy the path of liberation how are you going to be kept from the subtleties of that how are you going to be kept from the influence of great minds men like Norman Mailer he's no dope the man who was shaping the thinking of many in our day Hugh Hefner the Mary Calderones the others who were shaping the thinking the Dr. Rubens you better take them seriously they're shaping the thinking of millions and their paths are devious to be kept from that how are you young person to be kept from that are you going to stand up and match wits with them no there's only one way when wisdom enters into your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul so that in those times when you can't even give a rational explanation of what's wrong you'll say that's a crooked path because it's not the path marked out for me in Holy Scripture well that's the description Solomon gives of these evil men and the dangers of their influence and now I want to very very quickly
Peculiar Dangers of Their Influence
and since I won't be working for my salary for the next two weeks here maybe I get away with speaking for a little bit longer tonight and I didn't have to preach this morning so I've got a lot more steam left than I normally would seriously now consider with me and I do mean it very briefly the second facet of our study tonight having looked at the characteristic of these evil men whose way is constantly before us what are the peculiar dangers of their influence especially to the young and I would suggest several lines of thought first of all they are generally aggressive in their efforts to bring others into their way in fact Solomon says in chapter 4 look at verses 14 to 17 enter not into the path of the wicked walk not in the way of evil men avoid it pass not by it turn from it and pass on for they sleep not except they do evil they delight in evil and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence you see what he says their sinful ways are their meat and drink and they lay awake at night unless they can look back over the day and say I've got somebody else to come my way that's what he says their sleep is taken away unless they cause
some to fall that's aggressiveness they're evangelistic in their efforts to bring others into their way and they seem to be men of knowledge seem to be men of influence this is one of the peculiar dangers of the influence of evil men and that's why Solomon is so concerned that his son received wisdom into his heart and understanding become a delighter to him then and only then will he be preserved from the way of these evil men for they're not content to live on a basis of peaceful coexistence whatever that is they don't say well we'll live and let live they say no this is how I'll live and I'll get you to live the same way because you see a godly young man or woman in the presence of an ungodly man or woman is a constant barb in his conscience there's only one thing you do with a barb in your conscience get it out if you're a Christian you get it out the only way you know it can be by repentance and confession and fleeing afresh to that fountain open for sin and uncleanness if you're an ungodly man you'll do anything get the barbs out of your conscience and so young person if your life the upright life the life governed by true wisdom under the dominion of Christ governed by the word of Christ is that barb to them they're restless until they've satisfied their conscience by getting you to come over to their way that's what makes their way peculiarly dangerous they are aggressive
in their efforts and secondly they are subtle in the manner in which they seduce to sin like their father the devil they traffic in lies and half truths and so often the young have not lived long enough to see that they are but half truths some of us who've lived a little longer have seen the bitterness that comes when that naive young man thought he could get his heart strings tied up with that unconverted girl and never let the relationship develop serious enough to marry her oh he knows we've lived long enough to see the tragedy of how that relationship developed to the place where the guy couldn't tear her out of his heart and he married in an unequal yoke if we could collect all his tears and his groans and his sighs and have him here in one bucket and spill them out it would cause some of you young people to go white with terror and with fear oh but you're smart you know you see that's what makes the way of evil men so subtle particularly to the young they haven't lived long enough to see the bitter fruits of sin and so Solomon is most anxious that true wisdom enter the heart and immunize the young man against sin and then I close tonight with this third consideration some practical directives in the light of Solomon's instruction here
Practical Directives and Solemn Warning
the first directive I would address to parents preachers and teachers of children do all in your power to use your peculiar place of advantage as a parent preacher teacher to impart to your children God's wisdom teach them God's holy law teach them God's eternal gospel and especially teach them the book of Proverbs which will under God's blessing immunize them against the evil men but then couple with your instruction pleading with God for the effectual entrance of that truth into the heart we can and must bring it to the ear but we can't bring it to the heart I think one of the most tragic things for me as a parent is to face that again and again and again to realize that I can and must and do gather my family for family worship and read the word of God and catechize them and pray with them and for them but I can't cause that wisdom to enter the heart and for knowledge to be pleasant to their souls I can't do that there's only one who can I must bring it to the ear I can and must get it into the head but that alone will until it enters the heart and becomes delight to them personally
and oh parent if you would have your child preserved from the way of evil men it is your responsibility to instruct them and to plead with God for them then I bring a word to all you young men and women here today and my word to you is this be content with nothing less than divine wisdom coming home with saving power to your heart a religious education without religious taste is not enough knowledge of the gospel in the conviction of your conscience is not enough unless it is joined to the renewal of your heart for in the hour of testing you will follow that which is pleasant to your soul sin or the way of holiness and then my closing exhortation would be to everyone present here and it would be twofold there is no progress in the way of God unless we are weaned from the way of evil you remember in our opening introduction we noticed that Solomon says to deliver thee from the way of evil men to deliver thee from the strange woman to what end verse 20 that thou mayest walk
in the way of good men and keep the paths of the righteous as Isaiah the prophet said in chapter 1 of his prophecy cease to do evil learn to do well repentance is a necessary part of a saving response and a sanctifying walk in the gospel if faith leads to the way of good men it must be joined to repentance by which we forsake the way of evil men and so we have repentance and faith before us right in this very practical passage deliver thee from that you may walk in the way of good men now what's true at the threshold is true all along the way you know why some of you are making too little progress in the way of good men it's because you've got too many encumbrances with the way of evil that you're not facing honestly there's no such thing as a wholly positive Christian life it's not only growing up into him in all things it's cutting off right hands and plucking out right eyes and last of all and I close with this solemn note woe be unto anyone in this building who fits the description of the evil man what is God's attitude to these people who speak to them who speak perverse things who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness
who have not only perverse speech in an apostate way but they have these depraved delights these devious paths what's God's attitude to them I read from Psalm 5 verses 5 to 7 in which the psalmist describes God's attitude towards them the arrogant shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all work of iniquity thou wilt destroy them that speak lies the Lord abhorreth the bloodthirsty and deceitful man the arrogant shall not stand in thy sight thou hatest all workers of iniquity Jeremiah describes the disposition of God to such in the 30th chapter of his prophecy verses 23 and 24 in which he speaks of the anger and wrath of God breaking upon the head of the wicked like a terrible and irresistible tempest am I describing anyone tonight in these words who delight to do evil am I speaking to people particularly young people who when you are out from under the pressure and the restraints of your home and your church you suck at every little drop of sinful delight you can get to oh my dear
young friend what a terrible place you're in tonight the anger of almighty God burns against you in your state of willful impenitence and you're trifling with the almighty who holds your life in his hands you're trifling with the God who gives you life and breath and all things and who not only gives it but takes it it's a frightful thing to be an evil man in the presence of a frowning God you can't read yourself if you think that God just has some kind of a nebulous unprincipled general kind of love for everybody no matter what they do my Bible says and I've read it to you thou hatest all workers of the people and as a judge beholding you in your constant life of violation of his holy law his anger burns against you and every breach of that law calls upon him to bring down judgment upon your head but wonder of wonders that's the same God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and in mercy to a rebel fallen race he sent a savior who is an adequate and able and a willing savior for all who come unto God by him
but the circle of safety is the circle of union with Christ he that believeth not is condemned already he that believeth is not condemned he that believeth on the son hath life he that believeth not the son the wrath of God abideth upon him right now John 3 36 if you've been told God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life as you sit in your impenitence you've been told a lie if you've been told that the anger of God burns against you in your impenitence yet wonder of wonders in his love and mercy he sets before you a way of deliverance and pleads with you to come and entering that way of deliverance you'll be loved and accepted in the beloved then you've been told the truth we've lulled a generation to sleep in carnal security by this false proclamation of a general love of God he that believeth not the wrath of God abide but thank God it hasn't fallen upon some of you flee while the door of mercy stands open while God entreats you through the gospel and the come to his son repent believe that you are no longer described as the wicked man
but as one who is righteous in Christ by that righteousness which he himself is and gives to all who believe and then by that righteousness which he himself will impart by the spirit enabling you more and more to walk in his ways and to live to his own his praise well that's how wisdom preserves us from the influence of these evil men it enters the soul takes hold of us and then as it's a delight to us it becomes the governing principle of life and we face evil men in all their evil ways and are able even as Jesus prayed to be kept from evil is wisdom entering your heart and is knowledge and knowledge and understanding pleasant to your soul if so then blessed be God for its preserving power and may all of us be an increasing monument of the efficacy of the preserving power of the word of the living God and of the Savior who imparts that word with power even our Lord Jesus Christ let us pray
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This passage is the central focus, providing the detailed description of evil men from whose influence wisdom preserves.
Texts Expounded
Also Referenced
More from the archive
If this spoke to you, hear also…
-
-
-
-
-
The Fear of God is Foundational
Ephesians 6:4
layers How Not to Foul up the Training of Our Children
-
Avoid Moral Defilement/Defilers
Proverbs 1:10-6:35
layers How Not to Foul up the Training of Our Children