Proverbs Chapters 3 – 4

Proverbs 3:1-12 ~ The Prescription for Blessedness

Did you know that you were purchased on the cross? Not just your sins forgiven, but you were purchased. You are no longer your own. The Holy Spirit has come in to take over. Your physical body is not your own, you cannot do with it as you please. You have nothing that is yours, it is now all the Lord’s. One hundred percent not ten percent. Most Christians go their whole life and never realize. They know their sins are forgiven, they know they are going to Heaven. But did you know that you were purchased and you are no longer your own?

Proverbs 3:13-20 ~ The Possession of Blessedness

There are two roads. And there is a road that we are commanded to go down (see Matthew 7).  The gate is narrow and the road is restricted, it is confined. It is not wide or broad. There is only one way. But here in Proverbs we are talking about the roads of pleasantness and peace. You want peace in your life? It is the path and road that is with Christ. It is restrictive in that we have to follow Him and we are surrendered and submitted to Him. We don’t live our own lives the way we want to anymore. It is very restrictive, but spiritually very satisfying and peaceful.

Proverbs 3:21-35 ~ The Instruction Concerning Your Neighbor

Catch this concept of scripture.  Possession of wealth or substance is a stewardship.  God entrusts us with more than what we need in life, and we are to be stewards of it, and to be serving and sensitive to how God wants us to help the people who are in need because my surplus is owned by them not by me.  God has given me this for that person to whom it is due.  It is not for me.  God takes care of me.  God sustains me.  But the surplus is for the recipient of the good.  Interesting, how the scripture puts it that way.

Proverbs 4:1-3 ~ The Call to Fatherly Wisdom

It is one thing to have wisdom; it is another thing to know how it applies. They go hand in hand. Wisdom and understanding go hand in hand. He does not say "listen," he says, "pay attention to understanding." So do not just listen to the sayings of wisdom, but listen to how it is applied and understand it.

Proverbs 4:4-9 ~ The Content and the Compensations of Fatherly Wisdom

If you have parents who are saved and in the Lord, the Lord is using them. Put your hearing under your parents in the Lord. And whether you agree with it or not, whether you like it or not, do what the Lord is directing you to do through the parents. God’s wisdom comes through other people and that is what Solomon is really relating here.

So, you can see the importance of not being a religious Christian. That is not what Christianity is all about. That is not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is receiving Christ - literally surrendering to Him and receiving Him into your life. And the Bible says after you are saved, from the inside His Spirit changes and transforms your thinking. That is how intimate and real and interactive the Spirit of God is with a person’s life. He is changing and transforming us, the way we think, the way we see life. It is very personal. It is very powerful. So, Solomon is doing that with his children because his father did that with him, not as a religious exercise but part of the discipline.

Proverbs 4:10-19 ~ The Instruction Concerning the Two Roads

Notice all these terms that have to do with going down a road or going down a path. While you are walking down this path of wisdom, your step will not be hindered. Nothing can get on that path to hinder you. God has made it so that nothing can get on that path to hinder me. Nothing will impede as I follow Him.

I think it is interesting. I came across something this week where someone said, "You know, you can’t steer a ship unless it is moving. You can’t steer a bicycle unless it is moving." There is nothing that is going to stop you in your walking, so walk. Follow the Lord. 

In your walking, your step will not be hindered, if you run, you will not stumble. That is a guarantee. God is going to keep us from stumbling. He is not going to allow anything on the path to hinder. You say, "Well, I have been hindered, and I have stumbled.” Guess what? You were not on the path when that happened.

Proverbs 4:20-27 ~ The Instruction Concerning Influences

Solomon is telling his son: what you give your mind over to, what you see with your eyes, what you hear with your ears, you take it into your heart. Your heart is being influenced and constructed and programmed to who you are as a person. "As a person thinks, so is he," Solomon is going to tell us later. What we do with our hands. Where our feet take us. We are making decisions as to what to do with these hands and these feet. He says, "You are taking yourself into situations with influences that are not healthy, that will take you away from Christ. Stay on the path."