So Run Away

Proverbs 22 and Proverbs 27. Proverbs twenty two and twenty seven. The last two weeks, we've been looking into God's word about a particular subject. That subject is sin. Because our culture has so glorified sin today, I'm afraid that we've become sort of accustomed to it.

It doesn't bother us like it should, not in the lives of the world and not in our own lives. Is sin really that bad? Yes, it is. It is that bad. It is due to our sin that Christ had to suffer.

The son of God, the sinless son of God, on the cross for your sins and mine, to pay the price that had to be paid for our redemption. It is because of sin that one day, millions of souls will be cast into the Lake of fire. It's a real place. The great white throne judgment is a real judgment and it will happen. Every soul, every person walking the face of this earth will spend eternity somewhere.

And those who go into eternity without Christ will spend it in a place called hell or the Lake Of Fire. This is the terribleness of sin because it is sin that will put them there. Not only that, but sin destroys many things in our lives, destroys our testimony as Christians for the Lord. It destroys and robs us of our joy. It can destroy our our lives on this earth, our emotional, spiritual, even affect our physical well-being.

It can affect the lives of others as well as ourselves. It destroys relationships. It destroys friendships. It destroys marriages. It destroys churches.

It destroys nations. Sin is a terrible thing. And sometimes, we just, I think, need a little reminder of how bad sin really is and how much of an affront it is to the God who created us. So, we spent the last couple of weeks looking at the terribleness of sin. So, then we have to ask this question, if sin is so bad, then what are we to do?

What are we to do about it? Can you stop someone else, the world from sinning? No, can't do that. We can have a positive effect. We can be salt and light but we can't stop them from sinning.

One day, God will take care of all that. Well, what are we to do about it? Well, God says, we need to concern ourselves most of most mostly with who? Ourselves. First of all, you need Jesus Christ.

You need salvation from sin. You need forgiveness of sin. You need redemption from sin. You need freedom from sin. And the only one who can give that is Jesus Christ.

You can only receive that by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus. But second of all, as a Christian, you still sin. Bible says, God doesn't want you to but first John, he recognizes we still do. We will until one day, we stand before him complete in Jesus. So, what are we supposed to do about the sin in our life?

Well, the Bible tells us to confess our sins. We confess our sins. He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Do you want your heart to be clean? Do you want to be empowered by God in your ministry, in your walk?

Do you want victory over sin in your life? Well, you have to confess that sin to God. Now, it doesn't say, tell God you're sorry. Though you should tell God you're sorry but the word confess means to see it as God sees it, to admit to it as God sees it. As a terrible, wicked thing.

Confess that before God. Don't cover it up. Don't hide it. Don't deny it. Confess it to God.

So, God can get it out of your life. So, God can give you victory over it. Confess that thing before God. Lest it become a a obstacle in your your fellowship with the Lord and in your service for the Lord. Confess that sin.

Confess it. And then forsake it. Forsake it. Don't run back to it at the drop of a hat. Confess it and forsake it.

Repent. Turn. Run away. How are we just to treat sin? Well, the Bible says we are to flee sin and flee temptation.

That means run away. In Proverbs 22, in Proverbs 20 tell seven, it tells us to hide ourselves from it. Look if you would, Proverbs 22 and verse three. Proverbs twenty two three, a prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself. But the simple pass on and are punished.

Take your Bibles and turn if you would to Proverbs 27 and verse 12. Proverbs 27 and verse 12. Do you notice anything about verse 12? It looks exactly the same as what you just read. A prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself but the simple pass on and are punished.

Now, if God saw fit to repeat the same verse twice in scripture, word for word, I don't believe that's a coincidence. I believe that's on purpose and we need to pay attention to what God has to say in this verse for us today. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Thank you, dear heavenly father for your word. Thank you for the opportunity to search the scriptures today and Lord, to meditate on them together, to proclaim them, and to be doers of the word, not hearers only.

We thank you Lord for this privilege. May you do a mighty work today in our lives. May you draw us closer. May you convict us of sin. May you challenge us in your service.

May you draw those to yourself that could be in our midst today that are unsure of their salvation. They have been forgiven of their sins and redeemed by the blood of Christ. May you give them faith today that they would believe. And receive Jesus Christ, the only way of salvation. In Jesus precious name, we do pray.

Amen. I entitled the message again, so run away. I could've entitled, go hide yourself from this from this verse we have here. Both of them are true, both of them are are actually teaching us basically the same thing. We need to flee temptation and sin, we need to hide ourselves from it.

It is not our friend, it is our enemy, our adversary. We're going to look at this verse in reverse this morning, okay? We're going to look the second half of verse first and then we're going to come back to the first half of the verse. So, you can either be looking at Proverbs twenty two three or twenty seven twelve. They're both the same, so stay where you are.

The second half of the verse says this, but the simple pass on and are punished, the simple. Now, the simple can also be translated the silly, the seducible, the naive. They are akin in the book of Proverbs to the foolish one. They are simple when it comes to knowledge. They are simple when it comes to wisdom.

They are simple in the knowledge of the Lord and the wisdom of God and they do not see the evil coming. And it is right on top of them before they know it. The simple pass on, they continue right on into the consequences of their sin. The foolish do not see evil coming and so they walk right into the buzz saw because their minds have been blinded by the God of this world, the devil. The simple are not watchful.

That is they're not careful particularly as here it applies in relation to sin and doing the will of God. They're not cautious in their life. They're not, Bible uses the word circumspect. They're not looking at life with their spiritual eyes wide open and even sometimes Christians can be that way. I remember listening to the radio the other day, and I heard it was the top of the hour and the news was on, and I heard this little news clip.

This person, I can't remember as a man or woman, but they unfortunately made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. They were walking down the street or somewhere, and they were texting on their phone. And they ran, they walked while they were texting right into a train, right into a train. Now, not that the train was coming down the track and it hit them, the train was already going in front of them and they walked right into the train. Now, how do you how can you be so unaware that you walk into a train?

But they did. They did. They were so caught up in their texting. Now, fortunately, they lived. Praise the Lord but walked right into a train.

I remember when I was a kid, there was a animal kingdom show. On Sunday afternoon, about 01:00, we got home from church. We had lunch and and either before lunch, maybe it was 02:00. This wonderful Wild Kingdom show with guy named Perkins. Does that ring a bell with anybody?

Okay, hosted it. And the show was sponsored by Mutual of Omaha Insurance. And I still remember the Mutual of Omaha commercials. This guy is walking down the sidewalk and he's reading a book, and he's not paying attention to anything that happens to him. He steps into an empty manhole, but the guy happens to be on the ladder and he steps on his head and he walks right over and he he walks under a ladder and something falls.

He walks right in front of a car and they stop. And the whole point of the commercial is, I guess he had Omaha insurance and so it insured him against all of these terrible catastrophes because he wasn't watching where he was what? You know, and that's funny when it's a commercial. It's not so funny if you're the person who ran into the train or fell down a manhole because you weren't watching where you were going. But even worse is to walk through life with your eyes spiritually closed.

The catastrophe of sin. And the ruin that it brings. And ignore the consequences. We live in a world today that's all about today. Who cares about the consequences?

Live for the moment. If it feels good, do it. But once you reap, you will sow. The bible warns, bible warns Christians, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. You have an enemy, Christian.

He is a real enemy. Besides the world and besides your own lust of the flesh, you have an enemy called the devil and they're all out to get you. You say, well, I'm a Christian now. The devil's not interested in me. No, when you became a Christian, you joined the other side.

He's very interested in you. He was very interested in Job. He lost. God's power was greater and the Bible tells us greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Be watchful.

Keep your spiritual eyes open. Be discerning. The simple are not discerning. They don't think before they act. They don't think before they open their mouth and talk.

They're not discerning and they're not discreet. I don't know how many times I've been working around people particularly when I worked at the tire factory or when I worked construction and they knowing that I was a Christian, something would happen, they'd let loose a thing of cuss words, and they'd look at me and say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. But it was too late. They had already what? They'd already said it.

They'd already said it. And by the way, it wasn't me they should have worried about offending. It was God. It didn't matter if they said it around me or not because God hears. God knows.

Sometimes as Christians, we can be guilty of the same thing and talk before we think or act before we think and regret the mean cutting words that we said or an action that we took in anger. The simple don't think before they act. And they are not discerning between right and wrong. They have no moral compass or standard or they don't adhere to one. And, if they don't have one at all, if they're unsaved or or know not the Lord or the scriptures, they they don't have the ability to discern between good and evil and right from wrong.

So, often times, they choose the wrong because they don't have that that wisdom, that discernment. I remember when I was a youth pastor and we picked up kids, I would go to on our bus and I would go to speak to the parents and the parents would tell me after I invited them to church that well, they had been to church. They really didn't need that anymore but their kids really needed to go because their kids needed to learn what? Right from wrong. Right from wrong.

And so they sent their kids. And I'm I'm glad they did. I wish they'd come. I wish they realized that they didn't have it all down. And church is more about worshiping and honoring and serving the Lord than just learning.

Right from wrong for our own benefit though that is good. But now, just fifteen years later, twenty years later, it seems like a lot of parents aren't even interested in that today. Like they used to be. It's a plague upon our society. It's a humanistic mindset that right and wrong are what we make them or what we choose rather than what they are.

And so we make up the rules as we go. But it's not our rules that we'll be judged by. It's God's rules. And we're not going to see the evil to avoid it if we're not looking to the Lord. Who created us and who knows.

Even Christians can act this way. We can ignore God's commands. We sometimes don't seem to sad to say, have a whole lot of discernment on certain things like we should. Take for instance, Lot. The bible calls Lot a righteous man.

Now, why was that? Because Lot was the shining example. No. Because Lot's faith in God. Abraham believed God and was accounted to him for righteousness.

The same thing would also be true of Lot. But look at what Lot did. Lot, a righteous man in the eyes of God, justified by faith when he was given the opportunity to choose where to take his flocks and herds, he pitched his tent toward what? Sodom. Well, that looked good, grazing land, pragmatic.

We live in a pragmatic world. If it works, then it must be good. Must be right. If it works, well, what appears to work doesn't always work. And sometimes, it works for the moment, but the consequences are grave.

Thus, the problem with Lot. He ended up in the city of Sodom. He ended up losing his family. He ended up losing everything he had. He ended up living disgracefully the last years of his life in a cave with his two daughters and his two illegitimate children, grandchildren, children and grandchildren.

Sad story. Thus, we leave off with Lot. How did that happen? He wasn't careful, wasn't cautious, he wasn't discerning, he was simple. He looked with his what?

With his eyes. And his eyes said, that's the place to go. Be careful, Christian. Your eyes, your heart can and will deceive you, as they do Lot. The simple are not watchful, they're not discerning, they're not disciplined, they're not self controlled oftentimes.

They do things in excess, they don't know when to stop. Paul says in first Corinthians six twelve, all things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the power of any. Now, he's speaking there in respect to the Old Testament law, the Mosaic Law and he says, as a Christian, I'm not bound by the Mosaic Law that was part of the old covenant and we're now under the new covenant. But he said, there are still things that I shouldn't will choose not to do.

They may be liberties, but they're not necessarily edifying, they're not expedient, they're not good for me and they can bring me under their power. Thus the reason I don't drink alcohol, because it can bring me under its power. Therefore, the reason we need to be cautious with our use of many things and our habits, they can bring us under their power. We need to be careful. We need to be cautious.

We need to be disciplined in our life. Who can bring that discipline to our life? God can. What has he given us to help us to discipline our lives in that way? He's given to us his word and he's given to us his spirit that we might walk in the spirit and not according to the unbridled lust of the flesh.

Because it will lead us into dire straits. What happens to the one who is simple, who is not watchful, not discerning, not disciplined? Well, they find themselves in a lot of trouble as they follow their heart. The Bible says the heart is deceitfully what? Wicked.

Wicked. Don't follow your heart. Follow God's heart. His heart won't lead you astray. His word will not fail you.

The Bible says, every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust, and lust we have conceived to bring it forth sin, and sin when it is finished bring it forth. Yeah, we looked at that last week. The simple, they don't hide themselves, they don't run away, they don't see the evil coming, and they pass on, they continue on, and therefore, they are punished. They reap the consequences of what they've sown. So instead of being simple, in relation to sin and temptation, we need to be prudent, the bible says, A prudent man foreseeth the evil.

A prudent man is cunningly wise, cunningly wise. The book of Proverbs is about wisdom, not the wisdom of the world, but the wisdom of God. And there are several words that he uses that are all connected to the word wisdom. We need to be wise. We need to be wise in the wisdom of God.

The prudent man, the wise man runs from, hides from evil rather than walking right into it. What do we need to do about sin? We need to be wise. We need to be wise. And you can be wise if you will follow the way of the Lord.

Be wise. First of all, the opposite of the simple, the wise man is circumspect. Look if you would in Ephesians chapter five. Ephesians chapter five. Look there with me, please.

Ephesians five and we'll read verses 15 through 18. Ephesians five fifteen through 18. Five fifteen through 18. Paul writes, the church at Ephesus, he says, see then that you walk circumspectly, that means cautiously, that means with your eyes wide open, not as fools, but as wise. Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

He's talking to Christians. Most of you here today are Christians, He's talking to you. Open your eyes, be cautious, the decisions you make and how you live your life. Redeeming the time because the days are evil, using your time wisely, you have a limited amount. You live in a wicked world.

Use your time wisely. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. Be not drunk with wine where it is excess, but be what? Be filled with the spirit. What does it mean to be filled with the spirit?

To be led by the spirit and to be led by his word. How do we, how do we walk circumspectly? We walk with our eyes opened by what? By the word, by the word of God. Opened by the word of God.

To know right from wrong, to know the will of God, to see the evil coming and so to run away or to hide our self in the Lord from that which would destroy us, our testimony, our joy, our marriage, whatever it may be. Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil roaring, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour. The wise man is mindful of his steps and what is around him, particularly as it relates to sin and the will of God. He is mindful of his steps and what is around him. I don't know, when I was a kid, I watched a movie called Indiana Jones.

I don't know if you've ever heard of that, most of you have, you haven't watched it, but he was a treasure hunter and he went and he went to these far places and he would go into this cave and he would go and he would find the treasure and he'd bring it out. Well, on the way of going into the cave to get the treasure or the trinket or whatever it was, artifact that he wanted, there would be traps and he would have to be careful. He would have to watch his step very carefully because on the end, way in, on the way out of the cave, you would see what happened to the people that went before him that weren't careful. And that's a little bit of a metaphor for life. We need to walk through life carefully because the devil has laden the path before us with many traps to trip us up.

But here's the good news. You have the map. You you have the clues. You have the route laid out for you. The way around the obstacles by your Lord.

He knows where they are. If you listen to him, if you let his word be your guide, if you walk with your eyes open, you won't fall into the traps. When I was in Israel, some of the places we went had signs along the path that we walked on that says, do not step off this path. There's a reason for that, and that reason is called landmines. They had buried landmines, both Syria and Israel, in some of the same areas, sometimes decades ago, and they were still there, and nobody knew where they were.

So, you didn't want to step off the path because you might land on a landmine and that would be the end of you. So, we were careful. We were cautious. We stayed on the what? We stayed on the path.

In the area that was safe, mindful of the spiritual warning signs which God gives us in his word. Be circumspect. Be discerning. In Hebrews five fourteen, it says this, be strong but strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age or maturity, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. To discern both good and evil.

Exercise the wisdom of God in your life. Exercise the the word of God. Put it to practice. Learn the difference between right and wrong, do the right, avoid the what? Wrong.

You say, pastor, that's simple. Yes? It's pretty simple. If we let the flesh have the best of us, it's not easy. It's simple, yes, but not always easy.

But it's clear. Be circumspect, be discerning, be discerning between right and wrong. Be discerning in what you say. There's a right way to say it, and there's a wrong way to say it. There's a right thing to say, and there's a wrong thing to say.

Use some discernment. Think before you talk because what you say can have an effect for good or bad on others. Be careful where you go, the company you keep, keep. Be discerning For poor, evil company. Will affect you.

Negatively, particularly in your testimony and walk for the Lord. Psalm one, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Be careful who you listen to. A lot of voices out there, friends, neighbors, relatives, preachers, be careful. Be discerning.

Be careful what habits you allow into your life. Some don't seem very bad to begin with. You say, Pastor, I love golf. What's wrong with golf? There's nothing wrong with golf.

I love golf too. But for some people, golf is a problem. Well, how can golf be a problem? Here's how golf can be a problem. It's not for you probably because you're here today.

There are many Christians on a golf course this morning and where should they be? They should be in church. There's many Christians fishing today. Where should they be? They should be in church.

Be careful what becomes a habit in your life that distracts you from the ways of the Lord. Sometimes, they can be a weight that hey, nothing wrong with fishing, nothing wrong with golfing, nothing wrong with either of those things unless they distract you from doing the will of who? The will of God. So, be mindful. The devil never comes in the front door and says, hey, I'm here.

The devil always sneaks in the back and says, hey, this isn't a sin. There's nothing wrong with this. You're right. They're wrong. They just, God doesn't want you to have any fun.

You see? They're just a bunch of old fuddy duddies. The world's changed today. And the devil whispers in your ear, and your heart whispers in your ear, and the world whispers in your ear, and pretty soon, if you're not circumspect and you're not prudent, here you go. And you look back ten years later and you wonder, how did it happen?

Well, this is how it happens. No right and wrong and be discerning. Who to listen to, what to believe, we're studying in Sunday school this first few weeks on doctrines that are wrapped up to look like fundamental Christianity. But in reality, they are far far from it. The devil is sneaky.

Be careful who you listen to and what you believe. Be disciplined in your life. Be disciplined. Don't wait for somebody to discipline you, discipline yourself. God says, if you'll judge yourselves, I won't have to judge you.

But if you don't judge yourselves, if you're not disciplined, then then I'm gonna have to chasten you. That's the way it is with kids. If if my children, if they discipline themselves, if they know what right and wrong and they choose right and don't choose wrong, guess what? Do I have to discipline them? No.

Do I want to discipline them? No. I want them to choose right but if they're determined to go the wrong way, I have a responsibility as a parent to bring discipline into their life. God will do the same thing in our life. If you're a child of God, he loves you, he cares for you, he's your father but he would much prefer for you to discipline yourself.

To be wise to flee Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. First Corinthians six eighteen, wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. First Corinthians ten fourteen, but thou, oh man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness. First Timothy six eleven, flee also youthful lust but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Second Timothy two twenty two. Do you get the idea? Those things are poison to you, to your faith, to your growth, to your testimony. The wise man hideth himself from him. Flees, runs away.

He avoids them in his life. If you want to be an athlete and you want to run the 100 yard dash in, how fast do they run that? Nine seconds and something now? If you want to be an athlete, if you want to get the reward, then you don't eat some of the things that I eat, and you exercise a little more than I do, because otherwise, you are not going to win the race. You don't drink so much Coca Cola, and you don't eat a whole bunch of candy bars.

They're weights that will weigh you down. You discipline yourself so that you can be the winner, so that you can run the fastest in your life, in your race. Same thing is true in life. We need to be more disciplined. Some areas of my life, I still need to be more disciplined.

Might as well say it, it's obvious. But the same is probably true of you. And we need to be wise, and we need to be prudent, or else it will catch up with us. Us. The wise man is controlled and led instead by the Lord and by His word.

Thus I say then, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Psalm one nineteen nine to 11, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word with my whole heart have I sought thee or let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against God. David said, I have a temptation.

I am prone to sin. It's real. It's terrible. It's destructive and you saw it in the life of David, sad to say. And you saw what it did and David said, I don't wanna do that again.

I don't wanna go there again. I don't wanna have this. So, he said, here's the key. Hide God's word in your heart. Hide God's word in your heart that you might not sin against the Lord and follow it.

Be wise. And therefore, avoid the calamity of sin's consequences. First Corinthians ten thirteen, there is no temptation taken you but such as is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be attempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to, you know it, escape, that ye may be able to bear it. There is a way of escape. There's a way to escape the horrors of hell through faith in Jesus Christ.

There is a way to escape the consequences of sin in your life, confess it, forsake it, hide yourself from it, see it coming and don't just continue in. Continue on Because it will, it will catch up with you. You will reap what you have sown. Be sure the Bible says, your sin will find you out. Seek the Lord's help.

I can do all things through Christ. Who strengthens me. Let's pray. Lord, thank you Lord for your word. It brings conviction.

Lord, Give us wisdom. Help us to be wise. Lord, help us to see the seriousness of sin in our lives. To confess it, to forsake it, to flee from it, to hide from ourselves in God's word and in Jesus Christ our savior. In your strength, through the spirit you've given us to overcome the lust of the flesh, to walk in the spirit.

Lord, forgive us of our sin. Forgive us of our shortcoming. Forgive us of our failures and Lord, where in our lives where we have been simple and foolish in our thinking, where we've kept our eyes closed, where we've denied our sin. Lord, open our eyes today. Use your word as a light into our path.

Lamp into our feet and a light into our path today. Reveal the things we need to change. Open our eyes that we may see your will, the terribleness of sin, and the way of escape today. I pray, Lord, if there is one here that has never trusted Christ as savior, they would come as we give this invitation and be saved and I pray Lord for your children. Lord, I pray that you would help us to be wise and not simple.

To be discerning and cautious, circumspect and disciplined, following the way of the Lord every day, that we might see victory over sin, that we might become more like our savior, that we might be to the glory of the God who saved us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.