Proverbs 1:24 (Mini Sermon)
Submitted by Pastor Chad Wagner on Thursday, March 7, 2019.
24. Pro 1:24 - "Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;" A. Because I have called, and ye refused. i. Here we see that man, not God, bears culpability for his lack of wisdom. ii. No man can claim ignorance when he is punished for his sin and foolishness (Act 17:30). iii. The problem was not a lack of calling on wisdom's part. a. As was noted previously, she called everywhere including "in the streets...in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates...in the city...in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths...at the coming in at the doors...[and] upon the highest places of the city" (Pro 1:20-21; Pro 8:2-3; Pro 9:3). b. The blame rather lays solely on those who refused the cry of wisdom. c. The fact that they refused indicates that they heard, considered, and decided to reject the call. iv. In refusing the call of wisdom, they also declined the blessing attached to it (Pro 8:33-36). v. When God calls, His children better answer or judgment awaits (Isa 65:12; Isa 66:4). a. Parents should take heed to this sobering lesson of how God deals with His children. b. When they call, the children better answer quickly or trouble should follow. c. If the trouble that follows is simply more calling by the parents, they only demonstrate their weak and ineffective leadership and are setting their children up for failure and serious problems later in life. B. I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded. i. Just as a man would extend his hand to pull a drowning person out of the water, so the LORD extends His hand to save His children from dying in their folly. a. We commonly refer to trying to help someone get through a difficult situation as reaching out to them. b. But oftentimes those to whom we reach out do not reach back. c. Pastor Phil Jonker said it well: "you can't fix people that don't want to be fixed; you can't change people that don't want to change." d. Those who have attempted in vain to help a wayward sinner get back on the strait and narrow should take comfort in the fact that God has met with the same frustration. ii. Those who don't embrace God's outstretched hand will be on the receiving end of His mighty fist (Isa 5:25). iii. This is the case with the fools to whom wisdom cries in the remainder of this chapter.
