Main Text: Proverbs 2:1-22; 23:19
I. A Call to Ponder Your Path
A. Proverbs 4:26 Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.
B. Proverbs 21:29 A wicked man puts on a bold face, but the upright gives thought to his ways.
C. Proverbs 19:2 Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses is way.
II. The Path of Folly
A. The Pilgrim & his Heart: He lacks sense, enticed by sin, and does not think of consequences.
a. Proverbs 7:6-9 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
b. Proverbs 9:16-18 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
B. The Path: The path of folly is evil, dangerous, increasingly dark, easy to enter, aimless
a. Proverbs 4:14-17 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil… For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
b. Proverbs 22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked…
c. Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
d. Proverbs 9:13-16 The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on the highest places of the town, calling to those who pass by, who are going straight on their way, “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”
e. Proverbs 5:6 The forbidden woman does not ponder the path of life, her ways wander and she does not know it.
C. The Destination: The path of folly leads to death, and once entered upon it is very hard to leave
a. Proverbs 21:16 One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.
b. Proverbs 2:18-19 for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life.
D. The Warning: Do not set your foot on the path of folly—stay far away from it!
a. Proverbs 1:10-16 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, “Come with us... we shall find all precious goods... my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths...
b. Proverbs 5:8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house.
c. Young people are apt to plead with those who have the charge of their best interests—"What harm is there in this path or that path?" It is far more easy to resist the beginning than the progress of sin. The entrance into the path of the wicked will carry us far, lengths that we could never have contemplated in prospect without horror. It may appear an harmless outlet. But how far on before we encounter terror. The entrance is fatally connected with the next step onward. Those at least that know their own corruption and weakness will shrink back where others dare to tread. To pretend to dread sin without fearing temptation is self-delusion. The evil company is loved, then the evil of the company. Walk then with God and His people, and separate from an ungodly world. Walk closely with God in secret, and He will spread His almighty covering over you for your security. Avoid fellowship with those who hinder your fellowship with God. — Charles Bridges
III. The Path of Wisdom
A. The Pilgrim & his Heart: He fears God, fears the path of folly, considers and sets his face toward wisdom
a. Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
b. Proverbs 2:1-5, 9-12 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD... Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil...
c. Proverbs 17:24 The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
B. The Path: The path of wisdom is righteousness, secure, increasingly bright, hard to enter, and is straight
a. Proverbs 6:23-24 For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life, to preserve you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
b. Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
c. "As shining light increases from twilight to noonday splendor, so the path of the just increases in purity, but that of the wicked is as thickest darkness, in which one knows not on what he stumbles." — D. Brown
d. Proverbs 22:5 Thorns & snares are in the way of the crooked; whoever guards his soul will keep far from them.
e. Proverbs 15:21 Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
f. The path which is made, bit by bit, from farm to farm, is likely to wind about; but the old Roman high road that connects two distant cities runs as directly as possible. The ploughman who looks no further than his horses' heads will make a crooked furrow; to go straight he must fix his eyes on the end of the field. He who regards only present circumstances will wander aimlessly. To go right we must look out of self to Christ; beyond present expediency to the full purpose and end of life; above all earthly pursuits to the goal of the life eternal." — William Clarkson
C. The Destination: The path of wisdom leads to life
a. Proverbs 16:17 The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; whoever guards his way preserves his life.
b. Proverbs 15:24 The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn away from Sheol beneath.
D. The Invitation: Direct your heart in the way of wisdom.
a. Proverbs 23:19 Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.
b. Proverbs 8:1-5, 20, 21 Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: “To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man. O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense. ... I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.
IV. Christ and the Wise Path
A. Christ is the Perfect Pilgrim – During his earthly ministry Jesus Christ was the perfect pilgrim; having his heart committed to wisdom and obedience (Lk. 2:52, Heb 10:7) he kept his face set straight ahead on the path God had for him (Lk. 9:53), and he did not swerve to the right or to the left all the days of his life (Mt. 4:9-10), and his destination led to glorious resurrected life (2 Tim. 2:8).
B. Christ is Wisdom – Col. 3:3, in [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
C. Christ is the Path – John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way (ὁδος - path), and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
D. Christ is the Destination of Life – John 17:3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
E. Christ Gives the Invitation - Matthew 7:13-14 Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few