#23 in 66in52: A One Year Journey Through the Bible
June 11, 2023, Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL
Due to technical issues, this sermon was not recorded.
Good morning! Please turn to Proverbs 9 in your Bibles.
This past Thursday, I got a call from one of my great friends, whom I haven’t seen in about twenty years. Trish and I served on the same church staff with him at our first church out of seminary—First Baptist Kingsport, Tennessee. He called to tell me he and his wife would be coming through Prattville the next day, and would I like to meet up for coffee or something.
Now, I assumed that he was on his way to New Orleans for the SBC, just like I am today.
I askeds him what time he was coming through. He asked me how long it took to get from Kingsport to Prattville.
I said, “Well, are you coming through Atlanta?”
He said, “no, we were just going to stay on 40 through Memphis.”[Long Pause]
I said, “Hang on—where are you going?”
He said “Waco, Texas.”
I said, “So how are you passing through Prattville?”
He said, “Well you’re right outside of Huntsville, aren’t you?”
Well, I told my friend where Prattville actually is. And when I did, he said, “Oh. Well, I guess we won’t be meeting for coffee after all.”
Mitch had a desire to see me. But there was a problem. His desire and his direction didn’t match up. For Mitch to see me, he would have to change his plan. He would have to get off the road he was on and take a different road.
And the reason I tell you this story is to illustrate what Andy Stanley calls The Principle of the Path. The principle of the path is a basic law of physics. It’s simple. It’s irrefutable. But it’s amazing how often people ignore it. In fact, I would be willing to bet that every person in this room has forgotten the principle of the path at one time or another. In fact, some of you are living your lives right now as though this basic law of physics doesn’t apply to you. Here it is. Here’s the principle of the path:
Direction, not Desire, determines Destination.
This morning, we are going to unpack this principle. I’d like you to look at Proverbs 9 with me. If you are physically able, please stand to honor the reading of God’s word. We are going to start in verse 1:
9 Wisdom has built her house;
she has hewn her seven pillars.
2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her young women to call
from the highest places in the town,
4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
To him who lacks sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Leave your simple ways,[a] and live,
and walk in the way of insight.” .
Now, skip down to verse 13:
13 The woman Folly is loud;
she is seductive[c] and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house;
she takes a seat on the highest places of the town,
15 calling to those who pass by,
who are going straight on their way,
16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
And to him who lacks sense she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead[d] are there,
that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let’s pray.
[pray, be seated]
So before we jump into the book of Proverbs, let me tell you about it.
Proverbs is one of the five books that make up what Bible scholars call “Wisdom Literature.” The other four are Job, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. And of those five books, three of them were written by Solomon. If you’ve been following along in our through the Bible plan, you met Solomon last week. He is the last king of Israel before the country split in a civil war. You might remember several weeks ago we talked about King Saul, who had no heart for God. He was followed by King David, loved God with his whole heart.
And David’s son was Solomon. He loved God, but he also loved possessions, and accomplishments, and women. Lots and lots of women. So he loved God with half a heart.
This is our teaching picture for Solomon. Notice his crown has a 1 on it, to remind us that his story is told in 1 Kings. He’s at a microphone, singing. There’s no one else with him at the mic, which means he is singing “Solo-mon.”
And you see the half a heart on his chest, to remind you that he had a divided heart. That’s why there’s all those women behind him. Finally, notice that he’s holding a bag of money—1 Kings says that Solomon had great wealth. But the bag is torn, because at the end of Solomon’s reign the nation of Israel was ripped in half.
One more thing, just to help you remember the three books Solomon wrote: Imagine that the coins in the bag are PESOS from Mexico. This is your key to remembering that Solomon wrote PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, AND SONG OF SOLOMON.
Solomon wrote most of Proverbs, but not all of it. He died in 931 BC. Over two hundred years later, there was another good king named Hezekiah, and his scribes added his wise sayings to the book. Then there’s one chapter written by Agur, son of Jakeh, and one by King Lemuel. Proverbs is the only book that mentions either one of them, so we don’t know anything about them.
Ok. Enough background. Let’s get back to the principle of the path. Remember, the principle is that direction, not desire, determines destination.
Put another way, The road you’re on determines where you’ll end up.
Not rocket science! When I leave here to go to New Orleans, how do I need to go?
As obvious as that is in the world of geography, when it comes to the rest of our lives, whether it be our family life, our financial life, our marriage or dating life, the way we raise our kids, our physical fitness, or our professional life, this same principle applies. In every area of life, my direction, not my intention, determines my destination.
Yet how many times have you been in a conversation with someone who is describing how their life got shipwrecked, or their marriage blew up, or their kids grew up rebellious or resentful? How many times have you talked to students who didn’t get the grades they were hoping for or didn’t make the team or troop or group they were hoping for. And as they’re describing what led up to their failure, you just thought to yourself, “Well, didn’t you see that coming?”
Let’s take it a step further. It is not an exaggeration to say that the principle of the path is so foundational that it trumps nearly anything else you’ve got going in your favor. You can have the best of intentions and end up in the worst of situations. And that can happen to you even if you’re the smartest person on the planet – or the best looking, or the biggest, or the strongest. This principle is true no matter how strong-willed you are, no matter how pleasant you are, no matter how much your momma loves you or how much your daddy leaves you in his will.
When it comes to every area of life, direction—not your desire, not your strengths, not your weaknesses, not your hopes, not your dreams— your direction will determine your destination.
Throughout Proverbs, Solomon consistently shows us that there are two paths you can go by. And the path you take will determine where you end up.
- You can choose wisdom or foolishness. In the passage we read earlier, Solomon pictured these as two women with houses on opposite sides of the street. On one side, Lady Wisdom. On the other, the woman Folly. And they are calling out to everyone who passes by, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. Now just picture it: If you turn toward wisdom, what are you turning away from? [Foolishness]. If you turn toward foolishness, what are you turning away from? [Wisdom].
Throughout Proverbs, God invites us to stay on the path of wisdom. In 9:6, Wisdom calls out, “Leave your simple ways and live! Walk in the way of insight.”
The verses that are listed on your listening guide are just a sampling of verses where wisdom and foolishness are contrasted.
- You can choose righteousness or wickedness. Look at verses 1-3, and pay attention to all the work wisdom has done on behalf of the simple: she’s built her house. She’s hewn her seven pillars. She’s slaughtered her beasts for meat. She’s mixed her wine. Set her table. Sent her servants.
Righteousness takes work. There aren’t any shortcuts to a life of righteousness. But now, skip down to the description of the woman folly. Verse 14 says “she sits at the door of her house. She takes a seat on the highest places in town. She calls out—“Hey, come this way!” And if you do, what is she going to feed you? Water she’s stolen. Bread you have to eat in secret because you didn’t work for it. There’s no meat or wine like there is in wisdom’s house. There’s no freshly baked bread like there is in wisdom’s house. There’s just stolen water and stale bread.
By the way—do you know where you only get served bread and water? Prison. Proverbs 9:18 calls it Sheol—the place of the dead.
Friends, again the verses that are listed on your guide are verses that contrast righteousness and wickedness. Once Solomon gets past the prologue of chapters 1-9, chapter 10 gets to the actual proverbs of Solomon. And just look at the first two out of the gate: A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son beings grief to his mother—that’s the path of wisdom or the path of folly.
Verse 2: “Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. That’s righteousness versus wickedness.”
There’s a third choice. It’s the choice between God’s Way and Your Way.
I want you to notice what wisdom says to the one passing by. Look at verse 6: “Leave your simple ways and live. Walk in the way of insight.” In other words, you can’t have it both ways. If you are going to go God’s way, you have to leave behind your way.
Notice that Folly never tells you that you can’t have it both ways. In verse 16, she just says, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here. I’ve got stolen water. I’ve got bread you can eat in secret. It’s just a little minor rest stop. No one needs to know. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
Last Saturday morning our men’s group was having our Bible study and fellowship time at Chappy’s. Vinnie was leading us through Ephesians 6, about the armor of God—you know—shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit, and so on. And in that passage, verse 18 says that after you put all this armor on, you are to pray “at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.”
And he said, “that all times” part means you never take the armor off.”
JonWorth, our summer student pastor, was joining us for the first time, and he said, “You know what that reminds me of?” And we’re all like, “What?” And he said, “Are any of you guys Star Wars fans? It reminds me of the Mandalorian, how he is never allowed to take off his helmet. So you always have to be ready. You always have to be on your guard.
And my first thought was “JonWorth just dropped a Star Wars reference. I’m gonna like this guy. Denning hasn’t even seen Star Wars.”
But my second thought was what the Mandalorian says. What is the phrase that defines the code of the Mandalorian?
This is the Way. You know, we just finished a vacation bible school where the memory verse was “Make your ways known to me, Lord, teach me your paths.”
This is the way. And for you to be on God’s path, you can’t stay on your own path.
Why? Because direction, not desire, is what determines your destination.
Now, here, I’m not necessarily talking about evil desires. That’s another sermon. But even our good desires get trumped by a wrong direction.
- A single woman might desire to meet and one day marry a great Christian guy who’s really got his act together” … but then she dates whoever asks her out, as long as he’s cute.
- A middle aged man desires to get thin and lose weight, but he can’t say no to an all you can eat buffet.
- A young desires to develop a deep and lasting intimacy with God … but he gets up every morning and doomscrolls Fox News instead of spending time in the word.
- A couple desires their children to make church a priority when they go to college, they skip church every weekend and head to the beach, or the lake.
- A high school freshman desires to have an ACT score that will give her lots of scholarships … but she blows off every study session and practice test.
Yes, there are two paths that you can go by, but in the long run, the choice you are making is between life or death. (Proverbs 16:25)
[Story: Me and Trish—my natural inclination is to go left. Because I am left-handed]
And from an eternal perspective, the stakes are so much higher than avoiding the lines at Disney World! Your eternity hangs in the balance.
The only way to change your destination is to change your direction.
1. Put your trust in Jesus. Proverbs 9:5 has wisdom saying, Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed… That sounds like the invitation of Jesus, doesn’t it?
2. Leave the path you’re on. You can’t keep heading in the direction you are going and expect to wind up at a different destination.
Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight. (Proverbs 9:6)
Evaluate: Is there a disconnect between your intention—where you desire to be, and your destination, where you are heading?
If so, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.
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