In his sermon titled 'The Duty for Children: To Hear and to Hold,' Pastor Mike Davenport focuses on the biblical instruction from Proverbs 1:7-9, emphasizing the importance of 'The fear of the Lord' as the foundation of knowledge. He outlines the responsibilities of children to heed parental guidance and the rewards that follow such obedience, which include wisdom, protection, and God's favor. Pastor Davenport warns against carelessness and the rejection of wisdom, describing the ruinous path of ignoring parental and divine counsel. He uses the example of Richard Cecil, a young boy who exemplified obedience and trust, to illustrate the confidence parents should have in their children's adherence to instruction. Furthermore, he stresses the role of parents in providing consistent guidance and the spiritual implications of their teachings. The sermon concludes with a call for children to listen to the voice of Christ and seek His wisdom, promising security and peace for those who do.

Proverbs 1 verses 7 through 9. Hear the word of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck." Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Gracious God, we bow before you, We thank you for your Word.

Lord, your Word is sufficient. It speaks to us of every area of life. And Lord, it reveals to us our homes, the very place that we just sung about. Lord, your Son is sufficient there for old and young, So help us all to look to him even the youngest babe in arms. Oh Lord that your spirit would do a mighty work in our youth that you would spare them From the scars of the sins of this age you will make them trophies of your grace to serve you all the days of their lives.

Lord, we want the rewards that we read about in Proverbs and elsewhere in Scripture to be theirs, but Lord they will be found only in Christ in obedience to Him. So we we ask that you would save their souls and put them on that narrow way all the way to glory. We pray in Christ's holy name. Amen. You may be seated.

When the English preacher When the English preacher, Richard Cecil, was a little boy, his father went on business to the India house and took little Richard along with him. While he was transacting his business, his son was dismissed and directed to wait for him at the India house door. Well, his father on finishing his business went out at another door and entirely forgot that he had ordered his son to wait for him. Well, in the evening his mother, missing the child, inquired where he was. His father, recollecting his directions, said, you may depend on it.

He is still waiting where I appointed him. He immediately returned to the India house and found him on the spot where he had been ordered to wait. Now children, you know exactly what I'm getting ready to ask you next, don't you? If your father had asked you to remain in a certain spot until he was done, only for him to forget and to go his way and to remember some hours later. Would your father be able with confidence to say to your mother, don't worry dear, You may depend on it.

He is still waiting right where I left him. Would your parents be able to maintain such confidence in your following that instruction? Or would they have great need for worry because they know your tendencies all too well? Well, as we continue to seek to understand all that God has for us in this fifth commandment, honor your father and your mother. We will seek to turn our attention today to the duty of children.

The title of the message today is the duty of children to hear and to hold tight. To hear and to hold tight. And I would like for us to look at this passage lying open before us under the following five headings. First, the reason for carefulness. The reason for carefulness.

Second, the response of carelessness. The response of carelessness. Third, the responsibility of children. The responsibility of children. Fourth, the rewards of following the council.

There are rewards for following this council. And then fifth, the ruin of forsaking the counsel. That ruin of forsaking the counsel. So first this morning, the reason for carefulness. The reason for carefulness.

And it's verse 7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning, the beginning of knowledge. You boys and girls, I want you to imagine with me for a few minutes. In a few weeks we will be gathering together as families at our family camp. Now let's imagine, I'm not, this is not an announcement, let's imagine that there's going to be a race at the camp and all the children are going to race around the big pond out on the property there.

So here you are that day, and you get up there, and you and all the other children you get up on the starting line and there you are ready to run the race hoping to win so you you get down into position like all the runners that you may have seen at the Olympic Games, you know, you get down in the blocks and then one of the adults gives the signal, on your mark, get set, go! Well there is a flurry of activity as all the kids take off at top speed. They are off and running in the blink of an eye, except for you. Except for you. There you are standing on the starting line.

You heard the signal, you saw everybody take off, you know it's time to run, But there you stand. They're all out in front now. They're running for all their worth. And there you are. You're still at the start.

That would be a terrible feeling, wouldn't it? Let me ask you a question. Is there any way that you're going to win this race? Is there any way? They're halfway around the pond, you're still at the starting line.

Is there any way that you're going to win this race? Well, obviously not. You're not going to be able to do it. There is no way to win if you never leave the starting place. Well, That is what the race of life looks like when you don't have the fear of God.

You haven't left the starting blocks. You aren't getting anywhere. You're making zero progress. You're not really in the race and there's really no way to win. The very first step out of the starting block is the fear of God.

Parents, this is the reason why we as parents must center all of our instruction, all of our teaching on God and who He is. We must seek to engender in our children the right fear of Him. And you children, this is the reason why you must seek to exercise great care with the instruction that's given you. If you learn everything else that comes to you in the classroom and yet pass over or throw aside the fear of God, you're still on the starting line. You're still on the starting line.

There's no way that you're going to progress. And children, if the Word of God is true, and it is true, you need to look down deep in your hearts to see if you really fear God, do you? What is it to fear God? Well, it's to move through your day with thoughts of Him. It's to be mindful of Him when you speak and when you act that He sees and He takes account of everything you do and everything you say.

It's to seek to know Him and to understand His ways. It is to see His commands in the commands of your parents. And if That is what the fear of God is, and if it indeed is the first step of wisdom for this life, you need to consider whether you're actually in the race or whether you're still on the starting line. You're somewhere. You're either in the race or you're back at start.

Where are you? Where are you? You're somewhere. Where are you? Well, the fear of the Lord is the beginning, the very beginning of knowledge.

If that's the case, there's much need for carefulness. There is much reason for a consideration of yourself and where you really are. And dear young person, what should we think of a son or a daughter who does not fear God? What should we think of them? Well, the text goes on to give us the answer to that question, for it gives us secondly in our text the response of carelessness.

Not just the reason for carefulness, but now the response of carelessness. Verse 7, fools despise wisdom and instruction. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. What should we think of a son or a daughter who does not fear God? The despising of wisdom and instruction is a despising of the fear of God and the very God whom you should fear.

Note that the Scriptures do not say specifically here that fools reject wisdom and instruction. Now, don't misunderstand me. He who rejects wisdom and instruction is a fool. If you reject it, you are a fool. But in our text, it just says that fools may also simply despise it.

They despise it. What does it mean to despise? It means to hold it in contempt, to show disrespect towards the instruction. I'm going to try to give you children an easy way to remember what this means. You might think it's silly too, but I guarantee you'll remember it.

You've probably been somewhere or viewed something that involved crowd reactions. There's a crowd watching. When the fans or the crowd really like what they see, what do they yell out? Yay! Hopefully you're more familiar with that than the response of the crowd when they don't like what they see?

What do they yell out when they don't like what they see? Boo! Well, I am no Hebrew scholar, but the program I use has a little button that I can push to hear the pronunciation of the word in the original language. And the pronunciation that this program gave for this word despise is booze. Booze.

So here's an easy way for you children to remember this principle and to determine if you are a fool or not. When your dad or your mom asks you to do or behave a certain way or to refrain from doing something specific, do you yell out in your heart a bunch of, yes, or a bunch of boos? You might not say it out loud because you know what will happen if you say it out loud. What should happen, We've been talking about that in recent weeks, but what about in your heart? You children, what are you saying in your heart?

Yay, I want to do that. That's exciting. Boo. I don't like that. It's a matter of the heart.

If you despise that instruction, then the Bible classifies you as a fool. A fool! Young man, young woman, are you a fool? Are you? With these scriptures open before you, you know in the depths of your heart whether you fit the description or not, the evidence is there, and the evidence shouts loudly, either, wise or fool.

Your hearts are telling you that, even as I'm preaching right now. You're saying wise. I'm wise. Or I'm a fool. Psalm 14 1 and Psalm 53 1 both declare this, the fool has said in his heart there is no God.

Now the words there is are in italics. That means that they're not there in the original but are placed there in an attempt to better explain the text. Well, I'm actually not sure how well it achieves that goal in this verse because literally it reads, the fool has said in his heart, no God, or possibly because punctuation is not given us in the original. No! God!

That is with His heart. The fool has by actions in keeping with that heart declared that he wants nothing to do with God, with the instruction that comes from his word, and with the authority that God has placed in his life. In Psalm 10-4, the psalmist declares, the wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God. God is in none of his thoughts. That's why I declared earlier, what is the fear of God?

It's to go through your day with thoughts of God because the wicked, God's in none of his thoughts. Through the instruction of your parents God is revealing himself and his will for your life. Do you declare, no God, or maybe in this area of my life I will have no God over me? This is a response of carelessness. Carelessness.

And as we shall see in the verses that lie before us, this is not only to reject the rewards promised, this is actually to invite ruin. That's what's set in front of you children, rewards and ruin. What will you have? What will you have? Spiritually and eternally speaking, to be careless about the instruction of God spiritually and eternally, it's suicide.

Dear children, dear young people, I plead with you, don't be a fool. Don't be a fool. So having seen the reason for carefulness and the response of carelessness, let us Turn our attention to the exhortation found under the third point, the responsibility of children. The responsibility of children. Verse 8.

My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother." Now, several things need to be noted in this text, especially since I'm going to be very narrow and specific in my application. I want you to understand that the text itself is not as narrow as the application I'm going to give it this morning. Note the following. First, this text is not given to sons in such a way that daughters are not included. This applies to son and daughter alike.

You have, both of you, you have an inescapable, inexcusable, unavoidable duty. You are to hear and you are to hold. Second, dear parents, this text though directed specifically to children implies that there is instruction which should be heard and a law that should be held and followed. This text assumes your duty as much as it declares openly the duty of your children. How can they hear something that you're not saying?

How can they hold on to something you're not giving? There's a duty for parents here. Third, Solomon is not here saying that instruction belongs to the father and a household law only to the mother. He is simply implying that parents are together in this duty, in this endeavor, and both are to be respected, both are to be honored. Fourth, just as daughters are implied along with sons, the implications of the text also apply to every sphere of authority where you have by nature of specific roles a greater and a lesser.

This undermines, it takes away all autonomous responses such as, you can't tell me what to do. But our focus this morning as stated will be on children, children of all ages here in this room. What's entailed in this word here? Here. Well the Hebrew word is defined like this, to hear intelligently, often with implication of attention and obedience.

Let me repeat that. To hear intelligently, often with implication of attention and obedience. Have any of you children ever... I know this probably hasn't happened, has it? Have any of you children ever been asked, son, sweetie, did you hear me?

I'll take it by the chuckles you've heard that a time or two. Have you heard me? The question is actually twofold. It's twofold. It is asking these two questions at the same time.

You see, your lack of response to what was spoken by your parents, it indicates one of two things. First, maybe Maybe you actually did not hear physically what was spoken. Your attention may have been on something else or maybe it wasn't quite loud enough. Maybe you weren't tuned in to know that it was to you they were speaking. Maybe you thought, well, mom was just talking to my brother.

I somehow I missed my name in that. It could be that you physically just did not hear. And so the question comes, did you hear? But assuming that the airwaves did actually vibrate the bones in your ear, And your ear successfully delivered the vibrations to the brain so that the brain could decipher what was actually said. The second thing your lack of response could be indicating is that you did not give the command sufficient attention in order to immediately obey.

And in that sense, biblically speaking, You didn't hear. You didn't hear. Hence, Jesus does not exhort the listeners of his day to take heed that they hear. He said take heed how you hear. How you hear.

There's two parts. Well, what's entailed in this phrase do not forsake do not forsake the law of your mother well the word is translated in a multitude of ways through the Old Testament, but I think we can narrow it down to two particular actions in this verse. One use is more a sin of commission, the other a sin of omission. What do I mean by those two words, commission and omission? One use is more of a sin of action.

You actually take an action. The other use is a sin of inaction. You just don't do anything. So one way to forsake the law is to cast it off, to reject it. That's a sin of deliberate action.

You're taking action. You're taking it and you're throwing it to the side. That could be described as open Rebellion. Open rebellion. God describes rebellion as the...

It's like the sin of witchcraft. It's to take yourself out from under the umbrella of protection that God has established in your parents. And it's to go out from under that umbrella because the instruction of your parents are to protect you from what's out there. The world, the devil, even your own flesh, and the darts come in is to take you and what you do when you disobey, when you rebel, you leave yourself wide open. It's like witchcraft in a way that you make yourself accessible to anything the devil wants to do.

Is that you dear young person? Is it you? Oh, you may be careful here in the presence of the congregation. You may be careful not to demonstrate such an obvious rejection of what you're being asked to do in this environment. But how is it back home?

How is it back home where it's just you and dad, you and mom? Do you actively cast off and reject the instruction of your father? Do you openly rebel against the law of your mother? Well, maybe for you it's not such open rebellion. Maybe your act of forsaking this law is more a sin of omission.

Another way to forsake it is to simply let it fall, to leave it alone, to abandon it. Maybe that's you. You may not be like that son Jesus described in Matthew 21 who when asked to go work in the vineyard said, I will not. Maybe you're more like the one who said, I go sir, but he didn't actually go. You see, both of these responses are disobedience.

They're both disobedience. The first is a more open rebellion, the second a more subtle form of rebellion. Your responsibility, son and daughter, is to both hear the instruction of your parents with the purpose of giving full attention and obedience, and to also embrace, hold tight, and appreciate the law that they passed down to you. That's your duty. That's your duty before God.

That is what is meant by the command, honor your father and your mother. Are you doing that? Or should I ask, because I know you're not doing it perfectly, because you're a sinner. Are you striving to do that with every fiber of your being? Are you striving to do that?

Do you want to do that? Is it your desire to obey God in relation to this commandment? And you teenagers, you teenagers, is there a clause in this text or in any other passage in the Scriptures that gives you a pass on this hearing and this holding. Does your relation to this word adulthood, does it give you allowance to stop following the prescribed will of God concerning the matter. You young men, how is it with your mother?

How is it with your mother? Have you come to despise her because she's a woman? Are you taking advantage of her because God requires of her the beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit? Are you taking advantage of that? Such exclusions for you are not to be found in this text.

You may find it out there in the world somewhere. You're not going to find it here. You're not going to find it here. You're not going to find it here. It applies to you teenagers, you young men.

This is the responsibility of all children before God. This is what he calls you to. But along with the responsibility set before you, God grants you fourthly in this text the rewards of following the counsel. Number four, the rewards of following the counsel. Verse nine, this instruction and this law will be a graceful Ornament on your head and chains about your neck Now I dare say for you children here an ornament on your head and chains about your neck don't sound much like rewards.

You're probably thinking I don't want to wear this big old giant chain around my neck and an ornament on my head. What kind of reward is that? Well, we're 21st century Americans. We will have a hard time seeing any rewards in this text without a little bit of work and trying to understand what is being held out to us. So what can we take from this verse?

Well, let's employ the use of hermeneutics. The rule we want to employ here is Scripture is the best interpreter of Scripture. So we want to look at other Scripture, okay? Consider with me what these things represent in the scriptures themselves. First thing, the first thing we learn about this chain about the neck is it represents a position of power and prestige.

Power and prestige. Consider with me two texts, Genesis 41 verses 42 and 43. Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, And he clothed Joseph in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And Pharaoh had Joseph ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried out before Joseph, bow the knee! So Pharaoh sent Joseph over the land of Egypt.

Sounds like a nice chain to have around your neck. How about secondly, Daniel 529, another young man who was thrust out and took had to take refuge under a Gentile king. Daniel 529, Daniel has told him what the writing on the wall meant. Then Belshazzar gave the command and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck and made a proclamation concerning Daniel that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. The second thing we learned from looking at other text is that this chain around the neck represents beauty and wealth.

Beauty and wealth. Consider how God Himself beautified and enriched Israel, His bride. In Ezekiel chapter 16, God begins the chapter describing the helpless plight that He found Israel in. She was like a baby that had just been born, hasn't been cleaned up, lying in its blood, cast off to the side, lying by the side of the road, struggling, struggling. The umbilical core still attached and just not in good shape.

But God had mercy on Israel. He had compassion And this is how he describes what he did for her, having laid his eyes upon her. Verses 9 to 14 of Ezekiel 16. Then I washed you in water. Yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.

I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin. I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with ornaments. Put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck, and I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.

You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful and succeeded to royalty. Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through my splendor which I had bestowed on you, " says the Lord God. So what can we glean from these other passages in order to help us understand how these ornaments and chains in our text are actually a reward. Well if truly heard and held tight, this instruction and This law will provide to that hearer and holder the following.

First, the splendor of God bestowed on us through the Word kept. The splendor of God bestowed on us through the Word kept. That is what that last line in Ezekiel shows us. The reward is nothing short of the splendor of God, the beauty of Himself that He shares with us when we are changed by His grace. When we're changed by grace, we have a beauty that is the splendor of God bestowed on us.

That in itself is a reward enough, dear ones. But secondly, it also provides the strength of character to live well. It provides the strength of character to live well. Proverbs 3, 1, and 2. And as I read these texts, this is more scripture interpreting scripture.

Some of it was already read for us this morning. As I read this, see in the passage your duty to hear and to embrace and the reward that comes as a result. Proverbs 3, 1, and 2, my son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Proverbs 3, 13 and 16 to 18. Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

Length of days is in her right hand and her left hand riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her and happier all who retain her. Proverbs 3 21 to 24, my son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion so they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck.

Then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 4, 10 to 13. Hear, hear my son and receive my sayings.

In the years of your life will be many. I have taught you in the way of wisdom, I have led you in right paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hindered. And when you run, you will not stumble. Take firm hold of instruction.

Do not let go! Keep her! For she is your life. Third, what rewards? It will provide favor with God and with man.

Favor with God and with man. Proverbs 3, 3 and 4. Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck. Write them on the tablet of your heart and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.

And young people, if you will notice, you go back to the life of Christ, look in the Gospels and find how the early life of Christ is described. You'll only find a couple of things. That when they found him in the temple asking questions and they took him back he submitted himself To his earthly parents his imperfect parents. He submitted to them. What else do we know about him?

That he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. He submitted and this is what happened. Fourth, The instruction in law will provide a beauty of character that will be attractive to others. It will provide honor and glory. Proverbs 3 25, the wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the legacy of fools.

Proverbs 4, 7, and 9, or 7 through 9. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom, and in all you're getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her.

She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory, she will deliver to you. Fifth, it will provide an abundance of wealth, an abundance of wealth that cannot be lost or stolen. Proverbs 3, 13 to 15, Happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding, for her proceeds are better, better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things that you may desire cannot compare with her Proverbs 4 20 to 23 My son give attention to my words incline your ear to my sayings Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart for they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.

Sixth, it will provide deliverance. It will provide deliverance from the sexual immorality that runs rampant in our day, even the scourge of pornography. It will provide deliverance. Proverbs 2.16. Wisdom will deliver you.

It will deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words. Proverbs 5, 1 to 14, my son, pay attention to my wisdom. Lend your ear to my understanding that you may preserve discretion and your lips may keep knowledge. For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey and her mouth is smoother than oil but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death.

Her steps lay hold of hell. Lest you ponder her path of life, Her ways are unstable. You do not know them. Therefore, hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the cruel one, lest aliens be filled with your wealth and your labors go to the house of a foreigner.

And you mourn at last when your flesh and your body are consumed and say, how I have hated despised, how I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction. I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me. I was on the verge of total ruin in the midst of the assembly of the congregation." Seventh and lastly, this instruction in law will open wide the door to true experiential religion. You will know God in deeper measures. And we saw that in the text that was read earlier, Proverbs 2, 1 to 9.

My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly.

He guards the path of justice and preserves the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity, and every good path. Moms and dads, are we holding out these rewards to our children? Do they know anything of these? Or is it all just rules?

Rules are necessary. These are the rewards of the rules, but are you giving them the rewards? Are you pointing them to these rewards? Let's make sure that these are all out on the table, that our children know the goodness of God displayed in His very commandments. And you dear children, you Dear young people, Paul describes this commandment as the first commandment with a promise, a commandment that comes with rewards.

And it's for you. It's for you. Are you following the counsel that God sets before you and the instruments of your parents? Are you following it with all your heart? If so, you will know something of these rewards listed here and throughout the Scriptures.

But if you will not hear, if you will not hear, if you rather forsake this law, the rewards for following counsel will elude you. They'll run the other direction. And your experience will rather be that which our fifth and final point bears out. The final point, the ruin, the ruin of forsaking the council. Now, I would argue that in the remainder of chapter 1, there are two different paths that Solomon sets before us.

Now, there are similarities in the paths, but there are also distinctions. The latter path can be unfolded into the first, but I believe it can also stand alone. Solomon instructs his son regarding two voices that he's going to hear. Two voices that he's going to hear. The voice of sinners and the voice of Christ.

And you young people, you're hearing that today. You're hearing the voice of sinners. And right this very moment, you're hearing the voice of Christ in the Scriptures. In the next ten verses, Solomon instructs his son regarding the voice of sinners that he will most likely hear. It is a call to reject.

It's a call for that son, that daughter to reject the instruction that they have received. A call to come take part in the real pleasures and the real gain that can be found. A call to come and be a part of something to feel included. To go this route would be that open rebellion that we have already noted. It would be not simply letting the instruction fall to the ground, it would be to ball it up and throw it to the side with every intention of doing the opposite.

As we read the next ten verses, note the ruin that is at the end of such open rebellion. Verses 10 to 19, my son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. Let us let us swallow them like shale and whole like those who go down to the pit.

We shall find all kinds of precious possessions. We shall fill our houses with spoil. Cast in your lot among us. Let us all have one purse. My son, do not walk in the way of them.

Keep your foot from their path, for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird, but they lie in wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain. It takes away the life of its owners.

There's a second voice, and it's actually the voice of Christ. It comes to you, dear children, through the instruction of your parents. Understand as well that the voice of Christ is actually coming to you right now through my voice with these scriptures open before us. Jesus Christ is wisdom personified. In the remainder of this chapter, there is nothing of open rebellion.

It could be happening, but we don't read about it. Not the kind of rebellion that we just saw of running in that path with the wicked ones. There is more indication of simply letting the instruction fall to the ground or simply walking away from that law received or treating the pleading of Christ lightly. And I'm afraid this may be more common with you young people in our midst. Probably more common than the open rebellion.

Maybe you have not gone the way of the crowds of this world. Maybe you see the ruin that clearly lies at the end of that path. But hear me, hear me. The ruin that lies at the end of a path that simply ignores the voice of Christ is far more ruinous. It's far more ruinous.

Wisdom calls aloud outside. She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses at the openings of the gates in the city. She speaks her words. How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?

For scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge. Turn in my rebuke. Surely I will pour out my spirit on you. I will make my words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel and would have none of my rebuke.

I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock not if, I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm and your destruction like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you, then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have None of my counsel and despised my every rebuke. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil." Those two paths are stressed again by Christ in these final words. There are those who turn away. Their rebellion is evident to all who look on, but there is also the path of complacency. Those are just simply complacent.

They're content to stay right where they are. Do either of these describe you, young person? Here's the ruin that is described. It is certain. It is inescapable.

For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. But those are not the only two paths. Christ ends his call with a reminder of the rewards for all those who will receive instruction. Whoever, whoever, whoever listens to me will dwell safely and will be secure without fear of evil. Dear young person, hear and heed the voice of your parents.

Hear and heed the voice of Jesus Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. My son, hear the instruction of your Father and do not forsake the law of your mother, for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck. I close with these sobering words of Christ. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them.

I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand and the rain descended the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall." Well may God give all of us grace and especially you dear children to hear the voice of Christ and come and trust him who is your Savior for all of these things. Let's look to Him in prayer. Gracious Lord, we come to you thanking you for your goodness and your grace. Lord, that you still call out in spite of the rebellion of people on this earth. You still call out.

You still offer rewards to those who will turn from their sins and turn to you to feast at your marvelous table, to taste of Your grace poured out for sinners like them. Oh, give our children ears to hear that they might hear the voice of Christ and what the Spirit is saying to them through this word this morning. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Let's take just a few minutes of contemplation and then we'll turn to the Lord's table.