Bible Guys Classics: Proverbs 24

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We have the Bible guys, and uh, we're going to

jump into Proverbs that we'll continuing on with. And by

the way, we haven't mentioned this in a long time,

but we are walking through the highlights or the milestones

of the Old Testament. That's coct right, and and Proverbs

is such you know, it is such a unique book

of the Bible because it's not.

Story driven, right, it's not.

It's not like event driven or even you know, it's

just a bunch of wisdom.

It's a wise saying. That's what I like to call them,

why saying.

Yes, yes, So anyway, before we jump into that, we have.

Like they're like ancient poster themes.

Yes right right, yes, yes, I agree, And they would

chisel them in rock and then hang them on the walls,

maybe just like our posters. This is a segment that

Desiree has put together.

Called stump foot pastor don't don't don't don't don't dom

And this is from Alisha L.

Hi, Alicia L. There you go so nice whenever whenever

people write notes to us. Yes, we were so Alicia. Sincerely, Alicia,

thank you for trusting us with this question.

We actually really mean that, sincerely. If you have any

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So here's Alicia L's question. Can someone who has never

been baptized still go to heaven?

Oh? Good question.

And by the way, this is a very common question.

And wouldn't you say that this is one of the

more debated questions among the different religions.

Yeah, there's several denominations that would say no, you can't

go to heaven without being baptist, correct, because this is

what saves you, right? Yeah?

Yeah, so, and by the way, where would that belief

come in? Well, I mean I know where I grew up, right,

So I grew up in a denomination where they baptize infants, right,

a very very traditional and.

This is where it comes from, okay, right right right, yeah, yeah,

from Catholicism. Ancient Catholicism is what has driven the idea

of baptism is required for salvation.

Yeah.

And so so if you if you, if you wonder

where that came from, you really sort of have to

back up, and you you really have to zoom out

to thirty thousand foot view. And it really comes down

to who do you believe carries the authority. So when

I grew up, we were sort of non practicing Catholics,

and and and I and I would pop in and

out of these you know, CCD classes and and uh,

you know these different things that at my Catholic church,

and and and we would you know, show up every

once in a while, you know, to to to the church.

But what I learned is is that uh, and if

you google this you can find out find this out.

Many Catholics actually don't even know this, but.

The Catholic Church decrees that if the Pope uh declares

something is true, the actual verbidge is something like this.

It is the same as if God himself speaks.

The phrase is if he speaks ex cathedral. Well, so

when the when the pope speaks about, hey, good morning,

is sony sonny outside, that's not from God, that's just

his opinion. But when he announces I'm speaking ex cathedral,

which is rare, but when he speaks ex cathedra, that

means this is the doctrine of the Church and is

from God.

Okay, yeah, and so the ex cathedra is what he

would say is equivalent or equal.

To just the same as the Bible, right, And.

It's because that's by the way, that stems from the

belief of they would say Peter was the first pope.

You know, the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven was

given to nobody except for Peter, and then there's been,

you know, a lineage of popes, and so our pope

is connected to you know, he's the X, you know,

whatever number in line he is something like that, and

that's that's where that theory comes from. So so therefore

we bet we zoom out, and we asked this question.

It depends on who you believe has the authority. If

you believe the Church has the authority, then you know

that's a that's a more difficult question. If you believe

the Bible has the authority, then then you know, you

can take the Bible. And we always say the Bible

is its own best commentary, right, take every single verse

that we know about baptism. And so if if mankind

comes along, for instance, somebody like the pope and says, hey,

we heard from God and this is what it is.

So there's a difference between the uh, you.

Know, the modern church and the postmodern church, right and

and and so the modern church would say, hey, we

have to we have to know everything there is to know.

There is no mystery of God. We have to figure

out all things.

And they had they had to answer this question, which

is do babies go to heaven? And that's where this

doctrine came from. And they were trying to answer the

question what happens if it infant dies? And I think this,

I think this was I think this didn't come into

like I mean, it was hundreds and hundreds of years.

And it was a Constantine Constantine sid like three hundred

three twelve, I think. Okay, so hundreds of years later,

after Christianity began.

After Christianity began, they came up with this theory.

Yeah, so that wouldn't be the modern church by the way.

Oh yeah, that's right. I actually thought it was like

sixteen hundred years later.

Oh yeah, yeah, no, no, no, it was so Constantine was

getting ready. It was right before Constantine became emperor. He

was getting ready to go up in a war. He

had about twenty five thousand soldiers. He's going up against

his arch rival as they were competing to take over

Rome and the Roman Empire, and he was going up

against an army that was more than twice his size.

And he had a dream that he heard Jesus speak.

It was the night before the war, the battle. He

had a dream and he saw in the sky a

flaming sword and a cross, and he heard in his

dream Jesus say, with these symbols, go and conquer. So

up to that point, Christianity was illegal in the Roman

Empire to the point of death. And then he announces,

Jesus told me that if we go with the cross

and the sword, we're going to win. We're all Christians now.

And so he had the entire army baptized because he

didn't know how he became a Christian, right, he had

no idea alls he knew was that we were executing

people because they got baptized. And so now everybody gets baptized,

all in the same day. And then they went out

and they won. They won the war. That's how he

became emperor. Yeah, and so then he gets back to

Rome and he goes, guess what, we're all Christians now,

and they started baptizing, but that baptism for infants. Then

they began to because they didn't have a solid doctrinal understanding.

They began to say, well, if you get if you

go to heaven because of being baptized, which isn't true,

then we better baptize our babies because we need to.

And of course at that point you can't dunk a baby.

And so they took the Jewish tradition of sprinkling of

anointing with oil and they use that as their process.

So that's how it happened. So, yeah, it was in

the three hundreds.

Okay, well, first of all, I didn't know that's when

baptism was connected to it.

I did know that story. In fact, do you know

the part of the story.

Where the Roman soldiers get baptized without the right arm?

You know that?

Yeah, So The rest of that story is he had

baptized the entire army at the time, but had them.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

He had them hold their right arm above the.

Water because that's the fighting army. He didn't want that

sanctified where they'd feel guilty about Yeah yeah, fighting.

Baptized the entire army except for the right arms, which

is crazy.

So yeah, but I did not know.

So that's the time when the church shifted was because

at that point then Christianity became legal and he began

appointing his own bishops and stuff. Right, So then it

just kind of it faded after that. That's when it

began to be embraced as that's the mainstream is baptism

is essential. But let's go back to her question. Alicia

asked about is it possible to go to heaven without

being baptized. The answer is emphatically yes.

Correct.

The way we know that that's true is in Luke

chapter twenty three, Jesus is on the cross and there's

a criminal on either side of Jesus, and the one

criminal mocks Jesus, but the other criminal says, Jesus, if

it's possible, would you take me to paradise with you,

and Jesus said today you'll be with me in paradise.

So there's no record of them both hopping off the

cross and Jesus baptizing this guy. He didn't do it. It

was a belief component. Right, there's this thing, and this

is consistent as you read through the Book of Romans.

The Book of Romans is the strongest I believe doctrinal

book in the Bible, and maybe Romans and Hebrews, right,

but in Romans it's very very clear. Like in Romans

chapter ten, it mentions you have to believe in your

heart and confess with your mouth. So you confess your sins.

You confess that Jesus's Lord. It says there he's the King.

And then you believe in your heart that God raising

from and you will be safe.

And whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall

be saved.

That's right. And it doesn't say plus all these other things.

So there are passages where sometimes it gets a little confusing.

The Book of Mark, for instance, the Book of Acts

when they say what do we need to do in

Acts chapter one or two, and Peter says you need

to repent of your sins, and be baptized.

Right, and he wasn't and he wasn't right, because you

could read that as both are required, right, right.

Baptism comes after repentance always, right, right. Baptism comes after

salvation always, every single time they declare I do I

have trusted Christ, I am trusting Christ, then they get baptized.

So baptism is the outward symbol of that internal right.

And by the way, that's that's another thing too. So

I mean, so what I was trying to originally get

at is the belief of a child being baptized. But

by the way, I'm saying this because I was baptized

as an infant, right were you?

You weren't, Yeah, you weren't.

No, I was. I was born to a committed family

of pagans.

That's right, that's right, that's right.

So yeah, your dad getting didn't get saved till he's

what forty Yeah, yeah, something like that. So anyway, my so,

my family had had them all baptized, and in most

most people that I I know that one you know, hey,

will you baptize my infant?

My baby?

You know, my grandchild was born. I told my daughter,

we have to hurry up and get this child baptized. Well,

they don't even really understand like what that really means.

So the doctrine of the church and this is this

is maybe where I'm getting confused. I think maybe this

came later, right, because because there was an explanation of

how there is an actual the Catholic Church would decree

that there's an original there's a removal of the original

sin of Adam during baptism. Maybe that was qualified later.

Maybe that's why I'm getting confused. But anyway, or maybe not,

but anyway, the uh, but that's what they would say,

it happens. But most people who are my friends, they're like, what,

like they don't know that.

All they know is I have a baby. It's emotional.

Let me hurry up and get a baptized because I

want to make sure they're okay that they go to heaven.

But the Bible says every verse about salvation, every single

instance about baptism, every single one takes place after a

person puts their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. There

is not a single incident in the Bible where somebody

gets baptized before that happens, right, or an instruction.

It's not even it's not even it's not even that

we're looking for examples.

We're talking about even instruction and so and so it

is pretty clear that baptism is meant after a person

trusts Christ.

And so therefore we believe.

That if if an infant dies, you know, let's just

say an infant, you know, is eight months old or

something and has this tragic thing happen or something like that,

we would come up with the doctrine of there's an

agent of accountability right, yes, where if the child is

not old enough to reject Christ, then then then that

child has not rejected Christ, and therefore would be protected

and under the care.

And love of God. It is.

It is, there's an accountability age where a person has

a chance to either reject the truth of Christ or

not pursue the truth of Christ, or you know, or

those types of things. They have to be old enough

to wrestle with that decision.

So there you go.

Thank you.

I've said all that I need to say.

Thank you. Hey, And that's that's the longest response we've

given to anybody so far.

Oh wow, we're at thirteen minutes. Yeah, by the way,

that's not true. We have actually.

Gone longer, we've gone just as long. Okay. Yeah, Becau

doesn't say, do we need to extend it out so

that she gets the longest sale time record?

Yeah, so there you go, l thank you, thank you

for asking.

That's fantastic. Yes, there's so much more to say about that,

but we should stop there. Yep. Okay. So we continue

in Proverbs chapter twenty four, and I have no transition

on this one. I looked off through this one. I could. Yeah. Yeah,

So twenty four verse one is where we're at, and uh,

we're going to read through this whole passage is kind

of long, so we're just going to jump on it here.

Okay.

It says don't env people. By the way, that.

That question that Alicia asked us and felt like there

was a lot of pressure to it. But verse over

ten and proverb says, if you fail under pressure, your

strength is too small.

Oh there we didn't. Yeah, and so standing strong yeah

in their Yeah, good job, Chris. Let me try this again.

First one, readers don't envy evil people or desire their

company for their hearts plot violence and their words always

stir up trouble. A house is built by wisdom and

becomes strong through good sense, through knowledge. Its rooms are

filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables. The

wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge

grow stronger and stronger. So don't go to war without

wise guidance. Victory depends on having many advisors. Wisdom is

too lofty for fools. Among leaders at the city gate,

they have nothing to say. A person who plans evil

will get a reputation as a troublemaker. The schemes of

a fool are sinful. Everyone to tests some mocker. If

you fail under pressure, your strength is too small. Rescue

those who are unjustly sentenced to die, Save them as

they stagger to their death. Don't excuse yourself by saying, look,

we didn't know. For God understands all hearts, and he

sees you. He who guards your soul knows you well

er knows you knew. Oh, there you go. He will

repay all people as their actions deserve. My child, eat honey,

for it is good, and the honeycomb is sweet to

the taste. And the same way wisdom is sweet to

your soul. If you find it, you'll have a bright

future and your hopes will not be cut short, don't

wait in ambush at the home of the godly, and

don't raid the house where the godly live. The godly

may trips seven times, but they will get up again.

But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked. Don't

rejoice when your enemies fall. Don't be happy when they stumble,

for the Lord will be displeased with you, will turn

his anger away from them. Don't fret because of evildoers.

Don't envy the wicked for people. For evil people have

no future. The light of the wicked will be snuffed out.

My child. Fear the Lord and the King. Don't associate

with rebels, for a disaster will hit them suddenly. Who

knows what punishment will come from the Lord and the King.

Here are some further sayings of the wise. It is

wrong to show favoritism when passing judgment. A judge who

says to the wicked you are innocent will be cursed

by many people and denounced by the nations. But it

will go well for those who convict the guilty. Rich

blessings will be showered on them. An honest answer is

like a kiss of friendship. Do your planning and prepare

your fields before building your house. Don't testify against your

neighbors without cause, don't lie about them, don't say now

I can pay them back for what they've done to me,

I'll get even with them. I walked by the fields

of a lazy person, the vineyard of one with no

common sense. I saw that it was overgrown with nettles,

and it was covered with weeds, and its walls were

broken down. And then as I looked and thought about it,

I learned this lesson. A little extra sleep, a little

more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,

and then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit.

Scared city would attack you like an armed robber.

Wow, scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

Yeah.

Again, very poetic, very very visual.

And wow, a little sleep, a little slumber, a little

folding of the hands to rest.

Yeah. You know, Solomon really talks a lot about laziness,

doesn't he.

Yeah.

There's a lot of verses in there that say, hey,

work hard.

Yeah, And you.

Know, it just goes back to the fact that we

have to realize we are made.

To work well. The verse we read a verse was

it yesterday or the day before? Where the guy goes, oh,

there might be a lion in the street. You know,

I better stay home, right, Yeah, I'm not going to

go to work today. There might be something bad out there. Right.

There's all kinds of excuses not to work here. It's

I'm a little sleepy, I need to not work whatever.

He has this belief. Solomon has this very strong belief

hard work is going to pay off and you're going

to have a house house full of riches at some point. Yeah.

And laziness is always going to cause everything to fall apart.

Yeah.

And then he says that a wise man, a godly man,

is going to work hard and then if he's wise,

his house will be full of wealth. He ties wealth

and hard work with wisdom. And then he says this passage,

I'm glad you what's up? Because he says, where's the

verse that says that they'll fall seven times and they

get back up again? The righteous man falls seven times

and gets back up.

I know you read it.

I know I read.

It, But you also read thirty four verses.

Yes, it's in here. Yeah. Anyways, I always read that

because wealth takes risk, right, right, and so a lot

of us we don't build the kind of wealth we

could build because we're afraid to make the kind of

investment it takes to get there. But it's interesting. A

wise person will have the ability to try and try

and try and try, and even if they fail a

few times, they're going to get back up and keep going.

A foolish person, oftentimes, he says, there's crooked people and

they get out and take advantage of others, and that's

how they get wealthy. Or foolish people and lazy people

just won't even take the steps necessary to build wealth. Right,

and so there is this wisdom will carry you through

and help you beyond. Just it's verse sixteen sixteen. I

know the godly may trip seven times, but they'll get

up again. And so there is this idea that if

you're godly and you're wise. Sure, now he's not guaranteeing

that life is going to be smooth and easy, but

he is saying that you're going to be able to

have the wisdom and the strength and the discernment to

stand back up and try again, and then stand back

up and try again. So if you've hit a wall financially,

there's a path out of this problem. And then if

you're a godly person, and you're doing things the what

God says to do. There's a path forward for you

to maybe build wealth in the future where you couldn't

build it prior. Right, But it's that lazy the person

who just he contrasts that with a little extra sleep,

a little more slumber, a little folding the hands of

the rest, and poverty pounds on you like a bandit. Right.

So there's the lazy person goes Nope, I give up.

I'm not going to try anymore, versus the person who says, no,

I'm going to keep working and I'm going to lean

into it. And with that along with that, if you

if you compound that with wisdom, that's going to be

like a multiplier for you. And then that's why he

says a house is built by wisdom and becomes strong

through good sense, through knowledge. Its rooms are filled with

all sorts of pressures, riches, and valuables. In verse three

and four, Yeah right, yeah, you know there's another thing

in here.

He indicates it twice. I think maybe more so. Don't

go to war with that wise guidance. Victory depends on

many advisors. And then he says, where's the verse where

he says, don't build your house. Oh verse twenty seven,

do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.

Yeah, and so you know there's a there's a component.

Of like, hey, do your due diligence, right, like plan

get it, get get godly advice.

Uh, you know, plan ahead. Doesn't Jesus say the same thing.

Nobody builds a tower without first counting the cost. Nobody

takes thirty thousand warriors against one hundred thousand, Right, you

got to you got to count the cost before you

before you move forward. And that's what you have to do.

And of course Jesus was talking about counting the cost

of following him, right, But so you got to count

the cost of what.

It really means. And and so you know there is.

A definite hard work theme here, there's definite planning. But

it also points to to your point, prosperity h and

uh and uh.

It's not a guarantee, but this is how life typically works.

That's that's what he's doing. I love that verse. I

was going to comment on it. It's I think my

favorite verse in the passage in this whole chapter is

do your planning and prepare your fields before you build,

build your house. Yeah, he's saying, there's a logical order

to your work. Right, duties don't conflict, So there's going

to be a logical order your fields, preparing your fields,

especially in those days. If you didn't plant during planting season,

you're not going to have anything to eat. In harvest season,

you're gonna be in trouble. So, yes, shelter will provide comfort,

but preparing your fields and preparing for the future is

more important than your immediate comfort. So if you have

to sleep outside for a month while you're plowing your

field and planting your harvest, then that's a short bit

of suffering for long term returns. And so you do

the things, the hard things first, and then you go

ahead and build a house. Not that the house isn't

hard to build, but the house is a comfort issue.

There's a safety component to it, but it's a comfort

issue mostly, whereas the food thing is stay alive, and

so don't hurry up. If you spend the spring building

your house, then you're going to have a big house,

and everybody's gonna be hungry in the fall and winter. Right,

have anything, right, and so there is always an order

to wise living and you want to do the right

thing at the right time, and that that's a big

part of that wisdom.

Hey, speaking of you know, wisdom phrases, you mentioned this

just a few seconds ago. You said, duty is never conflict.

So that is one of your wise phrases that you

always mentioned.

He never conflicts?

Do you never go? Yeah, So explain that. What do

you mean when you say those things?

There's always a priority, There's always something more important. You know,

if you're confronted with an issue and you have seemingly

three or four responsibilities, three or four duties, there's always

one that's most important, and you have to do that.

When first, I've told the story before, I was getting

ready to go to Tanzania. I had a meeting of

our directional leadership team, and I found out my daughter

on her very first day she could have a customer

as an esthetician. Her customers canceled. She was alone. So

my daughter, she was sad. My wife said, Jeff, duties

never conflict. Right, she hates that phrase, and I said,

you know, you're right. My daughter is more important than

this meeting, and so I'm gonna There were other very

competent people in the room that are more than capable

of leading that meeting and making good decisions. But my

daughter will only ever have her first customer one time, right,

And so I was her first customer right that day,

and I chose that I walked away from a very

important meeting because my daughter's more important duties and never

conflict there, you go, right, that's what that is. And

so there's a right order. There's a right order to life.

And if you if you figure that out. So my

wife feels conflict because she feels like both of those

are equally important, right, right, Both of those are important.

But when you really dig in and go which one's

most important one? My daughter's most important meetings are going

to happen again next week and the week after that

and the week after that. But my daughter is only

ever going to have a customer, first customer, one time, right.

And so that was the thing there that when you

begin to sort life out that way, what is the

most important thing? Do the most important thing, then do

the next most important thing, then do the And that's

what he's saying here, prepare your fields first, plan first,

prepare your fields next, then build a house. There's an order.

All three of those things are important. But you do them,

you do them in the right order, and life is

going to make more sense. You're gonna have a lot

more peace because I can't do everything, so I'm always

going to disappoint somebody. I'm always going to have a

thing that's unfinished because they can't do everything, so I

have to do the most important things. Yeah.

Well, it says a house is version for three. A

house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.

Good sense. Yep.

Yeah, it's awesome. That's great.

Well, that's a good way to wrap up our thoughts

and hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible.

Guys,