Proverbs 1:10-19
Let’s hear God’s word together.
This is the book of Proverbs chapter one, beginning at verse
10, reading through 19. My son, if sinners entice you,
do not consent. If they say, come with us, Let
us lie and wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without
reason. Like Sheol, let us swallow them
alive and whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall
find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with
plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way
with them. Hold back your foot from their
path for their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in
the sight of any bird. But these men lie in wait for
their own blood. They set an ambush for their
own lives. Such are the ways of everyone
who is greedy for unjust gain. It takes away the life of its
possessors. Amen. This is the word of the
living God for us. All right, fill in the blank
for me. Bad company corrupts. good character. Right. Y’all
heard that proverb, not a biblical one necessarily, but in maybe
Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he talks about not being unequally
yoked and speaks of bad company. Stay away from it. In our study
thus far of Proverbs, we have looked at the call for children
and all all people to fear the Lord. We’ve looked at children
and God’s call for them to obey parents. And we’ve looked at
children needing to learn from their parents. Tonight, we look
at two important verses, particularly verse 10 and verse 15, which
warn the young people to stay away from bad company. stay away
from bad friendships, stay away from the company of bad people. Now, you gotta think in ancient
Near Eastern terms here for a moment. People moved together in groups,
whether they were nomadic and moved from place to place with
their animals where grass would be fresh and new, or they lived
in small towns and villages. We probably think of friendships
coming through school, church, and the neighborhood. A lot of you can think back to
the company you kept in school, the friends you ran with in the
local neighborhood, and maybe even some of the people you went
to church with and maybe got along with over the years. And
so in our study tonight, we want to look at these two important
verses, 110 and 115. and then the counsel that follows
each. And as we think about friendships,
as we think about bad company, as we think about protecting
ourselves from those who would entice us to evil, which would
ultimately lead to theft and to death, we need to remember
this. There are lots of voices in the
world calling for our attention. There’s the enticements of the
world, there’s the enticements of Satan, but there’s even in
our own flesh, our own hearts remaining sin, and we have an
innate desire to do evil. And unless it’s curbed by our
parents teaching us wisdom, unless it’s curbed by the word of the
living God and the spirit of God teaching us wisdom, we can
fall among bad company and make some choices in life that will
last in its effects for quite a while. I think of a friend
of mine in the ministry who, as a young man, fell among bad
company. He ended up in jail or prison
for armed robbery. It wasn’t until prison he became
a Christian. He’s a minister of the gospel
now. But you never hear from a person
like him, you know, I’m really glad I had those bad friends.
I’m really glad I didn’t listen to my parents, and I’m so glad
I did something stupid, foolish, and deadly, because it’s really
blessed my life. You never hear that, do you?
Unless it’s just an awful, terrible person, maybe a Charles Manson
type. But we always hear regret. And so here’s an opportunity
on the front end, as people young and old and in between, to think
about life before we get too far into it. Listen to our parents
as they say to us, My son, if sinners entice you, that’s verse
10, do not consent. And then verse 15, my son, do
not walk in the way with them, or these evildoers. Hold back
your foot from their paths. So let’s take a look, if we can,
at verse 10 and what follows, and then verse 15 and what follows
first. In verse 10, if sinners entice
you, do not consent. You remember the question when
you were growing up, where are you going? Who are you going
with? And what are you all going to
be doing? And what was the final question? When are you coming
home? That’s exactly right. I can still
hear that. And sometimes your parents, discerning
your answers to those questions, or if your kids were like Jays
and they had a dad with a built-in lie detector, they would say,
I don’t think so. That’s not going to happen. No,
maybe not tonight. Or those aren’t good people.
Or they could tell, you’re lying about who you’re going with.
Who are you going with? You’re not going with them. Where are
you going? That’s not the place. And on and on it would go. I think
back to the high school days. I don’t know if some of y’all
remember this Rago Parking Lot over here. That was the hangout.
If you were anybody who was anybody and wanted to do something fun,
you hung out at Rago until a plan was hatched. I’ve lived back
here five years now. I’ve not seen a hangout at Rago,
but back in the day, you went to Rago to hatch your plan for
Friday night and you could ride by there and there were seas
of cars and people making their plans. Not that all of their
plans were evil or wicked, but if sinners entice you, it says
to young people, do not consent. Look at what else. This passage
goes on to say after verse 10, it explains, what’s their plan? Where are you going? What are
you going to do? Come with us. Let us lie in wait for blood.
They’re going to kill somebody. Let us ambush the innocent without
reason. Like shale is the place of the
dead. Let us swallow them alive and
whole like those who go down to the pit. We shall find all
precious goods. We shall fill our houses with
plunder. Throw in your lot among us, they
say to you. We will all have one purse. Imagine heading out
on a Friday night. Mom and dad, where are you going?
Out. What are you going to do? I’m going to kill somebody. Who
are you going with? Other murderers and robbers.
What time will you be home? Well, after we’re done killing
and robbing. Have a good time, dear. That’s not what you would
hear. That’s not what would come from
your parents’ mouths. And so the word of God here encourages
us, strongly warns us, do not go out with those who lie in
wait for blood and for plunder. I want you to think about what’s
been told to us here. If sinners entice you, do not
consent. It doesn’t have to be for robbery, right? It doesn’t
have to be for murder. I can think of some of the things
that we did as we ran through the neighborhood growing up.
I can think of some of the things we did in the church building
growing up because we were unsupervised. I can tell you some of the things
done that I saw as a student in school. You put young people
together, and what are they going to do? They’re going to do something,
right? They’re going to get in trouble.
And so it’s good to be under the watch and supervision of
your parents. But unsupervised, you’ll get
into something. And at what age does it come
to murder? Well, that’s coming younger and
younger and younger. We’re seeing children being tried
as adults now who are teenagers because they’re committing adult-like
crimes. But it used to take until your 20s and 30s to be the creepy
guy who did something bad. But it starts out young, doesn’t
it? You can see it with a child now. They come in a room and
they size up the adults. And what are they doing? They’re
seeing how much they’re going to get away with it. And it’s
why adults need to be adults, isn’t it? It’s why in the passage
here, it begins in verse 10, my son, and it also says in verse
15, my son, parents need to be parents. We’re seeing in our
culture today, the effects of unparented children growing up
into unraised adults and they seek blood and they seek plunder.
Now, it’s never my intention to be political or say something,
you know, to rouse up some kind of political fervor, but turn
on your TV today. Don’t, so many people need to
hear the words, if someone entices you to go do evil, even to go
get blood, don’t go with them, do not consent. We’re seeing
on TV, we’re seeing on Facebook Live, we are seeing right before
our eyes lawlessness, even not just destruction of property
and robbery, but we are seeing people murdered. in our polarized
society, but it’s a lack of parenting. It’s a lack of learning from
wisdom. And here’s a question. How long
will it be till they turn on you? Say you go out with these
people on a Friday night. Say you go running with them
to do evil and to lie and wait for blood and to get the plunder
and put the purse together and divide up the spoil. How long
will it be before they turn on you and steal from you or take
your life? How long will it be till you
become a statistic? Oh, let’s go out. Let’s commit
evil. We’ll split up. This will be fun. This will be
profitable. But one day they will get you. And one day this will spiral
so far out of control. As I’ve been a pastor the last
17 or so years, I’ve watched parents struggle with their children.
And it starts small. The little ones don’t obey. And
then they get to middle school and they’re showing a little
rebellion. Then they get to high school and maybe they get into
a little bit of drugs and other things. And then they get out
and they become adults. And some of the things that I’ve
seen parents deal with, I think of one family in particular,
about 10 years ago, the mom and dad spent so much money on lawyers,
they spent so much money on counseling and help. But they also spent
a lot of money paying off drug dealers to stay away from their
house. Their kid got in with the wrong people and didn’t pay
their debts. And so in order not to have their
house shot at or people come in the night and to have some
peace of mind for the rest of the family who kept their noses
clean, these mom and dad would find out whoever needed to be
paid off and to take care of it. And that was within the church.
Isn’t that a sad state of affairs to end up in this way? Listen
to the Proverbs, listen to your parents. If sinners entice you,
do not consent. It’s better to grow up with mom
and dad and stay home on Friday night than to prepare for a life
of crime and whatever else. The second verse, verse 15 is
an important one as well. And we’ll look at it and what
follows it. Verse 15 says, my son, do not walk in the way with
them. Hold back your foot from their
paths. Where are you going? Who are
you going with? What are you doing? And then
what time are you going to be home? Good questions. But if
it’s come to that, Maybe the restraint is not built in your
life from wisdom. And I think a lot of parents,
too, as you get a certain age, parents want freedom again. And
you’ve had these babies. They keep you up at night. They
wake you up early in the morning. You get them off to school, and
you’re happy for some free time again. And you watch the way
parenting goes. What happens about the time kids
are teenagers? Have fun. And you sit down and
click the TV on and get a glass of your favorite beverage and
you’re just happy they’re out of the house. But you have no
clue what they’re doing and where they have gone. And boy, you
pay for that later. Stay involved in your children’s
lives. Where are you going? What are
you doing? Who are you going with? What
time will you be home? Or no, you’re not going. You’re not doing. going to get
in trouble. Our rule at home growing up was
you’ll get one phone call from jail. And that’s it. And I can
remember when the phone did ring one night. It was my brother
calling from the Elon College Jail. And we were all sitting
as a family. And he didn’t do anything that
bad. We were all sitting in the living room and had some friends
over. And I answered the phone. It’s my brother David. Can I
talk to dad? Yeah, what’s wrong? I’m at the Elon Jail. And they
could all hear how phones used to be amplified. And everybody
in the room just sat back and laughed. We thought it was funny.
And all the jokes were getting yelled into the other end of
the phone. But dad had to go rescue him because he had shot
fireworks. You know that hillside on Truett
Drive where all the ball fields are? They had gone and shot fireworks. And the Elon police caught them.
My brother had two 15-year-olds with him. He was 16. And so he
got charged with aiding and abetting minors and all this stuff. And
my dad decided to represent him in court. That didn’t go well.
So my brother is a felon. did his probation over at the
soup kitchen over on Tucker Street with Uncle Frank and all the
rest is history. He’s turned out to be an OK guy.
He works in Washington. Not in politics anymore, real
estate. But anyway, don’t you imagine those parents going over
to the jail that night? What in the world were y’all
thinking? Because back then, the Elon cops were notorious.
If you went a mile over speed limits, you were going to get
pulled over and all the rest. But do not walk in the way. with
the wicked, hold back your foot from their paths. I want us to
think for just a minute about what are we raising our kids
to do? Are we raising them to be consumers or producers? You
think about this for a moment. How many kids grow up in a house
Every meal is cooked for them. Every dish is washed for them.
Every stitch of clothing is bought for them. Every stitch of clothing
they wear and toss in the corner is picked up, washed, folded,
and put back where it ought to be. They go to school. They have
all their provisions made. And by the time they’re 16 or
17 years old, they can’t cook a meal. They can’t wash a dish. They can’t do a load of laundry.
They can’t do much. They’re consumers. and not producers. It used to be that a home was
an economic unit, and everybody pitched in and did something. But nowadays, we’re seeing a
lot of children raised as consumers and not producers. And this is
the other side of that coin, or maybe the same side of the
coin, just a little worse. These young people are greedy. They’re
not hardworking. They want stuff, but how do they
get it? They lie in wait. They shed blood, and they get
a common purse. You can’t help but think of the
story of the Good Samaritan. How does that story go? There
was a man who was going from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and
what happened? He fell among robbers. And as a friend in the ministry
some years ago, we were all working on sermon outlines, said he was
beat up, he was passed up, and he was picked up. That’ll preach
on it. He was beat up, he was passed up, and he was picked
up. But why was he beat up? Because a group of people got
together and conspired. Let us lie in wait for blood.
Let us steal. Let us plunder. And let us put
it all together in a common purse. And instead of hardworking, and
earning our keep. Many are greedy. I can remember
as a young boy working hard, hard, hard for my grandfather.
And I would make, I think, $40 a day when I was in high school
delivering furniture. And I remember watching some
of the other employees stealing furniture out of inventory, selling
it for cash. And what I would earn in a week,
they could earn in 15 minutes selling stolen product. And I
remember wrestling with that, thinking, here I am actually
working and sweating for what I do. And these other employees
are stealing and profiting off of something that they did not
purchase. And it really burdened me because I wanted to earn the
kind of money they were earning, but I was unwilling to earn it
the way they were. It’s a good lesson to have to
learn. But it does come back on you. Ill-gotten gain never
blesses. And so we ought to teach our
children to be producers, not consumers. to be hardworking
and not greedy, but also never to run with those who will consume
what others have earned by plotting, by, as these verses teach us,
casting nets, because what ends up happening? Well, it tells
us, verse 16, their feet run to evil. They make haste to shed
blood. In vain a net is spread in the
sight of any bird, but these men, they lie and wait for their
own blood. They set an ambush for their
own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for
unjust gain. It takes away the life of its
possessors. So who are your friends? What
are their values? Do they prosper? Do they have
a life? Do they love others? Do they
love neighbors? Do they serve the living God?
I think it’s very important for us to be careful in life who
we have as our friends, who we run with. And I think sometimes
we think, oh, they’re nice boys and girls. They’re from a nice
family. It will be okay. But you think about the ethics
in this world. You think about even the standards
that some in the Christian community have. A little white lie is okay. Cheating is not that big a deal
as long as you win. And on and on we go. And those
little things will be like seeds planted. And so we’ve got to
be careful. We’ve got to be careful who our
friends are and how they influence us and where their lives lead. You want to be in the company
of people who love God and who love neighbor. So listen to your
parents. Parents give good advice. Don’t
consent to those who want to commit evil and murder and don’t
go with them no matter what. It’s better to be at home and
be alone than to be out there and to end up dead. So let’s
pause and pray together. Lord, we thank you for the wisdom
of scripture. We thank you for the eyes of faith to see these things.
Thank you for Jesus being our salvation, our comfort, the one
who forgives us of our sins, help us to keep good company,
and to live a life that pleases you and serves our neighbors. And we pray that we would listen
to our parents as they teach us these things and guide us
in this way. We ask for your help and blessing in Christ’s
name, amen.