Episode Transcript
All right, we'll be in Proverbs 14 verse 18.
Proverbs 14 verse 18 Here's what I found.
Trying to put my phone on.
Do not disturb.
The title of the message tonight is Our Heavenly Inheritance.
I don't know if y'all's phone does that.
I I it doesn't matter what I say sometimes.
The Siri thinks I'm speaking to her.
So when I was saying Proverbs 14 verse 18, she's trying to look it up.
And she thinks I'm not talking to her.
So that was her answering me back.
But the title is our heavenly inheritance.
And we're going to begin with the word the simple.
The simple.
And we studied this word simple back in verse 15.
If you're looking verse 15 a few verses back, the simple believeth every word, but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
And that was a really fascinating word in our study of that verse, if you'll remember that the Hebrew word there literally means rumi, rumi.
In other words, they have a lot of empty space in their head.
That's the simple.
They're not filled with the knowledge of God, so they have plenty of room to store foolish things.
This kind of simpleness is condemned in the Bible.
And God created us to be filled with the knowledge and wisdom of God.
I mean, we were made in God's image.
We were made to be governed by God's Spirit and God's truth.
So our brains, our intellect. were were meant to house uh marvelous divine truth and uh practical wisdom on how to exercise that here in the world that God created us to occupy.
And so our minds have this incredible capacity to learn, to understand, to apply, to exercise genius and creativity.
And being made in the image of God and representing Him here on this earth, that's how God created us.
But people who fill their heads with nonsense And there's so many people, their minds are just filled with absolute garbage today.
Garbage.
I have to comment on this because being a pastor.
And and and being right here at this spot where I can uh use a really good example, I'm gonna have to do it.
Uh I'm all for boycotting bad bunny But I anybody I I'm all for boycotting any homosexual uh that wants to get up there and parade around and and uh uh grab themselves in their in their areas where they shouldn't be grabbing themselves in front of our kids and grown ups.
I'm all for boycotting that.
But I have to tell you, I'm I'm not I'm not for turning on an alternative so-called Christian show to listen to men talk and sing about drinking, drinking beer and stuff like that.
It's a pathetic alternative.
I have to say a pathetic alternative.
And that's the danger that we get in.
And I love Turning Point and I love those folks in the Lord and everything.
But there's a real danger in offering the world Christianity that's not Christianity.
Offering the world a um A lot of secular garbage and nonsense with just a little bit of Jesus thrown in.
And you throw just enough of Jesus in, or you mention God, or you mention the Bible, or the artists wear a big cross around their neck, and suddenly they're the people we should be listening to.
What we need to be listening to. are are words and songs that bring glory to God and edify us through his word.
And not just these little bitty snippets added in just to try to uh to uh put a j uh uh uh a little Jesus approval on there.
And uh uh Jesus should be the the uh the buffet.
He should be the main course.
He should be everything.
He shouldn't be some little uh some little appetizer on the side.
So uh I have a a a deep concern with uh uh uh people getting up and mentioning the name of Jesus, and you rarely, if ever, hear a clear gospel presentation from them.
I personally have not.
So just don't be deceived by that.
We, you know, what what the devil wants to do The devil wants to take something and offer you something that's labeled the world.
The Bible says, love not the world.
He then wants to say, okay, now here, you can either have the world or you can have Jesus.
And a lot of times what the devil will do is just simply take the world in this hand, put it in this hand, and wrap it with Jesus.
Just put a Jesus wrapping on it.
And you think that you're getting Jesus instead of the world, and what you're really doing is getting the world no matter which package you pick.
And so what we want to do is not let the world choose for us or let organizations choose for us our definition of Christianity.
We need to get that from the church and we need to get it from God's Word.
All right.
And I'll say another thing real quick while I'm on the subject.
Charlie Kirk, and I love Charlie Kirk.
I believe Charlie Kirk's in heaven.
I believe he's a brother in Christ.
I thank God for the work he did.
I don't take anything from that.
But I remember they played the other night his words on on recording where he said that Turning Point was the most important organization in the United States, and I'll tell you that's wrong.
The Church of Jesus Christ is the most important organization in the United States.
It's what Christ organized, it's what Christ uses. to get his word out.
And uh and so we have to be very, very careful.
So people who fill their heads with uh simple, shallow worldly stuff and do not fill their heads with God-given, Holy Spirit-inspired, truth, revelation from God, revelation from His Word, the enlightenment of His Spirit.
Those are the simple That the Bible is talking about tonight.
People whose mind and spirit do not run deep.
Because they do not have the drive, the will, or the desire to know or do anything of eternal value with their lives.
That's the simple.
They live on the surface.
Y'all know any surface people?
Completely live on the surface.
Interested only in the temporary vain things of this world.
There's a certain floor in my building that has a call center in it.
And on the floor of the call center, there are several large televisions.
It's all glass.
I would hate to work in that place.
Everything's glass.
You step off the elevator, you can look and you can see everybody at their desk.
They're all lined up like cordwood, just stacked in there with these little headsets on. and uh and T big TVs everywhere in there.
And uh they have secular music videos playing, they have sports channels playing This has nothing to do with the court, by the way.
It's just a secular business in the building.
And they're constantly, all day long, bombarded.
With a shallow thinking media.
I would hate to think I'm surrounded by that all day long.
Media, content, that means absolutely nothing in real life. and certainly nothing in eternity.
So the simple, the Bible says, God help us to not be among the simple.
Help us to seek the wisdom and knowledge of our God.
Now the simple The Bible says, look in your text, they do something.
What do the simple do?
They inherit.
They inherit.
To inherit something has the idea of receiving something from posterity, right?
Your parents passed something down to you.
And in biblical times, especially, it was the father passing down to the son.
Biblically speaking, it's to have someone pass down to you something from your paternal ancestry.
And when we understand this about inheritance, the reason God gives us these examples of inheritance in the scriptures As always with all things in the Old Testament, there's a greater spiritual truth to it.
That's how come when we're here in the book of Proverbs, we're talking about inheritance, and the simple are inheriting something.
And uh we also inherit something.
So uh how do how what is that greater spiritual truth?
The greater spiritual truth is God is our heavenly father.
And being our Heavenly Father, he created us to be heirs of His grace.
God wants to pass down to us his marvelous, priceless wisdom and goodness, his grace.
But there's something we need to remember when it comes to the subject of inheritance.
And that is in the Bible Now this may grate on our nerves.
This may really cut the cord here against the grain.
But in the Bible, not all children inherit the same portion.
Y'all notice that?
In the Bible, not all children inherit the same portion.
Esau didn't receive the same inheritance as Jacob.
And we don't receive the same as one another, whether it be from our Heavenly Father or from our earthly Father.
I can almost promise you, I'm going to take a show of hands.
I'm curious.
When I was writing my notes out, I thought, I'd like to see.
But I can almost promise you that either you Or someone you know has made sure that one of their kids is not included in their will.
Y'all know anyone like that?
Just me and three others.
Interesting.
Nobody else knows anyone like that.
Well, there's a bunch of them out there.
They may not want to admit it, but there's a bunch of them that have made sure that one of their kids is not in their will, or that their portion in their will has been significantly reduced in comparison to their siblings.
If you have two children, and one of those children is faithful to you, cares for you in your old age, honors you.
But the other has absolutely nothing to do with you, doesn't care to help, and dishonors you, then the chances are you're going to remember that when you make out your will.
Is it wrong to do that?
No, not at all.
And let me tell you, don't feel guilty for doing so if you do.
Because it would be wrong, in my estimation. to reward the unfaithful child equal with the faithful child.
So Brother Richard, I can't have any favorites.
Well, you can love them equally.
That doesn't mean they have to inherit equally.
Because I assure you, God does not divide his inheritance up equally among his children.
It's not going to happen.
If you have one child that's going to blow your wealth on foolish and sinful things, on a wicked lifestyle, And then you have another that you know is going to put your wealth to good use, is going to tie to the church, is going to support the things of the kingdom of God.
Then you are right in passing more or all of your inheritance down to the faithful children.
God's no different.
Remember, Jesus gave us the principle in Acts chapter 26, verse 18.
When he said he sent the Apostle Paul to preach the gospel to sinners, listen now, to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light. and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, watch this now, and inheritance Among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me Who receives the inheritance of God the Father?
Only those Who are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus Christ.
Those who are not sanctified by faith That is in Jesus Christ do not receive the inheritance from God the Father.
They don't.
They're going to be cast into outer darkness.
There's going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
They're going to be separated from all that is good for all eternity.
The people who receive an inheritance from our Heavenly Father are those who are sanctified by faith in Jesus Christ.
No faith in Jesus means no inheritance from God.
God doesn't take that which is holy and cast it unto dogs.
And because of that, he doesn't cast that which is holy unto the simple.
For they have nothing but disdain for the things of God.
Have you ever tried to Share something.
I mean you something you you get a phone call, you learn something, some some you have some experience in your life.
That is just a little piece of heaven.
God has done something for you.
It's been so marvelous It's so wonderful.
Something good has happened in your life.
Such a blessing.
And it's so precious to you that you want to share that something that is so important to you and uh and uh You call someone to tell them, or you go up to someone to tell them, and you want them to rejoice with you.
And you go and you share that wonderful news with that person, and when you do, it goes right over their head.
They don't get it.
They don't appreciate it, and they show little to no regard for what you just shared with them.
Has that ever happened to anybody?
Yeah That's why God doesn't cast that which is holy into the dogs.
That's why.
That's why the simple don't inherit the holy, the eternal, and the priceless things of God.
Instead, they inherit, look back in your text, folly.
Now that's not what God created them for.
God created them to inherit his things that he wants to pass down.
He created every person to inherit his grace.
But those that are simple do not seek after the Lord, do not obtain the knowledge of God And therefore they inherit folly.
They inherit essentially the fruit of their own foolish ways.
They had their opportunity to seek and receive their inheritance from God while on this earth, but they despised his word, and they sought the world instead So they inherit the fruit of their own foolish choices.
It's as if God says, you made foolishness your father.
You remember when God would talk to Israel.
They'd be worshiping these false gods.
And then when the nations, he would warn them.
Don't don't do that.
If you do, these nations are gonna come get you.
They wouldn't listen to them.
They keep worshiping their false gods.
And though when those nations would come get them, you remember what God would say sometimes?
Well go ahead, let those gods help you out there.
Let those gods that you were worshiping, won't you cry out to them, let them help you out of this mess.
So it's if God says, you made foolishness your father instead of me.
So now you can receive your inheritance from him.
Now look back in your text with this contrast, but the prudent and the prudent are those who are sanctified by faith, that is in Jesus Christ, by the way.
The prudent, the Bible says, are crowned.
Look at that.
They're crowned.
Now, this is not a complete contrast.
It's also a comparison as all these proverbs are.
So it's not that one inherits something and the other is crowned.
It's that one inherits something and the other inherits a crown.
They're both an inheritance received, you see.
Or otherwise the prudent would have no inheritance either.
If the prudent doesn't have an inheritance from God, who does have an inheritance?
Well, those that are sanctified by faith that is in Jesus Christ, Jesus said, are the ones that receive an inheritance from God their Father.
And certainly the prudent would be those that do so.
So the prudent are crowned.
And remember the word prudent here is speaking about people who operate according to God's expressed will and design for man.
That's the prudent.
Those who operate according to God's expressed will and design for man.
They seek knowledge from God and his word that they may be able to be faithful to him. that they may be able to know uh how to make use of their time in this world.
And those who do that The Bible says are crowned, which means they inherit honor.
They inherit power.
Authority.
They inherit grace from the Lord, their heavenly Father, who crowns them.
And what does he crown them with?
Look in your text with knowledge.
And by the way, this is a good time to begin understanding the book of the Revelation.
The time to understand the book of the Revelation is not when you study it, it's in the Old Testament.
Um and uh that's the that's the place you're really going to start understanding the book of the Revelation.
It's in the Old Testament and as you get into the Gospels, the epistles.
But uh but they're crowned with knowledge, not with gold.
Not with rubies, not with some material crown.
The people have this idea that when we get to heaven, We're gonna that Jesus is gonna give us all these crowns.
And we get all these crowns piled up for all these rewards.
And then we take these crowns and then we just Start throwing all these crowns at Jesus.
Could you imagine all the crowns that'd be at Jesus' feet?
Could you imagine getting all those crowns?
What head would we put them on?
You couldn't even wear but one at a time The crowns here speak of the honor, the power, the authority.
It speaks of our position in God's kingdom.
That's what a crown is all about.
When you look at the Old Testament and you see world empires, and we're going to be looking at this as we get into the Persian takeover. of Babylon in our in our future study here in the book of Daniel.
But you'll see that the king Will say, I'll make you third ruler in the kingdom, for example.
Or I'll set you over this here.
Well, what he's doing is he's crowning that person with a certain amount of authority and dignity.
In one case, he tells Daniel, you're going to have a chain of gold around your neck, and I'll make you third ruler in the kingdom.
And uh, well, that's a particular crown, if you would, that he's he's then established with a certain authority under the higher authority.
Us being put under God's authority are then crowned with his authority in the realm that he puts us over.
Does that make sense?
And so here the crown is not some actual crown that goes on our head.
The crown that we receive here is knowledge.
You don't wear this crown.
It's a metaphor.
So if you understand the metaphors in the Old Testament, you get to the like the book of the Revelation, you're not going to think that, I mean, I would get bored.
Just throwing crowns and just have this massive amount of crowns just pile up.
I mean, don't worry.
I don't think we're going to be doing that at all.
But the crown here is knowledge.
Knowledge.
And to be crowned with knowledge is to inherit the gift of eternal life. through the gospel of Jesus Christ, to have the shame of Adam removed.
Which is not a crown, that was shame.
And then to have the crown of Christ's glory restored to us.
Remember, they're going to be crowned with knowledge.
John chapter 17, verse 3.
John chapter 17, verse 3.
Jesus said, and this is life eternal. that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
Now that's knowledge That's the knowledge that the prudent inherit.
They inherit the knowledge of God and his Son Jesus Christ.
Therefore, they receive inheritance from God the Father because of their faith, their sanctification by their faith that's in Him.
They are crowned with knowledge.
Eternal life comes to the knowledge of God and His Son.
And a prudent man will seek and find that glorious knowledge.
Sometimes you'll see the they'll be receive a crown of life or a crown of glory.
And it's not that it's not that that God has these crowns made up.
And says, well, here's a crown of life.
We'll give that to him.
And well, here's a crown of glory.
Well, they're all glorious.
And they're all living.
It's metaphors, descriptions, that we are not crowned with corruptible honor, with corruptible glory, with corruptible rewards.
You know, back in the the old Olympic times, they would have crowns that they would place.
They wouldn't be medals around their neck, it'd be crowns on their heads.
So they would receive a crown.
That crown was their glory.
That crown was their honor.
That crown was their reward.
And so in contrast in the scripture, we're given crowns. that uh never lose their honor.
Their honor from God, not from the world.
They're they're crowns of life, not not a crown that that gets brittle like those leaves they used to put around their heads and and fades away.
And they're crowns of knowledge.
They're crowns of enduring substance in the enduring grace of God placed upon man.
And this brings us back to what we learned in Proverbs chapter 4, verse 7 and 9.
Which says wisdom, I'll give you well, we have it up there, thank the Lord.
If you're writing notes, Proverbs 4, 7 through 9, which says wisdom is the principal thing.
It means that's the main thing.
Therefore get wisdom.
If you get wisdom, then you'll get God And with all thy getting, while you're getting, make sure you're getting understanding.
Don't go through life not understanding What God wants you to know.
Verse 8, exalt her that is exalt wisdom, and she shall promote thee.
She shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her.
Watch this now.
She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace.
Now that's what this crown is, you see.
This crown of knowledge is an ornament of grace.
Now, again, the word ornament is a metaphor.
It's a metaphor.
It's not something that you actually wear.
It's something that you have inside you that shines out of you, that's becoming to you, that is part of who you are.
It'll be an ornament of grace.
A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
So we see that wisdom gives us a crown of glory.
It restores to us because the Bible says concerning Adam and Eve that they were naked and they were not ashamed.
And I tell you what, we pass over that.
We don't realize how significant that is.
We come here to Proverbs, it means a whole lot.
They were naked, but they were not ashamed.
Man had absolutely no shame.
When he was in the Garden of Eden, prior to sin, because he was in that rightful place that God had placed him in.
He had not exited to the right or to the left.
He was in his God ordained place, and it was a glorious place.
Adam was a man of glory.
Eve was a woman of glory.
The Garden of Eden was a place of glory.
The whole earth was filled. with the glory of God.
But when they sinned against God, he Adam stepped out from under the God, the God's kingdom authority.
When Adam stepped out from under God's kingdom authority, what happened to Adam's crown?
He had to check it out whenever he left.
Because you can't bear God's crown outside of God's authority.
And so Adam loses his crown of glory.
He loses his crown of life.
He loses his crown of power.
You see how all that works?
He loses his crown of wisdom and knowledge of God.
And so now, and of course his crown of glory, because now what does he inherit?
Now he inherits shame.
And now he's hiding in the bushes.
Trying to cover himself up because now they're ashamed.
But when we seek God's wisdom, which the tree of life would have given Adam and Eve, it would have given Adam the wisdom and knowledge That the prudent man would have sought after.
The reason Adam fell was because he and his wife acted as simple-minded people.
They did not act prudently.
Had they acted prudently, they would have taken from the tree of life, which would have given them the knowledge, the eternal knowledge and grace and glory of God, and it would have sealed their choice. to have remained under God's authority.
They would have never forfeited that crown.
And we would have all lived, I believe, happily ever after.
But promote her, she'll give to your head an ornament of grace.
A crown of glory shall she deliver to thee.
And that is showing us here in the Proverbs tonight.
That God, through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is going to restore all the dignity, the glory, and the honor back to man that He originally created us for.
This world is going to be a glorious place.
We are going to be glorious people.
Right now we go around saying, well, we need to be humble.
And we do need to be humble.
But I tell you what, when that day comes, it will be a sin to walk around with your head down because we are going to be the shining images of God.
And we're going to portray his glory in an amazing way.
The only humility that we will have is that we understand our lower place beneath God.
Giving God the glory for all that we receive.
But there won't be any humility in the sense of shame anymore.
No longer.
It'll all be gone, just like every tear.
All right.
Man, I had a good time.
So we'll go ahead and stop there tonight.
Sometimes when I when I'm teaching God's word or studying God's word, the reality of what I'm teaching and what I'm reading starts to sink in.
And it gets exciting thinking about it.
What the world is going to be like one day.
Father, we thank you so much for your precious word.
Thank you for everyone here tonight and everyone who tuned in online tonight.
Thank you, Lord, for each and every person, dear Lord God.
They're so important to you and so precious to us.
And I pray, dear Lord God, I'm thankful, Father.
I'm thankful, Lord.
I don't want to be simple-minded.
I pray, dear Lord God, that we'll have a church that seeks the wisdom of God.
And though we've We've sought and obtained the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and we're thankful for it.
We want to grow in that knowledge, Father, and not remain infants in that knowledge.
We want to continue to grow. to continue and to inherit more and more grace, dear Father God, from our Heavenly Father.
We love you so much in Jesus' wonderful name.
Amen.
