Two Voices Compete For You

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right. Welcome back. We're going to get into Proverbs chapter nine today, which is relatively a short chapter, but it has the same exact meaning that we've been trying to learn through the first eight chapters. And no, it's not about adultery this time. It's the main underlying theme about what? Do you hear from God yourself personally? It's a voice. It's a voice that's referred to as a she through all of Scripture, what wisdom is. It's a she. But what we'll find out here in chapter nine is that there's two girls out there, two shees. One that's wisdom and one that's known as folly. So which one are you going to choose is the question. Or do you even realize that you have a choice? That's the bigger question. Can you hear wisdom? Can you distinguish it between the right woman of wisdom or the wrong one of folly? And I believe by the time you get done listening to this podcast, you will definitely know the voice of folly. But for some reason the voice of wisdom isn't as predominantly obvious. It takes a lot of training and insight. In fact, there's one scripture talks about in Hebrews, solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish between good and evil. And the good and evil here isn't about right or wrong. It's basically good wisdom and evil folly. And so what it's saying in Hebrews is that it it takes practice. It really does. It doesn't take practice to go after the woman of folly. And what I'm doing here is I'm giving a background before we get into it, because we're talking about what Solomon is trying to teach us in wisdom. So the woman of folly is easy because we're all born into sin. We're all born into evil. Our flesh, the Bible refers to as dead. There's no escaping it. You really have to become born again and practice and hear the voice of wisdom to put down the deeds of the flesh because it's literally living and breathing evilness that keeps dragging you into the emotions and the feelings. If it feels good, do it is the plan. For some reason, the voice of wisdom makes you have self-control, which none of us really like at the moment. We like it under certain circumstances, but when the pressure gets too much, i.e. the voice of folly, then our flesh even kicks in and says, let's just release this stress and go out and live any desire that makes us feel good. But then as you've noticed over the years, once you do that, then when the circumstances hit and you have to account for that evening or the day that you dealt with, your flesh takes a step back and you're stuck with the real you having to deal with it, which is more pressure and more stress. It's a constant cycle. They just don't learn that they need to overcome their flesh. And you can, when you become born again in discernment and learn how to hear the voice of the Lord, and then use his power to crush it. But without it and your own strength, it's impossible because you got a mind that only knows folly, and you got a flesh that is born into sin, and that's who we are. We can distinguish between this isn't good for somebody, but the problem is we say it and don't do it. And I think I brought that up in the past where it's like, don't get down on your parents where authority says, you know, do as I say, not as I do. Only God is the one that does what he says. Humans, we just can't. We know the right thing, but we can't. So don't get down on people that you look up to and they give you wisdom, like myself, for example, and I say, Don't do this, but then you see me doing it, the wisdom is correct, the flesh is wrong. So with that, we're talking about Solomon here. He's actually another person who's you would s if you looked at him with a judgmental thought and eye, you would say, Well, he says all these things we shouldn't do or how we should behave, but when you look at his history, he didn't do it. Well, because he's human like you and I. And so he has the wisdom of God teaching him, correcting him, and he shares it with us as he knows it's an absolute truth. But in his life, the flesh takes over. He starts getting a wandering eye, running around, taking over things he shouldn't have. And what's funny is like we all lift up Solomon on how wonderful and wise and rich he was and all that kind of stuff. But when the Hebrew people wanted a king, like the rest of them, God said, Well, he's gonna put you in slavery, he's gonna make your life miserable. Like we don't care, we want a king. Well, that king was Solomon. He did have the wisdom, and he made himself great and powerful and super wealthy, but he put his whole kingdom, the people underneath them, into slavery and worked them like dogs. So the word of God always comes to pass and it's always trustworthy. Now, what we're gonna get into is between the two voices, and like I mentioned earlier, you will know the voice of fallen when we get done with this. But it's kind of like you've seen in the past the uh angel on one side and the devil on the other, witnessing which one you're gonna choose, or another culture, they got the yin and the yang, there's always a fight in the middle. And so you see those things and you're like, oh yeah. And now I'm talking like, let's say, to those of you who are Christians, but I'm not like that, I got Christ in me. Well, if you're thinking that way, you're fooling yourself. Because the flesh and the non-renewed mind is you. In fact, we're gonna tighten down the screws on this one and forget about your parents, your relatives, your children, your boss. This is gonna be about you. We're gonna tighten the screws on you. It's all about you. All this internal stress or lack of success, it's all you. It's not outside of you. It's you. And when I say that, don't there is truth like if I was born into a different family, I wouldn't have these kind of situations. That is true. But the problem is it's the way you think currently from the way you were raised. We all think incorrectly until we get the voice of God teaching us. I mean, I know great people that are righteous and virtuous and straight on, but they still got the internal screw up in their head making wrong decisions until they really hear the voice of the Lord, then they start to win. But we all come short and we all fall, as it says, to the glory of God. He's got the wisdom of the brain. So the more you can i.e. crucify the flesh, and that doesn't mean, oh, the Lord wants us to go hang on a cross. What it's referring to is like it's gonna be attacking you every day, and by his words that you listen to and obey, it'll conquer what the flesh is trying to make you do, or your mind is trying to make you do. But crucifixion is horrible. You don't want to do it. It hurts, it's painful, it's a long toil. So the same thing is going on, what God's trying to say in a pictures type of way is like this is a constant war you're gonna have. So, like what I'm saying by the Spirit is don't beat down on yourself. It's who we all have inside of us, beating on us, torturing us. But the Spirit of God will give you peace. And that's what we're gonna get into here is the two different voices, how to tell them apart, which one to follow so you'll have a good life, and which one to follow if you want to have a miserable, stressful, horrible life.

Why Self Control Feels Like War

SPEAKER_00 9:02

So with that and the theology behind it, let's get into chapter nine. It starts off with Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. Now to begin with, it talks about how wisdom has already built her house and hone out, hewn out, however you said it, her seven pillars. So basically, this isn't a home depot, slap the home together. This is out of like solid rock, hand carved, large pillars in a very rich and beautiful palace that is created before we even came along. And that reminds me of the scriptures that go back to about wisdom, where it says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim his handiwork. And then in Romans it talks about what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to you. For his invisible attributes, his eternal power, and divine nature have been clearly perceived, so you are without excuse. So remember we're talking about you now. You go outside and you look at the stars and you look at the heavens and you look how the sun rises every day. God is saying you don't got an excuse. You gotta realize there's something out there bigger than us putting this all together. You really are without excuse. To that point, you can say, All right, somehow this tree grows, don't know how, plant a seed and it grows. I don't know how. Now I could take some classes and say, oh, because of osomosis and it's sucking up. But we don't know how. We don't know how the sun stays where it belongs. We don't know how the universe keeps rotating every week, but so you gotta have the knowledge of say, okay, there's something bigger than me. I can't see what it is, but I can see what's happening by whatever it is making all this happen. And just to lay it out from what we've learned so far, that it that makes all this happen all came around because God, referring to what we're talking about, the it here, said something. And then the Spirit activated it. And that's why you want to learn to hear the voice of God, because we're created in his image, and when you hear his voice, and then you believe what you hear, and then you say it, then the Holy Spirit acts on it and brings it to pass.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

That's kind of the pattern we need to use here.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So starting off in chapter nine verse one where it says that wisdom has already built her house and hewn out her seven pillars, it goes on to tell you more which wisdom has already done. It says she has prepared her food, and she has mixed her wine. She has also set her table. She has sent out her maidens, she calls, from the tops of the heights of the city. Whoever is naive, let him turn in here. To him who lacks understanding she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed. Remember Jesus saying that too to that lady of the woman of the well, were like, hey, I can give you water where you never have to deal with this again. And again, it was it was a picture of like, look, you're looking at the natural, you're looking around at making a living. I'm telling you, seek what I say first, because I created everything. Learn to hear my voice, act on it, and then all this natural stuff will come after you. So you want to lean more onto what God says and more to what your bank account number says. Because what God says is what created everything else. His word created the gold, the silver, the jewels, and as we read before, hearing his voice is more better than any of that. In like the strongest words we could think of, it's more better. So when it goes on to talk about, hey, if you're naive, or another word is simple, it's not talking about if you're stupid. It's talking about that wisdom has created everything, and she has laid out the table. And remember we learned about wisdom was with God in the beginning and was dancing and playing and singing before the first dusts of the air. Well, now it's created everything and it's calling you and me to listen to her because it wants to give the simple ones, the ones who haven't been hardened in their heart, the ones that don't know what to do with their lives, the ones that are, you know, not sure on which way they should go. That's the one she's inviting in. The ones that aren't proud but are humble and say, basically, I need help. So you turn to God and you cry out for the help and it says, Everything is laid out. Look what I've done. Now I want to do this in your life. I want to teach

Solomon’s Wisdom And Human Failure

SPEAKER_00 14:08

you how to create a life that when the storms of life come, you will not fall because you're created on the rock, which is the word of God. So basically, what I'm saying is, if you're lost, if you really don't have direction and you want it and you want to learn how to do it, then turn to wisdom. The opposite woman, folly is the you will find out, is totally the opposite, is like a quick fix. Let's win the lotto. Once I got enough money, I'll be happy forever. You'll see. And it talked about how that's just a blatant lie. So let's continue now. Into verse six. Forsake folly and live. Remember the voice of the other woman is called folly? Solomon here is saying, Forsake it. And goes on to say, and proceed in the way of understanding, which equals knowing. Now what we got here is I remember I was one time with the Lord hanging out, and it talks about proceed in the way of understanding, which is knowing. And I used to think that if I could just take this words of God and speak it and speak it, that was faith. But he told me that faith is not just saying something, it's knowing what you're saying, which brought to light in my mind, it's like, okay, I get it. I need to hear and know that this is the voice of God, and then speak on what he's telling me, knowing it'll come to pass, then that's faith, which equals to that without faith it's impossible to please God. So you have to go to him daily for your manna, get the wisdom, believe it, speak it, and act on it. It's really kind of a cool process. Verse seven, he correct he who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer least he hate you. Reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will still be wiser. Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning. What we're saying here is that when you get the wisdom and then you go to somebody who's not caring about it and not wanting to learn about it, and you start telling them this is what you're doing is wrong, and this is the way you need to behave, they're going to make your life miserable because they're in darkness. And what they believe, they actually believe it. It isn't like I know you're right, but I choose this route. No, they have no light in them. Everything they think and do is because the way they process things in their mind and what their flesh should tell them this is the right way to go. And that's why you gotta really learn the difference between the spirit or the female called wisdom and the spirit of folly. Verse 10 goes one more time that we've read. I'll exaggerate a hundred times. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy one is understanding. Remember what I was saying? You gotta know God. When you know him, then you get the understanding. And when you fear the words he says to you, that is the beginning of wisdom. Where we have in the beginning here, wisdom has built her house, and wisdom has prepared her food. You gotta know God, and then when you hear his voice, you fear it to the point of like, I got to do this more than what my brain, my eyes, and my flesh is telling me. Then you have the beginning of wisdom, or basically the nucleus, the core, or the chief cornerstone. All these different examples saying you want to build your house on this. And when you do, in verse 11, it goes on to say, For by me your days will be multiplied,

Wisdom’s Invitation And Daily Faith

SPEAKER_00 18:08

and the years of life will be added to you. Now, that's what you want. But here's what I've been talking about earlier about tightening the screws on you, for it says, If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you alone will bear it. So this is the thing. This war that's going on, this wisdom, why we're reading this whole book of Proverbs is to learn about being wise so we can have a nice, prosperous, peaceful, healthy life, is that you're doing it for yourself. You're not doing it for others. The world out there is going to lie, it's gonna be boisterous, it's gonna beat on you. But what you want is to be eternally peaceful and eternally wise. I mean, if you're honest with yourself, if you had all the wisdom, you wouldn't be so stressed when things hit you because you know the outcome. Our problem is, and this life that we're stuck living, is that we don't know the outcome. And that's what causes a lot of anxiety in us. But the more you discern the voice of God and believe it and see it work, then when you get to the point, like which I'm in every day, it seems like, where I see so many outside worldly things saying this is going to crush you and it's gonna make you lose, you need to spend that time with the Lord and see what he says, and then how to act on it, and then put the cares into his hand. And as I mentioned earlier, it's a constant battling of the mind and the flesh to submit itself to the word of God that's spoken into your heart, and then you have to believe it. That's the whole thing that brings God glory, believing what he says and not what's happening around you. Now let's talk about the woman of folly again so you can understand her more. The woman of folly is boisterous. She is naive and knows nothing, and she sits at the doorway of her house on a seat by the high places of the city, calling to those who pass by, who are making their paths straight. Whoever is naive or simple, let him turn in here, and to him who lacks understanding, she says stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pl is pleasant. But that person does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell. So here it is pretty simple for you and I to understand the voice of folly, the voice of the devil, the voice of the world, whatever spin you want to put on it. Do you feel like anxiousness? Are you in a hurry? If you don't make the decision now you could lose everything. And that's what I don't

Correction Reveals Who Wants Truth

SPEAKER_00 21:00

like about this life we live in, just being honest with you, is that the voice of folly seems to be part of our flesh makeup and our non-renewed mind, which is majority of who we are until we start growing more and more into the voice of wisdom. But it's a war to crush those thoughts of anxiety, pressure, all the lies that the enemy is throwing at us because we can actually see it coming to pass. I mean, right now, I don't know how many years later you're gonna be hearing this, but right now we've got this war going on with Iran and Israel, and there's this underlying anxiety and stress, like how is this going to end up? How is it going to end? And it just beats on you on the outside. Or you can t turn your mind to the inflation. Oh, the stock market went up, but why does everything cost 10 times as much, or why are we more poor? And it's just war after war, and that's on the outside. That's not including the inside if you get sick or if you run out of cash or you can't pay your rent. Everything is nonstop where you keep hearing a voice saying, Look, man, make a quick deal, make a quick buck. I would, if I was you, I'd put some money into this new crypto real quick, because it can zoom up a thousand percent and the pressure is screaming at you nonstop, like you ain't gonna make it. This world is dark, you're not gonna make it. But let me tell you, you will make it when you learn to discern the voice of wisdom. It'll calm all that down. And I'll be honest, the rumbling is still there, but you got to pull yourself away. I know I pull myself away a lot, but the voice of folly is loud and it's boisterous and causes you stress and pressure and anxiety. And if you hear it and you feel it, it's of the devil, even if it's coming from a pulpit. I'll just lay that out there too. If you're sitting in a church one day and the pastor's really putting the screws on you, you got to get your act together and he's screaming and yelling and jumping around, you know how they get that roll going.

Folly Sounds Like Pressure And Fear

SPEAKER_00 23:05

It's not the voice of the Lord. Nope. Let's see what the voice of the Lord says. In James three it talks about wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. God does not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

Kind of quite the opposite of the spirit of folly, which is anxiousness, iniquity, pressure.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

You know, total side thought here, some that crossed my mind one time, so this isn't scripture, this is just an idea I had. It's like, okay, inequity was found in Satan, but then somehow a third of the angels followed him. And in my theory, non-scriptural again, I'm saying, just in my theory, it's like the angels have only known purity, peaceful, gentle, hanging out with God all these years. But the devil put pressure on him, and kind of like cancer in the body that just overtakes in the blink of an eye, you gotta cut everything out. Satan jumped on these angels and mentally forced them, like this is the way to behave, and quickly God had to throw a third of the angels out. I mean, it's just a theory, but it it kind of lines up to like that voice of the devil is just so evil. It talks about revelation, like after the thousand years, and we've been living in this peacefulness and harmony and all that, that the devil would be released one more time, and it's actually going to influence people again. It's amazing. It's not head knowledge that's gonna save you, it's what voice are you listening to, and that's where you stand today. You know, like I think it's in Deuteronomy where God says, I give you life and death today. Choose for the love of God will you choose life? And even at the end of the end of all times, when it's getting all ready to wrap up once again, that voice of the devil is gonna be speaking to him. It's gonna get a lot of people to fall. It's just crazy. It's just the voice, man. The problem is, now this is me coming out of scripture again. I'm gonna, it probably is in there, but I'm not gonna look it up right now. But the flesh and the non-renew mind, he's connected to all that. It's like David says, I was born in sin. And so his voice, when it speaks, it literally, you can feel it in your flesh. You can feel it in your brain, giving you headaches, being stressed out. And it seems like with the voice of the Lord, you really gotta, like it says, you gotta strive to enter his rest. You gotta work hard, you gotta stop all the outside noise, get into the Spirit of the Lord, and listen to see what he has to say, and then believe it and dwell into that, dig into it, and hold on to it, and let the storm subside, because I don't know how old you are, but you gotta realize by now emotions will change, but the word of God doesn't.

Hold To God’s Word And Close

SPEAKER_00 26:26

So thank you for another time listening to me as we go through chapter nine. I'm gonna attach my other part on here to the recording, but I think you should get my book because it'll save you a lot of time in learning how to hear from the voice of the Lord. Have a great day.