Proverbs 1
July 14, 2024
preached by Pastor Ryan Bouton
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Time of Reflection Quotations

“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone. In the second place, those blessings which unceasingly distill to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain.”

~ The Institutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin (1509-1564), French-Swiss reformer and theologian

“You’re feeling scared, Jesus is your bodyguard
You feel alone, take a look in your backyard
Put your eye to the eye of a telescope
The universe looks back through a microscope
Adopt a highway
Dress yourself in camel-hair
A wasted life is a life lived unaware
Make money, put it on a number eight
Tempt fate, maybe you’re a wheel goin’ round
Round and round.”

I listen and I hear what’s said
I follow it from a to zed
…but wisdom hasn’t found me yet.”

~ “Wisdom” by The Guggenheim Grotto

“Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust.”

~ Knowing God by J.I. Packer (1929-2020), a British-born Canadian Christian theologian and professor

Sermon Passage

Proverbs 1 (ESV)

¹ The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
² To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
³ to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
⁴ to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
⁵ Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
⁶ to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
⁷ The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
⁸ Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
⁹ for they are a graceful garland for your head
and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent.
¹¹ If they say, “Come with us,
let us lie in wait for blood;
let us ambush the innocent without reason;
¹² like Sheol let us swallow them alive,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
¹³ we shall find all precious goods,
we shall fill our houses with plunder;
¹⁴ throw in your lot among us;
we will all have one purse”—
¹⁵ my son, do not walk in the way with them;
hold back your foot from their paths,
¹⁶ for their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed blood.
¹⁷ For in vain is a net spread
in the sight of any bird,
¹⁸ but these men lie in wait for their own blood;
they set an ambush for their own lives.
¹⁹ Such are the ways of everyone
who is greedy for unjust gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.
²⁰ Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
²¹ at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
²² “How long, O simple ones,
will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
²³ If you turn at my reproof,
behold, I will pour out my spirit to you;
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴ Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
²⁵ because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when terror strikes you,
²⁷ when terror strikes you like a storm
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently but will not find me.
²⁹ Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
³⁰ would have none of my counsel
and despised all my reproof,
³¹ therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way,
and have their fill of their own devices.
³² For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
³³ but whoever listens to me will dwell secure
and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”