Folly or Wisdom?

Proverbs 9:13-18 NIV

 

“Folly is an unruly woman;

    she is simple and knows nothing.

She sits at the door of her house,

    on a seat at the highest point of the city,

calling out to those who pass by,

    who go straight on their way,

    ‘Let all who are simple come to my house!’

To those who have no sense she says,

    ‘Stolen water is sweet;

    food eaten in secret is delicious!’

But little do they know that the dead are there,

    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.”

 

This is the allurement of sin. She is foolishness, recklessness, and stupidity, and many are allured and trapped by her seductive ways. She does not follow the rules. She is lawless and disobedient and out of control. And where is the door of her house? It can be anywhere, truly, but one of her biggest places of allurement in our world today is the internet where a whole world of absolute filth and evil can be reached with the touch of a finger on a pocket-sized internet device in the privacy of a corner of a room.

 

And she absolutely sits there on the internet calling out to all who frequent internet sites, especially those sites with many allurements such as on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, and then on YouTube and TikTok and Instagram, etc., where videos are flashing before your face on a continuous basis trying to allure you into watching them. But she is on news sites, too, usually off to the right or down at the bottom with many videos or stories to try to allure you to watch them. And I have even seen her on Christian sites.

 

To be on the internet and to be a Christian involves an enormous amount of self-control and determination not to be allured by sin’s seductiveness. If you are not walking in close fellowship with the Lord, I don’t see how you have a chance of not giving into her seductiveness in one way or another. And if you have had a lifetime of sexual addiction, and you are not changed in heart and mind, although you profess faith in Jesus Christ, I don’t see how you stand a chance of not giving into her seductiveness at times.

 

Many people who call themselves Christians are giving into sin’s allurements on a regular and consistent basis. And that is because their confessions of faith in Christ are surface level only, but not in truth. They want to appear outwardly as though they are good Christians while secretly, behind closed doors, they are living for the flesh and for what will gratify their sinful cravings. Many of them have no sense, for they are being ruled by their flesh and not by the Spirit. And many of them have no conscience and no heart and no compassion for those they are hurting in the process, either.

 

Now this says that little do the unwise know that the dead are those who are guests at Folly’s house. This is true in some cases, but not in all cases. Many people I have known who profess faith in Jesus Christ know the Scriptures well, and they have even taught the Scriptures, or they have even been in Christian ministry and have been pastors, and so they know the truth that a sinful lifestyle ends in death, and not life, and yet they follow Folly anyway. They enter through her door time again fully knowing the end result.

 

Proverbs 9:1-6 NIV

 

“Wisdom has built her house;

    she has set up its seven pillars.

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;

    she has also set her table.

She has sent out her servants, and she calls

    from the highest point of the city,

    ‘Let all who are simple come to my house!’

To those who have no sense she says,

    ‘Come, eat my food

    and drink the wine I have mixed.

Leave your simple ways and you will live;

    walk in the way of insight.’”

 

What is wisdom? It is good sense and good judgment, and it is the opposite of foolishness. It involves reason and logic, but it also involves pure love and consideration for how our actions will impact other people. If we are wise, we will make it our practice to set reasonable and judicious boundaries for ourselves so that we are not led into sin. And we will not go places where we know we will be tempted to sin. Many foolish people end up places where they should not go because they have no boundaries in place for themselves. And they should know better, just from their own histories.

 

But then many of them just make excuses for why they did what they did and for why they are still living in slavery to sin. I think I have probably heard them all, but every now and then I hear a new one. But not one of those excuses “holds water” (not one of them is valid, reasonable, or sound). And there is no excuse for anyone professing the name of Jesus to follow after Folly and not Wisdom and to do this habitually, deliberately, and premeditatedly without compassion or conscience. If we truly know Christ, it should grieve us when we sin against our Lord.

 

The wisdom we need to live rightly before our Lord and not in habitual sin is found in the Scriptures. The Proverbs are loaded with such wisdom, but so are the teachings of Jesus and of the New Testament apostles. It is when we choose to ignore the counsel of God and to go our own way, instead, that we fall into sin. Many people continue in sin because they are full of pride and they don’t want anyone else telling them what they can and cannot do. And for some of them, their hearts are filled with all kinds of lust and greed and envy and bitterness and hatred, and so they do what their hearts dictate.

 

But if that is the way that you go, please know that way will end in death, not in life eternal. The Scriptures are very clear on this subject. If sin is what we practice (habitually and deliberately), and if righteousness, holiness, and obedience to our Lord are not what we practice, we will die in our sins. We will not enter the kingdom of heaven. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. Many are going to hear Jesus say one day, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23). Please don’t be one of those!

 

Proverbs 9:10-12 NIV

 

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

For through wisdom your days will be many,

    and years will be added to your life.

If you are wise, your wisdom will reward you;

    if you are a mocker, you alone will suffer.”

 

Amen! If we walk in the fear of the Lord, we are people who take God and his word seriously. We don’t play with sin. We don’t go places where we know we should not go. We are in the word of God daily taking it into our minds and hearts, doing what it teaches us we must do. And by the Spirit daily we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh. Everyday we say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly passions, and we live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives to the glory of God, in his power and strength, while we wait for our Lord’s return (Titus 2:11-14).

 

But those who think they know better than God and who play with sin and yet claim faith in Jesus Christ and heaven as their eternal destiny are going to be in a rude awakening when Jesus says to them, “I never knew you.” For the Scriptures teach that if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in sin that we do not know God, he does not know us, we are not of God, but we are of the devil, and heaven is not our eternal destiny. Hell is. So, we need to know what the Scriptures teach for we are going to have to give an account for how we lived our lives on this earth one day.

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

The Sands of Time are Sinking

a.k.a. Immanuel’s Land

 

by Anne R. Cousin, 1857

 

The sands of time are sinking,

The dawn of Heaven breaks;

The summer morn I’ve sighed for—

The fair, sweet morn awakes:

Dark, dark hath been the midnight,

But dayspring is at hand,

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

 

O Christ, He is the fountain,

The deep, sweet well of love!

The streams on earth I’ve tasted

More deep I’ll drink above:

There to an ocean fullness

His mercy doth expand,

And glory, glory dwelleth

In Immanuel’s land.

 

The bride eyes not her garment,

But her dear bridegroom’s face;

I will not gaze at glory

But on my king of grace.

Not at the crown He giveth

But on His pierced hand;

The Lamb is all the glory

Of Immanuel’s land.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKzcwHSFSU

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